Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of DM. I do own the ones that I created.

Author's notes: Doctor Gavin Reed appeared in the Season Four episode "Delusions of Murder" (spoilers). Also major references to "Alienated" and minor ones to other eps.

Special thanks to everyone for the outstanding reviews. And thanks most of all for your patience.

TRANCE.

Part Thirty-Seven.

Neither Mark nor Amanda had heard the door open – but suddenly Steve was in the room with them. It didn't matter how he had got there; didn't matter that, in racing across the city, he might have challenged the sprinting times of Olympic contenders. All that mattered was that he arrived in time to hear Martin Samson's last question – and Jesse's final, damning answer.

Mark looked at Amanda, feeling only hopelessness and despair. This had been meant to draw a line under their nightmare – instead it had only shown that there was no awakening in sight.

"What the hell..?" Steve whispered.

Mark turned to look at him, as though only just noticing his presence in the room. In truth, he had been so held in thrall by what was happening that his son's arrival had barely registered at the periphery of his awareness.

"Dad, what the hell was that?" Steve demanded, when it became clear that he wasn't going to receive any verbal response to his original shocked exclamation.

"Steve, you heard what he said," Mark replied with infinite weariness. "You heard it for yourself. I don't… I don't know what else we can do."

"No!" Steve's response was outraged. "No, you can't believe that! You can't tell me that this is how it ends."

"He's right." Amanda turned her tear-stained face towards them. "We can't give up now. There has to be something else we can try. There has to be."

As one, the three of them turned to look back through the window into the Interview Room. The scene was exactly as it had been, only now Martin Samson was looking back in their direction with unmistakable guilt in his eyes. It seemed as though he was waiting for something – maybe a signal of some description. But he was definitely looking for help.

Across the table from him, Jesse still sat smiling vacantly.

Proceedings within that room were definitely at an impasse.

"I could… I could try and instruct Martin to…" Mark was shaking his head as he spoke. He was clutching at the slenderest of straws – and he knew it. But giving up was simply not an option. "I don't know… Maybe…"

"No. Martin doesn't have control any more." Steve cut his father off with steely resolve. "There's only one way we're gonna end this."

Without saying another word, Steve ripped open the door of the anteroom and stormed out. The first thing that Mark and Amanda knew about his intentions was when he burst into the Interview Room.

All heads turned when the door burst open – bar one. The subject of the hypnotism did not as much as blink. The detective loomed over him, threateningly.

"So, what if you did kill him?" he snarled. He didn't have to fake his anger or his loathing, but he did have to fake who they were aimed at. "What then?"

There was no response, no reaction – not a flicker, nor even a change to the sinister smile that Jesse wore.

The flat of Steve's hand impacted with the table, making everybody but Jesse start in surprise.

"Are you listening? You did kill him, Jesse!" he roared. "You killed my father! You killed Mark Sloan! So where does that leave you now?"

Shocked breaths were gasped in and confused glances were exchanged. But, again, the only lack of reaction came from the one man they were desperate to get one from.

"Can he hear me?" Steve demanded of Samson, on seeing how Jesse totally ignored his words.

Martin licked his lips and glanced nervously towards Steve – he didn't know him personally, but knew him by reputation. He knew how loyal he was to both family and friends; knew how determined and driven he could be.

"You will listen to this man," Samson ventured, when he was able to find his voice. The more time that he spent with Jesse, the more he hated everything about it. But he had no choice other than to continue. "You will heed his words." Then, with another anguished glance towards the window, that he knew concealed both Mark Sloan and Amanda Bentley, he added: "Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Jesse breathed.

"You killed Mark Sloan," Steve reiterated – his voice low and deadly. "He stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating. You're a doctor. Wouldn't you say that that defines death?"

"I did that?" There was no inflection in Jesse's response – no fear, or remorse; no hope or expectation. It wasn't even curious. It was a question asked flatly – a seeking of the true answer.

"You strangled him and his heart gave out." Steve glowered unblinkingly at the man before him. "So, yes, you did that. Now where does that leave you?"

"I…" Jesse barely choked the word out before he passed clean out, his head connecting solidly with the table.

Steve looked at Samson. Then he looked towards the window, before finally turning back to Samson again: "Do you think that was enough? Do you think he really believed me?"

Samson looked back at him, his expression both shocked and distraught. "I don't know," he quietly confessed. "His reaction seemed genuine, but he was still under my hypnosis, so I… I honestly don't know."

When Steve's palm connected with the tabletop again, this time in utter frustration, both Mark and Amanda saw it as their cue to move. And they moved with such speed that they had arrived in Interview Room One before any more words were spoken.

"Steve, I don't know if what you just did was incredibly brilliant – or incredibly stupid," Mark said, as he eyed Jesse's prone form.

"You heard what I heard, dad," Steve retorted, in his own defence. "This isn't going to be over until Jesse truly believes that he killed you."

"Well I, for one, am leaning towards the incredibly stupid," Tanis put in, with heavy scepticism. "Your plan is to keep the two of them apart and let Travis live out his life believing he's a murderer?"

Steve shook his head – that had never been a part of his plan. However, his plan actually had very little form. He had seen the simple truth – that he had just stated – and had acted on it. Then he had somehow, vaguely hoped that the rest would fall into place. He didn't even have an answer for Tanis's words.

And then he noticed that his father was smiling. It was a smile that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time – a smile that he recognised, but had not seen for too long. It was a smile that said Mark Sloan had a plan.

"So Jesse believes that he killed me," the older doctor said, his smile fading. "But nobody ever said anything about me staying dead."

"But he's seen you since the attack. He's spoken to you." Amanda pointed out the obvious flaw. "How can this possibly work?"

"Doctor Travis was lost in hypnosis when he passed out." Surprisingly, it was Martin who came up with the response. "He was reliving the night when he was first abducted – and then he was forced to confront the fact that he had succeeded in what his subliminal programming had made him do." The hypnotherapist shook his head. "It will be quite some time before he can sit back and logically think things through."

"Wake him up," Mark commanded, with quiet authority. "Wake him up, but don't snap him out of it."

Strained looks were exchanged, but then it was Amanda who stepped up to the plate. She crouched at Jesse's side. She raised one hand, but then turned back to look uncertainly at Mark.

"Should you be here?" she asked. "If he sees you…"

Mark took a deep breath and then let it out again. His gaze bore into Amanda. "I think I have to be here," he said.

"Dad…" Steve obviously didn't agree with that sentiment.

"I am not going to let Reed win," Mark retorted, fervently. "He's played us up to now, but it's time we stopped following his rules." His eyes returned to Amanda. "Bring him around," he instructed.

"What are you gonna do, Mark?" This time, it was Tanis's voice that gave pause to the proceedings. "Come at him like the ghost of Christmas past? He's just been made to believe that he killed you. What are you trying to achieve here?"

"I'm trying to bring Jesse out of the other side," Mark answered, not maliciously, but with continued fervour. "I'm trying to ensure that Gavin Reed won't have the last laugh in all of this…"

"I can assure you that Reed won't be laughing at all," Newman interrupted and, for once, there was confusion in his expression. "This doesn't make any sense. Reed was so terrified by the death penalty, I'd have staked my life that this wasn't a double-cross."

"What do you mean?" Mark demanded, in stunned surprise. "This was his final revenge – it had to be."

"The man's a coward and he's terrified of death." Tanis confirmed her Captain's words. "This wasn't a ruse – it wasn't some twisted joke. This was his last attempt to save his own life."

"Which failed." Amanda was still crouched at Jesse's side, but she was no longer poised to make an effort to revive him. "And if Gavin Reed can't undo what he did, then what chance do we have?"

"Reed did too good a job," Martin concurred – speaking up again only to voice his professional opinion. "He didn't build in any fail-safes; didn't consider any outcome other than his plan being a complete success." He lowered his eyes. "He was afraid that this would fail."

"He was at the absolute height of his profession." Mark had no choice but to agree – no matter how much it pained him to offer even a hint of praise towards the man. "Which is why we have to play this out on our terms and not his." He paused for long enough to make eye contact with everyone else in the room. "Revive him, Amanda."

"But don't you think we should all know exactly what you have in mind?" It was Steve who voiced the objection, which he was not alone in holding.

"Alright," his father answered, assertively. "This is what we're going to do. And, please, you have to trust me."

Jesse awakened slowly and, to the observers, exhibited a frightening moment of disorientation that had them wondering whether the hypnosis had been broken when he had passed out.

Then he placed his palms against the tabletop and his gaze focussed somewhere in the middle distance. And that somewhat disturbing smile settled back onto his lips.

"Martin, I want you to ensure that Jesse can hear and react to every single person in this room." Even as he said the words, Mark moved to stand behind Jesse, positioning himself so that he was completely invisible to him, even as an image in the two-way mirror. It wasn't easy, but he successfully located a blind spot.

"Even you?" Martin questioned, still with hesitation in his voice.

"Especially me." Mark's actions belied his answer, as he made no move to make himself any more visible to Jesse.

Martin stared at him for a long moment and then nodded slowly. He took a deep breath.

"Doctor Travis, it's no longer just you and me," he said, after pausing for thought. "It's no longer even just you, me and the Lieutenant. You will listen, hear and respond to every person in this room." He paused again but, this time, everyone knew which words would follow: "Do you understand me?"

"Did I really kill him?" Jesse didn't acknowledge the words – and it was clear that his focus was solely on his ultimate goal. "Tell me it's over."

"Yes, it's over." Amanda stood up and moved into his field of vision. "You know me, Jesse. You know what I do."

"You pronounced?"

At those words, jaws dropped and more silent – if despised – admiration was aimed towards Gavin Reed. He had somehow allowed Jesse to maintain a part of himself and a part of his professionalism even as he was determined to kill a man.

"I put my fingers to his neck and felt no pulse." Amanda didn't have to try to force any tears, they were already hovering dangerously close to the surface. "Wouldn't you say that was dead?"

"I did that?" There was a sudden wavering to Jesse's voice. "I killed him?" And then he broke. "I killed him? Oh God…"

Martin shrugged helplessly. He'd done nothing further to influence the hypnosis and had certainly done nothing to break it. Now it seemed that with the task complete, the thrall had been broken of its own accord.

But that was not the only thing that had been destroyed. Jesse was utterly devastated.

"What have I done?" he moaned, clutching his arms around his midriff. "God, what have I done?"

Tanis aimed a quick glance towards Mark and then got to her feet: "You killed Mark Sloan," she said.

"You were responsible for him dying." Newman, having chosen his words carefully, also rose.

Jesse's face was totally lacking in any colour and he seemed on the verge of passing out – but no mercy was offered to him.

Steve was the last to say his piece: "Are you gonna try and tell me that you don't remember?" he demanded. "Attacking my father, hitting Amanda, fighting with me? How about being arrested? Do you remember that?"

"I remember… I remember everything…" Jesse still clutched at his stomach, as though it physically hurt him to say the words. "I killed him? I remember you stopped me…"

"Not in time – his heart gave out." It was hard for Steve to maintain such a stony expression when his friend was so obviously in pain – but, they hoped that the end was almost in sight for all of them.

"He was clinically dead." Amanda steeled herself to dive back into the fray – no matter how much her heart was breaking. "No heartbeat, no pulse. That equates to dead. You know that don't you, Jesse?"

"I killed him." His shoulders slumped and his head dropped down onto his chest. "Then kill me, too."

"There's no need, buddy." Steve clapped a hand to his shoulder, in what he hoped was a gesture of reassurance. "It's gonna be okay."

"Nobody ever said anything about me staying dead, Jesse." At last, Mark chose to reveal his own presence.

Maybe they were all expecting Jesse to react as though he'd seen a ghost. And his already strained features did morph into utter shock, but the words that escaped his lips were the last ones that any of them wanted to hear:

"He did. He told me." His tone was steeped in devastation. "I was supposed to shoot you in the head, to make sure that there would be no chance of resuscitation. But…" Confusion took over in the battle of his emotions. "But there was no gun."

The mood in the room palpably changed. Steve, Tanis and Newman all instantly became aware that Jesse was still a potential threat.

"So that's where he made his mistake…" Mark mused, mostly to himself. "I knew there would be one; there always is."

"Dad?" Steve questioned – even as he kept a close eye on Jesse and inwardly wondered how quickly he could draw these proceedings to a close.

"Reed wanted results and he wanted them quickly," his father elaborated. "He wasn't prepared to wait for Jesse to…" He trailed off, realising how clinical he was just about to sound in regard to the attempt on his life. "He had a back-up plan lined up." He returned his full focus to Jesse: "Do you remember what he said to you? When were you supposed to try and kill me?"

"I… I wasn't supposed to just try." Jesse was still under Martin's influence, so he had no choice but to answer with utter honesty. "I was supposed to make sure."

"Tell me what he said, Jess."

"You will use your bare hands if necessary. But you will kill him – and you will ensure that he is truly dead; that he will never be resuscitated. You will not fail." Jesse repeated effortlessly, his eyes again lost in the distance.

"And then what?" Mark pressed, completely oblivious to everyone else in the room. In his head, he might as well have been alone with Jesse. "What were your instructions if I was resuscitated, if I was brought back? What then?"

"I… I don't know…" Jesse answered, looking as lost as he sounded.

"Jesse, you killed me!" Mark aimed to shock a response out of his young friend. "You killed me, but here I am! What are you supposed to do now?"

"I… I…" Jesse looked helpless. His brow furrowed as, subconsciously, he searched for a command that wasn't there. "I can't… He didn't say…"

"Leave the room," Mark murmured – finally turning his head to look at the other people assembled. "Leave us alone."

"No, dad!"

"Steve…"

"It's not gonna happen, dad," Steve responded, vociferously. "I won't let you use yourself to conduct some kind of an experiment."

"It's going to happen sooner or later, Steve," Mark argued, not unreasonably. "Either by design or accident, we will be in a situation where we're alone together. Doesn't it make more sense that it should be by design?"

TBC…