Josiah Sanchez waited impatiently at the carousel.  He glanced at his watch; it was one twenty, Saturday morning back home.  He searched for a clock in the airport terminal and adjusted his watch to match the current local time.  He saw his suitcase added to the rim and strode toward it.  Sanchez was anxious to drop his luggage off at the hotel and be on his way to the site, as there was about an hour of daylight still available.  He was far too psyched to be concerned about jet lag, and he had far too little time in the country and wanted to utilize every minute to its fullest.  He could catch up on missed sleep when he returned to Denver. 

The grey headed man stepped through the automatic sliding doors and sighed with satisfaction.  He closed his eyes for a minute and breathed in a lungful of hot sultry air.   A full grin spread across his features as he allowed the throbbing ambiance to wash over him.  He stood motionless, content to listen to the traffic noises and the unfamiliar sounds that circled around him. 

 “Hey Mister, you okay?” a concerned voice registered behind him as a body bumped against his large frame. 

Sanchez turned around and smiled broadly at the smaller man.  “Couldn’t be better,” he gushed and headed to find transport to his hotel. 

******* 

Week One - Monday 

Buck Wilmington trailed behind JD Dunne, his gaze appreciatively following the receptionist that exited the elevator ahead of them. 

“Buck,” Dunne hissed, grabbing the taller man by the arm and towing him into their office space.  “It’s rude to stare.” 

“JD,” Wilmington sighed indulgently, “beautiful ladies love to be noticed.” 

“Well, that beautiful lady has a big mean SOB for a husband, and I’d guess he wouldn’t be too thrilled to find you leering at her.” 

Buck gaped at the younger man.  “How’d you know that?”  The receptionist had only started work that morning, and being a ladies’ man, he would have noticed her before now if that hadn’t have been the case. 

Dunne tapped the side of his nose and grinned knowingly at Wilmington’s confusion.  He dropped a duffle bag on his desk and looked around to see who else had arrived. “Hey, Vin.” 

“JD.  Buck,” Vin greeted, following the curious gaze of Dunne.  “Chris is already in.”  He nodded at the closed door.  “And Nate’s called in to say he’ll be late.” 

“Nathan hasn’t arrived?” Ezra questioned incredulously, only just now entering the room.  The Southerner was notorious for turning up late and had never arrived before any of the others.  Standish hid the sly grin that grew, fully intending to torment Jackson when he arrived.  He settled behind his desk and booted up his computer, but frowned, noticing there was still one person on their team unaccounted for.  “Where is Mr. Sanchez?” 

Larabee stepped out of his office; surprised to see his undercover agent here when Jackson was missing.  “Josiah’s taken a week’s annual leave.” 

Standish’s eyebrows rose upward.  “That’s a little sudden isn’t it?”  When they left on Friday there was no mention of Sanchez taking any time down.  Something must have occurred over the weekend. 

Larabee shrugged his shoulders unable to give out any further information.  Chris couldn’t pry that information from Josiah Friday night when he’d called to request the time off.  Sanchez had been most secretive and anxious to end the call.  Larabee had finally agreed to Josiah’s request, even though he’d had no prior warning.  Especially so after the older man had gruffly suggested that he was taking the time off whether Chris cleared it or not.  “Ask him next week when he gets back.”  He saw the mystified looks on all their faces and held up his hands to prevent the expected inquisition.  “I don’t know any more than you do…so you’ll all have to brave it out.  Patience boys,” Chris chortled.  “Now, do you think we can get some work done this morning?” 

*******

Tuesday 

“Where is he?” Chris dropped the phone back in the cradle and glared out into the bullpen.  “It’s ten…where the hell is he?” he shouted at nobody in particular. 

Tanner met his gaze across the room and they both turned to face the elevator as the bell rung, announcing it was going to open on their floor. 

Larabee launched through the office and rounded on his tardy agent as soon he stepped from the elevator.  “It’s ten!” Chris growled. 

Ezra heaved a tired sigh and lifted his arm to check his watch, confirming Larabee’s words.  “It is indeed,” he drawled sidestepping around his boss.  

Chris glared at the various men who deemed it funny enough to laugh.  Larabee strode after the Southerner and slammed both hands solidly on his desk.  “Standish,” he warned, drawing out each syllable of his name. 

Ezra sank into his chair and rolled his neck.  “My apologies for the delay, Mr. Larabee.” 

“Not good enough, Standish.”  He studied the Southerner and was puzzled by the tired façade.  His apology had even sounded sincere. 

“I received a phone call from Josiah, this morning,” he took a deep breath which smothered the yawn.  This garnered the attention of the entire group and they converged around his desk firing questions at him. 

“Where is he?” 

“Is he okay?”

 “He’s not in trouble is he?” 

“What did he want?” 

“Is he having fun?” 

“He didn’t say, but I could hazard a guess.  Definitely out of the country.  He sounded fine on the phone.  I don’t believe he is in any danger.  He requested I locate a digest of his and,” Ezra smiled for the first time that morning, directing it at JD.  Trust Dunne to ask that question.  “…It is only my humble opinion, but I’d wager Mr. Sanchez is enjoying his holiday immensely.” 

“What’s that got to do with your coming in late?” Chris grilled. 

Standish sighed.  “The book Josiah requested was at his place, not mine,” he emphasized.  “Once I arrived there the text was not where Josiah had identified and I had to spend some time searching it out.  He does have rather a large collection, I might add.”  Ezra glanced around the group, seeing that he’d captured their attention, he continued.  “It seems that Josiah is an avid archaeologist.  And in his spare time he attends digs, which is where he is now.” 

“Yeah?”  JD enthused brightly.  “Man’s that’s great!  I was reading this article in Time magazine the other day about buried tombs…wonder if Josiah’s seen it?” 

“You read Time Magazine?” Wilmington heckled, throwing an eraser at the younger agent. 

“So?  I’ve seen you flipping through the National Geographic…” 

“I hadn’t realised Mr. Wilmington read anything beyond the pin-up variety,” Ezra quipped, earning a scowl from the gregarious man. 

“You said that Sanchez didn’t confirm where he was…where do you think he is?” Larabee asked, curiously. 

“I don’t know positively, but there are a few possibilities, and bearing in mind the time zone difference…” he stated three different sites. 

Chris nodded.  He often wondered about all those reference books at the older man’s house.  

“What did he want with the book,” Dunne eagerly asked, sitting his hip on the corner of Ezra’s desk. 

Ezra yawned; squeezing closed his eyes in the process and finding that they felt gritty from the lack of sleep. He would have reprimanded JD for his familiarity with his furniture, but he couldn’t be bothered. “He wanted to refresh his knowledge regarding a particular artefact.  Unfortunately, by the time I located the text and waited for Mr. Sanchez to call back so I could relate the information, it was long past the hour to retire.  My apologies again, Mr. Larabee.” 

“If it was too late to turn in, then how come you still wound up being late,” Jackson asked, smirking at the undercover agent.  “Why didn’t you come straight here?” 

Standish rolled his eyes.  “I had to return to my abode, and,” he shrugged his shoulders sheepishly, “I succumbed while I was there…needless to say…” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Chris grunted in understanding.  “Don’t let it happen again.” 

Standish saluted his boss, raising two fingers to an imaginary hat. 

******* 

Wednesday 

Larabee stood half hidden from the others.  He watched as JD’s head jerked strangely once more, fighting the urges of sleep.  The younger man stared at his screen for minutes at a time, not appearing to move the document he was supposedly reading or typing anything on his keyboard.  Chris licked his lips and frowned as he glanced across to Buck’s desk.  Wilmington was not even attempting the pretence of work; he was sprawled asleep with his head on the desk, and a sign written in black ink stuck with tape to his back.  It read, DON’T DISTURB!  He wondered which of the clowns had attached the note.  And Standish didn’t appear any better. He was leaning back in his chair, head resting limply to one side oblivious to his surroundings.  

A sadistic smile came to his mouth and Chris turned back to his office.  Larabee was only gone a minute, but had picked up the blow horn that he’d confiscated from Tanner last week.  He covered his ears with a pair of ear protectors and depressed the horn.  The loud blaring noise startled the entire group, sleeping and awake.  Standish fell from his chair as he abruptly woke. 

Once all his agents looked at him with some degree of wakefulness he stepped to the centre of the room.  “Conference room.  Now!” He left, expecting the others to automatically follow. 

Chris paced in the small room while he waited for the five team members to gather. Tanner was last to enter and hung by the door.  It wasn’t him that Larabee was pissed with so Chris didn’t mind.  Buck and JD slumped in the chairs, but Standish sat bolt upright.  Nathan was still rubbing at his ears, and took a seat at the end of the table.  “So… what’s the deal?”  

Buck cleared his throat.  “Josiah called last night.” 

“Ah huh.  And?” 

“Well, Josiah didn’t want to bother Ez again, ‘cause he called him the night before…” 

Chris glanced at Ezra and figured there had to be more, but it was JD who continued. 

“Buck said he was only going out for an hour so I waited up…then I got worried ‘cause he didn’t return by the time he said he would,” Dunne scowled at his roommate. 

“That weren’t my fault!  Like I said, JD, the book wasn’t at Josiah’s…so I had to go over to Ezra’s.  And you know how hard it is to wake him up.” 

Ezra groaned.  “May I point out that I was already awake by the time you assaulted my front door.”  

“That’s only ‘cause Josiah called first to let you know I was on my way over,” Wilmington protested.  

“Well how was I to know that Josiah would send you after reference material.  I thought it prudent that I took it to my place so it was readily available.” 

“Guess Josiah thought he could trust me to read from the book and pass on what he wanted.  Only you pilfered it!” 

“Pilfered?  My my…been studying the dictionary, Buck?” 

“I just want to know why nobody bothered to call me?” Dunne complained. 

The three agents continued to banter back and forth.  Nathan shook his head, clearly amused by it all. 

Larabee looked at Vin and an unspoken message passed between them.  The sharpshooter put two fingers to his mouth and whistled.  The noise level dropped immediately. 

“Do you think you three can manage to put in a full day’s work?  Or should I send you home?” 

Wilmington’s eyes sparked up at the offer and he opened his mouth, but clamped it shut quickly as Chris amended his previous statement. 

“It’ll come off your leave, though.” 

******* 

Thursday

“What’s going on?” Larabee leaned against the doorframe and sent Tanner a clearly befuddled look.  Four of his team were converged around Wilmington’s desk. 

“Don’t look at me, pard.  I just work here.”  Vin smirked at his boss’ less than friendly demeanour and decided to elaborate further.  “I went to the break room to grab some coffee.  Want some?” 

“What has Josiah caused now?”  His patience with the profiler was wearing thin and Sanchez wasn’t even here.  “JD?” 

Dunne waved a distracted hand and returned to typing madly at Buck’s computer terminal. 

“Hey, Chris,” the ladies’ man stepped back so his boss could see the screen. 

“You got a bug?” 

“Yeah, looks that way.  Opened an email from Josiah this morning then everything started going crazy.” 

Chris groaned, looking at Nathan and Standish who appeared to be waiting for JD.  “Don’t tell me…both your PC’s are down too?”  At the affirmative nods from his agents Chris shook his head.  “What about your’s?” he directed at Vin. 

“Dunno…nothin’ happened when I tried to turn it on,” he grinned. 

“Did you try plugging it in,” Standish drawled. 

“Hey!” Tanner punched the agent in the arm. 

******* 

Friday 

Larabee exited the elevator with a certain degree of trepidation.  With everything that had been going on this week, he was beginning to have second thoughts about coming into the office on time himself. It was still early yet and normally he wouldn’t expect to find anybody in the office before him, but the proof was parked in the underground parking garage.  Standish had beaten him to work!  And it wasn’t yet seven in the morning.  Even Vin hadn’t arrived yet. 

“Ezra,” Chris called out the greeting, but the office remained quiet.  He flipped on the overhead lights and noticed the agent’s briefcase by his desk, but the Southerner wasn’t there.  Chris sniffed the air and followed the scent to the break room.  He poured himself a coffee and nodded appreciatively.  Standish knew how to make a decent pot of coffee, but he was not in the room.  

Larabee opened his door to find his agent lightly snoring on his couch.  He picked up the mail in his in-tray and closed the door behind him.  He could just as easily start work on this at one of the other’s desks.  He wondered if Standish’s unusually early appearance at work had anything to do with Sanchez.  How was he going to get any work out of his team if they continually fell asleep?  This hobby of Josiah’s was beginning to be irksome. 

When Ezra woke at nine he stumbled out of Chris’ office.  His hair was sticking up at an odd angle and his face was lined with crease marks where he’d been sleeping.  He glanced at Larabee seated behind his desk and winced.  The others immediately stopped their work and turned as one to face the Southerner.   Realising he’d fallen asleep, and in Chris’ office no less, while the rest of the team had arrived for work, brought a flush of red tinge to his cheeks.  “My sincerest apologies.” 

“Uh huh…what did Josiah want this time?  And I thought he was doing the rounds…wouldn’t it have been someone else’s turn?” 

Standish was momentarily stumped for words.  Obviously he was still in the process of waking.  “Josiah has a large collection of disks at his desk and he requested I copy them and pass it along through the Internet.” Ezra rubbed at his eyes and looked thoughtfully at the former medic.  “Ummm, he attempted to call you, Nathan, but you were… unavailable?” 

Jackson swallowed uncomfortably as they all turned to face him.  “I had Raine over last night,” he stammered guiltily.  “Guess we ummm unplugged the phones and forgot to plug them back in.  Sorry, Ezra.” 

“How long have you been here?” Larabee pressed. 

“Since three, I think,” Standish yawned.  Although he’d worked longer hours before now.  “Is there any coffee left?” 

“Made a fresh pot not long ago,” Tanner grinned; he knew Ezra despised the coffee the sharpshooter made. 

“Guess I’ll forgo it then,” Ezra mumbled and took his seat as Chris vacated it. 

“Go home, Ezra,” Chris ordered, he wasn’t going to get any decent work from the exhausted agent.

******* 

Saturday 

“Why are we here on a Saturday?” JD whined.  It was the weekend, after all.  He wondered if Josiah would mind if he borrowed the disks from his desk.  He could study them over the weekend and have them back in place by Monday before the profiler returned from leave. 

“’Cause Chris called us in,” Buck answered, hitting the computer expert’s head with the back of his hand. 

“He didn’t happen to mention the reason for this meeting?  Especially at such an ungodly hour.” 

“We all got the same drill, Ezra,” Tanner chuckled. 

“Then where is he?  It is uncommon for Mr. Larabee to be anything but punctual.” 

“Could be caught in traffic,” Dunne offered. 

Wilmington slapped JD on the arm.  “That’s one of Ezra’s excuses…Chris will have come up with something better.” 

Standish glared at the moustached man, which turned into a sly smile when Buck winced. 

“Hey!”  Buck grabbed his shin and furiously rubbed it.  

“Didn’t your mama’s ever tell you to keep yer hands and yer feet to yourself?” Jackson folded his arms and mockingly reprimanded both men. 

“I think I require a translation,” Ezra feigned ignorance. 

“He said - THAT IT AIN’T POLITE TO KICK!” Buck growled, shouting across the wooden table. 

“Who’s kicking?” Chris asked as he barged into the conference room.  “Nope, on second thoughts, I don’t need to know.” 

“What’s up, cowboy?” 

Chris sank to the only chair that was left.  “Got a call from Josiah early this morning.” 

“Guess you got the night off, hey Ezra?” Buck kicked under the table and applied a bruise of his own on the Southerner’s shin. 

Ezra’s poker face remained unchanged.  “What makes you say that?” 

“He called you again?” 

“Seems to be routine.”  He reached under the table and absently rubbed his leg. 

“He ring you before or after me?” 

“Both.” 

“Why?” 

“He needed your number…he lost it and couldn’t remember it off hand.” 

“Josiah wanted another week’s leave approved.  He’s decided to stay longer.” Larabee announced. 

“You give it to him?” Nathan stood up and wandered over to the window.  He glanced at the overcast sky that threatened to end in rain before the day was over.  May as well be at work if he was going to be trapped inside anyhow.  He bet Josiah had perfect skies where he was, otherwise he wouldn’t want to stay longer. 

“Sure.  Travis is going to be pissed, but other than that…” he trailed off.  “We need to do some catch-up work…seems like everything has come to a standstill this week.”  At the chorus of moans he added, “Just till one, then you can have the afternoon off.” 

*******