As always, thanks for reading. And thank you, LuvReading and MusesOwnMyMind, for beings such consistent readers and reviewers. I appreciate both of you very much!

Chapter 17

Hannah huddled in her jacket against the cold mountain air. She shivered lightly.

The deck outside the facility was covered in snow, no one was really inclined to use it with the early March snowfall that had buried it. But she had dusted the snow off one of the chairs and sank down with as much solitude as she could get in a place where she was only allowed unsupervised time in her own room.

She took in a long breath, enjoying the sensation of the fresh air being cold enough to sear her lungs. Out here, alone, she could at least pretend she wasn't locked up.

Josiah had told her he was looking for a place for her to live when she was released. Hannah tried to still the fluttering that thought brought to her heart. She didn't want to get her hopes up. Not when she knew there was a more than just a chance her father would make sure she was committed for another six months. And after that, a supervised group home somewhere she couldn't embarrass him again.

Hannah sighed, blowing out the breath in a small puff of steam.

Snow started falling again. She lifted her eyes up to the sky, watching the fat, fluffy flakes drift down. She closed her eyes and felt the cold dampness of each one as it landed on her skin and melted slowly.

She wouldn't think about three months from now. Or three days from now. She would just sit here and let the snow kiss her skin with every flake that landed. She would breathe in and breathe out and pretend she was free.

The door slid open behind her, but she didn't move. She didn't want to go back inside until she absolutely had to.

"Hannah," came the nurse's voice. "It's time for your check in with Dr. Morales."

Hannah opened her eyes. She brushed the wetness from her eyelashes and cheeks. Without a word she rose from her seat and headed back inside the mental health treatment facility.

#

Ellie hadn't heard from Buck in over two weeks. He had told her they would be away from their post for awhile, so it wasn't like it was unexpected. But it didn't mean she liked it. And not hearing from Buck meant she didn't hear from Chris. And the last call she had with him—when she would have told him about the baby if they hadn't been interrupted—he had looked on edge. Battered.

"Ellie?"

She stirred herself from her reverie at Ezra's voice. "Sorry," she said lightly. She shifted in the passenger seat of his car, adjusting her seatbelt so it rested below her growing bump more comfortably as Ezra braked for a red light. The dark streets of Denver were coated with a light dusting of snow.

"I was wondering if you wanted tomorrow off," Ezra said.

Ellie had told him she would be in late tomorrow. She had a prenatal appointment. "No. I'll be there by 3," she said. The last thing she intended to do was take advantage of Ezra's kindness in employing her, driving her to and from work, making sure—

"Oh!" Ellie gasped, a hand flying to her stomach.

If Ezra hadn't already had his foot on the brake for the red light, Ellie thought he might have slammed his foot down hard enough to pitch them both forward against their seatbelts.

"What is it?" Ezra asked, brow furrowing in concern, eyes darting from her to the nearly empty streets as if he was going to run the red light and take her directly to the hospital.

"A kick," Ellie smiled. She had felt them before. But never quite so strongly. And never with someone by her side. She unzipped her coat and prodded along her stomach. There it was. Another little thump, but this time it bumped against her fingers.

Impulsively, she reached over and took Ezra's hand from the steering wheel and placed it over her stomach.

Ezra's startled expression would have made her laugh, but she focused on finding where the movement had gone. She used Ezra's hand to nudge the mound under her t-shirt.

"Ellie," he said, sounding pained.

"There!" she cried triumphantly, poking his hand against her stomach. The answering kick had Ezra jerking his hand back in alarm.

"What was that?" he asked.

Ellie laughed. It felt good to have someone to laugh with. Someone to share the little movements she had started feeling through the day with. "That's the baby."

Her baby. Hers and Chris'.

She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, the sudden loneliness creeping in against her will.

But then Ezra was eying her stomach and he had such a look of suspicion on his face that Ellie couldn't hold back another laugh, pushing thoughts of Chris and loneliness aside and taking Ezra's hand again to feel another tiny kick.

"It's like something from a sci-fi movie," Ezra said.

"Like Predator Vs Alien," Ellie cheerfully agreed. "It's freaky."

Behind them a car horn honked.

Ezra jolted and brought his hand back to the wheel, moving the car through the green light.

"The miracle life is gruesome, Ezra," she said poking at her stomach again to see if the baby would respond. "In case you hadn't noticed by all lunches I lost in the trash can in your office."

"But you're feeling better," Ezra said.

Ellie looked up from her stomach to see the worried lines bracketing his mouth.

"Much better," she reassured him.

Ezra looked like he was about to say something, but sirens sounded, growing closer, and Ezra glanced in his rearview mirror before pulling to the side of the road.

A fire truck blew past them, horn blaring as it approached another intersection.

Ezra eased out into the road again until more sirens sounded, and he pulled to the side again.

Ellie watched an ambulance follow after more fire trucks.

"It must be a big fire," she commented.

Ezra frowned and she followed his eyes at the smoke billowing up into the night sky ahead of them.

"That looks close to my apartment," she said. "I hope no one's hurt."

Ezra didn't say anything.

They pulled over twice more for emergency vehicles. When they were a block from her apartment complex, Ellie leaned forward to see the height of the smoke through the windshield. "That looks like it's from…" She looked over at Ezra, waiting for him to say she was wrong. There was no way her building was on fire. No way.

Ezra didn't say anything, but he parked the car.

"What are you doing?" Ellie asked. "We have to go make sure everything's ok."

Ezra shook his head and nodded toward the squad car blocking the street.

Ellie fumbled at her seatbelt until she got free and got out of the car. She started down the street toward her apartment—her home—her jacket flapping unzipped around her.

A police officer held out his hand to stop her.

Ellie shook her head. "I just need to go check on my apartment," she explained. "I won't get in anyone's way."

The officer's look of pity didn't make sense to her. "No one's getting any closer. The entire building is up in flames."

Ellie shook her head. "My apartment isn't. It can't be. I'll just look quick and—"

"Ellie."

Ellie felt Ezra's presence next to her. Heard him saying her voice quietly. She swallowed hard, willing away any panic that was starting to creep up. "It's fine, Ezra. Everything's fine. We'll just go check on my place and then we can go wait at the bar until they give the all clear. It'll be fine."

"Ellie," Ezra said again.

He met her eyes, then looked up the street.

Ellie didn't want to look. She wouldn't look. She held Ezra's green eyes. He didn't push her to look at the fire or to get back in the car.

She clenched her jaw and turned to look.

It was her apartment building. Smoke billowed from windows, flames jumped from the roof, dancing into the night sky, mingling with the lights flashing from the emergency vehicles below.

She didn't even realize her knees had given out until she felt Ezra's arm around her, holding her up, his hand tight against her shoulder, squeezing through the thickness of her winter coat.

"Come on," Ezra was saying. "Come on."

Ellie didn't know where they were going. She didn't know what Ezra was saying. All she could see was the destruction of the home she had made, even when he turned her toward his car. All she could hear was the shouts of the fire fighters, the crackling voices over their radios, the sound of the fire consuming the building.

A little nudge again in her stomach. She felt towards the kick with numb fingers. But she didn't feel the kick. She didn't feel anything.

#

Chris flung his helmet across the command center. It crashed through the silence, rolling with a clatter until it stopped near a desk. The rest of the team filed in silently behind him. Vin stooped to pick up Chris' helmet, setting it on the table without a word, then taking a chair with the rest of the team around the table.

The mission had been more than disappointing. It had been a disaster. Their information was wrong. Or old. Either way, the man they had been expecting to find and bring to justice wasn't there. Only gunfire that pinned them down for the better part of the morning until the nearest marines could make their way across the forbidding landscape and lay down cover for Team 7 to get out.

They had failed.

Miserably.

Chris slammed his fist against the table.

"Easy," Josiah said. He hadn't been with them. But had joined them for the debriefing.

The door opened and their ranking officer came in. Chris stared straight ahead. He tuned out whatever the man started to say.

He wanted out of this hellhole.

He wanted justice for Stephen.

He wanted to burn down every single person who had a part in killing Stephen Travis and he was fine if he burned along with them.

He wanted Ellie.

The last thought had him curling his fingers into fists so tight his skin stretched painfully across his knuckles. He shouldn't be thinking of Ellie. She was as far from this place, this pain and disaster, as sunshine was from an ocean abyss. There were places sunshine couldn't reach and he was getting more convinced each day that his soul was one of those places.

#

Ezra wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.

He had his employee ensconced on his couch, still wearing her jacket, and staring blankly at something in the mid distance.

Ezra ran a hand over his hair. He wasn't used to being at a loss for words.

"We don't know yet," he started, his words breaking the silence of his apartment. No reaction from Ellie. He cleared his throat awkwardly and said what he was hoping. "We don't know if the fire had spread to your apartment."

Ellie blinked and finally looked toward him. Ezra quickly continued.

"The flames seemed to be in the upper levels. There's a chance they didn't carry to the lower floors. You have a garden level apartment." Ezra didn't know if that was true, but it was possible. And for now, giving Ellie a tiny bit of hope didn't seem like a terrible thing.

Ellie continued staring at him, blinking. And then finally her eyes focused again and she nodded slowly.

"OK," Ezra said, relief making the word come out more like a sigh. "Good. Well then. Is there someone I can call for you?"

He had asked Ellie that in the car, but she hadn't given any sign she heard him. This time she did and it made Ezra instantly wish he could take the words back. Her face fell, her shoulders sagged forward, and she shook her head slightly.

Right. Her only family was deployed overseas, the scowling man he had seen her with once was also gone—and Ezra wasn't quite able to hold back the uncharitable thought that was for the best, and she didn't seem to have friends outside of that contingent.

"Well, why don't I take your coat," Ezra said, falling into the role of gracious host. That was at least a part he could play without much thought. "You can stay here tonight. Until we find out the state of your apartment."

Ellie, still moving like she was in a fog, pulled her coat off and handed it to Ezra. Ezra took it to the small foyer and hung it, then returned to Ellie.

"I haven't had the opportunity to fully furnish the guest room," because he never intended to have guests, but he kept that to himself, "but there's at least a bed in there."

Ellie trailed after him to the spare room, the one he had put a bed in for lack of any other ideas. His third bedroom had bookshelves that he intended to fill with collectable editions of the classics to go with the heavy leather chair and wine cabinet he had moved in there. But none of that mattered to Ellie at the moment. She went into the sparse room and stood like she didn't know what to do next.

"I'll get you something to wear to bed," Ezra said, as if he did know what to do. At least for tonight he did—get her comfortable and hope she could get some sleep. Tomorrow they would find out what they could about the state of her apartment.

Ezra left her behind long enough to go to the master suite and find a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt for her. He also took a couple towels out of his luxury bathroom. He didn't stock anything in the smaller hallway bathroom.

Ellie was still standing where he had left her. Ezra laid the few things he had gathered on the bed. "Is there anything else you need?"

Ellie shook her head automatically and Ezra wondered if she even saw what he had gathered for her. But he just nodded and took a step back. "I'll go back down to the car and get your purse and phone." He hadn't taken the time to get them for her when they had arrived to his place, his focus had been on getting Ellie inside.

Another nod, but she didn't look like she had heard him.

"We'll get everything straightened out tomorrow," Ezra said. He could at least sound confident. She deserved that much right now.

Ellie managed another nod. Ezra cleared his throat again and took a step back. "I'll go get your things from the car."

"Ezra?"

He almost didn't hear her muted voice. But he stopped and looked at her.

Her eyes were dull, her face drawn, but her lips moved in the semblance of something he assumed was supposed to convey some sort of smile.

"Thanks," she said.

Ezra nodded sharply, not comfortable receiving thanks when he had done nothing more than escort her to see her home going up in flame. Hopefully he could make that up to her tomorrow. Because he had no idea what she was supposed to do if her apartment was completely gone.

Ezra knew he wasn't cut out to be any kind of a savior or hero and the last thing he wanted was to prove how far from that mold he really was.

#