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Marshall Law (8)

Wolfie Steel & Kausn_Husky.

(My thanks to Kausn_husky for agreeing to help me with this story, all of the characters in this story are mine, however, Sergeant Lucas Doyle has been given over to Kausn, as hopefully he will be able to add something to the story)

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I let out a deep and sorrowful sigh, it is Friday morning, but it is not just any Friday morning it is the Friday morning that I didn't want to come around, the same Friday morning that neither the department or Mike and the kids wanted to come around, it is the day of Trish's funeral.

Lucas begins to ready my chair until I stop him.

"Lucas, today I am determined to walk at Trish's funeral, I want everyone to see that I am done with feeling sorry for myself."

Lucas gently nods as he replies.

"Alright, I will still pack your chair in the back of the car just in case you start to get tired."

He folds the chair back up and moves it to the side so that he can now help me to get dressed, we begin with a mutual shower, oh gods I could have some fun with Lucas right now but today is not the day for that. After our shower Lucas helps to dry me off and then helps me to get into my suit.

Normally I look fairly good in a suit even if I do say so myself, and usually I love wearing them, but today is going to be different, today I look at the suit with disdain, black trousers, white button down shirt, black tie and black jacket.

Today any colours seem to have lost their vibrancy, even the orange of my fur looks like a heavily bleached version, now Trish, she had the ability to brighten up any day, it is true that we bounced off each other brilliantly. On days where she was bummed out I would be there with a quip, anecdote or joke and instantly she would be her old beaming self again, and then on the days where I woke up on the wrong side of the bed all she had to do was meet me at our shared desk and instantly my day seemed so much more bearable.

I know that pretty soon Lucas will be the one to brighten my day but as much as I love him I will still feel that there is a great hole in my soul that will never be filled, there will never be another Trish.

Now that I am ready Lucas takes the chair down stairs and out to the car to load it into the trunk, yes he knows that he should stay with me as it will be my first time of using my crutches in anger but he also knows that sometimes even he cannot quell the stubbornness that flows through my body.

I sit on the chair lift and place the crutches across my lap, I begin my journey down the stairs, once at the bottom Lucas removes the crutches from my lap and then holds them ready for me. I sit on the chair lift for a few seconds more and then I muster up whatever strength I have and lift myself towards the waiting crutches.

I begin to stumble a little and Lucas is quick to action, but I dismiss his attempts as my arms are now wrapped around my crutches, I then stabilize myself and then with a massive huff I hoist myself back into a standing position, Lucas gently growls at me and I gently growl back no words are said between us, no words are needed I knew what he meant by his growl as he knew what I meant by mine.

Lucas now heads outside to open the passenger door of the car for me; I gingerly begin my journey out to the car. A journey that would normally take me mere seconds takes about three minutes and that is before I have even sat my ass down in the passenger seat, after about five or six minutes I am finally seated in the car, Lucas takes my crutches and lays them on the back seat in readiness for when we get to the church.

I put on my safety belt while Lucas locks the door of the house, he then joins me in the car and we begin one of the most painful journeys of my life.

After an hour's drive we arrive at the church, even though we are early there are still folks from the department there. Captain Myers is the first to spot Lucas and I as we pull up in the parking area, he heads over to meet us.

"Hi there guys and thank you for making the extreme effort to get here, I know that it will mean so much to both Trish and her family."

Lucas takes the crutches from the back seat of the car and then stands at the open passenger door and hands them to me, I slowly but surely begin the task of getting out of the car, if getting in was a work of art then getting out was going to be a whole lot worse.

Finally I am standing with my crutches under each arm but now I am aware that all eyes are on me, I turn to face everyone while Lucas shuts the car door and makes sure the car is locked, with that done he stands to my right side while Captain Myers stands a my left we then head towards the gathering.

As I stand there in front of my piers I can tell you now that I am one humbled Fox, gentle pats on the back from well wishers and soft spoken words of condolence and sorrow, it feels so wrong for me to be receiving all of this good will I mean come on all I lost was a partner, it is Mike and the kids who have lost everything.

I so want to snap at everybody but I know that this is neither the time nor the place and so I just stand there waiting for the arrival of the hearse. After a five minute wait we all watch as the hearse makes its slow journey down the driveway, we all say a silent prayer as the car comes to a stop, the second car carrying Mike and the kids comes to a stop at a respectful distance from the hearse, again Captain Myers is quick into action as he heads over to the car to greet Mike and the kids.

"Mr Davis, Paul and Andrew my words cannot express how sorry we all are for your great loss, Trish was an outstanding officer and an all round joy to work with, I just hope that you can take some solace from the fact that she was so very much loved."

The Horse bows his head slightly and then backs slowly away. Mike and the boys slowly make their way to where Lucas and I are standing, at first Mike just stares at me but I can see that there is a well of tears that is about to breach. Suddenly I am engulfed as Mike and the boys wrap themselves around me and hug me for all I'm worth, Mike begins to cry which in turn starts me off. All the hurt and pain that has bottled up since the incident finally gets released and flows freely, normally I am a Fox that does not show emotions but right here and now I do not care who sees me cry.

We finally manage to get our emotions back under control as the coffin is carried into the church; Captain Myers stands at the head of the coffin while six other members of the department shoulder the weight.

The coffin is then slowly taken into the church followed by Mike, Andrew, Paul, me and Lucas, as requested by Mike and the boys Lucas and I take a seat next to them in the front set of pews and then we wait for the rest of the mourners to file in and get to their seats.

It truly is a measure of how loved Trish was in life as there are a great many mourners who cannot get into the church and so the service is being relayed to them via the outside speaker system.

I am sat between Andrew and Lucas and as the service begins Andrew takes hold of my paw, I look to my left at Andrew and I see that Mike has hold of Paul's paw, while Paul's free paw is slipping into Andrew's left paw and so not to make him feel left out I take hold of Lucas's paw, we will all share in the grief.

Once the service is complete some of us get the chance to stand at the pulpit and share our memories of our dearly departed friend and partner, finally it is my turn and so I break the chain of paw holding and using my crutches I approach the pulpit.

"What can I say about Sergeant Patricia Colman that has not already been said? Well I had the distinction and the honour of being her partner for ten absolutely fantastic years, she was there to help me in times of need as I was there for her, there was nothing that either one of us would not have done for the other, you could say that we were almost like a happily married couple."

There is a small titter of laughter from the congregation as I continue on.

"Yes if I had been wired differently then I dare say that I would have tried to make an honest woman of her, but that job was on the cards for Mike and in my honest opinion she couldn't have found a more loving mate, I'm sure that I speak for us all when I say that my heart goes out to Mike, Andrew and Paul, yes we have lost a friend and colleague, but they have lost a loving mother and mate. Patricia Colman will live on in our memories. And now if you will allow a humble Fox a little fun I would like to close by simply saying this, well Trish it's five pm our duty is done."

The final hymn begins to play as I slowly make my way back to my seat; I stand back in line at the seat and join in with the singing, though my voice is breaking badly with the raw emotion that I know we are all feeling at this moment.

After the ceremony everyone gathers back at a church hall for the wake, this is the time for reflection and reminiscing, it is not a time for solitude, and so as I sit on a seat with Lucas sat next to me I link paws with him yet again, yes I know that there are some of my colleagues that don't yet know about Lucas and I, but I just don't care who knows now, the loss of Trish has taught me to be thankful for what I have.

After half an hour I kiss Lucas on the muzzle and then I ask him to make our apologies as I want to head home, Lucas stands from his seat and heads into the crowd, pretty soon I have Captain Myers, Mike, Paul and Andrew standing before me, the Captain is the first to speak.

"Get yourself home bud you are probably more than a little tired and emotional right now, but I know for certain that Trish would be thankful that you made it."

Next in line is Mike, the Husky kneels before me and takes my paws in his.

"Todd, Lucas, thank you seems like the wrong thing to say but it is all I can muster, and so on behalf of me and the boys, thank you both."

I clear my throat a little to speak through my emotion.

"Mike wild Horses would not have stopped me from being with you and the boys today, now please remember this my friend, if you ever need anything and I mean absolutely anything then all you have to do is call no matter the time Lucas and I will be there for you."

With that said I slowly raise myself from the seat and position my crutches so that I can begin the walk back out to the car.

We arrive home and I sit on the sofa for a few moments, Lucas is sat at my side, his paw seeks out and finds mine and our fingers become interlinked.

"Sweetheart you have been through hell today and yet you are still here with me, I don't know what the future holds, hell no one does, but what I do know is this the more time that I spend with you, the deeper in love I fall for you and once you are back on your feet I fully intend to take you as my civil partner."

The warmth of the words that Lucas has just spoken to me flows through my body and for a split second I am sure that I can feel blood pulsing through my legs again, but I dismiss the feeling for now as I know that short of a miracle it is going to be quite a while before I can walk unaided.