Part V

Vin blinked, not quite sure how he'd risen through the dark pain that had sucked him under. He'd been so focused on Chris and Evans and Standish, he'd forgotten to keep his guard up. It was a stupid mistake, and had nearly cost him his life. A sudden punch in his leg that pushed him off balance enough to send him to his back registered first. He'd cried out when he'd hit the floor, more from surprise than pain. Agony hit with the unexpected power of an explosion, blasting through his body and into his head before he could acknowledge that he'd been shot.

Darkness closed around him, sliding across his vision like lake waters lapping overhead. A touch registered briefly -- ten fingers sealing around his leg and clamping off the pain before it drove him over the edge. He caught his breath, felt the air moving in and out of his lungs in frantic spurts, then gradually easing into calm. The pain was gone.

Lifting his head from the floor, Vin studied the young empath taking away his discomfort. Dark head flung back, neck arched, corded muscles standing out in vivid relief through his throat; the young man's concentration remained unbroken through the sporadic bursts of gunfire that pinged and splattered around them. As he watched, the boy drew his head forward slowly until his chin rested tucked against his chest. Long lashes shadowed his eyes, accentuating his pale face.

A line appeared between his brows and his lips rolled inward against his teeth. Vin frowned, worried with the pain he could see in the kid's face. The empath released him and fell to his side, one hand reaching down to clamp around his own leg in the same location as Vin's injury. Vin sat up, amazed that his leg felt whole. Blood still seeped from the wound, but nothing hurt.

"Vin."

He whipped his head around at Ezra, suddenly right behind him. The shapeshifter had explained his abilities when Vin had released him, but he was still shocked to finally see the man in action.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah." He gestured toward JD. "But the kid isn't. I don't think he knows how to balance things, yet. He took it all, I don't feel a thing."

Ezra shifted around to his leg. Unwinding strips of cloth he must have taken from somewhere, he deftly began wrapping Vin's wound. He glanced at the young empath. "I knew he was here, but I never saw him. Evans talked about him, bragged about what a powerful empath he was." Finished with the bandage, Ezra patted Vin's leg. "Chris and the healer you told me about -- Nathan?" Waiting for Vin's nod, Ezra shifted to the edge of their hiding place and peered around the corner. "They're makinng their way over here." He glanced back at Vin. "Do you have a gun?"

Buck squeezed tighter into the small alcove he'd discovered. He'd hurtled over the tables when the gunfire had started, not realizing until he'd turned to look for him that JD hadn't followed. Vin's cry had stilled him from standing, and he'd hunched behind the tables, straining to look around them to see what was happening. The connection that had started the minute he'd become aware of JD hummed somewhere in the back of his mind. Normally unable to bond with an empath unless they'd trained together first, Buck wondered at the instant link that had been established between he and JD.

A wave of pain flowed through the connection. Buck groaned and grabbed his leg. Apparently, JD was trying to help Vin. "That's it, kid, you can do it." Whispering encouragement from behind his shelter, Buck relaxed and accepted whatever he could from JD. He frowned when the wave continued. He'd been trained to know when to stop. Taking away enough of a person's pain so that the person could function, and the empath was still coherent, was a careful balancing act every empath learned. Unfortunately, it didn't look as if JD had been taught that lesson yet.

Excruciating pain built in Buck's leg, then diminished as JD pulled all of it into himself. The link between them was new, untested. If he'd been training with JD he'd be able to take some of the discomfort, help bear some of the weight. But he couldn't do that without JD working on the other end, pushing Vin's pain toward him. Instead, JD had accepted all of the hurt, probably leaving Vin feeling no pain. And there was nothing Buck could do to help. Rising to his knees, he shifted to the edge of his cover and waited for a break in the gunfire.

It occurred to him that he'd been unable to totally take away a person's pain, like JD was doing now, until he'd been trained to reach beyond his normal abilities. He wondered if JD was really that powerful, or if it was something else. He and Chris had discovered, once they'd revealed their gifts to each other, that their powers were augmented when they worked together. Chris was able to summon a vision that involved Buck, when he'd been unable to do that with any of the other men they worked with at the ATF. Buck had found the ability to accept all of Chris' pain when he'd been injured, instead of just enough to keep him comfortable like he did with anyone else. And after they'd joined the Agency, they'd discovered the same magnification in Nathan and Vin; their abilities intensified when they were all together.

Maybe they'd just found someone else to add to their team.

It was over quickly. Ezra appeared behind Peek and the others and held them at gunpoint while Chris and Nathan moved out from behind the counter. Chris nodded at Ezra, an acceptance in his eyes which Ezra took as a 'thank you' that he'd probably never hear. Buck joined them and Nathan shifted around and made his way to Vin.

Vin lay against the floor, his body held perfectly still. Recognizing the intense expression on his face, Nathan left him alone and checked JD instead. The young empath lay curled on his side, his hand clutched tightly around his leg at the same spot where Vin had been shot. Touching him lightly on the shoulder, Nathan nudged him gently.

"Son? Can you hear me?"

Receiving no response, Nathan checked his breathing and heart rate. Though higher than normal, both were steady, so he turned back to Vin.

"Evans is leaving."

Realizing what Vin was listening to, Nathan shifted closer. "Josiah?"

Vin shook his head. "Evans left out the front -- Josiah is in back."

"If we could get a message to him --"

"It's too late." Vin fell back against the floor, one hand lifted to shield his eyes. "He just drove away. He's gone."

"Damn." Disappointment shaded Nathan's voice. He slumped to the floor beside Vin.

Chris handed Buck his phone. "Call Travis. Tell him to send an anonymous tip to the local boys in blue; they need to get out here and round up these yokels."

"Chris."

The leader leaned to look around Buck when Nathan called him.

"Vin says Evans got away. He used his hearing to follow him and heard him drive away."

A strange silence gripped the room -- failure an unwanted addition to their distress. Patting Buck on the shoulder as he walked past him, Chris muttered, "Tell TTravis," and hurried to Nathan. He indicated he'd heard Nathan's announcement and shifted to lean on one hip. "How bad is it?"

Following Chris' penetrating stare, Nathan dropped his gaze to Vin. "He's fine. The empath had already taken his pain away by the time I got here and I was able to work on him, get the healing process started."

Dropping to rest on his heels, Chris clasped the hand Vin offered and gripped his forearm before letting go and propping his arms on his thighs. "How's the boy?"

Nathan shook his head and reached to rest his hand on the young empath's dark head. He lay on his side, one hand still clutching his leg. "I can't reach him. I doubt he'll come to his senses again until Vin's leg is totally healed."

"How long will that take?"

"An hour at the most, since the bullet passed all the way through."

"Maybe I can help." Long legs navigating through his friends, Buck waded in and knelt beside the boy. He tossed the phone back to Chris.

"You left Standish with those crooks?"

Off Chris' incredulous look, Buck shrugged. "He seemed trustworthy to me."

"Buck, anyone who can disappear and reappear at will ain't to be trusted." Shoving himself to his feet, Chris turned and hurried back to Ezra.

Ignoring Chris' grumbling, Buck bent over the young empath. JD. Evans had called him Mr. Dunne, and the name 'JD' had come to him as easily as his own thoughts floating through his head. Brushing long hair back from the kid's face, Buck took in the grimacing mouth and eyes squeezed shut as if from pain. He remembered the first time he'd taken someone's pain into his own body, and the shocking agony that filled him up even though he wasn't hurt. Judging by what Evans had been putting JD through when they found him, this wasn't the first time JD had done this, but it seemed to be causing him far worse pain than it should.

Stretching out his arm, Buck covered JD's hand that gripped his leg with his own. He folded nearly double, his body sheltering JD's, and rested his other hand on the boy's head. Touch wasn't necessary, but it would help JD feel his presence even more.

The link he'd felt whispering in the back of his mind since discovering this building stirred back to life. JD's awareness, his presence, opened up in his head. Gently, Buck reached out, offering his help through the connection and showing JD what to do. With a rush that took away his breath, some of the pain transferred to him. Unprepared for the abrupt acceptance and reaction from the younger empath, Buck grunted. He dropped his hand from JD and clutched his own leg, thumping so hard to the ground that his tailbone cracked against the floor.

"Buck?"

Catching his breath, Buck glanced at Nathan before pulling his eyes back to JD. The kid moved and his eyes blinked open.

"I'm okay. Just took me by surprise is all."

Apparently satisfied, the healer turned to JD. "Son? You all right?"

"JD." Buck waited for Nathan to look at him. "His name's JD."

JD shifted to sit up, confusion knotting his eyebrows together. One hand squeezed his leg carefully, then he looked at Buck. "How'd you do that?"

"Feels better, don't it?"

"Yeah!" JD smiled, relief shoving away his confusion.

"That's what empaths do for each other." Buck stuck out one hand, his other still rubbing at his leg. "Name's Buck." He grinned as JD shook his hand with enthusiasm. "This here's Nathan, and the man who was shot that you helped is Vin."

"Thanks, JD." Rolling to his hip, Vin offered his hand and JD took it.

Nathan watched the young man carefully, looking for signs of his earlier distress. Obviously he'd recovered from whatever Evans had put him through. His eyes narrowed as his gaze traveled to Buck. Dark circles shadowed the man's eyes and he leaned to one side, favoring his left leg; the same leg Vin had wounded. JD clutched his left leg, too, but didn't seem to be affected nearly as much as Buck. Apparently Buck had accepted more than just the bullet wound into his body. Keeping his observations to himself, Nathan wondered at the protectiveness Buck was exhibiting for the young empath.

"Sirens." Vin sat up straighter, his expression folding into lines of concentration. "Police are close, we need to get out of here."

Chris joined them, Ezra right behind. He gestured over his shoulder. "They won't be going anywhere, so we're good to go." He lifted his chin toward JD then looked at Ezra. "Least we can do is drop you two off. Where can we take you, kid? Where's home?"

Squirming when all eyes turned to him, JD dropped his gaze to the floor. "Don't really have one. I met up with Dr. Evans between hotels, I guess you could say."

Buck cleared his throat in the silence that followed. "What about family? Is there someone we can contact for you?"

"No. My Mom died about half a year ago. I don't have any aunts or uncles that I know of. Both grandparents died when I was young."

"Guess you'll have to come with us, then, for now." Chris' rough tone couldn't disguise the kindness in his offer. "Ezra? How 'bout it? You need a place to stay?"

"I appreciate the offer, Mr. Larabee. I seem to be 'between hotels' at the moment, as well."

Chris frowned and pulled Vin to his feet. "It's just 'Chris', and you're welcome to join us. For awhile, at least." He waited until they were all on their feet. "Let's go home."

Part VI