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Athena’s fingertips trail the left rear door of her SUV when Detective Phelps' voice calls again from behind her.
“Oh, Sergeant.”
She turns around to meet a sympathetic smile.
“I’m sorry about Wendell’s death.” Phelps continues genuinely. “Everyone we interviewed said he was a good guy.”
Athena smiles, feeling the hint of tears at the back of her throat. “He was.”
She offers a wave when Phelps smiles politely again in conclusion before walking away.
Her hand drops and lands back on the side of her car, hooking over the door handle and Athena turns her gaze to follow. She looks up, catching a glimpse of the back of Bobby’s head from where he’s sitting in the passenger seat.
Halfway through Trey’s interrogation, Bobby said he had to get out. Had to find a quiet place to calm down and regroup and pray. She sees now through the window of her car that he did just that.
The same wooden rosary he kept in hand at Buck’s bedside at the hospital and the same one she knows he keeps in his pocket when he’s off duty is clutched in his fingers now.
Athena wants to give him another moment alone so she hesitates when taking a step forward to the driver’s side door.
As she looks on during that moment, with thoughts of Wendell and a familiar image of her man holding that rosary playing before her eyes, Athena is thrown back in time to four years previous.
-
Athena pulls into an empty parking space right outside St Basil’s at ten past eleven. She glances over, around the corner sidewalk and sees Bobby talking with a taller man on the front steps of the cathedral.
That must be Wendell.
She shakes her head to herself inside her car – Bobby had planned all this out.
He’d let her know yesterday that his truck was in the shop, that he’d need a ride home from a meeting after his shift ended. It’s not too hard to figure out now who picked him up from the station in the first place.
Athena steps out of the black SUV and the quiet slam of the door has both Bobby and his companion turning their attention her way.
Bobby grins, an almost mischievous glint in his eye. He looks back at Wendell and although she’s too far away still to hear what he says she sees the realization draw on his sponsor’s face.
They walk down the rest of the steps and by the time she makes her way down the sidewalk to them, both are there to meet her.
“Hey.” Bobby says, smiling widely still as he moves a few feet closer to her. He runs a hand over her bicep before leaning in to kiss her cheek in greeting.
She puts a hand on his hip as his lips leave her skin and she can’t help but return the expression on his face. “Hey, you.”
“Thanks for coming to get me.” He murmurs softly when he pulls back, his hand squeezing her elbow before dropping back to his side.
Athena smiles softly up at him, rubbing her hand up his flank and feels more than sees him breathe in deeply.
Bobby gestures out a hand toward Wendell as the two of them move closer back to where the other man has been observing them.
“Athena, this is Wendell.” He says, moving his hand back to her shoulder briefly before gesturing to her with his other one. “Wendell, this is Athena.”
Wendell steps forward, a big smile lighting up his face in the mid morning California sun. He holds out a hand and Athena smiles back before shaking it.
“It’s nice to meet you finally.” She says and she means it. Athena has heard only brief but wonderful things from her fiancé about his sponsor. “Bobby’s said only good things.”
“Oh.” Wendell says, letting out a laugh and she sees he has one of those faces that totally transforms when it laughs. The kind of face where it’s impossible to be unhappy around. “I can definitely say the same.”
Wendell’s smile turns into a smirk. “He won’t shut up about you, actually.”
Bobby lets out a small laugh next to her, just a hint of an embarrassed flush on his face and Athena’s heart swells with love.
“Okay.” He says, raising a hand up in mock surrender before placing it lightly on her back.
Athena chuckles at the situation as she leans back into his hand, his touch having become a grounding force for her over the last year just as she expects it is for him.
Wendell smirks at Bobby knowingly before turning his attention back on her, tone of voice now polite and inquisitive. “You’re LAPD, right?”
“That’s right.” She nods. “Coming up on thirty years.”
“Wow.” He says, subtle surprise in his voice. “I’m impressed.”
Athena smiles, letting the pride she feels over her career settle in her chest.
“Are you from the area?” She asks, both from politeness and from curiosity. She wasn’t lying when she said Bobby’s told her good things but the man next to her rubbing circles absentmindedly into the center of her back was never specific.
“New Mexico, originally. My son and his family are still out here but.” Wendell shrugs with a smile. “I like it better here.”
Athena can’t help but grin. “I understand that.”
There’s a slight pause in conversation then and so she turns her head towards Bobby.
“Ready to go?” She asks, and then looks between the two men. “Or if you’re not, I can come back.”
“No, I think we’re done.” Bobby says, shaking his head and Wendell nods, agreeing.
He suddenly pats his front pockets and then frowns when he moves the hand off her back to dig around in them.
Bobby looks up, clicking his tongue. “I think I left my rosary inside, though.”
Athena furrows her brows, thinking about how he usually never lets it out of his sight when he’s got it with him. It must show on her face because he shrugs.
“New kid was curious.” He explains with a smile before reaching back out to touch her arm. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” She says, nodding before he’s turning around and taking the steps behind them two at a time.
Athena looks back at Wendell to see him meeting her eye after watching Bobby leave too. After a second and the sound of the church door closing, their faces break out in knowing looks.
“He planned this, didn’t he?” Wendell asks, shaking his head in amusement.
Athena laughs. “I think he did.”
There’s another moment of pause before Wendell clears his throat, his face serious.
“I wasn’t lying before. He really does talk about you.” He says, and Athena can see a veil of protectiveness slide over his face. “He told me after the holidays that you two got engaged and that now he’s going to be meeting your parents next month.”
Wendell lets out a small sigh. “I told him he was moving too fast.”
Athena makes herself absorb his words. Not unfamiliar or inappropriate ones in the slightest since it was all a bit spur of the moment.
But she knows there is nothing transient about what she has with Bobby, nothing sudden about the way they care for each other – it’s been building in one way or another since the moment their eyes first met.
“All he said is that I should meet you.” Wendell continues when she doesn’t respond. “That then I’d know it was the right thing for him to do.”
“And?” She asks, her voice stilled and knowing full well how important this man’s support would be to Bobby.
“Well, granted we’ve been talking for all of five minutes.” He says, a smile peaking out from the corner of his mouth and Athena chuckles quietly to herself. “But yeah, he immediately relaxed around you. Like he found his footing.”
A weird look crosses his face then, an expression that’s knowing but also slightly baffled in its epiphany.
“Well.” Athena says, clearing her throat and Wendell’s face smoothens out as she continues. “He makes me feel steady too.”
The man in front of her smiles, pleased. He nods to himself a couple times as he stares at her, the smile growing softer and softer with every movement.
“Good.” He says, quietly. “That’s good.”
The door behind them opens and they both look up to see Bobby coming down the steps toward them, rosary dangling from his fingertips. It gets slipped into his pocket as he comes up to stand in between them and he chances a glance at them both.
“Alright.” He half says half questions as he flattens a hand over his pocket.
Wendell, still with that small smile on his face, reaches out to place a hand on Bobby’s shoulder. “Next week?”
“Yup.” Bobby replies, nodding his head. “And I’ll call you if I need you.”
Wendell squeezes Bobby’s shoulder with a nod before dropping his hand to hold the other one out toward Athena.
“It was lovely to meet you, Athena.” He says, sincerely.
She smiles and can tell that they’ll become good friends eventually if only for the mutual love, support, and protectiveness of the man between them. “And you as well.”
Bobby places a hand on her back as they step away. “Bye, Wendell.”
Wendell smiles, offering up a wave before turning around and heading down the opposite sidewalk.
The two of them turn around themselves and walk the couple yards in the other direction to her car and he removes the touch on her back to reach down and grab her hand.
The fingers that were just clutching his rosary now wrap around hers, his fingertips toying with the engagement ring on her hand and Athena thanks God for these moments that she’s shared with him.
It might look like they’re moving too fast to some people, her parents are probably going to raise hell when they visit in a couple weeks, but Bobby was right on Christmas Eve. Life is fleeting and tomorrow is never promised so why not hold onto the time we have left with both hands and an open heart?
He smiles at her as they break apart to walk towards different sides of the car and as the touch of her door handle replaces his, she vows to do just that.
-
A black SUV turns red as Athena’s mind comes back to the present. She takes a slow breath, trying to center herself before hooking her fingers over her door handle and opening the driver’s side door of her car.
She gets in as quietly as she can but still sees Bobby fidget in the passenger seat, though his eyes stay locked in on the rosary in his hand.
“Hey.” Athena says softly after a second and only then does his gaze drift up to meet hers.
His voice is low and rough. “Hey.”
Her heart jerks painfully in her chest and she tries to give him a reassuring smile.
“Detective Phelps said they got everything they needed to put Trey and Carrie away.” She says softly, resting her arm beside his on the console between them.
“That’s good.” Bobby says, looking back down at his hands and Athena has to shake similar words echoed in another voice in another time out of her mind.
“Walsh wasn’t their real name, apparently.” She continues after a moment with a shrug that makes Bobby look up. “They’ve done this twice before in two different states.”
That gets the biggest reaction out of him so far. He shakes his head, releasing a big sigh and Athena sees his fingers whiten as they grip the wooden cross of his rosary.
“God.” He huffs out, looking out at the street in front of them through the windshield. “This just keeps getting better.”
Athena sits there, letting him feel the mix of grief and anger that shows so prominently on his face. She taps her fingers on the console a couple beats before reaching out and touching his forearm. The material of his jacket creases under her fingers.
“How are you doing?” She asks as her thumb starts caressing his arm.
“Trying to focus on the good.” Bobby says, still looking out at the street. His eyes flicker over everything but her, like his gaze can’t decide what to settle on. “On what Wendell did for me, on what he did for other people.”
“But it’s just-“ He starts, and Athena sees the moisture and emotion build in his eyes before he even turns them on her and gets confirmation. “He did not deserve to go out like that.”
Her heart breaks again, not only for her man sitting in front of her but for their mutual friend who lost his life while saving someone else’s.
“I know, baby.” Athena whispers, squeezing his arm and the words haven’t so much as left her mouth before Bobby is covering her hand with his right.
She looks down and sees the rosary still clutched in his left, beads dangling from his fingertips.
“This was supposed to bring closure.” He says, voice thick as he squeezes her hand. “But it’s just making me think about all the horrible things that happen in this world that we can’t change no matter how much we want to.”
“That’s a part of life, though.” Athena says softly, trying to cushion the blow of words he already knows. As she looks back up at him, her thumb ghosts over his knuckles. “It’s why we savor every moment.”
“Yeah.” He says, agreeing but his tone is empty as he breaks her gaze to look down at their hands intertwined.
“Hey.” She says softly, wanting to bring a little more life back into his voice and it must come through with just that one syllable because he looks up. “I’m proud of you, and Wendell would be too.”
Bobby gives her a small smile, sadness etched on the edges still like he’s playing tug of war. He looks back down, gripping her hand and bows his head to kiss her knuckles. His lips linger over her skin reverently, the unspoken words whispering across the space between where their skin meets.
When he pulls back and his touch is still floating, lingering like the wind, he speaks directly to the back of her hand.
“He saved my life so many times.” He says, face twisting up in pain. “I just wish I could’ve done the same for him.”
She places her left hand on top of his, enclosing his palm in both of hers and he looks back up to meet her eye. “I think you did, baby.”
His eyebrows quirk slightly in confusion, the pain and guilt clouding everything else.
“You say he was always there to remind you what it is you’re fighting for.” Athena says, nodding to emphasize the passion she feels behind her words. “You did that for him too. I believe that.”
His eyes shine, a tear silently escaping the corner of his right eye and she feels her own fill with tears, the burn in the back of her throat coming back.
“The light at the end of the tunnel looks different for everyone.” She says, her voice shaking as she reaches up to swipe the tear off his cheek. “So when we find it, we just have to hold on tight and cherish every second.”
Bobby stares at her silently, a warmness taking over his gaze the longer he looks at her. Like the moment the words left her mouth the fog started to clear. There may be a couple of clouds present still but Athena sees the possibility of a beautiful spring day as well.
And later, on the ride home, her fingers stay interlocked with his. Both of them quietly promising and encouraging the other to hold on for as long as heaven and earth will allow.