The next morning after his long and restless night Tom awoke with a start his heart racing in his chest as he looked around quickly before remembering where he was, and the events that had taken place in the past 2 weeks.

"You cool?" Doug asked getting up from where he was sitting in the oh so familir arm chair placed next to the couch.

Tom nodded brushing his hair from his face and whiping his forehead drawing in a deep breath. "Yeah... yeah... fine."

"Are you sure? Do you need something?"

Resting his head back on the sofa Hanson took a moment before he answered, "Yeah... Lets, let's go for a walk."

"Are you sure your up for that man? You haven't been mobile for sometime now."

"You asked me what I wanted, and I told you..."

"Alright, Alright... we will go for a walk."

"Where are Harry and Judy?"

"They got called to the chapel not to long after you fell asleep last night,... Fuller needed them for a case,"

"Anything I can do?" Doug laughed shaking his head and earning him a strange look from his partner. "What?"

"Fuller knew you were gonna ask that, and I believe his exact words were... 'Tell Hanson to stop worrying about work and get his ass better..."

"Oh." Tom smirked sitting up, "Why didn't you go in?"

"Because I'm here with you."

"You don't have to-"

"No, I want to."

"Alright then, are you ready?"

"You wanna go now? Don't you want to try to eat something first?"

"Not hungry."

"Hanson, if you don't start eating your going to force me to do things that I don't think your going to like, and that I don't want to do."

"But Doug"

"Do not but Doug me, do you want to end up in the hospital with a tube down your throat man?"

"No..."

"Well that is where your headed."

"Why are you trying to scare me?"

"I'm not doing anything except telling you what is going to happen if you don't buck up and take the riens of this thing man."

"Fine. I'll eat." He paused shortly giving his friend the eye, "Later."

"I suppose that is better than never."

"You suppose right." Tom took his time getting up slowly and gathering his bearings Penhall immediately jumping to his side with his arm out... "I got it." He mumbled heading into the bedroom.

"Where exactly do you plan on walking to anyway?"

"Is the end of the earth an option?"

"Haha funny!" Penhall chuckled sarcastically leaning against the doorway into the bedroom, "I'm serious."

"I don't know... away from here, these walls are starting to close in on me."

"Trust me I know the feeling."

"Like I said, you don't have to be here Doug."

Sighing the larger man bit his tongue, "Relax Hanson, that' not what I meant."

"I know... I'm sorry..." Tom frowned pushing lightly past him, "I don't mean to be such an ass lately."

"I told you before it's not you. Don't worry about it."

Moments later the two men found themselves slowly making there way down the main bulivard of Tom's street the fall breeze decorating them both with a nice soft chill... "It's nice today," Tom finally spoke up after a good 15 minute silence period, pulling Doug from the daydream he had fallen into.

"Hmmm?"

"It's nice, outside."

"Oh yeah, yeah I guess it is."

"There is something I want to talk to you about..."

"Yeah." Penhalls feet stopped moving as he turned to look at Hanson bundled tightly in his red plaid jacket. "Alright, you know you can talk to me about anything."

"It's not just anything...I want to tell you, what happened in there."

Doug nodded. "o-okay."

"Here." Tom cleared his throat walking over to a bus bench and sliding into it uncomfortably, he wasn't sure that telling Doug was the right thing, or even that this was the right time to do so... but yet he did. "Let's sit down."

"Are you tired? Do you want to go back?" Penhall asked sitting down next to him and giving him a worried gaze.

"No. no. I'm fine... I just want to talk." He ran his hands through his hair a few times something he often did when he was nervous. "I don't know that I should be talking about this. But to be honest... I feel like it's eating me..."

"It's okay Tom, you know you can tell me anything. I'm here to listen..."

"I don't know why I even went against Fillers orders and took this damn assignment,... I just a felt so guilty, like I helped put Kenny in that place, and if they were mistreating him. Some of that was my fault."

"Hanson, Kenny Weckerly had a drug problem... His father put him there to get him help."

"That place isn't to help kids Doug it's to torture them, drug them up until thier insurance runs out then send them home twice as messed up as they were when they arrived." Hanson licked his lips and sighed, "Anyway, the night that Kenny escaped... I-I promised him I was gonna see Fuller the next day and we were gonna get him out."

"It's not your fault he didn't listen, he was old enough to make his own decisions..."

"I guess so."

"Hanson, your the best cop I know... you can't let this get to you... Now tell me about what happened to you alright man, that's what I care about, I want to know what they- what happened to you in there."

Tom nodded uneasily, "alright." He exhaled. "When Kenny escaped Rafferty thought I had something to do with it, and there was this... this girl who had snuck into my room, and well... I ended up in solitary... but it wasn't... something wasn't right man, were talking ten hours strapped to a bed."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Mhm, and then when I tried to tell him that, and that I was a cop he would have none of it... I felt a needle in my arm and next thing I knew I woke up in hell..."

"He illegally restrained a police officer and held you there against your will?"

"Well what did you think he did Doug? You think I didn't try to get out of there? That I didn't tell him I was a cop..."

"No, I just... He had to have known he was gonna get busted for this."

"I have a feeling that's why he sent me away..."

"Because if we can't find you we can't bust him."

"I spent two weeks in that place man, and with every passing moment it was like there was this hole inside of me and it was growing bigger and bigger, everytime I turned around there was someone to inject me with something or force feed me some pill to make me feel crazier than I already did..." He shook his head closing his eyes at the vivd memory, "When I didn't do what they wanted, or I tried to fight back... They would well... lets just say with a three on one sinario I'd lose everytime."

"They hit you?"

"Of course they hit me... Then they would tie- they would tie me down... and send me flying high, there were many times when I couldn't even remember my own name let alone plan an escape." He leaned back heavily on the park bench his stomach churning...

"I-I'm sorry..."

"It was cold there you know?" He wrapped his arms around himself a bit, "Colder than anything I had ever felt... like there was ice running through my viens, and no matter how hard I tried... I couldn't get warm... I couldn't even cry Doug, everything was just empty... empty painful and cold..."

"Hanson I-"

"After the first week I gave up, do you know that?" He tilted his head a little and opened his eyes bringing Penhall into view. "I gave up, I figured they could do what they wanted to me, because I was just some poor lost broken, expendable cop... and that no one was going to look for me let alone find me,"

"You should of known we wouldn't stop until we found you."

"You didn't know where I was, how would you know where to find me..."

"Fuller would never give up on you that easy Tom."

"But I gave up on myself... That is what these places do to you man they break you down, they bust you into tiny little worthless pieces until you don't have any feelings anymore, no substance and no exsistance... and if you do, you know what you feel?" He paused running a shaking hand over his mouth, "When your locked in your 'cell' tied to your bed and on drugs I can't even pronounce do you know what is left to feel?...Shame."

"Tom."

"They srip you naked of everything else Doug, and there you are this baren shell of a human being...filled with nothing but shame as you look around at these vultures and what you have somehow allowed them to do to you in one way or another."

"Tommy." Doug turned a little looking at his best friend. "Listen to me, what they did to you was wrong alright? What happened in that place, the memories it left you with... its all wrong, and we are going to make them pay."

"What about the next ones? These places are all the same man, what are we gonna do? Shut them all down..."

"I don't- I don't know Hanson, I wish I had the answers for you man, but I just don't know... All I do know is that Iam here for you, and we are gonna get though this... then together we are gonna nail this one, This one man, and it might not be much... But it's a start it's one less creep in this world...And-" Doug silenced himself when he looked over to see the tears rolling quietly down Tom's face, biting his lip he rubbed his back slowly. Without another word spoken the two men sat there listening to the Howl of the wind around them.

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Once again I would like to thank you for your reviews they really help me greatly in my writing. There will only be a few more installments of this story then it will be on to single bullet, so I hope those of you who are reading this will check it out and enjoy it just as much.

Lady Rosebud