"We are gathered here today, to mourn the loss of three very special and great individuals, Marshall, Max and Morgan, who gave their lives in the line of duty."

There were sobs from a corner of the group as Marshall's name was mentioned, but none for Max or Morgan. The priest droned on, meaningless blabbering. Three coffins, lined up on the grass, with their country's flag covering them, rain splattered.

The clouds decided to release their hostages, after the priest had finished, and the pallbearers stood, carrying the three, waiting for the procession to proceed.

"Erica, I'm sorry about this," a voice said, laying his hand on my shoulder. "It must be hard for you."

I turned and looked at David. "Not as hard as it is for you. Loosing a son, and a great friend is worse." I handed him a tissue, which he used to wipe the tears from his eyes. "How are you going to tell your wife?"

He didn't reply, just shook his head, then turned to join the procession. It continued to spatter rain, soaking the grass and soil. I could not watch, so I turned, to face the hidden sun.

"Alexandra Dvorak, dressed all in black, I thought I would never see that day," a familiar voice said from behind. "Then again, I always thought it was going to be you first, not Marshall or Max."

"Eric," I turned around to face him as he came, black suit and tie a mess, his hair windblown. "Eric, everyone has their time, then their work is finished on Earth. I guess it was theirs." I bit my lip, trying hard to keep it from trembling.

"Alexandra, you know as well as I, it isn't our fault." Eric took my hands into his and gently squeezed. "Marshall and Max were good friends, but we were never that close to them, were we?"

I shook my head, fighting back the onslaught of tears. There was a slight smile on Eric's face. "So you are human," he brushed away a stray tear that had escaped. "like everyone else." Then he embraced me tightly, rubbing my back. "However, you're one very special person," he cupped my face and looked into my eyes. "Everything's been arranged, you ready to go?"

I looked up into his face, studying it, then shook my head. "You know I'm not ready to go," my voice trembled, "I don't want to leave, leave this life." I stopped, unable to speak because I was crying.

Eric pulled me closer, and gently kissed my forehead. "Then be glad that you're not going alone." I looked at him startled. "I'm going with you. Commander thought it would've been better, and he thinks we work well together."

I smiled, despite my tears, then hugged him. "If that's the case, then I'm ready," I replied, wiping my tears away, trying to regain my composure.

"I thought so," he replied turning me around. "See, the sun even agrees." He pointed at the sun, poking its head between the rain clouds. "I bet somewhere, there's a rainbow, and a pot of gold at the other end."

I elbowed him gently, "you know that pot of gold is just a myth, it's never been found." But what he meant was right, somewhere out there was something good, and it was time to go find it.

Down on the road, a car honked. Eric and I took a final glance, then turned our backs on the sun, and took off running for the car. It was the end of one chapter and the beginning of another one, one that I would not regret leaving.

The rain sprinkled down, as the car pulled away from the graveyard, and turned onto the highway. If you looked carefully, a rainbow appeared, and disappeared into the horizon, along with the car. No one remembered what had happened at the warehouse, let alone remembered seeing a couple in the graveyard.

THE END.