Thank you so much for the reviews. They mean a lot. I'm having a frustrating moment in real life so I'm posting the rest tonight so I can focus on something else.

Ezra knew he was in trouble. He'd known it from the beginning of course—waking up with a house on top of you makes it kind of obvious after all. But now…now, he was certain he was losing his mind.

One minute he felt as if he was floating, the next, sinking. His body fluctuated rapidly between being numb with cold and burning as if flames were consuming him. And finally, after he'd begun to doubt whether he'd ever actually heard or felt the rumbling noise earlier… now he was just hearing voices.

Ezra knew he should understand what it all meant but his mind just would not work like he wanted it to.

"Easy. Get that board."

"The heat signature indicated he was near here."

"Move that, there. There he is."

The noise grew. The mass of debris surrounding him seemed to bend outward and pull away. Still, Ezra didn't understand.

"He's here! We've got him!"

The noise hurt and he wanted to pull away. He had to get away. He struggled again to move numb and frozen limbs.

"Easy, Standish." They were talking to him. They had found him—was that a good thing? He didn't recognize the voices. Could he trust them? He shuddered as hands touched him.

"Crap, look at his side."

"Get those EMT's over here."

Pain exploded in his side again and Ezra panicked. Instinct kicked in. He had to get away. Heedless of the pain and his body's slow and sluggish response he forced himself to move. He twisted and gasped, fighting the mud and the pain and the darkness but he still couldn't free himself.

"No." he screamed it but his mouth rebelled and only a groan slipped out through cracked lips.

Then, as suddenly as the panic arrived, it was gone.

"Be still, Ezra." It was a quiet whisper, urgent but calming and Ezra recognized it instantly.

Vin.

Familiar hands ghosted over his head and shoulders and he stilled immediately, turning his head, straining to see through the dark.

He felt strong fingers scrape away his muddied hair, a bright light shone steady above him. He could just see Tanner's arm and then another hand was there, gently grasping the side of his neck.

"Ezra."

Chris.

A warm strong hand grasped his frozen fingers and he managed a small smile before he let himself begin to drift. Chris and Vin would take care of him and if they were here…then the rest of the team was too.

He was safe.

For a moment, Chris was able to ignore the rush of manic activity around him. It was as if everything around him faded as he focused only on Ezra's muddied face, the feel of a slow pulse below his hand and the twitch of ice cold fingers in his grip.

Then the world exploded into noise and colors again as he was pulled back.

"We need you to move." A paramedic pushed by him, unconcerned that Chris wanted to stay where he was.

"I need..." Chris tried but even as he spoke he knew he needed to get out of the way. Ezra was in bad shape. Beneath the layer of mud, Larabee could see the icy blue of the man's skin. Standish was bruised and dehydrated and worst of all, there was a small chunk of wood pinning his lower side to the ground.

Despite the need to stay close to his agent, Larabee allowed himself to be pushed aside. He instead turned his attention to helping where he could. He found Vin beside him as they both pulled back a large chunk of wall and hefted it over and out of the way.

Minutes passed as the paramedics worked. There were so many of them Chris could barely even see Ezra anymore. He watched as an IV was started. He listened as vitals were rattled off and wished he knew more about what it all meant. He worked on clearing debris but he didn't know how they were going to get Ezra out of there…and then suddenly, they were moving.

A backboard was brought in, and in just a matter of moments, Ezra was on it.

Chris could hear Ezra trying to move. He could see the paramedics struggling to keep Standish still. A large bulge packed with bandages still protruded from Standish's side. It told Chris that though they'd managed to free Ezra from the rubble, there was still a long way to go to get him fixed up.

He raced a few paces to catch up with the stretcher and managed to get in between the emergency workers. He found Ezra's hand again.

Behind him he heard Vin shouting to Buck and Josiah to get the trucks and knew the team would follow them. He expected the medics to protest when he climbed into the back of the ambulance with them, but no one questioned him. They told him where to sit, made sure he could still hang onto Ezra and went about their work.

Ezra's eyes flickered open once and Chris found himself wiping mud away with his free hand. Someone pressed a clean cloth into his hand and he muttered a quiet thanks. Gently he cleaned mud from Ezra's eyes and brow, not daring to get in the way of the oxygen mask. Ezra's eyes opened again and met Chris'.

"You're okay now." Larabee leaned closer. "You're gonna be okay, Ezra."