They turned as one at the sound of a child's voice. Looking up at them was a soot-covered, shivering little boy. "I can't find her. Superman told me to find her."

Superman? Yeah, a kid would think of a firefighter as Superman. Made sense. Chris shook his head and focused on the immediate task. "Hello there. My name is Chris, and I'll bet you're Tony."

"You know where my mommy is?" His lower lip began to quiver, and Josiah quickly scooped him up and hugged him gently.

"We sure do. How 'bout I take you over there right now? She's been mighty worried. Bet she's gonna be real happy to see you."

"That's just what Superman said."

"Superman? Is he one of the firefighters?" Nathan was wondering how the boy could have been rescued but not returned to his mother. Must have been brought out by a neighbour and lost in all the confusion.

"No. He's the man who found me."

Vin's head snapped up. "Found you? Where?"

"In my room. He broke the door open just like Superman and carried me out. When the boom happened we just flew out the window. But he didn't have his cape on, so we didn't fly real good. He told me his coat worked kinda like the cape when he put me in it. It was the wrong colour though. And he wasn't wearing it, so maybe that's why it didn't work and we kinda fell more the flied…" He pointed to the ground where he'd dropped the burgundy leather jacket. "I want my mommy."

Josiah had stopped walking and now looked at the child, trying to reign in his excitement for fear of scaring him. "Where is Superman now?"

"Back there. Where we landed. He told me to find my mommy, then he fell asleep. I tried to wake him up, but I couldn't. Hey - where are you all going? Wait - where's my mommy?"

Josiah passed the boy over to the captain and joined the others running to the back alley where Tony had pointed. Debris from the explosion was scattered over the alley, and water had turned the area to a muddy mess.

"Ezra?"

"Ezra where are you?"

"Answer me Standish." They were all shouting and searching frantically.

"Here! Nathan, Chris, here!" Buck bent down, pulling some charred plasterboard aside. "Ezra, can you hear me?"

Nathan was running forward, leaping over anything that got in his way. "Don't touch him Buck."

"Yes, for the love of God, don't touch me." Ezra's voice gasped out in agreement.

"Well that's about the sweetest sound I've heard today." Josiah laughed as he spoke.

JD ran back up the alley, shouting for medics.

"The boy, Anthony. Is he safe?"

"With his mom by now." Chris assured him. "Can't wait to hear with the rest of this story."

"You'll have to." Nathan intervened. "Ezra, you need to stay as still and calm as you can."

"I believe I can handle those instructions."

"Can you tell me where you hurt?"

He got a rather steely, if somewhat hooded, glare. "There is an area on the back of my left hand and the pinky and ring fingers adjacent."

That didn't make any sense to any of them. "That's where you're hurting?"

"No Josiah. That appears to be the only part of my person that is not currently in excruciating pain."

Nathan grinned. "That's good to hear."

A rasping cough escaped him as he tried to voice his objection to the comment. "Must you take such sadistic pleasure in my discomfort?"

"Was more afraid after the blast and fall like that that you wouldn't be feeling much of anything Ezra."

"All things considered, I'm not certain at this moment that would be a bad thing."

"Trust me. It would be. Sounds like your head's still on straight too." Buck, like most of them, was grinning like a maniac. Nathan wasn't quite as pleased with what he was seeing and hearing.

"Seriously Ezra, where is the pain?"

Closing his eyes for a moment to review his injuries, Ezra finally shrugged, causing another spasm of pain followed by more coughing. "Chest and head are the worst, but nothing is exactly feeling up to par."

Nathan's concern deepened as he saw what little colour there was suddenly drain from Ezra's face. "You okay? What's wrong?"

"Why have I not heard from Vin? He made it out, didn't he?" Ezra's chest tightened even further at the thought and his breath was now coming in short gasps.

"I'm right here Pard." Vin choked out. "I was just kind of afraid to talk in case this was a dream."

"You are alright?"

As gently as he could, he took hold of Ezra's hand. "I am now."

Medics were at Ezra's side before anything else could be said and almost before anyone could fully register what was happening he was loaded into an ambulance and they watched it speed away.

"What do you think Nathan?"

"Well, he seems a little groggy but basically alert. And as much as I hate to say it, the fact it is hurting so bad is a good sign. Means he likely didn't do any nerve damage with that hard landing."

"Thank God for alley garbage." Buck observed.

"Yeah. He could still be in some trouble though Chris. His breathing was pretty strained, and the medics didn't seem too thrilled with his BP. Internal injuries can't be figured out just by looking at someone."

"Okay, what are we all standing around here for? Let's get going."

Buck turned to leave but stopped when he saw Vin sitting, slumped against the wall. "Vin? Are you alright? Damn it, did you get hurt in all of this?"

Vin's voice was barely above a whisper. "I was so sure he was dead. I was so sure."

"We all were. One of these days he's going to run out of second chances, but this ain't that day." Chris squatted next to Vin. "He's going to be okay. How about you?"

"I think so. I just can't seem to get my mind to accept this."

"Then let's go see him. That should reassure all of us." He stood reaching a hand down to help his friend to his feet.

They made their way around front were their exit was temporarily blocked by the fire chief.

"Tell your man I appreciate not having to fill out extra death certificates on this one. But if I ever catch any of you running into a burning building again…" He smiled warmly at them. "Glad things worked out for you. Gotta say I was not expecting that."

"That's because you don't know Ezra." JD grinned.

7-7-7-7-7-7-7

They sat in the waiting room, watching for the nurse to come and assure them Ezra was going to be fine and could have visitors. All they knew at this point was that he was a mass of cuts and contusions, and likely had a few breaks to deal with as well, although confirmation on all of that was still pending. There was definitely a concussion along with a few first-degree burns and of some concern, smoke inhalation. They had been told it might be some time before there was any update on his status, but no one had anywhere else they needed to be other than with each other.

Fatigue was starting to set in as the stress of the day caught up to them. Both Vin and Chris had their eyes closed even though both were awake and aware. JD's eyes were closed as well, but the occasional soft snore left no doubt as to his status. It took the others a moment to notice the young woman coming into the room.

"Mr. Tanner?" Vin's eyes snapped open as he hurried to his feet.

"Karen, isn't it? How's Tony doing?"

She began to cry before she could speak, and Vin's face fell. Ezra was never going to forgive himself if something had gone wrong.

Karen saw the look and spoke quickly. "No, he's fine. I'm sorry to worry you. He's going to be just fine. They want to keep him under observation for now, but all things considered he's fine. Dear God, he's alive, and that is so much more than… I don't know – there's just no way I can ever thank you."

"I didn't do anything."

"You stopped. You and you friend stopped. How is he? Will he be alright?" She asked anxiously, somewhat afraid of the answer.

Josiah spoke up. "Ezra is a survivor. He'll be fine, just like Tony."

"Yeah," Buck added, "he'll be sore for a few days, but takes more than something like this to slow him down." There was some truth to that. Ezra had been in far too many hospital beds for the team not to know his resilience.

"Tony can't stop talking about Superman. He says he flew out of the window just like in his comic books."

"Let's just hope Tony doesn't get any ideas about trying that on his own." JD understood that temptation, having succumbed to it himself at an early age. His friends had been envious of the brightly coloured cast.

"Oh, I think the whole experience has cured him of any desire to do that. Do you think he could come by and thank Mr.…?"

"Standish. Ezra. He'll probably be here for a couple of days, so maybe you tow could come by in the morning." Vin suggested.

Knowing Ezra might not be up for visitors right away, Nathan piped up with an alternate plan. "And if that doesn't work, you can bring him by the ATF offices when Ezra's back at work. I have no doubt he'd like to see the boy."

Still at somewhat of a loss for what to say, Karen merely nodded her gratitude again before slipping away to return to her son's bedside. The interruption over, each man went back to his waiting post, settling in for what was looking to be a long night.

Josiah slid down in his seat, eyes mere slits as he unobtrusively observed the others. Given the circumstances, everybody appeared to be acting precisely as expected. There was no denying there was some tension in the room, and odds were it wouldn't fully dissipate until Ezra walked out of the hospital. Still, they had talked with him in the alleyway and things looked promising. It took minimal effort to spot the one man on the team who still wasn't remotely comfortable with the situation. Vin might look relaxed – it was unusual when he didn't. But anyone who knew him and was paying enough attention now could see that façade was thin, and in danger of crumbling at any moment. The only question remaining was whether or not this was the time and place to challenge him on his concerns.

That question was taken out of play when the ER room door open and the call went out for anyone here for Ezra. Six men were on their feet and moving toward the door in a single wave that made the young attending doctor take a half step back before regaining his control.

"We wanted to let you know Mr. Standish has been taken to surgery." He looked at the men for a moment before speaking again. "Does he have any family in the area? Any next of kin we can be contacting?"

M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7

tbc