Just Breathe

By: DemonClowSorceress

My first Perception fic. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Perception.

Daniel curled up in the corner, his back to the wall, and focused on his breathing.

In. Out. In. Out.

There were too many people.

Too many unknown faces.

And he couldn't calm down enough to figure out who was real.

In. Out. In. Out.

Instead of trying to figure out what wasn't there, he concentrated on remembering what had happened. What brought him to this place?

In. Out. In. Out.

Right, it was coming back now. Kate had come to him with a new case. The body of a teenager had been found in an abandoned psychiatric hospital, surrounded by four walls of the victim's handwriting, in some sort of code.

In. Out. In. Out.

Turned out that the boy had suffered from schizophrenia as well. This intrigued Daniel, giving him a new insight on how to decode the victim's writings. He was sure that within the ramblings existed a clue about his killer. That's what he would have done.

In. Out. In. Out.

Kate got a call about a new lead, so Daniel decided to stay behind and decipher the code on his own. A mistake, it turned out. It was when he cracked the first few lines that the people started to show up.

In. Out. In. Out.

Black suits. Black shades. That special look of "secret government stooge" that made Daniel's paranoia rack up a few notches. It didn't help when Natalie showed up and kept saying that some were real, but she wouldn't tell him which.

In. Out. In. Ou -

"Dr. Pierce?"

Daniel flinched back at the unfamiliar male voice. His eyes squeezed shut as his thoughts went haywire. The shred of calm he'd grabbed ahold of disappeared. "Go away!"

"Dr. Pierce, you have to come with us now."

"No! Get away from me!" He flailed his arms to beat back the hallucinations. "No! You're not real!"

"Dr. Pierce, please stop resisting!" Now a female voice, commanding and firm. Not Kate's. Not Kate's.

Kate. I need Kate. I need her! The thought raced through his mind like an Olympic runner. "Kate! Kate!" Daniel screamed desperately. "Kate!"

But she wasn't there. Kate was gone, following a lead. She wouldn't be back for hours -

"Daniel? Daniel!" Someone grabbed his hands, forcing fingers to interlace with his. Daniel's eyes flew open and saw Kate kneeling in front of him, her face inches from his own. "Daniel, it's me! It's Kate! What's wrong?"

Usually he was able to think of a way to talk off his oddities, but Daniel was too terrified to lie at the moment. "Get rid of them!" he screamed, looking around at the room of mysterious people staring at them. "Get me out of here!"

Kate didn't question him. She didn't even try to calm him. Setting her face determinedly, she pulled him to his feet and forced his head down against her shoulder, as if shielding him from an attack. "Keep your eyes closed, Daniel," she said. "I'll take you home now. Just keep breathing."

Too panicked to argue, Daniel did just that. He could hear her calling Lewicki, but that faded into the background as he concentrated.

In. Out. In. Out.

Just breathe. Just breathe.

Please tell me what you think. This show is so amazing, right?

Review!