A/N: Thank you to Kathy and my guest reviewer. Hope you enjoy this chapter. :)
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Chris leaned back in his chair, hero half-eaten, watching his men with an air of tired satisfaction. Maybe a hint of bemusement as Vin and JD 'sparred' with their french fries. Court was done for the day, out early after one of the witnesses had had a panic attack at the idea of testifying. After what she'd been through Chris wasn't surprised. Still, they'd gotten through JD's testimony first, and his youngest agent had held up very well, even with the grilling the defendant's lawyer had put him through.
It would be real, real gratifying when that SOB was behind bars. Standish had done a damn good job on this case, but he'd been under with the sort of men that would give the Terminator nightmares. The case had dragged on longer then expected by over a month, turned out to be a hell of a lot bigger than expected, and if it hadn't been so important, Chris would have pulled him out weeks before, damn the bust.
If he'd realized how it was effecting his agent he would have done it anyway.
Ezra would have been furious at him for doing it, and Chris would have felt the same in his place, but he still would have done it. Then that scene at the end...it was no wonder the man had been walking around the office on eggshells, when he wasn't snapping one of their heads off. Well, he smirked faintly, the rest of Team Seven's, he hadn't been crazy enough to take it beyond his usual sarcasm with Chris. Still, snapping people's heads off was Chris's job, and while the undercover agent had been doing better for the last week or so, Chris wouldn't be happy until this case was over and he could bully the younger man into taking a vacation. The week off after the bust where Ezra had mostly slept didn't count. Maybe they'd have a team weekend first. He idly picked up his pickle and started munching on it, going back to observing the rest of his team. Having one of their own gone for so long, and then obviously hurting, had been hard on all of them.
Somethings stayed the same no matter what though, and Tanner refusing to eat anything that grew out of the ground that wasn't a nut, a grain, a potato, or a bean-not counting green beans or Lima beans-was one of them. As was Nathan's never ending quest to change that, and his growing frustration at his failure. Vin, from what Chris could tell, thoroughly enjoyed the fuss. That Vin had placed the small salad that came with his burger on Nathan's tray had only been met with rolled eyes. When he added the lettuce, onion and tomato from his burger to the top of it, sliding his pickle wedge next to Nathan's sandwich, that apparently was going too far, and as Chris watched the vegetables were passed back and forth several times, looking decidedly worse for wear by the time Vin all but tossed them onto JD's plate across the way. JD, who was busy trying to get cell service, mumbled thanks, absentmindedly piled the extra vegetables on his burger, and took a bite.
"Vin, you know eating something green isn't gonna kill you."
Nathan was still going for reasonable, but the sharpshooter looking at him mock seriously and responding, "Don' know 'bout that. Been so many years my digestion might not be able t' handle it," didn't help.
"You want scurvy?" The medic was clearly growing exasperated by now and the twinkle in Vin's eye said he wasn't anywhere near done with his fun.
"Vin." The sharp shooter turned towards Chris, who pointed firmly at the pickle still resting on Nathan's plate. "Pickle." It was full of Vitamin C so Nathan would stop his nagging, and Vin liked them fine, whatever he tried to say.
"Ye're no fun, cowboy." Chris raised an eyebrow, and, with a roll of his eyes, Vin picked up his pickle and bit into it.
"Why don't you ever listen when I do that?" Nathan grumbled, starting to eat Vin's salad.
"Duh, 'cause Chris is scarier than you." JD mumbled absently as he hooked up-something? A tiny box of some sort-to his cell-phone. Then what he said fully registered with him and he looked up at Chris, a bit wide eyed, "Uhh-"
"Took it as a compliment." Chris hid his smile behind his soda cup as JD all but sighed with relief, instantly going back to his project. JD wasn't nearly as jumpy around him as he had been a year and a half ago, which was good of course, but Chris liked knowing he could keep his men on his toes.
For a minute or two there was nothing but the sound of four men eating, that and the occasional beeping or clicking noise from whatever JD was doing with his phone. Kid better not be hacking into anything in the middle of a federal court building. Not after what he'd told him the last time. Chris was taking the last bite of his sandwich when JD all but shot up out of his seat, shouting as he tossed his phone at Chris, "Chris, listen to that!"
"JD, what the hell?" He barely caught the phone before it went shooting past him, hoping the look he shot at his tech expert made it clear he wasn't happy.
"Listen!" The fact that the kid was willing to get his head ripped off for shouting at him like that told Chris it was serious, and, with only a warning glare, he turned his attention to the phone, pressed two to replay the message and stuck it to his ear. Chris's eyes narrowed as Buck's voice, more worried than he'd heard it in awhile, came through the speaker, face going cold and hard with anger as the message played.
Standish, Ezra, was a pain-in-the-ass half the time, he was late at least two days a week, and if more than three months went by without Chris having to talk Travis into not writing him up for insubordination he assumed the man was sick. But he was Chris's pain-in-the-ass, one of his men, one of his family, right now the most vulnerable member, and this was not to be tolerated. With far more calm than he actually felt, Chris laid the cell-phone on the table, turned on the speaker phone and pressed two again, both Nathan and Vin leaning in close, alert and worried. "Hey kid, listen, someone played a real nasty prank on Ezra, and I need all hands on deck. Somebody sent him a very official looking email saying he was getting transferred to California, papers attached and everything. He took off before I figured out what the hell was going on, turned his cell off, and either way, you know Ezra, doubt he's gonna believe anybody but Chris who tells him it ain't true. Call me back quick as you can, please."
There was a pause where all of them, including him, just stared at the phone as though it were a bomb. Vin's fingers were tight on the edge of the table, eyes trained on Chris, waiting for his orders. Nathan, looking like he might be sick, said quietly, "It is just a prank, right?" At the harsh look Chris directed his way, he hurried to explain, "I know you wouldn't Chris, but Travis, sometimes..."
Harsh look still firmly in place, Chris snapped at him, "Week or two loan, a month, he can go over my head. For a permanent transfer he requires my signature. It's a prank." Nathan's shoulders relaxed just a bit then, and if he hadn't been so furious Chris might have found some humor in that. Those two were fine friends, as long as no one tried to make them admit it. "Alright, lunch's over, time to saddle up. JD, get started trying to trace that email, if you can do it from your phone do it, and do what you have to do." JD, fingers already flying over the tiny keyboard, nodded sharply in response, no sign of the usual grin he got when Chris all but told him he could hack. "Vin, you make the rounds, if anybody has a problem with Ezra, hell, is saying anything about him, the bust, anything, you find out." The former bounty hunter was able to blend in, be unobtrusive just by changing his body language a little, add that to the shy charm and the accent, and he was by far the best on their team at gathering information the old fashioned way. Except, of course, the man they were looking for. "Nathan, I want you to put out feelers to the local hospitals, the medics you work with. If Ezra or anyone matching his description is checked in anywhere I want to know in five minutes. Then start thinking of places he might go, you and I are going looking for him." Without another word Chris rose and turned to stride away from the table, no doubt that the others would be following at his back.