Just a reminder, these are drabbles so one chapter is not necessarily related to another, but they all revolve around the same basic theme. This chapter however was getting a little long so I have decided to split it into two parts. It's an action piece/team centered fic so there is a mild warning for violence.

Sacrifice part 1

Dwayne Pride knew he could count on Chris LaSalle for just about anything. Without question Chris would follow him through hell and back with no questions asked. Chris was the only one he trusted with his life and the lives of his family. It wasn't that he didn't trust Meredith Brody per say. Brody was new to their team. She was still learning their ways. With Chris there was 10 years of trust and friendship. The thirty year age difference doesn't seem to matter. They were so in sync with one another, their habits, their thoughts. Pride knew all of Chris's moves even before he made them and vice versa. Pride didn't even need to speak, Chris just knew. He supposed it had something to do with the fact that he'd started grooming Christopher at a young age and the fact that Chris seemed to have a natural talent for law enforcement. No matter the task, Chris will always come through. Together they are an unbeatable team.

Unfortunately for Chris, Pride's enemies know this too.

"Chris, please tell me what is going on!" Laurel Pride begged as Chris helped her from his truck and guided her by the elbow to the front steps of safe house 30 miles outside of Baton Rouge. Laurel had been in the middle of a music theory exam when Chris appeared and escorted from class.

Assuming the worst had happened, a sob ripped from the back of her throat. "Is my Dad, ok?"

I already told you, Shortcake, he's fine." he said using the pet name he'd given her when she was a child. Chris unlocked the door to the house and quickly cased the inside for any unwelcomed visitors. Human or otherwise. He then walked back to his truck and began to empty it of all of his weapons. He sensed it was going to be a long night.

Laurel touched his arm. She wanted or needed more answers. "Where is he?"

"He's at the Madison Parrish Prison with Agent Brody. He'll be here later tonight." Chris would leave out the part that Pride had gone to the prison to check out a lead on Baitfish and had ended up getting a tip that Paul Jenks had put out a hit on Laurel's life. So, Pride did the only thing he could. He asked Chris to protect her. The plan was that Chris would pick up Laurel and pack it in at the safe house until Pride and Brody returned. Then the three of them would make a plan to seek out the hit man and take care of Jenks once and for all.

"Something bad is going to happen isn't it?" Laurel asked looking at the weaponry that Chris had begun to organize and load.

Chris stopped what he was doing and cupped her face. Laurel wasn't a child anymore, he knew he could no longer hide things from her. However he didn't think he should be the one to tell her that she had become to the target of a professional killer due her father's actions against the local kingpin. "Who is the only guy besides your Dad that you can trust?"

"You" Laurel smiled at him. For as long as she could remember, Chris had been playing the part of her big brother and protector. He was always there for things that she couldn't share with her dad.

Chris gave her his best grin. "Ok, then it's settled. Nothin' bad is going to happen on my watch."

"So you still datin' that pretty red head you went to high school with?" Laurel asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Chris looked at her from the corner of his eye. "That is not a question you get to ask."

C'mon, Chris. I'm all grown up now. Besides, Merri thinks she's really good for you. "

"Does she now?" Chris rolled his eyes in time with his cell phone coming to life. Saved by the bell he thought. "Yeah, Pride. Uh huh, no I got her. She's here." He passed the phone over to Laurel. "It's your Daddy."

Chris checks the time as Laurel talks with her father. He knows that it will take Pride a good three hours plus to get to the safe house, maybe more given the condition of the back roads.

Night begins to fall over the cabin prompting Laurel to hug her arms.

"Ya cold?" Chris asked.

"A little." Laurel admits as he slips off his jacket and places it over her shoulders.

"I can make ya a fire if ya want one."

"Laurel smiles as she watches him kneel at the hearth and place a couple of logs into the fireplace. "Hey, do you remember that time you picked me up from Sheryl Harper's party?

Chris doesn't recall the name. "I remember picking you up from a party and you getting sick all over my truck," he replies tossing some kindling over the logs.

Laurel feels a blush start to creep across her cheeks. She was just 14 years old and it had been her first high school party. Like most young kids she had let things get out of control. Too scared to call her dad, she decided to take a chance and try Chris. Ever the knight in shining armor, he'd come to her aid without any questions asked.

"Did you ever tell my Dad about that?" Laurel asked pulling his jacket a little bit tighter across her shoulders.

Chris glanced over his shoulder as the fire begins to crackle. "Did you?"

Laurel sucked in a breath in jest. "Not yet."

Chris pursed his lips together trying to suppress a grin. To be a teenager again or in Laurel's case a young adult teen which was a scary in its own right he thought as his stomach let out a rueful growl.

"You hungry?" he asked, preparing to move for the kitchen until a glint of light from outside caught his attention. "Get away from the window" he barked drawing his sidearm in time with a flash grenade coming through the window.

"Get Down!" In one swift movement, Chris fired off two shorts before engulfing Laurel and sending her to the floor. Within seconds a respiratory irritant filled the room. Return fire ensued, forcing Chris to weight their options.

Get shot or choke on fumes and pass out? It seemed to be a no win situation. Most of the time, he enjoyed a good life or death challenge as twisted as it sounded. There was just something about it that got his adrenaline going, and promoted a natural high. He'd supposed he could call himself an over the top risk taker due to the nature of his job. But today was different. He had Laurel to think about. She was Pride's everything.

"C'mon, we have to move." He told Laurel as he rose to a crouching position and took her hand, dragging her toward the back of the cabin. "Cover your face!"

Laurel coughed as she inhaled the toxic fumes, stumbling at the force of Chris's movements. He's moving so fast she can hardly keep up. He shoulders the back door, still holding tight to her hand and gun in the other.

A gunman appears on the lawn several yards out, forcing them back into the house. Chris diverts and heads for the master bedroom. Once inside, Chris makes a quick survey and decides upon the walk in closet which has access to the attic crawl space. Chris tugs on the cord and pulls down the ladder.

"Get up there," he tells Laurel, before taking her phone "and don't come down until you hear from me or your dad."

"What about you?" Laurel's voice is filled with fear. She already knows his answer. Tears begin to cloud her eyes, her voice begins to choke. "No, Chris, please don't leave me here."

Chris swallows back the lump in his throat, knowing that he doesn't have a choice. Laurel is the one and only thing that Pride can't live without. His job is to protect her no matter the cost. "Remember, no one but me or your dad." He then seals up the crawl space and heads out to meet his fate.

Laurel covers her ears as the sound of gunfire erupts throughout the house, her entire body quivering with fear. She's so consumed with terror that she can hardly breathe. Long after the shooting stops she continues to tremble. Time is either moving painfully slow or ridiculously fast, without her phone it's hard to tell. She wonders why Chris took it.

Part of her wonders if Chris is still alive. Its been quite since the shooting stopped, but he hasn't come to get her so she can only assume the worse. It isn't until she hears the sound of her father's voice that she starts to feel hope.

"Daddy!"

"Laurel, thank God." Dwayne Pride prays as he holds onto his one and only child thanking the Lord that she is free from harm. "Are you okay?" he clutches her face before inspecting every inch of her petite form.

"Yes, Chris..he..he kept me safe," she hiccups as he father presses her into his chest.

Pride holds her for several more moments until the sound of Brody's voice fills his Bluetooth. "Pride, I searched the entire perimeter. There's no sign of Chris."

Outside, Merri Brody looks down at the dead body that Chris has so eloquently left for them to find and wonders how many gunmen there were total. Shifting her gaze, she looks at Chris's truck, noting that it is peppered up pretty good. The inside of the cabin is no better, windows are blown out and the furniture is riddled with bullet holes.

She wonders how her partner fared in all of this. If Chris had been victorious he would be here. He would have never left Laurel up in the crawl space for Pride to find if he were able. Something has happened. Did he go after another gunman? Was he captured? Shot? Her mind begins to run rapid with possibilities, all of which are unacceptable.

"Where are you?" she says looking out into the vast darkness of trees. The sound of Pride's voice, calling her inside tears her away from her thoughts. Trudging up the front steps, she meets Pride in the living room and notes the rifle in his hand.

"Stay with Laurel. Keep her in the bedroom. I don't want her seeing any of this," he tells her. Judging by Pride's tone she knows he's intent on going after Christopher, alone.

"Pride," she counters, her tone hindering on insubordination. Chris is her partner. If something has happened...

"Brody, I need you here. Laurel's life could still in danger."

Brody lowers her eyes before conceding. She knows she has no choice. "Of course," she swallows, resigned. "Just bring Chris home."

Pride looks at her and nods. There's no way he can come back without Chris. Aside from Brody, Laurel would never forgive him. Especially not after today. Hell, he would never forgive himself if anything were to happen to the younger man.

Chris is more than family.