Title: Madness in One Act
Author: A.j.
Rating: PG
Notes: 2minutefic challenge; Alex Eames, a can of mushrooms.

***

They all thought she was insane. 
 
Not that anyone was going to mention it. No, not yet. There'd be whispers 
and rumors about it for years, but that was fine. She'd had to cope with 
whispers and rumors for years anyway. 
 
Behind her, the bagpipes were blowing hard and loud into the October 
morning. It was a beautiful day for a funeral. Here and there was a cloud, 
but mostly the sky was a brilliant blue.  
 
There was a lot of blue in evidence today. She was wearing it. And black. The 
gloves were scratchy, and her dress collar always pinched, but it didn't 
matter. It was a sign of respect. A reflection of the thing he - *they* - had 
been. 
 
Killed in action. A stray bullet during a negotiation with a suspect for a multi-
million dollar bank robbery. 
 
His last case. Their last case. 
 
And she wasn't crying. 
 
Sun glinted off the little can she'd placed on his casket. Sliced mushrooms in 
water. He'd hated them. Refused to even touch her side of the pizza on the 
rare occasion that she ordered them. 
 
Grown in darkness. She'd put them there to remind him of a place he'd never 
go. 
 
To her right Deakins kept giving her the eye. She should be crying or 
something. But she'd done that last month. In the diner near his apartment. 
Cried at his voice cracking on the admission. Known that that was it. The 
culmination of fear and worry and years of waiting for it. A hundred little 
things she'd explained away and covered for, presented. 
 
His eyes terrified. A white paper between them. 
 
Medical discharge. Effective in three months. 
 
One month left to go, and then the bullet might have been his own. 
 
But here she is, clutching her second flag. Not happy, but so *so* relieved. 
For him. For her. Mostly for him. 
 
And then she's crying.

-fin-