Fallen Hero

Fallen Hero

Fallen hero

the hero with a past

fallen hero, he’s losing

nobody cares

When Warrick was killed, Hodges functioned.

Silently, precisely, pin-point focused with barely more words than necessary. Somehow, he became the glue that held the team together in these darkest of moments.

When Grissom, caught in grief and shock, mixed up solutions, Hodges offered him relief and took over. A quiet, open offer, allowing Grissom to either take or reject it. Grissom accepted and left.

And they found him dead

in the back of his car

Shot through the heart

under cold, blue stars

When Nick died, Hodges broke.

All around him, people moved with hushed, sad, disbelieving faces, voices, motions.

Hodges just sat there, unseeing.

Staring into a past that had been sprinkled with oh so tentative promises.

Fallen hero,

the hero with a past

Fallen hero,

don’t you know it

never lasts?

Nick gave him a sideways glance.

Hodges shrugged

«Seriously? A Dukes of Hazzard convention?»

Hodges weighed his head from to side to side.

«It’s more like a fair. Y’ know, barbeque, beer, lookalikes, stuff like that.»

Nick gave an incredulous chuckle.

«So it’s a Dukes of Hazzard- themed fair?»

Hodges placed his hands on his hips.

«Sort of. So, what do you think?»

Nick grinned.

«I think I’d like that.»

And they found him dead

in the back of his car

Shot through the heart

under cold, blue stars

«An’ n’ tellin y’, ain’t no w-way he-he’s not ly-ying.»

Hodges, on his sixth-seventh? beer shook his head to will away the dizziness.

Why had he insisted on two boilermakers first?

«Y’re right, of co-course-hup! Qu-questuin’s omly, f’ Griss’m can proo~hoof it.»

Nick took another swig from his mug, almost spilling some over his shirt.

«Grisshum can proof anything, y’ know that», he stated. Hodges raised his glass and toasted.

«To Grissom!» «To Grissom!»

Their glasses clinked, and they both broke into uncontrolled laughter.

Fallen hero, you’re slow,

they moved fast

Those nasty questions

now they do rest

It was barely a chance encounter, if one could even call it that.

Just another bad day at work, another grinding shift, another case, that made them question humanity.

One dead engine, the offer for a ride home, the offer for a homemade dinner/breakfast, a silent invitation for a few hours away from loneliness, madness, the weight of an unforgiving world.

Body heat shared in a too small, too big bed, cautious touches, silent whispers, featherlight, stolen kisses..

The moon rising as he did, leaving him fast asleep on the semi-tousled bed, a semi-smile gracing the clear, lean features.

Variations of a smile they would carry throughout the next several weeks.

Well, they found you dead

in the back of your car

Shot through the heart

under cold, blue stars

Steps hurried towards him, then a low, familiar voice called his name.

Hodges looked up, rose, moved forward, then stopped.

Gil Grissom stared at him, eyes red-rimmed, pain and worry etched on his mournful face.

And Hodges wrapped his arms around him and began to weep into his shoulder, seeking forgiveness for having failed Nick, for not being able to keep him safe.

For not being able to keep that silent promise he had given all those years ago.

And Grissom held him, as his own tears soaked Hodge’s shirt, as they mourned a loss too great for one heart alone to bear.

under cold, blue stars

fin