One Journey Ends

Sven hung up the phone quietly as Justin watched. They'd moved into the new apartment and had settled in fairly quickly. They'd even develop rou routine of sorts. Justin handled most of the casework while Sven took care of the daily necessities like cooking and errands. It amused Justin to think of Sven as the caregiver, but it didn't surprise him seeing as the blonde man was still quite absorbed in Tara's condition. She'd come to the cemetery everyday at different times. Sven said he believed she would only come at noon when she wanted company, knowing he would be there around that time. Although he always remained until she arrived, he would hide himself on those occasions when it was clear she was trying to avoid him. It bothered Justin to see the man so troubled, though he was hard pressed to explain why.

Now the blonde looked positively morose sitting at the desk toying with a pen Justin had left there. Something was very wrong and Justin didn't know what or how to go about fixing it.

"What is it?" he finally asked, breaking the dense silence.

"My friend in Japan," the Scandinavian said without lifting his eyes.

"He is not doing well?"

"No," Sven replied shaking his head. "He has killed himself."

Justin sighed sadly. He knew the girl's death had devastated her father from what Sven told him. But he didn't think the man would take his own life over it. Although since he no longer had anyone left in the world, it made sense.

"I am sorry, Sven," Justin said quietly noting his partner's shift away. Sven thought he could hide the tear that fell from his eye, but Justin saw it and it disturbed him.

"I will be fine," Sven said choked out. "I just need to focus."

He rose from the chair and went for his coat.

"Where are you going?"

"It is time for my daily walk."

"You should not go out today," Justin said trying to keep the concern out of his voice but not succeeding.

"She will be a good distraction."

"You should take time to accept your friend's death," Justin insisted touching Sven's arm to keep him from putting his coat on. The contact caused a fission to shoot into his fingertips that he didn't wish to contemplate right now.

"She is important."

"Then I will make sure she is okay today."

Sven stopped trying to pull his arm away and regarded Justin quizzically for a moment. The dark haired man wanted to know what was going through the blonde's mind but waited mutely.

"You cannot," Sven finally said. "She would recognize you from that night and you have made it clear that you do not wish to be involved."

"If you are involved then so am I," Justin said in a low voice, not knowing why he was suddenly so sure that that statement was true. "And I will hide as you do on the days she does not wish contact with you."

"What if she wishes it today?" the blonde man asked skeptically. "I want to be there for her."

"You can be tomorrow," Justin sighed. "She will then be looking more forward to seeing you. And this way I can watch her closely to see if you are correct in worrying for her."

"You have watched me with her before," Sven pointed oith ith a raised eyebrow.

Justin couldn't very well tell him that he'd been concentrating on him and not the girl, could he? He wasn't even sure why he focused so seriously on the blonde man. He just knew that his partner was becoming more than a casual acquaintance.

"I was a farther distance away so that you did not see me," he said quickly to deflect any more suspicion. "And a lot of good that did since you knew I was there anyway."

"Okay," Sven's mouth curved into a slighile ile and Justin felt a measure of relief at seeinis. is. "You may go do this for me today."

Justin nodded and pulled his jacket off the hook. When he zipped it up he felt Sven tug gently on his sleeve and turned a questioning glance in his direction.

"Thank you, Justin."

"No problem."

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Tara looked at her watch then around her. Sven was nowhere to be found and she was disappointed. She'd been looking forward to seeing him today. Although she hadn't told him about the necklace she'd received, she took comfort in their occasional meetings. They gave her a short respite from the pain she felt from Ben's death and from the terror she was experiencing sporadically since the necklace arrived on her doorstep. The calls from Ben's mother hadn't stopped either, but Tara had installed Caller ID so that she could screen her calls. It didn't keep the bitter woman from leaving angry messages on the answering machine, though.

She looked back at the grave and sighed. Ben hadn't deserved to meet such a violent and early end, and she knew he wouldn't have if he hadn't married her. The guilt had become a constant companion to her now. She wondered what she'd done in this or a former lifetime to deserve to have everyone she loved taken away from her.

When she was thirteen, she'd lived with an old woman and her mentally challenged son. At first, the woman was quite nice and very happy to have Tara's help around the house. But she remembered towards the end of her stay that things had become strained. The son had taken an unsettling interest in her as her body suddenly began developing, and his mother began to treat her very col She She blamed Tara for her son's behavior. No matter what she did to avoid being alone with him, he'd always manage to turn up. One day he had cornered her in the garage and was trying to get her clothes off when his mother walked in. The woman immediately called social services to have Tara picked up. Tara would never forget what the woman said as she packed her meager collection of things.

'll 'll never amount to anything but trouble, missy."

"I didn't do anything," Tara pleaded as she shut her suitcase.

"He never did anything like that before you came here," the woman hissed. "You bring your problems on yourself. There's a reason nobody wants you around"

Now Tara wondered why she'd dismissed the old woman's statements so easily. The proof was right here in front of her. Ben and their daughter lay in the ground because she was a magnet for disaster. Well, she couldn't see what she had to live for now anyway. It was becoming increasingly difficult to contemplate her future now. She'd tried to go back to work again, but her position had been filled and the store told her they would call her when the next available one came up. Her supermarket job had given her more hours to work in the meantime. But those were at night and her days were filled with emptiness now.

She took a last look at the grave and rose to leave, picking up her coat as she stood.

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Justin watched from behind the small crypt nearby. He gasped as she stood to don her coat, noticing that her ribs now stuck out somewhat prominently. Sven had been right. She was too thin. And definitely thinner than the last time he'd seen her at the cemetery. His mind wandered back to the night he'd saved her, and the look in her unusual blue eyes as the staff wheeled her away from him. It had been filled with a despair that he thought would have lessened a bit by now. But he could see that it hadn't. In fact, it had intensified.

The blonde man had never missed an opportunity to point out how alone Tara was now that her husband was gone. Justin had always valued his own solitude and thought most of the rest of the world did the same. Yet now he couldn't help but wonder if that same solitude was what was eating away at the small woman now walking to the bus stop across the street from the graveyard. He tailed her and waited for the bus to pull away before walking back to his apartment. He was no longer irked about Sven's insistence that the building boseroser to the site. He would certainly have to help the Scandinavian keep a closer eye on Tara.

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Sven sat in a chair by the window so that he could see the dark haired man's return. Although he was deep in mourning over his close friend's passing, he was also troubled by his new connection with his partner earlier. True, he admitted to himself his attraction to Justin. But he never suspected that Justin felt the same magnetism. He saw the object of his thoughts come into view and smiled sadly. A few moments later the apartment door opened and Justin strolled in shrugging out of his jacket.

"She is all right?" Sven asked standing to speak with him.

"She is not," Justin responded flatly. "You were correct all along. She had her coat off and when she stood to put it on, I saw her ribs."

"I do not know what to do about her deteriorating condition," Sven mumbled perversely glad to have such a distraction.

"If she does not snap out of it soon, there may not be anything we can do."

"Oh, yes there is!" Sven snapped his head up to look defiantly at Justin who suddenly began to develop an oddly amused expression.

"What do you suggest?" he asked the blonde man.

"I will take her out of there!"

Justin studied him closely making Sven feel very uncomfortable. He seemed to be trying to figure something out while he raked the blonde man up and down with his eyes.

"I do not pretend to know what is going on between us," he finally said to his startled partner. "But I am no longer willing to hide from it either."

"What are you talking about?" Sven balked backing away a step. Justin tracked him with his eyes, smiling slowly.

"Do not be afraid of me, Sven," he said in a placating tone. "I am not dangerous to you."

"Excuse the cliché, but famous last words."

"I am not sure what it is or how it happened, but we have a connection," he sighed. "And she is part of it."

Sven stopped moving and nodded. "That much I have discovered as well," he said to the dark haired man before him. "But the rest is uncertain."

Justin nodded. "We will figure that out later," he said. "In the meantime, what I mean to say is that you will not take her out of there."

"I will!"

"WE will."

"We?" Sven said shaking his head. He wasn't sure he'd heard that right. "You are suddenly very determined for someone who insisted we leave her alone."

"I had always built my life on solitude," Justin said sadly. "I have decided that I may have been wrong."

It was Sven's turn to regard him questioningly. This was an about face for Justin and he wasn't sure how to handle it. Though he knew he needed to stay with his partner, as this is what drew them together to begin with.

"We still need to bring down Henderson," he said.

Justin nodded but said nothing.

"We will help her together then?" he asked Justin.

"We will," he confirmed. "You were right to fear for her. I cannot let her give up after all I have done to save her."

"Why did you save her?"

"Why were you such close friends with the dead girl's father?"

Sven raised an eyebrow at Justin not able to answer such a blunt question.

"You seeustiustin asked. "We have much in our pasts to discuss. Do not worry, though. We will ge it. it."