Happy Friday everyone. I hope you had a good week. Here's the penultimate chapter and what would have been my series 4 ending if I was organised or plannned out these things!
He'd hadn't realised what she'd meant at first. Everyone had said they had some sort of telepathy. He'd dismissed it at first. When they stood in the cold and he handed her the car keys, he'd felt her apology and offered up his own with no words. He wondered if keeping his mouth busy in other ways wasn't such a bad idea. He hadn't counted on falling in love and neither had she. All the other women he'd fucked, even if he knew their name, looked like her until they didn't.
He remembers the first time they made love, he can't quite recall when, just that it was. Then it came a second, third and fourth occasion and he realised that they were indeed involved. The fifth was one afternoon when they were due elsewhere and she rebelled in spectacular style. Somehow they'd made it well into double figures. And she asked him for more and he realised it was time to meet his family.
He gave himself willingly; heart, soul and all his body, determined to be a better man.
DMDMDMDM
Dempsey held his breath. It occurred to him that Owen might see him as a man prepared to die for the sins of another. It was only the security of the bullet proof vest hidden beneath his suit that slowed his beating heart to a rhythm at which he could function.
"I want to speak to Harriet." Owen said with sudden calm.
"She's on the RT." Dempsey directed and looked for the handset, hoping he could buy time.
"In person, please." Owen began to beg, "It's important."
"You'll hurt her and..." Dempsey asserted feeling his stomach somersault with a million indeterminate fears.
"I won't. I know she's your handmaiden." Owen pleaded.
As if he knew the size of his request, Owen waited. The room seemed to wait and all Dempsey heard was Chas breathing behind him. God forgive him, if he had to chose between Harry and Chas. As he prepared to bargain, the door opened.
"It's Richard isn't it? Richard Owen?" Harry stood in the doorway, the one they'd walked through so many times, with a grace that made the situation so strange, as if she would suddenly turn to her partner and chew his ear, or lately, a knowing smile.
Dempsey saw the moment that Owen realised the truth that he'd spoken and that there, horribly in the space of SI-10, in a hostage situation, his own fear that the secret that was so precious would be released, the rise of her belly visible beneath her dress in a way that it wasn't before Owen turned up. He quelled the anger at missing this moment; how he'd loved to have been there this morning to reassure her when she'd stood in front of the mirror and grumbled about what to wear. He doubted that she'd even really noticed herself.
Owen dropped his arm, not the gun, as Harry's face betrayed her anguish. He looked briefly like a kicked puppy. Later Dempsey would wonder it was the loss of Owen's mother and Harry's body showing that hint of a new life that got the message through.
"He's a better man than your father and his own." She asserted with calm assurance.
Her certain words caught his breath. He could curse her and kiss her for being here but he'd expect nothing less, which worried him all the more.
Owen hesitated, "And the demons? What of them?" He waved the gun towards Chas and the room.
"These people are our friends." Harry said, as Dempsey marvelled at her outward calmness. His own nerves barely holding him up. "Without Chas, we wouldn't be safe. Just as I keep Dempsey safe and he looks after me."
Owen turned back to Dempsey. He looked like the man in the flat who'd taken care of him in a misguided way. The gun was still at his side and around him his plans seemed to collapse. "You… are redeemed?"
"Yes." Dempsey replied keeping his voice even; his face calm yet stern, watching Owen's fingers struggle with the gun. The man's past murders were not executed with a bullet but Dempsey knew he was taking a risk in assuming Owen was unused to the weight and hold of the weapon.
Owen seemed to be waging an inner war until, with a gasp, he turned the gun to point at the ceiling. Dempsey stayed in place, aware of Chas's silent vigil behind him, his friend's hand on his arm, almost ready to push Dempsey towards his partner.
"I know what to do." Owen breathed and in split second his hands turned the muzzle to himself and his own fingers responded.
Harry's whimper and Dempsey's shout were lost as the shot fired out. An eerie silence befell the room, broke by the thick noise of Owen's slide to the floor. Dempsey reached him first, knocking the weapon from his hand towards Chas who picked it up. Harry sat beside them as he cradled Owen's head; the ugly shot in his chest creating a river of blood.
"Stay still, there's an ambulance outside." Dempsey said quietly. He looked at Harry who silently shook her head, confirming his suspicions. Drawing a deep breath Dempsey fought against all he knew and said just two words. "God Bless."
As Owen's body shuddered and his tangled, confused life left him, Dempsey closed the man's eyes. "May God forgive you."
Then he stood, took Harry's hand and took her away.
