Chapter Six

Pain. That intense feeling of physical, mental and emotional distress due to some sensory damage being caused to our being. It ran though his nerve endings like electricity pumped up on crack and bubbled up through his veins like acid. It burnt through his body like a fire sweeping over dry woodland, terrorising the landscape, draining it of everything pure and good and plaguing it with a thick blackened dust that polluted... that destroyed. It was a concentrated and extreme form of malevolence, a corruptive leaking that sought nourishment from his soul and bled it dry as pain had always done to the many. It annihilated all else. No hope. No love. No humanity. No soul. And all that was left in the end was a physical body of pain and torture than ached for everything it had lost.

Flack felt the tears that bled down his face, his soul weeping for all that he'd become. He knew this was what he deserved. This was now his hell and the torture he was suffering was his punishment for that life he'd taken. He knew nothing of what was going on around him anymore, how many times he'd succumbed to the blackness before being beaten awake and tortured all over again. Blood covered his back, chest and torso; burns and knife cuts the cause. But this was his penitence. and he would suffer his due. He was a murderer. Not one other member of his team or friends could say they'd sunk to his lowly depths. Not even Danny, who broke every rule in the book. No, in the end it was only he who was the biggest rule breaker of all, the only one with that darkness inside... with the depth to kill a man in cold blood. Perhaps Mac had done something similar during his time as a Marine? But Mac was so by the book now, anally so, as was Jo who had sacrificed the conviction of John Curtis to stick to the rules. And as for Lindsay and Hawkes, they were even worse, and Adam who would never even have it in him. Perhaps it was only Sid who seemed a little dark at times, but then, working with corpses who wouldn't?

Flack screamed in agony as a fresh wave of pain overtook him and sweat mingled with blood mingled with tears dripped from his face. He could feel his soul dying; its life slowly ebbing away. These men might not have known it but they were creating a monster, should he survive. But that was unlikely. He would be dead by morning, useless as a bargaining tool or informant as these men had clearly hoped. He knew nothing that they wanted. He knew nothing of Aiden Burn or what she stood for. And with her appearance came his slow and painful death; the perfect irony. His head dropped forward as the last of his hope escaped him and he closed himself off to the world. Lost inside his own mind; a prisoner of his thoughts and memories.

He was unaware of when shouting erupted around him, of the sound of guns being fired as doors were kicked down and all hell broke loose. Figures flew through the air, blood splattering over the ground. Loud bangs and scuffles as the three men who held him hostage had their lives stolen from them. And then hands were all over him, he could feel them on him but that was only somewhere distant and far away from where he was, locked in his own mind. Words were shushed at him, soothing tones and whispering and then he was part carried, part dragged and part hauled from the room. There were figures on either side of him. But he let himself go with them, friend or foe he did not know. It was fifteen minutes later when he felt himself being gently lowered onto something soft and there he remained, eyes closed, thoughts overpowering him as visions flashed before his eyes in some jumbled order until they hit on one and repeated it over. A man. A man down on the ground. And a gun raised over him...

Flack.

It was his name, soft and distant but the sound came to his ears and his heart bled out in pain.

Flack.

It was louder this time... and it wasn't coming from Cade. No, he'd never spoken. It was a female... a woman.

Flack.

It was so near, he knew he could reach out for it, he was starving for it, his body and mind deprived of all that was good for so long now.

Flack.

Flack wrenched his thoughts away from the man on the ground and looked up. He saw nothing but darkness and knew he was lost. Yet he heard his name again and swam through the black, searching for that voice, that light, that hope.

Flack.

"Help me..." Flack screamed as he struggled for breath in the blackness that swamped him and two hands grabbed hold of his face. He was nearly there, the light, it was almost within reach. It was his escape from hell. It was his forgiveness.

"Look at me."

Flack wrenched his eyes open with every ounce of strength in his body and stared into the dark eyes of the woman he loved. It was Aiden. And he knew he was safe.

"I'm here, Flack. You're safe," she murmured as she held his head, trying to get his eyes to focus.

"Aiden..." Flack sobbed and he collapsed against her, all strength gone from him. A man weakened from torture, a man destroyed by his own hatred of himself.

"Lean on me, Flack. I won't leave you," Aiden said softly and held him against her as her eyes raised to lock onto those of Danny Messer.

"They're still outside, Aiden. They don't know which building we ran into. They'll search them all if they have to," he said worriedly, and then looked back out of the window.

"Hopefully my team will have taken down the main players by morning. Then we can escape," Aiden replied, stroking a hand through the dark hair of the man she held.

"I hope you're right," Danny said coldly.

"I am," she sighed, cradling Flack's head against her breast.

"What did they do to him?" Danny asked, staring worriedly at his friend.

"Torture. They're masters in it. He'll be okay," she said sorrowfully. "I just regret either of you ever got mixed up in this."

"He'll never be okay," Danny stated as he turned back to the window. "He never was."

Aiden frowned, not exactly understanding to what Danny was referring.

"Aiden..." Flack murmured again and clung on tightly to her body.

Danny turned back and stared at them. They were in a dingy room of an abandoned apartment block. He knew it would take hours for them to be found in amongst the numerous apartments but he was still wary. The room they were in was almost completely empty bar two wooden chairs and a grubby mattress on the floor on which Flack and Aiden were sitting.

"I'm gonna scout out the place, check for weak spots," he muttered. "Give this to Flack."

Danny undid his blue shirt and handed it to Aiden before turning and disappearing through the door they'd come in through. Aiden nodded and then turned back to the man in her arms. He was bare-chested and covered in blood, though his injuries didn't look to severe. His torture had clearly been about pain rather than damage. Torture to gain information, to keep a subject alive but willing. Aiden closed her eyes and tears welled up in them as she thought of Flack suffering for her. He always had, how well she knew that. Even back in the day, he'd always loved her from afar; it had been all too easy to see. But she had played him back then, enjoying the attention but never wanting a serious commitment. She had been so stupid and young and immature back then. Flack had been such a genuine, kind hearted soul and she had always assumed they'd end up together. But then she'd lost her job and that had been the start of the end. She'd betrayed him too many times to count now and he deserved so much better. He always had.

"Where am I?" Flack croaked, his voice breaking into the silence.

"Safe," she replied, stroking his hair.

Flack pushed himself back from her and leant against the wall behind him. Aiden held out Danny's shirt to him and he took it but didn't put it on.

"Are people after us?" Flack asked.

"Yes, but if everything goes to plan my colleagues will have them taken down tonight," she said, staring at him sorrowfully.

The moon was shining in through the grimy window, illuminating his face and torso and her eyes studied all the cuts and burns covering his pale skin.

"Shouldn't you be helping them?" Flack muttered as he moved slightly and then grimaced in pain.

"Yes," Aiden nodded and then sighed and crept forward. "But I left you once, Flack. I wasn't going to do that again."

Flack stared back for a moment and then looked away, unable to look at her, to accept her words. At that moment Danny returned to the room.

"Here," he said gruffly, throwing something at Aiden. She caught it in her hands and noticed it was a bottle of water.

"Found it in a broken machine two floors down. Gonna head up now, see if we can't make a move whilst it's still dark," he explained and then disappeared again.

"You told Danny?" Flack choked as he watched his friend leave.

"I had to. I needed help getting you out," Aiden replied as she undid the bottle and held it against his lips.

He hesitated for a millisecond and then drank deeply from the bottle, wetting his dry throat and the fire that ravaged within him.

"I fucking hurt everywhere," he moaned after he'd had his fill.

"I don't doubt that," she murmured and then she took off her own shirt, a dark vest underneath, ripping it to shreds as she doused some with the water and then moved even closer to Flack. Gently she reached out and began cleaning a cut on his chest.

"I can do it," he growled and flinched back.

"No you can't. You haven't even put on that shirt Danny gave you because you can't move your arm in that angle," she retorted and then dabbed the cut again.

Flack let out a hiss but didn't move away. He watched as she worked, cleaning up his cuts and slowly the pain started to fade. Her soft delicate touch graced over his skin and he shivered slightly, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. For the first time in hours he actually felt safe. He felt calm. And he felt rested. Aiden was there, she'd come for him and they were finally alone again. When he opened his eyes again they were teary, but whether from pain or emotion he was unsure.

"Why did you leave, Aiden?" he said slowly, voice barely above a whisper.

"Because I needed to catch these guys, Flack," she replied but continued to work.

Flack watched her again and knew the wound on him to which she was tending would be clean by now. She'd been dabbing over it for at least five minutes and for some reason she couldn't look at him, she couldn't face him. He didn't know why. All he knew was that he was still every bit in love with her as he always had been.

"You know I was in love with you?"

His words hung in the air.

"Yes."

And when she looked up she was crying.

Flack nodded, choking on his next words. She was so close, so beautiful. Those full lips of hers and big brown eyes glinting in the moonlight. She hadn't aged a day, still as beautiful as she always had been. And suddenly she was moving closer and her lips brushed his skin. She was gently kissing the cut on his shoulder and he shivered, the emotion of the situation almost becoming too much for him. She was moving further up now, closer, and his breath hitched as ever so slowly she gently brushed her lips against his.

"Aiden," he murmured quietly.

"Shhshh," she replied as she kissed him harder.

He whimpered under the pressure from her mouth over his and his lips slowly parted, letting her in, letting her possess him, control him, own him. Their tongues tangled in his mouth, fought for dominance and of course she won. She always could beat him at everything. But then again, he always let her. He could feel the blood surging around his body, tiny particles of life, isotopes of a chemical reaction that was in all essence Aiden. She was holding onto his hips, hands stroking over his skin. Flack unconsciously moved his own hands into her hair and entangled his fingers in the soft, silky strands. She pulled him closer, one hand moving up to hold the back of his head, trapping him between the hand and her lips; a prisoner to her will.

Flack could feel himself falling, drowning in everything that was Aiden; her smell, her taste, her touch... her very essence, her soul; the woman he had been madly in love with for what felt like eternity. So he let himself fall, let himself be completed by their unity, after all he had waited a lifetime for this.

"Guys, they're disappearing," Danny burst into the room. "Oh!"

Aiden pulled away and stood up immediately.

"Going?"

"They just suddenly disappeared," Danny replied.

"Then my colleagues have been successful. You guys need to get out of here," she stated.

"What?" Flack asked as he stumbled up, lips still red and swollen from the kiss, blood still staining his skin as he pulled on Danny's shirt and grimaced with the pain of the awkward movement.

"You need to leave. You can get back to your lives in safety and I need to go," Aiden explained.

"You're just gonna disappear on us again?" Flack said angrily.

Aiden stared worriedly at him, despite his frail appearance; covered in blood and wavering slightly he still emanated something of a threatening and feral vibe.

"Flack," she murmured and reached out to hold his cheek.

"No!" Flack said angrily, tears in his eyes as he stepped back.

He stared for one moment longer and then turned and left wordlessly, his heart breaking more than it ever had before.

"Danny," Aiden said as she turned to the other man.

"We changed Aiden," Danny murmured, his eyes staring after Flack. "Life moved on for us, I got married and had a daughter. And he..." Danny nodded his head to the doorway their friend had left through. "And he died a little bit every day you were gone."

"Danny, I..." Aiden began.

"Just don't," Danny shrugged, knowing how fucked up Flack would be from now on because of this, and how much he'd need looking after.

"I'm sorry," she murmured tears falling down her face,

"So am I," he sighed. "I love you, Aiden. You know I do. You were best friend for years. But we all moved on, I moved on and God knows Flack tried to."

"I realise that," she said softly.

"Then you know I gotta look after him now. Cos he's breaking inside and you caused that. I have to protect him, he has no-one else," Danny murmured.

"Danny..." Aiden pleaded.

"Once you go, Aiden, don't ever come back," Danny stated clearly. "Don't come back for him."

He turned before she could reply and left in search of his friend.

Aiden stared at the black opening of the doorway, through which her two best friends of old had just gone. Through which the one soul she loved more than anything else had just gone. And she was hit by pain, jolts of it wracking through her body and she collapsed to the grimy floor, sobbing into her hands.

"I'm so sorry..." she whispered out into the darkness. "I'm sorry for the pain I caused you all these years. If I could change that... If I could..."

A/N - Okay, so only one chapter left of this now. :(