AN: So I actually find it funny that you guys comment more on the angsty chapters than the happy ones. I guess that means you want more pain then, right? 😉

Once Katherine had left, Jack was brought back out into the main room to find that Louis had returned, and was sitting by himself on one side of the room, and Jack hurried towards him, taking the chair next to him.

"Hey, kid."

Louis jumped at the sound of his voice, but managed a tight smile as he turned towards Jack. "Hey."

"So? How was it?"

The sixteen year old thought for a moment, looking for the right descriptive words. "It was... okay, I guess. Don't know how much I'm allowed to say, but it wasn't awful or anything. They didn't really do anything either, we just talked for a while."

"Who's we? You and a nurse?" Jack wanted to be as prepared as he could. After all, Louis seemed to be about as sane as he was, they would probably have similar treatments.

Louis shook his head. "A doctor. Never seen any of them around, but I guess it makes sense that if there are nurses then there have to be doctors for them to work for."

Jack nodded, looking carefully at his friend's face. He looked fine, for the most part, yet slightly different. Like he wasn't fully engaged in the conversation, and a part of him was still thinking about whatever they'd told him in there.

"You sure you're okay?"

Louis nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you, you got some visitors, right? How're they?"

Jack still wasn't convinced, but he decided to drop it. If anything, talking about something else would help his friend get his mind off of his treatment, so he began telling him about Crutchie and Katherine. Still, he had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that something might not be right here.

oOo

Jack had guessed right, and the next day, a nurse called him in before he could eat breakfast. He was slightly aggravated about having to miss the first meal of the day - unless he could see a valid reason for skipping a meal, Jack tended to become somewhat grumpy when he was hungry, but he followed her down a hallway that only the nurses, and doctors, he assumed, had access to.

When he saw that the room they had taken him too only had a metal table for furniture, along with several machines and medical tools, the purpose of which he had no idea, he got nervous. This was definitely not going to be like whatever treatment Louis had. The nurse had left him alone, so he merely sat on the edge of the table for a minute until a doctor came in.

"Hello, Mr. Kelly." 

Jack had hoped that the doctor would be nicer than the nurses, but his tone was just as stern and foreboding as all the other staff members. He simply nodded at the man and didn't say anything. The doctor fiddled around with the machines for a few minutes, and then, without warning, he took hold of Jack's shoulders and pushed him back onto the table. Jack flinched and sprung back to his feet, away from the table and the doctor. The older man didn't even react.

"Well, that's what we're trying to fix. Lie down on the table, son."

Jack was instantly wary of the man's town. "Why? What're you doing?"

"Just a new type of therapy we're trying out. Just lie down on the table, you won't feel a thing. We'll give you some gas, and you'll sleep through it all."

That didn't reassure him at all. "You aren't gonna cut me open?" He asked in an accusing tone, and the doctor sighed as though he was annoyed.

"No nothing like that. Just get on the table."

Jack still didn't like not understanding what was going on, but he figured it wouldn't do any good to keep asking questions, so he might as well get it over with. He reluctantly lay down on the table, and the last thing he felt before falling unconscious was the feeling of something being stuck on either side of his head.

oOo

When Jack woke up, he couldn't get his eyes open, and he was incredibly confused. He had no idea where he was or what was going on. He knew that something had happened, something odd, because he felt different. But he had no idea what it could have been.

After a few minutes, he manage to pry his eyelids apart, though honestly he'd rather just go back to sleep, and what he saw didn't help his confusion. He didn't recognize where he was. Though he had begun to realize that he had a massive headache. He groaned. Something was wrong with his mind, it felt foggy.

"Jack?"

Startled, his head jerked up, and he cringed as the back of his head hit the stone wall next to it. That certainly didn't help his headache. He sat up and looked around wildly until his head stopped spinning and he was able to focus. He suddenly realized that he was in his room at the asylum. He wondered why he hadn't noticed that before.

He remembered the reason why he was sitting upright, and he looked over to see his young roommate looking incredibly concerned.

"Louis... Louis?" He muttered distantly, the wheels in his turning frantically as they tried to figure out what the hell was happening to him.

The boy sighed with relief. "I was starting to think you weren't going to wake up."

"I don't... huh?"

"You've been out all day, ever since they brought you back this morning. What happened?"

Jack was silent for a few minutes, trying to figure out what Louis was talking about, and then he remembered. Well, he remembered walking down an unfamiliar hallway with a nurse. His mind drew a blank when he tried to remember anything past that.

"I don't know."

"Well, did they just talk to you for a while, like they did with me?"

He shook his head, instantly regretting it as a wave of nausea came over him. He gripped the edge of his thin mattress and closed his eyes until it subsided.

"No. I dunno what they did, but they did something. I feel weird."

"You're acting weird." Louis said quietly, moving over next to Jack on his bed, not noticing the young man tensing up as he did so. "You really don't remember what they did?"

"No, just hope they don't do it again. Don't like this."

"Is there something I can do to make you feel better?"

Jack was touched by how caring this kid was, and he wished he could say yes. "Don't know." He felt like he didn't know anything anymore.

They were quiet for a minute before Louis thought of something. "Are you hungry?"

Once Louis mentioned it, Jack realized that yes, he was incredibly hungry. He nodded.

"You missed all three meals today," The boy explained. "And they said they wouldn't let you eat dinner late, so I took some for you." He pulled a small roll of bread and half of an apple out of his pockets and handed them over.

Jack took them, eating them slowly so that he could savor each bite. He listened as Louis tried to make him feel better by chattering on about anything he could think of, and he realized how grateful he was for the boy. He didn't feel so alone with him here.

Still, he desperately hoped that he would get to leave this place before that doctor could do anything else to him.