Disclaimer: see first chapter.

Author's note: I am so very sorry for not updating sooner!! Life has been… Well, hectic would be the only appropriate word. I haven't been able to write very much at all, so the story still is not finished. This chapter is slightly shorter than what you are used to, but I didn't want to let you wait any longer. It also the right place to end this chapter. ;-)

I want to add that my warning in previous chapters still stands. Toby is not having the best time of his life and there are sexual references, although nothing explicit. Keep that in mind though and don't read any further if you are offended by this. Please, let me know what you think and forgive me for my extremely late update.

Enjoy!

4. Too much to drink

Halfway through Toby's fourth cocktail, Valerie disappeared for a few minutes, trying to arrange a personal dance for him. The alcohol had done its job and Toby felt lightheaded. He was angry with himself for letting it get this far, but the conversation had become more interesting as the evening went on. Although that was probably linked with the amount of alcohol as well.

Shoving the rest of his drink away he tried to reorganize his thoughts. He should have known better: alcohol made his mental blockages harder and at the moment Toby had a hard time focussing. While talking with the woman he had easily managed to concentrate on her, but now that she had left, everyone else's mind seemed to scream for his attention.

The barman took his drink away and replaced it with the check. Great! Toby took some bills from his wallet and put them on the bar. This was going to be a very expensive evening. He also forgot to ask exactly how much such a private dance cost.

Out of nowhere Valerie showed up in front of him again. Despite her five drinks she looked barely affected by the alcohol. The 'female' version of the cocktail must contain considerably less alcohol.

"You're one lucky guy," she mewed coyly. "Nick agreed to a half hour dance in the back. Come." She took his hand and directed him through the crowd towards the back. Winking at the bodyguard she pushed the strings aside and dragged him in the second room.

Nearly at the end, in front of a small podium, she indicated a comfortable looking armchair. "Just sit down. I need to get changed, but I'll be back in five minutes."

As he sat down Toby had a look around. Music was also playing in here as well, although it was in a way more danceable. All together there were about ten small podia with an armchair like his in front of it. The soft blue lights around each podium gave it a fake impression of intimacy.

On a few stages a naked girl was dancing. All of them were Latina's but none looked like the girl he had seen in the cop's mind. They were seductively twisting their bodies around a pole or just crawling on the podium towards the men in front of it who occasionally grabbed a boob or hit their ass.

All the women appeared to be fairly young, but none seemed as young as the one he was looking for. One of them now stepped off the stage and took her man out of yet another door in the corner. Toby didn't have to think too long where those two were going. Apparently the whole place was a lot bigger than he had given it credit for.

Valerie suddenly appeared out of a small door that led, Toby assumed, to some sort of changing room. She wore slightly more than before in that sense that she now had a tiny teeny bikini to cover her breasts. A g-string that barely hid anything, covered with a see-through parero, had replaced the hotpants. Despite his earlier intentions of leaving as soon as possible, he stayed in his seat and couldn't keep his eyes off the nearly naked body that had now climbed onto the little podium.

The slowly twisting and turning naked body had Toby mesmerized. The attractive sight in front of him mingled with the alcohol that clouded his brain and made his blood pump quicker. While dancing Valerie stripped off the little clothing she was wearing and before long only a small piece of fabric was hiding her most private parts.

From the moment she had walked in Toby had failed to block out her thoughts. And her vivid images of the things she had in mind did little to aid him in his intentions to leave. Every coherent thought in his mind screamed at him to walk out right now. But the primal instincts in his body were screamer louder.

***************

A soft shake woke him up. A hand was caressing his chest. Groggily Toby tried to sit up, but the throbbing pain in his head made him rethink that. He grunted and closed his eyes again. What the hell…?

"Toby? Come on, you should go." The female voice sounded vaguely familiar but Toby couldn't place it. "Come on dude, Nick will kill me."

Nick? Slowly the memories came back. The topless bar, the loud music, the dancing. Valerie! Suddenly very clear-headed Toby sat up straight, looking around the dark room. He didn't remember entering this place. How did he get here?

"Valerie?" He asked, turning around to see the brunette smiling sadly at him. She hadn't bothered putting on any clothes, although her lower half was a bit covered by the sheets. Leaning against the bedpost behind her, she reached out for his arm again.

"You should go now," she insisted softly.

"How did I end up here? I don't…" Toby shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs of his terrible hangover. "I can't remember how… Last thing I know is you dancing."

The woman nodded. "You seemed to be enjoying the show. So was I. After that half hour we came up here but you were pretty wasted." "Who would have know a guy like you can't hold his liquor." "We eh… We tried, but you passed out about half way through… you know."

Valerie sighed. Earlier that evening she had been so pleased with herself and the handsome fling she had landed, but this ending was quite anti-climactic. Not what she had had in mind at all.

"Right," Toby answered. He had only just noticed that he wasn't wearing his shirt anymore and his pants were unzipped. Strangely embarrassed about his half nudity he scrambled for his shirt and put it back on. "Look, sorry about all this."

"Yeah, me too," Valerie said, not standing up from where she was lying on the bed.

"So we didn't…" Toby waved his hands around over the bed. "You know… We didn't sleep together, did we?"

"No." The woman's disappointed look was enough prove that she wasn't lying. "I wish."

"How long was I out?"

"A few hours. I couldn't immediately wake you up, so I decided to just let you sleep a while to sober up a bit. But it's getting late and Nick will be wondering where I am."

"Ok, sorry again. I didn't mean to pass out like that." Inwardly Toby was immensely grateful for it. She had been right about his poor drinking abilities. He usually stuck with a few beers as he had figured out the hard way that his telepathy didn't agree with him being drunk.

Valerie gave him a small smile and her eyes lit up again. "You know, it wasn't a complete waste of time. I managed to keep myself busy." Her hand reached down her body, underneath the sheets, and she batted her eyelids. "You are nice to look at when you sleep." "Quite a turn-on."

The images she was sending him left nothing to his imagination. Trying to block out the sexual flashes, Toby quickly tied up his shoes. "Thanks for the dance." It was all he could say before nearly running out of the room, leaving the naked woman on the bed to her own fantasies.

***************

The moment he entered the hallway he managed to push Valerie's thoughts to the back of his mind. His head was still spinning and his own thoughts were far from coherent. The walls around him seemed to be moving. Toby berated himself. He never got drunk, never.

He didn't recognise the place at all so he just stumbled down some stairs in what he could only hope was the exit. This part of the house looked quite run-down, not as flashy as the bar downstairs. It also smelled old and dusty.

"Where are you going?" A booming voice came through an open door and stopped Toby in his tracks.

A large, slightly overweight man walked into the hall and looked the paramedic up and down. "Is that the guy Val picked up?" Flash. Toby grunted. More foreign thoughts were the last thing he needed right now.

"Answer! What are you doing here?"

"Valerie." It was the only word Toby could form, but the man seemed to understand.

"Yeah, right. Looks like you had too good a time." The man's voice was laced with sarcasm. "But you know, good times don't come for free. You kept one of my best workers busy for a whole evening. I hope you brought a few big notes in your wallet."

Toby, still leaning against the wall, reached for his wallet. The killer headache now caused his vision to blur. He hands clumsily searched for the right bills.

The man kept studying him. "Your first time?" It was more of a statement than a true question. "Yes, my Valerie sure knows how to loosen a guy up." He laughed.

Loosing his last holds on his telepathy Toby just shoved whatever notes were in his wallet into the man's hands and left the heavy guy behind. He had to get out. His head was about to explode.

"First right!" The man shouted after him.

Heading the man's instructions Toby turned right at the next corner. He recognised the blue lights that spilled through an open door at the end of the corridor. Taking a deep breath the young man tried to walk up straighter, ignoring his pounding head the best he could.

Out of nowhere a girl suddenly ran into the hall, bumping into Toby, causing both of them to stumble against the wall.

"Oh sorry!" A frightened looking girl tried to steady herself again, pulling away from his grasp. "I didn't meant to… I am so sorry!"

"It's ok," Toby whispered. It was all he could say for her thoughts rushed into his brain. He closed his eyes.

A man screaming. Flash. The girl crying. Flash. The cop from the hospital. Flash. A man beating the girl. Flash. "Don't try that again!" Flash. The cop getting beaten up. Flash. The girl running towards the cop. Flash. "Don't! You'll kill him." Flash. "Get away!" Flash. Someone grabbing the crying girl and dragging her away. Flash.

From far away Toby could hear someone yelling at him. He wasn't quite sure whether the voice was from the present. Forcing his eyelids open again, Toby's eyes fell upon the woman. She was the young Latino girl, the reason he entered this hellhole in the first place. Her haunted eyes once again filled his mind.

A rough shake made Toby look up. "What do you think you're doing?!?" A fairly handsome brown haired man looked furiously at him. Dark eyes bore into Toby's bright blue ones. Unconsciously Toby glanced sideways at the girl, but the dark man tightened his grip on Toby's shoulder.

"Hey! What do you want?"

Toby wanted to answer, but truth be told he had reached the end of his powers. The remnants of the alcohol and the full-blown hangover had already cost him a lot of strength to keep his mental barriers in place. Only minutes before, with the heavy man, he had lost that last blockage. The stress and fear radiating from the girl and the anger from the man now completely shattered whatever coherent thought that had remained. Right now Toby's head was exploding. Chaos reigned and nothing made any sense.

He had had his fair share of loosing control, but right now the paramedic could barely remember his own name. It seemed nothing inside his head was his own anymore. He needed to leave but even that thought didn't feel right.

Toby's legs gave way and he fell hard on his knees. Not prepared for the sudden collapse of the other guy, the man holding his shoulder let go. Falling forwards, Toby caught himself on his hands.

"What's wrong with you, dude?" The hard voice added to the psychological pain and Toby covered his ears with his hands, curling over his knees. His breathing got harder, reality slipped away. The last thing he felt, was a rough hand shaking his shoulders before everything turned black.