"Mister Eppes?"

Charlie looked up from the laptop that Amita had dropped off earlier as his father stood up to meet the physician. "How is he?"

"He's going to be fine," the other man assured him.

"Like he was going to be fine last time?" Alan asked angrily.

"I did tell you we were keeping him here for observation," Earle patiently reminded him. "Because sometimes things like this will pop up, despite our best efforts to catch all of the problems during the initial diagnosis."

"What happened?" Charlie queried as he stood by his father's side.

"Don has a very small tear in his esophagus. That's why he would choke when he would consume any liquids – the fluid was leaking into the surrounding tissue."

"But he's going to be okay?" Alan pressed.

"Yes. The tear is small enough that it should heal itself within a few days. To keep it from happening and to keep the tear from becoming infected, we've packed the area with Betadine-soaked gauze. Depending on how resilient your son is, he should be up and out of here by the end of the week."

"Which means he'll be trying to get out of here by tomorrow evening," Alan said in exasperation, although his expression was clearly one of joy. "Can we see him?"

"The orderlies will be bringing him down in the next ten minutes. Why don't you wait in his room?"

Alan and Charlie thanked him and took a seat in the empty room. After a moment of tense silence Charlie spoke. "That's a relief, isn't it?" At his father's scathing look, he gestured to his laptop. "I mean to know it wasn't Gardenia or someone trying to finish him off."

"Oh." His father nodded ruefully. "Yeah… quite a relief." He gestured at the laptop and raised an eyebrow. "You any closer to finding that man's body?"

"No," the professor responded with a frown. "Given the crime scene photos, I think it's highly unlikely he survived. The amount of blood, location of the injury according to Colby and distance of the fall – they all should have been too much for someone to survive."

"And yet no body."

"Right," Charlie agreed. "I think one of his men did carry him off, even if he was dead. It makes sense if you think about it. He might have thought he could save his boss or, if Gardenia was already dead but no one knew about it, he could hide the body and say Gardenia is in hiding and he's acting on his behalf. That'd be a very clever way to take over the operation, don't you think?"

"It would. Hopefully, whoever this man is, he doesn't have anything against Don and he'll leave us alone."

Before Charlie could respond, Don was rolled into the room by two orderlies. This time the professor did notice the agent who casually strolled past the doorway, pausing only briefly to give the professor a confident nod before returning to his station. Charlie smiled at the orderlies as they left and moved to stand next to his brother's bed.

"Donny?" Alan called softly as he brushed his dark hair back from his forehead. The agent's eyes fluttered open and floated aimlessly around the room until they landed on his father's face. He let out a soft exhalation of breath as he struggled to keep his eyes open. "Nice to see you again, son. You really have to stop doing this to us, though."

"Yeah, bro. At this rate you're going to make my hair turn gray."

"Be… tragic," Don whispered softly as his gaze slid to his brother's face. "…funny."

"You just don't want people to think you're older than me," Charlie teased.

"Know… too well."

"I sure do," the professor smiled as he rested a hand on Don's arm. "Just like I know you need to sleep now."

"Sound… Dad," the agent breathed with a small grin. His eyes drifted closed. "Stay."

"We were planning on it," his father promised him as he moved his chair closer to the bed. Alan sat and reached his hands through the bedrails, protectively curling his fingers around Don's wrist. "Sleep now, son. We're not going anywhere."

--

"How are things at the hospital?" Megan asked David as he entered the bullpen.

"The next shift just went on watch," he informed her. "We didn't see anything suspicious while we were there."

"Good. Maybe Gardenia really is out of the picture. How's Don?"

"He's still a little loopy. I was going to tell him about Gardenia today, but then he got whisked off because of that complication. I'd like to let him make it at least twenty-four hours without anything eventful happening before I spring this on him."

"No kidding," she agreed. "He has had it rough the past week. I'm glad Alan and Charlie are back by his side, though. I know that will help him."

"Hey," Colby called as he joined his friends at their desks. "Charlie just called with a possible location for us."

"Really?" David asked with a confused expression. "I just left him and he didn't have anything."

"I know. He said he just figured it out." Colby laid a satellite photo on the desk and pointed to the heavily wooded area behind the storage buildings. "See here, about thirty yards away?" He pointed to a section where a group of trees were missing.

"An opening in the tree line," David observed. "So?"

Colby produced the original satellite photo from before the raid and pointed to the same area. "See? In this one the trees are still there. Something has knocked them down. Something after the raid."

"Like an escaping vehicle?" Megan offered hopefully.

"Wait a minute," David said as he shook his head. "Our agents searched the area. Wouldn't they have seen something?"

"No," Colby explained. "There's a very steep drop about twenty yards behind the property. We didn't see any way down there, so we didn't look that far."

"But Gardenia may have had a hidden escape route that we didn't find," Megan stated. "I'll have a search team meet us out there." As she and Colby grabbed their gear, she noticed David was following suit. "You don't have to go. I know you just got off a long shift watching Don and his family."

"Hey, if this is our guy I want to be there when we find him."

"I understand," she smiled. "Let's go."

They arrived at Gardenia's safe house a few hours later, relieved to see that Evidence Recovery and the local police department had already searched the area, and found what they were looking for. The sun had already set, but ERT had set up numerous stands of floodlights to illuminate the burned-out wreckage of an SUV.

Megan tracked down the agent in charge, peered at his name tag and asked, "What have you found so far, Agent Bouyer?"

"The vehicle came down from over there," he replied as he pointed up through the darkened trees. "You can't see it now, but there's an underground tunnel that leads back up to the garage. We backtracked it and found the opening in the garage and – unless you knew it was there – it's invisible to the naked eye."

"His men must have slipped through there while we were trying to stabilize Don," Colby grumbled.

"I heard the shootout was pretty bad," Bouyer told him. "And the entrance was well behind Gardenia's men. With all of the confusion it would have been ridiculously easy to slip into the tunnel with no one to witness it."

"So what happened to the vehicle?" Megan asked. "It looks like it blew up."

"We're still working on that," the technician explained. "Best I can tell, the driver lost control and careened over the edge of the hill by the tunnel exit. The SUV rolled down and hit that boulder it's lying on, which probably ruptured the gas tank. Something sparked and… bye, bye, bad guys."

"How many in the vehicle?" Colby inquired.

"The bodies are pretty badly burned, but my best guess is two. The ME is coming out here first thing tomorrow morning to collect the remains. He can tell you more then."

"Thanks," Megan said as she and her coworkers stood huddled in a group, looking down at the twisted heap of metal in front of them. "So… one of Gardenia's men grabs him, throws him in the truck and starts to make their getaway, but loses control before they can escape. I like that scenario. I like it a lot."

"Me too," David nodded fiercely. "It would be nice to finally put an end to this whole ordeal."

"I don't know about you guys," Megan began. "But I'm not going to sleep until I know this is over." Seeing their heads nod in agreement, she suggested, "How about we go find an all night diner? Then we can show up on the ME's doorstep first thing in the morning and encourage him to put a rush on this job."

"I'm in," Colby told her.

"Me too," David smiled. "If this works out, I think it'll be the best 'Get Well' present we could give Don."

--

Don slowly floated back to awareness, opening his eyes and blinking at the early morning sun that streamed in through the blinds. As he grew accustomed to the bright light he was able to make out his father's form, slouched in the chair by his bed and sound asleep. He slid his gaze to the other side of his bed and – as expected – found Charlie curled up into an impossibly small ball, also fast asleep. He was content to stare back and forth between the two men, relishing the fact that his family was no longer a continent away from him. Something about that thought nagged at him and his groggy mind tried to figure out what it was.

"Good morning."

Don looked over at the sound of his father's voice, wincing as he remembered too late not to strain his neck.

"Careful," Alan soothed as he lightly rubbed his forearm. "How are you feeling?"

"Not bad," Don whispered quietly, not wanting to wake his brother. "Thirsty."

"I think I can help you with that," his father cheerfully replied as he poured a glass of water and stuck a straw into it. "You should be okay with the bandaging, but go slow just in case."

"Okay," Don answered as he let his father slip the straw between his lips. He carefully sipped the cool liquid and held his breath as he swallowed, relief flowing over him when he didn't have a coughing fit. "That's better."

"I'll say. More?"

"No, I'm good." Don watched his father settle back in the chair as he continued to try to think of what he needed to ask. Something about a continent, he thought. Charlie and Dad were so far away… to visit with Uncle Ernesto? No, that wasn't it. They went there to… "Gardenia?" Don suddenly demanded, his heart speeding up. "Did they get him?"

"Calm down, Donny," his father pleaded. "We're here, aren't we?"

"You didn't answer my question," the agent shot back as he struggled to sit up.

"You have to calm down, Don," Alan said in a stern voice.

"Don?" Charlie called sleepily as he roused in the chair. Seeing his father's grim face as he looked at his brother, Charlie felt panic creeping into his heart. "Are you okay?"

"Charlie," the agent called as he painfully turned his head toward the younger man. "Did they get Gardenia?"

The professor looked to his father, taking a moment to piece together what was going on. "Did they… um…"

"They didn't, did they?" Don asked fearfully. His energy reserves depleted, he fell back onto the mattress with a heavy sigh, covering his face with his hands. "Why are you two back if it's not safe?"

"Because you were hurt," Alan said matter-of-factly. "And there was no way I was going to be so far away when you needed me."

"Me neither," Charlie told him. "Besides, your team is almost positive that Gardenia didn't make it."

"What are you talking about?" Don inquired harshly. "He either did or he didn't."

"Well, it's really not that clear cut," the professor stumbled. "I'll be happy to explain, but it's really complex and I know you're tired."

"There are agents in the hallway keeping an eye on all of us," Alan told his son. "Does that make you feel any better?"

"That you're back in LA where he can try to kill you again?" the injured agent snapped. "No, Dad, it really doesn't."

"Don Eppes, you are too important to this family for us to be all the way across the country not knowing if you're going to live or die." The despair in his father's voice stopped Don in mid-argument as he realized what his father was saying. "That's right. All we knew was that you'd been shot in the neck. Do you know how many horror stories I had running through my head? Can you even imagine?"

"I didn't realize…" Don trailed off and had the good sense to look cowed. "That bad, huh?"

"Yes, Donny," Alan replied softly as he sank into his chair. "That bad."

"I'm sorry," the agent sighed as he sank even further into the hospital bed. "I didn't mean to put you through that."

"What?" Alan asked in disbelief. "Son, this isn't your fault. I just wanted you to understand why we came back, even if it wasn't entirely safe." When Don refused to meet his eyes, the older man covered his hand and leaned closer to him. "This isn't your fault. You did what you did because you wanted to protect us. And you know what? Here we are, alive and well." Leaning in even closer to his unresponsive son, Alan asked, "Are you listening to me, Don? Do you hear what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Don finally nodded. "I hear you."

"Good," his father told him as he sagged back in his chair. The three men lapsed into silence as each one tried to ignore the tension that still lingered in the room. The silence was eventually broken by Charlie's cell as it rang loudly in the quiet room.

Giving his brother and father a contrite look, he disappeared into the hallway and answered the phone.

"I swear your brother wouldn't know how to function without his cell and a laptop."

Don laughed at his father's statement, appreciating his attempt to lighten the mood. "I think you're right."

Charlie quickly darted through the doorway, a huge smile on his face. "They got him!"

"Gardenia?" Don asked hopefully.

"Yes! Megan is on her way over with the details, but they found his body."

"Thank God," the agent breathed as he closed his eyes and tried to slow his racing heart. Now maybe things can get back to normal. It hit him then that for some people – himself, Jackson and his family, even Charlie with his new scar and terrible memory of the explosion – things would never get back to normal.

And it's all because of me.

--

"Hey, Don," Megan greeted as she, Colby and David crowded into the small hospital room. "How are you feeling?"

"I'll be better once I hear you say it," he answered eagerly.

"We got him," she beamed. "We found a burned-out SUV with two bodies inside. They were too badly burned for visual ID, but one set of skeletal remains was approximately Gardenia's height and there was a bullet in the remains that came from Granger's gun."

"I told you I got him in the chest," Colby added.

"That's good," Don said hesitantly. "But what about something more definite? Fingerprints, DNA, dental records?"

"The body was too badly damaged for fingerprints," she informed him. "We don't have his DNA or any of his relatives' DNA on file, so that's out. We're presently trying to track down any dental records for absolute confirmation, but Don… it is him. You and your family are safe now."

"I know," her boss smiled weakly. "I'm just finding it hard to believe that this whole thing is actually over."

"Well it is," Colby assured him. "So you just rest and get better and leave all of that paperwork to us." He playfully scowled at his boss until Don gave a light shrug.

"I guess I'm busted, huh?"

"Totally," David nodded with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Come on, guys," Megan grinned. "Let's leave the slacker here with his family while the rest of us do all the work."

"Hey, wait," Don said in a serious voice. "I never got a chance to thank you guys for saving my butt. I owe you all a steak dinner when I get out of here."

"Not necessary," David told him.

"But appreciated and accepted," Colby quickly added. At his coworkers' looks, he held ups his hands. "If there's one thing I've learned in life it's to never pass up free food."

"You're impossible, Granger," Megan sighed, grabbing his arm and steering him to the door. "Hurry up and get well soon, Don."

"Yeah," Colby called over her shoulder. "We may not last too long with her in charge!"

"Don't worry, man," David smiled and shook his head as the two disappeared from the room. "I'll make sure they play nice."

TBC