Fic: The Art of Being Lost and Found (26/?), blue cortina, dakfinv
Title: The Art of Being Lost and Found (26/?)
Author: dak
Word Count: 1479 (this part); (37,815 in total, so far)
Rating: blue cortina
Warnings: none here
Summary: Post 2.08. When the Guv goes missing, CID is saddled with an inept "interim" DCI. To find Gene, and the truth, Ray must team up with a hated enemy.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15
Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25
“Chris! You won’t believe it. I...” Ray stopped in his tracks as he spotted Chris sitting on Tyler’s hospital bed, pressing a bag of ice to the back of his head, with Tyler nowhere in sight.
“Don’t you dare tell me,” he warned.
“He...”
“I said don’t!”
“Right.”
Ray took a few, deep breaths to control his anger.
“How long ago?” he finally asked, and received no answer. “Chris.”
“You said not to tell you.”
“I changed me mind.”
“Oh. Well, only ‘bout a half hour ago.”
“He can’t have gone far then. Not the state he were in.”
“I would’ve chased after him, but I were, uhm, unconscious, like.”
“Did anyone see which way he went?”
“Don’t think so. Matron said she found me on the floor. Did you have any luck at the asylum?”
“Yeah,” Ray revealed, though his earlier excitement was now dampened by Tyler’s escape. “Guv’s in London. Girl’s name is Dorothy Hunt, if she really does exist.”
“Well, that’s good news, innit?”
“Because London’s such a small city.”
“Yeah, but the Guv’s hard to hide, don’t you think?”
“Harder than Tyler?”
“So, what do we do now?” Chris asked, lowering the bundle of ice.
“Guess we go to London.”
“Uhm, should maybe we find DI Tyler first?”
“Guess we should at least try,” Ray sighed. “C’mon then. He can’t have done that damage, even to you,” Ray grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him off the bed and out the door.
*
“That Dr. Wynton’s going to murder us, ain’t she?” Chris gulped.
“No,” Ray disagreed. “Well, maybe,” he decided after giving it some more thought.
“I don’t know how he could’ve gone so far. He were just in that gown,” Chris sounded positively puzzled.
“It’s the bloody country and it’s freezing out here. Where the hell could he hide? We’ve been in more barns tonight than I’ve ever seen in me life,” Ray smacked the side of his car with his hand.
“Maybe he is still inside somewhere,” Chris offered, nodding towards the hospital.
“Well, it’s not a very large one, is it? And they’ve been searching it top to...” Ray trailed off as the image raced through his head. “Wait here,” he ordered, tossing his cigarette butt to the ground and rushing towards the building.
“Where’re you going?” Chris called after him.
“Just stay there!” he shouted back.
The bastard wouldn’t dare, he thought. He wouldn’t do it. He wasn’t that brave. Of course, he was that selfish. He’d just taken those pills the other week, as well. Ray flew up the hospital stairwell. He would never have thought of it had Annie’s words, her story, not started reverberating in his skull. He made it to the roof in ten minutes.
He was standing there shivering, wearing nowt but his hospital gown, just like Chris said. Daft berk. At least he wasn’t near the edge. His bare feet were perched right in the center. Ray was glad of it. If Tyler had been on the edge, he wasn’t sure if he would have talked him down or talked him over.
“Scared the shite out of Chris,” he shouted, walking towards him. “If summit had happened to you, poor div would’ve thought it all his fault.”
Sam made no movement nor made any sign that he registered Ray’s presence.
“C’mon, Tyler. You’ll catch your death out here. Chris don’t want that,” he said, stepping beside him. With only the moonlight to illuminate them, dark shadows covered most of Tyler’s face. Ray had no idea what the twat was thinking, if he was thinking at all. “Sam,” he ordered. “Let’s go. I’m freezing me knackers off out here.”
“It was beautiful,” Sam whispered, his face locked forwards, unseen eyes gazing off somewhere unknown.
“You better not be talking ‘bout me knackers,” Ray warned.
“It was such a beautiful day. Hardly a cloud in the sky. You could see for miles,” he whispered with reverence. “I was supposed to meet my mum for tea. She was going to help me find new clothes. Clothes that fit better. I’m a horrible son,” he stated with certainty.
“Don’t worry ‘bout mums. They always care about you, even when they say they don’t. Now. Finished being an idiot so we can go inside?”
“I tried to stay,” Sam continued in that same wistful tone, either ignoring Ray or not realizing he was there. “I tried so hard. But, no matter what I did, nothing changed. It was like a dream. Real. Unreal. I could never feel anything. Sometimes I walked into traffic just to hear the horns honk and the tires squeal and hope maybe this time I’d feel the collision.”
“That’s because you’re mad, Sam,” Ray spoke calmly with no jest or malice. It was the simple, quiet truth.
“Everything was different when I came back. It was more than everything feeling right, but everything feeling. I was so alive here. I was real here. And now they’ve taken that from me.”
“But you’re not real. Not all of you. Sam Tyler doesn’t exist. Morgan showed us the photographs. The graves. Your old police files in that same poncey handwriting.”
“Morgan is a liar,” Sam sneered, his voice finally projecting some emotion.
“He’s a bastard, no question ‘bout that. But he’s a bastard that was worried you’d go off the rails and harm us. Your team, Sam.”
“I did go ‘off the rails,’” Sam laughed quietly. “But I went back to the tunnel. I didn’t abandon you. I would not do that.”
“Sam Williams might. And who knows when he’ll turn up.”
“Why can’t I be who I want to be. If I want to be Sam Tyler, why won’t they let me be Sam Tyler?”
“I told you. Because he doesn’t exist. He’s not real.”
“You have no idea what reality is,” Sam shook, not with cold but with fury.
“No. You don’t. Which is why we need to get you off this roof and back to hospital so they can give you your drugs and get this all sorted out.”
“I don’t need those drugs or those treatments or this sectioning,” Sam’s voice wavered, but his body remained fixed.
“You do ‘less you want to go to jail. If the Guv hadn’t had you sectioned, you’d be locked up, facing attempted murder charges. And your pretty arse would be serving time in the same prison as Warren and a hundred other pieces of scum that don’t think too highly of pompous Detective Inspectors. You should be thanking Hunt that you’re not being reamed up the arse every night by your cellmate and his pals.”
He heard a wet sound, a muffled sniffle, and only then realized Sam was crying.
“This isn’t what I wanted.”
“Should’ve thought of that ‘fore you let your fists do the talking.”
“That’s rich, coming from you, DS Carling.”
“Oh, so you do know who it is. Weren’t off with the fairies, were you?”
“Ray...” Sam’s face finally turned and, though it was difficult to see, Ray knew Sam was looking right at him. “I can help you find him. If...if I can keep, keep my head clear, I can help you.”
“We have to take you back where you belong, Tyler.”
“But not right away. Please. Let me help. Let me be useful. And, once we find Gene, you can toss me back. I don’t care. Just, let me be useful one more time.”
Ray shivered.
“It’s bloody freezing up here. I’m going inside.”
*
His body was ice cold as they laid him back in the bed. He’d been up on that roof for over an hour before Ray had been able to bring him down. The matron fretted over the poor thing, covering him with copious amounts of blankets, and making sure he was as comfortable as could be.
Sam, meanwhile, had lost his moment of clarity and was back to staring at shadows. Ray watched carefully as he was arranged in the bed - drugs administered and IV reinserted. When helping Tyler down the steps to the closest lift, he had seen the shoe-shaped bruises on his legs, and caught site of the dark purple welts on his back. It was miracle nothing had been broken.
“What were he doing up there?” Chris asked as he stood still next to Ray.
“Stargazing,” he answered jokingly. “How the hell should I know?”
“He wasn’t going to...”
“No,” he answered seriously. “No, he...I don’t think he thinks that’ll work.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s going to happen to him?”
“I don’t know.” Ray paused, then spoke again. “He wants to help find Gene.”
“I thought he had been.”
“He means, from outside the asylum.”
“Can he?”
“I don’t know if we should let him.”
“It couldn’t make him any worse, could it?”
“I don’t know.”
Author: dak
Word Count: 1479 (this part); (37,815 in total, so far)
Rating: blue cortina
Warnings: none here
Summary: Post 2.08. When the Guv goes missing, CID is saddled with an inept "interim" DCI. To find Gene, and the truth, Ray must team up with a hated enemy.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15
Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25
“Chris! You won’t believe it. I...” Ray stopped in his tracks as he spotted Chris sitting on Tyler’s hospital bed, pressing a bag of ice to the back of his head, with Tyler nowhere in sight.
“Don’t you dare tell me,” he warned.
“He...”
“I said don’t!”
“Right.”
Ray took a few, deep breaths to control his anger.
“How long ago?” he finally asked, and received no answer. “Chris.”
“You said not to tell you.”
“I changed me mind.”
“Oh. Well, only ‘bout a half hour ago.”
“He can’t have gone far then. Not the state he were in.”
“I would’ve chased after him, but I were, uhm, unconscious, like.”
“Did anyone see which way he went?”
“Don’t think so. Matron said she found me on the floor. Did you have any luck at the asylum?”
“Yeah,” Ray revealed, though his earlier excitement was now dampened by Tyler’s escape. “Guv’s in London. Girl’s name is Dorothy Hunt, if she really does exist.”
“Well, that’s good news, innit?”
“Because London’s such a small city.”
“Yeah, but the Guv’s hard to hide, don’t you think?”
“Harder than Tyler?”
“So, what do we do now?” Chris asked, lowering the bundle of ice.
“Guess we go to London.”
“Uhm, should maybe we find DI Tyler first?”
“Guess we should at least try,” Ray sighed. “C’mon then. He can’t have done that damage, even to you,” Ray grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him off the bed and out the door.
*
“That Dr. Wynton’s going to murder us, ain’t she?” Chris gulped.
“No,” Ray disagreed. “Well, maybe,” he decided after giving it some more thought.
“I don’t know how he could’ve gone so far. He were just in that gown,” Chris sounded positively puzzled.
“It’s the bloody country and it’s freezing out here. Where the hell could he hide? We’ve been in more barns tonight than I’ve ever seen in me life,” Ray smacked the side of his car with his hand.
“Maybe he is still inside somewhere,” Chris offered, nodding towards the hospital.
“Well, it’s not a very large one, is it? And they’ve been searching it top to...” Ray trailed off as the image raced through his head. “Wait here,” he ordered, tossing his cigarette butt to the ground and rushing towards the building.
“Where’re you going?” Chris called after him.
“Just stay there!” he shouted back.
The bastard wouldn’t dare, he thought. He wouldn’t do it. He wasn’t that brave. Of course, he was that selfish. He’d just taken those pills the other week, as well. Ray flew up the hospital stairwell. He would never have thought of it had Annie’s words, her story, not started reverberating in his skull. He made it to the roof in ten minutes.
He was standing there shivering, wearing nowt but his hospital gown, just like Chris said. Daft berk. At least he wasn’t near the edge. His bare feet were perched right in the center. Ray was glad of it. If Tyler had been on the edge, he wasn’t sure if he would have talked him down or talked him over.
“Scared the shite out of Chris,” he shouted, walking towards him. “If summit had happened to you, poor div would’ve thought it all his fault.”
Sam made no movement nor made any sign that he registered Ray’s presence.
“C’mon, Tyler. You’ll catch your death out here. Chris don’t want that,” he said, stepping beside him. With only the moonlight to illuminate them, dark shadows covered most of Tyler’s face. Ray had no idea what the twat was thinking, if he was thinking at all. “Sam,” he ordered. “Let’s go. I’m freezing me knackers off out here.”
“It was beautiful,” Sam whispered, his face locked forwards, unseen eyes gazing off somewhere unknown.
“You better not be talking ‘bout me knackers,” Ray warned.
“It was such a beautiful day. Hardly a cloud in the sky. You could see for miles,” he whispered with reverence. “I was supposed to meet my mum for tea. She was going to help me find new clothes. Clothes that fit better. I’m a horrible son,” he stated with certainty.
“Don’t worry ‘bout mums. They always care about you, even when they say they don’t. Now. Finished being an idiot so we can go inside?”
“I tried to stay,” Sam continued in that same wistful tone, either ignoring Ray or not realizing he was there. “I tried so hard. But, no matter what I did, nothing changed. It was like a dream. Real. Unreal. I could never feel anything. Sometimes I walked into traffic just to hear the horns honk and the tires squeal and hope maybe this time I’d feel the collision.”
“That’s because you’re mad, Sam,” Ray spoke calmly with no jest or malice. It was the simple, quiet truth.
“Everything was different when I came back. It was more than everything feeling right, but everything feeling. I was so alive here. I was real here. And now they’ve taken that from me.”
“But you’re not real. Not all of you. Sam Tyler doesn’t exist. Morgan showed us the photographs. The graves. Your old police files in that same poncey handwriting.”
“Morgan is a liar,” Sam sneered, his voice finally projecting some emotion.
“He’s a bastard, no question ‘bout that. But he’s a bastard that was worried you’d go off the rails and harm us. Your team, Sam.”
“I did go ‘off the rails,’” Sam laughed quietly. “But I went back to the tunnel. I didn’t abandon you. I would not do that.”
“Sam Williams might. And who knows when he’ll turn up.”
“Why can’t I be who I want to be. If I want to be Sam Tyler, why won’t they let me be Sam Tyler?”
“I told you. Because he doesn’t exist. He’s not real.”
“You have no idea what reality is,” Sam shook, not with cold but with fury.
“No. You don’t. Which is why we need to get you off this roof and back to hospital so they can give you your drugs and get this all sorted out.”
“I don’t need those drugs or those treatments or this sectioning,” Sam’s voice wavered, but his body remained fixed.
“You do ‘less you want to go to jail. If the Guv hadn’t had you sectioned, you’d be locked up, facing attempted murder charges. And your pretty arse would be serving time in the same prison as Warren and a hundred other pieces of scum that don’t think too highly of pompous Detective Inspectors. You should be thanking Hunt that you’re not being reamed up the arse every night by your cellmate and his pals.”
He heard a wet sound, a muffled sniffle, and only then realized Sam was crying.
“This isn’t what I wanted.”
“Should’ve thought of that ‘fore you let your fists do the talking.”
“That’s rich, coming from you, DS Carling.”
“Oh, so you do know who it is. Weren’t off with the fairies, were you?”
“Ray...” Sam’s face finally turned and, though it was difficult to see, Ray knew Sam was looking right at him. “I can help you find him. If...if I can keep, keep my head clear, I can help you.”
“We have to take you back where you belong, Tyler.”
“But not right away. Please. Let me help. Let me be useful. And, once we find Gene, you can toss me back. I don’t care. Just, let me be useful one more time.”
Ray shivered.
“It’s bloody freezing up here. I’m going inside.”
*
His body was ice cold as they laid him back in the bed. He’d been up on that roof for over an hour before Ray had been able to bring him down. The matron fretted over the poor thing, covering him with copious amounts of blankets, and making sure he was as comfortable as could be.
Sam, meanwhile, had lost his moment of clarity and was back to staring at shadows. Ray watched carefully as he was arranged in the bed - drugs administered and IV reinserted. When helping Tyler down the steps to the closest lift, he had seen the shoe-shaped bruises on his legs, and caught site of the dark purple welts on his back. It was miracle nothing had been broken.
“What were he doing up there?” Chris asked as he stood still next to Ray.
“Stargazing,” he answered jokingly. “How the hell should I know?”
“He wasn’t going to...”
“No,” he answered seriously. “No, he...I don’t think he thinks that’ll work.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s going to happen to him?”
“I don’t know.” Ray paused, then spoke again. “He wants to help find Gene.”
“I thought he had been.”
“He means, from outside the asylum.”
“Can he?”
“I don’t know if we should let him.”
“It couldn’t make him any worse, could it?”
“I don’t know.”