Okay, those of you who where around when I first started Sick should be aware of how I work. Post a first chapter, let it sit on the back burner, on low, and come to boil, then completely toss the original idea in the trash and start new (with regularish updates)! XD

So, here it is! The re-amped and better, more sense making, and easier on me ( LOL ) first chapter of, Recover!

Disclamier: I still don't own -FAKE- ...

P.S. ...For those of you who read the original first chapter, nothing has been given away. What happened may or may not have a reappearance later on. So don't worry, nothing has been spoiled, and those of you who didn't you won't miss a thing. D

BETA NOTE! For those who are new to this chapter and haven't read this before, I am the beta-reader (editor). Since my baka (the author of this fic) decided to publish this chapter BEFORE I could have time to edit it, most of the readers had to suffer with 127 grammar/spelling/typing mistakes and whatever other mistakes (like sentence structure) she could possibly make! Yes, I said ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN! All in this one little chapter... aren't you so happy you could read this with my lovely beta skills? Okay, well, enjoy the chapter, I certainly did... save for the 127 errors. 4 Arra

Night, a time when everything was quiet, serene and tranquil. It was also a time when everything was dark, cast in shadows and the monsters that lurked within them could roam undetected. That didn't faze this man though, who stood out on the balcony and stared up at the moon. The wind blew softly through his hair and felt almost refreshing on his hot and damp skin. He sighed, letting out a puff of smoke from his cigarette, and lowered his gaze from the brilliant clear orb above to the darkened streets below.

There, he saw movement flicker in the corner of his eye and he whipped his head to the side to watch. A woman, running down the narrow street between his building and the next one, what or who she was running from was as unknown to her as to the man who was watching the scene unfold. He was fascinated by the whole thing. There she was running, hair flying behind her, skirt ripped, shirt torn and she was missing one of her heels...but still she ran into the cover of the night. Night. The darkness, giving her hope that if she remained within its grasp then her pursuer would not be able to find her. Though she was not so fortunate, and the darkness she ran to for safety and comfort betrayed her to the light of the full moon.

He was there, down below, turning on to the same street as the woman. Hair slicked back, walking at a calm and relaxed pace as his jacket blew in the wind, his designer shoes parting the waters of the puddles that had splashed violently when she ran through them not moments before. This man knew the shadows. He was familiar with the black in the deepest corners of the street. Where the woman saw them as protection, he saw them as a weapon. Knowing how to manipulate them to work for him, how far to drive his prey until they had nowhere else to run; which is what had happened.

The woman had run to the end of the street, which just so happened to be a dead end. In a frightened gasp she turned around, saw the man approaching, and pressed her back against the wall. As though it would open up and allow her to pass. The man from the balcony kept watching, like a spectator at a 3D movie, feeling every part involved in the horrible act happening below as much as he knew he wasn't.

Time felt like it stood still. From the time it took him to put on his shoes, grab something from the nightstand, and make his way to the back of the building. This time it was he who used the shadows to his advantage. The darkness that he had analyzed before aided him in getting close to the scene without either of the two noticing him. When he was standing behind the man, he stepped from the shadows and cocked the weapon he was holding, "I am going to have to ask you to step away from the lady." His voice was cold, hollow and racked with sleepless nights. The other man turned around, his dark brown eyes staring back into the blue ones of the man in front of him.

"And who do you think you are, telling me what to do?"

"I have a gun pointed at your head. I've had a fucking shitty night, I am a cop..." he grinned when the other man's smug expression fell. It gave him all that more pleasure to finish his sentence, "...and I am off duty." He made to pull back on the trigger and the woman covered his ears and ducked her head.

"Alright man." The guy told him, with raised arms, "I'll leave the stupid bitch alone." Their eyes met and locked, keeping each other's gazes until the hunter, who had become the hunted, had disappeared back into the depths of the night and the busy street that connected.

Putting the gun away he walked over to the woman and put a hand on her shoulder, "Are you going to be alright, Miss?" There was no sense in asking her if she was okay. Just by looking at her and the state of her cloths it was obvious to anyone that she wasn't. Looking up into her savior's face she let out another gasp. The face was that of a tormented man, heavy bags under his eyes and even though the smile was supposed to be reassuring, it looked forced and ugly. She managed a nod and stood on her own.

"I...I'll be fine..." She brushed past him and made her way back to the busy street herself. With the sense of calmness flowing back into the darkened street, he felt as though he had chased the monsters out of the shadows and eased the moonlight into a once untouchable area...even though it was shining directly on him. Sighing, he headed back to his apartment, back to his balcony, where he stood sleepless, watching the moon make its slow arc across the night sky, and the sun poke its first rays above the line of city buildings. Another day was starting. Another nightmare was ending.

Any moment an alarm clock would start buzzing and it would then be promptly shut off by a forceful slam. Even though he wasn't asleep to begin with, it just didn't feel right unless he pounded the poor electronic into the nightstand. He snorted, it was amazing how many things had the word night in them, yet had nothing to do with the word. A nightstand, was made to store things by the bed, a nightlight was used for children to keep away the shadows of the dark, a night watch glowed in the dark so you could see the numbers no matter what, a nightstick was a weapon used by the police force... the list went on and he had to force himself to relax and breath. He had to get ready. That meant, shower, eat, coffee, work. Not necessarily in that order, but they had to be done.

xXx

It was late into the afternoon when he finally managed to pull himself into the precinct and sit himself down behind his desk. Ted was actually the first person to come around him, and tossed a magazine on the desk. He looked at the cover and then up at Ted with a raised eyebrow, "And why, may I ask, are you fucking throwing porn mags on my desk?"

"Because," Ted started simply, "...you seem stressed out and I know a little porn in the bathroom is a good cure for pent up stress."

"I am fine, Ted." He growled and tossed the grinning naked woman back at the other man. Ted, who barely managed to catch the magazine, shook his head and walked off flipping the pages as he neared the bathrooms. Stress or no stress, porn was porn.

Berkeley watched the scene between the two cops unfold with a frown on his lips. Two years. It had been two years since the incident. Two years and still...Rose shook his head as he walked over to the brunet and put a hand on his shoulder. "Dee, would you like to take a vacation?"

Dee snarled and swatted at the hand. "A vacation! How can you even suggest that while Leo's still out there somewhere!"

"I am suggesting it because I am your superior. You have been working, though poorly I might add, nonstop ever since. Two years Dee. We haven't found or heard anything about Leo's whereabouts, so just take a week to pull yourself back together." While Dee was shouting and making a scene, Berkeley kept his voice calm, there was no point in getting angry with the man who was just venting some built up rage.

"I am not going on some fucking trip while that blond assfuck is wandering the streets with that goddamn SMIRK of his!"

"You are. That's final." He turned to leave, but Dee grabbed the back of his collar and turned him around.

"I am not fucking going anywhere."

Rose narrowed his eyes and pulled his jacket out from Dee's grip, "I do not want to see you anywhere within a twenty mile radius of this building for the next two weeks. Dee Laytner."

"Can I finish this shift...?" He growled, not liking the way things were turning out. Rose nodded and turned around, walking back into his office. Dee sank back down into his chair, putting his head in his hands. He didn't want to be home for the next two weeks, unable to do anything...feeling as useless as he had then...

"Dee relax, it's not worth it." Ryo's calm voice drifted through his mind as he leaned his head on the stack of papers on the desk. Not really caring that he was falling behind in his reports, and letters of apologies...he was bad at those anyway, he always had the blond cop write them for him...

"It is so fucking worth it. Damn it Ryo, he's trying to fucking kill you!" Dee had been frantic, letting his emotions cloud over the scene. All he thought of at that moment was putting enough lead in Leo to make him a human pencil. After all everything that he had put Ryo through, as a child and even now, mocking him from the shadows. He clenched his fist around his pen, a grip so tight his knuckles where turning white.

"But what's the good in it if you end up going to jail too?" Ryo's voice still had that calm edge to it, and even the slightest hint of a chuckle. He was trying to reason with the hot-headed brunet, trying to get Dee to calm down and lower his weapon. He had been right. No good would have come of it if he had shot, at least not without Leo shooting first.

"That's right Dee, be a good boy and listen to your boyfriend why don't you." But the asshole had to open his mouth and speak to him in a manner, a tone of voice, which made the temperamental cop feel inferior. It made him feel as though he was once again being reduced to nothing in the eyes of the man that they had been tracking for years. Each time they would get so close and then have it ripped from them. And that night was not different.

Pissed off beyond belief, Dee fired at Leo, Damien not being in the full know how, jumped in front of Leo and shot his gun as well, not making any direct aim, just hoping that he didn't miss anyone. They were all taken back some when he jumped in front, and took the bullet, no one noticed where his bullet had gone but, Damien hadn't missed, he had gotten Ryo.

It had been his fault...if Dee never let Leo's words get to him. If he'd hadn't lost his temper to the point of no return, if he had in fact listened to Ryo, then his blond partner would still be there. With him.

Both bodies fell simultaneously to the ground with an ungraceful thump.

Dee felt his heart sink when the look of pain that had been on Ryo's face flashed through his mind.

Neither one moved.

He felt his heart stop as his blood ran cold in his veins.

Neither one breathed.

He felt his world spin out of control as he dropped to his knees and picked the blood soaked blond up into to his lap, cradling his head as though the action was going to make everything alright again. That this was just one big nightmare and that when he opened his eyes things would be back to normal. Ryo wouldn't be laying there, the pained look that had passed across his face gone to the sweet painless bliss of the beyond.

He had raised his head, and his weapon with the intention of shooting Leo again, and this time not missing. But the blond crook was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the body of the red head that had fallen at his feet.

"Dee, yo man, I got something for you." The sound of Drakes voice broke through his self-loathing and back to the present time, out from the nightmare that plagued him every time he closed his eyes.

"Why would he have taken the body..." He muttered, staring at the floor, Drake raised an eyebrow and then nodded. That fact had the whole Investigations Division in a mess. Why take the pains of dragging the dead body away from the scene of the crime, away from where it had fallen. Even for a case relating to Leo it seemed weird and out of the ordinary. Drake watched as Dee started to fall back into himself, into the self-inflicted pain.

"Dee! Snap out of it man, I am talking to ya here."

"What is it...Drake?"

"I found out some information that might persuade you into taking that vacation Berks hammered you about."

Dee snorted, "I doubt it...but I suppose I'll listen to you run your mouth off."

"Well man, geeze," Drake rubbed the back of his head with one hand and tossed the folder the other was holding on the desk. He leaned over and opened it, "Take a look at these. It's the results from that bag of so called candy that we took from that back room. Jim just got them back from upstate."

"And what do I have to do with it...I am not supposed to be working after this shift. Remember?"

"Well yeah, but we all know that's a load of bullshit, and you'll be working anyway," Dee snorted, "So man, I figured that you could use it anyway."

"Yeah yeah...so what's the deal with it?" He had to admit, he was mildly interested. After all, two years and no leads and finally they got some good news. It lifted his spirits a little bit and made everything feel slightly better.

"Seems as though Smyth wasn't working alone. We got the poison supplier narrowed down to a Chouko Kasamatsu, or at least from her father's company...not much more then that though."

"So some Chinese bitch was supplying the drugs?"

"Ah, Japanese...and she isn't just someone, she's the daughter of Ichiro Kasamatsu, Headhancho of the Kasamatsu Clan."

"...So she's the daughter of-"

"Ichiro-kumichou. Ring leader of the Osaka yakuza." Jim interrupted, walking up to the duo with a smile on his face. He pushed his glasses back up onto his nose and handed them another folder, "I pulled this from the records, it seems as though Ichiro has done some work here in New York in the past."

Dee took the folder from the lab-boy and looked it over, brows furrowed and a small frown on his lips. This case had gone from weird to...downright messed up. He had made up his mind though. He was going to take that vacation. The only ones who were going to know the difference were going to be Drake and Jim because... "Why don't you two come with me?"

"Come with you where, Dee?" Jim asked with a raised eyebrow. Drake shook his head and waved his hands.

"I am going on vacation to Osaka, and I might need...company."

"Dee man, you only have two weeks. What are you supposed to accomplish in two freaking weeks?"

"A hell of a lot more then we have in the past two years."

The two blonds sighed and looked at each other. They had started this whole idea by presenting the evidence to the brunet in the first place. Though their reason was to inform him that things had finally picked up and that they were going to be able to, hopefully, get Leo once and for all. But it seemed as though that wasn't what had happened, and their little pick-Dee-up had turned into an overseas investigation disguised as a well needed vacation. What the bloody hell...

"Alright, I'm in." Jimmy grinned, "I've never been to Japan." Drake looked at him with wide eyes,

"How can you be agreeing to this? This is...this is insane! We could get in so much shit for this!"

"So you're in too, right Drake."

"..." The blond pouted and crossed his arms over his chest, "...Yeah, I am coming."

Dee got up and surprised them both by giving them a hug, "Thanks guys. I have a good feeling about this, I really do."

xXx

Dee got home that night with a heavy weight lifted off his shoulders. He poked his head into the spare room that was now persistently occupied by Bikky and, more often than not, Carol. Though the kid said that it was only until he could find an apartment for just the two of them, Dee didn't mind sharing it anymore. At first it had been annoying, him and the teen always fighting about little stupid things and with Carol watching with a sad smile on her face... but after a few weeks they had settled into a mutual friendship and Bikky even helped out around the place.

He walked into the room, flicking on the light, and sat on the edge of the bed. Tonight Carol wasn't here. She was at a party for one of her friends, Liz or something like that. Reaching over he gently shook Bikky, who woke up with a grunt.

"What Dee?"

"I am just letting you know, that I am getting sent on an assignment, and I want you to stay out of trouble while I am away."

"Where are you going?"

"Japan... for two weeks. Me and two others are leaving tomorrow morning."

"Alright...I'll just stay at Carol's or something."

"No or something you're either here or at her place." He stood up, ruffling the blond's hair and left the room leaving a scowling Bikky to roll over and try to get back to sleep.

Sleep. Something that Dee hadn't gotten much, if any, of in the past couple years, worse so in the beginning and then he just left it alone. If the state of mind didn't want to come to him, then he wasn't going to go hunt it down anyways. Sleeping meant he couldn't do anything. That he would be left to feel useless and pathetic. But tonight, sleep came to him. Sleep didn't make him feel worthless and unneeded. Because tonight, he knew he had to sleep, to regain some strength for the weeks to come. Where he would need every ounce of strength he could find.

Hurah! There it is, the new first chapter...and you know, it's either longer or as long as most of the chapters from Sick...I am going to try to keep all my chapters this length, or at least close too, /- 100 words. Chapter two will be up sometime hopefully within the next week or so, depends on how often I get to work on it, but definitely before the middle of September.

BETA NOTE! 127 mistakes! ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN ERRORS! Just a reminder 4 Arra