Just a minor update, thanks ShadowCat, Abe is no longer a magazine ;)

Enjoy

Abe swam languidly back and forth across the length of his new living quarters, just relishing his new found freedom and space. Three days now he'd been living at the B.P.R.D. and he hadn't slept since he'd arrived. Too many times it'd happened that he dreamt of freedom similar to this only to wake up to a shock, literally. He was afraid this was another of those dreams.

"Still awake I see," said Dr. Broom with a slight grin as he entered from the main door. "This isn't a dream, I assure you. It'll all still be here when you wake up, don't worry," he said, trying to sound reassuring as opposed to worried. Three days without sleep on top of the incredibly stressful activities of those three days couldn't possibly be health for the semi-aquatic being. It was the last thing Abraham Sapien needed, but there wasn't a great deal the Professor could do about it.

"It's happened before, it could happen again. If it is a dream, I'd rather not risk ruining it and just stay here rather then go back to reality," Abe replied, his words slurred slightly and he seemed to have trouble finding the right words in his exhaustion muddled mind. "And if it is reality," doubt echoed in his words, "then what will my dreams be of? And how will I tell them from reality, or know which is which?" He sounded almost frightened as he spoke the nonsense words. He paused in his 'pacing' of his new aquarium before muttering to himself, "I'd rather not find out."

He glanced guardedly at Dr. Broom, feeling very self conscious. It wasn't often that he shared his thoughts, feelings and dreams with another being, and he wasn't sure how he should, or the doctor would, react. When he looked at Dr. Broom he was very surprised at what he saw; compassion.

"I can't understand what you're going through as I haven't experienced what you have," Dr. Broom replied carefully, walking towards Abe who was now floating at floor level, both palms pressed on the glass. "I do understand however that you need to work through a hell of a lot, and I can't tell you how. I can only do my hest to help you in every way I can," Dr. Broom finished as he sat down on the chair of his desk, facing his patient.

He'd expected to have a few issues to have to work through with the latest addition to the Bureau, though things were not shaping up entirely as he'd expected. He'd hoped to earn Abe's trust quickly through having freed him, and therefore earn his confidence, and help him work through his issues. Instead the fish man had basically barricaded himself inside himself, talking very little, reacting very little, eating very little, and sleeping not at all. He displayed classic symptoms of depression, the opposite reaction Dr. Broom would have expected in this sort of situation, though he was no shrink.

Abe was staring at him, almost through him, his face impossible to read. "You really care," He muttered, seeming shocked. They'd played through this scenario before. It was as if Abe couldn't make himself believe what he felt from the professor, so he continued to test, sure he was going to find a flaw in the impossible disguise. Every time he found the professor to be true to his word he came a little closer to acceptance, though he still couldn't quite grasp it.

"Why?" he asked sounding distrustful, "Why should I believe you? You don't know anything!"Abe demanded of the professor, practically shouting, "Are you even real?" He changed abruptly to a whisper.

This was a new turn of events, and Dr. Broom was excited. Perhaps they would make some progress now, perhaps Abe was ready.

"Yes, I am real," He replied, " I can only tell you to follow what you feel. Your heart, what does it say? It seems to me you have quite an interesting trick there. Mind reading is a hard thing to fool I would gather, what does my mind tell you?"

Abe abruptly resumed his pacing, considering this piece of advise. His mind told him to be careful, his heart told him it seemed real, and Dr. Broom's mind told him he cared, though he had alternate motives as well, though none of them seemed intent on evil. An agent? He wanted Abe to become an agent? Interesting thought. But to trust him? He needed to know, once and for all, if he his compassion went more then skin deep. Abe went back to his vantage point, and placed his hands on the glace again.

"You care?" Dr. Broom nodded, "Would you like to see?" Abe asked, almost a whisper, his heart in his throat. To share a memory required reliving the memory; not a pleasant task. This was the deciding moment. If Dr. Broom said yes, he would see, and Abe would know that he cared. He would volunteer to put himself in Abe's shoes, how much more proof could he ask for? If he said no, well, Abe would deal with that as the situation as it came.

"You're scared. It's easier said then done isn't it? Understanding? You want to understand me? Prove it! Prove you care!" Abe was shouting now, his emotions running completely wild, it was almost more then he could handle, "Let me show you even a portion, a tiny portion of life for me, so you can understand! Please!" He wanted him to say yes, wanted him to care, he needed him to care! He wasn't challenging or demanding, he was pleading for someone to understand him.

Dr. Broom sat, totally taken off guard by the emotional outburst of the previously completely stoic man. The pleading tone was not lost on him. He knew Abe needed him to say yes as surely as Abe knew he was afraid. Of course he was afraid. He knew scientists could be cruel, even sadistic, and the thought of seeing first hand what they could do scared the life out of him. But he knew what he had to do.

As he stood up slowly and walked towards Abe, who was waiting eagerly, he could feel his chest tightening. He stopped a foot away from the front of the aquarium, looking Abe straight in the eye. "I'll do it. I care." He said, "What do I do?"

Abe was shaking, he felt if he were asleep in a dream, or pumped full of drugs and barely in touch with reality. He could barely believe what he was about to do, what it could mean. Was his freedom for real? Really?

"Put your hands over mine, and close your eyes"

Dr. Broom set his cane down on the floor and slowly put his hands over Abe's, not at all sure what was going to happen, and feeling incredibly apprehensive about it.

He closed his eyes, and concentrated. On what, he wasn't sure, but he concentrated. Slowly sensations began to come to him. He was floating. He smelt, or felt, or tasted the staleness of the water as it flowed through his gills. He opened his eyes in confusion, and lifted his arms in front of him, a gesture not dissimilar to that a person groping in the dark. He tried to focus on something in front of him, but the world seemed to swim about, refusing to focus. His hands met glass a mere foot in front of him, and he followed it around. The front of the tank was rounded, causing the outside world to be distorted, and the back was flat, presumably up against a wall.

He tried to focus on something, a thought, a movement on the other side of the glass, but he couldn't. His mind didn't seem able to hold on to anything for more then a second. He felt a sensation of dread building in the pit his stomach as he saw the shadows of movement and colour begin to congregate around him. He heard a hissing and gurgling, and noticed the water level drop, they were draining his tank. He knew what that meant. Tests.

He shrank into the back of the tank, a feeble gesture since he was only 3 or 4 inches away from it. As the water slid down the drain at the bottom of the tank, there was a sharp click as the glass panel of the front of his tank swung open. He felt hands reach out and take a firm grip of his upper arms and pull him out of the tiny comfort of his tank. He struggled weakly against the grip, his vision swirling and distorting in a most dizzying and distorting way, making it nearly impossible for him to make any sense of what he was seeing, not that it really mattered. He knew what was coming.

As he felt the first jab of a needle into his upper arm, all sensations faded into the distance. The dizzying world faded to blackness and the itching sensation spreading out from whatever was in the needle slowly dissipated.

Dr. Broom stumbled back from the glass, sitting down heavily in the chair behind him to catch his breath. He hadn't been prepared; how could he have been? He looked up at Abe, floating calmly a few feet back from the glass. The calm was deceptive however, underneath there was a storm of emotions ranging from fear to anger, sympathy to horror to self-loathing. Why had he done it? Why had he relived the horror himself, just to make someone else feel the same pain he had unnumberable times?

"I'm sorry..." He whispered to Dr. Broom as he swam to the dark reaches of his aquarium, hiding from the accusing stare of his rescuer.