WHO: Victor Brannigan (and his late wife, Sarah) WHAT: More cenes from a life Previous scene here WHEN: 1990-1995 WHERE: NYC NOTES: More of their cuteness and again ending with his sad.
He had met her at the Christmas party but since then he couldn't bring himself to speak to her. She was beautiful and bubbly and there were laugh-lines around her eyes.
She intimidated the hell out of him.
He was new in homicide, a brand new officer, and she had been the first person to really speak to him at the station house. Her name was Sarah and he caught himself thinking about her when he should have been doing paperwork. Which was better than when he caught himself looking at her.
It was worse when she caught him looking at her.
She made her way over to his desk and Victor was fairly sure his heart was abandoning ship by pounding out of his chest. "Hello Brannigan, Victor!" Sarah said brightly, and Victor nearly swallowed his tongue.
"H-hi, uh-" Oh god, what was her name? He knew it. He thought it all the time. What was her name?!
"Sarah," she said easily, obviously not put off by his awkwardness at all. "And it might help you to stop staring if you just asked me out."
"I-"
"Would you like to go out for dinner this weekend?"
"Uh, sure-"
"Great!" She laughed and put a finger under his chin, "It's okay, Victor. Everyone's nervous around people they have crushes on."
Victor finally seemed to gain control of his voice box and he said, "you don't seem nervous."
"I am a fantastic actress," she said with a wink, and she left him to wonder what exactly had just happened.
*******
The stars were twinkling at them as Victor and Sarah stretched out on the cold lawn of Sarah's parents' backyard. "So how did that go?" he asked curiously.
"Oh, it went very well," Sarah replied with a laugh. "You managed to win over both my parents as well as my sister, Rose. And Rose is a hard sell. She still expects me to bring home bikers."
Victor turned his head to look at her inquisitively. "Bikers? Sarah, am I going to end up getting shot by one of your ex-boyfriends?"
Sarah snorted and she gave him a withering look. "I highly doubt most of them would know which way to hold the gun, I wouldn't worry." Then more seriously she added, "I'm really happy, Vic. They really like you. This is good."
He had to agree.
*******
"My parents gave us towels for our engagement present!" Sarah said, tossing them onto the bed in a huff. "Towels!"
Victor was amused by her ire. To be fair, he was amused by her pretty much all the time. "Well we don't really need anything else."
"Stop being logical! My parents gave us cloth which is used to remove moisture! They think I have too much dampness! Our lives need to be drier! Towels are not proper engagement presents. I blame you, you know. You proposed in bed, they must think linen is some kind of theme."
"I blame you. I wasn't going to propose at all, but you looked really sexy that morning, and it seemed like the thing to do."
He laughed when a towel was tossed at his head.
*******
Victor was lying sprawled across the hotel bed, his tuxedo half unbuttoned. Sarah re-entered the room and she smiled at him. "It's our wedding night, are you really falling asleep?"
"I had to talk to so many people today," Victor half-whined. "And I ate too much cake. And we had sex in the closet three times before the ceremony even happened. I think I pulled a muscle."
Sarah laughed and she collapsed on the bed beside him. "You really did eat a lot of cake."
"I think angels made that cake," he said with a sage and tired nod. "...cake angels."
"Now I know you're exhausted, you're rambling about ridiculous things." She rolled over onto her side and kissed his forehead. "It was a wonderful day though. Didn't Rose look so cute in her dress."
"She looked perfect," Victor smiled. "Everyone looked perfect. You still do."
Sarah leaned down to kiss him and then she pulled his bowtie off completely. "Same to you, Officer Brannigan. Why don't you go to sleep, love. There's always tomorrow."
Victor hardly heard her, he was already drifting off.
*******
It was Christmas and since it was their first as a married couple, they had gone all out. They had a tree and it was decorated to the nines. Underneath it were dozens of presents they had gotten each other because they both liked making the other happy.
Sarah took his hand and she led him into the kitchen. "I got you something special," she said with a cheeky grin. There was a large box on the counter with a huge ribbon on it.
"It's not present time!" he half-protested. He wanted to rip it open right away.
"Come on, open it!"
He did as he was told, ripping into the box with glee. Inside was an obviously expensive Belgian waffle maker. Victor had always loved cooking, and he had a fondness for breakfast. It was amazing. "Sarah-" he said, a little shocked at the extravagance. "This is amazing. How much did this cost?!"
"Shhh, just make me waffles and we're even."
He pulled her into a tight hug and planted a kiss on her auburn hair. "Oh, believe me, I plan to. Thank you. It's perfect."
"No, pretty sure that's you," she replied.
*******
"If we do get me good and pregnant, what do you want to name the kids?" Sarah asked. Victor was working on their little herb garden in the back yard and Sarah was watching him from her deck chair, very not participating in anything involving fertiliser.
Victor looked up from his work and he pulled an arm across his sweaty forehead. "I hadn't thought about it."
"What about Colin for a boy."
"Colin is nice," he agreed. "A little old-fashioned, but nice."
Sarah grinned and she leaned forward as he went back to work. "This coming from Victor," she said fondly. "What about Derek? Or hmmm...Jason?"
"All good," he said, clearly a little distracted.
"For a girl there's always Rachael," she said, considering. "Or Marie. Georgiana. Oooh, Ocean! Stream!"
At that, Victor looked up from his work, his eyes a little wide. And Sarah just continued. "Prosperine. Velvet. Taffeta. Princess!" Victor licked his lips and he grinned at her, amused. "You are making me do all the work, Vic. I am going to end up naming your daughter something like 'Delight' or 'Freesia'. And if it's a son maybe 'Battle' or 'Concord'."
His amused look grew wicked at all at once, Sarah knew what was in store. She jumped up from her chair even as he rose from his knees. "No, Victor, you have plant hands!" she squealed, running into the house. He pulled his gloves off and threw them over his head as he chased her, laughing the entire way. They ended up in bed, as they usually did, and never settled on a name at all.
*******
Victor stood as still as a statue, his eyes locked on the hole in the ground they were about to lower his wife's body into. It was hard to remember to breathe, even as his hand was clutched tightly in that of his mother-in-law.
How was he supposed to leave when Sarah had been lowered down and covered with earth? She was his wife, how could he leave her there? He knew it was ridiculous, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling that if he left, then no one would be there to take care of her.
And so he stayed. Sarah's coffin was lowered into the grave and most of the mourners tossed roses in and trailed away. Victor stood through it all. He watched as they started to move earth over the top of the coffin and he didn't turn away until his mother-in-law pulled him gently.
"Victor. It's time to go."
He closed his eyes and pulled in a deep and reluctant breath. His wife and unborn child had been taken from him and with them went everything. His life felt so empty and his chest hollow. What was he even returning to? Nothing. His everything was being buried deep and that was all there was to it. "I don't want to leave her," he whispered.
"She isn't here, Victor."
The truth of her words hit him square in the chest and he nodded. It was only then he allowed himself to be pulled away from her gravesite. It was that or jump in there with her, and while it was all he wanted to do, he just couldn't.