His hand slammed down on the button for the top floor, cancelling his earlier request for floor 13. He watched the numbers raise impatiently, jumping slightly at the ding of the elevator. Dwicky pushed the doors to the elevator open the rest of the way, his feet pounding against the hard tiles of the floor as he dashed down the hall. If this really was Dib...he wanted to talk somewhere more private than the elevator or the office. The roof would be a perfect place to talk. Stalking up the stairs as quickly as possible, he rounded a corner and ran the rest of the way towards the door.

Outside it was raining. Pouring down from the sky with claps of lightning and thunder every once and again. Checking to see that Dib was still on the line, he flipped open the cell phone, placing the reciever to his ear. He hesitated.

"Hello?"

"...Dwicky...?" His eyes widened as the meek reply was heard. It was definately the boy, but from the sounds of it he was in no shape to be talking on the phone. Or talking period. "Are...are you still there...?" The hoarse voice questioned wearily.

"Y-yea! Yea I am." He stood there, one hand hanging limply at his side, the rain water dripping from his slender finger tips as he stared out at the murky horizon. "What...what's up?" His voice kept hitching. He was nervous. Why would Dib be calling him after 3 years of no contact...and why in such poor condition?

"...Good." A sigh. "...Are you busy at all...?" 'He's holding his breath.' Dwicky's gaze fell to the concrete below his feet, his eyelids drooping slightly.

"No, not at all. Why?" He had to keep his voice steady. He had to keep his emotions in check. It was such a sudden shock that he had called that he was felt as though he was ready to cry.

"..." Another sigh. "Can you...come and pick me up...from here?" Dwicky could tell he was far from coherent. Not to the point of hallucenation, but his voice sounded...distant.

"From where, Dib?" He waited for an answer, the silence eating at him.

"Alex's...I can give you directions..." Dwicky could hear tears in the boy's voice and his face fell. No matter how nice it was to hear from Dib again, he couldn't stand to hear him like this. "Dwicky...I really need you to."

"No problem Dib, no problem." Dwicky fished his keys back out of his pocket, his free hand brushing the soaked bangs from his eyes. He began heading back towards the door. "What...what happened?" He waited patiently for a response, his throat tightening as if afraid to find out why the boy was near tears.

"..." The silence barred down on the both of them before Dwicky could finally
pic up the choked sobs coming from the boy on the other end. "C...can I tell you ...when you get here?" Dwicky frowned. He wanted to know now so he was prepared.

"I suppose." Closing the door to his black Pontiac, he turned the ignition on
and waited, keeping the reciever close to his ear. "Okay, Dib. How do I get there?"

Following Dib's careful instructions, he soon pulled into a gravel driveway and his gaze fell upon a broken down house, many of the windows seemed to be shattered. Chairs and other various articles of furniture littered the lawn and Dwicky bit his bottom lip. This was not good.

Stepping from his car, he cautiously approached the house, opening the door quietly and slowly. He leaned in and was amazed at the shamble the house was in. It was such a mess. Now he worried.

"Dib..?" He called, his head dipping into random rooms. In the back room, what could be considered a workshop, lay a battered Dib. One hand held his cell phone meekly to his head, the other lay limply at his side. Bruised and bloody, soft amber eyes shifted to stare at the man in the door as lithe fingers let the cell phone fall to the ground, his arm quickly following. Long strides brought the man to the teen's side and his slender arms lifted Dib up and held him there as Dwicky assessed his wounds. "...Dib."