Hobbes cut off the TV. His mind refused to be distracted from its examination of the past. Surrendering to the inevitable, Hobbes rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. He remembered how terrified he had been when Fawkes first woke up until Claire had reassured him that confusion was normal. Like she predicted, he had been more aware the next time he woke up. The first week had been spent cataloging everything that had been damaged. He had stayed unnaturally calm through more tests than Hobbes could count. As the list of life changing defects grew, Fawkes had remained unaffected courteous of the half dozen or so drugs they had kept him high on. Hobbes shook his head wishing even after all this time that he could kill the doctor or technician who had had the idea of drugging him. Once all of their tests had been run, they had had no longer felt the need to keep him cushioned with drugs and Hobbes had almost lost him again when he crashed.
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"Stay away from me!"
Hobbes entered the labs to be greeted by shouts and a crash coming from the direction of Darien's room. A technician intercepted him before he could investigate and took him to see Claire. She was standing in the middle of her old Keep listening to four assistants vie for her attention. Hobbes had never seen her so harrowed. She looked up and caught sight of him.
"Bobby," she said moving over to speak with him. "I'm glad you're here. We need you to try to talk to Darien."
"Why? What's wrong with Fawkes?"
"We took him off the medication last night and it's just recently started to wear off. I'm afraid he is not reacting very well. I would have given him more but none of us can get near him."
"I get it. You've screwed him up again and you want Bobby Hobbes to go in there and fix your mess. Fawkes isn't a lab rat. You have the gland. Why do you need to screw with him?"
"Bobby!" exclaimed Claire feeling hurt that Hobbes would talk to her like that. "We needed the information. Darien is still very much involved with the Quicksilver project. We are just trying to help him."
"Just let me see my partner," replied Hobbes turning around and heading for Darien's room. The room was a mess. Everything thathad been within arms reach of Darien was now scattered on the floor in the direction of the door. Darien was huddled up against the wall at the head of his bed with his knees drawn up to his chin. Being careful not to step on anything, Hobbes wove his way to the bed. Reaching his hand out, he hesitantly touched his partner's shoulder.
"Darien?"
"Don't touch me!" shouted Darien flinging an arm out to push the offending hand away. "Leave me alone!"
"Come on, partner," replied Hobbes softly taking a small step back. "Don't be like this."
"Why not?" snarled Darien. "Why shouldn't I be angry?"
"Fawkes."
"SHUT UP!" yelled Darien putting his hands over his ears. "I don't want to hear it! Shut up! Go away!"
"Sorry, I can't do that. Bobby Hobbes does not bail even when you want me to." "Please," begged Darien tears streaming unheeded down his face. "Leave me alone." Darien tried to get out of the bed but his limbs became tangled and he tumbled to the floor. Humiliated, he pressed his cheek into the cool hard floor. Hobbes reached down and help him into a sitting position.
"Are you hurt?" he asked gently. Darien shook his head `no'.
"Leave me alone," whispered Fawkes clinging to Hobbes as though his life depended on it. "Please. Just leave me alone."
"We'll get through this," replied Hobbes holding the younger man and stroking his hair. "We'll get through it together. I'm not going to leave you. I'll never leave you."
"Want to leave but not alone," murmured Fawkes to himself."Waiting. Gotta be alone. Why won't they leave? Waiting." Slowly sleep overcame the former secret agent and he relaxed into Hobbes' arms.
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After the initially violent outburst, Darien had closed him off from everyone. Claire and the others had wanted to put him back on the drugs but Hobbes had refused to allow it. Surprisingly the Official had seconded the opinion. Darien had willingly completed his rehabilitation to rebuild lost muscle and submitted to tests but had not interacted with anyone. It had been hard for Hobbes to watch his partner refuse to eat or speak. Just when some of the doctors had decided that Darien would be best of being committed, he had began to respond hesitantly to first Hobbes then Claire. Getting him to eat again had been the most difficult. They had put him on a feeding tube, which restricted his already limited movement leading him to start eating again, but as soon as they had removed the tube he had began refusing food. Despite the progress they had made since then, it was an on going problem. It was hard to maintain interest in food when the person was incapable of hunger. About the only thing that was guaranteed to tempt Fawkes' taste buds was chocolate.
Hobbes glanced at the clock groaning at the time. He pushed himself up off of the couch and stumbled towards the bathroom. Brushing his teeth and the remains of his hair, Hobbes efficiently got ready for bed. Stopping to check the locks on his door, he made a quick sweep of his apartment then headed into his bedroom.