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azombiewritesTitle: A Man Reborn
Rating: PG
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
AU: Space Cowboys
Main Characters: All Seven.
Summary: Six men make up Team Seven, a group of professional bounty hunters. After a fellow bounty hunter’s cover is blown, he joins the team and begins the journey of changing his life forever.
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Spoilers: None
Status: Complete
Total Word Count: 58,220
Chris stared at the slightly blurred image of Judge Travis on the communications screen, the man's features were concentrating, trying to come up with the answer that Chris was looking for.
How did they know where Ezra Standish was? Chris was trying to wait patiently but it was difficult for him.
"Anything?" said Chris.
Travis rubbed his forehead and said, "No, I'm going to have to ask some questions."
"Ask who?"
"I have a few friends that I trust. Give me thirty minutes and I'll have your answers for you."
"You know I'm not a very patient man, Can you try and make it twenty?"
"Thirty minutes Mr. Larabee."
Chris sighed when the Judge reached forward, the screen went black. Thirty minutes. Damn! He hated waiting.
Pushing the chair away in frustration, he stood up and began to pace the room; it was what he did best. His legs moved, one-step at a time, taking him from one end of the room to the other. More often than not, he would pace when one of his team had been hurt. The period of time not knowing robbed him of a longer life, he was sure that the stress and worry took years from him.
While he paced his mind tried to answer the questions its own way. It had to have been a member of the Rebellion; no one else knew where they were. But to say something like that meant he was accusing a man who was a friend to Standish, a man he had grown up with. No, it couldn't have been one of them. There were arguments though to both sides. How would the Authority know where Standish was? They had told no one, not even Travis. Only the Rebellion on Okania knew he was there. The only answer was that Standish had an enemy among his friends. At least they were safe now. Only those aboard the 'Space Cowboys' knew where they were headed. What if Standish had told them himself? He had been left alone before they had arrived on the planet and he had plenty of opportunities to contact someone. Standish may be an irritating asshole but he wasn't stupid.
The communicator began to beep causing Larabee to stop in the middle of the room. A glance at his watch told him that thirty-two minutes had passed. Two long strides took him back to his chair and the expression he saw on Travis's face told him that it was bad news. There were no easy answers.
"Chris?"
"I'm here Judge, what do you have for me?"
Travis took a deep breath before giving the information he had uncovered. "This has come from the very top Chris, I pulled in a favour. The chip that everyone has in the back of their neck has a homing device in it. Punch in the person's ID and you have their exact location within minutes."
"Shit."
"What are you going to do?" Travis asked him.
"The Chip, It's always been like this?"
"Yeah. What are you going to do?"
"I don't know."
"Let me know if you need anything."
"Sure."
"Chris . . . How's Ezra doing?"
"Considering the fact that I don't know what's going on I can't really tell you."
Larabee frowned when the screen went black a second time. Travis had literally hung up on him, but he didn't have time to worry about the Judge right now, he had things to discuss with Nathan and Standish.
Fifteen
His teeth rattled in time with the tremors, his body cold and yet the sweat was pouring from his pores soaking both his clothes and the bed sheets. Eyes were closed against the hazy images before him, if he opened them, he was sure he would start throwing up all over the bed. Knees were kept bent and close to his chest, arms were wrapped tightly around the knees, anything to try to stop his body from shaking.
"Nathan,"
The voice was so quite that it was almost unheard.
"You need something Ezra?" Nathan asked as he stepped up to the bed.
"Anything, just something to stop this."
The pleading eyes did nothing to help persuade Nathan.
"I'm sorry Ezra, I can't give you anything, and it’ll only make it harder for you in the long run."
"I need something!" Ezra was becoming agitated, the anger flowing through his body like the drug had once flowed freely in his veins without any resistance.
"I-"
"Yes you can!" he yelled at the dark man. "You just don't want to."
"Calm down Ezra."
"If you're not going to help me you get away from me. Get the fuck away from me!"
Nathan did as he was told and walked away without turning his back on the growing anger before him. Ezra was beginning to crave what he needed and could soon be resorting to physical violence to get it. He was grateful that he had included Josiah in this, he didn't think that he would be able to handle Ezra without help. The man may be smaller than him but something told him that Standish didn't know what it was like to lose to anyone or anything.
"Think we should strap him in?"
Nathan spun around to face Josiah and answered his friend, "No, not yet."
Josiah nodded in acceptance. Nathan knew what he was doing, he would trust him and follow his orders. His eyes drifted back to the man on the bed. Standish was beginning to look like he had already passed on to the other side. The short auburn hair was soaked to his skull, the green eyes that would normally be bright and intelligent were now dull and sunken. Pale skin matched the sheets that covered the body, a body that didn't seem to be able to stop shivering. At least there would be no demons on the other side to haunt the young man but Josiah was sure there were many demons within the living world torturing Standish.
"Nathan!"
Nathan knew what that tone meant. Chris was in leadership mode, he wanted something, and he wanted it now.
Chris stormed into the room with a dark cloud hovering above him, a cloud that was about to burst and abrupt into a flood of anger and confusion. "The chip, the one at the back here," he slapped the back of his neck, "they have homing devices, that's how they knew where he was and that's how they're going to know where he is. We either take it out, which means we take out ours or we keep moving and stay ahead of them."
"This means that it's someone in the Authority that wants him dead." Josiah shook his head slowly, this was going to make their job of protecting Standish a lot harder.
"We can't keep moving, he'll get sick and that'll just make this worse." Nathan argued.
Chris narrowed his eyes, turned and stared and the trembling form in the bed. "What the hell is going on Nathan?"
Josiah spoke up before Nathan could say anything. "Three months ago, it took us almost three days to find Buck, four months before that, it was nearly a week before we found you and you were lucky to still be alive. Something like this could stop that from happening. We could get to any one of us within hours. We don't have to spend days looking for what we might think is a corpse."
"He's got a point Nathan."
"It's a stupid point!" Ezra threw in. "Your need to see me suffer is interfering with what is the most logical idea. Take the fucking thing out or I'll take it out myself." He reached behind and began to scratch at the back of his neck.
"Okay, now we put the restraints on." Nathan ran to the bed with Josiah right behind him.
"What about Josiah's idea of just hitting him? Can I do it?"
Josiah was about to reprimand his boss - again - but saw that he was watching Ezra with a hint of concern on his features. Yes, Chris was finally coming around to see their point of view when it came to Ezra Standish.
"Will . . ." Nathan bit against his bottom lip and struggled to keep his patient's upper body down against the bed.
"I think he wants our help."
Chris nodded, "Then we'll help him." Chris grabbed Josiah's arm. "He's not contagious is he?"
"Would I be here if he was."
Chris looked upwards and saw the smile plastered all over the older man's face. "Yes."
"Help me will you!" Nathan yelled at them.
"What's in it for us?" Chris elbowed the man beside him.
"What's in it for you?" Nathan repeated. "I can put a laxative mixture in your coffee and you wouldn't even know about it until-"
"We're comin'." Chris growled in annoyance.
Ezra knew what they were trying to do and he was going to do his best not to allow them to succeed. The last thing he wanted was to be strapped to a bed. It would put him in a vulnerable position. He couldn't handle not being in control of his mind or body and this was the second time that Jackson had done this to him. The first time he thought it wouldn't happen, then hoped it wasn't going to happen, and then it had been too late to stop it.
They were stronger than he was, three men against one. Uneven odds to most men but Ezra decided that they were in his favour. They were stronger but he was smarter. They were standing close to him, bent over to hold him down. He went for the man he thought was weakest of the three. Chris Larabee. It was also a chance to repay Larabee for the punch that he had landed on him a week ago. It was a mistake.
His knee lifted and he tried to kick out towards the blond agent. He managed only to kick Larabee's upper thigh, causing a guttural curse to escape. Larabee's hold only strengthened. He was about to try again when a fist collided with his hip. He screamed more in frustration than in fear and began to fight with every ounce of strength he had. It didn't do him any good. First, his arms were pulled wide and he could feel the leather straps around his wrists. He pulled at them hoping that his struggles would make it too hard for them to buckle the leather. The weight lifted from his upper body, two men now held his legs down. He sat up as high as he could, his shoulders straining at the joints. He was still pulling with as much force as he could at the straps on his wrists when felt his right shoulder pop out of its joint.
Ezra fell back onto the bed, pushing his head harder against the pillow. His teeth were clamped shut against the cry that was climbing up his throat. The strap pulled at his left arm when he tried to move his head closer to the injured shoulder, he needed to see it for some stupid reason.
The pain was overriding everything else: his anger, his fear, and his need for something to help ease the symptoms of withdrawal. It was something he could concentrate on, he had used the same tactic on other occasions and it had always worked for him. It could work again, not as well as it had before but it could help him when he needed a distraction.
After closing his eyes, he forced himself to relax and began to concentrate on the pain. His breathing levelled out and the tension slowly drifted away from his limbs allowing his body to remind him of how cold he was and how much the rest of his body hurt. There wasn't a struggle when they pulled his legs apart and strapped the restraints around his ankles.
The pain and swelling would start soon, he was aware of that. All he had to do then was to try to move the shoulder and arm and pain would erupt. He hoped that Jackson or one of the others wouldn't notice the swelling that will occur in his shoulder.
"Why has he calmed down so suddenly?" Josiah asked.
"I don't know." Nathan looked down into Ezra's face and placed the palm of his hand against the man's forehead. There was a fever, there had been for the last twelve hours. "Ezra are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He willed himself not to show any pain. "You have to take it out Nathan. I can't do this and get sick again."
"What if we only take out Ezra's chip?" Nathan turned back to look at the other two men.
"Then they'll locate one of us." Chris told him. "They'll know where we are, and that he'll be with us."
"I can't keep him on this ship Chris, he's going to get sick again and that won't help him."
"What's going on Nathan?"
"Tell him Nathan!" Ezra lifted his head and felt the pain in his shoulder. "Tell the bastard everything. He doesn't give a shit what happens to me." his head fell back and he continued to speak as though he was alone. "No one ever gave a shit, not even Jack. Oh, you may think he does but he'll do what my mother tells him. 'They say they're friends but they're not'. My mother taught me that, told me ever since I was a child. 'Make no friends Ezra', she had said. 'They only want something from you'. 'Don't trust anyone' was another one of her sayings. But my favourite is 'look after number one Ezra because no one else will'. It took me a while but I finally understood at the age of seven what she was saying. Number one. She was number one and she only intended to look after herself. She came before me. I know she loves me but it's a love that has conditions. When an attack went wrong, she left me for the Authority. Saved her own skin and left me. BITCH! Did you hear that Larabee! She left me to die so she could save her own skin."
"Ezra . . ." Chris didn't know what to say to the younger man. At least he now knew why Standish had reacted so badly when he had called him a mamma's boy.
"Don't even bother, you don't want to so don't waste your breath lying to me."
"I wouldn't lie Ezra. I haven't lied to you yet have I?"
"Mr. Jackson, can you make him leave please."
"Chris," Nathan nodded to Chris, "we'll talk outside."
Josiah took a seat next to the bed and picked up a book he had brought to read. He knew Ezra wouldn't be in a talking mood and there would be no use in trying to force him to listen. The words on the pages of the book failed to reach his mind, it was too busy going over what Ezra had said. Why would a mother sacrifice her own son in order for her to keep her freedom? It was a question he couldn't answer. He glanced to his left to see Ezra lying still, there was no movement except for the occasional tremor. It had been a sudden change to the way he had been behaving five minutes ago and there had to be a rational reason for it.
******
He could feel Sanchez's eyes on him but he didn't care, the only thing he cared about now was the pain in his shoulder. The pain was now starting in the upper part of his arm. He wriggled his fingers and they felt numb. If left long enough he would require surgery to put it back in place.
And to add to everything his headache had decided to get worse. Sweat began to invade his eyes and he blinked trying to clear them of the moisture.
A hand reached over his face and wiped it with a damp cloth. Sanchez must have known what he was trying to do. No one had ever sat by him for such a long period as Sanchez, no one had ever wanted to. When Henderson had tried to kill him, he had spent three weeks on a medical ship.
There had been no visitors, no inquiries about his health. His mother hadn't made the attempt to find out if the rumour of his death was true. Normally she wouldn't take the word of any man, but this time she had. It was also unnatural for Jack to also accept it. They were probably grateful to get rid of him. If he ever had a friend it would be Jack but Jack did have his own personality problems, they just didn't always show themselves, especially in front of other people.
"You want me to read to you?"
"Huh?" Ezra was taken by surprise.
"My book, I could read it out loud if you like, it might take your mind off it," said Josiah.
"No. The last thing I want to hear right now is a voice."
"Headache?"
Ezra only nodded. He shifted his shoulder and concentrated on the pain. It took everything else away for a few minutes. It wasn't long enough but he knew the longer the shoulder was left, the more painful it would become.
******
"It's your decision Chris. What do we do?" Nathan was leaning against the wall. He had informed Chris of Ezra's condition and now there was a different look in the pale green eyes when Ezra's name was mentioned.
"How much will he suffer if we keep moving around?" Chris asked.
"Withdrawal symptoms and Dimension Affliction. How much do you think he's going to suffer."
"Josiah was right about the chip being useful to find each other when something goes wrong."
"How do we use it? Do we have to get Travis to pull in a favour every time we might need to locate our positions?"
"No, we get our own device to use."
"How are you going to make that happen?" Nathan knew he shouldn't ask.
"I'll get it any way I can."
"So we keep moving around?" Nathan allowed his chin to fall to his chest. He also knew that Josiah and Chris were right, he just couldn't stop thinking about what Ezra was going to go through.
"We'll help you Nathan. We can take shifts, do anything you need us to do. Even me," Chris said.
"Your first task is to tell Ezra."
******
They had taken the restraints off, it had only been an hour and they had taken the restraints off. Six men stood in a huddle close to the door. Occasionally one of them would look towards him and he knew by the expressions they held that they knew what was going on. He twisted his shoulder again, his chest lifted towards the roof in response to the pain, his eyes tightened, and his teeth bit down hard on his cheeks. The taste of blood caused his stomach to turn. He had to keep his mind off the need for ORD; he wouldn't be able to do it otherwise. Another shift of his shoulder and the remaining thoughts and needs disappeared. Quickly, it had stopped working, he moved again and along with the extra pain came an attack of nausea. He didn't mind.
"Nathan." Ezra realised his eyes were beginning to water. "Nathan!"
"You need something Ezra?"
"My stomach . . ."
"Think you're going to throw up?" Nathan moved quickly and grabbed a large bowl.
"Know it."
Ezra pushed himself up into a sitting position with his good arm and leaned over to his left. He could feel the bile rising slowly in his throat and knew with a certainty that he wasn't going to be able to stop it. The bowl appeared in front of him and a hand began to rub his back in-between his shoulder blades. It wasn't Nathan's hand, he was holding the bowl with both of his hands. He wanted to look up to find out who it was but decided that it could wait until he was finished. It was probably Josiah anyway. That man was sticking to him like glue and it was causing him to feel slightly claustrophobic.
It was an awful feeling knowing that people were watching you empty your stomach. Spit and bile hung from his lips in between each bout of vomiting. His body continued to tremble and his shoulder and upper arm felt like they were on fire. He thought of nothing else but the pain, which is exactly what he wanted. No one had noticed that his right arm was almost lying on the bed behind him, he hadn't been able to lift it over his side without the pain showing on his face.
"Have you finished Ezra?"
Ezra shook his head at Nathan's question. "Are we moving or taking it out?"
"Moving." Chris informed him.
Ezra jumped in surprise and fell onto his back. His left arm reached for his right but he stopped it before it could make contact. The shock he felt was written all over his face. It was Larabee who had been rubbing his back.
"Why?" the question was whispered but Chris and Nathan heard it clearly.
"It's the best thing to do in the long run. I'll explain it to you when you're feeling better."
"I don't think that's going to happen, feeling better that is." Ezra sat up again and continued what he had been doing. The hand began to rub his back again and he wanted desperately to shake it off but he wasn't physically capable.
"Chris, could you get some fresh cold water for me so I can wipe Ezra's face when he's done."
Ezra slumped with relief when his stomach finally stopped. A cold wet cloth ran over his face, washing his mouth and wiping the sweat from his face and neck, it was gone in a matter of seconds but was back just as quickly. He refused to open his eyes when the cloth wiped the hair back from his forehead. Someone was actually taking care of him. With his eyes closed, he couldn't see who it was, he could even pretend for a moment that it was his mother.
"Here Ezra," he was lifted and someone sat on the bed behind him to support him, "drink this."
Another hand, warm to the touch, lifted his chin while another poured the water into his mouth.
He coughed instead of swallowing, the water spurting all over the man in front of him. He opened his eyes and was again, shocked to see it was Chris that was trying to get him to drink something.
"God Damnit Ezra!" Nathan yelled at him. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?"
"He only coughed Nathan-" Chris started.
"I'm talking about this!" Nathan squeezed the injured shoulder.
Ezra cried out in pain, he couldn't keep it in.
"His shoulder is dislocated and he didn't tell me!" Nathan couldn't believe the strength of anger he was feeling right now. Why would someone who was already unwell go through pain like that?
"It helps." Ezra answered the man who was behind him.
"Helps what?"
"Helps keep my mind off the other thing."
"There's other ways Standish," said Chris.
"Then you tell me what other way I cannot think about it. You tell me!" Ezra yelled into his face. "You have no idea what I'm going through!"
"No I don't Ezra, but we're here to help you through it. Anything you want," Chris smiled, "except for drugs. Anything Ezra."
"I could use a drink." It was all he could say, the statement had shocked him.
Chris lifted the glass again and held it while Ezra drank from it. When he was finished, the glass was taken away and his face wiped. He used his hand to push Chris's away from him. Someone wiping his mouth like that was too much for him to handle.
"Lay him down Chris, I have to put the shoulder back in place." Nathan ordered.
"Can't you just leave it alone for a while longer?"
"Ezra!"
"Nathan, just a little while, I've used this tactic before, it works fine."
"You've done this before?" Nathan asked.
"Yes, I-"
"You're not doing it again. Chris! Put him down."
Nathan pulled a sheet from one of the other beds. "Lift him up Chris."
"You just told me to put him down," Chris complained.
"And now I'm telling you to lift him up."
"What are you going to say after I lift him up?"
"I'm going to tell you to put him down," Nathan said.
"Then why in the hell am I lifting him up if you're only going to tell me to put him down again!"
"Who's the doctor here Chris?"
"You are."
"And do doctors know what they're doing?"
"No."
"Chris!" The word came out through gritted teeth.
"Fine! I'll lift him up."
"I can lift myself up you know," Ezra said.
"You've got no part in this Standish, this is between me and Nathan." Chris argued as he lifted the man up. He watched as Nathan gathered the sheet and put it under Ezra. He then waited for Nathan.
"Well," Nathan said.
"Well what?"
"Put him down!"
Chris let go of Ezra and allowed him to fall to the bed. "Sorry," he apologised when Ezra grunted in pain.
"Grab the other end of the sheet Chris. Vin can you help him." Nathan waited until Vin joined Chris's side. He then threw the other end of the sheet over Ezra's chest. "Grab an end each. I want you to pull when I tell you to."
"You're very good at telling people to do things Nathan." Stated Chris. "What are you like at being a doctor."
"Mr. Larabee," Ezra glared at him through puffy eyes, they were still watering and he couldn't do much about it, "could you not piss him off when he's about to carry out a medical procedure on my person. You can piss him off all you want when he's working on you."
"I'd rather not." Chris couldn't help but smile at Standish.
"Chris." Nathan's impatience was beginning to show on his face.
"Say when Nathan," Chris said.
Nathan began to lift Ezra's right arm off the bed.
"You're not going to give me an anaesthetic?" Ezra asked.
"You're getting nothing until you get this ORD shit out of your system."
"That ORD shit saved my life a few times you know."
"And it's going to kill you."
There was no more arguing when Nathan lifted the arm further until it was level with the rest of Standish's body. "I'm going to pull on this side to put the shoulder in place, on the count of three guys. One . . . two . . . three."
Nathan pulled as hard as he could while ignoring Ezra's shout of pain until he felt the ball of the joint go back into the joint socket. "Stop pulling you guys, it's done. Josiah, can you get me one of those shoulder immobilisers."
"I don't need one." Insisted Ezra.
"You're going to have to wear one for at least two or three weeks." Nathan told him.
"I don't need one."
"What makes you think you don't need one?" Nathan caught the brace when Josiah threw it to him.
"It's something that always happens." Ezra shifted his hips to find a more comfortable position.
"Happens a lot then does it?"
"Yeah."
"When this is over you're going to have surgery to repair it so it doesn't happen so often."
"I don't need-"
"I don't give a shit what you need Ezra," Nathan wore a determined expression on his features, the same one he had been wearing when he had force-fed Ezra. "Things are going to change for you now that you're a part of this group and the first thing you're going to learn is that when I say you need something, you need it and you're going to get it."
Ezra glanced at Chris and saw that he was smiling, almost laughing. He didn't fail to notice that the rest of the group was doing the same.
"How the hell did I get into this shit?"
"By doing something stupid obviously," Chris said.
"Obviously." Ezra sighed deeply and waited for Nathan to finish putting the immobiliser on. He would take it off when Jackson wasn't watching. He then rolled onto his left side. "Stomach again."
" 'Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn't it? Yes'm. Powerful warm, warn't it? Yes,m. Didn't you want to go in a-swimming, Tom? A bit of a scare shot through Tom--a touch of uncomfortable suspicion. He searched Aunt Polly's face, but it told him nothing. So he said: No'm--well, not very much. The old lady reached out her hand and felt Tom's shirt, and said: But you ain't too warm now, though. And it flattered her to reflect that she had discovered that the shirt was dry without anybody knowing that that was what she had in her mind. But in spite of tier, Tom knew where the wind lay, now. So he forestalled what might be the next move:' "
"You can keep reading Josiah, I'm only going to be a few minutes," said Nathan.
"I don't think he hears me anyway." Josiah shrugged and put the book down.
"You don't know that Josiah." Nathan was checking Ezra's heart rate when he frowned. "Too fast."
"That's not good is it?"
"It's to be expected," Nathan told him, "but I thought it would have started to slow down by now."
"Is he going to be okay Nathan? I mean he doesn't look like he's getting any better."
Nathan had asked himself that question already. It had been three days since he'd put Standish's shoulder back into place and the man had only gotten worse. Nathan knew that would happen but the withdrawal symptoms should be starting to ease already and the Dimension Affliction shouldn't be affecting him so badly. He looked down at the sweat soaked form and wiped the man's face with a cool cloth. Nathan could still feel the tremors that occasionally racked Standish's body. He then checked the drip he had put into Ezra's right arm to replace the fluids he was losing through his pores.
"Could you not give him something now?" Josiah asked.
"I don't want to risk it, not until I'm sure he's gone through the withdrawal process."
"And the only way to know that is to-"
"Land somewhere, let him get over this sickness and then see how he feels."
"We're going to have to talk to Chris."
Nathan brushed his fingers across Ezra's forehead and cheek, the fever was still raging. "I'll go talk to him," said Nathan, "you keep reading to him, I'm sure he can hear you."
******
Chris understood what Nathan was saying but he wasn't sure it was a good idea. Because of the homing devices, they would know where Standish was right this minute, if they landed somewhere whoever was after Standish would be on him within a matter of hours.
"We can't land Nathan, anything could go wrong."
"Chris," Nathan was pacing, just like Chris normally did when he was frustrated and angry, "he's only getting worse, he's not stabilising, you've seen that yourself and I'm starting to get worried that he won't. I can't be sure of anything until we're on the ground."
"Nathan-"
"Chris! Don't give me that shit about protecting the team. Ezra is part of this team, we need to protect him, and it’s no longer a job at the order of Travis. This is something we have to do," he used his fist to hit the table, "if it was Vin or Buck you wouldn't hesitate. We have to land and we have to do it now!"
"And if we don't?"
"He might not get better Chris, I don't know what the Dimension Affliction is doing to his system or if there'll be any permanent damage. I've never dealt with the illness before, you usually give the patient the antidote and that's that. Ezra's been suffering from it for more than three days and the longer we keep moving the worse he could get."
"You're serious about this."
"Yes I am." Nathan sat down. "What if this kills him Chris? Do you want to be responsible for his death because I know I don't."
Chris stared at his knees and thought about what Nathan had just told him. Landing on a planet would help improve Ezra's condition, but it would also give the people who were after him a solid location. A location they may not be able to get away from quickly enough to escape the enemy's grasp. In a state of continuous movement, the only life at risk was Standish. If they stopped then the entire crew would be at risk. Although Nathan was right about one thing, Standish was now part of this team whether he wanted him to be or not, and they took care of their own, they always did. They risked their lives for each other all the time. He couldn't make this decision on his own, it had to be a team decision, and they had to decide if they were willing to risk their lives for a man who was made a part of the team because Travis wanted him protected.
"This has to be a team decision Nathan," said Chris.
"I understand."
"I'm going to say yes," Chris stood up and patted Nathan on the shoulder. "You're right Nathan. I don't have the right to force him to suffer like he is and if it was one of the others I would have done it differently."
"Thanks Chris."
"I'll get the others together and meet you in the medical room."
******
He opened his eyes when Josiah stopped reading and opened his mouth to ask him to continue. No sound came out, only a painful breath that caused him to start coughing. It was all that was required to set his chest on fire. Hands grabbed him and lifted him upright but it didn't help, the coughing was just as painful if not worse. He lungs felt as though they weighed a ton, filled with a heavy liquid that was drowning him.
Someone offered him some water but he refused it. The last thing he wanted was to put something in his stomach; it would only take the smallest amount of liquid or food to make him vomit. A voice told him that he had to drink something but he knew he didn't, he had felt the needle of the drip in his arm. Nathan would be taking care of him, he had to be, and they wouldn't let him die. Travis wouldn't allow it.
At least he was no longer craving ORD as much as he had been, that was something. Now if only they would take him somewhere so he could get over this damn illness. He'd never been this bad before and he knew the drug withdrawal would not have helped him at all.
The man that was holding him seemed to be refusing to lay him back down. If he had the strength, he would have struggled his way out of the person's embrace by now. But there was no strength, only a fear that he wasn't going to see his way through to the other end of this illness. An illness that didn't have to be. If Chris had allowed Nathan to take the chip out or if they could have just taken him somewhere else he wouldn't be suffering like this. It was Chris Larabee's fault, the man didn't give shit about him, but could he really blame him, it had been that way all his life, no one gave a shit about him or cared what happened to him.
He curled tighter into himself when his body shook. The tremors only made his chest feel worse. The man holding him must have mistaken his body language and thought he wanted to be closer so he was pulled further into the embrace. Damn he hated this type of physical contact with anyone.
Someone else took his chin in their hand and turned his head. Something was placed over his mouth and nose. Oxygen, Nathan was giving him oxygen. He found it was slightly easier to breath now that the oxygen was flowing into his lungs. His body jerked when he felt a needle prick his other arm. He had no idea what that would be for.
"It's okay Ezra,"
Ezra managed to open his eyes again slightly. Nathan was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Your lungs are beginning to fill with fluid. I'm giving you oxygen to help you breath and I've started you on antibiotics."
Ezra nodded so Nathan knew he was listening. He wanted to ask Nathan about the drug he was trying to get out of his system. He didn't know if antibiotics would affect him. He had gotten this far and he didn't want to have to go through it all again.
"We're going to be landing in about five hours," Nathan was continuing, "things will be better for you then. Okay?"
Again, Ezra nodded.
"I'm sorry about this Ezra, you shouldn't be going through this."
Ezra didn't acknowledge the apology.
"Josiah's been reading to you, have you been able to hear him?"
Ezra nodded.
"Would you like him to keep doing it?"
He was only capable of a small nod this time, he was using too much energy, not that he had a lot to begin with.
"Okay, it won't be long now Ezra, you'll start feeling better soon."
This time the person holding him did lay him back down onto the bed. A blanket was thrown over him but he didn't have the motivation to remove it. His lungs struggle to take a deep breath on their own but it was too painful and he started to cough again. Someone rubbed his chest thinking that it would help, it didn't.
******
Ezra was going downhill fast and Nathan knew it. It was going to be another four hours before they reach Engaris; a planet that had been abandoned after the alien force had wiped out three of the four colonies, the last one not staying around to wait for the slaughter they knew was coming.
"Try not to take deep breaths Ezra, just breath normally."
There was no response, he knew Ezra was too weak to do any more than nod his head, which he had managed a few times but couldn't manage it now.
They had made the wrong decision, they had thought of themselves and what may happen in the future instead of a man in the here and now.
"Is he going to make to Engaris?" Chris was sitting in a chair next to the bed and was watching his feet closely. It didn't matter how much he disliked this man, he shouldn't have put Standish through this shit. He looked up and all he could see on Ezra's face was pain and misery. Every pore on Ezra's body was oozing sweat. The man was losing as much fluids as Nathan was pumping back into him. He could see the flush of the fever as Ezra's head occasionally rolled from one side to the other. Even his legs moved, the knees lifting then dropping quickly. Ezra Standish was sick, probably dying and Chris regretted every word had said to the man, regretted enjoying the pain and suffering during the first few days after meeting him.
"Yes . . ." Nathan answered.
"What's the but Nathan?"
"He'll get there if no more complications set in," he glanced sideways at Chris, "I didn't expect pneumonia, it's not serious but it could get worse."
"All this because he pissed me off," said Chris.
"No Chris, all this because someone wants him dead."
"But it was our job to protect him," Chris rubbed his forehead with more force than was necessary, "look at him now Nathan."
"He'll get better." Nathan was wiping Ezra's face again when his patient started to cough. He pulled Ezra up and caught his head when it fell backwards. Nathan then removed the oxygen mask and motioned to Chris to pass him a bowl.
******
Ezra could feel the cough coming from deep in his chest. The pain he felt made him think that his chest was about to tear in two. He needed to talk, to tell Nathan that something was wrong; something was breaking inside his chest. His body was lifted again and he didn't have the strength to hold his head up. It fell back and he began to panic at the thought of choking instead of coughing but the fear was short lived when a hand caught his head and supported it for him.
He then started to cough and he did his best to fight it, there was too much pain. There was no stopping it, the feeling of something heavy in his chest, throat had to be removed, and coughing was the only way to do it. He could hear Nathan's voice telling him to cough and spit it out. It was easier said than done. He shook his head, he couldn't do it. There wasn't any strength left him to hold his head up and there was too much weight in his chest.
His body was pushed forward until his head was almost touching his knees. The coughing then turned into violent dry retching. At this moment he really wished he could die, a quick death would be better than this slow painful torture.
Nothing came from his stomach but he did feel something finally shift in his chest. The thick fluid rose into his mouth and he spat it out like Nathan had told him to. He continued to cough, his chest burning with pain as he began to struggle to breathe again. The mask was back on his face in an instant and he felt himself being lowered back to the bed. Nothing changed. His chest was still heavy with fluid and his lungs were still drowning.
******
"The phlegm in his chest is starting to shift," said Nathan. "It's a good sign. I'll take another chest x-ray in a couple of hours to see if there's any improvement."
"How quickly will the Dimension Affliction improve?" Josiah asked.
"More or less straight away Josiah, as soon as the body realises that it's no longer in movement."
"What if he's too sick to notice."
"He'll notice."
"We still haven't worked out what we're going to do when he does get better," said Josiah.
"Take him back to the base." Chris lying on one of the nearby beds. He had refused to go to his room and had given Buck orders to land the ship after they made their way through Engaris's atmosphere. "The person who wants him dead can come to us and then they'll have to go through us to get to him."
"You've changed your mind about our young friend then." Josiah smiled at Chris.
Young? Chris had thought Ezra was in his mid thirties but to look at him now, you got the impression that he was a lot younger.
"Let's just say that I'm feeling sorry for him and I'm angry at myself. As to liking him? I wouldn't go that far Josiah."
"Did Travis give you any more information?" Nathan changed the subject, they needed to talk about something else.
"No but he's still digging through some stuff that he has."
Nathan nodded. There wasn't really anything they could do right now. JD had been through Ezra's file more than twenty times and there was nothing in it that would point to a reason that someone wanted him dead. It wasn't mentioned in the Infiltrator's file that he had once been part of the Rebellion but there were people in the Authority that would be aware of his past.
"What about Magot?" The thought had come to Nathan quickly. "He had used the chip's homing device to find Ezra and he didn't seem to like him at all."
"You can't really blame anyone for not liking Ezra, Nathan," Chris found his own statement amusing, "but if Magot wanted him dead he wouldn't have arrested him."
"Do you think it has something to do with Halis?" Josiah asked while his mind was in the middle of an answer.
"Could be." Chris replied.
"Then the someone we're talking about arranged for Halis to kill Ezra. Then when he found out that Ezra was still alive and was heading back to the base, he decided to question him, instead of killing him outright, to find out if Halis had told him anything, something that would reveal him as a traitor to the Authority. Could be that he was planning on killing Ezra while he was trying to escape."
Chris threw his feet off the bed, stared at Josiah and said. "I still don't think it’s Magot. The idiot probably got to Ezra before our culprit did."
"So it could be someone on the base." Josiah nodded
"Someone who worked with Ezra on the Halis case." Chris jumped off the bed. "I'm going to talk to Travis again."
******
The next two days were very confusing for Ezra, he didn't seem to understand anything that was happening and why it was happening. They had arrived somewhere that much he knew. He thought he remembered Engaris being mentioned a number of times. There was an awareness of someone being with him all the time, he was never left alone which was something that he didn't feel comfortable with. Everything else was seen through a haze of pain and coughing fits where he spat up large amounts of phlegm. He was being taken care of in a way he'd never been taken care of in his life. They fed him, helped him drink fluids, bathed him, dressed him and held him while his sheets were changed. They weren't concerned about his privacy; they did everything for him. He tried telling them to stop because he felt vulnerable but it wasn't until early in the third day that he was able to talk and they had ignored all his complaints about what they were doing to him. They said it had to be done and he was too weak and ill to do it himself.
"Josiah, what are you reading?"
"It's called 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'." Josiah answered as he put the book down. He pulled his chair closer and rested his elbows on the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Compared to what?"
"Compared to how you usually feel," said Josiah.
Ezra laughed, he couldn't help himself. The pain in his chest wasn't as bad as it had been but it was still enough to cause him to try to roll onto his side.
"You shouldn't be laughing Ezra." Josiah grabbed Ezra's shoulder and held him as best as he could until Ezra stopped coughing.
"Sorry."
"No need to be Ezra."
"Where are we?"
"On Engaris. We've been here for a few days now. We made a group decision to land somewhere-"
"Why?" Ezra interrupted. He moved onto his back and forced his eyes open so he could look at the man he was talking to. There was someone sitting cross-legged on the bed behind Josiah but he couldn't really make out who it was.
"We were worried. You weren't doing very well Ezra, Nathan wasn't even sure you would get through it if we kept moving."
Ezra nodded. "I've never read it."
Josiah smiled and said. "Tom Sawyer."
"Yeah, I read some of Mark Twain when I was a kid. I had that book you've got but it disappeared before I could read it. I think my mother had something to do with its disappearance. She didn't like me spending time reading."
"You're talking to much Ezra, you need to save your energy." Josiah told him.
"Have you got many books?"
"I have quite a library. I collect books from the colonies, they trade them for things they need."
"Who's that behind you?"
Josiah glanced over his shoulder at Chris. The man was determined to stay as close to Ezra as he could until his was sure Ezra was going to be all right.
"Chris."
"Enjoying himself is he?"
"It's not like that Ezra." Josiah answered before Chris's mouth could get him into any trouble.
"That man doesn't like me." Ezra stated simply. "But then there aren't many people that do like me. I can count them on one hand."
"You can't be counting right then Ezra because we like you. That's another six."
"Whoopee."
"Well five actually but Chris will come around."
"Only if he stops pissing me off." Chris told them.
"You should get some rest Ezra." He pulled the blanket up to Ezra's neck and pushed it down around his shoulders.
"Josiah would you please stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Could you just move away a bit please, you're too close."
"Oh, sorry Ezra, I didn't mean to crowd you."
"Josiah . . . would you mind . . . could you keep reading out loud please."
"I don't mind at all Ezra."
******
Nathan felt Ezra's forehead and was relieved to find that it was nowhere near as warm as it had been that morning. He quickly removed his hand when Ezra rolled his head to the side. Nathan watched as Ezra lifted his right shoulder off the bed and move his hips further to the right. His patient was waking up.
"Ezra." He said the name softly at first so as not to scare him. "Ezra, I need you to wake up for me."
"Umm?"
"I need you to wake up."
"Why on earth would you want me to wake up? Don't you know I've been sick?"
"I'm going to take the IV's out," said Nathan.
"And you need to wake me because?"
"Because that's what doctors do. We wake our patients up so they can feel all the pain."
"You do remember our deal don't you?" Ezra opened his eyes and found Nathan leaning over him.
"What deal is that?" asked Chris Larabee.
"Aw hell. Is he still here or am I having a nightmare?" Ezra questioned Nathan.
"Hasn't really left Ezra."
"Why? Why is he still here?"
"Because I want to be Ezra," said Chris.
"This is a nightmare isn't it? Or have I died and gone to hell?"
"This is going to sting a bit Ezra." Nathan had pulled on a pair of gloves while Ezra had been complaining about his visitor. He pulled the first IV needle out and placed a small ball of cotton on it and applied pressure until the small amount of blood stopped flowing. He then repeated the process with the second IV. "I'm going to keep you on antibiotics for at least another two weeks but it'll be in pill form and I want you to start eating solid food instead of the soup we've been managing to get into you."
"I'm not really feeling hungry at the moment," said Ezra.
"I know Ezra, you'll feel that way for a few days yet but you don't have much of a choice, you have to eat." He sat on the bed again and stared down at Ezra. "You got pretty sick Ezra. You had me scared, didn't think you were going to make it."
"So Josiah told me."
"Was it a group decision because Mr. Larabee refused to do it?"
"The vote was unanimous Ezra." Chris told him.
"How are you feeling?"
"I thought you were the doctor." Ezra frowned at him.
"Are you feeling any withdrawal symptoms? You know what I mean."
Ezra closed his eyes and listened to what his body was telling him. "I still have a headache but there's not really anything else. I could be wrong though, my chest seems to be causing most of my pain at the moment."
"You developed pneumonia in both lungs. Happened pretty quickly. Your health has been suffering since you started taking ORD so your immune system was pretty weak. We need to get you fit and healthy again."
"I got through it then?"
"It's out of your system Ezra but it's going to be a day to day struggle. You'll start by doing it minute-by-minute, then hour-by-hour, then day-by-day. You probably don't feel the need for it at the moment because you're still sick. It's going to take at least another week before you're on your feet."
"How long have we been here?"
"Three days."
"And no one has come for me?"
"No," answered Chris, "and I'm starting to wonder why."
"Chris wants to ask you some questions about what's going on and run something by you, see what you think but I told him he has to wait a couple of more days."
"I can talk now," said Ezra.
"No, you're too tired and you're talking too much now as it is. You get some more sleep and when you wake up you can have something to eat."
Ezra nodded, he wasn't going to argue. If there was, one thing in this world that he loved to do was sleep. He wriggled his head further into his pillow and grimaced when Nathan did the exact same thing that Josiah had done. Nathan had pulled the blanket back up and tucked it around his shoulders. He fell asleep before he could say anything to him.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six
Master Fan Fiction List
Rating: PG
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
AU: Space Cowboys
Main Characters: All Seven.
Summary: Six men make up Team Seven, a group of professional bounty hunters. After a fellow bounty hunter’s cover is blown, he joins the team and begins the journey of changing his life forever.
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Spoilers: None
Status: Complete
Total Word Count: 58,220
Chris stared at the slightly blurred image of Judge Travis on the communications screen, the man's features were concentrating, trying to come up with the answer that Chris was looking for.
How did they know where Ezra Standish was? Chris was trying to wait patiently but it was difficult for him.
"Anything?" said Chris.
Travis rubbed his forehead and said, "No, I'm going to have to ask some questions."
"Ask who?"
"I have a few friends that I trust. Give me thirty minutes and I'll have your answers for you."
"You know I'm not a very patient man, Can you try and make it twenty?"
"Thirty minutes Mr. Larabee."
Chris sighed when the Judge reached forward, the screen went black. Thirty minutes. Damn! He hated waiting.
Pushing the chair away in frustration, he stood up and began to pace the room; it was what he did best. His legs moved, one-step at a time, taking him from one end of the room to the other. More often than not, he would pace when one of his team had been hurt. The period of time not knowing robbed him of a longer life, he was sure that the stress and worry took years from him.
While he paced his mind tried to answer the questions its own way. It had to have been a member of the Rebellion; no one else knew where they were. But to say something like that meant he was accusing a man who was a friend to Standish, a man he had grown up with. No, it couldn't have been one of them. There were arguments though to both sides. How would the Authority know where Standish was? They had told no one, not even Travis. Only the Rebellion on Okania knew he was there. The only answer was that Standish had an enemy among his friends. At least they were safe now. Only those aboard the 'Space Cowboys' knew where they were headed. What if Standish had told them himself? He had been left alone before they had arrived on the planet and he had plenty of opportunities to contact someone. Standish may be an irritating asshole but he wasn't stupid.
The communicator began to beep causing Larabee to stop in the middle of the room. A glance at his watch told him that thirty-two minutes had passed. Two long strides took him back to his chair and the expression he saw on Travis's face told him that it was bad news. There were no easy answers.
"Chris?"
"I'm here Judge, what do you have for me?"
Travis took a deep breath before giving the information he had uncovered. "This has come from the very top Chris, I pulled in a favour. The chip that everyone has in the back of their neck has a homing device in it. Punch in the person's ID and you have their exact location within minutes."
"Shit."
"What are you going to do?" Travis asked him.
"The Chip, It's always been like this?"
"Yeah. What are you going to do?"
"I don't know."
"Let me know if you need anything."
"Sure."
"Chris . . . How's Ezra doing?"
"Considering the fact that I don't know what's going on I can't really tell you."
Larabee frowned when the screen went black a second time. Travis had literally hung up on him, but he didn't have time to worry about the Judge right now, he had things to discuss with Nathan and Standish.
Fifteen
His teeth rattled in time with the tremors, his body cold and yet the sweat was pouring from his pores soaking both his clothes and the bed sheets. Eyes were closed against the hazy images before him, if he opened them, he was sure he would start throwing up all over the bed. Knees were kept bent and close to his chest, arms were wrapped tightly around the knees, anything to try to stop his body from shaking.
"Nathan,"
The voice was so quite that it was almost unheard.
"You need something Ezra?" Nathan asked as he stepped up to the bed.
"Anything, just something to stop this."
The pleading eyes did nothing to help persuade Nathan.
"I'm sorry Ezra, I can't give you anything, and it’ll only make it harder for you in the long run."
"I need something!" Ezra was becoming agitated, the anger flowing through his body like the drug had once flowed freely in his veins without any resistance.
"I-"
"Yes you can!" he yelled at the dark man. "You just don't want to."
"Calm down Ezra."
"If you're not going to help me you get away from me. Get the fuck away from me!"
Nathan did as he was told and walked away without turning his back on the growing anger before him. Ezra was beginning to crave what he needed and could soon be resorting to physical violence to get it. He was grateful that he had included Josiah in this, he didn't think that he would be able to handle Ezra without help. The man may be smaller than him but something told him that Standish didn't know what it was like to lose to anyone or anything.
"Think we should strap him in?"
Nathan spun around to face Josiah and answered his friend, "No, not yet."
Josiah nodded in acceptance. Nathan knew what he was doing, he would trust him and follow his orders. His eyes drifted back to the man on the bed. Standish was beginning to look like he had already passed on to the other side. The short auburn hair was soaked to his skull, the green eyes that would normally be bright and intelligent were now dull and sunken. Pale skin matched the sheets that covered the body, a body that didn't seem to be able to stop shivering. At least there would be no demons on the other side to haunt the young man but Josiah was sure there were many demons within the living world torturing Standish.
"Nathan!"
Nathan knew what that tone meant. Chris was in leadership mode, he wanted something, and he wanted it now.
Chris stormed into the room with a dark cloud hovering above him, a cloud that was about to burst and abrupt into a flood of anger and confusion. "The chip, the one at the back here," he slapped the back of his neck, "they have homing devices, that's how they knew where he was and that's how they're going to know where he is. We either take it out, which means we take out ours or we keep moving and stay ahead of them."
"This means that it's someone in the Authority that wants him dead." Josiah shook his head slowly, this was going to make their job of protecting Standish a lot harder.
"We can't keep moving, he'll get sick and that'll just make this worse." Nathan argued.
Chris narrowed his eyes, turned and stared and the trembling form in the bed. "What the hell is going on Nathan?"
Josiah spoke up before Nathan could say anything. "Three months ago, it took us almost three days to find Buck, four months before that, it was nearly a week before we found you and you were lucky to still be alive. Something like this could stop that from happening. We could get to any one of us within hours. We don't have to spend days looking for what we might think is a corpse."
"He's got a point Nathan."
"It's a stupid point!" Ezra threw in. "Your need to see me suffer is interfering with what is the most logical idea. Take the fucking thing out or I'll take it out myself." He reached behind and began to scratch at the back of his neck.
"Okay, now we put the restraints on." Nathan ran to the bed with Josiah right behind him.
"What about Josiah's idea of just hitting him? Can I do it?"
Josiah was about to reprimand his boss - again - but saw that he was watching Ezra with a hint of concern on his features. Yes, Chris was finally coming around to see their point of view when it came to Ezra Standish.
"Will . . ." Nathan bit against his bottom lip and struggled to keep his patient's upper body down against the bed.
"I think he wants our help."
Chris nodded, "Then we'll help him." Chris grabbed Josiah's arm. "He's not contagious is he?"
"Would I be here if he was."
Chris looked upwards and saw the smile plastered all over the older man's face. "Yes."
"Help me will you!" Nathan yelled at them.
"What's in it for us?" Chris elbowed the man beside him.
"What's in it for you?" Nathan repeated. "I can put a laxative mixture in your coffee and you wouldn't even know about it until-"
"We're comin'." Chris growled in annoyance.
Ezra knew what they were trying to do and he was going to do his best not to allow them to succeed. The last thing he wanted was to be strapped to a bed. It would put him in a vulnerable position. He couldn't handle not being in control of his mind or body and this was the second time that Jackson had done this to him. The first time he thought it wouldn't happen, then hoped it wasn't going to happen, and then it had been too late to stop it.
They were stronger than he was, three men against one. Uneven odds to most men but Ezra decided that they were in his favour. They were stronger but he was smarter. They were standing close to him, bent over to hold him down. He went for the man he thought was weakest of the three. Chris Larabee. It was also a chance to repay Larabee for the punch that he had landed on him a week ago. It was a mistake.
His knee lifted and he tried to kick out towards the blond agent. He managed only to kick Larabee's upper thigh, causing a guttural curse to escape. Larabee's hold only strengthened. He was about to try again when a fist collided with his hip. He screamed more in frustration than in fear and began to fight with every ounce of strength he had. It didn't do him any good. First, his arms were pulled wide and he could feel the leather straps around his wrists. He pulled at them hoping that his struggles would make it too hard for them to buckle the leather. The weight lifted from his upper body, two men now held his legs down. He sat up as high as he could, his shoulders straining at the joints. He was still pulling with as much force as he could at the straps on his wrists when felt his right shoulder pop out of its joint.
Ezra fell back onto the bed, pushing his head harder against the pillow. His teeth were clamped shut against the cry that was climbing up his throat. The strap pulled at his left arm when he tried to move his head closer to the injured shoulder, he needed to see it for some stupid reason.
The pain was overriding everything else: his anger, his fear, and his need for something to help ease the symptoms of withdrawal. It was something he could concentrate on, he had used the same tactic on other occasions and it had always worked for him. It could work again, not as well as it had before but it could help him when he needed a distraction.
After closing his eyes, he forced himself to relax and began to concentrate on the pain. His breathing levelled out and the tension slowly drifted away from his limbs allowing his body to remind him of how cold he was and how much the rest of his body hurt. There wasn't a struggle when they pulled his legs apart and strapped the restraints around his ankles.
The pain and swelling would start soon, he was aware of that. All he had to do then was to try to move the shoulder and arm and pain would erupt. He hoped that Jackson or one of the others wouldn't notice the swelling that will occur in his shoulder.
"Why has he calmed down so suddenly?" Josiah asked.
"I don't know." Nathan looked down into Ezra's face and placed the palm of his hand against the man's forehead. There was a fever, there had been for the last twelve hours. "Ezra are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He willed himself not to show any pain. "You have to take it out Nathan. I can't do this and get sick again."
"What if we only take out Ezra's chip?" Nathan turned back to look at the other two men.
"Then they'll locate one of us." Chris told him. "They'll know where we are, and that he'll be with us."
"I can't keep him on this ship Chris, he's going to get sick again and that won't help him."
"What's going on Nathan?"
"Tell him Nathan!" Ezra lifted his head and felt the pain in his shoulder. "Tell the bastard everything. He doesn't give a shit what happens to me." his head fell back and he continued to speak as though he was alone. "No one ever gave a shit, not even Jack. Oh, you may think he does but he'll do what my mother tells him. 'They say they're friends but they're not'. My mother taught me that, told me ever since I was a child. 'Make no friends Ezra', she had said. 'They only want something from you'. 'Don't trust anyone' was another one of her sayings. But my favourite is 'look after number one Ezra because no one else will'. It took me a while but I finally understood at the age of seven what she was saying. Number one. She was number one and she only intended to look after herself. She came before me. I know she loves me but it's a love that has conditions. When an attack went wrong, she left me for the Authority. Saved her own skin and left me. BITCH! Did you hear that Larabee! She left me to die so she could save her own skin."
"Ezra . . ." Chris didn't know what to say to the younger man. At least he now knew why Standish had reacted so badly when he had called him a mamma's boy.
"Don't even bother, you don't want to so don't waste your breath lying to me."
"I wouldn't lie Ezra. I haven't lied to you yet have I?"
"Mr. Jackson, can you make him leave please."
"Chris," Nathan nodded to Chris, "we'll talk outside."
Josiah took a seat next to the bed and picked up a book he had brought to read. He knew Ezra wouldn't be in a talking mood and there would be no use in trying to force him to listen. The words on the pages of the book failed to reach his mind, it was too busy going over what Ezra had said. Why would a mother sacrifice her own son in order for her to keep her freedom? It was a question he couldn't answer. He glanced to his left to see Ezra lying still, there was no movement except for the occasional tremor. It had been a sudden change to the way he had been behaving five minutes ago and there had to be a rational reason for it.
******
He could feel Sanchez's eyes on him but he didn't care, the only thing he cared about now was the pain in his shoulder. The pain was now starting in the upper part of his arm. He wriggled his fingers and they felt numb. If left long enough he would require surgery to put it back in place.
And to add to everything his headache had decided to get worse. Sweat began to invade his eyes and he blinked trying to clear them of the moisture.
A hand reached over his face and wiped it with a damp cloth. Sanchez must have known what he was trying to do. No one had ever sat by him for such a long period as Sanchez, no one had ever wanted to. When Henderson had tried to kill him, he had spent three weeks on a medical ship.
There had been no visitors, no inquiries about his health. His mother hadn't made the attempt to find out if the rumour of his death was true. Normally she wouldn't take the word of any man, but this time she had. It was also unnatural for Jack to also accept it. They were probably grateful to get rid of him. If he ever had a friend it would be Jack but Jack did have his own personality problems, they just didn't always show themselves, especially in front of other people.
"You want me to read to you?"
"Huh?" Ezra was taken by surprise.
"My book, I could read it out loud if you like, it might take your mind off it," said Josiah.
"No. The last thing I want to hear right now is a voice."
"Headache?"
Ezra only nodded. He shifted his shoulder and concentrated on the pain. It took everything else away for a few minutes. It wasn't long enough but he knew the longer the shoulder was left, the more painful it would become.
******
"It's your decision Chris. What do we do?" Nathan was leaning against the wall. He had informed Chris of Ezra's condition and now there was a different look in the pale green eyes when Ezra's name was mentioned.
"How much will he suffer if we keep moving around?" Chris asked.
"Withdrawal symptoms and Dimension Affliction. How much do you think he's going to suffer."
"Josiah was right about the chip being useful to find each other when something goes wrong."
"How do we use it? Do we have to get Travis to pull in a favour every time we might need to locate our positions?"
"No, we get our own device to use."
"How are you going to make that happen?" Nathan knew he shouldn't ask.
"I'll get it any way I can."
"So we keep moving around?" Nathan allowed his chin to fall to his chest. He also knew that Josiah and Chris were right, he just couldn't stop thinking about what Ezra was going to go through.
"We'll help you Nathan. We can take shifts, do anything you need us to do. Even me," Chris said.
"Your first task is to tell Ezra."
******
They had taken the restraints off, it had only been an hour and they had taken the restraints off. Six men stood in a huddle close to the door. Occasionally one of them would look towards him and he knew by the expressions they held that they knew what was going on. He twisted his shoulder again, his chest lifted towards the roof in response to the pain, his eyes tightened, and his teeth bit down hard on his cheeks. The taste of blood caused his stomach to turn. He had to keep his mind off the need for ORD; he wouldn't be able to do it otherwise. Another shift of his shoulder and the remaining thoughts and needs disappeared. Quickly, it had stopped working, he moved again and along with the extra pain came an attack of nausea. He didn't mind.
"Nathan." Ezra realised his eyes were beginning to water. "Nathan!"
"You need something Ezra?"
"My stomach . . ."
"Think you're going to throw up?" Nathan moved quickly and grabbed a large bowl.
"Know it."
Ezra pushed himself up into a sitting position with his good arm and leaned over to his left. He could feel the bile rising slowly in his throat and knew with a certainty that he wasn't going to be able to stop it. The bowl appeared in front of him and a hand began to rub his back in-between his shoulder blades. It wasn't Nathan's hand, he was holding the bowl with both of his hands. He wanted to look up to find out who it was but decided that it could wait until he was finished. It was probably Josiah anyway. That man was sticking to him like glue and it was causing him to feel slightly claustrophobic.
It was an awful feeling knowing that people were watching you empty your stomach. Spit and bile hung from his lips in between each bout of vomiting. His body continued to tremble and his shoulder and upper arm felt like they were on fire. He thought of nothing else but the pain, which is exactly what he wanted. No one had noticed that his right arm was almost lying on the bed behind him, he hadn't been able to lift it over his side without the pain showing on his face.
"Have you finished Ezra?"
Ezra shook his head at Nathan's question. "Are we moving or taking it out?"
"Moving." Chris informed him.
Ezra jumped in surprise and fell onto his back. His left arm reached for his right but he stopped it before it could make contact. The shock he felt was written all over his face. It was Larabee who had been rubbing his back.
"Why?" the question was whispered but Chris and Nathan heard it clearly.
"It's the best thing to do in the long run. I'll explain it to you when you're feeling better."
"I don't think that's going to happen, feeling better that is." Ezra sat up again and continued what he had been doing. The hand began to rub his back again and he wanted desperately to shake it off but he wasn't physically capable.
"Chris, could you get some fresh cold water for me so I can wipe Ezra's face when he's done."
Ezra slumped with relief when his stomach finally stopped. A cold wet cloth ran over his face, washing his mouth and wiping the sweat from his face and neck, it was gone in a matter of seconds but was back just as quickly. He refused to open his eyes when the cloth wiped the hair back from his forehead. Someone was actually taking care of him. With his eyes closed, he couldn't see who it was, he could even pretend for a moment that it was his mother.
"Here Ezra," he was lifted and someone sat on the bed behind him to support him, "drink this."
Another hand, warm to the touch, lifted his chin while another poured the water into his mouth.
He coughed instead of swallowing, the water spurting all over the man in front of him. He opened his eyes and was again, shocked to see it was Chris that was trying to get him to drink something.
"God Damnit Ezra!" Nathan yelled at him. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?"
"He only coughed Nathan-" Chris started.
"I'm talking about this!" Nathan squeezed the injured shoulder.
Ezra cried out in pain, he couldn't keep it in.
"His shoulder is dislocated and he didn't tell me!" Nathan couldn't believe the strength of anger he was feeling right now. Why would someone who was already unwell go through pain like that?
"It helps." Ezra answered the man who was behind him.
"Helps what?"
"Helps keep my mind off the other thing."
"There's other ways Standish," said Chris.
"Then you tell me what other way I cannot think about it. You tell me!" Ezra yelled into his face. "You have no idea what I'm going through!"
"No I don't Ezra, but we're here to help you through it. Anything you want," Chris smiled, "except for drugs. Anything Ezra."
"I could use a drink." It was all he could say, the statement had shocked him.
Chris lifted the glass again and held it while Ezra drank from it. When he was finished, the glass was taken away and his face wiped. He used his hand to push Chris's away from him. Someone wiping his mouth like that was too much for him to handle.
"Lay him down Chris, I have to put the shoulder back in place." Nathan ordered.
"Can't you just leave it alone for a while longer?"
"Ezra!"
"Nathan, just a little while, I've used this tactic before, it works fine."
"You've done this before?" Nathan asked.
"Yes, I-"
"You're not doing it again. Chris! Put him down."
Nathan pulled a sheet from one of the other beds. "Lift him up Chris."
"You just told me to put him down," Chris complained.
"And now I'm telling you to lift him up."
"What are you going to say after I lift him up?"
"I'm going to tell you to put him down," Nathan said.
"Then why in the hell am I lifting him up if you're only going to tell me to put him down again!"
"Who's the doctor here Chris?"
"You are."
"And do doctors know what they're doing?"
"No."
"Chris!" The word came out through gritted teeth.
"Fine! I'll lift him up."
"I can lift myself up you know," Ezra said.
"You've got no part in this Standish, this is between me and Nathan." Chris argued as he lifted the man up. He watched as Nathan gathered the sheet and put it under Ezra. He then waited for Nathan.
"Well," Nathan said.
"Well what?"
"Put him down!"
Chris let go of Ezra and allowed him to fall to the bed. "Sorry," he apologised when Ezra grunted in pain.
"Grab the other end of the sheet Chris. Vin can you help him." Nathan waited until Vin joined Chris's side. He then threw the other end of the sheet over Ezra's chest. "Grab an end each. I want you to pull when I tell you to."
"You're very good at telling people to do things Nathan." Stated Chris. "What are you like at being a doctor."
"Mr. Larabee," Ezra glared at him through puffy eyes, they were still watering and he couldn't do much about it, "could you not piss him off when he's about to carry out a medical procedure on my person. You can piss him off all you want when he's working on you."
"I'd rather not." Chris couldn't help but smile at Standish.
"Chris." Nathan's impatience was beginning to show on his face.
"Say when Nathan," Chris said.
Nathan began to lift Ezra's right arm off the bed.
"You're not going to give me an anaesthetic?" Ezra asked.
"You're getting nothing until you get this ORD shit out of your system."
"That ORD shit saved my life a few times you know."
"And it's going to kill you."
There was no more arguing when Nathan lifted the arm further until it was level with the rest of Standish's body. "I'm going to pull on this side to put the shoulder in place, on the count of three guys. One . . . two . . . three."
Nathan pulled as hard as he could while ignoring Ezra's shout of pain until he felt the ball of the joint go back into the joint socket. "Stop pulling you guys, it's done. Josiah, can you get me one of those shoulder immobilisers."
"I don't need one." Insisted Ezra.
"You're going to have to wear one for at least two or three weeks." Nathan told him.
"I don't need one."
"What makes you think you don't need one?" Nathan caught the brace when Josiah threw it to him.
"It's something that always happens." Ezra shifted his hips to find a more comfortable position.
"Happens a lot then does it?"
"Yeah."
"When this is over you're going to have surgery to repair it so it doesn't happen so often."
"I don't need-"
"I don't give a shit what you need Ezra," Nathan wore a determined expression on his features, the same one he had been wearing when he had force-fed Ezra. "Things are going to change for you now that you're a part of this group and the first thing you're going to learn is that when I say you need something, you need it and you're going to get it."
Ezra glanced at Chris and saw that he was smiling, almost laughing. He didn't fail to notice that the rest of the group was doing the same.
"How the hell did I get into this shit?"
"By doing something stupid obviously," Chris said.
"Obviously." Ezra sighed deeply and waited for Nathan to finish putting the immobiliser on. He would take it off when Jackson wasn't watching. He then rolled onto his left side. "Stomach again."
" 'Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn't it? Yes'm. Powerful warm, warn't it? Yes,m. Didn't you want to go in a-swimming, Tom? A bit of a scare shot through Tom--a touch of uncomfortable suspicion. He searched Aunt Polly's face, but it told him nothing. So he said: No'm--well, not very much. The old lady reached out her hand and felt Tom's shirt, and said: But you ain't too warm now, though. And it flattered her to reflect that she had discovered that the shirt was dry without anybody knowing that that was what she had in her mind. But in spite of tier, Tom knew where the wind lay, now. So he forestalled what might be the next move:' "
"You can keep reading Josiah, I'm only going to be a few minutes," said Nathan.
"I don't think he hears me anyway." Josiah shrugged and put the book down.
"You don't know that Josiah." Nathan was checking Ezra's heart rate when he frowned. "Too fast."
"That's not good is it?"
"It's to be expected," Nathan told him, "but I thought it would have started to slow down by now."
"Is he going to be okay Nathan? I mean he doesn't look like he's getting any better."
Nathan had asked himself that question already. It had been three days since he'd put Standish's shoulder back into place and the man had only gotten worse. Nathan knew that would happen but the withdrawal symptoms should be starting to ease already and the Dimension Affliction shouldn't be affecting him so badly. He looked down at the sweat soaked form and wiped the man's face with a cool cloth. Nathan could still feel the tremors that occasionally racked Standish's body. He then checked the drip he had put into Ezra's right arm to replace the fluids he was losing through his pores.
"Could you not give him something now?" Josiah asked.
"I don't want to risk it, not until I'm sure he's gone through the withdrawal process."
"And the only way to know that is to-"
"Land somewhere, let him get over this sickness and then see how he feels."
"We're going to have to talk to Chris."
Nathan brushed his fingers across Ezra's forehead and cheek, the fever was still raging. "I'll go talk to him," said Nathan, "you keep reading to him, I'm sure he can hear you."
******
Chris understood what Nathan was saying but he wasn't sure it was a good idea. Because of the homing devices, they would know where Standish was right this minute, if they landed somewhere whoever was after Standish would be on him within a matter of hours.
"We can't land Nathan, anything could go wrong."
"Chris," Nathan was pacing, just like Chris normally did when he was frustrated and angry, "he's only getting worse, he's not stabilising, you've seen that yourself and I'm starting to get worried that he won't. I can't be sure of anything until we're on the ground."
"Nathan-"
"Chris! Don't give me that shit about protecting the team. Ezra is part of this team, we need to protect him, and it’s no longer a job at the order of Travis. This is something we have to do," he used his fist to hit the table, "if it was Vin or Buck you wouldn't hesitate. We have to land and we have to do it now!"
"And if we don't?"
"He might not get better Chris, I don't know what the Dimension Affliction is doing to his system or if there'll be any permanent damage. I've never dealt with the illness before, you usually give the patient the antidote and that's that. Ezra's been suffering from it for more than three days and the longer we keep moving the worse he could get."
"You're serious about this."
"Yes I am." Nathan sat down. "What if this kills him Chris? Do you want to be responsible for his death because I know I don't."
Chris stared at his knees and thought about what Nathan had just told him. Landing on a planet would help improve Ezra's condition, but it would also give the people who were after him a solid location. A location they may not be able to get away from quickly enough to escape the enemy's grasp. In a state of continuous movement, the only life at risk was Standish. If they stopped then the entire crew would be at risk. Although Nathan was right about one thing, Standish was now part of this team whether he wanted him to be or not, and they took care of their own, they always did. They risked their lives for each other all the time. He couldn't make this decision on his own, it had to be a team decision, and they had to decide if they were willing to risk their lives for a man who was made a part of the team because Travis wanted him protected.
"This has to be a team decision Nathan," said Chris.
"I understand."
"I'm going to say yes," Chris stood up and patted Nathan on the shoulder. "You're right Nathan. I don't have the right to force him to suffer like he is and if it was one of the others I would have done it differently."
"Thanks Chris."
"I'll get the others together and meet you in the medical room."
******
He opened his eyes when Josiah stopped reading and opened his mouth to ask him to continue. No sound came out, only a painful breath that caused him to start coughing. It was all that was required to set his chest on fire. Hands grabbed him and lifted him upright but it didn't help, the coughing was just as painful if not worse. He lungs felt as though they weighed a ton, filled with a heavy liquid that was drowning him.
Someone offered him some water but he refused it. The last thing he wanted was to put something in his stomach; it would only take the smallest amount of liquid or food to make him vomit. A voice told him that he had to drink something but he knew he didn't, he had felt the needle of the drip in his arm. Nathan would be taking care of him, he had to be, and they wouldn't let him die. Travis wouldn't allow it.
At least he was no longer craving ORD as much as he had been, that was something. Now if only they would take him somewhere so he could get over this damn illness. He'd never been this bad before and he knew the drug withdrawal would not have helped him at all.
The man that was holding him seemed to be refusing to lay him back down. If he had the strength, he would have struggled his way out of the person's embrace by now. But there was no strength, only a fear that he wasn't going to see his way through to the other end of this illness. An illness that didn't have to be. If Chris had allowed Nathan to take the chip out or if they could have just taken him somewhere else he wouldn't be suffering like this. It was Chris Larabee's fault, the man didn't give shit about him, but could he really blame him, it had been that way all his life, no one gave a shit about him or cared what happened to him.
He curled tighter into himself when his body shook. The tremors only made his chest feel worse. The man holding him must have mistaken his body language and thought he wanted to be closer so he was pulled further into the embrace. Damn he hated this type of physical contact with anyone.
Someone else took his chin in their hand and turned his head. Something was placed over his mouth and nose. Oxygen, Nathan was giving him oxygen. He found it was slightly easier to breath now that the oxygen was flowing into his lungs. His body jerked when he felt a needle prick his other arm. He had no idea what that would be for.
"It's okay Ezra,"
Ezra managed to open his eyes again slightly. Nathan was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Your lungs are beginning to fill with fluid. I'm giving you oxygen to help you breath and I've started you on antibiotics."
Ezra nodded so Nathan knew he was listening. He wanted to ask Nathan about the drug he was trying to get out of his system. He didn't know if antibiotics would affect him. He had gotten this far and he didn't want to have to go through it all again.
"We're going to be landing in about five hours," Nathan was continuing, "things will be better for you then. Okay?"
Again, Ezra nodded.
"I'm sorry about this Ezra, you shouldn't be going through this."
Ezra didn't acknowledge the apology.
"Josiah's been reading to you, have you been able to hear him?"
Ezra nodded.
"Would you like him to keep doing it?"
He was only capable of a small nod this time, he was using too much energy, not that he had a lot to begin with.
"Okay, it won't be long now Ezra, you'll start feeling better soon."
This time the person holding him did lay him back down onto the bed. A blanket was thrown over him but he didn't have the motivation to remove it. His lungs struggle to take a deep breath on their own but it was too painful and he started to cough again. Someone rubbed his chest thinking that it would help, it didn't.
******
Ezra was going downhill fast and Nathan knew it. It was going to be another four hours before they reach Engaris; a planet that had been abandoned after the alien force had wiped out three of the four colonies, the last one not staying around to wait for the slaughter they knew was coming.
"Try not to take deep breaths Ezra, just breath normally."
There was no response, he knew Ezra was too weak to do any more than nod his head, which he had managed a few times but couldn't manage it now.
They had made the wrong decision, they had thought of themselves and what may happen in the future instead of a man in the here and now.
"Is he going to make to Engaris?" Chris was sitting in a chair next to the bed and was watching his feet closely. It didn't matter how much he disliked this man, he shouldn't have put Standish through this shit. He looked up and all he could see on Ezra's face was pain and misery. Every pore on Ezra's body was oozing sweat. The man was losing as much fluids as Nathan was pumping back into him. He could see the flush of the fever as Ezra's head occasionally rolled from one side to the other. Even his legs moved, the knees lifting then dropping quickly. Ezra Standish was sick, probably dying and Chris regretted every word had said to the man, regretted enjoying the pain and suffering during the first few days after meeting him.
"Yes . . ." Nathan answered.
"What's the but Nathan?"
"He'll get there if no more complications set in," he glanced sideways at Chris, "I didn't expect pneumonia, it's not serious but it could get worse."
"All this because he pissed me off," said Chris.
"No Chris, all this because someone wants him dead."
"But it was our job to protect him," Chris rubbed his forehead with more force than was necessary, "look at him now Nathan."
"He'll get better." Nathan was wiping Ezra's face again when his patient started to cough. He pulled Ezra up and caught his head when it fell backwards. Nathan then removed the oxygen mask and motioned to Chris to pass him a bowl.
******
Ezra could feel the cough coming from deep in his chest. The pain he felt made him think that his chest was about to tear in two. He needed to talk, to tell Nathan that something was wrong; something was breaking inside his chest. His body was lifted again and he didn't have the strength to hold his head up. It fell back and he began to panic at the thought of choking instead of coughing but the fear was short lived when a hand caught his head and supported it for him.
He then started to cough and he did his best to fight it, there was too much pain. There was no stopping it, the feeling of something heavy in his chest, throat had to be removed, and coughing was the only way to do it. He could hear Nathan's voice telling him to cough and spit it out. It was easier said than done. He shook his head, he couldn't do it. There wasn't any strength left him to hold his head up and there was too much weight in his chest.
His body was pushed forward until his head was almost touching his knees. The coughing then turned into violent dry retching. At this moment he really wished he could die, a quick death would be better than this slow painful torture.
Nothing came from his stomach but he did feel something finally shift in his chest. The thick fluid rose into his mouth and he spat it out like Nathan had told him to. He continued to cough, his chest burning with pain as he began to struggle to breathe again. The mask was back on his face in an instant and he felt himself being lowered back to the bed. Nothing changed. His chest was still heavy with fluid and his lungs were still drowning.
******
"The phlegm in his chest is starting to shift," said Nathan. "It's a good sign. I'll take another chest x-ray in a couple of hours to see if there's any improvement."
"How quickly will the Dimension Affliction improve?" Josiah asked.
"More or less straight away Josiah, as soon as the body realises that it's no longer in movement."
"What if he's too sick to notice."
"He'll notice."
"We still haven't worked out what we're going to do when he does get better," said Josiah.
"Take him back to the base." Chris lying on one of the nearby beds. He had refused to go to his room and had given Buck orders to land the ship after they made their way through Engaris's atmosphere. "The person who wants him dead can come to us and then they'll have to go through us to get to him."
"You've changed your mind about our young friend then." Josiah smiled at Chris.
Young? Chris had thought Ezra was in his mid thirties but to look at him now, you got the impression that he was a lot younger.
"Let's just say that I'm feeling sorry for him and I'm angry at myself. As to liking him? I wouldn't go that far Josiah."
"Did Travis give you any more information?" Nathan changed the subject, they needed to talk about something else.
"No but he's still digging through some stuff that he has."
Nathan nodded. There wasn't really anything they could do right now. JD had been through Ezra's file more than twenty times and there was nothing in it that would point to a reason that someone wanted him dead. It wasn't mentioned in the Infiltrator's file that he had once been part of the Rebellion but there were people in the Authority that would be aware of his past.
"What about Magot?" The thought had come to Nathan quickly. "He had used the chip's homing device to find Ezra and he didn't seem to like him at all."
"You can't really blame anyone for not liking Ezra, Nathan," Chris found his own statement amusing, "but if Magot wanted him dead he wouldn't have arrested him."
"Do you think it has something to do with Halis?" Josiah asked while his mind was in the middle of an answer.
"Could be." Chris replied.
"Then the someone we're talking about arranged for Halis to kill Ezra. Then when he found out that Ezra was still alive and was heading back to the base, he decided to question him, instead of killing him outright, to find out if Halis had told him anything, something that would reveal him as a traitor to the Authority. Could be that he was planning on killing Ezra while he was trying to escape."
Chris threw his feet off the bed, stared at Josiah and said. "I still don't think it’s Magot. The idiot probably got to Ezra before our culprit did."
"So it could be someone on the base." Josiah nodded
"Someone who worked with Ezra on the Halis case." Chris jumped off the bed. "I'm going to talk to Travis again."
******
The next two days were very confusing for Ezra, he didn't seem to understand anything that was happening and why it was happening. They had arrived somewhere that much he knew. He thought he remembered Engaris being mentioned a number of times. There was an awareness of someone being with him all the time, he was never left alone which was something that he didn't feel comfortable with. Everything else was seen through a haze of pain and coughing fits where he spat up large amounts of phlegm. He was being taken care of in a way he'd never been taken care of in his life. They fed him, helped him drink fluids, bathed him, dressed him and held him while his sheets were changed. They weren't concerned about his privacy; they did everything for him. He tried telling them to stop because he felt vulnerable but it wasn't until early in the third day that he was able to talk and they had ignored all his complaints about what they were doing to him. They said it had to be done and he was too weak and ill to do it himself.
"Josiah, what are you reading?"
"It's called 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'." Josiah answered as he put the book down. He pulled his chair closer and rested his elbows on the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Compared to what?"
"Compared to how you usually feel," said Josiah.
Ezra laughed, he couldn't help himself. The pain in his chest wasn't as bad as it had been but it was still enough to cause him to try to roll onto his side.
"You shouldn't be laughing Ezra." Josiah grabbed Ezra's shoulder and held him as best as he could until Ezra stopped coughing.
"Sorry."
"No need to be Ezra."
"Where are we?"
"On Engaris. We've been here for a few days now. We made a group decision to land somewhere-"
"Why?" Ezra interrupted. He moved onto his back and forced his eyes open so he could look at the man he was talking to. There was someone sitting cross-legged on the bed behind Josiah but he couldn't really make out who it was.
"We were worried. You weren't doing very well Ezra, Nathan wasn't even sure you would get through it if we kept moving."
Ezra nodded. "I've never read it."
Josiah smiled and said. "Tom Sawyer."
"Yeah, I read some of Mark Twain when I was a kid. I had that book you've got but it disappeared before I could read it. I think my mother had something to do with its disappearance. She didn't like me spending time reading."
"You're talking to much Ezra, you need to save your energy." Josiah told him.
"Have you got many books?"
"I have quite a library. I collect books from the colonies, they trade them for things they need."
"Who's that behind you?"
Josiah glanced over his shoulder at Chris. The man was determined to stay as close to Ezra as he could until his was sure Ezra was going to be all right.
"Chris."
"Enjoying himself is he?"
"It's not like that Ezra." Josiah answered before Chris's mouth could get him into any trouble.
"That man doesn't like me." Ezra stated simply. "But then there aren't many people that do like me. I can count them on one hand."
"You can't be counting right then Ezra because we like you. That's another six."
"Whoopee."
"Well five actually but Chris will come around."
"Only if he stops pissing me off." Chris told them.
"You should get some rest Ezra." He pulled the blanket up to Ezra's neck and pushed it down around his shoulders.
"Josiah would you please stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Could you just move away a bit please, you're too close."
"Oh, sorry Ezra, I didn't mean to crowd you."
"Josiah . . . would you mind . . . could you keep reading out loud please."
"I don't mind at all Ezra."
******
Nathan felt Ezra's forehead and was relieved to find that it was nowhere near as warm as it had been that morning. He quickly removed his hand when Ezra rolled his head to the side. Nathan watched as Ezra lifted his right shoulder off the bed and move his hips further to the right. His patient was waking up.
"Ezra." He said the name softly at first so as not to scare him. "Ezra, I need you to wake up for me."
"Umm?"
"I need you to wake up."
"Why on earth would you want me to wake up? Don't you know I've been sick?"
"I'm going to take the IV's out," said Nathan.
"And you need to wake me because?"
"Because that's what doctors do. We wake our patients up so they can feel all the pain."
"You do remember our deal don't you?" Ezra opened his eyes and found Nathan leaning over him.
"What deal is that?" asked Chris Larabee.
"Aw hell. Is he still here or am I having a nightmare?" Ezra questioned Nathan.
"Hasn't really left Ezra."
"Why? Why is he still here?"
"Because I want to be Ezra," said Chris.
"This is a nightmare isn't it? Or have I died and gone to hell?"
"This is going to sting a bit Ezra." Nathan had pulled on a pair of gloves while Ezra had been complaining about his visitor. He pulled the first IV needle out and placed a small ball of cotton on it and applied pressure until the small amount of blood stopped flowing. He then repeated the process with the second IV. "I'm going to keep you on antibiotics for at least another two weeks but it'll be in pill form and I want you to start eating solid food instead of the soup we've been managing to get into you."
"I'm not really feeling hungry at the moment," said Ezra.
"I know Ezra, you'll feel that way for a few days yet but you don't have much of a choice, you have to eat." He sat on the bed again and stared down at Ezra. "You got pretty sick Ezra. You had me scared, didn't think you were going to make it."
"So Josiah told me."
"Was it a group decision because Mr. Larabee refused to do it?"
"The vote was unanimous Ezra." Chris told him.
"How are you feeling?"
"I thought you were the doctor." Ezra frowned at him.
"Are you feeling any withdrawal symptoms? You know what I mean."
Ezra closed his eyes and listened to what his body was telling him. "I still have a headache but there's not really anything else. I could be wrong though, my chest seems to be causing most of my pain at the moment."
"You developed pneumonia in both lungs. Happened pretty quickly. Your health has been suffering since you started taking ORD so your immune system was pretty weak. We need to get you fit and healthy again."
"I got through it then?"
"It's out of your system Ezra but it's going to be a day to day struggle. You'll start by doing it minute-by-minute, then hour-by-hour, then day-by-day. You probably don't feel the need for it at the moment because you're still sick. It's going to take at least another week before you're on your feet."
"How long have we been here?"
"Three days."
"And no one has come for me?"
"No," answered Chris, "and I'm starting to wonder why."
"Chris wants to ask you some questions about what's going on and run something by you, see what you think but I told him he has to wait a couple of more days."
"I can talk now," said Ezra.
"No, you're too tired and you're talking too much now as it is. You get some more sleep and when you wake up you can have something to eat."
Ezra nodded, he wasn't going to argue. If there was, one thing in this world that he loved to do was sleep. He wriggled his head further into his pillow and grimaced when Nathan did the exact same thing that Josiah had done. Nathan had pulled the blanket back up and tucked it around his shoulders. He fell asleep before he could say anything to him.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six
Master Fan Fiction List