Sleep toyed with Malcolm for what remained of the night. If it wasn't fitful visions disturbing his slumber, it was the various after effects of what had happened to him. There was no quieting his mind; it raced like a thoroughbred around a track, full tilt. Thousands of images flashed in succession like a mental strobe light:

Shaking Ezra Bennet's hand, in his office.

The crowd of inmate bystanders as he slid down the wall, blood rushing from his wound.

"Enjoy."

Sprinting through the station. Frantically searching for Dani's train.

"You're arresting me aren't you?"

I know what you did.

Dani beneath him on Bennet's desk, whispering his name.

"Now I'm making it personal."

Malcolm finally gave up hope of getting any rest and made his way to the bathroom, checking himself in the mirror. There were a few scrapes on the right side of his face, courtesy of being held against a brick wall against his will. The redness had all but subsided in the few hours since the attack, but the scrapes would require an explanation. He scratched his palm - they'd been itching practically non-stop the entire night - and made a mental note to research what other impending side effects he could expect in the coming days. He could already tell he was more anxious than normal, on edge. While he tried to come up with a viable excuse for the marks on his face, Malcolm decided to take a shower and attempt to relax.

Dani awoke to an empty bed, a fact that initially scared her, that is until she caught a whiff of the smells coming from the kitchen. She rolled over to find Malcolm working culinary magic at the stovetop. After a good stretch, she made her way to the counter next to him and leaned in, sniffing.

"What is this heavenly scent?" she cooed.

He chuckled, "That would be the strawberry crepes." He pointed dramatically to the pan with the spatula.

"You are amazing," she kissed his cheek, grabbing a glass and some juice from the fridge afterward.

Malcolm scratched the back of his hand, "I try."

Dani sat down across from him. He eyed her without looking, feeling her gaze on him, noticing his face. He knew her well enough that he could have counted down to her comment.

"What's that?" her mouth was full of crepe, as she pointed with her fork.

He flashed a charming yet embarrassed-looking grin, "This would be the result of my lack of coordination this morning on the way to the kitchen."

Vague, but believable.

The lie stung in his throat. The fact that it was likely the first of many, hurt far worse.

"Seriously?"

Malcolm nodded as he plated another crepe from the pan, grateful that she didn't seem to want to push the issue.

"Good luck today."

Strategic change of subject.

"Do you really mean that?" she asked, knowing how much of a blow it would be once he was spending all of his weekdays alone again.

He looked up at her in earnest, "Of course I do. I know you're ready. I'm just not used to roaming this apartment alone. Who knows what I'll do when you're not around."

The statement, which would have absolutely been true two days ago, had taken on an entirely new meaning since last night. Malcolm was already physically dealing with the aftermath of being injected. Itchy hands were the tip of the iceberg. They were constantly shaking, making this the only time he would ever be grateful for the pre existing hand tremors. In addition to getting no sleep overnight, his whole body was exhausted from everything it had been put through. Every part of him felt sore and overworked.

Dani pouted empathetically, "If it makes you feel any better, I'll miss you too."

Malcolm scratched his forearm, "It does. Thank you."

At that Dani hopped down from the bar chair and scurried off to get ready for work, a noticeable bounce in her step.

Once the bathroom door clicked, Malcolm dug his nails into his arms and scratched them both with fervor. Then he ran cold water over them in the sink, his hands trembling so bad there was a trail of drops down the front of his shirt when he'd finished.

Getting through this was going to be bad enough. But keeping it hidden, that was going to be damn near impossible.

Never in a thousand years had Dani thought she would be so excited to sit at her desk and push papers all day. At least she was back at the precinct. The sights and sounds that she took for granted: the constantly ringing phones, the white-noise hum of detectives discussing their cases, were like a comforting cup of tea. Though she would never admit it to his face, she actually missed her daily banter with JT.

Surprisingly the day actually flew by. Her clearance wasn't completed until 10:15. By the time she got settled, brought up to speed on the evening's developments, and logged back into her computer it was almost lunchtime.

She spent the afternoon working on the same thing she had at home with Malcolm, finding Joslynn. She'd gotten ahold of four acquaintances, three of which immediately hung up on her as soon as the word detective left her mouth. The fourth stayed on long enough to discuss his true feelings about the NYPD before then proceeding to hang up as well. Coming up empty handed was frustrating as hell, but at least she was doing something. Standing by and watching Malcolm get threatened wasn't something Dani could continue to do.

An hour before the end of her shift, Gil came over to her desk.

"Hey. Any progress?"

"If by progress you mean 'got hung up on multiple times' then yes, my day was quite productive."

"Keep pushing, we're close to something. I know we are." There wasn't a trace of sarcasm in his voice at all.

"You really believe that?"

He smiled down at her, "Yes I do. When you've been doing this as long as I have, you can feel the change. It's coming."

Dani shifted back in her seat, "I just hope it comes before something else happens to Bright."

Gil's shoulders slumped slightly, "How's he doing?"

"He's miserable, but doing everything he can to hide it from me. Six months away from this was already torture. Now to have everything that's happening to him and not be able to work the case, it's driving him crazy."

"We're going to find Joslynn. Trust the process - both of you." As he finished his pep talk, his cell buzzed and he furrowed his brows as he answered.

"Bright?"

Dani sat up in her chair, listening intently.

"When?" Gil's eyes bounced as he processed whatever it was Malcolm was telling him. "I'll send tech over asap. We need a better plan. Meet me at my place after my shift." His eyes turned to Dani. "Yeah. I'll tell her. Okay. I'll see you shortly. Forward that to me."

Dani's heart sank, her head falling into her hands, "What now?"

Gil's eyes softened apologetically, "Bright got another message."

Less than an hour after Dani left, Malcolm was jogging around The Battery, attempting to distract his mind. As soon as his object of focus was gone, the craving hit him with a fiery vengeance. The physical responses he could handle, or suffer through as it were, but this, the uncontrollable psychological need, was worse than anything he'd ever felt before. He couldn't get the thought out of his mind for more than a few seconds at a time.

The only thing he could think to do was run; run until he couldn't feel anything anymore, and maybe that would make it stop. By the time he reached the park, he was exhausted, but he refused to stop. He kept going until the nausea was unbearable and he leaned over the rail and wretched into the harbor waters. Whether the fit was a result of over exertion or simply another effect of the injection, he didn't know.

Malcolm leaned on the railing, watching a cargo ship get progressively smaller as it sailed away. His stomach lurched again, but there wasn't anything left to exit his system. Once the nausea let up, he decided to return home.

He spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon carefully combing through literally every file that remained on his counter. The notepad next to him was filled with various details and addresses that he thought might be helpful in their search. His symptoms worsened as the day went on. The tremors in his hands were so bad it was making it difficult to write. The nausea worsened, so he skipped lunch in an effort to avoid that particular reunion. Thankfully, mints helped to take the edge off a bit. His body was fatigued, but nowhere near as much as his mind.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to focus. His thoughts were scattered, unorganized, foggy even. Frequently, he would finish a paragraph of a case file, only to realize he hadn't actually comprehended anything he just read and would have to start over. Casework, analyzing clues, putting the pieces together, this was what he was made for. And now, when it was his ass on the line, he was failing miserably.

Hours passed. Malcolm had shifted his workspace to the couch and coffee table. Files were strewn all around him as he flipped through the pages, trying to make sense out of the chaos. He'd managed to keep down a cup of coffee and was halfway through his second. At least it was something in his system to help keep him going.

As he sat down the cup, his phone buzzed. Given the time, he assumed it might be Dani checking in before her last stretch at work. It wasn't.

How we feeling today? Did those strawberry crepes help?

Malcolm stared at the message for a moment, his expression blank. Then, his eyes slowly scanned the room. Anger steadily rose within him, his hands shaking now for an entirely different reason. He closed the file in his lap calmly and, after a second's pause, hurled it across the living room in a fit of rage. Still in his sweats, he got up, grabbed his wallet, and slammed his apartment door on the way out.

As soon as he was on the sidewalk, he called Gil.

"Bright?"

"I got another message."

"When?" The frustration in his boss's voice was evident.

"A few minutes ago. I think my apartment is bugged. It mentioned the breakfast I made Dani this morning." Malcolm didn't realize that he was walking in the direction of the precinct out of habit.

Gil sighed, "I'll send tech over asap. We need a better plan."

"Agreed."

"Meet me at my place after my shift."

Malcolm nodded to no one in particular, "I don't trust that Dani's place isn't compromised either. Can you send a few unis with her to pick up some things? Once we get my place cleared, she needs to stay where we know it's secure until this is all over."

Gil agreed, "Yeah. I'll tell her."

"Good. I'll meet you at your place in an hour."

"Okay. See you shortly. Forward that to me."

"I will."

Malcolm ended the call and stopped walking. It would only take twenty minutes to get to Gil's from here. He needed somewhere to pass the time, somewhere very public. A few buildings away there was a coffee shop. He slipped in, ordered the largest coffee they had, and seated himself in the back corner, anxiously watching the seconds on the clock tick by. Trying desperately not to think about how much he was craving a second fix.

A fix.

He bowed his head in shame. In the blink of an eye everything had gone completely off the rails. Malcolm stared at his quivering hands, then squeezed them in an attempt to make them stop.

How the hell did this happen?

Dani called Malcolm as soon as her shift was over.

"Hey," there was no mistaking the frustration in his voice.

"Hey," she wasn't sure what to follow up with. "How you doing?" was obviously a stupid question. She decided to go with a report of the afternoon's events instead, "Gil filled me in on everything. I'm getting ready to go to my place."

"With who?" Malcolm was clearly worried for her safety.

"Tucker and Hicks."

Two names seemed to ease his worry a bit, "Okay. But do not go anywhere without one of them. Nowhere in your apartment without it being searched first."

She grinned at his protectiveness, "I won't."

"Remember, there's a good chance your place has been bugged too, so don't say anything. Or if you absolutely have to, keep it to short vague phrases. Get whatever you need and get out as quickly as possible."

"I know."

"You okay?" She could practically see the look on his face, the concerned furrow in his brow.

"I will be, once this is all over."

"Yeah," Malcolm's voice was downtrodden, exhausted.

"We're going to get through this. Okay?"

"Yeah," Nothing in his tone indicated that he actually believed what he was saying. "There's going to be unis in an unmarked car outside the apartment for a few days. Just an FYI. Be safe."

"You too."

"I'll be back as soon as I'm done at Gil's. I love you." Those words were the first time since he'd picked up that he sounded hopeful."

"I love you, too."

Dani watched as Malcolm's name disappeared from her screen. It gave way to her lock screen, a picture of the two of them sitting on the steps in his apartment. He was behind her, and she leaned back between his legs. When she pulled out her phone to take the picture, Bright perched his chin on her head and smirked.

She grinned, before putting the phone in her pocket, grabbing her jacket, and leaving the precinct, her escorts in tow.

When Dani and the two officers arrived at her apartment building, they rode the elevator with one of the elderly neighbors from her floor, Mrs. Cohen.

She entered just as the doors started to close. Officers Tucker and Hicks were standing against the back wall, Dani in front of them. Twice the woman glanced over her shoulder at the uniformed men behind her. The second time, she looked up at Dani and smiled.

The four of them exited together on the ninth floor. As Mrs. Cohen veered left toward her apartment, she stopped and turned to face them.

"If the two of you think Dani has done something wrong, I'd like to know. If I'm going to have to knock some sense into you with my purse, I'd rather not walk all the way down the hall and back. I'm an old woman after all."

Hicks couldn't contain his laugh. Tucker simply turned around to avoid eye contact with the would-be-assailant. Dani practically bit through her cheek to keep her smile at bay.

"I appreciate your support, Mrs. Cohen. Thankfully, these are just my coworkers. No jail time for me today."

"Ah. Well, alright then." With that she turned and slowly made her way down the hall.

Once the three of them had recovered, Dani led the men to her apartment.

As she was turning the key, Tucker touched her arm, "The Lieutenant said one of us should sweep the place while the other stays out here with you."

Dani rolled her eyes, but didn't press the matter, knowing the wrath that awaited her companions if Gil learned they hadn't followed his orders. She waved her hand toward the door, giving her blessing, as Officer Tucker entered, weapon raised.

After a few minutes, his voice carried out the cracked front door, "All clear."

Dani pushed the door open and walked through it on a mission. She'd taken three full strides before she registered her surroundings and froze. Hicks walked through behind her and was attacked by a man who'd been hiding behind the door. By the time Dani could reach for her gun, Hicks was unconscious on the floor.

"I wouldn't," the voice came from her kitchen. A tall ebony-haired woman, having helped herself to Dani's utensils, poured a cup of tea. She picked it up and made her way around the island, her previously-hidden pregnant belly revealing itself in the process.

Joslynn Bennet.

She leisurely strolled into the living room and sat on Dani's couch, while the detective assessed the situation as quickly as she could.

Hicks was stirring behind her with an incredibly large man standing over him, gun pointed. Tucker was pinned to the wall by a second man, a weapon at his temple.

"Sorry, Dani," he muttered.

"Detective Powell," Joslynn patted the cushion next to her.

Dani's muscles were tightly-coiled springs, tensed to the point of pain, "I'd rather stand."

"Suit yourself," she allowed, sipping her tea. "I've heard a lot about you, Dani. Granted, most of it was from Luca and Damian. But, between the various lewd comments about your physical appearance, I hear you're quite the tenacious woman."

"What do you want?"

Joslynn smiled and sat her cup down on the coffee table. "Honestly, I wanted to meet you in person. Any woman who can captivate a man enough to kill for her must be something truly special."

A chill ran down Dani's spine. "None of that would have happened if Bennet hadn't shot me in the back."

Joslynn's calm and collected facade nearly broke, she caught herself before allowing the rage to take over. "That shot was justice for my imprisonment. Do you have children Detective Powell?"

Dani sighed, "No."

"Do you want children?"

She weighed whether or not she should tell the truth, "Maybe."

"So, yes. Maybe even with your current lover, Malcolm Bright." Joslynn stood, and slowly walked toward her as she spoke, "Do you have any idea how terrifying it is to be visibly pregnant in prison? Every day someone new would threaten to beat me until I miscarried." Her hands instinctively wrapped around her belly. "On top of that, thinking that I would miss the first years of my child's life, only seeing him through protective glass, while I wasted away in a cell. Never getting a relationship with him, to create that unbreakable mother/child bond. The thought of that was the most unbearable thing I could imagine," she glared over at Dani, "or so I thought."

The detective's pulse raced, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

"And then I got called down to the director's office. Do you know how he told me about Ezra?" Joslynn's voice cracked slightly. "His exact words were, 'We regret to inform you that your husband is dead.' That's how I found out he was gone. I cried for days, weeks." She took another step toward Dani, "Because of the nature of his passing, as well as my incarceration, I wasn't given clearance to attend his funeral." A tear spilled over onto her cheek as she spoke. "They wouldn't even let me go see him in private to say goodbye. Nothing. My husband, the father of my unborn child, was put in the ground and I wasn't even there." Her body was trembling with rage, despite her collected tone.

Dani stared at the woman in front of her. Hicks was completely awake behind her, but didn't risk any sudden movements. Tucker watched the monologue with wide eyes.

Joslynn closed the remaining distance between them, and leaned in, uncomfortably close, to Dani's face, "My son will never know his father. Malcolm robbed him of that. He took the future I planned, with the man I love, from me. You're going to learn how utterly devastating that feels. You will watch as Malcolm is slowly torn apart, from the inside out, and you'll be powerless to stop it. Maybe then you'll begin to understand my pain."

Dani's heart was pounding, as the woman took a deep breath, straightened her shirt, and held out her hand.

"Phone," then speaking to the other men in the room, "And radios."

Both Tucker and Hicks looked to Dani for guidance. None of their lives was worth resistance. So, she nodded and handed her device to Joslynn. Indicating that her escorts should do the same.

"Sit," this time it wasn't an offer, it was a command. The three of them sat on Dani's couch as Josylnn's men proceeded to zip tie one of Dani's wrist to Hicks' and the other to Tucker's. They did the same to their ankles connecting the officer's free legs to the legs of the couch.

Joslynn grinned maniacally. "It was a pleasure to meet you Dani. Remember my promise."

With those parting words, she and her men exited the apartment, the door slamming with a foreboding thud behind them.