Nathan Bridger squinted as he raised his eyes towards the appropriately cheerless, dismal Florida morning sky.  A slight chill permeated the dark suit that, thankfully, he'd found few uses for up to now and a not so slight drizzle fell on those who gathered around the small casket that he now lowered his gaze to.  Instinctively, he tightened his arms around the people on either side of him.  Lucas had his head buried into one of Nathan's shoulders and Kristin was sobbing gently into his other one as he thought back about how this had started... God, was it only yesterday morning?  How the three of them had come to spend this bleak morning at the funeral of a child they didn't even know.

Nathan blearily looked over at the alarm clock on the bedside table. Three-thirty in the morning.  He quickly glanced at the other... empty... side of the bed.  There must have been a problem in the ER tonight that held Kristin up.  Mentally shaking his head he slipped out of the bed to wander to the bathroom.  He stopped short as his automatic glance out the window showed Kris' car sitting in the drive next to his.  A frown covered his face as he came out of the head and wandered towards the front of the house.  Seeing the porch doors open he quietly padded outside.  The sight that met his eyes tore at his heartstrings.

Kristin was sitting in one of the white wicker chairs with her legs drawn up to her chest.  Her arms were wrapped around her legs and the face that she had turned out to the water was a portrait in sadness. She was staring at the water but Nathan was sure that she really didn't see anything.  To keep her medical skills toned up and to help with a doctor shortage Kristin was working a night or two a week at the New Cape Quest Hospital Emergency Room and occasionally there were nights that didn't go so well.  Tonight must have been one of those nights.

"Hi," Nathan said softly as he slipped down into the other wicker chair.

Kristin turned a tear-stained face towards him quickly and then looked back out at the water.  "Hi," she answered even more softly.

He watched her for a little while as she brought one hand up to chew on her knuckle and wipe a tear away.  Finally he figured he should say something.  "Bad night at the ER?"  Kristin just nodded silently without looking at him.  Nathan looked out at the water a little himself before continuing softly, "I don't know if I can help much but I can hug."

He saw a slight, just a very slight smile cross her face before she finally looked at him and nodded.  She stood and came over next to his chair and then slipped comfortably into his lap curling her head into that soft place between his shoulder and neck.  Nathan wrapped his arms comfortingly around her enveloping her in his warmth and rested his chin against her forehead.  He felt Kristin let out a soft sigh and snuggle down.  They sat like that for quite a while.  After a while he thought that Kristin might have fallen asleep when she unexpectedly and very quietly started to talk.

"I hate losing patients," she said in a low voice almost lost against his chest.

"I know, sweetheart," he said pulling her just a little closer.

"I really hate losing children."  Nathan had nothing to say to that and they settled down again into a companionable silence.

He felt her tears fall against his chest before she spoke again.  "He would have been eight next week."  She shook her head just a little.  "He never had a chance," she stated simply and sniffled a little.  "He was so cute.  At one point I made a joke to see if I could get a reaction from him and he smiled at me.  His smile was beautiful... just angelic."  Nathan brought one hand around to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks and just listened.  "And he tried so hard to survive... he let us do everything we could and never complained....."  Her voice took on a haunting quality as it got quieter.  "He never complained," she said in a whisper.

She stopped again for a little bit and Nathan waited... waited knowing that she wasn't finished... that she needed to tell someone about the little boy.   He waited and held her close.

"When they brought him in at first I wondered what sort of horrendous accident he'd been in to hurt him that badly."  She gave a little depreciating snort and shook her head against his chest a little.  "But as soon as I got close to him I could see... God, everyone could see."  Nathan looked down and saw that she'd closed her eyes... reliving the terror of the night inside her head.  "Everyone could see the marks where his little bones were broken and the bruises on that angelic little face.  You could see where the blows had ruptured his spleen and lacerated his liver... and in the end it was just too much for his little body." Kristin's voice lowered to a whisper again.  "Just too much...."

"Who?" Nathan asked softly.

"His father," Kristin shook her head a little again.  "I'll never understand it, Nathan.  Never in my life will I understand what could make someone do something like that to a child."

"I don't think you'd ever want to understand it.  That would mean that it makes sense and it doesn't."

"No, it most certainly doesn't."

"Anything I can do?" Nathan asked quietly.

"You're doing it... just hold onto me... and give me something to hold onto."  Kristin cried softly into his chest for a long time grieving for the little boy before she finally fell asleep with his arms still around her and his large hands still gently stroking her shoulder and back.  Nathan leaned his head back against the top of the wicker chair and after a while he too surrendered to the sleep that claimed him.

Lucas reached over and smacked the top of his alarm clock for the third time.  Vaguely, in the back of his head he had a sense that something was not quite right.  Something was out of place this morning.  His eyes opened and he frowned at the ceiling as he realized that he didn't hear any water running.  There was almost always water running when he hit his snooze alarm.  Either the Captain or Doctor Westphalen were always in the shower before him... and if the Cap wasn't showering, he was shaving.  He could hear the soft sound of music coming from their bedroom so he knew that the Cap's alarm clock had gone off... he was the only one in the house that listened to that 'elevator music' and news in the morning.  Blinking a couple of times, Lucas swung his feet out of bed and went to see what was going on.

If he'd been confused by the lack of running water, the lack of people in the second bedroom really confused him.  Frowning, he headed for the front of the house and noticed that the porch doors had never been closed last night.  Cautiously he stepped onto the porch and stood for a moment staring at what he saw.  Bridger and Westphalen were both sitting in the same wicker chair... the one the Cap usually sat in, but Westphalen was sitting on Bridger's lap.  She was still dressed in her ER scrubs and doctor's jacket but she looked like she was pretty comfortable with her head resting on Bridger's shoulder and his arms around her.  As for Bridger... well, he was probably gonna have a sore neck today... and he was only wearing his pajama bottoms... that had to be a little chilly out here.

He stood for a moment to consider his options.  The Doc was sleeping so peacefully that he really didn't want to wake her.  He knew better than to try to touch the Captain when he was asleep... he'd learned that lesson the hard way.  He could just call to them... oh hell, he'd just wake them up the indirect way.  Lucas headed back into the house and went to the kitchen were he worked on making a considerable amount of noise while he got the morning coffee pot started.  When he finished that he came back into the living room where he could look out onto the porch and see Bridger's chair.  Lucas smiled a little as he saw that Bridger was gingerly moving his head around testing how sore his neck was.  As he rotated his head Nathan caught a glimpse of Lucas and gave him a silent nod to let him know that he was awake and Lucas slipped back into the house.

The hand that had rested on Kris' waist was now roughly massaging the muscles of Nathan's neck.  Lord, he was getting too old to be falling asleep in chairs like that.  He sighed and looked down on the sleeping face of the woman in his arms.  Nathan gently kissed her on the forehead.  "Kris?" he called softly.

"Mmmm?" she answered moving silkily against his chest as she stretched a little.

He kept his voice soft and his lips against her forehead, "Kris, we need get up and see if we're going to work today."

"Mmmm," she repeated, flattening out the hand that rested on his chest and rubbing his shoulder a little.  Then she picked her head up and rubbed that against his chest.  "I suppose so," she said sleepily.  She finally stilled in her movements.  "Thank you."

"Hmmm?"

"It's been a hell of a long time."

"What?"

"Since I've had someone whose shoulder I could cry on and who would hold me all night until I slept."

"Somehow, it sounded you needed a little TLC last night.  I was glad to be able to provide whatever I could."

Kristin brought her head back to look at him and bringing her hand up to rest against his rough-stubble cheek she guided his face down to hers until they could share a soft, gentle kiss.

"I know," she said quietly.  "Thank you."  She gracefully stood and looked on as he stood a little more gingerly.  "You know you're getting too old to sleep in those chairs at night," she teased

"No, I'm just getting too old to do it with someone sitting on top of me all night," Nathan grinned back.  The slight joke she made cheered him until he saw that little bit of cheerfulness in her eyes be replaced by the look of sadness from earlier.

When they went back into the house Kristin headed for the bathroom while Nathan headed for the coffee.  Lucas was just pouring out a cup for himself and willingly filled the cup that Nathan held.

"Everything alright?" the boy asked cautiously.

"Yeah," Nathan nodded reassuringly.  "She lost a patient last night."

"Oh."

Nathan looked over at the still confused look on Lucas' face and shrugged.  "She lost a kid.  An abuse case."  He stared fiercely into his coffee cup for a moment before continuing in a disparaging voice.  "That's a pretty callous way of putting it, isn't it?   It's so easy to fall into the vid-words.  The politically correct phrases."  He looked up at Lucas and his voice changed to a soft one again.  "She lost a little boy who was beaten to death by his father."

Lucas winced.  "Oh," he said again.

"I have a feeling that he reminded her of someone," Nathan said gently patting the boy on the shoulder as he headed out of the kitchen and back to the bedrooms.

Lucas leaned on the counter between the kitchen and dining rooms staring out at the water and sipping his coffee until Westphalen came from the back of the house and sat down opposite of him.  She had a kind of a lost look on her face and Lucas reached around and poured a cup of coffee for her, sliding it across the counter.

"Thank you," she said absently, pulling the creamer and sugar close. She was silent while she worked on getting her coffee right and Lucas watched her concerned.

"The Captain told me," Lucas said softly.  Kristin looked up at him.  "About the kid... from last night."  She nodded wordlessly and stared down at her cup again.  "Could I ask something?" Lucas asked hesitantly.

Kristin looked back up at the boy.  "Sure, go ahead."

"What was his name?"

She appeared to consider that a moment before answering tenderly.  "Davy... his name was Davy."  She saw Lucas nod gently and then stare back down at his cup.  "And he would have been eight next week."

"What was the reason?" Lucas asked in an almost inaudible voice.

"What reason could there ever be?" Kristin answered with a shrug.

Lucas looked back up at her.  "No, I mean what reason did his dad give?"

"Oh," Kristin said not quite understanding why Lucas needed to know.  "Homework.  He was supposed to come straight home from school and do his homework but instead he stopped on his way home and played an inning or so of baseball and then came home and did his homework."

Lucas nodded.  "Did they arrest him?"

"Yes.  Last night they did."  Lucas nodded again and headed back to take his shower.

Nathan wandered back to the kitchen still clutching his now empty coffee cup.  He was still in his pajamas but had added a t-shirt.  He glanced over to where Kristin was staring into her cup.  "So, what's the plan?"

Kristin looked up at him slowly.  "Hmmm?"

"Are we going to work or not today?" he asked gently.

"Oh," Kristin said rousing herself a little.  "We're going to work."

"You sure?"

She slipped off the stool she had been sitting on and slid one hand around his neck and lowered her head onto his chest.  "Yes, I definitely don't want to sit at home and just mull on it all day long.  I'd rather be working."

Nathan put down his coffee cup and used both hands to pull her close and rub her back gently.  "Sounds like a good idea to me."

They stood like that silently for a little while until Lucas popped his head around the corner.  "The shower's free if one of you want to use it."

Nathan looked over to where the boy had disappeared and then glanced down at Kristin.  "Why don't you go first... you take longer in the after shower get-your-act-together part than I do."

Kristin smiled against his chest and then pushed off and headed back to the bathroom.  Nathan picked up his cup again and took it into the kitchen for a second cup.

"You keep pounding down that caffeine and you're going to be as hyper as I am," Lucas said coming around the corner dressed in jeans and a polo shirt and drying his hair.

"For some reason that wasn't really a restful sleep last night."

"I bet not," answered Lucas slipping up onto one of the counter stools.  He glanced back towards to where he could hear the water running from the shower.  "She's pretty upset."

Nathan sighed as he moved into the kitchen.  "She's a lot more composed this morning than she was last night."

Lucas sat for a moment silently staring at the hallway leading back to the house.  "I never really considered that until I met you two," he finally said softly.

Nathan leaned against the kitchen counter and looked at the boy.  "Considered what?"

"That other people would be really affected when someone hurt a child."  He turned his glance to Nathan and in them Nathan saw a sadness that touched him as much as Kristin had last night.  "But since I've been here I've seen both of you get really upset when we've talked about what my mom did to me and now you're both upset about a kid that you didn't even know."  He paused just a moment.  "It makes me feel a little better," he said softly.

"Anyone who doesn't get affected by a story like yours or Davy's doesn't deserve the title of human, Lucas.  Someone has to watch out for the kids and hurt for them when efforts are too late."  He came around into the dining room and put one hand up on Lucas' shoulder. Lucas was surprised to see a light sheen of tears in his eyes and to hear the catch in his voice when he talked.  "It's such a tragedy. No child should have to go through that."  He shook his head a little.  "You can't imagine how glad I am that your mother didn't get the same results that Davy's father did."  Nathan slid his hand off Lucas' back and walked towards the back of the house where the sounds of the shower had ceased.

Lucas blinked a couple of times as he watched the Captain walk down the hallway and then went into the kitchen to get some cereal.  He'd just finished his first helping when the Doc appeared.  She'd gone easy on her dress this morning.  Just putting on jeans and a white long sleeve shirt and pulling her hair back into a pony tail.  Lucas held up the cereal box.  "Cereal?  Or we've got muffins in the refrigerator."

"Oh, nothing, I think," Kristin said slipping back up onto one of the counter stools and turning to stare out the dining room window.

Lucas had a quick glance at the sad look on her face and reached into the refrigerator for one of the blueberry muffins that he knew she was partial to.  He slathered the top of it with butter before putting it in the toaster oven for just long enough to get the top a little brown.  Carefully slipping it onto a small plate he placed it in front of Westphalen.  She glanced over at him at the sound of the plate sliding across the counter.

"You need to eat something," Lucas said gently.  "My bet is that you probably missed dinner last night."

"Yes, I did," Kristin said with just a hint of a smile as she pulled the small plate closer.

Lucas watched as she delicately pulled a section off the muffin and took a bite.  "I was telling the Captain that it kind of amazes me." Kristin looked up at him questioningly.  "I don't ever remember anyone getting upset about what was happening to me when my mom was beating on me so I assumed that...." He stopped and shrugged his shoulders a little.  "I don't know... I guess I assumed that everyone else didn't really care."

Kristin's face was a portrait in sadness.  "Oh, I think there are plenty of people who care.  What's really sad is those who don't."

"Did his mom know?"

"Oh, she had to... from what I saw in the x-rays Davy had multiple broken bones over his lifetime.  No child is that clumsy.  And from what we gathered last night they kept moving him around from one hospital to another so they never saw the same staff.  For that matter they had to drive him a half of an hour last night to get him to NCQ General." She shrugged sadly.  "It probably contributed to his death."

"Any other kids?"

"No, just Davy," Kristin said in a sad voice.  They were both quiet for a moment before she continued.  "It's just so sad... so tragic."

Lucas' voice was soft and thoughtful.  "Somewhere... I think that Davy is happy that there's at least someone who cares."  He moved in front of Kristin and put his hand on her shoulder.  "I can use a hug... how about you?"

Kristin smiled sadly up at him, then stood and slid her arms around him, pulling him close in a comforting hug.  For long moments they stood like that drawing solace from each other until Nathan came down the hallway straightening out his uniform belt.  He put one hand on each of their shoulders.  "You two alright?" he asked softly.

Kristin sighed, still leaning her head against Lucas'.  "Yes, we're alright.  As long as we have each other to hold onto."

Nathan rubbed his hand reassuringly along both of their backs.  "Anytime you want to go we can."

"Aren't you going to eat breakfast?" Lucas asked.

"Nah, I've got a meeting at 8 and they better have bagels or I'm outta there."

Lucas and Kristin pulled apart and the three of them headed out of the house to the car.  As Nathan expected it would be, the car was a quiet place this morning.  Kristin, sitting in the front passenger seat, was staring out the front windshield and in the mirror he could see that Lucas was gazing blankly out the side window.  Nathan pulled the car into a spot just between the main UEO Headquarters building and the Science wing.  He got out of the car and moved around to Kristin's side slipping his arm around her waist giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Lunch?"

"Absolutely," Kristin smiled bringing a hand up to rub against his cheek.  "I'll call you."

"Okay," he said kissing her lips softly before releasing her and heading into the Headquarters building with Lucas.  He looked over at the boy with concern.  "You alright?"

Lucas sighed and nodded a little.  "Yeah, I'm alright," he paused.  "It's kind of weird though...."

"What?"

"The Doc at least worked on Davy... she met him... I didn't even know him and I feel awful about his death.  It's kind of like going through it via the Doc."

Nathan rested his arm on Lucas' shoulder, for a moment reflecting that it had been months after they'd moved here before the boy could even put up with being touched.  "I know, Lucas," he said softly.  "It brings back some pretty rotten memories for you and, probably like Kristin, Davy reminds you of yourself."

"I guess so," Lucas said as they entered the cool vestibule of the building.  He turned to Bridger with a sad look on his face.  "It makes you wish that you could do something," he shrugged, "or that someone had done something before last night."

"And the unfortunate reality is that it didn't happen," Nathan said softly.

"No," Lucas said shaking his head.  He shrugged again.  "Let's go to work."

A little after noon the three of them met up at a table on the patio outside the UEO cafeteria.  Kristin and Lucas had met in the line and Nathan was already sitting outside poking suspiciously at his pasta alfredo.

"I think you can eat it now, Nathan.  It's dead," Kristin said as she sat.

"I've just never quite seen the pasta stick into one large lump like this before," Nathan said thoughtfully still poking at his food.  He looked up across the table at her.  "So, how did your morning go?"

Kristin sighed and speared a piece of broccoli.  "The NCQ police have been by twice this morning for further statements... altogether it's been rather trying."

Nathan nodded and went back to tormenting his pasta but Lucas had questions.  "Anything new?"

"Not much... they let me know that the boy's funeral is going to be tomorrow and at the moment the father hasn't been able to make bond."

The boy silently munched his chicken burger with a thoughtful look on his face.  Bridger had given up spearing the pasta and was finally eating it.

"How is it?" Kristin asked.

"Actually, not as bad as it looks."

"If it looked bad, why did you get it?"

"It didn't look that bad until the lady on the line plopped this big mound of it on my plate.  It looked pretty good in the steaming tray... and I felt like pasta."

"Pasta and bagels.  You've certainly reached your starch content for the day."

Nathan grimaced.  "No bagels at the meeting."

"Oh, dear, how did you survive?"

Nathan grinned just a little.  "No bagels, but lots and lots of iced pastries."

"Ah, so you've got your starch and your sugar content covered for the day."

"For the entire week, I think," Nathan agreed.

Lucas smiled a little at the banter, knowing that it was their way of trying to lighten their minds about Davy and wanting to give him something to think about too... so he joined in.

"Oh, yeah, and before we left this morning he was already two cups of coffee in... and you know he had more at the meeting," Lucas teased.

Kristin shook her head as she looked at Nathan's sly grin.  "He won't be sleeping tonight."

"That's your problem, Doc.  Not mine," Lucas smiled.

"Yes, I suppose so," Kristin said ruefully.  She looked up at Jonathan Ford who had stopped by the table.  "Hi there."

"Hi, Doc," he looked over at Bridger and pointed to his watch.  "Almost one, sir."

Nathan sighed and pushed away from the table while drinking down the last of his milk.  "Rats, meeting number three for the day," he groaned.  He leaned over and kissed Kristin quickly before following Jonathan out of the cafeteria.

Kristin popped the last piece of her banana cream pie into her mouth and looked over at Lucas.  "Do you have to go back to work now?"

"Nope," Lucas smiled a little.  "I don't have to go to those meetings and I'm kind of on a loose tether at the moment."

"Good," said Kristin thoughtfully.  "Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Yeah," Lucas nodded softly.  "I'd like that."

They both cleared up their trays before heading out away from the building to the walking path that circled the UEO building complex. For a little while they walked silently... each lost in their own thoughts before Kristin finally spoke.

"Now Davy's mother has decided to tell the police that she had no idea what was going on.  Apparently she's claiming ignorance to the police but when I talked to her last night it was pretty apparent to me that if she didn't know completely that she at least strongly suspected it... besides, there's that driving the poor child around for a half-hour before getting to a hospital...."

Lucas nodded and his words surprised Kristin, "Sometimes you wonder who's the worst one... the person who actually does the beating or the person who stands by and lets it happen."

"Can I ask you something personal?" Kristin asked hesitantly.

Lucas looked over at her and nodded.  "Sure."

"Do you think your father knew?"

A soft, thoughtful look crossed Lucas' face.  "I think he was away so much and my mom was so sneaky about it, that it took him a long time to suspect that I wasn't just a klutz," Lucas said quietly and without any blame in his voice.  "And when I told him what was going on he had a hard time believing me."  Lucas grinned just a little, "Seems I'd developed the reputation as a bit of a discipline problem."  He stared at the ground a little while they walked, "I'll admit that once he knew what was happening... when he caught her beating on me... he got me out of the house and away from her right away."

"He certainly took his time," Kristin said disparagingly.

Lucas shrugged.  "I think that it's like the Captain said once... when you love someone," he stopped and turned towards Westphalen, "and I like to think that at one time my parents did love each other... well, I'd think that it would be very hard to conceive that they'd do something like beating their own child... and I imagine he was guilty about putting me in that situation by being gone all the time."

Kristin slipped her arm through his and they started walking again.  "I don't know how you can be so understanding about it, Lucas."

"Oh, I'm not understanding," Lucas said positively.  "If I never see my mother again, it'll be too soon."  He frowned as he thought a bit more.  "And as for my dad... well, he might not have been there when it first started happening but he at least took decisive action when he caught her."  He looked over at Kristin thoughtfully.  "And he didn't have to.... he could have just let the divorce take it's course and I could easily have ended up with my mother."  He shook his head a bit.  "Do you know how much it cost my dad to buy my mom off for that divorce?"

"He bought her off?" Kristin asked amazed.

"Uh huh... see, even with the beating stuff, my dad had never got it documented through the police."  Kristin was surprised to see a little grin on his face.  "That would have besmirched the Wolenczak name, you know."  The grin got a little bigger.  "I cost my dad over a million dollars."

"And he deserves to have to pay every penny," Kristin said disapprovingly and then tempered her tone.  "Although I suppose when you put onto it that the money went to your mother it doesn't make it a particularly good result."

Lucas shrugged.  "As long as it keeps her away from me, that's all that counts... and if you think about it....." Lucas smiled broadly at her, "in the long run I did pretty good."

"Yes, you did," Kristin answered positively.  "You've made quite a name for yourself."

"I'm not talking about that," Lucas said softly.  Kristin looked up at the boy to see his gentle face.  "I've got you two to care about me."  The boy's voice caught just a little.  "You haven't been the mother I should have had... you've been better.  My mom... she was stuck with me 'cause I was her kid but you had a choice.  You and the Captain did."  Lucas stopped for just a moment and looked out at the trees softly moving in the gentle breeze.  "I've still got my dad and he's very important to me and I love him a lot but I've also got you and the Captain and you - you're the best."  His voice got thoughtful again.  "You two have taught me so much... like how two people in love actually act... like how to really talk to someone - not just talk at them... like the fact that you can get angry with someone and talk it out rather than resorting to belting them....." He grinned just a little, "like how to be proud in your accomplishments and not come off like a pompous jerk."  His voice got serious again.  "Like what it's like when someone cares about you.... *really* cares about you. That caring means that they're not always going to be happy with you especially when you do something wrong, like blowing curfew, but that the concern for you is what drives the lecture you get for screwing up and that you can be disciplined without violence... either physical, mental or verbal."

Kristin grinned just a little.  "He is awfully good at that, isn't he?"

Lucas sighed and looked at the trees again.  "Let me tell you something, sometimes when I'm getting the patented `Bridger-dressing-down' I almost wish he'd belt me... it'd be less painful."  He smiled a little at Kristin.  "Not that he's ever cruel or puts me down but he's usually right... excruciatingly right."

"I know, I've been there a couple of times," Kristin said squeezing his arm a little.

"But my mom... I don't know... I could never forgive her.  She took away my childhood from me."  Lucas smiled softly.  "It took the Captain to teach me what it was like to be a kid again."

"He never has quite grown up, has he" Kristin smiled back.

Lucas sighed a little.  "You know, that's one of the things I kind of admire about him.... deep down," he grinned again.  "And sometimes not so quite deep down, he's still a kid."

Kristin nodded.  "I agree, I think it's one of his better qualities."  She frowned not so seriously at the boy.  "But if you ever tell him I said that I'll deny it to the end."

The sound of their feet crunching slightly on the fine gravel and the birds wheeling in the air and crying out to each other were the only sounds for a while.  The soft sun of the slightly cool afternoon shone on them and the gentle breeze caressed the grass around them. Off to the west they saw the beginnings of the clouds that the forecasters were calling on for tomorrow.  Today was a good day to enjoy the nice weather.  It wasn't going to last.

"I just wish that things had been different for Davy," Kristin said sadly.

Lucas brought his arm up around her shoulder.  "I know... but it wasn't and there's nothing that can change it now."  He was thoughtful for a moment.  "If you think about it... Davy probably has more people concerned about him and praying for him now than he did when he was alive."

"You're probably right," she said sadly.

"You said the funeral was tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to go?"

Kristin started to shake her head and then stopped.  "Yes... yes, I think I would like to go."

Lucas smiled at her softly.  "Would you like some company?"

"I'd very much like some company, Lucas."

His face got serious again.  "One practical consideration...."

"What?"

"You might be perceived as the one who put Davy's father in jail... his family might not look upon you too kindly."

"He deserves to be in jail, Lucas," Kristin protested slightly.

"Absolutely... he totally deserves it."

"And Davy was the victim."

A humorless smile crossed Lucas' face.  "Davy didn't earn the money... his father probably did."  He canted his head just a little.  "His mother might not be your best fan."

Kristin nodded resolutely.   "I'm not going for her... I'm going to go for Davy.  He deserves to have someone grieve for him."

Lucas pulled her a little closer as they approached the Science building.  "I think so, too."

They stopped just before the doors and Kristin turned to look at Lucas.  She brought one hand up until it rested against his chin and softly stroked his cheek with her thumb.  "Have I ever got around to telling you how much you mean to me?"

"Yeah, you have," Lucas smiled.  "And it runs both ways."

She pulled his head down and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.  "It's like you said," she whispered softly to him.  "You're not the son I never had... you're the son I got to choose... and you are so precious to me... I love you, Lucas."

He pulled his head back and kissed her forehead gently.  "I love you, too, Doc," he smiled at her.  "I guess I'll see you after work."

Kristin pulled away patting him on the cheek as she did.  "Yes, try to get Nathan out at a decent hour, if you will."

Lucas grinned at her.  "After a whole day of meetings??? He's going to be heading for the door like a rocket."

"Thank you, Lucas," she said softly.

"Thank you, Doc," he smiled back and turned to head towards the Headquarters building.

Pulling their two damp bodies just a little closer to him, Nathan reflected that he was glad that he'd decided to come along with them.  First, he'd wanted to give the both of them his support; second, he'd wanted to be sure that nothing untoward occurred between Davy's family and them; and lastly, he had wanted to grieve for the little boy too.  Through the pain and anguish that Kristin and Lucas were experiencing he felt a connection to the boy... the little boy who never had a chance.

And it had been a good thing he'd come.  The mourners had been sparse, mostly consisting of a few family members and Davy's classmates who had been allowed out of school to attend the funeral, some with their parents.  But here at the gravesite, the children weren't present and the mood was more unforgiving.  Nathan had caught a few pretty vicious glares directed at Kristin from some of the close family and he'd carefully ensured that his group was not only distanced from them but also out of their direct line of sight.  Of course, now with both of their heads buried in his shoulders neither Kristin or Lucas could see the glares.  So Nathan was glaring back daring them to make any move... not that he would have actually let it happen... that wouldn't show respect for the boy... but it was nice to answer their glare with is own.

The priest was speaking gentle words about heaven and the children of God.  Nathan moved his eyes back to the little coffin and sighed. Sometimes the children of God are called to his side way too soon, he reflected.  The priest finished and, a blessing being given, the small coffin was gently lowered into its final resting place and the assembled began to move away.

Nathan guided Kristin and Lucas away from the family and towards his car when an older woman dressed in a long black coat and with a black scarf over her head came towards them.

"Doctor Westphalen?" the woman asked softly.

Kristin looked up at her with her tear stained face.  "Yes?"

The old woman held out her hand and Kristin took it.  "I wanted to thank you for trying to save my grandson," she said in a shaky voice.

"I just wish I could have done more," Kristin answered back in a voice just as choked with emotion.

"I just wish we'd all done more," the woman said softly before dropping Kristin's hand and heading towards the family cars.

All three of them watched as the old woman walked up to the car where Davy's mother put her arm around her shoulders.  The woman looked at her daughter, Davy's mother, and moved away shaking her head, entering the car slowly as her daughter watched.  Davy's mother glanced over at Kristin, Lucas and Nathan with a blank look on her face before joining her mother in the car.

As they watched the car pull away, Nathan pulled Kristin and Lucas closer to him again.  The rain had increased a little from a drizzle to a light rain and he led them over to the car, opening the door for Kristin.  Lucas climbed in the back seat and pulled his door shut as Nathan stood at Kristin's open door and glanced back to the gravesite of God's newest little angel before sighing and shaking his head.  He closed Kristin's door and went around to the driver's seat settling himself behind the wheel.  For just a little while he stared out the rain-streaked windshield before starting the car.

He turned partially towards the other two before talking.  "Why don't we go find some really nice place to eat where we can have a big ice cream sundae in Davy's honor?"

Kristin brought one hand up to caress his cheek.  "I think that would be imminently appropriate," she smiled gently.

Nathan nodded, put the car in gear and pulled slowly away.