"How do you feel, Frank?" Alex asked.

Frank was trying to sit up straight in the seat, but he was leaning closer and closer to the door, finally resting his head on the van's window. "Fine."

Alex shook her head, and looked at Monica.

'Macho,' Monica mouthed to her.

No one said anything else, simply watching him as they drove the short distance back to HQ. When they pulled up, everyone rushed over to help Frank out of the van.

"Where are we going?" Frank asked when Alex pulled him in the direction of his Volvo.

"I'm taking you home, where else?"

"No," he said, trying to pull his arm out of her grasp. "I said I'm fine. We have work to do."

Alex didn't expect him to pull away, so when Frank tried to yank his arm from her grip, he succeed, resulting in making him stumble back, and she nearly missed when she reached out to grab him again.

"Geez, Frank, look at you! I know you're stubborn, but if one of us was hurt, you'd make us go home!" she said. "You wouldn't put up with this kind of crap from one of us!"

Frank said nothing, trying to blink back the dizziness and force back the nausea his violent motion had caused. Instead of answering—for he'd hardly heard what she'd said, anyway—he turned and stumbled for the door.

Sighing, Alex grabbed his arm, and helped him.

********************

When they walked in, the rest of the team was surprised.

"Frank! Why didn't you let her take you home?" Monica asked, bewildered.

"Because I'm fine," he said, again, as Alex helped him over to the couch and sat him on it. "Now stop worrying about me and let's do our jobs."

"The only job you can do is lie down," said Jake, hoping he could get away with ordering Frank the way the medic had. "You probably have a concussion, though I doubt you'd admit to it."

Frank's face changed from looking determined, to suddenly looking pain-filled and exhausted. "You're right," he said, and lay down on the couch.

Everyone looked at Jake in shock. Had Frank finally come to his senses, and stopped being stubborn? They were so relieved that they didn't consider the possibility that it could be a bad sign.

********************

"Boss?"

Frank jumped slightly, looking into the blurry face of Monica. "What?" he said, annoyed, closing his eyes against the horrible pain in his skull.

"What's your name?"

Frank reopened them and looked at her as if she were insane. "You know my name," he said, closing his eyes again.

Monica sighed. "Frank…" Oops! She'd purposely called him 'boss' so she wouldn't give his name away if he was unable to tell it to her. Alex had kept waking him up and asking him questions for the past few hours, and Monica had taken over a short time ago. "I'm trying to make sure you're coherent. Bear with me, huh?"

"Frank Donovan," he said slowly, eyes still closed.

"When were you born?" she asked next.

"November 23, 1970," he answered, sounding irritated. "Sometimes known as Thanksgiving."

"Good." She smiled and patted his arm. "Go back to sleep."

Frank didn't answer, and she figured him to be asleep already.

Walking over to where Cody sat at his computer, Monica whispered to him, "I gotta go to the bank before it closes. Keep a close eye on Frank, okay? Don't let him sleep for longer then 20 minutes at a time."

Cody nodded. "The others still not back yet?"

Jake and Alex had gone to the Chicago police station to give them the details of what had happened; that the man who killed the Governor's security man was no longer a threat to the public. The dreaded paperwork took a while to take care of.

"Nope," Monica answered, as she left.

Cody grabbed a sticky note and wrote the words, 'check on Frank' on it. He stuck it to his monitor, should he get too engrossed in what he was doing to remember his injured boss.

Suddenly his cell phone rang, and Cody jumped, fumbling for it and nearly dropping it. He saw the sticky note, and muttered under his breath as he realized that a good half-hour had passed. He dashed to the still-sleeping Frank, answering his phone at the same time.

"Yeah?"

"Did you wake Frank up?"

Cody sighed. "Doing that right now."

"You shouldn't've waited so long!" Monica exclaimed, sounding upset. "He could lose consciousness again!"

I know, I know…"Frank?" he whispered, so as not to startle him.

Frank didn't open his eyes.

"Frank…" he repeated, a little louder.

Nothing.

"Hey Frank, wake up!" Cody put a hand on his arm, and squeezed it.

Still nothing.

Oh God… "Call ya back," he said to Monica, sticking the phone back into his pocket. "Frank!" he yelled, shaking him this time. "WAKE UP!"

Frank jumped, wincing and putting a hand over his eyes, making a sound that could only be described as a whimper.

"Uh," Cody said, contrite. "Sorry, Frank."

"What do you want?" Frank gasped, sounding exasperated, his voice thick with pain.

"Had to wake you up to make sure you're okay."

"Why does everyone keep doing that! I told you all I'm fine!"

Cody made a face. Frank knew the deal on head injuries; he knew what needed to be done. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Can't you think of something more original then that?" Frank asked back, eyes still closed.

"Uh," Cody said, growing concerned. Maybe Frank's head hurt so much that it put him in a really bad mood? Cody knew that he hated to be mother-henned. "Okay. Umm…what organ are you missing?"

Frank frowned, as if Cody were insane. "Organ? I have a piano…oh. My spleen."*

"Right," Cody said, relieved. "I guess that means you're okie dokie! You can go back to sleep now, boss."

But Frank started to get up instead.

"Where are you going?" Cody asked.

"The bathroom."

"Oh." Cody helped him up, and watched as Frank stayed hunched over for a minute, hands on the coffee table, eyes closed tight.

"You…uh…need help, uh, getting there?" Cody asked, grabbing Frank's arm when he suddenly listed to the side.

"No," Frank said, but then proceeded to use every large object on the way to the bathroom for support.

Cody watched, getting worried. Frank could be obstinate, but this much? He suddenly realized that Frank hadn't used his name once. "Hey Frank!" he called out. "What's MY name?"

Frank didn't answer, going into the bathroom and shutting the door.

Cody shrugged. Frank probably didn't answer because either he was sick of all the questions, or he thought Cody was making fun of him. He sat down on the couch, waiting for his boss to come out of the bathroom, determined to lend him a hand whether he wanted help or not.

A few minutes passed without a sound, and Cody called out, "Frank! You okay in there?" The only sound he got for a reply was a thump and a grunt.

Jumping up, he ran over to find Frank on his hands and knees outside the bathroom. "Fraaaaank," he said, kneeling next to him and grabbing his arm.

"Leave…me…alone," Frank whispered, through clenched teeth, his eyes squeezed shut in pain.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Cody exclaimed, deciding now that Frank indeed was acting more belligerent then he should be. Taking out his cell phone, he started to dial Alex's number before noticing that Monica's call was still open on the phone, and it said 10 minutes and 45 seconds. Oops, he thought, as he disconnected the call and dialed Alex.

"Come on, come on..." he said impatiently, as it rang.

"Hello?"

"Alex! Are you guys on your way back?"

"Yeah," she replied. "We're like a minute away. What's wrong? How's Frank?"

"There's something definitely wrong with him—"

"CODY!"

"Hang on, Alex—over here, Monica!"

Monica came around the corner, and gasped at the sight of their boss. "Frank!" She dropped to her knees beside him. "You left your line open," she told Cody, annoyed, having tried repeatedly to call him back.

"I know," he said. "It was an accident." Cody suddenly realized that he still had Alex on the line. "Alex?"

"We just pulled in, where are you?"

"Near the bathroom!"

"Why didn't you call for an ambulance?" Monica asked, putting her arms around Frank to support him. He felt cold, and she hoped that her body heat would warm him.

"I figured if Alex and Jake were almost here it'd be quicker then waiting for an ambulance," Cody answered. Realizing that he didn't need to talk into the phone anymore, he hung it up this time, before putting it away. "There was no way I could get him there myself, he would hardly let me touch him!"

Monica looked worried at his words, trying to soothe Frank, as he gasped in agony.

Suddenly Jake and Alex came running in. Not even asking what happened, they quickly got Frank to his feet, and practically forced him out of the place and into Jake's Blazer.  

Despite Frank's insistence of not going to a hospital, he was calm during the ride, most likely because all he could do was slouch there, holding his head. Alex and Monica's dreaded mother-henning kicked in, as they kept saying things like, 'almost there' and 'you'll be fine'.

Finally, they pulled into the parking lot, and parked in front of the ER door. They quickly helped Frank from the truck, and were struck with fear to see how much he'd deteriorated during the ride; totally unable to walk, his face deathly pale.

Their fear tripled when Frank passed out, just outside the door.

"HELP!" Cody yelled, as they gently lowered Frank to the ER floor.

Two doctors and three nurses ran over, bombarding the team with questions.

"What happened?"

"He got hit with a crowbar!"

"A crime?"

"Yeah."

"This wound doesn't look like it just happened," one of the docs observed, after ripping the bandage off that Monica and Alex had put on him.

Jake shook his head. "No, it was about…" he looked at the team. "Four? Five? Five hours ago."

The doctors shook their heads in dismay at the length of time before getting help. "Was he unconscious when it happened?"

Jake nodded. "For about ten minutes."

"Why didn't you call for an ambulance?" the doctor asked, shocked.

"We did! He refused treatment."

The doctor accepted the blood pressure cuff that one of the nurses had run to get, while the other listened to Frank's heart.

"Heartbeat fast," he frowned.

"Son of a gun!" the other doctor suddenly exclaimed, sounding shocked. "BP only 65/30!"

The two doctors looked at each other, a silent message passing between them. Quickly putting Frank on a stretcher, they whisked him away without another word.

The team, stunned by what had gone on before their eyes, started forward, when the one nurse that'd remained said to them, "You'll have to wait in the waiting room."

The team looked at each other, each of them looking very scared. "What just happened?" Cody asked, fearfully.

She sighed. "Could be many things," she answered, with a shrug, not wanting to make them nervous if the doctors were wrong about what she knew they suspected.

My story, 'Caught in the Middle': http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=642601