A/N: This is an alternative piece to the final ARC of Girl Under Fire. Most likely it will be just a couple of chapters. But I thought it was angle that might be fun to explore. No need to have read G.U.F. but if you have you can assume that everything that has happened save for the last chapter is still intact.

Warning: Contains course language, implied torture and adult situations. Rated M just to be safe.

Chris LaSalle had been thrown into the lion's den and was about to be devoured, not in the physical sense but in the psychological. It started off as a series of nothing but flashing lights with an occasional image here and there. But then they gave him something to make his mind more susceptible to suggestion. The images started to become more frequent and personal. Most of them had to do with Brody and him, the man who was responsible for LaSalle's imprisonment.

For months now, Chris had been sticking his nose in where it didn't belong trying to gather intel on the man who had kidnapped and tortured his partner and coming up with nothing. But he suspected that now he was going to get more than he bargained for. Fod had been unable to rid him from Brody's life in the flesh so now he was going for the heart. If he could destroy the agent's resolve and turn him against her, he would have the opportunity he needed to finish Brody.

They were together, in the intimate sense, doing things that lovers do.

Some of the images were authentic of Brody's effort to free her sister from the sadistic monster, while others had been produced by one of Fod's minions. Only LaSalle couldn't tell the difference. To him, it looked like the two of them had a torrid affair. Soft kisses and touches combined with the grind of two bodies meshing together in raw primal heat. If LaSalle had to guess, Brody was either thoroughly enjoying herself or one hell of an actress. Hour after hour he was subjected to watching him take every inch of her, pleased with the sounds of her moans. If he was the kind of guy who enjoyed watching his girl with another guy he probably would have gotten off on it. But he wasn't. A thousand questions were racing through his mind.

Then the music came. This was Fod's way of trying to create a trigger. Naturally, it was one of Merri's favorite songs. Chris recognized it right away as one that he had down loaded to her phone so that she could listen to it in the car or when she was running.

The more he tried to fight the images the stronger and more intense they became. They were everywhere on the walls, on the ceiling and even at one point the floor. The music became louder, so loud that the only thing he could think about was the sound of the blood pounding in his ears.

When he tried to drown it all out he was dragged from the room and bound with his hands secured above his head. At least he was away from the images he thought as he valiantly took the cliché punch to the gut.

Then the blindfold came. It was to create additional anxiety and it was working.

"She betrayed you," a sweet voice similar to Merri's whispered in his ear over and over. "Wouldn't you like to get back at her?" she laughed, as she clutched his face in her palm, her fingernails digging into his cheeks. "Say it. She betrayed you."

"Go to hell, bitch." If this was a game of uncle they were going to have to do better than that. He was sure that nothing was going to dispel those images he'd been subjected to but he would damned if he let them know that.

Then came that damn music again. It blasting all over the god dang ship. Chris had to wonder how long Fod's crew would be able to stand it. He knew something else had to be coming otherwise they wouldn't have pulled him out of the room with the continuous footage.

Chris remembered how Fod's men had water boarded Brody and beat her senseless, so he knew it was going to be painful to say the least.

"Well, Agent LaSalle. Tell me how did you enjoy the show?" It was Fod. His voice seemed to be all around him. Twisting, Chris tried to turn toward the direction where the voice seemed to be the strongest but he only succeeded in exerting himself. If he had to guess, Fod wasn't actually in the room.

"It seems that we have something in common," there was man was right up in LaSalle's face but he could tell by the man's height that it wasn't Fod. "We both like to be inside, Meredith Brody."

Chris wanted to rip this guy a new asshole and then put a bullet through his head. His jaw set, he marshaled his rage and put on his best poker face. Stay strong and silent and you might get out of this alive a little voice whispered from the depths of his tortured soul.

He kept waiting for a gun to go off or another knife in the back but it never came. Instead he got a couple of sucker punches, followed by another needle stick. This time it was some sort of fast acting hallucinogen. He felt the burn in neck his as the liquid started to pulse through his veins. So this is how they were planning to get to him.

He could take it. He would hold out for as long as it took for Pride and the others to get here. All he had to do was tell himself that this was Fod, the master manipulator and he would be fine or so he thought.


By the time the third day rolled around Chris was exhausted and strung out. Every time he closed his eyes he would see Brody with Fod and that f-ing song. It was stuck in his head on repeat. So, he fought it. He was so damn sleep deprived that he was certain it he weren't stung up he would fall over.

He had the routine down now. It was like they kept him stuck on a vindictive cycle of no sleep and drugs. He'd stopped telling the girl who sounded Merri to f—off everytime she came near him. He had learned if he just repeated her phrase, that she would quickly go away. As for the images, he had them all memorized now and could predict the sound the Brody's laugh, her moans and whatever noises other little noises she made.

Nope, they weren't getting to him.

But by the end of the day, they added something new to the routine: water. A fire sprinkler above his head to exact. Whatever chemical they had added to it beat down on him like hard freezing rain. But it didn't matter, he was done.


Brody entered the lower compartment of the ship with her heart pounding and her weapon trained. For three and half days, she had lived with the horror that her partner was going through god knows what and that lead after lead had ended in heart wrenching disappointed and terror. Until now. Abigail had given them a tip on an idle ship on the boarder of the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico.

Merri knew immediately when she boarded and heard her favorite song playing that this had to be it. It was part of Fod's obsession with her. Memories of her own torture at his hands plagued her as she moved about.

And there it was: a red watertight door, where all of the others were a dull gray. Her hand shook as she began to turn the wheel. She knew that Chris had to be inside the compartment but what kind of shape was he in?

Oh god. There he was hanging and blindfolded with his head titled to the side. Was he dead? He looked half drown. How long had he been under the falling water?

"Pride! Over here!" she shouted before running to her partner.

"Chris? Chris!" she cried stepped into the freezing spray. Pressing to her tip toes, she gently touched the side of his face.

Reacting to her touch, LaSalle flinched violently. "Ok, she betrayed me." He said incoherently.

What? Brody's face contorted for a moment. "Hang on, I'm going to cut you down." She pulled the blindfold down so that it hung around his neck before she reached for her pocket knife.

Gently, she brushed up against him as she pressed to her tip-toes to cut through the bindings that where holding him upright. But as her chest made contact with his, he started to buck and kick knocking her flat on her backside.

"Get the fuck away from me!" he snarled as Pride and Percy rushed in. For a moment, Brody looked hurt until she remembered her own experience with Fod. He was just in shock she reasoned.

Rising to her feet, she watched as Pride and Percy supported her partner between them. For whatever reason, Chris seemed to be glaring at her heatedly.

"You're going to be ok." She said trailing a hand down his wet back as they walked by.

On the helicopter, Brody sat on the bench across from Percy. Chris was lying between them on a stretcher wrapped in warming blankets.

Reaching into her pack, Brody pulled out a bottle of water and knelt to floor, unscrewing the cap. "Hey, why don't you try a couple of sips," she smiled. But again he was glaring. She'd seen this glare before, it was the one that he reserved especially for the lowest of suspects.

"I don't want anything from you." He retorted sounding a little more coherent than he had been before. Brody exchanged looks with Percy before consenting to put the water back into her pack.

Maybe he just needed more time?


At the hospital, Brody sat at his bedside while he slept. All in all she was surprised at how little he seemed to have suffered physically. Other than a few bruises here and there he looked fine. But that didn't account for the hypothermia, dehydration and the toxicity in his blood stream. It would take a day or two but eventually she would be able to take him home and start putting Fod behind them.

Hearing him whimper, she reached over, touching his cheek. She was intent on giving him a kiss until he reared up and grabbed her wrist. Brody saw the look in his eye and instantly knew he meant her harm.

"Let me go." She said gently assuming that he was still suffering from whatever drugs they had given him.

Nostrils flaring he gave her a shove. "Get out."

"Ok," Brody felt a stab in her chest. She didn't yet understand what he had been through nor the purpose behind it. Collecting herself, she started for the door. Her hand was already on the handle when she decided to turn around.

"I love you." She said earning a scowl as the images began to play in his head.