Something cracked when Alex saw what was served for lunch. He felt raw and emotional. Roast Fucking lamb congealing on his plate. Alex was softly sobbing when Dennis checked up on him. The three other inmates ignoring the distressed teen. Each of them had had those moments. Alex did not protest when he was led back to his room and he dutifully lay on his freshly made bed and allowed three years of hurt to bleed out of him. There was suddenly no need for complete control nor the need to pretend to be something he wasn't. Here he was just Alex. Here he could let all the masks go. He'd let them try and mend all the broken pieces, he had nothing left to loose.

Vas had not expected a breakdown from Alex, so soon. Why Roast lamb? The doctor wondered what other seeming ordinary things would lead to episodes for his young charge.

Alex had settled into the routine of the Hall. The staff were all kind and supportive. The other guys in this section were all military or ex-military. Alex guessed it was full security clearance just to talk about the fuck ups that had put them all there. Mike and Gaz were just back from Iraq. Alex had no idea why Steve was here apart from he seemed to know about Alex's past.

Vas smiled a cold humourless smile at the two members of MI6 who had turned up for Alex's development meeting prior to the sectioning lapsing. John Crawley and Ben Daniels listened as Dr Khan described a worn out, emotionally distraught teenager who had failed to connect back in with normal life when fostered at the age of fifteen. Alex had spent a year pretending to be the boy the Pleasures expected, lying to his therapist in California, because how do you explain how shit his life had been when faced with smiling, happy people who had no idea of the true horrors in his past. Alex still had flashbacks and horrific nightmares. He had self medicated himself with sleeping pills, cannabis and alcohol during his time in California and on the streets. Edward Pleasure had threatened Alex with rehab when he had found Alex's stash of vodka, dope and pills. Alex had left after Edward had flushed it all down the toilet during their visit to England five months previously. Alex was slowly accepting help and beginning to trust the staff. Alex was staying for another three weeks as a voluntary patient in the low security unit, where he could go on outings to the local town for shops, cinema and for meals and be a normal teenager. After that he had a place at Baysdale.

Then the younger man piped up "Baysdale?"

"Former TB sanitarium now a therapy centre about 15 miles from Guisborough. Run by four Franciscan monks including the original founder, Martin Saar. They take young violent offenders, drug addicts, sexually abused teenagers and alcoholics and through work on the attached farm and local ecological projects rehabilitate kids to be functioning members of society. The phys-ed instructor and the farm manager are both ex-SAS and the head of therapy used to work here. Alex can talk about everything confidentially there and in twelve to eighteen months hopefully have got his A Levels and go to uni. Alex will be expected to be clean, as in no medication. They work from 5am to 9pm. The centre is surprising self sufficient."

Ben then piped up, "How does Alex fit into their MO?"

Vas fixed the MI6 agent with a glare and then spoke of cold hard facts, "Alex has killed as part of operations, several times. Jack's death and his involvement with his doppelganger has left Alex with a complex of guilt, paranoia and severe self hatred. His violence has all been internalized. His attempted hanging was the culmination of a pattern of risk taking and self harm that had escalated since Ian Rider's death. Alex has ingrained sociopathic tendancies. His progress is on a knife edge. He could go three ways, normal, killer or fall back into the cycle of depression and self harm."

Crawley or Crawley's boss were pushing for a further six months sectioning. Vaz was opposed to this on several levels, mostly the fact of personal trust. Alex needed to feel in control and have a basis of trust with the medical staff. Getting him to agree to his programme of therapy meant Alex was no longer delusional or dangerous but actively seeking help and recovery.

Vaz had been quietly pleased with Alex's progress, he had spoken to his friend Michael Goddard at Baysdale. The idea was to push Alex to excel again, take up sport, study hard, make friends and have long term goals. Alex surprisingly was quite innocent, still a virgin. He talked of crushes at 14 and 15. Jack's death had stopped Alex's emotional attachments. He had gone to California and been unable to continue his tentative relationship with Sabina. Sex and sexuality were an open book. Alex admitted to being attracted by the assassin Yassen Gregorovich.