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Flashback Scene

To say that Colby felt exhausted was an understatement. It had been a very long night and it didn't look like he was going home anytime soon. A yawn escaped, he snickered as he watched everyone else imitating him. A sense of twisted humor – feeling punchy and lacking control over his emotions. Attempting to get focused, he wondered about the beauty of this old house, now turned into a warehouse. The high beam ceilings and tall windows, told a story of another time. A time in history when someone wealthy owned it…but now it was unkempt and falling apart. Kind of sad when you thought about it. Don's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Megan and David…go check out the other warehouse. Looks like this one is a bust. Colby go home already. Looks like the ideal setting for our drug lab, but nothing." Don wearily rubbed the back of his neck demonstrating how stressful this week had been. First a gang case, a kidnapping and now the drug case.

Colby wondered if things would return to normal. Not that he had minded being paired with Don, but he missed working with David. Late night stake outs were definitely last on his list of fun assignments. Just a wonderful way to get a crick in the neck. David didn't look that much more rested, either. Although David and Megan had drawn the morning shift, it was evident that not much time had been devoted to sleep before they got the call to join them. Charlie was missing in action, as he had finally gone to London to do a guest lecture stunt. Although, he had valiantly tried to get the team to give him the excuse to miss the trip, an over-protective brother had made sure that no one would give him the opportunity or the excuse to delay his trip. Colby knew that Charlie would have dropped it all in a heartbeat if Don had asked – but Don wouldn't take the bait. You could almost feel it in the air of everyone counting the days when Charlie would be back and able to help on the case.

"Don, why don't you go home too. Get a short nap and I promise as soon as David and I find something worth reporting, we'll wake you up," as Megan attempted to lure her boss into taking care of himself.

"Go on, get out of here. Bed sounds good, so don't worry…on my way…won't be long I promise, shoo already." Don smiled as Megan and David took off. Leaving only Colby behind. "I thought I ordered you home? Do you need an escort off the premises?"

"Nope, just waiting on you to leave. Not leaving my boss on the site by himself. Rules, you know. If you can stay a bit longer… so can I. Can't let the old man beat me." He smirking and ducking as Don faked a punch. Both were laughing when they feel the ground shaking a bit.

"Great, just what we need. Earthquake tremors. All the idiots will be tying up the phone lines." Colby rubbed the back of his neck and looked at his boss. "What's so interesting about this place that you're not willing to leave when a bed would be more inviting and has our names on it? Nothing's here, it's a bust…why do you feel the need to stay?"

"Don't know. Something's not right and I can't put my finger on it. Look -no reason for both of us suffering. Go home, that's an direct order."

What happened next was like some terrible old movie. As Colby headed to walk outside, another tremor hit. Items around them began falling and Colby shielded his body by putting his hands us some of the crates fell around him. A window cracked as the force of a bush outside of the building broke the glass. Then he felt someone shove him hard. Falling to the ground and pain exploded down his spine as he slipped into darkness.

"Colby, can you hear me." A worried Don held his left arm. Looking around for something to use as a lever, he glanced one last time at the unconscious Colby. Bad luck and timing. Don noticed the first beam and the threaten danger and had managed to shove his friend out of harms way before it struck. Unfortunately, another had come loose as well and he had accidentally shoved Colby into its path. When he had regained consciousness, he had found himself sort of pinned under the beam. Pain had registered as he had tried to free himself from the fractured beam. It took some doing, but he managed to wiggle out. Thank God, for a little wiggle room. Taking a deep breath to get his nerves under control and to give him opportunity to size up the situation. Blinking several times, he managed to adjust his eyesight to the dim light. Bookcases had fallen. By the destruction surrounding him he realized that it must have been a bad earthquake. At least a 4 on the Richter scale, he guessed. The ground shook, letting him know that this old house wasn't a good place to stay. He needed to get out of here fast. Something was wrong, he could feel it - but he couldn't grasped what he was forgetting. Then his heart stopped when he saw Colby. Memories of flooded him and he rushed over to his fellow agent to provide aid. Colby hadn't been so lucky after all and trapped underneath a pile of rubble. The ground shook underneath his feet causing him to stumble. Sucking in air a low moan escaped as he attempted to breath through the pain and tried to calm his racing heart. He bent over carefully and slowly moved the first piece of drywall and some of the debris that covered Colby. Damn, my fault. Out of the fire and into the frying pan. Instead of being safe, a beam had fallen down across his back. First part of business, get him unburied. His arm hurt and he wondered if it was broken or sprained. But he had to ignore it for now as Colby needed his help. Once he had cleared the crates, he heard Colby stirring. "Colby – don't move. Can you hear me?"

"Don." Colby couldn't feel anything at first. After a gasp and several deep breaths, he finally managed to speak again. "Go…get out of here." He couldn't help moaning as the pain increased from trying to lift the beam off of him.

"Don't try to help. Stay still. Almost done."

"Man, feels like a freight train landed on me. Why's it so dark?" He looked in Don's direction, but it was clear he wasn't focusing to well, yet.

"This old house didn't take the quake too well. Once I get you taken care of, I'll look to see if there is a way out. Till I find that opening, it looks like we're blocked in for a bit. Once I can get you free, we'll deal with contacting help." His arm ached and he felt a little dizzy but he didn't have time to worry about that. At least I'm still okay, well sort of. Concentrating on Colby took all of his energy. He managed to get the beam off and set it down next to Colby. "How's your back?"

"Getting some feeling back, man that scared me for a sec. My back…hurt like the dickens…but I couldn't move my legs. Help me sit up."

"No, don't move till we can get a back board. Let's play it safe, okay." He took his handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed at the blood on Colby's face. Placing a cell in Colby's hand, "Can you call for help while I check out our escape route." Another tremor struck and Don froze in place for a moment. He had to somehow get Colby to a safer spot. The ceiling appeared to be collapsing as debris and dirt started falling down around them. Dreadful consequences threaten Don on either course of action he took. He squinted and frowned knowing that time was of the essence. Determination and controlled panic made his decision for him. "Look, I this spot doesn't appear safe." A crack above them supplied some nervous energy. He choked back his fear and mustered as much confidence as possible. "I don't think we can wait for rescue, but it's your back. Do you want me to risk it or hope that nothing happens till we can get the rescue crews here?"

Colby spotted the weakness in the ceiling too, "Look, either you help me move or I will crawl. Don't have much of a choice, now do I?"

Softly with a bit of sorrow, "No, afraid not…I'm sorry…Let me do most of the work." Realizing it wouldn't be easy and very painful, Don inhaled a deep gulp of air. Pushing himself past his limits, he grunted as circumstances created the strength to save his partner. Using his good arm, he leaned and pulled Colby tight against his chest. Once his hold was secured and he had positioned his fellow agent in place, he slowly dragged him to a safer location by letting his right arm do most of the work. Don managed not to scream when Colby clutched his injured left arm. He supported his colleague's back as best as he could and managed to pull Colby to safety just before the ceiling did crumple and covered the entire area that Colby had been trapped under. Both understood that escaping this death trap was a top priority.

Gasping for air and trying to ignore the pain, Colby asked. "Don't suppose you have any water on you?"

"Sorry man, afraid not. I'll try to find some. Try the cell again while I'll try to find a way out." Another tremor struck. "Well, I think that might be the last one, at least I hope that was the aftershock. Don't move…"

Colby couldn't believe what happened, next. One moment Don is a few feet away and then he disappeared. Swallowed whole, right through the floor. Colby screamed as a wide hole obscured his view of his boss and the beams fell down on top of him. He had to wait till the dust settled to see what on earth had happened. Once he felt it was safe enough, he crawled as close to the opening as he dared. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. Don was pinned in almost sitting up position wedged between two beams and crates were busted all around him. "Don…Can you hear me?" Colby instincts of trying to rescue Don took over, but his body had other plans. Once again darkness was all he knew.

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A/N: Any feedback is appreciated. I tried to improve this chapter with more descriptions...hopefully it flows better!