Fandom:	Houston Knights
Series:	Future
Rating:	NC-17
Pairing:	Joe/Levon
Archive:	Starwinder's
Title:	Black Day: LaFiamma
Author:	Starwinder
e-mail:	starwinder2of7@gmail.com
Standard Disclaimer: Houston Knights belongs to Jay Bernstein and Michael Butler and Columbia Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. This is fan fiction, written out of love for the shows. I am making no money off this. I have no money so please don't sue me. Any original characters who may appear in these stories are the property of the author.

Black Day: October 14, 2012
By Starwinder

Joseph Anthony LaFiamma, Chief of Police for the City of Houston, stood staring blankly out the hermetically sealed window of his office, one hundred and forty three stories above the city. Not a sound rose from the streets so far below to disturb him; nor did any sounds make their way through the sound-proof, bullet-proof walls around him.

He turned his head just enough to see the combination clock and calendar on the wall nearby. October 14, 2012, 09:41. [Almost time to go.] But not quite.

He turned back to the window, and went back to his thoughts. [Twenty-five years. Twenty-five years of fighting and struggling to get here, to win this office and now....] Now he hated it. He hated the sealed windows that he couldn't open, hated the silence of the soundproofed room that cut him off from "his people", hated the soft pulshness of the carpet beneath his feet that was so unlike the rough texture of the streets he had once walked.

He fingered the black band circling his bicep. Most of all he hated the black band.... Hated what it represented... [Twenty three people, fourteen of them "my people"... gone in the blink of an eye....] lost to the fanatical followers of a cult leader. The man's followers had stormed police headquarters trying to free the psychopathic killer they revered like a god.

It didn't help that they had failed. It didn't help, that the man they had tried to rescue had been killed by a stray bullet during the attack. It didn't help that the ones of them that didn't die in the attempt were safely locked away in the new facility 300 feet below the building he stood in. Nothing could help, not when so many of the people had been so much more than just names on a roll call, not when so many of them had been his friends.

Behind him a soft ding announced the arrival of the private elevator that connected his office to that of the Chief of Detectives and his Deputy Chiefs. He didn't turn.

After a moment the oh, so familiar voice spoke behind him, "Are you ready for this?"

He turned then, to face his Chief of Detectives, Levon Elmer Lundy, Jr. "No, I'll never be ready for it." He looked at Lundy, the man looked at least as bad as he felt. That was understandable. Lundy had, if anything, been even closer to the people they were on their way to bury than he had. [At least we still have each other.]

"Know what you mean." Lundy replied bleakly.

LaFiamma crossed the room to stand close to Lundy, reaching out to take him into his arms. "We'll get through this, Levon. We will." He said with more conviction than he felt.

Lundy let his arms close around LaFiamma and leaned into the shelter of the embrace.

"It's just so much to take at once, Joe. So many friends... gone.... So fast.... Joanne... Esteban... Eric.... Jamie never did forgive me for helping him get in the academy. Joe Bill. God! Joe Bill wasn't even on the force anymore just dropped by to see his boy.... Now both of them are gone."

LaFiamma hugged his friend, partner and lover for a long moment before he straightened, pulling away. He took Lundy's head in his hands and tilted it up so he could look into his friend's eyes. "We got this to do. We owe it to them to go down there, stand up straight and pay our respects. So, let's go do it."

Lundy nodded, straightening and taking a deep breath. He wiped at his face. "How'd I look?"

"Like I feel. Like you been run over by a herd of wild horses." He reached out to caress Lundy's face. "Don't worry about it. We all look like Hell. Wouldn't be natural if we didn't. This thing... has damn near killed everybody. The police psychologist is swamped with officers needing help to deal with this. We're lucky... we got each other. Some of the other survivors... have no one left."

"Yeah." Lundy's voice was still bleak. "Let's get it done."

They stepped into the elevator.

______________________________________________________________

[This is taking forever.] LaFiamma stole a glance at Lundy. The man looked like he was ready to fall out on the spot. LaFiamma felt the same. First the parade through the streets of Houston, eighteen horse drawn hearses, fourteen for active duty cops and four more for retired cops who had been shot down in the assault. Then eighteen separate eulogies granted they were short, but still eighteen was a lot to stand through.

He let his eyes wonder to the crowd. [Fifty thousand cops.] Besides the families and friends of the deceased. That was why the mayor had decided on this en masse funeral. This way all the officers representing the other cities and states could all come at once, not have to miss but two or three days work. [Make a big show. Look good on TV!] He thought bitterly.

[Politics.] It was the biggest reason he had come to hate his job. Everybody wanted to play politics and LaFiamma had never played that game. That was why he'd never make Commissioner. It was an elected job and LaFiamma just wouldn't play the game to get it.

His eyes found the Mayor. She didn't like him. Had made that clear from day one and he hadn't made any attempt to placate her. [Too late now.] She'd use this mess with the cult leader to try and force him out and the truth was that if it weren't for Lundy he'd have already been gone. [The Mars Colony. God! I want that job.] But not enough to leave Lundy behind, not after a quarter of a century with the cowboy. [Too much invested, too many years, too much love.]

He reached out and laid a hand on Lundy's elbow, a silent reminder to the man that he wasn't alone that the most important person in his life was still there.

Lundy turned his head and gave a tiny nod, acknowledging that he knew that LaFiamma was still there that he knew and that it mattered.

LaFiamma went back to his thoughts. His eyes landed on Kimberley Beaumont. [God! She looks just like Joanne! If I didn't know that Joanne was in that coffin...] He watched as Brad Beaumont sagged and Kim reached out to put an arm around him, supporting him. [Strong like Joanne, too. Thank God she was off duty that day. Would've killed Brad to lose them both.]

Farther down the row of graves, Joe Bill McCandless' wife leaned on her oldest son's arm. Esteban's wife was on her other side--- the two women holding hands. Joe Bill and Esteban had stayed partners for years. Joe Bill had been Esteban's best man at his wedding... and just last year Joe Bill's baby boy had married Esteban's oldest daughter. Two big families clustered together. [They'll make it. Ange and Rosita will get each other through it.]

His eyes drifted on. [Jamie Kincaid, I know it's not Kincaid anymore but I still can't remember the asshole's name. He ain't even here! Letting her bury her only son alone! I know him and Eric never got along... but what kind of man lets his wife go through something like this without his support?! I wish there was something I could do... but she never forgave me... still feels like I took Lundy away from her. Never could see that it wasn't me. I was just the one he turned to when it was over with her. It was her need to have him give up being a cop--- something he couldn't do--- that ended the relationship.]

He reached up and wiped away a tear, ignoring the TV camera focused on him, even while knowing that the picture was going out live to every TV station in America. [So many friends gone. Who cares what they show on TV.] Only the people here, living through this had any idea what he and Lundy were feeling now.

____________________________________________________________

They made it though it somehow. Just knowing that of all the people he had lost he hadn't lost Lundy had helped get him through the mandatory condolences to the families. It was for the cameras, of course, he and Lundy had been to see every one of the officer's families personally immediately after the event.

Finally they were back in the car, following the Mayor and her media entourage toward the reception hall for the news conference that she had promised them. He sat back into the soft buttery leather of the limo seat and turned to look at Lundy. Except for the driver they were alone. Not that it would have mattered to LaFiamma. He had made it plain to HPD years ago that if they didn't like his relationship with Lundy they could go straight to hell.

He reached out and drew Lundy into his arms, reaching up to stroke the cowboy's hair. Lundy had always loved to have his hair stroked. It never failed to comfort him and he needed comforting now.

The driver looked in the mirror and asked. "Where to, Sir?"

"We ought to go to the Mayor's fancy-shmacy media circus/reception for the out-of-towners... but to hell with it. Take us home, Marcus."

Marcus grinned as he swung the limo out of line and turned away form the Mayor's reception hall. Like most of the cops that worked under the two men he liked Lundy and LaFiamma. The old timers still told stories about their early days together, the fights and arguments, and the cases they had busted in spite of the fighting. They had become legends in the detective squad. He was gonna miss them. There wasn't any doubt that the Mayor planned to make LaFiamma the sacrificial goat for the media in this... and Lundy would go with him. They'd been together too long for that not to happen.

LaFiamma bent to kiss the top of Lundy's head as the other man rested in his arms. "Mio amore!"

Lundy smiled slightly, just hearing the words was enough to ease his aching heart a little. [My love!] He had long ago learned the meaning of that particular phrase. Joe had babbled it over and over the first time that they had made love.

He settled into Joe's arms. It felt so good. It always had. He might have been quicker on the draw and harder to get to on the streets but Joe had an emotional strength that was utterly amazing. [And resiliency. He bounces back. I tend to shatter. Without him... without him I would have gone down a long time ago.]

Lundy drew back, straightening up, out of Joe's arms. He wiped his face and took a deep breath. Turning, he looked at Joe.

Joe was looking back at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Take the job." Lundy said firmly.

"What?!" LaFiamma gasped. "I ain't leaving you... "

"You got that right. I'm going with you."

"You mean that? You really mean that?" Disbelief warred with hope in Joe's eyes. If there was one thing he had never expected it was that Lundy would go to Mars to be with him.

"I mean it. Ain't nothing left here, now, that's more important to me than you and your happiness. Won't be easy leaving friends behind but... it ain't nothing you didn't do to be with me."

He hesitated, reaching out to take Joe's hand. "You ain't ever asked me to make the kind of sacrifices for you that you made for me. When your Uncle Mikey and the rest of your family found out about us and most all of them turned their backs on you I was terrified... I was so sure you'd leave me rather than lose them. But you didn't walk away from me to keep them in your life and that did more than anything to tell me how much you loved me."

He reached up and caressed Joe's face. "I ain't ever made a sacrifice like that for you. I ain't ever proved my love like you've proved yours. All these years, you have made my life so easy. You were the one who stood up to the brass; told them that they could accept us as we were or lose their two top detectives. Anytime... every time that there has been an objection to our relationship, from any body, you have been the one that stood up and spoke out. I just stood by and let you defend us."

He looked deep into his lover's eyes. "It's time, Joe, time I did something to show how much I love you. You are the most important person in the universe to me. I love you. I will follow you anywhere... even all the way to Mars."

"Levon, I... I don't know what to say... I... you don't have to do this.... " He floundered.

"I know I don't have to. I want to. Now tell Marcus to turn this thing around and take us to the Mayor's press conference. Call that guy from Mars.... What's his name?"

"Lucus." LaFiamma provided with a grin.

"And tell him he's got himself a package deal. Chief of Police and Chief of Detectives."

LaFiamma popped open his wrist phone and started to dial. "Head'em off at the pass, huh?" He grinned at Lundy as he realized that by announcing that he was leaving to take the Mars job he would be short-circuiting the Mayor's plan to kick him out.

Lundy sat back in the seat as Marcus turned the limo around and LaFiamma spoke on the phone. He tightened his grip on LaFiamma's hand. For the first time he really understood how Joe must have felt being exiled to Houston all those years ago. [At least this is my decision. It wasn't forced on me.]

He looked at his lover. Joe's eyes were shining like they hadn't in months. Lundy could feel the energy building up in his partner, see the years seem to drop away as the anticipation of moving to Mars, becoming part of a new frontier, filled Joe with an excitement that Lundy hadn't seen in a long time.

He found himself grinning as Joe's excitement began to sing through him as well. [This could be the best thing for both of us. Getting away from the memories, away from the grief, starting over; where we can be accepted as a couple, like any other couple. Lucus made it clear when he first came round that he knew we were 'together' and it wasn't a problem.]

Joe hung up the phone. "We got a job, Partner." He said with a grin.

Levon squeezed his hand. It was a black day but it would end and tomorrow... [And tomorrow will be here before we know it.] With that thought he finally understood Joe's resiliency. That was what Joe had always known, the next day always dawns, whether we are there to greet it or not and Joe always chose to be there to greet it. [Life's a choice, Lundy. Life's a choice.] How many times had he heard Joe say that and not understood what it meant ... until now.

The End