The dreams came in every form and shape. He had learnt early on to interpret each one in a different way. Some were clearer than others, like a pre-recorded tape of what hadn't happened yet. Other were a jumble of chaotic pictures and feelings. Those were usually the ones he needed to pay the most attention to. Pushed by urgent dream images he turned, only half awake. Reaching for the pen and small notebook he always kept within reach, he felt movement in the bed behind him.
"Another dream?" a sleepy voice asked.
"Yeah. Sorry I woke you."
A warm kiss was pressed to the back of his shoulder as strong arms tightened around him. "Don't worry, babe. What kind of dream was it, regular one?"
"No. The other kind. But it didn't make much sense." Scribbling down something he was still too sleepy to even read, he tossed the notebook back. Settling down in the bed again he curled up in the embrace of the darkhaired man next to him. "I'll deal with it in the morning. Too tired now."
"Probably a good idea."
"Yeah." He leaned his head on a broad shoulder, closing his eyes. "'Night, Buck."
"'Night, Chris."
Having healing hands, Nathan decided, was no good if you couldn't use them on yourself. Studying his face in the bathroom mirror he sighed deeply. Another late night at the hospital had left its marks and he still had one shift left before the weekend. Gathering a small pool of cool water in his palms he energetically rubbed it over his face. The sound of a door slamming shut told him that their youngest resident was awake. The other two were most likely still asleep. Or doing other things. Which he preferred to have no knowledge of. Walking in on the lovebirds once was more than enough, thank you.
Finishing up, he left the bathroom and headed for the kitchen area to start breakfast. Being the only one capable of remembering his name and form a comprehensible sentence before noon, he had decided that handling sharp objects and using the stove in the morning was limited to his duty alone. JD throtted past him, yawning and waving at him.
"'Morning, Nate."
"Good morning, JD." Nathan opened the refridgerator door and peered inside. "Breakfast'll be ready in a sec. Chris and Buck up yet?"
"Depends with what you mean by up." JD's smile was smug. "No, I think they're both sleeping. Want me to go wake them before I hit the shower?" He ran a hand through the dark strands of hair, pushing them out of his eyes.
"Nah. I'll get it later." Piling various items of food on the kitchen counter, Nathan reached over to turn on the radio, music filling the room instantly.
The sound of Celine Dion wailing about lost love and broken hearts jolted Buck right out of his sleep. Carefully cracking one eye open, he recognized the deep voice singing along with Celine. After listening for a few seconds, he leaned over the still sleeping figure next to him. How the other could sleep with all the racket going on was beyond him. Running his fingertips down the path of a muscled arm, Buck twined their fingers together.
"Chris? Sweetie, you awake? You're missing Nate's morning concert."
A small groan and Chris burrowing further into the covers was the only reply he got. Buck decided to try another approach. Attaching his lips to the back of Chris' neck, he nibbled his way around, pleased to find Chris turning to meet him. One long, loving kiss later, Chris opened his eyes. Stretching, he placd one arm over Buck's chest, looking at his boyfriend. "That's just the way I like to wake up," he smiled lazily.
"Yeah, I know," Buck pulled him closer. "It's my favourite too..." They had just started to get seriously involved in another kiss when someone banged on the door.
"Breakfast is ready, guys! Up and at 'em!"
"Spoilsport!" Buck called back, making Chris laugh. He could hear Nathan laughing on the other side of the door as well.
"Didn't mean to cramp your style, Bucklin. Now come and eat before the food gets cold."
"We're coming," Buck promised. "Not the way I had planned, but..." He received a smack in the arm.
"Buck!"
"Yeah, I know. Up and at 'em."
Chris was grinning. Then he bent down to place a kiss on the tip of Buck's nose. "Hold that thought, baby. I've got all of the afternoon free. How about I meet you here at three and we lock the door and... Well, you can take it from there."
"That," Buck had sat up, "is a deal, my dear. Now go put on some clothes before I throw your gorgeous butt back into the bed and ravish you right now."
"Was that supposed to be a threat?" Nevertheless Chris rummaged around for his pj pants and pulled them on. Completing the ensemble with a wellworn T-shirt, he threw a set of red, green and blue plaid pyjama pants at Buck. "Get dressed. I ain't about to let the guys see you naked. That's for my viewing pleasure only."
While Buck were putting on the pants and a light sweatshirt, Chris sat down on the bed again. Seeing the notebook reminded him of the dream. Half of the pages were already full with words and sentences and the occasional small drawing. Getting to a nearly blank page, he frowned.
"Chris? Something wrong?"
"What?" Chris looked up to find Buck watching him with a slightly worried look. "Oh. No, nothing's wrong, I think." Studying the single word at the white piece of paper, he bit his lip. "I had another dream last night...I can't remember much of it now."
Buck sat down next to him. "That's the purpose of the notebook, right? You'll write the dream down before you have a chance to forget it?"
Chris nodded. "Apparently this wasn't a very communicative dream. All I wrote was this." He held the book up for Buck to read.
"Seven."
Now Buck looked thoughtful. "That's all you remember?"
"No," Chris shook his head. "We were in it. You and me, I mean. And Nathan and JD. Even Josiah."
The name made Buck turn to him again. "Josiah? If he's involved, it's gotta be something major. Anything else?"
Placing the notebook in the drawer of the nightstand, Chris got up. "Not much. There were two other people there, but I couldn't see their faces. But they weren't far away. Maybe I'll get something else later."
"You will." Buck hugged him. "You feeling ok?"
Leaning into the embrace, Chris nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't a bad dream. Made me more curious than anything else."
The darker man tugged playfully at a blonde lock of hair. "Good to hear. Now let's go have brekfast before Nathan comes hollering at us again."
The kitchen was light and filled with early morning sunshine and a mellow breeze coming in through the open window. JD was already at the table, his ever-present laptop next to his plate. Nathan was in the process of bringing two cartons of respectively apple and orange juice. After exhanging the obligatory good mornings, everyone found their seats. Filling his glass with orange juice, Chris told the two others about the dream.
JD started to look interested at the mention of the number. "You wrote it down, using letters instead of the digit? Don't know if that's significant, but the choice of the number in itself is interesting..."
"How come?" Buck placed the knife down, turning his attention to JD.
The younger man's agile fingers were already clicking away at the laptop. "The number seven, along with the numbers three, nine and twelve have always been important when it comes to magic, folklore and stuff like that. Even in religion. Like in the Christian holy Trinity, the seven deadly sins, right? It's universal, you'll find evidence of it everywhere. Let's see, what else have we got here ... Yes, the seventh sign in the zodiac is the Aries, which none of us here present are born under. Don't know about the Chinese zodiac, I'll have to look into that." He scanned the screen in front of him. "Or, if you're going for the easy solution... The two persons in your dream, plus the five of us, including Josiah..." JD had to stop to take a breath. "Makes seven."
"You didn't get anything on the two?" Nathan asked, looking thoughtful.
Trying to recall the fluttery images, Chris closed his eyes. "I got the feeling they were both male, one a little shorter than the other... Same age, not kids, but not older than us either, I think." Opening his eyes again, he added: "And they're close to us somehow... That's all I know."
They had all been around one another for a long time now, and had long since gotten used to each one's special talents. Buck gave Chris' arm a comforting pat. The two of them had a special understanding, and also a unique link in their powers. The other functioning as a battery, they were able to increase each other's strength. They had been friends all through childhood, and had taken the step further at the start of college, a little over three years ago. Several years later they were still a couple, more tightly bound together than ever.
Unlike Nathan, who had had his abilities ever since birth, both Buck's and Chris' powers had emerged in their mid-teens. While they were trying to struggle through and adjust, in addition to attempting a normal a life as possible, neither knew that there were someone watching.
Orrin Travis had worked in a very special unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a long time. Starting out as a field agent, he had made his way to assistent director and was now free to set a few plans of his own into life. Having grown up with a mother that posessed telepathic abilities, he quickly learned to spot the signs in others, especially youngsters. After carefully handpicking four individuals, he made the first of three groups, made up of youths with talents over the ordinairy.
This morning he was standing outside of a small townhouse, raising his hand to knock. Pausing a little, he heard a familiar voice: "It's open!"
Around the table, nobody looked up.
"Who is it?" Nathan asked, going through the paper to find the part he was looking for.
"Orrin," Chris replied. Consulting the clock on the wall, he looked surprised. "He's here early." Falling silent, a far-away look appeared on his face. Lowering the newspaper, Nathan studied him.
"Chris?" As the other didn't answer, Nathan turned to Buck. "Buck, you getting anything?"
Touching Chris' hand, Buck looked indecisive. "He's seeing something, that's all I know. I usually don't get anything touching people, Chris is the only one and it's still faint."
Blinking, drawing a deep breath, Chris looked up to find the three others staring at him. A light blush covered his face. "Did I zone out again?" He got three solemn nods as an answer.
"Oh. Did I say anything?"
"Nothing." Buck still had his hand on top of Chris' hand. "You just were...gone for a bit there. Care to share?"
Before Chris could answer, Orrin Travis appeared in the door. "Good morning, boys."
A chorus of replies rose, before Nathan pointed to an empty chair. "Have a seat. There's fresh coffee on the counter, help yourself."
"I think I will." Filling a mug with steaming, dark brew, Travis sat down on the offered chair. "How are things holding up here then?"
As Buck, Nathan and JD all turned to Chris, the older man smiled. "You seemed to be the one picked to answer, Christopher."
Scowling at the others, Chris sighed. "Maybe you should start, Orrin. The assignement you have for us is going to be changing a lot of things."
Watching the blond closely, Travis thought for a second. "Changing in what way? Should I assign another team to this one?"
"What exactly did you see, Chris?" JD asked curiosly.
"No, we'll take it." Chris met Travis' eyes. "They need us, and I am not sure, but I think we need them too."
The cryptic answer was making JD impatient. Before he could say anything, Buck reached over and placed his hand firmly over the smaller man's mouth.
"Why don't you tell us what's going on, Orrin?"
JD peeled Buck's hand away. "I wasn't going to say anything!" he protested.
Buck smiled and shrugged. "Just in case, kid."
Sending them both a look, Nathan folded the paper and put it away. "Quiet, children. Let Orrin speak."
"I hate being the youngest," JD grumbled as Buck put on his most angelic face. Meeting Chris' humouros gaze, he smiled widely, adding a secretive wink.
"Ok." Travis' voice made them all turn their attention to him. The older man retrieved a thick file holder from his briefcase. Leafing through it, he found two pictures. "These two, gentlemen, are your new assignement."
One blond and three dark heads drew closer together to examine the photos. The pictures were of the same size, and seemed to have been taken at the same place. Chris hardly had to look at them before knowing that this was the same faces he had seen, or rather not seen, in his dream. The vision had brought some clearity to the images, but it had filled him with knowlegde more than visual details.
"Who are they?" he asked. The first of the photographs showed a young man with blue eyes and long, brown wavy hair. Chris knew he was a little taller than the other one, although the greeneyed man with auburn coloured hair in the other picture was slightly more solid built.
"Vin Tanner," Travis' finger landed on the picture of the blueeyed young man, "and Ezra Standish." The finger moved to the last photo. "They met in a fosterhome at the age of sixteen. They spent close to a year there before disappearing under suspicious circumstances. A few months ago they resurfaced, having picked up some bad habits and some bad friends along the way."
Pulling out some papers fastened together with a paper clip, he continued. "The bureau first started to take interest because of the strange nature of a string of robberies in the near-by towns. Two young men shows up and apparentely without doing anything, walks out with every cent of what was in the cash registers. The store keepers couldn't explain it either. They had simply handed over the money at the time, because, and I quote: 'they felt like it'." They were also unable to describe the young men properly. Almost like if someone had instructed them to forget.
Buck quirked a smile. "Sounds like our kinda guys. You want us to track them down?"
Travis returned the smile. "That's the gist of it, yes. We suspect that at least one of them has some kind of extrasensory ability, that allows him to control the storekeepers in some way."
"Hey, wait a minute..." Nathan had been studying the pictures. "I know these two!" He looked up. "I do some volunteer work down at the free clinic, right? That's where I've seen them. They were there about a week ago."
"Sounds about right." Orrin picked up one of the photos. "Standish is a diabetic, which means he needs to regularly refill his supply of insuline. As most of the clinics doesn't require id's, we have to rely on sightings only. The two of them are always together, shows up out of nowhere and disappear just as easily again."
JD was idly toying with a spoon, the bowl of cereal completely forgotten. "Together-together or just together?"
Travis raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"You know, together like Chris and Buck here," JD was waving the spoon in their general direction. "Or just together."
"Well... Everyone who has seen then could tell that they're always holding each others' hands. Which I assume will make them together-together..." Travis had to smile. "Did that answer your question, JD?"
JD nodded, as Buck had an incredulous look on his face. "That one of the reasons you thought of us for this job, because of Chris and me?"
Placing the photos and papers in a neat pile, Travis met his eyes. "That was one of the reasons, yes. Along with the fact that you four have the most experience of all the teams. Most of the others are too young or still figuring out just what they can do with their abilities. Sending them after these two wouldn't be a good idea."
Pushing the chair away from the table, Nathan sent the clock a glance. "I have to be going, my shift starts soon. Tell you what, I'll stop by the clinic on my way home and see what I can found out about our guys."
"Tell Rain hi from us." Chris' face was dead serious.
"That's his new ladyfriend," Buck teased. "But we don't get to meet her."
"And there is a very good reason for that. You're all insane. See you later." Nathan fished his car keys out of the pocket in his coat. "I'll be back around eight, I think."
Travis got to his feet as well. "I should be going too, I have a meeting in not too long." Patting the fileholder, he added: "I'll leave this here with you. I have already briefed Josiah on the case, he said that he would be stopping by later tonight. He'll be working together with you on this one."
"You're really not taking any chances," Buck commented, dark eyebrows knitting together. All four of them had met Josiah Sanchez before, the tall and bearlike man having a certain fabled status among the young team members. The older man was an extremely skilled telepath, steellike strength hidden under an outgoing, agreable facade. "Calling in the big guns like that."
Studying the three men at the table with him, Travis sat down again. "No, there's too much at stake here. We don't know much about whatever ability one or maybe even the both of them have, and Josiah may be the only one strong enough to block it. So he'll be functioning as your leader. I expect you boys to be extra careful on this one, ok?"
"We will," JD promised. As the youngest of the five and the only one without any special gifts except for his talent with the computers, the young brunet secretly wished for a career like Orrin Travis. Becoming a computer analyzist with the FBI was one of several possible paths he was thinking about choosing. He had never known his father and his mother had died when he was a child, resulting in that JD had been moved to his grandparents. His mother's parents were of an old and wealthy family and frowned upon their daughter having a child out of wedlock. After two years of utter misery, the Wilmingtons had moved to the city and JD had moved in with his aunt, uncle and older cousin Buck instead. Never having any brothers or sisters, young JD instantly idolized the older boy. The idolizing also extended to Buck's best friend and later boyfriend, which made JD fiercely protective of the two. Nathan was a newer aquaintance, the calm and steady older boy balancing the four of them out perfectly. Nathan had moved from the countryside where his parents ran a large, prosperous farm, to the city to study medicine. Being spotted and introduced to the rest of the team by Orrin Travis, the sensible Nathan took it upon himself to keep the three other in check and looking after his somewhat boisterous friends.
Seeing both Nathan and Travis well out the door, Buck got to his feet and stretched his long frame. "We should be getting ready too, Chris. Or we'll be late for class." The heavy sigh made him chuckle.
"Come on, Chrissyfer, just a few weeks left now and school's out for the summer. Most of our exams are even done." Moving closer to the shorter man, he placed his hands on Chris' shoulder and steered him towards the bathroom. "Let's take a shower."
"I think he can manage that on his own." JD's voice was dry, a smile bending the corners of his lips upwards.
"Oh I know he can. But we're late, remember? Saves time." Buck closed the bathroom door, after leaving JD with the comment: "And I do need to cheer him up some."
Shutting the laptop down, JD gave a helpless grin. He for himself had most of the morning off, and took the files Travis had left to the study to take a closer look. The sound of the shower being turned on in the bathroom made him walk just a little faster. Among the number of things he could call Buck and Chris, quiet was not among them.
The motel was small and secluded. Only a few of the appartements were occupied, but the figure making its way over the parking lot didn't take any chances. Night was falling, making soft shadows drape themselves around every corner. Reaching the last of the appartements, the figure slipped inside, leaving a brown paper bag from the nearest super market on the floor. Silently he walked from the hallway into the dark bedroom. In the lack of light he could hardly see the curled-up form on the bed. Sitting down he ran a careful hand over short, russet hair.
"Hey," a tired voice greeted him. "You're back early."
Vin smiled. "Didn't mean to wake you, babe. How are you feeling?"
"Better." The small word came a little too fast for Vin to believe it. Letting his hand move down the side of Ezra's neck and to his shoulder the damp skin and tense muscles told him what he needed to know. Using both hands to cup Ezra's face in his hands, he softly said: "Look at me, Ez." The green eyes that calmly met his knew what was about to happen and the fact that Ezra didn't even protest strengthened Vin's suspicions of that the smaller man actually was in a lot of pain. The headaches had become worse over the last year, which worried him a great deal. Although the severe attacks were thankfully still few and far apart, this amount of pain was more than bad enough.
"Sleep, love," Vin whispered, watching the green eyes close and feeling the tense muscles slowly relax. "I'll take care of you." Curling up on the bed, he pulled Ezra into his lap, continously running his fingers through the auburn hair. In the beginning he had been afraid to touch Ezra whenever he had his headaches, but the other had explained to him that he found the blueeyed man's touch soothing instead of adding to the stress. A involuntary shudder made its way through Vin, he couldn't even imagine what it had to be like. When only the slightest touch of human skin told you everything, every little detail, of the person you touched. And there wasn't anything you could to do stop the tsunami of impressions washing in over you.
Staring out into the darkness, not really seeing the surroundings, Vin's thoughts took him back two years in time. Ella and Walter Gaines' fosterhome wasn't the right place to be if you wanted to enter your adult life healthy. Or sane, for that matter. Neither were fit to take care of any living thing, least of all children. That included to a high degree Mr. Gaines' taste for pretty, young boys. Vin had been there for two long months before Ezra came into his life. The two of them had found each other instantly, as if it was destiny that had put them together. Vin liked to think so. Both being somewhat small of size, Ezra had a harder time than Vin standing up to the older, larger boys because of his fear of coming close to anybody. They had endured the Gaines house for a long, agonizing year. Until the night that Walter had decided to pay Ezra one of his dreaded nightly visits.
None of the children in the Gaines' care had single rooms, but everyone was too terrified of Walter to try and stop him or tell someone. The grown man was six feet three of hulking muscles, the crooked nose and scars being reminders of his younger days as a boxer. A bad temper mixed with alcohol didn't help. The heavy steps in the stairs sounded omnious in the quiet night. Vin and Ezra had been staying in one of the smaller rooms, where there was only space enough for two beds. Pushing the two beds together at night, they slept in each others' arms, sharing warmth and comfort.
The steps stopped outside their door. The memory was as vivid as if Vin was going through it right now. He had been curled up on a bed that time too, clinging to Ezra who had an equally strong grip on him. The door was pushed open, and the looming figure in the door seeming even larger than what was natural.
From there it had all happened really fast. Vin found himself on top of the staircase, staring down at the unconscious man laying at the bottom. None of the other foster children had dared to open their doors even hearing the yelling and noises coming from the hallway. It had been easy, this time Vin hadn't even needed to say the order out loud. The searing anger fueling him with enough energy to just stare at the older man and then watch him take the first step. Keeping his feet rigid, staring straight ahead, Walter had toppled over like a poorly balanced tower of building-bricks and was plummeted down the steep stairs.
A small hand tugged anxiously at his. Vin could hear Ezra's voice as if the words were being spoken in present time, even see the blood and forming bruise on the smaller boy's face.
"Come on, Vin," the urgent words were whispered. "We need to get out of here, Ella must have heard the noise. If she sees us..."
They had run away the same night, hotwired a car and drove as far as the amount of fuel in the tank had let them. From there they had walked.
Shaking off the memories, Vin reached for the blanket and pulled it over the both of them. It was getting late and he needed to get some sleep himself. They would be moving on tomorrow, after one last bust. With enough money they'd get on a bus, didn't matter which one, and let it take them away. Coincidents had them backtracking their own path and they were a little bit closer to the place that they had ran away from, than Vin appreciated.
They had discussed trying the motel manager first, but Vin had discovered there wasn't much cash in the small safe underneath the counter. So he had chosen a small groceries shop where there was a lot of customers in the day, but almost none at night. They'd do it late tomorrow afternoon, then they'd catch one of the night routes. Come morning they'd be far away.