Fic: Lost Cause, Chapter 2/2 (Numb3rs, Don Martin)
Title: Lost Cause, Chapter 2/2
Pair: Don Eppes / Martin Fridegord
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
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Chapter 1/2
Don took another sip from his wineglass. His focus was fixed on the elderly man, who had been going back and forth for the past five minutes, carrying a measuring tape. Most people had regrouped into small groups that talked in muted tones, and sent uncertain glances across the room.
The casket was placed on a platform, and a framed picture was placed on top of it along with bouquet of carnations. Every one of the guest had made the awkward trip the casket, and then retreated to the safety of others.
“Can you hold the other end for me?” The man offered him the other end of the measuring tape. “I need to measure the door.”
“Sure.” Don took the other end and held it obediently on the other side of the doorframe while the man measured the with of it. “Do you mind telling me why you’re doing this?”
“We brought the casket in through the backdoor, but now they want to escort it to the hearse through the front door.” He shrugged and rolled up the tape. “Thank goodness this is wide enough.”
“Shouldn’t you have done that before?”
“We were supposed to take it in and out through the backdoor and take it to the storage for the night, but then that woman…” He pointed at the woman across the room. “…I can’t say it. A client is a client.”
“Good policy.”
“But if that cow comes to complaining one more time, I’ll let her carry the box herself.”
“She… She suffered a big loss.”
“Is she normally sane?”
“On most people’s standards… no.”
“That’s what I thought. It’s been one hell of a day, and yesterday wasn’t much better. Two days! They gave us two days to get everything together, and then she complains if some little detail isn’t up to her demands.”
“Like what?”
“You weren’t here when we brought the casket in?”
“No, we came straight from the airport.”
“We opened the casket so the family members could say goodbye. The woman lost a daughter and she starts complaining about the make-up. The girl had a head injury, there’s only so much that make-up can cover. And then she said the body looked like a clown! Our make-up man is a real artist, she had no right to say that. He’s worked for some of the best drag artists of our generation!” The man snapped his tape measure open again and left, still muttering curses about bitchy women, who had no respect for talent.
“I have to admit I understand him. Mom’s not the easiest person to get along with.”
Don turned to face the woman, who had approached him and once again he had to wonder what accident of nature had decided to split the Fridegord family. Martin and Catherine had inherited their father’s dark and angular look, while the rest of the children took after their blond and round mother. The two darker siblings were so alike, anyone could have spotted the relation miles away. Catherine had the same dark hair, green eyes and slender built, but the similarities went deeper than that. They even shared the same mannerisms, and same gestures. She looked like a feminine version of her brother, even down to the little quarks. Then she opened her mouth again and the illusions shattered. Martin’s constant travelling had honed away most of his accent, and replaced it with softness that hid all hints of his origins, while his sister had stayed firmly on her familiar stomping ground. Her speech made it clear she was a California girl through and through.
“Don, you’re staring.”
“Sorry.” Don offered her a smile and a shrug. “Sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks. Dad was happy you two came, mom’s seriously getting on his nerves.”
“Good thing this was today, so we could come here for the weekend. I had no idea Lutherans have wakes.”
“It’s not really a wake.” She stated and grabbed a glass of wine from the passing waiter, who was carrying a tray of drinks. “Few more olives and we got ourselves a cocktail party with a casket. Joanna wasn’t religious and it would have felt too ridiculous to have church ceremonies, so this was a compromise. First we get together here and in the morning we’ll have a quick ceremony at the graveyard. Personally I think this whole party is macabre.”
“Is everyone here? I didn’t see anyone I know, except your parents.”
“Priscilla left around the time you got here, her kids started to get too restless.” She emptied her glass and left it on the nearest table. “And Liz didn’t come at all, she said she had something she couldn’t miss.”
“Maybe she did.”
“Or maybe she just didn’t want to come. After that show with Tommy I started to think she may have the right idea.”
“What show?”
“They opened the casket so we could say goodbye, and mom thought it would be a good idea for the kid to say goodbye to his mom. The boy just freaked out.”
“Did he calm down?”
“I don’t know, I think he’s hiding somewhere. He does that a lot.”
“How did he take all this?”
“I’m not sure how much he understands. Mom’s… she is what she is, but that boy’s seen more than enough before he ended up here. Mom can be too heavy handed, and doesn’t even realise why people get upset with her.”
“Like the saying goes, physician…”
“… heal thyself.” She finished with a small grin. “Or a shrink in this case. I try to be around as much as I can, but I have my job and my own kid.”
“You think they’re…” Don made a vague gesture at the general direction of her parents. “… up to it?”
“I don’t know. They had all kind of plans about what they were going to do when dad finally retires. Mom was supposed to give up the last few patients she has and they were going to start travelling and doing this and that. And then everything turned upside down.”
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Martin closed the French doors and stepped out to backyard. He pulled his tie open and walked down the stairs to the pool area. The blueness of the water and the strong scent of chlorine made the scenery as artificial as possible and even the last stretch of the daylight couldn’t make it look as pretty as the landscaper had undoubtedly thought it would be. Martin sat down on the edge of the pool and breathed deep. A small sound came from somewhere near and he looked up. The door of the small poolhouse was open.
“Anyone in there?” He got up and approached the door. “Not really a good time to go for a swim.” He peeked inside. First he didn’t even notice the small boy sitting under the towel shelf. Martin crouched down to one knee to meet the boys eyes. “Tommy?”
“They said I can come here, as long as I don’t go to the water when I’m alone.” The boy stated almost defiantly. Bright red spots were burning on his cheeks.
“Can you swim?”
“No.”
“Then it’s a good policy. Aren’t you gonna go in and play with the other kids?”
“Is she still there?”
“Who?”
“Mommy.”
“Yeah, she’s still there.”
“It it still open?”
“No, they closed the coffin.”
“It didn’t look like her.”
“I didn’t see it, but I’ll take your word for it.”
“Why did they bring her here?”
“I’m not really sure.” Martin admitted. “So that people could say goodbye.”
“Why? She can’t say anything.”
“Good question. You don’t wanna go back in?”
The boy shook his head and Martin nodded.
“Okay. We got maybe… thirty minutes left before the sunset. Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“You’ll see.”
“I’m not supposed to leave without grandma.”
“We’re not going very far.”
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“So how are you feeling?”
“Are you talking about death, mom or my martini?” Catherine asked and took a sip from her newly acquired drink.
“Take your pick.”
“Mixed feelings about Joanna. We just got her back. If you can say that… and now she’s gone again. Mom I can handle and my drink is strong enough to help me through tonight. Thanks for asking.”
“You’re welcome.” Don commented and looked down at the drink in her hand. “Shouldn`t you be slowing down a bit with that?”
“No. We’re burying my sister in the morning and after the guests are gone I have to get mom to calm down. That requires more alcohol than I can stand.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Besides, I`m staying the night here, so I don`t need to drive." She glared at the crowd of visitors chatting next to them. "Speaking of mothers, what was yours like? I remember Martin telling she died few years ago.”
“More than few. She was…” Don thought about it. “I was gonna say “good mother”, but that’s not really enough. I lived away from my family for a while, so… I sometimes hope I would have been around more as a grown-up.”
“Yeah, it’s different when you’re not a kid anymore.” She agreed and emptied her glass. “You still love your parents, but you can see their mistakes. When you’re a kid, you idolise them. Can’t see their mistakes.”
“Did your mom make a lot of mistakes?”
“She… Well, she’ll never change. Joanna’s kid has gone through enough, he doesn’t need more burden to carry.”
“You’d think a shrink would know what she’s doing.”
“You’d think so.” She grinned from ear to ear. “When someone gives other people advices about their lives year after year, it goes to her head and she thinks she’s infallible. When it comes to Tommy… I think she’s got a huge blind spot right there. Just like she had with his mother.”
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“Thanks.” Martin received two ice-cream cones from the vendor and handed one over to Tommy. “Have you been here often?”
“Grandma said it was too crowded when I asked.” Tommy followed him to the cooling sand and looked at the calm rush of the waves. “There’s no one here.”
“You just gotta know when to come here.” Martin pulled off his shoes and socks and sat down on the sand. The sun was coming down and the horizon was beaming in every shade of orange. He licked off the trail of melting ice cream that was running down his fingers. “Did your mom take you to the beach?”
“Sometimes.”
“Just the two of you?”
“Yeah.” Tommy was quiet for a while and focused on his ice-cream. “What was mom like? Before me?”
“She was… I don’t know. She was always going somewhere. Restless.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. She couldn’t stay in one place for long. Maybe she got bored.”
“You come and go too. Are you like mom?”
“Not really. I got a house in Los Angeles, and I go away for work and then come home.”
“Or when you come here.”
“Yeah.”
Both of them were quiet for a while. The sun was slowly descending and the heat of the day vanished rapidly. Tommy bit off a bit of his waffle cone and stared at the last little piece.
“Can we stay here a while?”
“Sure.” Martin peeled off his jacket and draped it on the boy’s shoulders.
Epilogue