Universe: Alternate ATF Universe - The Silence AU
Rating: PG13 for some language and violence
Main Characters: Ezra Standish, Rachel Standish and the rest of the Seven. Nine new characters introduced as Team Nine.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of the Magnificent Seven nor seek to profit from them.
Thanks to: Lady Antari for her input; Jigamarootoo, Jen007 and Peggy for the lovely e-mail; to anyone I might have missed.
Thanks to: Mog and those that came before me in the ATF universe! And thanks to Gabrielle Bessey for her story input!
Note: I have updated Silence Is Beautiful on October 30, 2003. Please read that before reading this.
Now that the new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was officially with the Department of Justice, Rachel could breathe a sigh of relief.
The came about as a result of the Homeland Security Bill signed by President Bush making the ATF into two entities, the other being Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. That Bureau remained with the Treasury Department.
Rachel's small domain that had been called the Records Department was now the Archive. She didn't mind the changes, just as long as she stayed assigned in the same building as her husband, Ezra Standish.
Every day, Ezra would come down and have lunch with her. And every day she would have to draw him out a little bit. She knew he loved her, but he often had trouble expressing the feeling out loud.
But she was not discouraged. Being an on-again/off-again undercover agent for the ATF, Ezra was a little hard to get a handle on. Once you did, you found gold. Even better than the gold on her ring finger. She was glad that the Magnificent Seven had worked on him for three years before she attempted to crack his code. Rachel didn't think that she could have done it on her own.
Today she was especially excited to have lunch with her husband. She checked the clock every five minutes to see if it was time for him to arrive.
Today she had some wonderful news for her husband of four months.
"And I think you gentlemen should be very cautious of this man, Antonio Marrara. I've looked at the surveillance tapes that we have on him, and he's a very dangerous man. He, my friends, would kill you without a thought."
The Magnificent Seven, as they were known far and wide in the law business, was in the conference room on their floor of the Federal Building in Denver. The only change that they went through with the signing of the bill was a slight change in letterhead and their boss answering to a different office.
In other words, they paid little attention to it.
Right now, they were going over the plans that Ezra Standish, their researcher and undercover expert, set up for the upcoming bust. The subject was the illegal selling of tobacco. The man was Antonio Marrara.
"This is a good blueprint, Ez," said Chris making sure that the deaf man could see his lips.
Not long ago, Ezra Standish went deaf. Fearing that he would be taken away from the team, Chris Larabee had immediately shifted Ezra's duties from that of an undercover agent to that of researcher and planner. The move was going very well and he could still call on Ezra from time to time to sub for Buck as the undercover if needed.
And Chris would like to think that he was the one that got Ezra to finally see that Rachel had a thing for him. After all, wasn't he the one that shifted Ezra so that he would have to spend more time with the lady and her records?
Buck, the new undercover who was moved out of the surveillance van, was about to speak when Ezra's head came up. Ezra glanced at his watch and smirked. "Sorry, gentlemen, this is my standing appointment with my wife in the Archive. If you will excuse me?" He nodded to the team around the table and left the conference room.
Buck sighed. "It's a good think I backed off of that Rachel. That boy has been plum happy since he got married."
"Backed off?" asked J.D. Dunne, the computer expert and youngest of the Seven. "The way I hear it, she wouldn't give you the time of day."
Buck puffed up. "Well, that shows what you know, boy. That woman was eating out of my hand when Ezra came along and I took pity on him."
Chris snorted. They all knew that Rachel had liked Ezra from the moment she met him. The only one who hadn't notice was Ezra. Buck was just blowing hot air.
"All right, back to work. If Ezra can put the effort into making these plans, at least we can study them," said Chris.
When Rachel said those four words in sign language, he almost fainted.
Him, a big, bad federal agent who had been up against the worst that humanity had to offer. He'd been in gunfights, fistfights and even sword fights. None of them prepared him for his beloved wife's message.
She was almost three months pregnant.
Rachel laughed as she helped him to a chair and made sure he didn't take a dive onto the floor. She wasn't offended by his reaction. Rachel knew he was not used to family matters, having the mother that he did. If he reacted any other way, she would have been surprised.
When Ezra recovered some color in his face he started to sign, not trusting his voice. 'My dear, you know how to get a man's attention.'
She just leaned down and kissed him on his flushed cheek.
It didn't hit Ezra until his wife was in her maternity clothes and happily looking through stores for the perfect furniture for their baby. He literally stopped in the middle of an aisle and dropped the two shopping bags of all colored baby clothes.
He, Ezra P. Standish, was going to be a father.
Rachel puttered by, talking to a sales lady about a set of cream colored furniture with the optional cream and maroon plaid bed skirt. She didn't notice her husband having an anxiety attack just thinking about taking any baby furniture home.
That would mean the baby was one step closer to being a reality.
"Get it together, Standish. This isn't a bust going down," he muttered under his breath. Then why the hell did he feel all his silent warnings going off like a bust gone wrong?
He breathed in deeply and managed to plaster on his smile just before Rachel looked up and grinned at him. 'This is it,' she signed to him. 'This is the set I want for our baby.'
'Looks good,' he signed back. Ezra was proud that his hands did not tremble as he made the words.
His wife gleefully went back to picking and choosing the matching bedding and accessories.
Ezra was sure he was going to faint right there in the store. He needed some air.
Ezra hired a crew to help his wife set up the baby room. Rachel took the day off and supervised the workers as they repainted and restocked the extra bedroom. Antiques that she was sure she needed when she first moved into Ezra's house were sold to a local shop. The value of the furniture paled in comparison to the life growing within her.
She watched as the workers put together the crib and pondered what was going on with Ezra. Oh, he seemed fine on the surface, he always did, but something was going on. His genuine smile that she discovered during their courtship reverted back to the polite smile that she recognized from his early days at the ATF.
The workers moved over to place the small dresser and changing table into the designated spots, leaving Rachel to put on the skirt and put on the linens that were freshly washed this morning.
Maybe he was getting the pre-baby jitters. She admitted to herself that she was a little nervous about having a baby and if she was nervous, then Ezra was probably sweating buckets.
Rachel finished her chore and then stood in the middle of the room as the workers left.
This was where her baby was going to sleep. Ezra's child. She patted her swollen belly and sighed.
The room was a pleasant cream color with maroon and maroon plaid accents. Her gliding rocker was plaid along with the sewn pillow mobile that hung from the ceiling featuring two stars and a rocket ship.
She smiled at the stuffed animals that were given to her at the baby shower. Rachel knew that old tradition demanded the exile of men from the shower, but she just had to have Ezra and his teammates there for the occasion.
Vin started the stuffed animal rush by getting her a stuffed cowboy bear at a small collector's store. Then Josiah just had to get the matching stuffed horse. J.D. rounded out that collection by getting a stuffed moo-cow.
Nathan was the next with a fuzzy dog dressed like a surgeon and the name Standish stitched on the left shoulder of the shirt. And lord knows that tempted Buck into getting a stuffed cat dressed like a nurse.
But her favorite stuffed animal was from Chris Larabee. It was a little plush wolf cub that came with a framed certificate proclaiming that the Standish Pack was welcoming Cub Number One to the family. Chris had eyed her after she opened the gift as if expected a bad reaction at using a number instead of the picked out baby name, but she knew what he meant.
There's going to be a lot of little Standish Cubs running around before they were through.
Rachel shared that sentiment. If she had her way, there would be at least four green-eyed, brown haired children calling her 'Mama' and bugging their 'Dad' for allowance money.
She looked back at the plush wolf cub and contemplated. It wasn't long before she made a phone call.
"Yes, I understand. No, no problem for me. Are you sure? Okay, I'll see."
Chris Larabee hung up his office phone and sat back in his leather office chair to think. He was just handed an assignment that he didn't know if he could pull off. After all, it was dangerous territory and a bit tricky.
There would probably be no hope for a rescue if things went sour.
And his team would probably run out on him as soon as things started hitting the fan.
Cowards.
Ezra was at his desk reviewing his plans for the Antonio Marrara tobacco bust.
Working with Buck, the case was moving along smoothly. Buck was slowly working his way from the street level to being invited to one of Marrara's infamous parties. Buck was always up for a party even if it was being thrown by a cut-throat who sold illegal tobacco.
For the sake of his cover, Buck asked Chris to snoop out a female agent who would be willing to go with him to the event. Not that Buck was worried about volunteers. Every woman in the building was hot for him, he just knew it. He allowed his mind to linger on the women that he came into contact every day at the building as he leaned back in his chair.
Buck was suddenly jerked upright.
Well, except for Rachel Standish, he amended. Buck ducked down his head as if Ezra could hear his thoughts. He looked at his doorway and listened intently. Nope, no Ez nearby. Then he felt silly for even looking for the smooth man from the South.
Chris broke the relative quiet of the common area with a yell that almost made Buck pee his jeans. He sat with his hand over his heart as Ezra's name rang around the ceiling. Buck slouched down in his chair as Ezra went by when he was alerted by Vin that Chris needed him.
Buck kept his thoughts to himself until he heard Chris' door close. You never could be safe when it came to the man who admired old west gamblers. It wouldn't be a good idea to piss Ezra off just before the bust.
"You called for me, Mr. Larabee?"
Chris sat back down at his desk and motioned for Ezra to take a chair. He wasn't all that up on sign language so he was sure to face Ezra and pronounce his words clearly.
"You given any thought to when you're going to leave for the baby? You have time coming and I'm sure you want to be at home."
Ezra hesitated and covered it with a check to see if his shirt sleeves were showing the same amount of cuff at each wrist. He did a small adjustment and then looked back up at Chris.
"Yes, I would like to take the time. Will that be a problem?"
Chris shook his head. "No. Just wanted to make sure you had the paperwork in time. It takes a while to process in personnel. This is an exciting time for new parents; I just wanted to remind you." Chris leaned over his desk and picked up a small stack of papers. "You're going to need to fill these out."
Ezra took them and glanced at the first sheet. His heart started to race.
His eye caught movement and he looked up to see Chris waiving his hand to get his attention. "You all right, Ezra? Things going okay with the baby?"
Ezra swallowed. "Yes, fine, Mr. Larabee. I'll see what I can do about this paperwork and get it back to you." Without looking at Chris, Ezra walked out of the office with a blank look on his face.
Chris leaned back in his chair again. Damn. He should have known better than the direct approach, especially with Ezra. The bull-headed man would suffer in silence during a real issue and then whine about the small ones. It was a quirk that Ezra shared in common with Buck. Get those two together and they would whine all day about everything from how many paperclips they were allowed to what color ink was in their pens. And look for cover if the color paper in the copy machine was out.
Time for Plan B.
" ... yeah, here he comes now. All right, I know. Look, do you want to do this, Larabee? You already blew it once. No, I don't want to be scrubbing toilets. You want me to tell Willy that you're trying to give his job away? That's what I thought. Oh, gotta go."
Vin slammed down his phone just as Ezra came into sight with his eyes still glued to the top page of the request forms. He breathed a sign of relief that Ezra hadn't seen him on the phone.
He watched as Ezra went to his wall facing desk that sat to the left of Vin's in the enclosed space. Bulletin boards hung over both desks. While Vin's was filled with pictures of his friends and one of his precious pictures of his mother, Ezra's board only held a timeline for the active cases represented by numbers.
Vin watched for his opportunity to strike. Ezra took out a black ink pen and began to fill out the paperwork. Twenty minutes later, it was done. Ezra reached into his bottom desk drawer for a manila folder to keep the papers together and put a yellow sticky note on the cover with his name on it.
Then he just sat there, looking at the folder and slightly moving his swivel chair back and forth.
Bingo.
All units are a go ... go, go, go.
Vin picked up his copy of the prelim report on the Antonio Marrara case and casually flipped it onto Ezra's desk. While he was waiting, he had highlighted a section on the physical structure that Marrara was suspected of hiding his illegal wares.
Ezra looked up and Vin smiled for the camera. "Hey, Ez. I was wonderin' about this right here." He got up and leaned against Ezra's desk and pointed to the section. As he was doing so he 'accidentally' shoved the neat manila folder onto the floor, causing the papers to flutter across the carpet. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ez. Let me get those for you."
The sharpshooter picked up the papers and glanced at each one as he put them back in order before replacing it on Ezra's desk "Hey, that date's not too far off! Are you excited, Ez?" He didn't wait for a reaction to that question. He figured the J.D. Dunne approach of overwhelming a person with babble would work best.
Ezra just watched Vin's mouth with an empty look in his eyes. They were beginning to glaze over when Vin wound down with his last question.
"So, how are you doing during all this?"
Ezra opened his mouth to reply when he jerked himself up short. No, this was nobody's problem but his and he would solve it by himself. "I'm fine, Mr. Tanner."
"You sure, Ez? You look a little worried about something."
"I assure you that I'm fine." Ezra shifted into a better position at his desk and pushed the manila folder aside. "Now, about this section you wanted to discuss ... "
'Okay,' thought Vin with a mental sigh as he tried to discuss his highlighting on the pages. 'Time for Plan C.'
Plan C consisted of Josiah Sanchez. The large framed man with the close cut beard just nodded when Vin slunk over to his desk an hour later to talk about Ezra. Vin didn't give Josiah any ideas on what to do, but he had something in mind.
When Ezra passed by on his way to the bathroom, Josiah gave Nathan a nod and then followed after the tightlipped agent.
He waited until he thought Ezra would be at the sink when he pushed open the door and went to the mirror holding a bottle of eye drops. He confirmed that Ezra was just coming up to the neighboring sink when he tilted his head back and put a drop in his left eye.
It stung slightly and Josiah pulled out a paper towel and held it to his watering eye. He cut his right eye over to see what Ezra was doing. Ezra was washing his hands, staring intently at the sink as if it held all the answers to the questions of the multitudes. Josiah just happened to drop his bottle of eye drops so that it hit Ezra's left foot. Ezra looked down as he dried his hands and then looked over at Josiah.
Josiah wiped his left eye again. "Allergies, you know? Doctor gave me something to help out. Can you get that for me?"
Ezra just nodded and picked up the bottle. He silently gave it to Josiah.
"Hey, I hear-"
Josiah was cut off before he could even start as Ezra dropped his eyes to the floor and pushed out of the bathroom without a word.
Before Ezra went deaf, he would just ignore comments. Now he just turned his eyes away so he wouldn't even see the comments. It was a good tool of evading conversations that he wasn't interested in having with everyone from fellow agents to Travis.
Josiah shook his head and finished with his drops.
Time for Plan D.
Plan D stood for J.D. Dunne. It was also the grade he got for his poor performance in the interrogation of one Ezra Standish.
Ezra left him at the copy machine without a clue as to what was going on with the agent. Of course, Ezra talked to him. He always did take the time to talk to J.D.
J.D. just wasn't really sure what half of it meant.
He pulled out his cell phone and made a quick call to his big brother, Buck.
Plan E was now in action.
Ezra was sure that it was a coincidence when three of his coworkers brought up his well being in under an hour. His conviction turned to suspicion when J.D. all but leaped on him like a lion waiting to take down a zebra at the copy machine.
While he was glad they were concerned, it was beginning to irritate him.
Buck flew out of his door in a well timed 'accident.'
He plowed into Ezra just as he was walking by to go back to his shared space with Vin.
The blow unsteadied Ezra, but did not upset his footing like Buck was counting on. The green-eyed man from the South was studier than he looked.
"Really-"
'Sorry, Ezra,' Buck signed with his limited resource of words.
Ezra took a silent inventory of his clothing and person and concluded that nothing was damaged. He swiped at imaginary dust and the looked up at the lank man in the tan jeans and the denim shirt.
"Everything seems in order. If you excuse me-"
Buck saw his chance slipping away. "Oh, hey now." He sidestepped to stay in Ezra's path. "I was thinking that maybe me and you and Rachel and Gloria could go to that new place. I hear they have great steak." Buck wiggled his eyebrows at Ezra.
"I'll ask Rachel and get back to you."
Buck leaned in a little closer and put a hand on his hip. "Okay, Ez?"
"Like I said, Mr. Wilmington, I'll ask and get back to you."
Ezra skirted Buck and continued on his way.
"No, that's not what I meant!" he commented to Ezra's retreating back. "Dang," he muttered to himself. J.D. was going to laugh over this. He'd bet the Kid ten bucks he could worm the problem out of the contrary man.
Let's see, what would this plan be? Oh, yeah, Plan F.
Buck hoped that Nathan didn't flunk.
Nathan was the most outspoken when it came to the Southerner. He made no bones about telling it like it was when he thought Ezra was bending the moral code.
But he didn't think this was a moral issue. This was Ezra's private life he was trying to pry into. He knew that he didn't want anyone trying to pry into his relationship with Rain.
At least, that was his best guess as to what was ailing the usually talkative man. Nathan snorted at that thought. Yeah, he talked a lot, but never really said anything unless you knew what to listen for.
Since Ezra went deaf, Nathan had tried to back off and let Ezra get comfortable with his new status with the team. From a medical point of view he understood that it was a big change to go through and Ezra needed all the support he could get from his friends.
Well, today that was going to end. This was no time to soft step around the man.
He marched right up to Ezra near the breakroom and opened his mouth to speak.
"Never mind, Mr. Jackson."
Nathan paused at the soft voice. He stared at Ezra for a moment to try and gauge his mood. Ezra stood drinking his freshly brewed coffee with a fixed expression on his face. His eyes were hooded.
"I just wanted to-"
"Let it rest."
The tone was mild but the body language said, 'Say one more word and you'll regret it.'
Nathan didn't stick around for the regret part.
"So let me get this straight. Not one of you got anything out of him?"
Chris was in the hallway with most of his team standing around him. Furtive looks were thrown up and down the hallway and hands were in front of their mouths to cover their words from prying green eyes.
"I'm tellin' you, he's not in a mood to talk," said Nathan. "And I'm pretty sure he's on to what we're doing. He nearly bit my head off by the time I got my turn."
Heads turned as the door to Teams Seven's offices opened and Ezra stepped into the hallway. Before he could turn to look down the hall at his skulking teammates, five bodies flew through the air and into hiding.
Chris was left standing in the hall by himself.
Ezra just nodded to him as he passed by.
Chris just sighed.
Cowards.
At the end of the workday, Chris just shook his head. Deserters. All of his men were deserters. All of them were willing up to a point to press Ezra about his mood, but as soon as Ezra redirected them, they dropped the issue.
Ezra's revenge tactics were subtle and none wanted to be on the receiving end if they made him mad.
Chris picked up his phone to make a report to Rachel. She was not going to be happy.
Rachel just sighed as she heard Ezra pull up in his car. She knew he would not talk about his problem right now, so she didn't bring it up when he wearily came in the door and put down his briefcase. She gave him a welcome kiss and then went back to the kitchen to check on her cooking.
Tonight, he was getting his favorite meal and to top it off was a pineapple cake with sugar syrup. Well, truth be told, she was also fond of pineapple cake. Maybe there was some strawberry ice-cream in the freezer. She was looking for the ice-cream when Jenkins, her cat, walked past her in the kitchen and arrowed his way straight to Ezra in the living room. She snickered faintly to herself as she watched the cat saunter by on his way to create havoc with her husband's wardrobe.
The truce between the two males became strained when Ezra took over the duty of changing the litter box for his pregnant wife.
Rachel could swear that Jenkins was purposefully being messy about his box just to irritate Ezra. She laughed and started to get out the dishes. After a moment she took out the ice-cream scoop to remind herself to get some with her cake.
She hummed to herself as she went back to the living room.
The house was quiet except for a pattering of rain against the windows. Ezra sat in his dark living room at 3:00 a.m. and wondered what he was doing up when he could be in bed with his wife.
He looked down at an object next to him on the sofa and remembered.
Ezra picked up the object and played with the dials for a moment and then put it back down and stared at the reminder of his condition. The object he was looking at was a baby monitor. Ezra had watched his wife get it out the box after dinner and set it up. While he was watching her, he suddenly realized why he was having his anxiety attacks, both at home and work.
What good was a baby monitor if you can't hear it? Ezra ran a hand through his tangled hair and took his eyes away from the offending baby monitor. If his child needed him in the middle of the night, how would he know? Sure, Rachel would be there most nights to make sure the sounds coming from the monitor were normal.
That brought him to a different level. This one was not anxiety related but more of a depression.
One day soon, his and Rachel's child would be born at the hospital and when it cried for the first time, he would not be able to hear it.
The thought of never hearing his child say the first word or exclaim with joy over a treasure just made Ezra want to cry.
It just hurt him so bad.
He sniffed and then tried to pull himself together, if not for his sake but for Rachel's and his friends'.
He knew a fishing expedition when he saw one. Team Seven shadowed his every step all day at work. Before his encounter with Josiah in the bathroom he had studied his face in the mirror to see what was giving his anxiety away to the other men.
Maybe he was just too close to the subject but he could not tell what was giving him away. His usual poker face seemed to be in place, his eyes carefully neutral.
Whatever it was, it was starting to stir up a response from his teammates.
And that was dangerous.
On a job like this, no outside distractions should be interfering with the operations.
He would just have to pull himself together and lay low.
The Antonio Marrara case heated up after another month of work and everyone was finally in their positions for Buck's high sign for the take down. Team Nine was nearby for backup, something that Chris insisted on as soon as Buck found out about the large stash of tobacco and guns at Marrara's during the party. It was Team Nine's lovely undercover agent, Giselle Kirkwood, who went with Buck as his girlfriend.
Jack Rayburn, Team Nine's leader, was beside Chris as they waited for the signal. Rayburn was quietly checking on his people and making sure they were ready.
Team Nine was based on Chris' blueprint on how to put together a top notch team. Jack had carefully lined up his recruits and when every thing was said and done, he came out with the best of the best. Except for Team Seven, of course. Nobody could tell Chris Larabee that his team took a back seat to anyone.
His thoughts about the case were ended as nervous energy ran through his body at J.D.'s alert to move in from Buck's codeword.
All members of both teams converged on the place, with the exception of Ezra. Chris was reluctant to put the man in danger with his wife so close to her delivery date, so Ezra was to stay in the van with the camera equipment.
The bust went down fast, even for Ezra's quick eyes. Just in case, his gun in his hand as Team Seven and Team Nine bust into the building and took cover as Marrara and his crew took exception to the interruption.
Ezra watched through the shaky camera movements as Josiah and Nathan moved in on a man hiding behind a box of freshly made cigarettes.
J.D. and Jill Simon, Team Nine's computers expert, went in together and cornered three men. Ezra's view of them was cut off as Buck turned to show Antonio Marrara running for his freedom.
A tackle from Chris Larabee brought the man to the ground and Jack Rayburn moved in to help frisk the man for weapons and cuff him.
As things were being wrapped up, the camera stopped its jerky motion and settled on a quiet scene of suspects being cuffed and lined up on the floor. Part of Team Nine kept an eye on them as the other part helped Team Seven look over the goods and start packing them up for transport.
Knowing that this would be a big bust involving almost thirty people, three police vans were stashed nearby. The drivers were signaled to load the prisoners for transport to the Denver PD for processing.
Ezra let out a breath and put his gun away as the last ranting flunky of Marrara was shoved into a van and the door closed. He was glad that his gloomy thoughts about this case hadn't panned out.
He was about to get out and go help with clean up when his pager started to vibrate on his hip. Reaching for it he looked at the number and gasped.
It was Rachel.
The baby was coming!
Chris almost yelled when Ezra ran full tilt from the van and into the crime scene without getting the signal from Chris to enter. One look at the man's face made Chris shut up. "What's wrong, Ez?"
Ezra was panting hard enough to be close to hyperventilating. "It's Rachel."
Chris didn't need anymore explanation. Even though he was concerned about the man since the phone call from Rachel, Ezra had been a model of excellence since then. Gradually the matter was dropped.
Chris put a hand on Ezra's shoulder and looked through the crowd of agents. "Hey, Nathan!"
Nathan looked up from his spot by Josiah. He saw Chris and then saw a heavily breathing Ezra. He moved quickly thinking that Ezra had somehow hurt himself during the bust.
"What's the matter?" He put a hand to Ezra's wrist to check his pulse. Ezra swatted it away.
"Look, Ezra just got beeped by Rachel. She's going to the hospital right now. Can you take Ezra over there and make sure he doesn't run over some innocent bystanders in that race car of his?"
Nathan frowned. "Yeah, sure. But Ezra, you're going to have to calm down. You're going to pass out if you keep that up."
Chris smiled to himself. He was sure he was just as bad when Sarah had Adam all those years ago. Buck could probably testify to that. "Just get him there and we'll come over when we get clear of this mess."
Nathan nodded and started pushing Ezra out the door. "Sure, Chris. I'll find out what's going on and wait for you guys in the Emergency Department."
Rachel was sure she wasn't going to make it.
All this sounded good on paper, but it was a lot different when you put it into practice.
At the moment, she was alone as her nurse checked on the pregnant woman next door. She gritted her teeth as the next contraction hit her like burning fire.
She might have to rethink how many children she wanted to have.
Ezra was running through the hospital like someone raised by cavemen. He was told where his wife was and left Nathan to bring the guys when they got in from the bust.
Right now, all he was thinking was that he hoped he was in time. He put all his fear and depression aside and ran like a gang of gunrunners were chasing him and using him for target practice.
Ezra was about to bust into his wife's room when a nurse finally caught up with him and forced him to stop long enough to get into the proper gear for a father to witness the birth of his child.
Only after the nurse looked him over twice was Ezra allowed to go into the room.
He found his wife with her hair plastered to her moist forehead and tears in her eyes as she tried to breathe during another contraction. Ezra went over and pried her hand from the bed railing and held it. And even though he couldn't hear himself speak, Rachel could. His soothing accented voice flowed over her as she tried to follow all the instructions that the nurses were giving her.
Chris and the rest of the team showed up slightly winded from running from the parking lot of the hospital. Nathan met them and they found a place to wait for news of the first baby born to their motley band of friends since the team was formed.
The only one there with personal experience with this was Chris and just sat quietly and let his mind wander to that special day that his son was born.
Four hours later an exhausted Ezra Standish left his wife in a light sleep after giving birth to their son, Page. As much as he wanted to stay with his wife, he was equally pulled by the urges to go watch his new son and to tell his friends that they were all godfathers.
He stood at the cross halls and made a decision. He went down to the waiting room.
Nathan was the first to notice Ezra since his eyes were glued to the door. Nathan jumped up and practically knocked Ezra down as he grabbed his hand and started shaking it before Ezra even had the chance to open his mouth.
"Congratulations, Ez. To both of you."
Ezra nodded and allowed himself to be happy for a moment without all his lurking worries. "It's a seven pound boy."
Josiah also got up and shook Ezra's hand. "That's a big boy you two have there. Is he ready to be viewed?"
Ezra shook his head. "They're working on him now."
"Well, isn't this something?" was all Vin would say as his eyes shone like blue sky, his mouth curled up into a grin.
J.D. and Buck were doing a little square dance in the middle of the floor. Buck was using his height to sling the younger man from side to side.
"I bet by the time we get up there, he's near the window," said Nathan as he pushed open the door of the waiting room. The others followed him into the hall with a lot of back slapping and grinning.
The only two left in the waiting room was Ezra and Chris.
Ezra let out a slow breath and lowed himself into a chair near Chris. Chris knew the sound of that sigh. This wasn't all happiness for Ezra.
Chris touched his arm and waited for Ezra to look at him. He was taken aback when he saw tears in Ezra's eyes. The last time Ezra cried was when he lost his hearing and tried to leave the team.
"Ez?"
Ezra sniffed and cleared his throat. In a whisper almost too low for Chris to make out Ezra said, "I couldn't hear him cry."
Chris gripped Ezra's forearm and closed his eyes. He should have known. No matter what his fears were when Sarah had their son, Ezra's must be multiplied by two without his hearing.
Chris opened his eyes and made sure Ezra was looking at him. "Ez, it don't matter that you couldn't hear him. You're going to be a great father. You and Rachel have a lot of love to give that boy."
"But-"
"No buts, Ezra. And no regrets. He's here and he's a gift. Don't lose a moment wishing for something that can't be. You enjoy this while you can."
Ezra could see the pain just under Chris' surface and knew he was thinking about Adam and Sarah. He studied the pain for a moment and then compared it to his own hurt.
There was no comparison. He should be grateful that his wife and son were healthy and waiting for him. He would enjoy his son as much as he could and for as long as he could.
Ezra nodded to Chris in understanding. "You want to see our boy?" he whispered.
Chris squeezed his arm again and released it. "Sure do. Let's go catch up with the others before they get kicked out for waking up the babies."
His six teammates watched at Ezra went behind the glass and was handed his son to hold for a moment.
As soon as Page was in his arms, the world fell away and he focused on the sleepy eyes that blinked back at him.
"Hey, little man," he whispered and the boy closed his eyes and fell asleep, tired from his ordeal of being born.
Even though he agreed with Chris in the waiting room, Ezra still hadn't believed. But now ... all his fear and depression left him as he felt his son breathing in his arms for the first time.
He couldn't wait to get his new family home.
The End
Well, at least for now. I do have an idea and I've called it Silent Hi-Jenks.
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