A/N: There will be a sequel to this fic that will pick-up after Brian has left Liberty Hospital, entitled 'Slowly, But Exceeding Fine'. Of course, that's not until this fic is completed, and we've a ways to go before that. Please review, it's appreciate.
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Month One: Week Three

The Monday morning of Brian’s third week at Liberty dawned bright and clear. Brian had already adjusted to the schedule, waking naturally with enough time to change and wash before the morning room_check. The schedule was somewhat comforting but there was nothing that made the frequent room_checks enjoyable. Brian had valued his privacy ever since he was a little boy. He’d been forced to adapt with his times in various institutions and hospitals because privacy was impossible there, but it had only made it that much more precious. At twenty_nine, Brian was not enjoying having nurses constantly keeping an eye on him and barging in on him, no matter how big their smiles were or how pleasant their demeanor.

It was at breakfast that Brian noted that The Gang was somewhat subdued in their chatter, and there was an air of tension in the group. It was something he noticed throughout the day, though he could not determine the reason for it. Tuesday was the same, though the tension seemed heightened, and by lunch Brian had realized that for whatever reason, each member of the small group of friends seemed overly concerned with Justin.

"Hey, Baby," Emmett crooned after lunch. "Why don’t we go for a walk?" Brian watched Justin smile, just like he always did, and walk away with Emmett. He thought about asking, but then realized he was sitting alone with Michael and Melanie. Brian didn’t get along with Melanie. He enjoyed butting heads with her, and thought that he might have gotten along with her in a different world where he actually possessed more than a teaspoon of patience for people that reminded him so strongly of himself, but he didn’t live in that world, and more often than not Melanie pissed him off. Michael, on the other hand, was annoying for a different reason. Brain had learned that the man was thirty, but his maturity was that of a teenager, and when his depression was added to the mix Brian felt like clawing his eyes out. In addition, Michael very clearly, was smitten with Brian, and that was just too much to take. Independently, they irritated him, but for some reason when the entire group was together, he could bear Melanie and even Michael. That didn’t mean he was going to ask them what was going on.

"Nurse Daphne?" Brian asked, tongue-in cheek as the familiar nurse waltzed by. Some of the staff at Liberty were volunteers and even if the volunteers were regular they took shifts so that same volunteer would be on for an entire stretch and then be absent for the rest of the month. Daphne was one of the few permanent nurses at Liberty who hadn’t blacklisted Brian, mostly because she could give as good as she got, and showed remarkable talent for brushing Brian off when he was in a pissy mood.

"I’m very busy and important," Daphne teased.

"Is there any way I can get something to read? I’ve done my book to death," Brian said.

"If I smuggled in a copy of 'War and Peace’, how long do you think that would last you?" she asked.

"In this place?" Brian quipped.

"We’ve got a library," she stated, smiling at him.

"How am I supposed to know this?" Brian asked.

"Justin practically lives there. He hasn’t shown you?" she asked.

"He hasn’t said a word about it," Brian quipped. Daphne rolled her eyes and huffed at his joke, but she gave him the directions just the same.

The library was larger than he had been expecting. It was the topmost floor of the main building, and the creaking wooden staircase you climbed to reach it deposited you directly in the centre of the room. From there, it was a sea of bookshelves, with a few couches, and one dour looking woman seated behind a large oak desk, glaring at everyone in general, though it seemed as if Brian was the only one in the room.

"You can take out one book," the woman said as Brian walked by. He tried to choke down the comments he had to that statement, like that there were plenty of books and why would they need such a silly rule. Instead, he lost himself between the shelves, and spent the day reading, finally selecting a book and heading back to building two in time for dinner.

What he found when he returned to the floor was sheer pandemonium, and at the centre of it all was Justin. The pale blond boy who had seemed so gentle and quiet before was thrashing and making an awful, strangled keening sound. There were three large orderlies manhandling him, and Daphne and Debbie were close by trying to speak to him and calm him down. Emmett was in tears and was sobbing into Michael’s shoulder, and Mel was watching solemnly and patting Emmett’s back.

"What the fuck is going on?" Brian shouted at the group.

"Don’t," Melanie said, grabbing his arm as he moved forward. "You can’t do anything."

"What’s going on?" Brian repeated. He watched as Justin kicked his legs out, struggling like a wild thing to breakout of the strong grips. Daphne was urging Justin to keep still as Deb prepped a needle.

"Hold his arm," Deb instructed one of the orderlies. Justin keened a little louder, there were tears running down his cheeks, and as Debbie sedated him, Justin flashed Brian a look of desperate fear, pleading for something though Brian had no idea what that might be.

"Get him to solitary," Debbie said, as she gently wiped the tears from Justin’s cheeks. "It’s okay, Sunshine," she whispered. Brian watched the orderlies heft Justin’s limp body and carry him off to the solitary confinement rooms.

"What the fuck was that?" Brian asked.

"We don’t know," Emmett said, wiping his cheeks. "It’s something new, and we don’t --" he broke off to sob again.

"It started up within this year, and it’s like clockwork. Every third week of the month, he has a fit and no one can calm him down. Believe me, everyone has tried," Melanie explained. "He gets sedated and taken to solitary so he can get his bearings and rest-up. They run tests to try and figure-out what caused it but inevitably they find nothing. Before the week is out, he’s back in his room and it’s like nothing ever happened."

"Until the third week of the next month," Michael commented.

"I can’t stand it," Emmett sobbed, turning on his heel and rushing back to his rooms.

"That’s not normal behavior," Brian said. "Something has to be causing that."

"Brian," Melanie said calmly. "We’re in a hospital. Generally the people here are not well."

He ate dinner alone in his room and thought about how his enigmatic roommate just kept getting more and more complicated. He wondered if Justin really was simply that crazy, or if there was something else behind the behavior. Generally, even if he were crazy, there would be some sort of logic to the timing. Why every third week of the month?

"Room check!" Debbie cried in lieu of knocking as she poked her head in. "You might want to get changed, lights are out in a few minutes."

"Can you get something to Justin?" Brian asked.

"He’s in solitary, Baby," she said. It shocked Brian, it was the first time she had ever used an endearment on him. He wondered if he were growing on her, or if she were simply concerned about her Sunshine.

"I know that. It’s just that it’s his night and he’ll need it," Brian said.

"What is it?" she asked, looking curious and doubtful. Brian picked up the bear from the nightstand. "Is this your bear?" she asked him. Brian’s look was enough of an answer, she snorted in amusement. "I’ll try and get it to him. Now you get changed, you hear?" She took the bear and closed the door behind her. Brian didn’t bother to change, just threw some sheets over top of his uniform and stared at the empty bed across from him.

................

Brian knew the nurses checked the rooms in the middle of the night. They had never waked him, and he’d never heard a sound from them, but he knew they checked just the same. He supposed that it made sense, that trouble could happen in the night and it was their job to make sure the shit didn’t hit the fan. It was another irritant to him, he felt indignant that he was treated like a basket case, like he was untrustworthy. Like he was unhinged. It had never actually disturbed his sleep, though, until he was startled awake by a flashlight shining into his face.

"What the fuck?" Brian asked, jolting into full wakefulness and trying to get a handle on his nerves.

"Room check," the man shrugged. His jaw was square and his hair was halfway between blond and brown. He had the expression of a dumb ox and appeared to have absolutely no remorse at having just woken Brian.

"You shine your fucking light in everyone’s face?" Brian asked.

"Just getting to know the new patient," the man said. "Go to sleep, lights out."

"Fuck you," Brian muttered.

"Maybe later," the man said before he left the room. His nametag had read 'Christopher’.

..........

Justin was gone all of Wednesday and half of Thursday, but he returned to their room in time for dinner on Thursday night. Brian was already seated on his bed with his tray, holding a fork in one hand and his book in the other. He looked up when Justin entered and offered a greeting but the blond walked directly to his bed, climbed onto it, and curled up with his back pressed against the wall. Brian was pleased to see that the bear was clutched in the blonde’s arms.

"Hey, Jus," Daphne said as she came round for room-checks that night. She sat for a bit at the foot of Justin’s bed, and Brian noticed that she didn’t try to touch him like she usually did. Justin was a tactile person, as Brian had noticed early in his stay at Liberty, and Daphne had always been just as relaxed with the boy. She didn’t talk, simply sat a while, and Brian wondered what she thought she was accomplishing. "I have to finish the rounds," she said after a while and stood up.

"Hey, I mentioned it to one of the other nurses -- Nancy, or Penny, or whatever the fuck; but I wanted to make sure it actually got to someone who gave a shit. The night nurse the night before last was an asshole. He woke me up and was talking shit."

Daphne frowned and turned away from the door, giving Brian her full attention. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, he shone a fucking flashlight in my face, and when I told him to fuck off, he talked some shit and then left. I don’t have a problem with assholes, I can give as good as I get," Brian said. "But I don’t know if his attitude contributes to the peaceful atmosphere here at Liberty."

She snorted at his sarcasm, but nodded her head seriously. "Did you get a glimpse of his nametag?"

"Christopher," Brian answered.

"Okay, he’s on rotation through the different buildings. I’ll make sure he gets straightened out," she assured. "We take this sort of thing really seriously," Daphne stated, clearly upset by the news. "I mean there’s trouble-makers wherever you go, and we’ve had incidents where the staff aren’t used to how Liberty handles things. Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s going on because not all the patients are as able to point out this sort of thing as you are," she said. "So, thanks for telling me."

"No problem," Brian said. He was a little surprised at how serious she sounded. The others places Brian had been to, it was par for the course getting attitude from the staff, getting attitude from the patients. He had to remind himself that Liberty was obviously a different sort of place.

"Good-night," Daphne said, and shut the door behind her.

............

Brian was fairly certain that Justin hadn’t slept at all the night before, and for the first time since he’d come to Liberty, he watched as Justin distanced himself from The Gang. Justin got his breakfast tray, ate in their bedroom, and then disappeared for the rest of the day. Since his earlier talk with Daphne, Brian assumed his roommate had gone to the library but he didn’t follow him.

"We don’t know what’s behind it," Lindsay explained, when Brian questioned her. "He has a routine, though. The fits happen any time within the third week, he goes to solitary for however many nights he needs to feel comfortable again. When he returns to his room he’s quieter --" she paused, as if waiting for Brian to comment, but he didn’t. "He stays to himself and doesn’t like to be touched. Usually by the second day, however, he initiates contact and everything is as if nothing happened."

"And you don’t ever wonder what’s going on?" Brian asked.

"We’ve explored a number of possibilities," Lindsay said. "But you have to understand, sessions with Justin are incredibly difficult because he doesn’t speak. I use several techniques to make the time productive, including art therapy, but when all I have to go on are his facial expressions and shakes and nods of his head in response to my own supposition, there is only so much I can do."

As it was a Friday tradition at Liberty, Brian found himself back in Blake’s office as the blond doctor ran tests and talked Brian’s ear off. It was a change, since the week had been filled with a sort of tense silence on the part of the gang, everyone was walking on eggshells with Justin.

"We’re going to try something fun," Blake said as he flipped through the growing number of papers kept in Brian’s file. "I’m going to put you on a complete system clear-out."

"What?" Brian said. He could figure-out what Blake was talking about, and there was no way that seemed liked fun to Brian.

"You stated in your entry forms that you’ve taken recreational drugs and alcohol. There’s enough here as well for me to know that you’ve got little icky gross things in your system." 

"Icky gross things? I’m glad you feel free enough to use the technical terminology," Brian snarked.

"Well, your body is my business," Blake leered, then winked. Brian tried not to wince, there was no way he was interested in Blake. Mind you, he was definitely not used to this prolonged celibacy but Brian had spotted a janitor that didn’t look too bad. "I’m switching your diet for the week. Stick with this as long as you can, but if you think it’s going to drive you crazy." Blake flashed a wide grin. "Tell your therapist and she’ll make sure you get switched back. But you have to stick with it as long as you can." Blake leaned over a piece of paper and began writing things out. Brian had learned that the table Blake was filling in was a comprehensive chart for the nursing staff, so they would know what pills and what food to give him, and when.

"There you go," Blake said as he capped his pen. "The week might be for shit, but you’re going to feel a lot better afterwards. And I put in a general detox for any metals that might have built-up from dental work, that sort of thing. It works wonders and I prescribe it to almost all my patients."  

"I can’t wait," Brian said.

Blake smiled broadly and said, "Let’s see how you do."

.............

When Justin returned to their room for dinner he settled his tray on his bed, pulled out his sketchpad and pencils and, as if on after-thought, deposited the teddy on Brian’s nightstand. Brian pretended to be too engrossed in his book to notice, but something eased a little in his chest.

The next morning Brian awoke fifteen minutes before room-check to find that Justin was not in his bed. Instead, Justin’s bed was neatly made, and the slippers the blond wore around the floor were absent. Brian dressed and got ready, and when Daphne poked her head into the room, she seemed unsurprised to find Justin absent.

As he made his way through the hall to get his breakfast tray, Brian noticed Emmett and Justin sitting in the rec room, watching TV while they ate their breakfast. Emmett’s arm was around Justin’s shoulder, and Justin was resting his head against Emmett’s chest. "Maybe you should give them a minute," Brian said, when Michael headed into the room, carrying his tray.

"Why?" Michael asked, then glanced into the room and saw Justin and Emmett. "They’re just like that," he explained. "It’s not, like, romantic. That’s frowned on here anyway. They’re just really good friends." Michael headed into the room, and Emmett and Justin did not seem the slightest bit ashamed of their position on the couch, Michael seemed at home with the show of affection as well. Brian refused to analyze the burning in his stomach.

Brian had great plans for the rest of the day. He had intended to walk out on the grounds, visit the library and (grudgingly) hang-out with the Gang. His new meal plan with the regime of detoxifying pills Blake had assigned him had begun last night at dinner with a plate of cooked pears and apples, with a hint of cinnamon, and a small cupful of pills that, despite being gel-coated, left a funny taste in his mouth. Following breakfast, Brian realized his plans were dashed as he was reluctant to move too far out of reach of the bathroom. He cursed Blaze and Liberty’s demented treatment system, and re-read the book he’d taken-out from the library previously.

"Ooh," Emmett said at dinner, Brian was looking at another plate of cooked apples and pears. "You got that diet thing, right? Blake calls it the body-purge."

"Lovely," Brian said, viciously stabbing a pear-slice with his fork.

"That is one brutal plan. But trust me, Baby," Emmett said. "You feel so much better afterwards. You know," Emmett added, sitting back and lifting up his shirt to expose his flat stomach. "I believe I even lost a few pounds." That didn’t sound too bad to Brian, and he continued eating.

"He tried to give me that," Michael volunteered. "That diet. I lasted a day. I felt like shit." Brian snickered, and so did Emmett. Mel rolled her eyes, and Justin simply shook his head. "Blake compromised and now I just eat a lot of fiber." This news only caused the group to laugh all the more. "What? Why’s that funny?" Michael said. A moment later his face contorted. "You all hate me."

"Oh, pish," Emmett said, throwing an arm around Michael’s shoulders. "Don’t get mopey, Hon." Brian tried to conceal that he was still snickering by focusing on his plate and spearing another slice of apple, but an elbow jabbed him in the side, and he realized that Justin had caught-him out. The blond smirked a little and rolled his eyes.

It being Saturday, the Gang dispersed after a long breakfast to see if they had visitors. Brian watched as Justin returned to their room to retrieve a sketchbook before following the other patients outside where he settled into a corner, out of the way of everyone and watched and sketched.

Cynthia was leaning against the railing overlooking the grounds. She wore black pants and a blazer with a white blouse beneath and her hair was hanging styled but loose about her shoulders. She reminded Brian immediately of everything he was missing his business suits, his office, presenting to clients, the absolute certainty that he was the best. They worked out a few mishaps and discussed going after a few clients. It was a relief to be updated about Kinnetic, to know it was still his and still running well. He missed it.

Unlike Ted, Cynthia worked through the business talk quickly and efficiently, and then proceeded to regular talk. She updated Brian about the office gossip, and the gossip going on in her life. Every now and then, she’d probe into how things were going at Liberty, but Cynthia was subtle and had tact, and Brian found himself answering honestly before he even realized what he was seeing. He was sad to see her go.

"Enjoy your field trip next week. I’ll send Theodore for Saturday, alright?" she said, smiling a little, and he glared at her and watched her make her way to the parking lot. As he sat watching, something cold was pressed into his shoulder and he started, looking to see what it was. Justin was standing beside him and pressing a plastic cup filled with something that looked like a smoothy of some sort. 

"What’s this?" Brian asked. Justin raised his eyebrows and tapped the cup against his arm again, then gestured behind them where Brian saw Daphne smiling and waving. "Fuck, the diet includes strange concoctions?" Justin bit his lip, clearly trying to hide a grin. Brian took the drink and then motioned for Justin to sit beside him. "What do you think is in it?" he asked. The drink was brown, with crushed ice in it. "Little birdie’s dirty feet? Percolated monkey meat?" he asked, remembering a song he’d found in a book once. Justin grinned at him and rolled his eyes. "I suppose I should just drink it." Justin held up his right hand, displaying his crossed fingers as Brian took a sip of the drink.

"Don’t be so melodramatic," Daphne’s voice carried over the distance that separated them. "It’s celery and carrot, and other vegetables, and ice. It won’t kill you."

"I wouldn’t be too sure of that," Brian muttered. Beside him Justin snickered and bumped his shoulder against Brian’s arm. "You’re not the one who has to drink this shit," Brian said. The comment only caused Justin’s snicker to escalate into a laugh. It was quiet, and the blond was clearly holding back, but Brian decided he liked the sound.

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End Chapter Three:

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