Author’s Notes: This is a deleted scene from my epic. I’m actually doing the wrong thing and posting this before the chapter in which it would have been in was completely written and posted. I kind of work like that. I’ve written a lot more than what I’ve posted and it’s all just pieces of a puzzle I’m trying to put together.

It’s just been a while since I posted something related to this story that I wanted to refresh the collective memory. It’s vague enough so that there aren’t any major spoilers. The only thing here that could be considered a spoiler is more of a foregone conclusion, IMHO.

As some of you may know, I’m a big SIX FEET UNDER fan. And for this story in particular, I actually took more cues from that series than FIREFLY in developing a more personal and emotional story, as opposed to your typical fan-fic. And one thing that I toyed with is including this scene in the story that a direct homage/rip-off of SIX. This scene takes place after the funeral and it focuses on Gabriel, who’s the last to leave the gravesite. As he’s by himself, he talks to Regan about the funeral and all that’s happened. Anyone whose seen SIX knows that when a character talks to a dead person on the show, he or she isn’t talking to the actual ghost of the deceased, but to a representation of an aspect of their sub-conscious, which is why Regan here is vastly different from the rest of the story.

just to be clear, this is NOT Regan he's talking too. This is all his doubts and insecurities and fears rearing their ugly head in an attempt to push him over the edge.

This isn’t officially part of the story. But I just had to get it out of me. If you don’t want to read this until the correlating chapter is posted, then look away. If not, enjoy.

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Gabriel was kneeling on his wife’s grave. After when everyone left to go back to the various modes of transport, the caretakers of the cemetery came in and filled in the grave and lain in fresh grass that blended in perfectly with the well manicured lawn. You could hardly tell that there had been an open grave there ten minutes ago. He stared at the large tombstone in front of him. In an elegant font, “Tam” was etched into the limestone. To the left, “Regan Francis Tam” was etched into a panel. Below it, there was “2471-2521”. The 2521 was fresh. Across from her panel was his. It read “Gabriel Leopold Tam”, and below that, a single number stated “2468-“. His eyes were focused on the center of the tombstone. Embedded in the limestone, a capture played an image of Regan in her youth on a loop. She was standing at a podium, lecturing to a packed audience. She was dressed in a simple business suit, but was laughing and showing off her billion dollar smile.

“Did you like the service?”

He looked up. Standing behind the tombstone, Regan was staring back at him. She was dressed like she was in the capture, but she was not smiling. The eyes behind her reading glasses did not twinkle like they normally did, but were blank. This sudden appearance did not phase him at all. He merely responded the way he normally did.

“No, I didn’t. Completely disrespectful. The majority of the people there never met you and could care less about you. The song was typical Browncoat maudlin and it was too bright and sunny.”

Regan snorted lightly. “So we’re blaming the weather now, are we?”

“You know what I mean. It didn’t suit you. It wasn’t a proper funeral.”

Regan shook her head. “You’d think that after all this; you’d figure out that propriety doesn’t mean a damn thing when it comes to doing what’s right for your family. They all understood that. Especially that daughter-in-law of yours that you’re so intent on hurting.”

Gabriel started to breathe deeper in resentment towards her. “That girl is an annoyingly cheerful little twat. Probably take Simon’s inheritance money and blow it all on a junkyard. That’ll be good for this family’s legacy.”

Regan shook her head in disappointment. “You will always think of our children as figureheads. Even when they called you ‘Daddy’ as babies, you were always thinking about how they could make you look good.”

Gabriel shook his head in an attempt to deny what he was hearing. “I was a good father. I was just as good a parent as you were.”

Regan shrugged and smirked. “Yeah, you were a great parent until you sold our daughter to the highest bidder. And even when they came home you spent more time in the wine cellar than talking to them.”

Gabriel was starting to lose it. His eyes were beginning to water up, and he was doing everything to keep them at bay. “I don’t know-“

“Of course you don’t know.” Regan was now goading him with a malicious streak a light year wide. “You never chose to know. You were so wrapped up in your paranoid fantasy of sublimity that you’ve managed to lose every single thing that you cherished.”

“Fuck you.” he said to the demon that was relishing in destroying him.

“Because that’s who you are. When it comes down to the real you, you’re just a pathetic drunk with delusions of grandeur.” She began walking around the tombstone and squatted in front of him. “Go ahead and finish off the wine cellar when you get back. When you’ve drunk yourself to death, you’ll finally feed that insatiable ego of yours that wasn’t satisfied with our children’s souls.”

“Leave…me….ALONE!!!” he shouted to her. But when he looked up, the only Regan he saw was the one in the capture. He was alone. Aside from the party that was waiting for him on the road, he was the only living soul in the cemetery. He shuddered for a few moments and dug his fingers into the fresh grass. He swallowed the lump in his throat and stood up. He hastily composed himself, and then walked briskly to the party that was waiting by the gate.