Chapter 7: You Will Be Found

Zoe Hansen was the worst kind of frustrated.

At the moment, her husband had her pinned to their bed, and was reverently kissing her swollen belly in such a worshipful, adorable way that it was driving her and her hormones mad. Evan was teasing her, deliberately, and it wasn't goddamn fair.

Perhaps because she was so used to taking the lead, of Evan letting her take the lead usually without a word of protest. She enjoyed the power she felt when on top, riding him desperately. Her wanting him was all the worse now in her second trimester; her libido was driving her crazy.

So, in moments like this, when Evan actually insisted on taking charge, wanting to please her, practically wait on her hand and foot… it was adorable. It was sweet. But it was also incredibly frustrating. Especially right now, when all she wanted to do was flip them and fuck her husband until his legs turned to jelly, which meant he wouldn't be able to head to work and they could stay and lounge in bed all day and have sex whenever, wherever and however she wanted.

"Evan…." She whined, squirming. He kissed her right over her bellybutton and it nearly made her giggle.

"Just relax, honey."

She did her best attempt at a genuine scowl. "Let me up, damnit! I…. God, I need you!"

Against the skin of her pregnant stomach, she felt Evan smirk. "You have me. So what's the problem?"

Zoe felt her teeth clench. "You know what I mean…" She waited as Evan eased back into kissing her belly, the voluptuous curve of her breasts, now painfully tender on account of her pregnancy. Once he was lulled into a sense of security, she sprung her trap.

It would soon be almost impossible to roll over anymore without help, but she did, flipping them both. My, my, my, how the tables had turned and Zoe Hansen took full advantage of it, rutting and grinding against her husband's leg as their tongues went to war.

She felt her husband squirm beneath her, edge slightly out from under her so that she lost that delicious friction between her legs.

"Don't."

Zoe cocked her head, doe-eyed and innocent, even as she tried to hold in the tears, her hormones really doing a number on her emotions. "Don't do what?" She attempted to make it sound sultry, and not let the hurt bleed out into her voice as she rubbed herself against him again. Seduce him. Make him give in and stop holding back.

Evan had become quite skilled at navigating her wiles – she had to give him that much. When his eyes, big and brown, locked onto her blue ones, Zoe was satisfied to see they were smoldering. "Don't tempt me by sitting there all pregnant and sexy when I'm almost late for work and not even dressed yet."

Zoe's eyes went huge, and her mouth fell open into a pretty 'O.' Her husband wasn't exactly a dirty talker in bed – she did enough of that for the both of them – so for him to look at her so heatedly, his voice low and husky like that…. she had him on the edge. She supposed she could push him off the rest of the way and let them give in to ravaging each other, but… Evan had a busy day today. The park needed him.

Rising languidly off of him, Zoe hugged her middle, rubbing her large belly. "Baby, we're going to have to head downstairs for a bit. Daddy can't control himself." She pranced over to the bedroom door, letting her hips sway in her business skirt before turning back to the door almost casually. Yet her face brokered no room for argument as she stated quite confidently. "We'll finish this later."

Evan's throat bobbed noticeably through a swallow. "Damn right we will." Zoe cocked an eyebrow, her lips almost uplifting with it in a satisfied smirk. Her husband only ever swore when he wanted her, or was having her. She practically skipped downstairs, half-expecting him to tackle her to the floor from behind and take her on the staircase landing.

Breakfast was ready when Evan dashed downstairs, and when he brushed past her with a kiss, Zoe could feel his skin was cooler to the touch. He must have turned the cold setting on in the shower full-blast, and she softly smirked again. With what they obviously both had in mind for tonight, it was going to be a long workday.

Evan insisted on driving them both to work. Carpooling had always allowed the couple more minutes alone together to talk, plus saving on gas. Zoe didn't fight her husband on it, knowing he wanted to look out for her; besides, she had the compromise of knowing he needed to get dropped off at the park first, and she could drive to her office the rest of the way. They would have to rework the route soon, for a few brief weeks before she finally went on maternity leave.

The Hansens rolled to a stop in front of Ellison Park. "Chinese fire drill!" Evan joked, as he and his wife hopped out and circled the car to switch seats. Zoe thought it something more befitting of a clown car, but it was an old joke by now as she clambered carefully into the driver's side, leaving the window rolled down.

She and Evan shared a light, chaste peck on the lips. "Have fun!" her eyes twinkled at him. "And be careful!" The last was thrown out as she briefly scanned down to take in his semi-automatic and flare guns strapped to the holsters on his belt. As a Forest Ranger, Evan technically had the authority of a law enforcement officer, and though it had been over a year since his promotion and he had yet to see that kind of action (thank goodness!), it was natural for Zoe to fear for his safety.

"Always," Evan grinned. "Love you."

She beamed back at him. "Love you too." She watched her husband through the rear view mirror until she'd rounded out of the parking lot.

Evan ambled on to the park grounds, pausing briefly by the main lodge to carefully load his semi-automatic. The gun was never to be loaded until he was on the park premises, then unloaded before he went home – his own safety rule. He'd never liked guns, but his job required him to have one, and he had never had to actually use it – yet.

He hoped he never would have a reason to. Connor, his late brother-in-law, had apparently used a gun similar to this one to kill himself. It ate at Evan, so much so that he made a point to keep his guns out of Zoe's sight as much as possible. He'd seen her looking at it with unease this morning as he'd gotten out of the car.

It was an easier day today – he was stationed to the trails for most of it, a mixture of leading tour groups as well as basic patrols. He greeted his nine o'clock group with his unique mix of nerdiness and charm, and by the time they arrived back at their starting point at the lodge, it was nearly time for lunch.

Evan ate in the lodge – the burrito Zoe had packed for him, plus a soda can out of the vending machine. Then, it was time for high noon patrol, after which there'd be another tour group around 2 that hopefully might carry him through the rest of the day and into a full weekend of being with Zoe.

Evan always kept his eyes peeled as he strolled amidst his favorite trees. Ellison Park always warned about potential dangers – forest fires the biggest and most obvious, a good percentage of which could be caused by arsonists. But more than a year on the job and Evan had yet to see anything more threatening than petty littering.

So it was a shock when he came around a sharp curve in the trail to find someone hunched over a small flame, at the base of a sycamore.

"Hey! What's going on? You should probably stamp that out."

The figure wheeled around at Evan's authoritative voice. Evan was struck by how much this grungy teen reminded him of Connor. It took him aback, for a moment.

WHAM! The fist came out so fast, Evan didn't have time to guard against it and he went sprawling. He crashed into the leaves, felt someone on top of him, going for his gun, probably, and he kicked out. A grunt, the weight now hurled off him, then he heard rustling as the little shit took off through the trees.

Evan struggled to his feet, grumbling and cursing. He still had his guns on him, thankfully – he'd scared the fucker off. He watched in horror as the intentionally set blaze was now halfway up the poor sycamore tree.

Evan remembered his training. He whipped out a fire blanket and set about smothering the blaze himself. He got it all, but the front side of the poor tree – one of the prettiest on this campus – was charred all across its front. He'd have to file a report once he got back to base – an exciting cap to a day at the office. Zoe would be livid for him once he told her.

His jaw stung suddenly and Evan hissed, brushing a hand just under the corner of his mouth. He felt the copper tang of blood. God damn that little piece of…!

Ranger Hansen set off at a light jog along the trials. He didn't notice the one spark that had bounced off the sycamore to land in the pine needles, keeping the blaze alive….

Zoe Hansen never liked it when she wasn't busy.

She had successfully taken on a new client in an important meeting this morning, but now, in mid-afternoon on a Friday, she was nearly at a loss for anything urgent to do to round out the week. Perhaps she could head home early, then wait up for Evan and love him up when he got home… until she remembered he would need a pick-up at 5. She shrugged. Maybe he could hop the bus home; she'd text him that, thus leaving her surprise and plans for him intact.

She turned on the TV in her office, deciding to kill a little bit of time and see if anything was on the news. A weather report came flashing on:

"Breaking News: we have reports of a fire along the nature trails of Ellison Park. Authorities say they are not sure what started the blaze, but firefighters are on the way…"

Zoe's heart lurched into her throat, and she felt her and Evan's baby inside her give a distressed kick. Their child could feel her anxiety, which was rapidly growing – like that blaze on her screens – into a full-blown panic.

"Evan!"

He was so getting fired for this – pun absolutely not intended.

He hadn't smothered the flames out as well as he should have, Evan concluded, as he ran along the trails, the forest fire now out of control and quite intent on running him down. Eventually, he would be cut off – blazes like this went up quickly, and Ellison Park had several species of tree that were quite ideal for kindling.

A smaller swath of flames was cutting a path across his trail and Evan bravely chanced leaping over it. He missed getting burned, but the smoke was getting worse. With the last of the stuff in his soda can from lunch, Evan dunked it onto the fire blanket and held it to his nose and mouth. The dampness of water on the cloth would have been more preferable and ideal, but at the moment, Sprite would have to do.

Evan suddenly tripped on a large root and went sprawling. He groaned, tried to get up and scrabble away as the flames advanced. He wasn't closed in yet, but he would be soon unless he got moving.

There was a pounding ache in his head and he cried out. Zoe's beautiful face swam in front of him, and he felt her love.

Was this it, then? Once upon a time, Evan Hansen would have been perfectly fine with a short life, but now… now he had a wife who loved him dearly. Their baby, not born yet, who needed him.

Evan struggled to stand, looked up… and was shocked to find out he wasn't alone.

The figure came passing through the smoke, looking like a demon from Hell. One who seemed very familiar, and all the more so once it spoke, his voice high, mocking, snarky and cruel.

"Seriously? Get up, you son-of-a-bitch!"

Evan had only heard this voice one time, during a signing of his cast – so long ago that he had almost forgotten what it sounded like. Yet that would have been impossible, with everything that had happened after, both what had been true and what hadn't been. His knees buckled and Connor Murphy shoved into him so that he fell. Seconds later, though, Evan was back on his feet, a ghost or perhaps some bizarre blend of a dream and a nightmare now directly in his face, berating him, raining abuses on him. A CRACK and a sting as a palm slapped his cheek.

"Connor….?" It was all he could think to rasp.

"Come on, Hansen! Snap out of it! My sister didn't throw her life away for you to just die in a campfire!"

"Zoe…."

"Yeah. Zoe. Remember her? She needs you, God knows why! I shouldn't be the one to have to save your sorry ass, but here we are."

"The note…" Evan was rambling, making zero sense. He had to be hallucinating, that was it. Or maybe he was dying. Connor was the welcoming committee into the next life, and doing a terrible job at it.

"You might have jumped out of that tree because you wanted to end it, but you don't wanna end things like this! Pussy way to go, if you ask me! Now get the FUCK UP!"

When Evan clued in, Connor (or whatever had been there and looked and sounded like Connor) was gone. Fumbling for his flare gun, Evan cocked and loaded it, aimed for the sky and fired. The pink flash of light swam behind his eyes as he kept them open just enough, crawling away from the flames closing in…. or was he crawling towards them? He couldn't tell, but he didn't feel the searing pain of burning, so that had to count for something.

Suddenly an amorphous shape appeared in front of him, shouts ringing:

"3-18! 3-18! Ranger down! I repeat: RANGER DOWN!"

Zoe Hansen was nearly at Ellison Park when a call came in from the hospital. They had her husband… and he was alive.

Zoe hurtled, white-faced, into the hospital, flinging herself at the front desk. She must have looked quite a sight, waddling as fast as she could with a look of sheer panic on her face.

"Evan Hansen's room…. Where's Evan Hansen's room…..?!"

"Ma'am, Mrs. Hansen, I'm going to just need you to calm down…" the nurse – an African American lady with a soothing voice - swept in to escort Zoe to the elevators.

"I need to see my husband….!"

"We're taking you to him right now… Ranger Hansen was brought in with no burns, but quite a bit of smoke inhalation – we have him on a ventilator…."

Zoe whimpered, cradling her midsection. She breathed out something that sounded like, "Thank goodness…." Except was Evan being on a ventilator any better than his being…. dead….?

Ushered into his room, Zoe flung herself into the arms of her parents and mother-in-law. Tenderly rounding the sickbed, she grabbed for Evan's clammy hand. The moisture she felt on his palm was actually a great comfort, reminding her of how his palms always got sweaty when he was nervous, particularly during social interactions, and she sobbed out a chuckle.

"Evan? Baby, can you hear me?"

He turned his head in her direction, moaning, and despite the tube in his mouth, said something that clearly sounded like her name: "Zoe…."

She wished she could kiss his lips right off, but the damn tube was in the way, so she settled for kissing his entire face instead, crying in sheer relief. She let him feel her stomach, reassuring him that "We're OK…. We're OK…."

It was a couple hours before Evan could get taken off the ventilator. The police showed up, and Evan took down a statement: he'd caught and chased off an arsonist in the act, and had tried to stop the blaze in its nascent stage, but had failed. Mr. Ige, his boss called, and Evan gave a full report, relieved that, far from being fired, he was actually now being put forward for an award citation.

Larry ruffled his son-in-law's hair. "Proud of you, kid."

Zoe was beaming wetly with pride. "Who would have thought conserving trees could get so exciting?"

"Hey!" Evan frowned, and basked in her laugh. He grew quiet after that, and Zoe began to fear that maybe it was because of what had happened to him in that park.

It was a time, and much to her surprise, when Evan spoke next: "I saw him."

His wife peered at him, not following. "Saw who…?"

"Zoe, I saw your brother. I'm not making this up, I swear I'm not!" he added, as if he felt he needed to, when he saw her eyes go huge. "I…. I don't know if I was tripping, or had just… just drunk too much Sprite or what, but…. he kinda… kinda slapped me around a little bit. Told me to snap out of it, and get back to you."

Zoe grimaced, almost apologetically. "Sounds like Connor," she muttered bitterly. The couple could feel Larry and Cynthia's eyes on them, but ignored it.

"You believe me… don't you?" Evan asked, even though he knew that, for all the other things he had said about Connor that had been lies, he wouldn't blame his wife for thinking this was just another story. He wasn't even sure if this one had actually happened, or if he had just hallucinated the whole thing. So he was grateful when Zoe said immediately, "Of course I believe you." She kissed him once, very gently…. Then immediately drew back with a cry, clutching at her stomach. Something wet splashed at her feet, and her eyes went big again.

In the corner, Heidi cringed. "Uh oh."

Despite the fact that her water breaking had occurred literally in the hospital, Zoe panicked. "It's too early! It's too early!" She was still hollering and calling out for Evan not to leave her as she was maneuvered onto a gurney and wheeled away.

Evan missed the birth of his first child entirely, still confined to his own hospital bed. He was finally declared well and stable enough to exit his bed and room and pad down the hall to Zoe's room late that night.

She was crying when he hugged her, kissing her lips again and again.

"I'm…. I'm sorry…." She warbled once he'd finished kissing her. "I didn't want it to happen this way…"

"No, it's my own damn fault for missing it because I was…. out of commission."

Zoe peered at him, then smirked. "Well, I suppose a forest fire is an acceptable excuse…" She turned back to peer down with love at the little bundle in her arms. Evan was in awe as his wife passed their kid to him.

"What… what will we name him?"

He was thrown when he saw how Zoe was biting her lip. "I…. I was thinking… Connor."

That was the last name Evan would have ever expected her to use, to the point where had known never to even float the idea of it, even as a joke, when they'd been discussing names. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "He might have been… well, an ass, but…. But if he really did intervene to bring you back to me, then at least he finally proved he cared about someone other than himself." A tear was trickling down from her eye, and Evan kissed it away.

"I'm proud of you. And I love you, Zoe Hansen. If you knew how much…"

She smiled at him. "I already know how much. And I love you too, my dear Evan Hansen."