Author's Note: I told you all that I had a surprise! Call this a happy holiday gift from me to you all. Hope you all enjoy this chapter and the previous one. I am not making promises, but I am hoping to get the next chapter up before the new year, if not before it will not be long afterward. I have been mainly focusing on this story, moreso than any of my other stories lately. Though I have been focusing on it more lately, I feel bad because it means that this story's end is coming soon. (I always seem to have the end of the stories fleshed out before the rest of it.) Now, with all that said, this is NOT... I REPEAT, NOT the last chapter of the story. There may be one to two more chapters after this one (it depends on how things play out on the keyboard). I hope I didn't make anyone sad with that statement, but we all knew it had to end some time, right? But enough about that, here is the next chapter!

Pounding pressure, the likes that no normal mortal should ever feel, resided like a bass drum in the back of Chris Diaz's skull. He had thought how he had felt at the cabin was bad... this was worse. It felt as if the largest earthquake was rumbling in the back of his brain. What made it the worst day of his life, was the fact that the sun streamed through opened blinds and reflecting off brilliant white walls. The man groaned as he tightened his already closed eyes against the onslaught of brightness.

"If the light is bothering you that much, maybe you could ask someone to shut the curtains?" Dov asked with a smirk as his boots fall heavily against the tiled floor of the hospital room.

"You would think someone would notice a brother in pain and would do it before being asked," Chris replied roughly. His throat was still very dry feeling. Like a desert had been poured down his throat instead of water.

"You sound like shit, Diaz," Gail drawled as she entered the room with Holly.

"I feel like someone slammed into me with a cement truck," the man in the hospital bed offered as he rubbed his hand over his face.

"Besides that, how do you feel?" Holly asked as she glanced at his medical chart by the door.

"Like someone forced fed me gravel and then shook me."

"Could be worse," Gail responded as she sat down in the vacant chair in the corner. All eyes turned towards her. "What? Someone could have actually did that to him, you know. What happened at the cabin anyway?" Everyone continued to stare at her bluntness. She rolled her eyes. "You know you all want to know, so we might as well skip the pleasantries and get down to it!"

Chris chuckled, which turned into a coughing fit. Chloe grabbed the water sitting on the table and handed it to him after his cough diminished somewhat. Sipping at the water, he allowed the cool liquid to soothe his parched throat. "I actually missed your bluntness Gail. I wish your brother had did the same when he came in earlier."

"We ran into Steve actually before we came in here."

"Get it right, Chloe. Steve told us to wait in the waiting room until he was finished with his interview, then we could come in and check on Chris," Gail said as she flicked through the channels on the muted television mounted on the wall above her.

"She's right," Holly said as she perched herself on the arm of the chair that Gail sat in. "I wouldn't have put it so eloquently, but she is right." She ran her hand across the top of the chair and leaned towards the blonde. "So," the pathologist stared at Chris. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"I guess you probably want the whole story, because I seriously doubt Steve told you guys anything." He glanced at his friends in the room and watched them all nod as one. "But before I begin, where's the rest of the gang? I have only seen Traci, Steve and you guys. Where's Nick? And Andy and Sam? I also thought Oliver would have came by too."

Dov took a deep breath as he glanced at the group in the room. "Well, Andy and Sam are working on a new case; something dealing with the Canadian Marshalls or something..."

"I bet that is kinda awkward with her ex being part of that."

Epstein smirked at his friend in the bed. "You have no idea. As for Nick and Oliver... well..."

"They can't come and visit someone that is part of their on-going case," Chloe said after she noticed Dov falter for the correct wording.

"Oh..."

"You know how it is Chris," Gail said suddenly as she leaned forward in the chair. "Steve and Traci had to come and visit you because of their dealing with the Patricia O'Neil's death. But after going through a few things..."

"They had to open another investigation," Chris continued, suddenly realising where all of this was going. "On me."

Gail nodded her head and leaned back in the chair. Worried at what sort of vitriol may come from the man.

Instead of saying anything the man in question sighed and stared at the t.v but did not really see what was playing. After several moments of silence, Diaz glanced back at his friends. "Look, I just want to say I am sorry. I didn't think this would ever happen. Things were tough... you remember how things were for me this past year or so. I thought I could handle it... I guess I was just stupid for thinking that I couldn't get addicted."

"What happened, man?" Dov asked quietly when Chris went silent again. "Not back then..." he raised his hand when Diaz tried to speak. "Not back then, I mean when you left all of us to go out? You know that Superintendent Peck wanted us all to meet back at the station so we could find out what was going on with the case. I thought she was going to blow a gasket or something after the fact that Gail had been trapped in that room for all of those hours and then you decided to ignore her edict to work through the night to close the case... she was seriously about to take your badge, man."

"I just had to get away," Chris answered as he licked his lips. "The whole thing was just bullshit. The more I thought about it, the more I knew something wasn't right, but I couldn't wrap my head around it. The guy saying the murder victim was upset about her husband leaving and taking the kids didn't sound right."

"We know," Dov replied quietly. "That's why Chloe and I went back to talk to the guy and he ran. We brought him in to the station and he is still in there. His wife... was Jaime's sister."

"She shot her own brother? I knew they looked a little alike, but I thought it was just withdrawals." Chris shook his head. "Back to the rest of my story from that night, I guess. You two probably guessed it by now," he continued as he gestured at Dov and Chloe. "It wasn't allergies that day... there is no other way for me to say it, but I needed a fix and was trying desperately to work through symptoms, I guess I am still dealing with symptoms, until I got home to my stash. I snuck away to go home and then I couldn't find what I was looking for and knew I couldn't afford more; so I decided to go to the bar to drown my sorrows." He paused as he grabbed the glass of water again and lifted it to his lips. As he drank, he stared at his friends in the room. Chris felt like shit for putting them through whatever he had put them through during the time he went missing. He knew that baring his soul wouldn't help them in anyway, but, god... it felt cathartic. "I wish I didn't go to that bar though. It was where I had first met up with Jaime."

"So, he was your supplier?" Chloe asked as she leaned against the empty bed in the room.

"Yeah," Chris responded as he looked down at the thin, scratchy coverlet. "I should have figured that he would be lurking around there. I already owed him for my last couple of bags, but I just needed to have a drink. I was pissed off that I couldn't find my stash," He scratched his arm and then ran his hand through his hair. "I needed to blow off some steam."

Gail leaned forward in the chair again. "You mean to tell me that you went to a bar while we were still trapped in the room?" She looked at everyone in the room, her right eyebrow raised nearly to her hairline. "Does anyone else in here think that was a bit selfish? Anyone?"

"I think we have all had our selfish moments here and there," Holly replied quietly as she rubbed circles on the blonde's back, trying to soften her words.

Gail leaned back into the touch and sighed. "Okay, I can agree with that, but it still doesn't mean that I am happy with his decision."

"I know I fucked up, Gail. You don't have to rub it in my face," Chris growled out as he ran his hand through his hair again.

"When was the last time a nurse came in?" Holly asked suddenly as she watched the officer in the hospital bed.

"This morning, I think."

"Maybe we need to have one come in now," the pathologist stated as she glanced again at his chart and then at her watch.

As if by magic, a nurse walked in and glanced at everyone in the room. Ignoring them all after the initial glance, she turned her focus on her patient. "And how are we feeling now?"

"You don't want to know," Chris muttered as he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Do I need to make your visitors leave? I know a lot of people can be too much for a patient... especially in one day," she said softly as she checked his IV.

"No, they are fine. I just am not feeling like myself all of a sudden."

The nurse nodded her head in understanding and glanced at his chart again. "That's to be expected. You were dehydrated, as well as coming down from cocaine, when the other officers found you. These next couple of days will be the roughest of you have ever dealt with, but to be honest, it will not get easier." She turned to walk towards the door. "I will be right back, I just need to get your medicine."

"Thank you, Judith," Chris said with a tired smile that did not sit right on his haggard face. He took a deep breath after the nurse left before speaking with everyone in the room. "Sorry she said that," he allowed another tired smile to grace his lips, "She's been a bit protective over me. I don't know if she thinks you guys are going to arrest me or try to break me out. You should have seen how many times she interrupted Steve. I think she might like you guys... she has stayed away during this whole time until now."

"It could be because none of us have flashed a badge around," Gail quipped as she rolled her eyes. "Steve has a habit of placing his hands on his hips so his blazer flares out and you can see his badge and his gun holster." She paused as if she suddenly remembered something else. "Or it could have been Traci. She doesn't wear her jacket that often, so you can always see her badge."

"Be nice, Gail." Holly scolded softly as she swatted the blonde's arm playfully.

"So you two finally made up?" Chris asked with a smirk.

"Hey, I'm not the one on trial here!" Gail retorted as she glared at the man. "We're not finished with you mister. So what happened at the bar?"

"Oh right," He replied as he licked his lips and glanced at the door to see if Judith was coming back yet. "So, there I was, sitting in a booth at the back of the bar and then I saw Jaime. I tried to get his attention, but he was stopped by Patricia... I mean Anna. You see I didn't know who she really was at the time and I thought it was pretty strange to see her talking to him, but then again I was wanting to speak to him too. They moved away from the crowd of people and headed towards the restrooms, so I decided to follow to see what was going on. Long story short, they spotted me eavesdropping and decided that we should all hang out. We all took a drive towards Beaverton and went to the bar there..."

"Was it the Kings' Bishop Pub?" Holly interrupted as she shifted on the arm of the chair.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"There was an address in your room written on a scrap of paper from there," Gail responded as she suddenly stood up to give the pathologist the full chair. "That's how we were able to figure out where you were," she continued as she leaned against the wall beside the chair she had vacated.

"Oh. Well, yeah. We went there and had a few drinks. I had asked him why we had to go to Beaverton and he told me that he didn't have any drugs on him, that he had left it at his cabin." He paused when he heard footsteps outside his room and he waited while Judith brought his dosage of medicine. Grimacing at the foul taste, he grabbed his glass of water and drank it until the nurse left the room. "I promise you, I had never went there before. I had always met him here in Toronto."

"Why did you have the address then?" Chloe asked softly as she stared at him.

"He had gave that to me a while ago. He said that if I couldn't find him in the city that I should go there and he would be there. I had always met him here, so I never thought anything about it." He rubbed the back of his neck and he shifted his eyes towards the blanket. "You guys probably think I am crazy or dumb to have went with him and Anna. I didn't know what they had done or anything like that."

"Traci said Steve had told her you had been tied up," Dov stated. "How did they over power you? I know there was two of them, but still. You are a trained officer and are a lot bigger than both of them. Can you tell us what happened?"

Chris shook his head and huffed noisily. "See that is where things get hazy. I remember the pub, but I do not remember what happened after that. I don't even remember leaving the bar. The only thing I remember is waking up in a darkened shed or something and them two arguing. She must have told him that I was one of the people at the crime scene, so they decided to drug me with something to make me more complacent."

"I'm sure the drug test will come back shortly," Holly chimed in causing everyone to turn to look at her. "It's standard procedure. It ensures that the drug the patient mentioned was actually the only one the person was taking. The medicines they are giving you now are just to help with the withdrawal symptoms."

"Do you remember what they were arguing about?" Dov asked as he leaned forward.

"They were talking about the O'Neal place and how it was supposed to set up there shop for life or something like that."

"So they thought she was a medical doctor," Dov said aloud as he ran everything through his head. "So we were right about it being a drug score, but they didn't realise that she was a retired virologist."

"Huh?"

"Will tell you more about that Chris at a later date," Dov replied. "Can you tell us what happened to cause Anna to shoot her brother?"

"Oh yeah, sorry this stuff kinda has my thoughts all over the place," the man responded as he ran his hands over the blanket. "She kept on going on and on about how Jaime had said this would set them up for life. And that all there dreams would come true, but there was nothing. She was also very pissed at her husband because he was the one who said that he saw a car leave the driveway and that's why they moved when they did.

Jaime told her to calm down. Just to let him think of a way to get them out of the shit 'her lame-brained husband got them into'. That set her off even more and she told him that the woman would still be alive if Jaime didn't kick her." His eyes widened with shock as he replayed the whole thing through his head again. "Jaime was the one..." Chris whispered as he glanced at his friends around the room. "Jaime set up the plan. Got them all involved and he was the one who attacked the victim. Anna was pissed that things didn't go the way he had planned. She even mentioned that things never go the way he planned them to. She said she wished that just this one time she never listened to him in the first place and that maybe her husband wouldn't be in jail.

She wanted to come clean about the whole thing. She said she was tired of the running already. They argued more. Jaime tried to tell her that they would run until they couldn't run anymore and that she should just deal with it because they weren't going to turn themselves in." Chris closed his eyes. "That is when things started getting a little blurry again. I can't remember if Anna had the shotgun first or if Jaime did, but they fought over it and the gun went off. I remember thinking my head would explode just from the noise." He sighed and settled comfortably back into the pillow behind him. "That's when the police entered the cabin. And you guys know the rest from there."

Dov smiled at his friend before walking over to the bed. "Thanks man, you really helped clear up a few things. You told all of this to Steve also, right?"

Chris nodded his head in agreement before closing his eyes again.

"I think the medicine is kicking in. To be able to work the toxins out from the drugs, they prefer to keep the patients sedated. It's easier to deal with the withdrawal symptoms that way than having someone running around trying to escape to get their next fix," Holly stated to everyone as she stood up from the chair. "I think we should allow him to rest. We came for answers and we got them. Now he needs to get better."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and followed the pathologist out of the room except for Dov. He lingered by the bed until everyone was out in the corridor. "Get better, Chris," he whispered as he gripped his friend's shoulder. "I hope you didn't fuck up your life's dream for this."