Doctor Henry Morgan looked up from his latest 'patient' to see LT leading a group that consisted of a blind man, a blind woman and a young gentleman whose patience seemed to be getting tested more and more by the minute. The doctor met the group as soon as LT closed the door behind them. "LT," he greeted the officer warmly, "it is good to see you."

"Good to see you too, Doc," LT replied with a smile. "Cap fill you in?"

"She did, she did," Henry replied, then turned to Matt, grabbing the distracted man's hand. "I am Doctor Henry Morgan," he introduced himself. "And you are...?"

"The lawyers," Foggy replied for Matt, deferring all attention to Jennifer and away from the way that Matt was clearly 'staring' at Henry. "Our client Ms. Wong needs a tox screen done. Immediately."

Henry blushed, pulling his hand away from Matt's and turning his attention to his true 'patient'. "Forgive me. All the captain had said was that my patient would be blind. I'll get a syringe. LT, if you could escort Ms. Wong and her attorneys to my office?"

"Sure thing, Doc," LT agreed with a shrug. He ushered the group into Henry's office while the doctor gathered up the tools necessary to draw blood.

Foggy ushered Matt into Henry's office and stood him behind Jennifer so that the doctor could have unrestricted access to his patient. Henry carefully laid his tools out on his desk before turning to his true patient. "Ms. Wong," he greeted Jennifer, not surprised by the lack of response that he received in return, "my name is Doctor Henry Morgan. I'm just going to draw some blood, if that's all right..."

Jennifer nodded. "All...all right."

Henry took note of Jennifer's disorientation as he worked. "How long ago was Ms. Wong drugged, gentlemen?"

"Within the past twelve hours," Matt replied, apparently having shaken off the source of his own disorientation. "Although I suspect she also has a severe circadian rhythm disorder."

The layman's diagnosis caught Henry'a attention. "How severe?"

"She can't remember events beyond the past hour," replied Matt.

The necessary blood drawn, Henry snapped off his gloves, seemingly coming to a decision. "LT," he instructed the officer, "take these gentlemen and their client to Metro General. You know who to ask for."

LT nodded. "Yes, sir."

"I'll start running the tests immediately..." Henry declared. The shrill ring of Henry's phone cut him off. "Doctor Morgan," Henry greeted the person on the phone. "Yes, I'll be right there." The ME then hung up the phone and ended the conversation as only a Medical Examiner could. "Unfortunately, though, I will have to pick up the results of those tests once I return, since I have to collect a body."

The three men nodded, allowing Henry the space to do his job. LT wrapped his arm around Jennifer's, gently guiding the blind woman down the long corridor. Foggy, though, pulled his partner back for as private a conversation as he dared. "Okay, what the hell was THAT?!" he exclaimed, forcing himself to keep his voice at barely above a whisper.

"What was what?" asked Matt.

"I have never seen you stare at anybody before in my life," Foggy spit out quickly, "so why in God's name were you staring at that doctor?!"

Matt sighed, knowing that the tone in Foggy's voice meant that the other man wasn't going to let this go. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he insisted.

That may have qualified as the last argument Foggy was going to accept. "Tell me anyway," he argued.

Matt sighed again, this time in surrender. "I wasn't looking at 'Doctor Morgan'. At least, not like you guys saw him."

"You weren't?"

Matt shook his head. "For the first few minutes after we met the man, all I was looking at was veins."

Foggy's eyes widened. "His veins? As in carries-the-blood-through-the-body veins?!"

"I have no idea what they were," Matt spat out quickly. "But yes, until Doctor Morgan took that phone call all I could see were 'his' veins. And they were glowing."

Foggy's eyes looked like they were threatening to fall out of his head. "His veins were glowing?" Matt nodded. "You sure we shouldn't be getting you a tox screen?"

Matt didn't have an answer for that.

#

The cacophony of sounds in the Metro General emergency room were easy enough for Matt to filter out. It was your typical night: patients on mobile beds, waiting patiently for their opportunity to be seen by the overwhelmed staff; doctors and orderlies walking through the maze of beds with determined purpose as they moved from task to task and patient to patient; and nurses who slowly worked their way from one end of the room to the other and back, trying their best to take care of each and every patient in turn...

...except for one nurse, who was intensely distracted by the presence of the one man that she never expected to see in her ER. Not alive, at any rate. Claire Temple knelt down next to Matt, talking at a voice the she hoped that only Matt would be able to hear while trying to make the gesture look as casual and 'normal' as possible. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice only keeping the barest hint of calm.

"I'm here with a client," Matt replied, his voice only slightly louder than Claire's. "She's here to see Dr. Driver..."

"Be careful around Driver," Claire warned. "She's a member of some group called the Network. I think they're a bunch of crazy superhero groupies or something. If they ever found out about you..."

"Thanks for the tip," Matt declared, cutting Claire off before the conversation could draw attention. "I'll be careful."

Claire stood up, putting a hand on Matt's shoulder to 'steady herself'. She then gave that shoulder a gentle squeeze before she moved on...the only gesture of affection Claire dared to give in a public space with a man that, technically, she wasn't supposed to know.

Foggy, though, knew about Claire's relationship with Matt. More importantly, he knew how the couple had come to know each other. "Everything okay?" he asked Matt.

"I'll tell ya later," Matt replied.

The group was called in to a small alcove, where LT gently helped Jennifer onto the waiting gurney while Foggy 'escorted' Matt to the space alongside the bed. A blond-haired doctor blew into the room; her eyes never leaving her chart, her demeanor all business. "Okay, which one of you is Ms...Wong?"

LT fought to get the younger woman's attention. "Share?"

'Share' looked up at the sound of the familiar voice, relaxing only when she recognized the tall, black police officer. "Sorry, LT. When I heard a cop was bringing someone in, I guess I didn't make the connection. How ya been?"

"I been al'right," LT drawled. "You?"

Sharon let out a weary sigh. "It's been a very long day."

LT chuckled sympathetically. "I hear that."

The brief conversation with a perceived friend seemed to do wonders for Sharon's emotional state. She took in the composition of the group around her. Her eyes settled on her presumed 'patient', who was sitting on the gurney. "Ms. Wong?"

"Yes?" Jennifer replied.

Sharon jumped into action at the sluggishness in Jennifer's voice. Taking note of the cane that LT was holding as he was holding her patient's hand, Sharon pulled a pen light from her pocket, removed Jennifer's sunglasses from her eyes and shined the light in the eyes of her patient. "Totally blind?" she asked, figuring someone in the room would speak up and answer the question.

"That's my guess," Matt replied.

Sharon looked up, surprised to see that the blind guy was the one who had answered her question. "I suppose you might qualify as an expert," she suggested. Sharon turned off the pen light and put it back in her pocket before turning her attention back to Jennifer. "Do you know why you're here, Ms. Wong?"

Jennifer shook her head. "Tired," she replied before yawning.

Finding that answer unsatisfying, Sharon turned to the man who had just answered on her patient's behalf. "I suspect Ms. Wong has a severe circadian rhythm sleep disorder," said Matt. "And has been drugged within the past 12 hours."

Sharon raised a skeptical eyebrow, surprised by the detailed specificity of Matt's 'diagnosis'. "I don't suppose you know what she was drugged with, do you?"

Matt remembered what Claire had said earlier about the doctor and swallowed his words, suddenly wishing he hadn't said as much as he already had. "I...I'm not sure," he lied.

Sharon stood up, studying Matt with disbelieving eyes before returning her focus to her patient. "I'll order a tox screen," she declared, thinking out loud. She then turned back to Matt. "How serious do you think this sleep disorder is, 'Doctor'...?"

"Murdock," Matt replied automatically. "When we tried to interview Ms. Wong back at the station her short-term memory had a lifespan of under an hour."

Sharon's eyes widened slightly. "That's pretty severe." She turned back to Jennifer, kneeling down so that she could look up at her patient. "Jennifer," Sharon cooed gently, "I'm gonna take you downstairs with me. We're going to take some blood and hook you up to some machines, but then you can sleep as long as you want and no one will disturb you..."

"NO!" Jennifer screamed, "My husband...I've gotta find him..."

Sharon looked to Matt for help. "We'll find your husband, Ms. Wong," he reassured her. "I promise."

Matt's soothing, confident tones seemed to placate Jennifer. "'Kay," she agreed with a nod.

"I'll set Ms. Wong up with a secure, private room in our sleep clinic," Sharon explained to the group. "We're gonna test her to nail down that diagnosis of non-24, then give her the chance to re-set her body clock."

"Will her memory return when she gets back to a normal sleep cycle?" asked Foggy.

Sharon shrugged. "It should," she replied. "But I have no way of knowing for certain." Sharon then looked up, turning her attention to the police officer in the room. "Can I assume Captain Gates will be setting up a guard outside of Ms. Wong's room?"

LT nodded. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the precinct, presumably to arrange the guard duty.

"How long before we're going to be able to talk to our client again?" asked Foggy.

Sharon frowned, carefully considering Foggy's question. "At least a day, maybe longer."

"She'll be safe here, Mr. Nelson," LT reassured Foggy. "I promise."

Matt and Foggy both sighed. Neither of them were completely sure that LT could, or would, deliver on that promise.

#

Sharon pulled out a cell phone as soon as LT left with the two lawyers and the orderly had collect her 'patient' so she could be admitted to the sleep clinic. The cell phone had only one dedicated number, which she dialed, then held the phone up to her ear. "This is Doc Clayton," she told the person on the other end of the line. "I think...I think I need to report an X-File."

#

Jo lifted the crime scene tape to allow Henry access to the scene. "What took you so long?" she teased. "It's not like we're that far from your office..."

"I had an urgent tox screen to run," Henry explained as they walked to the waterside edge of the park. "For our 'friends' at the 12th precinct."

Jo mouthed a silent "oh" as she nodded, speaking again only after she and Henry climbed over the rope separating the park from the water's edge. "Jogger found the body half an hour ago. He's over giving Mike his statement."

Henry's focus is completely consumed by the deceased man at his feet. "This man was blind," he declared. "From the amount of scarring around his eyes I believe he was blinded by having acid splashed in his eyes sometime in adulthood."

"Do you have any idea how he died?" asked Jo.

Henry shook his head and stood over the body. "The body has been in the water for a few hours, but there's nothing obvious that I could point to that would delineate a clear cause of death." He looked over to his partner. "Did you find identification?"

Jo handed over a bagged wallet, with a laminated plastic card clearly visible outside of the wallet's soggy confines. "We found a state disability ID in the man's wallet. We're running it through the system now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's fake..."

Henry's face paled as he recognized the name on the ID. "You might also want to check with the 12th precinct as well."

Jo instantly made the connection with the earlier conversation. "Henry..."

"If this man is who this ID says he is," Henry declared, "then the DA's office is already trying to convict this man's wife of his murder. Whether she committed the crime or not."

#