13.
I like pulling in characters we haven't seen in a while and Gordon Gordon was a fun character I had hoped would stop back in for something sometime over the years. I also have no idea how hypnotherapy sessions truly work short of some minor research so this is pretty much built to fit my fiction.
"Dressing rather casual these days aren't we?" Gordon asked of Sweets beer advertisement shirt and sweatpants as he sat across from him.
"What can I say, I like to make a solid first impression." Sweets replied sarcastically.
"I would like to say you are looking well but you look a bit worse for the wear." Gordon said not to be mean but to express concern.
"It was a long day yesterday." Sweets said. "Did Cam tell you what happened?"
Gordon sat back in his chair as a grin came across his face. "Dr. Soroyan did not wish to, but my reluctant to perform a random hypnotherapy session led me to wonder why she was asking me and not the resident psychologist Dr. Sweets. It was then that she explained it was for you and that really only led me to ask more questions."
Cam cleared her throat as she approached the pair in conversation. After a handshake and how do you do, Cam explained, "I knew Gordon Gordon would be someone we could trust, that you could trust, with secrets." Cam suddenly felt uncomfortable and left to attend to some other business.
Gordon looked back at Sweets and offered a smile. "I am impressed Dr. Sweets that you have allowed others to know your life, your secrets, past Booth & Dr. Brennen. Though it's taken several years for that to happen." Gordon offered a smile but Sweets still seemed slightly shy at the notion. "So, I understand that you were working on a case, got involved in an incident resulting in a short term incarceration at a looney bin."
"That's not very technical." Sweets chided Gordon.
"I'm not a psychologist anymore." Gordon responded. "Perhaps you want to talk to someone sometime about the stint in the asylum? It may produce damage that not even you might completely recognize."
"Perhaps but it's not what I'm interested in right now."
"Deflection and procrastination is not the key to a healthy mind Dr. Sweets."
"No, but solving this case may be a the key to national security." Sweets answered back and Gordon suddenly understood the severity of why he was called in, why Sweets had allowed his health to be so jeopardized by a case.
"One question before I agree to help." Gordon said at the vague and serious nature of the case. "What does Agent Booth think about this case."
Sweets may have been an excellent lie detector but he was terrible at telling lies. He did not even get a chance to attempt a lie when Gordon knew the answer.
"But you will bring him up to speed at some point?" Gordon asked.
"I can handle this." Sweets promised. "No harm will come to others."
"And yourself?"
"That doesn't matter." Sweets said without thought.
"I would object that it does, and to quite a few people." It bothered Gordon that Sweets did not seem convinced of that fact.
Sweets rubbed his eyes with his tired hands. "I'm rather tired of everyone thinking I can't do anything without Booth holding my hand."
"Dr. Sweets the only reason I asked of Agent Booth is because I feel he will be quiet concerned when he hears of everything you have taken on of yourself. If anyone distrusted of your leadership they would have contacted the agent by now."
"They don't know." Sweets said laced with a guilty tone. "I told them I had told Booth."
Gordon grinned. "You do know you are a terrible liar Dr. Sweets.
I suspect they know but they are confident in your leadership though concerned in your health."
"Well, then, help me recall what is missing in this case so I can wrap it up then I can get some sleep and everyone will be happy." Sweets offered.
"I still think you are missing the point a bit but I will help." Gordon said picking his battles. "Now where would you like to start?"
"While I was at the shipyards, I think I must have heard something, learned something. I don't know what it was and I think it was important to the case."
"Dr. Soroyan suggested it may be due to some drugs you were given, very strong and nasty stuff I understand."
"Yeah, I'm have no memory of the shipyards and the recollections at the asylum vary from absurd to questionable."
"Absurd?" Gordon asked.
"I'm fairly certain I did not have tea with Teddy Roosevelt." Sweets explained.
"What a fascinating conversation it would have been though." Gordon teased.
"Oh it was." Sweets admitted. "But I'd like to know what really went on there."
"Well, perhaps we should dig and see what we can find." Gordon suggested but noticed Sweets acceptance nod was only slight. "Objections?" Gordon asked.
"Trepidation." Sweets answered. "I suspect you can guess why. I'm not sure that the memories of recent have not intertwined with similar memories of my younger years."
"I'm sure we can walk the fine line that may be needed." Gordon assured him. "We can certainly find a quiet space, this does not need to be a public event."
"Sure, but Cam should be present. She may be able to direct you as far as facts from the case go."
"And you are comfortable with Dr. Soroyan?" Gordon asked, sure of the answer but he wanted to check.
"Of course." Sweets answered. "She's my partner."
From a distance away, eavesdropping, Cam smiled.
"No worries Dr. Sweets." Gordon assured the tense psychologist as Cam shut the door the private office with the blinds drawn. "We're here alone, well the three of us anyway."
"Are you sure you are okay with this Sweets?" Cam asked.
"Yes, we need to know." While Sweets was trying to hide his discomfort it was obvious he wanted to find the lost information. It was easy to see, Sweets was generally in the driver's seat of such a situation, now he was the patient in which there was a loss of control and it was in that aspect that he was ill at ease.
"Now I will proceed with a method you mentioned you were most comfortable with." Gordon said as Sweets tried to relax on the couch, the only alternative in the room to an office chair. "As you know I won't venture into areas you don't wish, as you slowly relax we can begin the session." Gordon continued talking in a smooth voice that was calming while Cam endeavored to be quiet. She found the therapy to be very interesting and yet she could see how you could find discomfort in such a situation where you were present, but not entirely present to know what you had said. She imagined the fears of people who were afraid they would wake and cluck like a chicken upon demand of a specific word.
Cam moved her attention back to the pair of psychologists as they had descended some sort of staircase after a bunch of relaxing talk.
"Where are you now?" Gordon asked.
"Getting out of my car." Sweets said. "At the shipyard. Lt. Cole says I can look around but I have to get clearance."
Cam's eyes narrowed. "I knew that little prick was lying to me." Cam said recalling back to the Lt. who promised her he had never seen Sweets before.
"But you don't leave." Gordon asked.
"No, I see Commander Mahaffey who is supposed to be dead. I follow him into a hanger, it's like a warehouse though, lots of storage, boxes." Sweets said slowly as Cam began to pencil all the facts down. Indeed if Mahaffey was there then this was information worth digging in Sweets mind for.
"What is he doing?" Gordon asked.
"He's talking with Agent Wittner. Wittner was upset that Cam and I came to his office. They wanted to know how we knew. Wittner wanted to know how long the experiment was going to take."
"What experiment were they referring to?" Gordon asked.
"Philadelphia, it was back in operation, the inflicted sailors sent to Davenport." Cam thought of all the men she had seen at Davenport and her promise to herself to help them.
"Mahaffey felt he was close to having it figured out but Wittner was impatient. Mahaffey asked about Lumiere, if he had killed the unknown man on his own boat. Wittner didn't know." Sweets recalled.
"Who is Lumiere?" Gordon asked.
"I think he was the man on the boat, the one who blew it up, the other cover up group." Sweets explained as his eyebrows began to furrow. Gordon wanted to move on quickly. "Mahaffey said Wittner would never catch Lumiere, then they heard me, thought I was him and wanted me dead."
"What did you do next?" Gordon asked.
"I ran, he fired a blind shot, caught my side. I kept running…" Gordon could tell Sweets was becoming apprehensions as he was caught in the recollection of running and fearing being caught and killed.
"Let us be mere observers Dr. Sweets, remove yourself from the situation, what do you see now?" Gordon offered under suggestion.
Sweets seemed to relax. "He's running, up the stairs, hiding." Sweets said.
"Is he referring to himself?" Cam whispered and Gordon nodded.
"The blood dripped, they know where he is!" Sweets grew more excited. "They're chasing him, he can't run, Wittner is going to fire, Mahaffey stops him, he falls." Sweets said as his body relaxed.
"I assume the man passed out?" Gordon asked.
"Yes, he wakes up in the asylum." Sweets said.
"Can you tell us what happens to him there?"
Sweets body reacted as though he were resistant to say more.
"Was the man hurt?" Gordon asked.
"He was hit, several times. They stuck him in the room, drugged him. They didn't tell him much." Sweets said. "It's confusing but then…then he came."
Cam and Gordon were confused if Wittner or Mahaffey came again.
"Who Dr. Sweets, who came?" Gordon asked.
Sweets shook his head. "He's not very nice. I wish he would go away." Gordon noticed that Sweets voice changed to a more adolescent tone, not the grown man who he spoke to a moment ago. "He locked me in this closet."
"Dr. Sweets, remember we are mere observers. Now are we still watching our friend at the asylum."
"The blood, it's warm, it drips, it won't stop. It's dark and I can't move." Cam and Gordon looked at each other as Sweets spoke. He was refusing the role of observer and they weren't sure if he was still in the asylum or they feared the past, breaking Gordon's promise.
"Dr. Sweets, let's look at our friend, in the asylum and what's happened to him." Gordon tried again.
"He's hurt and no one is going to come for him, no one knows where he is." Sweets calmed some being from the observer view but they were still sure where Sweets was in time. Gordon began to draw the conclusion that the pair of events were incredibly similar.
"Dr. Sweets, do you notice that our friend seems to be in a similar situation, one he had been in before?" Gordon asked but Cam pulled his attention in a whisper.
"I thought we promised to not go into his past." She asked.
"I do not wish to do so but Dr. Sweets seems to be combining the two events in his mind, I fear they were all too similar and he can't remember because he can't delineate between the two memories."
"How is that?"
"He was locked in a room against his will after being hurt and bleeding." Gordon explained as cam recalled the scars she had seen before. Her heart ached for a small boy that thru a miracle grew into a wonderful and caring man.
"Dr. Sweets, our friend, at the asylum, did anyone help our friend?" Gordon asked.
"No, he tried to escape, didn't work. No, no, no, no more drugs…" Sweets squirmed as he watched his own memories. "I don't want them, stop, STOP!"
Gordon decided to abandon the search for more memories in the asylum based on Sweets increasingly agitated disposition.
"Dr. Sweets we are going to leave the asylum now, come, take my hand and we will go." Gordon said beginning to bring Sweets out of the trance.
"Yes, they are here, they are taking me away." Sweets said and Gordon paused from his routine.
"Who is here?" He asked.
"I can't see them, but they are here to help, I don't have to stay."
"No you don't, so take my hand." Gordon said and motioned for Cam to take Sweets hand which she did. "And we will leave there and come back up the stairs…"
Gordon continued to talk for a few moments but Cam heard little of the steps to exit the trance. Sweets eyes opened wide then took a breath to calm himself. Before he could say anything he could feel a hand in his and looked to see it was Cam's. He looked up at her and before he could say anything he saw a tear drop roll down the cheek of her silent face.
"Uh oh, what did I say?" Sweets asked.
"Nothing." Cam said still holding his hand. "Nothing." She repeated as she pulled him up for a hug.
Sweets may have been a hugger but Cam wasn't. As to not give away any hints he had said too much Cam released Sweets, wiped away the strayed tear and looked to her notebook.
She cleared her throat, "so, Mahaffey and Wittner were there." Cam said.
"Uh, sure." Sweets said trying to adjust to being awake again and wondering what all he said. Gordon got up.
"Well I think your partner can handle it from here." Gordon said.
"You're leaving?" Cam asked.
"Yes, I have a dinner crowd to please and you have a case to solve."
Before they could object he was gone and they had work to do.
Okay so this chapter was a little shorter but it wrapped up the whole 'experience' so now they can get back to the case. Maybe Booth might even have a minor appearance again...