A/N: I just want to say a quick thank you to those of you who've reviewed so far: Yuna-Sakura, KnoKnayme, TheGirlWhoWaited, Poodle warriors, Sorceress of the Trees, MoonDrop162, CLTex, ZabuzasGirl, MaltWarrior, DatinSatan, and Benedict'sZombieGirl, as well as guests. I really do value any feedback I get, although I know this is a rewrite and to some of you probably couldn't be more perfect. That said, thanks again for taking the time to at least confirm that I'm not totally screwing this story up yet! The moment you catch something off, feel free to let me know XD

Chapter 3 – Departures

The funeral was scheduled for Saturday. Madelyn made plans to meet with Owen at a coffee shop on Thursday to discuss the material he'd put together about William's life, but he canceled on her at the last minute and asked her to meet him at her house instead. She hadn't returned to the house all week, wanting to avoid the crime scene, but she supposed now was as good a time as any.

Owen had planted himself in her grandfather's study on the opposite end of the house from the living room, so it wasn't hard for her to avoid ground zero when she came inside the front door. She could see it though, and there was a large stain in the floor where there had once been a puddle of blood. She tore her gaze from it and hurried down the hall to the study, not exactly excited to see Owen but also not wanting to feel as though she was letting William down with a lackluster presentation that was supposed to cover his entire life.

As soon as she appeared in the study's doorway, Owen stepped lightly around the large antique desk and spread his arms to offer her a hug. "It's so good to see you, Maddy." He was grinning a perfect white smile. He'd always reminded her of Mark, especially with his curly blond hair and glittering blue eyes, but he was taller. Of course, at five foot four, practically everyone was taller than her.

She couldn't refuse him the hug, but pursed her lips at the way he tightened his arms around her shoulders. When he finally let her go, he took her arms before she could step around him. "I am profoundly sorry," he said. "William's going to be missed for a long time."

"Thanks, Owen," she said, turning her gaze to the collection of PADDs scattered across the desk behind him. "How's it coming?"

Owen turned and quickly began scrolling through one of the PADDs to show her a basic outline of what he was putting together. After Madelyn had read through it and approved, she went around to the opposite side of the desk to shuffle through a pile of old photographs, some of them printed on older paper that showed signs of aging. "Will you be adding any of these?" she asked.

Owen nodded. "I'm going to scan each photo into the main file so they can be flashed up on a screen. I think they'll give the whole thing a sense of time, so that people can see who he was at heart."

Madelyn agreed. It was looking good. The photos Owen had chosen were varied, depicting William at various points in his life, around the world and in space. He'd served both in the British Armed Forces and with Starfleet, and then he'd gotten married and had one daughter, Madelyn's mother, before he made the leap into investing.

One photo in particular caught her eye and she picked it up carefully to get a better look at it. It was a picture of her and her grandfather out on his boat on a bright, sunny day. William was presenting his latest catch to the camera, his hand resting on her shoulder while she stood there grinning madly, her skinny arms propped on her hips, her long brown hair whipping through the wind. She must have been no older than eleven or twelve. She bit her bottom lip at the way her grandfather looked exactly as he had just last week, with shining eyes and an upright frame. Her throat tightened up and she instinctively reached up to wipe a tear from her eye.

"Maddy, you alright?"

She regained her composure quickly to avoid being sacked by Owen, and held up the photograph. "I'm taking this one."

He shrugged, grinning again. "You can do whatever you want with it. It's your house."

She nodded, realizing that maybe she didn't feel at home here anymore as much as she used to. Maybe it was the way Owen had made himself at home here, or the maybe it was the elephant in the room, the fact that William's murder had occurred just down the hall and neither of them wanted to mention it.

Madelyn looked down at the photo in her hand again. It was printed on yellowing paper and needed protection. She picked up an empty folder sitting nearby and carefully slid the photo inside, sealing it shut before sliding it into her purse. She'd have to find somewhere to take it to get it properly framed between panes of glass so it would last for many more years to come.

She lingered in the study for a while, helping Owen reorganize the contents of their presentation for seamlessness so at least the people who attended the funeral wouldn't be put off by how quickly they had thrown it together. By mid-afternoon, Owen had sunk into William's big leather chair, his feet propped up on the desk as he scrolled through a PADD with little intention of accomplishing anything else. Madelyn felt the same way he looked, eventually sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, digging aimlessly through a box full of books and PADDs of varying sizes. She tried to log into one particularly older looking PADD, but after multiple tries at the passcode she gave up. William wouldn't have written his passcodes down anywhere either, so there was no point in looking for them.

She glanced up at Owen, whose uninterested expression towards whatever was on the screen of his own PADD made her realize how long they'd been sitting there in the study, doing next to nothing.

After a moment, her voice broke the easy silence. "Are you taking off time from work to be here?"

Owen glanced at her over the top of his PADD. "Actually I'm working now." He held up the device in his hand, briefly flashing the screen but too quickly for Madelyn to see what was on it.

She didn't reply. If he was really making himself comfortable enough here to be dealing with whatever assignment Starfleet had given him while lounging in her grandfather's chair, she wondered if he even intended to leave for the evening. If that was the case, she didn't want to stick around. She was irked that she was letting him passively kick her out of her own home, even though that wasn't his intention at all, but Madelyn wasn't going to let him have his way by sharing the house with him. Still, she didn't want to hurt him either and resolved to reach a silent compromise with herself.

She could make up a story about how she was going out with Kelly that evening and would probably be back late, and therefore she could just crash at Kelly's apartment again. She still had things to collect at Kelly's, so it wouldn't be strange for her to stay one more night there. But that would just open up the opportunity for Owen to invite himself out with them.

She sighed. What had once been a simple matter of only spending so much time with him in order to cement the limits of their friendship had been exasperated by the funeral and the planning that needed to go into it. She was extremely grateful that he was helping her out, but at the same time she needed a break from him, especially now that he thought he could be with her more often since William was gone. She just needed to get past the funeral so she could get out of town for a while to clear her head.

She stood from the floor, picking up the box of books and PADDs as she did. Despite its size, it wasn't as heavy as she'd expected. "I'm gonna head back to Kelly's, pick up some things and run some errands. If I don't see you tomorrow, I'll see you Saturday morning at the chapel, right?"

Owen looked up from his work again, then swiftly moved from the chair to her side, his fingers sliding around the box to take it from her. His signature smile made her roll her eyes.

"I've got it, Owen. It's not that heavy."

But he insisted and grunted as he braced the load in both of his arms. Madelyn frowned, partially confused that he was struggling under the weight of the box more than she had.

"You don't have to do that," she persisted.

He kept smiling despite his obvious struggle to appear relaxed while carrying such a heavy box. He nodded towards the door. "I'm good, come on."

Madelyn just shook her head and headed out of the house, Owen's heavy steps behind her. Was that box really that heavy? She'd barely made an effort to pick it up herself, and her upper body strength was miniscule compared to Owen's, not to mention he was quite larger than her anyway.

She held the back hatch of her car open so he could set it down with a thud, and when he straightened he seemed to let out a breath, as though he'd strained himself. Madelyn bit her tongue to keep herself from making a snarky comment and instead gave him a light hug before climbing into the driver's seat.

"Don't feel like you have to say any words on Saturday," he said.

She tried to smile. "I wasn't planning on it. I figure all of those photographs will speak for themselves."

Owen nodded, sliding his hands into his pockets. "Call me tomorrow if you need anymore help with anything."

She smiled up at him as the door slid shut, and he waved when she pulled away. Madelyn was more relieved when she couldn't see him anymore.

She shook her head at herself. She wanted to preserve her friendship with him, but if he kept this up, she was going to have to confront him and potentially lose him altogether. Maybe after she'd spent some time down in Hastings, she would come back to find Owen not as pursuant of her. But there was also the possibility that her absence would egg him on even more. She needed her grandfather to be there to tell her what to say, or to get in Owen's face and tell him to back off. She needed him there to give her a reassuring hug and tell her it was going to be okay. She dug her nails into the steering wheel as tears pricked her eyes, her throat tightening up as she realized all over again that he was gone.

She fought to contain herself all the way into London, but as she pulled her car into the darkness of underground car park down the street from Kelly's place, the silence that crowded around her became too much. She let lose the flood that she'd been holding back for days and buried her face in her hand, soaking her palm with saltwater. Her breaths escaped in strangled bursts between sobs. When she'd calmed herself, there was still a physical ache in her chest, begging to be consoled by someone that wasn't there anymore.

The day of the funeral heralded the beginning of autumn. Madelyn pulled her black leather jacket more tightly around herself as a cool breeze swirled down the hillside of the cemetery. The graveside service had drawn to a silent close and people were beginning to filter away, but Madelyn remained where she was, her high heels planted in the grass while the wind brushed her black skirt against the goosebumps on her legs.

She wasn't ready for this. It had taken her all week to realize it, but now it was finally sinking in and she wasn't ready for her family to be gone, leaving her the last McGivers alive.

She should have been expecting this though. Not William's premature death. She knew he easily could have lasted another twenty years. Nothing was stopping him. But she should have been expecting to find herself alone one day. She had grown up watching the size of her family shrink, a sob story from the beginning with her mother dead at her birth. Then her father in a fatal accident at fifteen, then her husband last year. Now her grandfather.

She wasn't ready for this at all, but she was doing everything she could to hold herself together while there were people around her. The last thing she wanted people to remember for was that poor lonely girl at her grandfather's funeral who cried like the world was ending. For a short amount of time, however, the world was ending and she would withstand it alone. Her only real alternative would be to take Owen's offer of spending time at his parents' place in Surrey, which in reality mean that Owen would also take off work to be with her, and that was an idea that only made her cringe inwardly. She didn't need to feel compressed by his unwanted affection. She needed to get away. Tomorrow, she was heading to the coast, and no one, except maybe John, knew where she was going.

She forced herself back into the present moment as Admiral Marcus made his way towards her, dressed in his formal Starfleet regalia. He had been one of the pallbearers to carry William's casket to its final resting place. Madelyn appreciated that he'd taken the time out of his busy schedule to attend both memorial services for her grandfather, despite the fact she didn't know him very well.

"It was a good service," he said, offering her a slight smile. "William was a good man. Accomplished a lot for Starfleet, and still is if you think about. We were at the Academy together, if you didn't know."

This was news to Madelyn. "No, I didn't know," she said quietly.

The Admiral nodded. "He always was a hot head. I regret that I didn't get a chance to explain myself better that day in his office. I guess there are some things we just need to forgive and forget."

She didn't have a response for that, and didn't try to come up with one.

Marcus put a hand on her shoulder, lowering his voice. "Listen, I know you've been approached by John Harrison, so don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about when I say he will attempt to manipulate you. In my opinion, that's all he thinks people are good for. You need to be careful around him."

Madelyn found herself frowning up at the Admiral, partially confused as to why he would bring this up here, and because she was pretty sure John didn't act at all the way the Admiral thought he did.

"He was with me the night we found William," she replied quietly. "He's been nothing but kind to me since we met."

Now it was the Admiral's turn to frown, but he did it in a way that told Madelyn he was having a hard time understanding her and not because he was angry. He obviously didn't believe what she'd said.

"Well," he said after a moment, "that's even more of a reason for you to be careful. He's a sneaky son of a bitch."

"For being his superior officer, you don't sound very fond of him, Admiral."

He straightened and returned to his normal tone of voice, though no one appeared to be listening in anyway. "I don't have to be fond of my subordinates to do my job well, Ms. McGivers," he said. He turned when one of his assistants called for him and gave her a final look. "Just watch out for yourself."

She offered him a smile, though she wasn't sure it appeared genuine. "Thank you for your concern, Admiral, but I'm sure I'll be fine."

She saw him raise an eyebrow as he turned away, but wasn't sure what to make of it. His overt concern for her was perplexing, but maybe it was because she was around the same age as his daughter, Carol.

She could understand a man like Marcus becoming more protective of someone who had just lost the last member of their family, but she was a grown woman and could take care of herself and didn't want him prodding into her life. Still, she appreciated that he wasn't a total hardcase like her grandfather had led her to believe.

Eventually the crowd of people began to dwindle, trickling away up and down the hillside in which William was to be buried. Kelly came up to Madelyn and asked her quietly if she was ready to leave. Madelyn shook her head, told Kelly to go on home, that she would call a cab when she was ready. She told Owen the same thing, sliding passively away from him when his hand lingered on her back too long after a hug. He offered her a final sympathetic look and squeezed her hand before leaving with the last few funeral goers.

Finally, she was left there alone, standing in the grass and clutching at her jacket against the brisk air.

She watched as William's coffin was lowered into the earth and smoothly covered over, leaving a faint bare patch beside a simple granite headstone. The stone itself contained just a few simple engraved lines, which read:

William Henry McGivers

born 28 November, 2180

died 29 August, 2258

"Such as we are made of, such we be."

Madelyn didn't understand the William's reasoning for including the quote in his will, knowing only that it originated from Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night, and that he had written it in several places among some of his personal things. It had seemed appropriate to have it included on his headstone.

A colder breeze made her tighten her arms over her chest. There was so much she could have said to him, but then, there was so much she could have said to Mark as well and she had moved past that at this point.

She tried to imagine that William's spirit lingered nearby somewhere, just waiting to hear her talk, wanting to be sure she was alright. Or if he wasn't nearby, maybe he was out exploring the vastness of space, or maybe he was just somewhere he had loved to be. The thought reminded her of the plans she was already forming in her head.

Glancing around, checking that she was alone, Madelyn decided to tell him

"I'm going down to the house in Hastings tomorrow," she said quietly. "Maybe I'll go out on your boat, sail down to the cliffs at Beachy Head, stop by your favorite pub in Eastbourne on the way back."

She remembered one day not too long ago when William had proclaimed he was going to open his own pub. She could already feel a lump growing in her throat. Her voice sank into a whisper.

"You did so much for so many people, but you wanted to do so much more. I don't even know what else to say. I'm gonna miss you so damn much."

She sniffed and wiped a stray tear from her cheek, quickly tucking her hands away in her jacket pockets. It was the least she could say, if only to reassure herself that things would go on to be ok. She had to believe he was in a better place now, and he would want her to start moving on.

She was no stranger to loss, but it seemed any loved ones in her life were doomed to slipping through her fingers. If only she could get rid of Owen that easily all the time.

She breathed in a shaky sigh and wiped her face again, then glanced up at movement in her peripheral vision. John Harrison was walking down the hillside towards her, his open gray coat catching the wind slightly. She glanced around, wondering why he'd come alone, and he offered her a sympathetic look when he stopped beside her, before turning his gaze to William's grave.

"Shakespeare. I see William McGivers had an appreciation for only the finest."

Madelyn smiled softly, appreciative of his acknowledgement of something that apparently ran in her family. She glanced over when he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I am sorry," he said quietly. "I should have recognized the threat to his life sooner. I will not make that mistake again."

She looked up at him, pulling hair from her mouth. "You're not going to tell me what this threat is or why it exists, are you?"

He removed his hand from her shoulder, tilting his chin down slightly as though he could get a better view of her that way. "We've already had this conversation."

So that was it then. She remembered what he had said before. If he told her all of the details, the whole truth, the hows and whys of the circumstances revolving around William's murder, she recognized that there was a chance she could act rashly on the information and endanger herself further. For the moment, she would have to live out the age-old phrase "ignorance is bliss," and proceed with her life.

She knew herself well enough to know that maybe it was better she didn't know everything, at least for now, but it struck her that John had read her so well in the short time she'd known him that he would know this as well. Not knowing everything made her slightly wary, but at the same time she found comfort in his casual effort to keep an eye on her.

Her voice broke the comfortable silence between them. "In the meantime, you'll do what you can to stop these people from striking again?"

His faintly soft expression didn't change. "I already have. But it would be best if you left London for a few weeks, to ensure this."

She nodded. She was planning on driving down to Hastings first thing in the morning. She would leave a note in Kelly's flat, but make no mention of where she was going, only that she needed a short holiday and would be back in a month or so. Something still bothered her, however, and she wasn't going to back down from asking John questions until she was satisfied with some shred of an answer.

"I don't want to be the one to say this, and I certainly don't mean anything by it, but I can't help but wonder if you knew something was going to happen before you ever talked to my grandfather. You told me that by seeing him, you were potentially putting him in danger. You could have stopped this from ever happening."

She saw John's jaw tense and regretted her words for a moment. By the look in his eyes as they drifted over William's grave, Madelyn wished intensely to know what was going on in his brain.

"I didn't think they would go so far," he said finally. "Unfortunately, I had assumed less of certain people, but now I'm well aware of what I'm up against. I've already sent them a message, and I'll be sure to send another one if my point wasn't made the first time."

Madelyn wondered what sort of message he had sent, but decided it was better not to know. He was still so cryptic with his answers, and that in itself was frustrating. He seemed to know so much and yet would hardly speak about it, as though there was some big secret he couldn't dare utter aloud, for fear of some painful consequence.

Maybe things were more complicated for John than they were for her. She had no way of knowing who he was dealing with, or how he had known who to send his message to. For all she knew, John was the only thing standing between her and a shadowy assassin, which was why she was getting out of town.

She shrugged her arms deeper into her jacket, pulling it tightly around herself again. The sun was sinking lower behind the trees, casting long shadows across the hillside and making the temperature drop. In an hour or so it would be completely dark.

"I should probably go. I need to pack before I leave tomorrow and I want to get out early."

She said this, but she didn't make any motion to leave, her heels planted in the grass. An idea sprouted in her mind and she couldn't keep her mouth shut. "Maybe you could stop by the place in Hastings sometime. No one knows where I'm going except you."

When she looked up at him, to her disappointment the expression on his face was completely unreadable, but the tone of his voice held a note of despondency. "That won't be possible. Admiral Marcus is sending me off-world for two months. I can only hope to complete a few affairs in London before I leave."

Madelyn was sure her own expression was flooded with disappointment and she looked away with a shrug. "It was worth a shot. I wasn't sure if it'd be good for me to be alone for so long, but maybe it will." She stared off into the distance for a moment, still trying to process everything. "At least I won't have to deal with Owen."

"You may be pleased to hear that Commander Gallagher is also going off-world for a length of time. Marcus thinks we work well together."

She glanced up at him to see a slight snarl had formed on his lips, and felt her own lips curving into a smirk. "Is he really that bad to work with?"

"If I could remove his vocal cords, perhaps he wouldn't be."

Madelyn gave a nervous laugh. "He's not easy to shut up when he has something to say."

John looked down at her with an eyebrow raised, forming crinkles in his forehead. "He has a lot to say about you."

Her smile faded. She imagined Owen had loads to say about her, but she didn't want to think about those details. "I've tried to make it clear to him that I'm not interested in taking the next step. He's my friend, and that's all he'll ever be. I wish he could get that through his stupid skull."

"Perhaps I can try, though it could be painful for him."

That made her smile again. "I hope you're not serious."

John didn't answer, but when Madelyn caught his gaze she instantly knew he was teasing. She shivered suddenly as another breeze rustled around them.

"I need to get home. It was good to see you again. Stay safe out there."

She glanced upwards towards the darkening sky, making the obvious insinuation towards space. She'd never been off-planet herself, never saw the need or had the desire, but she'd heard enough stories about space travel to know it was dangerous and not something to be taken lightly.

John nodded, a faint smile ghosting his lips, but he didn't say anything. He backed away a few steps, holding her gaze before turning and starting back up the hill in the direction he'd come.

A tinge of loneliness prodded its way into her mind as she watched him walk away. If she was going to spend a few weeks away alone, then she was going to need to pack things to occupy her time, things that didn't involve any reminders of her grandfather. Being in Hastings, using his boat, sailing to their favorite landmarks and visiting his favorite places along the coast, all of that would provide more than enough reminders of him.

Being alone, without a family member to go to or to call on the phone, that was going to be harder, and she knew the feeling hadn't quite sunk in yet.