Open Case File [COMPLETED]

Resolution (Part 4)

Walking into the warm spring air, Carter took in a breath and closed her eyes. The sun warmed her face and the whisper of the breeze brushed her skin but somehow she still felt cold. She crossed her arms, pinning them to her stomach.

"You have time for an old man?"

Carter wanted to cry but smiled at her father instead. Steve returned the look, wrinkles bunching around his caring blue eyes.

"There's a coffee shop just down the block," Carter said.

Her father wrapped his arm around her shoulders, leading her off.

"What made you come down?" she asked.

"It's been two weeks," he said. "I know we've talked on the phone but I needed to see you. How's Kennedy doing?"

Carter let out a breath. "Better than I imagined. She's with Harrison now. Maddy and Link have been watching her while I take Donovan to...therapy."

Steve guided Carter into the coffee shop and they found a table near the window.

"How is my son-in-law?" he asked.

Carter watched the passing crowd outside, fingers knotted together. "Somedays he seems to be coming back. Others he's someone..." She stared at the ground. "Someone I don't exactly know."

"I don't have to tell you this but your death hit him the hardest."

"I know."

"No, Carter, I don't think you do."

Carter's heart sank at seeing the sorrow in her father's eyes. Sorrow she caused.

"At the funeral, he couldn't talk. When everyone left...I tried to lead him away but he screamed at him to bring you back."

Carter swallowed but her throat wouldn't work. She hadn't be able to get anywhere near the funeral. She'd been trapped in the safe house imagining it all but that she couldn't have imagined.

"It wasn't the plea of a man who lost his wife," her father said. "It was the plea of a man who lost everything."

"It's my fault." Carter covered her mouth, she couldn't cry here.

Her father took her hand, gripping it. "Yes, because you were protecting him. Protecting everyone."

"I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm at fault for some part Donovan that's died."

Unable to look at his eyes, Carter stared at her father's hand.

"Have you thought of talking to someone?" her father asked.

Carter let out a breathy laugh. "I knew I wasn't dead. I don't need to come to terms with being alive again."

"No, but like you said some part of your husband died, you might want to think about talking to someone who can help with that."

Carter squeezed her father's hand. "I'm talking to you."

Her father smiled and Carter realized how much she'd missed seeing it while she was gone.

"Yes, but there's someone who knows Donovan and has insights that I don't have."

The answer clicked in Carter's head. "Thanks for the suggestion."

All too quickly the time when Donovan's session finished arrived. With a kiss on the head, Steve left saying he was off to visit his granddaughter. As Carter walked back into the therapist's waiting room, the door to Dr. Hendricks's office opened and Donovan stepped out.

For a breath, she waited to see if he'd look at her with the same light of challenge, love, and warmth he used to. He looked at her, but it wasn't the same. Still, when she reached for his hand, he took it.