the_chappy | OOM: The Wake

There were some things he never wanted to do and some things he never imagined himself doing.

Like preparing the body of a friend for a wake.

Elaine had decided that Tony's corpse needed to be prepared, his wounds dressed and that tarp removed. It might be more difficult to explain the shroud he was wrapped in now, the gauzy white cloth that covered his body, with just one thin layer over his face like a veil. This shroud raise more questions than just leaving him in the tarp, a fact that bothered Ryan, but that option didn't seem ... decent. It was distasteful on a visceral level, offending something that went beyond logic.

Visit the sick. Harbor the harborless. Ransom the captive. Bury the dead.

That didn't make this much easier though. It was out of respect, duty and even pride that he was here. He couldn't leave Elaine to do this alone, that was never an option. Still, it was hard to look at the ashen skin and the wounds and not be horrified, not wonder about what his own body had looked like. One bullet wound but the entry point was different and Ryan was grateful for that. The neat, small entry wound in Tony's forehead was easy to cover with bandages, still leaving his face visible. Intact. Lying over the body, on his chest, was a small bouquet of white lilies.

The only problem after the wake would be the burial. Something would have to be done soon. He knew the others were waiting to see if Michelle would arrive here or what the chatter on the mission...

But it couldn't wait any longer. They'd have to take care of the body and he had to be done soon. It didn't matter what condition the body was in, it just wasn't right to wait. It seemed disrespectful somehow. Not to mention the unspoken hope that he knew was shared by the others that if Tony was buried maybe he could come back to Milliways. It was insane and sounded almost like Milliways' own version of superstition but it also made a strange sort of sense. Tony would come back here if he could so what else could be keeping him but this?

The still sparsely decorated room has more furniture in it now. Along with the bed that the body lay on - a single, covered with a white sheet and pushed horizontal against the wall opposite the door - there were also a few folding chairs in case anyone needed to sit during the blessing.

Across the hall, in Room 515, there was none of the usual bedroom furniture, just chairs, tables and two couches. On one table there was food, plates and napkins. On the other table (and in the two coolers underneath) there are soft drinks, coffee, tea and a wide variety of liquors.

Ryan walks over to the doorway where Elaine is standing and waits for people to come by.

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"Better than I was when I got back to the bar," he says with a small shrug. He's talking physically, of course. "How've you been?"

"Pretty good. And aye, I know they healed you. Doesn't mean you're just over it."

Jack just nods. "Did you ever meet Tony?" he asks, not sure he can find the words to explain just how he's not better. At least not directly.

"Only the once I can remember. Before we left."

Jack nods. "We worked together for years. Didn't get along much at first, until..." He swallows, remembering someone else who'd died because of him, "...until the day Teri died. He...he risked a lot for me, over and over again, over the years."

Sharpe smiles faintly.

"Yeah, I've known men like that. The kind you'd trust your life to."

"Yeah," Jack says with a mirthless smile, "Or your death."

"There've been a few", he says with a quiet nod. "One more than most, but... a couple, beyond him."

"Tony and Michelle are two fo the few, and the ones I've trusted the longest. We've been through...everything, together," he says, his voice cracking slightly on the last word. The fact that they're never going to do it again is hitting him with all the subtlety of a brick to the side of the head.

"Michelle?" he asks gently.

Jack swallows, his voice hoarse. "Tony's wife. They've only been married a few years."

"Oh. That's... always hard. She's been told?"

"Yeah. She hasn't gotten here yet, though," he says, though he's not sure whether that's necessarily a bad thing. He knows what she must be going through at the moment, and he's not sure that seeing the people who came back when Tony didn't would really help.

"Maybe she doesn't want to come." He glances down. "He'll be taken home to her?"

"Yeah, he has...other family at home, too. A brother and sister. He should be b-buried out there."

Sharpe nods.

"They'll see him right."

"Yeah, hopefully they'll be able to arrange things so Michelle doesn't have to do too much."

"She shouldn't take it all on herself. His parents?"

Jack shakes his head. "Died years ago."

"...well, I s'pose that makes it easier in one way. Not right for the children to die first."

"Yeah. Not this young, either."

"Never this young."

He's seen younger. But violent death's never right.

"I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or not that he and Michelle don't have any kids." One the one hand, Michelle wouldn't have to worry about raising a son or daughter that wouldn't know their father; but on the other they had both wanted children so badly, and now Tony wouldn't get the chance.

"...difficult one. They wanted them?"

"Yeah, last I heard they were still trying, but no luck." Jack stares out the window, not really seeing anything outside. "Tony would have been a good father."