Time
By Montez
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: still after all these years-still don't own them.
A/N: this is an alternate ending to Arrow of Time. Call me menacing, but I just like to hurt the ones we love.
As Don sat at the front of the Temple he played over in his head what David had said to him just a few hours ago. "I promised your dad I'd keep you alive." He also recalled the conversation with his father the day before where his father voiced his concern that Don seemed 'detached' from what was happening with the case. Alan had admitted he was scared for his son. Don knew his father worried about his chosen profession, but Don could not recall a time when his father had mentioned being scared for his safety.
Don was scared too. From the moment he learned Buck Winters had escaped he had to fight the urge to constantly look over his shoulder. He hadn't left the office much, he was avoiding everyone close to him and he knew it. When Buck called him, Don had secretly hoped that only he would remain the target, not wanting anyone else to be caught in any potential crossfire. Don also knew that his team would eventually find out that he had been calling Buck from his cell and that was one of the things David had called him on in the locker room. However all that seemed irrelevant as he sat, watching the door, praying his instinct about Buck was right, that the teen wasn't coming to kill him, but to have Don take him out, just like he had done with Crystal. But if Don could control anything, that was one thing that would not happen tonight.
So with Liz and Nikki behind him in the balcony, David and his team to his left and Colby and his team to the right, Don watched as the Temple doors opened and Buck entered. The young man approached as Don remained seated on the step. Later, the conversation that transpired would have been hard to recall if not for the recording of it that Robin was listening to from her car out front of the House of Worship. Don stood as Buck revealed the gun in his waist band, the young man was taunting the others he knew were hiding in the shadows, but Don didn't flinch, his own backup piece in the small of is back, but he was determined not to draw it, it would not be by his hand that this young man died.
As his team watched, Don tried to talk the distraught man down and when Buck dropped to his knees in front of Don they all believed it was over. The heart wrenching yell that pierced the silent sanctuary seemed to be the final cries of a man who knew he would not get what he so desperately wanted-death. However as Don's team slowly moved in closer to secure the escaped convict, David looked at his boss, he would recall the look in Don's eyes for years to come; it was of relief that they were getting Buck out of this situation alive, but in that fraction of a second David hesitated in lowering his gun all that changed. Before any other agent reached Buck the young man drew the large handgun from his waist band, David couldn't recall pulling his trigger, but as he saw the younger man react to the bullet that just entered his body, the echo of the shot reverberated throughout the building.
For that moment everyone froze as weapons were again raised to readied positions, however unnecessary it was now, as Buck collapsed forward. David again sought out his Boss's eyes, but this time instead of relief, David saw confusion. In that instant he saw the color drain from Don's face and his stance waver, quicker than the thought could be formed David was at Don's side as the older agents legs buckled. Grabbing to steady Don, David's hand came in contact with the one thing he feared the most, "I NEED AN AMBULANCE, NOW!!!" Every eye in the building looked toward David who was trying to ease Don to the floor; Colby was at their side as he helped lower Don to his back. Ripping at the jacket, then Kevlar vest, Colby saw the small trail of blood that was now flowing through the neat hole near the top of the vest.
Other agents could be heard radioing for assistance as David and Colby unfastened the vest, hoping to help Don breath easier. David took his Boss's face in his hands, "Don, man, stay with me, helps coming, just hang on." Don had not made a sound, but his eyes seemed to watch the activity around him. He could hear Colby to his side talking, but his attention fell on the agent that had been with him the longest; the one that had saved his brother's life several times, the one who had saved his life more than could be counted. It was David's eyes he watched, it was David's voice he heard, it was David's hand he grabbed. "It…it's…okay" Don whispered out, as he tried to drag in another breath.
"Don't talk right now, just breathe for me, okay," David tried to sound reassuring, but knew he was failing miserably when he glanced at Colby, who was trying to stop the seemingly endless flow of blood coming from Don, "WHERE ARE THOSE MEDICS!!!" David yelled over his shoulder as the EMTs came pushing through the door, followed by Robin, whom Liz and Nikki intercepted before she got to far.
David saw Don's reaction to hearing Robin yelling his name. As the medics pushed in Don grabbed David's arm again, "Tell…her…I'm okay…not to…worry." A half-smile tried to form on Don's face as he coughed, bring a bubble of blood to the corner of his mouth. The grip on David's hand slipped as the EMT started to prep Don for transport. In the moment the connection between David and Don broke, the older agents back arched as he tried to draw in a much needed breath, then David watched as his Boss, his friend stopped breathing.
A/N: What do you think? Should I continue?
