The afternoon was softly slipping into night. The darkness outside took away much of the harshness of the artificial light inside the hospital room. In here most of the lights were turned off though, only the bedside lamp was spreading a semi circle of light on the two men occupying the bed.
Buck had known for some time now that Ezra was awake again. But he figured they both needed a litte time to adjust. For a brief moment, he had closed his eyes and just focused on the feel of Ezra in his arms, and allowed himself a shortlived fantasy of it all being a bad dream. The fantasy was fed as Ezra had reacted just as he always did when he woke to find himself in Buck's arms, cuddling up closer and burrowing into the warmth of Buck's larger body. It only lasted for a moment though.
Feeling the tense muscles and distress in his lover, Buck merely tightened his arms around the younger man, whispering into his ear.
"It's ok, it's just you and me here. You just relax, love."
The small endearment came unbidden. Over the few months they had had together, the small spoken tokens of affection had become a natural enhancement of his feelings when they were alone. At this time, Buck was hardly aware what he had said.
An elegant, tanned and slightly trembling hand curled around Buck's arm. It took a moment longer for the fingers to fasten around the cotton covered arm.
"Are... I mean... Who are you?"
The quiet, desperate question nearly broke Buck's heart. It could just as easily be reversed, but he knew it was less frightening to focus on Buck right now, than the fact that Ezra's memory was gone and that right now he didn't even know who he himself was.
The room proved little of distraction. White walls, curtains in a mixture of green, blue and grey. Assorted apparatus and machinery. A few this and that's placed here and there to try and add a more homely touch. A green plant in a brown ceramic pot standing in the window. It looked like most any recovery room that Buck had been in.
"Well," he started, brows knitting together as he tried to find the right words. He suddenly realised that he hadn't told Ezra his name, it just hadn't entered his mind before the question came. He had just been there, providing comfort and support all the way. The only time he had been forced to leave the room was during the physical examination. The result of that examination still haunted Buck. Taking a deep breath, he started talking.
"My name's Buck. Buck Wilmington. Or James Wilmington if you'd like the official version. We work together, as agents with the ATF." A movement caught his eyes and he realised that he was gently stroking Ezra's back. He paused slightly, attempting to explain their personal relationship. The hand stayed where it was.
"You and me, we're... We're... Well, I don't like the term boyfriends, but I guess that's what we are."
Silence.
Buck was starting to become nervous. "Look, I'm not any good at explanations. Words and all are more your area. We've been working together for a little over a year and we've been together for about four months now..."
"Oh."
"Yeah. The rest of the guys don't know," Buck continued. Then he gave a small, helpless smile. "Well, they do now...at least Chris and JD do. Chris is the team leader, by the way. JD takes care of the tech stuff. You're our undercover agent, and I..." he stopped. "Guess that's not what you most want to know, right? Most important thing about our team is that we're all friends. We take care of each other. We're family."
Falling silent, Buck hoped Ezra wouldn't ask about his real family. He wasn't sure he'd be able to talk about Maude without letting his feelings towards the lady in question slip through. And that was the last thing his lover needed right now. As far as Buck was concerned, Team Seven was the only family Ezra needed.
The next question surprised him.
"Who is Travis?"
"You mean Orin Travis?" Buck mentally slapped himself. "Uh, he's our boss."
The surprise didn't last long. And it was somewhat comforting to see the familiar way in how Ezra was dealing with this. He had retreated to a place he felt safe and was now going through the events in his head; evaluations, solutions and outcomes.
"He said that Mr. Travis was the one to blame for what had happened."
"What? Ez, that's a lie...!"
"I know."
"You...know?"
"At least I did. When he told me. I knew he was lying."
"Who told you, darling?" Buck hardly dared to move.
"The man in the..." Buck could hear a quick, pained gasp. "Oh my God... He's..." The small outburst ended in a flat 'no'. Then Ezra turned his head and hid his face against Buck's shoulder. "I don't remember," he mumbled, almost mechanically.
Hugging the smaller man to him, Buck couldn't help the litte burst of hope he felt. The memories were still there. Something had happened in the warehouse that could be the key to the lock keeping Ezra's memory away. All they had to do was to find out what.
The waiting room was filled with people. Kurtz busied himself with looking through the files he was carrying as he walked past. A quick glance up told him where room 437 was and he filed the information away for later use. He easily recognized five of Team Seven's members, wondering briefly where the sixth one was. He'd done his research on the team, scanning their faces through his mind, he came up with the name for the one missing, except Standish.
The brown coloured eyes caught the youngest team member out of their corners.
JD Dunne. And the mysteriously non-present Buck Wilmington. The two that had found the cabin. He'd best take care of them too, just to be on the safe side. Stopping just past the door, he paused. He occasionally flipped the file, to make it look like he was still reading. Concentrating he was just able to pick up the conversation in the waiting room. In his mind he matched voice to face, playing the scene inside his head.
"What do you think about what the doc said, Nathan?"
There was a small pause, then the medic's voice followed.
"I think he's right. I don't know much about amnesia, but familiar surroundings can't hurt. Hopefully Ezra will feel more safe in his own home than here, maybe that can trigger his memory."
"Buck'll be staying with him." The same youthful voice continued.
A smile made its way over Kurtz' face. He might just be able to kill two flies with one swat. Things were looking up. He'd be out of the country in a week at the most. All he had to do was to kill Standish, Dunne and Wilmington first.
Chris had gotten up from his seat. "Guys, there is something you need to know. Buck and Ez should be the ones telling you this, but you all better know about it... The two of them, Buck and Ezra, they're together."
He got the 'I do have eyes, you know' look from Vin that he had expected, and it nearly made him smile. Nathan nodded.
"Buck told me."
JD settled for just nodding as well. Josiah sat back with a pleased smile.
"Guess hitting them over the head with a two-by-four won't be necessary after all then."
"Josiah!" JD's look made them all chuckle. Then the darkhaired agent smiled too. "Yeah, I know." He leaned back and sighed. "There wouldn't be any chance that we can ditch the paperwork on Team Two or something, would it, Chris?"
The team leader sighed. "I wouldn't count on it, JD. Considering how they feel about playing back-up to us, I don't think that'd go over real well."
"Worth a shot." JD shrugged. "Don't think I'm going to be much use filling out a rapport right now."
"You and me both," came from Josiah. The large profiler had a soft spot for the Southerner, they all knew that. "At least we stopped Donovan and his people."
Nathan had been quiet for a while, looking worried. "What do we do about the knife?" he asked suddenly, bringing the room to silence. "The knife we found, with Ezra's prints on it."
Vin glared at him. "He didn't do it, Nate. I don't care how his finger prints got on the knife, Ez didn't kill that guy."
"There's evidence that Carder might have tried to...rape him. I don't think any of us knows how we'd react in a situation like that... That could also very well be the reason for his memory loss."
"He didn't do it, Nathan." Vin's voice was low and cold. "And if you believe what you just said, then you've got no reason for being in here."
Josiah's hand landed on Vin's shoulder. "This isn't the time, boys."
"But he thinks Ez killed that guy!" Upset blue eyes were turned to face the older man. "You saw the body, 'Siah. Do you really think that Ezra is capable of doing something like that to someone, no matter what they did?"
"No," Josiah had to admit. "I don't."
Turning back to glare at Nathan, Vin leaned back with his arms crossed over his chest. "Neither do I. Or anyone else in here besides you, Nathan. And as soon as Ez gets his memory back, he'll tell you what really happened and you'll see how wrong you are."
Buck had just finished telling the story of how Ezra and he had come to be together before he got the question he had been waiting for.
"Are you mad at me for not remembering? For not remembering this...us?"
"No," Buck honestly answered, brushing his fingers through Ezra's hair. "Because you do remember, even if you can't tell. I know you, Ez, you wouldn't be here with me in this bed, if you didn't at some level at least, know me."
"It's a good thing you know me then," Ezra sighed, leaning his head to Buck's shoulder. "Because right now, I don't."
"We'll figure it out, I promise."
"I wish I shared your faith, Teddy."
A wide smile spread over Buck's face at the words. "You will, Ez, you will. You just called me Teddy. You gave me that nickname, noone else knows about it." Pressing a kiss into the auburn locks, he blinked away tears. "Nobody else."
"I did." Ezra sounded as stunned as Buck felt. "It's... It was your middle name...you hate it. It's...Theodore!"
A few tears slipped away. "Yeah," Buck smiled. "And you found out and didn't stop teasing me about it for a whole week . Then you told me that I reminded you of a teddy bear you'd had while you were a kid, one that got lost."
"I loved that bear."
"I know you did, love."
They sat in silence for a while, just holding each other.
"It's just so frustrating," Ezra then sighed. "Every time I think I have a grasp at....something, it disappears again, leaving me with only fractions of it... But if I remembered that, it must mean that my memory is coming back, doesn't it, Buck?"
He sounded so hopeful that Buck couldn't do anything else but agree.
"I'm sure it does, Ezra."
The small bedside lamp couldn't hold off the darkness any longer. Midnight had come and gone. Dr. Corbett had been by on two occasions, telling them that their colleagues were still out there in the waiting room. He had left it up to Ezra to decide if he wanted to see them just yet.
"Do you feel up to meeting them?" Buck asked, studying Ezra's face. The conflicting emotions were easy to see. "I know Josiah must be wanting to see for himself that you're ok real bad."
Ezra had a safe, nearly frantic grip on Buck's hand. "Maybe I could see him... Just him, to begin with?"
"Sounds like a good idea," Buck agreed. "I'll tell the doc to get him, ok?" He almost changed his mind as he met the wide, frightened green eyes.
"Ok."
Carefully easing out of the bed, Buck watched Ezra turn to look out of the window. Funny how he had never really noticed just how small the man actually was. Or at least how small he seemed right then. Again Buck almost changed his mind and climbed back in that bed and just kept holding his lover to him forever more.
In the end, Buck gathered his resolve and went to find Dr. Corbett. Leaving the room he nearly walked straight into an orderly carrying a stack of files. He mumbled a quick apology and turned down the hall to nurses' station. He never saw the orderly staring after him.
Seeing the tall, darkhaired man disappear out of sight, Kurtz quickly made his mind up. Maybe he could solve one of his problem right here at the hospital. He dumped the files in a near-by trash bin, along with the white coat. Checking that noone saw him he slipped into the room and shut the door after him.
It took his eyes a little while to adjust to the lack of light. At the sound of the door clicking shut he could see the man sitting on the bed straightening, tensing his shoulders. Then he turned. Green eyes went wide at the sight of him. Kurtz smiled.
"Remember me, little man?" He shook his head. "Nah, I didn't think so. After all, you were unconscious the last time I saw you." The revolver came up as Kurtz attached the silencer with easy, experienced movements.
"I heard what happened to Mr. Donovan...can't say that I'm surprised, he never was quite right in the head." He cocked his head to the side. "They didn't tell you? Well, Mr. Donovan is quite dead., I believe. Which you will be too, pretty soon."
Looking down to check the gun, he then raised it and took aim at the bed. It was empty.
"Now where did you go?" Kurtz mumbled, staying still with the gun in his hand. A sound from behind him, made him smile. "Clever boy..."
But before he could turn around something struck him in the back, sending him crashing to the floor. The blow was hard enough to momentarily stun him and leaving him immobile. Flipping over to his beck he saw the chair laying next to him on the floor. Then he discovered the open door.
"Well, you know how the saying goes," Kurtz muttered, pushing himself to his feet. "You can run, but you can't hide." He pulled the shirt he wore out of his pants, and placed the gun in the waistband of the charcoal trousers. When covered by the shirt, it was impossible to see the concealed gun underneath. Leaving the room, a smile filled with anticipation formed on his face.
Standish was hoping to hide in a place he didn't know, and the only ones that would be able to help him could just as well be strangers. He could walk right past them without even knowing who they were. The odds were working in Kurtz's favour, he figured happily.