Dr. Lawson was still sitting and waiting for any news about his brother. Well, except when he was pacing the floor up and down. Using the restroom every few minutes without really needing to. It made him nervous that time went by so slowly, but he was relieved to see Detective Silver coming closer. That meant it was done! His brother was free and he could finally hold him in his arms and bring him home soon. He was so excited, didn't hear a word Silver said. Smiling.

The detective stopped talking. Looking strange at him. "Are you okay, Sir?"

That was the first time Hank realized that the man had stopped talking. The cop was obviously confused about his happiness. But hell, who wouldn't be happy to get his baby brother back after such a long time? Under such horrible circumstances? "Yes, I'm okay, why?"

"I got the impression that you didn't listen."

Caught. The man was right. Hank nodded. Of course, he is. He's a cop. He has learned to read people.

"Let me start again then." The man took a deep breath. "Mr. Eddie and Mrs. Emily Lawson are caught. They are both in the hospital right now."

"Hospital? What happened?"

"All I know is that both of them were hurt in a shooting. Mrs. Lawson isn't hurt too bad. But your father is in serious condition. If you want to know more, we can call the hospital and.."

"No, don't need to know." He so didn't wanna know either. "What about my brother? Can I see Evan in the hospital?"

The cop looked down on the floor for a moment, it was obvious that he didn't feel comfortable in his situation right now.

"What? What is it?", Dr. Lawson asked. "Where is my brother? He's in the hospital, too, right? Would you mind bringing me there? Could you just stop cleaning the damn floor with your eyes and tell me about Evan!"

"No, he isn't in the hospital. He wasn't with them, when they were found. Well, he had been there earlier, in the basement, but he was gone and we don't know yet, where to look for him. We have to wait until the doctors let us talk to Mr. and Mrs. Lawson to ask questions."

Hank felt his legs giving in and sat down fast to stop himself from falling. His left hand wandered to his temple. His head was aching all of a sudden. He felt his world crashing again. It couldn't be true, just impossible. There was something wrong with the news, the cop had understood anything wrong. Evan had had to be there with Eddie. So many things went through his thoughts, but at the end there was only one thing he couldn't deny. His brother was still missing. Hopefully still alive. "So, what are you waiting for, why don't you just rush to the hospital and play your question-game? My brother was in bad shape when I have seen him last. And that was a couple of days ago! He needs help!"

"I understand, you're angry, but you also know how things are. You're a doctor yourself. We can't talk to them before the responsible doctors agree to it."

Yeah, Henry knew very well, but right now he wasn't acting as a doctor. He was a big brother that would do anything to save his sweet annoying baby brother. Tears filled his eyes and he tried to keep them from falling, he was angry and he wanted the cop to know it, but sadness and desperation were overwhelming. "We just have to find him before he..." He couldn't say the word. "Before it is too late."

"I know, I'm very sorry, Sir. Will you be okay, Dr. Lawson? Or do you want me to call our psychologist to talk to you for a bit?"

"No, I'll be okay, thank you." Hank was far away from okay, but there was nothing the detective or some therapist could do for him right now. Nobody could. His head in his hands, his elbows on his knees, his eyes closed and his tears falling silently. That's how he sat there for a very long time. He didn't notice the worried looks from the people around him and he wouldn't care about it anyway.

Aaron was thinking. He didn't want to sell the guy or at least not now. He wanted him for his own pleasure until he had finished the guy. It would mean less money, but it wouldn't be a problem for him. Money still wasn't his biggest goal. He tried to call Eddie to ask him for just one or two days with his prey before selling him to the man who had made the highest offer. But the old man didn't answer the phone. A stranger had answered and Aaron had hung up without hesitation, he knew that it could only be some cop and that meant his partners had been caught. He could worry about a way to free Eddie later. He couldn't let the man down, but for now there were other things to do.

It was his own decision how to go on. Should he go ahead and sell the guy, before the police would be able to get to him, too, or should he just keep the guy until he would get bored and sell him then? He wasn't so sure. He decided to rest for a bit and have his fun after that. There was still tomorrow and he might be able to decide then. Or the day after or another day later. Time would tell.

Eddie Lawson was lying in his hospital bed, waiting for a necessary surgery, that the doctors wouldn't perform before he had regained some more strength. He was thinking about his wife. Nobody had told him by now, if she was alive and how she was doing. It made him sad and angry about his son, no Evan wasn't his son as far as he was concerned, he was just a burden his first wife had had put on him back when he was young and charming. Just one of her tricks to keep him staying with her. Evan was the worst thing that had ever happened in his entire life.

Hank on the other hand was different. He was strong, intelligent, responsible, smart and brave. The perfect son. Eddie was so proud of him. He actually believed that it was his influence that made the kid such a good man. The only thing he didn't like or understood about Henry was the closeness he felt towards his younger brother. He was also pretty sure that his oldest son would forgive and be closer to him, when Evan wouldn't be around. He smiled at this thought. Aaron had brought him far away, the little bastard wouldn't be a problem anymore. Hank would soon think about everything and come to the conclusion that his father was all family he needed. That would be the moment, when he would tell him a secret that he had kept since Evan had been born. Henry would understand then, that his father had been right all along.

Whatever medicine they had given him, it made him sleepy and he fell asleep very soon, calm and smiling. Happy with himself.

Emily was bitching around. She argued with the nurses and the doctors. None of them didn't know how to do their jobs and she would know, because she was Dr. Emily Peck or Lawson, wasn't she? The best doctor there was. They would just have to ask her rich patients to know she told the truth.

She was just throwing all possible insults at a young nurse that came in to give her some painkiller through the IV, because she had been yelling for almost an hour now, that they wanted to let her suffer instead of giving her something for the pain. Truth to be told, she refused every medication they suggested, because it was the wrong one – because Dr. Emily Peck/Lawson would never give this or that meds to someone hurting.

If Evan had been there, he would have smiled. He had been right about the bitch since the first time he had seen her. Yeah, Emily was doing pretty good as far as the young nurse, Anna, could tell. She was a bitching bitch or a the impersonate evil. Yeah, that was probably it, Anna thought and closed her hand to a fist around the cross on her necklace, praying silently.

She was glad, when the doctor came in with another nurse. They had heard what was going on. Because we're talking about Emily here. Emily always made sure that she had all the attention on her and if she had to act like a bitch to do so, she would. Thinking about it, she never acted differently.

Anyway, the doctor came in and let her bitch as long as she wanted. He didn't listen to her, just listened to the nurses report. He then laid his annoyed and arrogant cold green eyes on his patient and said with a loud and steady voice: "Dr. Emily Lawson, as I see it you have two chances a) let nurse Anna give you the medicine and feel better and maybe less like annoying the whole staff and all patients or b) you feel good enough the way you are and I can tell the police to come in to finally ask all the questions they have for you. So what do you want me to do?"

It didn't take long and the painkiller made her sleepy. Everyone around sighed in relief. This patient was just taking too much time from the other more worse off patients. The doctor told the nurses to call the police and tell them to come to the hospital in two or three hours. The patient was well enough to do so. The nurses looked at each other and grinned.

Evan was delirious. Fever and the permanent drug abuse had done quite a number on his body. Of course, there had also been a lot of physical violence that didn't make things easier. Reality, hallucinations and feverish dreams got mixed as he slipped from consciousness to unconsciousness and back, without being aware of his surroundings or himself. His face and whole body were tensed and strained with the pure agony that ran up and down his body. Breathing was hard, because his nose felt awkward and breathing through the mouth hurt, because of the broken ribs.

That's why he didn't realize that Aaron was kneeling beside him. His eyes wandered along the victims legs up to his torso, his chest, around his neck and over his face. He was happy to see all the dried blood, bile, sick, pus, urine and feces. He pressed his hands on the bruises above the broken and cracked ribs and leaned on them with his whole weight. He was satisfied, when he heard more break and felt them shift.

The pain was too agonizing and even in his delirious state Evan felt all of it. He screamed until his throat hurt so bad that no sound came out of his mouth anymore. His eyes were red and hurt, caused by dry tears which again were caused by the lack of fluids going into his body. He didn't know it, but dehydration had already done some damage to his body inside and outside. There was no way he would last for very long, if things didn't change for him soon.

Aaron forced water down Evan's throat, far too much and too fast, but he didn't care. Evan had trouble breathing or swallowing as fast as the water came, but it wouldn't slow down until he struggled panicking to drown. His heart beat hard and fast against his chest. His lungs hurt even more than before. He felt strange, his heartbeat was so loud it hurt his ears. The beating slowed down, until he didn't hear it anymore and the struggling stopped instantly. His limp form under the criminals touch.

Aaron pulled the bottle away. He smiled, he would bring this boy back to life and then go ahead and torture him some more. To see the life in those eyes vanish had him really got excited. This was far better than sex. He just had to see more pain, fear in those eyes again, before he could let this person die all the way to the point of no return. That was the best idea he ever had.

He bent down, ready to bring Evan back. There was some torturing waiting for him.

In the meanwhile the policemen were busy. They were trying to track down the phone of the person that called or to find out more about him. One witness had told them about a young guy that he had seen with Dr. Emily Lawson. The woman had felt attracted to the guy and could describe him well enough for a good facial composite. They were pretty sure they would find him soon. Nobody told Dr. Henry Lawson about it, because they didn't want to get his hopes up, before they knew where or who the guy was. It might be that the woman would talk, when they got to talk to her at the hospital.