"I just got a call from the station."

"And?"

"They think they found Jamie."

The last place Jamie thought he would wake up in was a hospital bed.

For several minutes he laid there, not fully conscious quite yet. He could hear a soft beeping, and his head felt like it was floating. There was a dull ache all over his body, and he wasn't sure what was going on. With a struggle, he slit his eyes open and then immediately winced them shut when his eyes were met with a bright white light. He attempted it again, this time prepared to adjust his eyes.

He was in a small hospital bed, with a heart monitor hooked up beside him. A bandaged leg was propped up on a pillow, and his arm was in a sling, while the other arm was attached to an IV drip. He could tell from the bulging underneath his gown that there were significant bandages on his chest as well. His memory was fuzzy, but he remembered being in a dark room, and his dad was on a computer in front of him. Was he skyping him? Why would he do that? They lived so close and he saw him practically every day...

With a gasp (followed by a coughing fit) he remembered everything that had happened: the kidnapping, his family watching him get tortured. He was filled with panic as his head filled with questions. Where was he? What happened to his kidnappers? Had his family found him?

Jamie thought about the last question and, relieved, came to the conclusion that he must have been rescued and taken to a hospital. Tears of relief filled his eyes and he laid his head back. He was safe!

Right then, the door to his room turned to open. Jamie turned, hoping to see the face of a family member. Instead, his living nightmare was proven to not be over.

The face of Chet peeked out from behind the door. "How ya feeling, champ?"

–-

Two weeks had passed since the traumatic viewing of Jamie's brutal attack. The kidnapper had not contacted the Reagans since then. Frank had barely slept since that day. He was overwhelmed with guilt. His son, his young, intelligent, kind-hearted boy was locked up somewhere, badly hurt, and it was Frank's fault.

He wished he could go back to that night so long ago and change things. Why didn't he shoot Carmen's hand? Or her leg? His training as a cop was always to go for the kill, unfortunately, if another person's life was in danger. He wished he could have caught Amy's killer before Carmen had taken things into her own hands. Carmen would be alive and Jamie would be safe at home.

Frank knew that there was no point in dwelling on the past. He couldn't change anything, in fact he couldn't do anything. He was completely at the mercy of this demented man. There was no evidence to follow, no trail left behind.

Frank had continued going to work, so as not to raise suspicion, but everyone at the twelfth precinct had noticed Jamie's prolonged absence. Eddie and Renzulli had been informed of the situation a week after Jamie's disappearance. Eddie had taken many personal days off after that.

Slowly, Frank's family had been losing their minds. Danny had been incredibly irritable and often holed himself up with work so he would be distracted from thinking of his missing brother. Erin continued to work, but her heart was no longer in it. The only way she had been able to sleep is if she cried so hard that she wore herself out. The younger kids had been told that Jamie had gone on a trip and may not be home for awhile, although they could sense that something was wrong.

Frank, unfortunately, could tell this was only the beginning; that the trauma that the Reagans would endure was only beginning. And he knew how it would end.

It would only end with Frank's death.

Chet was all too happy to see Jamie. He plopped himself down on the chair next to Jamie's bed like they were old friends. "Well how you feeling Jameson? Probably a little sore I can imagine," he said with a cheeky wink.

Jamie coughed before answering. "Where am I?"

Chet chuckled like Jamie had just perfectly executed a joke. "I figured you might ask that. Well, as you probably remember, I kind of had a little meltdown when we were having that conference with your dad. Sorry about that! Well, you were pretty beat up and I wouldn't want to end all the fun we had been having together."

Jamie scoffed at the word 'fun.'

"Well," Chet continued, "I thought I had better get you checked out. Turns out you had 9 broken ribs, a broken leg, a dislocated shoulder, and a nasty concussion. Oopsie!" Chet ruffled Jamie's hair. "But you'll be just fine, although you were in a coma for awhile with the head injury. I'll be taking you home soon though!"

Jamie's head was spinning. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Chet made everything sound so simple, and made his beating sound like an accident. Jamie's blood boiled. "Why can't you just let me go?" He rasped weakly. He was desperate and he just wanted to go home.

Chet laughed once more. "You know why." He said with a certain coldness to his voice. "Now be prepared," he began. "Tonight, we're gonna sneak you out of here. Now I know you, and you're probably not going to let go without a fight, so I better tell you that it's in your best interest to cooperate, because a couple of my friends happen to know where your little girlfriend is, and I'm sure she would LOVE to join you." Chet smiled at the horror in Jamie's eyes. "Did you know she hasn't been to work since she found out about you? Poor thing."

"Leave Eddie alone," Jamie growled.

"Then you'd better cooperate. I wouldn't want to mess up that pretty little face of hers." Chet's voice was suddenly very serious. He quickly regained his sugar-sweet voice again, however. "Now, how about some TV while we wait?"

Time had passed by ever so slowly while Jamie had laid there. After the medicine had worn off, he began to realize how hurt he was. His head pounded like a hammer to the beat of his heart. Every breath jostled his sore ribs. His leg felt like it had been ripped off. Through all this, though, he never said anything; he didn't want to give Chet any satisfaction.

As night fell and the last nurse came to check on him (Chet had told them that he had fallen down steep stairs while carrying furniture), Chet began to prepare Jamie for his plan. The last thing Jamie wanted to do was cooperate, but he knew that Chet would stay true to his word. He didn't want Eddie involved in his agony at all. It was bad enough that his family was involved.

The plan was that Jamie was going to dress in plainclothes and Chet was going to remove Jamie's bandages. Since shifts changed at 10, they would sneak out then without anyone noticing. Chet had already all too happily yanked out Jamie's IV and ripped off the bandages on his leg, chest, and arm. Jamie's eyes had watered from the pain, but he had refused to cry out.

At 9:58, Chet attempted to usher Jamie into a standing position. Unfortunately, Jamie could not hold back the gasp of pain as pressure was put on his bad leg. Chet slapped a hand over Jamie's mouth harshly and caught him before he could fall. Brutally, he forced Jamie to stand on two feet normally, holding him there until Jamie got the point: he was going to have to act like he was fine, and that included walking. Tears of pain rolled freely down Jamie's cheeks, but he refused to cry out again.

Chet pushed open the door and checked the hallway before motioning for Jamie to come. Jamie gingerly took a step towards the door but his bad leg buckled and he fell forward once more into Chet's arms, which resulted in a hard punch in the jaw. "One more screw up and your blondie goes bye bye," Chet harshly whispered.

Jamie swallowed and nodded through tears of pain and frustration. Gingerly, Jamie attempted a step forward. His leg held up but Jamie was met with a white hot pain shooting up his leg. His ribs hurt from falling, which added to his agony. Jamie tried to walk as normal as possible, without a limp, but it was slow and painful going.

Finally, they were in the lobby. Jamie swallowed the fear that build up in his throat at the thought of going back to the mercy of this man. He wanted to cry out for help and call the police, but he knew it would cost him Eddie; he'd rather run a marathon on his leg than be the reason she got hurt.

With that motivation in mind, he was filled with a surge of adrenaline and found the energy to walk the extra few yards to the door. Just then, however, a little girl ran in front of him. To avoid running her over, he stepped away and landed on his bad leg. Without thinking he cried out in pain as he fell, clutching his leg and chest as brutal pain filled them.

The secretary walked out from behind her desk. "Sir, are you okay?" She asked.

Chet began to panic and hurriedly tried to get Jamie to his feet. "He's fine, really, he just must have landed wrong-"

"Nurse!" The secretary called, then turned to Jamie, ignoring Chet. "Sir, are you hurt anywhere?"

Jamie could tell she was suspicious. Gulping, Jamie answered. "Yeah I'm fine. I was just surprised-ah!" Jamie cried out again as Chet roughly pulled him to his feet.

The secretary caught Jamie before he could fall and stood between Chet and Jamie. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask that you stay away from this man," the woman said sternly.

Chet was frustrated and panicking. "No really, he's just overreacting. He came in for a check up, to check on some sore ribs-"

The woman went over to Jamie, lifted his shirt, and viewed the black and purple bruises underneath. She turned back to Chet and picked up her pager. "I need security in the lobby ASAP."

Chet was losing his mind now. "Really ma'am, he's fine. Now if you'll just let us go-"

"Sir, if you don't back away from him right now I'm going to have to call the police."

That was the last straw for Chet. He pushed the lady aside and yanked Jamie to his feet and began to half carry, half drag Jamie out the door. Jamie could only cry out in pain, his recent jostling having racked his entire body with extreme agony, restricting his ability to move.

Security ran into the room just then. Chet pushed Jamie into the backseat of a sedan and quickly shut the door. Jamie could hear the lady shouting after them, "stop him! He's kidnapping that man!"

Then the hospital was nothing but a spot in the rear view mirror, and Jamie passed out.

Danny went into his house and greeted his kids after a long day at work. Linda kissed Danny and offered him leftovers from dinner. Then the kids were ushered to bed. The parents put on a normal front in front of the kids. The act had become routine since Jamie's disappearance to put the kids at ease. Now, it had become tiring for both parties.

Danny sat down at the dinner table. In front of him was a pork chop he hadn't touched and mashed potatoes that he played with with his fork. Linda watched him, knowing what was on his mind and knowing not to ask about it.

"You need to eat something," she said. "You haven't eaten all day."

Danny looked up at his wife. "How would you even know?"

"Because I know you. You haven't eaten."

Danny pushed his meal away. "I'm not hungry."

Linda sighed. "Danny, you have to take care of yourself. You've been losing weight and sleep. It's not healthy." She put her hand over his. "You're no use to anyone this way."

If someone at work had been telling him this, Danny would have blown up at them. But his sweet, loving wife, he couldn't get mad at. Tears came into Danny's eyes for the millionth time since his brother had been taken. "It's been two weeks Linda. Two weeks. What if he's dead?"

Linda shook her head. "Don't think like that Danny."

"How can I not think like this?" Danny cried. "You know what he did to him. It was bad. He could die from that. And we've had no contact since then. What if it's a sign?"

"Danny-"

"What if they finally just killed him and dumped his body somewhere, waiting to be found? What if he tortured him after the video and ended his life painfully?"

"Danny!" Linda yelled, effectively getting her husband to stop talking. "I know it's hard. You've been traumatized. I can't say I wouldn't be feeling the same way in your position. But what good are you to Jamie if you give up hope for him? What if he's fighting right now, holding on to the hope that his family will come for him? He needs you, Danny." Linda sobbed for a moment before continuing. "He has no hope without you and Erin and Frank. He needs you to believe in him. You can't give up, you can't talk like this. That is what your enemy wants."

Danny let tears roll down his face. "You're right Linda..." he whispered. "I miss him so much...I'm so scared..."

"I know," Linda said, holding her husband close. "I know."

And that is how they were for the next hour, holding each other; neither knowing what the days to come would unveil, but neither wanting the other to give up hope.

After awhile, Danny's phone rang, breaking the silence. Danny cleared his throat before answering. "Hello?"

"Danny, its your dad."

"Hey," Danny replied. "Is everything okay?"

"I just got a call from the station."

Danny's heart shot to his throat. He squeezed Linda's hand. "And?"

"They think they found Jamie."