Tom and Harry were in Danny's room, planning the next tour. It was too hard to do nothing, so when they weren't at the police station, they made plans. It gave them a fantasy world, where their future was certain and definitely involved Dougie, back with them. It had been too hard to practice their songs; they had tried, but it was like some humourless parody of their lives: there was a part missing.

"So," said Danny, breaking the moody silence that had hung over them for the past few minutes, "if we start in Edinburgh and work our way down, we can finish the UK leg of the tour by November."

Tom sat up a bit at this. "November, but Dan, if we push back the start by a month, then we could finish in December and do some Christmas shows! What do you think Harry?"

"Hmm? Oh...sure, whatever you want." Harry said, looking slightly unfocused.

When Tom's phone started ringing, they all looked round, trying not to get too excited. It might not be news, and they had got their hopes up too many times before.

"Tom, are you there? Are the others there?"

"Oh, Inspector! Yes, they're here. Is there any news?" Danny and Harry motioned for him to put the Inspector on speakerphone, excited by the possibility of progress.

"It's more than news boys, he's been found! He was in the middle of nowhere. They're taking him to the nearest hospital now, do you have paper for the address?"

Within minutes, the three of them were in Tom's car, with Harry driving, barrelling down the motorway. Neither of the others bothered to tell Harry that he should slow down, all they cared about was that Dougie was alive and out, and they HAD to see him.

It was more than an hour before they arrived at the hospital, and they sprinted from the car to the entrance, almost running over Inspector Grange in the reception, and making many of the patients waiting jump.

"Where is he?"

"You can't see him yet boys. He's being taken care of..."

Harry stormed forward, backed by the other two and looked like he was going to punch the Inspector; after all they had been through, he didn't seem to understand that they needed to be with him, almost to make sure that this was for real...

"I'm sorry! He's unconscious anyway, but they needed to give him immediate care which involved some surgery! Come through to our room and I can explain more..."

They followed him, still seething, but realising that there was nothing they could do unless the Inspector told them where Dougie was, and there wasn't any chance that they could force the answer out of a man like that.

"What's wrong with him?" Tom demanded, thumping his fist against the table as soon as they were sat around it.

"Your friend is in bad shape. He has bruising all over his body, and burns and lacerations, concentrated mainly on his arms, but also present across his body. At the moment, I think they're taking care of some fractured ribs, but otherwise his bones seem to be fine."

"How is he though, I mean, how is he feeling?"

"We don't know yet what kind of mental trauma he experienced. I can tell you that his injuries were sufficient that, had he not had a strong mind, he could well have died. We can therefore assume that he is still, at the very least, sane. I feel I should warn you though, that this kind of experience will almost certainly have scarred him mentally, with severe consequences, possibly with personality changes..."

"How can you not know how his mind is?" Danny interrupted, looking confused. "I mean," he said, looking to the other two for support, "surely you can tell from speaking to him?"

The Inspector shifted slightly in his chair. "We haven't spoken to him," he explained, looking up, "he has been unconscious ever since we got to him. An old lady was out walking her dog when she discovered him early this morning. She saw that he was covered in blood, called 999, and they picked him up as soon as they could, it wasn't easy with him having a forest on one side, and a muddy field on the other..."

"Covered in blood," Tom repeated faintly, sitting back and covering his face with his hands.

"But if he was unconscious, how did they know who he..."

"Good question, Harry. Apparently one of the ambulance crew recognised him from the papers. They called in to the hospital to get me on the phone and over here, and I called you. I am surprised though," he said slowly, "that none of you have asked if we got the kidnapper..."

"Did you?" they all said at once, making the Inspector laugh.

"Yes. His name is Jerry Sanders, and he's 29 years old." Inspector Grange paused, looking at them. "You look blank, boys. You shouldn't."

"I don't remember a Jerry Sanders..." said Tom, the others nodding, looking confused.

"But you, Tom, met him on three separate occasions. No? Still don't remember? Well, the first time was the Busted auditions. You two got chatting apparently, and then never spoke after you found out you got in. I know it's not your fault," he said, as Tom opened his mouth to defend himself. "The second time, Danny was there too, but neither of the others were, do you remember that?"

"The London auditions," murmured Tom.

"What?" said Danny, looking shocked that Tom would remember the individuals, other than Dougie and Harry, who had tried to get into McFly.

"There was that guy," said Tom, looking up at the other two, "one who I recognised from Busted, and he wanted to be our bass player. He was in one of the first groups we saw, and he still hated me for getting Busted, even though it didn't last."

"Yes," smiled the Inspector, looking happy that Tom was remembering the man at last. "He still held that against you, but now Danny too. He thought you were in it together, and of course he resented Dougie for getting in for bass when he didn't. He gave up music after that, and moved to America. He worked for the FBI and CIA for a few years before he became a security man, bodyguard work mostly, which is how he met you again when..."

"We did Jus My Luck," said Harry quietly.

"Yes," said the inspector, looking shocked, "but how did you know Harry, you would have barely seen him, if at all, before that..."

"He was supposed to be looking after us, but then he sometimes disappeared, and I always heard him complaining about us. He said we were useless, that Dougs and I only got in because of how we looked, and Tom and Danny were superficial bastards who passed off other peoples songs and bad busted copies as their own. It was only when I heard one of the other guards ask him why he hated us so much that he said about the auditions, and I remembered id met him in the loos that day."

"Ahh, so we all know who he is then," said the Inspector, smiling at Harry's explanation. Danny raised his hand slowly, looking unsure.

"Um, yes Danny? You don't need to put up your hand you know, we're not at school."

"Sorry, but I was just wondering...I assume that the attack on Dougie was deliberate..." Danny said, looking up.

"Yes, we know that Dougie was targeted."

"But why? I mean, Tom and I turned down loads of people, not just him, and there must have been some others who didn't get into Busted who tried out for us just like him. Even if he didn't like working on the film, why would you break the law for that? It was just a few weeks of his life..."

"Another good question. Simply put, because he lost his job and credibility because of you boys. I know that you didn't mean for it to happen, but I'm sure that you remember that night when you went to a party with Lindsay, you especially Harry," he said, nodding as the drummer blushed. "That night he was supposed to be looking out for you, making sure that nothing happens. Directors often get people in to stop awkward relationships developing between the cast, and that was Jerry Sanders job for the night. He lost you in the crowds, and didn't see you get into a cab, and therefore, couldn't stop anything from happening. It was an embarrassment, but he was found out, and fired. Professionals shouldn't lose an actress and some popstars like that; it was humiliating, it cost him his job, and because of what had happened with you before, he became somewhat obsessed. He says that he only started seriously thinking out plans to do something about it a year ago though."

There was a knock at the door, and a pretty, young nurse came in, looking shy.

"Sorry, but I've been told to tell you that you can see him now. He's still unconscious, but he's in the Green ward, on the left..."

She didn't get the chance to finish before Tom, Harry and Danny had pushed past and started running down the corridor, feet slapping against the plastic flooring and echoing behind them.

Harry was the first to arrive, with all the running he did, and pushed the door open, almost breaking down at the sight of his friend, looking so tiny and pale against the sheets. He had a livid black eye, and bruises and cuts littered across his sleeping face. His hair was different too, much shorter, almost more like Danny's, instead of the longer fringe he had to push out of his eyes. Dougie's arms were over the sheets, almost covered in white bandages and plasters, while just under his shoulders, Harry could see what must be more bandaging holding his broken chest together.

Tom and Danny had arrived soon after him, out of breath and panting. They stood in the doorway, just watching the movement of Dougie's chest up and down, too afraid to touch him, in case it hurt him.

"He'll be fine new," said the young nurse said from behind them, smiling as they jumped at her voice. She gently pushed them forwards, steering them into chairs around the bed. "He just needs rest now, and lots of time to recover. He shouldn't be in pain at least, he's hooked up to some pretty strong drugs to stop him feeling all that, which should have him knocked out for a few hours at least..."

"His hair, what's happened to his hair?" Tom mumbled, reaching out as if to touch it, but pulling his hand back as if shocked, remembering Dougie's injuries.

"Oh that was us, don't worry. He had quite a bad head wound, we suspect from when he fell, but it was covered in mud and dirt, and we had to clean it in case it got infected. The hair was too thick to do anything, and was, umm..." she looked scared to continue, but Tom nodded for her to continue, "well, it was, um, stuck together a bit. With blood. You can touch his hands by the way, if you like, they're fine." She smiled as she left, as all three of the boys leaned forwards to touch the friend they had been missing for so long.