Where's Todd?

(Chris Larabee)

How could this have happened?

Ezra threw on the first pair of clothes he could find before grabbing his keys and wallet and leaving his apartment. The elevator was taking too long to reach his floor so he took to the stairs. His heels echoed in the empty stairwell with each rushed step.

His brain couldn't comprehend yet what he had just been told. It wasn't possible. Well it was, but the timing of it all. It couldn't have been a coincidence, right?

No, he never believed in those.

Like Josiah, he didn't believe in chances. While Josiah took to it being the power of a higher being, Ezra considering it to be the work of karma or something else bad.

The call he had gotten from Tanner five minutes ago was rushed. All he was able to understand was that Chris was in the hospital.

It didn't sound as if it was something insignificant like a minor wound. Vin would've just told him so and that Chris would just be late for work.

This was something worse.

By the time he finally made it to the hospital, his brain had come up with possible reasons that may have brought their leader in.

He was attacked by a vengeful criminal. It was really just an accident, and just pretty bad. The last one he didn't want to be true; the people who had murdered the Larabee family were coming back to finish the job.

None of these scenarios really made him feel better as he walked up to the desk to ask where his associates were.

Vin came down the hall to meet him and Ezra could see the frown etched in the man's features. Things apparently weren't looking too good then.

"Tanner, any news so far?"

"No, they ain't talking much which isn't a good sign." Vin ran a hand through his nappy hair and gestured for Ezra to follow him to where all but two of the agents were seated.

Buck was missing.

"Did anyone call Wilmington yet?" he asked.

"He's already here." Nathan answered automatically, he was staring at his folded hands in his lap. "He was the one who found him."

Found him? Ezra frowned, in confusion.

"Do we know what exactly happened?" he asked the room.

JD was the only one who shook his head. The others seemed incapable of movement or speech.

Ezra turned back to Vin and noticed that the man was looking further down the hall. It must've been where Buck and Chris were.

Soon he saw Buck walk out a room with a doctor. Judging by the big man's body language, things weren't looking too good.

Buck took another minute after the doctor left him before making his way to the rest of the team. His hands were jammed deep in his pockets and there was blood on his shirt that Ezra hadn't noticed before. The big man paused and seem to collect his thoughts before addressing the others.

"He's under sedatives right now and they were able to pump his stomach. The bleeding has stopped and has been patched up. They say we have to wait twenty-four hours before he may have any visitors. The decision, if he's awake, is up to him though. If he's a danger to anyone or himself then he won't be able to have visitors."

Ezra's head was swimming. Was Buck implying what Ezra thought he was?

Chris was under suicidal watch? Larabee, the strong, brooding man that had more pride than to take the coward's—

No, he didn't know what happened to lead Chris to this point. It sounded like he had been drinking.

Ezra cursed himself for forgetting. He should've made more effort in checking in on the man. In his human form, Chris drank mostly in moderation around the team, but when he was alone, there was no one to stop him.

"I'm not ready to leave yet." JD said determinedly.

The others nodded their agreement.

It looked like the team was going to be stubborn and stay until they were allowed to see their leader.

"Well I'm going to get some coffee for us." Ezra said with a little yawn.

After waking up from a dead sleep and booking it all the way here, he could feel his body telling him to go back to sleep since the adrenaline was all gone.

Once he got everyone's orders, he walked down the hall to get the drinks. Ezra was glad that the coffee here was at least good.

They probably started making it better since the team became regular visitors and squatters in their waiting room area.

Returning with their drinks, he set them on the table for them to take while he snuck off down the hall to find the doctor Buck had spoken to.

The man was standing next to a desk when he made his way over to him.

"Excuse me doctor, I arrived kind of late and didn't hear what brought my associate in."

"Which patient?" asked the doctor.

This man hadn't worked with the team before. Probably because none of them had been diagnosed suicidal and were put under surveillance.

"Christopher Larabee."

"Like I told your friend, he isn't to receive visitors till tomorrow at least."

"I know, but maybe you can make an exception."

"I've heard a little about your group from other doctors. While I know you all care for your friend, there are rules that must be kept."

"I understand, but I'm technically the groups emotional support animal. I'm agent Larabee's right now."

The doctor didn't exactly look at Ezra as if he was crazy, but he didn't seem persuaded.

"That maybe, I've heard of your kind before, but with the fact that you weren't there with him when the event occurred or apparently there to the events that led up to them, I don't find your argument that persuasive. Are you just a part-time support animal?"

Ezra's eyebrow twitched, the only sign that he was effected by the man's words.

"Your friend was to be taking anti-depression medicine. I'm sure you knew that though. Those are not to be taken and then have alcohol follow them shortly after. I'll give your friend the benefit of the doubt and just say that the alcohol made him forget that he took his medication, because he basically OD and then started playing with kitchen knives. Mr. Wilmington was lucky that he did show up when he did. The man had cut a big artery and was bleeding pretty badly when the first responders showed."

Standish paled. Were things really that bad? Had he missed the signs that horribly? How did he not know that Larabee was taking anti-depressants?

Instead of pressing to be allowed admittance to the room, he walked back to sit with the others.

Around two in the afternoon was when the director showed up.

Ezra didn't see anybody call him. Probably Josiah, he had gone to go to the bathroom and could've made the call when he was gone.

Ezra wasn't sure he wanted to confront his boss right now. If his previous endeavors weren't considered a failure, this definitely would be a huge one. The man was probably angry enough to just tell Standish to go and pack his bags right off the bat.

Instead of the harsh words he expected, the director only went around to check in with how each of his agents were doing.

How could he be such an idiot! That was what he was supposed to be doing. Instead of trying to comfort his distraught teammates, he just stood there feeling guilty over a failure.
The director came up to him last.

"Sir, I apologize. I failed Mr. Larabee and I just now realized I'm failing the others by just standing here with my hands in my pockets."

"Then what are you waiting for?" asked the older man.

Ezra, who had lowered his head in shame, brought his head back up. Was he being given a second chance?

He nodded and left the waiting room and continued all the way out the door to his car. He was glad the hospital had those parking garages what were so crammed full of cars. No one would notice him taking his clothes off in the back of his jaguar and then change his form.

Using his front paws, he shut the door clothes. He was glad he had taken to carrying the wretched uniform emotional support animals were supposed to wear. That way there would be no, or at least fewer, questions asked about a dog walking into the hospital.

Making his way inside, he could feel eyes on him as he trotted down the hall to where team seven was still holding up fort.

JD was the first to notice him coming down the hall, and the young man's eyes got big.

"Hey, it's Todd/Hoss!" he said, getting everyone's attention.

Ezra winced at the horrible name. He would prefer it if they kept to their decided names that they came up with for him instead of combining them.

He went up to JD who eagerly held out his hands. It was like being with a child.

JD smiled as he scratched the dog behind his ears.

"I had the department send for him." Was Travis's way of explaining Ezra's sudden appearance.

"So wait, that means we have an emotional support animal?" asked JD in wonder. "Why don't we see him that often then?"

"I have him do home visits mostly because everyone is supposed to be working during office hours and I don't want him to be a distraction."

JD looked a little disappointed at this, but it was soon gone as he continued to play with the dog.

Ezra stayed with JD a bit longer before making his way over to Josiah. He propped himself up on the man's knees as the man smiled and patted him on the head.

"He seems pretty well trained." Josiah observed.

"More so than the kid." Buck joked.

The room soon became loud with laughter while JD protested against Buck.

Ezra moved onto Nathan who tried to see if he could do tricks. Shaking hands was easy enough to agree to, but rolling over, he had to pause.

"I think he's waiting for treats." Buck observed when the dog just stood there.

No, Ezra didn't want treats, he just didn't want to roll over.

He sighed inwardly before laying down on the cold ground, much to the protest of his exposed private area, and did a rather uncoordinated roll onto his back before he had to shimmy his way to reach the other side and eventually stand back up.

The men all clapped for him, but Ezra was too embarrassed to even understand that their smiles were mocking him, but were them slowly cheering up.

Buck and JD pretended to wrestle with him while Nathan and Josiah took turns letting him lay on their laps.

Vin had him do a game of tug and war, which he considered rigged because his paws only slipped on the tiled floor. It was basically him being slid around on his bottom after a while.

"So I've decided what I'm going to call him," JD said and looked pretty proud of himself, "I'm going to call him Gunner."

Buck snickered, "What kind of name is that? You're better off calling him Kid. Then you can call someone that."

"It's a good name." JD argued. "It means warrior."

"I think it's a good name too." Josiah smiled.

"I think I'll call him Duke." Nathan smiled, "The way he walks and how he acts, reminds me of someone who is very proper. He doesn't seem like the kind of dog to do tricks."

"Yeah, tricks and games really aren't his thing." Vin chuckled.

"What are you going to name him Vin?" JD asked next.

"Pard." Vin shrugged. "I'm not too good with naming anything."

"I'm going to call him Samson." Josiah decided.

"Ain't he the one who got seduced by a woman named Delilah?" asked Nathan.

"Sounds more like a name for Buck." JD snickered.

"Yeah he was seduced by a woman, but he also has long hair which is where Samson got his strength. It also means sun child or bright sun. He brings out the light and joy during dark times."

"So wait, are we all going to call him different names? I mean what if he gets confused?" JD pointed out.

"What's his real name?" Nathan asked Travis who was sitting in a chair watching with amusement.

"He doesn't really have one. So we just called him ESA. He's a pretty smart dog and should be able to remember each of the names you've given and which belongs to which person."

The men took turns trying it out.

Ezra felt himself getting dizzy from turning around in the middle to find which name belonged to which of the men. First it was Todd and Hoss. Now he was Todd/Hoss/Gunner/Duke/Pard/Samson.

After the men began to tire out, they slowly conceded to the director's advice that they go home and rest.

Buck was the last to leave, "Want me to take Hoss with me?" he asked.

"I'll see if I can get the doctors to let Chris see him before I leave."

Buck nodded and patted the dog on the head before making his way to the exit.

Ezra wasn't fooled by that smile he gave. He knew better than to believe the man was okay.

Travis walked up to the same doctor that Ezra had tried to talk to earlier. The man noticed Ezra standing next to the old man.

"Just because he changed his form doesn't mean things will change. The patient isn't allowed to have any visitors until tomorrow at the very least."

"I know of your recommendation and your procedures sir. However, I'm not leaving without having my man be with his support dog." Travis said determindly.

The doctor crossed his arms over his chest getting irritated.

"If his presence doesn't change the patient's condition then I will take him back."

The doctor rose an eyebrow.

"Give him the first day with the dog."

The doctor looked back down at Ezra before looking back up at Travis.

"Fine. Since he's also human, he can't change form while he's with the patient."

"That won't be a problem."

Ezra was escorted down the hall by the doctor to a room that had the door closed.

He rested his hand on the door knob but didn't open it. Ezra looked up at him.

"You may have your boss having us do this, but you'll soon show your inability to do anything and will be gone in no time."

Ezra felt himself liking this man less with every breath the doctor took.

Chris was still out just like the doctor had said. His wrist were bandaged as well as held to the sides of the bed by restraints. There were also restraints on his ankles.

The hell?

Ezra walked up to the side of the bed and choked on the smells. He could smell everything which most of them were unpleasant. Blood, alcohol, throw up. Other smells that were thanks to the hospital. He had to take a minute to adjust to it before climbing onto the bed.

He heard the doctor protest, but he didn't really care. Chris liked it when he lay close to his chest when he slept with him.

Making a nice enough dent in the bed by doing a couple circles, he dropped down next to Chris and rested his head on Chris's chest.

He could feel the rise and fall of Chris's chest as he slept. Ezra hoped that Chris could tell that he was there with him.

A/N: So this one was getting long (I needed to take a break) and I decided to make it two parts.