Author's Note: Many thanks to those who have hung in during the long break between updates. I'm almost afraid to say it but I hope I'm on track to keep updating regularly until finished
Part 29
Vin stormed down the hospital corridors, not even noticing when people prudently stepped out of his way. He didn't hear his name being called, until someone grabbed him from behind and swung him to a halt. "Vin!" Nathan said loudly. "What's wrong? Is it Buck?"
Vin stared at him. "Huh? What about Buck?" Then he realized his rushing through the halls had startled Nathan. "No. I mean, I haven't heard anything new about Buck. Chris is with him. What about Ezra? I thought you were staying with him?"
Nathan let out a deep breath and leaned back against the wall. "Ezra's doing okay. They're getting ready to take him up to ICU - that's where I was heading when I saw you tearing down the hall. So if it isn't Buck, what's wrong?" He studied Vin's face. "You look like you could use a break," he said firmly. "Come on, let's go to the cafeteria."
At this late hour the vast room was mostly deserted. The steam tables and salad bar were closed down for the night but there were still snacks and drinks and one lone cash register open for payment. Vin headed for the coffee pot but Nathan stopped him and instead took two cans of orange juice from the bed of ice they were resting in. They both picked out bagels and cream cheese and settled at one of the tables.
"So -?" Nathan prodded.
"It's JD," Vin exploded. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with that kid!"
Nathan raised his eyebrows. "You mean, besides losing his home, his best friend being in a coma, and having to shoot someone to save Ezra's life? Something else is wrong?"
Vin stared at him, mouth open, then finally shut it and shook his head, smiling a little. "OK, so he's had a rough time. I know that, I really do. But, hell, it hasn't been too great for any of us." He thought of Chris, glued to Buck's bedside, afraid to close his eyes for fear he'd lose Buck. He remembered something Chris had told him once, one night after Larabee had drunk too much and lashed out at his oldest friend. "He's my soul, Vin. No matter how hard I push he won't leave. And thank God for that. Because if I lose him, I lose everything that makes me who I am."
"None of the rest of us are JD," Nathan pointed out. "You know how much Buck means to him."
"Yeah, I do. That's why I can't figure out why he would attack the very person who saved Buck's life." Vin didn't understand that. Hell, JD was crazy about Buck. And the feeling was mutual. Vin had always thought JD eased some of Buck's pain from the past. He was an overprotective older brother to their youngest member. And JD thrived under the attention even as he verbally protested against it. Vin figured to JD, Buck was some glorious combination of best friend and big brother and father figure all rolled into one. Hell, JD ought to be down on his knees thanking Monica for saving Buck's life.
Nathan looked puzzled, then his face cleared. "You talking about Monica Hastings? JD attacked her?"
Vin took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "No, not physically, I mean. He didn't touch her. But the way he talked to her… he was damn nasty. All but accused her of being some kind of low life criminal because she's related to -"
"To Steven Curran. And David Wyerly."
"You knew?" Vin stared at him.
"Yeah," Nathan admitted. "Can't believe I didn't put it together before. I did a lot of the background work back when we were getting Ez ready to go under on the Curran case, remember? Learned then Curran was technically an only child but he was raised with three cousins. Can't remember now how it came about - Monica I think was an orphan -"
"Yeah, she is." Vin took a deep drink of his juice, relishing the cold wetness against the aftertaste of too many cups of bad coffee. "Just cause she was related to 'em doesn't mean she's involved in anything illegal."
Nathan shook his head. "No evidence either one of them - Monica or the other cousin, Nina Wyerly - is. Matter of fact they seem to be on the other side. Raine knows Nina Wyerly - not close friends or anything but Nina donates a lot of time to the Legal Aid office. Does pro bono work too, and I guess that's downright shocking in that posh law firm she works at. Hey, you remember the Chanu case? The Cheyenne that was in prison on a rape and murder charge? DNA proved five years later he wasn't the perp."
Vin did know that case; even though the actual crime had occurred before he'd come to Denver. He'd been interested, he'd followed the appeals and the eventual overturning of the verdict closely. "Yeah. She have something to do with that?"
"She had everything to do with it. Took on the case, no charge. And Monica Hastings was involved, too. Did the DNA testing for free; then, when the state wouldn't agree with her findings, she personally took everything to the FBI crime lab and two top notch labs - paid for it all herself." He hesitated. "That's not to say they might not suspect something is wrong in the family, though. Last year Monica bought out her uncle's interest in Riverside Pharmaceuticals. From what I understand, took pretty much everything she had. The forensic accountant we had go over the books after the Murine thing said she's been using the remnants of her trust fund to keep the place going until T-27 is off the ground. Kind of amazes me she was so open with us - that could have hurt her reputation badly."
"You think she suspected something about the uncle?"
Nathan shrugged. "That accountant thought so - said if she just wanted to prove she could stand on her own feet she would have waited until after T-27 was a go. They hadn't even got FDA approval of the final trials when she bought him out."
"That doesn't mean she can prove anything."
"No it doesn't." Nathan studied his face. "You like her, don't you? Haven't seen you this interested in a lady in a long time."
Vin could feel himself blushing. "Bad timing, ain't it? But there's something about her, Nathan...can't explain it. I mean, here she's this brilliant doctor, and I just met her but I can talk to her like...like we've known each other all our lives. She's an important person from a rich family, owns her own business but I just want to hold her and protect her." He paused. "You know, there's not been anyone important since...Charlotte. I thought I loved her but I realized pretty quick it wasn't real. But with Monica, it feels real. It feels, right." He took another sip of juice and slammed the can down. "And I stood there and let her uncle drag her off like she was some misbehaving puppy!"
Nathan was silent for a minute. "Vin," he said finally. "I don't know her as well as you do, but she doesn't strike me as anybody's doormat. And she knows you're here. Trust me, if she needs you, she'll let you know."
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JD scooped handfuls of water over his face. Straightening, he studied his reflection in the mirror over the sink.
A stranger stared back at him. A man who had taken refuge from his own chaotic thoughts in this impersonal bathroom.
JD combed his wet fingers through his lank hair, pushing it back. His face was white in the harsh florescent lights, deeply marked with shadows under his jutting cheekbones. His eyes were sunk back, bloodshot.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept the whole night through. Or eaten an entire meal, not just coffee and whatever he could grab that was fast.
Closing his eyes, he let his head drop, feeling the tension in his shoulders and back.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt like himself. JD Dunne, youngest member of Team Seven. A team that was more like a family -
He shook his head, hearing again AAD Montgomery's words. "Team Seven isn't a family. It isn't your family."
"But it is, though," he whispered to his reflection. "Buck - the guys - they're the only family I've got now."
He could almost hear Montgomery say, "Then you really are alone now."
He pushed himself back from the sink and hastily exited the bathroom. The anger and fear churning his stomach worsened as he sat down on a bench and pulled out his cell phone. Hastily he punched in the number for Casey's tiny apartment in Boulder.
Three rings, four. Come on, Casey!
On the sixth ring the phone was answered but it wasn't Casey. Instead he heard the sleepy voice of her roommate. "Hello?"
"Alicia, it's me, JD. I need to talk to Casey."
"JD?" A yawn. "Do you know-" a pause - "Damn it JD, it's after midnight! I've got a midterm at seven in the morning."
"I need to talk to Casey, Alicia! Now!"
She responded to the anger in his voice with her own. "Well, you can't, JD. She's not here."
"She's at Nettie's?"
"No. She's not there either. She's out, JD."
"Out?" JD repeated.
"Yeah. She's out on a date."
JD couldn't believe it. His first thought was that Alicia was lying to him. They'd never really gotten along and he knew Alicia thought Casey could do better. He'd heard her refer to him as an "arrogant asshole" that placed his girlfriend far behind his work and friends in importance. Seemed like every time he and Casey had a fight, Alicia was behind it.
"Who'd she go out with?" he asked, his voice challenging.
"I don't have to tell you that, JD. It's none of your business, anyway."
"She's my girl. It is my business. You're lying, aren't you?" JD accused.
Harsh laughter came through the phone. "Jeez JD, what do you expect? You treat her like shit and you've talked to her, what, once since she got back from Florida? And just so you know, she's out with Peter Nichols. I'm hanging up now and don't bother calling back because I'm unplugging the phone." There was a sharp click and the phone went dead.
JD stared at the empty phone.
He'd never felt so confused, so alone, so angry in his life.
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Ezra had been transferred to CICU. Vin followed Nathan up to the correct floor, automatically turning left until he sheepishly remembered CICU was to the right, MICU where Buck currently was, was to the left. The wooden doors to both wings were closed and uniformed policemen on duty in front of both. Vin and Nathan pulled out ID and then Vin hesitated. "Think I'm going to go check on Buck and Chris," he said.
Nathan nodded. "Good idea."
"You staying out here for awhile?"
Nathan raised an eyebrow. "You need me to? Josiah's in with Ezra."
"Keep an eye out for JD. Don't think he and Chris need to lock horns right now; neither one of them is up for it, and it won't do Buck any good -"
Nathan was staring past him. "Vin. Isn't that -?" He pointed into the waiting room. Curious, Vin looked inside. Half the lights were off, dimming the room for those that were trying to sleep. Still, there was enough light for Vin to recognize the forlorn figure standing at the window.
Monica.
Quietly Vin moved through the room. Only about a quarter of the sofas and chairs were occupied, and no one else was near the window. Vin came up behind the woman but didn't touch her. "Monica?" he said softly. "What are you doing here?"
She didn't turn to look at him, just continued to stare out the window, absently rubbing her hands up and down her arms as if she were cold. "They said...when David comes out of surgery they're going to bring him down here to ICU. I - I had to get away from -" She wrapped her arms tightly around herself.
Vin took off his own jacket and started to place it over her shoulders. His keen eyes caught the marks on her arms - reddish-purple already changing to black on her upper arms and around her wrist. "What happened here?" he asked, gently touching one of the marks. His voice sharpened. "Did your uncle do this?"
She nodded, still not looking at him. "My uncle doesn't like the company I've been keeping lately." She clutched his jacket more closely about her. "Oh, Vin. How you must hate me."
Vin gently turned her around. She still refused to meet his gaze. He didn't force her, just pulled her close. She was rigid, stiff, in his arms.
"You ain't done nothing to make me hate you."
She relaxed suddenly, clinging to him. "After what my cousin did to your friend -"
"That was your cousin, girl. Not you."
The top of her head came to his chin. He could feel the wetness of her tears against his skin.
"I should have walked away from them. So many times, I tried. But -"
"Hard to walk out on family, when they're all you've got."
She pulled away but stayed in his arms. She tipped her head up to look into his eyes and he found himself lost in the tear-drenched depths of hers.
"Why is it," she barely whispered, "that I've known you only a few weeks but I feel more connected to you than anyone I've ever met?"
Vin hesitated, then gathered his nerve and lowered his head slightly, so that his lips were just barely above hers. "I don't know," he admitted. "But I feel the same way about you."
His lips touched hers as their bodies molded together.
They kissed for a long time, oblivious to anything else in the world.
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Nathan turned away, deliberately not looking at the two locked into an embrace. He'd had a feeling all along that Vin was more than professionally interested in Monica Hastings. It was something about the way the younger man looked at her, even that very first meeting at the lab, that reminded Nathan of Vin's romance with Charlotte Richmond.
He frowned. 'Hope this turns out better than that did.'
But surely it would. Charlotte had been using Vin. The knowledge of that had hurt Vin deeply, leaving him almost gun shy over romantic involvements. There was guilt there, too, that he'd walked away from his assignment and left teammates in danger. Even though no one had been seriously hurt - Vin had returned literally in the nick of time - the whole debacle had put a strain on Vin and Chris' deep friendship that took weeks, if not months, to ease.
Nathan looked up as the doors to CICU opened and Josiah came out, shoulders slumped wearily. "Josiah," he beckoned. "How's Ezra?"
Josiah dropped onto one of the low couches. "He's asleep," he said, "but restless. Came out to see if you could switch places with me for awhile."
"No problem." Nathan studied his friend with knowing eyes. "You're exhausted."
Josiah laughed-well it was probably supposed to be a laugh but sounded more like a tired sigh. "Who amongst us isn't exhausted, Nathan?"
"I've cat napped here and there," Nathan pointed out. "You lie down here and get some sleep."
"I should probably argue with you - but I'm not going to." Josiah brought his long legs up, curling awkwardly on the short sofa. "Ezra's in three," he muttered sleepily.
"On my way." Nathan stood up, then remembered what Vin had said about JD. He looked over at the other waiting area, saw Vin still embracing Monica. He thought about going over there and saying something and then decided against it. Vin would notice if JD appeared - Vin was never that unaware of his surroundings. Besides, even if he didn't, Nathan couldn't bring himself to believe Chris and JD would get into it. Chris had cooled down by now and surely JD had too.
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Chris looked up as someone stepped into Buck's cubicle. It was Dr. Culver, looking as exhausted as Chris felt. The doctor was wearing fresh scrubs but weariness dragged at his shoulders and the lines of his face.
"Doctor," he greeted him.
"The resident told me Buck finally decided to wake up?"
"Yeah. He's been dozing on and off, just dropped back off a few minutes ago. Well, I thought he'd dropped off," Chris finished as Buck's midnight blue eyes opened again.
Buck's eyes searched for Chris, stopped on him and then shifted to the doctor. His lips turned up in the faintest of smiles. "Hey, doc," he whispered.
"Hello, Buck. Quite good to see you awake again," the doctor chided lightly as he draped his stethoscope around his neck. "Just want to listen to your lungs and heartbeat..."
Buck nodded, eyes drifting shut again before the doctor had finished his brief examination. "Well?" Chris asked, a little anxiously.
"He's quite stable. As the resident, and probably the nurses have told you."
Chris made a face. "Yeah they have, but I hate that word, 'stable'. What the hell is it supposed to mean, anyway?"
"Well, in this case, it means Mr. Wilmington is doing amazingly better than he was four hours ago. He's not quite out of the woods yet - we're going to have to watch him very closely, make sure that pneumonia doesn't come back. I daresay the orthopedists will be wanting to take that heavy cast off his leg pretty quickly - start him on some more aggressive physical therapy."
"Already?" Chris asked sharply, then he felt a sheepish grin cross his face at the doctor's glare. "Sorry. Just having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea he's...better."
"Thanks to Dr. Hastings. You might plan on sending her some flowers." Culver sighed. "On second thought, you'd better not. You know she's a cousin of that gunshot victim you brought in?"
That took Chris a little off guard. "You mean David Wyerly?" His voice grew colder. "How is he? He going to live?"
Culver shook his head. "Probably not. Bullet shattered his spine, did massive internal damage. Miracle he made it through surgery. He'll be down here soon."
"What?" Chris demanded. "You can't put him near Ezra."
"Agent Standish is in CICU, not here. We had a policeman in the operating room with us and I assume there will be more down here. Besides, didn't you hear what I said? The man's spine was irreparably damaged. If he lives - and the odds are against that - he'll never walk again."
Chris heard the censure in Culver's voice and backed down, nodding. He felt no pity for David Wyerly, but Culver was just doing his job - which was to give the same level of care to everyone, both criminals and their victims.
Culver flipped through Buck's chart. "Oh, there is one thing I've been meaning to ask you about," he said, in a different tone. "We had some trouble getting an airway into Buck and you know how difficult the respirator was for him. There seems to be some scar tissue under and around this mark on his neck. I'm assuming it was a fairly severe injury, but there's no mention of anything in his medical record. Do you know what happened? It had to be a very fine, very sharp instrument that caused this -"
Chris felt the air seize in his lungs, as if he were the one that couldn't breathe. For a minute, he didn't see the ICU cubicle but his kitchen that day five years ago. He could see that face, that faceless face that was really Buck, feel the rage and grief tormenting him, see his hands press that shining blade into Buck's throat, see the crimson streams of blood -
"Chris!" It was an anguished whisper.
Chris jerked back to reality, his eyes falling on Buck. His friend was awake again, worried, shaking his head just slightly.
Culver looked at one, then the other of them. His eyes rested on Chris.
Larabee cleared his throat. He could hear a voice, a voice he hardly recognized as his own, saying, "It was a knife, a sharp-edged French boning knife." He swallowed hard and added the last bit, the part that made it so immensely awful. "I did it."
Buck shook his head, then his eyes widened and he stared past Chris, trying to rise up on one elbow.
Shocked, Chris turned to see what had so alarmed Buck.
A powerful blow to his jaw knocked him backwards, tumbling into some equipment. Before he could regain his balance, hands grabbed him, shoving him over again before closing around his throat. His brain seemed to stutter as he recognized his assailant.
JD.
JD in a way Chris had never seen him before, eyes wild and crazy, hair soaking wet in his face and unfamiliar lines and shadows aging him by years.
For a dizzying moment, Chris thought he was looking into a mirror, realizing how he must have appeared to Buck that morning so many years ago.
"You son of a bitch!" JD raged, cold tears glittering in his eyes. "I'll fucking kill you!"
tbc...