Death and I have always had an understanding. It's not that I enjoy it, or that I'm fascinated by it, but when you've spent enough time around it, you stop flinching. You learn its patterns, its intricacies. You learn how to make sense of the chaos it leaves behind.
After four years at sea, you'd think I'd have become numb to it. Bodies pulled from the water, soldiers fallen in battle—it becomes routine. But it never did. Every death has a story, and every story deserves to be heard. That's what I'm good at, finding the story in the mess of broken bones and lifeless eyes.
Now, I'm back on solid ground, taking a job as a Coroner in a city where death happens behind closed doors, in quiet rooms. No explosions, no drowning, no enemy fire. It's quieter, but no less brutal. I thought it would be easier. It's not.
But this isn't a story about death. Not really. This is about what happens after you've seen too much of it. How you keep going. How you find life in the spaces between loss.
And how you learn to love when all you've known is death.
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To Die For → Derek Morgan
FanfictionJosephine Blue, known by everyone as Josie, settles down on land after four years across the water. Gaining herself a job as a Coroner, her specialist skills in science and anatomy reveal her understanding of a criminal. When one SSA Hotchner discov...
