Down and Out
“Standish, you’re late!”
Ezra acknowledged Larabee’s bellow with a nod before saying, “My alarm clock was not functioning properly this morning.”
“Whatever, get you butt in here,” Chris spun around and marched into the briefing room to await the last member of his team. Chris was so caught up in the files he was reviewing, that he missed the looks the rest of his team shared.
Ezra had been having a bad six months. First getting shot, then a bout of pneumonia that he still wasn’t total healed from, and the last case had been brutal. For the last two weeks, Ezra had come to the office looking more and more run done. Yesterday the case had been wrapped up, but it looked there was going to be no down time for the weary undercover agent.
Chris had troubles of his own and wasn’t paying that much attention to the other members of his team. Last week had been his anniversary, and this week was the anniversary of their deaths. Every night he went home to be ambushed be the memories.
When he heard, Ezra take his seat he looked up and glanced at his men, “Now that we’re finally all here, let’s get started on our next case.” Chris quickly passed around the files he had been holding. Half an hour later, he wound down the meeting and dismissed them.
Ezra waited until most of the others had left before pushing himself to his feet, but Nathan, the only other person left in the room, caught him before he got out the door.
“Ezra, how are you feeling?”
Turning he gave Nathan a tight smile, “I am quite well, Mr. Jackson.”
“You don’t look it,” Nathan groused coming closer to his potentially patient.
“I assure you, Mr. Jackson, that I…” Ezra broke off as a strange feeling came over him.
“Ezra?” Nathan said moving faster around the table.
Ezra looked at the team medic, wondering why he sounded so far away. Opening his mouth he tried to reassure him, but he never got the chance before the whole world went black.
Nathan was just turning the corner around the table when he saw Ezra’s eyes roll up in his head and the man collapsed.
“Chris, Buck! You guys get back in here! And one of you grab my bag,” Nathan shouted as he started to loosen Ezra’s tie and collar.
<<<~7~>>><<<~7~>>>
Nathan met the others as they walked into the Emergency Waiting Room.
“Nathan, what the hells going on?” Chris demanded.
“Well, from what the doctor’s said, Ezra blacked out from exhaustion and low blood sugar. Chris, I watched as they got his clothes off. He has to have lost at least five pounds in the last two weeks and he never regained the weight he lost from the pneumonia.”
Sighing in frustration, Chris ran his hand threw his hair. “I’ve been so wrapped up the last couple of weeks, I didn’t notice anything.”
“Yeah, we kid of noticed you were a little preoccupied, and Ezra wouldn’t say a word, of course,” Buck said.
Nodding, Chris asked, “When are they going to let Ezra out of here?”
“They want to run a few tests, but barring something unforeseen, he should be out of here by late this afternoon,” Nathan informed him.
“All right. I’m going to take him out to the ranch for a while. I’ll make sure he gets enough to eat and enough sleep.”
“Ezra’s going to fight you on that, ya’ know,” Vin pointed out.
“Yeah, but I should have caught this before it got this far,” Chris asserted.
“We all should have, brother. And we’re all going to help you take care of him for a while, too,” Josiah said, Nathan, Buck, Vin, and JD all nodding along with him.
Six members of ATF Team Seven waited to take their seventh home, all of them making plans as to the fastest way to get him back on his feet. This was definitely a team project.
