Sacrifices (Epilogue)

By Carol M.

See prologue for details

Note: So this is it. Sad to see this one go, I really had a good time writing it. Thanks for all the reviews and feedback everyone, I really appreciate it. Up next from me, a couple of Devil’s Silver stories, an entry for crimsoneyez fan fic contest, which I will post sometime in April, and for those interested, a Prey fic I’ve been working on (thanks for the angsty fics Allianora2!) So with that, I leave you with the epilogue to this one. Sorry for all the angst, but I know you all secretly love it. And just remember, while we may not have I-man right now, we will always have Darien, Bobby, Claire, Alex, the Official and Eberts in not only our minds, but in our hearts as well. Enjoy the last part!

Three Weeks Later

Darien lay on his bed flipping absently through the channels of his television, not really paying any attention to what he was watching. It had been a tough couple of weeks. After reuniting with Bobby, his full concentration had been switched to getting himself better. After a lot of sweat, tears, a few cases of vomiting and some good hearted swearing, Darien had done just that. And through it all, he and Bobby had managed to repair their damaged friendship.

While Darien had been physically healing, Bobby had been mentally healing. They were both doing so well that Claire had pronounced them both in good enough condition to return to work the next day. Of course for Darien it was only for half-day desk duty, but it was still great progress. Claire also had announced that it would be her last night staying with Darien. That bit of information had hit him right in the stomach for some reason and it had left him feeling slightly depressed. Darien sighed heavily at the thought and went back to pretending to watch a rerun of Prey.

Claire was in the kitchen making spaghetti for the both of them. She kept glancing at Darien, who had been unusually quiet all day. Finally, after a half-hour of complete silence, Claire spoke up. "Darien, what’s wrong?" she asked with her hands planted firmly on her hips.

Darien looked up at her with his eyebrows raised. "Huh?"

Claire sighed. "That’s exactly my point. No big words, no clever puns or anecdotes. What’s going on?" she asked as she started spooning the spaghetti onto plates.

"I don’t know what you mean?" said Darien innocently.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Never mind. Come here, it’s time to eat."

Darien shuffled out of bed and moped over to the kitchen, sitting down at the bar. Claire placed a plate of steaming hot spaghetti in front of his face. She sat down next to him and the pair began to eat in awkward silence.

"I think I’ve got all my stuff together," said Claire after a few minutes as she piled a heap of spaghetti onto her fork.

"Oh," said Darien dryly. "That’s good."

Claire slammed her fork down on her plate. "All right, out with it."

"Out with what?" asked Darien, stuffing his face with spaghetti.

"Why are you mad at me?" asked Claire.

Darien pointed at himself. "Who me? Why the hell would I be mad at you? You saved my life and kept me from descending into a black hole of depression and boredom. I’m grateful to you," he said, his eyes wide.

"Uh huh. I don’t buy it," said Claire in a slightly smug tone.

Darien took a deep breath and then slammed down his own fork. "Fine, all right, you caught me."

Claire raised her eyebrows. "Caught you?"

Darien’s expression softened and he looked down at his feet. "I don’t want you to leave."

"What?" asked Claire.

Darien looked up and met her eyes. "I said, I don’t want you to leave."

Claire gave him a confused glance. "I don’t understand. Are you still feeling sick? Do you want me to stay a few extra days?"

Darien stood up from his chair, very pissed off. "No I don’t want you to stay a few extra days."

"Then what? What do you want me to do?" shouted Claire, also standing up.

"You really want to know?" asked Darien.

Claire nodded. "Yes I do."

"Fine," said Darien. He stepped to Claire, grabbed her waist and dipped her halfway to the ground before planting a firm kiss against her lips. He gently pulled her back up and gave her a nervous glance. "I want you to stay here with me," he said softly.

Claire, who was flushed and breathing heavily, tried to play it nonchalant. "So you want me to live with you?"

Darien nodded. "Yes."

"As what exactly?" asked Claire.

"As friends," replied Darien softly. "I love having you here, Keep. You entertain me, cheer me up, do my laundry, make me cookies. I’m less lonely because of you."

"Darien," said Claire, dragging his name out.

Darien brought out the full on puppy dog eyes. "Please?" he whimpered.

Claire smiled. "Where would I sleep?"

Darien nodded towards the bed.

Claire raised an eyebrow. "In your bed?"

"Hey, Claire, I would be a perfect gentleman. Unless of course you didn’t want me to be," said Darien with a sly grin.

Claire looked down at the floor, smiling slightly. "Truth is, I kind of didn’t want to leave."

"Well see, there you go," said Darien. "Please, come on. We’ll be roomies. In the morning we can do our hair together and in the evenings we can bitch about the Official and gossip about Hobbes and Eberts. Oh, oh, and I’ll even cook for you. Now come on, what chick could resist that?" asked Darien.

Claire sighed heavily and finally after several long minutes looked up. "All right."

"All right?" said Darien.

"We’ll try it," said Claire. "But Darien, if anything funny goes on then I…"

"Don’t even say it," interrupted Darien. He cleared his throat awkwardly and nervously met her eyes. "You know that kiss before, it was just…just…"

"A friendly kiss?" offered Claire.

"Exactly. A thank you kiss," said Darien.

"You know there’s just one small problem with all of this," said Claire.

"What’s that?" asked Darien.

"Pavlov," said Claire.

"Oh right, Pavy. Well the little monster can be our third roommate," said Darien.

"Really?" said Claire.

"Yeah," said Darien. He reached his arms out and pulled her into an embrace. "Thanks for this."

Claire smiled against his shoulder. "You’re welcome."

The pair broke apart from their hug and continued eating dinner, planning how they would fit all of Claire’s stuff into Darien’s apartment. They spent the rest of the evening watching the Home Shopping Network before clamoring into Darien’s bed in exhaustion.

The next morning, they both prepared to return to work for the first time in nearly a month. They both took extra care in the bathroom, making sure they looked their absolute best. Then they left Darien’s apartment in Claire’s SUV, heading out to a flower shop. After a half-hour of searching, they each found exactly what they were looking for. Claire selected two bouquets of white and pink roses, while Darien settled for two bouquets of sunflowers. They quickly paid for their flowers and got back in the SUV, both anxious to go visit some family.

They arrived at Francine Jefferson Memorial a little after 8 a.m. The sun was just starting to rise high in the sky and it’s bright intensity made the beads of dew on the ground sparkle. They both quietly made their way over to Alex and Kevin’s tombstones.

Darien stepped up first, setting the two bouquets on each of their graves. He stepped back and let Claire do the same. She set down the flowers and then stepped back next to Darien, sighing with sadness. They each stood in silence, staring back and forth between Alex and Kevin’s tombstones, memories and unspoken words running through their heads. They stood there for nearly a half hour until somebody snuck up on them from behind.

"Fancy seeing you two here," said Bobby as he came up behind them.

Claire and Darien both jumped and turned around. "How did you know we’d be here?" asked Darien.

Bobby smiled and set the two small American flags he had been carrying next to the tombstones. "I’m your partner, I’m supposed to know these things."

Darien nodded. "Yeah."

"Some good people buried right here," said Bobby.

Claire nodded. "The best."

"Heroes," came a voice from behind.

The trio turned around and saw the Official come up behind them with Eberts in tow, who was carrying an armload of flowers.

Darien shook his head in confusion. "Do I have a tracking device on me that I’m not aware of?"

The Official smiled slightly. "Eberts," he said as he motioned towards the graves.

Eberts diligently placed two gigantic bouquets of yellow roses on Alex and Kevin’s graves.

The Official stepped in between his employees and cleared his throat. "I want to apologize to all of you. That includes Monroe," he said, glancing sadly at her tombstone.

Darien and Bobby both exchanged curious looks. "Wow, this is a first. You’re actually sorry for something," said Darien sarcastically.

The Official looked down at his feet and nodded. " I never should have put you people in the position you were in and for that I apologize. It cost a good agent her life and nearly cost you yours, Darien. I want you to know that none of what took place was personal. I care a great deal not only about you, but Mr. Hobbes, Ms. Keeply and Mr. Eberts as well. So with that, I would like to say it’s good to have you all back."

Darien, Claire, and Bobby all exchanged smiles before looking back at the Official. "So does that mean we all get raises?" asked Darien.

The Official scowled. "Do you think I have the budget to give you a raise? I don’t even have the budget to give myself a raise."

"Just checking, sir," said Claire.

The Official glanced once more at the graves and then sighed. "All right people, back to work. Life goes on," he said as he started walking away from the plots. "Eberts."

"Right behind you, sir," said Eberts. He started walking to catch up to the Official and then turned around briefly, staring at Alex’s grave. He blew it a kiss and a soft smile formed on his face. Then he turned back around and followed the Official towards the parking lot.

"Well I guess that’s our cue," said Darien as he glanced at Claire and Bobby.

Claire and Bobby both nodded. "Yeah," said Bobby.

"Can I get a minute, guys?" asked Darien.

"Yeah, partner," said Bobby as he patted Darien on the back. He glanced once again at the graves and then extended his hand towards Claire. "Ready, Keep?"

Claire nodded. "Yeah." She grabbed his hand, blew a kiss towards the graves and then let Bobby lead her towards the parking lot.

Darien watched them leave and then looked back at the graves with tears in his eyes. He sat down in the space between the two tombstones and sighed. "I should be here instead of you guys," he whispered softly. "Both of you saved my life. I still don’t why. I guess I’ll never know. But I want to thank both of you," he whispered as a tear ran down his cheek. "I know I’m not perfect, but from now on, I’m really going to make an effort to be a good person and do the right thing," he said, a small smile appearing on his face. "Well, most of the time," he added slyly.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out two photos. One was of Darien and Kevin when they were both young boys, the other was of Alex with the rest of the gang at Bobby’s birthday party. He set the pictures down on their respective graves. "Don’t forget me. I’ll never forget either of you."

And with that, Darien stood up, wiped at his tears and stuck his hands in his pockets, taking one last glance at the tombstones. Then he slowly turned around and walked towards the parking lot, thankful for his life and thankful that Kevin wasn’t alone anymore.

That’s All Folks!

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