Disclaimer: - I don't own any of the characters of The Shield, they all belong to Shawn Ryan and FX.

Trespass – Chapter 25.

As Vic stepped out of the hospital into the bright sunshine he felt his headache crank up a notch or two and squinting he reached into his trousers pocket for his sunglasses, and cursed to himself when he realised that they were back at Dutch's house. So walking over to a piece of shade by the hospital entrance he pulled out his phone and dialed Shane's number. After a couple of rings he heard Shane's voice,

"Vendrell."

"Shane it's me I'm at the hospital, King/Drew on South Wilmington, and I need you to come pick me up." Vic told him.

"Sure boss I'm on my way. Are you ok? What about Dutch is he all right? Well I guess he's not…um …you know all right but…um…shit I still can't believe it."

Vic winced as Shane's words came pouring into his ear. Shit sometimes the guy just talked too much. Cutting in Vic said,

"Look I'm fine just a headache. What about your friend over at Westwood have you spoken to him yet?"

"Oh yeah Tom…um not yet I've left a couple of messages for him to call me so it won't be long. I did what you told me, Lem and Ronnie have been out rolling the shitheads outta their beds." Shane told him.

"Hear anything?" Vic asked.

"No not yet… but we'll find 'em boss."

"Oh damn right we will. Look my battery's low I'm out by the main entrance ok?"

"Ok Vic I'll be there in ten minutes." Shane said before Vic closed his phone.

With a sigh Vic leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. He could feel what little strength he had left beginning to drain out of him. He wondered absently how he had managed to keep going this long, adrenaline could only sustain a person for so long and Vic didn't think he had any left in his body. When Shane arrived he would get him to take him to Dutch's house. That way he could check up to see if the forensics team had finished up yet and grab a shower and a change of clothes. Then some strong coffee and some Tylenol too. He'd need to keep going for a few hours more and then even he had to admit he'd need to get some rest. Just an hour of sleep the night before and then all the anxiety, guilt and anger that had followed really had left him feeling more than a little shaky. Vic knew that to catch these two pricks he'd need to be on top of his game. Not only trying to find them, but avoiding stepping on Westwood's toes to do it and keeping under Aceveda's radar. Plus the team would have to keep up business as usual and that would mean still keeping on top of the streets. Making sure the scum knew who was boss.

Vic straightened up and opened his eyes just in time to see a police department black Navigator with Shane at the wheel pulling into a parking space across from where he stood. Forcing himself to stand a little taller, a little straighter Vic strolled across to the car. As he climbed into the passenger seat he couldn't miss the concerned look Shane was giving him,

"Damn Vic you look like shit." Shane told him.

"Yeah well thanks I try you know." Vic replied sarcastically.

To be honest he could really do without conversation at this moment, but knowing Shane he doubted he'd be getting much peace. So relaxing into the seat of the Navigator he said,

"I need to get a change of clothes and catch a shower so drop me off at Dutch's house, and I can see what forensics have come up with at the same time. It's 1310 Hoover Street."

"Yeah sure…are you sure you're ok Vic you really do look like crap?" Shane asked as he backed the Navigator out of the parking space and headed for the main road.

"Yeah I'm fine. Bastards cracked me over the head with the butt of a gun. I was out for a few minutes that's all."

Shane nodded and Vic was glad that he'd decided to drop the subject, accepting Vic's assurances. However, he knew what Shane's next question would be, and sure enough after a couple of minutes of silence Shane glanced across at him and, sounding both curious and embarrassed, asked,

"How's Dutch then…I mean after…well after that…he must be…um…well you know…"

Deciding to put Shane out of his misery and because he couldn't stand listening to him "uming" and "ahing" his way around the subject Vic told him,

"He's in the ICU unconscious and on a ventilator. They had to remove his spleen because he had internal bleeding and…well the doctor said he'd recover so…. Look Shane I don't want to talk about it ok."

"Oh yeah I understand." Shane said, thankfully finally keeping quiet.

Vic turned away and leaning his throbbing head back against the headrest of his seat he gazed out of the window. He felt so tired and suddenly numb, although he looked out of the window he didn't actually see anything that passed by and was surprised when he heard Shane say,

"We're here boss."

Blinking rapidly for a moment to clear the fog out of his brain he realised they were parked outside of Dutch's house. There were two black and whites parked near them and the path up to Dutch's house was blocked off with yellow "police line do not cross" tape. Parked in the driveway behind Vic's car was the forensic team's SUV. Vic was pleased they were still there, it meant he should be able to find out if they'd discovered anything yet, he doubted they'd have gotten any results back yet but maybe he'd be lucky. Turning towards Shane as he opened the door he said,

"Thanks Shane. I need you to get onto that friend of yours and see if Lem and Ronnie have turned anything up. Aceveda's told me I'm not supposed to show my face in the Barn today, and I don't want him getting suspicious and poking his nose where it doesn't belong so I'll give you a call and we'll meet up later at your place ok?"

"No problem…are you going to be all right?" Shane asked as Vic climbed out of the car.

"I'll be fine just take care of this for me Shane." Vic snapped.

He hadn't meant to speak so harshly to Shane. He knew Shane was only worried about him but he was tired, mentally and physically drained, and he didn't have the energy to deal with Shane's anxiety right now. However, he looked back at him before he closed the car door and in a conciliatory tone said,

"Sorry Shane it's just been a tough couple of hours you know?"

Nodding his understanding once more Shane said,

"I know it's ok…don't worry about it. I'll speak to you later."

"Yeah I'll call." Vic assured him stepping away from the car.

Vic stood watching the Navigator as it drove down the street and disappeared around the corner. Taking a deep breath he focused his attention on the task at hand. He walked towards the house, ducking under the police tape and ignoring the curious stares from Dutch's neighbours, some of whom were watching the police activity from their front lawns while others tried to be more subtle and stared out from behind their twitching curtains. As he neared the open front door a uniformed officer stepped out,

"Can I help you?" He asked.

Vic flashed him his badge, watching as the officer's attitude immediately relaxed.

"I was here last night. I'm staying in the spare room and I needed a change of clothes are you guy's are nearly finished?" Vic asked.

He forced himself to ignore the speculative glance the uniform gave him. Vic wondered how much he knew about what had happened here, how many of the gory details were already common knowledge. Stepping back out of Vic's way so he could enter the house the policeman told him,

"Forensics are just packing up their stuff and then it's all yours."

Nodding Vic moved to the base of the stairs and glancing up he could hear the voices of the forensics personnel as they prepared to leave.

"I'll just go up then."

The cop just shrugged and turned away moving down the hallway towards the kitchen. Vic went upstairs and moved towards Dutch's bedroom where the sounds of conversation were coming from. As he neared the bedroom door he could feel his heartbeat getting faster, a cold sweat broke out on his forehead and as he reached out to push the door open he was shocked to see that his hand was shaking. Pausing for a moment Vic mentally chastised himself and with an effort pushed his physical reactions aside and pushing open the door he stepped into the room. For a second he was bombarded with a whole gamut of images and emotions and he felt as if the world was sliding away from him. He ruthlessly shoved the feelings aside and fought to steady himself. Then a voice broke though to him and dragged him back into the present,

"I said can I help you!"

Vic found himself face to face with a puzzled looking forensics technician and clearing his throat he quickly flashed her his badge,

"Detective Mackey have you found anything useful yet?" He asked the woman.

"It's a little early yet Detective." She told him turning back to her colleagues, rolling her eyes at them.

Stamping down on his annoyance Vic had to grit his teeth as he smiled at her and said,

"I realise that but I just thought you might have something to tell me."

After regarding him for a second the woman sighed and said,

"Well we've got blood and semen samples from the bedding and the carpet. Of course we won't be able to separate out what's the victim's and what's the perpetrator's until we get back to the lab, then we'll start to run the DNA tests. There's fingerprints to be run through the computer and we've taken some hair and fibre samples. Basically I can't tell you anything until we get back to the lab. Look I already told your buddies this, what are their names…. Gregory and um…" She looked at Vic for help.

"Lehane." He supplied.

"Yeah that's it Lehane. Don't you guys talk to each other or something?" She asked.

The others in the room chuckled and smirked slightly as they began to file past him out of the room, taking their bags of equipment and samples with them.

"You know how it is sometimes." Vic replied.

She snorted in derision and began to follow her colleagues from the room before pausing for a second and turning back to Vic,

"Oh yeah you could do me a favour. When you seen the other two super-sleuths tell them I sent someone over to the hospital."

Frowning Vic asked,

"The hospital?"

"Christ you really don't talk to each other do you it's a miracle any crimes get solved." The technician said in disgust. "They told me the victim had been bitten during the attack so I said I'd send someone over to take a cast of the bite."

Vic winced at her words and had to suppress a wave of nausea that passed through him. Looking at him the technician's eyes softened slightly as she noted his reaction,

"Yeah poor guy…Look I'll get onto these straight away, get the results as fast as I can ok?"

Vic mumbled his thanks and watched as she joined her colleagues as they made their way downstairs and out of the house. Vic glanced quickly around the now silent room and with a shudder followed them. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and found the cop he'd spoken to earlier waiting for him.

"We're all done here so can we leave you to secure the property?" He asked Vic.

"Yeah sure no problem."

Suddenly the front door was closed and Vic found himself alone in the now empty, silent house. He slowly sank down until he was sitting on the stairs and lowered his head into his hands.