Chapter 2

Whoosh – beep… Whoosh – beep. The sounds seeped into her consciousness and mingled with a stirring of memory. The man from the video tape stood opposite Toby and Frank then suddenly there was a loud bang and blackness. Marks eyelids fluttered slightly before lapsing back into that swirling darkness. Her body didn't want to wake up, but her mind fought to overcome her injuries.

Becker stood in her room with his eyes fixed on the monitors, but his thoughts chased themselves regarding the case that almost stole his best detective. The facts didn't add up, but one thing was certain. It all led back to Toby Logan. She had been protecting Logan from Victor Clooney when she had been shot. But why was she working on following up on a burglary case? And how did that same said burglar end up shot in Logan's apartment by the elderly man Frank Cardea. What was it about this elusive Toby Logan that made everyone seem to want to protect him at any cost? At first Logan was a curiosity that Sergeant Becker tolerated due to the increase in solved cases that trailed behind his appearance. But now the paramedic was a liability that needed to be neutralized.

The phone at Becker's belt rang once before he grabbed it up. "I'll be right there." One last glance at Marks as he rushed out didn't catch the slight movement of her right hand.

Olivia gasped for air and attempted to force her heart rate to slow back to a normal rhythm. The door where she had slipped out of was where the nurses that smoked sometimes took a smoke break to be unseen since there was no smoking allowed anywhere within the hospital. This sense of being out of control was completely foreign to her. She had always known exactly where she was headed, and had the plans along with the drive to get there. As a result of that persistence to reach her goals there had often been times when she was labeled as cold or stuck up, but right now she would have gladly endured such labels if she could call back the composure that came with them.

Even with her eyes closed she knew the sound of the opening door could only mean one person. The one person she couldn't deal with right now. ++ Please Go Away. ++ She was too upset to worry about offensive thoughts right at that moment.

"Liv… hey Oz told me what happened. " He had heard her mental shove, but ignored it as he often did when she was broadcasting words she chose not to speak. She turned away from him as he approached her side.

"I'm fine just needed some air really." Olivia kept her eyes tightly closed with her arms wrapped around herself. She wasn't paying attention to her inner dialogue being sent out to Toby even though she now knew his secret.

Clearly she needed time to get over the shock. Toby backed off understanding she wasn't going to accept any consoling right now. "OK… look I'll drop by your place later to make sure you're all right." Not sure what else to do, he was looking around as he made his way back inside when he saw Becker's car pull out of the hospital parking lot. He took one last glance at Olivia whose body language alone screamed for him to leave then Toby sought out Marks' room. At least with Becker gone he could spend some more time with Charlie.

Expecting to be met with silence again except for the same faint whoosh – beep, he was startled to walk into a hit from Charlie reliving the events outside the hotel. Her eyes were still closed and her frame was still as ever, but he could sense her mind was waking up.

"Charlie?" he rushed over to her side softly calling to her. Glancing over at the monitors he could tell that she was starting to become alert. Toby brushed his hand against her forehead and picked up her hand hoping the contact would aid in her regaining consciousness.

Her eyelids opened slowly. Charlie blinked to clear the blurry vision as her eyes started to make sense of her surroundings. Toby choked on tears of relief while she made the adjustment from sleep to wakefulness. She swallowed hard and he grabbed up a cup of water to offer her aware that her throat was probably very dry. Licking the water off her lips, she turned to look at him. ++ Toby? ++

"I'm here … you sure took long enough to wake up. There is going to be a ton of paperwork to catch up on after such a long nap you know? " He kept his tone light to hide the fears he had pushed down since she had gotten shot.

"What…" words were still hard to force past her throat.

"Shhh… I can hear you. You don't need to talk." Toby wanted her to conserve her strength to get better as well as a bit of a selfish motive in wanting to have a few more moments alone with her before anyone else came in to check on her.

++ Shooter? ++ An image of Victor Clooney came to her mind.

"Victor Clooney. He's dead." He looked away from her gaze. "He followed Frank and me back to my place… there was a struggle and Frank shot him. " I'm sorry for getting you involved … I'm sorry… - the words played across his mind but stayed off his lips. She could see the guilt on his face even if she couldn't hear the thoughts.

++ Not your fault Toby ++ Charlie gave his hand a slight squeeze.

He wasn't going to accept forgiveness that easily. "We'll have that fight later… " Toby tried to smile. He was only half teasing. A nurse strode in to check on Marks and instantly started checking vitals seeing that the patient had regained consciousness.

"She needs her rest. And you look like you could use some sleep as well." The nurse briskly dismissed Toby as she worked.

"I'll come back later Charlie… " Welcome back he sighed with relief. Marks eyes were already closing again before he reached the door. With Charlie finally out of danger the fatigue he had been ignoring hit him full force. Toby noticed Oz was still hanging around, and he was in no shape to walk home.

"Hey Oz…" Toby's EMS partner turned at hearing his name. "Can you give me a lift home?" Toby didn't need to add the fact that he planned on dropping into bed as it was obvious that was the only thing he was capable of doing at the moment.

"Sure… let's go." Oz tossed off.

By the time Sergeant Becker received the call and made it back to the hospital to see that Marks was awake she had progressed to slightly sitting up and was much more lucid.

"Detective… good to see you awake." Becker nodded to her as he made his way across the room.

"Sergeant." She acknowledged him while still being conservative with her words.

"The doctors say if the next 24 hours look good you can head home to finish recovering. I don't want you arguing with the leave time either. You take the time you need to heal before coming back to work. The man who shot you is dead and we have not been able to detect any further threat so you should be safe at your place." Becker ran down the details.

"I know. Toby told me Cardea shot him. " Her head was still a bit foggy, but considering what she had been through her recovery was coming along well.

Toby? "Logan's been here?" the anger exploded in Becker's voice. "That cop wannabe is the reason you were caught in the cross fire to begin with. If he had –"

"Hey… it was my call. " Her voice wasn't full strength yet, but it held enough fire to stop Becker's ranting.

"Why is everyone defending him? He is dangerous and he won't stop till he gets someone killed. Or I guess he has already achieved that. " Becker's voice was gaining volume with the increased frustration and anger he was feeling.

Marks glared at him. "Toby has helped save lives." Her expression clearly said 'Back off'. "And the only person that ended up dead was the same man that tried to kill me and abduct Toby and Frank."

Anger spent for the moment, Becker lowered his voice. "He almost cost you your life Detective, and I think you better do some hard looking at who exactly Toby Logan is before you come back to the force as I don't want him anywhere near the station. Is that clear?"

"Clear. Sir." She clipped the words to show her anger, but knew better than to continue to fight this battle right now.

Toby woke up with his head still feeling like it was half stuffed with cotton, but at least it was no longer pounding from being pushed beyond reasonable limits. Hurriedly making some coffee to slug down before returning to the hospital to see how Marks was doing, he wondered where to go from here. He could no longer allow Charlie to be put in danger on his behalf. Yet how was he supposed to get to Frank without her help?

Every time life seemed to give him the smallest missing piece to the puzzle there seemed to be a price and a barrier he had to overcome. The fatigue was from more than lack of sleep. A lifetime of holding the line with his gift and trying to carve his place in a world that pushed back was taking a toll. He couldn't help but think what if he had simply continued to ignore his ability… shut it out rather than listen and try to help others… would he still be feeling so lost right now or would his life have the blissful illusion of normalcy. Toby shook off the luxury of wallowing in 'what if's and pulled himself up to go face the reality that had at least, in part, been his choosing.

Turning towards the hallway after locking his front door, he froze. There at the end of the hallway stood the last person he expected to see today – Ethan Darnell. The last encounter with his long lost brother was anything but sweet yet Ethan's demeanor seemed different. Was it simply Toby's imagination or did his younger brother look more ill at ease? Ethan shuffled his feet nervously as his eyes darted around This was quite a contrast to the cocky grin and bold posture of their first meeting. Something had happened and that made Toby cautious yet curious.

++ We need to talk. ++ Ethan directed the thought to Toby, but didn't move nor speak aloud. The thought was tinged with a good measure of desperation. Whatever reason Ethan had for returning, it was clear that he needed something from Toby, which gave him a bargaining chip. ++ Not here. Somewhere where we won't be seen. Follow me. ++ Making eye contact to ensure it was clear that this was not a request, Ethan then turned and walked quickly down the hallway, just fast enough to stay ahead of Toby but not so quickly as to completely lose him either.

The moment Ethan began to step away, Toby moved to follow. He was unsure as to what would come of Ethan's reappearance, but Toby was not going to let his brother slip away a second time without finding out more. There were only moments between Ethan's disappearing from view and Toby rounding the corner yet that was enough time for Ethan to have hopped on the elevator and started to close the door. ++ Lobby. ++ Toby snatched at the one word direction as he ran to the stairs to catch up. Upon crashing out of the stairwell Toby's eyes frantically searched without finding Ethan. ++ Meet me at the Park a few blocks down. Alone. ++ Toby wasn't sure what Ethan was up to, but curiosity and confusion soon made way for a rising anger. Not losing any time, Toby raced to the nearby park where he saw Ethan standing at the entrance to a grove of trees a few feet away. Once it was clear the two had seen each other Ethan slowly turned to enter the seclusion of the line of trees. Something in the back of Toby's mind screamed caution, but there was no turning back. Two steps into the trees Toby heard the click of a gun being cocked and he instinctively raised his hands.

"What kind of game are you playing Ethan?" Toby kept his voice level despite his racing heartbeat.

"Insurance. I can't imagine you are too fond of me given our first meeting and I need to know you won't try any heroics." Ethan's voice no longer rang with the superiority of before. In fact there was a certain resignation to it even though he was the one holding the gun.

Toby puzzled over the conflicting signals, and he slowly turned to look at Ethan. "Why are you here?"

"I need to find out the truth. Or at least your version of it. Seems everyone has their own little corner of truth these days. " His steady gaze watched Toby closely but more with a curious hunger than malice.

"You probably know more than me man." Toby tried to get a feel for Ethan's current state to see how far he could risk going. Carefully keeping his hands in plain sight, he inched closer to Ethan as he spoke and watched for a reaction.

"Stay where you are… don't get any closer." There was a note of panic in his voice as Ethan's hand holding the gun shook. Yet Toby continued to inch forward. Ethan started to back up in order to keep out of arms reach.

Toby stopped and put his hands down to his side. "You aren't going to shoot me. " It was said with more conviction than was felt, but the fear that had crept into Ethan's eyes emboldened Toby. "Why don't you put down the gun Ethan. You don't need it." To further prove his point, Toby sat down on the ground to show he was not going to try to attack.

Wearily, Ethan lowered the gun, but did not fully put it away. He was still more than a quick lunge or arms reach away from Toby and he was standing so he could make a break for it if he had to.

"You lied to me." The hurt showed through with the accusation Ethan hurled at Toby. "She's alive."

She? Maya… he had to mean their mother. Toby's body electrified, but he held very still so as not to spook Ethan into disappearing again. "I didn't know then. I told you what I thought to be the truth. "

"Why should I believe you? How did you find out if what you say is true?" Ethan's eyes narrowed in challenge.

Toby's mind whirled with indecision about how much to reveal. Choosing to not bring Frank into it, he responded with the information he had directly received. "I got a hit… it was different than the others. It was coming right for me… there was an accident, and I saw her in the car."

Not trusting this to be the whole truth Ethan reached into Toby's mind to search for confirmation. There he saw it in Toby's memory… the same vision Ethan had gotten while on his way to Toronto from the Institute. Toby was telling the truth about that much of it anyway, but there was more that his older brother had chosen not to say. "Who is Frank Cardea? " The hand with the gun rose a littlein an unconsciously defensive gesture.

Startled at what Ethan could do, Toby's eyes went wide and he flailed around for the words to explain. "Frank was sent by Maya to find me… I don't know why. He was injured when he first came here and is suffering a great deal of memory loss." Deciding it was better to come up with the information before Ethan could pick it out of his mind, Toby continued on. "There was one other man who claimed to have been sent by Maya, but I don't know anymore who he was connected to. His name was Victor Clooney."

The name definitely got a reaction from Ethan as the information hit him like a blow to the chest. Ethan stumbled back a pace and grabbed hold of the nearest tree and slumped down. The gun lay by his hip, still in his hand but half forgotten. Toby instinctively started forward to check on him then stopped at Ethan's sharp look of distrust.

"Who was Victor Clooney?" Toby was sure Ethan had to know for the name to have caused him to crumple to the ground.

"Was?" Ethan questioned the tense used.

Toby nodded. "He's dead."

One of the missing pieces was now beyond Ethan's reach of ever knowing. There was no sense in hiding the fact now. "He was my father." Ethan sighed in forlorn frustration at having the chance to learn more from that source stolen away.

"Your …" Whatever Toby had imagined it was not this. Swallowing hard, he asked a question that both terrified and compelled him. "Was he… I mean – " Toby was having a hard time getting the words out but was saved from having to voice the question by Ethan cutting him off.

"Victor Clooney was *my* father. You were almost four when he first met Maya. " Ethan confirmed.

While still not knowing who his father was, Toby breathed a sigh of relief that it had not been the same man who had caused such horrible chaos and near tragedy in his life. A few seconds behind this relief came the gnawing question of what information Ethan had about their past.

"Exactly how much do you know? Do you know where Maya is?" Toby rushed forward hoping that there finally was another avenue to find his mother.

Ethan eyed Toby still not trusting him enough to share everything he had found out from his exploration of the minds of those at the top chain of the Institute. There was still the question of if Toby was his brother why he had never looked for Ethan all those years growing up. "Not until you tell me why you never came looking for me." The hard shell that had developed over the years cracked with the sound of a little boy's plaintive cry of 'why'.

Toby stopped a moment to really look at things from Ethan's perspective. True the long string of foster homes had been a less than ideal childhood, but he did have Ray to count on and he had been shielded in a manner from those who would prey on him for his talents. Ethan had not had the luxury of someone who cared more for him than what he could do with his ability; nor did he have any memories of a mother regardless of how fleeting or scattered. Why would Ethan trust him or anyone else in the world when everything he had known had been a lie or deliberate exploitation of his abilities?

"I'm sorry…" words failed Toby at how to explain in a way that would be believed. The genuineness of the raw emotion echoed in the simple words. "I spent most of my life trying to shut people out of my head. Memories of before I was brought here to the orphanage were blocked out till recently – I didn't know I had a brother. " Ethan looked hard into Toby's face wanting to take his words at face value and yet not knowing how to. The unveiling misery in Ethan's eyes stung Toby. "You're right. I should have tried. Even if I didn't know exactly how to find you I should have tried sooner to find out about my past. I'm sorry… I was afraid of what I would find. I was afraid I would drown in the sea of other people's minds. "

Suddenly uncomfortable with the level the conversation had fallen to; Ethan pushed himself up and started to fiddle nervously with putting the gun back in the holster hidden under the back of his jacket. Toby stayed still knowing that any sudden move was likely to result in Ethan disappearing again.

"Please… do you know where Maya is… do you know if our … our mother is … how she is?" Toby pleaded stumbling over the question that had become an consuming obsession.

Ethan started to turn away to leave while keeping Toby in his peripheral vision then stopped after a few steps. "I don't know where she is… or if she is still alive." He tossed back over his shoulder. Ethan started walking away again while Toby stood up intending to follow after him. ++ Don't follow me… I'll get back to you… brother. ++ The last word had been added with hesitation and uncertainly as if Ethan was trying it on for size to see if it fit. It was hard for Toby to allow him to walk away, but the risk in following him was to drive him away for good. Trust had to start somewhere, and it seemed that it was going to start with Toby.