Standard disclaimer. I don't own any of the FAKE characters. I love these guys! The only original characters I have so far are Walter Carrington, Derrick Williams, and Mr. Watson.

Chapter 7

Hard Places

When JJ opened his eyes Commissioner Rose was seated by his bed, watching him.

"Commissioner … Carrington ... is he … is he taken care of?"

"Don't worry – he won't hurt you or anyone else again. We have him for attempted murder of a police officer, among other things."

"How? What actually happened? I don't remember too much after he hit me. I know he inserted something – it burned and hurt like hell – but not much after that. And I remember you yelling and a blanket being wrapped around me. It felt so warm … then I woke up here. No one here will tell me anything, not even the doctors."

"That's because I informed them not to tell you, but I don't think you would have understood much anyway, not with as sedated as they kept you. I felt it was my duty to explain. First I need to apologize to you for not getting there faster. We should have followed you up. I underestimated him; I didn't expect him to attack that fast. I'm so sorry Jemy. I wish this whole sting had turned out differently."

"But you got him, right? That's all that matters, and. I'll heal, right? What the hell did he use on me?"

"Carrington had one of those electrical stimulation machines we've been finding lately. The ones that have the safety settings removed for the current release. Hardcore S&M playtoys. It burnt the lining of your rectum, but luckily not to an irreparable point. After we got the machine to the lab we found that not only did it have all the safety restraints removed but it also had an amperage range that would have killed you if he had gotten it to the right level."

Rose watched JJ as he digested all the new information, pain and disbelief running across his face. JJ stayed silent for a few minutes. "I knew he wanted to hurt me because I wouldn't cooperate, but to kill me? Why?"

"I'm not sure that he actually wanted to kill you, but he definitely wanted to hurt you as much as he could. As far as we can piece together he thought you had figured out his scheme, being so close to him and being a cop. He was blackmailing almost two dozen business men and professionals, same MO – all with pictures like he had of you. He knew you could blow his little racket sky high, which due to his meddling you really did. They also had a very lucrative cocaine side business. It was no fluke that he got caught in that last drug net. He felt you were the reason for his capture in the raid, especially since you led it. Your constant rejection to his demands for a reinstatement of the relationship just fed his fear and anger. My guess is that his paranoia got the best of him, he lost all logic and felt he had to fix his mistake. He wasn't taking that chance that you knew everything – so you became expendable."

"How did he think he would get away with it? Did he really think that he could?" JJ looked definitely unsettled. "I guess I'll have to testify. You'll need a statement too."

"Your statement is taken care of – all you need to do is read it and sign. The team felt you had been through enough and handled it for you. You've got some good friends Addams, count yourself extremely lucky. They've taken care of everything. If all of you weren't the best in the city I'd be really worried right now." Rose actually smiled at the last statement.

JJ looked at Rose with confusion. It was against rules for another officer to write your report, especially one that detailed something that you personally experienced. One could lose his or her badge for that. And this was the Police Commissioner telling him these things. "You can thank them for me, Sir."

"You can do that yourself. Parker's waiting outside and MacLean and Laytner will be by some time this afternoon. The Chief will probably come to see you tonight. I've got to go now but I wanted to be here when you woke up alert enough to explain what had happened. You've been pretty sedated for the past 24 hours so we've all been keeping watch. Take care Addams – I'll send Parker in."

"Thank you Sir."

All those broken rules. JJ was still mulling over the fact they had written the report for him – and the fact that, of all people, the Commissioner seemed to be turning a blind eye – when Drake entered. He was fidgeting with his overcoat as he came over to the side of the bed.

"Hey partner, you finally back with us?" Concern was quickly overriding the relief at seeing JJ awake, smiling, and lucid.

"Sure thing Drake. Why the glum face? I'm indestructible, remember? Sit down. We need to talk about things."

"Like what? I don't know too much about what happened up there. Dee or Rose would be the ones to ask; and they kept what happened to themselves. Rose didn't let the rest of us in on what went down, just that you were injured and would completely recover. Dee's the same way. But I do know that Dee got him, Carrington that is, just by the shape he was in when they booked him. The squad car had to make a stop at the emergency room before bringing him to the station. Would have liked to have been a fly on the wall for that. I know Dee was pissed royally. I don't know if it was all anger against Carrington or if a bit of it was from the fact that Rose wouldn't let him handle it 'his way'."

JJ shook his head and smiled. "Sounds like my Dee-Sempai. Did the Chief have any success?"

"Sure did – that's how they found the evidence for all the other blackmail cases – must be 18-20 of them. And they also found a briefcase full of high-quality cocaine. That pair was quite busy. Now we're busy writing up the new cases against him. Wait until you see the paperwork we have to do when you get back!" Drake laughed and indicated with his hands a stack 3 feet high.

JJ laughed a bit then went silent. In a low voice he asked, "Rose said the unit wrote my report for me. Why?"

Drake looked at his lap. "Rose said Carrington used a very vicious form of torture on you, possibly even tried to kill you, but wouldn't give us details. Hell, he wouldn't even let the medical staff mention it to you. He threw around some pretty heavy-weight threats too, and everybody knew he would use them if necessary. Nobody wanted to cross him on this."

"If it was that vicious none of us wanted what happened to you to get out to the public by accident. There is no written record of what exactly went down in that apartment. We protected our own, even Rose agreed on this. We didn't lie – we just pointed it in a different direction. The official release to the press is that he tried to kill you by strangulation. Who knows, he may have tried that way too, we don't know for sure. You do have marks to justify the conclusion. The medical records will confirm the charge. He had wrapped a cord around your throat – you have some serious bruising on your neck. Enough to make the attempted murder charge stick without having to go into the real details, not that I think Rose would even have allowed that. He can be downright scary when he wants to be. So you don't have to worry about Carrington coming back. Ever."

They continued to catch up on the more minor details of the case but finally JJ was just too tired to stay awake. Drake said his goodbyes and promised to come back the next day.

The nurses woke him for lunch. At least it wasn't to give him a sleeping pill. They had done that once and it irritated him no end. Why did they think he needed one if he was sleeping perfectly fine? He never could understand the logic of nurses. Maybe they didn't have any. They were only here to aggravate the patients. At least he hadn't seen Nurse Emery so far – she could send the bravest man screaming out of the hospital.

Lunch. A bowl of indescribable soup, he thought it might be chicken, with a lot of mushy noodles and crackers. And green jello. Just once he'd like another color, the taste sure wouldn't change. The menu was totally bland and easy to digest. This would be the routine until he healed. He had just finished when Dee and Ryo arrived outside the room. Both looked very happy to see him up and alert. He motioned them in and to sit by the bed. Ryo grabbed a second chair and sat next to Dee.

"We're glad to see you're ok," started Ryo. "We've got him in an airtight case, don't worry about that. With what we gathered at Williams' place neither one of them is going anywhere for a very long time, if ever."

"Thanks, I knew I could count on you guys. And Dee-Sempai, I hear you handled Carrington's arrest?" JJ shifted to face Dee with a questioning look on his face.

"Hey, I was the perfect gentleman. He left in a squad car, and conscious too! I behaved myself – ask Rose, he was there, he saw!" His face said different by the wicked smirk that was quickly spreading.

Ryo chimed in, "The emergency room report was 'broken nose, dislocated shoulder, three broken teeth, two sprained wrists – did I miss anything?"

"The mild concussion." Dee mumbled while grinning evilly.

JJ laughed. "I knew it was too good to be true. That's my Dee-Sempai!" and he tried to sit forward to hug Dee. He hadn't healed enough for fast movements like that and immediately regretted the move. A sharp gasp of pain escaped him as he dropped down heavily to the bed.

"OK, just this once I'll hug you." Dee grinned while gathering JJ in his arms. "That what you wanted?"

"Yes, thank you. And I'd like a hug from Ryo also, he helped me too."

Ryo blushed faintly as he traded places with Dee. "Gladly. Welcome back JJ."

"I do have one question that I haven't asked anyone yet. Maybe one of you would know." This time it was JJ with the slight blush. "What happened to the photos? The ones Carrington sent. And the originals and negatives? Were they at Williams' apartment? Does anyone know where they are?" Deep concern clouded JJ's eyes.

Ryo smiled. "I can answer that. Between us and the bedposts Rose personally destroyed the ones he was keeping in his office safe. The ones we found at Williams' place seem to have been 'misplaced' somehow on the way back to the station. I just don't remember what I did with them...." A mischievous smile graced Ryo's face. JJ knew he had taken care of them.

As a few tears managed to escape his eyes, JJ whispered, "You guys are the best."

#=#=#=#=#

The day after the raid on Williams' apartment

Dee and Ryo were walking through one of the less affluent areas when Ryo stopped by one of the numerous 'can fires' the homeless people in the area had going for warmth.

"I think I need to warm up a bit. My hands are slightly chilly."

"Dee looked at him, confused since it was early fall and the temperature wasn't really that low. That was until he saw the fairly large package that Ryo was pulling from inside his jacket. He smiled. Yup, my fingers are a bit chilly too."

The photos and negatives took a while to burn, but both stood and watched until the package had been completely reduced to ash. Dee picked up a small log from next to the can and dropped it directly into the middle of the remains, breaking all the ashed photos into dust and scattering them throughout the can and into the air.

"Feeling warmer now?" said Dee, smiling as he turned to face Ryo.

"Much warmer. Shall we go home?"

#=#=#=#=#

The case was held in closed courtroom due to the security level set by Commissioner Rose; he pulled rank by calling in a favor from the governor. Due to some excellent work by the DA's office, both Carrington and Williams were tried for various hate crimes in addition to drug trafficking, possession with intent to sell, blackmail, and last but not least, assault with intent to kill a police officer. Each received life sentences, no probation.

JJ never had to testify.

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For those of you who read this all the way through, I thank you.

I just wanted to do a story where the characters actually act like human beings, like members of a team. To have them actually look like they can do the jobs they hold. Granted I gave JJ a bit of a rough deal, but he's resilient and will bounce back from this fairly quickly. There will be other stories where I prove it. I don't hate him, he just needs a few 'downs' to go with all the 'ups' he has.

Lady Feather