Universe: Alternate ATF Universe - The Silence AU
Rating: PG13 (Some Language)
Main Characters: Ezra Standish and Rachel Austin (OFC)
Disclaimer: I don't own Ezra or the Mag7 characters. I will not make any money from this story
Comments: Read When Silence isn't Enough first. Ezra's getting used to his condition and finds a surprise along the way in the Records Department. And thanks to Gabrielle Bessey for her story input! Again, thanks to Mog and Lady Angel's Library.
Ezra was beginning to settle down into a routine with the team. His lip-reading and ability to talk clearly after losing his hearing was a big plus in his day to day life. But sometimes his teammates liked to e-mail their requests or Instant Message him on the computer. Just to make it a little easier on him in the office.
Chris usually used memos for important stuff, like requesting case updates and plans from Ezra's research job.
Ezra looked at his e-mail on his computer when he got in on Monday after he nodded to Vin. There were several requests for records concerning the team's new case involving a large shipment of guns. The main request was for research on Sidney Coles, the head of the organization. Buck needed his prepping before going into the organization as the undercover agent and Ezra would be his main source of preparation.
When Ezra got to the Records Department, he saw that Buck was already at the Records Department desk talking to a pretty woman. He couldn't see Buck's lips to read them, but he certainly could see hers. She was having nothing to do with Buck and his innuendoes.
Ezra just sighed to himself and then smiled when Buck turned at his approach and made the sign for 'burn.' As in 'crash and burn.' Buck knew that sign and frowned. It was one of the first ones he had learned from the sharp witted conman.
"Now, I didn't crash and burn with her, Ez. She's just playing hard to get."
Ezra shook his head and smiled again. Then his eyes widened slightly. The woman was doing a great version of the MCE (Manually Coded English) sign language that he learned in his classes.
Behind Buck, the woman at the desk was signing, 'he crashed and burned, yes.' Her hand was still doing the knocking motion for 'yes' when Buck turned back to her. He frowned.
"Are you guys ganging up on me?" He turned back to Ezra. "What did she say?"
"A gentleman does not tell, Mr. Wilmington," replied Ezra in his cool Southern voice. A voice that sent chills up and down the woman's spine. Not that she showed it to the handsome deaf agent.
"Oh, come on, Ez," whined Buck.
Ezra could see the whine in Buck's lips and smirked. "No, Mr. Wilmington. If you want to know, ask her yourself."
And with that, Ezra went up to the desk and picked up a pen and the request form for the files he would need for the case. "My, you are a vision of loveliness, today, Miss Austin." He accompanied his word vision with the sign that flicked away from his forehead in a ticking motion with his forefinger.
He didn't see her blush as he was filling out the forms.
But Buck did see the blush and decided to back off for now. Ezra needed all the support he could receive to get back on his feet as a fully functional agent of the ATF. He took one look at Rachel Austin with a regretful sigh and left them alone.
Rachel smiled at Ezra as he finished and handed her the paper. 'How many?' she signed to him.
Ezra held up three fingers and smiled back.
"I can read lips, Miss Austin. No need to sign for me."
She blushed again. "But I do so love to sign. My brother-in-law is deaf and I need the practice."
He shrugged. "Very well, Miss Austin. Sign away."
But she didn't want him to stop using that sexy voice of his. She thought quickly. "Could you still speak when you sign? I want to make sure I'm getting all the signs correct."
"Very well." He smiled briefly and then signed and spoke the next sentence. "I need three files from your office."
She looked down at the paper to see the names and blanched a little. This was a very dangerous man to be handling. She was glad that Ezra was no longer the undercover agent on his team. She'd had a secret crush on him his whole career at the ATF as an undercover agent and worried greatly when he was gone from his team. Now, she could breathe a little.
"I will get these for you," she signed and spoke, and then went to get the files.
Ezra stood at the desk, stunned in his own way. She was absolutely breathtaking when she used sign language. Her hands were so graceful and she made the words sing to his eyes. Rachel made his silence so beautiful for him.
And she was proficient. Not even Josiah, who had been rabid to learn the language, could match her mastery of it.
That was when he began to get suspicious. Why ask him to talk if she was that proficient? He'd have to study on it.
She came back and signed, 'The table has your files. You can use it now.'
He nodded and went to the research table in the corner.
Then he got down to his real business and forgot his surroundings. But Rachel didn't forget him. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he looked over the files and made notes on the notepads and pens that were provided on the table.
Rachel watched him from afar. God, he was intense. Sexy. His accent absolutely put her in heaven. And the suits he wore accented every curve of his body. She was about to go into hyperventilation just having him near her in the room.
And he seemed oblivious to her interest. Even a little distant in a Southern gentleman kind of way.
She decided that she would change his mind in the next few weeks he would be checking over the files for the upcoming case.
Ezra's suspicion of Rachel waned as the weeks went by. She was funny, nice and still made his silent language sing with her hands.
Somewhere, Ezra had learned that Rachel meant 'lamb.' He had begun to call her 'lamb' using the sheep shearing motion in front of his chest for her name Rachel. So Lamb she was from then on.
And she called him 'Help,' the meaning of his name. She had used the Internet to find the meaning of his name on a baby naming site in retaliation. He looked a little startled when she returned his friendly gesture of a nickname. Rachel wondered why that was.
Ezra was never really a ladies' man. The ladies he did get involved with always let him down in some way. His mother had forced him into some relationships for money, but he always ended them before it went too far. In his whole life, he had only one serious relationship, and that was with a Chinese woman by the name of Li Pong. That had lasted about two months before she returned to China and her family. He found out when he found the note on his door.
This hesitation to reach out became clear to Rachel as the weeks went by and he was in her company. She did everything she could to put him at ease, hoping, praying that he would crack a little and let her in.
She came up to the table Ezra was sitting at, going over the case one last time. Rachel held a cup of black coffee in her hand. Usually, he didn't drink office coffee, but something she did to it made it delicious.
"My dear," he spoke and signed, "what in the world do you do to this coffee. It is delicious."
She ducked her head. "I put a little cinnamon in it. I'm glad you like it." Her hands danced and her lips moved sinuously.
Ezra flushed slightly and suddenly the room was very close feeling as he looked at Rachel. Really looked at her. He had seen her in the Records Department during his stay with Team Seven, but he had never really looked at her as a person that could be a friend. Or something more.
'Good Lord,' he thought to himself, 'I'm not falling for her, am I?'
And Rachel was looking at him and thinking the same thing.
"Buck, you have to do this or he won't deal with you," said Ezra patiently. He usually had a great deal of patience, but Buck's life was on the line in this case and it was causing Ezra some stress.
Buck bulled up. "No, I won't wear that ... that thing," he said pointing to the navy suit with the double-breasted buttons with little anchors on them. "I'll look like an idiot wearing that. Why can't I just wear my jacket and my jeans like I did last time?"
Ezra shook his head. "No, Buck. He likes boats and ships. He has his own yacht named the Northern Lights for God's sake. You have to seem like you enjoy sailing on the ocean, or he will not give you the time of day."
"I don't have to dress up like that to act like I'm impressed with his boat," grumped Buck.
Ezra sighed and turned away for a break. He'd been briefing Buck for almost an hour on Sidney Coles' likes and dislikes and how to act around him. Since Ezra's deafness, Buck had followed his expert undercover advice on cases to the letter, but for some reason he was being stubborn on this case.
Buck came over and touched Ezra on the shoulder to get his attention. "I'm sorry, hoss. I just don't want to wear that suit." The apology was written all over his face and blue eyes.
Ezra was just frustrated with the whole thing so he did what he usually did when he was alone at home. He burst out in a flurry of mostly unreadable shorthand sign language to vent his frustration.
Buck's eyes widened as he recognized every sixth or seventh word. There were some pretty mean cuss words being spelled out in the rant.
Buck touched him again and Ezra stopped.
"Sorry. I just had to get that out of my system. Excuse my manners."
"No problem, hoss. I know you're under a lot of pressure to build back up to regular duty. I'm sorry I'm being such a pain."
Ezra just nodded and went back into his prepping for Buck's encounter with Sidney Coles.
It was the night before the meeting with Sidney Coles when Ezra's house lights went off and on to indicate that the phone was ringing.
He answered it and read the text on the screen of the phone that J.D. had set up for him to connect him to the rest of the Seven.
He began to curse again in shorthand sign.
<Ezra, Buck just fell down the stairs and broke his leg. Already been to the hospital. Can't be the undercover for the Coles case tomorrow. You're going to have to go in. Chris>
The phone was set up for him to respond in voice or in type. He chose his voice. "Mr. Larabee, I can't possibly go in on the case. I'm not prepared."
<You briefed Buck and you've read the files. You're going in. Be ready for Vin to pick you up in the limo at 8:00 a.m. Chris>
And the connection was broken before Ezra could respond.
How the hell was he going to pull this off?
Ezra immediately called Vin and told him to be there to pick him up at 6:00 a.m. He needed to go back to the Records Department and refresh his memory on the case before going in. Rachel had left the files in a place where he knew where to find them. She wouldn't come in to work until 7:00 a.m.
So, at 6:00 a.m. he was going over the files and wearing the suit that Buck had refused to wear the day before.
When Rachel got there at 7:00 a.m. she was surprised to find him at the research table.
She tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up.
'Why are you here this early?' she signed.
He shook his head in frustration and signed back. 'Mr. Wilmington broke his leg. I'm going to have to go in as the undercover on this case.'
She actually gasped out loud. Ezra was going to be with one of the most dangerous men in the city. She feared for him. 'Be careful. I am kind of fond of you.'
He hesitated a moment and then smiled, showing his dimples. 'I am kind of fond of you as well.'
Both their hearts swelled in response to the mutual emotion.
Ezra was wired up and a camera put in his button by J.D. He was there at 9:00 a.m. sharp to meet the man of the hour.
The meeting with Sidney Coles was going well. Ezra's deafness seemed to be a novelty that Coles just couldn't get enough of. Ezra was forced to perform many of his signs for the gunrunner.
But in the end, Ezra didn't mind when he was lead to the guns and sent the sign in front of his button camera that the team should move in for the take down.
When the fighting began, Ezra was right in the thick of it with his hidden gun. He put two bodyguards down on the yacht's deck before Larabee and the team could get there.
Things worked out perfectly for his first time back as an undercover agent.
His teammates congratulated him verbally. Josiah did his with a hand flourish.
And suddenly he felt like a contributing member of the team again.
He was back. He was ready.
When he walked in the Records Department the next day, Rachel leaped up from her desk and hugged him. Then she pushed him back to see the shocked look on his face.
'Why didn't you call me to tell me you were all right? I was worried all night. I didn't get word that the deal was done until I came in this morning.' Her signing was frantic and hurried.
'Sorry,' he signed. 'I didn't think. I was just so happy to be doing my old job again.'
She nodded and smiled. 'You looked great in your suit. I'm glad it went well for you.'
He replied with a signed 'thank you' that started at his lips and arced down. When he was done, she was in his arms and kissing him, shocking him again.
When she finally pulled away to look in his eyes, she spoke very clearly so he could read her lips. "I have never thrown myself at a man before. You are the first. I need you. I think I love you."
To say he was speechless was an understatement. This was happening all too fast for him. This woman scared him more than facing down Sidney Coles and his bodyguards. But at the same time, it felt right.
He decided to also speak out loud. "And I think ... I think that I love you, too."
After that, there was no more talk. But there was a lot of kissing going on.
It was five months later after 'sparking' his girl that he asked her to move into his old fashioned home with the iron gate. She responded with an enthusiastic kiss.
Moving day way a horror. She wanted to bring all of her antiques to his house and it just wouldn't hold it all. It was just a three bedroom, two bathroom house. Some of the stuff just had to go.
And to top it all off, she had a cat moving in with her.
A cat.
Those things that shed all over fine materials, like his suits.
Rachel laughed when she found the two of them in a stare down in front of Ezra's closet. She touched his shoulder and signed, 'Help, he will not touch your suits. I will make sure he does not.' She hugged him and laughed again as Jenkins, her cat, rubbed himself thoroughly on Ezra's pants leg. He left behind a lot of white fur.
Ezra's expression was priceless.
It was only two weeks into their living arrangements that Ezra's old fashioned sense of being a Southern gentleman got the best of him. He was going to do right by her honor.
He bought a ring and asked her to marry him.
Ezra didn't hear the squeals of joy that rang through their house as he presented the ring to her on as he went down on one knee. But he did feel the rain of kisses she put all over his face after he slipped the ring onto her finger.
So, years of being just associates at the federal building and the occasional contact in the Records Department had turned to friendship. Friendship to love.
The wedding was held where they met.
The Records Department.
And the whole building was invited as Rachel Austin became Mrs. Ezra Standish.
Next: When Silence Hurts
The End
February 11, 2003
Revised Feb. 29, 2004
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