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Though the service for Sergeant Price began promptly at noon and lasted less than two hours, Eddie was still exhausted as she headed for the church’s parking lot, her fingers still intertwined with Jamie’s. Her husband unlocked the vehicle silently, then released her so he could open her door.
She murmured her thanks as she climbed into her seat, buckling her seatbelt as Jamie circled around the car and slid behind the wheel. He backed carefully out of their spot, then pulled out onto the main road once it was clear.
“You need to stop anywhere on the way home?” he asked after several minutes had passed in silence.
She glanced over at him curiously, then shook her head. “No, I’m fine. I was thinking we could order in from that Italian place just up the street tonight, if that’s okay.”
“Sounds great,” he agreed easily, checking his mirrors and then returning his attention to the road. “They’ve got that cheesy bread thing you love, right?”
“They do,” she nodded, smiling fondly at the way he seemed to remember the smallest details. “We’ll order a salad, too. Maybe it’ll make it feel less indulgent.”
Jamie laughed under his breath. “If Danny heard you say that, he’d rant and rave about how you’re totally ruining the point of eating Italian food in the first place.”
“Well, Danny told me my plant-based burgers weren’t going to be good,” she retorted playfully. “Even your grandpa agreed that he was wrong about that.”
“Technically, my grandfather said they weren’t that bad,” Jamie pointed out. “Which, considering what it was, I guess you can count as a victory.”
“Well, thank you very much,” she huffed playfully, shaking her head. “I think your brother thinks I’m trying to corrupt the youth.”
Jamie scoffed, amused. “With vegetables?” He considered it for a moment, then shrugged. “Now that I think about it, he might actually believe that. Yeah, it’s a definite possibility.”
“See?” she laughed. “Next time, I won’t even tell him until he’s already tried it. See if he even notices.”
“Good idea,” he replied drily, smiling warmly at her antics. “You realize that, if you do that, he’ll consider it an act of war? He’ll stop making vegetables at all during his weeks to cook.”
“I’ll smuggle them in,” she countered easily. “Problem solved.”
“Okay, babe,” he muttered, trying and failing to bite back a smirk. “Whatever you say.”
“Ah, now he gets it,” she sighed, leaning back against the headrest with a content smile.
-o-
It was seven minutes past midnight when Eddie awoke from a fitful sleep to find her husband missing from his place next to her. A quick brush of her hand against the sheets confirmed they’d already grown cold in his absence; she bit back a sigh as she climbed from beneath her own covers and padded from the room, making her way into the kitchen.
Jamie was seated at the table, staring straight ahead as he slowly sipped from the glass of whiskey in front of him. He glanced up as she walked into the room, mustering up a smile that didn’t appear at all genuine. “Hi,” he murmured. “Did I wake you up? I tried not to…”
“No, no,” she rushed to assure him. “Guess I just noticed you were missing, that’s all.”
“Oh. Well, I’m sorry,” he apologized, drawing in a deep breath. He nodded to his glass. “You want one?”
“I’m good,” she denied quietly. “You could’ve woken me up, you know. I don’t mind sitting with you.”
He shrugged, finishing off the rest of his drink and then setting the glass aside. “You were tired.”
“So were you,” she pointed out softly. “Didn’t keep you from getting up, though.”
He glanced away, offering a slight nod, then cleared his throat. “It’s just been one of those days. Couldn’t get my brain to shut off.”
“Thinking about Price?” she questioned knowingly. There was no way anything else would be having this sort of impact on him.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I’ve been cleared of all wrongdoing. Everyone keeps telling me that’s all that should matter to me, but it isn’t. It’s… it doesn’t matter that I couldn’t have changed anything by being there. It doesn’t matter that IAB thinks I made all the right calls when I was planning the op. None of that matters, because at the end of the day, I made a call, and that call resulted in an officer’s death.”
“No, honey,” she murmured, reaching across the table to grab his hand and lace their fingers together. “All those people who’ve been telling you it wasn’t your fault were right. You should listen to them. They seem very smart.”
He laughed quietly. “You’re not saying that just because you were one of them, are you?”
“Me?” she questioned, faking offense. “I can’t believe you’d even imply such a thing.”
He smiled affectionately at her remark, then glanced away once more, his eyes clouding once more. “It’s not just about Price. Friendly fire cases get under my skin for reasons other than…”
“Your brother was killed in a friendly fire incident,” Eddie realized, wondering how it hadn’t dawned on her any sooner. “Jamie,” she breathed gently, “Addison’s not dirty, and you weren’t looking the other way for a long list of wrong reasons. It was an accident. Things went wrong. Things go wrong sometimes; it’s just a side effect of human existence. But Price isn’t Joe. This isn’t like that was.”
“I know,” he sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I know that. I just…”
“It’s hard,” she finished, knowing the feeling all too well. “I get it.”
His eyes finally met hers, and when he smiled, it appeared genuine. “Eddie."
"Yes?" she returned with a smile of her own.
"I love you.”
“I love you too,” she replied without hesitation. “Now, come on. You ready for bed?” she questioned, pushing away from the table and standing. She held her hand out to him, smiling when he took it.
The wounds weren’t going to heal overnight, but they weren’t in danger of draining him anymore. For now - for tonight - that was enough.