Tombstone Estate

[Doc Holliday]

Location: Planet Gran Canaria, Omega 49 System.

The Canaria sun had just set as a very tired John Holliday arrived home after being on Cambridge for almost a week tending to some severely wounded men from the attack on Freeport 1 in Omega 3. Not only was he tired, he was visibly upset from some of the carnage he had witnessed. Before he even stepped foot in his home, he met with his good friend Grady to check in on the two orphans he had taken in.

"Both are still quite lost," Grady explained, "we do our best to make sense of it and to re-assure them that they will be fine but......."
Doc could only pat his shoulder in mild understanding. "It will take time, much time, my friend," he explained, "they have lost everything. Give them time." As the two men spoke, the orphans sat with a blank look. They hadn't spoken a word since the death of their father. John noticed them and took a knee before them. But, as he tried to speak to them, he could not, totally unsure of what to say. He did, however, manage to feel their heads and necks, concerned for their health. Still, they sat silent. When John got back to his feet, he could only shake his head,
"Grady, I'll see if I can get some psychiatric help. I can't help them with that."

Once he finally did get to his own home, he found himself in the care of Midori who tried her best to break his tension with a good shoulder rub. "Please, John, talk to me," she said softly as she worked, trying to get anything out of him.
"I'm sorry, Dahlin'," he replied, "I'm just not sure what to do for those kids. It is so heart wrenching."
She then leaned into his ear, "John, if you felt otherwise, you would be less than human." Finally, he manage a weak smile, turning to her and simply saying, "you're right, Dahlin'. You are right."

She continued trying to break the tension as she worked his back hard. He just sat with his eyes closed, enjoying her touch as he tried to clear out his mind. It always seemed that no matter how bad things were, she could do it and this was no exception. Upon finishing his back, she then brought him a cup of tea.
"Drink this, John," she insisted, "it will help." Without question, he did as she instructed and found it to be quite good.
"You would make a fine medical assistant, Miss Sato," he joked with a smile, "Thank you."
She then sat beside him on the couch and curled up with him, her head on his chest as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"About the Miss Sato thing," she began, looking at the ring on her left finger, "we still must set a date. I so want to be Mrs. Holliday but you are always so busy."
He nodded his agreement, "Yes, I know and I want the same."
"Even if we do something private, we can do something public later," she hinted.
"We could do that, Dahlin'," he answered continuing to run his fingers through her hair.
"I have my dress already," she added.
There was a moment of silence as he considered what she was saying, continuing to run his fingers through her hair and running a hand down her side. He wanted to do the same as badly as she did. He also wanted the only family he had, his TAZ family, to be present. He also knew that his day-to-day events were never set.

"OK," he said softly, "it is time."
She sat up and faced him with a tear running down either side over her smiling face, "Promise me that if it is not say, tomorrow, next weekend with no excuses."
He just nodded his agreement and through the tears of her joy, just answered "Thank you."

*more to come*

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