Title: Till We Meet Again

Disclaimer: Slash, language, violence, character death, sexual content, angst.

POV: Danny

Chapter Twelve: Finding Peace

It'll never cease to amaze me how quickly the FBI works. Overnight both O'Leary boys were brought in for questioning. They both denied the plot to kill the children of prominent FBI families but the evidence spoke loud enough. With search warrants in hand we were able to collect the rest of the list and even a few guns, one of which had probably killed Martin. I should have been happy that things had finally been resolved. I should have been able to smile. I'd given Martin a chance to rest in peace. The O'Leary boys were finally going to get what had been coming to them for some time now. Yet, even with this knowledge the pain of loss was still too great. Maybe that's why I found myself at the cemetery the next day.

Martin's funeral had been too long ago but I felt bad about not actually being present. Sure, my body may have been here, somewhat, but my mind had been off somewhere else trying to deal with the sudden loss. I walked across the grass toward the grave that still looked fresh. There wasn't a tombstone to mark the site just yet. It takes time to carve those things and get them sent out. His father probably wanted some great monument to remember his son by. They may not have gotten on real well but they were still family. I knew that Mr. Fitzgerald was proud of Martin and that deep inside, Martin respected his father. However, neither one wanted the other to know.

I placed a small bouquet of flowers on the grave. The place was alive with life even though it held the final resting places of so many people. Birds sat in the trees singing songs filled with happiness and I could see a rabbit staying close to a bush incase the need to be hidden arose. It was sad, and yet promising, that life continued in this place of death. I looked down at the ground where Martin would remain.

The tears came and I let them fall. I had the right to cry. "I'm sorry, Martin. I never should have let you leave the office that day. Maybe you'd still be here. I still haven't gotten used to sleeping alone again. The bed just feels so big and empty without you." A cloud passed over the sun, sending a shadow to race across the cemetery. "I miss your smile. I miss the way you care so deeply for people you've never even meant. I don't believe it was your time to go. None of this should have happened and the sad thing is it all could have been avoided. Instead of holding you close at night I hold tightly to the memories I have of you. It's all that remains. I may take a few things from your apartment before your parents go over the place. They'll probably sell it."

"If they did that I'd have to live with you."

I spun around to find Martin standing behind me, in one piece and breathing. My heart nearly stopped before my brain told me that grief was playing a joke on me, a very cruel joke. I shook my head, not wanting to believe it was really him but wanting it to be him so bad.

"I'm real, Danny. I'm not dead, there's no one buried in the ground there," he gestured to the spot behind me.

"But-"

He frowned. "I thought it was a really bad idea, truly, I did. It meant leaving you and I knew what kind of pain you'd be in, but it had to be done. See, on that ride to the hospital Jack started making plans. He even got on the phone to talk with my father. Though I'd really been shot I never dead that day," he explained.

The shock had finally worn off and I was beginning to understand what he was saying. "They decided to make it look like you died, didn't they?" He nodded. "That's why your name was never mentioned in any of the news reports. They wanted you locked away somewhere safe until they got those who had been threatening you."

"Which they did with your help," he remarked.

I couldn't stand there any longer. I wanted to feel his arms around me and to feel his lips on mine. As I made my way over to him I saw Jack and the others crest the hill, heading in our direction. Right then and there I decided that I didn't care anymore. My love for Martin couldn't be hidden and I didn't care who found out. I threw my arms around him, and was finally comforted in his embrace. Our lips met in a kiss that had waited too long to be born. The fire was instant and I would have taken him right then and there if I could have.

"God, I missed you," Martin said as we stood there, wrapped up in each other, foreheads touching. "When Jack told me about your drinking and how you weren't handling things well I nearly called the whole thing off. I wanted to see you, to let you know that everything would be okay in the end. But he wouldn't let me. I think that's when he figured out just how close we really are."

"Actually, I told him that I loved you the day of the funeral," I confessed.

"Is that so?"

"Yes," I said hesitantly. I may have been ready for the world to know but that didn't mean Martin was ready.

He smiled. "Well, in that case, I love you too."

I wasn't sure how the others had taken our kiss and need to be near each other, and I really didn't care. I was just happy to have my world back, safe in my arms. And I vowed to never let him go again.