This is a short sort of alternate ending to the episode "I'm Okay - You Need Work," in which Tom Hanson went undercover at an adolescent facility which was allegedly abusing their patients. In this version, rather than Fuller and Hoffs finding Tom at the hospital, it is Fuller and Penhall who find him. Penhall then makes it his responsibility to watch over Hanson as the drugs work their way out of his system. I love Hoffs, but I love Penhall's relationship with Hanson more and felt his presence would be preferable in this story instead of hers. I'm all about the bromance.
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Doug Penhall had a dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach as he entered the "Admissions Room" of what was quite loosely referred to as a hospital. The patients here seemed to all be either mentally insane or strung out on drugs, neither of which fit his partner Hanson's description. He glanced around the room. A man in one corner was grumbling angrily to himself as he knocked his fist against his own temple. A woman hunched over against the back wall cried softly as she pulled at her hair. This place was as much a hospital as a meth lab was a school. Doug had no doubt that many of these people needed some sort of medical care, but they sure as hell weren't getting it here.
His eyes scanned the rest of the room. He saw a man sitting on the end of a bed, rocking rapidly back and forth. Another man paced between two beds at the end of the room, staring at the floor and mumbling something. None of these people were Hanson. Doug feared the worst. Another boy who was being "treated" at the same adolescent facility Hanson had gone undercover in was dead. What if the same fate had befallen him? Another patient had claimed Tom had been transferred here, but he sure didn't seem to be here... Maybe she had been misinformed. Maybe he had been killed and the employees of the facility only told the other patients he had been transferred so they wouldn't be scared.
"Get them off me!" Penhall's attention was momentarily stolen by a frail-looking woman swatting at herself nervously at some imaginary creature as she repeated herself in a trembling voice, "get them OFF me!"
Doug grimaced. He wanted to help these people, but he just didn't see how he could. As tempted as he was to go up to each one and tell them they were going to be alright, he knew he couldn't make that promise. He wasn't a doctor, nor a psychologist. The only person he might be able to help tonight was Hanson, and he was nowhere to be found.
Penhall sighed, ready to give up here and search another room. Tom had to be here somewhere. He simply had to. Doug didn't know what he'd do if he didn't find his partner soon.
Just as he was beginning to turn back toward the door, something caught his eye. A lean form covered in a blanket lay on one of the beds. Everyone else was up walking around, or pacing, or rocking back and forth, or attacking themselves... or at least awake... This person seemed to be sleeping. Penhall had to make sure it wasn't Hanson. Surely the only way Hanson wouldn't have gotten himself out of this room would be if he was somehow incapacitated. Maybe they had tied him down to the bed so he couldn't leave...
Doug walked over to the bed and drew back the blanket which was covering the person's face. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Sure enough, it was indeed Hanson. He appeared to be sleeping. His hands were up near his face, not restrained. Though his face looked somewhat worried and pained, he looked otherwise peaceful. He was simply sleeping in here with all these moaning, mumbling strangers, which was quite surprising to Doug. He wondered if Hanson was hurt or drugged.
"Hey, Hanson," Doug put his hand on his partner's shoulder and shook him gently.
Tom furrowed his brow and shrunk back, groaning softly.
"Hey, man," Doug tried again, "wake up,"
The younger man whimpered and raised his hands defensively, "no..." his voice trembled, "please... I'm a cop. I swear," he urged in a panicked slur as he shrunk away from Doug's touch.
"Tommy?" Doug frowned as he gently grasped Tom's flailing forearms in order to prevent him from hitting him.
"You gotta let me go," Hanson rasped in a weak voice as he tried to pull out of Doug's grasp.
The younger man was painfully unsuccessful in his attempt at escape. In fact it barely felt like he had used any strength at all to Doug, who still grasped his arms rather loosely. That explained why he was still here instead of downstairs arguing with the nurse and persisting that he needed to be discharged. The poor man was defenseless. He was lucky it was Doug here instead of someone who wanted to hurt him, "Tommy, open your eyes," Doug requested, "I'm here to get you out of here. No one's gonna hurt you anymore."
"Doug?" Tom's soft voice questioned weakly as his eyes struggled to open.
"Yeah, buddy," Doug forced a smile, "it's me. I'm gonna get you outta here, okay?"
For a moment Tom looked unbelievably relieved. Tears shone in his eyes as he struggled to sit up. Doug leaned forward so that he could help Hanson stand, but was surprised to be pulled into a soft embrace instead. Tommy was still laying back against the bed, and Doug could have easily broken the hug if he had wanted to... but he didn't want to. He was so relieved to have found his partner alive and somewhat well. Doug pulled him upward and hugged him back, enjoying the feeling of Hanson's gently rising and falling chest against his own. Tommy felt thin in Doug's arms. Of course, Doug was quite a bit bigger than his partner on a normal day, but the smaller man seemed especially frail today, "you alright?" Doug frowned as he pulled back, allowing Hanson to lie back down as he looked into Tommy's eyes.
"Yeah," Tom breathed out an exhausted breath and closed his eyes, "how-"
Doug paused as he waited for Tommy to finish his sentence. He never did, "Tommy?" Doug frowned.
"What?" the younger man slurred.
Doug shook his head, "Never mind... I'm gonna get you out of here, alright?"
Tom nodded, "umm hmm," he agreed, but remained lying down on the bed. He was definitely drugged on something.
"Come on, man," Doug pulled Tom into a sitting position and put his arm around his partner's back as he pulled him up to his feet. Hanson leaned heavily on the taller man, "can you walk?" Doug asked a question he was pretty sure he already knew the answer to.
"Um hmm," Tommy mumbled as his head drooped against Doug's shoulder. He remained pretty much limp, not even standing on his own.
"Tommy," Doug said louder this time, "can you try to stand? I can drag you outta here without your help if I have to, but it'd be much easier if you could help."
"I am standing," Tommy murmured in a barely comprehensible slur.
Doug rolled his eyes and began dragging his partner toward the door. He actually was surprisingly light. Doug wondered if they had been feeding him during the short time he was at the adolescent inpatient facility. He hadn't been there all that long, but long enough to lose some weight if he wasn't given anything to eat.
"Thank God," Fuller announced his presence before Doug even noticed him rushing into the room, "he alright?" Their Captain walked briskly up to them and took Hanson's chin in his hand, "open your eyes, Hanson," he ordered.
Hanson must have complied, though Doug couldn't really see his partner's face, "his pupils are huge," Fuller commented, "he's definitely drugged."
"No kidding," Penhall sighed.
"Let's get him out of here," Fuller offered, putting his arm around Hanson's back under Penhall's.
"Do you think he needs a hospital?" Doug asked as they made their way down the stairs, "a real one, I mean?"
Fuller shrugged.
"No," Hanson groaned, "I don't wanna go to 'nother hospital..." his voice quivered. He actually sounded sad.
"It won't be like this one, Tommy," Doug frowned, "you know that... A real hospital."
"No," Hanson persisted. He moved his arms and pushed against his colleagues as though trying to free himself from their hold.
Doug wasn't sure where his partner planned on going even if they did let him go off by himself, "Stop it, Tommy," Doug exhaled, "would you really rather stay here?"
"Just let me go home," he managed in an exhausted voice, "I'll call a taxi 'er somethin'..."
"There's no way we're leaving you alone right now, Hanson," Fuller informed him.
"Please don't make me go to another hospital," Hanson frowned as his wide, dark eyes begged Doug to spare him from having to spend another minute in what he likely felt was unwilling captivity. He was definitely serious when he said he didn't want to go. This wasn't just Hanson being stubborn and refusing to admit he was hurt like he normally did. He was actually scared, "Please," he added again. His voice even cracked.
Doug glanced over at Fuller, "can I just stay with him and keep an eye on him? The drugs are already probably about as sunk in as they're gonna get... It's not like they could do anything for him at a hospital besides watching him... And they've got so many other patients to watch over. He'd be better off with me... I'll only have one drugged guy to keep my eye on. He'd have my full attention."
Fuller glanced over at Doug and then between the two of them, at Tommy, who pouted pitifully, "I suppose you're right. The last thing he needs is to be forced into another hospital bed."
Doug smiled for a moment as they made their way out the door and into the parking lot. Penhall and Fuller had taken separate cars, in case they needed to part ways and search more than one location. They each cared deeply about Hanson and had wanted to find him as soon as possible. In fact, the other Jump Street officers were still out searching other leads, all looking for the same missing cop, who thankfully was no longer missing.
"I'll take him back to my house," Doug offered, "and if anything seems off, I'll get him to a hospital."
"Alright," Fuller agreed, "I'll let the others know we found him. Take good care of him, Doug," he added, putting his hand on Tom's chin and looking at the younger man's face again, "he's completely out of it."
"I know," Doug frowned, "he'll be okay though. Probably just needs to sleep it off."
"I don't doubt that," Fuller forced a smile.
Doug helped Tommy into the back seat of his car as Fuller made his way over to his own car.
"I'm takin' you to my apartment," Doug told Tommy who lay limply in the back seat. Doug wasn't sure if the smaller man could really hear him right now, but wanted to inform him of what was going on anyway.
Tommy gave no answer, so Doug simply exhaled tiredly and got into the driver's seat.
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Doug laid Tommy gently down on his couch. He looked quite small and weak lying there in his current state. He was still virtually unresponsive, but his thin chest rose and fell rhythmically as he breathed in and out. Penhall smiled. He was so happy his partner was alright. For a while, Doug had legitimately feared the worst had happened. He wasn't sure he'd ever see the man again, at least not alive. Even having him here heavily drugged was far better than the alternative. The possibility of never having found him, or finding him dead still terrified Doug, even though he knew neither of those outcomes were even possible anymore. Just remembering that they had been very real potential outcomes earlier tonight made his heart ache.
Penhall sat down on the edge of the couch next to the smaller man. For a moment, Doug simply looked at his partner. Hanson's face looked peaceful. He seemed comfortable - not pained and scared like he had looked back at the hospital. Tom was going to be alright. Dog removed Hanson's hat, along with a wig he had worn under it to better disguise himself during his self-assigned undercover assignment. He looked his partner over carefully. He had a small bruise on his cheek. Doug wondered how that had come about. Had someone hit him? Penhall frowned.
He bit his lower lip and looked over the other man more. His lean frame was covered by rather worn out clothing - a typical outfit they'd wear while undercover to give the illusion that they were teenagers with less than preferable home lives. Penhall reached down and took off Hanson's shoes, which he had seemingly worn all this time, even while in bed at the hospital. Doug shook his head, still finding it hard to believe that anyone could honestly call that place a hospital.
Doug wanted to look Hanson over more - to make sure he wasn't hurt in any way that wasn't immediately visible. His face seemed relatively unhurt, but everything else was covered by clothing. Penhall seriously doubted Tom would have taken drugs willingly. They were most likely forced on him. That meant he probably had more physical injuries. Tommy wouldn't have gone down without a fight.
"Tommy," Doug began in a quiet voice, "I'm gonna look under your shirt, okay?" he asked, "just to make sure you're not hurt. Is that alright?"
Tom didn't answer.
Doug inhaled slowly. He knew his partner would probably not want to be fussed over, but Doug needed to know he was okay, so he took advantage of the fact that Tom was unconscious and lifted his shirt carefully. His stomach was marked with a few small bruises. A larger one covered the right side of his ribs. Doug ran his fingers carefully over the injuries. While he knew he and his coworkers put themselves into dangerous positions all the time, it always made him feel guilty and angry when he saw Tommy get hurt. Tom had gotten himself into this on his own, but Penhall still felt bad. Tom wasn't tiny, but he certainly wasn't the biggest, strongest guy around. It made Doug sick whenever he found that someone bigger, stronger, or with some other advantage over Hanson had hurt him. Drugging someone isn't fair. Hurting someone who is drugged isn't fair either. Doug had no doubt that whatever had gone down was no fair fight.
Doug nearly jumped out of his skin when Tom stirred beneath him. The smaller man flinched back and swatted weakly at Doug's hands, "No," he slurred, "let me go..." his weak voice sounded exhausted.
"Sorry... It's okay, Tom," Doug assured him, "it's me. You're okay."
"Untie me," the younger man whined as he squirmed between Doug and the couch.
"You're not tied up, Tommy," Doug frowned, "you're safe now..."
Hanson simply whimpered as he shrunk further back against the couch. His eyes were still closed tightly.
"Tommy," Doug raised his voice, "wake up... It's me, Doug... Your partner. You're not tied up... you're okay... Open your eyes."
Tom opened his eyes slowly and seemingly quite reluctantly. His body relaxed a little, but he still seemed tense "where am I?" Tom groaned, putting his hand up against his forehead.
"At my house," Doug informed him, "I told you..." he started, but stopped himself. Tommy likely didn't remember Doug telling him that before they left the hospital's parking lot. He had still been heavily drugged. He probably wouldn't remember much of anything of what was said or what had happened tonight.
Tommy groaned as he rubbed his temple with his fingers, "I feel really confused... an' tired..." Tommy's words were still somewhat slurred.
It was then that Doug noticed another injury. As Tom's sleeve had fallen slightly down his arm, a rather scuffed up wrist became visible.
"Oh, Tommy," Doug frowned, grabbing his partner's hand gently and pulling his sleeve up further. His wrist was circled in bruises, raw skin, and even some dried blood, "what happened?"
Tommy pulled his arm back weakly, "Oh, that..." he pulled the fabric back over his wrist as though ashamed of the marks, "well," he began, closing his eyes tiredly, "he had me tied down, restrained... to some uh... gurney or somethin'," his head lolled to the side as he struggled against the drugs still coursing through his body. He looked back up at his partner. His eyes looked unfocused and tired, "he kept pullin' at 'em," he said simply.
"Pulling at the restraints? As in, tightening them?" Doug raised his eyebrows, "he did this on purpose..."
"Yeah," Tom exhaled and closed his eyes again, keeping them closed this time.
Doug frowned, grabbing Tommy's other wrist and looking it over. It looked quite similar to the first, "let me put some bandages on these," Doug offered.
Tommy nodded his head very slightly, "I was strapped down to that thing for over eight hours before I lost track o' time," he mentioned.
Doug squeezed his shoulder gently, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to help," he frowned, "that must have been awful. If I had known, there's no way I'd have let that happen."
"I din't tell anyone I was goin' there," Tommy slurred, "not your fault..."
Doug forced a quick smile, "be right back," he clapped Tommy on the shoulder and went to his bathroom to collect some supplies to clean and bandage Hanson's wrists.
When he came back, Tommy seemed to be asleep again, so he simply started working on the younger man's wrists. He carefully dabbed rubbing alcohol over the first wrist, hoping Tommy wouldn't wake up to the stinging pain. He didn't have any neosporin... The alcohol was his only option. Penhall wrapped gauze around his partner's slim wrist and then placed the sleeping man's hand back on his chest. He proceeded to begin working on the other wrist.
It wasn't until he had cleaned the wound and was beginning to wrap it that he noticed Hanson's dark eyes staring intently up at him.
"Hey," Doug smiled, "I thought you were sleeping... I hope that didn't sting," he bit his lower lip.
Hanson shook his head, "it didn't," he said in a small voice, "thanks, Doug."
"No problem, man," Doug forced a smile as he looked back into the wide eyes staring at him. Tommy's pupils were still quite large. The drugs were nowhere near out of his system, "you know what drugs they gave you, Tommy?" he wondered. That seemed like pretty relevant information to him.
The smaller man shrugged, "I dunno," he exhaled, "could have even been up to three different things."
Doug frowned, "they drugged you three times?"
"That I remember," Tommy forced a half-smile and offered a weak laugh.
"Well," Doug squeezed Hanson's hand, which he still held after having bandaged his wrist, "they won't be getting away with it."
Tom squeezed back slightly and laid his head back against the pillow on the couch, "how long do you think before this stuff wears off?" he asked, "it's startin' to get annoying."
Doug shrugged his shoulders, "you seem to be better than you were, at least. You should have seen yourself at the hospital," he forced a grin.
Tom closed his eyes, "Uggh. Would I be embarrassed if I remembered?" he opened them again.
"You might be," Doug confirmed, "but you'd have no real reason to be. You know how you are though..."
Tommy frowned, "who all saw me like that?"
"Just me and Fuller," Doug frowned as well, "we were really worried about you, you know... We all were. You gotta stop going off on unassigned jobs without telling anyone."
Tom sighed, "yeah, yeah... I know."
"You always say that, but you keep doin' it though," Doug raised an eyebrow.
"It's hard for me to jus' sit back and watch kids get hurt or killed, Doug," Tom sighed, "if no one else wants to help, I kinda have to."
"You could'a told me at least," Doug lowered his voice as though someone hiding in the shadows of his living room might hear otherwise, "we're partners... I don't care if you're going against Fuller... If you're gonna do your own thing, at least tell me so I can help you."
Tom nodded, "I'll try to let you in on what's going on a little more," he agreed.
"Good," Doug smiled. He glanced over Tommy again, remembering how light he felt when Doug had carried him earlier tonight, "you hungry? You want me to make you anything?"
Tommy shook his head, "Nah... I'm still kinda loopy, I think," he was still laying back limply as though moving even a little was an exhausting task, "I'll probably have something tomorrow morning. I should be hungry... I'm just not feeling right. I'd probably just make a mess if I tried to eat anything right now."
"When's the last time you ate something?" Doug wondered.
Tommy shrugged, "don't remember... I wasn't eating all that much even before they strapped me down to the gurney yesterday. The food there wasn't exactly high quality, but I guess I probably had something sometime during the day... So yesterday sometime."
Doug must have looked worried. Tom continued talking, "don't look so upset," he urged, "it's not like I was burning many calories tied to a bed and otherwise drugged out of my mind for practically a whole day..."
"You're not making me feel any better, Tom," Doug frowned.
"You'll get over it," Tom snickered.
Doug rolled his eyes, "why don't you get some sleep then," Doug suggested, "you look really exhausted. I'll make you pancakes or somethin' in the morning," he offered.
Tommy smiled, "alright," he accepted this proposal easily.
Doug kept his eyes on his partner as Tom closed his eyes and snuggled down into the couch. He seemed to fall asleep within moments.
Penhall didn't sleep much that night. Instead he kept a close watch on his partner, feeling his forehead for a temperature, keeping an eye on his steady rising and falling chest, and covering him with a blanket the moment he began to shiver. They still had a lot of work to do in order to finish this case, but for now, Doug was just happy to have Tom here with him, where he could see him and hear his soft breaths, where he knew Hanson was safe. As angry as he was at the people who had hurt his partner, his happiness from having recovered him far outweighed that. He wasn't angry or worried about revenge. Not right just yet. For the moment, he was happy forgoing sleep to watch over his partner, his best friend Tom Hanson.
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Note: I realize Tom probably would have needed to go to a hospital for observation and so there would be records of which drugs were in his system in order to have sufficient evidence to prosecute everyone involved. I realize they wouldn't have just let Fuller and Doug take Hanson out of the hospital without any issue... I realize lots of things... But this is a fanfiction for a 20-something year old show pretty much no one watches anymore... And I'm not getting paid for writing this... Making it 100% realistic would have made it boring, so you're getting it as is. I hope you liked it. :)
I also apologize if anything didn't fit with the continuity of the episode. I sort of half-watched this episode today while doing other stuff, so it was only on in the background of what I was really focused on. I may have missed or misunderstood certain aspects. If so, sorry... Just pretend like my ending makes sense...
Thank you so much for reading and feel free to check out my other 21 Jump Street stories if you haven't already. I think I have four others... Maybe more. I don't remember. Tom and Doug are the primary characters in all of them. I love those guys. Other characters make appearances in most of them too though.
Have a nice day.