6.
"And how are we feeling now?" Richards asked squatting close to Sweets who sat on the damp, cold and hard cement floor.
Sweets looked away from him.
"That's what I thought, still think your friends care about you?" Richards asked and Sweets shook his head.
"So you have no one." He said with a wide smile.
"No." Sweets said the drugs now wearing off though the notion of what was real and what wasn't was not entirely clear to him. The conversations all seemed real, the memories of his step father were real, so was it all real, he wondered. Had it all really happened? "No, they don't care." He surmised.
"Good, I'm glad you're finally coming around." Richards said beyond pleased with the result.
"But it doesn't matter, I still believe in myself." Sweets slurred in his speech. Richards smile faded, he hadn't broken the man yet.
"We'll see about that." Richards said pissed. He was irritated that this young man was so hard to break and he'd broken many men not nearly as strong. "Bring him." Richards shouted to Denny and Stevens who collected Sweets as they headed back to the electro shock therapy room.
"Restrain him." Richards instructed. The men did as requested. Richards was busy preparing a needle. He approached the restrained Sweets and administered it.
"Just a smaller dose this time. We won't need it to last as long." Richards said as he poked Sweets with it.
"Sir, is this a bit much?" Stevens asked they prepared the electro shock.
Richards gave him a look that froze Stevens blood so he continued. He figured it was better Sweets than himself.
Sweets could feel the hallucinogen begin as his foster father came back in the room.
"This is pretty bad, even for me." The foster father said. Sweets vision blurred as the shock went thru his body. The combination of the drugs and the electroshock were intense. Images blurred in Sweets mind of his foster father and Booth both shocking him and taunting him by calling him a weak duckling. He tried to suppress calling out in pain.
Sweets mantra of "I can do this" began to fade with each jolt.
"What was that?" Stevens asked but Richards was strangely hooked on administering his traumatic shocks that he hardly noticed. He finally waved them off to go and check. After they left Richards didn't notice or hear the two consecutive thuds heard in a distance. He was a man possessed and on a mission.
"Had enough yet?" Richards asked leaning close to Sweets face.
Sweets turned to face him and wanted to shake his head 'no' in defiance but decided to shake it yes, letting the man believe he were done and he could recover, living fight another day. Because Sweets knew he had a tiny thread left of hope and he clung to it.
"You're lying." Richard said as he adjusted the volts to a dangerously high level. He pressed on the button as Sweets squeezed his eyes shut. Richards thrust forward for a moment and fell to the ground. His back had been to the door and hadn't seen Booth come in. The Richards lay unconscious on the floor.
"Sweets"! Booth said wide eyed as he quickly turned the machine off. Sweets body went lifeless on the table. Booth stood in shock for a moment looking over the frail psychologist. He was pale, thin and shaking.
"Sweets, can you hear me?" Booth asked slapping his face in between removing the electrodes from his head. Sweets head bobbed incoherently but Booth held the man's face still so he had to look at Booth.
"Sweets." He said hoping that if Sweets saw him he would relax knowing it was okay. Instead Sweets face widened with horror.
"No, no, no!" Sweet repeated. "Don't, no more!"
"Sweets it's me, it's Booth."
"No, no more." Sweets repeated. "Don't hurt me Booth, please."
Booth realized in that moment that something was seriously wrong. He knew it was only a matter of time before he was discovered so he ignored Sweets pleas for the moment and began to unbuckle Sweets restraints. Anger coursed thru his veins at every restraint and upon undoing each one the deep red marks and bruises were revealed that had been hidden under them. He knew Sweets had struggled hard against them with great intensity that suggested it was the result of great pain being administered.
He untied the last one and saw Sweets had no strength. He had envisioned Sweets being detained in a room, nothing like this, and they would run out together. Instead Booth threw the tall but emaciated man over his shoulder and ran out the way he came in.
"Did you just see…." Angela began as she, Hodgins, Cam, Brennan and Wendell stared at the screen, the feed coming back from Booth's camera. They were all in shock, no pun intended.
"That…" Cam began but lost her words. "That…" She began again but was too appalled at the sight of Sweets and the condition he was found in.
"We need to get to the hospital immediately." Brennan said and they all followed suit.
The team beat Booth to the hospital though they kept in communication with him once he left the institution. There were going to alert the medical professionals there on what they believed Sweets had been exposed to.
Booth kept his comments to his location as he glanced over briefly to the trembling ghostly figure in the passenger seat next to him. Booth teetered between pissed and terrified.
Cam signaled to the paramedics as soon as Booth's SUV flew into the emergency entrance. She stayed with Sweets and the doctors as they carted him off.
Brennan approached Booth as they watched him go.
"Was that…" Brennan began but stopped. She couldn't believe it was real even though she had seen it on the screen.
Booth could only shake his head.
The team sat in the waiting room and soon a doctor came to see them. Cam was just hanging up with Caroline to bring her up to speed.
"He's stable now." The doctor informed them. "We've got him started on an IV to try and get him hydrated. Physically he's dehydrated and famished. He's also got bruising and scaring around his limbs from the restraints but those will eventually fade as he recovers. He has some evidence of other torture, there has been some exposure to extreme hot and cold conditions that have left some damage to the tissue. That too can convalesce in time. The issue that is most dominant is his state of mind. The effects of electro shock and the combination of fermentonol, which we discovered from the tox screen, have left Dr. Sweets in a damaging mental state."
"Fementonol?" Cam asked. "That hasn't been used in like seventy years."
"Yes, it's been discarded due to it's dangerous nature."
The group still sat in shock. They had thought Sweets was being held against his will, maybe roughed up, but not this.
"I would recommend that you see Dr. Sweets. A reinforcement that he is with people who care for him will go a long way." The doctor suggested and they all readily agreed.
They tried not to be surprised when they walked in the room and saw the pale Sweets lying on the bed, his dark chocolate eyes fixed at the ceiling.
"Sweets?" Cam asked approaching Sweets side but he continued to stare upwards. She grabbed his hand but he didn't move. Cam looked to Angela and Brennan who joined at the opposite side. Angela placed a hand on Sweets shoulder while Brennan put her hand in Sweets as well. Still they received no reaction.
Hodgins, Wendell and Booth stayed near the door. Though strong men they found themselves ill equipped to stand this. They admired the fact the three women were able to express care so well.
"Dr. Sweets, we're here okay?" Brennan said squeezing his hand though he still failed to return any acknowledgement.
They saw Sweets eyes move as he heard the words but failed to react to them.
"What's going on here?!" Richards' voice said as he entered the room. Sweets hands instantly clung to Cam and Brennan's hand with a tight grip. Angela could feel Sweets tense under her hand.
Booth and Wendell stepped in front of Richards not permitting him entrance.
"Why do you I think you had something to do with this?" Richards said pointing to Booth. Booth kept his mouth shut but he glared down at the tiny robust man. The three friends kept Richards from the room as Sweets continued to stare at the ceiling but was visibly shaking.
"I think it's best you leave." Hodgins said to Richards.
"I will leave with my patient." Richards said holding out paper work. "Dr. Sweets admitted himself to my care. I will be taking him back with me."
They were all in shock at the man's gall. Cam took a step forward to share her thoughts when Booth held up a hand to pause her, signaling that he had it under control.
"Sweets will be staying here in a real institution." Booth said with a calmness they all admired because they were all feeling the opposite of calm towards this man.
"We'll see about that." Richards said gesturing to his papers and turning to leave.
The group turned and looked at each other in astonishment.
"We need to find out who this guy knows." Booth said looking at the Jeffersonian team.
"We're on it." Hodgins said as he, Angela and Wendell left to find that out.
"I'm calling Caroline. If Richards used an injunction against you guys to get into the institution then were are filing an emergency one to keep him out of it. I'll give Caroline the grounds that Sweets conditioned worsened in Richards care. Which is easy to document." Cam said also leaving the room to make phone calls.
Brennan looked to Booth. "We're staying here, Sweets isn't going anywhere." Brennan nodded as she was also prepared to stand guard over Sweets.
Brennan turned as Sweets clasped his fingers around Brennan's hand still in his. His eyes softened and Booth sighed as there might still be hope for Sweets mind.
Time clicked by as Richards stood by the door of Sweets room and Brennan continued to hold Sweets hand. Booth stood in front of Sweets bed creating a barrier between Sweets and Richards.
Sweets lay on the bed noticing it was considerably softer than his previous one. It also wasn't damp and cold so he was pretty sure he wasn't at the asylum. This was reinforced when he was pretty sure Dr. Brennan was holding his hand. He last remembered her laughing at him so he wasn't entirely sure where he was.
"Dr. Bre…" His voice began to say and Brenan came closer to him so Richards couldn't hear them.
"We're here Sweets. You should try and get some rest okay?" She nearly whispered in his ear. Brennan ached to look at him, he looked utterly exhausted and as though he hadn't slept in days but he also looked too terrified to sleep.
"My head, it's…"
"It's going to be okay Sweets, we're going to get you better okay?" Brennan promised and kept her words simple and to the point. "There's nothing to worry about okay?"
Sweets eyes finally shifted to her quizzically. After a moment he nodded in belief of what she said.
"He's coming with me you know." Richards said with extreme confidence. "This injunction won't hold."
"I don't think so." Booth said exuding a cool exterior as he sat with his arms crossed. The two were exhibiting a show down.
The sound was broken with the commotion of people coming down the hall. Booth was relieved when he saw officers approach.
"Thank goodness you're here." Booth said standing up. "He's right here." He said pointing to Richards.
"Sir, we are here to make sure you do not interfere with Dr. Lance Sweets being returned to Mr. Richards' institution."
Booth and Brennan's mouth dropped in utter shock.
"No!" Brenan said approaching the officer. Sweets vision was still blurred so his hand searched for hers as he heard the in descriptive shouting. "Absolutely not, this man does not offer quality care, in his…"
The officer forcefully escorted Brennan out to the hall as Booth's temper flared. He cited that he was a federal officer but the two officers who stepped forward indicated they were just following orders. Booth failed to move and a scuffle broke out between himself and the other officers.
Denny and Stevens entered the room with a wheelchair and removed Sweets from the bed. With untrained hands they clumsily removed the IV causing a small tear and a slow blood drip to ensue.
As they pushed Sweets out the door Booth heard Sweets softly call his name. Booth's heart broke at the sound of it.