Lindsey didn't realize where she was at first. Moonlight streamed through the tall windows, casting long shadows across the expansive room. She was lying on what was quite possibly the most comfortable bed she'd ever been in; the sheets were luxuriously smooth and cool. Her head felt like it was splitting in two. She rolled slowly to her left side and jumped when she saw Yorgi lying there.

He was lying flat on his back in a pair of dark pajama pants with his black robe left open across his chest. The moonlight glowed on his pale skin, making his tattoo stand out in high contrast. The dragon crawled up Yorgi's right ribcage from the waistband of his pants, across his chest, the spines splaying over half his neck. He had his arms tucked behind his head and was staring intently at the ceiling.

"Yorgi," Lindsey said in a loud whisper.

He turned his head towards her and smiled. "You're awake," he said in a low voice, sounding relieved.

"Why am I… oh gods… Yorgi, we didn't…?"

Yorgi actually laughed at that. "No, little dove. You are safe."

Lindsey heaved a sigh and flopped back against the squashy pillows. "How'd I get here?"

"He bring you here," Yorgi answered, nodding at someone across the room.

Lindsey leaned up, looking down the length of the bed, and saw Goku slumped over the big desk, his head on his arms, sound asleep in the chair. "Why?" she whispered.

"Do you not remember?" Yorgi asked her slowly.

Lindsey closed her eyes for a minute. "I remember getting dressed and going to the courthouse."

Yorgi rolled to his right side, propping himself up on his right elbow. "You remember inside courthouse?"

She shook her head slowly, the motion making her brain scream in protest. "No, just getting out of the SUV and walking towards it. I don't remember what happened after that."

Yorgi grabbed his forehead with his left hand for a minute, then heaved a sigh, running his fingers through his long, dark curls.

"What is it, Yorgi?" Lindsey asked. "Did I faint?"

"You lucky to be alive," he said softly.

Lindsey blinked at him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"We know," Yorgi said, his hazel eyes burning into hers, even through the darkness.

A chill went up her spine. Knew what? She reached for him and felt a sharp pull in her right arm. Whipping her head around, she saw the IV tube running from her arm up to a half-filled bag of clear liquid. It hit her like a brick wall. She remembered. Now she understood why she felt so weak and nauseous. She turned back to Yorgi.

"Get this thing outta my arm," she stated.

"No," was his simple reply as he laid back on the bed.

"Yorgi, I'm serious," she insisted.

"I am too. Now, go to sleep."

"I can't sleep in here," she protested.

"Get used to it," he said as he shut his eyes. He'd been awake all night, making sure she was okay, and even though his watch wasn't over, he was going to rest for at least a minute.

"What do you mean, 'get used to it'?" she asked. "I'm taking this thing out of my arm and I'm going to MY bed." She began to peel the thick, extremely sticky tape from her arm.

"You stop," Yorgi commanded, leaning over her and grabbing her free arm.

"I'm not staying here!" she shouted at him as she tried to twist and wrench her wrist out of his grasp. All she wanted to do was to go back to her bathroom and lock herself inside with her pipe.

"Yes, you are," Yorgi growled, keeping a firm grip on her. "You not leaving until I say."

"LET… ME… GO!" she squirmed away from him and fell out of bed, yet he maintained his hold. "GET OFF ME, YORGI!"

"What is going on here?" came Vegeta's rough voice.

Lindsey looked up from her place on the floor. He rubbed his eyes and stared down at her. "He won't let me go," she whined.

"He's not supposed to," Vegeta replied. "You're staying here until you learn to overcome your addiction."

"I don't have an addiction!" Lindsey argued.

Vegeta snorted. "That's why Kakarot found you half-dead on the floor, right?"

"G-Goku found me?" she stammered.

Vegeta nodded.

"Well, I made a mistake, okay? I'm fine. Now let me go!" She tried yanking her arm away again. After struggling for a few minutes, she finally proclaimed, "You can't keep me here forever!"

"We can until you clean," Yorgi responded, still leaning over the bed, his grip like a vice.

"The fuck is this, an intervention?"

"You could call it that," Vegeta answered.

Lindsey's eyes went wide. "You gotta be kidding me!"

"Is no joke," Yorgi said in his slow, quiet voice. "You here until I say otherwise."

"You cannot hold me against my will!" Shouting was making her head hurt even worse and the room was starting to spin slightly.

"You want to go? Fine," Yorgi said releasing her suddenly and she fell back against the floor. "But know this, if you leave this room, you leave Anarchy 99. Forever."

Lindsey gaped at him in disbelief. "You wouldn't."

Yorgi sat up in bed, pushing his hair out of his face. He looked stern.

"Yorgi!" she cried. "You'd kick me out of Anarchy 99? Me?!"

He gave one slow nod. "I do not want to. But I will not tolerate this in my home."

She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes again. They didn't understand. She needed it to be normal. She couldn't function anymore with out her drugs. They made her happy and silly again, just like she was before. She brought her knees up to her chin, staring at the floor, thinking. Which did she want more?

"You have to stop, Lins," came Goku's voice. He knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off. "Fine," he said. "If that's the way you want to be about it. But you will not marry my son until you get yourself straightened out."

Lindsey snorted at that. "Yeah, your wife tried that, remember? You see how well that worked out."

"It's different this time. I'M putting my foot down," Goku threatened.

"Yeah, ooookay," Lindsey answered sarcastically, still resting her chin on her knees.

"Lindsey, I mean it," Goku repeated.

"You know he's an adult and we can do what we want, right?" She was feeling beyond irritated and attacked. She knew Gohan loved her and it wouldn't matter what anyone said, not even Goku.

Without a word, Goku stood and left the room, heading to wake up Gohan. He found Gohan in Xander's room by following his energy. Gohan was still pacing the floor. Xander had fallen asleep, sprawled out chest-down across the huge sheep-skin rug on the floor and Trunks was now sitting in the gaming chair beside him, his focus on the TV. Even with the lights out, the electric blue walls reflected the light of the TV, making the room fairly light.

"How is she?" Gohan exclaimed as soon as he saw his dad.

"She's awake," Goku answered, his tone serious.

"Can I see her?" Gohan asked eagerly.

"Yes, but she's not herself, Gohan. You have to understand that."

Trunks paused the game and turned to them. "Is there anything you need us to do?"

"Yes," Goku said, looking at Gohan. "Son, I have to ask you to do the hardest thing you've ever done in your life."

"What's that, dad?" Gohan asked nervously.

"You have to trust me, okay? It's the only way to save her."

Lindsey was still sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees. It was getting terribly cold and she was beginning to shiver. She heard the door click and looked up.

"Gohan!" she exclaimed, getting to her feet.

He froze in his tracks. She looked horrible. There were dark circles under her eyes and her shoulders were bony and shivering. Her collar bones were showing painfully under her pale skin and the bruises on her arms left no question as to what had caused this transformation.

Goku stepped between them. "You have a choice to make now. You can either stay here, get better and marry Gohan, or you can walk out that door and lose everything that's important to you."

Lindsey looked at Gohan. "Gohan, they've all gone nuts. There's nothing wrong with me! I swear!"

Gohan fixed her with a sad stare. "Yes, there is. And you have to get better. We can't keep going on like this."

"I am better!" she cried. "Haven't you noticed that?"

"I thought you were getting better," Gohan admitted. "But you had me fooled. You're worse now than you ever were."

The tears were really coming now. "How can you say that?"

"Lindsey, you know it's true," he said, taking a step towards her. Goku put his arm out to stop him. Gohan took a deep breath and said, "If you don't accept their help, then… then I'm afraid it's over between us." The words tasted sour in his mouth. He hated himself for saying it to her. All he wanted to do was to rush to her, hold her, tell her she was safe and that he loved her more than life itself. He wanted to take her away from all of this, to make it all better again. It was taking every bit of will power he had to just stand there, saying these things he didn't really mean. Deep down, he didn't think he could ever leave her, no matter what she did. But he had to make her think he would, he had to back her into a corner, so she'd have no choice but to recover.

Lindsey felt like she'd been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. He couldn't be serious. But the cold look on his face told her he meant it. She'd never seen him look so distant from her. She was panicked.

"Don't you love me anymore?" she asked. The vulnerability in her voice was heartbreaking.

"Of course I do," he answered softly. "More than anything. That's why you have to get over this. We have no future together if you don't."

"Gohan…" she started.

"You need to make your decision now," Goku said. "This is the last time you will see him until you are healthy again."

"No, please, don't do this to me," Lindsey whined.

"You did this to yourself," Goku said. "But we will help you, if you want us to."

"NO!" she shouted, stomping her foot like a child demanding a toy. "Don't you understand what I've been through? Don't you care?!"

"Do you know what I've been through?" Gohan shot back. "This isn't just affecting you, ya know! I love you, dammit, but you're not the only one who's hurting here! Don't you get it? You're only causing more pain by doing this!"

Angry tears were burning her eyes. "I was trying to get better for YOU."

Gohan snorted. "Really? Getting blasted out of your brain day in and day out was to help me? How did you work that one out?"

"The nightmares? Being scared of everyone? Sex? You didn't notice a change at all?"

"That wasn't you!" Gohan argued, his ears burning red. He couldn't believe she'd mentioned sex in front of his dad. "It was all a lie! You lied to me!"

"God, my head," she moaned, rubbing her forehead.

"Don't change the subject," Gohan scolded.

"I'm not changing the subject," she hissed, still pressing her hand to her forehead.

"Either you love me or you don't," he spat. "Either you want to spend the rest of our lives together, or you want to throw away everything we've worked for! After everything we've been through, EVERYTHING we've been through, you're just going to walk away? Don't I mean anything to you?!"

"Gohan," she paused to lick her lips. She couldn't lose him. She'd lost so much already. Gohan was the only thing in her life that was safe and stable. "I'm scared," she whispered. It was the first real truth she'd spoken to him in awhile.

"You'll be okay," Gohan said.

She stood silently for a long moment, the choices swirling painfully through her head.

"Please," he begged, "don't give up now."

She nodded. "Okay. I'll do it for you."

Gohan heaved a sigh of relief. He pushed passed his dad and wrapped her in a tight hug. She was already shivering against his chest. "You'll be okay, I promise," he whispered to her.

She was terrified. She knew the dreams would come back, the horrible memories, the fear… She didn't know how she was going to handle it. Without her escape, without her friends, without Gohan… It was too much. She began to cry into his shirt. His strong hand rubbed her back for a minute, and then he pulled away from her.

"I'll miss you," he said sadly.

"I already miss you," she answered, scrubbing at the tears that continued to fall.

"Time to go, Gohan," Goku said, taking his son by the shoulders and steering him towards the door.

"I-I love you!" she called, trying to contain the sobs that tightened her throat. She wanted to follow him, to hug him one last time, but the IV tube yanked her back again.

"Love you, too," Gohan answered, glancing back over his shoulder at her as he left the room.

Lindsey sat back down on Yorgi's bed and fought her tears. Her shoulders shook as the hot tears fell from her eyes. She pressed her fist to her mouth, holding her breath, trying to hold it in.

Vegeta was standing with his back to her, still as a statue, staring out the window over the vast grounds. Yorgi was busying himself with some papers that were strewn across his desk.

"Damn it, you blew the vein," Yelena scolded, bending over and looking at the now red-filled tube in Lindsey's arm. She removed the current IV and pressed a wad of gauze to it. Lindsey was still straining to control her emotions as Yelena stuck her with a fresh IV and taped it to her arm. "Don't pull on this one." She gathered up the used supplies and headed out of the room.

Goku sat next to her on the bed. "You want a hug?" he asked kindly.

Lindsey nodded her head violently and fell against his chest, still holding her arms across herself, her hand to her mouth. He placed a heavily muscled arm around her back and gave her a long squeeze.

Something in her broke then. The fear of losing Gohan, the terror of breaking her habits, the comfort of a father figure holding her for the first time in years… She began to sob, openly and loudly, a dam of emotions bursting forth.

"It's okay," Goku soothed. "Cry."

She was nearly screaming, she was crying so hard. She leaned into his chest, tears flowing freely, leaving big wet spots on his shirt. He didn't seem to mind. She was so angry and scared. She started to cough and gasp for air.

"Breathe," he said calmly. "You have to breathe."

She suddenly stood, swaying on the spot. "Gonna… be sick," she choked out between sobs.

Yorgi firmly placed a trashcan at her feet without breaking step as he continued across the room to his bathroom, banging the door shut behind him. He refused to show weakness to anyone, but vomit was something he just couldn't stand if he could avoid it.

Still crying, she fell to her knees, leaning over the bin, slicking her dreadlocks back with her hands. She was breathing hard, her stomach churning. She was trying to take deep breaths, trying to hold it back, but she was crying so hard, she couldn't stop it. She retched violently into the trashcan.

Vegeta cringed at the sound of it.

"I'm sorry," she gagged.

"You're alright," Goku said, kneeling next to her.

"I've ruined everything," she cried.

"No, you haven't," he said. "You just made a bad decision."

She was starting to hurt all over. "I'm so cold," she whined.

"Come on, then," Goku said, grabbing her by her shoulders and hauling her to her feet. He sat her on the bed and pulled the blankets up over her lap. She pulled them to cover her shoulders, shivering violently. She was shaking so hard, she felt like she was going to fall apart at her joints. She was miserably cold and aching all over.

Goku pressed a hand to her forehead. "You're burning up."

She shook her head vigorously. "Cold."

"Yorgi!" Goku called.

The dark-haired Russian marched out of the bathroom, straight for the bed.

"She feels like she's on fire."

"I'm cold," she insisted, still shaking as sweat began to roll down her face.

Yorgi crawled into bed beside her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders as he pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his robe. He tapped out a text message, then put the phone back in his pocket.

"Y-Yorg-gi," she stuttered, straining to control her shaking.

"Is she really that cold?" Goku asked, staring at her in disbelief. Sure, the room was a bit chilly, but not that bad.

Yorgi shook his head, trying to hold her steady as she continued to shake. He turned his attention back to her, his shoulders shaking from her violent fit, trying to calm her. "Shh, shh, shh."

She was making pitiful choking noises, still crying as she convulsed over and over. She looked up as Yelena rushed back into the room, her silk robe pulled tight around her. She reached into the bag that sat on the floor next to the headboard and pulled out a small penlight. She shone it in Lindsey's eyes briefly, then stuck a thermometer in her ear.

"She's in withdrawal already," Yelena stated. "We have to bring her temperature down." She yanked the covers away and reached for the bag again.

"I'm cold!" she whimpered.

"No, you're not," Yelena said firmly. "Now take this." She pressed the ibuprofen in Lindsey's hand and handed her a bottle of water.

Lindsey popped the pills in her mouth, but her hands were shaking so violently she couldn't open the bottle. Yelena cracked the cap off and tilted the bottle to Lindsey's lips as Yorgi gripped her chin, trying to steady her face and catch any water that dripped. She managed to swallow, half-choking as she did so. Yelena thumped her on the back.

"Owwww," Lindsey groaned. Every inch of her ached.

She hadn't realized how incredibly addicted she had been. She wanted her fix more than ever before.

"Can't I have just a little bit?" she asked.

"No," Goku answered firmly.

"But, just to take the edge off…"

Goku shook his head, his dark eyes serious.

She was rocking forward from the shakes, "P-Please?!" She wrapped her arms around herself, convulsing terribly. "If I have just a little, I can wean myself off."

"No," Goku repeated, drawing out the word. "You gotta get past this."

This was horrible. She'd never felt like this in her life. Aching all over, freezing to death, nauseous as could be, and no escape this time. She wished Gohan was with her.

Gohan.

His name was the only thought that could make her go through this. Without him, there was no reason to live anymore. She couldn't let him down. Again.

"Keep an eye on her," Yelena said, setting the thermometer on the bedside table. "If her fever doesn't go down in an hour, you call me again."

"Thank you, my love," Yorgi responded.

She gave him a tiny smile and excused herself from the room. In the darkness of the hallway, she leaned back against the heavy gilded door and sighed.

"How is she?" came a soft voice.

Yelena jumped and choked back a scream as Kirill appeared before her out of the darkness.

"Not good," Yelena answered. "You staying awake?"

Kirill nodded.

"You watch this door," Yelena said. "Do not let anyone in, you understand?"

Always eager to please her, Kirill nodded.

"Good," she said and continued on her way back to her room.

Lighting his cigarette, the sniper moved to lean against the corner of the hallway, giving him the best vantage point. He rested his hand on the gleaming black pistol on his hip, his keen green eyes peering through the darkness, his head wreathed in smoke. No one was coming down that hallway without permission. He would make sure of that.