Aria's rigid stance crumpled the moment they heard the front door open and closed. She lowered herself slowly back to the couch.
"That is one downright rotten man. Lordy. I have never seen such an unfeeling fellow before. I was about to come run him off myself if you didn't enter, Seargent"
Jordan turned back toward the door that led to the kitchen and he saw Aria's grandfather standing there with a fireplace poker in his hand. Jordan had no idea what the older man had intended to do with Bruce but he knew that it wouldn't have ended well for the bastard, he almost wished he had come a bit later so he could see the old man wielding the iron on the baby faced bastard preferably on his face but as that could have earned the old man charges for assault on a police officer, he thought that it was a good thing he had come earlier after all.
He wondered briefly how early Lance had woken up just so he could come over for his psycho display.
"Grandpa" Jordan called and Aria jolted out of her reverie as she looked back
"Parpa" the woman who had looked so strong faced off with Lance earlier deflated as she rushed to meet her grandfather, the old man tossed the poker aside with a clatter as he opened his arms to his grandchild.
"Dear child, my dear child. We will be fine. We…" his voice broke and he cleared his throat as he rocked Aria. "Don't keep it all in, my dear, don't keep it in. it is not good for the baby or you as well. Cry if you have to, my dear. He wouldn't want you to harm yourself"
Aria nodded as she sniffled and moved back from his embrace. She adjusted his collar as she said "There would be enough time for that later" swiped at the errant lone tear that fell from her eye "Yes, yes, there would be enough time for everything. For now. I need to speak with Jordan"
Her grandpa looked at Jordan over Aria's head "Officer"
Jordan nodded as he understood what the man meant. He should shield her from as many painful details as possible. Aria seemed to understand too as she saw Jordan nod his head. She turned to him "No, there would be none of that. I want everything. Every single detail. Come" she gestured towards the couch then turned to her grandpa as she remembered something tears filled her eyes again without dropping as she asked.
"Where is Maman?"
Her grandpa shook his head as he said that she was in the garden playing with Austen. "But Trudy, I think she knows. She told me to come to check on you if you needed any help. She was telling Austen stories about when his father was young when I left" the man said with a sad voice.
Aria couldn't hold back her tears as she said "Please go to her, I don't know what to say to her. What would I say to Austen? Where would I say his daddy went to? What would I tell this one inside me?" she asked her grandpa in an anguished tone.
"We will work it out, my dear. We will… I will be at the back when you are done here" he said as he turned abruptly, Jordan suspected it was to ensure his granddaughter did not see the tears in his eyes. He looked at Jordan "Seargent" he said before he turned away and hurried out through the kitchen door that led to their back door.
Jordan's heart was leaden by the cloak of grief that seemed to have envelope the home that was mostly filled with laughter the few times he had been there. Loud cries and moaning sounds could not be more palpable than the grief he felt from these people. The house itself seemed to be in mourning and Jordan knew it would only get worse. For a long while.
Eric was orphaned at a very young age and he was brought up by his grandparents. His granddad died when he was in college. Aria's parents had never been model parents and she was more used to her grandparents. Her grandma died after she got married, so she and Eric had persuaded their grandparents to live with them.
Jordan wondered what Eric's grandma would do. Her grandson was gone just like his parents.
"Come, Jordan" Aria beckoned him to the couch where Lance stood up from. Her voice had changed again and one wouldn't have guessed that she was the one who had cried in her grandpa's arm earlier "Come have your seat and tell me how my husband got himself killed by getting involved in a senseless operation led by you" she said, using Lance's words. Jordan knew what she meant. She didn't much care for the peacock officer.
Jordan explained. At first, he wanted to give her the barest of details but she insisted on knowing everything. Right till the moment her husband breathed his last.
"Did.." she cleared her throat "Did he suffer? Of course he suffered, he was shot" she answered herself before she rephrased her question.
"Did he suffer much?" she asked.
Jordan shook his head "No, I think the main suffering for him was when he realised that he wouldn't be able to come home to you. His love for you was the main thing that kept him here for that long even as his body wanted to give up"
"Is that so?" Aria asked with a sad smile as tears Jordan was sure she was unaware of slid down her face "If he had loved me so much, he wouldn't have left me, would he? He wouldn't…wouldn't have left me here all alone to explain to our children how their father was not going to come back home to them, would he? That…that fool, he had to leave. He had to leave me" she rocked herself.
It was the first time Jordan would hear such a keening note in someone's speech. He couldn't even begin to imagine how much this lovely woman's life would change.
She looked at him with illuminated, drenched eyes "I should leave, he said?"
Jordan nodded, no longer trusting his voice. He had a suspicious lump in his throat that he had no idea what would come out if he opened his mouth.
Grief-mixed anger fired in Aria's eyes as she stood up abruptly "He doesn't get to tell me what to do! That coward does not get to leave me here and tell me what to do. If he had something to say to me, let him come over here, hale and hearty with that crooked smile of his and tell me what he wanted me to do" she said more to herself as she paced then she turned to him abruptly "Did you tell him that I would never forgive him for this ?"
"Yes," Jordan said in a strangled tone.
"Good, good. Let him know that while he rested up there while I run around here to pick up the life we started together. Let him…" she stopped abruptly and came forward to hug him. Jordan hugged her back as he wondered what he could do to alleviate this woman's pain that was rolling off her in waves. He knew he couldn't do anything. The only person who could do that was Eric. if only his partner could walk through the door right now and shout at them that it was all just a prank, then everything would be solved.
Jordan imagined him winking at them in that infectious way of his even as he knew that was no longer possible.
His partner was laying down on a cold slab. Colder than the slab itself.
Aria moved away from his embrace. Seemed to realise that she had been crying and swiped furiously at the tears on her face "I am so grateful to you, Jordan. I am glad that you were the one with him in his last moments. He has...had high regard for you, you know. He once called you the finest man he had ever known. I want you to know that"
Jordan nodded, wondering when was it that his talking faculty had deserted him.
"I am sure I would need to ask you more things later and I will need some help to navigate some things so I will be in touch. But for now" she gestured towards the door that her grandfather had passed through "I have to go be with my family"
Jordan told her he understood and without another word, she hurried out through the kitchen door.
Jordan knew that the next few days would be the worst of the incoming difficult days that the family had to face.
A keening wail shattered the morning ambience from the back of the house just as he opened the front door. Jordan wondered who it had come from, Aria or Jordan's grandmother. He knew that it was more likely to be from the latter.
Aria struck him as the type that would rather soak her pillows with tears deep into the night.
Just as he stood there in front of the house thinking about the events of the past twenty-four hours with no will to go to the station to face what he knew he had to deal with. His closed eyes popped open when he heard light footsteps.
Not again, he thought as he saw the person approaching him.
"Friends with the young widow now, are we?" Lance said as he stepped beside Jordan. He had been waiting for the arrogant cop who thought he had it all figured out. He would soon realise that this was his turf soon enough. He grinned evilly as he looked sideways at Jordan who pretended to not notice him. Nobody ignored Lance Pratchet, he thought as he made a jab at Jordan with a sly smile "There could only be one reason for a man like you to be friends with such a woman, were you shanking her? I bet you were hitting that behind her husband's back. I wouldn't blame you though. That is one mighty fine piece of ass. I wouldn't mind…"
He ended the sentence with a grunt as blood spewed from his mouth when Jordan hit him again.
He groaned as he hit the asphalt. Damn it, he should have stood at a better angle, he thought even as he smirked inwardly that the idiot had played right into his hand. He just hoped the dimwit he assigned had been at the right angle. Damn, the bastard had one mighty right hook. If only he was not so self-righteous.
Well, time to make a go at him. He thought as he spat out blood from his mouth and looked up at Jordan who glowered down at him.
The bastard.
A useful bastard though.