Disclaimer: All that you recognise does not belong to me but someone else.
This is weird drabble I know, it stated as one thing but turned into something else. It's kind of based on a bigger story idea I have but also not. It is a sort of numb3rs trial fic, because I love reading but can be a bit of a rubbish writer. I apologise in advance for the spelling and grammar error which will be in here somewhere.
Colby rarely talked about Afghanistan, if he did it was awkward, he didn't really want to tell, they didn't really want to listen. No one wants to hear a man talk about the horrors of war, even less so a man who has experienced them personally. So that is the principle in which he lives by, he doesn't talk, and if they ask which rarely happens he doesn't really reply. They will never truly know what Colby Granger did for his country until his death, but they piece together bits. When they start to find out they tend to stop looking for information on the man, they decide it easier not to know.
They all know Colby was army, they're not surprised when he is under investigation for treason that most of his file is from army; they don't realise quite how long he was in the army until then. It surprises them when they discover he joined up at sixteen, having completed high school, they never took him as the brainy type. It surprises them further to learn what Colby actually did at university, Spanish, with minors in Russian and Arabic, they never expected him to be a linguist. They find things they did know about him too, the football, the wrestling, they just never realised quite how good he was, winning international tournaments before his shoulders gave up. There is precious little else that they can read on his file, most of it is highly classified, Charlie could probably access it if he wanted to, but he doesn't want to. When looking they find medical reports, the horrendous burns he suffered in the humvee, the gunshot and shrapnel wounds, they wonder why they don't see the scars; but never bother to ask, they feel uncomfortable.
They only wonder when Clay Porter calls him a hero, they were under the impression that most of his work was with CID; he shouldn't have seen much action. They won't know until much later that Colby Granger was one of the countries best soldiers in special ops. They find the medals when searching his apartment, no-one bothers to find out what they are for; they are placed in an evidence bag and given a number. The stories that belong to them are ignored, they are not considered important. The person who manages evidence has a brother in the army, he recognises the medals and stores them carefully, quietly hiding his anger at how one mans story can be given a series of numbers.
Charlie and Megan know more than most of the team; they come across him when he's not with the FBI. Charlie many years earlier when he was consulting for the DoD, back then Colby was just a soldier round a table listening to orders, now he knows the man and realises that every person in that room was to someone very special indeed. Megan meets the real Colby briefly, he is in Washington for a while, working. They meet up for drinks, to catch up; he is dressed in his army uniform, his general's stars glinting on his shoulders. She wonders but does not ask, she has had to put together so many old soldiers' heads, she hopes she never has to do it for her friend. She worries about him sometimes, but most for the time she tries to remember him as the easy going Idaho farm boy she knew him as.
Ian never lets on in all his time with the FBI, who Colby Granger is. It is not his place to do so, that is something he understands, so he hides the fact that he knew the man well, that for a long time the man was his commanding officer. Partly out of fear, and partly because he knows that is how these things go. The team wonders why he shows Colby so much respect, but he figures that respecting a guy who could kill you very easily in numerous ways is one of the best ways to stay alive.
Colby leaves the FBI shortly after the whole Janus list affair, without a word to anyone, without even the hint of a warning. One day he just doesn't turn up for work, the next Don is called in for a meeting with the Assistant Director, he never tells anyone what he heard that day, he almost refuses to believe it himself. It only sinks in that Colby has gone for good several weeks later when two men come and clear his desk, the bureau sends a replacement the next day, but no-one ever quite fills the place he has left.
For a while they have no contact with the man, no idea whether he is alive or dead, that continues for a while. Then one day, on David's birthday, a present and card are delivered neatly wrapped and thoughtfully chosen; these gifts every birthday and Christmas are the only indications the team has of him still being alive. For that small mercy they are grateful, there is a place set for him at Charlie and Amita's wedding, just in case he received the invite, just in case he can come. He doesn't. A large parcel and a Dictaphone do however, he wishes them his congratulations and says he is sorry he can't be there, it sounds as if he means it. They send a thank you letter in the post, it is returned several weeks later, it takes Charlie a month to spot the tiny X that has been scratched into the envelope.
Most fo the team never see Colby alive again; they are unable to initiate any form of contact. The first explanation that get is an invitation to his funeral; he has died it says in a tragic accident aged just 65. The bus he was on was involved in a crash, and even then fatally wounded he remained the hero; the information they receive states that had he not helped others, had he remained still, he would have almost certainly survived. But as Charlie points out, he is now most definitely dead.
They attend the funeral, held at Arlington as a group, the service is packed with soldiers and civilians alike, all of whom had somehow been touched by Colby Granger. The newspapers sing his praises; he is even thanked for his service to his country by the president himself. Don finds all that ironic, Colby would've hated this fuss, he had wanted a private service, instead he had ended up with a full state funeral, and the word hero would be synonymous with his for generations to come.
Maybe that was the tragedy. The man who had dedicated his life, who was without doubt a hero. Was remembered simply as that, a hero, another hero in the ever growing list; not as the man he was. The caring, generous friend, the loving husband and father, the beloved son and sibling, the brilliantly clever linguist. Merely as a hero; which was although the most memorable part in his life, not the most significant role he played.