Title: Out in the Rain

Rating: T

AU: Yes

Summary: What awaits us out in the rain…?

Spoilers: Maybe, but sense it's AU

Disclaimer: No.

He could hear them. They didn't think that he could, but after all these years he had learned how to listen to them as they whispered. Oh yes, he could hear them. They were plotting against him. Always against him, and he knew what they wanted. They wanted Alex. They wanted him to tell them about Alex, but he had learned that trick long ago. Anyone you told them about would leave, and he knew it was their fault. Oh yes, the Shadows didn't know he knew, but he knew….

"…Need to know if he had access to them. If he didn't then there is no way that it was him, and we can return him to The Ridge. He's been better there than anywhere else. Here he's relapsed so far it's unbelievable what's reversed-no talking, no touching, and he just sits in the corner. He'd gotten so far there, and i-"

"I don't care how far that-that thing has gotten. If he hurt my daughter in any way I don't want him in the same city as her. I don't care if you have to cause him to relapse…"

Bobby whimpered and drew his knees up to his chest. They always wanted to hurt him. Why did they always want to hurt him?

"...Hurt my daughter, my Alex, and he should pay for it! You say that he's been getting better so shouldn't he know what he did? Question him more. Alex is hurt-in pain-and he caused it! He hurt my daughter. She is curled up in a closet and won't let anyone touch her because of him. She has spoken in years, but now she screams every night. Do you know what she screams, Doctor? There her first words in years. Do you know what they are?"

"No, Mrs. Eames. I don't know what she scre-"

"She screams out, 'stop' and 'Bobby.' Isn't that his name? What do you think that insinuates, Doctor? What about you Detectives? What could 'Stop! Bobby!' possibly mean?"

"Mrs. Eames, calm down. We're trying, but since his mental state is what it is-"

"Detective Wheeler, I'm thrilled that Major Case was assigned to this because of my husband, but you're new, correct? I don't care about his mental state because he will end up in a ward, not prison. I'm am concerned about how to tell my daughter that her rapist isn't being punished."

"We'll do everythi…"

Alex was having nightmares? About him? His body convulsed, and he whimpered. He had hurt her. He had hurt her. Bobby's fingers worked across the bandages still concealing his hands. His hands worked their way up his arms and shoulders until he ran his fingers through his hair. The Shadows, Alex, screaming…

"…He doing? He hasn't really spoken since we brought him here."

His body stood one his own, and he doubled over. All eyes turned to look at him.

"He looks like he is in pain!"

A hand grabbed his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. He was suddenly full of energy, and he couldn't control it. He needed Alex. He needed to see her. He needed to apologize. He needed her to understand, and to protect her, and make it better, and touch her-NO!

Bobby's body bent over in pain again, and he grabbed his head. His nails tore through the skin of his wrist when he bent back up, and slashed at them with his hands. He shouldn't think about that. He wasn't allowed to do that, and he shouldn't have done it. That's what had hurt her; that's what had made her scream. He couldn't do that, and he couldn't think of that. Bobby fell to the ground with his head in his hands. As his body rocked back and forth the other's rushed into the room. His voice was soft. Alex's mother was the closest, and she could hear his whispered apologies and words. She could also see the tears that had started to stain his face.

"I'm sorry, Alex. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I can't do anything right. I didn't mean to hurt you. You screamed-you were afraid, and I wanted t-to make it better. I wanted to make you feel safe, and stop screaming, and not be afraid. I ju-just wanted to protect you from him. I just wanted to keep you safe. I didn't mean to."

His head flew up once, and she caught sight of his eyes. They were implausibly deep and dark, and reminder her of the night sky. Small stars even glinted in the back of them. The tears blurred the fire of his eyes, but she could see it burning behind the night that rested there. His body doubled over again.

"How did you hurt her, Bobby?" He stopped moving for only a fraction of a second, but their eyes connected before his body started again on its own. Their eyes stayed locked even though his hands worked furiously at the flesh of his wrists.

"Sh-she screamed, and she stayed with me. She wanted to sleep near me so I could protect her. She trusted me. She trusted me to save her-to protect her." His voice was soft, but all of them hung on every word. His confession-it wouldn't hold up, but none could stand to miss it, and their sick fascination in his twisted interpretation of protection grew as he continued. "She slept next me for so many nights, and I protected her. I protected her. She trusted me. I knew that I shouldn't-that she didn't-that I din't deserve her, but I couldn't stand it!: And inhuman growl ripped from his throat. "She was in pain! She needed me! She nee-I hurt her." The tears were coming faster now, and the pain was spreading from his heart to the rest of his body. It's sharp, metallic tendrils were slithering their way around his bones and dissolving the marrow inside of them until the pain was unbearable. "She screamed, and I just wanted her to be all right. I wanted to make her feel better, and safe, and I didn't mean to. I woke up to her screaming and I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to protect her-keep her safe-"

"Bobby!" Alex's mother didn't snap as they expected of her, but her voice was equally soft with a tone only a mother could put into her voice. She was beginning to have her doubts. "What did you do? It'll be all right. She knows you didn't mean to do it."

His eyes widened. "I touched her." The hulk of a man behind Wheeler snorted. "That was easy." His voice wasn't soft, and it carried across the room Bobby's eyes ran over him before he whimpered. He fell back into the corner. Alex's mother glared at the man-Logan-before turning back to Bobby.

"Just say it. You'll feel better." The tentacles of the dread seeped into his legs.

"I wasn't supposed to touch her. She didn't want me to, but she was screaming, and she was thrashing, and I thought she was going to hurt herself, and I wanted to protect her, and to make it better, and…" His eyes widened. "I just wanted to help her. I grabbed her, and I held her. She stopped screaming and thrashing, but I remember. I touched her. I wasn't supposed to touch her, but I did, and I hurt her more." He stayed curled in the corner. A small groan escaped his lips. Mrs. Eames touched his hand, and the jump was visible across the room.

"Is that all? You just grabbed her like that?"

He nodded, and then his voice came out in a muffled, cut groan. "I liked it. I liked touching her. I shouldn't even have touched her, but I like it. I shouldn't have done. I shouldn't have liked it. I shouldn't have liked it. I shouldn't have liked it…"His mantra went on into the air as the four others stared at him in disbelief. Margaret Eames reached out and stroked his hair.

"It wasn't you that hurt her, was it? You were just protecting her." She turned to the other three. "Then who was it?"

-TBC-

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