Ooh, another chapter! Happy reading!

The next day, Spencer insisted on getting up and going over to Tala's bedside, despite having to stagger the two metres or so it took and ending up being sick when he got there. Bryan joined him, and Ian was wheeled over in a wheelchair, still too weak to move properly on his own. The White Tigers stood with them, all looking down at Tala, whose eyes were tightly closed, and Rei, who was snoozing beside him, as he had most days since the Russian captain had been laid there. "Rei?" Lee asked suspiciously, touching the dark-haired boy on the arm. "Are you okay, Rei?" Rei sat up, blinking, and Lee frowned. The younger neko-jin was pale and much thinner, with bags under his eyes. "Rei, get up. When was the last time you ate? You need to worry about yourself as well as Tala!"

"But Lee-"

"Mariah can watch Tala for a few minutes, and you can come with me to the cafe and -eat- something!"

"Lee..." Everyone present watched as Lee drew himself up to his full height. In reality that wasn't much, but bristling as he was he seemed much bigger. "When I said you didn't have to come back to the hotel until after the rest of us I didn't think you meant you were going to sit there and pine and neglect yourself!" Rei's lip quivered.

"Lee...I'm sorry...I just don't feel like eating...I'm not hungry..." Lee's expression softened.

"Yes you are. You're just worried. Come on, we'll go down to the cafe and then we'll come straight back up, okay? And when we go back tonight I'll wash your hair for you." Rei smiled, a tear leaking from the corner of one eye.

"You're always acting like my big brother..."

"You need one. Come on, up. Tala's got enough people watching him, he'll be fine."

As Lee pulled Rei up, a hand grabbed his shirt. "Lee...James is coming back...don't leave me..." Lee felt his heart sink. Of course. James was coming back for another therapy session with Bryan...and then it came to him.

"Come with us!"

On further reflection, bringing Bryan hadn't been such a good idea. The cafe down the hall was small and busy, which for a start wasn't really the kind of thing Bryan was ready for, then of course there was the fact that the Russian was constantly edgy, jumping whenever people brushed past him or even looked at him. Which wasn't made any easier by the fact that he was wearing a green hospital gown that made him stick out like a sore thumb. Rei wasn't helping either- he was too busy shovelling food down his face at record speed so he could get back to Tala. So Lee had to cuddle Bryan close- which attracted more attention- and stroke his hair. After a while he seemed to become a little calmer, reaching for Lee's hand and just holding it, watching Rei wrestling with a packet of salt.

"...Um..." Bryan picked up another packet out of the bowl in the middle of the table and ripped it open, holding it out. Rei took it with a smile and Bryan blinked at him before dropping his eyes to the floor, reaching for Lee's hand again.

When Rei was done, they started off back up the corridor. Halfway along they found James, who didn't look best pleased. "Bryan...I know it's hard for you to talk to me, but-"

"He wasn't running away." Lee interrupted. "Rei needed something to eat and I wanted to go with him, and Bryan wanted to come. So." He shrugged. "We were only in the cafe." James looked at him strangely.

"So why are you standing in front of him them?"

Lee cocked his head to one side, then belatedly realised that he was moving in front of Bryan, protecting him. "It's instinctive. That's what made us get involved in the first place. Instinct. Neko-jin are different." James continued to look at him strangely, then shrugged.

"Well come on, back to the ward."

When they got back, Rei flumped down next to Tala again and Lee sat with Bryan. "Now Bryan...how about you tell me about your past? Before the abbey. Or even in the abbey if you want to..." James smiled encouragingly, but Bryan was suddenly looking cold and angry.

"I don't want to talk to -you- about it!" Lee stared. Bryan seemed to have morphed back into his old self, with a cruel glare and a spiteful gleam in his eyes. "Why do you want to bring it up? You know what it was like! Do you just like hearing about people suffering?" His voice rose with every exclamation until he was shouting, then he started to cry. "You know what we had to do...you know..." Lee laid an arm around Bryan's shoulder, squeezing gently.

"Come on, Bryan. He just wants to help. He doesn't know what happened. And what about your parents? Are you an orphan? Were you kidnapped?"

"...My F-Father sold me to Boris. I never had a mother. You don't know how much I would give to -be- an orphan! I know where he lives..." Bryan turned and burrowed his face into Lee's neck. "I know where he lives..." Lee shook his head, pulling Bryan onto his lap.

"It's okay, Bryan. It's okay. I'm here. Don't cry."

"He didn't want me! No-one ever wanted me but B-Boris! And I didn't WANT him to want me!" Bryan screamed. "No-one cares about me! No-one ever has! I'm WORTHLESS!" Lee shook his head, holding Bryan still as he tried to struggle away. Bryan kicked out and hit Lee behind the knee, making him let go, crying out in pain. And with that Bryan was off, leaping over the bed and away out of the ward.

James ran after him, leaving Lee to follow at a limp, reaching the door of the ward in time to see Bryan whizzing round the corner. He was surprisingly fast, for someone who was recovering from a deadly drug...

Lee set off in the direction of Bryan and James only to meet Bryan coming back. The Russian flung himself into Lee's arms and wailed as James skidded up alongside them. Bryan scrabbled further into Lee's embrace, wetting his neck with tears. "Don't let him chase me...don't let him...please...tell him not to...tell him..." Lee tightened his hold again, wanting to reassure Bryan.

"I'll tell him not to chase you, Bryan, if you promise not to run away again. You're not worthless, and -I- care about you. I care a lot about you. So just calm down, I'll tell James, and then you're going to finish talking to him."

"Don't want to."

"You have to." Lee said firmly. Bryan sniffed.

"Will you sit with me?"

"If you want me to." Bryan nodded, then sighed.

"I'm so pathetic..." His pale fingers crumpled the front of Lee's shirt. "I'm so pathetic..."

"No you're not. You're just getting over a big shock." The neko-jin looked down sadly. "You know...when I was younger, I nearly died when we were out rock-climbing. I was so shocked I didn't speak for days. ...No-one's expecting you to be better straight away, but we want you to try." Bryan nodded.

"I'll try...I'll try..."

So dark...so utterly, unceasingly dark...maybe this was what happened after death? You floated in a warm sea of nothing, surrounded by black, black, black...

Next Chapter: Bryan makes a request, and a bombshell is dropped...

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