Spencer stood next to the beautiful stone and read it's inscription over and over again. He had memorized it long ago but the pain never faded nor did the memory.

It had taken Dave another week to get out of the hospital and once he was home, he refused to see anyone. Not even Joy or Hayden was let into the mansion where he locked himself away. He refused therapy and instead sank deep into depression and slowly let his PTSD consume him. His neighbors never saw him outside except on occasion when he rolled out in his wheel chair to get the mail. No one knew what to do, the man would listen to no one and he couldn't even look them in the eyes anymore. Not even Aaron could talk sense into the older profiler and eventually everyone had given up on him. Well everyone but Derek and Spencer, who still went to his house every morning on the off chance that that might be the day he lets them in. Derek would even mow his lawn once a week without asking or being asked and would leave immediately after. Spencer would occasionally drop books off at his door and they were usually gone the next day and he later discovered that Dave had read every single one that Spencer gave him. Neither man expected anything in return and both knew it was foolish to think he would just roll out of his house one day and be back to the old Dave they knew and loved but they didn't give up on him. The day came though when even his neighbors noticed his mail starting to pile up and they knew that things were only getting worse.

Derek and Spencer both received a call four months after Dave went home from the hospital that crushed any hope they had. It came from one of Dave's neighbors saying that he had finally had enough of the depression and stress and took his own life. He had used the gun that Sgt. Scott had given him and shot himself while in the study. There was a note left on his desk that was addressed to Derek and Spencer. The note for the men read:

Derek and Spencer,

I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be the father figure that you both needed and I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough.

I couldn't handle the nightmares or the paranoia and depression anymore. I'm sorry that I pushed you away

but I couldn't let you both see me like this. I wanted you to remember me the way I was and not who I'd

become. The things that that man did to me should remain a secrete and I intend to keep it that way.

None of this is your fault as I'm sure you are both more than likely thinking it is but it's not. Please tell

Hayden that I loved her with all my heart and that perhaps in another life we would have been

together. She is and will always be the love of my life. Tell Joy that I'm sorry I couldn't be the father she

deserved and that I loved every moment we spent together. Lastly, don't tell Kai how I died, I want him

to remember his grandpa as the fun guy he got to play catch with. I love you both but I just can't keep

doing this and handling this.

Love,

Dave

Reading that note had crushed both men. A week later Marine Sgt. Major (retired) David Stephen Rossi was laid to rest and given a full Military funeral. No one said a word as the unwritten sadness blanketed the air. Spencer and Derek were the last to leave that day and no one questioned why it was because everyone knew the impact the man being lowered into the ground had had on them.

That's where Reid stood now, almost five years later, at David Rossi's grave. The sadness still ever present even with Morgan only a few feet away. It was Memorial Day and both men had come to pay their respects to not only a Marine and fellow agent but a wonderful man and father.

"The Soldier above all else prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of War."

~ General Douglas MacArthur