On the Rooftop
by Setcheti
Disclaimer: Don’t own them, never have, never will. Except for Juliet, of
course. ;)
TwylaJane’s July Challenge: Show me Mother Nature, at her best, her worst, the raw
elements must figure into the storyline almost like a character unto itself.
Whether it is heavy rain showers, twisters, flash floods, heat
waves, hurricanes, mud slides, earthquakes, fish falls, plague of
locust or even a blizzard the choice is yours.
Author’s Note: This is a dark tangent
universe which is not Not NOT
connected with the actual Masquerade series in any way. And believe it or not, I came up with it
while listening to a Faith Hill song, go figure.
It had been just another bust gone ever-so-slightly bad. Team Seven had never had a bust go all the way bad, luckily, but so far as Chris Larabee was concerned even a little bit of bad was too much. And someone had to pay for that.
Someone always had. It was just the way things worked, and the team’s sacrificial lamb had never complained. The always apologized to him for it later, after all. And so as the storm that was the real culprit in the team’s latest frightening incident raged outside the thick glass of Vin’s hospital room window, Chris let go part of his impotent anger in the accustomed direction with Nathan to support him and Buck just looking on. And Ezra just stood there at the foot of Vin’s bed and took it with an expressionless face and eyes that couldn’t quite conceal the damage the undeserved accusations and recriminations were causing…and then as usual he simply turned and walked out of the room while Chris called more abuse after him.
But this time, Ezra passed someone on the way out. The undercover agent’s fiancée stepped into the room wide-eyed and disbelieving; she’d gone down the hall to call Nettie Wells with an update on Vin’s condition, and coming back had heard enough to be more than shocked and edging into angry. “What was that all about?” she demanded of the three men, putting her hands on her hips. “I heard about what happened, it wasn’t…”
“It’s team business,” Buck cut her off. “And what happened is Chris’ call to make, little lady. Ain’t none of your concern.”
Juliet bristled at Buck’s condescending tone. “It most certainly is! Couldn’t you see how upset he was?” Buck looked away from the question, and Nathan suddenly found his shoes fascinating. Disbelief became colored with disgust. “I don’t believe this! I’m going after him…”
“Leave him be,” Chris all but snarled, not even looking at her. “He’ll be back.”
Juliet drew herself up to her full height – not that it really made much of a difference – and glared at him. “I don’t take orders from you.”
She had whirled away from him and was almost out the door when Buck caught her arm in a tight grip. “Right now you do, ‘cause he’s right. Just let Ez stew for a bit, he’ll get over it…”
What happened next was so quick, so unexpected, that no one actually saw what happened; but Buck was suddenly on the ground and Juliet had adopted a stance that was easily recognizable as self-defensive. “I’m not sure he should,” she spat. “And if any of you attempt to lay hands on me again you’ll not only be joining him, you’ll be facing charges for assault.”
Josiah and JD came back at that point, and the younger agent hurrying into the room to help his roommate up broke the tense tableau before anything else could happen. Juliet brushed past Josiah, neatly dodging the hand he put out to halt her. He looked around the room, saw the stunned, angry looks on Nathan and Chris’ faces and the guilty one on Buck’s and immediately guessed what must have happened. “Did Ezra or Vin ever mention,” he said conversationally, but with an edge to his deep voice. “That Juliet knows Jujitsu?”
Ezra had ceased to feel the storm that was beating down hard on both
him and the hospital roof, he just stood at the edge
of the parapet and stared out blindly over the dark city that was
intermittently cast in harsh negative by the flashes of lightning that seemed
to be breaking out right over his head. The
danger of his position was lost on him, the storm that raged inside of him
being far and away more violent than the one currently tearing across
He didn’t hear the door to the roof open, but the sixth sense that had kept him alive in a job that swallowed down agents like a child popping PEZ told him he wasn’t alone anymore and he spun around. The same wind that was whipping the cascading sheets of rain into a blinding scatter that filled the air had yanked Juliet’s hair out of it’s neat ponytail and scattered it into long black streamers. She was already soaked to the skin, wet clothes clinging tightly to her slender body, and one arm was thrown up against the assault of the elements to shield her eyes.
She was looking for him.
They spotted each other at the same moment, but the force that flung them at one another had little to do with attraction and much, much more to do with anger. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP HERE?!” he roared above the howl of the storm.
“I SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THAT!”
Ezra scowled. “I NEEDED TO GET AWAY! NOW GET THE HELL BACK INSIDE AND LEAVE ME ALONE!”
He turned away, turned his back on her, but she jumped in front of him, hands clenched into fists. “NO! I’M NOT GOING BACK INSIDE WITHOUT YOU! AND I WON’T LET YOU STAND OUT HERE AND PUNISH YOURSELF FOR SOMETHING YOU DIDN’T DO!”
“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT!” he almost screamed. “THE OTHERS…”
“I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT THEM, I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU!” She grabbed his arms and shook him. “THEY’RE WRONG, EZRA! ANGRY AND STUPID AND WRONG, CAN’T YOU SEE THAT? YOU DIDN’T DO ANYTHING, THEY’RE JUST USING YOU FOR A TARGET!”
Back in the doorway, Josiah tensed when Ezra grabbed his little wife the same way she’d grabbed him, wondering if he needed to intervene…but then the undercover agent’s hard, angry mask washed away under the relentless rain, and the expression so revealed was so crushed, so hurt, that Josiah felt it like a physical pain. “THEN WHY…WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME?!”
The last word had been a howl of agony. Juliet pulled her husband into a hard embrace when he started to cry, great wracking sobs that drove them both to their knees on the rain-soaked roof. Josiah saw her lips move, and even though he couldn’t actually hear her the words were as clear to him as though the thunder had rumbled them overhead. I don’t know.
Closing the door, the big profiler fled back downstairs. He did not want to be there when the two of them came in, those were two sets of eyes he just wouldn’t be able to meet. His expression hardened; there were a few other sets that were going to be the worse for meeting his, though, by the time this night was over.
Josiah stalked back into Vin’s room and straight up to his boss, grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall…and just held him there, glaring down at him. And waited. Chris glared back, rage so deep in his eyes that it was nearly inhuman. “It didn’t really help, did it?” the big profiler finally hissed at him. “Took the edge off, but it didn’t really help. So now what do you do, Chris? Now who do you loose some of that unreasoning anger and fear on, who’s your safety valve going to be now? You don’t dare go after JD, Buck won’t stand for it, and you won’t go after Buck except as a last resort because you’ve done it too much in the past and now you’re too violent with him. Nathan would write up a report and turn you in and you know better than to try it with me, so now that you’ve driven Ezra away you’re kind of stuck, aren’t you?”
Buck tried to intervene. “He’s just worried about Vin, Josiah…”
“So are the rest of us – so is Ezra, so is Juliet!” He tightened his grip just a little when it looked like Chris wanted to move. “This is a pattern I aim to break, brother,” he intoned. “You’re hurting innocent people and dragging good men down to your level, and it’s going to stop. Do you want to know what I saw on the roof just now, do you?”
Chris didn’t answer, but Nathan was immediately concerned. “He’s on the roof? In the middle of a lighting storm, what is that fool thinking…”
“He’s not thinking, he’s crying his eyes out on his wife’s shoulder.” Josiah’s deep voice was so cold it sent a shudder up the chemist’s spine. “He’s screaming at the storm, at her, at God most likely, wanting to know why.”
“J-juliet’s up there with him?” JD swallowed when those hard eyes turned his way. “But we should go get them down, shouldn’t we? You guys can apologize…”
“This isn’t something another throwaway apology will fix, brother.” Josiah let go of Chris abruptly, like he just couldn’t be bothered with holding on to him anymore. “This time he’s got something besides this team to turn to; Ezra doesn’t have to paste on that false smile and say everything is all right, he can tell you to go to hell and his wife will be standing right there beside him ready to take him home afterward – or to take you on herself if you try to bully him.” He snorted and shook his head at the reaction the other three men had to that. “You’ll lose, brothers, don’t doubt that for a minute; she loves him and he loves her, and love conquers all.”
“Damn straight,” Vin drawled, yawning. Blue eyes opened and blinked at Josiah, completely ignoring the other men. “You missed it, J’siah; while you was gone after Ez and Julie, ‘stead of talkin’ about how they screwed up these three were figurin’ they needed to tell Ez to get control of his woman if he wanted to keep his job.” He snorted. “The roof, you said? Shouldn’t have left them two up there alone, not in this granddaddy of a storm, not after this ugly mess down here. Let’s go.”
Nathan moved in to protest when Vin sat up. “Oh no you don’t, you ain’t leavin’ that bed…”
“Shut it, Nate, it’s just a concussion and not even a bad one,” Vin told him in a very no-nonsense tone, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “JD, get my jeans, would you? And my boots, too.”
“Tanner, get back in that bed, you aren’t going…”
“You shut it too, Larabee.” Vin looked back at his team leader over his shoulder and scowled. “You and me are gonna have a talk later about the difference between you and a mad dog and what we need to do about it, but right now I’ve got a couple of friends that need me so you’re just gonna have to wait.”
Josiah arched a bushy eyebrow. “Sure you can make it up there and back, Vin?”
“Yep.” Vin mirrored the gesture, only wincing slightly as it pulled at the stitches high on his forehead. “Gonna have some help though, aren’t I?”
“All you want, brother.” A sharp look from the big profiler kept Nathan from saying anything. “Want a chair?” Vin gave him a look, and he chuckled. “I was just asking.”
“Don’t need no chair,” Vin told him. “If I need somethin’ to lean on I’ll use JD – ain’t leavin’ him down here with these three, that’s for damn sure. Don’t you look at me like that, Buck,” he snapped when the ladies’ man started to open his mouth. “Can’t believe you want the kid hangin’ around watchin’ you kiss Larabee’s ass when he’s actin’ like this. Grow some balls, why don’t ya.”
“Hey now…”
“I wouldn’t protest too much, Buck,” Josiah interrupted the shocked ladies’ man. “Or you either, Nathan,” he added when it looked like the chemist wanted to put in a comment of his own. “But then of course you don’t have anything to fear from Chris and Buck, do you, Nate? After all, if they turn on you you’ll just go get another job, right?”
The profiler’s tone was heavy with sarcasm, and
Josiah wondered briefly why Ezra never went that route, but he already knew the answer: Travis was just as likely to use the Southern undercover agent as a scapegoat as Larabee was, so he certainly wasn’t going to take Ezra’s side against his team leader’s. The judge needed Team Seven intact and running smoothly to help bolster his reputation during the upcoming Senatorial race, and Team Seven didn’t exist without Chris Larabee. But looking at his temperamental boss with a professional eye, the profiler had to think that maybe a man who would give someone like Larabee free rein and ignore the personal results in favor of the political ones didn’t really belong in government office. And he was still thinking about it as he and JD shadowed Vin out of the room, leaving silence behind them.
The silence didn’t last long. Buck cleared his throat and cocked his head at his oldest friend, who was still stewing in his anger. “You were outta line, you know.”
Chris growled. “Buck…”
“You know I’m right.” The ladies’ man sounded thoughtful, not accusing. “Or more to the point, I knew you were wrong and I let you light into him anyway. Even grabbed Julie…” He flexed his hand, looking at it like he’d never seen it before. “I wasn’t thinkin’ when I did it, hope I didn’t…hurt her.”
“She was the one who got violent,” Chris snapped back. “That’s assault on a federal officer…”
“He grabbed her first,” Nathan interrupted quietly. “The minute he laid hands on her she had the right to defend herself – Buck’s three times her size, Chris, even Travis couldn’t make a case for assault. And do you really want to explain all this to him?”
“I know I don’t,” Buck answered. Absently, he started ordering Vin’s empty bed, tugging sheets straight and folding back the blanket. “I ain’t sure I understand it myself.”
Chris folded his arms across his chest. “I understand it – Standish let Vin get hurt.”
“Vin got hurt because the thunder set off a smoke alarm right next to his head,” Nathan corrected, looking even more ashamed of himself. “Ezra covered me and him both after he fell, remember?”
“Yeah, it’s not Ez’s fault that the guy who owns the warehouse obeys the fire code,” Buck added.
“He’s supposed to give us all the information…”
“About the perps and the setup for the meet, Chris, not a foot-by-foot analysis of some warehouse he’s never actually seen.” With the air of a man taking a risk he knows is necessary, he looked Larabee in the eye. “And Junior should have checked it himself, when he got into position – smoke from the guns firin’ could have set it off too, or even him knockin’ against it. He could have blown the whole deal if he’d set that thing off on accident, could’ve even got someone killed.”
Chris stayed stiff for a moment…and then he slumped back into the plastic chair. “Yeah,” he admitted. “Yeah, he could have.” He stared out the window at the raging storm, blinking when the high winds slapped rain against the glass. Now that he thought about it, he did remember Ezra covering Nathan and Vin. He’d have to apologize to the undercover agent for blowing up at him like that. “We were just lucky it didn’t happen that way.” The rain slapped the glass again, not so hard this time. “Looks like the storm is blowing over, finally.”
Nathan looked at his leader’s thoughtful face, then at Buck’s, and then he looked at his shoes again. “Yeah,” he sighed. “Looks like it is.”