A/N: Hey everybody, thanks to all my readers and reviewers for sticking with the story for so long. It seems like you guys liked the last one, and I hope you'll like this one just as much.

Shout out to Dustie012001 (Yeah, as lucky as Ezra is he's not gonna be feeling it when Chris gets his hands on him.) Lucky reader (Thank you, here it is) Lunaz (I figure Josiah's learned by now to listen when the crow caws, lol) Guest (He's like Batman ;)) Leandra Falconwing( Drunk Ezra may be my favorite Ezra :) And yes, he doesn't want Nathan poking at him either, but if somebody has to...) Guest (Good, 'cause you'll be seeing more of him ;)) Kathy (*grins* I'm glad you like that visual, it amused me too) Mhart (Thank you, Josiah has a very different thought pattern than any of the others, I'm glad it worked. I figure Chris is the leader, but, for Ezra at least, Josiah is very much the paternal figure, and someone he can be young with safely.) KittyRanma (there won't be in the main fic, but I am considering writing an alternative ending)

Also, author is looking for a fic I am kicking myself for not bookmarking. It features a sick, and maybe lost?, Ezra who wakes up with Buck hanging over him, and in his fever calls him his Aunt's name. Buck jokingly asks if his Aunt had a mustache, Ezra says yes, and they talk about her. Later, not quite remembering the convo and worried he spoke negatively about her, he asks Buck who reassures him. It was super cute and I asked on Mag7 Fic Finders on LJ but no one responded. I think it was on Blackraptor. If anyone could help me find it that would be awesome sauce.

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Vin idly shoved chips in his mouth, staring off into space from his perch on the table off to the side of the vending machines in one of the communal break rooms. He sat here often enough no one would really notice him, and since he'd never paid any attention to their gossip before-or at least never done anything with what he overheard-no one really bothered to keep their voices down, or edit what they were saying either.

So far it had been a bust. In 15 minutes the only thing he'd heard about the team was a warning to the new tech geek lady on team five (their old tech geek hadn't cut it, apparently) that Buck was a sweetheart but didn't take the women he dated very seriously. Which was patently true, even if Vin thought he was open enough about it himself that no one really needed to be given a warning, and kinda hilarious. He couldn't wait to tell Buck that he was now being announced to new people as the office Don Juan. 'Course, Buck would probably take it as a compliment.

Also, Vin was growing more and surprised A. That the entirety of the Denver ATF didn't have an STD, (apparently gossip was just what ladies called locker room talk that happened anywhere) and B. That anybody got anything done. Ever. Johansen from Team 10 had been up here before Vin was and showed no signs of moving. Yeah, Vin may have appeared to be doing the same thing but he was actually gathering information. Trying to.

He'd already done the rounds of the gym and men's locker rooms, starting a few conversations, a few of the more private conference rooms, and a few other nooks and crannies good for private meetings, spots outside certain team offices (Vin didn't want to think Team Four had anything to do with it, he'd thought they were decent, but then that son-of-a-bitch Finley had tried to blame his rookie's-well, fuck up wasn't good enough, but what the hell else do you call it?-on Ezra. Hell, if it had been anybody's fuck-up, it had been Finley's, you don't put a rookie on point like that, and if he were any kind of man at all...) making use of the tiny recording devices JD had gotten bulk from somewhere and then went Dr. Frankenstein on. Bugs on steroids. Vin didn't really get how they worked, but wherever he turned them on they started recording, only they didn't store it on the device, or send it over radio signals or regular bluetooth, but still it sent it up to the kid's computer, or a server, or something. Somehow. JD had explained it to him, but he'd been using so much techno geek talk he hadn't understood a word. They only recorded for three hours, but Vin refused to believe they'd still be looking for Ezra in three hours. Chris had shit his pants last time they'd used them-something about rogue technology and not waiting for his approval, and maybe the fact that Vin had climbed into that warehouse to place them without anybody but JD the wiser.

Yeah, Cowboy had not been a happy camper that day. Still, this wasn't a case, and the things were so tiny and hard to see it wasn't like anybody was gonna notice them anyway. Besides, Vin figured pretty much nothing was off limits right now, not 'til they had Ezra back.

With a sigh, he finished the last of his chips and chugged his soda, sticking another of the little tan squares to the side of the garbage can as he leaned over and lifted the lid to toss his trash in, deciding he'd stroll down to the labs, or maybe the target range, jumping off his table (earning a disapproving look from Johansen, Vin giving him a grin in return) and started heading towards the door. His head tipped down as he walked, thoughts whirling even as he kept his ears open. Chris was expecting him to have found something-Ezra was counting on him to find something, and so far he hadn't heard a thing of value. He'd been so sure he would too, that he would at least find something that would lead them to a clue. It just figured, that now when it really mattered, would be when he failed. Vin sighed, hands finding their way to his pockets as his shoulders slumped. He'd check in after he was done with the labs, and then try again, keep on trying, but Vin was starting to think it was going to be up to somebody else to point them to Ezra.

That was when he heard him, right as he was in the doorway, his slim build making him all but invisible to the man stalking away from him, talking quietly but urgently into a Bluetooth. That little shyster Sharpe from Team 3, and Vin couldn't quite hear him, not all the words, but the words he could set him on high alert, and he sidled out the doorway after the man, who was too wrapped up in his conversation to notice him. No wonder Ezra didn't think much of him, what kind of ATF agent couldn't tell when somebody was tailing him down a straight hallway with no cover, let alone an undercover agent? Yeah, the guy was more on the level of busting places selling illegal cigarettes or bad whiskey than moving on drug cartels, but still. The man had rubbed him the wrong way from the second he'd met him, Ezra didn't like him none either, and why the hell hadn't Vin even thought of him?

Probably because he was so damn boring and bland he was all but invisible. Like a really obnoxious chameleon. "What do you mean he went into The Sprawl...took over that place five years ago, and he would know that." A pause while the man listened, then snapped, "Don't ask how I know, ask how you're gonna tell the boss you lost him when you had him alone in the warehouse district." Team 3 was in-between cases, they'd been helping Team 7 with some of their wrap-up, all but Sharpe, as putting him and Ezra in a room together wasn't wise, and Vin had a very, very, bad feeling. It wasn't no perp he was talking about. "No, don't follow him in there, we can't afford to start something on their territory. That wasn't the plan anyway." He had to pause, bending down to tie his shoe at a recycling bin, when something that was said to him made Sharpe stop short, and then he waited a second after the man was moving to follow after, not wanting to risk alerting him and losing this chance. Vin did miss a little of the conversation, but caught up in time to hear the man say, "Yeah, just do your job right, and soon they'll be the Magnificent Six."

Huh. As fury coursed through Vin he realized he didn't much care if this jackass knew he'd been heard, though he kept enough presence of mind to wait until he'd disconnected his call, just in case knowing this guy was made would make things worse for Ezra. Then he pounced, knocking the man's legs out from under him at the same time as he pulled his arms behind his back, just a little farther then he would do to most suspects, only Vin's grip keeping him from hitting the ground. As he snapped his handcuffs on the bastard, Vin smiled grimly. He'd known there was a reason he'd slipped them on his belt today, even if they were supposed to be in court. He quickly stripped the man of his blue-tooth and phone, checking for anything else he might have. "What the fuck?! Let me go Tanner, you hick piece of shit!" Vin shook the man like a puppy, his lip curling back in disgust as he yelped.

"Oh no. I'm takin' ya t' see Chris. Ye're gonna tell us just exactly what ye're up t'." Then, partly because nobody was looking, but mostly because the son-of-a-bitch had pissed him off so bad with that Magnificent Six line he just didn't care, he dropped him, hard, right on his face. Okay, maybe he kinda threw him on it. And sorta stomped on his hip. Whatever. The man yelled like a stuck pig, but they were close enough to the elevator Vin got him into it before anybody came looking. Really, he thought as he pressed the button for Team 7's floor, probably not a very good response time for ATF agents, but for now it was working in his favor, so it didn't bother him much. Too bad about the blood though, somebody was gonna notice that. Still, he hadn't been sure he could throw him at the right angle to break his nose, so that was a point to Tanner.

He might just have to rack up a few more points before he handed him over to Chris and the others.

"You won't get away with this! They have cameras in that hallway!"

"Takin' down a possible leak who threatened my team? Hell, they wanna fire me for that, I ain't gonna wanna work here anyway." He smiled, slow and languid, but didn't bother looking over at the bastard, even as he tightened his grip on his arm.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about! You attacked me for no reason!"

The man was quaking where he stood, and now Vin did turn to him, pointing to the red button in the elevator, "Know what happens if I press that button?"

"Gee, it says stop, but I don't know. Oh, that's right, you're the one that can't read, aren't you?"

"It stops. And there ain't no camera's in here. Ya best think on that." Vin turned away from Sharpe then, still keeping watch on him out of the corner of his eye, wishing he enjoyed the way the man paled from his words more, but he was just plain too worried. Not only did Ezra have whatever thugs this guy was working with after him, he'd gone into The Sprawl, a gang bar on his own, and if Vin was remembering right, a gang bar for a gang Ezra had gone undercover with. Yeah, Ezra was good, when he was undercover he could probably walk by just about everybody who knew him and have them not know him. Not Vin though, and as good as Ezra was there was always a chance somebody would recognize him. Bone structure didn't change. They'd got a good chunk of the gang, but it sure as hell hadn't been all of them, and they'd had nearly two years to rebuild. Hell, anybody pegged him as a Fed, wouldn't matter if they recognized him anyway. It wasn't that Ezra couldn't take care of himself, just that alone, drunk and vulnerable, he'd be a very tempting target. The thought had him tightening his grip on Sharpe's arm without realizing it, but all the bastard's whine did was piss Vin off more, and he wrenched his arms up even higher, making him yowl. "Oh quit yer bitchin', I got at least another inch an' a half t' yank 'em 'fore I start causin' permanent damage." If the son-of-a-bitch only realized what Vin wanted to do to him he'd be shitting his pants.

Vin didn't blame Ezra a bit for freaking out, thinking the papers were real, even for taking off-though going into that bar was damn stupid. But he couldn't blame him for being afraid of being sent away, of the team deciding he wasn't good enough, not when Vin was still scared of the same damn thing sometimes.

It had taken him a while, but he'd figured out that Ezra and him had grown up the same in a lot of ways. Maybe Ez had had nicer clothes, a fancy education, but he'd been shipped here, there, and everywhere by Maude's whim, never in the same place more than a year at a time, and some of those 'relatives' hadn't been any better than the worst of Vin's foster parents-Vin knew what cigar burns looked like, even if he didn't think anybody else but Nathan, and maybe Josiah, did- and he'd never had a home or a family anymore than Vin had. Maybe less, at least when his Momma was alive he'd known she wanted him. He didn't think Ez had every really had that. Maude loved Ezra, Vin had seen enough to know that as cruel and thoughtless as she could be, that that wasn't in question. Didn't keep her from being perfectly willing to throw him under the bus, or just outright hurt him, while acting like she was teaching him a lesson-believing it, maybe.

Thing was, being sent from place to place like that makes it so a person expects it. Vin had been in Denver for almost four years now, and it was by far the longest he'd ever lived in one place. Chris had called him stubborn more than once for refusing to move out of Purgatorio, and he'd be lying if he said that wasn't part of it. But, most of it was just that it was his apartment, and he wasn't going to leave it until he was good and ready, let anybody take it from him, not even Chris. Once you started pulling up roots, or putting more down for that matter...while he figured he clung to his apartment for the same reason that Ezra couldn't unpack that stack of boxes in his. Different reactions to the same situation, but it was easy to see once you looked for it. Vin wasn't sure if he'd gotten better at reading his fellow southerner or if Ezra had quit hiding so much, or maybe a little of both, but Ezra was easy to see now.

For Ezra, for Vin before Chris, being packed off was normal, it was what happened, you either weren't wanted or someone else said you had to go, and then everything was gone again, good and bad and in-between, all of it. Growing up didn't change it, for all he'd thought it would as a kid. It wasn't something a man talked about often, that kind of history or that kind of fear, but strong drink and a late night will get you to saying things you wouldn't ordinarily, and the long and short of it was they'd each made a promise to the other that they wouldn't let that happen. It was more for Ezra, really, than him. Vin didn't always know why, but since he'd met Chris that little ball of uncertainty, that feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop, had gotten smaller and smaller. For Ezra, it hadn't. If anything, Vin would wager it had gotten bigger over the last couple of years, as they'd all gotten closer. After all, he had something to lose now.

Vin fixed his eyes on Sharpe, the reason Ezra had thought that old fear had come true, the reason he thought Vin had broken his promise, right as the elevator door opened, and he pushed him through the opening, 'accidentally' shoving him into the door frame as he was went. He almost had him down the hall and into the Seven's office when he heard a voice behind him and hid a cringe, "Tanner, what the hell are you doing?" Ryan Kelley sounded both bewildered and pissed, and Vin supposed it did look bad, what with him dragging a fellow agent along, bloodied and hand-cuffed. Sharpe opened his mouth and Vin slapped the hand that wasn't holding onto him over it, Kelley shifting forward and he figured he should talk fast.

"Ezra's missing, he's involved, saying they're gonna turn the Magnificent Seven into the Magnificent Six." Kelley's face darkened and he stepped back, nodding.

"Get him in your office then, I didn't see a thing. Next time don't bloody him up 'til you're done with transport, it leaves a trail."

Turning to open the office door and push Sharpe through it, Vin flashed a grin back over his shoulder at him, "Not as much fun."

"You're all fucking nuts, you know that, right?" Kelley was already walking away as Vin shut and locked the office door, urging Sharpe in front of him down the short hall. Buck and JD gaped over at him as they caught sight, Buck's easy-going face immediately going hard as stone as he realized there weren't many reasons Vin would have brought the man with him. Buck was a heck of a lot quicker than most people gave him credit for.

"We got ourselves a lead, boys." Vin shoved the man forward so that he was in-between the two seated agents and Vin, "Wanna guess what he wants us to rename the team?" He told them. He woulda figured it would be Buck who'd react quickest, but damn, JD was developing a real nice right hook.

"Kinda hard to question him if he's knocked out, kid." Buck said, though he sounded more proud than pissed.

"Josiah and that Brady guy-"

"Captain Brady."

"Yeah, Captain Brady, got Ezra, and Chris and Nate are on their way there, it'll be okay. Besides," Vin watched, trying to process what JD had just said, the younger man prodding the body on the floor with his foot, "he'll wake up soon."

"What do ya mean, Josiah's got Ezra?" Vin looked back and forth between the two of them, starting to hope, relief flooding through his body when they both nodded at him.

"Yeah, got the word from Nate about fifteen minutes ago. Josiah broke down right outside the bar Ezra was drowning his sorrows in, like he ain't praying for miracles, he's making 'em. There were a couple thugs working Ez over behind some dumpsters, but 'Siah swooped in just in time. He's banged up a little, but not bad, and last I heard Chris's ETA was ten minutes out, nearly five minutes ago. And this piece of shit traitor is behind it, huh?" If Vin hadn't been so relieved they'd found Ezra, he would have been pissed that nobody called him, but as it was he just sagged a little where he stood, nodding to Buck, who used his crutches to push his chair over Vin's way, wheels squeaking, and punched him lightly on the arm, " Good job, Junior. Though, between you and JD, you didn't leave much for the rest of us didja?"

"Guess not." Then he straightened, eyes narrowing as he thought back over what he'd heard from Sharpe and what Buck had said, "Buck he was jus' talkin' t' his guys, tellin' 'em t' stay away from The Sprawl, wasn't worth it."

"What are you saying?" Buck was frowning in thought too, but before Vin could answer JD broke in at a mile a minute.

"You mean those guys at the bar weren't the ones tailing him? Chris said Brady said they didn't see a gray Mazda anywhere, put out an APB on it, so that makes sense. Like, maybe they were trying to steal the Jag, or recognized him from when he went undercover there? Shit, we need to let everybody know, so they stay on guard." He turned rapidly back to the communications gear, not even waiting for Vin to get more than halfway through his nod, and Vin, shaking his head at how damn fast the kid's mind worked, turned to Buck to ask whether he thought putting Sharpe in Chris's office 'til he woke up was a good idea, only to pause at the scowl on his face.

"What the hell are you talking about, when he went undercover there?" JD was talking into his headset, and not paying Buck any mind, so he turned his attention to Vin. "When did Ezra go undercover there?"

With a silent apology to Ezra, but figuring Chris had remembered the second he'd heard where Ezra was anyway, Vin told him, "'Bout two years ago. With the Damnation, 'member?" Buck swore rather impressively.

"Ah, c'mon Buck," JD had finished passing on his information and turned back to them, "You can't be too mad at him, you know those papers must've upset him real bad."

"When one of my family first pretends he's in The Fast and the Furious, then goes alone into a bar where people have reason to want him dead, I got every right to be pissed, JD." Buck scowled again, JD scowling back, clearly not liking that answer, but Buck turned his attention to Sharpe, "Somebody wanna get that piece of shit off his face before he suffocates?"

Mouthing "Fast and the Furious?" at JD, who mouthed back "Later.", Vin decided that being charged with a murder he'd actually committed, helped commit anyway, would probably suck nearly as bad as being framed for one, and moved to pull the unconscious man from the floor, not sure where to deposit him. JD sprang up and brought back a chair from the break room without being asked and Vin all but dropped the man in it, only doing the bare minimum to keep him from falling right back out. Sitting down and talking quietly but rapidly into his headset for a minute, JD turned back to them, "Nate says him and Chris just pulled up to the bar, Chris hopped out almost before the truck was in park."

Buck snorted, "I bet he did. Poor Ez."

"He'll make sure he's okay, and that he knows he ain't getting sent anywhere, before he yells at him, won't he?" JD sounded a heck of a lot younger than his twenty-two years just then, looked it too, and Vin was real glad it was Buck he was looking at for answers, Buck who was feeding him a line or two, because while Vin was a hundred percent sure Chris would make sure Ezra knew that, he also thought it was gonna be wrapped right up in the yelling, Chris demanding Nathan make sure Ezra was okay, while Cowboy scorched his ears but good for being such an idiot.

Poor Ez, was right.