AN: I don't have a lot to say for this one, other than that I'm sorry for the delay, but it's the holiday season, so I'm sure you understand. And if you don't, oh well I guess lmao. Enjoy!

James' vision grew fuzzy as he retched into the toilet once again, his arms shaking from holding him up above the dirty porcelain. It was far from the nicest bathroom in the nicest hotel he'd ever stayed in, but this crappy motel was cheap, took cash, and the management didn't ask questions. James leaned back against the side of the shower-tub as he panted, wiping the back of his hand along his mouth. Miguel had been right, of course. Miguel had always been right, and now, he wasn't there to clean up James' mess.

James had royally fucked up this time. If he had just listened to Miguel, then everything would've been fine. Yes, he wouldn't have gotten the chance to fuck the prettiest boy he'd ever seen, but at least he wouldn't have been on the run from the law with two eyewitnesses and an overwhelming amount of evidence against him. If caught, James didn't stand a chance. Even if he were somehow able to find the boys and kill them both before they could provide statements to the police, he would still be done for. His life was over. Miguel had been right. He was always right, and James had killed him out of his own selfishness.

And to top it all off, James had a debilitating concussion. He supposed getting hit right in the temple with a meat mallet would do that, and he was just lucky to be alive at all. Surely the boys had thought they'd killed him. James wondered if they knew now that he was still out there.

The thought of their fear at the idea of him coming after them brought a smile to James' face. The boys would be looking around every corner, constantly checking over their shoulders, and rightfully so. James still had every intention of finding Drake and Josh, and dragging them back to his bed where they belonged. Of course, he would have to do a lot more planning this time. James needed a new place to stay, somewhere that he could get the boys without them being noticed, and with few enough people that the chances of being caught himself were smaller. He would probably have to leave the state, at least the city. Maybe there was somewhere out in the desert that had a convenience store and neighbors that didn't ask questions. That would be ideal. He could drag the boys out there and keep them until he was through with them, then get rid of their bodies rather easily. He would need better security measures too. Although out in the desert, where it would be much harder for the boys to find help if they were to escape again, James didn't want to get to that point in the first place. No, they would be chained at all times around one ankle - it wasn't so easy to dislocate an ankle to slip a cuff as it was a thumb.

One thing that James was torn on was whether or not to leave the boys together. On the one hand, hearing Josh crying and screaming at him to let Drake go while Drake cried out for Josh to save him had been a thing of beauty, and James wasn't sure that anything could rival that high. But on the other hand, the boys were likely more unruly and rebellious when they were together, fighting for each other. Perhaps it was better to keep them separate, have each believe the other was dead in order to take the fight out of them and accept their new places in life. But was that really what James wanted? Would fucking Drake have been nearly as much fun if he hadn't gone kicking and screaming and fighting and crying? In part, the idea of a willing plaything was alluring, but if that were truly what he wanted, he could find that somewhere else much easier. No, James liked it better when they fought. After all, Drake's agonized screams had truly been music to his ears.

So no, at the very least, he couldn't let them believe the other was dead. Maybe it would still be for the best to keep them separate, but he could always deal with that later. Besides, he had a lot of work to get done before he could find the boys and take them again. First and foremost, he had to evade the police while letting his concussion heal.

James had already switched the license plate on Miguel's Hummer H3 with another, and once he could stand without swaying and puking, he would go buy some paint and slather it on. It wouldn't have to look good, it just couldn't be silver anymore. James needed to dye his hair too. A simple box dye would probably do the trick. It couldn't be that hard to turn blond to black. He had no other distinguishable marks to speak of, and knew he was quite average and plain looking. That would serve to his advantage this time. The more average looking someone was, the easier it was to blend in. James was sure that with a few minor changes, he would be able to get around the city easily enough without being noticed for the time being. He would need to figure out how to find the boys, and James was at a loss for that.

When he and Miguel would hunt, they never went after anyone specifically, and simply chose the prettiest young men who happened to be at the right place at the right time. James wasn't sure he had even known any of the others' names. Drake and Josh were different. They were special, and James needed them. He needed to have Drake beneath him again, and he needed to see if Josh was as good as his brother. James wasn't sure if that would even be possible for anyone for the rest of his life to be as good of a fuck as Drake, but he certainly wanted to taste Josh and find out.

But in order for that dream to become a reality, James needed to find them, and he couldn't do that until he could stand without passing out. James didn't believe he'd ever gotten a concussion before, at least not one this bad, but he knew they could take some time to heal even enough for him to be able to do basic tasks. He'd gotten lucky that the nausea hadn't hit until after he'd made it from his house to the motel, but now, he couldn't go anywhere. He could barely crawl from the lumpy bed to the dirty bathroom. But James could deal with it, because he knew those boys awaited him. He would have them in his possession again, but they were safe from him, for now.

Rosa stifled a yawn as she shifted on her feet. She was running towards the end of her shift, both with dread and relief. Relief, because she'd been standing in virtually the same place for almost the last twelve hours, and dread, because once she was off shift, she wouldn't be able to be there to protect Drake and Josh anymore. Instead, she would have to go home and at least attempt to sleep for a while before she could come back and resume her post. She knew that whoever would be taking her place would be just as competent as she was, but that didn't mean she had to like the idea of the brothers being out of her sight for a while. This was the only thing she could do to protect them now, and she was going to do it with everything she had.

Only a few minutes later, Diego walked up to her once again. He'd been in and out of the hospital all day, pressing the doctors to let him get official statements from the boys. Based on the fact that he didn't look as annoyed as he had all day, Rosa was going to guess that he'd finally been given the green light.

"McClain, you mind taking over while I get their statements?" Diego asked, addressing Rosa's partner. "I want to take Rosa in with me. In cases like this, sometimes they do better with a female in the room."

"Of course," McClain responded with a curt nod and polite smile, stepping to the side to allow Diego to pass.

Diego knocked twice on the door, then opened it and walked in, Rosa right behind him. The family was all together again, including Josh's girlfriend. They seemed to be sitting comfortably together, if somewhat awkwardly - and Rosa couldn't exactly fault them for that.

"I know this is going to be difficult," Diego gently said, directly addressing the brothers in lieu of any greeting. "But I'd like to take your statements now, if that's okay."

Josh offered them a sad smile and a nod, while Drake pulled his knees up to his chest and turned away.

"It's fine," Drake muttered, just barely loud enough to be heard.

"Thank you," Diego continued. He turned to address the rest of the family. "We have to do this one at a time. One parent may stay, but the rest of you are going to have to leave with whichever one isn't giving his statement."

"Wait, we can't do it together?" Drake asked, looking slightly panicked as he glanced between Josh and Diego.

"They have to be done separately," Rosa said as gently as she could. "I'm sorry, I can't imagine how stressful this is, but we'll be done as soon as we can, and then you'll be together again."

"I don't wanna leave him," Josh added, an undercurrent of anger in his voice that surprised Rosa just a bit.

"I'll still be with you," the pretty young girl holding Josh's hand said, but Josh just shook his head.

"It's not me I'm worried about."

"I'll be okay," Drake insisted. He cringed in pain as he sat up, holding himself up higher and lifting his chin in defiance even as his hands began to shake. Rosa didn't miss the way that he clenched them around the blanket to stop the tremors.

"Sweetie," Audrey softly called, running her fingers through her son's hair. "Do you want me or Walter to stay, or do you want us both to leave? Whatever you want, that's what we'll do."

Drake looked away from his parents and back to Josh, before quickly dropping his eyes down again. It was clear that what he wanted was for Josh to stay, but that wasn't an option. When he looked back up at his mother, his eyes were shining with unshed tears.

"I don't want you guys to hear it," he said, his voice rough as he fought to keep his composure.

Audrey nodded, continuing to run her fingers through Drake's hair as tears built in her own eyes.

"Okay, if that's what you want."

Drake nodded again as he wiped at his eyes.

"Do you want to go first, Drake?" Diego asked.

"I just want to get this over with," he replied, not making eye contact with anyone. Walter sighed.

"Josh, I'll help you into the wheelchair," he said.

"I don't need a wheelchair," Josh tiredly replied.

"You know it's hospital policy," Josh's girlfriend added. "I'll even push you around."

Josh looked back at Drake and ducked his head, catching his brother's gaze.

"You sure you're gonna be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Drake responded, giving Josh a small but genuine smile. "I know you'll be right back here if I need you to. You'll just know."

Josh smiled back, then allowed his family to help him into the wheelchair and out of the room. He seemed to hide it from his brother, but Rosa saw the way that he gripped the arm rests of the wheelchair like he wanted to rip them off the moment he couldn't see Drake anymore.

When the door closed, Rosa took the seat that Josh's girlfriend had been sitting in and turned it to face Drake. Diego claimed the seat that Audrey had been in. Drake looked down at his lap again, his hands still clenched around the blanket.

"I'm Detective Diego Villarreal, and this is my sister, Deputy Rosa Villarreal," Diego said. "I'll be asking the questions, but Rosa is gonna stay in here with us in case you need anything, okay?"

Drake looked up at Rosa, gave her a soft smile, then shook his head with a chuckle.

"What?" she asked, offering him a smile of her own.

"Nothing, it's just-," Drake looked away, smiling wider, and was he blushing? "In any other circumstance, I would be hitting on you so fast and doing whatever I had to to get your number, but now…" he trailed off with a shrug. "It's just different now."

"Hey, you already have my number," Rosa said, choosing to ignore the depressing implications of what he was saying.

"What, 9-1-1?"

"Yeah," Rosa chuckled out. Drake giggled in response. He honest to God giggled, and Rosa caught even Diego smiling at the sound.

"That's so cheesy," Drake said. He was smiling as he shook his head.

"But it made you smile didn't it? Hey, it even made you laugh," she pointed out. Drake shook his head, even as he was still grinning. "And too bad that it's cheesy," Rosa continued, then immediately dropped her smile. "Because that's the only number of mine you're gonna get," she stated as firmly as she could, just to make sure there was no doubt in anyone's mind.

Drake flattened his mouth into a straight line and nodded. The message had been received.

"Drake, I know you don't want to talk about this," Diego said, bringing the conversation back on task. "But you need to tell us everything that happened. Everything, Drake. Your statement here is very important in making sure that this man spends the rest of his life in prison for all the things he's done."

"But if you need to take a break at any time, just tell us," Rosa interjected. "It doesn't matter how long this takes. We'll go at your pace. If you need to take a break and have Josh come back in for a while before we continue, that's okay. Whatever you need, we'll try to do it."

The boy nodded again, taking a deep breath. He flexed his fingers a few times, then nodded again, and looked back up at Diego.

"Then I guess I'll start on the back road."

Josh knew they were all staring at him, but he didn't care. He hated being apart from Drake and he didn't care if he was being obvious about it. The last time he couldn't see his brother - aside from in the ambulance - Drake was being raped, so Josh felt he had a pretty good reason to be apprehensive about Drake being out of his sight.

"He's gonna be okay," Mindy reminded him, taking a hold of his hand to stop his incessant finger tapping - that was usually Drake's habit, to fidget so much. "I know you're scared for him, but they're not gonna push him farther than he can handle right now. They're gonna stop if Drake needs them to take a break, and then you'll be back with him. Drake knows you'll be there if he needs you."

"You two do have this weird, almost telepathic thing with each other," Megan added, speaking for the first time in hours. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet, which would usually mean she was plotting some way to make him and Drake miserable, but there was no way that Megan was cruel enough to torture them while they were still in the hospital at least. Josh supposed she just wasn't quite sure how to act, and he couldn't exactly blame her.

"This could take a while, so why don't you at least try to get your mind off it for a bit?" Walter suggested. "I could try to scrounge up some ice cream or something like that."

"Not if Drake doesn't get any," Josh muttered in reply. He wasn't looking at his family. Instead, his eyes were focused on the entrance to the hallway, because down the hallway was the elevator, and up the elevator was the pediatric ward, and in the pediatric ward was Drake.

"We'll take him for some while you're giving your statement," Walter suggested again, but his heart clearly wasn't in it.

"I'm not gonna think about anything other than Drake until I can see that Drake is okay," Josh insisted. "I appreciate you trying to help, and I'm not trying to be a di- a jerk to you guys, but the only thing that's going to help is bringing me back to my brother." He sighed, shaking his head and running his right hand through his hair, tearing it from Mindy's grasp. At least he'd kept himself from swearing in front of Megan, as if she didn't know all of those words already.

"Hey, look at me," Mindy said. She leaned her head over until she was directly in Josh's line of sight, forcing Josh to meet her beautiful brown eyes. She was so pretty, and she had given up a day of school to be there with him instead, and he was being so rude to her. He didn't deserve her. "I know you're worried about Drake, but he said he was going to be okay because he knows that you're gonna know if something's wrong and he needs you. So how about you trust him? He trusts you."

Josh closed his eyes and shook his head. That right there was exactly the problem.

"He shouldn't trust me," Josh said. He opened his eyes and looked away from his family again. "I couldn't keep him safe. He shouldn't trust me at all."

"Josh," Audrey cried, her voice breaking. "None of this is your fault." His stepmother leaned over from her seat and wrapped her arms around him. Josh returned the embrace with his right arm and tried to relax. The logical part of him knew that she was right, but that part was being drowned out by his emotional side, the side that would never forget the terror in his brother's eyes or the way that Drake had been screaming for Josh to help him, while he hadn't been able to do anything but sit there and cover his ears and sob.

"You know he doesn't blame you," Mindy added. She put her hand on his knee, a few of her fingers touching his bare skin where his hospital gown didn't cover. It still gave him butterflies. "Drake loves you more than anything, he would never blame you for this."

"Yeah, 'cause for some stupid reason, he blames himself," Josh said, anger once again flaring up in him as he remembered the things that Drake said about himself. "He blames himself for us getting taken by those guys in the first place, and for what that monster did to him. I can't get him to see that it wasn't his fault at all, and I don't know how to help him." Josh shook his head derisively. All he wanted to do was fix this for Drake, but he was at a total loss. His dad sat down in front of him, a sad smile on his face.

"I know you want to, but it's not your responsibility to fix anything," Walter said. "What happened wasn't the fault of either one of you, and it's not up to either of you to make everything better." He sighed. "I'm sure Drake will be seeing Dr. Stein a lot more after this, and maybe it's a good idea for you to start seeing him too, at least for a little while."

Josh scoffed and shook his head.

"Drake hates Dr. Stein," he said. "The guy means well, but he's just not suited to be Drake's psychiatrist. Drake is seventeen, and this guy treats him like he's seven. I know Drake can seem like a little kid a lot of the time, but he's almost an adult and this guy just doesn't treat him like one."

"Why has he never said this?" Audrey asked. "All Drake's told me was that he thought Dr. Stein was a little weird."

"He didn't want to disappoint you," Josh answered with a shrug of his good shoulder. "He knew you wanted him to get better, and that you were familiar with Dr. Stein since he'd seen him back-," he broke off, glancing at Mindy. She didn't know about Drake's father. "Back before. So he didn't say anything."

"He wouldn't have disappointed me," Audrey said.

"I know, I told him that, but he just wanted you to think he was getting better. He didn't want you to worry about him, so he made me promise not to tell you. Until now at least." Josh didn't feel too bad about breaking that promise. Their mom knowing was in Drake's best interest in the first place, and after what had just happened to them, it was even more so.

"Well, we'll make sure we get him another one," Walter said with a nod. "I'm sure there's doctors here that would have good suggestions. But I was being serious about you talking to someone too." Josh shook his head, but his dad continued. "I think it could be good for you. I really do."

"So do I, and I'm smarter than you," Mindy said. She caught Josh's gaze and smirked at him in the way she always did when she was teasing him. Those butterflies flew in his stomach once again. "I even spent some time in a mental rehabilitation clinic, and that's only made me even smarter in every way. So if you ever want a shot at being smarter than me - which of course we all know is impossible, but I'm not here to crush your dreams - then you should talk to someone too. Unless you wanna give up now and admit I'll always be smarter than you." Mindy shrugged and kept that teasing smirk on her face. Josh couldn't help but smile just a little bit.

"I'll think about it, okay?" he conceded. "Can we leave it at that for now?"

"You could always just talk to me," Megan suggested with a shrug. "I would love it if you paid me to talk to you about your problems and have me tell you that I think you're being stupid." She smiled at him the way she always did when she pranked him or made fun of him, and this time, Josh loved seeing it, and couldn't hold back his own full grin.

"Megan," Walter softly scolded.

"No, it's fine," Josh said, that smile still on his face. It was a bit of normalcy that made him feel, even for a moment, like everything was okay. Josh hoped they really could get back to that one day.

"I'm so glad you feel that way," Megan continued. "Because both of you are being stupid if either of you think what happened is your fault. And Mindy will back me up on that, so you know I'm right." Megan crossed her arms and leaned back, like she was so satisfied with herself.

"Well, I wouldn't say it like that, but technically, Megan is right, at least right that it's not your fault or Drake's," Mindy added.

Josh just shrugged his right shoulder again. He didn't feel like talking about it anymore. He wanted to get back to Drake and see that he was okay. Josh took a deep breath and turned to look back down the hallway, once again tuning his family out and drumming his fingers on the table as his impatience grew. In order for Drake to tell the detective everything, it was probably going to take a considerable amount of time, but that didn't mean that Josh had to like it.

Ever since what had happened, there was a pit in his stomach at even the very thought of being separated from his brother. When it actually happened, that pit turned into a bottomless chasm, unable to close until he was reunited with him. Talking to his family had helped distract him for a moment, but it hadn't made that chasm go away. He was still too worried about Drake to relax. Josh could feel that his heart rate was faster than normal, and resisted the urge to press his fingers to his neck to check just how much faster it was. He could also feel that his hand was starting to shake, but he just kept drumming it on the table in hopes that no one would notice. The need to get back to Drake was growing with every passing second, making it a little difficult to breathe. Josh reached up and pulled the collar of the hospital gown away from his neck, despite the fact that it wasn't tight around it at all.

"Josh? Are you okay?" Mindy asked. She leaned over, likely trying to catch his gaze, but Josh kept himself focused on the hallway that led to Drake.

"I need to get back to Drake," he truthfully responded through clenched teeth. He was starting to sweat a bit. Was this an anxiety attack?

"Honey, they haven't said he's done yet," Audrey said, beginning to rub his back. It felt nice, and even calming, but it wasn't enough. He needed to see that Drake was okay. That's the only way he was going to stop freaking out.

"I can't do this, I need to know that he's okay, and if someone doesn't start wheeling me back to him right now, I'll stand up and walk there myself," he said. Josh knew he was starting to be a little rude again, and in the back of his mind, he hated that. Being rude was so unlike him, especially to his family, but his need to get back to Drake was stronger than his desire to apologize.

"Okay, I'll take you back up there," Walter said, quickly standing up. "We'll just see that he's okay, and then we have to let him finish with the detective, okay?"

"That's fine, I just need to see him."

"Okay." Walter turned towards the girls. "I'll take him up, but you guys should stay here, for now at least."

"Okay," Audrey responded with a sad smile and a nod. Mindy and Megan nodded silently, both clearly unsure how to react to the temper he'd developed overnight. "I love you, sweetie." She rubbed his back some more.

"I love you too, Mom," Josh forced himself to say. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm this way." Audrey was just trying to help. They were all just trying to help him. They didn't deserve to deal with his newfound anger.

"It's okay," she told him.

"We'll be back," Walter said, then began wheeling Josh away while Josh held on to his IV pole.

They traveled silently until they reached the elevator. Josh was already starting to feel better just knowing that he was going back to Drake.

"I really am sorry," he apologized to his dad. "I don't know what's gotten into me."

"You don't need to apologize," Walter said. "You've been through a lot these past few days. No one is expecting you to act like everything's fine. But that is all the more reason why you should talk to a professional. Maybe not to Dr. Stein, but to someone."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Josh muttered. They really were right, but Josh didn't have to like that either.

Josh didn't say anything else as his dad continued to wheel him out of the elevator and down the pediatric hallway. It took all of Josh's willpower not to jump out of the wheelchair and burst down the door. Deputy McClain was still standing by the entrance.

"I'm sorry, but they're not finished yet," he said.

"I know, Josh just needs to see that Drake is okay, then we'll go."

Deputy McClain nodded, then motioned with his finger for them to follow him, but he didn't open the door. He took a few steps over by the window, which was covered by vertical blinds from the inside of the room.

"It's best if you don't interrupt, but if you stand exactly here, you can see him through the slit in the blinds, just a little bit," McClain said. He helped Walter to get Josh in just the right position, and when Josh saw Drake, he immediately relaxed, breathing out a sigh of relief.

Drake was okay. Josh could just see him through the slit, like McClain said, but it was enough. He could see that Drake was crying, but it didn't look like Drake was a complete wreck. Josh still hated not being able to comfort him while he cried, but he felt better knowing that Drake was okay. Mindy had been right - as she always was. Josh needed to trust Drake more. If Drake needed him to burst down the door and be there, then Josh would know. And in that moment, Drake didn't need him to do that. He was okay.

"Can I stay here, just for a little bit?" Josh asked.

"For a few minutes," McClain answered, then stepped back to the door.

Josh nodded in thanks, his attention never straying from his view into the window. Drake was okay, and that was all that mattered.