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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
Words:
710
Chapters:
1/1
Kudos:
7
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1,353

A Requiem for Aiden

Summary:

She couldn't get him with the evidence from his victims until his last one... her. Now it's up to the others to pick up the pieces.

Work Text:

They had spent the last two or three hours talking about Aiden. Reliving cases and memories of her. As the stories trickled off and the reality hit and sunk in even deeper the questions came.

"What I don't understand is...why'd she do it?" Danny looked towards Mac and Stella. When they didn't answer he looked around to the other three sitting at the table. "She knew he was dangerous. She knew he was getting bold and cocky. She may not have known he'd kill but she did know he was getting more aggressive. Why'd she do it? Was she on a death wish or something?"

Stella reached over to hold Danny's hand in comfort, "Danny, we'll never know what Aiden was thinking aside from seeing the bastard fry. But right to the end she did the job we all loved her for. She followed the evidence. The best we can do is respect that and the fact that in the end she got the perp," she finished, patting his hand.

"Why did we let her though? She could have come to one of us with what she'd found. She could have said 'hey, this scumbag has marked his next vic.' Why didn't she?" Danny looked at Mac.

"Because she didn't want to compromise the integrity of the lab, Danny. That was one of the things she respected the most. It was one of the reasons why she understood I had to fire her. It was her own sense of integrity that prevented her from involving us," Mac stated with conviction.

"But why? We were gonna have dinner later this week. Why'd she go following him? Not fair...why'd he have to burn her. We can't even say goodbye to her face to face now. We'll never...never tell her how much we loved her. She's...was...the...kind of sister I never had," Danny finished softly with tears silently streaming down his face.

Sheldon's soft tenor interjected into the sorrowful silence that had followed Danny's outburst. "She was a fighter Danny. She kept things close to the vest when she wanted or needed to. None of us could have gotten her to not do it, let alone stop her. Of course we all cared and I hope she knew it. It doesn't change the fact that she's gone now and we've all lost someone we considered close. Her choices don't reflect a lack of caring nor a desire to hurt us. It just shows she knew a job needed to be done and she was in a position to do it, regardless of outcome."

Don picked up on Sheldon's train of thought, "She went into situations Danny, thinking only about the victim and evidence. Never did she think it would cause her personal danger until she was actually faced with it and even then she still bulldogged through. Remember the mob pizza joint she went to alone?"

When Danny snickered Don continued, "She knew she was outmatched but never showed it. Then when she came back, oh man, you should have seen her. She was so all "I told you so" without even saying a word."

"I may not have known her but these last few hours spent listening to your stories about her and how she affected you all has shown me a woman capable of extreme acts of bravery, courage and empathy," Lindsay started. "She'll obviously be missed as a friend," she looked over at Stella, "a student," she looked at Mac, "a colleague," she looked over at Don and Sheldon, "and definitely as family," Lindsay finished staring at Danny.

 

Danny held up his glass one last time and as the others joined him he spoke. "Aiden, you were one tough cookie and a hard boiled egg. But you were good and our tough cookie. We'll miss you sister and until we meet again may god hold you in the palm of his hand. Just don't give him any problems." The others clinked glasses amidst words of agreement and drank solemnly. The night ended as they all reflected on one of their own being gone.