AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Why thank yah Lily. I feel special.

Eli, I know what you're gonna say. "Where the hell were yah." I was too depressed to write. Still am actually. That's why I'm writing about the funeral instead of getting mah ass on with the story.

DIVA MERCURY! You read my story! Yay! Does her happy quackin' dance.

I waited a while, but here it is. Without further ado……..

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"I just don't get you chief. Why not just give up," Gabe said with a wry smirk.

"Would you give up?"

"In your position, yes."

"The Gabe I knew wouldn't."

"The Gabriel you knew is dead."

Not so dead yet." The wielder raised the activated Witchblade. "Key word there is… Can you guess?"

"Yet."

"Ding, ding, ding. Give the possessed bastard a prize. Get out of him."

"What if I don't want to?"

"You will."

"And why is that, m'dear?"

"Who really wants to be blamed for the death of a cop. You're not Irons anymore."

"You wouldn't."

"Would I?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

:: : :: c h a p t e r . .:. . t w o :: : ::

Natalie wasn't prepared for the caskets lowering. She didn't cry, Natalie never cried. She didn't cry when her parents died. She won't cry now.

Nuh uh.

Scrupulously, Natalie turned her head away and wiped her eyes. Big girls don't cry. She grabbed the end of her ponytail and yanked it. Hard What a way to go, she thought. A fucking tazer. Natalie's frown deepened. How many times was she shot with real guns? Five? Seven? A fucking tazer was what did her in. Natalie scowled as she heard Dorian break down crying. Big girls don't cry, remember? The persistent sound of a grown man's sobs finally drove the anger back into Natalie. Her constant scowl was in place once again.

She read the headstone absentmindedly.

Katarina Francesca Devough

August 2, 1982 ~ January 17, 2010

Mother. Sister. Daughter. Friend. Wife.

Protector of the people.

May her journey bring her peace.

'Life's a bitch, then you die.'  That's what I want on my headstone, she thought. Her stomach turned as the first shovel full of dirt was thrown, noiselessly.

"That's not mommy in there," Tabitha, Katarina's five year old, infinitely wise daughter, said. "Mommy said that when people get tah go to heaven they don't wanna be here no more." Stronger than her father, it seemed, tears only glistened in her eyes. She knew her mommy was happy and watching over her.

Natalie succumbed to the tears. The sight of the small child, a baby really, comforting the giant of a man that was supposed to keep the monsters away, broke her.

Natalie turned to Dorian and sighed. "I'm sorry," was all she said.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Isn't it a little wrong to be here?" Alexander asked into the miniscule communicator.

"Do your job. You weren't trained to question orders." Irons answered sardonically.

"Yes sir."