The phone woke Zack up at 2:24 am, and he fell of the couch trying to get up. Once he was able to reason slightly, he was glad it was his own couch this time. But he still couldn't remember why he was sleeping on it with his bed two rooms away. He finally made it to the phone on the sixth ring. "Hello?"

A calm, professional voice replied, "Is this Zack Addy?"

"Yes," he answered. "Who is this?"

"This is Patty Hensley from DC Memorial Hospital. Your name and number was found in the pocket of an injured firefighter after a building collapse. She was identified by a first name only, apparently it was her first day on the department." Zach was chilled by her use of the past tense.

"Casey!" he exclaimed, pulling on his shirt around the cordless phone. "Is she hurt? What happened? How bad is she?!"

"Are you family?" she asked.

"No, I'm…" What was he? "…her best friend. She doesn't have any family."

"Her best friend, and she had your phone number scribbled on a Wal-mart recipt? I'm sorry, I can't give information over the phone, except to family. You should come down here right away, if you're her best friend."

"O-okay. I'll be right- wait, she's allergic to so much, do you have a list? Do you need a list?"

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary. Thank you." She hung up, and Zack dropped the phone. Panic set in for a full five seconds. That was all he would allow it. He had to get to the hospital.

He grabbed the phone he had dropped, and dialed the number of his landlord. Hodgins was less than happy to be woke up at that hour. "If this isn't Cindy Crawford, or a reasonable facsimile, there had better be a dead body!"

His words sent a fresh wave of fear and nausea through the younger man, but he struggled in vain to keep his voice steady. "Casey's been hurt. I need to get to the hospital."

Hodgins suddenly sounded wide awake and concerned. "How bad is it?"

"I don't know," he said, hating how his voice wavered. "The building that was on fire. It collapsed."

Hodgins didn't comment on his voice. Zack could hear a rustling sound in the background and knew he was getting dressed. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Make it five," said Zack, hanging up.

Hodgins was indeed there in five minutes, with Angela. Zack met him by the driveway, and jumped in the backseat of Angela's car. Apparently, they had decided Zack was suffering enough, and that he didn't need to try to fit in the back of Hodgins'. They tried to get more information out of him, but he had told them all he knew. "That's why you lie, kid!" exclaimed Hodgins. "Tell them you are her brother!"

"But I don't lie very well," he said.

"Sweetie, don't think of it as a lie," said Angela. "In a way, that's exactly what you are. Remember telling her that we were our own family?"

He nodded silently. "If there's a next time, I'll do better."

Angela turned around in the passenger seat and forced a smile. They were all worried about the girl, but she and Zack had a special bond. "She's going to be okay, Zack."

"You didn't hear the lady on the phone, she said they only had her first name, and that they didn't need her allergies, and she sounded all…" He didn't know how to describe how the woman sounded, so he let it go. His friends understood.

Hodgins and Angela looked at each other, both wishing there was something they could say to ease their friend's pain. But there was nothing, so they kept silent. Hodgins squeezed her hand. They both knew that if they focused on Zack, they wouldn't have to worry about Casey. Christ, had the girl not been through enough?!

Zack's voice was barely audible. "What if she dies, and I never get to tell her?"

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Hodgins and Angela were only a few steps behind Zack getting into the ER. He rushed up to the desk. "Casey McKnight?" he demanded. "Where is he?"

The woman at the desk looked at him. "I don't have a McKnight listed here."

Hodgins broke in, remembering that they didn't have her last name. "One of the firefighters. Young girl, doesn't look old enough to be a firefighter, red hair. We don't know how bad she's hurt."

"Right, the firefighter girl. She's in Exam B." She pushed a button, and the door opened. "Straight through, third room on the right."

Booth ran in as they started through the door, with Brennan right behind him. "Guys, how is she?" he asked, out of breath.

"We don't know yet," Angela replied. "We just got here."

Zack led the way on inside, and found Exam B. There were two beds inside, but only one patient. Zack let out a choked sob as he looked at the person in the bed, and Angela turned away. An endotracheal tube poked out of a mass of bandages to a ventilator, failing to make a mechanical 'whoosh' sound,no longer forcing air into unresponsive lungs. A bit of charred flesh was visable through a thick, protective gel on the left forearm where the IV was attached.

"Oh, my God," muttered Booth, seeing the devastation.

Zack sat down hard in the chair, looking at what had been a person but was now just a mass of damaged, nonfunctional tissues. He wanted to cry, needed to cry, but you had to be able to breathe to cry effectively, and his throat was glued closed. All the things they had been through in the last couple of months, it wasn't supposed to end like this! Angela knelt down in front of him, and put her arms around him. He allowed himself to be held, and the tears began to fall.

Zack had never felt he way about anyone that he felt about Casey. She was special, beyond what he had imagined he could ever feel. Just looking into her eyes made him feel that despite all the horrible things he saw at work were not a part of the real world and that everything was good and safe and wonderful. She made him want to believe in the Almighty being she believed in just so he had someone to ask to watch over her. She actually made him want to believe in love, as illogical as it is with all it's messy details and it's overcomplicated reactions.

In seconds, the whole crew was around him. Booth had a hand on the younger man's shoulder, wishing there was something he could do, like the night at the bar, but there was no neat little FBI trick he could pull to make this better or make Zack hurt any less.

Finally, Zack composed himself enough to speak. "I should have told her how I felt."

"What do you mean?" asked Brennan.

They all looked at her, unbelieving. She was the only one who hadn't figured it out. Her, and Casey. Zack went on, not up to explaining right now. "She was so happy that I cared about her."

Angela was quietly crying, still holding Zack. "Oh, honey, we all cared about her."

"But she was so happy to know we cared about her that I never got to tell her I loved her!"

A crash from the doorway made them all turn around, and they were shocked to see Casey standing in the doorway, the Sprite can she dropped spilling onto the floor. Her jaw had fallen open and she was standing there in total and complete shock.

Zack stood up slowly, as if in a dream. He stared at her, not seeing the sling and swathe on her left arm, the bruises on her face, or the other signs of the trauma. He simply saw her. Through the fog of his mind, her slowly started toward her. She met him halfway, both in total shock, one from what they heard, one from the fact that the other was there to hear it. Casey spoke first. "You…love me?"

Zack put his hands on her face, assuring himself that she was really there. Once he was convinced, he grinned broadly. "You're okay!"

"Yeah. I knew that. Now, back to what I just overheard? Do you, or was that just your way of mourning poor Eddie over there?" she said, nodding to the body that was still yet to be taken to the morgue.

Zack was suddenly at a loss for words. He was just overwhelmed with so many emotions; joy at the fact that she was standing there beside him, relief that the words had finally been said, fear that she wasn't going to be happy with his feelings, that he couldn't even speak. All the worry of the past hour faded away, and he finally did what he had longed to do since the first time he saw her: He pulled her to him and kissed her.

He had not had that much practice, and was pretty sure he was in the bottom 35th percentile of the world as far as kissing skill, but he hoped he answered her question. He drew back and looked in her eyes as he had longed to do all along, and he hid nothing. She could see his heart, and apparently liked what she saw. She smiled, and pulled him to her with her good arm and kissed him back.