Rating: PG-13 for m/m affection and some death.
Disclaimer: Not mine.

Summary: Things fall apart on a winter night.
WARNING: Herein lies death.

Feedback: Send it all to me at rsadelle@graphousa.net and I'll be happy.

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Cold
Ruth Sadelle Alderson
rsadelle@graphousa.net
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My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
--Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

***

I've been with the Major for a long time. I've seen a lot of other
Alphabets come and go. Some go on to better jobs, but some of them die,
or are injured and leave. I've seen the Major mourn them and grieve and
then push us just a little harder so that maybe next time no one will
die. But this time, I don't know if he'll be okay. It wasn't one of us
this time, but the Major still feels responsible because he was working
a mission with us.

***

A crack as the first gunshot is fired. Then the next one and the next
one. And Klaus shouting, "For God's sake, get down!" And then another
bullet ripping through the air. Red blooms and blond hair hits the snow.

***

I've never seen the Major act the way he did that night. He's always
calm, focused, even when one of us gets hurt. I guess he just never
thought this could happen. None of us did.

***

Klaus orders the Alphabets to pursue the enemy and they do as he drops
his gun. He kneels over the fallen man and undoes his shirt. He tries to
staunch the blood. He forces his own breath into the still body.
"Breathe. Damnit, Dorian, just breathe." The tears freeze before they
can fall. He radios for an ambulance. Dorian draws a breath. "Why didn't
I just teach you how to shoot?" After an eternity, the ambulance
arrives, flashing lights reflecting off the snow and the ice and the
pallor of Dorian's skin.

***

He cried. The Major cried. Because Dorian Red Gloria, Earl of Gloria,
the art thief Eroica, the biggest thorn in our side, was shot. The Major
rode in the ambulance. He stayed at the hospital the whole time that the
Earl was there.

***

Klaus paces the waiting room. The Alphabets and Bonham watch him from
where they are slumped in chairs. James lies where he landed when his
crying gave way to exhaustion. Each circuit of the room seems to bring
the No Smoking sign into sharper focus. They wait.

***

I went to visit four times. The first was with Bonham. I don't think the
Major was surprised to see us together. He doesn't miss much. He must
have known we were more than just casual acquaintances. We tried to make
him go home for some sleep, but he wouldn't. The second time was with B.
We Alphabets worked out a rotation and it was our turn to check on the
Major. The third time was with Z. He took one look at the Major and
politely but firmly ushered him out of the room and sent him home for a
few hours with the promise that we wouldn't leave the room. What amazed
me was that the Major actually left. I have no idea what it is about Z
that got through to the Major, but I guess that's why he's the favorite,
even though I've been here longer.

***

Hours of waiting for the surgery to be over. The doctor comes out.
Bullet successfully removed. Breathing on his own. Sedated. They're
relieved and the Alphabets begin to trickle out until only Klaus,
Bonham, and James are left. The doctor comes back. He's in a coma. He
may not wake up. James has hysterics again. Klaus finally collapses into
a chair and buries his face in his hands.

***

The fourth time I went alone, just to see how things were. I peered
through the half-open door. The Major's back was to me and I could see
that he had one of the Earl's hands clasped in his. He was leaning over
the Earl, telling him he was sorry and that he wished he'd just snap out
of it and come back. I turned and left without going in. I felt ashamed
that I'd eavesdropped on even what little I'd heard.

***

"I'm sorry. God, Dorian, I'm so sorry." He ignores the tears that roll
down his cheeks to drop onto the sheet covering the still form on the
hospital bed. He clasps one cold hand. "Please come back to me." His
mind registers that he should be ashamed of his pleading tone, but he
isn't, he can't afford to be. Not when the man in front of him is dying.

***

I wasn't there. None of us were, not even Bonham. He feels guilty about
it, about leaving to take care of James rather than staying with the
Earl.

***

Machines whine and breathing stops. Klaus steps back as doctors and
nurses rush into the room. Frantic efforts to save a life. The doctor
pulls away and announces time of death. Klaus looks down on the still
body.

***

He went to the funeral. We all did--the Alphabets, Bonham and James, of
course, the Major, and even the Chief. The Earl's mother and sisters
were there, too.

***

The wind whips around the mourners, pulling hair across faces and
dresses across the bodies of the women who seem almost out of place at
this funeral full of men. James cries quietly, for once. Bonham holds
him and strokes his hair. It is a short, quiet, graveside service. Klaus
pulls a rosary out of his trenchcoat pocket. He threads the beads
through his fingers and says the words recalled out of childhood ritual.
The minister finishes. The family files past to drop handfuls of dirt
into the grave. Klaus follows. He stands for a moment, then drops the
beads in as well.

***

The Chief made the Major take two weeks off after the funeral before he
could come back to supervise us. He stayed in England for at least part
of the time before he came back to work.

***

He stands and stares down at the stone marker. He traces his fingers
over the name and the dates. His tears are whipped away by the wind
before they can touch his cheeks.

***

The Major yells at us again, now that he's back at work, but it seems
half-hearted, something done out of habit, because it's what we expect.
It's ironic in a way. All these years people--Misha and the KGB, the
neo-Nazis, and even the Chief, in a way--have tried to destroy the Major
and now it turns out that all they ever had to do was kill Lord Gloria.

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The End.
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