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‘Yea…uh huh…I understand, I’ll be there as soon as I can…’ Daniel paced their bedroom floor with blood tears streaming over his face while the voice on the other end of the phone tried to console him. ‘We will do the whole thing at night? Great…I’ll be there I promise…bye…’
He sat heavily on the couch and Louis and Armand joined him after a brief moment of silence.
‘I’m sorry for the loss of your mother.’ Louis broke the silence that hung between them.
Daniel's face crumpled and he buried his face in his knees with his arms over his head. His whole body wracked with sobs and tiny whimpers escaped him, trying and failing to convey the depth of the agony he was in.
Armand sat stonily beside them watching his fledgling fall apart while Louis rubbed his back and tried to comfort him. The older vampire didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know his own parents, hadn’t mourned them when they must have died, he’d not been close as Daniel had been. Even his link to Marius wasn’t as strong as it had been when he was mortal, losing Marius now would feel just as blunted as the loss of his parents would have felt had he been aware of their passing.
Not quite, a little voice whispered meanly in his head, you’d miss him terribly even after everything that’s happened. He brushed the thought aside and tried to find the words to offer Daniel in his moment of need, he found none. Louis was muttering to Daniel about how his mother had lived a long and happy life and she had a wonderful child who she loved, a great husband, and she was now at peace and no longer in any pain or suffering from her old age.
It seemed stupid to say these things. Surely being alive and slightly in pain was better than dead? She hadn’t been that old anyway, not old enough to have died so suddenly. Armand always knew, as Daniel did, that she would pass away eventually. Neither ever expected it to be sudden, from an aneurysm in her heart of all things.
He always expected her death would be preceded by a bout of illness typical of the elderly, he had prepared for that; he could never have prepared for this. So when Daniel looked up at him and waited for him to speak Armand felt himself freeze. He couldn’t console his lover.
‘I am sorry for your loss.’ Was all he managed to say.
Daniel sniffled and wiped his face, looking away from his maker. ‘Thanks.’
‘I know she was important to you.’
‘Yup.’
Daniel wasn’t making this easier and Armand was getting frustrated. Louis made a face at him over Daniels head, trying to get Armand to calm down and be gentle. Armand sighed and put a hand on Daniels' back.
‘I am truly sorry…’
Daniel launched himself into Armands arms and wailed in his shoulder. Armand did his best to hold him tightly and to sooth him but he felt deeply uncomfortable. Louis watched him with a patient expression and stroked Daniels back.
‘We are both here for you, if there is any way we can assist you with the preparations or if you just need to talk we are here for you.’ Louis again found the right words while Armand felt like he didn’t know any languages.
Daniel sniffled and slowly calmed down until he could sit up on his own between them and dry his face with the handkerchief Louis offered. ‘Thanks Lou…’
Armand observed his fledgling. His bloodied tears clung to his long eyelashes, causing them to glitter like rubies in the glow of the hearth. His face was a shade paler than usual and his brow was knitted together in deep thought. Daniel was his beautiful fledgling, his only fledgling, and Armand wanted more than anything to support him through this.
‘I will begin to make the arrangements.’ Armand pulled out his cell phone. ‘We can find an excellent coffin, maybe cherry wood with rose gold furnishings and an egg white padded silk lining. I will arrange an orchestra to play at the service, the philharmonic can’t be so busy that I can’t buy their interest. I know very few catering companies but I am sure I can buy one of the nicer hotels and they can host the service and cater for it…perhaps even accommodate all the guests. Of course you will need a priest, was she a specific denomina-...’
Louis and Daniel were staring at him blankly. Armand paused for a moment, and then tried to regroup. ‘No I suppose that is a foolish question, you are of Irish heritage, catholic is the only denomination. I know a few catholic priests, of course they are only pretending to be catholic priests…but I can find a real one if you prefer?’
‘Uh…’ Daniel looked over to Louis. ‘Boss…I think I’ll do all that, I knew her and I know what she’d have wanted.’
Armand frowned and tried to gauge from their expressions where he had gone wrong. ‘Did she not like cherry wood?’
Daniel looked away and tears started to slip down his cheeks again. Armand reached out to touch his shoulder, to try and comfort him but Louis’ voice stopped him.
‘Armand, a word?’ Louis walked out the room and Armand reluctantly followed.
‘Why are you not letting me do this for him?’ Armand demanded to know as soon as the door shut behind them. ‘You have all the words in the world to say, let me have this one thing I can do!’
‘Armand you’ve never had a funeral for someone you loved. You don’t understand the importance of the preparations that go into it, we understand that and we aren’t upset with you for not understanding but we need you to follow Daniel's lead on this.’ Louis was kind but clear in his response and it gave Armand pause.
‘Why would he want to do something that drives home the fact that she is dead?’ He asked bluntly, knowing it wouldn’t hurt Louis as it would hurt Daniel. ‘Surely he’d rather I plan everything and then he can half feel like she’s still out there?’
‘Armand it's not about that.’ Louis hugged him. ‘It’s about more than saying goodbye and finalising their life, it’s also about saying thank you.’
Armand nuzzled into Louis' chest and sighed deeply. He didn’t understand.
‘This is the ultimate way a child gives thanks to their parents, by sending them off with dignity and respect and love. It is a thoughtful and personal process to put a parent to their final rest. That is why Daniel must do this with his siblings.’
Armand vaguely understood the concept and he withdrew from Louis’ embrace slowly. ‘What am I to do?’
‘Just be there for him, listen, don’t try to fix this for him because you can’t.’ Louis tucked a strand of Armands hair behind his ear. ‘All you can do is what he allows or asks you to do.’
‘Alright…’