The Art of Forgiveness

Colby's Point of View

David was late to work my first day back. I couldn't help but feel like it was a coincidence. He was never late before… but then again, things were different now. I sat at my desk, staring at the black computer screen, listening to the distant thunder echo. There was supposed to be a big storm today.

My thoughts slowly drifted back to that day in the hospital:

My eyes opened to a harsh light and closed again. I felt like someone had beaten me with a baseball bat. Then I remembered I was supposed to be dead. There was a mask around my nose and my mouth, keeping me alive, I guessed.

"Good morning sleepy head." Megan's voice startled me and I turned, too fast, to find her. My eyes shut as pain shot through my shoulders. This recovering thing was going to be hard. "You probably don't want to move too much." The look of confusion on my face tipped her off. "You would be dead if it weren't for David."

It was then that she had explained how I had been saved. I still hadn't even seen him since before the whole thing. Today would be a reunion and I could only guess how it would go. "Colby." The sharp voice pulled me from my meditation. Don was staring at me. "David's here. We are having a meeting in the conference room." He turned his back and walked to the room. He still probably hadn't forgiven me either. I was the last to the conference room. There was a seat between Charlie and Megan. I decided to take that one over the chair next to Sinclair. His dark eyes never turned to look at me; they were focused on Don. Charlie gave me a pat on the back. He'd had a hand in saving me too.

I tuned in to Don. "We've got a slow day today, nothing yet. Wright still doesn't trust us yet after the whole…" he stopped mid-sentence. "I have a feeling other teams will be getting the big stuff. And before you head out to lunch, one of us needs to stop by the First National Bank. There was a robbery, but the guy was shot. It's no big deal and there are cops all over this, but they just 'needed' the FBI's expertise." He grinned. "Anyone want to take this one? Colby, David?"

"I can handle it by myself." I hardly recognized that the cold voice came from my partner.

"See me after." Don sounded like a principal of an elementary school. "You and Colby are taking it." Several heads turned to glance at me. My nonchalance must have been assuring because they glanced back to Don. "You can go…" Everyone immediately stood up and walked out and I felt like I had missed something. I stood slowly and retreated to my desk. I began to unpack my things that were there before. It was strange, I was missing some things. Like my fishing lure…

My eye caught Don's arms waving in the almost empty conference room. The door was shut so there was no chance of me hearing, but he was angry. David's back was turned to me, and he didn't move. Don ran his hand through his hair like he always did when he was stressed. David was being difficult.

I spent the morning answering wrong number phone calls and slowly drinking a bottle of water. The far-away clouds had progressed into a sun-cover, and I could tell the bottoms of the clouds were about to give out. David walked by my desk about 11:30 and tossed the keys to the Escalade onto my desk. I took that as a sign that we were leaving. I saw Megan and Don give me a smirk as I stood up to follow.

It was the most awkward elevator ride I had ever experienced. David stood half turned away from me and there was nothing but the sound of the elevator working. We walked out into the underground garage and found the car and I stood until David climbed into the passenger seat. I guessed that I would be the designated driver. I climbed in and started the ignition, afraid of what discussion would come. The rain began to pour from the too-dark sky when we pulled out. I turned the windshield wipers on high. It was still hard to see out the window.

We had driven for about five minutes when I decided to say something. "I…uh, I never got a chance to thank you for saving me. So, thanks, David." The silence was piercing.

"I wish I hadn't." The words took me by such surprise that I turned away from the windshield to look at him. He stared back at me in horror.

David's Point of View

I turned to take back what I had said. It was then that I saw the other car's headlights, about to plow into us. My eyes widened and the horrible smash crushed Colby. Our car rolled over until we were upside-down. I had to make myself turn to Colby. "Colby!" He didn't move. "Wake up!" It was no use. I unbuckled my seat belt, which resulted in my falling forward and hitting my head. Stupid move, but necessary. I pushed as hard as I could to open the door. Finally, after I was leaning against it, it opened and I fell the few inches to the pavement. I stood up and ran to the driver's side. I couldn't open the door.

I stuck my hand through the broken window and tried unsuccessfully to find the handle. My arm came out drenched in blood, though there was no cut on it. "Colby!" I kicked the stupid car. I ran around to my side to try to get him out that way. By now, there were bystanders watching in horror. All I could think about was getting Colby out. I crawled into the small space and pulled his shoulder. He wouldn't budge. His eyes were closed and his forehead rested against the steering wheel where blood dripped onto it. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Don's number.

He took four rings to answer. "What, Sinclair? I'm in a meeting."

"I can't get Colby out. The car… He was driving and I saw the truck run the light… Send someone." My voice was shaking so much that I don't know if he understood me.

"I'm coming right now. Did you call the cops?" I was about to say no when I heard sirens in the distance.

"They're close." I hung up and crawled out of the mangled car. There were two police cars and an ambulance. I looked into the other car and there was no one it. The front of the huge truck was barely dented. The cops got out and walked closer to where I stood.

"Sir, are you alright?" The cop was a woman. Great.

"I'm fine… but my partner. He's stuck; you have to get him out." I felt myself crawling onto the verge of hysteria.

"Alright sir, I'm going to need you to follow this medic. He's going to take care of you and we will work on getting your friend out." I followed the medic to the ambulance. He sat me down on a stretcher and turned around to get some tools.

"I'm not the one you need to worry about." He turned and looked at me.

"I still need to treat you, too. Does it hurt when I do this?" He touched his gloved fingers to my forehead. It felt like he punched me. I winced. When they withdrew, the fingers of the glove were red. "You probably have a concussion." He pushed me into a laying position on the stretcher and tied the yellow restraining rope around me. I closed my eyes. I was fine, it was Colby who wasn't. A black suburban pulled up next the ambulance and before it was off, Megan was next to me.

"David, where's Colby?" My vision began to get blurry and my head was spinning. I tried to focus on Megan, but my eyes closed. "David?" Her worried voice sounded light-years away.