Spencer stared at the open door and the corridor leading from it. "What's down there," he asked Gideon.

"You're not going to like it."

Spencer ignored him. "I have a good idea. I find it a little cliché though." He took a step over the threshold. A mad thought occurred to him; that he was Meg Giry, wandering the catacombs towards a place that he would be most unwelcome. The scene abruptly changed, accordingly, revealing a passageway by gold-plated candelabras in the shape of human arms. He hesitated, bewildered by the transition.

His hesitation was enough to allow Gideon to grab his arm, in a vice-like grip. "You're not going to like what you find. Take my word for it."

"But I have to," Spencer protested, trying to free himself.

Gideon's grip tightened. "Don't do this."

Finally, Spencer succeeded in snatching his arm away.

"You know, for someone that has such high intelligence, you sure can act like a damn fool," Gideon said, viscously.

Again, he was ignored as Spencer moved cautiously to the second door; this one appeared to be locked. He was suddenly staggered as an intense pain ripped through his skull. "What are you doing," he yelled at Gideon.

"This is not me. This is all your doing. Said you wanted to leave. Well, guess what? This is part of it."

He fell against the door, breathing hard and beginning to sweat, feeling as thought he had run a marathon. His hand brushed the knob and all hell broke loose.

The pain in his head increased until all else was hardly worth noticing, accompanied by a strong feeling of nausea.

Penelope jerked her hand away. It seemed the moment she touched the side of his face that he had woken. She recovered quickly from the shock and smiled at him. "Imagine what my kiss would do. Yeah, think about that for a minute." Spencer made an indiscriminate sound and she rolled her eyes. "You know, fairy tales: A kiss to wake the sleeping beauty. I guess you will have to do," she teased. "So…how do you feel?" He let out a feeble moan. "I guess that about says it all," she said. "I'll get someone in here for you."

He tried to speak but nothing came out. He cleared his throat. "What-what time is it?"

"Um, it's like eleven I think," she told him. "Tuesday morning."
"But its Saturday."

"No. You slept through the weekend. But hey, look on the bright side, you missed Monday all together."

"How-" He became agitated.

"Relax. I don't know if you remember what happened but seeing as it's you I'm sure you do. Anyway, everyone else is okay."

"JJ was hurt," he mumbled.

"She's okay. I think. She won't let any of us see her."

He appeared to fall back asleep. Penelope looked up at the doctor that had come in unnoticed. The woman set a fresh IV on the stand beside his bed. "I gave him Flurazepam and Tetrazepam. His supervisor said he would likely refuse any narcotics so… Is that correct?"

Penelope nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, he's going to be out for awhile so if you want to take a break or something."

"Maybe. I'm not sure."

"I didn't mean you have to leave. It's just that you've been here for several hours."

"Yeah I got that. I am tired," she said, yawning.

Spencer stirred, sleepily. He opened his eyes to see JJ standing at his bedside.

"JJ, what are you doing here?"

Her face held a death-like pallor, the eyes sunken and dull. In her upraised hand she held a jagged shard of glass. Blood seeped through her tightly closed fist, but she watched this with a cool detachment. Spencer thought of Noh theatre. "What are you doing," he asked nervously.

From stillness, she moved quickly, plunging the glass into his chest.

Reality came crashing back. Spencer sat up abruptly, gasping for breath. It took him a few moments to realize that it hadn't really happened. And then, he pulled his hand away from the spot to where JJ had stabbed him, where it had gone automatically. Blood dripped from it.