The news comes in when Mal and Evan are having a good laugh in Mal's apartment. It's the same apartment they all shared when they were in college. Justice and Brandon are due for leave and should be back from the Middle East within the next couple of days, Evan's on leave for a couple weeks and it'll be just like old times. "Better than," Evan votes. "Else Brandon's going to try to kill you the second he gets within arm's reach of you."
Then the phone rings, and, still laughing, Mal picks it up. "Hello- Mina?" The smile instantly disappears from his face and he leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Slow down, Mina, take a couple of breaths, and start again." A beat passes, and Mal says, "All right, we'll be there in five minutes."
Evan is already standing, has gathered their wallets and the keys to Mal's car. "Mal?" he prompts, toeing his shoes back on and shrugging on his jacket.
Mal throws on his own coat. "I don't know. She wouldn't say."
~
The drive to Justice and Mina's house on base is short, largely due to luck with the traffic lights and Mal's perpetual lead foot. It still feels like it's too long, Evan thinks, watching Mal's white- knuckled grip on the steering wheel, the sharp lines creasing his forehead. Evan and Mal have known Mina for years, first as friends, and then as Justice's wife, and they've all remained close. There are few reasons she would call them with something that can't be conveyed over the phone, and none of them are good.
Three year old Matthew is sitting on the couch when they arrive, looking confused and scared because his mother is crying. Mal leads Mina back to the couch and Evan settles Matthew in his lap. Matthew breaks the silence first. "Mommy says Daddy and Uncle Don are in heaven now," he says, and Mina breaks into a fresh round of tears. Something in Mal's face breaks and he holds Mina tightly. Evan swallows as Matthew's bottom lip trembles and the boy continues, "Why would God take them away and make Mommy cry?"
Evan wraps his arms around his best friend's son. "God doesn't want your mommy to cry," he says quietly. "Bad men killed your daddy and uncle, and God brought them to a place where the bad men can't hurt them anymore."
"Can Mommy and I go?" Matthew pulls back and looks up at Evan hopefully. "Can we be with God, too?"
"Someday," Mal tells him hoarsely. He tries to smile. "But your dad would want you to live and be happy and help your mom for now. Think you can do that?"
Matthew nods bravely and a tear drops onto Evan's arm. "I miss Daddy. I miss Uncle Don. They were s' posed to come home for my birthday..."
~
Evan drives them back to the apartment after Mina's parents and brothers come to the house to grieve with her. Mina had said they could stay, but Evan and Mal are a different kind of family, not the one she needs right now, and Evan knows Mal doesn't want to fall apart where just anyone can see him.
Mal drops onto the couch, settling his elbows on his knees again, and takes a breath. "Justice and Brandon are dead," he says quietly, as though it's hitting him only now.
The words feel like a sledgehammer to Evan's chest. "Yes," Evan hears his own voice crack and takes a shuddering breath. "They are."
Their world shatters.
~
The day of Justice and Brandon's funeral-just one, because they would have appreciated it, Evan knowsthinkshopes- is cold and clear and weirdly appropriate. John can't make it, and neither can Ethuil, but Kage and Celian show up, as do Evan's parents and Mal's mother. No one knows where Brandon's mother is, or cares to look for his father. Justice's parents make it just in time for the service. He and Mal speak, even though their words do their friends little justice, because there are some things that should remain between friends, and those who should hear it already do. Mal plays his violin, a piece no one has heard before or is likely to ever forget, and maybe, just maybe, the other people in this church who didn't know Brandon and Justice like they did, maybe they can understand a little how this feels to them.
Mina approaches them after the burial, hours after everyone else has already gone, and hands them a box. "I think you should have these," she tells them. "Justice and Brandon- I think they wanted this."
There are two sets of worn dog tags in the box. Evan lifts one out and sees that one tag is from Justice's set, and the other bears Brandon's name. "Yeah," Mal says, nodding once and he looks fragile, like he's going to break again and never come back together. They've lost both lost people before, but it never gets easier, and Justice and Brandon were their best friends. Evan isn't sure this is something either of them will ever really come back from, and this is how Mina shows that she knows it, too. "I- thanks, Mina."
Evan puts the tags on, and they hang right next to his, over his heart. Mal mirrors the movement a little shakily. They hug Mina tightly, and they leave. Mal curls in on himself once they're driving back to the apartment. "I don't ever want to wear your tags, Ev," he says quietly, gripping the tags tightly, hard enough to leave imprints in his palm.
Evan can't promise anything, they both know it. He nods and takes a hand off the wheel to curl it around Mal's fist. It's all he can offer. And it's not enough.
And then there were two.


I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.
But I always thought that I'd see you again.