Title:  Rest In Peace

Author:  Amazon X

E-mail:  yankeestarbuck@yahoo.com

Website:  http://yankeestarbuck.tripod.com

Feedback:  thank you, not a flame needed

Category:  Gen/Het

Rating:  PG-13

Summary:  Exactly how do they mourn, having seen death so many times?  What happens when they lose one of their own?

Archive:  Let me know where my babies live, keep my 'nym.

Disclaimer:  Not mine, not now, not ever, but they visit my fantasies often!

Notes:  If you have not read my work "Laundry", you may not understand who Tina is.  She is introduced there.  But that's not essential to read to understand this.  If you love Jimmy, well, so do I, but I couldn't kill one of the main boys, I'd be shot dead in the street for that.  And it's been done, actually.  So…enjoy…or not.  Thank you to my fabulous beta, Everly Dawn, you mean everything to me, sweetness!

************

They stood at the grave, all looking down, solemn and quiet.  Byers, Langly and Frohike kept their eyes shut tight as the priest spoke.  Yves was there as well, holding a white rose in her hand.  Mulder and Scully had shown up out of respect.  Doggett and Reyes were there, feeling a bit of responsibility for his death, having given the Gunmen their latest FBI assignment, in other words, begged them for help of the illegal nature.  Skinner stood in the very back, overseeing the proceedings it seemed, with his guilt making him feel as if they wouldn't have been there if he hadn't suggested the Gunmen be called.

In all honesty, he didn't know what else to do.  They needed information, they needed it fast, they couldn't go through the proper channels and Skinner needed someone he could trust.  He never thought the boy would be stupid enough to try and distract the pursuers.  And as a result, he paid with his life.

Skinner looked to see a girl standing apart from the two groups, but close to the coffin, wearing a long leather trench coat and black Doc Martin boots with her hair pulled back in a ponytail.  He noticed her because she wasn't quietly praying as the others were.  She was crying, loudly and inconsolably.

He walked to her and put his hand on her shoulder.  She turned to him.  "Miss, are you a member of Jimmy's family?" Skinner asked, after the service was over, and they were waiting to say a last goodbye.

"No, I'm Tina.  I live with them.  I'm Ringo's girl."  She was sobbing again, swiping at her eyes with her wrist.  Skinner pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and offered it.  She took it and patted her cheeks.

"I'm sorry about Jimmy.  He was a nice young man.  I shouldn't be surprised that he acted with such bravery."

"Why's that?"

"He once impersonated me and helped capture an international criminal.  He was a good boy."  Tina began sobbing again, hard. 

Skinner put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into an embrace.  He noticed that even though she had said she was Langly's girlfriend, he hadn't moved to stand with her.  She was crying so hard, she began coughing and choking.  He was still holding her close to his chest when she looked up at him and said, "You don't have to so this.  I'll be ok."

She was trying to talk between choking and sobbing.  Skinner stroked her cheek to try and calm her contorted features.  She was too young and pretty to be this sad, he thought wistfully.

"Are you sure?  Can I take you somewhere?  I'm mean, you're crying so hard."

"I have to cry this hard."

"Why?"

Skinner was truly puzzled by this statement.  She looked up at him, blotting her nose, but not blowing, as was comical for movies.

"I'm crying for five people."

"Five people?  I don't understand."

"Well, myself…and them."  She pointed at the four statues standing before the grave, hollow shells of her friends.  "They won't cry.  Not here.  And Jimmy deserves someone to cry for him.  So I cry for all of us."

Skinner nodded his head solemnly and allowed his own tears to fall, along with hers.  He stood with her, holding her tightly, crying for his four agents while they stood quietly in their own group.

Only when the three Gunmen and Yves finally turned to leave, signaling the agents to do so, as well, Tina stepped away from Skinner and walked to the closed casket.  She laid a kiss on the polished burgundy surface and patted the lid.

"Sweet dreams, little boy."

That was what she had said to him every night.  He was as close to a brother to her as he could have been.  And she would never forget how special he treated her.  She walked up the hill, where everyone was waiting by the vehicles.  But she stopped mid-stride as a fit of sobbing took her over her entire body.  Langly stepped forward to go collect her, stopping Skinner in his tracks.  He followed close behind the couple as they joined the waiting group.

Before she left, almost as an afterthought, Tina walked up to Skinner and pulled his handkerchief from her pocket.  She reached up, dried his cheeks and handed it back to him.

"Thank you, Mr. Skinner.  Goodbye."

She got into the van with the other Gunmen.  Yves drove away in her Mercedes then the van pulled away.  Skinner sat in his Blazer.  Mulder slipped in the passenger side and Scully got in the back.  He would drop them off at her mother's house to get the baby and Mulder's car.  Then he would drive back to the office to lose himself in his work once again.

The End