Chapter 19 Unknown…

Lucy Crimson sits in the same room she has gotten familiar with for weeks now. Her eyes are bloodshot and her hands shake as she downs another cup of coffee. She holds out her hand to start up the next tape.

Thousands of images have flashed her screen. More and more questions have risen in her mind. Who was the fifth man she saw hold onto a screaming Carlos a few weeks ago? She still hadn't come across him again. On one hand she wanted to start on the last batch of tapes, because she knew she'd knew he would on them. But honestly, she wasn't sure she'd be able to handle the gruesomeness she also knew would be on them.

She sighs as this is yet another tape of the children sitting in the locked room. Carlos sings to them, makes jokes, just to put a smile on the new faces. She watches him comfort the little crying ones. And when lights go out, he watches over them, staying awake until the sun comes back up.

She stares at the screen again and starts up the 'forward' button. She has used it so many times. She doesn't have a choice. They need answers. Her colleagues have already tried to analyze the tape with the unknown man. What if he was still alive? He could be out there, looking for the children.

But until they were sure, they couldn't put protection on the kids. No one would agree. Lucy had fought for them, but her boss wouldn't listen. He didn't want to waste valuable police hours on 'a possibility'.

So here she is again, locked inside a room, looking for anything that could tell her more. Some other colleagues were also looking through tapes. But she made sure not to give them everything. As hard as it would be, she wanted to be the one to look through the tapes that held the worst images. Not that she really wanted to, but she needed to. She had gotten to know these kids and she wanted to solve this case.

When she runs out of tape again after two hours, she realizes something. That was the last tape she had of the locked room. Her colleagues must have taken the others. That meant, only one box of tapes was left for her. She gulps as she eyes them.

She hesitantly gets up and grabs the heavy box, setting it down on the desk in front of her. She gulps down the last cup of coffee and grabs the first tape.

"Here goes nothing…"

Nathan Parker has known his partner to be stubborn. But he had never seen her this bad before. He felt worried as she locked herself inside the AV room once again. He tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't listen. So instead, he had managed to sneak out boxes with tapes, so other colleagues could take over. He tried to take the last box as well, but hadn't been able to. She shouldn't watch them. She had gotten so attached to these kids, he didn't think she'd be able to handle it.

And judging from her form suddenly throwing the door open and her throwing up in a trash can nearby confirms it. Screams suddenly filter through the station, Nathan can tell they come from the screen. He gives his partner a concerned look as he hurries towards the AV room. His eyes widen at the images shown on the screen. He soon realizes his partner didn't bother to look for the date on the tape. She couldn't have. Because if this was a tape from the first year these kids were taken… how did that kid manage to survive?

"Oh come on now. If you just hold still, it won't hurt." The man laughs as tears run down the boys' face.

"Please don't…" He pleads softly. The man kneels in front of the boy as he sits chained to the chair.

"You know, you are so beautiful.." The man eerily whispers as he brushes a hand over the boys' swollen cheek. A whimper is heard and tears fall faster.

Blood is already pouring out of the letter 'M' on his naked torso.

"I just want to make sure everyone knows who you belong to." The man says as he gets up and moves behind the boy. He leans down and breathes into his ear. "I love how you protect our other children. Like a big brother."

"They're not yours…" He cries out, gritting his teeth. Then the boy gasps and closes his eyes when a hand grabs his throat from behind.

"You know, it's very rude to interrupt when someone is trying to tell you how much they love you." The man quietly tells the boy. He takes his arm away and the boy gasps for oxygen. But his eyes widen quickly when another sensation is felt on his neck.

He tugs on his restraints when he feels the lips moving across his collarbone softly. He sobs quietly.

"Don't cry. You're too beautiful for that." The man tells him. "Now, where were we?" He smiles as he goes to kneel in front of the boy again. The knife glints on the camera screen and soon loud screaming is all that can be heard from the boy as blood spills to the floor…

"I can't believe you would do this. I have done nothing but show you how much I care. I even left alone all those other kids, because you asked me to. And you repay me by trying to escape?" Another hard slap is heard as the man's hand slams across the boys' cheek.

The boy hisses, but refrains from crying out. He just stares ahead with a scowl on his face.

"Why would you want to escape? I have given you everything." The man tells him as he leans down to his face.

"I wasn't trying to escape." The boy quietly states. "I was trying to help them escape. They shouldn't be here." He angrily tells the man. The man narrows his eyes at him.

"I have given those kids everything their parents couldn't. I have loved them, I have cared for them. They have everything they need here."

"No, they don't. They should be home, with their families." The boy argues.

"They are home. And we are their new family. I'm their daddy, Molly is their new mommy and you are the big brother, who is mommy and daddy's favorite." The boy tries to back up when the man smiles widely and gets closer to him.

"You are not my family…" He says back quietly.

"Oh yes, you are. You are daddy's little favorite who just did a very bad thing." The man says as he walks in circles around the boy. He stops and leans down, putting his face right next to the boys'. "And bad boys need to be punished."

The boy tries to stare ahead, not caring about anything. But when he sees the Taser in the mirror in front of him, his eyes widen. The man sneers as he slowly walks towards the boy.

"Now, this might sting a little." Again, screams are all that is heard for a long time…

Kendall Knight dreams softly of a nice date with an unknown blond girl. He smiles in his sleep when he realizes it might be Jo. The girl he had had a crush on for so long when they lived at the Palm Woods. That was of course, until Carlos had gone missing. Everything changed then. But he still dreamed of her many times.

He laughs in his dream as the girl laughs with him. They are having a pick nick. She takes his hand and suddenly his body jolts. He looks confused when he starts to feel warm. Whimpering is heard. He looks around, but the girl in front of him is still smiling.

Suddenly a loud scream brings him back to reality. He opens his eyes and finds himself still lying on the couch of their new apartment. He looks around and sees Logan quietly snoring away on the floor. Kendall frowns. When did he land on the floor?

He looks to his left and sees James smiling away as he kisses the pillow in his arms. Kendall turns up his nose in disgust.

He turns to the front and is suddenly reminded of what woke him up in the first place. A soft whimpering noise comes from his arms. He looks down and there is Carlos, snuggled up against his chest. He smiles slightly, but it quickly dies when he notices the beads of sweat forming on Carlos' forehead. He is clenching his eyes shut and his hands are gripping Kendall's shirt tightly. He whimpers, as he seems to be having a nightmare.

"Carlos?" He whispers as he gently tries to wake up his friend. His whimpering just gets louder as he grips Kendall's shirt harder and starts to grab hold of his skin now. "ouch.. Carlos, come. Wake up, buddy." He whispers again.

He hears some shuffling beside him and looks up to find James sleepily staring at him.

"Dude, I just had the best dream ever…" he says with a dreamy smile. But when Carlos lets out another loud whimper, he sits up quickly and his eyes grow concerned. "What's going on?"

"I think he's having a nightmare." Kendall quietly tells him. Carlos tosses and turns in his arms. "Come on, buddy.."

James carefully gets up from the couch and frowns for a moment when he sees Logan sprawled out on th floor. He shakes his head and leans down.

"Logan?" He quietly says as he starts to shake his shoulder gently. "Logan, wake up." He quickly jumps up when Logan suddenly whacks him in the face. He grabs his cheek and looks at Kendall with an incredulous look.

Kendall just rolls his eyes and gestures to Carlos, who whimpers and moans in his sleep. Instead of holding onto Kendall, he suddenly lets go and starts to back up.

"Carlos, it's okay. Just wake up, no one is going to hurt you."

"Come on, Logan, just wake up." James says, getting irritated as Logan keeps lunging at him with his arms and legs. "Logan, for god's sake, Carlos needs us."

That seems to be the magic sentence as Logan sits up right away with wide eyes.

"What's going on? How badly is he hurt, do we need to call a doctor?" He rambles. James rolls hs eyes now as he puts his hands underneath Logan's arms.

"No, he's not hurt. He's having a nightmare." James tells him as he pulls him up.

"You woke me up for that?" Logan asks him. But when he sees Carlos cowering away from Kendall on the couch, he understands the concern. Kendall looks helpless as he tries to touch Carlos, but it seems to drive him further away.

"I've tried to wake him up, but he seems to be getting more and more upset." Kendall tells him. Logan walks closer towards Carlos and leans down a little.

"Carlos? Carlos, it's me, Logan. Kendall and James are here, too. You're safe with us. Carlos?" he holds out a hand and touches his shoulder.

"NO!" Carlos suddenly screams. His eyes fly open and the room is covered in silence. The guys look at him in shock. He breathes heavily and his whole body is trembling. His eyes show nothing else but pure fear.

No one knows what to say. It's been so long since he actually spoke.. Okay so maybe he screamed and last time he sang, but just to hear his voice is still so shocking every time.

"Carlos…" Kendall quietly starts with a smile, but Carlos just snaps his head in his direction and backs up into the couch. He whimpers when Kendall reaches out a hand. He nearly screams when Logan touches him.

"Carlos, it's okay. You're home, remember? You're safe. Nothing is going to happen to you." Kendall tells him as he slowly inches towards him.

A very loud knock on the front door sends him screaming. He jumps from the couch and runs up the stairs. The guys exchange concerned glances.

"I'll go…" Kendall says as he hurries up the stairs after his friend. Logan and James watch him sadly and head for the door.

They both frown when they see Detective Lucy Crimson and her partner Nathan Parker standing before them.

"I'm afraid we have some bad news." Lucy tells them. The boys exchange a look. This can't be good…

A/N Hi! I am so sorry for the late update. I have been very busy with school and stressing out about it :P Plus, I lost some inspiration to write. But I had some suddenly, so here's my new chapter Sorry if it's a little shorter than usual.

I hope you like it and that it's not too confusing. If you have questions about it, let me know ;)

Thank you all for your support and I hope you'll review again, it really helps

Until next time people and how about that last episode I loved Carlos, finally he wasn't portrayed as dumb or not liked by girls. James was a jerk and carlos was so sweet to those girls. Logan was so nice and Kendall was just hilarious. All in all a really good episode Up to the next one, I'm guessing they are superheroes in this one. What do you think?

Love, Baxxie