Breathe
I can't breathe, without you.
It was a sullen grey day. The heavens had opened (rather unusually for Australia in February); they too were weeping for the loss of Jacob Wood. The funeral was rather poorly attended. Only Jake's closest family were there. Along with the director of the AIS, and half of Jake's old unit.
Terry sighed, tuning out of what the priest was saying over Jake's coffin. It had surprised him beyond the ordinary realm of surprises to learn that Jake's family had been deeply religious. He couldn't remember which religion it was, though. It was merely highly ironic for Jake to be raised in such a family, then spend the rest of his life killing people. For a good cause, of course, but still...
Dean turned his head slightly, glancing at the man who had for so long been his field partner. Catching Terry's eyes, he nodded once, signalling for them to approach the hole where Jake's coffin was currently being lowered into.
With slow steps, the two walked up to the tomb just as the coffin reached the end of the hole with a soft, final thud.
Jake's family cried for him. They knelt beside the hole, throwing handfuls of colourful flower petals. Jake's younger sister sobbed for her brother, reaching down towards the coffin as if she could bring its contents back to life. Jake's mum had to be forcibly restrained so that she didn't jump into the hole to join her oldest child.
Terry blinked rapidly as he and Dean also knelt down on the soft grass beside the open hole. They made sure to keep some distance between themselves and the Woods; he was their son, their brother, and Terry and Dean were merely intruders in their family.
Dean reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket, pulling out a sky blue envelope. Inside it, he'd sealed a last letter of thanks, a final photo of friendship between himself, Jake, Terry and Desiree Swan, and a final wish of luck for whatever lay ahead for the brave young man. The envelope fluttered down into the hole until it landed amidst the bed of flower petals covering the handsome chestnut coffin.
Terry's last goodbye was already clenched tight in his fist.
"Jake," he whispered, his voice broken, "I...I never thought you'd be the first. I always thought that place would be reserved for Dean."
Beside him, Dean smiled sadly and shook his head. He'd thought so too, after he was that much older than everyone else on his unit had been. Older, and thus slower.
Terry coughed slightly to get rid of the lump forming in his throat. "I'm sorry, Jake. I'm sorry I keep making fun about you, and your pushiness, and your grandma driving skills..."
"Not to mention those really bad jokes you tell," Dean added, whispering down at the coffin.
"Yeah, and those evening jogs that I thought I would come back and join you on," Terry continued, swiping the back of his hand across his face to get rid of the tears. Terry had resigned from the AIS a couple of months after Dean. Put simply, his body could not take any more excessive training, nor the stress from missions and potential death.
Terry sighed shakily, "I...I'm sorry I was always such a pain, Jake. And I'm sorry about that time when I mixed colour into your shampoo. Though, you did look rather amusing walking around with blue hair."
Dean smiled slightly at the memory.
"I guess, what I'm really trying to say, is that I'm going to miss you. I'm going to miss the way I can talk to you about anything and everything. The way you're always there for me...heck, for us. For everyone. You seem to just...just be able to drop whatever you're doing and just sit there and listen to me prattle on and on about thermodynamics, or Dean when he prattles on and on about his family, or Desiree –"
Terry's voice broke off, new tears streaming faster and faster down his face. Dean buried his face in his hands.
"Oh God, Jake," Terry whispered, "Desiree..."
"We tried Jake, we really did," Dean said softly, "But nothing we said..."
Terry sighed. "They just wouldn't listen. He just wouldn't listen. 'We have better uses for Agent Swan's talents than letting her go to some funeral'," he imitated in an extremely high voice, "Good thing Dean was there or else I'd have totally lost it...well, more than I already did. You know how I get."
There was a pause in which the two men realised that they were the only ones left kneeling beside Jake's final resting spot. His family appeared to have already left, along with the director of the AIS whom Terry had been imitating only moments before.
"She's on a mission," Dean whispered, finally breaking the silence, "They sent her out early this morning. They wouldn't even postpone her departure for two freakin' hours!" He sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "You should've seen it Jake; Terry looked ready to punch the director's nose in."
Terry snorted. "I would've done it if Dean hadn't been in the way."
"I couldn't let you get arrested now, could I?" Dean said, rather amused, "We no longer have contacts in high places to get you out."
The two fell into a soft silence, listening to the rain. They didn't notice themselves getting drenched.
Finally, Dean broke the silence. "We're really gonna miss you, mate."
"Yeah. Thanks Jake, thanks for everything," Terry added as the two men stood up. "We wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you. I hope you know how grateful we are."
Terry extended his hand, in which his goodbye was still clenched. "We figured it out Jake. Why you were always so protective, why you seemed to really dislike that MI6 boy. I hope you got what you wanted in the end. I hope you're happy now, wherever you are."
Terry sighed, before letting the contents of his hand float down into the grave.
"Goodbye Jake," Terry said.
"Goodbye," Dean whispered. The two men took one last glance at Jake's grave before leaving. The rain had drenched their clothes right through, and it was uncomfortably wet. But neither complained. At least they were still alive to be able to feel the wetness.
Behind them, a lone origami swan floated down, before coming to rest on the bed of petals which covered Jake's coffin.
.:X:.
Well...*awkward silence*.
Not entirely sure how this chapter turned out – I'm not used to writing about funerals and such... so hopefully it's not as horribly disgusting as I thought it was.
Well, this brings us to the end of this little series of one-shots. Sooner or later, I'll be posting up my next story which, in keeping with my tradition of having overly long names, I think I will call Not Every Story Ends Happily Ever After. So yeah, look out for it!
I'd like to take this moment to thank each and every reviewer/alerter I've ever had. I'm so happy that you think my stories are worth reviewing/alerting/favouriting.
As usual, please do review. It takes only about ten seconds compared to the hours I spend perfecting each chapter. So please, please leave a review.
Thank you all so much for sticking with this story!
Love Chariots99
