Summery: Don escapes reality for just a few moments…
Lightening flashed across the sunset, briefly lighting up the darkening sky.
The weatherman had predicted at least an inch of rain, but Don didn't really care about the rain so he continued to tie his shoes before setting out on a brutal paced run. He was every bit intent of punishing his body to the furthest it would go.
He knew he would regret it in the morning, but right now he needed to pain in his lungs and legs to keep the numb ache in his chest at bay.
"I know that you did everything to save Adam." Mrs. Johnson had tried to smile as she held Don's hand in hers, but the tears slowly trickling down the wrinkled cheeks hadn't given a reason to smile. Rather they were tears of grief and not joy.
Don took a deep breath and set out.
Three agents in the hospital and two dead… The facts were hard to face, but they were there for all to see.
"Joe always talked about how proud he was to be on your team." Maryanne Callison had squeezed Don's hand with one hand, the other resting on her enlarged stomach carrying Joe's first child.
Don blinked away the stinging tears in his eyes.
"Amazing grace…. How sweet the sound… That saved a wretch like me…" The well-known hymn had brought many that were not already in tears succumb to grief that they all carried.
Two Special FBI Agents killed. It was practically unheard of.
Thunder crashed sending Don's eyes to the sky.
Death had a way of making people thinking of life. The little things that people could change before they too died.
In the days and weeks after the Eppes men had laid their wife and mother to rest, each Eppes had done their best to escape the horrible reality that she wasn't coming back.
Alan cooked, preparing meals for a crowd… But always throwing most of it away. Charlie had retreated back to his numbers, but every once in a while he would find himself speaking out loud like he used to when his mother was sitting close by.
Don had escaped into his job as a newly transferred agent. There he had to pretend that everything was just fine even though it wasn't. His job depended on him forcing his emotions behind a tightly closed mask.
But his team had pried past his mask. For a while Don's team knew Don better than Alan and Charlie had ever hoped to, but as the years past… Don found himself relaxing his guard around his family. Charlie started helping on cases and Alan cooked meals for his team when they were working on a long case. Everything had started to pull together…
But then they walked into a trap.
Three agents in the hospital… Two agents dead…
The entire FBI family was reeling from the blow. Don probably more than the rest for Joe and Adam had been directly under him. Don had been the best man at Joe's wedding… And Don had been trying to get Adam on a date with a local college teacher… Don knew Joe and Adam…
It felt like he had just lost family… Which in all reality… He had…
Don choked, his weary body forcing him to stop. Tears leaking from the corners of his eyes…
He knew the rest of his team was trying to escape reality just like he was… Just for a few minutes to ignore that numb ache that echoed hollowly…
Raindrops slowly started to fall… Then faster… And faster…
Don closed his eyes and then tilted his face to the sky letting the cold rain fall on his hot face.
He could feel the hot tears intermingling with the cold rain… And somehow he felt better… As if letting his emotions fall with the rain had eased a silent burden he didn't even knew he carried.
The rain lightened and slowly stopped.
Don was wet enough to wring water from his eyelashes if he wanted to. He cast a rueful glance down at his aching body then looked at the street he was on.
The threat of tears crept on him once more as he realized that he was on the block where Charlie and dad lived… He shook his head and with soggy steps he walked the half a block into the house he grew up in.
Escaping reality was nice… But coming back to the reality of a loving family with arms wide open was always better…