Waiting to Unpack
a Little Ezra 4C Agency AU story by Setcheti

Disclaimer: The Little Ezra 4C Agency AU belongs to Twyla Jane, whose challenge to write a little Ezra fic just couldn't be left unanswered!

Larabee froze, dropping the papers he'd been holding. "I thought he was asleep…"

"He is." Buck sat down on a corner of the desk. "That's why I came to talk to you about this now, didn't want him to hear--got JD watchin' him just to be sure he don't wake up and come in here. Now what I want to know is when you're plannin' on givin' the boy his own room."

"He has his own room," Chris said slowly, puzzled. "He's sleeping in it right now. All his things are in there…"

"No, all Adam's things are in there," his friend corrected firmly. "Ezra's things are still in that suitcase under the bed; ain't one thing set out in there that's his, not even one." He silenced Chris's protest with an upraised hand. "Go look for yourself, then come back. I'm not goin' anywhere."

Chris scowled and stood up. He knew Buck was wrong, knew that Ezra had unpacked his suitcase…hadn't he? Of course he had! Buck was just full of it…

He stopped in the doorway to the small room and quietly eased the door back. Ezra was curled up in bed, asleep, still so pale and fragile-looking that his father's heart almost broke just looking at him. He forced himself to look around the room. There were toys on the shelves…

Adam's toys.

Books, there were books on the shelves too…

Dr. Seuss, Margaret Weis Brown, Richard Scarry…Adam's books.

The bedspread had trains on it--cute little cartoon trains interspersed with cute little sheep dressed as engineers. There was a border with the same trains and sheep on it stretching around the room about four feet up the wall, and a blue net filled with stuffed toys hung pendulously from the ceiling in one corner. There was a sheep-shaped rug on the floor next to the blue metal-framed bed…

A little boy's bed, almost too short for Ezra…Adam's bed.

But Ezra was Adam, wasn't he?

Chris sighed, seeing the edge of the suitcase peeking out from under the bed. No, not anymore, he wasn't; Adam had been forced to grow up hard and fast and he'd become Ezra. This wasn't Ezra's room…it was Adam's shrine.

Chris stomped back into his study and threw himself back into his chair; Buck hadn't moved. "When did you notice?"

Buck sighed. "The other day--but it was JD that pointed it out to me. I told him I'd talk to you."

"Remind me to thank JD." Chris suddenly realized he had seen something out of place. "Hey, wait a minute, he did move something…" He groaned. "He moved the picture of me and Adam to the nightstand beside the bed…"

"No, he didn't." Buck was shaking his head; he smiled sadly. "No, pard, he moved the picture of you and him next to his bed; I've seen him lookin' at it like he's tryin' to remember bein' there. He's been lookin' at it a lot this week, but I'd seen him lookin' at it before he knew, too, like he was wonderin' what it must be like." Chris flinched, and Buck hopped off the desk and dropped two strong hands on his shoulders. "Chris, you'll show him…we'll all show him. But first, we need to get him to unpack his suitcase."

It was Chris's turn to sigh. "We can do it as soon as he wakes up…" Buck was shaking his head again. "What?! First you want the suitcase unpacked, now you don't?"

"You didn't see him, at the school," the ladies' man said slowly. "Chris, that suitcase…I think it's probably the only stable thing in that boy's life, the only security blanket he's had all these years. I think we'd be makin' a big mistake if we messed with it."

"You're right," his friend agreed heavily. He cocked his head, looking up at the mustached man with a little smile. "When'd you get so smart, Buck?"

Buck straightened and puffed out his chest. "Always have been, pard, always have been--you just ain't never noticed my natural genius before. Now," he grinned broadly. "When do we get to take the boy shoppin'? Been a month at least since JD and I've been to Toys 'R Us…"

When Ezra woke up three hours later, Chris was sitting on the side of his bed. Ezra smiled sleepily at him…and then woke up a little more and quickly hid the smile under a yawn; he didn't see Chris flinch. "Did I oversleep?"

"Nope, you needed your rest," Chris replied quietly. "How do you feel?"

"Fine." It was almost true. The boy sat up slowly. "Is something the matter?"

"You might say that." Ezra tensed, eyes widening, and Chris was quick to reassure him. "No, nothing bad; I was just thinking that it was about time we redecorated your room; you need a bigger bed, for starters." Ezra looked at the bed, then back up at Chris and nodded hesitantly. "And then we'll have to get some new sheets and things, I guess. What's your favorite color?"

The green eyes got even wider. "R-red," Ezra stammered after a long moment, almost as though he were confessing a fault. "I like red."

"Hmm, red." Chris made a show of looking around the room. "Damn, these sheep will have to go, then; we'll need some paint, too. Or would you rather have wallpaper?"

Ezra scooted back against the bedframe, pulling the blanket with him. "W-why are you asking me?"

Chris shrugged. "It's your room. We should make it the way you want it."

The boy appeared to have trouble grasping that. "Why?"

"Like I said, it's your room." Chris shifted closer and put his hands on the narrow shoulders. "It'll be your room for as long as we live here--and I can't think of anything that could make us leave, can you?" It became obvious that Ezra could; Chris very gently pulled the shaking boy against his chest, feeling tears sting his eyes. "No, Ezra, it's not like that anymore. This is your home and you don't ever have to leave…because I'm your father and I said so, understand?

He felt a little shudder. "What if you leave?" Ezra whispered. "If you leave and don't come back…"

"Ain't gonna happen," Chris said soothingly, rubbing Ezra's back. "I know you can't believe that right now, but you'll just have to trust me, son."

The boy stiffened in his arms; big green eyes looked up at him, absolutely swimming with confusion. "Moth-Maude told me never to trust anyone…not even her. S-she said you have to look out for number one, because that's what everyone else does and only a f-fool believes otherwise."

Chris leaned his forehead against Ezra's and smiled gently even though what he really wanted to do was rant and rave and maybe even cry. "Well son, all I can say is…Maude was wrong."

The shopping trip was an experience none of them were going to forget for a long time. If Chris had had any doubts about the unnatural nature of Ezra's childhood, the trip to Toys 'R Us alone more than settled them. They had taken Buck, JD and Josiah with them, and over the course of an hour they had learned that Ezra:

Had never ridden a bike, scooter or skateboard…

Knew about Pokemon only as a trade item…

Didn't understand why anyone would watch cartoons--or most television, for that matter…

Had only the barest notions of contemporary children's literature, having read mostly classics and poetry…

Thought toys were a waste of money…

Had never played video games until JD introduced him to his Playstation…

And loved science equipment, magic kits and models…but was afraid to show too much interest in them.

Four men decided that day that it might be better if the police apprehended Maude Standish once she was found; none of them thought they could keep from killing her if given the chance. They ended up letting JD keep Ezra distracted at a video game station while the three older men split the selections up according to their own areas of expertise: Chris took the models, Josiah the scientific paraphernalia and Buck the magic equipment. Josiah also threw in the complete set of Harry Potter books on the grounds that Ezra might be able to identify with the main character. "We have to give him examples he can relate to his own experience," the older man explained to his puzzled friend. "This would be as good a place to start as any; Harry was also a boy brought up abnormally and suddenly thrust back into the world he belonged in., and since the books are so popular right now it will also give Ezra something in common with other children his age."

"Good idea, Josiah," Buck agreed. "I know you're gonna homeschool him for now because of the security risk, but eventually he'll need to go back to regular school. It'll be easier on him if we start workin' on things now that will help him fit in later."

"I've been thinkin' about that," Chris said. They were standing in the checkout line behind a woman who was trying to figure out how much sand she needed to buy. "Summer's coming, and they have lots of sports programs and things going on. I was thinking that maybe I should enroll Ezra in one or two of them, kind of get his feet wet as far as being around other kids goes." He sighed, remembering his first impression of the boy as a forty year old midget in disguise. "Let's just hope he ain't afraid of the water."

After the purchases were safely stowed away in the back of Larabee's SUV, the next stop was a used furniture store. The shopping went a little easier there; Chris avoided the children's furniture and they quickly picked out a regular twin sized bed with a wooden bookcase headboard and a plain, sturdy nightstand to replace the small plastic one that was in the room now. And when Josiah mentioned that Ezra would be needing a desk, the boy made a beeline for a battered rolltop half-hidden behind a pile of chairs. Chris made a show of helping Ezra examine the desk to see if it was good enough while his three friends tried to hold back their chuckles; it was a foregone conclusion that the only thing the boy had come right out and asked for all day would be coming home with them even if it cost a thousand dollars and had a family of squirrels living in one of the drawers. Luckily, it didn't--on either count.

Ezra was getting tired by the time they went to buy sheets, but Buck used it to their advantage. He made the boy close his eyes and rubbed a corner of each kind of sheet against his pale cheek; Ezra's smile when he felt the flannel made it unnecessary to ask him which ones he preferred. Red flannel sheets were quickly joined by a red and blue flannel comforter and two fat new pillows, and then the shopping expedition was at an end. Ezra was sound asleep by the time they returned to the ranch, and Chris tucked him under a blanket on the couch while he and the others joined Nathan and Vin in transforming Adam's room into Ezra's; the other two members of the team had been busy repainting the walls while they were gone. An hour's quick work saw the new furniture placed and the bed made up, and then the men all had fun placing the purchases the boy hadn't known about around the room so that Ezra could discover them one at a time. The suitcase was carefully replaced under the bed, it's lock undisturbed.

Ezra woke up an indefinite amount of time later, smelling pizza and sleepily aware that his stomach was growling. He snuggled back into the soft pillow he was resting on with a sigh…and then realized that he wasn't on the couch anymore. Slowly, he sat up and looked around. Bare white walls, devoid of sheep. He recognized the furniture they'd picked out and the soft, warm bedding, but…where had the rest of it come from? A shelf that had before held brightly colored toys now contained a black box that said '101 Magic Tricks' on the side, the top of the dresser held three model boxes and an assortment of paints, glue bottles and brushes, and the headboard behind him had books in it. The picture of him with Chris was sitting on the new nightstand just where he'd left it on the old one, and a quick, almost panicked check revealed his suitcase where he'd left it as well and apparently undisturbed. Sliding out of bed, letting his hands linger on the flannel comforter for a moment, he pulled the suitcase out from under the bed and looked at it, then looked around the room again. A decision was reached.

The suitcase was too heavy for him to lift--had almost been too heavy before he got sick--so he opened it up there on the floor and frowned at the neatly stacked contents. His books were easy, they went on the shelf next to the others; extra clothes were easy, too, they went in the dresser. The Pokemon card in it's protective plastic sleeve was a bit more of a problem, but he finally decided that the desk would be a safe place to keep it until the price came back up. The microscope sitting inside the desk gave him pause, and the treasured card was quickly stuffed into one of the desk's pigeonhole drawers so Ezra could examine the much more interesting device in front of him. He reluctantly pulled himself away from the little science lab kit to finish the task he'd set for himself. His deck of cards went into another drawer along with the $50 poker chip he'd picked up at a casino in Paris and the collection of tiny paper umbrellas and other small found 'souvenirs' that Maude hadn't known about and wouldn't have let him keep if she had. School supplies were distributed into their proper places in the desk…and then the suitcase was empty. Ezra closed it up and dragged it to the closet, feeling just a little frightened as he closed the door on the one constant thing he'd known for almost as long as he could remember. He leaned against the closed door and shut his eyes, trembling.

Warm arms came around him, startling him, and he looked up into the concerned face of Chris Larabee. "You okay, Ezra?"

The boy studied his newly-found father's face, searching for the signs of deception that Maude had assured him had to be there…and didn't find them. Maude was wrong, Chris had said, and Ezra began to allow himself to believe that he might be right. "I don't have to leave?"

"Nope," Chris replied seriously. "Never."

Green eyes blinked, suspiciously shiny. "You…you really are my father?"

"Yep." Chris brushed his hand along the boy's pale cheek. "And you're my son. But even if you hadn't been, you still wouldn't have had to leave; I'd already decided before the test results came back that I wasn't letting you go."

"Really?" When Chris nodded, Ezra sniffed again and leaned into his embrace. "I wanted to stay."

"I know." Ezra's stomach picked that moment to growl again, and Chris chuckled. "Hungry?"

The boy didn't move. "Yes."

"Thought so." Without another word, Chris stood up, taking Ezra with him. He dropped a kiss on top of the tousled brown head. "Glad you finally unpacked, son."

Fin