Backlash

by Megan

Chapter 1-2 | Chapter 3-4 | Chapter 5-7 | Chapter 8-10 | Chapter 11-13

Chapter 11

Buck drifted for a moment. He was tired, but the annoying beeping sound he heard kept trying to wake him up. Sighing, he frowned. When did he fall asleep?

Slowly, with some struggle, he lifted his heavy eyelids. Once he got one open he tried the other. After a few moments, he had finally gotten both of his eyes open. He blinked. After several blinks, the blurring went away. He saw a ceiling… a somewhat familiar ceiling. Moving his head, he stared at the machine that was beeping at him. Frowning even more, he moved his arm a little bit. He could feel the pull of the IV in his hand. Before he could try to get up, he heard Nathan yelling at him. "Buck, what are you doing. Relax, you're in the hospital."

Buck stopped trying to remove the IV. Swallowing several times, he nodded to Nathan when he was given some ice chips. After a couple of minutes, Buck tried to talk. "What happened?"

Nathan smiled, "You had an allergic reaction."

Buck frowned for a minute. "How?"

"Seems someone doctored the coffee with cashew oil. Sent you straight to the hospital."

The reaction Nathan got wasn't the one he was excepting. Buck turned pale. Closing his eyes for the moment, he turned and looked at Nathan. "No one knew except for Chris and dead men…" Buck's voice trailed off for a minute. This wasn't good. Thoughts raced through his head. Like a door suddenly opening, memories he had long forgotten, flooded into his brain. Things he thought were only a nightmare of a bad time came rushing over him. Biting his lip, trying to control the pain of the memories flooding his mind, he ignored Nathan's worried voice. It all fell into place. Only a handful of people knew he was allergic to cashews. It wasn't something he told people. Chris knew, Sarah had known. The members of the task force had known. They were all dead except one. The only one who was left alive. Buck wanted to curse and scream when he remembered who it could be. After several long minutes of trying to contain his anger, he opened his eyes up again.

The first thing that Buck saw were the worried eyes of Nathan standing over him.

"Buck, you okay?"

Buck tried to smile. Finally clearing his throat, he spoke up. "Fine, Nate, just remembered something. Chris around?"

"Hell, no! Nathan got medieval on him and sent him home, and everyone else that was injured. I only got to stay 'cause I am not one that is injured."

Buck nodded. Sighing, he looked up at the ceiling.

"Buck, what is wrong," Nathan asked with concern.

Buck stared at the ceiling, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. "I just figured out who Dragon is, Nate. I'm not so happy about knowing who it is."

Vin and Nathan exchanged looks. This couldn't be good. "Who's Dragon?"

Buck looked at his two teammates. Shaking his head, he spoke. "Dragon is Jack Perreault."

Nathan and Vin looked at Buck. "What are you talking about, he's dead."

"He isn't dead. I don't know who died in that fire but it wasn't Jack."

Nathan and Vin looked at each. Nathan nodded towards Vin. Vin nodded and headed out of the room to call Chris. Nathan watched as Vin left the room. Turning back to Buck, he raised his eyebrow. "You sure?"


Buck nodded. "Yes, it is him. I remember now."

Buck closed his eyes for a moment, trying to forget the memories of his team being murder. Opening his eyes again, he looked at Nathan. Sighing, he spoke again. "It is him, Nathan. He killed the team. He killed them while I watched. We trusted him, we thought he was one of us. He saw him before the bust in which he killed the team. He's the only one who would know about my allergic besides Chris. It isn't in my files. The task force learned of it on one of the poker nights we had. He was there. He would have known about my allergy to Cashews. It isn't something I spread around."

Nathan nodded. "Okay, Vin's calling Chris. Chris will be here soon. So will the rest of the team. when they get here, we can plan what we are going to do."

Buck nodded in agreement. Laying back against the bed, he closed his eyes for a moment. Just a few seconds after he closed his eyes he heard a grunt, from Nathan. Frowning, his eyes flew open. "Nathan, you okay?"

Buck looked around the room. What he saw made his blood run cold. "What did you do with Nathan?"

Dragon or Jack Perreault, just smiled. "He's still alive, just knocked out. You, on the other hand, will not be so lucky. "

Buck frowned, "They know about you, I told them. They'll find you and kill you."

Dragon laughed. "They won't find me. Once I leave Denver my old identity will disappear. They won't be able to find me after some nice plastic work."

Buck swallowed lightly, "You going to kill me here? With all the security and things, you won't get out the front door."

Dragon just smiled, motioning to one of his cronies. The crony moved. Reaching for the IV, the thug plunged a needle into the line.

Before Buck could do anything, the world started to fade and he fell unconsciousness.

Chapter 12

Vin hung up from talking to Chris. Ending the call, he looked out the window for a second. He felt a cold shiver run up his back. Something was going to happen, he could feel it. Pushing away from the window, he headed back towards Buck's room. As he approached it, he heard voices. Creeping closer, he heard Buck speaking to someone. When he heard the other person speak, he moved closer. He was ready to barge in when he stopped. The leader spoke. "Take him. This is too public a place to kill him here. We won't get away. He should be unconscious now. Unhook him and pick him up. We'll leave the hospital and take him to the warehouse. There we can kill him at our leisure."

A grunt from a thug was the only reply.

Vin backed into another room. Leaving a crack open, Vin watched as the bad guys left Buck's room, carrying Buck between them. As soon as they had gotten far enough down the hallway, Vin sneaked in to Buck's room. Noticing Nathan on the floor, he rushed over. Finding Nathan breathing and a pulse, he let out the air he was holding. Nate was just knocked out. Pressing the nurse button, Vin left the room and watched as the group went down the back stairs. Slowly, he followed them out of the hospital.

As Dragon and Buck got in a black SUV, Vin grabbed his jeep, and started to follow the SUV. As he followed them in traffic, he grabbed his cell phone and called Chris.

"Vin, what is it?"

"He has Buck, I'm following them now."

"What! Where is Nathan? How did Dragon get Buck?" Chris bellowed through the phone.

"I don't know, Chris. Nate was knocked unconscious. They're heading towards the warehouse district, beyond that I couldn't tell you. Just get yourselves down here. Nate will be fine."

Chris growled slightly, "Alright, will we be there soon, don't lose them."

Vin snorted, "I'm not going to lose them."

With that, he hung up. Concentrating on where Dragon was going.

In Chris' SUV, JD looked towards Chris. "What's wrong? What's going on? Is Buck all right? Why are we changing the direction? I thought we were going to head towards the hospital?"

Chris glared at JD for a moment. "Get on your phone and call Ezra and Josiah. Dragon has Buck. Vin's following them, Nathan is fine. But we are going to need the rest of us at wherever Dragon is taking Buck to."


JD was stunned for a moment, "When? How did Dragon find Buck?"

Chris shook his head. "I don't know, but you need to call the rest of the guys, we need to save Buck."

JD nodded, drawn out of his shock by Chris's voice. Grabbing his cell phone, he dialed Ezra and Josiah telling them quickly about what is going on. When he finished those conversations, he turned and stared out the window. His eyes not seeing the buildings or people as they past in a blur. He couldn't believe that Dragon got Buck. He hoped that the team would get there in time.

Next to him, Chris was having the same thoughts. He was berating himself for leaving. He should have stayed. He shouldn't have listened to Nathan. He should have stayed at the hospital. He let his guard down, and now Buck was in the hands of the one man that wanted to kill him. Growling slightly, he pushed his truck harder, determined to catch up with Vin.

Across town, Ezra frowned at his phone. This wasn't good… Buck was taken by Dragon. Staring at the cars in front of him, he started to plan the fastest way to the warehouse district at this time of the day. Buck wouldn't end up like his old team did. He couldn't believe that Dragon was Jack. That the one who started this with the meeting was the one behind the whole thing. Dragon pulled the cloth over all their eyes. Dragon fooled him. The person on the team that can spot a scam 20 feet away and he didn't see it. He took a turn on the yellow, ignoring the beeps. He wasn't going to be late. They would take down Dragon. They would stop him.

Josiah cursed as he got off the phone with JD. At least Nathan was going to be all right. How could they all have been so taken? They never thought Jack was the bad guy. He hadn't seemed the type to be a mastermind of the criminal activities that Dragon was. Not only did they accept Jake into the room, but also, they let him know everything. They were all fooled. Growling slightly, images quickly flirted through his head of hurting Jake as bad as he had the team. Ignoring the visions, he concentrated on driving… getting to the warehouse district as fast as he could.

Nathan groaned. It felt like a ten-ton truck had hit him. Someone was shining a light into his eyes. Blinking several times, he squinted. Lifting his arm, he pushed the penlight away from his eyes. "What happened?"

"Sir, lay back, the doctor is checking you out. We found you unconscious in a patients room."

Nathan bolted up from the bed, not paying attention to the pain in his head. "What? Is the patient all right? What happened?"

The nurse and doctor frowned. The doctor finally answered. "The patient wasn't in the room when we found you."

Nathan pushed away from the bed. Grabbing his cell phone, he started to dial, ignoring the doctors and nurse's protest. "Hello… Vin? What is going on?"

Vin frowned. "You okay, Nate?"

"I'm fine, where is Buck?"

"Dragon got him. I'm following him. I called Chris. He was going to tell the rest of the team to head towards the warehouse district."

Nathan frowned, "Where are you going? I'll try to meet you."

Vin's frowned could be heard through the phone. "Nate, stay at the hospital, you aren't going to do any good."

Nathan growled. "Just tell me where you are going. I'll meet you there with a ambulance."

"Alright, we are heading towards the warehouse district. I don't know which one yet. If you are coming, don't run the sirens."

Nathan nodded. Hanging up his phone, he turned and walked out of the room door, not listening to the protests of Doctor and Nurse. Nathan left to set up the ambulance.

Vin hung up the phone. He turned his attention back to following the SUV. He concentrated on following the SUV, not wanting to lose Buck in the maze of warehouses. Finally, after a while, the SUV stopped at a warehouse. Vin pulled out of sight of the group and called Chris on his cell phone. "Chris, they're at the warehouse at the crossroads of Poppy and Crane... Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid. I'll just take a closer look."

Hanging up the cell phone, he placed it into his pocket. Reaching in back, he grabbed his ATF bulletproof vest and his sniper rifle. Locking his jeep, he headed towards the warehouse, trying to figure out the best way to get into the warehouse without being seen. He wouldn't do anything stupid. He would just be set if anyone else did anything stupid.

The rest of the team pulled up several minutes later to Vin's jeep. Chris cursed when he saw that Vin hadn't waited. Coming up with a quick plan, the team headed to the warehouse to get Buck back.

Inside the warehouse, the mood was anything but set. Buck was rudely woken up from his drugged sleep.

"Wake up Wilmington, its time to face your justice."

Buck sputtered and spit as the cold water dripped off of him. Shaking his head, he blinked several times. Clearing his eyes, he stared up at Dragon. "Where am I?"

Dragon smiled, "this old place… this is where you are going to die. I'm surprised you don't recognize it."

Buck frowned and looked around the warehouse. Frowning, he spoke. "Sorry, don't recognize it, but then again, I don't spend time in warehouses."

Dragon walked over and punched Buck.

Buck fell over. Struggling, he sat up again, wishing his hands weren't tied behind him. "What was that for?"

Dragon smiled, "Just trying to jog your memory. I see that it didn't work. Since it didn't work, I'll tell you. You haven't actual been in here. But over on the far wall there… that's where I killed the task force. Where I happily slit each of their throats while you watched. That was your first mistake, living through the bomb. You wouldn't believe how mad I was that you survived. Of course, you didn't remember, so I decided to let you live for awhile."

Buck snorted slightly, interrupting Dragon's monologue. "So you decided to let me live… how nice. I didn't know you liked me all that much."

Dragon frowned. Taking a step forward, he was about to hit Buck then stopped. "No I won't hit you, at least not yet."

Buck just shook his head. He was about to say something, when he felt a meaty hand clamped on his neck. He froze.

Dragon smiled. "That is one of my many friends. I suggest you be quiet. They don't like prisoners talking. Now, where was I? Oh, yes… your team. The task force, you included, were stupid, so stupid. Not once did you think that Dragon had a spy in your little force, much less Dragon himself. I laughed at your feeble attempts to find me. Every time your team got close, I threw more false leads into the pile, facts that didn't work. Still you did mange to get close. But before you all learned too much, I was able to stop it."

Buck growled. Ignoring the hand around his throat, he spoke. "You bastard! We went to your child's Baptism. We visited you and your wife. You played poker with us, shared the weekends. You killed your wife and kid."

Dragon just smiled, "I know, the kid was a genius stroke. Not that he was mine though… The wife, I paid her to act that way. The kid was some child born to a druggie. They had their uses, but I didn't need them anymore. You were remembering, and I couldn't have that. You could of ruin my empire. I couldn't have that though. Of course, I couldn't help but taunt you. I wonder how you acted when you learned I died. Poor little Jack, never had a chance."

Glaring, Buck couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're insane. You don't have an empire. You are just a bad guy. A deranged one at that."

Dragon shook his head. "Buck, Buck, Buck… you just don't understand. I don't know if I should try to explain, you don't seem to get it. It was never about you. You were a loose end that I needed to tie up. In a few minutes, you will be tied up."

"My team knows who you are, they've seen you."


Dragon waved his hand in a dismissing manner. "They won't find me. They were less impressive than the task force since all they seemed to go on were the clues that I left, and your memory. I have nothing to fear. Now this conversation bores me. Places to go, people to see. It has been fun. But it is time for us to leave." With that, Dragon pulled out a gun. Aiming it at Buck, he motioned for his thug to move away. "Its been fun, Buck, but if it's any conciliation, at least I won't slit your throat." With that, he pulled the trigger and a shot rang out.

The shouts of 'ATF Freeze' resounded in the mostly empty warehouse.

The thugs froze, they dropped their weapons. The agents came towards the center of the room. The leader detached himself from the group and headed towards the center of the warehouse. He swallowed once, looking at the floor. He rushed to the two bodies. Where the bodies lay, there was a pool of blood forming under them. Rushing over to them, he threw the almost headless body of the Dragon to one-side. He bent down and searched for a pulse.

His frantic search came to a halt when he felt the pulse. Looking over his shoulder, he shouted for Nathan. Nathan came running with some paramedics, and they started to work on Buck, pushing Chris out of the way. Chris watched for a moment then headed to Dragon's body.

Flipping it over, he stared at the ruined head. He didn't notice as Vin and the rest of the group came up behind him. Looking over at Vin he nodded his head, "good shot."

Vin shrugged his shoulders, "Should have been a bit faster."

"Dragon's dead. We won't have to worry about him anymore."

Nodding, almost as one, the team turned away from the dead body of Dragon. They turned towards Nathan. Chris was the first to speak. "How is he, Nate?"


Nathan shrugged his shoulders, "He should be fine, but we need to get him to the hospital."

Chris nodded, "Go with him. The rest of us will be there shortly after we secure the scene."

Nathan nodded and followed the paramedics taking Buck out of the warehouse.

The rest of the team secured the scene and waited for back up units so they could head to the hospital. After giving their statements and handing the area over to the police and other agents, the group jumped into their cars and headed out of the area, towards the hospital.

The group raced into the hospital, an eerie scene that almost followed identically to what had happen almost 24 hours ago. The group skidded to a halt when they reached Nathan. Nathan blinked as the group stopped two feet from him. Raising his eyebrow, he looked at the group.

Chris stepped forward and growled. "What is going on?"

Nathan sighed. Turning to look at the door to the operating room, Nathan turned back at the group. " I don't know. They won't talk to me. The nurse said that the doctor would be out soon."

Chris frowned, "how long is soon?"

Nathan shrugged his shoulders, "that was an hour ago."

The team deflated for a moment. Grabbing seats, they sat down. They sat silently, watching the door, waiting for the doctor to come. Finally, after 15 minutes, Nathan got up and headed over to the nurse's station to find out how much longer. Josiah looked at the group that was falling asleep and got up, murmuring something about coffee.

Five minutes later, Nathan was sitting with the group again, and Josiah was back with coffee for everyone. The group sat sipping coffee as they waited for the doctor to come out. Just as they finished the coffee and Nathan was ready to go back and bug the nurse, the doctor came out into the waiting room. The group got up as one and zeroed in on the doctor.

They came to a stop. Chris moved forward and waited for the Doctor to talk.

The Doctor stared at the group for a moment. Blinking, he started to talk. "Are you here for Mr. Wilmington?"

Chris nodded. The doctor looked at the group for a minute. "Do you wish to sit down?"

Chris almost growled, shaking his head. The doctor nodded and started to talk. "The bullet wound was the least of his problems. The bullet went into his shoulder, while it was in there however, it chipped the shoulder blade as it was leaving and tore through some muscle. That will be fine in a couple of weeks. He had a couple of broken ribs. He is going to have some deep bruising and be really sore. He is also exhausted, and dehydrated. He is sick. We have him on some antibiotics, and hopefully it will help him. He also has the remains of a sedative in his system so he will be sleeping for awhile. Now normally not any one of his injures would worry us though having all of these though isn't good."

JD spoke up. "He'll be alright, won't he?"

The doctor looked at the group. "He should be fine. The virus he has shouldn't cause too much trouble, but we are going to watch him."

"Can we go visit him?" JD asked.

The doctor looked at the group for a minute. Finally, he nodded. "You can see him, but only one of you can stay with him tonight."

The group started to protest but the Doctor wouldn't hear it. "I'm bending rules allowing one of you to stay, the rest of you need to get some sleep. You either take it or none of you will stay."

Chris nodded. Looking at the rest of the team, he frowned. "We agree to that. One of us will stay after we see Buck."

The doctor nodded, "Good, your teammate is going to be back in his previous room, so you can visit him there."

The team nodded and started towards the elevator to get to the room. Nathan stayed behind for a second to find out more about Buck's condition.

The group halted outside of the room. Chris turned and looked at the group. "We will follow the doctor's orders. "

The group nodded.

Looking at the group to make sure that the group understood, Chris allowed the group to head into the room.

The group quickly entered the room, and stopped and looked at Buck. Moving around the bed, the group turned as one and stared Nathan. "He's going to be okay, right, Nathan?" JD asked.

Nathan took a deep breath. "Yes, he'll be fine. After some rest, he'll be fine."

The team nodded, taking more faith in Nathan's words than the doctor's. "Which one of us is staying?" JD asked.

The team looked at each other. The group started to argue between themselves. Each member of the team had a reason why they wanted to stay with Buck. Finally, Vin just shrugged his shoulders, grabbed the chair, and took a seat. Then waited patiently for the rest of the team to fall silent. Finally, after an hour of whispering fiercely from the group, they all fell silent.

Vin spoke up to fill up the sudden void of noise. "I'll stay. Since I'm not injured, and I got some sleep."

The group turned and looked at Vin. "What did you say?" Chris growled.

"I said, I will stay, since I'm not injured and did get some sleep. Besides, Buck won't wake up till tomorrow."

"Vin's right, the rest of us need some sleep. We can come back tomorrow," Nathan said agreeing with Vin.

The rest of the team wanted to argue, but Nathan and Vin hurried everyone out of the room. Nathan was the last one to leave; making sure Vin would contact him if anything happened. Vin nodded and watched as everyone left the room. Turning back to Buck, Vin grabbed a seat and settled. "It's just you and me now, Bucklin."

Chapter 13

Two days later, Chris marched into Buck's hospital room. "Where do you think, you're going?"

Buck turned and looked over at Chris, "I'm leaving. I'm fine."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so."

JD smiled, "I told you Chris would agree with me."

Buck frowned. Sitting back in the bed, he crossed his arms. He glared at the two men. "I'm fine. There is nothing wrong with me, that won't heal just as fast if I was at home in my bed."

JD was about to say something when Chris interceded. "JD, don't you have a date with Casey you have to get to."

JD nodded, "Yea, I was just waiting for you to get here." With that, JD said good-bye to Buck and Chris as he hurried out the door to meet Casey.

Buck and Chris watched him leave. The minute that JD was judged to be out of earshot, Buck started to get out of the hospital bed again. Chris frowned. "What are you doing?"

Buck sighed, "What does it look like, I'm trying to leave."

"I don't think so. Get back into bed or I'll handcuff you there."

Buck sat back down on the bed and stared at Chris. "I want to leave. I'm fine."

Chris moved further into the room and settled in a chair. "No you aren't."

"Yes I am."

"No you aren't, or I'll get Nathan to play this game with you."

Buck crossed his arms across his chest while he stared at Chris, "It isn't fair."

Chris refrained from telling Buck how much he looked like a five-year-old that didn't get his way. Instead, he cleared his throat. "If you're done trying to prove that you are well, we have some things we need to discuss."

Buck frowned, "I don't have anything to talk about."

Chris smirked. "We have alot to talk about. "

"No, we don't. Dragon's dead. The end… nothing left to talk about."

"Oh, there are lots of things we have to talk about."

"Really, like what?"

Chris smiled, "Lets see… we have to talk about you not accepting my apologize… not telling us about Dragon, not listening to Nathan, and so much more."

"No, we don't. Dragon is dead, I try not to listen to Nathan, and I already accepted your apology. Nothing else to talk about."

Chris smiled, "First off, Dragon may be dead, but we still have lots of holes. Like how you figured Jack was Dragon? Especially when you said you couldn't remember anything."

Looking up at the ceiling for a moment, Buck shrugged his shoulders. "I remembered."

"So what did you remember besides who Dragon was?"

"This and that… remembered what I did with a book I had been looking for."

Snorting, Chris shook his head in disbelief. "I don't think that's all that you remembered. You want to try again."

Buck squirmed, "I told you everything. I told you of the bust, who Dragon was, and how I escaped out of the van."

Chris quirked up an eyebrow. "How did you escape the van?"

Buck blinked, "I escaped from the van, all safe and stuff."

"I don't think so. What did you do to bust the window?"

Shaking his head, Buck laughed softly, "You have to remember how small those windows were. Vin as scrawny as he is, wouldn't have fit through."

"So how did you escape?"

"I… well, you see… I knew I had to get out of the van, and well, the doors were locked, and wouldn't open. The windows were too small. I got out through the windshield."

"What was that? You have to speak up."

Sighing, Buck repeated himself, "I got out thorough the windshield."

"What? How did you get out through the windshield."

Buck stared at the wall for a moment. "I broke the window, then crawled out the window. I hit my head, when I slid off the van. I was just far enough away when the van exploded..." Buck trailed off, lost in memory.

Chris allowed Buck to trailed off for a few moments. Finally, Chris broke the silence. "So you escaped the van through the windshield then you stayed in the hospital and then went home by yourself."

Buck nodded in agreement. Chris frowned at the Buck for a moment, "So why when you got out of the hospital you went back to your apartment by yourself."

"Yea, so everything turned out fine and Dragon's dead now."

"So why didn't you tell us all this when we first asked you about it?"

"I didn't remember it. So did you guys find out more about Dragon's empire?"

"You're changing the subject, but to answer your question, we are slowly dismantling every part of his illegal weapons and drug business. He had spread across most of the west. With him gone, his business is folding up."

Buck nodded at the news. Knowing that the death of Dragon was doing some good made him feel a little better on what had happen. Before he could ask another question, Chris spoke again.

"So why aren't you accepting my apology?"

Buck raised his eyebrow, "apology for what? "

Chris quirked up an eyebrow.

"Oh that… Chris, I already accepted it, move on."

"Buck, you didn't accept it."

"Yes I did, I said something like, I accept it."

"You said it but you didn't mean it."

"Yes I did, just 'cause you think I didn't, doesn't mean I didn't, err did."

Chris blinked and frowned, "You're still trying to please me, just take the apology."

"How am I supposed to take it, I told you I accepted it."

"You're just saying it, to make me happy and make me stop asking you."

Rolling his eyes, Buck shrugged his shoulders. "You know you are getting rather obsessive about this apology, I think you need to move on."

Chris glared.

Buck yawned.

Chris continued to glare at Buck.

Buck just blinked, slid down on the bed, and slowly closed his eyes. After several long minutes, Buck sleepily spoke. "You can glare all you want, I'm tired, and I'm going to sleep."

Chris almost growled, "Don't worry, I'll be here when you wake up. We can continued the conversation when you wake up."

Buck just grunted, then closed his eyes, and hoped the conversation wouldn't continue when he opened his eyes again.

Chris watched as Buck fell asleep. Rubbing his hands through his hair, he leaned back and closed his eyes for a minute. Taking a deep breath and letting it go, Chris opened his eyes. Frowning, he looked around the room for a few seconds. Before he could do anything, a voice startled him, "Hey, Cowboy, you aren't doing a very good job, are ya?"

Chris turned around and glared at Vin. "What are you doing here?"

Smiling, Vin wandered into the room. Going over to Buck, Vin looked down at Buck. "He doing okay?"

Chris sighed, "Alright? He hasn't talked about anything yet."

Vin laughed slightly, "Like you would talk about anything either."

Chris growled slightly, Vin just shook his head. "Be nice, I brought dinner for you."

Chris grunted, but didn't reply.

Giving Chris, his dinner, Vin dragged another chair over. "So, Cowboy, you planning on living here."

Chris growled, "No, I'm not going to live here. I'll go home."

Vin smirk, "Sure."

Chris just glared and started to eat.

Vin, finishing his dinner, threw the refuse away and leaned back in his chair and rested his eyes.

Chris, eating the last of his dinner, sat back and looked at Vin. "You sleeping here as well?"


Vin smirked, "Nope, just waiting for you to finish so we can leave."

"I'm not leaving."

"Cowboy, you gotta leave. You need sleep and a shower before you take Buck home tomorrow."

Chris glared at Vin for a minute, "I'm not leaving. I haven't finished talking to him."

"You can finish tomorrow. He won't wake up till then and Ezra will be here soon to watch Buck. You need to get some sleep."

Chris growled softly, "I need to finish talking to him."

Vin rolled his eyes, "Ezra will be here shortly, and you haven't been home since Buck was put in the hospital. You need to go home for a night. The rest of us will hang out here watching Buck. You either leave now, or Nate said he would strangle ya."

Chris glared, "You aren't going to let this drop."

"Nope!"

Crossing his arms, Chris shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, I'll go home, but I'll be back tomorrow to pick up Buck, and if anything should happen...."

"You'll kill us."

Chris shook his head and got up slowly from the chair he had been seating in. "So where is Ezra?"


"You are looking for me?" Ezra asked as he entered into the room.

Chris turned and looked at Ezra, "When did you get here?"

"I'm sure Mr. Tanner here, told you that I'll be watching Buck for the night. So you should have no worries about his safety."

Chris glared at Ezra, "I'm not worried, I was just leaving."

Ezra smirked and sat down in the now empty chair.

Before Chris could say anything else, Vin started to push Chris out of the room, before he could protest about the arrangement.

Ezra watched as the two men left. As they got out of sight, Ezra turned and looked at the sleeping man.

Buck slept on, not waking up during the little drama that had taken place.

Making himself comfortable, Ezra grabbed one of the books that had been left by different members of the group for Buck or themselves. Opening the book, he started to read, occasionally glancing at Buck to make sure that he was okay.

Early the next morning, Ezra, who was napping on the nearby cot, startled awake. Blinking a little bit, Ezra frowned till he figured out where he was. Finally remember where he was, he looked over at Buck. Getting up from the cot, he walked over to Buck who was mumbling and frowning in his sleep. Reaching the sleeping agent, he reached out and gently shook him awake. "Buck, Buck, you are having a nightmare."

Buck jerked upright and blinked several times. Looking over at Ezra, the dark haired agent spoke. "What are you doing here?"

Ezra snorted, "I'm replacing Chris as the person who is watching you, to make sure you don't wander out of the hospital by yourself."

"I wouldn't wander off," Buck said as he crossed his arms.

Smirking slightly at Buck, Ezra rolled his eyes. "Even if you act like a ten-year old, you aren't going to get me to believe that you wouldn't wander off by mistake."

Buck shrugged his shoulders and leaned against his pillows. "Didn't mean to wake you up. You can go back to sleep, it's still really early for ya to be awake."

Ezra settled in a nearby chair. "It might be a little too early for me to wake up but I'll just keep you company until you fall back asleep."

Buck glared at Ezra, "I ain't going to fall back asleep, I'm not tired."

Ezra smirk, "If you aren't going back to sleep, is there anything that you want to discuss?"

"No."

Ezra leaned back in the chair and stared at Buck for several minutes, waiting for him to speak. Buck stared back, determined not to say anything. Several minutes passed. Neither of the two men said anything, each waiting for the other to break. Finally, Buck looked down at his clasped hands and blinked.

Ezra just waited.

Finally, Buck mumbled something.

Ezra raised his eyebrow.

Buck sighed.

"What?"

"I'm still waiting for you to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about, everything is fine."

"How can everything be fine? You found out the only other survivor of the task force was the one who killed them. You have to have some problem with it."

Buck shrugged his shoulders. "He's dead, what's there to have a problem with?"

"The fact that he pretended to be part of your team, a friend."

"It's over with, he's dead, what's left. The case is done."

"You know what, you wouldn't let me go with that answer, so how do you feeling about Dragon."

Buck frowned, "You and Chris talk before you guys came here?"

Ezra raised an eyebrow, "No, I did not talk to our illustrious leader about this. But I have been betrayed by people that I trusted."

Rolling his eyes slightly, Buck sighed, "Ezra, its not a problem. He's dead, he got what he deserved."

"You have to feel a little cheated. You will never get revenge on him for what he did. What he made you watch."

"He's dead, it isn't worth thinking about. I don't want to remember what happened. It's finished, case closed."

"Its not case closed. What he did to you, what you had to witness can't just be brushed aside and forgotten."

"I can't forget it, but it's stupid for me to keep reliving it over and over again. I'm not going to worry about. It's over with."

Ezra leaned back in the chair. Thinking for a moment, Ezra finally asked a question that had been lurking in the back of his mind when the conversation started. "How can you just ignore his betrayal and not feel that you been cheated out of getting revenge for what he did?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Buck closed his eyes for a moment. Sighing, he spoke up. "He's dead, Ez, there isn't any mystery or question on who killed my team anymore. There isn't a question that he didn't get what he deserved. Do I wish that he suffered for what he did. Yes, but ending up dead is good enough for me. I know his reasons, I know why. All the questions are answered, I don't have any unanswered questions. It's over, my ghosts can rest in peace."

Ezra blinked, "You still have nightmares though."

Rolling his eyes and sighing, Buck looked up at the ceiling for a second. "Ez, I said I don't want revenge or feel cheated, but I still got to deal with my teammates dying and watching them die. It is going to take awhile. Now enough of this heart to heart, when do I get out of here. I'm fine."

"Sometime today I believe, unless Nathan feels that you should stay longer."

"Nathan would have me stuck here for a week, tied to the bed if he could. Luckily, Nate's not the doc."

"Buck, you keep talking like that and I'll leave ya here."

Buck and Ezra turned, as they both frowned at seeing Nathan standing in the doorway smiling. "I thought our fearless leader was picking up our injured comrade."

"Chris is coming, he's just parking the car. He wanted me to make sure that you, Ezra, weren't trying to help Buck escape before the doctor could see him."

"I wouldn't have done that."

Buck perked up slightly in his bed. "You mean if I asked, Ezra, here would have helped me get out of this hospital."


Ezra looked horrified at the thought. "I would have never done anything like helping.”

"Glad to hear you say that. So you won't escape next time you're stuck in the hospital."

Ezra frowned at Chris. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to hear you say that you would never escape the hospital."

Before Ezra could start a replied, Buck spoke up. "So when do I get out of here."

Chris smirked slightly. "As soon as you get dressed, we can be on our way."

"Where's my clothes?"

Chris smiled and tossed a bag of clothes over to Buck.

Buck grabbed the bag. Opening it, he started to pull out his clothing, ignoring the other three men. Shaking their heads, the three men, exited out of the room, and closed the door.

Several minutes later, Buck opened the door. Looking at the three men waiting outside the room, Buck stopped for a second and leaned against the door jam, holding his ribs slightly. Before Nathan could say anything in protest, Buck had pushed off the doorframe and was heading out of the room towards the closest elevator. The three men looked at each other and started to walk to catch up with him.

Exiting the elevator, Buck made a b-line for Chris's SUV. Leaning against it, he looked at the rest of the guys. ""What took you guys so long?"

Nathan frowned, "Buck, you were in such a rush to get out of the hospital, you forgot to grab you meds."

Buck glared at Nathan for a moment, "You didn't have to remember them, I don't need them."

Nathan glared right back at Buck. "You do need them. Chris and JD will both make sure that you are going to take them."


Buck frowned, "I'm going home, I can take care of myself"

The three team members just stared at Buck for a moment.

Shaking his head, Nathan spoke up. "Buck, you aren't well enough to be by yourself."

"I'll have JD to watch me."

"And how do you plan to climb the stairs," Nathan asked.

Buck frowned, "I would think of something."

Chris shook his head, "Nope, you and JD are staying with me for awhile."

"Why can't JD stay at the CDC?"

"You try to convince him," Chris said as he moved over to the drive's side of his SUV.

Buck sighed, and got into the SUV. Looking at Nathan and Ezra, he frowned. "What are you two going to do now?"

Ezra smiled, "Unlike you two, we poor working stiffs have to go back to work."

Buck shook his head.

Chris leaned over and buckled in Buck and looked at the men. "Yea, you two better get back to keep the rest of the group in line."

Both Nathan and Ezra smirked as they watched as Chris pulled away with Buck. Watching the SUV go out of sight, Ezra and Nathan looked at each other. Sighing, they headed towards their cars to head into work.

Inside the SUV it was quiet. Buck was looking at the window, leaning heavily on the door. Chris was driving, but every so often, glancing over at Buck. Finally, Buck sighed, and looked over at Chris. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Then why do you keep staring at me? I'm not going to jump out of the car to get away."

"I didn't think that you were going to jump out of the car. I just wondered if you had fallen asleep or not."

"I haven't, I've slept enough lately. So why do you kept glancing at me, like I'll try to escape somewhere."

"I'm not glancing at you for that reason. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Rolling his eyes slightly, Buck sighed. "I'm fine."

Raising an eyebrow, Chris snickered slightly. "Are you sure?"

Buck leaned back and closed his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure."

Chris nodded, and turned back to driving, silence falling between the two of them again.

Several days later, Chris arrived back at his ranch. Getting out of the car he headed into the house. As he entered into the house, he frowned. Putting his keys down, he moved towards the living room. As he reached it, he frowned. No one was in the room. Scanning the area for a moment, Chris started to move to the back porch.

Reaching the back porch, he frowned. Stepping out onto the porch, Chris walked up to the reclining person. Standing in front of the person, Chris's frown deepened. "What are you doing out here?"

Buck looked bleary up at Chris, "Enjoying the weather."

"It's freezing out here. You could get sick."

"Mm… not sick, I'm fine."

Chris's frown didn't go away. "You've been drinking. You're on meds, you aren't supposed to be drinking."

"Not on meds, didn't take any today."

"You didn't take any? Buck you need to take those, you could get an infection, or sick."

"I'm fine."

"How much have you drunk."

Buck screwed his eyes up for a second, "Three... no… four beers, I think.

"FOUR BEERS! Buck you're still recovering."

"I'm fine, been doing nothing, for awhile now."

Rolling his eyes, Chris sighed. "Come on, let me get you back inside."

Buck stared up at Chris. "Don't wanna go inside, want some fresh air."

Bending down, Chris started to help Buck up. "Well, I'll open a window for you. You do realize that if Nathan finds out that you've been outside, he'll kill ya."

Buck shrugged his shoulders, "Don't care, wanted to have some fresh air."

Chris, finally getting Buck inside, dumped him on the couch. Sitting down on the chair next to him, Chris was silent, just staring at a slightly drunk Buck. Finally, with an effort, Chris asked one word. "Why?"

Buck turned and bleary looked at Chris. Frowning slightly, he responded. "Why what?"

"Why… How did you join another team after what happened to the task force."

Buck was quiet, staring at the far wall.

Chris started to worry that he had gone to far.

Finally, with a deep breath, Buck answered, "why not."

"That's not an answer."

"Yes it is, same as the question."

Chris glared at Buck.

Buck glared back for a second, till he turned away and slumped in the couch. "Not drunk enough to answer it."

"Just answer the question."

"You get drunk first."

"I'm not getting drunk, and I won't tell Nathan about this if you tell me."

"That's blackmail."

"Yep."

Pouting slightly, Buck sighed, "Fine, but I'll denied it."

Rolling his eyes, Chris nodded in agreement. "Fine."

"Cause you asked and I didn't have anything better to do."

"That isn't an answer. "

"It is," Buck replied as he stifled a yawn.

Chris sighed, "It isn't the answer to the question. Just because I asked you, and you were bored."

Buck shrugged his shoulders, "It's why."

"Weren't you worried about what happened to the task force would have happen with the new team."

Buck blinked at Chris for a second. His eyes half closed. Just as Buck fell asleep he murmured out. "All the time."

Chris blinked, sitting back against the chair. He closed his mouth, and sat quietly thinking about what Buck just let slip. The quiet snores of a slightly drunk Buck was his background. Several hours later, Chris shook himself awake, and stared at the still sleeping Buck. Finally, levering himself up, he placed a blanket over Buck. Walking into the kitchen, he started making dinner. All the while, his thoughts were drifting about the case, and Buck's admission.

The arrival of JD brought Chris out of his thoughts. Looking down at JD, Chris shook his head. "Quiet, Buck's sleeping. Apparently he decided to go off his meds and get drunk."

JD frowned, "He got what?"

"Drunk! Don't know how, why but he should have known better."

"Yes he should have, but we aren't going to Nathan about this."

"Why not?"

"Because I say so."

JD was about to ask a question but the glare Chris gave silenced JD. JD finally shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, I won't tell Nate about it, but Buck better not do it again. "

Chris smirked. "Don't worry he won't do it again."

A week later, Buck was finally able to escape his caretakers/baby-sitters. Bundled up as he was, he was still shivering. He ignored the shivers and stared at the gravestones laid out in front of him. In one hand he held six deep rich golden roses. Silently, he placed one rose on each gravestone. He then moved to the center of the six stones. Sitting down on the cold wet grass, he stared at the gravestones. Finally, he spoke softly. "He's dead. Your murder, the betrayer is dead. My new team killed him. He won't ever be able to inflict what he did on us, on any one else. We've finally got him. You can rest in peace now."

With that, Buck got up from his sitting position and turned and walked away from the cold gray gravestones. Walking away from the gravestones he didn't notice the six men who walked up to him. He finally noticed them when he bumped into them. Stopping, he looked up at the eyes of the six men. Sighing, he gazed at all of them. "What?"

"Nothing… we were just waiting for ya. We're taking you out to dinner to celebrate you coming back to work."

Smirking slightly, Buck looked at all of the team. "Fine by me. What are we waiting for?"

Shaking their heads, the group turned and walked out of the cemetery, leaving the six gravestones by themselves with yellow roses in front of them blowing in the wind.

The End