Warning: Slash (homosexual content), child abuse, domestic violence – and whatever other angst I can manage to work in. If you don't like this, don't read it, for flames only serve as a source of amusement for me.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: As much as I would kill to own Tom Hanson and Dennis Booker, I don't. And I don't own the rest of Jump Street, either. Too bad for me.

A/N: I'm in the middle of a busy time at work so I'm not going to be updating quite as regularly for a bit. Hopefully, though, I'll get back on schedule reasonably quickly.

Sphinx the Minx - I saw it first as reruns too, and fell in love immediately. Glad you like it; there's certainly a marked absense of JS slash around the net.

daizia - Well, you're about to find out what Joanne did. But here's a hint for things to come- she wasn't lying about not seeing him for an hour. Just remember, it'd been two hours since the others saw him. ;-)

Island-of-corfu - I wrote, I wrote :-P I know I'm cruel and I just love to be :-D Soooo, Joanne as a mysterious evil spectre, huh? Interesting... >laughs evilly>

godspeedandleather - :-D Here's more for you :-)

Nina - You're right about her plans going wrong ;-) As for whether it's good for Tom... possibly. :-P You'll have to read and see :-) Of course they're going to pull together. I mean, it was Hanson who was in trouble, after all. :-P The question is, were it Dennis who was in trouble, what would have happened? There will definitely be the prequel, and at least two sequels are being planned for. Only problem for most of y'all is that they're pretty Booker-centric, though Hanson of course has a very large role ;-)

Fanfic Fish - No, no compassion at all :-P I love making people wait. Hopefully you won't have to wait quite so long for the next update.

ztrange - :-P Here's more for you. Hope you were able to concentrate at least a little in my absence

Chapter 16

The second police sirens split the air, Joanne's guests went crazy. Penhall and Booker just leaned against the house as several cruisers pulled in – far more than would normally have come to break up a high school party, even one as large as Joanne's. Dennis wondered how much information Hoffs had managed to give them.

To his surprise, Joanne didn't run. She stood in the open doorway as the officers climbed out of their vehicles, then walked down to meet them. Out of the corner of his eye, Dennis saw Doug take a step forward, but caught his arm and held him back. "Wait and see; it's better if they arrest her without us getting involved. We can always tell them later to hold onto her until we find Tom."

Sure enough, a moment later Joanne was being led toward the nearest squad car. She didn't look the least bit bothered by the situation, and didn't give the house a second glance. The vacant expression on her face sent a chill down Dennis's spine.

It wasn't long before two officers approached him and Penhall. "Let's go, gentlemen. Party's over."

"Not exactly." Dennis reached for his badge, only to freeze as the cop standing nearest him went for his gun. "Whoa, cool off." He glanced toward Doug. "Guess Hoffs didn't manage to tell them much."

"You think?" Penhall retorted, rolling his eyes. "Hey, look. Fuller."

The officers in front of them exchanged confused looks, clearly not aware of the situation, and growing more annoyed by the second. Dennis took pity on them and, in a low voice, explained, "We're undercover cops. I was reaching for my badge before you got a little trigger happy there." He jerked his head toward their approaching Captain. "He's our supervisor. Adam Fuller."

The Captain had reached them before the officers had a chance to respond or demand their identification. "What's the situation, fellas?"

"None of us have seen Hanson in the last two and a half hours," Doug replied. "He'd been talking to Judy, then went into the house with Crisal – the girl your buddies just put in the squad car," he added, turning to the two uniformed cops, "and nobody's seen him since. Between the four of us we checked most of the house, couldn't find him."

"We couldn't look everywhere but came damn close," Dennis put in. "Thing is, Joanne's been wandering around the last hour or so."

"What kind of shape was he in when he left Hoffs?" Fuller asked.

"Fine. He'd had one drink about two hours before. The four of us had been running interference. Crisal was probably starting to wonder why he was still walking straight."

"Would someone like to tell me what's going on?" A police lieutenant had approached, unnoticed by any of them, and didn't look pleased.

Fuller flashed his badge at him. "Captain Adam Fuller, Jump Street. I had five undercover officers here on assignment. Two of them should be back soon; they're the ones who radioed this in. These are two more, and we've got one missing. That's the reason you were called; we need to do a full search of the property."

Before the lieutenant could reply, an officer who looked young enough to be part of the Jump Street program interrupted. "Sir, Blakeney just called for an ambulance. We got a guy passed out in one of the bedrooms; looks like alcohol poisoning."

Dennis stepped around the cop standing next to him and grabbed the man's arm. "What'd he look like?"

"Brown hair, not too tall, slim build; good looking kid, actually."

"It's not alcohol poisoning," Booker said quickly, struggling to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach. "Which room?"

"In the back. Look's like the girl's room."

Dennis didn't say another word, just took off toward the door, knowing Fuller and Penhall would be following behind him. He flashed his badge at the couple of officers who tried to stop him, otherwise having no difficulty reaching his boyfriend.

Tom was sprawled on the floor on the opposite side of the bed from the doorway, half underneath it; he certainly hadn't ended up there on his own. There was a beer bottle about a quarter empty sitting on the table next to the bed, and a few empties scattered on the floor.

Hesitantly, Dennis knelt down next to the unconscious man, pressing his fingertips to his throat. He found his pulse easily, weak but steady, then ran a hand lightly over his forehead and back through his hair, lifting his head gently, checking for any bumps or gashes, knowing the other officers had probably already done the same. Finding nothing, and feeling a hand on his shoulder, he rose slowly and turned around. Hoffs and Ioki had come in, and Judy was the one who'd gotten his attention.

"The ambulance is here, Dennis," she said quietly. "Come on; give them some space." Judy took his arm and pulled gently, leading him out of the way as two EMTs came into the room, bringing a stretcher with them. Dennis watched as they checked his vitals and slipped an oxygen mask over his face, then lifted him carefully, strapping him to the stretcher. The whole Jump Street team followed as it was wheeled out to the ambulance.

Just outside, Dennis jumped when Fuller caught his arm. "Go with him; Hoffs can drive your car and we'll meet you there." Booker was a little surprised by the compassion in the man's voice, though he wasn't sure he ought to have been. He nodded gratefully, then headed toward the ambulance.

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"We need to give HQ a reason to hold Joanne Crisal by tonight or they're releasing her; her mother and stepfather are flying back specifically to give the chief hell about the whole damn thing." Fuller didn't look pleased.

"Until Hanson wakes up, we've got nothing, Captain," Judy said. "They have to give us more time than that."

The Captain started to reply but broke off suddenly, and she turned to see a doctor approach. "I'm Greg Neill. I understand you're all here for Thomas Hanson?"

"Yes." It was the first word Dennis had said since they'd reached the hospital. He hadn't done more than shrug in response to their inquiries as to Hanson's condition on the ride over.

"He hasn't regained consciousness, but he should in short order. He was given a rather high dosage of Flunitrazepam."

"Fluti-what?" Penhall replied, a confused frown on his face, and Hoffs stifled a laugh, though it really wasn't that funny.

"Flunitrazepam," Neill corrected him, a ghost of a smile on his face. "I would imagine you're more familiar with the name Rohypnol?"

Judy's eyes went wide. "Roofies."

"She slipped him a date rape drug?" Doug's voice dripped with incredulity.

The doctor shook his head. "Not a drug. Two or three at least. If I had to guess, I'd imagine that whoever it was who administered it underestimated the strength of the substance, perhaps assumed that a single dose wouldn't sufficiently affect a man." He paused. "Either that, or he or she was trying to kill him."

The last words sent a chill down Judy's spine that only worsened with Harry asked, "Could it have?"

"If he'd been intoxicated at the time he ingested the drug, and if a higher quantity had been administered, yes. However, there was next to no alcohol in his system, and the quantity doesn't appear to have been sufficient for permanent damage. However, he'll not likely remember anything from the time the flunitrazepam's effects set in."

"How much longer until he regains consciousness?" Booker was watching the man intently, and the doctor seemed to notice.

"I can only guess at this point, but I'd think around an hour. You're welcome to sit with him, as long as there are no more than two visitors in the room at a time."

"Thank you, doctor." Judy forced a smile she didn't feel, and Neill left them a moment later. To her coworkers she said simply, "I don't believe this."

"What now?" Dennis asked quietly.

Ioki nodded. "Yeah, Captain. Is this enough to have HQ hold Joanne?"

Fuller was silent for a while before finally shaking his head. "No. Not unless Hanson can tell us something useful when he comes to, which, from the sound of it, he probably won't be able to. It was a party; those drugs are more common than we'd like to think. DA'll tell us that the defense can claim it was an accident, that someone else did it… just about anything."

Judy sighed. "Captain, you know it was her."

"I do. But there's no proof."

"So, what then?" Doug asked. "You're gonna just keep him on the case?"

"If he feels up to it." Fuller paused. "Pull him out and we lose the chance to nail her for this, and we lose the chance to find out who killed the girl."

"And all along Hanson's been sayin' he thinks it's her. Now she either tried to date rape him or kill him!" Penhall exclaimed.

"Doug, keep your voice down," Judy scolded him, dropping her own down a notch as a few people glanced their way.

"Keep…" he growled. "This keeps up, he's gonna get killed!"

The Captain actually stepped between them at that. "Guys, we'll deal with where to go from here once Hanson comes around and we see how much we actually know. He may not remember what went on after he was drugged, but he might remember what led up to it, which may be enough."

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Dennis leaned forward in his chair, reaching toward the bed to take his boyfriend's hand. He hadn't said much out in the waiting room; he hadn't felt like there was much he could say. His mind kept replaying the conversation he and Tom had had about the party, about how Tom could get Joanne off his back about sleeping with her, and he couldn't help but feel as if she'd drugged him because of that.

On the bed, Tom stirred slightly, and Booker watched his eyelids flutter, finally opening. He blinked a few times, then turned his head slightly. "Dennis?" His voice was a little slurred and he didn't sound like he was entirely… there.

"Hey, babe." Dennis rose, leaning over and brushing his lips against Hanson's. "How're you feeling?"

"Drunk," Tom replied. "Am I?"

Booker shook his head as he sat back down. "Drugged. Rohypnol."

It took Hanson a while to process the meaning in his words. He didn't answer right away, and when he did, the confusion in his eyes was evident. "I don't remember."

"Doctor said you probably wouldn't."

Only then did Tom seem to notice his surroundings. "Hospital?"

Dennis nodded. "Yeah. When we realized nobody'd seen you for a couple hours, we all split up and searched Joanne's house. Couldn't find you, so Hoffs and Ioki took off and radioed for backup. Uniforms broke the party up and a couple of their guys found you passed out in her bedroom."

An alarmed look crossed his lover's face. "What—"

Dennis understood immediately where the other man's mind had gone. "Nothing happened." He ran a thumb over the back of Tom's hand, then squeezed it gently. "Doc said whoever drugged you gave you too much – two or three pills, when one should've done the trick."

"Why?"

"We were kinda hoping you'd be able to tell us that," Dennis replied. "Everybody's pretty sure it was Joanne, but there's no proof, and Fuller isn't really sure what to do next."

"Huh?" His voice sounded a little clearer, but apparently his brain function wasn't quite catching up.

"If Joanne did this," Booker waved a hand over the bed, "then keeping you on the case may not be the best idea. And Penhall damn near went through the roof when Fuller said he'll keep you in if you think you can handle it."

The glassy look in his boyfriend's eyes was starting to dissipate, too. "Typical."

"He's just worried about you."

"Yeah, well, I'm a big boy."

"I'm worried too."

"This isn't your fault."

"Isn't it? If you hadn't told her that—"

"Even if I hadn't given her that specific excuse, I still wouldn't have slept with her and she'd still have gone off the deep end." Obviously, his mind was becoming somewhat more lucid. "It's not your fault. I'm a big boy; I can handle myself." Tom paused. "And I'm not letting Fuller pull me off the case."

"Tom—"

"No." The smaller man shook his head stubbornly. "I put too much time into this to walk away. Besides, now it's kind of personal."

"Exactly why you shouldn't be involved anymore."

"If I get pulled off, then just about all the work we did goes down the drain. We'll never find out what really happened to Leslie, and nothing will happen to Joanne. She's got some serious problems, Dennis, and if we drop this now, she's not going to get help until someone else gets hurt."

When he put it that way, Booker couldn't really argue – which was, he knew, exactly what Hanson had counted on. "You win. But you still have to convince Fuller." Though Fuller would say the exact same thing.

"Fuller'll say the same thing." Dennis glared at him, and Tom smirked, though the effect was ruined somewhat when he yawned and shook his head. "I really feel lousy."

"Drug probably hasn't worn off quite yet. I'll go get the doctor." He probably should have gone to get him as soon as Tom woke up, but… oh well. He started to stand, but sat back down when his boyfriend's grip on his hand tightened.

"Stay here? Just a little longer?"

Torn between letting Neill know Tom was awake and doing what his lover asked, Dennis finally nodded. "All right. Try to rest, though."

"Kay." It wasn't long before Hanson drifted off once again, and Booker left to find the doctor.