Title: Safehouse
Author: Kayla
Summary: One detective of the twenty-seventh is injured, and the rest must deal with the consequences of a revenge bent maniac.
Disclaimer: Sanami Matoh owns FAKE.
Rating: (By Chapter) PG-13
Warnings: Violent
JJ sat, unsure if his body was shaking, or he was just dizzy. He was stuck to the seat of a cushioned bench, in the middle of a hospital waiting room. He was alone, he couldn't see very well, and he was cold. He closed his eyes but it didn't do anything to numb the tight pain inside of his chest. He opened his eyes and felt tears again.
He leaned against the wall behind him for help and support. He really, really wanted to cry, but something beyond him was holding him back, and he just sagged against the wall and waited. What was he waiting for? Anything that could wake him up from the dazed feeling he held.
Ryo and Dee came rushing to the hospital, the automatic doors sliding in opposite directions to reveal the two panting detectives. Dee's face was red tinted, and it was obvious that the two had rushed to get to the building.
Dee almost rushed past JJ, running straight towards the receptionist's desk, but Ryo grabbed the back of his long coat, and pulled him to where JJ sat.
"What's going on?" Dee asked bluntly. Ryo hit Dee from behind, and gave him a quick, but warning look. JJ looked up, and felt like he hardly recognized them. It was so weird, like they were just two more people in the massive blur.
Ryo spoke in much softer, more understanding tones. That brought a sense of awareness to JJ, which relieved him very much. Looking straight at them helped him to think straightly. "JJ, what happened?" Ryo asked comfortingly, sitting on the bench at one side of him. "You sounded so hard to understand on the phone."
JJ shook his head bluntly. They were trying to clear the haziness, but at the same time make it worse. If Dee didn't get how this felt, Ryo would. He couldn't stop thinking about the scene that had played out in front of him. He didn't even understand for himself what he had seen. He tried, but he just could not say a word to either of them. "I… I …" he groaned quietly, unable to make his voice any louder than a whisper. He watched as Ryo exchanged a pained look with Dee."
Ryo tried to speak slowly. "JJ, I know what happened, okay? I got the idea from talking to you on the phone earlier. But, we really want to know this, we need to know this."
JJ tried to speak, but he couldn't vocalize the words. It wasn't going to happen. Just opening his mouth a little had triggered a stream of tears that could not stop. He closed h9is eyes and sobbed once, loudly. But then he forced himself to stop, and the clearness became evident.
Dee and Ryo, both of them seemed so far away from where JJ was. He was still lost on that small street, in front of that restaurant, as sirens screamed and people flocked around like dumb birds. Why wouldn't they help him? JJ listened as they crowded around him, as he cried crazily for them to get his partner and best friend help.
It had been such a normal day. No, not really normal. It had been nice, comfortable. After weeks of terrible weather in New York City, the sun had been bright, and JJ had wanted so badly to go outside. Drake had seen that his wish was granted.
"Come on JJ," Drake had said, making JJ feel a rush of excitement "Let's go downtown, to that new Italian restaurant. It'll be nice just relaxing after our shift. They just seem to be getting longer and longer…"
JJ had nodded and had been so excited that he barely concentrated for the rest of the day. He knew it was stupid, and just dinner with a friend. It was nothing more than spending some time enjoying himself. Yet it sure beat spending time alone.
It had been one of the nicest times. Neither of them had any opinion on the food they were eating. They had ignored everything except the conversation. Dee and Drake's numerous girlfriends never entered the dialogue, not even once. They had been friendly, playful, and really enjoyed themselves.
They had left, planning on going to Drake's house to watch a movie that was going to be on TV. Drake knew JJ had wanted to see it, and even had made the suggestion. Yet the moment they stepped out of the restaurant and began walking down the street, something had happened.
Only moments after leaving, as they headed towards Drake's parked car, Drake had stopped. He looked around apprehensively, and JJ could only imagine what he was thinking. He looked around more, as if he suspected that he would see something. "I feel like we're being…" Drake began in explanation, but then his eyes made contact with something, and his arm flung at JJ forcefully. "Get…" he'd said, and in what seemed like an instant, had been shot.
Before JJ's mind could shut down, and fall forcefully into a crisis mode, he let professional training tell him that it had been two bullets. Two shots appeared obviously, yet after that ,everything he knew shut down.
Everything had gone blank so fast.
He knew he had been yelling, screaming out for something – help probably. People crowded around him, and he could hear their voices, but they were far away from where he was. They asked him questions, all the voices noisy and enquiring. "Get the hell away from me!" JJ had screamed. "Get him help, you idiots!"
Finally, as the group furthered themselves from him, he was able to concentrate and think like what he was – a professional. His partner was looking up at him with dull, glossy eyes, and a fallen expression. He looked confused. JJ's eyes went to the blonde's chest. He breathed deeply, trying to remember do just what he knew how. Tearing the cleanest piece of Drake's shirt with his hands, JJ had pressed the cloth with his fingers over the wound. He knew that pressure could slow the excessive bleeding. He screamed, trying to make sure an ambulance had been called.
His heart had been pounding. He could not see one of the people who had surrounded him. They were waves and they merely washed over him until he was engulfed. JJ, too afraid and dazed to really become upset, sobbed dryly, his chest lurching as he kept Drake still. His partner was fidgeting, moving helplessly and mouthing inaudibly.
"Drake," he whispered sternly, his blood soaked hand now in the blonde man's hair. "Drakey… I know it's really tough… but you've got to keep calm. Relax okay? Help is on the way." He just had to keep Drake calm, and prevent his heart rate from escalating.
He was staining Drake, covering clean parts of his body with the crimson liquid. He felt a tinge of sickness almost cross him, but he ignored it – shut it out completely. He had reached onto Drake and held him tightly, bloodstained fingers and all. Soon he heard the sounds of sirens in the distance, though he could not make out light, or faces. He saw nothing except the blur of white, mixed with exceptional colors. He was so dizzy… but he had to help.
Drake kept moving, tensing his body constantly. His mouth opened and closed spastically, and cries escaped him, as if he were having conversations with some invisible entities. "Please calm down…" JJ whispered, and looked around himself as lights stopped close by, and there was a bustle of feet around him. "Help's here…"
"But, nuh-uh!" Drake's speech was becoming somewhat more audible, and JJ could make out a few words of the jumbled speaking, as paramedics rushed to them. "Man, JJ, what's… wha… going on?"
The paramedics seemed to come for his partner in the slowest steps. JJ watched as they seemed to skip across the sidewalk towards them. "This is so… weird," Drake had said loudly, grabbing JJ by the neck with his free arm and weakly kissing him on the side of the face. His face had suddenly paled, turned to that of a little, excited kid. " Did that guy in the- the window … he shot me man! JJ, this is the freakiest feeling ever. It's… so… wow…"
JJ felt dizzier than ever, as some source pulled him away. He stood alone, watching as men loaded Drake onto a stretcher and then to the back of a white ambulance. JJ saw the lights, and then felt more faint. He waited for the group surrounding him to dissipate.
He had made a phone call to the precinct. He had somehow managed to drive. And he was at the hospital now.
And now he was here. He had been staring at Dee and Ryo for way too long now, and they were both critically analyzing him. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, dryly. "Drake got shot from far range. A sniper from an apartment window is the suspect. They haven't gotten to him … yet."
Both Dee and Ryo looked at him. It seemed that Dee's face dropped significantly. Had he perhaps hoped to believe that Ryo had misheard JJ's screams over the telephone? "Are you serious?" Dee asked slowly, and JJ nodded, closing his eyes and trying to block the images of only hours earlier.
It was no use! JJ was a detective who had seen so many violent shootings, who had even shot and killed in the line of duty, would never get the gruesome images of his hurt friend out of his mind. He looked at the others, but felt stuck in time. He ran out to the bathroom, sickened over what he was seeing.
"Go after him, please," Ryo told Dee, who followed JJ at a slow pace. JJ could hear the footsteps of his colleague behind him. He opened the door quickly, and stepped inside, leaving Dee alone and praying that the man would not follow him.
Dee watched JJ, but could not bear to go in. He had watched JJ take it really hard, but he himself was still in shock. He could not believe the event. He almost felt like it was a joke. He could not believe that Drake Parker had actually been shot. And not even in the line of duty! They were officers, the expected the worst injuries on the job. Yet they never suspected them in their daily lives. A bitter chill shook Dee, and he remained waiting outside of the door to the man's room.
"This is awful," Dee said somberly, running a hand through his dark hair. He sighed loudly, but nobody was in the white corridor with him. He waited firm, but it was difficult to steady his thoughts, especially the worry for a good friend. "If that bastard who shot him isn't found I'll…"
"Dee, it isn't too likely we will be finding him any time soon." There was a voice from behind him, soft and worried. Dee turned to face Ryo, who was now accompanied by Commissioner Berkeley Rose. Ryo looked paler than Dee had ever seen the man, and Rose looked equally concerned. Dee instinctively reached out and put an arm around Ryo, drawing the light haired man closer to him.
"What's wrong baby?" he asked softly, looking over Ryo, obviously concerned. As soon as they made physical contact, Dee realized that Ryo was shaking. "My god, you feel terrified."
Ryo tried to answer, but his voice ended up cracking. Dee looked at Rose who brushed by him with a harsh comment. "Is Detective Adams here?" Berkeley asked crisply, his voice sharp but sympathetic to a degree. "I need to see Adams immediately."
"JJ's in the bathroom," Ryo explained, eyeing Dee to confirm the fact. Dee shivered, but nodded, telling both Ryo and Berkeley that JJ wasn't well. "He's pretty sick over what he witnessed, sir."
"That's very well… but…"
Just as Dee was going to interrupt and yell at the Commissioner for being a heartless animal, JJ came out of the bathroom, his pale face masked by a red tint. His eyes were red and he looked considerably weaker. "What's going on?" he asked sniffing. He saw Rose instantly and his voice became loud, which was just JJ's way of overcompensating for his weakness. "Did you find out who…"
"I'm afraid I did," Berkeley responded softly, his hands rubbing against each other nervously. It seemed that he had a habit, of running his left hand against the palm of his right. He continuously made the motion as he talked nervously. "I don't want to alarm you after this traumatic incident, Detective, but the suspect we are chasing is Jensen."
Ryo went more pale, and Dee realized that Rose had not told Ryo the full details. He too felt himself draining to the paleness of his lover, but not quite as pale as JJ. His hands shook as he tried to speak, but luckily, JJ was quicker to the words this time.
"Sir…" JJ sniffed slightly, shuffling to hide his shock. "Sir… that's im-impossible! I shot Peter Jensen… killed him!"
"Maybe my wording was of bad choice," Berkeley said seriously, wringing his hands in agitation directed towards himself. "The suspect is William Jensen, Peter Jensen's older brother."
JJ wished that the Commissioner's covering for his slip of words was more of a comfort. True, JJ's partner had not been gunned down by the ghost of a dead man… but most likely a man out for revenge. "Revenge?" JJ asked, fear escalating as he tried to speak more. "Sir… is Jensen … out for revenge on me?"
"Revenge on the entire unit that ended up with his brother's life on their hands," Berkeley said quickly. "It wasn't your fault Jensen died, Adams, you were doing you job."
"Yeah," JJ felt the gnawing that had made him sick only moments before. It returned full force, this time feeling more like the twist of a dull knife. His stomach lurched. His partner had not only been shot in front of him. He had been shot because of him!
The Jensen case had been extremely hard on JJ. It had hit him so badly! It was not like it was the first time he had seriously wounded, or killed a suspect. Yet it had been hard because it was the first time many people had seen him kill.
Jensen had been killed after he had taken sixteen elementary school aged students hostage in a classroom, and was threatening to kill each child before taking his own life. He had a terrible reputation for child abuse, and was even suspected (but never convicted) of murder. It was a sickening case and t he Criminal Investigations unit had been on Jensen for months. Ryo, Dee, Drake.. all of them knew about him, and all of them wanted him stopped before he could hide further under the safety of the law.
He had been threatening a girl of about eight, a gun to her head. JJ could still see the little girl crying as he held her in his arms, and had that gun pressed to her little body. The minute he had abandoned the child, leaving her sobbing in the corner of the classroom, JJ had been ordered to shoot to wound or kill. Unfortunately for Jenson, the position he had been in left only room for a kill shot.
It had hurt. It hurt knowing that his friends, and sixteen little children had seen him kill another human. No matter what the man had done, it hurt JJ badly. He knew he was probably being sick, idealistic at best, but he hated himself for killing Peter Jensen.
And Drake… his best friend had been the greatest source of comfort for him too. "It'll be okay JJ," he'd said one night, when he had come over to catch JJ crying about it. JJ had been sitting in front of the television of his apartment, and was silently weeping. He hadn't even seen his partner enter with the emergency key JJ had given him.
"I know I'm being silly…" JJ had told him.
"No, not silly," Drake had comforted. "You're just being compassionate towards another human being. Even towards a slimball like him! You're a good guy, JJ, no t a killer.
It had hurt so much, but it had eventually healed. Look who was paying for the murder he had committed now! Drake was hurt, maybe even dying, all because of what JJ had done. Wasn't the guilt he had felt enough? He tried to walk away from the others, but then shook as he sobbed slowly. He almost dropped. He would have fallen right there, if not for Ryo's hand gripping hold of him.
"JJ, I'll take you home if you want," Ryo offered.
"I haven't explained to either of them Maclean, our dillema." Berkeley spoke seriously, his eyes flashing for a moment. JJ watched as his eyes moved slowly, as if surveying the room for intruders. "I am afraid that William Jensen is the man who has taken down one of our own. His sister Lillian has testified that much. She has also testified that her brother will not stop until everyone involved in her brother's case is dead. She said that her brother illegally obtained some legal records, and knows about everyone in our Criminal Investigations unit. As police Commissioner for the twenty-seventh precinct, I must order you all back to the office at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow morning. I am cooperating with the Safehouse police protection program to keep my men alive, and in a safe place. Go get your affairs in order, because this may be a long ride.
JJ almost sobbed again, but thank god for Dee and Ryo. People were looking at JJ as they walked by, but the other detectives wouldn't allow anyone to invade his privacy. JJ almost – well almost, laughed aloud as he realized that Ryo – who was a main support – was near tears himself.
What was happening to their lives, and what would they do when as they were torn to shreds?
