Laura Scott was cold. It wasn’t a cold that worked its way into your pores from the outside in; it was a cold that gripped your very heart and held it in an icy grip.

Her little brother was dead.

“RUN, LARRY!” Paul yelled as he wrestled with the man while trying to keep the gun from being pointed at himself.

Laura heard the bullet as it thunked harmlessly into the side of a stall. She heard Paul yelling at her, and glanced back, momentarily paralyzed when she saw her brother wrestling with her attempted abductor.

She held Paul’s vibrant gaze for one intense moment, and then she heard him yell, “GO! CALL 911!” and she ran.

“Oh dear God, why did I leave him…?”  She couldn’t cry anymore – there were no tears left.  There was only one thing she could do for her brother now, and that was keep him company until the morning.

In the morning, Paul Scott would be buried.

The church was empty now – and until the service, her brother would lie still and cold in the back of the church. And Laura could not leave him there by himself.

So she sat with him.

Her mind anguished her with a torrent of memories, each one of them of Paul, and each one of them ending the same way…with her coming into the basement and seeing Fenton holding her brother’s body.

Of course she had already known that Paul was dead – the knowledge had come to her as a coldness. But still, seeing her normally exuberant younger brother lying there like that…. It was something she would never forget.

Laura knew they were worried about her, but right now she didn’t care. She had one final thing to do for Paul, and this was it.

After tonight, he would sleep alone.

* * *

The casket was still open, and Laura got up and approached it. She stared down at his face as if seeing it for the first time. And it was only then that she noticed how handsome he had become, and for one fleeting moment, she captured an image of what he would have looked like as a man.

Smiling, Laura reached out to once again push a curl, that had rebelled from the gel, back off his forehead – for the last time, perhaps, and then she leaned down and gave his cold cheek a kiss.

“I’m so sorry, baby brother….For leaving you…for not being there for you….”

She was wrong; there were tears left, and as her voice choked off, she wondered if she would ever get past this.

Laura and Paul had been close, too close perhaps, and now she didn’t know what to do. Paul had always been her confidante, her best friend, the person who put a smile on her face whenever she least thought it possible…but now he was gone.

“Will I ever smile again?” she asked him, as her gaze lingered on his face, wishing that he would just open his eyes and get up.

But that was impossible. Dead was dead.  And her brother was dead.

Sitting back down in a chair next to the casket, Laura wiped her eyes and kept one final vigil over her brother.

It was the one thing she could do.

* * *

Laura was wrong though – the church was not empty.

There was one more mourner keeping vigil that night. 

Fenton.

He couldn’t leave her like this.

Take…care…of Larry…for me…please….

Fenton could still hear Paul’s final words as if they were being spoken right now, and he shivered…. I’ll take care of your Larry, Paul. You have my word on it.

The kid need never have asked.

So Fenton watched her, unnoticed. And in the morning, he went in and stood with her as the lid was lowered and Paul was forever sealed from the world.

And then Laura turned and buried her head in Fenton’s arms.

This was too hard.

* * *

Two hours later, Fenton stood next to Laura and watched as the ivory casket was lowered into the velvet turf – neither spoke, there was nothing to be said.

Beside them, Daniel Scott stared glassy-eyed at his son’s grave. Today he was not a well known surgeon….Today he was just a grieving father.

As the first shovel of dirt was thrown on top of the casket, Daniel turned away. Two of the most important people in his life slept an eternal sleep…and then his eyes landed on the third one.

Laura.

He knew he could never be the person she needed him to be. That had been made obvious to him time and time again, and he was always thankful for the special bond that she had with her brother. 

It had given him a peace of mind he had never even realized he had, until this very moment.

Now Paul was gone….But what about Laura? Who would be there for her now?

And then his gaze landed on the dark-haired young cop standing next to her. They were watching as the grave was slowly sealed.  He made a decision right there and then.

“Laura?” he said to his daughter, “I’m so sorry. Can you ever forgive an old fool for being so blinded that he never even realized what he had until it was too late?”

Laura’s pale blue eyes glistened as she looked into his brown ones, and he continued, “Don’t make the same mistake I did. Don’t wait until it’s too late.” And then indicating Fenton, Daniel gave his daughter a quick peck on the cheek and left the cemetery. His heart could take no more.

* * *

The girl was shocked by her father’s words. And as the multitude of mourners left, until it was finally only her and Fenton standing there, she turned to him.

“I don’t know how to leave,” she admitted, her eyes weary and lost looking. “How do I walk away…without him?”

Fenton didn’t know what to say at first. He didn’t have a lot of experience dealing with things like this, so he just said the first thing that came to his mind: “With one foot in front of the other.”

Laura looked at him a bit confused and Fenton sighed, his eyes leaving hers to rest on the fresh earth of the new grave. “It won’t be easy, but if we just take it one day at a time, we can get through this. I don’t know how, other than that. But I do know one thing….”

He could feel her penetrating gaze, and he sighed and knelt down to run his hands through the dirt.  “Your brother was a very special kid, and I think I can say he wouldn’t want you to let this destroy you…or who you are.”

“That’s the thing, Fenton,” Laura admitted, looking down at the handsome cop.  “Without Paul, I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“That’s not fair,” Fenton said bluntly, and then continued when he heard her start to protest, “to Paul. He didn’t ask for this…so please don’t make him also responsible for your loss. No - what you have to do is continue on…for him. For who he was – only then can he be immortal – and only if you let him be. You can leave here without leaving him – remember that.”

Fenton sighed and stood up, brushing the dirt from his fingers.

Laura looked at him for a long time, and then suddenly, without even realizing what she was going to say….She just blurted out, “Fenton Hardy – will you marry me?”

It just felt right. Standing there, with Paul as a silent witness….

If Fenton was shocked, he didn’t show it. Instead he just wrapped his arms around her, drew her in close and just whispered, “Yes.”

It felt right to both of them….

Laura no longer cared what Fenton did or didn’t do for a living, all she cared about was him, and cherishing whatever time they had… together.

Paul would forever be a brutal reminder of how short life was.

But Fenton had already made a decision. He was no longer content to just be a cop, restricted and regimented by policy, procedure and paperwork. He wanted something more…much more. 

He wanted to do what he had done with his father and Laura while they were looking for Paul.

He gathered information and was able to act on it – in the end it didn’t save Laura’s brother, but at least it got them there in time for Paul not to be alone…if only for those few precious moments that were forever seared into Fenton’s mind…. Take…care…of Larry…for me…please….

And from that point onwards, Fenton Hardy knew exactly what he wanted to be. He wanted to be a dick.