My Split Conference

When JD came out of the fuzzy sleep, his head felt heavy and his limbs ached. A small ache was beginning to pound at his left temple, and the room was dark.

Swallowing the filmy, gross taste from his mouth, JD struggled to open his eyes from the sedative and tried to remember the reason he felt like he'd drank way too much the previous night.

Realization flashed hard into his mind as he became more awake, and the terror made a nauseous, thick ball in his stomach. Slowly moving to gauge any possible injuries, the only thing that concerned him now was that he couldn't move his limbs well. The thin nylon cording was tight against his wrists, and he could already feel slight rope burns forming on the skin. His ankles weren't fairing much better, and his elbows ached from their odd angle.

That only made him wonder how long he'd been out.

JD struggled to adjust his eyes to the dim lighting of the room, and though he wore a jacket, he felt cold with sick fear. Slowly, the room became clearer.

It was a hotel room; just not the one he'd been in the night before.

Alright, stay calm. You're a doctor. You're supposed to stay calm in situations like this. How bad can one crazy person be? You've dealt with them before; just relax.

His eyes continued to adjust, and he recognized the surroundings as a dingy bathroom. It was still dark enough that he couldn't make much out. Slowly, JD stretched his sore knees out and glanced for a window. The glass above the shower stall had been spray-painted with black paint that had trailed down the tiled wall. Over the paint, someone had plastered something else to it (JD guessed some sort of tape, but his eyes were still blurry).

A groan made him jump back as his foot toed something solid. JD supposed it shouldn't have surprised him as he finally realized he'd been dumped in a bathtub. It was only human nature to roll into a small ball of fear when feeling defensive.

And whoever was across from him in the small tub seemed to share his sentiment.

But even as JD's eyes adjusted to the darkness bit by bit, he slowly recognized the head of curly hair and the toned stature of the figure across from him.

Fear became more real and tangible. If there was anyone JD thought could get him out of this one, it had been the man across from him. He realized his neck was itching now from a scratchy cloth tied around it.

Had someone gagged him?

But the man across from JD was slowly waking up and realization was hitting him in much the same fashion it seemed.

Perry groaned when something poked him in the calf. Feeling thick-headed and slow, the familiar side-effects of the sedative made him try harder to open his eyes. The inevitable, frantic sickness hit him hard in the stomach when he felt the bonds around his wrists and ankles.

The hard surface against his back and the similar walls around him made him feel immediately claustrophobic, and he resisted the urge to kick his legs out. It wouldn't do much good, and by the looks and sounds of it, someone was in here with him. It wouldn't be the best idea he'd ever had; kicking what might be his only way out.

But the memories of the previous night (or however long it might've been; he couldn't say) washed over him and it was little guesswork to tell who was shaking in the room with him as his eyes adjusted to the blackness around him. The panic was getting harder to control at this point, and the hard knot of fear in his stomach was getting heavier as he fully woke.

Perry lifted his head with a quiet moan as the headache that had niggled there previously made itself known. Heart pounding so heavy he was sure he could hear it outside of the blood roaring in his ears, he struggled to sit up. A grimace of pain flitted over his face at the soreness in his limbs.

"Dr. Cox?" a tentative voice finally asked in the darkness.

Perry slowly tried to focus on the figure in front of him, coldness making his skin shiver. "I blame you, Newbie."

A shrill laugh answered him, though he couldn't see JD's face. "Yeah, I can totally see how this is my fault," JD answered in a tight, shaking voice. "I'm the one who let the guy out. I'm the one who put a needle in my neck. I'm the one who did whatever it was that got you here."

Perry grimaced again at that; it did seem illogical when the kid put it that way. Still, he needed someone to blame for their current predicament. If he could find someone to be angry at presently, it would calm him enough to think of a way out.

"You're the one always pissing and moaning about how I never ask you out for a beer, Petunia. If you'd checked your damn door before I came over, the guy would've never gotten in there."

"I thought it was you the first time around," JD tried to point out in a sullen voice, but it came out whiny and high-pitched.

"Dear god, quit crying," Perry muttered. The irritation gave way to a more primal, instinctive fear of being threatened, and the tense worry coming from JD's direction wasn't helping him to think more rationally. As he saw it, they were both bound in a similar fashion, which made getting out of the bathtub next to impossible. If it were possible, it was going to take fancy handwork to get the bonds off.

Even that wasn't so much a problem as dealing with whatever might lie on the other side of the bathroom door.

Quiet footsteps and a soft whistle, however, made both of them immediately quiet down. They both heard a door shut, and the footsteps and off-key strains of melody faded out.

"If we're going to try and get out of here, now's as good a time as any," Perry finally grumbled. "Just…stay there."

"But…"

"Shut up, Newbie. I'm still blaming you for all of this, and as soon as we're out of here, I'm going to make the rest of your time at Sacred Heart a living hell."

JD shut up at that, if only because he knew the other man was a hell of a lot calmer then he was, and also because he didn't think anything could be worse then this torturous feeling of not knowing what came next.

Perry shifted again the bathtub, trying to stretch his legs out. A soft utterance of pain made him draw his ankles back. He'd kicked the kid. Well, JD had kicked him first if he could remember the fuzzy memory correctly. Still, Perry shifted again as JD moved away as best he could.

Slowly, Perry got to his feet and sat on the lip of the tub. "Newbie, put your back against mine. I can't turn around without falling over."

The first attempt had him sliding hard back into the tub. Perry froze again, not sure if anyone might've heard that.

There was no telling how many people were with the guy, after all.

But after a tense few minutes, nothing happened. Perry struggled back to the edge of the tub again, and slowly felt JD's narrow back support his side as he twisted for better leverage.

Carefully this time, he turned a bit more and found himself hitting the tile floor face-first with a thunk, ankles still caught over the side.

JD winced. That had to hurt. He might've laughed if the situation weren't so terrifying to begin with. Even so, he sat still, as if moving would jinx the entire process of attempting to escape.

Perry slowly readjusted himself to being able to stretch out more, and got to his knees. The tricky part was attempting to get to his feet. Frowning, he sat back down again, and sloppily pushed himself up with his leg muscles.

His body groaned with aches and pains, but he ignored them as he hopped backwards awkwardly. He winced when his hands and back slammed into the door, and froze again to listen for returning footsteps.

A breath he didn't know he'd been holding escaped his mouth as he felt around for the doorknob. The knob itself brushed against the small of his back, but the bonds around his wrists prevented him from touching it. His knees were going to hate him when it was all said and done, but he crouched until his fingers wrapped desperately around the cold metal. He twisted at it.

Soft footsteps became audible again, and Perry struggled to push the terror away as he pushed at the door.

It didn't budge.

Perry swore sharply under his breath as the footsteps grew louder. He could hear JD's breathing harden in the darkness as he pushed at the door again.

Still, it didn't budge.

When Perry heard the door opening again, he already knew it was best to play "still asleep" then to be found awake and trying to escape. Hurrying back to the tub, albeit clumsily, he sat on the lip and let himself fall back in as he heard the door open to the room outside of the bathroom.

"Shut your eyes, Gretchen, now."

JD obeyed wordlessly, and hoped he passed as being asleep.

Perry forced his breathing to slow down as he let his eyes slip back closed wearily. They were really in it this time around.

Still, he heard the scraping of something outside of the bathroom door, and then the entrance filled with outside light.

JD couldn't help but flinch as blinding light filled the room. A blast of cold air whipped through, and the new fear that he had no clue where they were entered his system. Shadows danced over his closed lids as someone moved about the room.

"I know you're both awake," a voice deadpanned. "I've been around enough crazy people to know when they're asleep."

Still, JD stubbornly kept his eyes shut and just hoped that Perry was doing the same.

The shadow over their eyes didn't move, but they both heard an expulsion of breath in a wary sigh.

"Have it your way then."

Slightly fearful and unsure of what was about to happen, Perry kept his eyes shut with the hopes that he looked naturally sedated.

But then something cool and metal was pressed against his neck, and he felt a small trickle of wetness run down his collarbone.

His eyes flew open immediately at the inherent threat to his life, and the black-haired man who had introduced himself as Eric came into view. The light made him squint, eyes having been used to the darkness.

But that faded as he realized a rather sharp knife was laid against his neck.

"I'd tell your friend to wake up," Eric warned readily. "I'm not afraid to press deeper."

JD's eyes did open at that, and he stiffened as Mr. Andrews pulled the knife away from Perry's neck. While Perry's face was pale, his features didn't reveal anything else. JD blinked against the harsh lighting of the dingy bathroom, but eyed their captor with an unsteady gaze.

JD began to open his mouth, but Perry gave him a glare that told him to shut up. So he did.

Perry looked up at the man. "Eric, was it?"

"Yeah. No talking," the man went on placidly as he sat on the sink's counter. "Two's better than one, I always say. I'm not going back and there's no way you're going to talk me into it."

"They already know you're missing, and probably know that we're missing now as well," Perry replied, hoping his voice came off as casual. "How long do you think it's going to be before they figure out where you're at?"

"A while, probably," Eric replied calmly, ignoring the frantic voices in his head that told him this was wrong. "With two of you, there's two sets of financial information, two ID's, two of everything really."

JD felt his stomach tighten again in nausea and fear. Perry's face still remained colorless as the information settled in.

"Still traceable. We're supposed to be back home in a couple of days," Perry continued still, somewhat relieved that the man was at least letting him talk. "Someone's going to know we're missing."

Still, Eric seemed unfazed. "No, you two are my ticket out of that stupid hospital. I'm not sick. I don't need to even be there. They'll listen to me when I tell them you two have cleared me. You're doctors, aren't you?"

"We believe you," Perry went on, though something wasn't sitting right with his chest. It might've been the clear fear written across JD's face. "If you'll just let us go, we'll…"

"No!" Eric suddenly shouted in an angry voice. "You're just saying that so you can take me back. I know all your tricks."

"Eric, I…"

"I'm not Eric," the man shouted fearfully, the knife suddenly shaking in his hands. His face slipped into one of confused terror as he looked from JD to Perry again.

Perry suddenly understood the look on JD's face, and hoped his own face was remaining composed.

But the man on the sink's counter had his hands pressed to his head as he shoved the voices around in his mind. Finally, his head came up again.

The calm, somewhat disinterested look came back. "Don't listen to Tommy, boys. He's just a scared little baby sometimes; needs someone to beat him into shape. You should get comfortable. You'll be here a while."

"Wait, can't we…"

"I said no talking," the man replied, cutting him off neatly. He headed for the door again and flipped out the bathroom light.

Perry's voice caught in his throat as the door shut and he heard something shoved against it.

"Didn't you look at any of the patients there, Dr. Cox?" JD asked, voice petulant and childish again.

"I never look at any mental case too closely, Newbie. And this is why; he knows you now."

"But someone will know we're missing, won't they?" JD pointed out, trying to find some sort of bright side.

Perry didn't reply right away, which only served to heighten JD's uneasiness. "Eventually, Clarissa." But he didn't say anything more, and Perry couldn't find it in himself to rant because now the situation was sinking in.

Still, he struggled to remain calm. He'd dealt with mental patients before, hadn't he? In a vague sense, perhaps, but he'd still had to see them on occasion before sending them to the psych ward.

His mind drifted over medical terminology and treatments. God, he hated mental patients.

"He's DID," JD finally mumbled quietly. "Steady abuse case, in and out of the system since he was nine. His chart didn't say much about what kind of abuse; only that the family's dead and he's been in and out of the asylums since he was eighteen."

"Think he was on or off the meds, Newbie?"

JD looked up at that, though his eyes hadn't completely readjusted to the darkness yet. "He seemed pretty lucid for someone doped up on anti-psychotics."

"So a crazy screw-ball who needs medication," Perry muttered, wishing he could push the sullen tone from his voice. "Did it say anything about his actual disorder?"

"I didn't get that far," JD replied reluctantly.

"Great, Newbie. Just out-flipping-standing. Did you think at all before you approached him so closely or did you just want a mental case to take an interest in you? I swear to God, you'll be lucky if I don't kill you before he does."

JD stiffened at that, making Perry somewhat regret his words. "You don't think he's gonna kill either one of us, do you?"

"He's crazy, Newbie. What the hell do you think?"

"You know, you're really not helping the situation at all by being a fatalist."

"Find a bright side, Pollyanna. If it's bright enough, I'll make the death quick."

"Someone has to know we're missing eventually."

"Where are we, Newbie?"

JD opened his mouth, but promptly shut it again without replying as he finally made out Perry's outline across from him.

"That's what I thought," Perry grumbled sharply. His headache had begun to fade slightly as he felt JD shift uncomfortably across from him. "We'll be lucky if he comes to his senses enough to check himself back in."

"And if not?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

JD knew he didn't, but heard himself say yes anyway.

Perry chuckled bitterly in the darkness, but both of them could hear the strain wearing thin on his voice.

"Who knows what's going on in his mind, Newbie? There's no telling. The first thing that's predominant is that he doesn't want to go back to the hospital. With all the crap they've been pumping into him, there shouldn't be any surprise there. But there isn't any way to tell what kind of long-term affect the anti-psychotics have had on him, not to mention what was going on in there before he even started his hospital visits."

Perry struggled to run information through his head that he'd half-forgotten from a long-ago psych rotation during his residency.

"What do you remember about your psych rotation?" Perry asked dully.

JD shrugged in the darkness, though Perry felt it more then heard it. "A little, I guess."

"Start remembering."

An image of "Newbie" Dr. Cox flashed through his mind again, but he kept the shrill laughter to himself.

A steady hum drew their attention to the ceiling. It sounded like rain, but made them both feel a little more uneasy than before.

It was when the steady patter of a water drip between their feet started that they rolled their eyes.

Maybe God hated them both today.

XXXXXXX

Turk frowned over the phone. "You sure you're okay, man? You sound sick."

"Yeah, I've got a cold," the thick voice replied over the phone. "We're going to be laid up here though, man. Something about the nurse that died."

Still concerned over his friend's cold, Turk crossed his arms. "Yeah. I'll relay it to Kelso for you if you want so you can get some sleep."

Thomas Alexander grinned easily over the phone. The younger man's voice was pitifully easy to imitate. "Yeah. This cold's really tearing my nose up. I appreciate it."

"You must be sick; you sound like you just got out of manners academy or something, V-bear."

"Yeah. Thanks again, man." Before the unknown man on the other end of the pilfered cell phone could say anything else, Thomas hung up the phone.

Eric was still predominantly in control, Thomas's mind asleep in the background as he moved around the room. The two men lying in the next room were far too similar to the boys he'd broken years ago as it was.

The younger one was a near carbon-copy of the man Eric had fought so hard to push down and out of the way for control of the mind. The older man, however, posed an actual threat and would have to be watched carefully.

They seemed to know each other, at the very least. While it was difficult to actually categorize their relationship, the older man was obviously attached to the younger somehow, and vice-versa.

Eric let a grin settle over his features. They weren't going to submit to being his ticket out of the hospital easily, but that's where his experience in the matters of force came in.

The white terror on the younger man's face had been clearly obvious when the knife was against that of the older man's neck. Eric imagined it might be somewhat similar had the positions been reversed.

Yes, that would come in handy later on if they kept on being disobedient. Eric looked up as he heard quiet shuffling in the bathroom.

The darkness was intentional. Keeping them adjusted to darkness meant they wouldn't be able to see well enough to undo the tightly-wound bonds around their ankles and wrists. The chair shoved beneath the doorknob was at just the right angle; he'd checked already.

Even so, he'd wired the door shut with a thick padlock. After all, the older man, while getting on in age, didn't appear to be lacking in the physical department for strength. Eric frowned.

He'd have to fix that.

But with their eyes adjusted to darkness, that simply meant that even when there was a bit of light in the room, it'd be at least a few minutes until their eyes could refocus on much of anything.

Eric smirked again as he flipped the television on to drown out their quiet murmurs. The whole operation had been easy. A small voice whined in the back of his head that this wasn't going to make him appear any saner, especially if hurt either of his captives.

But Eric only shoved the voice back with an angry shout that had all of the voices shutting up instantly. The calm smile settled over his features again. The need and want to hurt the victims was already there.

He was only waiting for a reason to act upon it. The old desire and intent to overpower others was still there, no matter who controlled his mind.

And Eric had every intention of finding an excuse to do it.

XXXXXXXX

Perry jolted awake without realizing he'd fallen asleep. Judging by JD's quiet sounds across from him, he figured the kid had knocked out as well. Yawning slightly, Perry struggled to adjust his limbs again.

They were sore as ever, and his wrists and ankles were throbbing with the beginnings of a nasty burn. He noted that his fingertips felt slightly numb, and he worked his hands into fists to try and rush blood to them. The medical side of him pointed out that if he didn't find a better way to get the blood to his extremities, they'd begin to suffer real nerve damage.

Perry grimaced and eyed the kid surreptitiously. He leaned his head back against the lip of the tub, but found the achy feelings too hard to ignore for sleep. Instead, he tried to think of other ways to escape. He'd heard the man speaking quietly on the phone earlier, and then the sounds of the TV had settled around the room. Perry sighed and tried moving his hands again.

The cords didn't budge, and Perry could feel the tight, expert knots looped around and between his wrists. With a groan, he struggled to not give into the negative feelings that told him he probably wasn't getting out of this.

He glanced over to the vague outline of JD's figure, and pushed away the idea that if he wasn't getting out of it, neither was JD.

That feeling suddenly made everything too real for his liking.

Perry backed away from the train of thought, and went back to analyzing their captor. Mentally unstable to be certain, but that much was obvious. The dominating personality definitely had signs of a sociopath, and the still sore cut along Perry's neck was proof of that.

He frowned again in the dim room, wondering if he could perhaps talk down the man or at least stabilize him enough to let one of them go. He was a doctor after all; surely he could talk down a crazy man?

The idea screamed stupid to him, but Perry knew they had little options. He sighed and let his head fall back against the tub again.

The rain that spattered in was frigid. It had gathered in a small puddle between their curled legs, but it had still managed to soak through his blue jeans a bit around the knees.

Perry shivered reluctantly. He was cold, despite the jacket and t-shirt he wore. JD didn't seem to be faring much better; his knees were wet as well. Perry could feel them against his own.

The dip in temperature, however, gave Perry the idea that the man had taken them north somewhere. But between the sedatives and lack of sunlight, Perry couldn't even begin to wonder exactly where.

They couldn't have gone that far, could they?

Perry sighed in the darkness, and heard the kid stir across the tub from him. Something bumped into his leg again, and he heard JD murmur a quick apology.

"For the love of god, quit acting like a little girl," Perry uttered sharply. "We're never going to get out of this if you don't grow that set Santa didn't bring you for Christmas last year."

JD recognized the underlying fear in Perry's voice, but opted not to say anything. It was mostly because if Perry was scared, then there really was something to be scared about.

"I'm trying," JD finally mumbled back as he tried to move his body to a more comfortable position. His knees were uncomfortably cold, and he'd nearly knocked himself out when trying to throw the hood of his sweatshirt over his head to protect body heat.

The dank conditions and cool temperatures were making him worry about hypothermia and pneumonia as it was.

"Not hard enough, Alyssa," Perry shot back, frustrating wearing thin on his tired body. "You know what, Newbie? Just don't talk. At all."

JD shoved down a smart remark and concentrated on curling into the other side of the tub as tightly as possible.

Perry seemed to do the same, if only to get away from the growing puddle of water in the tub. Even if the water drained out, it'd still make the floor of the ceramic wet before too long.

And neither man fancied sitting down in water.

"Fine. I won't talk if you stay on your side of the tub," JD muttered to him.

"That's just adorable the way you thought that was a show of manliness." Perry pushed against the other side, but no matter how much either of them shoved away, their knees or feet were almost touching anyway.

JD didn't reply to that, bone-crunching weariness settling over his body as he leaned his head against the hard, unforgiving surface of the basin. The panic suddenly hardened in his veins at the lack of physical touch, but he didn’t give into relaxation.

Perry rolled his eyes, even though the effect would be lost on JD in such a dark room. He grumbled in his head, and suddenly wished he hadn't told the kid to shut up. If JD were talking, that at least gave him something to think about other then the fact there was a completely unstable madman in the next room with a very sharp knife.

The discomfort soon faded as time passed and sleep didn't come. Perry couldn't tense his body any longer for the exhaustion, and his knees finally loosened and brushed against JD's. The relief was instant and unfamiliar. He shoved it away and chucked it to the anxiety of the situation.

JD jumped, but otherwise said nothing.

A few minutes later though, he relaxed as well. "So what are we going to do?"

When Perry didn't reply, JD's heart started thudding in his throat.

"Well?" JD prompted.

"I don't know, Newbie." Perry shrugged and worked his fingers again to get the blood in them.

"You don't know?"

"I'm not god, Marianne." Perry grumbled silently in his head, deciding that the anger wouldn't be getting them anywhere anytime soon. "When he comes back, don't talk to him. Let me handle it."

JD pressed his lips together in a thin line. "I don't think he likes you too much."

"You want him to prefer you over me if he's thinking about who to put a knife to next?"

"No, but…"

"Then shut up."

JD sighed. The man felt threatened, that much was clear by the way that he acted around Perry as opposed to the way he looked at JD.

"Just like my first day then, huh?"

"You got it, Newbie. No talking around anyone, ever."

Continues with Chapter 3