Here is the final chapter. I was considering breaking it up into two, but I don't like ending fics on prime numbers and six chapters is better than seven. Plus they wouldn't have been very long chapters anyway since the fic is from Paige's POV and so most of the funeral ceremony would be something she doesn't understand.

Anyway huge thanks to all readers and reviewers of this fic, I actually really enjoyed planning and writing it.

Louise left early in the morning to go to where her husband's body was being prepared, once again insisting that she had to do this all herself. "I need to make sure he's ready. Then go with him to the church. Walter, you remember how to get there?"

After being assured that he did, Louise kissed her son, son – in – law, and Paige on the cheek and headed out the door.

Paige watched her go. "I never realized your mom was so independent. Or assertive."

"She..." Walter shook his head. "She never was."

"Your dad was pretty authoritative," Sylvester said. "Maybe she just always felt like he was a better decision maker and so she left all of those things up to him. But now she...has no choice." He stood up, taking his and Paige's cereal bowls and rinsing them in the sink.

Paige thought that, at times, Louise had seemed almost afraid to try to defy her husband. That wasn't the type of relationship she would want for herself, and she always had been a bit resentful of Sean, because she thought that Louise might have tried harder to understand Walter if it hadn't been for Sean's loud, insistent claims that the boy was hopeless. Honestly it had made her angry at Louise too, for a while, but she couldn't blame someone for not being strong enough to stand up to someone. She'd certainly let Drew walk all over her for the better part of a year.

She wasn't going to argue with Sly over the reasons why Louise had been so meek in the shadow of her husband. It wasn't appropriate. "So, uh, Walter," she said, resting her head on her hands. "What's to be expected at this funeral? I haven't been to a Catholic funeral in close to twenty years and never one in Ireland."

"We have diverted a bit from the traditional Irish wake," Walter said. "My mother did spend some times down where my father's body was laid out, but it's usually a bigger affair. Never seemed necessary to me."

"She told me that while Sean was big on Irish traditions," Sylvester said, "he oddly didn't want them for himself. She said they talked about it shortly after Megan passed away, and he didn't want his death to be a big event."

"What do we expect today?" Paige asked.

"We're headed to the church in a little bit, then the cemetery will be after that. They'll use a spade and a shovel to cover the coffin with clay and then they'll be laid on the grave in the shape of a cross. Then they'll pray some more. This mass itself will probably be about ninety minutes beforehand," Walter added. "Parts of it will be in Gaelic, but, you know, it's a funeral, you can get the gist of it."

"Do you speak Gaelic?" Paige asked, genuinely curious.

"It's been decades, obviously. I think at this point I'd be much better listening to it than speaking, but it would likely come back to me quickly."

"Probably. You did learn Morse Code in just a couple of hours."

"That was a bit different. I was bored."

"Yeah, but it'd just be a refresher in Gaelic."

"True."

"Well, I won't know one word of it," Sylvester said. "So Paige, you and I can sit there and be confused together."

Paige reached over, extending her fist, and Sylvester bumped it with his own. "Deal," she said.

"There is usually a period where people will speak about the deceased," Walter said. "My mother will speak."

"I was considering it," Sylvester said, "but she said that in all honesty, Sean wouldn't even want her to say anything, if he didn't think it would make her feel better. If it was up to him he wouldn't have a funeral at all. And I don't want to go against his wishes like that. I'm sure he'd understand her talking; he did leave her all alone, after all."

Paige looked at the clock on the microwave. "We should probably get dressed."

"Paige and I showered last night," Walter said. "So it's free if you need it, Sly."

"I showered this morning before you guys were up. This works out well. We won't be pushing it getting there."

"We're not going to get there too much before it starts, though," Paige reminded him. Walter wasn't interested in subjecting himself to more belittling from family and family friends. This trip was hard enough on him and she'd promised him his interaction with them would be limited.

"Of course," Sylvester said, as he got up and headed for the stairs.

"It'll be okay," Walter said, putting his hand on top of hers. "We can get ready now. We'd only be getting there fifteen minutes or so before it starts."

She looked at him, raising her eyebrows slightly. "Hey. Are you sure? Thomas and Conner, and that one cousin..."

"I know Thomas and Conner will probably make comments again," Walter said, staring down at the table. "But I don't care." He turned his head toward her and smiled warmly. "I have the most stunning woman in all of the United States and Ireland on my arm. And she's kind. And loving. And I don't know what I did to deserve her because she could have any man in the world, but she's not with Thomas or Conner and that means I must be better than them."

Walter was right. Paige had no clue what the priest was saying for a good part of the mass, but it was very touching. Less than halfway through, she pulled out a tissue and dabbed her eye.

He kept an arm around her waist the entire time, his other arm crossing over his body to hold her hand. She was proud of him.

They'd sat downstairs with his mother for over an hour the night before, and Paige had been almost concerned at how there had been no hint of the pain he had confessed to her earlier present. But once they'd gone up to their room for the night, the walls had come down again. Her pride in him had surged when she realized now his apparent calm in public was putting on a front for the sake of his mother.

But he was still hurting. Long term couples slept with a bit of space between them more often than not, but he'd spent the entire night in her arms, still needing closeness. She hadn't slept as well as a result. But she hadn't minded.

So now, she watched out of the corner of her eye as he stared up at the priest with a fairly stoic expression. He was clinging to her, but anyone sitting around them wouldn't have any way of knowing how much this all distressed him. She squeezed his hand.

When Louise spoke about her husband, Paige squeezed her eyes shut and rested her head on Walter's shoulder, feeling his head come to rest against hers. Their marriage may have been unbalanced, but Louise had adored her husband. Spending her life with him, she'd said, was the greatest decision she'd ever made.

Walter tightened his grip on her hand.

"I have to stay out here a little bit longer," Louise said. "Until all the others leave." She glanced back at the grave, shovel and spade crossed over the top, several people on their knees in front of it. "But I know you have an early flight tomorrow, so if you need to get home..."

"We probably should," Walter said. "If we pack and load the car tonight, we won't be bothering you in the morning."

"I will be up to see you off, Walter Patrick O'Brien," Louise said firmly. "We are not saying our goodbyes tonight. I almost never see you. And I will miss you too much when you are gone." She looked between Walter and Sylvester. "You boys are all I have left."

"You know," Sylvester said, "if you ever wanted to...relocate...Walter and I work together. We live just twenty minutes apart. Our friend Happy's dad used to live pretty close and she saw him all the time." He trailed off. "I'm just...just saying that if..."

Louise put her hand on her son – in – law's arm. "I have to stay in Ireland as long as Tobin is alive, Sylvester. I'm about the only family he has left, and I'm in charge of his medical decisions if he ever can't make them for himself. But beyond that..." she shook her head. "This is my home. I was born in this town and I've lived here for my entire life. But home is where yer heart is, and there are large pieces of my heart in the United States."

"If you ever did decide to immigrate," Paige said, "we'd provide any assistance necessary." She glanced at Walter, who gave a nod.

"Growing up, I always just assumed I should die in Ireland," Louise said. "But the past few years have changed a lot of things. I know that eventually, living near you boys..." She smiled at Sylvester as she put her other hand on Walter's shoulder. "Megan's husband, my son, and..." she smiled at Paige, then looked back to Walter with an eyebrow raised. "My daughter – in – law, perhaps?"

Sylvester raised his eyebrows at Louise's forwardness, but Walter and Paige glanced at each other and smiled. "I think so," Walter said, looking back at his mom.

Louise threw her arms around Paige. Take it easy, she thought with an amused smile on her face.

Louise drew back, holding Paige at arm's length. "I should be home in an hour or so."

"Are you sure?" Sylvester asked.

"Yes, darling. Go ahead."

The ride back to the house was quiet. Paige stared out the window, her head leaning against it even though every bump the car went over banged the side of her head against the glass. Yet another thing that looked better in movies. The day had quickly gone overcast, but it still wasn't expected to rain. She hoped they wouldn't fall into another drought. Louise had enough to worry about nowadays.

Paige couldn't imagine being alone in a house that she used to share with someone. When her father died, she was already seeing Drew. When Drew left, she had Ralph.

There was one case, six months ago, where word had come through that Walter had been killed in a risky attempt to complete a mission. The seven minutes between that word and the confirmation of his actual survival had been the most agonizing of Paige's life. She supposed she should be a little afraid of what she'd feel if she was left alone after over forty years. But she wasn't. She'd endure that pain in exchange for forty years with the man beside her.

But still. When it was all over, after that long, whoever was left was bound to be lonely. And as Walter parked the car and the three of them headed back into the house, it seemed smaller and darker than ever before.

Sylvester headed for the stairs, and Paige turned to follow, stopping when she felt Walter's hand catching around her wrist. She turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just..." he smiled. "Thank you again. For coming with me, and for being...my support system. Today and...and in general." He glanced around the house. "I...I'm..." He nodded. "I'm glad we came."

The End