Chapter 3.
"...Jesse!"
Jesse blinked in sheer confusion as two strong arms embraced him, and started pulling him to shore. His feeling of calm being torn away from him; he looked around to see who was responsible, "Steve?"
"Jess, what the hell were you doing out there?" The Lieutenant demanded when they were both safely out of the water.
The younger mans body shook violently, as the shock and cold took hold. He looked up at his friend, "I..."
Steve put his arm around Jesse's shaking shoulders and started to lead him towards the Beach House, where Mark was waiting with a blanket. As he looked back at the ocean, he couldn't help but feel a little shaky himself. Finding the younger mans bed empty, and the door going out to the balcony open had made him fear the worse, and then seeing his friend stood motionless in the water, either not noticing, or not caring that the waves were so high, had turned that 'fear' into a nightmare.
"Jess, you weren't..." Steve couldn't even bring himself to say the words, "...were you?" But after the blank stare his friend gave him, he was beginning to think he might have to, "It's just, when I saw you stood in the water like that, I..."
Seeing the anguish on his friends face, Jesse suddenly found himself on the same page; it amazed him how the three of them all cared so much. Had he really just done that? Without even saying goodbye to his friends? The young Doctor quickly shook his head in response, "I couldn't sleep...figured the sea air might help." It wasn't really a lie, but more of a tainted truth; that's the way Jesse looked at it anyway. There was no way he could tell Steve the whole truth, not after seeing him like that. Jesse realised he was being selfish; killing himself would have just stopped his own pain, that was no punishment at all, in fact, the only people that would have been punished were his friends.
"Most people walk 'along' the beach to do that."
"I'm not most people." Came the meek reply.
Steve couldn't help but laugh at that, "I can't disagree with you there Jess."
There was no way Mark and Steve were going to leave Jesse alone after what had just happened; so Jesse spent the rest of the night on the couch, nestled between his friends, as the two of them discussed the case.
Along with 9 year old Harriette James; 64 year old Albert Martin, 41 year old Rich Nicolas, 22 year old Felicity Arnolds and 12 year old Scott Davis had been given tampered IV's, and all, except Rich Nicolas, had died. There was no age or gender pattern, none of them knew each other, nor had they ever lived in the same area, and they were all in the Hospital for different reasons.
As far as Mark was concerned, the lack of connection meant the killer was out to either 'destroy' someone; with the obvious first choice being Jesse, but other than Harriette James, the young Doctor hadn't been involved with any of the other four patients; or ruin the reputation the Hospital.
"Why aren't I being punished for anything?"
"Punished?" Steve was momentarily taken aback by the sudden change of discussion, "Jess, we've been through this. What happened to Harriette James was not your fault, there's no reason for you to be punished."
"OK then, what about turning up drunk, don't I get punished for that?"
Mark looked at him in bemusement, "Jesse, you're a grown man..."
Steve snorted at that, and the two of them shot him a look, "I guess you're right Mark, but you said we'd 'talk about it in the morning' and we never did," Jesse sighed, "plus, I disturbed you in the middle of the night too, that wasn't very thoughtful of me, and..."
"When I said we'd talk, I meant about whatever was bothering you," Mark thought his friend already knew that, "and, as for you turning up here drunk, I'm glad you did. You were too upset to be alone."
After both his reasoning's for punishment were shot down, Jesse went back to merely sitting quietly, as his friends discussed the case.
"Do you think he's depressed?" Amanda asked Mark over coffee, as the two of them sat talking out on the deck, whilst Jesse was finally having a sleep.
"He is showing classic signs of depression," Mark answered, "I just hope he really was just getting some fresh air last night."
"And if he wasn't?"
"Then we need to be there for him, he has to know he isn't alone." Marks eye's were now full of determination, "We can't let this defeat him, we have to get Jesse through this!"
"I hear you Mark, but how?" Amanda looked in the general direction of the guest room that their younger friend was sleeping in, "He seems defeated already."
Any answer to that question was cut short by the appearance of Steve, coming up the stairs of the deck; Mark knew his son must've had a break in his case, simply because the first thing that came out of his mouth wasn't about Jesse.
It just so happened that after a rise in fatalities at a rival Hospital, it's sponsor had recently ceased all donations, and had chosen to donate his money to Community General instead. The likelihood that the Administrator, Frank Tringdle, was involved, seemed high, especially since the whole thing had left him holding onto his job by a thread, and had his reputation in shatters.
"What's up I wasn't invited to this party?" All eye's were suddenly on Jesse, as the young Doctor walked out onto the deck, "Oh, hey Amanda, how long have you been here?"
"About an hour or so." Amanda studied her friend, surprised at how 'normal' he was acting; too normal in fact, "Sweetie, are you OK?"
"Am I 'OK'?" No. "Amanda, this is the best I've felt in almost a week!" That was true, although it wasn't exactly difficult. "I guess a nice long sleep is all that I needed." Could four hours sleep really be considered 'long'?
Not to Mark it couldn't; Like Amanda, he just wasn't buying it, and by the skeptical look on Steve's face, neither was his son.
Jesse felt his façade suddenly crack, his great idea to lessen his friends concerns, by acting like his old self, suddenly didn't feel so 'great, and he found himself becoming strangely annoyed, "I thought you would have wanted me to be happy, but I guess I was wrong!" He spat, "Some friends you are..." With that he turned on his heel and stormed back inside to the guest room, slamming the door behind him, "Why?" He sobbed uncontrollably, "That's not what I meant to say! Why did I say that?"
"Jesse, talk to us..."
"Leave me alone!" He couldn't face his friends now, he couldn't let them see him like this.
"Honey, Marks right..."
"Jess, we just wanna help you..."
He needed to get out of there, he needed to be punished.
"Dad, secret sauces aren't very secretive, if you go around telling everybody what's in them." Steve chaffed, as he and Amanda set the table.
Mark was making spaghetti bolognese for a second night in a row; he wanted to let Amanda try it out, "Hey, I haven't told Amanda all the ingredients."
"I think she can figure the tomato out for herself..."
Mark feigned a disgruntled look, "Just go and tell Jesse that dinners ready," Marks frown was real this time, "see if he's ready to come out yet."
Steve did just that, making his way to the guest bedroom as Mark and Amanda finished up in the kitchen. After shouting his friends name several times and failing to get a reply, he decided to enter the room.
"Jesse isn't in his room." Steve informed the two of them, "I have no idea where he is."
Jesse could feel the metallic taste in his mouth, as he was hit square in the jaw. Pain this great had never felt so satisfying as the man, who looked more than double Jesse's size, lay into him. For Jesse, each punch was symbolic of something he needed to be punished for.
Sneaking out of his friends Beach House had been surprisingly easy, as his thirst for punishment gnawed inside of him. At first, Jesse really didn't know what to do with himself, and just aimlessly walked around LA. When he had bumped into the man, who was now beating him to a pulp, Jesse's first instinct was to apologise, but after seeing the muscular, early fifties year old man, the young Doctor thought he might be in 'luck', and instead had told him to, 'Watch where you're going, jerk!'
After that, the guy had dragged Jesse into a alley, and the rest was history. At first, Jesse had felt victorious, as he finally felt as though he was being punished; but as he found it more and more difficult to remain conscious, he began to wonder if the guy would ever stop. Suddenly the young Doctor didn't feel so 'lucky', as the panic set in; he remembered the last things he'd said to his friends, and how they'd been so untrue and uncalled for. Jesse knew he had to get out of there, he needed to tell his friends how he really felt, but no matter how much he pleaded, the man just wouldn't stop.
The three of them had looked high and low for Jesse, but to no avail, the young Doctor just didn't 'appear' to be anywhere, and the three of them, who were now back at the Beach House, standing in the guest bedroom, trying to come up with other places their younger friend might be, were beginning to feel more and more worried.
Mark had searched the beach for him; and although his ankle was healing nicely, walking on it for a long time still caused twinges of pain, but that didn't deter Mark, as he rushed around, asking everybody he could if they'd seen Jesse. Unfortunately, none of the people he'd asked could even remember seeing the young Doctor. Steve had gone straight to his friends apartment, and when he wasn't there he'd drove around LA, mostly looking in bars and the like; he'd even managed to 'pull a few strings' back at the Station, and had a few Officers who 'owed him a favour' helping in the search for Jesse. Amanda had checked the Hospital, but there was no sign of him there either.
When Steve's pager went off, Mark and Amanda watched the back of the Lieutenant intently as he took the call. When Steve hung up, he turned round to them, looking noticeably pale, "A dead bodies' been found...Dad, they said it matches Jesse's description..."