Skyfall

Chapter Eleven

Harvey got out of the car and held the door open for Rebecca and his mom to get out. Marcus, Ethan and Olivia were in the car ahead of them as they rode to the church for Katie's funeral.

Being stuck in the car with his mom was awkward. Rebecca talked to her the whole ride to the church. Since he wasn't speaking to his mom unless absolutely necessary, he just stared out the window the whole time.

Katie's death had impacted him more than he thought it would. She was a great sister in law and he would miss her. She understood him and put up with the fact that, up until he met Rebecca, he was only in their lives on his own, selfish terms.

She didn't seem to be angry or resentful about the fact that he wasn't a good brother or uncle for such a long time. She just let him back into their lives like he had never left. While he would miss her, he also felt bad for Marcus and the kids.

The past couple of days he saw his brother retreat into himself and be very quiet, which he realized was Marcus' way of coping with everything going on. It still worried him though.

He could only imagine the pain of losing the person you love in such a random, violent manner—especially since the police didn't seem to have any leads on finding the person or persons responsible.

He knew that Marcus loved Katie more than anything else in the world. It was the same way he felt about Rebecca. Losing Rebecca would devastate him and he would probably be acting the same way as Marcus was right now. That was why he was giving his brother some space.

He grabbed a hold of Rebecca's hand as they entered the church behind Marcus, the kids and his mom. They sat in the front row. As soon as they sat down, Olivia moved to sit on Rebecca's lap, clinging on to her for dear life. He looked over at Rebecca and shrugged. Ethan sat sandwiched between Marcus and Lily.

It wasn't long before the service started and the preacher appeared in the front.

"Psalm 23 says: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

"For those of you who don't know me. My name is Father Walker, and I am one of the pastors here. On behalf of the family, I would like to welcome you as we have gathered here together today to remember Katherine, Katie, Specter. Thank you for being here today. I am sure that the family recognizes that you don't have to be here. Your presence today is an affirmation of your love and support for them. They will remember your presence here for the rest of their lives."

"We have all been touched by Katie's life and story, and each of us feels this loss deeply. But we cannot change what happened. The important thing is that we learn from Katie's passing what we need to know about ourselves, about life, and about God."

"When we are faced with uncertainty all around us, I think it's important that we turn to what we are certain of. We are certain that Katie loved her family. She was always talking about how proud she was of her children and her devotion to her family was evident to all who knew her. Katie loved her friends. She was already ready to lend a helping hand to any friend that needed something, whether it was advice or help. And Katie loved God."

"Today we can take comfort in the fact that we know that Katie is with Jesus, and when all is said and done that is all that matters in life. Life is not about the house you lived in, the car you drove, or the money you made. It is never easy to lose a loved one. So this morning, I want us to turn our hearts towards God who is the giver of all comfort and the restorer of our souls."

"Life is hard. We struggle with pain, illness, and the grief of losing a loved ones. But God can take us from our situation and bring us to a place of rest where we can lie down beside quiet waters where our souls can be refreshed. Our lives on this earth are hard and painful. Sometimes things happen that we don't fully understand. But our encouragement is that one day, all of our hurt and pain can be over, and we can spend all eternity in paradise."

"In Heaven, we will walk on streets of gold. In Heaven, there will be a family reunion. We will be reunited with those who have gone on before us. In Heaven, we will experience peace that is beyond comprehension. And most importantly, we will be with Jesus. And we will finally see the great love of God in all of its glory."

"I would now like to call upon anyone who wishes to come up and say a few words about Katie."

Rebecca tried to get Olivia to move over to Harvey so she could go up there, but the little girl moved around to hug her neck tightly. She had planned on saying something about Katie and it looked like if she wanted to do it, she would have to take Olivia with her. She stood up and carried Olivia up to the front.

"Hi everyone. For those of you who don't know, I'm Rebecca Specter, Katie's sister in law. And this is her daughter, Olivia. I wanted to come up here and talk about the kind of person Katie was. I was only fortunate to know Katie for a few years, but she was one of my closest friends and I considered her a true sister. She was so supportive to everyone and her family was the most important part of her life."

"She loved her kids and her husband more than anything in the world and she would have done anything for them. She was funny, sweet, sarcastic, smart and generous. The world isn't going to be the same without her."

She stopped talking and hugged Olivia tighter as she came back to her seat. Once she was sitting back down and had Olivia back on her lap, Harvey reached over and grabbed her free hand. He gave it a squeeze and she looked over at him, giving him a small smile.

Later on in the afternoon, Harvey went out to the back with a bag of trash. They had a small reception back at the house and they were currently cleaning up since the last guest had just left. After putting the bag in the trash can, he turned to see his mom standing there in front of the door.

"What do you want?" He sighed.

"Harvey…you have to talk to me at some point." She pointed out.

"No, actually I don't." He argued. "In fact, I think I've done a rather good job not talking to you for a long time. I don't want to ruin my streak."

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"I don't hate you." He told her. "I nothing you."

"Harvey, there comes a point and time when you will realize that life is too short for grudges and feuds. I would have hoped that you would have realized that by now."

"What do you want from me?" He sighed again. "Do you want me to pretend that nothing is wrong? Because I can't do that."

"I just want my son back." She sighed. "I've missed a large portion of your life because you are mad at me. I don't want to lose any more time. If Katie were here…"

"Don't you dare try to use Katie's death as a way to make me feel guilty." He interrupted.

"I wasn't trying to." She held her hands up in surrender. "Harvey, whether or not you chose to believe it I love you. You are my son…my firstborn. And yes, I made a mistake. And yes it hurt you and destroyed the family. But I'm sorry. I'm not perfect. I'm only human. I'm sorry for everything that I put you through and I'm sorry for the way it tore the family apart. If you can't understand that then I don't know what to say to you anymore. Maybe there is nothing I can say or do to make you change your mind. But you're a fool if you think I will stop trying. I've let this go on for far too long. We need to settle this."

"Maybe I don't want to settle this." He pointed out. "You can keep trying, but don't expect anything to change."

"Harvey…"

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find Rebecca." He walked around her and went back into the house.

Harvey followed Rebecca back into their hotel room and closed the door. It had been a long and draining day, with the funeral and then the reception back at the house. They stayed to help clean up and get the kids down to bed. He saw that Rebecca was sitting on the foot of the bed.

"Hey." He went over and sat next to her. "I think the kids handled today well."

"I do too." She nodded. "I'm still a little worried about Ethan though. We need to make an effort to check on him after we get back home."

"Of course." He nodded.

"And we need to make sure we're checking on Marcus a lot too." She told him. "I'm worried about him as well."

"Absolutely." He promised, grabbing a hold of her hand. "You were quiet the whole way back."

"I don't know what to say anymore." She whispered. "I miss her. And I hate that she's gone. I hate that the baby she was carrying will never get to be born. I hate that her kids have to grow up without their mother. I hate that Marcus lost his wife. I just hate it all."

"I do too." He assured her, putting his arm around her.

She started to really cry for the first time since they found out about Katie's death. He had been wondering how long it was going to take for her to crumble. He honestly thought she would have cried like this before now, but maybe it was the finality of seeing Katie in the coffin that pushed her over the edge.

Her head rested on his shoulder as she cried and he tightened his grip on her. "Hey. It's going to be alright."

They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity as she cried. But he didn't mind. He knew what Katie meant to her and knew that this was something she had to do in order to start moving past it.

Eventually she stopped crying and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"I didn't do anything." He shrugged.

"You let me cry." She gave him a small smile.

"To be honest, I'm surprised it took this long for you to let it out." He kissed her forehead.

"I was trying to be strong for everyone." She sighed.

"You don't ever have to be strong for me." He told her.

"Speaking of strong, I couldn't help but notice while doing the dishes that your mom cornered you outside."

"Ugh. Don't remind me." He rolled his eyes. "She wants to work things out with me."

"Harvey…" She said quietly.

"I know…I know…" He interrupted her. "You and everyone else seem to think I need to let my mom back into my life. Hell, maybe all of you are right. But I can't do it right now."

"Ok. I can respect that." She nodded, adding a slight chuckle. "But actually all I was going to say was I love you and if you ever want to talk about it I'm here for you."

He grinned and couldn't help but laugh too. "I love you too."

She grabbed a hold of his face and started giving him soft kisses. A few moments later, he felt her shift and move so that she was straddling him.

He put his hands on her ass, pushing her closer to him so she could feel his arousal.

"Harvey…" She moaned softly. "Please…"

"Please what?" He taunted her, letting one of his hands travel to her front entrance. He gently stroked her over her underwear.

"Please…" Her eyes started to close and her breathing got more ragged. "I need you."

He moved the tiny strip of underwear to the side and inserted two fingers. He could tell that she was ready and started to pump his fingers at a steady pace. Judging from the way she was breathing and the soft moans, he could tell she was getting closer.

He moved his mouth closer to her ear. "Let yourself go. Come for me."

He pulled back and saw her open her eyes. She stared at him for a moment before she claimed his mouth with hers. Moments later, he felt her give in to the pleasure. She broke apart from their kiss and moved her head to his shoulder as she tried to get her breathing back under control.

After a few minutes she pulled back and looked at him. "Thank you." She whispered.

"You might want to save that thank you for later because I'm not even close to being done with you yet." He smirked, seeing her chuckle. "I have special plans for you tonight."