Page 41 of Endgame

“Cody?” Corv whispers brokenly, her eyes flutter open slowly. I can see it’s taken great strength for her to just open her eyes. Her breathing sounds like a pack-a-day smoker. A sob rips out of Corvin, and he places a soft kiss to her lips, then rests his forehead against hers. His tears fall onto Cody’s pale face. “I love you, Cody, so fucking much so you can’t leave me, baby, please.” Cody’s lip twitches in a small smile. She tries to lift her hand to cup Corv’s face, but she’s too weak. He grips her hand and holds it against his face for her as I hear sirens in the distance. Good, they’re close.

“Love… you,” she breathes out, then her whole body goes limp in Corvin’s hold.

“Cody?” Corv whispers as he drops her hand and cups her face. Her eyes are open but you can see it in the depths of her green eyes, she’s gone. “Cody, wake up!” he screams as he begins to shake her. “Wake up, don’t you fucking leave me!” he screams, and Leah and Katie’s screams pierce my ears and force me into action. I push forward and lay a hand on Corvin’s shoulder, he smacks it away and glares at me through his tears. “Fuck off, she’s fine!” A pained sound that has my chest cracking open for my friend tears from his throat.

“She’s gone, Corv,” I whisper through my own tears.

‘No! Fuck, please, God no. Please, please, someone fucking help me!” he screams, holding Cody’s lifeless body against him. I fall back onto my ass and watch helplessly as Corvin screams for help and begs God to give her back to him.

Valance

My head is throbbing. I can’t open my eyes. A whimper escapes me before a cloth is placed over my mouth and nose, then everything begins to fade….

I just pray Cody was able to save Dawson.

Beckett

The paramedics rush into the room and head straight for Cody, but Corvin won’t let her go. Darius hands Leah to Crue and nods to me, the both of us grip Corvin’s arms and pull him back so the paramedics can work on Cody. Corv fights us but he can’t shake our hold. We watch as they feel for a pulse and begin CPR, the grave looks on their faces tell us what we already know… She’s gone.

Time seems to stand still as we stand here and watch the paramedics try everything to bring her back, when the one doing CPR stops and looks at us shaking his head, Corvin collapses in our arms screaming. Darius and I hold Corv through his breakdown and promise him that we will be here by his side and help him through this.

* * *

Our house is swarmed by forensic specialists and police, reporters are all stationed outside at the curb of our property like fucking vultures. Cody’s body still lays in the game room. We’ve all been moved into the living room. The cops tried to question us but Saint refused, and said we wouldn’t say a word until our lawyer arrived. Troy is on his way now. Saint, Katie and Crue sit on one couch, each of them have their arms around Katie as she cries for her friend. Leah sits on Darius’s lap on the other couch with her face buried in his neck crying, I dart my gaze to Corvin who leans against the far wall looking down at the blood that coats his hands.

Fuck, I head into the kitchen to grab the disinfectant wipes Leah stashed in there, the moment I open the door and the light flicks on, a gut-wrenching scream hits my ears and I stumble backward losing my footing and falling to my ass. The moment my eyes land on him, a sob tears out of me.

“Dawson!” I roar, my boy clamps his mouth closed and stares at me for a second before he bursts into tears and runs to me. I wrap him in my arms and hold him tight against me, tears flow down my cheeks knowing that he’s okay. I can feel people around us but I don’t look up.

“Daddy, I scared, Momma, gone,” he cries out. I pull back and meet his stare, his cheeks stained from his tears.

“I know, monster. You were so brave to stay quiet and hide as long as you did,” I say.

“Aunt Cody says Dawson has to be shush and no sound. She say not to come out even if she screams. I stay like she said and waited for Daddy, she say Daddy would come save me.” I slam my eyes closed and send a silent prayer up to Cody. She fucking gave her life for my son and I will forever be grateful to her because she was a fucking hero.

She saved my boy.

“Aunt Cody is a hero,” I whisper as I slowly stand and lift Dawson with me. He clings to me frightened I’ll leave him. I look around me to see cops and paramedics standing around, I push past them ignoring their questions as I make my way back into the living room. Everyone looks up at my approach. At the sight of Dawson, they all jump to their feet and each hugs him or tell him how brave he is. I look over to the side to see Corvin standing there still staring at his hands.

“We’ll be transporting the body to the morgue for an autopsy.” We all turn to see the guy who introduced himself as Detective Anderson standing there. “We will notify the family and will need them to formally I.D the body—”

“Her name is Cody!” Corvin roars from behind us. “Not the fucking body, her fucking name is Cody, use it!” Detective Anderson doesn’t seem shocked by Corvin’s outburst, he’s probably used to it in his line of work. He just nods, apologizes and tells us they will be bringing Cody through in a moment. Dawson reaches for Crue who takes him from me willingly. I keep my eye on him as I move toward Corvin who has gone back to leaning against the wall. I just need all these cops to fuck off so I can get Katie to track Val. Troy walks through the door at that moment. He quickly briefs all of us on what to say, telling us that we’ll need to go down to the station and give a statement. I refuse, I’m not going anywhere until I find my girl. All conversation stops as the coroners wheel out a stretcher with a white sheet draped over the top. Katie and Leah both begin to cry at the sight, and Corv rushes forward with me hot on his heels.

“Give them a minute.” Detective Anderson says, the two coroners step back, Corv gently pulls the sheet back to reveal Cody’s face. A strangled sound escapes him at the sight of her. Corvin’s shoulders shake with silent tears, I reach out and place my hand on his shoulder offering him my support.

“I ignored her call. She needed me and I ignored her fucking call.” My face slackens, I forgot about him ignoring Cody’s calls from earlier today. “I should have been here with her. I broke her fucking heart, Beckett, and now she’s gone.” He bends down and places a kiss on her forehead. “I should have told you weeks ago that I loved you and now I’ll never get the chance to show you just how much you mean to me.” He pulls away from her and storms up the stairs without a backward glance. I step forward and look down at my friend.

“Thank you for saving my son, Cody. I’ll make sure that he never forgets the sacrifice you made here today because I know I never will.” I bend down and place a kiss on her cold cheek then whisper in her ear. “On my life, I’ll make sure whoever the fuck did this dies slowly.”

* * *

We all pack bags and follow Troy out of the house so the police can close it off as a crime scene, Troy tells us he’ll meet us in the morning to go over statements before we head to the station. We all pile into the cars and head to the hotel Troy booked for us, we can’t return to the house until the cops finish their investigation. Katie, Saint and Crue ride together in Saint’s Jeep, Dawson and I are in my car, while Darius drives Corvin’s with Leah.

By the time we pull up to the hotel it’s late. Dawson is fast asleep in his seat. I hand my keys to the valet, then grab my son out leaving the others to carry our shit. Saint checks us in and then leads us to the elevators and pushes P. None of us say a word the whole ride up. I’m grateful Corvin showered before we were kicked out of the house. I claim the first bedroom I find and put Dawson to bed, then join the others in the kitchen.

“Katie, I need you to track Val’s phone,” I say.

“One step ahead of you.” I peer around Saint and see Katie sitting at the counter with her laptop in front of her. I know they are all reeling about Cody but I can’t focus on that, I need to find Val. “Shit.”

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