Bandaid

Dani sighs and nods. "Thank you, Dalton... for bringing me down here. I appreciate it. I'll probably want to come back again. I know Alec doesn't want to see me, but... I want to try talking to him again anyway."

She starts for the stairs, now wondering how she would tell Carson that she'd been here.


Jason gives a little laugh at Katie's comment about the ducks, but lets their conversation taper off as he gets up to go to the break room. Wandering down the hall, he enters the quiet room to grab a paper cup and fill it with water. Taking a sip, he sighs deeply. He was tired today. But lunch would perk him up, then it would only be a few more hours until he could go home.

Ambling back out of the break room, he's just taking another sip of water when suddenly all of his emotions come flying back at him like a freight train.

Falling back against the wall, Jason gasps, his water plummeting to the floor. His eyes go wide as he mind races, trying to understand what was happening. It felt like Katie had reversed the river's flow. Cringing, he finally deciphers Katie's cry for help.

Katie… what's wrong?! What….

But he can say no more. Just as quickly as Katie had hurled his emotions back at him, she was gone. A dam had been raised, and it was secure. There were no cracks or crevices to let emotions through. There was nothing.

Jason gasps for air as he slowly slides to the floor. He puts a hand to his chest as the pressure builds, the pain increasing by the second.

Katie… what… happened… why….

Wheezing, Jason rolls over to his hands and knees, looking down the hall. Everything seemed just a bit blurry. Mustering up his energy, he cries out. "Rick! ….Rick!"

In the infirmary, Rick is working at the lab table, when suddenly he hears Jason's cry. He looks to Misty, then shoots out of the room into the hall. Seeing Jason, he sucks in his breath. "Jason… What's wrong? What happened?"

Jason continues to gasp for breath. "Katie… I don't know… I've been.. cut off."

"Come here… take it easy." Rick reaches down, helping Jason up off the floor with difficulty. Managing to get him to the infirmary, he gets Jason to the table where Jason obediently lies down.

The pain continues to increase and he rolls over onto his side, doubling up. Everything was spinning. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't escape the torture. His eyes find Misty, filling with tears from the pain.

Rick is right by his side. "Jason… Jason listen to me. Shut off your own emotions. Shut off as much as you can." No response. "Jason, come on…. It will help relieve some of the pressure. I have to be able to talk to you."

Jason tries to catch his breath, and forces himself to shut down. It's like putting a bandaid on a crack in a river's dam, but it's enough for him to make sense of what Rick was saying. "I can't hold it," he mumbles.

Rick desperately tries to figure out what's happening. "What's the difference between you shutting down and Katie shutting you out?"

"I don't… I don't know. I haven't…" Jason gasps for air. "I haven't shut down completely in a… a long time."

"You think it's evolved? You think you can't even shut her out completely anymore?"

Jason manages a nod. It felt that way. Unfortunately, it made sense. The connection had grown ever stronger. At this point, anything that severed it, whether it was by their own will or not, would kill them both.

Rick paces, throwing a desperate glance in Misty's direction, then back to Jason. "What do I do, Jason?"

"You were working on… on… something… right?" Jason winces and pulls himself in tighter as the pain shoots through his system.

"Yes, but I'm still experimenting! I developed a temporary fix just last night, but I don't know if it will work or not. I have no guarantees yet. I haven't tested it enough."

"Give it to me."

"I can't do that, Jason. It might do more harm than good. Besides that, what about Katie? If you're cut off, where does that leave her?"

Jason knew that whatever had happened, Katie had been cut off first. And whatever had caused it, would probably last a while. His greatest fear was that an accident had happened. The only thing that could truly separate them was death. But he couldn't think that way. He had to find her. But in order to do that, he had to at least be able to function. Unfortunately, he was risking cutting Katie off too soon and putting her through this same torture. But whatever happened, maybe it would give them enough time to find her before she went down too far.

Reaching out, he grabs Rick's wrist and yanks him down close. His eyes blaze. "If you don't give it to me, I'm going to die," he hisses.

Rick swallows hard, his eyes searching his young friend's. "Okay… okay. Hang on."

Jason lets him go, fighting to stay conscious. He can feel his eyes wanting to roll back into his head, but he tries so hard to fight against it. Suddenly there's a prick to his arm. And like a raging river turns into a gentle stream, the emotions evaporate. What was an ocean ten minutes earlier was now a shallow pool… an emotional collection the depth of a normal person.

The pressure is immediately released and Jason is finally able to catch his breath. His body starts to relax and he blinks. The feeling was confusing.

"Jason?" Rick moves around to see his face. "What's going on?"

Jason rolls over onto his back, trying to recover. "Nothing… I feel…" He tries to collect emotions to increase power, but it's like trying to collect air bubbles underwater. "Nothing."

Rick lets out the breath he'd been holding. "It worked?"

"I think so." Jason manages to sit up, and puts a hand to his head. A splitting headache seemed to be the only side affect. "Give me some aspirin or something." His mind races. It felt so strange. He'd been filled with so many raging emotions for so long that having them gone… it was a strange sensation. He was normal again. He couldn't even attempt communication with Katie – there just wasn't the ingredients there anymore. "What… what happens now?"

Rick hands him some aspirin and some water. "Well, what I made up is a temporary solution. It's a bandaid. I don't know how long it will last, but it will wear off. When it does, you'll need another dose to keep it up."

"When you say you don't know how long it will last…"

"I mean it could be five minutes… five hours… five days. I don't know."

Jason slides off the table, wobbling just a little bit, heading for the door.

"Whoa, where you going?"

"Katie was at the park. We have to find her."

"You're not in a condition to go anywhere."

Jason whirls around to glare at Rick. "Katie could be dead! Now I'm going, whether you like it or not."

Seeing Jason leave, Rick grabs the phone and dials the short extension. "Nate? Jason's on his way out. Don't let him leave alone. Something's happened to Katie, but he's in no shape to drive, let alone go out there by himself."

Jason gets to his office, having to take a moment to lean on his desk and catch his breath. He felt weak all over. It was the strangest thing he'd ever felt. Going for his desk drawer, he pulls out his gun, then clips his badge to his belt. Heading out to the main floor, Trooper is on his heels. Jason staggers just a little when the room spins, but he shakes it off, continuing his route.