A/N Did you think I was going to leave it like that...? 

The Funeral

"When I first met Duke, we got off on the wrong foot. I came from a family of homophobes and was sure that he was some creep that was going to spy on me in the showers or something. He put me in my place right quick. He told me to stop being a pansy-ass whiner, put my big boy pants on and think for myself, and that I was too much of a princess to be his type.

I came to learn that he had someone back home, like many of our fellows. Truth be told, I got sick of hearing how great his husband was. How he was the most understanding, and the sweetest man to walk this earth. Imagine my surprise when I heard he wasn't married to Jesus himself. He might as well have been the way he went on about him.

More importantly I came to learn that he was not just a soldier. He was a hard worker, a caring friend, and a fierce fighter. He believed that he was doing the right thing by going out there to the battlefield and defending those he loved. He fought for freedom. He fought for his family. He fought everyday so that people could go about their daily lives in peace.

He always had a smile on his face, like he knew something we all didn't. He would pray even on patrol that he would get to see his husband one more time. The day we were ambushed, he didn't hesitate once. He stepped up for all of us and we got out of there alive because of him. He refused to leave anyone behind. It wasn't until it was too late that we realised the price.

Duke was a good man, an exemplary soldier and a true hero. He gave us all a piece of himself with his friendship, so that we might bring him home to see his spouse again." I walked across the platform and, after handing over the carefully folded flag, hugged the pale man who watched the proceedings in a daze.

If someone had told me as a teenager that I would not just be friends with, but actually embrace a gay man in my lifetime, I probably would have laughed in their face. I had been a fool. A blind puppet to the society my parents brought me up in. Now I was a man, a true man who thought for himself and could decide what was right and what was wrong.

This man who laid to rest in the ground had shown me what it was to love unconditionally. He had become my brother, my true family, in a way surer than my own blood. He gave his life for ours. I already missed that stupid grin of his. The picture they had up of him was all wrong. He never was so serious as that proper picture on the stand. I liked the picture I had of him best. It was just an old polaroid that was taken off the back of a jeep. He and I had been talking about what it meant to love another person, really and truly. It was back when I thought it wasn't possible to love another of your own sex, but his words were pretty convincing.

What he had sounded more beautiful than anything I had seen in my lifetime. Better than the girls I had played with in high school. Better than the strained relationship between my own folks that always seemed to teeter on the edge of a fight. Far better than those silly romances that I was forced to watch on dates while all I wanted was a quicky in my car.

It was something to strive for. Something I didn't know if I could achieve in my life time but I sure as all hell would try. The service was coming to an end and I was grateful for it. My leg ached something terrible with all the standing I had to do. I caught the wave of one of the family and went over to see what they needed. First I was thanked for my speech, but I waved it off embarrassed.

"Won't you come back to the house with all of us? I think he needs all the support he can get right now." A glance in the pale man's direction and I nodded hesitantly. The poor boy was still staring off into space like a lost man. Not that any of us could blame him. I went over to offer an arm to him, trying to jog him out of his daze long enough to leave with his family.

"Ah, thank you." His voice was soft and gravelly, probably from crying over the last while. I smiled gently. His arm was light where it wrapped around mine. He matched his pace to my slow, uneven one. He didn't even comment on my limp. I opened the door to the limousine and he slid into the seat. A faint smile looked up at me when I closed the door and it hurt my heart. He didn't have to smile at me today.

It felt strange too strange to be walking in places he once was without him. The memories told by his family and friends were just more of the same things we had all known of him. The only person who stayed silent was his husband, Aaron. He hardly ate any of the finger foods that weighed down three tables in the dining room, and that faint smile kept teasing about his mouth.

"Why don't you take him to his bedroom to have a lay down, hun? He looks exhausted." His mother asked me from our seats on the couch. I looked over at him and shrugged, as if to say 'do you want to?' He nodded a little, so I stood up and helped him to his feet as well. We didn't say a word as I escorted him down the hall. He pointed to a closed door, and I opened it for him like a gentleman.

"Do you want me to stick around here or do ya want some time by yerself?" I asked him politely. He shrugged and just stood in the middle of the room as though he wasn't sure what to do. I sighed and moved to take off his tie, unbutton his shirt a few, and slip his jacket off so he was more comfortable. Then I sat him on the bed and took his shoes off.

"Did you know I saw him?" Aaron finally looked at me, looked right at me as though I was there. I gave him a curious look.

"What do you mean?" I asked him quietly. He had a strange glint in his eye as he spoke, challenging me to say otherwise.

"He was here. He came home." He said firmly. I shook my head. That was impossible. We both knew it was impossible. Was the man losing his marbles?

"You mean you saw his ghost?" I asked. I could be reasonable about this. I mean, who knows what sorts of strange things go on in life and death.

"I... I guess maybe I did." He shuddered at the memory and I came to sit beside him.

"Maybe God really did listen to all those prayers of his, Aaron. He probably just wanted to say goodbye." I wrapped an arm around him and gave a squeeze of reassurance.

"He told me he loved me." I heard a muffled sob and then the small man was climbing onto my lap to cry on my nice pressed dress uniform. At first I was shocked at the action, instinctively wrapping my arms around him to comfort him but feeling really uncomfortable. I got used to the weight and feel of him there, reminding myself that this was Duke's beloved and he deserved to cry it all out.

"He surely did, Aaron. He surely did. Didn't ever stop talking about you. I swear it." I crooned to him. I began rocking him a little, like I would do with my nieces when they were tired crying and just needed a little comfort. After a bit, his crying slowed down and he leaned back to look at me sheepishly.

"I'm sorry. I am making a mess of your suit." He sniffled and tried to wipe at my front with his sleeve. I grabbed his hand and flattened it against my chest, shaking my head.

"Oh lord, it's fine. Doesn't get used much for anything anyways, so might as well be a tissue." I joked with him. He smiled faintly again and I smushed him back against me, rubbing circles on his back. His bony little butt was making my thigh go numb though, so I shifted him awkwardly.

"Eh, what is that?" He shifted around a little and I felt his hand trying to figure out what was poking him. His hand was stroking my thigh and once again I felt very self-conscious. I grabbed his hand and held it away from the offending area.

"That would be my prosthetic. Sorry if the strap got you." I explained, embarrassed. His eyes widened and he looked down at my crotch, wiggling about like mad, and I finally let go so I could grab his hips to make him stop.

"Really? I didn't even notice. Or rather, I saw you limping earlier but I never would have guessed... you are really doing well with that. Adults usually have much more trouble adjusting than the kids do. I have been working at the hospital and the kids are so great there. They complain way less than the adults when I give them exercises." He was talking a mile a minute now and his eyes sparkled when he mentioned the kids.

"Uh, thank you?" I didn't really think he required my input. I watched as he talked now, lighting up slowly from the inside like a Christmas tree. He used his hands to talk and nearly smacked me a few times with emphasis. He was beautiful. In that moment I saw exactly what Duke had seen in this man. If Duke had been a hero, he was married to an angel.

"I'm sorry. Here I am going on and you probably want to get home and rest yourself. It has been a brutal day for you, so make sure you do your stretches before you go to sleep." Aaron had started to deflate a little again, but I still chuckled.

"I can say the same for you. Now, why don't you get in and get some rest. I will tell your parents to leave you be for awhile." I replied as he got up and dusted me off awkwardly. This boy had a problem with personal space, I tell you. I pushed him onto the bed and he giggled a little when I pulled the covers up to his chin.

"Alright, goodnight Ben. Will you come to visit me again?" He asked with a yawn. I stared down at the man with conflicted feelings.

"Sure Aaron. I'll come visit."