This one is totally unrelated to the first chapter. Enjoy!

Sebastian clenched his jaw as he was slapped across the face again, refusing to show any amount of emotion. Jim had given him specific instructions not to speak a word of information to these men, and that was exactly what he planned to do. After giving him one last- especially painful- blow across the face, the two men seemed to give up and leave the room. Sebastian rested his head on the desk he was chained to and closed his eyes. The men probably wouldn't be back for a while- more than likely a few hours or more. Just as he began to finally drift off to sleep, Sebastian was surprised to hear the door open again. He lifted his head as a man came over to him and unlocked the lock that held him to the desk. Taking him by the shoulders, the two men pulled him from his chair and led him from the room out into the hall.

Sebastian stared straight ahead as he walked, his face completely devoid of any emotion. They brought him to a room where they locked the chains on his arm to a wall. What do they think bringing me to a different room is going to do? Stupid people. He glanced towards the door as the men opened it again, leading another man in. Jim.

Sebastian quickly gained eye contact with him, searching desperately for any sign of fear or pain. He had to suppress a grin when Jim gave him a devious smirk. He's okay. Stop freaking out. Now you can protect him; he's in the same room.

Another man entered the room, and Sebastian recognized him immediately; Mycroft Holmes. Sebastian gave the man a death glare as Mycroft made his way to stand in front of him, just out of his reach.

"Mister Moran. I'm sorry to hear that you and your- lover?, mister Moriarty, have not been very compliant."

Sebastian growled. "Boss. He's my boss. I don't love him."

Both Jim and Sebastian knew that wasn't true, but they knew better than to show attachment in front of others. It was a form of weakness.

Mycroft nodded. "Very well, I'm afraid we're being forced to take more drastic measures due to your lack of compliance. Just know that you can stop this at any time by talking. Just tell us what we want to know, and this can all stop." His voice was gentle as ever; eerily calm. Sebastian watched the man step back and lean against a wall.

"I can stop what?"

Sebastian watched as Mycroft's gaze moved over to Jim, whom two men pushed down to his knees; holding him by the arms in the center of the room. Sebastian suddenly felt sick as soon as he realized what was going on. He clenched his jaw as he looked at Jim; again changing his expression back to completely stoic, his face with a complete lack of emotion. He knew what Jim had asked of him.

"Under no circumstances are you to give them information."

Sebastian had to hold back a growl as one of the men grabbed Jim by the hair, forcing his head up.

Don't show them that you care. Pull yourself together, Sebastian.

He barely stopped himself from gasping as a man landed a sharp smack across Jim's cheek. Sebastian felt a sense of pride as he watched the look on Jim's face, staring straight at the man, almost smiling. Not showing any sign of fear that he may be feeling. The next slap came shortly after, the man was probably angered by the look on Jim's face.

The next blow was harder- much more so than the last two. Sebastian watched the smirk leave Jim's face, his expression changing almost entirely after the hard blow. His eyebrows knitted together as he stared at the man, not wishing to show defeat. The man seemed to see what that did to him and delivered another equally hard blow to the other side of Jim's face. When he landed a fifth blow to Jim's face Sebastian watched his friend's eyes close quickly, as soon as tears welled up in his eyes. He knew Jim closed his eyes so nobody would see that he was fighting back tears- desperately wishing they would go away.

As soon as Jim's eyes closed, the man seemed to understand that he was reaching his goal; breaking him slowly. He landed two more hard blows before making a gesture to one of the other men. Sebastian suddenly felt the strong urge to vomit as the other man took a short leather strap from his pocket and handed it to the man delivering the slaps. He rested it against Jim's cheek before bringing his arm back and sending the strap directly across Jim's left cheek.

Sebastian watched Jim's eyes open in shock and his jaw drop at the pain. He watched his boss struggle to free his hand, wishing to press it to his stinging cheek. Sebastian also heard a whimper. It sounded like a wounded puppy. As soon as Mycroft shifted his gaze over to Sebastian, Sebastian realized that the sound had come from his own mouth. He quickly pressed his lips together and silently pulled against his chains, wishing to go protect his only friend.

He had to bite down on his tongue as the man rested the leather strap against Jim's opposite cheek. He watched Jim's eyes, which were full of desperation at this point. He seemed to just watch the man as if he had accepted what was going to happen; only dreading it at the same time. As the leather strap came across his face again, a breath of air escaped him.

Mycroft watched the expression on Sebastian's face before speaking. "You may stop this at any time."

Sebastian growled at Mycroft, unsure of what else he could do. He tugged towards his friend as the horrible man rested the strap on Jim's cheek again. Jim closed his eyes tightly as he felt the strap leave his cheek again shortly before quickly snapping back down. He let out a quiet sob and attempted to bow his head to protect his face, but felt a pull on his hair as soon as he did. The man behind him tightened his grip on the fistful of Jim's hair in his hand, causing Jim to yelp.

Sebastian tugged on his chains again, almost letting out a whine at the sound of his friend's yelp. The man standing in front of Jim pressed the cool leather strap to Jim's face again. "We're going to try this again. But I'm going to change it up. Five blows in a row this time."

Sebastian let out a shaky breath as he watched Jim swallow. Before he could try and pull free again, the man landed five hard blows to Jim's sore face, alternating between both sides of the face. The man waited about five seconds in silence then, and when neither of them spoke, he repeated the action. Sebastian heard Jim letting out quiet whimpers every so often as the leather made contact with the skin. One, two, three, four, five.

Sebastian tried to gain eye contact as soon as the second set of five smacks befell his friend. When he did he again felt a strong need to throw up. Jim looked at him, his eyes desperate. Almost pleading. It was all Sebastian could do not to break down crying whenever Jim attempted to pull towards him. Jim is pulling towards me. I'm not even the one being hurt. He is. He wants me to protect him. I'm supposed to protect him.

"Again?" Sebastian heard the man say as he rested the strap against Jim's now striped cheek.

Jim let out a quiet sob as he continued desperately pulling towards Sebastian, completely ignoring his punisher.

As the man raised the strap to bring it down another five times, Sebastian lost all sense of control. "No! NO!" He yanked against his chains.

"Stop."

Sebastian glanced at Mycroft, who had just ordered the man to stop hurting his friend. He quickly looked back at his friend, who was again trying to pull free. He heard a whisper leave Jim's lips. A shaky plea. "Sebastian"

Sebastian let out a half-whine, half-growl as he pulled against the chains towards Jim.

Mycroft watched the interaction for a moment before nodding to the man that had been in charge of hitting Jim. "Release Mister Moran please."

Sebastian didn't quit pulling against the chains as the man took out the key and unlocked the chains.

"Let go of Mister Moriarty." Mycroft ordered as Sebastian rushed to his boss. He quickly pulled Jim up from his knees as the men let go of him and wrapped his arms around Jim, shushing and cooing at him as Jim breathed heavily into his shoulder. "You were so brave, so brave." He whispered as he rocked his friend side to side in his arms. "I can't believe what a good job you did. Good job, good job!" He hadn't realized that tears had begun to trickle down his face. He brushed his hands through the shorter man's hair and felt his friend instantly relax into his touch.

Mycroft ordered his men out of the room and followed behind them, locking the door after they were out. "That was good. Tomorrow should be much easier to gain information. Mister Moran won't want to watch his boyfriend go through that again."

Sebastian continued playing with Jim's hair and rubbing his back, whispering gentle words of praise. "Such a brave boy Jim, so good!" He closed his eyes as his tears fell down his face into Jim's soft hair. "Can you look up at me?"

Jim glanced up at his friend quietly, smiling slightly at the praise. He felt quite proud of himself as he allowed Sebastian to look at his deeply striped cheeks. He had done a good job. Sebastian said so. It made him happy that he had made Sebastian proud. His smile faded as Sebastian gently brushed his fingers across the very-tender lines on his face. It stung. He looked down and swallowed at the touch. It hurt.

Sebastian moved his hand away from Jim's face and back into his silky hair. "I'm sorry. Does that hurt?"

Jim nodded, closing his eyes at the touch of Sebastian's hand in his hair. "It stings."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry they hurt you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

Jim rested his head against Sebastian's shoulder as the taller man continued stroking his hair. "You've already made it all better. Please don't stop."

Sebastian continued rocking their bodies back and forth as he raked his hand through Jim's hair. "Never."

Okay, I think this one will be a two- shot. Please review! -Sadie