Chapter 37

Palmer spent the day on the Autopsy room. Dr Mallard didn't want to allow him to work in the first place, the man was involved in their case and had lied about who he was. But his assistant had asked more than once for something to do. So he was now looking at the younger man cleaning several tools.

He wanted to talk to him about his life, but seeing how guarded he was before, he would have to be careful.

" So, Mr Palmer, may I ask, why did you choose to work as an assistant ME? "

The man looked up from his work and looked at the ME.

" I'm sorry Dr? "

" I was just wondering, why did you choose to become an assistant ME. You know, from what you told us, I would not have guessed that you would take such an official job. "

" Ah, well. I don't know. It's a lot of things actually. I don't know if I could pinpoint a reason. "

" Our decisions are always a result of many things Mr Palmer, but surely some of them have a bigger weight. "

The young man looked deep in thought for a moment, something flashed in his eyes, but it was so fast that Ducky could not identify it.

" All I can say is that it felt right. "

That reminded Ducky of the message.

" Is this 'feeling right' have anything to do with Artemis saying that your job made her feel like you two were never that far apart? "

He didn't answer right away, just looked back to his work. When Ducky thought he would not answer he finally did.

" When we, were together, the one thing we were sure of, was that life was short. Finite. Talking about death was not a taboo between us. We understand that death is a part of life, and is not to be feared in the way other seem to do it. "

Ducky noticed that his assistant switched from past to preset tense in his speech. And, he used a soft tone while speaking, just like he did a few times while speaking of her. The man clearly still had feelings for her.

" If I may ask. What made you fall in love with her? How was she like? "

Palmer looked towards the wall, but his eyes were focussing on the past.

" If there is one woman who could make you fall head over hills in love is her. " He then smiled a little, laughing at a silent joke.

" What? "

" The first time I saw her. I tought she was beautiful. Stunning. And half an hour later, she had scammed me out of half of my rati-, diner. "

Ducky looked at the smile on his assistant's face, that was love. At one time, there was an honest feeling between two people. What had happened, that now she was willing to brutally murder several people, including children, just to punish him?

" Sounds like a rather unforgettable first impression. "

" It was. Prettiest woman to ever scam me. " He chuckled and shook his head.

" You still love her, don't you? " Asked the old ME, his voice filled with understanding.

Palmer closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

" I don't think I'll ever stop loving her. " He said, with a small voice. " Or that I'll ever love someone else. " He said, barely a whisper.

" I don't believe you should think like that Mr Palmer. You are still young. And, I'm not trying to say that your feeling towards this woman are not important. But in time, I'm sure you'll learn to love someone else. After all, you did leave her. "

" I only left because I love myself more Dr. Not because I stopped loving her. " He closed his eyes. " Yeah, not very bright, am I? "

" Well, I won't judge your feelings towards her, but I believe that the most important part is that you choose yourself. And that is a very bright thing. "

The man didn't say anything more for a while, just focussing on their work.

One hour later, Palmer was leaving towards the break room, just as he was going out the door, he turned back.

" Thank you Dr. I always enjoyed our conversations. "

Then he left.

Ducky sat and thought about the things he learned about the young man. He had the strangest feeling that the sentence meant good-bye.