Alex was on the verge of losing his mind. Desmond had gone missing 3 days ago, and not a trace of the former Assassin-in-training has been found. He was at his wits end; where was he? He had crawled thru the fresh snow that coated the streets of Manhattan, searching the whole island for his soul mate, but it was like the ground had swallowed him whole. Not even his powers were helping; Desmond's scent was gone, he couldn't sense him with his different visions, even the Hive mind connection he had with the hordes in the Red Zone had nothing.

He shut the door to his apartment behind him; shrugging off the snow-covered leather jacket, he slumped against the entrance hall wall. 4th day of the search, almost his 100th lap across the island and nothing.

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, he reached into his pocket and fished out his cell phone; picking the first number on his speed dial, he called Dana. Nothing.

He threw the black piece of plastic down the hall in frustration; it landed on the couch with a 'thwomp' and slid between the cushions. He groaned, he was gonna have to fish it out later. Fuck.

He pushed himself off the wall, going into the small kitchenette of his one room flat, bypassing the living room by sliding over the marble counter top that divided the two rooms. He went to the fridge and pulled out a case of beer; alcohol barely affected him, but the act of drinking made him feel less depressed, like he could really drown away his sorrows.

He took it to his room, once his and Desmond's, dropped it on the mattress and unceremoniously ripped the cardboard packaging and popped open the first can. He downed it quickly; opening a second, then a third and so on until he was to his last can. He could feel the liquid sit heavily in the pit of his stomach as he stretched across the sheets; why was this not helping? He had the worst feeling of helplessness hanging over his head, he just couldn't shake the thought that maybe...he had just left.

Alex sat up, ice blue eyes flaring slightly as he finished the last of his beer. No, Desmond would never leave without saying something. Still, something didn't sit well with him. He thought back to the day before Des disappeared; the man had seemed alright, same sweet smile on his lips.

But Alex had noticed something. The other looked preoccupied, like he had something hanging heavily on his shoulders and he couldn't fix it. The way he was looking around was also worrisome; his golden eyes would sometimes flit back and forth, as if he was searching the crowds for something...or someone. Maybe someone from his past had found him? But if that was the case, why did he run instead of telling him?

Standing while worrying at his lip, he chucked the now empty cans into the trash; then straightened his clothing before purposely walking toward the door. His hand was at the knob when he heard ringing coming from his living room. He frowned;

"What the...hell?" he wondered out loud, he didn't have a land-line. He then remembered that he had thrown his cellphone into his couch. He practically tripped over his own feet as he rushed toward the ringing. Pouncing on the cushions, he tore them away to find the cell deep in the bowels of the offending piece of furniture.

Alex hurriedly flipped it open as it rang for possibly the 5th time, heart in his throat as he noticed the caller ID belonged to Desmond.

"DESMOND?" he almost shouted into the receiver, eyes wide as he prayed to god or whoever that his partner was alright. He heard a startled gasp, then a pause.

"Hello?" he asked softly, chest constricting as dread settled in his gut. Something wasn't right.

"Alex?" That was definitely not Desmond. That was...Ragland. "Oh lord...Son, I think I found him." At those words, Alex grabbed his jacket and bolted out of the apartment; into the unforgiving cold of winter.

He didn't give a fuck that someone might be watching as he ran up the side of the nearest building and took off across the rooftops. Desmond, HIS Desmond was at the hospital; maybe hurt since Ragland had been the one to call him. Even if he was hurt, Alex couldn't help but feel happiness course thru his veins as he sprinted across the city.

But something was nagging in the back of his head. The way Ragland had sounded...it was as if he were hiding something from him. He pushed the thought away, it was probably nothing.

He made his way to the hospital without incident, apparently the Blackwatch soldiers didn't like the cold. He chuckled as he entered the hospital, quickly picking his way toward the ER. He looked about, the rather lively throng of patients and doctors making it hard to pick out a specific face. After a while, Alex frowned deeply; Desmond wasn't here. Why wouldn't he be? If he'd been injured, it would only be natural to take him to the emergency room...

He walked up to the reception desk, the nurse on call pointedly ignoring him as she filled out some forms. He cocked a brow,

"Excuse me?" he asked as he reached over the desk and tapped his finger on the paper. She sighed, before setting down her clipboard and looking at him with an agitated glance.

"Yes sir?" she gave him a forced smile, though he knew she'd rather be doing anything but talking to him. He took out his cell and showed her a recent picture of Desmond,

"Has this man been around here? Someone called me and told me he was here." She barely glanced at the screen before shaking her head,

"No. I'm sorry sir, but as you can see its very busy and I can't remember every person that passes thru that door..."

"What do you mean 'no'? Call Ragland, he's the one that told me to come! He said he was here!" he said, gritting his teeth angrily as the nurse seemed to back up slightly. The whole ER stood silent, patients and doctors alike stood still as the shouting escalated.

"Sir, please calm down! If you don't I will be forced to call security!" she said, reaching with shaking hands toward the red phone that was strapped to the wall. Alex's eyes narrowed angrily, the blue shining almost silver in the phosphorescent lights,

"CALL THEM! I don't care, I'll take 'em all on if it gets me to my Desmond! Call them, I dare you!" He shouted, slamming his fists into the desk, causing it to buckle and fall to the ground. Everyone seemed to scream at the sound of splintering wood, scattering every which way as to stay away from him. The nurse's eyes went wide with terror as she picked up the phone and pressed the numbers with panicked fingers.

Before she got enough of her voice back, a hand came up to the receiver and took it gently from her hand. She looked toward the owner of the hand, stuttering since she was at a loss for words. It was Ragland. He shook his head slowly as he hung up the phone, then addressed the rather demonic-looking Alex,

"Calm down, son. Try not to cause too much of a ruckus." he said, voice calm and a bit saddened. Alex quirked a brow, but did as he was told and took deep breaths. Shaking slightly, he bit his lip and nodded; he shot a glare to the nurse but it quickly turned soft as he turned back to Ragland.

"So...Where is he? You said you found him and I thought he'd be here, so where...?" The older man nodded slowly, before motioning for the virus to follow, leading him away from the clearly frightened ER and towards a more sanitary wing of the hospital. Ragland sighed, eyes heavy,

"Alex, we had to move Desmond from the ER to intensive care."