Are You Proud? (Caleb/Open)

[Caleb Renneau]

Standing at his father's grave site, Caleb allowed the nippy air to chafe his skin as punishment for not doing this sooner. Kneeling he set the flowers in the grounded vase and brushed away the debris over the stone.

He wasn't really aware of the time, only the awkwardness of visiting his father's eternal resting place after...well it had been years really, strange since it used to be a regular occurrence. Then his mother had remarried and life seemed to go on, change simply took over, and now years later here he was.

"I'm not sure...what to say to you." he said softly, " I'm sorry I haven't..." he ran a hand through his hair this was slightly ridiculous, his father wasn't a headstone. Rationally, he was talking to a decayed corpse in hopes of finding some supernatural comfort.

Inwardly he scoffed and the uncomfortable expression showed through his features.

[Adele Graham]

Adele came here more often than she should. Some of her class mates called it a morbid fascination with the dead, but only because they didn't know better. She wasn't exactly open about her family's problems.

She came on birthdays, anniversaries of death, when she needed someone to talk to that wouldn't repeat anything.

Today was the anniversary of her boyfriend's death... and her brother's. She had already visited her brother, and was standing now in silence at the foot of her old boyfriend's grave. She never knew what to say to him. It was easy with everyone else, but with him, she was lost.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered at length, silent tears running down her cheeks.

[Caleb Renneau]

After forty minutes of simply sitting there he had experienced an entire range of emotions from anger to despair and now he was simply feeling empty.

Guilt weighed heavily as well for the most part this was the flop he had anticipated, he wished he could feel the comfort that most felt while visiting those who had passed on, at least he assumed people felt comfort coming to the grave sites of loved ones. How ironic, perhaps they all felt despair the way he did. Was that how he felt? Despair? More like he felt cheated, and angry at the same time. He had a wonderful life, a doting mother, and brilliant step-father, but he was cheated out of his own father's life, and the man had been full of life.

He sighed again, he had been here long enough, he should leave, but he couldn't still he had to stand up or his joints would be permanently stiff, that's when he saw her.

He had seen her earlier when he first came to the graveyard, but she had been at a different grave. He sucked in a breath, she had two loved one's buried, and here he was in a snit over only one. Things could have been worse for him, he knew that. Things could always be worse that was a certainty. Now as he watched the pretty brunette cry, his own heart constricted fiercely. His eyes scanned more than a mile long site for graves and now they were adding to the cemetery, this war was taking away too many precious lives, and leaving behind too many broken hearts.

[Adele Graham]

"I don't know when I'll be back," Adele whispered, kneeling and reaching out, letting her fingers trail over the name on the headstone. She was resisting the urge to just curl up on that manicured grass and cry. She had once, right after he has died, and she swore she had felt his arms around her. She wouldn't do it again in case he was gone. She couldn't handle it.

She stood up and wrapped her coat tightly around herself, warding off a cold that had nothing to do with the weather. She should stay, she thought. Stay and promise that she loved him with all of her heart, still. But she needed to live while she could... and she had to go. "I'll miss you," she added, and turned, walking away from the grave and fighting a fresh wave of tears.

[Caleb Renneau]

Taking a deep breath he did nothing but watch her, until deciding to leave himself after she had gone, whispering his own apology.

"I just wish I could know if you were proud..." he said softly.

He saw her again near the exit, "Did you come here by yourself?" he asked surprised by his own question.

[Adele Graham]

Adele looked up, startled out of her thoughts for a minute, and met his eyes. Then, she looked around, thinking that he *had* to be talking to someone else. She looked back at him when she realized that no, she was the only one around.

"No, my date is just back there. We come grave digging for kicks," she returned, probably harsher than she needed to, given the circumstances. What kind of question was that, though?

[Caleb Renneau]

Taken back by her answer he shook his head, "No...You misunderstood me...I.." he smiled tightly, " I just meant to say...given the choice a cemetery is among the top places I would not want to be...alone." he shook his head, "I'm sorry." he pulled his hand back in which was a hankerchief.

[Adele Graham]

She wasn't sure what to make of this guy. She thought, for a brief moment, that he was hitting on her, but convinced herself that there was no way he could be. What kind of person tried to pick up another at a cemetary?

She pulled her shoulders up and stuck her hands on her pockets, a definitive way of saying she wasn't going to take anything from him. She didn't even know this guy, though if she allowed herself a moment to look at him, he was young, good looking, if a trifle odd.

"It's not exactly a place I bring someone to get to know them."

[Caleb Renneau]

He sighed and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, "I meant...family...others who might have known who you were visiting. Look I'm sorry I bothered you." she simply looked depressed and vulnerable, and he thought that she should have had someone waiting for her, someone to dry the tears that were still running down her face.

[Adele Graham]

She just looked at him for a minute. What family did she have left? One brother, who didn't believe in visiting gravestones to honor the dead, and a grandmother that wasn't well enough to leave home. She knew her grandma would want to come visit her two other brothers, but it simply wasn't an option for her.

She felt bad, suddenly, for having skipped James' grave. She was here... she should have stopped by.

"Right. Well, I'm sure you need to be on your way. I... forgot someone," she murmured, turning around and heading back.

[Caleb Renneau]

He was ready to be on that very way, but after a moment read her words more clearly and surprised he asked without tact, "You missed someone...?" how many people did this woman have in the cemetery?

[Adele Graham]

"Yeah, well, I'm sure he'll forgive me," she said over her shoulder, only taking her hands from her pockets to wipe away her tears when she wasn't facing him anymore. Her eyes shone a brilliant blue when she cried. It was a color not many people ever got to see.

She walked determinded between rows of headstones until she came to James Oliver Graham, loving brother. That was all they had put there... loving brother. It didn't do him justice. The dates indicated showed that he died young.

[Caleb Renneau]

Forcing himself to leave her to her own misery he returned to where his broom awaited. He didn't want to hurt her anymore than she already was hurting.

"I'm sorry." he said again before focusing his mind on other things.

[Adele Graham]

"He didn't mean any harm."

She sighed. "I know, James." It could have been just her talking to herself, or who knew, it could have been him. It wasn't impossible. He told her to open up, to laugh once in a while, it was like a whole cheesey scene from a movie.

A few minutes later, she was by the exit again, unaware that the other boy was still around. She wiped at her eyes, and by the time she had left the cemetary, she looked like she had never been inside, except that shade of blue in her eyes.

[Caleb Renneau]

Why hadn't he left yet? Besides the fact that the day had been a complete disaster he was now contemplating his conversation and conduct with the young lady just he just passed. Merlin how brilliant he had behaved, he was a complete case job he thought as he berrated himself.

[Adele Graham]

She was a little taken back to see him still there. She didn't want to be rude, but she wondered if he had the morbid fascination with death that everyone seemed to think she did.

Against her first instincts, shesighed and stopped by him. "Are you all right?"

[Caleb Renneau]

Surprised that she had returned he was somewhat startled shaken to reality, " Yes..." he cleared his throat and straightened, "I'm alright."

[Adele Graham]

She just nodded, doubting that he was in any way all right. "Okay. If... if you're sure."

Why did she care? He was just a stranger, one who asked hightly inappropriate questions. She nodded againd and started to walk past him.

[Caleb Renneau]

He tightened his mouth, nodding firmly, waiting for her to be on her way.

He had embarrassed himself enough around her that was for sure and was willing to do anything possible to keep that from reoccurring.

[Adele Graham]

It was an odd encounter at best, but she shook it off. Maybe he needed help. Maybe he just needed someone to talk to, and she had been there. Had she been another girl, she might have stayed to talk, but she wasn't the one he needed, no matter what he needed, so she walked away in silence.