Cutter almost didn't recognize the frail shell in front of him. As Baby worked to stop the bleeding of his wounds, he could only stare blankly.

"Hey, Otis...Otis...look at me..." Baby snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Daddy, can you support his head?"

"Y...Yeah..." Cutter gently put his hand at the base of Otis's skull, still utterly dumbfounded.

Otis's hair that had previously come to the middle of his back was shorn, uneven and disarrayed, only a few inches long at most. He was clean-shaven, a sight Cutter couldn't remember if he had ever seen. He had lost a good 30 pounds, and looked pale and sickly.

"It's okay. You're home now. You're okay..." Baby tried to soothe. "Daddy...Don't just stare at him, talk to him...let him know you're here...You're his...whatever...partner...Be there for him."

Cutter nodded, rubbing small circles in the back of Otis's head with his thumb. "Hey, little angel...You're okay. You're at my house...You're back in our bed...Shhhh..."

Otis squinted, trying to pull his arm away from Baby as she pressed a cloth to his bleeding wound.

"Hey, you gotta stay still. She's just tryin' to take care of you."

Otis stared through Cutter, those blue pools not focusing entirely.

"We should get Grampa over here..."

"Can you take care of 'em?"

"Yeah..."

"Then we don't need him."

Baby sighed. "Roll him over. He's bleeding through his shirt."

Rolling Otis over, he whimpered in protest, feebly grabbing onto the belt of his pants.

"Shhh..." Baby pulled his shirt over his head and began to clean the multiple bleeding lash marks.

"B...Bullwhip..." Cutter whispered.

"Yeah...They're bad..."

"They sting like hell..."

"Well...They're gonna get worse." Baby began to clean and dress the wounds, and Otis began to moan in pain.

"Shhhhhh...It's okay. It's okay. I know it hurts. I know..." Cutter tried to comfort him, but tears spilled down the tanned cheeks and onto the bed.

"S...stop..." Otis managed.

"It's almost over. I'm sorry, Otis, but we have to do this. It's almost over."

"W...Why...A...are you hurting me...J...John...?"

"It's not me, it's Baby...And we're cleaning you up so you don't get an infection. We'll leave you alone in a few minutes, here, to rest."

"N...NO...D...Don't...leave..."

"I won't leave your side. I promise."

Otis howled in pain as Baby finished up, putting clean bandages on him and covering him up.

"There..." She looked hesitantly at Cutter. "Daddy...Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah. Give me one minute, Otis. I'll be right back. I'm not leaving."

Otis nodded sleepily. Cutter and Baby stood outside the door.

"What the fuck happened to him?! Where has he been?"

"Daddy, I don't know. I...I just...I found him like this..."

"He's been gone for almost two months...I thought he had just gone to la la land like he does sometimes...Jesus...I didn't expect this..."

"No one did..."

"Listen...I need to stay with him. Think you can get someone to tend the shop?"

"Yeah...I've got it, Daddy. You go be with him."

Cutter nodded, walking back into the room and sitting down on the bed beside Otis.

He cringed at the sudden movement, but opened his eyes. "John...?"

"Yeah, it's me." He moved to stroke Otis's face, but he flinched, crying out in fear. "Shhhh...We're not back to that again, are we?"

Otis whimpered, beginning to shake.

"Shhh. No, no. Don't waste your energy on that. You're okay. Come on. Want me to hold you?"

Otis nodded, and Cutter pulled him into a comfortable position.

"Shhh...I know, movement hurts. Just settle down. It's okay." He kissed Otis's head, holding him close. "What happened to you, little angel?..."

"Nnn..." Otis shook his head.

"Okay. Maybe some other time. You just take a nice rest, okay? I'm right here."

Otis dozed long into the afternoon with Cutter, curled up to the older man.

Cutter's mind whirled. How had Otis gotten hurt so badly? He was obviously beaten, quite brutally. They had tried to take his identity from him, cutting his hair and shaving his beard. If it hadn't been for the tattoo on his chest, Cutter would have seriously doubted whether the man before him was Otis. What else had happened to him? Why had he grabbed his pants as soon as he and Baby had flipped him over?

Cutter noticed Otis stirring, and pulled the blanket they were huddled under higher on his shoulders.

"Hey...You a little more to yourself?"

Otis nodded.

"You looked like death when you came in here, boy."

"S...Sorry..." Otis croaked.

"What? No...That's not..." Cutter sighed. "What the fuck happened to you...?"

Otis shook his head, curling closer to Cutter.

"Come on...We were all worried to death about you. I know someone hurt you...it's obvious...You're not in the best shape."

"N...No..."

Cutter sighed. "Okay...Okay..." He reached to stroke what was left of Otis's hair, and he flinched, closing his eyes and burrowing into Cutter's chest. "Shhhh..." He pressed his lips to Otis's head. "Dammit, Otis..."

"W...What?" Otis began to shake, pulling away from Cutter to look at him, blue eyes filled with fear. "W...What did I do...?"

Cutter stared back, stunned. What had happened to shock Otis into this state? To strip away the strong defiance that had coursed through his veins and convert him into the scared child Cutter knew was always struggling beneath the hard outer shell. "Calm down...Calm down. You didn't do anything, I just wish I knew what happened to you..." He sighed, standing.

"N...NO! Don't leave!"

"Relax. Relax...I'm hungry. I'm going to make something to eat. And I'm going to make you something too. Just rest a little bit, okay?"

Settling himself, Otis pulled the covers around him and succumbed to slumber.

Cutter prepared his lunch, ate, and then prepared something he knew would be easy on Otis's stomach. He looked like he hadn't eaten in a few days, and if he had, it hadn't been much.

Chicken soup over rice seemed like a viable option.

"Little angel...Come on...wake up..."

Otis opened his eyes, slowly sitting up with a grimace.

"Ohhh...I know, it hurts..."

"I...It ain't nothin'..."

Cutter smiled softly. "Come on. Let's get you something to eat..."

Otis stared hesitantly back at him.

"What...?"

He shook his head.

"Come on. You've gotta eat something. Instead of little angel, I'm going to be calling you little skeleton soon."

"I...I'm...n...not hungry..."

"I know that's bullshit. You don't have to eat all of it, but you're going to eat something."

The fear that flashed across Otis's eyes broke Cutter's heart. He was too reminiscent of when he had first come to the Firefly family, a petrified, broken skeleton of a man.

"And you are NOT going to throw it back up, either."

"O...Okay..." Otis took the bowl in his hands, eating slowly.

"There you go..." Cutter stayed by Otis's side as he ate until he turned mildly green. "Okay, okay. You're good. That's enough." He took the bowl, setting it on the floor beside them. "That's more than I thought you would eat..."

"I...I'm sorry! I-"

"Stop it. You must have been starving."

Otis looked away, nodding.

"I love you. Do you remember that?"

Otis simply stared at him, mildly bewildered.

Cutter chuckled. "Did you forget?"

Staring at his hands, Otis shook his head. That knowledge had been the only thing to keep him alive in those days.

"What's that face about, then?"

"Thought...You might change your mind."

Cutter snorted, pulling Otis close to him in an embrace, despite how hard the smaller man flinched away and cowered. "I didn't. What would make me change my mind, huh? I missed you so much...Life isn't the same without you."

He felt Otis fist his shirt sleeve, and tears begin to stain the front as he sobbed silently, his shoulders shaking.

"It's okay. It's okay. You're safe now."

Otis choked, sobbing openly.