trashchildren | For Joan

Sherlock holds open the door with a nod, then follows Ted into the building. In the lobby they are approached by two people, a man in a white coat and a woman in a somber grey suit. Sherlock recognizes the man in the coat as one of the medical examiners.

"Sherlock," the man says, going to him and offering his hand, which Sherlock accepts.

"Gerald," Sherlock acknowledges, shaking his hand. He then gestures to Ted. "This is Ted Lasso. Ted, this is Dr. Gerald Boone. He is the medical examiner in charge of Mr. Chapman's case."

Dr. Boone offers his hand to Ted. "Mr. Lasso. Pleasure to meet you, despite the circumstances."

Ted switches a crutch into his left hand to shake Gerald's hand. "Likewise, yeah," he answers with his usual polite friendliness. He smiles at the woman as well. He still feels a little anxious about all of this, but he's being introduced to people so he'd got his game face on now.

Sherlock can see the tension in Ted's body, and knows that he's pushing through some anxiety in order to be friendly. It's no surprise, of course, but it does make Sherlock think about how well Ted uses his friendliness like a shield.

Gerald steps back and gestures to the woman. "This is Susan Lamb, a funeral director with the Lamb Funeral Home in Richmond."

The woman nods to Sherlock, then gives a kind, gentle smile to Ted, offering her hand as well. "A pleasure to meet you," she says.

Fake it till you make it, right? That's something Ted is very familiar with.

"You too," Ted answers, shaking her hand as well. She's got a smile that might not be insincere, but is definitely carefully practiced for situations like this. He's glad she's from Richmond though.

She's certainly someone quite practiced at putting people at ease. The kindness is genuine, but is also part of the role she plays.

"If you could follow me," Gerald says with a gesture. He takes them to a conference room, where there's a neat stack of forms as well as a couple large binders. Susan sits by the binders and Gerald by the forms, and he gestures for Sherlock and Ted to sit as well. Sherlock sits with his characteristic stiffness.

Ted follows too, taking a seat and resting his crutches against the table, and his arms on the arms of the chair.

He wants to fill the silence, chat about what a nice place they've got here, that sort of thing, but he remains quiet. Inside, a small part of his brain is definitely continously wondering if this is what it would've been like with his dad. He wonders how much has changed in 30 years, and what the difference is between US and UK morgues and funeral homes.

Gerald gets down to business. "Mr. Lasso," he says, "as I am aware Mr. Holmes has informed you, the body of individual in question, Mr. Turner Chapman, is unclaimed. We were only able to locate one living relative, and they have waived all legal rights regarding the body. I understand that you wish to step in and make arrangements. Is this correct?"

There is a certain spark of anger that flares up inside him at finding out Turner had family, but who wants nothing to do with it. Sherlock can probably sense it from the way Ted sits up straighter, his chest puffing a little.

Still, he has to remind himself that he doesn't know the situation, and this person might have had every reason to cut Turner out of his life, or simply isn't in a situation where they can handle something like this.

"That's right, yeah," Ted answers with a nod, focusing on the matter at hand.

Sherlock notes that fact as well, and he's almost certain he knows who that relative is. His investigations into Mr. Chapman had uncovered the fact that his mother left Turner and his father when Turner was very young. Sherlock hadn't looked into her because there was really no need to, since past a certain point Mr. Chapman was merely part of a bigger picture with bigger fish to fry. Now, however...

He sees Ted's anger, and resolves to talk with the man about it when they've got a moment alone.

"It's very kind of you," Gerald says with clear admiration. "Particularly considering your history with Mr. Chapman." He picks up one of the forms and slides it toward Ted. "This says you take responsibility for making arrangements for the disposition of Mr. Chapman's remains." He passes him a pen. "Please sign on page two."

Ted just nods, picking up the paper but not the pen, skimming quickly through it. He's not sure he's in the right mindset to even fully absorb that kind of legal speak right now, so after a moment he wordlessly hands the paper to Sherlock.

In the meantime, he turns to the woman. "And I'm guessing you can help me with organising those arrangements?"

Sherlock takes the paper and scans it. It looks fairly standard, insofar as anything like this can be standard. He sets the paper down where Ted can reach it when he's ready.

The woman nods. "Once the paperwork has been signed we can take possession of the body and prepare for the funeral and burial." She puts a hand on one of the binders. "We have some options here for funeral and memorial products."

Ted nods thoughtfully, looking at the binder. That's a lot of decisions he doesn't necessarily want to make, but that he still wants to make sure is made well.

He draws a steadying breath and picks up the pen with his left hand, signing it, then pushing it back across the table with another nod. There's a very strange feeling inside him at being now responsible for a man who tried to kill him.

Once again Sherlock wishes Joan were here. She would be much better at helping Ted through this emotionally. He keeps an eye on Ted, aware of how difficult this must be and ready to speak up if necessary.

Gerald takes the paper and the pen and stands. "Thank you. If you will excuse me, I'll make sure we're ready to make the transfer. Mr. Lasso," he says with a nod, then another nod to Sherlock before he leaves the room.

Susan pulls one of the binders over. "Do you have any thoughts on coffins and caskets?" she asks in a gentle, soothing tone.

Ted appreciates Sherlock's quiet support though. Ted knows he's got his back. It's like with Beard. Maybe they can't talk him through it, but they're there for him, and that still means the world. If he falters, there's someone to look after him.

"Something simple, you know?" Ted asks. He's tried to think of some of this beforehand, at least. "But respectable, doesn't have to be cheap. Just no pointless frills." No one's going to see it anyway - he tries to stop that thought in its tracks. But Turner was a simple working man, it wouldn't feel right to give him something fancy anyway.

"Certainly." She opens the binder and flips through a few pages, then turns the binder so Ted can see. "We have woven willow caskets, pine caskets, bamboo caskets..." she says pointing to each. On the opposite page are printed wood caskets, including this one.

Both woven willow and bamboo caskets sound pretty weird to him, like the wrong kind of simple. Like Turner's a picnic basket.

He huffs a laugh at the soccer casket, lifting the page to show Sherlock. "What do you think: tasteless, or honoring his memory?" he asks. It also looks a little silly to him, like a mean joke. But on the other hand, Turner literally said football was all he and his father had.

"Hey, can you do custom prints?" he asks suddenly, turning back to Susan.

"Seems a bit garish," Sherlock opines, wrinkling his nose slightly.

"We can," Susan answers. "What did you have in mind?"

Ted nods in agreement with Sherlock. They can get the same theme across in a slightly less flashy way. Turner didn't seem very flashy.

"Maybe just like, the AFC Richmond logo on like the top there," he says, tapping the lid of one of the caskets. "And then maybe the song: We're Richmond--"

He cuts off abruptly, staring blankly at the table.

'Til we die.

Both Sherlock and Susan know how that phrase was supposed to end. Sherlock watches Ted, feeling for the man yet looking a little lost, not knowing what to say.

Susan is obviously more experienced with situations like this. "We can definitely put the logo on the top," she says gently. "Perhaps a red stripe as well, with yellow borders?"

Ted swallows and nods a bit. "Yeah, that sounds good," he answers quietly, sitting back in his chair.

"Do you want to take a break, Mr. Lasso?" Susan asks, her voice steady and reassuring. "I could get you some water."

"Sure, yeah," Ted answers, mindlessly agreeing more than he actually considers whether or not he'd like that.

"I'll go get that for you," she says as she stands. She glances at Sherlock, who gives her a small nod. He'll tend to Ted.

Sherlock waits a moment after the door is closed before he speaks.

"Do you wish to call Watson?"

Ted glances over at Sherlock. "No, I.." he answers, a gut reaction, before pausing. Trying to move past the gut reaction, and consider whether he actually wants to.

"No, we're gonna head back there afterwards, I'll be alright," he says, a bit steadier. He doesn't really know what he'd say anyway, or what he'd want to hear. But he's glad for the moment to pause.

Sherlock nods, looking down, wishing he had more to say but knowing that sometimes being present is a help in and of itself. He considers talking to Ted about Chapman's mother, but nixes the idea,thinking it's likely only going to upset him further.

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