"You'll need another haircut soon, young man," Ezra said softly as he clasped the hand of the motionless figure in the bed while he pushed back the dark bangs from the white face. "I've never known how anyone could stand bangs in their eyes like you." Ezra sat in the chair, studying the boy lying in the bed. "You don't know how much I want to hear your voice again, no matter how much you talk and mangle the English language, call me Ez. You have no idea how much we all miss you, JD. You may not have been with Team Seven long, but your presence is in every spot in our offices and in our hearts."
"That he is, Ezra," Josiah confirmed, entering the room and placing his hand on Ezra's shoulder.
Ezra turned to look at the sunken eyes of the one the seven always turned to in times of spiritual crisis. But there was a difference in the man – Josiah had turned his back on God in his anger and no longer wore his cross.
All of the men had felt the loss keenly – the loss of Josiah's faith. Josiah drew nearer the bed and studied the boy lying there. "It is not right – one so full of life – to be so lifeless now."
"No, indeed it is not," Ezra agreed sadly. "I would do anything to change this, Josiah."
"We all would," Josiah said, sadly stroking JD's dark hair. His voice grew bitter. "Nothing helped – not Nathan's skill, your money, my prayers, Buck's pleading, Chris' rages or Vin's quiet beliefs."
"It's been months, Josiah," Ezra stated sadly. "Months. I keep wondering if we did the right thing. What would JD have wanted? Would he have wanted this?"
Josiah, stroking the hair almost ritualistically, shook his head. "I talked to Nathan. He came by and is driving Buck to the ranch. It's time for us to leave, too, Ezra. Come on."
Ezra sighed. "I'll come back soon, young man." He bent to kiss JD's forehead and then followed Josiah out of the room.
TBC