My Split Conference

The silence was unnerving, and only served to heighten the tension in the room. Every now and again, Thomas’s laughing voice would drift over the air, but the man hadn’t come back in for several hours.

JD slipped his tongue over his chapped lips. He’d grown used to the ache in his shoulders by now, and was more worried about the stinging burns he felt over his arms where Thomas has sliced his skin. His jaw still ached, and he felt bruises and other sore spots over his head and body.

Perry shifted again. Though his arms were now bound in front instead, he had trouble finding a comfortable position due to the injuries in his hip and ribs. He ached all over, and knew that the water wouldn’t keep their wounds clean forever. It was only a matter of time before Thomas did something deep enough to cause a real, life-threatening infection.

As it was, his lungs felt congested and his throat was a little sore. He’d heard the beginnings of a wet cough emitting from JD, and he figured the wet, damp conditions had begun to catch up.

JD struggled to push the hunger away in his sore stomach, and looked up at the slight growling he heard from Perry’s end of the bathtub.

Perry looked up with a withering look in JD’s direction and shrugged. He hadn’t spoken (neither had JD) in a while. Perry had lost all sense of time, and his mind felt hazy and indistinct.

JD shrugged back at him with one shoulder, his face amused beneath the fear that hadn’t left his tense features for hours.

Perry lifted his hands silently and gestured towards JD’s shoulders with a questioning, exasperated look on his face.

JD frowned at the impatience, but only nodded his head to indicate that his joints were fine. He rolled them a bit and hoped Perry understood that they were sore. He next opened his jaw and then gestured with his chin down to the marks across his bare chest.

Perry shrugged at that and pointed to his head. The boy across from him only shrugged again and nodded that yes, it did hurt. Perry pushed away the feelings of guilt and shame that plagued him at seeing the kid so broken. Just because he hadn’t always liked JD much didn’t mean that he wanted this.

As for JD, it was simply hard to see someone like Perry brought down so hard. The man was obviously barely holding it together even now, and JD could definitely sympathize with that. He already knew that if anything else any worse happened to them, he wouldn’t be able to keep from screaming anymore.

Perry bent his head with a hard sigh that held no tone. He was so tired, and the thought had crossed his mind more than once now that he was going to need more then just himself this time. It wasn’t enough to think that he and JD were going to have to work together somehow to get out of here.

He knew that they were going to have to find some way to speak to each other. The nods and shrugs were fine right now, but JD still couldn’t move his hands in front of him. He sighed again and flexed his fingers subconsciously. The feeling wasn’t coming back as easily anymore.

Perry held up his hands and wiggled his fingers in question. JD frowned for a minute before twisting his hands to feel them.

JD sighed and shrugged slightly as he turned to look at Perry over his shoulder..

It was dark enough that their expressions weren’t easily visible. Perry scooted forward in the tub and grabbed a hold of JD’s fingers. JD turned immediately so that Perry could rub the feeling and warmth back into them.

Perry gave him a look that was so close to actually calling him an idiot that JD bit back a shrill, high-pitched laugh.

JD began to turn around when the door suddenly flung open and the lights turned on. JD jumped in the bathtub; he hadn’t even heard the locks turning this time.

That was strange.

Perry frowned; he hadn’t heard them either and only glared as Thomas walked into the room with that infuriatingly amused look on his face again.

"My god, you two are so pitiful," Thomas said. "I leave you both alone for more then a few hours and here you are, practically necking." He pulled something from his pocket.

JD felt terror rip through him for a moment, but it faded to confusion when Thomas didn’t pull a knife out.

Thomas chewed on the candy bar. "God, chocolate sucks." He took another bite and swallowed. "And you know, you two are really starting to smell a bit."

Perry glared at him as if to say "duh" and shook his head in frightened irritation.

The sarcastic look made the smile slip from Thomas’s face. The calmness never left as he raised an eyebrow down at Perry and JD, who hadn’t moved since he came in.

"You really think you’re in a position to mock me at all, Peter Pumpkin Eater?" Thomas asked casually as he polished off the candy bar and threw the wrapper out the door. Fury grew in his blood as the sardonic glare didn’t move from Perry’s face.

JD jumped when he heard the thwack of something hitting a human head. Perry jolted to the side in the tub, blood running from his nose.

"Think that’s funny?" Thomas asked bitingly. "How about this?" He landed a hard blow on JD’s back, causing the younger man to have a gagging fit as the wind was knocked from him.

Thomas suddenly turned, but didn’t turn the light out on his way. Perry frowned behind JD.

That wasn’t like Thomas to leave the light on.

But then Thomas returned, the now-clean knife glaring from the lights above them. He kneeled down to the tub and sliced away the rest of Perry’s shirt so that he was topless.

JD felt something hard and familiar come into his hands. Thomas had put the knife there again.

"So help me god, you fucking pansy, if you don’t start cutting him now, I’m going to do it. If you don’t do it to my satisfaction, then you’re both going to be sorry you ever took your first breath."

When JD didn’t move for a moment, Thomas grabbed his wrists and started forcibly pulling the knife across Perry’s chest.

Blood trailed slowly over old cuts, and Perry cringed first at the pain. After that, he tried biting his lip so hard that blood filled his tongue and senses. The next sound was an audible gasp.

Thomas pushed the knife point into one of the two circular burns left from the candles and twisted hard.

That was when Perry screeched.

JD jumped at that, and dropped the knife in surprise. Before he could gather himself from the outcry to pick it back up, Thomas had grabbed it first.

"Not so fast, Tom Thumb. You’re next."

Thomas ripped the knife through the back of JD’s hoodie and t-shirt.

Damn it…I really liked this hoodie…JD frowned as cold air hit his bare back. He shrank a little to try and preserve warmth, but felt Thomas’s fingers tick down the bones of his spine. Following the fingers came the chilled touch of the knife’s edge.

Perry clenched his hands shut, even though he was torn between letting Thomas do it or doing it himself. His throat ached from the screech he’d reluctantly let loose, and his mind was reeling with delirious hurt.

"Tom Thumb…whatever happened to precious Thumbelina, I wonder? Or are you like Peter Pumpkin Eater? You had her and couldn’t keep her either, I imagine. That or Tom Thumb and Peter Pumpkin Eater lost them because they couldn’t keep their hands off each other."

Thomas grabbed Perry’s hands and thrust them to JD’s back. He slid Perry’s hands down JD’s sweaty back, the knife bumping over JD’s spine.

"It’s so much more fun when you do it," Thomas mentioned. "Will you make him scream, Perry?"

Perry’s head jerked at the usage of his name.

"John’s not strong, not strong at all," Thomas went on, his voice sliding into a different tone. "John’s not strong like Perry. Perry should break him in, take his dreams and spirit."

Thomas shook his head suddenly and hit the side of his head as if trying to dislodge something from his ear.

"Stupid people," Thomas mentioned. "Won’t stay out of my head. Where were we, Peter Pumpkin Eater?" He slipped the knife’s handle into Perry’s open hands. "You going to scream for us, Tom Thumb?"

JD’s throat felt tight and frozen. His breathing had nearly stopped save a few short gasps that escaped his dry mouth.

Perry set his face hard, though the color had drained from it and his skin felt cold and sweaty. He struggled to tell himself that sweat was good, no matter how hard it stung the injuries to his chest and stomach. If he wasn’t sweating, it meant the possibility of a fever, which equaled a possible infection.

That was the last thing they needed to worry about.

JD’s pale back moved hard in front of him, shoulders trembling.

"Not a very good view, is it?" Thomas asked idly as he traced a finger over JD’s arms. He loosened the bonds around JD’s wrists suddenly, only to tie them in front again before Perry could react. "See? I did something nice for you, Petey. Will you do something nice for me now?"

Breathing hard, Perry slowly raised the knife to JD’s back. JD stiffened when he felt the cool metal touch his skin.

JD whimpered when he felt the first cut. Perry looked in Thomas’s direction, but Thomas only cocked his head to the side.

"You’re doing it all wrong," Thomas said exasperatedly. He crossed his arms. "Again, until you get it right. If you don’t do it, I’ll kill him. Then I’ll kill you."

Perry pulled the knife through skin again, harder this time and cringed at JD’s louder outcry.

"Again."

Voice stuck in his throat and feeling numb, Perry finally shut his eyes, unable to deal with his own actions any longer. He tried to tell himself that if he didn’t do it, JD was going to die.

And Perry knew he couldn’t do this by himself.

Guilt and horror ran like fire through his mind, flames licking the edges of his own body’s pains as he pulled the knife down without looking anymore.

Thomas clapped, the sound like harsh drumbeats against JD’s mind. He curled into himself, even as his shoulders screamed relief against the sharp lines of stinging across his back.

The scream was unexpected as the blade ran down another cut by pure coincidence. Tears ran down his face as he bent his head down in embarrassment. Of all the people he had to begin breaking down in front of, he knew Perry Cox was not in his top hundred.

He’d rather lose it in front of Kelso for Christ’s sake then Perry.

JD trembled even as the pain stopped being so sharp.

"Aw, I think you kind of broke him, Peter Pumpkin Eater," Thomas said beside of Perry’s ear. He let a hand swipe the blood from JD’s back, something unnamable running across his voice when he saw JD stiffen. "He bleeds so nicely."

Perry struggled not to listen as Thomas stood, balancing the knife’s handle on the heel of his hand. Wetness trailed from one of Perry’s eyes, and he sucked his breath in to prevent the occurrence.

"You know, I only wanted you two at first because you were doctors," Thomas said casually. "But you’re better toys then anything. How shitty a doctor do you have to be when you’re more fun bleeding then you are healing?" He chuckled as he flipped the knife in the air and caught it by the handle to tap it against the counter again as he looked at the curled men in the tub.

Perry scrubbed at his face in vague humiliation. Something besides tears were making his cheeks wet, but he didn’t want to open his eyes to see what it was.

Thomas flipped the light out again. "You two can scream all you like though. All the fucktards I was in the ward with used to scream like banshees. Makes them feel better. And you two are as good as crazy now. Look at the two of you; sitting in that thing like I’ve really hurt you or something. I’m making you stronger."

The men didn’t reply with the assumption that the no-talking rule still applied.

Thomas frowned at that. They weren’t so much fun anymore when they didn’t scream or whimper.

But a choked sob suddenly escaped from the dark-haired young man and Thomas breathed a smile of relief.

That was more like it. He wiped the knife across his pants and stood up straight. He grinned at the two of them, and passed a hand over their heads as if they were children.

"You two are delightful to play with. Like life-sized barbie dolls," Thomas said and left the room. The drumming of his fingers drifted into the room.

JD slowly let his eyes get used to the darkness again as tears squeezed from his eyes. Frustration and despair swirled in his chest and his skin felt like it was on fire. When he felt fingers touch his cold shoulder gently, he felt something in his head crack like a branch.

A scream escaped his mouth, and he felt Perry jump behind him. It was an awful sound; a howl mixed with a desperate sob of horror.

Perry sighed behind him. He couldn’t break down now, not when JD had finally seemed to give up. He had to be the strong one this time. Darkness caved over his mind as his chest yelled in protest.

Pushing his knees to JD’s side, Perry lifted his bound hands and draped them over JD’s head to rest on his shoulders.

JD jumped and the irony that he’d finally gotten a hug went lost in the thoughts of what it had taken to get it. Still sobbing, he let his head fall on Perry’s arm where the name John had been etched into it from the beginning.

JD had thought that would be the worst part. But as he looked down at his own arm, it was Perry’s name glaring back at him in angry, raised cuts. The tears ran out then, his mouth suddenly dry as he choked on his cries and hiccuped miserably as he leaned into Perry’s chest.

Perry winced and felt JD stiffen with pain at the new cuts, but only breathed near his neck. JD raised his hands to wipe the tears away and let them settle against Perry’s arm.

"I can’t do this anymore," JD suddenly said, voice hoarse from disuse.

"I don’t know if I can either, JD."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Turk paced the apartment restlessly. The pictures had been horrifying at the very least. Rubbing a hand over the smooth skin of his head, he sighed.

It wasn’t supposed to happen to JD. Not V-bear, not his best friend. It always happened to someone else’s best friend, or someone else all together. Not to JD.

Carla sat on the couch, curled up with a hot mug of cocoa. "Baby, you have to relax," she said wearily. "You’re going to drive yourself crazy if you keep doing that."

"I should’ve known it wasn’t him," Turk replied with a sigh as he flopped on the couch. "I knew he sounded weird on the phone; I thought he was just sick. They could’ve found him by now if I’d done something."

"You couldn’t have known, baby."

"I should have. He’s my best friend; I’ve known him for years," Turk pointed out. "I should’ve known something was wrong. I always know when something’s wrong."

Carla slipped her hands over Turk’s tight shoulders to rub the knots from them. "Now that they know, it’s only a matter of time. They’ll find them."

"What if they’re already dead?"

Carla didn’t have an answer for that, and didn’t trust herself to speak at the notion that the two men could be dead by now. She shook her head; it wasn’t something she was ready to think about.

"They’ll find them," she finally said, and hated the fact that she didn’t believe herself.

Turk didn’t seem to either as he hung his head. "I should’ve known." He sighed hard again. "And now he’s stuck in some room with the worst person in the world."

Carla glared at him. "I know you’re talking about that psycho and not Dr. Cox."

"There’s a difference? Hell, Perma-Doc is probably making it worse."

With a disgusted mutter under her breath, Carla rose and dumped her cocoa into the sink.

"They’re probably helping each other out," Carla said after a minute. "And you’re just looking for someone to blame."

Turk stood, worry and frustration finally taking its toll. "I’m going out." He grabbed his jacket.

"Turk, wait a minute, I…" Carla sighed as the door slammed. She pushed a hand against her forehead in an attempt to clear it as she grabbed her own jacket to go after him.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The cartoon movie wasn’t doing much for her nerves. Jordan watched as Jack colored and giggled at the television. Soft sounds from the kitchen came from Elliot cleaning up dinner for her.

Jordan frowned. She hadn’t asked Blondie to do that. Still, it was nice for someone else to do it for a chance. Jordan imagined the nanny felt similar.

Jack turned and gave her an odd look then. He got to his feet and pulled a photo from the table. He held it up to his mother and pointed to his father’s picture.

After all, he hadn’t seen his father for a while. He usually saw him once a day at least.

"Daddy?" he asked curiously.

Jordan resisted the urge to bite her already chapped lips. "He’s on vacation right now, Jacky," she told him, guilt rising immediately in her chest at the lie. "Show me your coloring book."

Jack frowned, wondering if he should put up a fight or not. Don’t get him wrong, he loved spending time with Mommy and Blondie.

But Daddy flipped him the best.

"Daddy," he finally said again. "Where’s Daddy?"

"He’s not here, Jack," Jordan repeated again more firmly.

"Go get him."

"I can’t," Jordan tried again and took the photo away.

Jack frowned again, running things over in his four-year-old mind. The proverbial lightbulb lit up his face as he ran to the table beside of the door.

Jordan felt her stomach shake when he brought her the phone.

"Call him," Jack said simply, as if the answer were obvious. Duh, he was four, and Mommy was…well, Mommy was old. Even she should know that.

"I can’t, Jack. Go and color some more."

Jack sighed exasperatedly, and decided he could hold out longer then she could. He turned and went with "Ignore her until she gives". He gave her one last petulant glare and went back to coloring for full effect.

Elliot stood at the doorway, wiping her hands on a dishtowel silently. Jordan sat on the couch, phone idle in her lap as she pressed her fingers into her forehead.

With a sigh of her own, Elliot sat down beside of her and set the towel to the coffee table.

"You alright?" Elliot asked quietly.

Jordan nodded with a hard sigh. "As peachy as the day I moved out of Per’s apartment." She laughed shrilly. "I’m even as good as the day Ben died, princess; how do you think I’m doing?"

"I just don’t know how you and Dr. Cox were doing…especially with the other night," Elliot replied, cheeks turning red.

"My god, you’re blushing," Jordan said, and began to laugh.

Even Jack turned around when his mother kept laughing. He grinned despite the decision to ignore her. She hadn’t been smiling much lately.

Elliot gave a nervous grin at the stressed laughter pouring from Jordan. "Hey, Jacky…time for bed, okay?"

Jack considered for a moment. He was a little sleepy, and Blondie told better stories then his mother.

"Okay," he finally said and held his hand out.

Elliot congratulated herself on not flinching when she took his hand to walk him to the bedroom.

Thirty minutes and two pilfered stories later (Elliot wondered where Jack got the cute pouty look from), she entered back into the living room to check on Jordan.

Jordan was still smiling and holding her side. "Per-bear and I have an arrangement, princess. We play happy family when we have to. Otherwise, he sleeps with a bottle of liquor and I get to have fun." She sighed and let her head fall against the back of the couch. "But that doesn’t mean I’m not worried about what’s going to happen to my son’s father."

Elliot nodded in silence as she sat down. "So why take it out on me then?"

"Don’t make this any harder or more then it has to be, princess." Jordan turned her eyes in Elliot’s direction. "Jack’s going to be up at the crack of dawn since you put him down so early. I’m going to bed." She got to her feet and looked over her shoulder. "You’re free to come with. God knows you need to learn a thing or two."

"Practice what you preach."

Jordan rolled her eyes, grabbed her wrist, and nearly dragged her to the bedroom in response.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Perry awoke silently, his back aching as he opened his eyes to the now familiar darkness. He felt something brushing gently against his chin and shoulder, and frowned at it before he remembered that JD had fallen asleep against him earlier.

No longer caring that he hadn’t a sense of time, Perry shifted in the tub gently. The water had stopped dripping, and he wasn’t sure that he liked the outright silence that hung in the air. JD moved against him suddenly, but drifted back off.

Rolling his aching shoulders, Perry shifted again. His hip was hurting where it supported JD’s lower body, and his face felt sticky and caked with dried flakes of blood. Still, he leaned his head back again and silently took solace in the contact of another human being, be it Newbie or anyone else.

The more he let himself, the better he felt with the weight on his bloody chest. Sitting stock-still now, he turned his head to look at the camera again. He resisted the urge to flip it off.

His mind was still alert enough to tell him that mocking anger such as giving the bird would only excite Thomas further. But even now, Perry was fairly certain that he couldn’t figure out a way to reach the deranged man.

Perry knew that Thomas had at least three distinctive personalities, though Eric was usually in control. Another had seemed to be a young child fond of playing hide-and-go-seek.

Tommy. The personality had taken to drumming fingers against random surfaces and singing out nursery tunes in the darkness.

And the last had been Thomas himself, who often came across as scary as Eric. Eric, however, felt little remorse for anything and generally seemed to take a lot of pleasure in what he was doing. Thomas, on the other hand, didn’t say much when he was around. He only gave them both looks of guilt and shame before he left the room.

But Perry had only met Thomas (he thought) once. And Eric had seemed hell-bent on keeping control as long as possible. As far as Perry could tell, Eric was an older man who felt bigger by having complete power over others.

Sighing again, Perry shifted once more for his chest’s sake this time. He had given up hope of having any control over their situation hours ago. It had been frightening to accept it, but now there were far worse things he had to consider. It was harder to think about what would happen if they didn’t find a way out of this.

And that was a plausible factor.

Perry shook his head against the thoughts and felt JD stir against him again. Perry raised a hand gently to JD’s bruised and battered face, noting that the kid’s skin was just as grimy and flaky as his own. He had to get JD home; that much he knew. Even if it did cost him his own life.

JD sat awake as he felt and registered Perry’s slight movements. He was still learning the other man’s gestures, but knew enough that Perry was thinking hard about something that he didn’t want to do.

Sitting up slightly, JD slid out from Perry’s hold and looked at him seriously. Then he shook his head slowly as anger lined the solemn look.

Perry stared at him, guessing that JD could figure out enough to know what he’d been thinking over. He sighed and just raised his hands questionably.

JD shrugged in response to that, and looped his arms over his knees. He was cold, and pulling away from Perry hadn’t done much to help it.

Even sitting up and awake now, JD made sure his feet were touching Perry’s. The need for contact was becoming second-nature to him, and it made him think a little about how they were going to come out of this. He already knew that neither of them were going to come out of it unmarked.

That thought made him stare at his arm again, and then raise his gaze back to Perry’s.

Perry watched carefully in the darkness as JD inspected his arm, and then looked back. The sorrow on the kid’s face was almost palpable, and the desperation began to line the room again. He sighed hard, and wondered how much harder the kid could break down.

To his own surprise though, it wasn’t JD he was worried about at that moment. His own mind had begun to race with possibilities and the repercussions of them. He gave himself a lot of credit for being about to bounce back from anything. After all, he’d gotten over the dark, enclosed space, hadn’t he?

A small voice in his mind pointed out that if JD hadn’t been there, he’d have cracked a long time ago.

Even as he thought about it and buried his face into his knees, Perry knew he wasn’t going to keep it together much longer. The aches and pains were beginning to get to him, and there wasn’t a position he could sit in that didn’t make him hurt. The stinging trails of blood and burns made nightmarish patterns across his skin, and he was already afraid to look at the name carved into his arm, no matter how lightly it was there.

Any cut left a lasting mark, and Perry knew already that there was no way he was going home to forget about this.

His hands sliding down his knees, Perry sighed hard and brokenly into his legs. He was feeling beaten, and that only made the situation worse. He looked up at the slight touch to his cold fingers.

JD was carefully touching his hand, and though the desperate panic was evident and mirrored, he squeezed lightly.

Perry took the movement for what it was; god knew he needed the support now too. He was coming to rely on the kid in this dark room of horror, and he wasn’t sure if he should embrace it or shake it off.

Still, no one knew when they were getting out of there. Perry was tempted to pray to a god he wasn’t even sure existed as a last resort, but didn’t feel that bad yet. He didn’t, however, push off JD’s hand.

He told himself it was because his fingers were cold. Another part of him knew that if he lost the contact, then he was just alone in a bathtub with a psycho waiting on the other side of the darkness.

Perry could already feel the breakdown building within his system; he knew that the awful moment was coming when he, like JD, would break into a horrible scream that ate away at the human mind until nothing was left but the torturous reality.

JD seemed to sense it too, and gave him a look that was both exasperated and concerned.

JD squeezed his hand again with a sigh. He was going to have to buck up soon, because Perry was the one who now looked like he would collapse into a shattered remnant of his former self before too long.

He wasn’t sure if he could, or even if he wanted to. What was the point if they were just going to die here anyway?

Even so, Thomas seemed avidly interested in at least keeping them alive. The man didn’t seem to have a problem with just killing one of them either.

The thought made JD’s blood turn cold, and he turned the concern back to Perry. The older doctor was struggling, JD could see that much. With his own spirit and hope broken in half, JD sighed and wondered if he was going to be of much help when it finally hit Perry that it was pretty likely they weren’t getting out.

JD squeezed the cold hand beneath his again. This time, Perry squeezed back almost hesitantly, as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to or not. Still, JD turned a weak smile in his direction, and didn’t let go.

It was the touch of skin on skin that kept him grounded to the earth, the contact that kept him from taking the high road to a long lost sea of insanity. It was why JD didn’t move his fingers, because simply touching the other man with his feet in a cramped bathtub was no longer enough.

Perry seemed to sense it too, and didn’t push off.

JD pushed down the urge to give into going crazy. He leaned forward and rested his head on Perry’s knees. Some other emotion was attaching itself firmly in his hopeless mind, and whatever it was, boosted a little when Perry’s head was suddenly beside of his own.

"We’ll be alright, JD."

Perry’s voice was broken, and he had whispered so quietly that JD wasn’t sure if anything had actually been said, or if he were just daydreaming again. He didn’t move, feeling rough stubble against his own scruffy cheek.

JD wasn’t sure how long they sat motionless. But then again, time didn’t count anymore. Time didn’t exist, not in this room, and not for them anymore.

The only thing time served to do was put a limit on how much longer they might be alive.

Continues with Chapter 7