Affinity part 4

Author's note: Thank you Soului, xLaurelCullenxx, Karine, Master Li, ElementalKitty, holly76, and WickedBluerose! I had a hard time stopping there too – so I got this part done a little faster than I normally work. I'm a little worried about the characterization, but I wanted the characters to show the stress of the situation. Please let me know if it works.

WickedBluerose – thanks for the question! I'm going to answer it below, okay?

"Toby?"

Toby flinched and backed up as if Oz had struck him. Oz was muddled. He couldn't read the look on Toby's face.

"Toby?"

LaPaige moaned.

Oz was on his knees and kneeling beside LaPaige before he made the conscious decision to move. The man was lying face down on the floor and there was an ominous puddle spreading across the concrete underneath his torso. Oz ran practiced hands down the length of the man's neck and spine. The bullet had entered the back of his shoulder and Oz couldn't tell if it had shattered against the bone or gone straight through. There was obviously some form of exit wound, given the amount of blood under LaPaige, but Oz wasn't confident it hadn't nicked the man's spine.

LaPaige moaned again.

"Hey," Oz said, "Hey! Can you move your feet?" Exit wounds were usually worse than entry wounds. Oz needed to get pressure on the wound in LaPaige's chest. "Hey! LaPaige! Move your foot!" Oz could flip him over, damn the consequences.

LaPaige's foot twitched.

Oz cradled LaPaige's head and flipped him over. LaPaige shrieked. Oz shrugged out of his uniform shirt and pressed it against the wound.

"Toby, go upstairs."

Toby did not move.

"Toby. Toby. Tob-buddy. I need you with me, here, okay? I need you to go upstairs, find the phone, and call 911. Can you do that, Toby? 911, Toby. Call 911. 911, got it?"

"911." Toby said. "I need to call 911."

"Good, Toby. Go." LaPaige was going to bleed out under Oz's hands. Oz pressed down and yelled at Toby. "Go!"

Toby turned and ran up the stairs. "Bring towels when you come back!" Oz hollered after him and bent to the task of saving LaPaige's life.

When Oz was twenty-one, he was in a car accident. The car had been T-boned by a mini-van blowing through a red light. The driver of the other car was running the red and she had been going at least twice as fast as Oz. Oz remembered the split-second he saw the van looming towards him. He remembered the shock of the passenger door buckling in. He remembered looking across the bent wreckage of his hood and the shocking spider- white glass of the other vehicle. The woman had been unconscious and pinned to her seat by the air bag.

The door handle had been jammed. Oz had kicked at the door until it had fallen open and staggered around to the driver side of the mini-van. The woman had roused briefly but hadn't been really coherent. Oz talked to her and pressed his jacket against the bloody wound on her thigh until emergency services arrived.

They told him later that he saved her life.

Oz hadn't thought about it. He'd just done it. And for the first time, he had some inkling of what he might do with his life other than work in his parent's restaurant. They said he was quick thinking, and he had good instincts. Oz took his first first-aid course. Than his EMT basic. And Intermediate. And finally his Paramedic certificate.

He liked it. He really felt like he was doing something worthwhile. Oz had good instincts. His first instinct was to help.

Oz applied pressure to the gunshot wound in LaPaige's chest and prayed he could save this life. He had feeling it was a lot more than LaPaige's fragile soul under his hands.

Toby skidded to his knees beside Oz and Oz tossed the bloody shirt aside to press a clean towel against LaPaige's wound. Toby had the phone tucked in the crick of his neck, between his shoulder and ear.

"They're coming." Toby told Oz. "I'm holding the line until the ambulance arrives. Police are on their way too."

Oz wanted to say tell them to hurry but he knew they were coming as fast as they could.

"Tell them to hurry." Toby said, and it took Oz a moment to realize Toby was talking to the operator.

"Toby?" Toby was white. His eyes were blown wide and bluer than blue. He had to be in shock.

"Toby, how are you doing?"

"The ambulance is on its way."

LaPaige whined again and mindlessly swatted at Oz's arms. Oz pressed down hard and did not – did not – feel a low, mean, curling hint of satisfaction at the noise LaPaige made.

"Tell me about you, Toby." I want to know how you're doing.

"I'm fine." Toby said. "I'm doing fine."

"Uh hu." Oz did not believe Toby for a minute. He figured, when they got out of this, there were years – years – of expensive therapy ahead of them. It was a good thing Toby had a shrink on speed dial. Oz was totally going to use his best friend status to horn in on that action.

The sudden sound of sirens wailing in the distance and speeding closer was a choir of angels. Oz wasn't a religious guy or anything, but really, he could have got down on his knees and cried halleluiah. Well. He was already on his knees. Oz honestly didn't think he'd ever heard anything so beautiful, and he spent half his working days listening to the damn things.

LaPaige had gone still under Oz's hands and was in a state of deep unconsciousness that Oz knew meant death was fast approaching. Toby, if it was even possible, looked worse than LaPaige. Thank God they're here.

"Thank God they're here." Toby said, and Oz realized Toby was telling the operator that emergency services had finally arrived,

"I'm going to hang up now, okay?" Toby sounded like he was struggling to talk through a haze, "I'm going to lead them in."

I'll keep pressure on the wound.

"I'll keep pressure on the wound." Toby froze in an awkward crouch, half way standing up. He looked confused, distraught.

Oz was a trained paramedic. He knew how to triage. Toby was going to have to wait. He wasn't dying.

"Go point the guys towards the basement, Toby. I got this."

Toby went.

Oz did not have a minor – minor, barely noticeable, hardly there – freak out. LaPaige didn't notice the difference. He was unconscious.

Oz heard the paramedics thunder across the kitchen floor above his head and heard Toby say, "Down there." And then they were pulling him away from LaPaige and putting an oxygen mask over the man's face and plugging in a bag of fluids and rolling LaPaige onto a stretcher.

Oz sat for a minute and gathered himself. Then he realized he was sitting in a puddle of blood and he got up without anybody noticing and went upstairs.

The hallway had floral wallpaper. The mirror in the bathroom was one of those faux old-fashioned silver ones, like the looking mirror in Snow White.

Oz looked at himself. Mirror, mirror on the wall...no helpful voice gave him all the answers. He bent his head and washed his hands. Then he dampened a face cloth and dabbed futilely at his pants.

A hand fell on his shoulder. He looked up. Alisha Carr from second shift met his eyes in the mirror. For once, she wasn't smiling.

"We got Logan in the wagon." She said.

Toby.

Oz felt suddenly, unexpectedly furious. "With LaPaige?"

"No!" Carr paled. "Everybody knew this call was you two. We were all putting in over time, waiting for this call. There are three ambulances out there. We made sure there were extra wagons on shift."

Oz scrubbed at his face. "I'm sorry, Carr. I don't know what came over me."

"Hey," Carr gave Oz a limp attempt at a smile. "You get a free pass today, Bey. I'd be feeling a little paranoid too."

Oz took a deep breath and told himself to be cool. "I'm riding with Toby."

"Sure." Carr looked Oz up and down then reached out and grasped his arm. "Let's go now, okay Bey? I think we should get Logan looked at. He's looking a little green around the gills."

Carr led Oz back through the house and out the front door. Oz was shocked to realize it was still the middle of the night. The sky was clear and the stars were brighter than he'd ever seen. Oz shivered in the sudden cold.

They had turned the sirens off but the lights were still flashing. Oz could see the neighbours across the street staring out their window. LaPaige was getting loaded into the central ambulance. Carr tugged Oz away and guided him to her own wagon. Her partner waved at Oz from back, where he was sitting with Toby. He made room for Oz.

Oz hefted himself into place next to Toby. Carr closed the doors and went around to the driver's seat. The ambulance started up and pulled into motion.

"So." Oz contemplated the doors of the ambulance. They looked like every other ambulance doors he'd ever seen. "That was the singularly worst experience of my young life. I mean, I still got years to go, but I don't think much can top that. Maybe, getting eaten alive by sharks. Or killer bees, or zombies or something. But really, this is Canada, so the sharks and the killer bees would have an awful long way to go to get here, and they'd have to have some kind of vendetta to do it. Like, vigilante sharks. And I don't know what I'd have to do to piss off vigilante sharks." Be friends with you.

The unkind thought crossed Oz's mind before he knew he was going to think it. It wasn't even an angry thought; Just a wry observation that if shit was going to happen, it would happen to Toby.

Toby flinched.

"No!" Oz nearly leapt to his feet before he remembered they had an audience. Oz wrapped his hands around the edge of the bench and held himself in place. He stared at Toby, willing him to hear what Oz was saying.

No. I didn't mean that Toby, you know I didn't mean that. I was just running my...my brain. C'mon. A hundred meaningless things have to cross my brain every day. A thousand. A trillion. I can't control that, and I never, never, never, never, never mean any bad things about you. You're my best friend, Toby.

"I don't know what I'm talking about. Killer bees? Zombies? I must be hungry. I'm thinking about things that eat things. I can't think straight when I'm hungry. Hey, guys? You got anything to eat in here? I think I'm feeling faint. And Toby looks like he's about to fall over. Hey Toby? Buddy? How about something to eat?"

"Sorry Bey, we got nothin'" Carr's partner said. Oz barely stopped babbling.

"How about Tim Horton's? I could really go for some Timmy Ho's. It's open 24-7, right? Where are we? There's gotta be one near here. There's always one nearby." Hey, Toby-buddy, are you with me here? C'mon. I didn't mean anything.

"I hear you, Oz."

Oz stopped to breathe.

"Yeah, I could go for some Tim Horton's."

"Great!" Oz grinned at Toby. "Hear that, guys? Can we make a pit stop?"

Carr and her partner exchanged looks in the rear view mirror.

"I think we can make a quick stop." Carr said. She switched lanes and after a moment, pulled into a Tim Horton's parking lot. Oz suddenly realized he was hungry.

"Stay here, guys." Carr's partner ordered. "What do you want?"

"Chili." Oz said immediately. "And chicken noodle soup. Ham and Swiss cheese on a toasted whole-wheat bun. Oh! Long Johns, and Canadian maples. Extra, extra large coffee. Actually, better get two. How about a box of Timbits while you're at it?"

"Sure." Carr's partner said dryly. "Anything for you, Bay. Does your partner want anything, or should I just bring back the whole store?"

"Oz's eyes are bigger than his stomach." Toby said. "How about two bowls of chilli, and two coffees, and two apple juices? That should do it."

"Ah ha." Carr yelled back. "The voice of reason. I wondered where it'd gone." Her partner slapped Toby on the back and hopped out of the wagon.

He came back a few minutes later with coffee and juice and bags of hot chilli. Oz took his eagerly, and the slide of hot coffee down his throat made him feel human again. Yeah. Toby and Oz one; Psycho gunman zero. They totally kicked butt.

They pulled into the unloading bay at the hospital and Toby was still picking at the last of his chilli.

"You going to eat that?"

Toby handed it over wordlessly and Oz wolfed down the last of it before hopping out of the wagon and walking into the chaos of the hospital.

Hey, he had his partner and they were both walking into the hospital. Things were good.

"Toby!" Olivia flew at them and wrapped her arms around Toby. "God, I'm so glad you're safe."

"Me too." Toby's whole body bent toward her. "Olivia."

"Hey," Olivia stepped back and held Toby in place so she could look at him. "There's a private room waiting for you. Let's get you checked out."

"Hey, what about me? What am I? Chopped liver?" Oz stuck his nose in their private, smootchy moment. Toby was his best friend. There were no real boundaries between them.

"Oz is a girl." Toby told Olivia. He dropped his eyes and looked up at her through his lashes. "He thinks that just because he's my best friend, there are no real boundaries between us."

Olivia laughed, like Toby had obviously intended her to. She smiled at Oz. "And you, Oz." She tucked one arm through Toby's and the other through Oz's. "Seems I get to examine two handsome gentlemen today."

"Oz isn't a gentleman." Toby said immediately. "You should hear the things he thinks about all day."

"I suspect that's boys only club." Olivia winked at Oz and guided them into an empty examining room. The she released their arms and suddenly it was Dr. Fawcett in the room with them.

"Okay gentlemen. Have a seat. Toby, I'm going to look at you first, okay? Is there anything you want to tell me before we get started?"

Oz didn't need to be a mind reader to know what Olivia was thinking. She'd always known that Toby kept secrets from her. It was the pink elephant between them. Oz knew what he had been thinking when he had been in Olivia's place: Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me.

Toby stared at Olivia. He opened his mouth. "I..."

"Dr. Fawcett?" A man in a police uniform knocked on the door frame after opening the door. "I'm Officer Jansen. I was wondering if I could get Mr. Bey and Mr. Logan's victim statements."

"When I'm finished." Olivia was seriously annoyed by the interruption. "This is a private examination room. Please respect the closed door."

The uniform nodded. "As soon as you're ready."

"Where's detective Marks?" No way this guy could interview them. It had to be Marks. Marks was the only one they could tell everything to. Oz had a gut instinct about this, and Oz always went with his gut instincts. Usually it involved food, but he was willing to make an exception today.

The guy – Jansen – cocked his head at Oz and examined him like a bug. Oz wondered if he had learned the expression from Becker. Oz concentrated really hard on not opening his mouth and saying something stupid.

"She's on a raid."

"Oh. When will she be back?"

"I'm not privy to that information." Oz figured that probably meant they were not privy to that information.

"Could she do our interview?" Toby piped up suddenly. "'Cause I know her, and I really think I would be more comfortable talking to somebody I know."

"I will look into it." Jansen nodded at them and shut the door.

Olivia snapped the wrist of her latex glove. "Alright boys, let's get this show on the road."

Author pontificates:

Hi WickedBluerose,

You're my first ever question in fanfic! I'm so pleased you asked (really, I'm grinning like crazy right now ^_^).

KD is Kraft Dinner = bright, toxic orange macaroni and cheese in a box. It's a staple of university students, bachelors, and six year olds.

As for the premise, it actually comes from a few things that bothered me about the show.

Remember in the first episode, when Ryder chews Toby and Oz out (they were still establishing characters then) and Toby whips out the fact that he TiVo'd the fight and he'll make a copy for Ryder later?

It bothered me because that suck-up comment came totally out of nowhere and, even though Toby is a mind reader, what are the chances that he actually TiVo'd 'the fight' previously? It's never actually established as an interest of Toby's, and it seems a little out of character.

At this point, the show was still getting its feet, so I immediately started wondering just how much control Toby actually had over his telepathy. We hadn't really learned how the mind reading worked. So, as I watched the show, I already had this idea in the back of my mind.

Then we were introduced to the yo-yo relationship with Olivia; they go from flirty to business in two seconds flat. Olivia is a strong personality and a lot of that yo-yoing seems to hinge on what she wants. Toby can read her mind, of course – he can tell if she wants to work or wants to flirt – but Toby seems a little too conveniently responsive. Whatever Olivia feels, Toby seems willing to feel too (Simply picking up her thoughts puts him in the 'mood' ^_-). These aren't big things, just one way of reading the problems in that relationship. I'm not saying Toby's feelings were fake – just, what if they didn't fully originate in him?

So, that's when I really started wondering about the mind reading. Sure, Toby knows the big thoughts aren't his. But what about the little stuff? The 'Jeeze, I could really go for a cheeseburger right now' and 'hmmm, I'm sleepy' and 'hey, you're hot' stuff that kind of goes on without our full attention. How much of the 'wish I'd seen the fight' and 'let's flirt' is all Toby?

I imagine, as a mind reader, one might have a tendency to empathize with other people because one could really get another person's point of view. And if you were 'reading' (hearing? feeling? experiencing?) another's thoughts, would you be able to draw a strict line between your inclinations and theirs?

Anyway, I wanted to address this idea, because it's something that has been quietly bothering me since the beginning of the show and one of those avenues that will simply never be otherwise explored.

I hope that answers your question. If you ever have any more, I'd love to totally geek out over them! ^_^

Allonympt