Sunlight cut through the lanky branches of the surrounding trees, casting dark shadows over mourning faces. A cool breeze began to pick up, swirling long black dresses and tugging at well groomed ties. A sob broke the nearly serene silence that had settled heavily over the scattered groups of men and women paying their condolences.

The soft murmuring emitted from the priest accompanied the sporadic cries. Several officers lined shoulder to shoulder followed their commands, shouldering their rifles, before firing twenty one times in the air. Each shot cracked sharply, sending up white smoke that was visible in the cool air.

"Fair winds and following seas," someone had muttered solemnly towards the Heavens, before offering a crisp salute.

Olivia Benson had to look at the ground several times, studying her shoes and the way they sunk in the dew soaked grass. She set her jaw and looked up once again, tears shining blatantly in her brown eyes. God, how she missed him so much already. They knew the complications of brain surgery, they discussed it up and down, left and right, and in the end it was the decision her partner settled for. And it cost him his life.

"Everything's gonna be okay," he had said. "I'll fix this."

John Munch cleared his throat quietly, thanking his dark sunglasses for covering his eyes, filled to the brim with tears. He took a deep breath and scanned the area, looking anywhere but at the large box that held his coworker and friend. Thinking back to all the good times, he couldn't help let slip the tiniest of smirks when he came upon a fond memory.

"You get to Tribeca a lot?" he questioned, leaning extremely far into the suspects comfort zone.

"You don't have to answer that."

"What questions can your client answer?"

"Anything that is a matter of public record. I wanna know what my client is being charged with." The lawyer had looked between his coworker and himself, becoming annoyed at the detectives.

Munch had suppressed a smile, pointed at his colleague casually and retorted, "You don't have to answer that."

Fin Tutuola hunched his shoulders against the cold, burrowing his fingers deeper into the pockets of his leather jacket. He wearily eyed the others around him, making no attempt to school his sullen look. This wasn't his first funeral of a friend, and it wouldn't be his last.

"What's the matter with him?" he had asked, draping his coat over his chair.

"Injured in the line of duty," Fin had responded, a smile on his face.

Per usual, Munch joked, "Now I'm a pain in my own ass."

Don Cragen knew he pulled the hangdog look well, he also knew that now was not the time to do so. A friend, a coworker, a son of his died and was being buried before him today. He couldn't believe that this was how it ended for the younger man, that he had outlived him. Giving a sharp salute of his own, he watched teary-eyed as the other brothers in blue followed suit.

After flushing the toilet, Cragen stepped out of the stall to find his team lounging around waiting for him. Turning to his lead detective, he joked,"I'm not tipping all of you."

"Captain, we got a problem," was how the blue eyed man responded.

People began dispersing, throwing in their last condolences to the widow before leaving to be with their own families, and giving thanks to the Heavens that they still had families to go home to. Benson had lingered behind, hands clasped before her, eyes trained on the blonde.

"Kathy-"

"Please," she interrupted, her face a blotchy red mess. "Please, Olivia, don't. I don't..." she gathered her breath, and her courage Olivia supposed, and tried again. "I want to say I don't blame you, because it was down to him in the end...but I'd be lying. It's not your fault," she added quickly. Her voice began thickening with emotion, "But I don't know who else to blame." Olivia accepted her in her arms, trying to offer any comfort she could.

"I understand." Benson took a deep breath, and hugged her best friend's wife tighter. "I understand, Kathy."

Pulling away from the embrace with a sniffle, Kathy smiled shakily and nodded. "Thank you, Olivia...I'm sorry too."

Olivia nodded, and allowed the other woman to walk away, her mourning children already in the car. Left alone, Olivia looked around and barely managed to suppress another wave of despairing tears. Her friend chose life saving surgery, that ultimately killed him. Had he not done the surgery, the cancer in his brain would have been the death of him anyway.

"Was there any chance?" she whispered, kneeling in the wet grass before the mound of fresh dirt. Toying with a blade of the green grass beneath her hands, she sighed and nodded. "I love you, Elliot Stabler. You're the best friend anyone could ever have...and the best partner. I'm sorry this happened to you, it just doesn't seem fair...but I love you, El, and I know I'll see you again one day."

Patting the mound of dirt, and wiping at the tears that finally escaped onto her cheeks, she looked up at the Heaven's where she knew he was smirking down at her and whispered, "Semper Fi."

THE END