SUMMARY: This story is a response to the October 2002 Challenge by Nuttiegirl:

Every author has their favorite character. But, on occasion some of the less popular of the seven get left behind. Hence, I challenge you to write a fic featuring one of the seven that you do not normally write as the main character in your fiction.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have nothing against hospitals and do not know anything about how one works...(I don't even watch shows like ER) so everything in this story is made up and has no basis in fact. I also realize that I, since most of my knowledge of the Seven is from fanfics, this may be a little* out of character...

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The Escape
by Kassyndrya
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He truly had no idea why he was even here. It wasn’t as if he had been shot, stabbed or received any other such debilitating injury. Amazingly during the bust earlier that day, no one on his team got hurt...at least until they returned to the office.

He couldn't believe the only reason he was laying in this bed was because he didn't see the puddle and slipped. It was such minor injury...and he was fine...damn it! But would the others listen to him? No...They decided it was in his best interest to go to the hospital, or as one of his friends would say, the torturous facility of afflictions and contagions. So here he was stuck in this bed waiting for the doctor to come back with the results of his x-rays.

Later that evening...

He knew he really shouldn't be doing this. If the others found out, they would be all over his case to get back to the hospital...but he just couldn't stay overnight, much less the couple of days the doctor ordered. No. He needed to sneak out. He figured it wouldn't be too hard. He'd seen a couple of his teammates do it a number of times and thought he knew some tricks which might work. Then again, since he wasn't one of the troublesome duo, the staff probably wouldn't be expecting him to try anything...and he might be able to just walk out the front doors.

Although he had never done anything like this before, it was obvious to him in order to pull this off he first had to wait until after visiting hours. That way he could be sure that none of his teammates would be there to catch him. He also would have to wait until after the nurses made their rounds. He might not be severely injured, but he didn't want to deal with any of them while he made his escape.

It might be his imagination, but within the past few months, he noticed some changes in the nursing staff at the hospital. He wasn't positive, but he had a feeling that these changes might have been the result of his team's numerous hospital visits. It did make him wonder though, since these new nurses were not as easily charmed, distracted, or even intimidated by the antics of the Seven. So it did make some sense...not that any of them liked the changes. They found it harder to have their way against the hospital rules. These new nurses were also a bit brusque when handling the injured team member, which gave him another reason to want to leave the hospital as soon as possible.

Now he just needed to bide his time...

Early the next morning...

The doorbell rang.

He sat in his chair for a bit, not wanting to get up to answer the door...especially since he had a good idea who it would be on the other side. Given the time lapse of his escape, he figured the other six would have been contacted by the hospital. If one of the others had done what he did, he would be on the other side of the door, too. And had been on several occasions.

Soon the ringing stopped and the pounding started. Positive they wouldn't just go away and leave him in peace, he slowly got out of his chair. Walking to the door, he looked through the peephole. Sure enough he saw his friends on the other side. He sighed and hung his head as he opened the door.

"I figured you fellas would be coming..." he said as he shuffled slowly back and eased down into his chair.

Still not looking up, he could feel the glare of his boss staring down at him.

"I'm surprised at you, brother," he could picture his oldest friend shaking his head in sorrow while disappointment laced his voice.

"Yeah pard...I can't believe you actually did it," added another voice, although instead of disappointment, he heard traces of amusement.

When he finally raised his head up, he saw the glare, the disappointed face, and the wide smile he expected. When he looked behind them to another teammate, he saw a lopsided grin.

Bowing his head down again, he didn't bother looking over at the other two, but heard the Southerner drawl, "Considering numerous occasions in which a certain someone, who shall remain nameless, has mentioned on the foolishness of departing from a hospital without official approval from one's physician...."

Finally, youngest piped up, asking the question on all their minds, "Why did you leave the hospital like that Nathan?"

The End

*Okay. I admit it. I have him totally out of character...but I didn't want to spoil the ending, because I wanted anyone reading this to guess who the person trying to escape was...other than not being Vin or Ezra.

10/24/02