CURIOSITY PART XI

Witness Protection Program Headquarters—5.00PM

"Holmes!" they all said but Mark.

Mark nodded slowly. It seemed totally possible when he fitted all the evidence together. "But why would Holmes do it?" he asked. Usually, he was good at finding the motives. But with all the excitement of this week and the tiring case about Jesse, the telltale signs were beginning to show. Steve was not surprised about his father's attitude. His mind was whirring with possibilities, trying to link it all in to place. His mind was angry that someone who was meant to help protect people was selling them out. This time, though, the crime was worse than Haley Johnson's was when he thought about it. Greed.

"Money," Steve said. "Marcus Lavoy would have put up a reward for anyone who could give the name. With his rep it would have been a pretty big one. He would have jumped at the chance. How else would he have been able to tap Anders phone line and how would he have known that we were in this office?"

They nodded. Anders, looking slightly pale and ill, looked as though he would throw up. Then, his face reddening, he ran out of the room. "I want a piece of him!" he shouted, with as much hatred in his voice as he could muster. He charged past everyone. "I'll kill him for what he's done." Steve, Mark and Amanda ran after the hysterical man, reaching him just as he got to the elevator and pressed the button. He would so mad; he would have gone up the stairs had it not come in less than five seconds. Steve reached him first, grabbing his shoulder and turning him around.

"Believe me, Miles, we all want a piece of him," Steve said softly. "If I weren't a cop I would take out my gun and shoot him right between the eyes. We'll have our time with him but we still need him. The real perp is Marcus and only Holmes can lead us to him. Calm down." Mark and Amanda caught up just as Anders recovered his breath and sense of dignity. Without waiting, he pushed past Steve and walked up the stairs with the three of them following in tow. "Where exactly is Holmes's office?" Steve asked, taking out gun just in case.

"Another three floors." Adding bitterly, "where I'd like to be."

Smiling at the remark, Steve stopped when he reached the tenth floor. He grabbed Anders and prevented him from going any further before going in front with the gun. As they walked down the corridor, it was obvious that Holmes' office was the only one on the floor. A figure turned the corner and Steve ran in front of him. "Ben Holmes! Freeze! Say right where you are." Ben Holmes did exactly the opposite. He turned tail and ran back towards his office. Steve's natural instinct would be to shoot. He would have done anything to blow the man away but he was vital. He started to run as well, as fast as he could. He was sure Holmes wasn't carrying a weapon. There was the sound of a door closing and when Steve tried to open it, he found it locked.

"Security lock," Anders panted coming up beside him with Amanda and Mark. "Punch the numbers and it opens." When Steve asked if he knew the code he stared at the detective as if he was nuts. "I'm a minor!"

Steve moved back, charged towards the door and pushed his shoulder with all his weight. His anger and adrenaline added to the strength and the door came down in one blow, almost taking Steve with it. They looked into the room to see Ben Holmes, attempting to open his window as if he was going to run out onto it and fall to his death past all ten floors. "Holmes! Stay where you are and don't make a move. Is it really worth it now when everybody knows about you and what you've done? Step down from there."

Holmes held onto the window for a few seconds. Then he put his foot, throwing his coat and bag onto the table. Then he sat down into his chair, letting out a cry. "It wasn't supposed to work out like this."

Mark shook his head. "They never do." He walked over to what was once a hard but respected man. "Why did you do it, though? Why did you help such a parasitical criminal who would probably kill you anyway? And why did you give up the lives and protection of two ordinary people to him?" Mark shook his head, wondering how one man who had probably devoted his life to get to this status in helping witnesses could sink to as low as giving them away so easily. Mark wondered from the expression on Ben Holmes's face whether he regretted what he had done to the people. Not just to the ones who had got hurt physically but the ones around them too.

Ben Holmes shrugged. "Why do you think? The money Goddamit!" he shouted, turning round towards them, a cruel leer on his face. "I didn't know how much I'd been working for this city, protecting the people, so it came as a shock when I got up to the tenth floor. Too much work! Not only that, not enough pay. The job is lousy. So then Marcus Lavoy appears a few months ago and offers a two hundred thousand-dollar award to name the man who could give the name or location of where Day Passer was. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and I found out through Anders's phone calls. It was worth it. I got my money and my financial problems cease to be a worry."

Amanda shook his head. "You killed Day Passer, an important man, a vital man and almost kill Jesse Travis who was an innocent person helping? I have met some many people in my time but none as sick and as heartless as you are." Amanda said that with full hatred. She was angry that Jesse's attack like this had come so easily to a man who had just wanted money.

"Son of a bitch," Anders muttered, but didn't do anything more.

Two cops appeared from Marks call that he made a few minutes earlier. "Take this piece of trash downtown and make sure he doesn't go anywhere." Steve put his gun back and let out a sigh of relief as he saw Holmes finally put away. It made him feel better about what he had done to help Jesse. They were even closer. Running a hand through his hair, he turned and walked out of the building with Steve and Amanda. Anders agreed to sort things out back at the program and would come and see them later.

Upon entering the hospital, Steve, Amanda and Mark were greeted with the great news that Jesse was trying to wake up. They ran quickly into the ICU room and Amanda sat on the bed next to Jesse. His eyes were still closed but most of the wires and tubes had been taken away. He looked much better like that. She held onto Jesse's hand and put her other towards Jesse's forehead.

"Jesse," she whispered quietly, leaning close. "Jess, can you hear me? If you can, try and open your eyes and look at me." She got no answer at first but that didn't stop her from trying. "Jesse, it's Amanda. Please give some sort of response." They waited a few minutes. Mark and Steve were either side of the bed, facing one another. From outside the door, Pete was there, closing his eyes and saying a silent prayer. He prayed Jesse would make it out for his sake and his friends. His condition had been improving after all. He had moved not half an hour ago. Amanda continued calling Jesse's name, pushing the hair back from his forehead and stroking it lightly. She was about to give up, saying that maybe he was too tired to respond…then there was a movement.

Amanda felt a tightening on her hand and noticed that Jesse's fingers were moving when she looked down. His hand was trying hard to hold hers and squeeze it. She gave a happy gasp and looked up into Jesse's face. The doctor's face was moving ever so slightly and as the rest of them looked, his eyes tried to open. "That's it, Jesse, come on, you can do it. Look at me." With as much effort as he could muster, he opened them and looked up into her face. He took a long time focusing before he actually looked at her in recognition.

"A-Amanda?" he asked hoarsely, almost choking off in between.

Amanda thought she was going to burst out into tears of happiness. She nodded. "Yeah, Jess, it's me. How are you feeling?"

Jesse didn't answer her. He looked around, seeing Mark and then Steve. "Where…where am I?" he asked, coughing.

"You're in the hospital, Jesse," Mark said softly, smiling.

"Hospital?" Jesse asked and closed his eyes shaking his head. He closed his eyes and sank back, sighing with relief. His eyes were still slightly open, revealing that he was still awake. But then suddenly, his whole body tensed, taking Amanda by surprise that she almost jumped off the bed. Jesse opened his eyes wide and looked around like a trapped animal. He almost pulled his IV out as he tried to get up despite his pains. "Day! Day! Amanda, Mark, St-Steve, where's Day! You have to tell me, I gotta know. He should be back at the apartment."

Amanda looked at the others helplessly. They tried to keep him down and talk to him comfortingly but it breezed right over Jesse. He tried to constantly get out despite his weak condition. He bucked and they held his arms and legs down before he really did pull out the IV. "Jesse, calm down, you're not doing yourself any good." Pete ran in immediately. As quickly as he could, he administered a sedative with the help of Jeanie. Mark, Steve and Amanda watched as their friend fell into a quieter and less moving state. Pete and Jeanie then left. Steve inwardly decided that it wasn't a good idea to let Jesse hear the tape that Day left, especially the last part but sooner or later it would come out.

Jesse was not being knocked unconscious. In fact, he was very much alert now. His voice, after crying out so much, was hoarse and dry. He started to cough and Steve got him some ice. When he felt better, he leant back, with his eyes wide but not totally 'with it.' His blue eyes studied his friends. They were happy beyond description. If not for Jesse's condition, Amanda looked as though she was going to party.

"M-Mark," Jesse said, struggling to get the words out. He had a sharp intake of pain near his appendix area. "Please, tell me. Do you know?"

Mark nodded. "We know about Day and everything else." Jesse's head lowered and mumbled something about them being angry with him. "Oh, Jesse, we're far from being mad at you. Right now, what we're concerned about most is you and how you feel."

Jesse nodded. "What—what about Day? Is he at my apartment?"

Amanda, Mark and Steve shared glanced which Jesse couldn't see. Amanda sat back down on the bed, thinking now was a better time than never. She sat next to him and put her arms around his shoulders. "Jesse, I know this is going to be hard. We know how well you got along with Day." Amanda hated the way Jesse was looking at her like that with such a childlike innocent gaze. "The truth is that Day is dead, Jesse. There's nothing anyone could do about it." Jesse spent a few seconds letting this absorb in. Mark was worried about Jesse's reaction to it all. But when Jesse finally let it sink in, he turned his head down so his friends couldn't see but everyone knew what he was doing.

Amanda lifted Jesse up and held him tightly as he cried into her shoulder. She felt pity on him and almost felt crying herself. She couldn't imagine at all how Jesse felt. Steve turned away and sat down. He knew this was going to be hard on Jesse but seeing him suffer this way was bad. Mark just looked at Amanda. Finally Jesse pulled away and got himself into a more sitting position with the help of Mark. He wiped his eyes stiffly with his hands. Then, staring blandly at the sheets with watered eyes, he said, "It's my fault."

Steve looked up. "Jesse it was not your fault," he said sharply. "You were being hurt in such cruel ways and you still managed to survive. You couldn't help it if you told."

Jesse nodded. "I survived…Day didn't. But it is my fault. I gave in. I got through—through everything. I got through the beating up, the electrocution, the baseball bat and all the mocking that both Marcus and Carlos did. I didn't mention anything about where Day was throughout all of that." Jesse still couldn't look at them. "Then he threatened you three. Said he was going to kill you with even more pain and slower than he was doing to me—and that he'd make me watch. I couldn't stand it…so I told."

Mark had never been so touched in his life. His protégé had sacrificed someone else's life so he could save his other friends. Mark remembered the many times where Doctors were close to 'playing God.' Jesse had been pretty close to it. He had chosen Mark, Steve and Amanda over Day and he could only imagine how hard that had been for Jesse to do. He went over and sat next to Jesse, putting his hands on the young man's shoulders. "Jesse, you can't blame yourself. No matter what way you go, someone was going to get hurt. That's the way people like Marcus Lavoy play it. But the fact that you managed to withstand Marcus for so long is a true sign of how tough you really are Jesse. You should never blame yourself. Day knows how hard you tried to prevent it but there is no right or wrong choice." Jesse nodded, looking at Mark in a trusting and understanding gaze.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Mark smiled. "Any time, Jess." He stood up from the bed. "I think maybe we should leave Jesse to get some more rest. He's going to need it."

"No!" Jesse shouted, trying to move forward but decided against it from the pains he received especially the ones within his back. The others all turned to look at him. "Please don't go. I don't want to be alone again. I've been doing that for too long and I don't want to get those nightmares."

Mark walked back into the room with Amanda. "We'll stay with you, Jesse."

"I'm going down to see that Holmes guy and see what I can get out of him," Steve said. "Bye Jesse." Jesse nodded and watched Steve walk out of the door. Then, himself, he tried to settle himself back into the bed again. He was trying hard not to let pain of any sort show. The sedation had prevented him to show too much emotion about what happened to Day. It had deeply upset him. He imagined what his apartment would be like now. Quiet now…no television when he got back…no quick jibes…no complaining about the food. Jesse couldn't believe that a humorous and charismatic man like Day was dead…his friend.

"What was wrong with me?" Jesse asked, looking at Mark. "Injuries."

Mark sighed and sat down next to Jesse. He knew Jesse should get some sleep but he was too afraid to sleep. "Well, Jess, they were pretty serious when you did finally come in. There were quite a few injuries, Jesse, some of them serious. Head injuries. There were quite a few broken ribs and internal injuries. You were internally bleeding near the appendix area. You have a broken leg. Second degree burns on your arms there were such serious bruising as fractures across your spine we thought you were paralyzed." Mark smiled. "Glad to see you proved us wrong."

Jesse smiled nervously. "It will all go away, right? Fixed?"

Mark nodded. "Anything on the outside can be fixed, Jesse. Even some parts on the inside. There are some parts, which do take a lot of time to heal. Parts like here—" Pointing to his head, "and here—" pointing to his heart. "Those will take time but you have to rid of what Marcus did to you and about Day from your mind."

Jesse nodded. "It's hard 'cause it hurts. Both things hurt." He ran a hand nervously through his hair. "I don't ever remember being so scared before. Not even when I had mutated smallpox or was accused of those murders." Jesse put a hand to his cheek and felt the cuts and bruises there. "It was a nightmare, it was hell. And all I could think about was stopping them from knowing where Day was and getting through the pain. Escaping never crossed my mind and I had a lot of time to think. The things they used…" Jesse's eyes started to water again.

Amanda went over to him and pulled him into an embrace again. She patted Jesse's hair. "Shh, Jess, don't worry, it's okay now. You're gonna be all right. We're so close to finding Marcus and you will put this behind you and as though it never happened." She made Jesse look at her. "You always have us, Jesse, and we always have each other. You're not alone and you have every right to be scared. No one should have gone through what you did. But you got out of it. It doesn't matter who lived and who did. What matters is you."

Jesse nodded, lying back on the pillows any more. That half an hour took its toll. He closed his eyes and fell asleep instantly, the guilt released.

--I know it's getting kind of sappy but bear with me. I think this is the only chapter like that and this is still not over--