Don moaned and forced his eyes open. Confused he shoved off the mask on his face and tried to sit up. "Whoa, whoa, take it easy," David said, putting a hand on his chest and pushing him back down.

Don continued to struggle as the paramedic moved to help restrain him and put the oxygen mask back on. Already Don's head was spinning and he collapsed back on the gurney breathing heavily. After a moment catching his breath he pulled the mask away just enough to ask hoarsely, "What happened?"

"You collapsed in the bull pen," David told him worriedly, his boss looked decidedly worse for wear. "Just take it easy, okay?"

Don sat up suddenly, ripping off the oxygen mask. The astute paramedic immediately pulled out a basin as Don heaved repeatedly before he swore and fell back onto the gurney. The paramedic silently replaced the oxygen just as they pulled up to the hospital. "Behave," David muttered to his boss.

Despite his discomfort Don still managed to shoot him a dirty look as the doors opened and they were taken inside.

Charlie's phone buzzed on his desk. "Charlie?" Amita said after it had buzzed twice.

"Yeah?" Charlie said, not taking his eyes off the board in front of him.

"Your phone," Amita said, holding it out to him, a smile on her face.

Charlie turned at last. "Oh! Thanks," he said sheepishly. Flipping it open he answered, "Hello?"

"Hey Charlie, it's Megan."

"Oh, hi Megan. What's up?"

"I've been trying to get a hold of your Dad, but he's not answering."

"My Dad?" Charlie's heart began to pound, as he picked up on the tone of Megan's voice. "Why? What happened?"

Amita looked up from her laptop, concern on her face. "Charlie," Megan paused, unsure of what to say, "Don collapsed here at work about fifteen minutes ago. We had to call paramedics and they're on their way to the hospital."

Charlie swallowed. "Is he-okay? I mean what's-"

"I don't know Charlie, he's been off all day, but he wouldn't talk about it and then he just collapsed. Colby and I are finishing up a case but David's with him. Can you find your Dad?"

"Yeah, yeah I'll find him and we'll be there soon," Charlie was already searching for his car keys.

"We'll meet you there Charlie."

Charlie closed his phone. "Charlie, what is it?" Amita asked, rising.

"It's Don, he's at the hospital. Where are my keys?!" Charlie cried.

"Charlie, Charlie! I'll drive," Amita said reaching for her bag.

They nearly ran over Alan and Larry on their way out the door. "Whoa, hey where's the fire?" Alan asked with a laugh.

"Dad." Alan's smile vanished at the look on his son's face. "What is it? What happened?"

"It's Don, we have to go," Charlie said as they started moving down the hall.

"Charlie!" Alan hurried after him. "Is he okay? What's going on?"

"I don't know, Dad. Megan called, she said he collapsed at the FBI. He's at the hospital!" Charlie cried.

"Okay, okay, let me find my keys, where are my keys?" Alan searched his pockets.

"Might I suggest taking my car?" Larry asked.

"We're taking mine Larry," Amita said as they pushed through the doors to the outside.

"Could we please just hurry?" Charlie yelled.

Twenty minutes later they were at the hospital. "Yes, I'm looking for my son, Donald Eppes, he's an agent with the FBI," Alan rapidly told the woman at the desk.

"Charlie!"

They all turned. "David! What's going on? Is he-"

"Relax, just calm down," David said holding up a hand. "He collapsed in the bull pen about an hour ago. The doctor says he's stable. They're running some tests, should be able to tell us more soon."

Alan sighed in relief. "Okay, well, I guess we wait."

"There's a room right over here. Why don't you sit down and I'll get everyone some coffee?" David said, leading them to the room he'd waited in for the last hour. "I'll be right back. Colby and Megan are on their way, should be here any minute."

"Thanks David," Alan said quietly as he left and they took their seats.

Charlie put his head into his hands. He was barely aware of Amita's hand rubbing his back comfortingly. "I can't believe this is happening," Charlie said softly.

"It sounds like he's sick Charlie. You know how hard he works, I'm surprised he didn't get sick sooner," Amita said. "He'll be okay."

"Look who I found," David said, reappearing in the doorway flanked by Colby and Megan.

They all exchanged quiet greetings as the agents sat down. "How are you holding up?" Megan asked.

Alan shrugged. "I guess as well as can be expected considering we don't know anything."

Megan looked down at her coffee cup. "We should have paid better attention."

"Megan this is not your fault," Larry said.

"Larry's right, Megan," Alan added. "You know as well as I do how stubborn Don can be."

"Ah," a doctor entered the room, "I see I've found Agent Eppes' family."

Alan and Charlie practically jumped to their feet. "Mr. Eppes, Professor, I'm Dr. Grove," he shook hands with both of them. "I'm handling your son's case."

"What can you tell us Doc?" Alan asked seriously.

"It seems that your son has contracted a rather severe case of food poisoning."

"Food poisoning?" Charlie asked, confused, "where would he have gotten something like that?"

"That's what we're trying to find out. Agent Eppes has been ah," the doctor cleared his throat, "less than cooperative."

Everyone in the room tried and failed to hide their smiles. "Agent Eppes was severely dehydrated and his blood sugar was very low when he came in. We've given him some drugs to try and rectify that. That along with the fever caused the loss of consciousness. We've also been trying to get his fever down."

"Trying?" Alan asked.

"Agent Eppes' fever would go down more quickly if he sat still and stopped kicking my nurses out of the room," the doctor said wryly.

Alan rolled his eyes as the others chuckled. "I'll talk to him Doc. Is he going to be all right?"

"We're going to keep him here overnight for observation, like I said, his case is rather severe. We want to make sure he stays hydrated," the doctor paused, "and I think I'll let one of you inform him of that."

Now the smiles were out in earnest. "Can we see him?" Charlie asked.

"Of course," the doctor said. "Just Mr. and Professor Eppes for the moment please."

"You did take his duty weapon away, right?" they heard Colby ask and the room erupted into laughter as Charlie and Alan followed the doctor down the hall.

A/N: So, now you know. Don't you feel better? :) I thought I'd give you a longer chapter this time seeing as the last few have been so short. Please keep reviewing!!