"This is all my fault," Jessie moaned. Looking over at Carlos, she gently touched his face. "My God, Carlos, he would have killed you.’

Walker looked at Carlos. "C’mon, we have to get you to a hospital. You can explain everything to me on the way." As they made their way outside, the police car was about to pull away. From inside the back of the car, a foot kicked out the back door window

Carlos tried in vain to wipe the blood away with his sleeve. He was still in shock. "I don’t know what came over him. He was…." He grasped for words. "Like it wasn’t even Trent."

Walker looked over at Jessie. "Want to start from the beginning?"

Jessie wiped her face, trying to make some sense of what happened. "I don’t know where the beginning is." She stood on the front walkway, hugging herself, trying not to notice the neighbours staring in her direction. "He hasn’t been himself for a while now. He was moody, picking fights. But I never thought he would do something like this." Her voice wavered as she looked again at Carlos’ battered face.

All three turned to look as a car pulled up in front of the house. Out from behind the wheel, stepped Rob Taylor, the new bartender.

"Dr. Mac? I saw you standing here. I was just on my way home. Is everything okay?" He looked around, finally seeing the blood on Carlos. "Mr. Sandoval!! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Kid, I’m just peachy." Another swipe at the blood with his sleeve, made Carlos’ head spin. Walker noticed.

"C’mon Carlos. We’ll get you in for repairs." Turning to Rob, he said, "Do you mind staying with her? I don’t want her alone."

"Sure Mr. Walker," Rob said, taking Jess’ arm.

"I have to go tell Sarah. She might worry about Carlos after that phone call." Jess stared at the ground. What would Sarah say if she knew Jess’ comment that had set Trent off? In her mind, Jess heard the words; She’s dead Trent. Let her go. She closed her eyes to block out the terrifying events that followed.

"Don’t worry Dr. Mac. I’ll take you over." As Walker led Carlos to his car, Rob took Jessie inside. He wasn't prepared for the carnage that met them. Blood was splattered everywhere and furniture was broken and upended. "Holy shit, Jessie. Is Mr. Malloy okay?"

The emotions came like a bursting dam as the words hit her. Falling into Rob’s arms, Jess wailed like a wounded animal.

**

"We have got to get him sedated!!" the Doctor ordered.

"I’m sorry, Doc, but he already broke Henry’s arm. And that’s with him in handcuffs!"

The doctor stared in to the room, watching the figure throw himself against the walls and doors, screaming and yelling. His hands were still handcuffed but his feet were free. Finally, he turned to the orderly beside him. "Get me 4 guys from security and a vial of the strongest sedative we have." Turning back to the window, he muttered, "We have to do something before he hurts himself."

**

Sarah sat staring at Jess in complete shock. It had only taken a few minutes for Jess to breakdown and tell Sarah the complete story, leaving out only a few details.

"Is Carlos okay?" Sarah asked.

"Walker took him over to the hospital. I think his nose is broken."

Sarah sighed in relief. She knew Carlos was in good hands. "What about Trent?"

"I don’t know, Sarah. I think they took him to the psych hospital. Rob said he would check for him and let me know." Jess looked away. "It’s all my fault."

Sarah went to sit beside her. "No, it isn’t Jess. We all knew he was having a hard time. We just never knew it would explode like this."

"But why?" Jess struggled to understand.

"Yesterday was June 22^nd," Sarah said quietly. Jess looked at Sarah, who was now looking down at the floor. When she looked up her eyes were moist with tears. "It was three years ago yesterday." Sarah got up and walked into the kitchen to compose herself.

Jess suddenly heard her words again. She had said them on the 3^rd anniversary of Sam’s death.

**

Carlos stood looking at the figure now lying prone on the bed. He noted that they had strapped Trent down at both the wrists and the ankles. The feeling of helplessness was oppressive.

"Is that really necessary, Doc?" Carlos asked the figure beside him.

"Yes. He is a danger to himself and everyone around him." Looking at Carlos battered face he said, "You should know that."

"That’s not Trent in there," Carlos muttered. "What have you found out?"

The doctor sighed. "Are you family, Mr. Sandoval?"

Carlos turned to stare at the man. "Yes," he said, his expression daring the doctor to say different.

The doctor weighed his options then finally spoke. "It appears Mr. Malloy has had what we call a psychotic episode. We don’t know for sure what triggered it but it must have been something traumatic. We are keeping him sedated until we can find the right balance of anti-psychotic medication. As of now, whenever the sedation wears off, he become violent again."

"So how do you know what to give him? Is it possible he had drugs in his system already?"

"We always do a blood test before administering anything. Unfortunately in Mr. Malloy’s case we had to sedate him in order to get the blood. Then due to a lab accident, we had to do it again. Preliminary reports show no drugs in his system, other than the sedative."

Carlos placed his head on the glass. "He hasn’t been himself for a few weeks," Carlos told him. In his mind he thought, since the baby. "I just can’t believe he would explode like this." He raised his hand to his broken nose as if to remind himself what Trent had done. "Yesterday was the 3^rd anniversary of his wife’s death," he said aloud.

"That very possibly could have been the trigger. How did she die?"

"She was blown up by a bomb meant for Trent."

"Oh." Regaining his composure the doctor put his hand on Carlos’ arm. "Anything else you can tell me would be helpful. Would you like a coffee?

"Can I see him first?"

Again the doctor hesitated. "Mr. Sandoval…"

"Look Doc, I just want to talk to him, even if he doesn’t hear me. I just have to."

The doctor stared at him for a moment. "Mr. Sandoval, I don’t think that’s a good idea. It is very obvious that he was upset with you. We don’t want to set him off again. At least let’s get him stabilized first."

"Just for a minute. If he shows any sign of agitation, I’ll get out."

The doctor looked at Carlos. "Something tells me you aren’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer." Straightening himself up, the doctor told him. "At the slightest sign of agitation, you get out of there. I know he is restrained but I don’t need him fighting again."

"Thanks, Doc."

As the doctor opened the door, Carlos hesitated. Slowly he moved to the bedside of his best friend and partner. Putting his hand on Trent’s arm, Carlos saw his eyes flutter.

"Hey, manno. I don’t know if you can hear me but we’ll get you through this. I don’t know why this happened but I forgive you. I know it wasn’t really you in there." Carlos paused to maintain his composure. Trent had always been there for him and he wasn’t about to abandon Trent now. His head suddenly snapped up, sure he had heard a whisper. "Trent?" Carlos leaned his head closer.

"Hey buddy." The voice was little more than a whisper. "What happened to your nose?"

"You don’t remember?" A slight shake of his head.

"Where am I? Why can’t I move?" The voice came in rasps.

"You’re in the hospital, Trent. They have you restrained so you won’t hurt yourself. They are trying to help you."

"Mmmmmm…." The next words were lost as Trent closed his eyes again.

"Trent? C’mon Trent, talk to me," Carlos implored, resisting the desire to shake Trent back awake. Carlos was startled by the door opening. Turning, he saw Rob. Something about the kid bothered him. Was it just the situation with Trent or was it something else?

"Hi Mr. Sandoval." Maybe it was the fact that the kid was only about 5 years younger than Carlos but the still insisted on calling him by his surname.

"Hi kid."

He put down the tray full of what looked like torture devices to Carlos on the side table. "I just need to give Mr. Malloy his shot and then take some blood. I think the doctor is expecting you in the hall."

Obnoxious little snot, Carlos thought. I’ve just been dismissed. Turning back to the bed he leaned close to Trent’s ear. "Don’t worry, Manno, we’ll get you out of here soon. Jessie is waiting for you." As he got up and made his way to the door, he thought he heard a harumph from Rob. "You say something, Rob?" he demanded.

"No sir. Just getting everything ready here. Take care, Mr. Sandoval."

For a moment, Carlos stared at Rob’s back before finally heading out to the hallway.

**

"How is he?" Jess met Rob at the door.

"He’s not good, Jess." As Jess turned and went into the kitchen Rob followed her. "Every time they try to lessen the dosage he gets violent again. He is either sedated or violent."

"It’s all my fault," Jess cried.

"No, it isn’t, Jess. He almost killed you, for God’s sakes! That was his own doing, not yours."

"Yeah, but I pushed him with what I said."

"Jess, he was already there. Psychosis doesn’t start overnight, you know that. He was on his way."

Jess just nodded. "They called from New York about the conference."

"Are you going?"

"Rob, I can’t go know. I can’t leave Trent like this."

"He’s is good hand, Jess. And you and I both know that not much is going to change in a couple days. This might be good for you to get away."

"Carlos will never forgive me. He is already upset because I can’t go into the hospital."

"Carlos will understand in the long run."

"You don’t understand how long Carlos holds a grudge," she said.

"Jessie, do this for you. You’ve had a traumatic experience. He almost killed you. Get away for awhile."

"I’ll think about it." The idea of getting away did appeal to Jess. She couldn’t stand to see Trent in the hospital and having Carlos pushing her wasn’t helping either. Maybe the 2-day conference would help.

**

"Hi, T." Trent’s eyes flew open at the sound of the voice.

"Sam?"

"Hi, baby."

Trent relaxed into his pillow. "Hi, Sam. What are you doing here?"

"Just come to visit you."

"Why am I here, Sam? I don’t understand." He felt her hand take his and he longed to hold her but the restraints held fast. "Help me, Sam."

He saw tears in her eyes. "I can’t help, Trent. I don’t know what to do."

"Am I dying?"

"No. Your mind is. They are drugging you, T. But I can’t stop them. I have to find a way to stop them."

"Why? Maybe it’s better this way. At least I get to see you in my drugged up state."

Sam smiled. "You know better than that. You are a fighter, T. But the problem is I need you to fight this in your head. The more you fight physically, the more they drug you."

"How is Carlos?"

"Worried about you."

"And Jess? How come she hasn’t been to see me?"

Sam sighed. "Jess is having a little trouble with this. The psychiatric hospital is a little too familiar for her."

"Did I hurt her?"

"No, just scared her."

"What about Carlos?"

"I told you he was okay."

"Answer me!" Anger flashed in Trent’s eyes. "What did I do to him?"

"You broke his nose and his wrist. You beat him pretty badly, T."

Trent pushed her hand away and turned his head toward the wall. "Go away."

"T…."

"Go away," he said again.

"Okay, if that’s what you want. But remember, T., you need to fight this."

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