AN: Thanks for sticking with this story so far. Warning: this is the chapter with the swearing. After that, that should be it. Enjoy the chapter and leave a comment if you'd like.

Myles had finished his business with forensics outside of the Health and Sciences building. In the end, he and a couple of other forensics agents could not find any drugs, so they took science instruments instead that were in the lab. Even if they couldn't find any proof of drugs, they at least had evidence on paper of supply and shipment that Sue managed to find. When he was finally done talking with people outside of his department, he went on his way to their truck where he would regroup with the rest of the team, and figure out their next step.

However, before Myles could enter the truck, a pair of hands grasped his shoulders and pulled him away from the door. He was then flipped around, and was slammed into the side of the truck back first. "Argh!"

Wincing from the initial blow, Myles looked up and saw Bobby mere inches from his face. He could tell immediately that Bobby was seething. He bore a large grimace, he was turning red, and his jaw was clenched so tight, Myles would've thought it would be locked in place once he relaxed. "Bobby, what was that for?"

Bobby said through clenched teeth, "What the hell were you thinking, Leland? Pulling a stunt like that!"

While taken aback by Bobby's rage, Myles attempted to defuse the situation. "What the hell, man? Relax! I was just doing my job!"

"No, I will not relax!" Bobby continued to hold onto his co-worker as he gave him a piece of his mind. "You refused to listen to both Jack and I; which may I remind you, are your superiors and are responsible for you. We gave you direct orders to leave that lab, but instead you blatantly disregarded orders and took a gamble on your life!"

Myles quickly retorted, "If this is your way of intimidating me, it's not working."

Bobby slammed Myles against the truck again, "Say that again, and I will kick your ass! Maybe I should. Doing so might finally knock some sense into you."

"It wouldn't have mattered."

"What was that?!"

"I said it wouldn't have mattered!"

Sue stood behind them in the distance. She winced when she saw Bobby reprimanding Myles. She felt bad for him, but maybe he deserved it. Sometimes he liked to play the hero, and would get into trouble; and it would be worse trouble than what the rest of the team would get in. She then decided to read their lips, but regretted it immediately.

"What do you mean it wouldn't have mattered? You idiot!"

"Well, if you'd just let me explain…"

"Ooooh - you better have a good one for that, Leland. You've dug yourself a hole for fifteen years, it'll be interesting to see you get out of this one. I once told you five years ago that you're in bigger trouble if you believe that if no one got hurt and we got our man, there would be no harm no foul."

Myles answered, "I had under five minutes, Bobby. I wouldn't have gotten out in time."

"Bull shit!" Bobby shook him again.

"Hey, hey hey! Stop it! I'm serious. I had under three minutes. It takes five minutes to exit the building from where I was working. If I would have listened to you guys and ran, I would be dead right now. Oh - and might I add the evidence would have been blown into oblivion along with me? So I thought I would be expendable, and take my chances if it meant saving the investigation."

Bobby was hurt when he heard the word expendable. Sure, Myles might have an ego the size of Jupiter and could be annoying, but he was the backbone of the team. Not to mention that despite his bad decisions, he was a good FBI agent, smart, and amusing. He might be expendable to the Bureau, but he was not expendable to Bobby and his team. "Expendable? Is that what I heard you say?"

"Just leave it, Bobby! Relax!"

Bobby examined Myles' face. He could tell that the man he was grappling with was shaking in his boots, but his annoyed expression made his face look punchable. Bobby would punch him if he could right now.

Back to Sue. Jack appeared beside her. He followed her gaze to look at Myles and Bobby's confrontation.

Sue asked, "Jack, should you stop Bobby? I've never seen him this angry before. I'm afraid he might attack Myles without thinking."

"I'll let Bobby tear a strip off of Myles. The man needs a reality check."

Then, Myles decided to be the instigator, "What is it? What's wrong, Bobby? You don't think I could have done it? You don't think I could have done my job?"

This made Bobby even angrier. "That wasn't your fucking call to make!" Bobby slammed Myles against the truck again, and then proceeded to shake him.

"Wasn't my fucking call? You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"Fuck you!"

"No fuck you! I was thinking about the investigation!"

"By giving your fucking life?!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah?! You're a fucking whack job!"

After seeing that, Jack finally decided to intervene. He ran towards the commotion.

Myles tried to wriggling free from Bobby's monster grasp, but there was no escape.

Sue winced. She'd never seen something like this happen between her teammates before. She'd seen Myles get chewed out before - everyone on the team got chewed out every now and then - but this situation was on a different level. Someone could get seriously hurt.

Bobby continued, "Oh boy, I knew you were in trouble before, but you are deep in it now. I don't know what to do with you anymore, Myles. I might as well shoot you now, because you're going to wind up dying anyway if you continue trying to be the hero."

"The hero? You think I was trying to be a hero today?!"

"HEY! HEY! HEY!" Jack exclaimed while grabbing onto Bobby's hands, and forcing him off of Myles.

Bobby said, "I'll be writing you up, Leland. It's been fifteen years too long."

Riled with anger himself, Myles aimed a finger at Bobby and said, "Let me get one thing straight with you, Manning. In no way shape or form did I want to be the hero today. I was fucking scared down in that lab, but I had no choice but to do something. If I would have listened to you guys and ran, the building would have blown with me still in it. Me cutting the wire without confirmation and permission was a 50/50 gamble, but it paid off. I did my job. Sue, Levi and the civilians in the office got out, no one got hurt, and we can move on with our lives. Now, get off my back!" And with that, both men went in opposite directions; Bobby proceeded to enter the truck to throw or kick the first thing in sight, and Myles went back to the car, forgetting that Sue came with him.

Sue wanted to chase after one of the men, mainly Bobby, but Jack read her like a book and stopped her in her tracks. "No, Sue. Just let them be, especially Bobby. He's really hot right now…both of them are. I'm afraid you'll be the unfortunate soul that will receive an unintended tongue lashing. I'll deal with Bobby and Myles when we regroup at the Bullpen."

Sue acknowledged Jack's words. "Okay, I'll wait."

It was seven o'clock, and quiet in the Bullpen; the only ones that remained in the office were Jack's team of agents. Despite closing Bobby's bomb case, and continuing with Sue's initial case, Jack could feel the tension in the room. Bobby was avoiding any sort of contact with Myles, and Myles kept looking at him with a…sad stare? Tara, Sue and Dimitrius were trying to focus themselves, but they were distracted too by Myles and Bobby's presence.

Giving up, Jack decided that it was best if they all went home and regrouped in the morning; that way everyone could sleep off the events of today and focus on the continuing mission. "Okay everyone, just go home. Myles, I need you to stay for a moment."

Myles lightly rolled his eyes. Here we go.

Once everyone in the office - except Sue - left, Jack leaned against his desk, and crossed his arms. He gave Myles a disappointed look, before starting, "Myles, you've already been reprimanded by Bobby enough, so I don't need to repeat the same thing here. Now, I need you to tell me why you ignored orders from us."

Taking a deep breath of his own, Myles replied, "I didn't have time. Like I told Bobby, if I would have left with under three minutes on the clock, I still wouldn't have made it out of the building alive."

"You don't know that."

"I do. I timed myself just getting to the lab. It was extremely dark in that basement; and it could make anyone disoriented. It would have taken me at least a minute to find the stairs, and by the time I'd reach the stairway exit, it would have been too late. Jack, I might be…a little hard to handle sometimes, but I'm not stupid."

"I know you're not. Bobby told me you said that you felt you were expendable. Is that true? Were you serious, or was that just an overreaction? Please tell me that it's the latter."

As much as Myles would have liked to deny it, in the position he was in, he had no choice but to tell the truth. "Yes, I did, but that's because anyone can take my place. If I died, I'm sure a week later, the Bureau would have found someone to replace me and everyone would have moved on with their lives without a problem. I know a lot of you don't like me - and you have good reason to - so what are you going to miss when I'm gone? Sue - hell, even Lucy - has more importance on this team than I do; we're not equals."

"That's not true."

"Oh, really? When Sue first arrived here, and we got a new supervisor, I thought that Sue would be the one to get fired, but then I found out later that it was supposed to be me."

Jack just stared at Myles. After five years, was he still being a prick to Sue? He thought for sure, they had a better working relationship.

Myles said, "Yeah, I knew all about that, but I sucked it up and decided to try and be a better teammate, and be a decent friend."

"Myles, listen. Without you on the team, we would fall apart. Like everybody else, you are an asset, and we consider you family here. Don't forget that. We would've been heartbroken if anything had happened to you today. Bobby and I are team leaders. We would've felt terrible, because we failed to keep you safe." He then sighed. "Now, despite some of your dumb decisions over the years, I've never written you up, but as team leader, I feel like it's necessary this time."

Myles looked at his team leader in understanding, but he still hated the fact that he was being punished for making a judgment call.

"Please, listen to orders next time. That's all I'm asking from you."

Myles thought for a moment. He nodded. Then he replied, "Okay, I can do that, but can I ask for something in return?"

Jack raised a brow. "Sure."

"If you don't think I can do my job, then have me fired, okay? What's the point of being here if my teammates cannot trust me? Trust me…that's all I'm asking of you."

Jack didn't say anything in return to Myles; instead, he grabbed his jacket, and directed his attention to Sue. "Did you want to reprimand him too?"

Sue smiled at Jack and said, "Go, honey. I'll only be here for five minutes. Wait for me in the car."

After Jack quickly pecked her lips and left, Sue decided to sit in Bobby's chair. She started, "I can tell you're about to have a panic attack. I can see it in your eyes. You're sweating at the forehead, and you shut down. I don't want to leave you alone while you're having one. Just take slow deep breaths."

Myles closed his eyes and did as he was told. He felt like he was dying every time he had one. It always seemed to happen at work, but he was grateful that Sue was always there to help him through it. Still, only she knew about them, and how terrible they could be. Levi even did his part, and went to comfort Myles as he went through the motions.

She asked, "Are you still seeing someone?"

Myles nodded in return as he stroked Levi's head.

"Maybe you should get yourself a service dog for times like this. If you do that, Levi will also have a friend." She paused momentarily before continuing, "Myles…I would like to thank you for helping me out with the case…and for saving my life."

Myles replied, "Well, I'm glad my sacrifice could be of service to you."

"I'm serious. The series of events would have still unfolded if you were not accompanying me during the interview. I would have received the same information from Louis, and would have still gone to that lab, but I would have been alone. I probably wouldn't have found that bomb, and I wouldn't be sitting here right now."

Myles continued to stare at her. She was right, and that was a thought he didn't want to concern himself with. She continued, "I know you were scared, but…thank you. And don't take anything Jack and Bobby say to heart; it's not personal. They were just scared, because you're not just their friend, you are family. You're like the weird middle child, and they love you."

Myles chuckled. "If you would've known what Bobby said to me at the truck earlier, I think you'd beg to differ."

"Oh - I read your lips. I knew exactly what kind of conversation you two were having."

Myles couldn't believe it. Her once innocent ears were now tarnished forever. "You are too good at your job…and…you're welcome. And…again…as always…could you keep this conversation, and attack between us?"

Sue nodded. "As much as I hate to, I always keep the promises you request." And Myles believed her; he trusted her. Even though they mostly saw each other at work, they spent a lot of time in staircases, telling each other secrets. There were things Myles would admit to her, and visa versa that not even Jack knew. For example, Sue admitted to Myles that she hated Jack's meatloaf. As for Myles, he told Sue years ago that he was bisexual, albeit he never told her if he liked any man in particular; she once joked to him that he liked Randy, but Myles didn't think that was funny and almost quit the FBI after that statement. That was their connection…keeping secrets…and this was another secret that could be added to their list.

Myles signed, "Thank you," to Sue, and she signed, "You're welcome."

Chapter 6 is next…