A/N My sincerest apologies about how late this next chapter has been posted. I had planned to post two days ago, but I've not been well enough to finish the chapter and proof read it - too dizzy, I'm afraid. But, never mind that, here is the next part.

Podie1 - LOL. I love all your different chants. My muse thanks you for the comment about her. ;)

Tight Bonds and Loose Shackles

In hindsight he really should have seen that coming; it may have been dark, but something about the whole situation should have told him it would not be that easy. Now, he cradled his arm trying to assure himself it was not broken from the fight that had ensued when he and Megan and tried to escape.

It wasn't broken. It hadn't heard it crack and he was chanting to himself that if it cracks, it's broken.

"I think I should take a look at your arm." Megan said, determined but weary of his reaction. Since their little prison breakout that had now been taken into a different room that had nothing but a locked door and more bricks with dust.

Mike coughed, "With what light?" It was still dark as the night was still at it's peak of darkness and so was Mike's sarcasm to go with it.

She sighed, "Sorry." Megan sounded weary, tired, and Mike could detect a small amount of fear eminating from her voice. He couldn't blame her, things weren't exactly looking bright and cheerful right now.

Mike got the impression she was not referring to this particular moment and he sighed, "I don't want an apology, Wheeler."

"Well, you're getting it!" Megan semi-snapped and Mike was forced into silence, not sure of how to respond and not really wanting to. He wasn't too sure what she was apologising for.

"Sssh! Someone's coming!" Mike's whisper was the kind that forced Megan into silence. The only sound was the footsteps that were definitely heading in their direction. Both of them froze, forcing themselves into the stillness of an inanimate object. It became very apparent that there was more than one of them this time the moment the torch lit up the room; there were 6 of them.

Megan and Mike both noticed the absence of Corin Ford.

"What'd you guys want?" Mike asked, casually; his mind quickly trying to look for escape routes and a way out of this.

He found none.

"Not you." One of them answered darkly.

Mike's confusion lasted all of 0.2 seconds before he looked at his partner and then back at the man who had spoken. "I don't think so." Mike said, dertermined, trying not to show that his ropes had been loosened.

"I don't think it's up to you." He retorted.

Megan felt herself swallow air; Mike turned back at her, hoping this wasn't going to go how it seemed to be heading - the way it went for Alana Moani. No sooner was Megan pulled out from her ropes was Mike up on his own two feet trying to pull them off his partner. Unfortunately for Megan Wheeler, Mike was losing the battle with them, although he was valiantly continuing, despite the several punches already delivered to his face.

He grabbed several guys by the shoulders and tried to pull them away; punching whoever came near him without hesitation but there was no opening, until...

He managed to grab Megan's arm, and then he swiftly pulled her towards him; she pushed several men away from her as he did so. Now, with Megan behind him, Mike shot the attackers a sharp, deadly look, "You stay away from my partner." He spat, blood at his mouth and dripping from his left eye where they'd landed some painful blows. "I mean that, you touch a hair on her, I'll kill you."

They watched Mike carefully, waiting for a let-up, although he was unsure why - he was outnumbered. "Is this what you did to Alana?" Megan asked, hoping she didn't sound as shaky as she thought. She felt Mike touch her arm to tell her to stop and she did.

Without warning, two of them the men plunged forward and grabbed Mike by his shoulders, slinging him towards the wall with a satsifying thud that caused a new kind of darkness to envelop him, his mind succumbing to it quickly as his slid down the wall and his body formed a heap on the floor with the dust.

... "You've got nothing to be sorry for." Mike told Megan, back in the present and back to wondering how to get out of this situation. Wryly, he thought to himself that Alex was going to kill him when she found out he was in another fight; that was, of course, if he wasn't already dead when she found out.

"Still." Megan said, quietly, "I'm sorry."

He tried to look up at her, but all he saw was darkness, "Did they hurt you? I don't remember anything after turning to jello against a brick wall." He managed to move his arm, and found his hand wiping fresh blood from the cut on his lip.

She shook her head, although he couldn't see that, "No."

He held his arm and pulled himself up into the seating position; satisfied with her answer. "Apology accepted, Wheeler. Now-" He paused, opening his eyes wide as he looked around the room and gathered his strength, "-where are we?" His breathing was ragged as he struggled with his own fatigue and the fresh injuries he'd just had delivered.

"Well, after you were knocked unconscious, we were both dragged into some kind of cell." Her explanation was almost humorous, and he would've believed it funny if he didn't have a headache the size of the New York Tri-State area.

"Cell?" Mike asked, picking up on her terminology and wondering if she meant it in the literal sense.

Megan sighed, "Well, for lack of a better word, yes a cell." She paused briefly before she explained, "It was dark and for good measure, they blindfolded me."

Mike snorted, "Well, at least they're going about it the right way." He tried to look at her but all he managed was his head pointing in the general direction, "So what we talking? Locked door? Guards?"

"All of the above." Megan replied, dryly, her voice sounding strained and tired.

Mike just had to ask, "You got a spoon?" Megan chose not to respond to that.

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Bobby felt that the words he was reading were beginning to meld into big, giant cohesive sentence of useless information. Mike Logan and Megan Wheeler had alot of cases, as did he and Alex, but there were just too many leads to follow up and none of them were showing the promise of being what they were looking for.

With a look of concern he turned to his partner; her sleeping form almost sprawled out across her desk, losing her battle with herself to stay awake. It was now early morning and Bobby hoped that the sleep she was having now would be enough to give her the energy to get through the next day because he knew that there was absolutely no way he was going to get her to go home. He didn't; Alex had been kidnapped and Bobby hadn't even stepped within several square miles of his home so he couldn't expert her to do so when it was Mike who had been taken, he knew how much he meant to her.

And, Bobby couldn't forget that Megan also deserved the attention and the work put in to save her life as well. It seemed that most of the squad was working on this, the same as they had done for Alex, all of them pulling together to try to find their colleagues and friends.

Ross was still there and Bobby was reminded of that when the dark, curly haired Captain walked over to him with a soft look on his face; unusual for Captain Ross. "Take her home."

Bobby shook his head, clasping his hands in front of him as he carefully formed a sentence that was both respectful and determined, "She'll wake if-if I move her and then she won't sleep."

Ross sighed with a hard intensity and then nodded, "Okay, what have you got?"

Bobby's hands began a sliding motion as if he was moving objects around in the air, "I-I believe that yesterday they were working the Moani case." Bobby explained, pausing in both the verbal and the physical explanation before continuing, "They had-had many leads on that case, alot of them were loose threads and obvious dead-ends."

"Oh?" Ross asked, wondering how Bobby could've possibly caught up on the two week old case already.

He nodded in response, his hands almost floating in the air as he spoke before rubbing his lips with his fingers, "I've already ruled out Mohammed Jenkins, he has an alibi that I've managed to get a confirmation on. I've also ruled out Corin Ford, who just happens to be a fellow employee at the New York Ledger."

"No connection?"

"They didn't even work on the same floor." Bobby explained. "However, this guy-" Bobby pulled out a sheet and showed it to Ross, "He claims to have been a boyfriend to Moani and that she cheated on him, he doesn't say who with. T-That gives him a motive at least. It's possible Logan and Wheeler went to speak to him."

"You're thinking he has the rage capable of this?" Ross asked, hoping Bobby's lead so far turned out to be helpful but Ross couldn't see a boyfriend doing something to two cops, no matter how enraged he felt over his cheating girlfriend.

Bobby shrugged, his voice half-whisper and half-shout, "I don't know."

However, upon hearing a groan they both turned their heads to look at Alex, whose arms were slowly moving towards her body and her head was being carefully lifted from the table under her own consciousness. "W-what?" Her groggy mind not even registering that she was still at the MCS squadroom.

"Eames?" Bobby asked, quietly, "You okay?"

Alex's head shot up completely and she sat up, spine straight as she looked at both men at the other side of the desks. Ross looked at her and then back at Bobby before looking at her again, "Detective, I'm advising you to go home and get some sleep." Ross used his best authoritative voice.

Alex shook her head, "No need, sir." She tried her best to sound cheerful, "I've had-" she checked her watch "-a good hour or so of quality sleep." Cheerful didn't quite work at such an early hour, her face dropped when she saw it was only 5am and all she could see in her minds eye was Mike, and she really had to supress the worry she was certain that was appearing on her face; possibly never even left it.

Ross shot her a look. Alex shook her head again, insistent, "No, really, I'm fine." Both men did not look convinced but she ignored the sympathy looks and shook away the fear, she looked at Bobby, "What did I miss?"

"Uh- we have a possible lead." Bobby started.

Alex raised an eyebrow and then looked at the sheet Ross was holding out towards her. After she skimmed over a few details she looked at them both, "Okay, so what? 5am isn't too early for this." She stood up and grabbed her coat, "Let's go."

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Sleeping on a cold, dusty and hard floor is not recommended. As a matter of fact, Mike figured warning people would not be enough. The ground was uncomfortable against his back, still bruised from the fight and ending smash against the wall; his arm being gingerly held above his chest. He really did hope it wasn't broken. He'd had enough broken bones to last a whole lifetime. "Well-" He heard his partner speak, quietly, sounding far away from him, "-On the bright side, I think it's morning."

"Good morning." Mike told her, sarcastically. Taking note of the fact she was right, there were streams of light coming from under the door that was allowing them to at least see where the door was. This would help them, Mike hoped. He slowly, painfully with grunts, stood up and tried his hardest to look around the room something more than brick and more brick.

Not finding any, he looked towards Megan, finding that he could actually see her now and he could see she had her own injuries. "You okay?" Mike asked, almost casually but there was a touch of concern.

Megan nodded, "I'm alright." She looked down at herself, noticing the small cuts and bruises, "They're just superficial."

Nodding, Mike gestured towards her, "You think you can stand up?"

Frowning, she asked, "Why? You got a plan?"

Mike gave her a small grin, "I'm coming up with one." He responded, cryptically.

Still confused, Megan stood up more easily than Mike had, finding her legs a little more co-operative. "Such as?" She asked, once she was stood up straight.

Mike tried to be positive, "As in I'm coming up with one."

"Oh." Megan replied, sounding slightly defeated.

"Hey, why don't you come up with one!?" Mike told her, defensively, raising his voice. "This is a partnership y'know!"

Megan smirked, "I'm glad you realise that." Mike clamped his mouth shut, realising he was perhaps taking things the wrong one in his groggy state of mind; the last thing they needed was to fight now when they should be working together.

"Yeah." Mike muttered, turning away from her and looking at the locked door, thoughtfully.

Looking at the way he was thinking, Megan decided to voice her opinion, "If you're thinking we should wait until someone opens the door and then surprise attack him, you should know that they've probably prepared for that."

Mike sighed and turned back to her, "Well then I got nothin'!"

"Well I do." Megan told him, unable to hide her anxiety from her voice even though this was her idea.

Mike raised his eyebrows and looked at her with curiosity. "Yeah? What's that?"

"Corin Ford feels conflicted about this, maybe talking to him would allow us to have an... ally."

Mike snorted, disapprovingly, "So you want to shrink the guy? You don't know what he's thinking."

"If I talk to him I'll be able to find out." Megan argued, defensive.

Mike shook his head, "How do you plan to do that?" Seeing so many flaws in her suggestion that the cracks in the floor could have swallowed them whole.

Megan hesitated.

"Well?" Mike asked, making a movement motion with his hand, trying to wind her up and get her to tell him the rest.

"I let them take me."

Mike was shocked. He spluttered, "What?!"

"I let them-"

"No, I heard you." Mike interrupted, "That's a bad idea."

"It may be the only way-"

"Did you not see what happened to Alana Moani?" Mike asked, raising his voice a little, concerned for his partners' safety, "Did you not read the ME's report?"

"I don't want that to happen to me either." Megan agreed, "But this may be our one best chance of getting out of here."

"Says you." Mike argued, not convinced, "I say we kick down the door when they open it. I like my idea much better."

"And go out fighting?" Megan asked, not convinced, the sound of disapproval in her voice.

"Exactly." Mike nodded, leaning against the wall and then lowering himself to floor, and giving his partner a hard look, "They take you; we're split up - That lessens our chance for escape."

Megan looked at him, thoughtfully.

"And you know as well as I do-" Mike continued, "-that there is no way in hell that convincing one man is going to change our predicament. I don't know whether you noticed or not but this Corin Ford has not been in to see us at all."

"But you heard his doubts. We could use his help." Megan argued, more softly.

"I don't care about his inner conflicts, Wheeler!" Mike commented, harshly, "Let's just concentrate on getting us out of here." After a moments consideration, Megan conceded defeat to her partner and nodded.

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TBC

I don't think I've ever really gone for anything like this; if you notice any mistakes or errors or have any suggestions then please let me know, I'll correct them as I go.