Hey, everyone!

I know, I know… I've been gone forever… There's honestly nothing I can say, except that I'm really sorry to have kept you waiting. Thank you for sticking around and thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the positive reviews. They mean everything to me. As for the reason, why I've been gone for such a long time, let's just say college is extremely time consuming. On top of t6hat, I have a really big life decision to make in the upcoming two months and I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do...

I don't know when you're reading this, but I was writing it on Christmas day, so MERRY EVERYTHING, whether it's Christmas, Hanuka or any other holiday.

Anyway, without further ado, I hope you enjoy this chapter nevertheless. (You might wanna read the previous two chapters again, to remember what happened…).

PART 3

Adam's P.O.V.

I am gently woken up by the sound of Jay screaming at the top of his lungs, but hey, at least he's awake and coherent.

"-at are you doing?! Get off of me!"

There is all sorts of commotion going on around me. It sound like Jay is resisting the scumbags, although it doesn't sound like it's working that well. I scan my options and decide not to pretend that I'm still asleep. I don't wanna lose sight of Jay, so I really don't have any other choice. I open my eyes to see Jay struggling against the two sidekicks, who are desperately trying to get him up on his feet. Between the lack of food and his concussion, he's still surprisingly strong, giving the two men quite a bit of trouble.

"Stop it! What are you doing? Let him go!" I yell, achieving absolutely nothing. I yell some more, however before I know it, Jay's being struck over the head with the gun barrel once again. For the fourth time. He's knocked out instantly. "Jay! What's the matter with you two? Are you crazy?!" I let my anger out on the sidekicks, who quickly dump Jay back on the floor and transfer their attention to me.

Well, that didn't work out.

The same exact thing happens with me. I kick and scream, while my captors hold me upright. I decide not to cooperate, though that might not be my smartest move ever.

»Hey! What the hell are you doing? Let go of me, you piece of s-«

My disapproval is cut off by something slamming into the back of my head and let me tell you, it hurts like hell. I feel dizzy and nauseous. This can't be good.

The last thing I'm aware of is Jay calling my name a few times, though it seems very distant and echoey. And then I black out.

Adam's P.O.V.

My waking up is not as unpleasant as I thought it would be. I do have a headache, but it's not horrible. My eyes are covered with something thick, therefore I am completely unable to see. I have no choice but to rely on my other senses. Thank god for every bit of training I've had. As I take in my surroundings, I can tell that I'm sitting in a chair. My hands are taped to the handles by what I'm guessing is duct tape. So are both of my legs. Okay, it could be worse. And then I remember something.

Jay.

I can' t see anything, so I can't make sure he's alive. Hell, I can't even see if he's in the same room as me or not. Never mind, this couldn't be worse. Or at least that's how it seems at this second. I may be freaking out, but can you really blame me? Yea, didn't think so.

I need to check on my partner though, but to be honest, part of me doesn't want to check. What if I don't get a response and realize he's not here? Or that he's not even alive anymore? What if I realize that they've slaughtered him in the most cruel way possible and he's being buried six feet under as we speak?

Okay, Adam, pull it together! No jumping to conclusions. Breathe and check on your partner.

"Jay?" Nothing. "Jay, are you here?" Nothing. I decide to try again, although I gotta admit I'm kinda freaking out by now. "Jay! Answer me! Jay!"

"Ugh" I suddenly hear a groan, which is most definitely originating from my partner. Thank god.

"Jay! You okay?" I just about scream, trying to get him to answer me.

"What do you think?" he mumbles back, making me exhale in relief.

"I know, I know" I answer. I fully understand what he means. This is a crappy situation, but we are still alive, so we can't complain. "How's your head?" I ask with obvious concern in my voice.

"Someone decided to have a party in it."

That makes me laugh. As long as Jay's sense of humor is intact, he's not too close to dying. "You hurt anywhere else?"

"Not that I know of" he replies. Thank goodness. I'm about to thank every source out there for keeping him safe while I was knocked out, however Jay decides to add something. "Although I'm guessing that's about to change."

That makes my heart drop. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm blindfolded, so I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure I'm laying on a table, which just happens to be tilted at a downward angle. Now I don't know if it's just me, but what I've learnt from my years in the rangers is that this can only mean one thing."

I don't quite understand what he means, so I decide to wait for further explanation.

"They're gonna waterboard me."

"What?!" Okay, now I can freak out. Did I say that my heart dropped when Jay told me things were about to change? Well, I'm pretty sure my heart just stopped. I've never actually experienced waterboarding myself, but I sure as hell know what it means. "Are you sure it's not just a coincidence?"

"What do you think?"

Yeah… I can't say I disagree with him. I wish I could, but I can't. The odds aren't exactly in our favor. Though we can hope?

I realize there's something else I need to know. I hate to ask him, as it can't be a pleasant memory, but I have no choice. "Jay?" He stays quiet. "Have you ever… I mean… have you-"

"Experienced this before?" he saves me from my misery. "Sort of" he answers, apparently understanding that this is crucial information for the situation we've gotten ourselves into. I wait for him to go on. "We went through a controlled version of this in training" he stops for a second, but I decide not to say anything. He still hasn't given me the most important piece of information. How it went. If waterboarding causes him PTSD, we are more than screwed. "It was horrible." Yup. We're screwed. He stops talking now. Either because he's caught up in a terrifying memory of the event, or because that's all the information he's willing to give me.

"God, Jay… why would they do that to you guys?" I ask sympathetically.

"I don't know… just in case, I guess" he answers, clearly just as clueless as me.

We stay quiet for a while. I have no idea how to help him. There's nothing I can do to help. There's also nothing I can say. This torturous act is going to happen and we both know it. Just as I'm about to say something, he speaks up again.

"Ruzek, whatever happens… you can't give them any information, got it? No matter what. Do you understand?"

What the hell is he talking about? I can't just let him suffer if there's anything I can do about it. "Jay..." I start to say, but he interrupts me.

"Adam! Promise me."

"Jay, I can't-"

"Ruzek!" I stop talking. "I've been through this before, okay? I know how it goes. I'll be fine."

"What? You don't know that!"

"Adam! I'll be okay."

That makes me shut up. Although I can't say that I agree with him. I sure hope that he's gonna be okay, but there's so many things that could go wrong. He could inhale water and drown, they could injure him even more than they already have, it could cause brain damage… not to mention the psychological consequences it might have on Jay. There's no way of knowing.

"Promise me, you won't let it break you" Jay says after a while, his voice calm and kind.

I inhale deeply, before collecting myself as much as I possibly can "Jay…"

"I need you to keep it together, Adam." Okay, that's not the explanation I was expecting. "Who knows what's gonna happen to me… and I need you to be there for me, okay? You can't lose it."

I can imagine about a thousand things going wrong, and it makes me feel sick. But I also understand where Jay's coming from, and I know that he's right. No matter what happens and no matter what state Jay's in, I'm the one who needs to get us out of here. Not Jay. Not anyone else. Me.

"Okay" I whisper. "I promise."

"Good."

We sit in silence after that. There is about a million questions I wanna ask him, but now is not the time. I let him be in his own world, wherever that is.

Jay's P.O.V.

I'm terrified.

I know I shouldn't be saying this, because it's not helping anyone, but I'm terrified.

I've been trying to make myself believe, that this isn't really happening, but the sane part of my brain knows, waterboarding is the only logical explanation for this. Our captors aren't stupid, that's clear. They won't go easy on us, because they know we won't give them any information. I don't know exactly what their intentions are, but I do know, that it isn't gonna be pretty. Whether this is going to be a way of forcing information out of Adam and I, or a way of forcing our team to do whatever it is that there bastards want, it's also going to be torture on all of us. I may be the only one tied to a tilted board, but waterboarding sure as hell isn't an easy thing to watch.

There are so many things that could go sideways, but I can't let myself think about that or I'm gonna lose it. In addition to all the physical injuries it could cause, the psychological part is what worries me most. Most physical injuries are treatable, psychological not so much. I can't say my previous experience with this type of torture was exactly pleasant, and on top of my obvious concussion and exhaustion... I just hope I don't panic once I experience this again.

I don't know. I feel like I'm already going crazy, and this hasn't even started. On the other hand, psyching me out beforehand was a very smart move. They're trying to weaken me as much as possible, and let me say, it's working.

Jay's P.O.V.

I must've fallen asleep, as I am woken up by someone slapping my cheek.

"Wakey, wakey" a tall man says, from above me. "You don't wanna be asleep for this part." The blindfold has been removed, so I can finally see that I'm in what seems like a big version of a laundry room. The floor and walls made of tile and there are drains on the floor. There also happens to be a hose, which only confirms my suspicion of what's about to go down. A bucked full of water is standing on the floor beside me and a cloth is draped over it. Great. I was right. I notice Adam is tied to a chair nearby, however he's still blindfolded. Probably in order for him not to be able to see if I'm alivw or not. Smart move. Two men are standing next to him, grins stretching over their faces. I've seen them before. They are the two men who knocked me over the head, before we were moved into this room.

One thing I've noticed since being kidnapped is that there are three captors. Two of them do the ugly business, while one of them does the talking. In simple words, there is one leader and two sidekicks.

The leader is standing above my head, which for some reason doesn't fill me with hope. On the contrary, it scares the hell out of me. Why? Because leaders of these type of gangs tend to be way more aggressive that the sidekicks, which in this case doesn't mean anything good. He places two blocks on either side of my head, preventing me from moving it.

"Ready to have some fun?" the leader picks up the wet cloth and holds it in my range of vision. I decide not to say anything as to not aggravate my lovely kidnappers even more than they probably are by impulsively saying something stupid.

I just hope Adam holds up.

"Don't you dare touch him!" he screams.

Damn it. He's already losing it and we haven't even started. I can feel my heartbeat speed up. This is gonna be harder than I thought.

"You used to be a ranger, so you know how this goes" the leader addressees me with a big evil smile on his face and completely covers my face with the soaked cloth, restricting my ability to breathe properly to about 20%. I try my best not to freak out, as it won't do me any good in the long run.

"So, Adam, you can end this now… or you can let your friend over here pay the price. Your choice."

Damn it. I was kinda hoping this whole getting kidnapped thing was about the whole team. Now, as it seems, it's got something to do with Adam, which means we're screwed. He's not gonna let them torture me, especially not if it's all on him.

"What are you talking about?" Adam asks, panic obvious in his voice. At least to me. "Who are you?!"

"You don't remember me?" the leader asks teasingly. "Let's see if this rings a bell."

Without warning, he dumps the bucket of water over my head. Since I was already starting to feel the lack of oxygen, I can't help but inhale some water, making myself choke.

"No! Wait!" I can hear Adam scream. "Let me think!"

Miraculously, the cloth is removed, and I can breathe again. I cough and gasp, while I can hear Adam screaming my name and begging me for a response. I can also hear the bucket being filled up again. Can't wait.

"M okay" I slur in between my coughs.

"Shut up!" the leader yells at me, before looking at Adam once again. "Do you know who I am now?"

Adam stays quiet. I'm not sure if it's because of the promise he made me or because he actually doesn't know. Either way is fine by me, as long as he doesn't get hurt.

"Not feeling cooperative, huh? Let's see if this helps."

"No, no, no, stop!" Adam begs. It doesn't work though.

The cloth is back over my face and a second later so is the water. Except this time, the water isn't dumped on me. This time, it's poured slowly, keeping me without air for way longer than the previous time. I try my best to hold my breath for as long as I can, and somehow I manage not to inhale any water. Success. The cloth never leaves my face though.

"Does Jake Pierovich ring any bells in that head of yours?" the leader asks Adam, who suddenly gasps. That can't be good.

Adam's P.O.V

Damn it, damn it, damn it.

How could this happen? Jake Pierovich was a guy I knew in prison. I tried my hardest to forget what had happened, but all of a sudden it's all coming back to me.

I've always been more on the impulsive side, so I used to get in quite a few fights. Jake was one of the members of our gang, who I didn't get along with. This one time, I found out he'd betrayed us, so I got into a fight with him. I also happened to get caught and so I turned this Jake guy in. Things went very sideways and long story short, Jake is now stuck in one of the most secure prisons in the country. And since I was his one way ticket to prison, I now have the honor to be his return ticket as well. Or, you know, let Jay die. My choice.

"So you do remember? That's great. Now tell me how I can get to my brother or your friend gets it."

I can hear Jay gasping for air. He's coughing which means he's still conscious. It doesn't sound pretty, but I promised I wouldn't say anything, so I need to keep my promise. At least for now.

"How am I supposed to know? Does it look like I work there?" I ask as sarcastically as I possibly can.

I can hear water splash over what I'm guessing is Jay's face. I can hear a gurgling sound which must be the sound of Jay choking on the water, but once the water stops, he's coughing his heart out once again in between gasps.

"Feeling any more cooperative now, detective? Your friend's looking a bit blue."

Damn it, Jay, breathe. What do I do? Think, Adam, think. What can I say that won't sound like a lie, but won't be true either?

"No? Let's try this again."

Here we go once again. The water, the gurgling, the coughing and the gasping, same as before.

He said Jake was his brother, so he's emotionally attached to him. How far can I go with this story, before h-"

"Where the hell's my brother?!" I'm cut off by the leader's yells.

Wait, what? What does he mean where? I thought he was in prison.

"Don't tell me you and your famous team don't have a lead on him, since he's escaped" he continues his accidental explanation.

Thank you very much, idiot. I can come up with a good story now, but before I can, Jay speaks up.

"Don't - tell him – any – thing" he whispers in between gasps. His voice is already hoarse.

I wanna say something, but before I can, water's being dumped on Jay once again. Except this time, there's not as much coughing at the end. More importantly, there's no gasping. Damn it.

"Jay?!" I asked alarmed. No response. "Jay!" Suddenly he gasps for air, making me exhale in relief. I gotta come up with a lie as soon as possible, before they drown Jay. I have no idea what's gonna happen after that though. Once they get the information they think they need, they might as well kill us.

No, I can't let that happen. I have to give Voight time to find us. I need to stall for as long as I can. I'm sorry Jay. Whatever you do, just keep breathing. This might be the biggest mistake of my life, but it's the only way to even have a slight chance of getting Jay out in one piece and alive.

I stay quiet.

Water's dumped again. And again. And again. It's been done seven times by now. That's a lot. I don't know how Jay's still conscious, but he doesn't shut up.

"Okay, maybe we should change the tactics" the leader says. That can't mean anything good. Stay with me Jay. Voight's gonna find us. I now he is. You just gotta hang in there.

I can hear something being dragged across the room, but I can't quite make out what it is. The water is turned on, and the gurgling sound is back. There's no pause And I finally understand.

It was a hose.

Water is now being poured directly on Jay's face. No bucket. Meaning the flow will never stop, unless I say start talking. I can hear Jay swallowing heaps of water, which means he's losing the battle. I gotta talk.

"Okay, okay, stop!" I yell. "Turn it off!"

Nothing happens.

"Damn it, you piece of shit, turn the damn water off! I'll tell you anything!"

The water is turned off and all I can hear is silence.

"Jay!" Nothing. "Damn it, Jay, breathe." Nothing. "Jay! Breathe!"

Suddenly, he coughs up what sound like quite a lot of water. He still doesn't inhale though.

"Breathe, Jay. Breathe."

Finally, he inhales as much air as he possibly can.

"That's it. Just keep breathing" I encourage him, thankful that he's still fighting. I can hear his breathing become more regular, though it's more of a wheeze than proper breathing.

"Start talking!" Jake's brother warns me, and I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. It turns into a very long and completely pointless monologue, in which I try to give as little information as I can, constantly keeping an eye on Jay's breathing. Sadly, I don't fool the leader.

"He's making this up" he says and before I can say anything, water is pouring on Jay once again. I scream and yell for them to stop, but it's pointless. No one listens to me. The three kidnappers are laughing, while I scream my hear out and try my best not to vomit at the sound of Jay inhaling water and not air. I can hear him kicking around to get out of the restraints. I can hear him screaming through the cloth. I can tell he's panicking and I can't blame him. He's experiencing what experts would call dry drowning. I, on the other hand, would call it torture.

Just as I start trashing around, even though I can't move very far, the door bursts open, and I hear the best sound, I could possibly wish for. "Chicago PD!" The sound of Voight's hoarse voice fills the room. I fell like I could cry.

"Drop it!" Dawson's voice joins him, referring to either the hose or a gun. "I said drop it!" Wait what's Dawson doing here? I thought he-

A shot rings out and something thumps to the floor. Two more shots follow, before hands appear on my shoulders.

"Ruzek! You okay, kid?" That's Al. Someone is untying my blindfold and suddenly, I can see again. I look around, trying to find Jay, however I can't see him, because Al's purposely standing in the way. I can hear other members of my team coaxing Jay to breathe, which doesn't help y state of panic.

"Jay! Is he okay?!" I yell not paying attention to his questions "Jay!"

"Ruzek, stop!" he says, squeezing my shoulders. "Let's worry about you for a second. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Al. Now let me check on Jay" I refuse to let him check on me.

"Alright, okay, just relax, so I can cut the tape" he says, referring to the fact that I'm still trashing around. I calm down enough for him to use his knife, but as soon as I'm free I dash over to Jay.

"Jay, can you hear me?" that's Dawson.

"Can you open your eyes, kid?" Voight.

"Come on buddy, deep breaths" Dawson again.

He's trashing around violently, despite the fact that he's barely breathing. His inhales are more like a very short and shallow gasp, followed by a very long wheeze instead of an exhale. His clothes are soaked with freezing cold water, which explains the constant shivering. His lips are completely blue, it seems like he can't hear any of our voices despite the fact that we're screaming, and it almost seems like he's crying.

And that's when it clicks to me.

He's having panic attack.

"Untie him" I yell at my teammates, before adding "Now!"

They immediately cut the ropes around Jay's arms and legs, as well as those across his chest and torso holding Jay in place. Someone removes the blocks that were keeping his head still and preventing him from effectively coughing up the water.

"It's okay. You're okay. We got you" I try my best to soothe him. Once he's untied, he stops trashing around as much. "Let's turn him on his side" I say, immediately receiving help from my teammates. Soon, Jay's laying on his side, coughing up some more of the water from his lungs. I put one of my hands on his chest, while rubbing the other one in circles across his back. "Just breathe, Jay. It's over. You're safe" I keep a rant of soothing words going. His breathing is still way to fast and shallow, and he's not exactly coherent, which means the panic attack isn't over. "Deep breaths, buddy. You're okay. They can't hurt you anymore."

I am well aware of the fact that the whole team is just about staring at me in shock. They never thought of me as someone who was caring. By now, they've probably figured out what was going on with Jay. Atwater went to get the EMTs, while the others took a step back, to let Jay breathe for a second. Dawson and Voight both took of thir jackets and placed one underneath Jay's head and covered him with the other to help him warm up a bit. Al was now crouched next to Jay, holding both of his hands for reassurance. I on the other hand kept the monologue of soothing words going, as it seemed to calm him down. I think neither Jay nor I knew what I was actually saying, but that didn't matter. We were safe.

After about five minutes, that seemed to last an eternity, Jay opened his eyes.

"You okay?" I asked cautiously.

I received a small nod in response, before Jay smiled. As in actually smiled. Yes, you heard me right. Smiled. "You did it" he whispered. "Thanks" he started coughing violently, so I gently patted his back.

"Shh, don't talk. I'm just glad you're okay, buddy."

That's when the EMTs arrived and started working on Jay. Al let go of his hands to give the EMTs some space, while I took hold of one of Jay's hands, refusing to let go. While they were getting ready to transfer Jay, I filled everyone in on exactly what happened, especially mentioning how many times Jay was hit in the head.

We were both driven to the nearest hospital (which happened to be Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee, yes, you heard me right, Milwaukee), where we were hooked up to IVs and heart monitors. They also took an MRI of our heads and x-rays of our chest to make sure we were really okay. Turns out we were quite lucky. We were both dehydrated and Jay ended up having a concussion and slight hypothermia. His lungs, however, were completely clear, which was a miracle if you ask me. A couple IVs and hours of sleep later, he was already asking if he could leave. Thanks to the emotional trauma we've been through, we were both released into family care (or in our case team care), and before we knew it, we were sitting in the car, driving back towards Chicago.

It just seemed too good to be true.

To be continued...

Okay, so this chapter turned out to be longer than expected. It is also really far from what I originally intended this story to be. I get really carried away when I write, although I don't think that's a bad thing… I mean, look where it brought me ;) Let me know what you think.

The story obviously isn't finished. I would've written more today, but it's super late, so it's gonna have to wait. There's at least one more (long) chapter coming your way, though I can't promise when I'm gonna have time to write it. I hope it's soon though. I wrote this whole chapter on Christmas day, and that says something about my priorities… I'm sorry for the delay again. I hope you liked it nevertheless.

Please review, so I know what you like. Also, if you have any requests, for the next section of chapters, let me know. I'm looking fore ideas.

Happy last few days of the year, use them wisely ;)

Love, N