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“Let me tell you from experience that you can overcome an unexpected heritage, Dave. We are who wemakeourselves to be, and you’re stillyou!Nothing can change that. You’ll still laugh, cry, do your job, lose at poker…” Tears choked her before she forced them back and went on in a stronger voice. “We all love you, Dave, and there isso much moreto you than your former heartbeat.Somuch more.”
Dave wept, too, looking shocked when the tears came out pink instead of clear. Juan hugged him tighter, and Cat and Tate embraced him, too, until he was surrounded on all sides.
This couldn’t be more different from how he’d spent his first undead moments. Once more, Ian’s annoyed expression flashed across Bones’s mind.“Quit weeping, Crispin! You’re a vampire now, and all new vampires kill. You’ll control yourself enough to stop in a few days. Besides, this bloke was an arsehole, so you did the world a favor…”
Rodney nudged Bones’s shoulder, the simple gesture chasing away those dark memories.
“Give him a minute,” Rodney said softly. “He’ll be okay.”
“I don’t feel dead,” Dave was whispering. “I remember hearing you scream, Cat, and seeing your face…but I don’t remember dying! How can I notrememberthat? And how am I supposed to go on if I’m dead?”
“You’renotdead,” Tate said with a vehemence Bones hadn’t expected of him. “Dead is stuffed inside that box. That’s not you anymore, but youaremy friend. Always will be, no matter what the fuck you eat.”
“Well, well,” Rodney said softly.
Bones was surprised, too. He hadn’t expected Tate to accept Dave this unconditionally. Perhaps he’d judged him too harshly.
“I didn’t believe that pale prick when he said he could wake you up,” Tate went on.
Bones’s lips curled.Therewas the bloke he detested.
“But you’re here,” Tate continued. “So, don’t you dare even think of covering yourself back up with that dirt. I need you, buddy. It’s been hell without you.”
“It’s true,” Juan said, sniffing. “You can’t leave me. Tate’s too boring, and Cooper only wants to train.”
Dave let out a dry laugh that caught when he realized that he’d done it. Then, he touched his mouth with surprise.
Yes, you can laugh,Bones thought.You can do everything you could do before, save for breathing and dying so easily.
Dave’s hand slowly lowered. “What’s been going on that you have a vampire and a ghoul raising the dead for you?”
Cat took his hand. “Come with us, and we’ll tell you all of it. You’ll be all right, Dave. I promise you. You used to trust me before, will you please,pleasetrust me now?”
Her gaze begged him more than her words. Bones couldn’t have refused her anything if she looked at him that way. From his expression, Dave was swayed by it, too.
“Come on,amigo,” Juan urged him.
“We’re all here for you, man,” Tate said.
Dave looked at all of them before he stared at his headstone. Then, a brittle smile edged his mouth.
“The weirdest thing of all is that my mind’s cotton candy from everything you’ve said, but for a dead man, I feel pretty great. We’re in a cemetery, aren’t we?”
At Cat’s nod, Dave stood up, moving slowly as if not trusting his body. Then, he gave an experimental shake of his limbs. When he realized that everything worked, he smiled more naturally.
“I hate cemeteries. Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
Cat, Juan, and Tate mobbed Dave again. When they finally let him go, all four had tears, but they were also all smiling.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Cat promised, and watched as Tate, Juan, and Dave walked toward the exit. Don met them at the flap that served as the tent’s door, and he put an arm around Dave and led him out himself.
Well. The cold bastard might have a heart after all.
Bones forgot about that as Cat tackled him with her hug. It knocked both of them back into the blood that had pooled on the ground, but she didn’t seem to care as she kissed him fervently enough to make him wish they were alone.
“You’re welcome,” Bones said with a laugh.
“Hey, I helped, too,” Rodney teased.
