Okay, so now that you've all recovered from the image of Colby shirtless, I bring you more of Colby wandering around shirtless (and women staring at him, because lets be honest, what kind of a female wouldn't stare at him if he walked by shirtless? Let's be honest here, shall we?) Now, I'm just going to warn y'all here, the OC's are about to start parading in and you might notice that some of the names are once I've used in other fics of mine, but they are not the same characters. I have a little cup with names of my friends and a few I just generally like in it and I pull them out at random whenever I need a name, so there are repeats.

Huge, huge thank you to my incredibly awesome beta VanishingP2000 for being generally awesome.

Chapter 7
Both David and Colby simply stared after the two for a full minute, both completely ignoring the elevator car that had come and then gone. Finally, Colby blinked and looked up at David, whose eyes were still fixed on the last point where Eric and Sarah had been.

"Did you hear the same thing that I just heard?" Colby asked and David just nodded his head absently, still staring down the hallway in astonishment. Colby rolled his eyes slightly before whacking one of David hands, causing him to finally come out of his revere and look down at Colby.

"Man, did you just hear that?" David asked in shock, causing Colby to roll his eyes yet again.

"Apparently, since that's the exact same thing that I just asked you!" Colby grumbled.

"Oh, sorry. I was a little distracted by…you know." David said, shrugging his shoulders apologetically.

"Yeah, well, we need to run down all the VCU students majoring in Criminal Justice and law and all those related fields, see if we can ID her. We can start with Criminal Justice, because that's the most likely and then we'll move to the other, related, majors," Colby said, now in full agent mode.

"Wait, Colby, there's no guarantee that she's in any of those fields. She could be math or anything, really. Computer Science, Micro Biology, Physical Education…or god knows what else is involved in this project. It could take a while; there are a lot of students at VCU. And she might not even be a current student. Hell, it could be someone elses sweatshirt. And we don't even have anything on this Eric guy," David said and Colby sighed in exasperation.

"How did you ever get into the FBI, man? Seriously, did you not even look at either of those textbooks?"

"Um, I was just a little preoccupied by the conversation that they were having. You know, the one about the dead Naval Commander, the one that we just so happen to be investigating? The one that you got shot because of? Ringing any bells here, buddy?" David said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the history of humanity.

"Well, yeah, I heard the entire conversation. But seriously, David, it is called multitasking," Colby said, stressing the last word, as though he was talking to a petulant five year old and David sent him a slight glare.

"So, enlighten me with your brilliant observations, Very Special Agent Granger," David said sarcastically.

"Well, one of the books was Crime Science: Methods of Forensic Detection and the other was Homeland Security and Terrorism. She also had a Law Dictionary. Sounds like Criminal Justice to me, now how about you?" Colby said, rather smugly.

"You're very proud of yourself, aren't you?" David said crossly as a soft ding announced the arrival of yet another elevator to their floor.

"Yep. So, can we maybe get going, we've missed the last three elevators and people are starting to look at us kind of strangely," Colby pointed out and David nodded, pushing the wheelchair onto the elevator that had just arrived. David reached forward and pressed the small round button that would send the car down to the parking garage.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do. We're still going back to the hotel and stopping for food, but we're going to put a hold on the sleep for a little while. We can access the VCU Student database from my laptop and see if we can attach a last name to our mysterious Sarah. While we're in the car, you can call Don and tell him about Beck, see what they can come up with on him. Once we get an ID on Sarah, maybe they can find a possible ID for Eric, too. And the only reason that you're getting to look through the pictures in the student database is because we're the only ones that saw her and we both know that there is no way you're going to sleep while I'm in the same room working on that," David said firmly.

"Hey, I don't think I have enough energy to do anything except look at those pictures, eat and make not so subtle digs at you." Colby said, smirking and David rolled his eyes. Typical Colby. They reached the parking garage and David stopped and moved around the wheelchair to help Colby up out of the chair before pushing the chair over to the side with his foot. Someone would find it eventually, right now they had some names to run down and food to get.

David pulled Colby's right arm around his shoulder and used his other arm to support Colby's back, ignoring Colby's half hearted protests. David knew that it was just Colby being Colby, never showing weakness.

"Thanks man," Colby said, quiet gratitude coloring his voice.

"Don't mention it. You'd do the same for me," David said, knowing the truth of the words. They reached the car and David deposited Colby into the passenger seat and both were silently thankful that it was a sedan and not an SUV, because getting Colby into an SUV at this moment would have been not only difficult but also more than a little painful for Colby.

By the time David had rounded the car and gotten into the driver's seat, Colby had managed to buckle himself in and was holding the seatbelt away from his body so that it wasn't pressing against the gunshot wound.

"Do me a favor, David, and try not to do any of your famous stops. You know the ones where you practically stand the car on its noise," Colby smirked and David rolled his eyes.

"You're exaggerating, man, yours are worse than mine," David shot back.

"That's just because somehow I'm the one who always ends up driving whenever there's a chase and you drive the rest of the time. Hard stops are much more appropriate when I'm driving," Colby argued.

"Hey, just because you drive like a Kamikaze…" David said and Colby smirked. It was definitely true that Colby was better at driving like a crazy person but not getting them killed than he was. Problem was, Colby enjoyed driving fast way too much for David's tastes.

David turned the car on and pulled out of the parking garage and they made the drive to the Subway by the hotel in silence. When David parked the car in front of the Subway, he turned to Colby, who had unbuckled his seatbelt the moment that the car had stopped and was now leaned back into the seat with his eyes closed. "You want your usual, man?" David asked and Colby nodded slightly without opening his eyes. David gave his friends shoulder a quick squeeze before climbing out of the car and walking into the restaurant. When he got back to the car five minutes later Colby was snoring softly and David put the bag of food by Colby's legs, careful not to disturb him before closing his door quietly and driving across the parking lot to the hotel, albeit more slowly than he normally would. He didn't really want to risk getting into an accident and having Colby thrown through the windshield. He was having a bad enough day already without becoming the FBI's newest hood ornament.

He turned the car off and reached over, shaking Colby's shoulder gently. "Wha…" Colby said blearily, giving his head a small shake before looking over at David.

"We're at the hotel," David said and Colby blinked several times before sitting up slowly and looking around.

"So, how are you planning on getting the drinks upstairs, cause I gotta warn you, standing up is a bit of an issue at the moment, and honestly, I don't think that a drink is going to last very long if I'm holding it right now," Colby pointed out and David grinned at him.

"I've got this covered," David said as he moved over to Colby's side of the car and leaned over him to take the drinks out of the cup holders and put them on the roof of the car before leaning back down to grab the bag and help pull Colby out of the car. He put the bag around his wrist; the other arm was once again wrapped around Colby's torso and grabbed the drinks, one in each hand.

"Gotta say, I'm impressed," Colby said and David inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment.

They entered the hotel lobby and the employees at the front desk all stared at Colby. The women were staring because he wasn't wearing a shirt and they were enjoying the view and the men because of the stark white bandage wrapped around him, contrasting with his California sun kissed skin and the gun sticking out of the back of his jeans and badge weighing down his belt and left in plain sight without a shirt to hide them. One of the men, most likely the manager judging by his air of authority, quickly moved over to them.

"Sir, would you like some help with those?" he asked, gesturing at the drinks and the Subway bag.

"Uh, yeah, that would be great, actually, thanks," David said and the man took the drink and bag from David's right hand and looped it around his wrist and then took the second drink from David's left hand. The trio made their way to the elevators and David pressed the up button and the elevator doors opened immediately. As they entered the elevator David reached over and jabbed the level 8 button and then he moved himself and Colby to the back of the elevator, allowing the wall to take some of Colby's weight.

"So…you guys are cops?" the hotel guy asked and David looked over at him.

"FBI, actually," David said and the man nodded.

"Yeah, my brother is a Metro detective. If I can ask, what happened to him?"

"Got shot a couple of hours ago," David told him.

"Ouch. Well, I'm impressed that he's up and walking." The man, whose name tag identified him as Mark, said as they reached the floor with David and Colby's room and David heaved Colby up off the piece of wall that he was currently holding up and made his way out of the elevator and to their room, which was thankfully relatively close to the elevators. David opened the door and Mark held the door open for them and then set down the food on the small table by the door as David lowered Colby onto one of the beds.

"Hey, I hope he feels better. If you guys need anything, just call the front desk. And…thanks guys." Mark said as he left the door, closing the door gently behind him.

David pulled the table over towards Colby's bed and sat on the edge of the bed and lightly smacked Colby's leg. "Dinner time, man, then we get to go through lots of pictures. Here." David handed Colby his sub and pulled out his cell phone and dialed Don's number. He watched as Colby slowly unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite as he listened to Don's phone ringing. Don finally picked up, narrowly beating out his voice mail.

"Eppes." Don's voice sounded weary and vaguely irritated.

"Hey, Don," David began but Don cut him off immediately.

"David, how's Colby?" Don now sounded clearly anxious and it occurred to David that he probably should have thought to call him earlier.

"He's okay, we're at the hotel right now. But that's not why I called," David said before recounting the conversation that he and David had overheard by the elevators. "Colby and I are going to look at pictures of female Criminal Justice majors at VCU to see if we can get a last name on Sarah."

"Why Criminal Justice Majors? Better question: why VCU?" Don said, confused.

"She was wearing a VCU hoodie. And we know that she's a Criminal Justice-or something related, anyway-major because Colby read the names on the spines of the textbooks that she was carrying. Crime Science: Methods of Forensic Detection, Homeland Security and Terrorism and a Law Dictionary. And then he mocked my observational and multitasking skills because I was too busy listening to the conversation to read the title of the books," David finished and Don snorted into the phone.

"Yeah, well, he might have a point. But seriously, we'll see if we can dig up a connection between Martin's and someone in the hospital. And when you guys figure out who this Sarah is, let me know, we can see if we can find this Eric guy," Don said and then paused slightly. "So how is Colby, really?"

"Uh…hang on…" David said quietly, moving towards the window, away from Colby and spoke in a low voice so that Colby couldn't hear him. "Not great, but he'll live. On top of the sleep deprivation and gunshot wound, he hasn't eaten in about 24 hours…well, at least he hadn't before he started in on dinner," David said, glancing over at Colby who had already devoured half of the sub and had started in on the second half.

"Alright, make sure that as soon as you guys are done with the university photos that he sleeps. Preferably a lot of sleep. I don't want to see you guys in here before noon tomorrow and let him know that if you do I will kick both your asses. And make sure he eats something tomorrow. Something substantial."

"Yeah, I was already planning on it. There is no way I'm letting him work himself this hard again. I don't know how I didn't notice that he was driving himself into the ground," David said, rubbing a hand over his face wearily.

"David, it's not your fault, Colby is usually damn good at looking after himself, we were all focused on the case. But yeah, just keep an eye on him, make sure he's okay, particularly given the fact that he's now injured and he won't be able to push himself as hard as he usually could. But I know you've already thought of that. Okay, look, get to the photos, so that he can get some sleep. Let me know what you get and then get some sleep yourself," Don said.

"You got it Don," David said before hanging up. Then he turned to Colby. "Let's do this." He grabbed his briefcase and pulled out his laptop and set it down on the table and turned it on before grabbing his own sandwich and taking a bite. Five minutes later they had signed into the VCU student database system and had started looking through the Criminal Justice Majors-starting with ones with the first name Sarah.

"Well, there are 11 undergraduate and 8 graduate students. Here's hoping we get lucky," Colby said and David nodded.

"I say we start with undergrad and then move onto the grad students," David said.

"Works for me." They looked through the undergrad students and didn't find the Sarah that they were looking for.

"Okay, 11 down, 8 to go," Colby said and David nodded. They struck gold on graduate student number 6. "Ah, here we go. Sarah Elizabeth Rodriguez. Okay, then. Parents' files are sealed, she's married to Jake Rodriguez…whose files are also sealed, along with hers…she's a second year grad student…double major in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Forensic Crime Scene Investigation and Homeland Security and Emergency preparedness. She also got her Bachelors in the same thing from VCU 2 years ago…went straight into a Masters after graduation."

"Why is everything sealed…no, wait, don't answer that. Go to sleep. I'll call Don and let him know that we ID'd her, maybe they can get something on her. Or her parents. Or her husband. Or, anything, really," David said, pulling his phone out.

"Eppes." This time Don picked up on the first ring and instead of sounding weary and mildly irritated as he had last time they had spoken, barely 20 minutes ago, he now sounded severely pissed off, wide awake and ready to kill someone.

"Hey, we got a last name to go with Sarah. Sarah Rodriguez. Colby was right. Mostly. Double major in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Forensic Crime Scene Investigation and Homeland Security and Emergency preparedness. Basically the NSA's dream major. She's a second year graduate student, got her bachelors in the same thing from the same school, and married to Jake Rodriguez. Her files, her husband's files and her parents' files are all sealed. Not even Colby with his mega high spy clearance could get into them, but we didn't exactly put tons of effort in. It was basically me trying to sign in and see them and then him trying, too," David summarized quickly, ignoring the disgruntled sound that Colby made when David mentioned his 'mega high spy clearance'.

"Okay, that's good. We might be able to get something somehow. And don't mock Colby with the spy stuff, David. I think its part of the reason he's so focused on this case. He thinks that it could easily have been him." Don said, and David couldn't help but agree with him as he turned slightly to look at Colby who had crawled under the covers, still in his jeans, and had his face buried deep in one of the hotel's fluffy white pillows.

"Yeah. Good point. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow and I will make sure that he eats. Although, I don't think I'll have to put in too much effort. Just putting it in front of him will probably work just fine," David said and he heard Don snort before hanging up. David closed his phone and quickly plugged it into the wall to charge and was half way done changing into a t-shirt and sweats when it occurred to him that he should probably charge Colby's phone, too. He looked around and saw Colby's phone lying on the table by the laptop. He grabbed it before realizing that he had no idea where Colby's phone charger was. He considered Colby for a moment, the lack of snores indicated that he was either not yet asleep or if he was, it wasn't a very deep sleep. He glanced down at Colby's phone. The battery was almost dead, it probably hadn't been charged for days. He moved to the head of Colby's bed and gently shook his friends shoulder to wake him. To his surprise Colby immediately turned over and looked up at him.

"What's up, man?" Colby said, more alert than David had seen him in a couple of days.

"Um...first, how the hell do you look that awake now? Second, where's your phone charger, your battery is almost dead," David said and Colby smirked up at him slightly.

"Well, First, I'm paranoid and usually when I get woken up in the middle of the night it's never good. And my phone charger is in the front pocket of my briefcase," Colby said. "Is that it?"

"Yeah, you can go back to sleep now," David said and Colby promptly rolled back over into the blankets as David moved over to Colby's briefcase and pulled the phone charger out of the bag and plugging the phone into the socket.

David turned off the lights and quietly moved over to his bed and climbed gratefully under the covers. DC was too damn cold. But it wasn't as cold as New York-he had gotten way too used to the warm Los Angeles weather.

His thoughts turned back to Colby's surprising level of alertness. He had looked as though he were ready to storm the beaches of Normandy whereas 5 minutes earlier he had looked like one of the soldiers at the end of D-day. And it broke David's heart to know that his partner, his best friend felt that he needed to be that on guard all the time. He knew that part of it was due to his time in Afghanistan where if you weren't hyper aware of everything going on around you there was a good chance of getting your head blown off, but also that his undercover assignment had intensified his need to be on constant alert.

David had noticed that since Lancers arrest and the end of Colby's undercover work, Colby had become much more relaxed, wasn't looking over his shoulder as much, although he was still more paranoid than most FBI agents. And FBI agents were generally pretty damn paranoid bunch. But now that David thought back, the paranoia had returned since the start of this case, or more accurately, since they had discovered that it was about some top secret NSA thing and Colby had once again been on edge all the time. So in all likelihood Colby had been far too busy worrying whether the guy in the elevator with him was trying to kill him to take care of himself properly.

David reflected grimly on just how much the DOJ and their stupid top secret assignments crap had screwed with and still was screwing with the team. First Megan had come back all jaded and incredibly messed up after her stint with the DOJ, making her consider quitting the job that she loved, immediately followed by the entire Colby debacle. That had left the entire team reeling. Megan had clambered to use all of her pent up leave time and headed for the hills, literally-she had been spending a great deal of her time up at the monastery with Larry. Don had begun to question his abilities as a leader and David…David had lost his best friend and had begun to spin out of control. But now he had his best friend back again, although he was slightly the worse for wear. Liz was the only one who seemed relatively unaffected by Colby's perceived betrayal and David had even tended to resent her for having taken Colby's spot on the team so quickly and eagerly after his departure. He knew that this was both illogical and unfair, but it didn't change his feelings of bitterness towards her.

But then Liz and Don had broken up and Liz had applied for a transfer off of Team Eppes and Don had happily signed it. The Assistant Director in charge of the Los Angeles office had made a sanctimonious, if not true, comment about this being the exact reason why agents didn't date each other, particularly when one of them worked directly under the other. Don hadn't replied, to the relief of both David and Colby-who were there as…actually, they weren't sure what their official capacity was, but they were basically there as moral support, well, more accurately, David was there as moral support and Colby was there to restrain Don just in case the director had said…well, something like what he had, in fact, said and Don reacted badly. Fortunately, it didn't come to that. Don had been surprisingly calm about the whole thing.

That is, until they had gotten down to the parking garage and Don had decided to demonstrate a perfect left hook on his car window, but Colby had seen what he was about to do and had moved quickly between Don and the car, taking a slug to the chest, which Don had tried to stop too late and hit Colby at almost full force. Colby had fallen back against the SUV hard and Don had looked at him in horror before asking if he was okay and apologizing repeatedly. Colby assured him that he was fine and that it was better that he was a little winded for a few minutes than Don break his hand and his car window. He had then complimented Don's technique with that shit eating grin of his, causing both Don and David to laugh. That was one of the things that made Colby such a good friend and agent. He'd always put his friends and teammates wellbeing before his own.

That punch had to have hurt and David knew full well that he had had one hell of a bruise there for a couple of weeks and David had seen him wince more than a few times from either moving too fast-or breathing too hard. A few days after the incident they had been chasing a suspect and, as usual, Colby had pulled ahead of him and tackled the suspect. After he had cuffed the guy and handed him off to another agent, he had doubled over, clutching his chest. He had insisted that he was just winded from the run, but David wasn't stupid, they'd only chased the guy a few blocks and Colby had chased guys much farther without even breaking a sweat, but he had let Colby take one for the team and when Don jogged up to them a few minutes later and Colby was still wheezing slightly David had steered him away from Colby who was trying gallantly not to show any sign of pain while in Don's sight line and David could clearly see that it was costing him. But it would cost him more for Don to know just how hard he had hit him and for him to cause Don to feel any guiltier than he already did.

He would never understand how Colby could be so willing to throw himself in front of anything, from his friends' fists to enemy bullets to being willing to be tortured and even killed to protect his friends and country and yet put on a frat boy, brainless muscle façade. His last thought before he drifted off to sleep was that his partner was definitely an enigma.

Please, please let me know what y'all think about this fic so far, cause it's a bit outside of what i usually write and I had to write it more quickly than I would normally because it was a NaNoWriMo fic and I'd really like some feedback on it.