"Look at me!"
Steve heard a stranger's voice through the haze but couldn't make his eyes focus on the person talking to him.
"Steve," she said more gently, "look at me."
He knew that voice. It was Sarah. He blinked trying to see her but again his eyes wouldn't focus on the blurred image leaning over him. He wanted to reach up and touch her, but couldn't move. He wanted to tell her he was awake but couldn't speak. All he could do was just lie there and listen to the commotion that was happening around him. He knew he was in the hospital and hooked up to a machine that was helping him breathe; feeling the air effortlessly fill his lungs. It must have been the doctor talking to him before Sarah. He could feel his heart begin to race, praying that whatever was happening to him wasn't permanent, because he'd rather be dead.
"He's awake," the doctor said, motioning to the heart monitor above the bed. He slid the needle out of Steve's arm and capped off the end, handing it to a nurse. "I want samples of his blood sent to the lab every hour. And tell them I want the results from that last one now!" He leaned over Steve's bed once again. "Steve, my name is Doctor Baylor. You were brought in after suffering a seizure. If you can move any part of your body, do it now."
He heard him loud and clear but couldn't feel anything. It was even an effort to blink his eyes that were barely open. He did it twice though hoping they could see it.
"Ok," Dr. Baylor said in an encouraging voice. "I see you're blinking. That's good enough. You just try to relax. We're doing everything we can to find a treatment to ward off the drug that's affecting your paralysis. " He looked over at Sarah. "I'm going to go light a fire under someone about those lab results. I'll be back."
"Steve," Sarah said, running her hand over his forehead. "It's ok. They're going to help you. Everything's going to be just fine." She barely got the last words out before her voice broke and she started to cry.
'Don't cry Sarah,' he thought hating to hear that sound for two reasons, one; just the thought of her in that state made him sad, and two, worrying that his condition was what he had feared. He heard another familiar voice enter the room.
"Sarah," Danny said, putting a hand on her shoulder, looking down at the tubes coming out of Steve's mouth and arm, also seeing that his eyes were partially open but had no actual sign of life in them. "Is he awake? What's wrong with him? What the hell is going on?" His voice getting louder with each question, demanding answers and getting equally concerned from the state Steve was in as well as Sarah's distraught expression.
"They don't know for sure yet," she cried. "But we do know he was poisoned."
"What?!" That reply was the last one he would have expected. "How?!"
"Someone was in my apartment yesterday," Sarah began to explain. "My neighbor saw him coming out. He said he was an electrician." She reached out, taking Steve's hand. "This morning Steve drank some orange juice from the fridge. He said it tasted funny but we didn't think anything of it and then about ten minutes later he collapsed and couldn't breathe. He can't move Danny," she started to cry again. "He can't even breathe on his own. It was the juice. I know it was." Fresh tears streamed down her face. "It was supposed to be for me." The crying turned to sobs as she covered her face.
He put his arms around her and hugged her, shocked over what he was being told. "It's ok, sweetheart. He'll be all right." He tried to console her at the same time that he tried rationalize what was happening.
Steve lay there and listened to the whole thing, unable to communicate with them but knowing already it had to do with the juice. He also knew it was Leese; it had to be. It was frightening to be so fully alert and yet at the same time completely paralyzed. Even though what he was going through was traumatic and fearful, he was still glad that it was he who was lying there and not Sarah. The sound of her sobbing and blaming herself was heart wrenching. 'Pull it together baby,' he thought. 'Tell Danny about the restaurant.'
"Who was the man in your apartment?" Danny asked, going into detective mode.
She pulled away from him and wiped her face off with her fingers. "I don't know. The police were questioning Mrs. Kettles when I left."
"Mrs. Kettle's? Is she the old lady that lives across from you?"
"Yes," she grabbed his arm, "but there's more Danny." She began to tell him what happened the night before at Steve's house and the beach, how someone had tried to hit her with a car and that she was wearing Steve's shirt and they both thought it was aiming for him not her. "Steve thinks it was the boy's father; the one that he had shot. I don't know who Mrs. Kettle's saw coming out of my apartment, but I'm starting to think that maybe whoever it was wanted both of us hurt. He's the only person I can think of who would be that angry at me." She continued to explain to Danny how she had defended Steve at the gravesite and the furious way in which Leese had stared her down. "He was so angry that day. Steve said he's the one that slashed his tires too."
Danny nodded, "He is. That's why he wanted you to stay at his place. He wanted to keep you close incase that wasn't the end of it." He looked down at him. "Why didn't he call me last night when the car incident happened, not to mention the break in?"
"He was going to talk to you about it today." Her expression saddened. "He didn't want to leave me alone so he waited until morning. If he hadn't been looking out for me then he probably wouldn't have even been there this morning and none of this would have happened."
Danny turned to her. "Then you would have drunk the juice and you'd be lying on the floor in your apartment right now. Believe me Sarah, Steve would rather be lying in that bed right now than have you be in it."
She hadn't thought of that but knew it was true, however, if she could trade places with him she would do it in a heartbeat. She took his hand and leaned over, kissing his forehead. "I love you."
'I love you too.' He felt a peaceful calm overcome him, convinced it was from Sarah and not from the drug that was making his life hell at the moment. She was good medicine.
She glanced up at the heart monitor and saw his heartbeat slow to a normal rhythm. She leaned back down to him. "Just rest, Steve. You're in good hands."
'Don't leave me here alone Sarah," he silently begged. 'I need you here with me.' He could feel his life force weakening. It was by far the most frightening experience of his life. 'I'm scared Sarah.' He professed as he filled with dread, feeling like a prisoner trapped in this body that he had mastered and cultivated into what now just felt like a shell. Too admit to himself that he was frightened was almost worst than the ordeal itself.
Sarah sat next to his bed holding his hand. It had been almost twenty-four hours and they were no closer to finding a treatment or antidote than they were when they first brought him in. Their biggest fear was that his organs would begin to shut down next and after that it would be life support, which only meant sure death.
The doctor had consulted with just about every colleague in the hospital before branching out and sending lab results to hospitals on the mainland including the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. He was becoming desperate in his quest to heal this patient that he could only watch as he disintegrated before his eyes.
Danny, Chin and Kono were scouting the island for Leese but had yet to locate him, becoming more and more convinced that his sudden disappearance was the evidence they needed that he was the one behind the poisoning. They needed to find him before it was too late. He held the secret to what was slowly killing Steve.
His relatives were of no help, claiming he went off the deep end after Akoni's death, refusing to listen to their reasoning and warning him to let it go; some going as far as siding with Steve over the shooting. Danny had learned that over the last few years Leese and Akoni had distanced themselves from the family after arguments of some illegal activity that involved animals, but no one could actually reveal what that activity was, but Danny knew it had something to do with the day of the shooting. They had gone to question Leese after his name had popped up in the computer database on a case they were working on that involved a murder down at the harbor. The death turned out to be a dispute over a girl, but Danny couldn't help but wonder why Leese had decided to run that day when they showed up. What was he hiding? That's the mystery they were trying to solve, convinced that if they could resolve that, then it might shed some light on what was happening with Steve, but to their dismay, they just kept hitting one road block after another. No closer to finding a solution than they were twenty-four hours earlier. They had every resource possible working the case, including Max who had taken samples of Steve's blood and was working on finding the antidote himself as well as others who had come forward to offer their help. If Leese was still on the island, then he had to have had a plan, because he had to know they wouldn't stop until he was caught and if Steve died, then Danny swore to himself that he would go as far as burning that island down just to smoke him out.
Sarah startled out of her weariness as the phone next to Steve's bed rang. She reached over and answered it, hoping it was Danny with good news.
"Hello."
"Tick tock, tick tock. The clock is running down. How sad you must be for the child killer. Do you see now what happens to the guilty when they refuse to admit responsibility for their actions?"
Sarah felt the blood drain from her face, recognizing the voice on the other end that was cold and sinister as if she were in a horror movie. "What did you give him?!" she asked, but it was more of a demand.
"It's funny you should ask because it was really meant for you. I was sure it would be him asking that question. But either way, I'm pleased with the outcome."
"This is murder plain and simple. If you let him die then you are exactly what you are accusing him of."
"Don't you dare," he shouted, "put me in the same category as a child killer!"
"You said it was for me," she argued, "I have done nothing to you, yet you still would have no remorse if I would have drunk the juice. You're logic makes no sense. You're just angry over the death of your son and you're trying to justify your revenge, which is actually murder! It's murder!"
"That's right, feel the anger," his voice becoming calm again, "feed off that emotion that can give you stamina, because you're going to need it."
She knew at that second that Malakai Leese had absolutely no remorse for what he had done, on the contrary he almost sounded pleased. "Are you going to just let him die? You're a coward!" She began to cry out of anger and fear.
"Whether he lives or dies it entirely up to you."
"What?" she felt he was playing with her.
"His life is now in your hands," he replied with a touch of evil in his voice. "That is if you can follow instructions and have the endurance. I have the cure that is ailing your child killer. If you want it, then you have to earn it."
Sarah felt a chill run down her spine, knowing that whatever he had in mind was going to be shocking for her and thrilling for him. She looked over at Steve through her tears as he lay motionless, almost lifeless. She knew that without a doubt if it were she lying there that he would walk to the end of the world and leap off for her. She felt that same loyalty. He had been her friend first, but now that bond had grown to something that was unbreakable. He was her future that she had been dreaming of. He loved her in a way that she didn't even know was attainable, but he did. She felt something inside of her begin to stir, gaining momentum over the idea that this spineless monster would try to come between what she held most dear in the world. The anger over this man's arrogance that he could even assume that he was stronger than what she and Steve had built made her blood boil. If Steve would go to the edge of the world and leap off for her, then so would she, only she planned on taking Malakai Leese with her.
"You think you have the upper hand, don't you," Sarah's voice turned demonic, feeling as if the devil himself were channeling through her, feeling absolutely nothing for the human being on the other end. "I'll play your game. I'll play to the end and then we'll just see who's standing when it's over. You're going to wish it was me who drank that juice."
"No Sarah!" Danny raised his voice, getting angrier with her as their argument escalated. "That's crazy and you know it!"
"I'm going!" she fired back "He said just me. We have no choice! Steve's getting worse and they have no idea what the drug is! This is our only chance!"
"We'll send Kono," he argued.
"No! He knows me. He'll know it's not me in the first two seconds."
Danny grabbed her by the arm, gritting his teeth through his frustration. "I'm not sending you on some wild chase around this island being led by that crazy fuck! Do you hear me?!"
Her reaction calmed, knowing he was just scared for her but she also knew that this really was their only hope and he did as well, he was just fighting it.
"Danny, Steve's going to die if I don't do this. Leese had this planned out the whole time and you know it. He waited until the last hour to contact us, knowing we'd be desperate. He doesn't care which one of us drank that juice, this is working out just the way he planned it. I'm not going to let it end with him winning. I heard his voice. He has nothing to lose anymore. He doesn't care if he's caught or if he dies, he just wants one of us to go with him. It's not going to be Steve." She slid his hand off her arm. "We can't just sit here and do nothing. You know that. I'm going."
He did know it, and yes he was fighting it. He looked beyond her to the bed also knowing that Steve would never have allowed it, not in a million years, but Steve wasn't in charge now and Danny also knew that if the roles were changed and his life was hanging in the balance that Steve would take whatever chances he had to in order to save his life. It scared him to death over what Sarah was proposing, but she was right, it was their only chance to bring Leese out in the open and Steve's only chance of survival.
"Ok," he said uneasily, "we'll do it your way."
"No Danny!" Steve shouted over and over, but unfortunately he was the only one that could hear his pleads.
"I'll be careful Danny."
"I know you will, because you're going to be wearing a wire and I'm going to be right behind you and the second Leese shows his face he's mine."
"He'll know if you're there, we can't risk it," Sarah argued.
"Then you're not going! This isn't some hide-and-seek game Sarah. He wants to hurt you. Don't you get that? It's bad enough I'm agreeing to it, but there is no way in hell I'm sending you out there alone."
She hadn't let the magnitude of what she was doing set in until his adamancy at that moment. She had been too preoccupied over the anger of the situation to fully realize that she was in danger of getting hurt, or even worse. But even as it settled over her, she didn't feel the fear she thought she should have. She really had nothing to lose, because at that moment she couldn't envision a life without Steve, it would have been too painful to live, so she really had no choice.
"I can't lose him Danny," she confessed as tears welled in her eyes. "I can't."
He felt for the friend in Sarah, seeing the magnitude of those words in her eyes. "I know." He put his arms around her again. "I know." He assured her that he understood her love for Steve that had escalated to a place that only came once in a lifetime, if you were lucky. "I know sweetheart. We'll get him through this."
"Please don't go Sarah," Steve pleaded, feeling the same way she did, only the fear over what she was proposing shot through him at a rate far exceeding the foreign drug. He'd never felt so helpless in his entire life. His heart rate soared but the turmoil in the room let it go unnoticed at the moment. He fought with everything he had to move, but this paralysis was just too extreme. The machine helping him breathe took his voice, not that he could have spoken his disapproval anyway. He forced his eyes open, seeing them through the haze that was clearer than before. "Its getting better Sarah," he thought. "You don't have to do this. Please baby look at me." But she had her head on Danny's shoulder as he comforted her. "You know I don't want this Danny." He willed his thoughts to his partner. "Don't let her do this! Don't put her in danger for me. I love her too much." He'd rather lie in that bed for a hundred years than risk anything happening to her on his account. He struggled to move, wanting to reach out and shake the both of them.
His heart rate soured as he became overcome by the familiar sensation that had first attacked him while he was lying on the floor in Sarah's room. The onset of another seizure was fast approaching. He knew it had violently taken control of his body before his mind went blank. Sarah's scream had assured him of that.