Heck yeah. So, as you all know (unless you're reading this in the future, in which case it is no longer true,) it is Spring Break. And, like every year, I'm using it as an excuse to recalibrate myself and sleep. Along with that comes a lot of writing and drawing and surfing the internet.

SO. It's fair to assume I'll be updating several stories over the week-break, including this one, with luck, hopefully. We'll see.

ANYWAY here's a new chapter for you, because it's been over a week.

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"Kevin."

Beside Kai, a soft murmur caught his attention. He peered up from his laptop sleepily, crimson eyes slowly hardening in alert when Rei's eyes blinked open. The golden irises rolled around slowly, taking in the blur of the room before suddenly widening.

"Kevin," Rei repeated, trying to sit up. The heart-rate monitor began to beep faster, and in an instant Kai had slid his laptop off of his knee and was standing beside the bed.

"Rei. Rei!" He hissed, his voice quiet despite the small amount of panic welling in his gut. Rei fidgeting, pulling away from him and repeating his son's name again and again. Finally, as his eyes opened and the fog of confusion drained from them, his hands wrapped tightly around the front of Kai's shirt and he tugged him half-way onto the bed, until he was eye-to-eye with him.

"He took my son, Kai. He took my son."

"I know," Kai said quietly, as Rei went on repeating the statement. Gradually, his voice faded into a whisper before he stopped, relaxing back against the pillows behind him. His eyes were watering when he looked back up at the Russian.

"Is he..."

Kai shook his head, reluctantly seating himself again. "We don't know."

"So..."

"He's missing."

Rei looked at him, his mouth slightly open, his eyebrows elevated in disbelief. Kevin was... that meant...

"Lee..."

Kai just nodded. It was all he needed to do, all he could do. What else was he supposed to tell Rei? Not even the most clever of Hallmark cards had created a way to tell someone that a sociopath had abducted their son. Rei shook his head slowly before dropping his gaze down to his lap. If the information had sunk in, it wasn't totally apparent, but Kai knew him better than that.

"They... didn't find anything to suggest he was hurt. Just tire marks."

"Tire marks..." Rei repeated distantly. Kai watched him carefully to make sure he didn't say the wrong thing.

"They'll find him, Rei. And Mariah."

Rei was silent for a long stretch of time. So long, in fact, that Kai eventually sighed and picked his laptop back up. Twenty minutes into staring blankly at the illuminated screen, Rei shifted again.

"He's really doing it," he muttered, gazing ahead at the ugly pattern of the privacy curtain that surrounded half the bed. Kai looked up, distantly thankful for the engagement.

"Doing what?" He asked slowly, frowning. Rei shook his head.

"He said he was going to tear my family apart. And replace me... Through force."

"Rei, don't-"

"He has my family, Kai. He's taken my wife and son. He's doing exactly what he said he would."

"He can't replace you, Rei. No amount of force will ever make Mariah or Kevin accept him as anything more than a monster."

Rei turned his head toward him, horror and intense sadness in his eyes. Kai blinked, startled by the pain he saw.

"That's what I'm afraid of, Kai. I'm afraid he'll really hurt them."

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The leather glove stretched tight around his hand before he finally released his hold on it, letting it fit into place on it's own. Wriggling his fingers as a means of testing their feel, he sighed and started toward the nurse's desk, only to be greeted by a skeptical look.

"Can I help you, sir?" The woman asked blandly, peering up at him over the rim of her glasses. He fought the twitch in his eye and cleared is throat, pushing his hands into his pockets and listening to the sound of leather against leather.

"Yeah. I'm here to visit Rei Kon. In room, um... two thirty-eight."

The eyes stuck to him like glue for a long, awkward moment before she looked down at the screen of the computer before her. Her long nails clacked over the keys for a minute before she looked back up at him.

"And your name?"

He could have groaned. "Tala Ivanov."

"Relation?"

"No. A friend."

"Visiting hours are over, sit."

Tala glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the rooms, down the hallway to his left. He scratched the back of his head, more nervously than he felt, and turned back toward the woman, planting his palms on the counter top.

"Listen, lady, I know you're doing your job, but we grew up together, and he's been shot. I need to see him, please. He's practically my brother."

The woman looked at him hard for a long minute before her eyes rolled and she lifted her hands in defeat. "Alright, alright. Go ahead."

Tala was of down the hallway before she had a chance to question him any further. The sterile hallway made his brain tick, tick, tick, and he needed to get out. The second he found the door he shoved it open, completing his performance with a panicked flair in case the woman was still watching him.

The room was dark and warm, full of the distant buzz of machinery and the gentle glow of a laptop. It illuminated the startled, scrutinizing eyes of the man he had really come to see, who watched him with mild distaste.

"Jesus, take your damn time why don't you."

"Fuck off, Kai," Tala growled, "You know I hate people."

A wry smile spread itself across Kai's face as Tala stepped in timidly, expecting a doctor to leap out from behind something. When nothing attacked him, he let his eyes travel to Rei.

"Gah. That looks like it blows."

Rei stared at him, eyes half open and slowly growing angry. "You invited him?" He growled, looking toward Kai for confirmation. He only shrugged.

"I need his help."

"I'm honored," Tala muttered, perching himself down on the table top across the room from them. He squinted through the darkness curiously, trying to figure out what had happened to create such tension in the air. "So what's the deal?"

"Rei's son is-..." Kai started, before glancing at Rei and softening his tone. "-... Missing. As is his wife. And we need to find them."

"... Oh. Is that all?"

"Tala."

"Right, right, okay. So do you have any idea where they are?"

He was answered with silence, followed by Kai sighing. "No. Just that Lee Yin took them."

Silence, again, bubbled up around them. Tala looked back and forth between Rei and Kai, both of whom stared back at him. "Oh," he muttered, after a little thought. "Oh. Jesus."

"Yeah."

"Shit."

"Tala, focus."

The redhead was quiet for a moment before he laughed breathily. "This is a bit more exciting than I had thought."

Kai pulled of his shoe and chucked it at him, pegging him in the shoulder. Tala laughed again and gave him the finger before looking toward Rei, who was glaring back.

"Well that gives us time, then. If I remember the story the way I think I do, Lee won't hurt your kid. Not yet, at least."

"Where could he have taken them?" Kai growled, pushing forward before things got out of hand. Tala sat back and chewed his lip for a silent moment.

"Well... If he was here long enough to stalk you, then he's probably in or near town. There are only so many good hideouts in a place like this. So, probably South Town, for sure. And then..." He looked down at his table and sighed, shaking his head.

"I don't know. I guess we'll just have to start looking."

Kai ran a hand down his face and exhaled quickly, leaning backwards. "Alright then. Any idea where to start?"

Tala rose an eyebrow and looked toward Rei, who was still glaring at him. "I'd say... the Old Mill. And if not there, maybe the old loading docks-"

Suddenly, Tala's face fell blank and a smile spread his lips wide apart. "No. Just the docks," he muttered more to himself than anyone else, before standing and sweeping out of the room. In his wake, he left Rei and Kai to stare ahead and blink at where he used to be.

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Tala would make a terrible, terrible father.

Just sayin'.

Please review?