Sequel to 'Assaulted!' You really need to read that story first because this starts right at the end.
Disclaimer: No money; just entertainment. No disrespect is meant to all those who created the worlds that we love to play in and the characters whom we love to read/write about. To the actors/actresses/beings who portray those characters, we wouldn't love them as much as we do without your talent and dedication.
AN: Remember, this is fiction. However, this story deals with male rape and the aftermath of – in a very fictional manner. Most all of the victim's (or victims') mental/emotional/spiritual/physical healing happens off camera.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please seek help.
The end of 'Assaulted!":
King fixed himself and his clothes, wrapping the condom in a couple of paper towels before sticking it in one of his pockets. Releasing Colby from the handcuffs, he put them back in their pocket before moving to the sink.
Colby barely registered the SWAT leader's comment over the water running in the sink before falling into darkness.
"I'll be seeing you again, Granger. Count on it."
Part One
Tim King walked out of the bathroom as normally as he would at any other time, heading back to the breakroom. Ten minutes later, he said his goodnights to everyone and then left the bullpen via the elevator. His confidence, after what he'd done, was staggering. King knew that the drug would keep Colby pretty out of it for a few hours – not to mention the knocks to his head – as well as render him unable to remember what had happened. And the head trauma would virtually guarantee that the memory of the entire assault would be completely lost.
All the SWAT leader had to do to cover his tracks was to stop down at Security, something he did on a regular basis, and wipe the hard drive for the CCTV cameras of the Violent Crimes floor for the last hour. It would more than cover the time of his assault of Granger, as well as his slipping the drug into the coffee mug, his following the blonde agent into the bathroom and his exit from.
Smiling, he waved to a variety of office personnel as they all exited the elevator, bidding them all a safe evening as he headed towards Security.
As everyone began closing down for the night, a few looked around for Agent Granger. Not seeing him, most shrugged, assuming that he had already left for the night, getting an 'early' start on the first free weekend they would be having for about three weeks.
David frowned. Colby's computer was still on and his jacket was hanging on the back of his computer chair. His partner had seemed in a relatively melancholic mood today and he wanted to check in with him before they went their separate ways for the weekend. Turning around, he scanned the entire bullpen. Don had left with Larry and Charlie; Nikki had gone with Edgerton; Liz was just heading to the elevator, but there wasn't any sign of Granger.
Calling out to the only other agent left on the floor, David asked if she'd scene Colby.
Shaking her head, Liz replied, "Not since he left the breakroom a couple hours ago." Not giving the handsome black skinned agent any time to contemplate where his partner could be, she continued, "Come on, Colby doesn't need a babysitter. I'll hold the elevator for you; we can go get a drink and a late dinner before we start our weekends." Liz smiled, gesturing for him to hurry up.
David chuckled, "Alright, you don't have to twist my arm." He'd give Colby a call tomorrow.
The agent hurried over to the elevator, asking where she wanted to go, digging out his car keys. They got into the lift, making plans for dinner and then talked about what each of them had planned for their two days off, both of them completely unaware of their friend laying unconscious and bloody on the cold floor in the bathroom.
Colby awoke to darkness, shivering so hard his teeth would have been chattering if it wasn't for the gag he still wore. His head was throbbing and his whole body felt like he'd gone a couple of rounds with a gorilla. He had no idea where he was or what had happened, his mind a hazy mess.
Blinking, he lifted a hand up to his face, sensing it as he moved it closer but unable to see it, continuing until he touched his skin. Feeling around his eyes, he found no blindfold – so either he was blind or there just wasn't any light. Bringing his other hand up, he felt around his mouth. After realizing he was gagged, the blonde worked to untie the material and then tossed it aside.
Using his hands, he moved them to the coldest part of his body first. Colby's breath hitched when he touched cold, naked skin, sticky with something all around his upper thighs. With trembling hands, Granger continued down his legs, finding his pants and underwear down around his ankles. As he moved to pull them back up, the agent became more aware of the pain he was in, especially the throbbing that seemed centered in his butt.
Swallowing almost convulsively to keep from vomiting, Colby shoved all his assumptions, his thoughts, aside with everything else as he struggled to get his clothes on. Putting his hands back to the floor, the blonde felt the cold surface; a moment of exploring and Colby realized it was tile.
Beginning to move slowly, his head feeling as if it was about to fall off his shoulders, and giving himself time to pull himself together, Granger moved his hands in a back and forth sweeping motion in front and to each side of himself. Knocking into something cold, hard and smooth, Colby felt around until he realized he was next to a toilet, his hands also encountering something sticky. Using the fixture to steady himself, he made it to his feet before hurriedly wiping his hands on his jeans. Continuing to put the pain aside, Colby painfully stumbled around until he felt a wall, then followed it until it turned a corner and became a flat surface. Metal from the feel – he knocked on it – and the sound of it.
Coming to another corner, he made the connection that he must be in a bathroom stall after finding the seam of a door and, once he unlocked and swung it open, it was confirmed when the motion sensor for the lights turned on.
He was in the men's room at the office.
What happened?
Looking back, Colby saw a small pool of blood on the floor and a shirt; the material having been wound up tight to be used for the gag he'd had on. Turning around, he moved slowly towards the sink area.
Colby blinked at his reflection in the mirror; his face, his head, looked like ten miles of bad road. There was tacky blood with a bump and bruise on his left temple, dried blood around his nose and his bottom lip was split open. Reaching up, Colby explored the back of his head and found evidence of more blood and another bump.
Swallowing, breath hitching, Colby undid his pants and examined himself. There was some bruising on his penis and smeared, discolored sticky stuff on his thighs. More blood… and dried semen.
Fixing his pants with shaky hands, swallowing convulsively, Granger did his best to get himself under control.
As he made his way towards the door, Colby's chin fell to his chest. Turning around, clearly fighting the decision, the blonde made his way back to the bathroom stall. Swallowing again, he opened the door with hands that shook even more. All Colby wanted to do was run away, far away from what had obviously happened to him.
His mind was incredibly fuzzy, but he knew that he needed to get the shirt… and clean up the evidence of… what had happened.
Swallowing again, he went inside and grabbed the button down, long sleeved garment that had been used to gag him.
His shirt.
Based on the evidence… yes, he knew what had happened. But the how and the why…
Swallowing bile, Colby grabbed a handful of toilet paper and cleaned up the fluids as much as possible, trying to keep what little calmness and control over himself that he had, while fighting to keep all the pain his body was in, tucked into a corner of his mind.
Almost running from the stall, Colby made his way back to the bathroom door only to find that it wasn't going to be that easy. Nausea won out and he ran into another stall and vomited. His entire body shaking now, Colby flushed after wiping his mouth on a wad of toilet paper. Moving back to the sink, he quickly rinsed his mouth out and then got to the exit.
Taking a breath, he opened the bathroom door and peeked out.
Closing his eyes, Colby sighed, a myriad of emotions running through him as he found the bullpen completely deserted. Looking around, he started for the elevator and then realized that he needed his jacket. Looking from the exit back to where his cubicle was, Granger was the epitome of someone in a decision making crisis. Deciding that he needed to make it look like any other night, Colby cautiously made his way over to his desk where he shut down his computer and then grabbed his coat and the rest of his things. Making his way to the elevator, the blonde hoped he'd be able to make it to his car without running into anyone.
As he walked, Colby could feel something… blood probably… oozing down his… backside… and the blonde wanted to be sure that he was well away from the office before it soaked through his underwear and jeans.
What the hell had happened?
Making it to his car without having bumped into anyone besides the security guards, Colby painfully bent himself down into the driver's seat. Once settled, he rested his forehead against the steering wheel, his mind awhirl with thoughts.
Colby knew he should go to the hospital, get himself checked out and then report the … crime. But… despite being in law enforcement and knowing the statistics and the 'should do's' and the 'should not do's' of sexual assault, all he wanted to do was go home, scrub himself raw and then get in bed, with the covers pulled well over his head, putting it down to a nightmare.
However, Colby knew that if he did that, whatever evidence left behind from his… assaulter, would be gone and that pretending it didn't happen wouldn't make it so. But, despite wanting to know who and why… he didn't want to know who and why.
Tears leaked from his eyes. How could this happen? After everything he'd done in life, after avoiding… everything … How could this happen? He'd gone through all his life, paranoid that someone would find out about who he really was; listening for even a whisper that people thought he might be gay. He'd gone through the Army, where he knew some guys had been… assaulted. He'd been undercover for over two years and avoided everything.
Why now? Had he been targeted because of something he'd done, or not done? Was this some random thing? And… in the office bathroom. In the FBI's headquarters in Los Angeles!
He'd fought every single urge to let that part of himself out of the box he'd put it in, in a deep, dark corner of his mind; Colby had completely cut himself off from acknowledging that part of himself his entire life and… … for what? To have it all taken from him in an act of brutal sexual assault, with no choice as to who or how or when or where… or if.
Sighing, the blonde started the engine of his vehicle and left the parking lot. His mind still whirling with everything, he was clearly on autopilot, not even registering the speeding truck until it was too late.
Don hurried into the Emergency Room, heading straight for the information desk. Flashing his badge and identifying himself to the nurse there, he got right to the point. "I'm here for Agent Colby Granger, he's one of my team and I was told he was in an accident."
The nurse nodded to him and then tapped on her computer keyboard. "Ah, Agent Granger is still in surgery. I'll notify one of the nurses that you're here and a doctor will be with you as soon as they have any information for you, Agent Eppes. Until then, please have a seat in the waiting area."
Don had been in the midst of a late dinner with his dad and Charlie when the call came in. As he'd hurried out the door, his thoughts consumed with his blonde junior agent, he had barely registered that Charlie was going to call the rest of the team and then meet him at the hospital.
Pacing in the waiting area, Don's thoughts focused on the man who'd been on his team for almost four years now. Colby had proven himself over and over again on the job and then, after the undercover mission was revealed and then concluded, he'd done everything but die in the line of duty to reaffirm himself to his teammates and him, his boss, over and over again.
And Don couldn't help but respect the man.
Ever since the Janus List fiasco, Colby had slowly been coming out of the shell that he'd obviously put himself into for the duration of his undercover mission. He was a lot more laid back now, but he was also a lot more… real… not that he hadn't been before; it was just that Don felt Colby was… involved a lot more now.
Sighing, the dark haired agent threw his head back, briefly looking at the ceiling. Don's mind was awhirl with questions that needed answers and emotions and feelings that he was constantly putting aside regarding Agent Granger. Before he could sort anything out though, the doors of the Emergency Room's main entrance opened to reveal Charlie and Alan quickly walking in with David and Liz right behind them. As the four clamored around Don, the ER doors opened once more and Ian and Nikki hurriedly joined the group.
"Don, wha—" David was interrupted by his boss' hand raising in the classic 'wait' gesture, while shaking his head.
"I don't know, I checked in about half an hour ago and the nurse said someone would be with me as soon as they had any information and I haven't seen anyone yet. All I know is that Colby was in a car accident."
About fifteen minutes after everyone had made themselves as comfortable as possible in the waiting room, a nurse in scrubs came out to the information desk where she was pointed to Don's group.
Don stood and crossed the room to meet her.
"You're Agent Eppes?" The woman asked.
By then, the group had gathered around Don and the man in question nodded his head.
"Agent Granger has sustained several injuries in the car accident. Doctors Bethany, Johann and Kent are working on him right now and when they're finished, Doctor Bethany will come and tell you all the particulars; I'm just here to let you know that he's in surgery and it's going to be a few hours."
At the 'few hours' the tension in the FBI group went up a few more notches.
Liz was the first to ask, "Can't you tell us anything?"
The nurse shook her head apologetically, "I'm sorry, all I can legally tell you is that he's in surgery now and it will be a few hours. I'd suggest that all of you get some rest and then try and eat something, the cafeteria's down at the other end of the hospital."
As the nurse turned and walked back into the Emergency Room area, the team went back to the uncomfortable chairs of the waiting room, intent on being there when a doctor came to fill them in on their friend.
Not quite five hours later, a doctor came out from behind the Emergency Room area doors. The scrubs were splattered with blood and, as the figure approached the nurse at the information desk, the person began taking them off to reveal a petite redheaded woman. The nurse waved in the direction of the large group in the waiting area.
All of them stood up as the doctor approached them.
"You're all here for Agent Granger?" At the various affirmatives, she nodded. "I'm Doctor Amanda Bethany. Agent Granger came through surgery pretty well. The car accident could have been fatal for him but he was wearing his seatbelt and his airbags did deploy. Those two safety measures kept him from being killed outright."
She saw a couple in the group swallow while a few others closed their eyes very briefly. Motioning for all of them to sit down, she pulled up a chair sitting closest to Don and looked at all of them in turn.
"As it is, Agent Granger came away with a compound fracture of his left arm; his spleen was ruptured so we had to remove it and he'll need follow-up care for that to make sure his immune system hasn't been compromised too much and if he ever loses a significant amount of blood. Something during the accident punctured his right lung and he'll be on a respirator for a couple of days to give it time to heal – however it didn't come near the heart but we checked it out anyhow and found no injury there. Until he wakes up, I'm classifying him with a mild to moderate head injury; we'll know more, as I said, after he regains consciousness.
"Other than all of that, he has a lot of bumps, contusions and lacerations."
She could see the shock on a few faces and smiled slightly with understanding. "I know it's a lot to take in but, as I said, it could have been fatal. Agent Granger is a very lucky man – the seatbelt and airbags saved his life.
"I'm feeling pretty upbeat about his condition and don't expect anything other than a full physical recovery, except for the spleen, of course, and the full use of his arm after a lot of healing and PT sessions IF there are no complications." Doctor Bethany smiled reservedly but kindly.
As all of them let out a small proverbial breath and thanked her, Doctor Bethany glanced to the dark haired man the nurse had referred to as Agent Eppes, Granger's boss.
"You're Agent Eppes, correct?" When Don nodded, the doctor quietly asked, "May I speak with you for a moment, in private?"
Don frowned, the others, having caught the comment, looked to the woman with curious expressions.
"What? If it's about Colby… is something wrong?"
Doctor Bethany took a breath, "It would be best if I spoke with you in private and then," she made a 'whatever' gesture, "we can go from there."
Don nodded his head, frown still in place, "Ok… alright." Standing up, he turned to either side of him, giving them all a glance as he waved at them, "I'll be back in a few."
Doctor Bethany led the way to a small room just off the ER's waiting area. After the door closed, the woman turned to face Don and got to the point.
"Do you know if Agent Granger is having some type of physical relationship with anyone?"
The question was completely out of left field for Don. "What?" The doctor waited for a moment, giving the agent time for the question to replay in his mind so she wouldn't have to repeat it. "No, I don't. What's this about?"
"All of Agent Granger's injuries didn't come from the car accident. When he was brought in, he was significantly bruised and bloody around his head, something that could have been attributed to the accident but doesn't correlate with the information we have about the accident – although some of the injuries were, of course, aggravated by it.
"He also had some bleeding that wasn't caused by it either – we checked him thoroughly."
At Don's bewildered and confused look, the doctor placed a gentle, yet strong hand on his upper arm. "I've seen it, a lot, and my medical experience leads me to believe that, some time before Agent Granger was in the car accident, he was sexually assaulted this evening."
Don blinked at the woman. Moving away, he then turned back to her. "You're saying Colby was…" Don couldn't even say the word. Even thinking it, especially in conjunction with the former solider, was something he just couldn't wrap his mind around.
Doctor Bethany hated dealing with a variety of aspects of her job and this was a major one. Nodding, her expression was completely understanding and sympathetic. "Raped."
She watched Don sit on the couch and then pulled a chair up next to him. "I've already ordered a blood screen and we've done a rape kit but… from the little I saw, whoever did it probably used a condom. If some drug was used, if it's still in his system and it's something we have on file, we'll find it."
Waiting a moment, she continued when the man didn't say anything. "My opinion is that, whoever did it, was a bit brutal regarding Agent Granger's face and head. He has a laceration and bump on two areas of his skull, those, combined with the car accident, are why I'm ranking the injury as mild to moderate. Agent Granger's face also looks like he was hit or shoved into a wall a few times. There are also signs around his mouth that lead me to believe he was gagged and his wrists show that some type of restraints were used; probably handcuffs judging by the marks."
Don closed his eyes, putting his elbows on his knees, and then putting his head in his hands.
"I'm sorry, Agent Eppes. If there's anything else I can do to help your friend, you or his coworkers deal with this, just give me a call.
"If anything comes back from the rape kit or the blood screen, I'll let you know as soon as possible. My team will keep you informed of the injuries from the accident itself, also, of course." Doctor Bethany fumbled a card out of a pants pocket and held it towards the man in front of her.
Don, still bowed, nodded and then lifted his head, taking the card. "Thanks doctor." Taking a breath, he stood up with the woman. Before she could open the door, he halted her.
Turning around, she looked at him calmly. "How do I…?" Don trailed off, clearly at a loss as to how to ask his question. Doctor Bethany nodded her head in understanding. "I can go with you if you'd like, but I think your people would much rather hear it from you. You can do this. Yes, it's a very… ugly topic, as you well know, considering your job; but you've all dealt with it and you can do it with a great deal of understanding and concern because he's your friend."
Don nodded his head slightly. "Thanks again, Doctor Bethany." She smiled understandingly.
"When can we see him?"
Again, the doctor smiled, "He should be out of recovery soon and then moved to ICU. After he's settled there, I'll have someone come tell you."
With that, Don headed back to the group in the waiting area and the doctor went back into Emergency.
Don had obviously been given some disturbing news because when he came back to the waiting room, he was a bit paler than usual and clearly deep in thought and agitated. Coming back to his chair, Don continued standing, giving each of his friends and family a somewhat searching glance before running a hand through his hair. Sighing, he sat down in the chair the doctor had used.
All of them had seen Don in a variety of situations but it was rare to see him so… lost… with regards as to how to say something that was clearly on his mind. After opening and closing his mouth twice, Don finally ran a hand through his hair one last time before looking at each of them as he began to relay to them what Doctor Bethany had wanted to speak with him about.
He saw the same expression that must have been on his own face just minutes earlier. There was shock and disbelief that, moments later, turned to concern for their friend, anger at whoever had committed the act and determination at finding them and making them pay for the crime.
Don inwardly nodded at the last. This… this was something they could do. As soon as they got to see Colby, making sure he was alright with their own eyes, Don would head back to the office – and he'd bet he wasn't going to be the only one – to start backtracking Colby's movements for the last few hours.
About fifteen minutes later, a nurse came out to the waiting room to let them know that Agent Granger was now settled into the ICU and gave them directions on how to get there. A few minutes after that, they were checking in with one of the nurses on duty.
Smiling with understanding, she told them they could visit their friend two at a time for five minutes only, for the first hour; they would change that if or when needed according to Agent Granger's medical needs.
It was understood without any need for communication that Don would be the first to visit. As he moved towards Colby's cubicle, he motioned for David to join him, just as he needed to check on his youngest agent, he knew the black man needed to reassure himself on the condition of his partner.
Don and David had, of course, suffered their share of injuries as well as visited coworkers or even suspects and victims in the hospital. All those experiences really never prepared you for walking into a room and seeing someone you knew, whether a relative or friend, hooked up to a variety of machines. It was even worse when one of the machines was something 'lifesaving' like a respirator.
… Knowing one of Colby's lungs wasn't strong enough to draw breath and that there was a machine breathing for him was… it was frightening on a deep, perhaps even unconscious, level that both Don and David didn't acknowledge.
Don felt torn between wanting to be close to Colby; seeing the breath filling and then exiting his body, making sure his skin was warm with life instead of cold with… And keeping his distance from the young blond agent for fear of doing something inappropriate, especially with another of his agents in the room with them.
David slowly approached the bed that his partner, his brother, rested in; his eyes traveling over all the equipment that was being used to maintain or support Colby's health and recovery. Grasping the railing alongside the bed, David paused for a moment, watching his partner's chest rise and fall.
On the freighter, when he'd seen Colby tied into the chair, slumped against the restraints, a needle sticking out of his chest, David had thought it was all over. It didn't matter whether Granger was guilty or not 'cause he was dead now. Finding that thready pulse in the non-breathing body of his former best friend was something David would never forget.
Despite David's feelings of relief that Colby was alive, he couldn't get passed the entire 'spy thing.' David realized, he knew, that he was being unreasonable over what his partner had had to do – his job – but he just couldn't let it go. Even after Don had made the entire team, along with the rest of the seventh floor, watch the tape of Colby's interrogation by Lancer, it had still taken him almost an entire year to reconcile enough with the blond to get back to their pre-Janis List partnership.
It had taken even longer to really get back to the groove of their friendship and that was precipitated by, of all people, Ian. The sniper had finally cornered David in the underground parking garage of the FBI building and taken David to task by verbally ripping into him, forcing him to pull his head out of his ass. David was certain that if he hadn't realized that Colby was doing everything but bending over backwards and getting himself killed, to cater to his attitude about the entire thing, Ian probably would have resorted to physical violence. And probably deadly at that.
End of part one of Assaulted! sequel (untitled as yet).