A/N: Shelbylou has decided to treat you to an update once again (twice in 1 week, is a treat
This chapter is also her brainchild - brilliant - if I do say so myself.
Enjoy!
Tim was about to drift off again when he heard footsteps shuffle into the room; he didn't think anything of it and started to melt back to sleep when he heard a voice that was guaranteed to strike fear into his heart.
"Hello, Abby."
Abby whirled round to the disturbingly familiar voice and stood gaping at the one person that had caused both her and Tim so much pain over the past few weeks; to her it was like looking into the eyes of the devil and she had no idea how to react.
"Alex! How did you get in here. GET OUT!"
"I don't think so Abby. Do you. I see you're little boyfriend there has survived." Alex gave a curt nod in Tim's direction and spat on the floor with disgust. "He can't have you. If I can't have you then no one can. You abandoned me Mon ange noir; you left me in that place. They don't care about me or how I feel."
"I'm not your dark angel anymore, Alex. I never really was." Abby looked horrified at the use of his pet name for her and stood up to block Tim from his view.
"Do you remember your pet name for me?" Alex's eyes practically shone as he tipped his head sideways as if contemplating the answer for himself. "DO YOU!"
"Corbeau" Abby practically whispered her answer.
"That's right Ange Noir. Corbeau. Do you remember what it means?"
"Raven. It means raven." Abby felt Tim's hand grip her waist; a motion he regretted when Alex shouted out and raised the gun that he had somehow acquired.
"TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF HER. YOU DON'T GET TO TOUCH HER! YOU GOT THAT?"
Tim withdrew his hand and started to cough.
"I need to help him." Abby turned but was stopped by a hand gripping her shoulder.
"No, mon amour. You don't."
Gibbs flopped onto his back and growled with frustration. Just after he had gotten off the phone with Ducky, he let his exhaustion lead him and found himself standing in front of his bed yawning loudly. He had soon stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed with a groan of approval at finally being able to get some sleep. Unfortunately his mind had other ideas and the deep pit of worry that seemed to permanently reside in the depths of his gut had done nothing but stir uneasily all night. He thought back to the conversation he'd had with Ducky.
"How's he doing, Duck?"
"He's not a well man, Jethro. The coughing spells are gradually taking it out of him but at least his body is managing to expel the fluid on its own. I'm not afraid to say, that the procedure for doing it manually is not a pleasant on and will hopefully be avoided. He will recover but it's going to take some time."
"I know. It took DiNozzo ages. Speaking of which, he with you?"
"No. He told me to quote 'go and get something to eat and drink before I call the boss'. Hence the fact that I am currently sitting in the cafeteria with a cup of tea."
"Good. Listen, I want you to tell DiNozzo to be on his guard. I don't like the fact that Alex is only floor down."
"Please tell me he is guarded, Jethro. His injury..."
"Duck, he's guarded. Vance put a couple of good agents on the door and no one is allowed in but the people responsible for his care"
The conversation had managed to pacify the scared M.E. but hadn't really done anything to ease Gibbs' mind. There was something there, churning in his gut; something that made him edgy and ...
"Damn it!" Gibbs swung his legs out of bed and stood up before moving to grab his clothes. There was no way he was going to get any sleep and so decided to go back to the hospital in hope that it would help settle his uneasy mind.
Half an hour later, and Gibbs was driving to the Bethesda with his phone plastered to his ear; he had been trying to get hold of Tony but seemed to get the voicemail everytime.
"You've reached the voicemail of very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. I can't take your call right now, but leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
Gibbs slammed his hand on the steering wheel in frustration and waited impatiently for the beep.
"DiNozzo. Why the hell aren't you answering your phone? Call me back." He slammed the phone shut and threw it down heavily on the passenger seat; something was wrong and he didn't like it one bit.
"Alex, you ...don't...have to do...this." Tim tried to reason with the mentally unstable young man holding both him and Abby at gunpoint.
"I don't? Hmm, I'll be the judge of that. What do you expect when you take away my Ange Noir; my reason for being; my heart and sou..." Alex seemed to lose himself slightly in the endearments giving Tim a chance to pull out the IV and catheter; he just about managed to suppress the groan when the rubber tubing slipped away leaving him free to move if needed.
"I'm not a piece of land that you get to stake a claim to, Alex. It didn't work between the two of us and won't work now."
Alex stood and contemplated her answer before something dangerous shot through his eyes.
"You don't mean that, Abby. You know it all make sense; me and you in the wonderful city of New Orleans. We could do things that you could only dream about." He gazed at Abby with lust in his eyes "I'm a gorgeous man, Abby. What more could you want? Him?" Alex started to laugh uncontrollably at the sight of Tim sitting there struggling for breath "what can he offer. I actually care about my appearance."
"He cares and the only reason he looks like that now is because of what you did, Alex. You were wrong; you can understand that, right?" Abby took a step forward towards Alex but he stepped back waving the gun.
"I did that? He did that to himself! It's his fault. All his fault. How could he do this to me? TO US? What is it that you see in him? Look at what he HAS DONE!"
Alex started to pace and looked as though he was torn. Abby had done a lot of research into his illnesses and knew that the lack of remorse or empathy that he was showing Tim right now was a symptom of APD; just like the grip he was losing on his temper and the aggressive behaviour that he had shown recently. He had no behavioural controls; he couldn't think straight and seemed to have a severe lack of knowledge as to what was wrong or right. They were symptoms; nothing more, nothing less and she knew that; had defended him because of them. But now, she felt nothing but fear and a sickening resentment for what he had done.
That was why Abby had talked him into going to the doctors and seeking help in the first place; she had hated the possessiveness, the violence and the fact that he demanded sex every time he was with her. It wasn't a relationship; it was a dictatorship on his part.
"Yes, Alex. You did that. Do you remember what you did?" Abby tried the sympathetic approach hoping to calm him down as she could see him getting more and more agitated.
"I didn't do anything wrong and if you keep telling me I did I'm going to...I'm going to..."
"Going to...do...what." Tim was struggling to sit up at the sight of this psychopathic maniac getting more and more wound up and wanted nothing more than to protect Abby; even in the state he was in.
"SHUT UP! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT. NO. NO. NO. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT. Who do you think you are?,You have no right. You can't and won't take her away." Alex stopped his pacing and stood in the middle of the room brandishing the weapon and shaking his head.
"Tim. Please, get back in bed."Abby's pleas bore through his soul when he saw the level of distress on her face.
"No. Abb's just play it safe, alright. Don't do anything to upset him anymore."
"Whispering. Why are you whispering. That's not right. I call the shots here. Me! No one else." With that, Alex pulled the trigger.
Gibbs walked through the parking lot towards Bethesda's entrance; he was surprised when he saw a familiar figure a few feet in front of the door.
"Ziva." He saw the Israeli turn and smiled at the embarrassment that she obviously felt. "Thought you'd be getting some shut eye."
"I tried, Gibbs. I can't explain it but I felt...I just had to be here. I could feel it deep down in the pit of my stomach. You know what I mean, yes?"
"Yeah. My gut told me the same thing. I called Duck and he's in the cafeteria with DiNozzo so how about we go and grab some coffee before we go and see McGee."
"That sounds wonderful. I think the caffeine will be welcomed this morning."
They both walked through the hospital corridors discussing the situation with hushed tones. It wasn't long before they both walked through the door to the canteen and sat down with Ducky and Tony to drink their drinks. Gibbs frowned at the sight of Ducky sitting there with a buff coloured manila file in front of him.
"DiNozzo, isn't there somewhere you need to be?" Gibbs growled out the question between clenched teeth; he was totally pissed at the fact that his Senior Field agent had left Tim alone.
"Abby's with McGee, Boss. I wanted to give them some time alone." Tony rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his hand and sighed heavily "He's alright and Abby remembers what to do."
"Was he alright with her being there?"
"Seemed to be. Boss, he's fine." Tony's exasperated voice betrayed his exhaustion and he knew he had stepped out of line with his boss.
"You need to get some sleep, DiNozzo. As soon as we see McGee, I want you to go home and get some rest, you got that?" Gibbs's compassionate tone surprised Tony.
"Got it, Boss. Thanks."
Gibbs gave Tony a small smile and turned his attention to Ducky.
"What you got there, Duck?"
"Good Morning, Jethro, Ziva. It's Alex's file and I must say it's very enlightening. I understand that Abby told you that he suffers from both APD and HPD; that in itself is problematic. The fact that I severely underestimated the extent is even more troublesome." Ducky handed over one of the pieces of paper out of the file and sat back whilst Jethro read.
INPATIENTS PSYCHIATRIC CONSULTATION REPORT
Doctor: Doctor Lisa Lasalle
Date: 27/8/2009
Patient Reg: GREENE8215
Name of Patient: ALEX GREENE
Patient DOB: 14/4/1976
Patient gender: Male
Patient age: 34
INTERVAL HISTORY: I saw and examined this patient; reviewed nurses' reports and all other notes and reports made during the last 48 hours; and discussed the case at today's interdisciplinary team meeting. The following is pertinent:
MENTAL STATUS EXAMINATION (minimum of 5 components assessed):
Appearance/Attitude: Patient appears agitate and edgy and doesn't seem interested in the rules that have been laid down in this session.
Psychomotor Behavior:
Speech/Language: has a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic and lacks in detail .
Affect:
Mood: Passively aggressive. Tends to bounce from overly happy and overt to moody and withdrawn.
Thought Process/Form of thought: inability to tell the difference between right and wrong. His thoughts tend to drift to the darker side of Gothic and he sees himself as some type of messenger for the devil.
Thought Content/Perceptions: Violence seems to be predominant in Alex's thoughts today. He shows no empathy or remorse for his actions over the past week and his thoughts sway towards assigning blame to the other people involved.
Sensorium/Level of awareness:
Attention/Concentration: Concentration is poor and his attention span is severely compromised.
Memory/recent/remote: Alex has a stupendous memory, though he has the ability to warp these to his own gain. His thoughts tend to drift back to his ex-girlfriend.
Fund of knowledge:
Executive Functions:
Insight/Judgment:
Differential Diagnosis: APD/HPD
General medical/surgical problems: None
Justification for Continued Hospitalization: High risk to the public therefore my recommendation is that Alex stays hospitalised for the foreseeable future.
Target Discharge Date: Unable to give a date - TBC******************SUBSEQUENT DAY TREATMENT PLAN****************
Alex tends to show atypical symptoms of both the disorders that he has been presented with. Please see below for a comprehensive list:
APD – Antisocial Personality Disorder & HPD – Histrionic Personality Disorder
Alex struggles to conform to the rule and regulations of this institution and has repeatedly shown a complete disrespect for the Law. This has been made evident by the fact that he boasts about his previous criminal injustices and shows little or no remorse for his actions. This leads perfectly to the fact that Alex is not comfortable in any situation where he is not the centre of attention and will do anything to turn everyone's attention onto himself; regardless of who he hurts in the process.
Alex uses deceitfulness in his relationships with others. He has consistently lied and used false names with other patients and has used his intelligence to con people for either profit or pleasure. He can be outwardly sexually inappropriate to both female patients and staff though has displayed rapidly shifting and shallow expressions of emotion to the events.
Alex refuses to plan ahead and doesn't recognise the need for a systematic approach to his treatment. He is dangerously impulsive and injured another patient when his impulsive behaviour recently presented itself. The one consistent in his life is the fact that he shows OCD tendencies when it comes to his personal appearance. He has been known to spend hours grooming himself to draw attention to himself when he interacts with others.
There is a definite irritability that surrounds Alex and his angry tendencies have increased in frequency in recent weeks. Each time it has resulted in violent behaviour and has led to Alex assaulting the nurses and doctors that have been trying to help him. Each time, he has been sedated and restrained; leading to further psychiatric consultations and the prescription of medications to calm to him down. This leads to my observation of complete disregard for the personal safety of others.
Alex displays a persistent lack of skill when it comes to taking responsibility or establishing a good pattern for his working habits. He fails to accept responsibility for items that have been stolen from the other patients despite them being found in his room and tends to fall back on verbal abuse when confronted with the issue.
Alex shows an inane inability to tolerate boredom of any kind. If his mind isn't occupied, he tends to show signs of OCD with regards to people that have scorned him in the past.
Alex doesn't display the typical symptom of being suggestible as seen in other HPD patients, but that can be explained by the APD symptoms outweighing this. He does tend to consider relationships to be more intimate than they are and 'latches' onto people that he deems worthy.
In short, Alex is unstable and my recommendation is that he is detained for further treatment as outlined below:
Long term course of psychotherapy
Supervised group therapy to help interact with other people
A course of anti-depressants and mild sedatives (NB – PLEASE SEE ATTACHED PRESCRIPTION)
Behavioural therapy
Anger management
I have scheduled sessions for Alex and have handed this over to his primary physician for implementation.
Doctors Signature: Dr. Lisa Lasalle
Date: 27/8/2009
Gibbs finished reading the report and sighed heavily before handing it over to Ziva to read.
"Lisa Lasalle? Where do I know that name from?" Gibbs glanced at Ducky and shook his head. He was exhausted and his tired mind just wouldn't connect the dots.
"Abby's friend is called Lisa." Tony shrugged slightly but frowned when he saw the look on Gibbs' face.
"Yeah, Probably. Is there anything else in there that will help, Duck?"
Ducky shook his head morosely "It's more of the same I'm afraid. This young man is a troubled individual who has no respect or concern for others due to his illness. He doesn't know what right or wrong is and has no idea how much of an impact his actions actually have." He closed the file and pushed it away from him with a sigh. Seeing this, Tony reached over and started to go through the paperwork that was there.
"Er, guys. Did either of you know he held his Doctor Lasalle hostage. There's something that just doesn't sit right with me about her." Tony held up a piece of paper as evidence.
"HE WHAT!" Gibbs grabbed the report and scanned through it. "DiNozzo, go back to NCIS and run Dr. Lisa Lasalle through the system. I want any information that you can find on her including photographic ID. Ziva go with hi..."
Gibbs' phone started to ring, cutting him off mid sentence.
"Gibbs." His tone was harsh and abrupt as he answered the phone.
"Gibbs, I've just got word that the agents outside Greene's room were found unconscious. Alex Green has escaped and is loose in the hospital." Vance's voice held a thick note of desperation that he very rarely heard from the other man.
"WHEN?"
"We don't know. We've just got word. I want you all to watch McGee like a hawk. Don't let him out of your sight."
"On it." Gibbs snapped his phone shut and jumped up out of his chair.
"Alex escaped! We need to get to McGee and Abby NOW!"