Title: Team Cobra
Author: emily64cooper
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Aria/Ezra, Hanna/Caleb, Toby
Summary: When Caleb calls Ezra to tell him the news about the girls, Ezra instantly agrees to meet with him and Toby. He knows that they need to band together, to give their girls their best chance. Spoilers for the finale, 5x25.
Author's Note: Spoilers for the season 5 finale.

"Ezra? It's Caleb. We have to talk," Caleb says through the phone. Ezra is immediately concerned. It's unusual for Caleb to be calling him; he wouldn't necessarily consider the younger man a friend, considering the small amount of time they'd actually spent together.

"Caleb?" he questions. Ezra starts pacing his small kitchen, a nervous habit he'd picked up long ago. "What's going on? I just dropped Mike off at home to Ella, he's fine."

"It's not about Mike," Caleb pauses, searching for the right words, but knowing that there are none. "It's Aria."

Ezra's breath catches in his throat. "Is she alright? What is it?"

"Ezra," Caleb sighs, "She and the girls… they've been arrested-"

"What!? She hasn't done anything! What did they charge her with?" he cuts Caleb off. A million questions are racing through his mind and he stumbles over his words, wanting to ask them all at once. Their entire relationship, they've had to worry about him going to jail, but it's never even crossed his mind that she could end up in jail. He feels guilty for not doing more, for not being able to protect her.

"There's more," Caleb continues. He sounds as defeated as Ezra feels and Ezra instantly knows that whatever he'd about to say, it's going to be worse. "They've been kidnapped. A has them."

Ezra feels like he's been hit with a ton of bricks. He has to sit; he drops into one of his kitchen chairs. Not only had Aria been arrested, she'd been kidnapped by the person who'd been tormenting her for years. She and her friends were stuck with this psychopath and he or she could be doing god only knows what to them. To her.

"I'm meeting Toby at his apartment," Caleb offers after a short pause. These three men are the only people in the world who understand what the other is currently going through and how important it is to find these girls. They need to band together, so they can keep themselves together. "Bring your research. We'll see you in ten."

"Make it five," Ezra responds. He immediately starts gathering any research left at his apartment. Then he pauses. "Caleb, we have to find them," he says. There's a tone of finality to his voice, with a touch of desperation, and when he hears it, Ezra recognizes it instantly; it's the same one Caleb had used to speak to him.

Caleb sighs. "I know."

They hang up and Ezra gathers his boxes as quickly as he can. He tries to keep his mind blank as he speeds to Toby's apartment above the Brew. He knows that he can't afford to let his mind wander, because if he does, it'll go down the path of what ifs—what if they never find Aria? What if she never knows just how much he loves her, how much he needs her? What if this bastard hurts her?—it's too much for Ezra to handle.

Instead, he focuses on the men he's about to meet. If anyone can find the girls, it's them, the three of them together. With his research, Caleb's computer skills, and Toby's policework, they're certain to find something. It gives him a sliver of hope.

Ezra knocks on the door, his boxes of research with him. Toby answers and grabs the two boxes from the floor, bringing them inside and setting them on the table. Ezra follows and spies Caleb, tapping away at the computer.

"You ready?" Caleb says by way of a greeting.

Ezra nods. He looks around. It looks like his basement at the cabin had looked while he was obsessing over his research, only this time, the research was for all the right reasons. He looks at Caleb and at Toby and he knows that by banding together, they're giving themselves the best chance. They're giving the girls, giving Aria, the best chance. This has to work. For her.

"Let's do this."