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Rating:   PG - 13.  Mild profanity.
Disclaimer:  They ain't mine.  I'm just borrowing them for a while.  No actual characters were injured for this fic.  I'll put them back nicely, when I'm done.  Nobody is giving me a dime for this either.  There is that German chocolate cake I was promised, but it ain't showed up yet either.
Author's notes:    This is for Cassie's birthday challenge.  Mr Larabee visited me at work today, and this is what he told me.  Thanks Mog, for thinking up this little world.

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Chris Larabee was engrossed in the blueprints he was reading, with the leader of Team 3.  Their teams were inside, mopping up from the bust.  Each pair of agents had been assigned a sector of the building.  Nobody searched alone, just in case.  Chris and Mike Stuart were marking off sections of the blueprint, as each 2 man squad checked in.  It had only been an hour, and their crackerjack teams had already searched half of the building.

Chris heard Buck in his ear.  "Our sector's clear.  JD and I are gonna see if Vin and Ezra need a hand.  Out."

Chris pointed to a spot on the blueprint.   "Sector 6 is clear."

Mike marked the area in red.  Both men were looking forward to unwinding down at the saloon with their agents in a few hours.

Then, without warning, everything went to hell.  Chris and Mike were blown off there feet, by series of explosions that rocked the buildings across the street from their command station.

"Shit!"  Chris cursed, as he and Mike struggled to get to their feet.  Dust was swirling and both men took shelter from the debris that was raining down on them.  Their hearts were in their throats, as they frantically tried to reach their team members.

Chris started racing towards the building, when Mike grabbed his arm and held fast.  "Larabee, get it together.  You can't go in there.   We've got to keep our heads on straight, if we're gonna get our guys out alive." Stuart's words were urgent.  He knew what had happened to Chris's family, and how agonizing this had to be for the agent.  But, they didn't have time for Chris's demons right now.  The lives of their teams and countless civillians hung in the balance.

Mike's words cut through the haze of agony in Chris's heart.  He nodded sharply at the other agent and flipping open his cell phone began calling for emergency assistance.

"This is Special Agent Larabee, with the ATF.  We're at the corner of Greenlow and Victoria Blvds.  I'm declaring a Class 1 emergency.  We need the fire department, paramedics, and the FBI.  Have all the hospitals in the area stand by for multiple trauma victims.  We've got at least a dozen ATF agents, and God knows how many other victims.  We have multiple explosions and fires."  Chris's voice was cool and calm, with no trace of the panic he was feeling.

Mike was already triaging the victims, who'd begun to pour from the 3 buildings across the street.  Traffic had come to a complete standstill and the occupants of the vehicles abandoned them in the middle of the street, as they came to offer their help to the dazed survivors.

Chris flipped his phone shut, but stuck it in his pocket.   He would not be without access to help, should any of his team require it.   He scanned the building he'd sent his team into only hours ago.  God, please let them be alright.  As if someone had heard his prayer, Josiah and Nathan stumbled out of the building.  Josiah's right arm hung limply at his side, and Nathan was clinging unsteadily to the big agent.  But, they were both alive and it looked to Chris, like they were going to stay that way.

Two down, only four left.  Chris ran forward to help his two men.  "Are you okay?"  He shouted above the din.

"We're banged up some, but we'll be fine, Chris."  Nathan's assessment of their conditions matched his own, bringing a measure of relief to the agent.

"Any word of our brothers?"  Josiah's deep voice cut through the relief Chris was feeling.

"No."  He shook his head.  "I'm going to coordinate with Mike, and see where we need to direct our search.  You two go wait for the paramedics." Chris knew, even as he directed his agents to the triage area, that they wouldn't be waiting for paramedics.  No, these two men would be trying to aid the other victims, the second Chris turned his back.  He'd never been prouder to have them on his team.

The fire department was beginning to arrive, and Mike and Chris gladly turned the logistics over to the first truck on the scene.  They knew, that the civilians would have the fire department's priority.   Their teams were only priority to them.

Three members of Team 3 struggled out of the building.  Chris and Mike ran to them.  Chris took hold of Vince Dawson, while Mike aided Charlie Brooks.  Ed Turner looked to be uninjured, but they'd have him checked out anyway.  Just in case..

"Mike, they're gone.  They were there, and then they were gone.  All 3 of them Mike."  Turner was choking with emotion.

Damn!  Damn!  Damn!   Chris was in agony.  Three men, good men, gone just like that.  And, he thought.  Thank God, it wasn't my team.   Mike's team had been searching the ground floor, where the explosion had done the most damage.

Just then, Chris spied JD and Buck struggling through the rubble.  Buck's left arm was bleeding badly, and JD was limping and holding his ribs, but they didn't look too bad, he thought hopefully.   Damn!  Where the hell were Vin and Ezra?

Buck gave him a tired smile, as Chris settled Vince to the ground and turned back to his own team.   "Hey, Chris" Buck called weakly.

Chris smiled and hugged his men.  His voice broke, as he tried to ease the tightness in his chest with humor.  "Cutting it a mite close there, aren't you pard?"

"Gotta keep the kid on his toes."  Buck responded, not entirely able to keep the pain out of his voice.

"C-Chris, where's the others?"  JD's only words, were of concern for his team members.  The only real family any of them had.  Well, if you didn't count Maude.

"Josiah and Nathan are okay.  I haven't heard from Vin or Ezra, yet."  JD and Buck could hear the worry and the pain in his voice, as he continued. "Team 3 lost Baker, Wilson and Andrews."  Chris had to turn away, as he thought of those good men, gone forever, and his own missing team members.

"They're okay.  I know they are."  JD's voice was as full of emotion, as Chris's was.

"Yeah kid.  They have to be."  Buck patted JD's hand with his right hand, as Nathan arrived and began to apply pressure to the large gash on Buck's left arm.

"Good to see you,  pard."  Buck made eye contact with Nathan.

"You too."  Nathan responded softly, letting his eyes wash over his two comrades.

Just then, a tall figure covered from head to toe, with plaster dust made his way towards them.

"Ezra.  You alright?"   Josiah's rich voice rang out as he made his way to the undercover agent's side.

"No, Mr. Sanchez.  I am most certainly not "alright."  I've just been blown up, I'm filthy and I've got a splitting headache."  The southerner quickly noted the missing team member.   "Where's Mr. Tanner?"  His voice held a note of fear.

"We haven't seen him.  Weren't you supposed to be together?"  Chris's tone was cold.  He was trying hard not to blame the southerner, but his fear for Vin, was overriding everything else, including his sense of fairness.

"I can assure you Mr. Larabee, Mr. Tanner and I were adhering to  procedure." Ezra's voice, was equally cold.  "We were checking the last room in our sector, when we were seperated by the explosion.  I attempted to ascertain Mr. Tanner's position, but was unable to locate him.  I was hoping, he would have found his way out of the ruins by now."  Six pairs of eyes scanned the rubble, searching for any sign of the quiet young man, who meant so much to them all.

"I'm not just going to stand around here waiting anymore."  Chris's voice was desperate.

The others watched helplessly, as he attempted to enter the building, and was forcibly prevented, by two police officers.  "Sir, I'm sorry, the foundation is unsteady, and we can't let you go in there."  A young officer was trying to explain to an angry Chris, that they had to wait for equipment to shore up the building, to make it safe, before he'd be allowed to enter.

Chris was equally intent on explaining to the officer, that he had no intention of waiting for anything.  One of his men was in that building, and Chris was gonna find him.

Josiah made his way to Chris's side, and rested one of his huge, gentle, hands on Chris's shoulder.  "Brother Larabee, we have to trust in the Lord - and the Denver fire department."  He gently pulled Chris towards the 4 men watching with pained expressions.

None of them had noticed, a slight figure covered with dust, coming around the corner of the building.  Until JD, trying to hide his tears from his team members, screamed. "VIN!!"  He was pointing to the corner of the building.

The others looked hopefully in the direction JD was pointing.  It was Vin. He was cradling his right arm, and leaning against the building for support every few steps, but it was Vin and he was alive.

Chris and Josiah were sprinting towards him.  Nathan took a moment to warn JD, Ezra, and Buck who were struggling to their feet.  "Ya'll stay put."  He told them fiercely, as he was already following the other two.

Chris got to Vin first and caught him, just as he tripped over a board.  "Whoa there, cowboy."  Chris laughed and hugged him.  His voice was hoarse with emotion as he told him softly,  "I can't afford those ten years, pard."

Vin managed a tired smile, as Josiah took careful hold of his right side. "Good to have you back, Brother Tanner."  Together Chris and Josiah raised the younger agent to his feet.  Nathan took one look at him, and told the other two to get him over with the other's waiting for the paramedics.

Nathan gave Vin a once over, and reported, "Feels like his collarbone's broke, and he's got a bruise from about here," he pointed to the top of his head, "to about here," and he pointed to his foot.  "Other than that, I think he's okay."

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Forty Eight hours later:

It was a sorry looking bunch, that gathered in Conference Room 1 on the 4th floor of the Denver Federal Building.  A large bandage spread out from under Buck's short sleeved shirt, on his left arm.Nathan was sporting several large bandages and a black eye.  Josiah's right arm was in a sling and his bottom lip was split.  Ezra had a large bandage, covering the back of his head.  Nathan didn't have any bandages showing, but the other's had seen the huge bruises on his legs.  JD's open collar afforded a peek at the large bandage wrapped tightly around his ribs, and he was sporting a pair of crutches, for his badly spained ankle.  Vin's right arm was in a sling. Nathan's diagnoses of a broken collarbone had been dead on.  The entire right side of his body was bruised.  His right eye was still swollen shut, and that side of his face was a mix of purple and black.

Chris strode into the room, with a folder in his hand.  He looked totally relaxed. The guys sat up a little straighter in their chairs, anticipating what he had to say.

"We just got the word.  FBI definitely ruled out any kinda bomb."  Chris's tone was upbeat.  He was still so damned relieved, at having his whole team safe and relatively sound, that it was hard to keep a professional note to his voice.

"What the hell happened then?"  Buck demanded.

"Some idiot forgot to check with the city, before he started using digging. He dug up a natural gas pipe."  There was a note of anger in Chris's voice now. Nothing made him as angry as stupidity, especially when it cost good men their lives.

The room was immediately filled with tension, as the 7 men thought of their brother agents, dead because of one man's stupidity.  The room was silent for a long time, and JD was beginning to feel uneasy.   He decided to say something, anything, to ease the tension.

"Uhm, Chris?"  He began.

"What is it, JD?"  Chris snapped.

"Uh, I just wanted to tell you, Buck and I ordered you something for your birthday, but we sorta forgot to pick it up, what with everything that's been going on.  And, we were planning on giving it to you tonight at the saloon, but the place is closed till Monday."

Chris's face softened and his tone was kind, as he looked around the room at the bandaged, bruised men.   He made eye contact with JD and told him gently, "It's okay, JD.  I already got my gift."

            THE END.

Yeah, I know it was kinda sappy (Cassie did start this, you know.)  And you probably saw that last line coming 10 miles away.  But, at least it's done and only 1 day late.  Not bad for me.         Kim
 
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