(Chapter 3)
Mozzie was pacing the floor of the Burke's living room, El sitting on the sofa watching him. She looked just as upset as he did, her eyes looking down at a cell on the table as if in anticipation. Mozz turned and looked at the device as well, finally moving over to her side and sitting on the sofa.
"I know Green did something to him... this is taking too long. He didn't keep his word!" His voice rose at the end and cracked with emotion. El reached over and hugged him gently.
"Mozzie... Neal will be ok. He has to be. Peter and Jones are there." She smiled at him as confidently as possible. Mozz nodded, leaning back against the sofa and wiping at his glasses.
"I would have testified against Green at the trial but by that time I had left with Neal and started a new life. I heard about the case through the late night news but I didn't want anyone to find out where Neal was. He was still too fragile and I was working nights at a local museum as a custodian so we could at least have some money to eat. I figured the less time I spent out in the daylight, the less likely Green would find me and I could watch Neal during the day and protect him. Darrian didn't seem like the kind of man who would take kindly to his 'son' going missing, especially the same son who had been left to rot in a hospital." Mozzie sighed, Elizabeth hugging him ever so slightly.
"So you practically raised Neal then. I guess I never really asked beyond all the intrigue with Kate and Fowler. I'm surprised he's never mentioned any of this but then I don't know much about his life before Peter started chasing him." She sounded a bit embarrassed about that part. Mozzie shook his head, looking directly at her.
"Neal doesn't remember any of this. He doesn't remember his foster father or his life before he met me. I gave him a whole new identity when we left. I had to. He thinks he ran away from a broken home and I took him off the streets. I had to find a way to keep him from wandering back into the grip of his guardian. And I stole his records from the hospital and replaced them with another file. He IS Neal Caffrey by all means. The real one will never come back for his identity." Mozzie seemed sadly adamant about that last point, El just nodding, her eyes curious.
"He's going to remember at some point, Mozzie. I know you want to protect him, but his memories will return. I guess it explains why he feels the way he does about guns. Peter told me Neal was capable of using a gun but never went so far as to hurt anyone physically. He probably does remember what happened even if he's not aware why he's acting the way he does, he's affected by his past." El glanced down at the table when the cell finally buzzed. Mozzie's eyes followed hers and she lifted the cell to her ear and spoke.
"Peter? Oh thank goodness! We've been waiting to hear what happened. Yes... Mozzie's here with me." She smiled at something and then handed the phone over to Mozz who pushed it to his ear with mild reluctance.
"How is Neal?" Mozzie's voice sounded relatively calm for him. He was still as he listened to Peter and after what seemed forever finally let out a relieved breath.
"Thanks Peter." Mozzie handed the phone back to El and stood, walking across the room and disappearing into the kitchen. El watched him curiously as she finished talking to her husband and then hung up the cell, replacing it on the table. She entered the kitchen to see Mozzie sipping at a glass of water, turning when she entered.
"Mozzie, you ok?" El watched him as he continued to drink the water quietly. She made her way over to the coffee maker and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee. He didn't answer till the glass was empty.
"Yeah... I think I might be. I just hope Neal forgives me." He was frowning as he replaced the glass in the sink and turned back towards the kitchen door to leave. El grasped his arm as he passed and smiled at him.
"I think he will, but for now, let's concentrate on him getting better." She gave him a little squeeze and he smiled up at her.
()()()
Nick couldn't remember much of anything after they had drugged him. He had a vague recollection of lights flashing overhead as he was wheeled along and then the click of a lock as he was left alone. He closed his eyes, a slight nausea passing over him as he lay there secured to the gurney. He kept playing back the scene of what he had watched his father do through the keyhole. He heard his father's voice, cold and unemotional, as he told the bodyguards to drag him away. He felt a warm wetness around his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks. Nick missed his mother. He had never stopped missing her but Darrian had distracted him from his loss with his pretense of a loving father-figure who truly cared for him. He had been dazzled by the lifestyle he had been brought into that was so different than what his mother and he had been accustomed to. He moaned softly, the loss of everything he'd known drawing him into a deep despair.
As he thought back to the last memory he had of his mother, he heard the soft click of a lock and the sound of footsteps. He moaned again, his head aching some but he knew someone was there so he opened up his eyes and turned towards the source.
Nick's vision was blurry but as he blinked back the tears and squinted he could just make out the figure before him. The man standing there was somewhat short with a receding hairline and dressed in a plain white uniform of a hospital orderly. He wore thick glasses with dark frames that looked a bit retro, his hazel green eyes peering through with a surprised expression.
"mmmph..." Nick was trying to talk but his mouth was still gagged. He watched the man move over slowly, placing something he had been holding on the floor. The man stood beside him, pulling the rag from his lips and pulling another out of his mouth. Nick took a deep breath, his head swimming as he looked at the man and tried to focus.
"Where... am I?" Nick felt sleepy, his voice hoarse and slightly slurring. He blinked a few times to focus noticing that the man looked around nervously.
"Keep your voice down. I'm not suppose to be here. What's your name?" The man moved to the door and locked it before turning around and walking back. Nick was glad when the man didn't leave, his mind focusing on the question as much as on the presence of this stranger who seemed interested in helping him.
"My name? Nick... Halden. Why am I here? I can't move." Nick shook his head slightly trying to wake himself up from whatever they'd given him. He was feeling dizzy again. Nick felt the man shake him slightly as he reached to unstrap the bindings. Nick watched him with interest, his vision blurring. The man stopped though, and they both perked up at the sound of footsteps and then voices coming nearer. The man looked panicked suddenly, pulling the rag back up around the young man's lips. Nick tried to protest but he was too tired and weak. He wanted to grab the man and beg him to free him but his mind wasn't working and the gag kept him from speaking.
"I'm sorry but they can't know I was here." The man's tone was apologetic, gently mussing his hair. He grabbed up his bottle and rag as he made his way out an adjoining door. As the door closed, Nick tried to call the man back despite the gag, looking up as the main door opened up and two figures entered the room. Nick turned his head sleepily towards them. He could hear a man he didn't know speaking.
"This is your son? What's his name?" The man's voice sounded like he was talking about an object rather than a person. Nick was wondering who they were speaking of, his mind hazy again. He perked up slightly as he recognized the second voice.
"Nicholaus. He refuses to take part in the family business and I need to have him out of the way so he doesn't interfere. I can leave him in your care?" Darrian Halden's voice was unmistakable. Nick squinted his eyes at the man, feeling a hand grasp his chin and raise his head up to look at him. Something bright was shone into both eyes as the man in white, a doctor maybe, poked at him and seemed to be examining him. Nick pulled at the man's hold, mumbling beneath his gag as he tried to struggle. The man just held his chin more securely, pulling out something shiny. Nick felt his head turned to the side, a sting as something pinched the skin of his neck and that same warmth from earlier began to draw him away from consciousness.
"Of course. He will be happily taken care of. As I said... we have several treatments to calm his rebelliousness."
()()()
The next time Nick woke up he was shivering. He was still strapped to the gurney only now he was wearing nothing but a thin hospital robe. His head felt like it was going to explode, his tongue thick in his mouth but with something added. He was gagged with some kind of rubber plug secured in place. He looked around and found the room had changed. Machines he didn't recognize were strew around the room and hooked to one arm was an IV drip. He turned at the sound of a door opening and several figures entered the room, one of them his father. His heart started to race as he struggled to free himself and leave. Darrian smiled at him coldly, the man in white who looked like a doctor beside him along with two men in white orderly uniforms. Everything was coming back to him.
"They don't use this kind of treatment much anymore, Mr. Halden but it's always been a well known cure for rebelliousness." The doctor walked over to Nick along with the two orderlies.
"Hello Nicholaus. My name is Dr. Leonard. We're going to make you feel better." He made a motion to the two orderlies who had already started to secure his head so it wouldn't move, a cold gel applied to both of his temples along with a metal disc on both. They then put a kind of headset over it all and he saw the doctor make a motion.
Nick wanted to scream but he could only feel a strangled sound escape the gag. Fire... horrible burning flames whipped through his brain from both sides stealing the thoughts from his head. Everything was flashing before him... his childhood... images of his mother who had always been there... she had been his only parent up until she died and Darrian took over.
He felt his teeth trying to grind against one another but the gag kept his jaw slightly separated and his tongue in place. His eyes rolled back into his skull as he thrashed and convulsed against the gurney for what seemed an eternity till the pain ended. He collapsed against the gurney, body limp and twitching ever so slightly. Nick knew he must be awake but something was wrong. His mind was blank of all thoughts, his eyes staring without seeing. Everything was a gray haze, figures moving around him, peering down as their voices buzzed like bees. Someone touched his face and he flinched slightly as if they had hit him.
After a while the buzzing stopped and he was conscious again. Nick wasn't sure how much time had passed but he was back in the original room again. They had left him ungagged with only the minimal of straps around his wrists, neck and ankles. He moved one arm slowly, getting feeling back into his limbs. It took a moment but he could feel his body again, squeezing his hand so that he could pull it through the strap. He dislocated the fingers in his hand easily, something he had been able to do since he was a kid. His hand passed through fairly quickly and he loosened the straps, sitting up with a quiet groan.
He turned at the sound of footsteps outside the door and panicked a moment. Nick pulled the straps over his limbs loosely, closing his eyes and giving a quiet moan. Someone walked in and touched his arm. He opened his eyes slowly and looked up to see one of the orderlies glancing at him. The man didn't seem very smart but his face held a cruel gaze in his pale green eyes. Nick blinked at the man who just smiled coldly back, pulling something from his belt. It was a taser gun.
"So you're awake. Most people don't do well with shock treatment." The taser pulsed in his hand as Nick stared up at the device and back at the man. The orderly continued to smile.
"Let's see how you like this toy." The man had gotten closer to the bed when Neal pulled his leg free and kicked him where it counted. The man's face turned flush, then red then purple as he fell back and rolled onto his side with a strangled moan. Nick pulled himself from the gurney and grabbed up the taser. The man had pulled out a walkie-talkie and started to speak.
"He.. elp... the boy... he's..." The man didn't finish as Nick tased him and moved back. Footsteps were hurrying towards the room as he looked around for a means to escape. He saw the adjoining door and padded towards it, locking it behind him as he ran through to the next room. He peered in and found himself in a small storage area. He opened up the door across the room and found himself in another hallway opposite the one he had been in. He padded quietly down the corridor till he no longer heard the sounds of orderlies or anyone else for that matter. He opened up the first door he could and quietly slipped inside. He locked it and turned to find a place to hide when he saw a figure in white staring back.
"Stay away from me!" Nick held the taser up threateningly at the orderly, the man holding his hands up in surrender with a surprised look on his face. Nick glared at him. The orderly continued to hold up his hands in surrender, unsure it seemed of what to do when they both turned at the sound of footsteps hurrying towards the door. Nick gazed in terror, his body trembling in response to the sound.
"I can hide you." Nick turned and looked at the man starting to realize he had seen him somewhere before. He wanted to trust him but he had abandoned him to the doctor and his father that first night. He remembered now, a sense of uncertainty as he watched the man. The orderly stood up slowly, pointing at a heap of old equipment.
"Hide in there and they won't find you. Trust me." He looked at Nick with a sincere smile and something that looked like fear as they both looked at the door. Nick sensed the man was being honest with him, nodding in response as he moved over to the area and ducked underneath. He watched with interest as the orderly quietly unlocked the door, went back to the seat and slumped down feigning sleep. The door flew open a few minutes later, Nick ducking down even further as he saw several of Dr. Leonard's personal orderlies pile into the room. One of them gazed at the orderly in the chair and coughed.
"What are you doing back here? You're supposed to be on duty, Thomas!" The orderly was of medium height but with a body builder's weight. He looked like the kind of man Nick's father would have employed as a bodyguard. He smacked the other orderly awake, knocking off his glasses. Thomas sat up and held a hand to his cheek where it stung. Nick felt a sudden urge to run out and attack the bully but he stayed where he was and watched helplessly.
"I'm sorry, Terry. I needed a break and this was the only place I could find that was quiet." Thomas' voice sounded whiny and weak unlike the voice he had used earlier when speaking with Nick. Terry scowled at him and motioned for the rest of the orderlies to leave, staying around long enough to bully him.
"Don't let me catch you back here again... do you hear me?!" Terry sounded like he enjoyed scaring Thomas, his smile cold and menacing. Thomas nodded as he stood up and the man left. Nick remained hidden, watching Thomas rub at his cheek as he picked up his glasses and walked over to a broken bit of mirror in the corner. Nick sighed in frustration and anger as he crept out of his hiding spot. He felt anger, an urge to run after the big guy and do something violent.
()()()
Neal watched the scene in his mind and tried to parse what it was he was meant to see. Thomas... he looked familiar to him but he couldn't place the person. The nightmare seemed more real than it had ever been but he knew it was false. It had to be. He never had a father like Darrian. It couldn't be true.
"Nick, you need to wake up honey." Neal turned around from the scene to see a woman with sea blue eyes staring back at him. Her hair was long and fell past her shoulders in dark wavy strands. Her skin as a pale olive tone with only a slight hint of pink in her cheeks. She held her arms at her sides, smiling gently at him.
"My name is Neal. Who..." He kept thinking he should know her but his mind was reeling from the memories that flooded it. She just smiled softly, walking towards him, arms open.
"It's ok. I know you don't remember me but you will one day. Just... don't be angry with your friend. He tried to help you. You've grown up so tall and handsome! I'm just sorry I couldn't be there to help you." She hugged him tightly and he felt his arms wrap around her in a familiar manner. He could smell flowers, Summer and so many other familiar memories long forgotten as he held her.
"Mom..." His lips mouthed the word silently.