A/N thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favourited. So sorry for the long delay between updates but I was on holiday with friends celebrating the end of exams/school and where we stayed had no Wi-Fi : ( so I hope you enjoy this chapter and it makes up for the wait.
Colby had only been gone a week and a day (not that Liz was counting or anything) and already Liz was near breaking point. She was scared and worried 24/7 unless the team were given a case that didn't give them much chance to rest. Then she was distracted from her depressing thoughts, and that suited her just fine. But after the case was solved she would start to relax and then thoughts of Colby out in Afghanistan would just hit her. Then not only would she feel scared and worry, she would also feel guilty for not thinking about him. When she felt like this she would sit in front of her laptop screen staring at the Skype home page internally begging for Colby to go online so she could see his face and talk to him almost face to face. And assure herself he was fine. His short emails claiming he was fine just didn't comfort her enough.
So this was where Liz was on the eighth day after Colby had left, she was staring at the laptop screen. Riley was curled up asleep at her feet; he didn't understand why Colby had left and still not come back. Then Liz saw the green circle appear next to Colby's name, jumping she clicked on Colby's name and then video called him. Within seconds Colby had answered. Liz gasped happily at finally being able to see Colby, he was wearing the familiar huge grin and he waved at her.
"I am so glad you were online" he said,
"Well I've been online almost every day hoping you were" countered Liz smiling.
"Yeah sorry about that. Haven't had much chance to use my laptop, I haven't even had much time to send you emails" replied Colby apologetically.
"I figured that out. Your last one said and I quote 'I am fine, hope you and Riley are too. Say hi to the others for me'. I mean that is one of the shortest emails I have ever seen. The others said 'hi' back by the way" smirked Liz.
"If you want I can try and send shorter ones" smiled Colby,
"Don't you dare! If anything I need longer ones!" Liz exclaimed.
Colby laughed, this woke Riley up and he searched the room for Colby and then figuring out Colby's laughter was coming from the desk he barked as he leaped up onto Liz's lap.
"Hey buddy" greeted Colby smiled, Riley then licked where Colby's face was on the screen. "Riley I don't think Liz would appreciate slobber on her screen" admonished a chuckling Colby.
"No I wouldn't" commented Liz as she moved Riley back onto the floor. "David helped me move the last of my stuff in yesterday"
"That's good"
"Yeah I don't think you'll recognise the place" smiled Liz,
"I'm counting on that. Think I can take a look?" wheedled Colby.
"No! You just have to wait until you get home. It can be a surprise" stated Liz.
"Fine" sighed Colby, but Liz knew he meant it good naturedly as she could see the hint of a smile. Then the small smile disappeared and the next time Colby sighed Liz knew it wasn't to tease her.
"Colby? What's wrong?" asked Liz softly.
"I just…don't worry"
"No Colby, what's the matter. Please tell me" Liz normally wasn't one for begging, but seeing Colby this sad just broke her heart and she wanted. No needed. To know what the matter was so she could help him.
"I just want to be home, helping you guys on cases, not understanding what Charlie or Larry are saying. I just miss home and speaking to everyone. I just feel…alone" as Colby said this he slightly slumped in his chair.
Liz paused for a moment thinking about how she could help Colby and then she had an idea. "What if I use my video camera and I can get everyone to say a message and then I can send it to you. Do you think you could borrow a camera out there?"
Liz watched as Colby leaned out of view of the camera and popped back into view, "Yeah, an old buddy of mine has one and says I can borrow it" smiled Colby, he turned and nodded thanks to his friend.
"Thank you Colby's friend!" called Liz.
"You're welcome!" called a voice off screen. She smiled when she heard laughter in the background and her smile widened hearing Colby's carefree laughter. But her smile slipped away when she saw Colby's smile slip of his face as he turned to someone behind him. Colby then turned back to the screen and looked sadly at Liz, "I'm sorry but I have to go"
Even though Liz was also upset that Colby had to go, but she hated seeing him upset more and so put on a brave face and softly said "that's ok, I'll film the messages tomorrow and then send them to you"
"Ok. And I'll film some stuff here tomorrow and send it you" offered Colby,
"That's good then even if we can't talk online we can still see each other" smiled Liz, she waved and Colby waved in return and then Liz watched as Colby ended the call. Liz sighed and slumped back into her seat, already feeling a little depressed but then remembering what she and Colby had arranged she shot up and rummaged around the remaining boxes she had yet to unpack and triumphantly held up her video camera.
Two days later Colby had just finished attaching his film to the email he was sending to Liz. As soon as he hit send almost instantaneously he received an email from Liz. Smiling he open it and clicked on the film file. Straight away he could see Liz was in the break room and Liz was pointing the camera at herself.
"Hi Colby as you can see I'm in the break room and right now Don is making some coffee. Coffee that may I add, is a lot better than the stuff you call coffee" Liz then turned the camera to Don. "Hey Don"
"What are you doing?" asked Don looking confusedly between Liz and the camera.
"I'm filming you guys as you say a message for Colby and I'm gonna send it to him" replied Liz.
"Oh right. So you want me to say a message?" Colby guessed Liz nodded because Don then stuttered "what now? I don't know what to say!"
"Oh come on Don! Just say what you would normally say to him except you're saying it to the camera instead"
"I would normally say 'Colby! David! Stop messing around and get back to your paperwork' and I can't really say that as I don't know if he's avoiding doing any paperwork!" Colby had to laugh because he was in fact a little behind on some paperwork he had to do.
"Don" admonished Liz from behind the camera returning Colby's focus.
"Ok fine. Look Colby joking aside I hope you are doing alright out there and are safe. To be honest it's not the same without you here bud and I can't wait until you get back because one, I'd know that my friend who is like a brother is safe and two, David and Liz will both be smiling again. Ok now I have to go down to the gym after that little girly chat thing. See you later Colb" and then Don waved as he left the break room.
"Honestly" sighed Liz, "sorry about that Colby, I guess I should have warned him so he could prepare what he was going to say. Anyway moving on" Colby leaned forward in his seat so his elbows rested on the desk and he stared intently at the screen watching as the familiar surroundings of the bullpen past him (well technically Liz and her camera). A few passing Agents said a few words such as 'I hope you're ok over there', 'looking forward to having you back' and so on. Liz then stopped at Megan's desk.
"Hey Megan wanna say a message to Colby?" asked Liz. Colby laughed Megan seemed to be quicker on the up take than Don and understood what Liz meant.
Megan then looked at the camera, "Colby Granger you'd better be taking care of yourself over there because if you aren't then I will not be responsible for the consequences! On the first day you were away I was glad because I had a break from all the snarky responses, but then I realized within an hour I already hated the quiet that came from yours and David's desks. So be careful and come back soon" Colby then watched as Megan waved and rubbed her eye looking as if she was brushing away a tear.
"Ok Colby lets go find David, I know he's around here somewhere" Colby watched as Liz walked over to David's desk. He saw that his desk had still been left the same. "Yes Colby we left your desk alone as you are coming back and David didn't want some rookie sitting behind him" Colby smiled, he was touched that his friends had done this. For some people they wouldn't understand why he felt touched by what his friends had done, but he had been prepared to accept someone would have taken over his desk space.
"Well it looks like David must be in the war room" commented Liz, and then Liz walked from the cubicle and into the war room.
"Hey Liz what are you doing with that video camera?" asked David looking up from some paperwork he was doing,
"I'm filming messages for Colby" replied Liz.
"Oh right. Hi buddy, I gotta admit things aren't the same without you around here" said David as turned in his chair to face the camera better. "Everyone else has probably already said this but I'm gonna say it anyway, I hope you are alright and taking care of yourself. Also I have been waiting for a least one email from you man and I haven't even had one! Liz has said she's had a few but they've been really short. So come on Colby please send me something so I know you are alright" finished David. Colby looked at his best friend and felt sad that he hadn't sent any emails to David unlike how he did with Liz despite the emails being short.
Liz then gave the camera to David and she then said "unfortunately Larry, Amita, Charlie and Allan aren't here to say any messages but I'll get them to email you. So I'm looking forward to your film, love you Colby" and then the film ended. Colby smiled thinking about his friends and looking at his emails he saw Liz and also sent him a group photo of the team with Allan, Charlie, Larry and Amitia which looked as if it was taken at the craftsman house. Colby then connected his digital camera to his laptop and attached a group photo of the platoon he was currently attached to, he then hit send while also making the group photo Liz sent him as his desktop background. So he would always see his friends whenever he turned his laptop on.
Don and Megan had joined David in the war room to catch up on their paperwork. David felt he couldn't do his paperwork at his desk because it just didn't feel right without Colby there doing and saying anything to avoid the paperwork. David had turned in his chair and had opened his mouth to say something to Colby to suddenly realize seeing the empty chair that his friend was thousands of miles away. Liz then came bounding into the room.
"Where's the fire Liz? I thought you were sending the film to Colby" said David looking up from the mountain of paperwork.
"I was. Colby had just sent me his film. Do you want to see it?" asked Liz pausing at the computer at the front of the room.
"Yeah!" David enthusiastically replied as he moved to a chair closer to the screen. Although he understood why Colby had been unable to send him and email only send Liz short ones, he had still been disappointed by the lack of correspondence. Don and Megan joined him and once Liz had clicked on the attachment she basically bolted over to the chair beside David.
The first thing the team saw was Colby's hand pulling away from the screen and then saw Colby looking up at the camera, they assumed he must have put it on a shelf or something.
"Hey guys" greeted Colby, "I'm looking forward to seeing your messages but as I haven't seen them yet I can't answer any questions or respond to anything you have said. But I am guessing a favourite was that I had better be taking care of myself. Well to the best of my abilities I am, I'm eating all my food, not staying out in the sun for long and keeping my head down on patrols" smiled Colby sounding as if he was assuring his mother. "I'm filming this in the quarters I share with two buddies of mine who you will meet in a bit. Right so I'll show you around". Colby then stood up and his hand came into view before he was walking out of the medium sized room. "Right so over there is the kennel where the Patrol dog, the Arms and Explosive dog and their handlers live. Next to them is where the medics do their stuff, and that building about thirty metres down is the mess hall. Where we eat basically and much of the time the food there is crap so any food donations are most welcome. Just send plenty as I will have to be fending off other guys who are hungry, but not hungry enough for the mess hall crap". The team burst out laughing, thinking that that was just a Colby thing to say. And they all internally decided to buy or make some cakes to send out to Colby. They all then turned back to the film.
"Oh look who it is!" called Colby angling the camera to a soldier in his early thirties, "guys this is Sergeant Sam Hawkins, a buddy of mine I went through basic with who is also one of the guys who bunks with me"
"Hi Colby's friends!" greeted Sam as he waved "did I hear you asking your friends for food donations?" asked Sam,
"Yeah" replied Colby warily not sure as to what Sam was getting at.
"I should have known! You my friend are ruled by your stomach!"
"Did you have to say that when I'm recording?!"
"They've known you for a few years so I'm pretty sure they know what you're like" smirked Sam,
"Thanks. Just…thanks" snarked Colby,
"The food isn't that bad today so I'd go get some before everyone else eats it" suggested Sam.
"Thanks Sam!" called Colby as he began jogging over to the mess hall. David watched as Colby walking into the hall and filled his tray up. Colby then walked over to a table.
"Everyone back in L.A these are the rest of my old buddies. The closest to you on the right is Corporal Ryan Newman, Lance Corporal Alistair or 'Al' Peterson and Corporal Jake Cave who also bunks with me and Sam and also the owner of this lovely video camera. Say 'hey' guys"
"Hey!" greeted the three men as they shovelled their food not wanting to risk someone else stealing from their trays as it had been known for that to happen when there was edible food.
Jake looked up and asked, "So Colb how's the camera working for you?"
Colby then replied, "It's working great, thanks for letting me borrow it"
Jake then shrugged saying, "No problem man"
David and the team watched and listened to the conversations between Colby and his friends, all of them were relieved to see Colby had good friends around him to help and support him while he was back in Afghanistan. Then the platoon Colby was attached to were having a group photo taken and Colby was watching while standing beside the designated photographer from another platoon. When Jake called out "hey Colby get over here!"
"But I'm only here temporarily!" replied Colby.
"I don't friggin' care! Get your butt over here!" yelled Jake and the rest of the platoon joined in until Colby held his hands up (with the camera).
"Ok, ok! Jeez!" Colby handed the video camera and his digital camera to someone else and then ran over to his friends and clambered up onto the jeep between Jake and Sam, with Ryan standing behind him and Al sat in front of him. Bringing the four friends into a sort of diamond shape. After the photo was taken Colby walked back towards the camera the guy he had given it to said, "I've also taken a photo bud"
"Aw thanks man" smiled Colby gratefully. Colby then turned the camera around "well I guess that's it guys hopefully I'll have some time to email you all so until then see you later. Don't forget to send the food!"
As the film ended the team were all laughing at Colby's last comment. Megan and Don left the room and David turned to Liz.
"You ok?" he asked,
"Yeah even though I spoke to him on Skype yesterday it was nice to see he really was alright and that he has good friends out there" replied Liz.
"I know what you mean" smiled David nodding his head.
Colby had been gone two weeks, Liz was excited because that mean it was two weeks until Colby came home. But her good mood unfortunately didn't last. She and David were stood beside David's desk laughing at a joke Colby had sent David two days ago when Agent Lily Summers approached Liz warily.
"Lily what's wrong?" asked Liz,
"I was just wondering is Colby ok?" asked Lily nervously,
"What do you mean?" questioned Liz, the smile dropping off her face. David moved closer to Liz sensing bad news, his heart was hammering against his chest in worry for Colby.
"It's just…er…on the news it said…" stammered Lily,
"What did it say?!" demanded Liz,
"That an U.S Army Ranger had been…killed…in Afghanistan" murmured Lily,
"Oh no Colby!" gasped Liz "please it can't be Colby it just can't be!" Liz turned to David's computer and logged onto Skype and not seeing Colby online she began to panic. "David it can't him!"
"Liz calm down!" urged David grabbing her shoulders, "you don't know that it is him"
"But he's not online and after we were on Skype last week he said he'd stay logged in and he's not!" rambled Liz, David gently pushed her onto his desk chair.
"Liz after a soldier is killed all communications are cut off for two hours to give the Armed Forces a chance to tell the family of the solider before anyone else hears about it" informed David.
"But what if it is him!" cried Liz her eyes welling up with tears.
David turned to Lily "what did the news say?"
"It just said the family were being informed" said Lily, feeling bad about coming over to Liz but seeing the news report and being friends with Colby she had wanted to make sure he was alright. She had no idea this would happen.
"Being informed? David that still means it could be Colby! In his file me put me down as someone to be informed if anything happened to him!" panicked Liz, "oh please don't let be him!" begged Liz as tears streamed down her face. David hugged her tightly fighting his own tears; he needed to be strong for Liz if the worst had happened. Just then Liz had a call on Skype from Colby's account.
"Liz" said David nodding to the screen, hope surging through him.
Liz turned, wiped her face and then answered the call. She began to worry again seeing Jake on the screen.
"Jake? Where's Colby?" questioned Liz in weak voice,
"He's with the medics" replied Jake softly. Liz gasped. "It's nothin' serious Liz! A bullet just grazed his arm that's all" comforted Jake,
"But something has happened hasn't it? We've heard that someone has been killed" stated Liz, Lily, hearing Colby was fine moved away to give Liz some space.
Jake sighed and nodded, "I guess I can tell you as communications have been started up again. It's Sam; Sam is the one who has been killed. And I think I should warn you, Colby's pretty torn up about it as he was standing right next to Sam"
David bowed his head while Liz covered her mouth with her hands. They both watched as Colby entered the room and without looking at the laptop or Jake he laid down on his cot. With an arm slung over his eyes and breathed deeply. Jake had his back turned to the laptop instead looking concerned at Colby. Liz and David's eyes were glued to the screen watching Colby, David wanted to speak but knew when Colby was like this not much could get him talking again. Liz just wanted to give Colby a tight hug and help him through what must be a difficult time. She remembered when Colby introduced Sam on the film. 'A buddy of mine I went through basic with'. Jake went to end the call but Liz shook her head, Jake nodded in understanding and picked up the laptop placing it on a box at the end of Colby's cot and then after patting Colby's shoulder he left the room. While Liz and David tried to think of something to say to get Colby's attention.
Colby then came back to awareness, he looked at his feet and seeing David and Liz on the screen he put together what Jake did.
"How long have you been on video call?" asked Colby in a hoarse voice sitting up.
"Long enough to see that you are upset" replied Liz noticing Colby's eyes were red from unshed tears.
"I'm fine" mumbled Colby rubbing his face.
"Like hell you are!" retorted David, "Jake told us what happened and if you really are fine after that then there is something seriously wrong!"
"Jake told you?!" exclaimed Colby,
"He had to" said Liz,
"Why?" demanded Colby, "because I wasn't going to tell you so you wouldn't worry"
"Because a friend asked if you were alright after seeing a news report about the death of an U.S Ranger in Afghanistan. And I can't believe you weren't going to tell us" snapped David, his worry morphing into anger.
"I just said it was so you wouldn't worry David!" Colby angrily retorted.
"So we wouldn't worry?! Colby we're already worried after hearing you saw a good friend of yours get killed!"
"News flash David! This isn't the first time I've seen a friend get killed. So there's nothing to worry about and so no need to tell you what happened"
"Well maybe you should have thought about the little thing called the 'news channel'?" snarked David.
Colby stared at them with narrowed eyes, before he swung his legs off the cot and made to stand up.
"Colby" Liz softly said, she watched as Colby tensed up most likely waiting for her to shout and yell at him for making her worry. "How's your arm?" Colby turned around in shock. Then seeing Liz wasn't going to yell he lifted up his left arm and Liz could see the bandage wrapped around the part of his arm between his wrist and elbow.
"It's fine. It's all fine" sighed Colby. Liz and David then spent half an hour talking to Colby and only ended the call when they saw Colby returning to his normal self and assured themselves that Colby wasn't about to go do something stupid. After they ended the call to let Colby sleep Liz turned to David and asked, "do you think he'll be ok?"
"Yeah I think so" assured David.
It had now been four weeks since Colby left and two weeks since Sam Hawkins' death. And Liz was waiting for Colby to contact her about what time he would be arriving home. She, David and Megan were standing with Don in the break room when Lily Summers who was standing by the elevator caught her attention by waving. Liz frowned at lily and shrugged in confusion, Lily then pointed to a figure Liz would know anywhere. Liz threw open the break room door and squealed "Colby!" and she ran to Colby and threw her arms around him laughing in relief. Colby was also laughing and spun Liz around before he stopped and then hugged her tightly.
Liz reached up and kissed Colby, "why didn't you tell me you were arriving today?"
"I wanted to surprise you, so. Surprise!" grinned Colby. The others came and welcomed Colby home and throughout the greetings Liz kept and firm but gently grasp of Colby's arm, not quite ready to let go of him just yet.
"It's good to have you back man" smiled David, slapping Colby on the back.
"It's good to be back" replied Colby. The team exchanged more words but then Colby began to get nervous from all the people looking at them. The whole office had heard about how close he had come to getting killed and so they had all heard that the Ranger killed had been a good friend of his. Liz seeing how Colby was reacting to all the questioning glances led him away from everyone else and back to the elevator knowing as there wasn't a case Don would let her go home.
They reached their apartment building, when Liz went to get Riley from their neighbour Colby walked into their apartment and broke into another wide grin seeing the merging of his stuff with Liz's stuff. Riley who had picked up Colby's scent began barking and seeing Colby pulled out of Liz's grip and launched himself at Colby knocking them both to the floor, when Riley began licking Colby's face.
"Yes it's great to see you to boy!" laughed Colby as he stroked Riley's back. Liz just stood back and drank in the sight knowing Colby was back and she vowed he was never going away on another Army assignment ever again.
Liz cooked dinner and was concerned when Colby left about half of his food. Colby saw her concern and jokingly said "I've just gotta readjust to eating good, edible food again" Liz had laughed and cleared their plates away. Don text Liz and told her to take the next three days off but if they had a case she would have to come in. Liz was thrilled with this and in her excitement she had pushed Colby onto the couch so they could snuggle up and watch a movie.
Colby was due to re-join the team the following week but their superiors ordered he have a psych eval before he did so due to the traumatic experience he had been through. This was to take place on the third day off Liz had, but Liz was called in to work on a case. So Colby went to his psych eval alone, it did actually help with some of the thoughts he had been having over Sam's death. He was asked if he had had any nightmares about Sam's death and he answered that he had had a couple but not as many as he had had after the deaths of some of his other friends. When asked why he thought this happened Colby answered "my best friend and girlfriend video called me on Skype and talked to me for half an hour, I think that helped. So I guess that could explain the lack of nightmares. I guess talking does actually help". After this session he was cleared to re-join the team.
Liz and David were returning to the apartment at six in the evening because it had been an easy case and they hadn't even needed Charlie's help. Liz had invited David over so he could see Colby, they walked through the door and Liz called out "Colby David's come over!" but she got no reply. Seeing the balcony doors open they slowly walked over to see Riley sat ramrod straight looking as if he was guarding Colby. Who was slumped on one of the deck chairs with his head in his hands.
"Colby?" asked Liz bending down in front of Colby.
"Are you ok Colb?" asked David kneeling beside Liz. Colby's only reply was a shuddery breath.
"Did something happen in your psych eval that means you can't re-join the team just yet?" asked Liz placing a hand on Colby's knee.
Colby shook his head and hoarsely whispered "no",
"What's wrong then partner?" probed David.
"Quiet" murmured Colby, his head still in his hands.
"What?" asked Liz,
"The quiet. Making my head a bad place to be" mumbled Colby peeking over his hands to look at Liz and David. Who both gasped seeing the emotions swirling around in the depths of Colby's eyes.
"Talk to us buddy" encouraged David.
Colby sighed letting his hands drop to his lap and looked down, "between now and when it happened, I haven't really been left alone. So I haven't been thinking about it. So when I got back from my psych eval the quiet just hit me. Yeah Riley was barking but the quiet was still overwhelming" he confessed,
"So you came out here in the hopes the noises from outside would distract you until I got home?" offered Liz.
Colby nodded, "but it didn't work and I started remembering"
"What did the psychiatrist say?" asked David,
"That I was cleared to re-join the team next week" said Colby leaning his head back against the headrest.
"That's great man!" enthused David pleased to be getting his partner back.
"Yeah it is" replied Colby with a small smile before closing his eyes.
"You sure you're alright?" asked David.
Colby sighed again and replied, "Remember when Clay Porter said to me that I fought the bad war when it was good? Well I have now seen the bad war and I don't want to see anything like that again"
David not knowing what to say just patted Colby's arm before taking his leave and leaving Colby in Liz's capable hands.
"Come on let's get you inside before you catch a chill" urged Liz as she guided Colby back into the apartment.
Colby had just completed his first day back and had loved every minute of it. Liz was happy to see Colby back to his normal self and had felt huge relief at seeing him walking around the bull pen. She cooked dinner again that night and smiled in relief seeing Colby finish the whole meal and even go back for seconds.
"I see you're back to normal" laughed Liz seeing Colby polish off his second plate.
Colby paused mid bite, swallowed and smiled "I just had to adjust to being home. And I have so bring on the seconds!"
"Definitely back to normal" giggled Liz.
They snuggled on the couch again that night watching a movie, Liz was so happy to have the most important person in the world to her wrapping his arms around her. And Colby was happy to be home and with the person he loved the most in the world.
THE END