Authors' Notes: This story is dedicated to Denise Dahlgren for her generous contribution to a charity fundraiser and written in memory of Bennie (Benita) Egnatic my fan and fellow fanfic writer who lost her battle with cancer shortly after this story was written.

... ...

Sloan stood in the broken doorway, stunned as she stared at the overturned furniture and shattered computer equipment. Searching, she finally saw her best friend sprawled on the floor, half hidden by the loveseat. "Ed…Ed! Oh my God, Ed, are you okay?" There was no response. She ran to him, checking for a pulse. His heart was beating erratically, and his breath was rasping and shallow.

"Ed?" Sloan sobbed as she looked for her phone. She stared at the wall in shock. The cord had been yanked from it; God only knew where they had thrown the handset. "Bastards," she muttered and pulled her cell phone out to dial 911. She wiped her free hand across her eyes to clear away the tears that were obscuring her vision. "Operator, I'm in Pasadena and I need an ambulance!" she almost shouted as the cellular operator answered. They connected her to the Emergency Dispatch number. "Yes, it's an emergency. My friend was attacked, he's unconscious, and his pulse is way too fast."

After giving the dispatcher her address, Sloan checked Ed's breathing and pulse again and then punched the speed dial for Walter's phone. "Walter!" she yelled, quieting as she realized she'd reached his voice mail. "Damn it." Sloan ran to the window and stared down at the street. The limousine had pulled away, but the bitch could have left agents behind. There was no way for her to tell. Tom would have known. Oh God. She pressed her fist against her mouth to stifle the moan that threatened to escape. Walter's boss had abducted Tom! Why?

The ambulance siren finally echoed down her street. She ran down the stairs to meet the EMTs.

... ...

A half-hour later, Sloan walked woodenly down the stairs to her car. She still hadn't been able to reach Walter or Ray. Grace had promised to update Ray as soon as she heard from him and had offered to meet her at the hospital. Sloan had refused and warned Grace not to open the door to anyone but her husband.

She drove to the University hospital, glad that she could almost travel the route blindfolded. "Why?" she yelled, slamming her hand down on the wheel. "Why did they do this? Oh God, Tom…" She locked her car and trotted toward the hospital entrance. Sloan's cell phone began to ring as she stepped through the door. "Hello?"

"It's Ray. Don't say anything; I've only got a minute, need to avoid having my location traced. I talked to Grace. Dr. Attwood and I have been having some problems of our own. We'll meet you where you last watched surf movies with Tate."

"Ray, they took…"

"I know. Sloan, hang in there. You watch out for Ed, okay? We'll see you as soon as possible."

"Okay." She'd last watched surf movies with Ed here at the hospital…they didn't want anyone to know where they were or where they were going. Things must be worse than she knew…but what could be worse than an attack on Ed and her own government kidnapping Tom? It took her nearly twenty minutes of impassioned arguing with nurses and doctors to get to Ed's side. Sloan chewed on her lower lip worriedly. The IVs and telemetry leads snaked around the bed giving it an ominous appearance.

She looked up as the doctor returned. "I have the toxicology reports back," he told her. "I've never see quite this combination of drugs used in concert before. It's like a sedative cocktail." He snorted in disbelief. "What did they think they were sedating, an elephant?"

"No," Sloan croaked out, her voice raw, "a member of the new species. Ed just got in their way."

"Quite frankly, Dr. Parker, your friend is lucky to be alive. If the EMTs hadn't kept him going once he arrested and gotten him here and on life support so quickly, well…"

Sloan nodded, sniffling. "Yeah."

"We're working on flushing the drugs out of his system with a saline IV. As soon as he's conscious we'll also be encouraging him to take as much water by mouth as he can tolerate. Other than that, there's little we can do other than keep him functioning until the drugs are expelled."

"I understand. Um, Doctor? What if we have to move him? The people that did this, they might come back to finish the job, you know, not leave any witnesses."

"Whoa. Uh, well, he can't be moved any time soon. I have a call in to LAPD. I'm sure that we can have an officer…"

NO!" Sloan shouted, and then clapped her hand over her mouth as other people in the large room turned to look. "Sorry." She moved closer to the doctor and lowered her voice. "You can't bring the police in on this, especially the local precinct. Their lieutenant…well, we think he's a collaborator with the new species."

The young doctor blinked, looking confused. "Then, wouldn't he be eager to help you? If our government abducted a member of the new species and your friend was trying to prevent it, wouldn't the new species and their supporters…" he trailed off as she shook her head vehemently.

"The man who was kidnapped was cooperating with us. So we can't let his people know where he is because they want him back. I know, it's confusing."

"But he if he was cooperating with us, then why did the government…"

"THAT, is the million dollar question. Why? He was giving us everything he could." Sloan sank back down into the chair and buried her face in her hands. "I don't know why, and that is scaring the hell out of me."

"I'm sorry. Look, I've already called the police; I can't call them back and say it was a mistake."

"Can you tell them the victim regained consciousness and left and move Ed to a private room? I'll pay for it," she offered, crossing her fingers behind her back.

"Yeah, sure. That actually happens sometimes…patients coming to and taking off, I mean. I'll go take care of it."

... ...

Sloan checked the clock. It had been over nine hours since they'd moved Ed into a private room hidden in the back of the maternity floor, and nearly twelve hours since she'd found him on the floor of her apartment. Ed was still unconscious. She held his right hand in her own. "Come on, Ed. Don't give up on me. Who's going to bring me down to earth when I go off on one of my tangents? And who's going to make sure I eat more than coffee and rice cakes?" She laid her head down on the side of the bed, moaning. "I'll even watch surf movies…as many as you want," she pleaded.

"You promise?" he rasped.

"Ed!" Sloan sat up and threw her arms around her friend. "You're awake!"

"Yeah, I guess. Hey, careful. I'm feeling kinda woozy here."

"Sorry." Her lips twitched as she tried not to grin too hard.

"They drugged me, didn't they? Men in dark uniforms and baseball caps, flak jackets even. Oh God. Sloan…they took Tom!"

"Calm down, Ed. I know. I got back just as they were forcing him into a van."

"He was putting up a hell of a fight in the apartment. I saw them drug him…damn, he's strong. I had no idea."

She nodded, biting her lower lip. "Even drugged and under the influence of the genogenesis serum it took four of them to get him into that van." She struggled to suppress a sob. "Oh, Ed, I couldn't help him!"

"Hey…he'll understand."

"Will he? Ed, it was the bitch in the limo, Walter's boss. Those were her people." She pressed a hand to her mouth, squeezing her eyes closed to force back the pain. "And they shut down the lab, everything's gone!"

"What? Oh shit. That's bad."

"Why would they do that? Tom was cooperating with us, giving us everything we wanted."

Ed sighed. "Ah, Sloan? There's only one reason. Remember Walter having that argument on the phone last week?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I overheard part of his end of it. He was telling her that whatever she wanted was intrusive, unethical, and inhumane." He paused, scrunching up his nose and eyes like he always did when he was telling her something she didn't want to hear. "Sloan, they probably want to experiment on him."

"No. I…no! They can't!"

"Not unless they tuck him away somewhere so no one knows about it," he responded dryly.

"Oh my God! Ed, that's…that's horrible!"

"Yeah. So what are we gonna do about it?"

"We are going to get you to drink some of this water."

"We aren't thirsty. Must be the IV. And, damn, they've got me hooked to a catheter, I hate those things."

"I know. But that's the point."

"That I hate catheters?"

"No. You've got to get lots of fluids in you to flush out the drugs. They used what the ER doctor called a sedative cocktail. There was no way to neutralize any of the drugs safely because of the combination."

"Jeez, no wonder I feel like my head's wrapped in a couple of layers of wool."

"Yep. Now here, drink."

"Yes, mom."

... ...

Sloan slept through the ringing of her cell phone. Ed opened his eyes groggily, then reached out and plucked the phone from where she had left it on the edge of the table. "Hello," he managed to mutter.

There was silence for a moment. "Ed? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Walter?"

"I'm glad you're feeling better. Where are you?"

"Better? Huh, well, that's debatable." He pulled himself upright and looked around, then subsided on the pillows, totally confused. "Uh, other than in a hospital, I have no clue where I am, Walter." Ed frowned as yet another female patient was wheeled past his door. "But I feel like a rooster in a hen house for some reason."

"What?"

"All the other patients I can see are women."

"Give me that," Sloan said, taking the phone from him. "Walter, where are you?" She listened a minute. "Stay there, I'll come and get you." After closing the compact phone and putting it in her purse she turned back to him. "Rooster, hen house? Ed, you're going to be living that comment down for a long time."

"Hey, give me a break, I'm sedated."

"Uh huh. I'll be right back."

"Sloan, hey…Sloan!" She kept on going and closed the door behind her. "Damn," he muttered. "I still don't know where I am."

... ...

Walter Attwood looked up at Ray's nudge. "Here she comes," Ray told him. He stood and joined the former LAPD detective. "Hello, Sloan," he said as she rounded the corner.

"Walter, Ray! I am so glad to see you. Oh my god, Walter, you're bleeding…"

"Not anymore. It's okay, Sloan," he continued as she began to shake. "It's only a few cuts from broken glass. I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"You first.

"Um, Tom…oh god. Ed was pretty happy with his genogenesis serum, and Tom insisted he test it on him…and it worked, but…"

"What?" Walter forced himself to lower his voice. "Stop. We'll talk about this in more secure surroundings."

"Right. Come on, Ed's this way."

They followed Sloan through hospital to, of all places, the OB-GYN ward. They found Ed in a private room in the back of the ward.

"Walter, Ray! Hey, glad to see you. Where the hell am I? Sloan won't say."

"You're in the Maternity unit, Ed," Walter said dryly. "Is there something you want to tell us?"

"Very funny."

"The ER doc was nice enough to hide him from your boss," Sloan interjected.

Walter and Ray exchanged glances. "Why are you hiding from her?" Walter asked. Much to his surprise, Sloan's eyes filled with tears and she turned away, hugging her arms to her abdomen. "Sloan?"

"It's my fault," Ed muttered. "I should never have let him test the serum."

"No, you shouldn't have. That was totally unscientific, not to mention danger…"

Ray cut him off. "I think he knows that, no sense in hitting him over the head with it."

"You're right.

"No, it's okay. It was a stupid move, criminally stupid."

Sloan turned around. "Ed, it's not your fault, Tom insisted." She sighed then looked up at Walter. "Her people drugged and kidnapped Tom. They've also closed down the lab."

"The lab I was aware of. Sloan, I'm sorry." It was Walter's turn to sigh. "This is partially my fault as well. If I hadn't humiliated her, she might not have taken such a drastic step so quickly."

"Humiliated her?"

"Sloan, we were meeting Homo-dominant representatives of a coexistence faction, a group that wants to live in peace with us. The meeting was an ambush."

"They tried to kill you?"

"No. The ambush was for both the dominants and us."

"Your boss? Wait, she wanted to kill both them and you? But, they would know that they didn't do it…and if you had been killed, we'd have thought that they had done it."

"Yes."

"Jesus, Walter," Ed spoke up. "Is she trying to start a war?"

"Yes."

Sloan gasped. "But that's…that's horrible."

"Sloan, certain powers within our government decided it was best to force an outright war, now, while we have a hope of winning it."

"But if some of the dominants want peace, shouldn't we take that chance?"

"If we didn't have Tom as an example of these people's better natures, I'd have said no."

"But we do…or did. Walter, why did they take him? He was helping us!"

"Wait a minute…what does this have to do with humiliating your boss?" Ed asked.

He looked at Ray who shrugged.

Ray began to explain. "We weren't sure who had set up the ambush at first," he said in his slow half-drawl. "Then I checked out the bullets in the car, they were government-issue, the kind the covert ops boys generally use."

Ed frowned. "So, that proves…?"

"Not a damn thing, it's circumstantial, which is why we confronted her directly. Picked her up, took her for a little ride. She admitted it, outright. Even admitted she'd planned for Walter to be killed." Ray looked at Sloan. "We took her phone to run the numbers off of it, to see how far this goes. Then we dropped her off in the middle of nowhere."

"She probably had already planned to take Tom and close the lab at some point in the near future," Walter told them. "Once I was out of the picture, she knew she'd have a hell of a time keeping you two in line. But I don't think she'd planned to do it immediately. Our actions likely forced her hand."

"You know," Sloan said quietly. "I've never really wanted to hurt anyone before. But she's…inspired me." She sighed, and then looked up at him. "So, what do we do now?"

"We get Ed out of here, and we find a way to help Tom."