Carefully navigating through the east and westbound lanes full of early noon hour traffic, Mike watched his partner stand perfectly still against the wall, his back heaving in agitation, seemingly completely unaware of his surroundings.

Ignoring the confused sideways glances he received from passerby's, the seasoned Lieutenant carefully stepped onto the sidewalk, his black overcoat swooshing in the breeze.

"Steve?"

Not receiving a response, and not expecting one to begin with, Mike approached his partner, hearing his rapid, wheezy breaths from a few feet away.

"Mike…"

The faint mumbling of his name nearly broke his heart and the Lieutenant hesitated for a second, watching the trembling running through his partner's body as he stood there, pushed against the wall as if he'd hit a dead-end road, literally and figuratively, trying to block his eyesight in hopes it would help avoid seeing some imaginary demons.

"I am right here, Buddyboy. Just relax."

Steve froze in his spot when he said those words, his body becoming rigidly still, as he slowly raised his head back up. Even from the short distance, Mike could tell that his partner didn't recognize him. His usually bright green eyes were red-rimmed and unfocused, a frown crossing his face as he blinked against the approaching figure.

"Just relax. I've got you. You are safe now."

His red tie was halfway undone, and remnants of bloody fingerprints were covering his chest, as if he'd been fighting with Susan before killing her.

"Are you hurt? We should get you to a doctor."

Using the most innocent voice he could muster, Mike took the final step to bridge their distance, trying hard to soothe the frantic eyes following his every move.

"You're shivering. I bet you're cold. It gets pretty cold around here this time a year and you're only wearing your suit…how about I loan you my coat. I bet that'll keep you a lot warmer. What do you say, Buddyboy?"

"Mike…"

"You recognize my voice, don't you? You just don't recognize my face. But that's not your fault. Because you've been poisoned. And we need to get that poison out of your system.", the Lieutenant continued, forcing himself to proceed extremely slow, worried that any wrong move might send Steve into complete panic mode.

Reaching down, he carefully began to unbutton his black overcoat, feeling his partner's eyes on him the entire time. A strong wind gust disrupted their calm moment, sending the sides of his coat fluttering backward and exposing his service revolver.

Glancing down, the scene hadn't been lost on Steve who eyed the weapon intrigued, even reaching across his chest to his own revolver, as if to verify his findings.

"We carry the same armor, don't we?", Mike said with a faint smile, hearing the wailing of approaching sirens in the background, "That's because we're both made of the same…the same material, you know? A bunch of determination, righteousness, caring a bit too much at times…and perhaps…perhaps there's even a little bit of stubbornness thrown in there too."

The noise of approaching patrol cars made Steve's head snap up in alarm, his green eyes turning haunted and full of terror, as he took a couple steps back.

"Easy now…take it easy…", Mike tried in a cheery voice, reaching out his right hand defensively, before following his partner to stay close by, "Take it easy, you're with me…you're safe."

He could see Steve wanting to believe his words, but his eyes travelled behind the Lieutenant, where a busy Lenny was making his way across the street.

Whether part of his brain remembered the uppity psychiatrist, or it was the level of authority and urgency he exuded, Steve grew frantic instantly, his expression that of utter betrayal.

Spinning around on his heels in the fraction of a second, the young Inspector shot off into the opposite direction, skillfully navigating his way through an assortment of pedestrians. Glaring at Lenny furiously, Mike gave chase, as he desperately tried to keep his eyes on his target.

Steve was decidedly fast as usual, his long legs and skinny frame allowing him to bounce over privacy fences like horses during a steeplechase. As if the young Inspector was aware of the safety net Mike had bestowed around the area, he continued to move erratically around the numerous city blocks, managing to leave the half-mile police perimeter before all the patrol cars ever even showed up, and then slowly increased the gap between him and his follower.

Finally, Mike caught a break when Steve reached up to jump over another chain-link fence, but lost footing, causing him to crash down hard against the ground in a residential alley between two multi-family houses.

Ceasing the opportunity when he saw his partner flail for a moment, Mike threw himself on top of Steve, rolling him onto his belly as he did so, before reaching for his arms to pin them behind his back.

"Easy now. I told you to relax…", he muttered out of breath, noting the raw skin along his partners wrists where the handcuffs had cut them, "Just relax…breathe…"

Lenny's words about the terror going on in his partner's mind returned to his memory, as did the suggestion to keep him sedated and protected from those frightening hallucinations until the drugs wore off; a suggestion Mike was growing fonder of with each wheezy breath he heard Steve take, as the young Inspector desperately tried to get away from him.

It was a decision that went against everything in the Lieutenant's heart, but judging by their current predicament, hesitating on his best course of action could very well result in his partner succumbing to a stress-induced heart attack.

Time for plan Lenny.

As he used his full body weight and the extra fifty pounds he had over Steve to keep him on the ground and his arms securely tucked in between their bodies; Mike slid his right knee behind that of his partner, hoping to force his thigh close enough for the injection Lenny had prepared.

Beneath him, Steve was panting frantically, trying to use every muscle in his body to escape the tight grasp but failing to do so.

"Mike…", he moaned, almost in pain this time.

"I am here…I am here.", the Lieutenant reiterated calmly, his shaking right hand digging for the syringe in his coat pocket, "I will protect you. I promised you that. And you can trust me. You don't have to run anymore. The people who did this to you are dead. They can't hurt you anymore. You are safe now."

Keeping his voice mantra-like did little to assuage his partner's panic, as Steve tried to wiggle his way out from underneath him, only to end up even farther out of breath.

As he used his teeth to pull the cap off the needle, Mike carefully guided the syringe down to Steve's thigh, running his free fingers over the large muscle a few times to loosen it.

"Now, this is just going to hurt for a second, okay?"

Swallowing hard to overcome his own unease, Mike shoved the needle into his partner's thigh with a powerful thrust, feeling Steve flinch at the pain. When he was reasonably sure that his shaky fingers were steady enough, he slowly depressed the plunger, until his thumb could go no further.

"See, I told you this was just going to hurt for a second. Now you need to relax, okay?", Mike huffed out of breath, the situation slowly but surely getting under his skin, as he pulled the needle back out of his partner's leg and threw it off to the side.

Beneath him, Steve suddenly fell quiet. The strong arms he'd been pinning in place became limp, so did the tense muscles in his back. When he even noticed his partner's frantic breathing turn shallow and slow, Mike grew worried.

"Steve?...Steve!"

Fearing at an unexpected side effect to the drugs when he didn't receive a response, Mike took some of the weight off his partner, his hand carefully reaching for the side of his neck to check for a pulse.

"Steve!"

Before he ever got there, Steve pulled his hands back beside him, using his vantage point to buck Mike off his back and get his legs underneath him. Faster than the Lieutenant could react, he was back on his feet, deciding to run down the length of the alley that connected Lombard with one of the paralleling side streets.

"Damnit!", Mike cursed in utter frustration, wiping his face from an elbow to the cheekbone that he'd feel for a few days, before getting up and rushing after his partner.

His only hope was that he'd find him before the fifteen minutes were up.