The Russian pressed his back against the cold metallic bench of the hospital waiting room. He inhaled sharply, the smell of rubbing alcohol filling his nostrils. He looked up at the ceiling, the flickering white light bulb was making his eyes hurt and forced him to look away. How long had he been sitting on that bench? Ivan had already lost track of time at that point. He glanced down at the rusty gold watch around his wrist.

For some reason, he decided to wear that old watch with him that day. It was a present given by his father, well, not exactly a present. His mother gave it to him after his father passed away and apparently it was his father's wish to pass it down to him. Ivan high doubted it. He never had a good relationship with his father, so the story of the watch was probably made up by his mom to get rid of the old thing. The shabby watch was still miraculously working and perhaps if he took it to a watchmaker to get it cleaned up then it could actually be worth something, or at least look decent enough to wear around.

Ivan noticed that two hours had passed. Two entire hours he had been sitting there. He would have taken a nap if he knew he would be waiting for that long. But Yao had been very clear with his instructions. He specifically asked him to stay awake, and he also said he wouldn't take long. Well, Yao lied about that. Detective Braginski buried his face in his palms. He was exhausted, completely worn out.

The last few days had been insane, very chaotic. It all began when the killer sent Michelle's diary to the station. Then it was the cassette tape with the last conversation Lien Chun had on the phone before she was murdered. He had barely slept that night, fearing that the killer would come to his house. He even had a nightmare that Yao was the killer, which by the way was not possible. Not to mention that he realized that he was helplessly in love with his coworker when he tried kissing him yesterday when Yao came up to his apartment to listen to the cassette tape.

The Russian's cheeks flushed light pink as he remembered that embarrassing moment where he pinned the small Asian against the door in an attempt of kissing him. He had definitely freaked Yao out by doing that. Thank goodness that they had a busy day at work that morning so what occurred wasn't brought up. Ivan leaned back on the bench once more, making it creak. He was getting comfortable so he could take a nap. He had no idea how many more hours he would be sitting there waiting for Yao to come back so he might as well use the opportunity to get some sleep that he was desperately needing.

"Didn't I tell you NOT to fall asleep?"

Ivan jumped when he heard that voice. His eyes immediately opened and he stared at Yao with a surprised look. Just when he had gotten comfortable and was ready to take his nap, his partner had to show up.

"You're back! I was getting sleepy waiting for you for so long."

Despite losing his chance of getting a good ol' power nap, Ivan was actually glad that Yao had returned. He was just like an excited puppy, happy upon his owner's return. He smiled at the Chinese man before stretching his arms to get up from the bench.

"You're so exaggerated, I wasn't gone for that long."

The Asian frowned, crossing his arms and tapping his feet impatiently. He was very stressed, the man was basically a ticking time bomb and after running around the hospital looking after both Heracles and Feliciano, he was about to lose it. Now he came back to find Ivan sitting comfortably on the bench sleeping. The only reason he didn't completely lose it and yell at Ivan at that moment was that the Russian looked somewhat adorable asleep. Then that grin Ivan gave him, erased all of Yao's anger and frustration in a second. He had a weakness for Ivan, and that breathtaking smile the Russian had made him feel all tingly inside.

"It was two hours Yao, two hours!"

Ivan clarified, walking up to Yao and standing beside him. Even though he did not get that nap he wanted so badly, but he was ready to go back to work. He really wanted to get to it. The last thing he knew was that Heracles was shot right in front of them and they had to get him to the hospital, along with Feliciano who broke his wrist when Ivan crushed the little Italian with his weight, but that had been an accident.

"It honestly felt like ten minutes with how busy I've been, while you were napping. Anyways, let's start with the good news, Heracles might survive."

The Chinese man cleared his throat after announcing the news that their "killer" might survive if the surgery was successful.

"Might? What do you mean might? We need him alive. He's our only connection to the killer!"

Detective Braginski did not consider that to be good news at all. Heracles had come to them, confessing to the murders of Emma, Michelle, and Lien Chun. But he failed at the interrogation, resulting in them finding out that Heracles was just pretending to be the murderer. But why? Why would anyone want to take the blame for the three horrific murders of these women? The only answer he could come up with was that Heracles was being forced to do so, and his failure to complete his task resulted in him getting shot.

"Look, the man got shot right in the temple. It's a miracle he made it to the hospital alive. He's in very critical condition right now and is going through surgery at the moment. I have no idea how long it'll take but there's a chance, a slime chance that he might make it out of that operating room alive."

Yao was trying not to get his hopes up. He had been roaming around the hospital trying to get information about Heracles condition and he managed to get a quick word with the doctor who informed him that the Greek was going to be operated on. But the doctor also warned Yao that the possibilities of Heracles surviving were low, it was not an easy surgery, and Heracles had lost plenty of blood, which was what was killing him right now.

"And what about Feliciano? Is he alright?"

The Russian on the other hand was trying to remain hopeful. He wished that Heracles would survive the operation. Because they had no one else who could lead them directly to the killer except for the Greek.

"Oh he's alright. Just a broken wrist, no big deal."

Detective Wang was not worried about Vargas at all. What was a broken wrist compared to a shot in the head? It was nothing. The Chinese man began walking towards the exit of the hospital and Ivan began following him out.

"Well, it is a big deal for me. I was the one who broke his wrist."

Ivan mumbled, keeping his head down as he walked after Yao. He was feeling rather guilty for hurting the small Italian, although it had been an accident. But it could have been prevented, and that's what bothered him the most.

"Don't worry, Vargas isn't the kind to whole grudges. I'm sure he already forgave you, plus it wasn't intentional."

The Chinese man placed a hand in his pocket to pull out the car key and fidgeted it around his fingers as they walked towards the parking lot.

"But can we go see him? It won't take long, I promise."

Detective Braginski was acting like a child, begging for his dad to take him somewhere. That was how their dynamic worked. Although sometimes Ivan would become the parent, when Yao decided to be a complete brat, like the time he almost arrested Arthur.

"Later, we'll come back later. I'm certain that in a few more hours we'll get news about Heracles and we'll have to come back. Feliciano is also resting right now and I think his brother will be coming over to visit him. So it will be best for us to visit him later."

Yao explained, already unlocking the car door and getting inside. They had a lot of work to do and they must head back to the station immediately. The events of the last few hours have been complete mayhem and all the Chinese man wanted was to head back to the station and start writing everything down. A nice cup of coffee would be nice too while he and Ivan start writing that report. Except that the only officer that was kind enough to make them coffee and capable of using the coffee machine happened to be hospitalized.

"Anyways, we have to face a bigger problem right now. We have a serial killer still on the loose, and our only connection to him is lying unconscious on a surgical table while the doctors are trying to get a bullet out of his head. How did that even happen? How did WE let that happen?"

The built-up frustration from before was coming back to Yao all at once. He still couldn't believe that Heracles was shot right in front of them. If only he had run faster then perhaps he could have caught the killer.

"I don't know, but the killer was right around the corner. That's where he fired his shot once Heracles got out and then the man just banished."

Ivan was more worried about Heracles at that moment while Yao was running around the block like crazy, screaming and cursing like a madman with a gun in his hand trying to find the murderer.

"Heracles did give us a clue though, so we're not completely lost."

Detective Braginski brought it up, noticing how tense his partner was getting as they discussed their failure in catching the murderer and allowing Heracles to get shot by the killer right outside of the station.

"What clue? What did that even mean? Who is this Mr. Postman he mentioned right before passing out? It doesn't make any sense!"

The supposed clue was driving Yao insane as well. It would have been better if Heracles didn't say anything because now everything was getting even more complicated.

"Maybe he was trying to tell us that the killer works at the post office?"

Ivan was equally puzzled by what Heracles told them moments before losing conciousness. The Russian scratched his chin before letting out a sigh, the case was only getting more and more complex with each passing day.

"Does he? Or is Mr. Postman just a code name? Maybe that's the only name Heracles knows him by."

Now that Yao was thinking about it. Their murderer might as well be a postman. According to Feliciano, the man who brought Michelle's diary had been a postman. That could have been a coincidence but still. Then the cassette tape to Ivan's apartment, a postman could easily get in the building with no questions asked.

"I suppose you're-"

Detective Braginski paused for a second before looking at Yao. He had suddenly remembered something, an important detail that he had forgotten about and that would connect the dots, and maybe help the investigation advance.

"I remember now."

The Chinese man raised an eyebrow, glancing at his partner for a second before focusing on the road again, a little bit confused by what Ivan just said.

"What are you talking about?"

Ivan snapped his fingers. Silly him, he should have remembered it earlier when they were interrogating Heracles, it surely would have changed everything! If only he had brought it up a few hours before then the outcome would have been totally different.

"Do you remember when we were watching the security footage of the station with Vargas? Remember I pulled out the last recording of the surveillance camera on the entrance of the station?"

Yao stopped at the red light, turning to the side to face his partner, still quite unsure on why the Russian brought that up now. Of course, he remembered, and he remembered it quite distinctly. He could never forget the fact Gilbert had compromised their investigation by neglecting his responsibility of checking the surveillance cameras and informing the chief that one of the cameras had been damaged.

"Yeah and what about it?"

The Russian watched his partner nod and was waiting for an explanation. He hoped that he was right, because if he was then they might move a step forward in their investigation, and maybe, just maybe, Yao would be proud of him for the first time.

"In the video there was a man, with a hoodie, who threw a brick at the camera while standing behind a lamppost. We couldn't see his face but we did see his height and body type. Don't you think that it could have been...Heracles?"

Yao blinked twice, his brain struggling in processing that information. How come he didn't notice that before? For goodness sake, Ivan was right! The man from the video was around the same height as Heracles and the body was very similar. Broad shoulders, strong arms, a muscular man. There was no doubt about it. The man who destroyed the camera had to be Heracles.

"Holy shit, Ivan. You're right! You;re absolutely right! They have to be the same person!"

Detective Braginski couldn't help but smile. He made Yao proud, or at least he thought so. His theory was right as well, it all indicated that the man from the video was Heracles, they were just too alike.

"Wait, but why are you telling me this right now? Why didn't you bring that up in the interrogation room?"

Ivan was suddenly grateful that Yao was driving again because he was almost certain that he would have gotten smacked for it.

"I know, I'm sorry! I just came to the realization right when we were talking and-"

The Russian was interrupted by the sound of the radio, it was the chief calling in, and that was never good news.

"Yao, you're needed back at the hospital, over."

The small smile of satisfaction vanished from the Chinese man's face once he heard the chief talking to them on the radio, that couldn't be good.

"Is everything alright there, chief? Over."

He replied, already turning the car around knowing they were heading back to the hospital. He was hoping that the chief had some good news for them. It wouldn't be convenient if Heracles died right after they had figured out he was the man who destroyed the camera. They needed the Greek alive, they still had so many questions to ask. Why did he do it? Was he working for the killer or was being threatened to work for him? But most importantly, who is Mr. Postman and where can they find him?

"I'm sorry Yao, but he didn't make it."