Backdated to June 27

[redeem_yourself]

Friday evenings didn't hold the same sort of promise on the island that they had back in the real world. Without any discernible work week, each day was interchangeable, mutable, but old habits are hard to break. Nicholas was freshly-showered after football, had a glass of iced juice clamped in one hand and a mind to head out to the Hub to while

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[making_choices]

It was stupid, but he'd cut himself on patrol. Nothing bad, just a fall down a slope leaving a few scrapes. All he'd wanted was something antiseptic to wash them with, maybe a band-aid. What he got though, well, it wasn't what he'd expected. In all of his time as a detective, in all of his time at NCIS, he'd rarely seen things that gruesome. That it was here, he never expected it at all.

His hand strayed to his hip, for a gun that wasn't there. "Shit." The word escaped him, looking from the man to the body. The body. Not a person. He just hoped it wasn't his guy's work. That was something the island didn't need right now.

[redeem_yourself]

Bile had risen to Nicholas' throat unbidden, and he scrambled for a nearby rubbish bin, in which he promptly deposited most of his dinner. "Oh fuck," he whined, and found that he couldn't stop his hands from shaking, seized as he was by the sudden idea that somehow, someway, this meant Amin was on the island. That he was doomed to have his sins visited back upon him again and again.

[making_choices]

The man's reaction did a lot toward making Tony think that he'd just walked in on this too. Whatever it was, and whoever had done this, it wasn't good. Hell, on a scale of one to bad, this was way beyond that little girl going missing.

It only took him a minute to find a sheet and cover the body. Tony knew better than to touch anything without gloves, but people didn't need to just see this if they walked in for aspirin. That taken care of, he crouched beside the guy, asking the stupidest of stupid questions, but knowing it was the only way to start. "You okay?"

[redeem_yourself]

"No," Nicholas answered, fingers still clamped over the rim of the bin as he stared into the middle distance. "I know her. Knew her. She shouldn't fucking be here. He's here. He's got to be here."

[peeledfreckles]

Thirty seconds before, Paige's mind had been on far more devious things. Not really devious, more self-serving and she had been hoping to catch the right doctor, willing to donate to the cause. Rob perhaps, or Meredith. She hadn't been that serious in her pursuit, but upon hearing a crash as she rounded the corner a bit faster as she entered the room.

Then she kind of wished she hadn't. "Hey, is everything--" she started, seeing the shattered glass and the juice, stepping carefully in her sneakers. "Nick...what...ohmygod."

[redeem_yourself]

At the familiar sound of Paige's voice, Nicholas' head snapped around, and he stared, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, unable for several seconds to do anything else. Impetus swiftly arrived in the form of panic, however, and he scrambled to his feet, sliding in the mess on the floor and cutting his hands.

"No," he ground out, and seized hold of her by the upper arms, palms smearing blood over her shirt. "Go," he demanded, half-crazed and shaking. "Go. Go now. If anybody asks, you don't know me. You don't know me. Do you understand?"

[peeledfreckles]

Whatever part of her brain that had been shut off before, that had gone silent in the months of peace and tranquility and hell, normalcy snapped itself back on in a flash. Paige took a deep breath, focusing herself on the situation at hand and not, repeat, not on the people involved.

"Hey, wait a minute," she said, trying to speak as calmly as she could. "You can't just do that to me, you're hurt and there's clearly something wrong. Let me help you."

[redeem_yourself]

"No," Nicholas insisted, forcing Paige back out into the hall. "I'm fine, I'll be fine, please just go." The last word trailed off into a desperate whine, and he glanced nervously up and down the hall.

"It isn't safe, Paige, please." He leaned in, pressed a hasty kiss to her mouth. When he drew away, he saw that he'd left a smear of blood across her cheek, and he blinked at it, momentarily stunned by the sight.

[ata_beckett]

Carson had walked out for a cup of coffee, as he often did somewhere in the middle of his shift. It was just around the corner, really, and he was certain that if some sort of medical emergency happened in the few minutes that he was away, that he'd hear all the fuss from the kitchen.

Which was exactly the case when he heard the noise coming from the infirmary and rounded the corner to find Dr. Garrigan on the floor, and glass and orange juice all over the floor. He started to say something about it, until he spotted just why the glass had been dropped in the first place.

"Christ," Carson said, for lack of anything else to say, and his stomach very nearly turned.

[redeem_yourself]

Nicholas' breath was coming hard and fast, hissed through clenched teeth as he stared in horror at the body on the table, the body that had no right to be there.

"Fuck," he moaned, and swallowed hard against the urge to vomit. "Oh fuck, Kay." Why had the island done this to him? When it had the potential to have her appeal whole and beautiful and alive, why would it choose her in death unless it was a warning?

[never_atone]

The crash caught her attention but his cry that hurried her feet. Briony had just entered the Compound when she heard the sound, and she rushed to the clinic, her movements mechanically efficient, a year's worth of training under pitiless teachers summoned from muscle memory.

She paused at the door, intending to only take in the scene and determine her next action, but the sight froze her blood. Nicholas on the floor, so frightened as he was, was startling enough, contrasting so sharply to the cheerful personality she had learned to differentiate from Robbie. But that woman-- oh, that poor woman.

Though her hand flew to her mouth, Briony felt a wave of queasiness break over her quickly and not return. Nothing about the human body could shock her anymore, not for long, not now. There was nothing she could do for the woman, obviously, so she moved to Nicholas' side, trying to help him to his feet and calm him at the same time.

"Nicholas, it's alright. Let's just get you out of here."

[redeem_yourself]

It wasn't until Nicholas was halfway to his feet that he realised he was moving at all, capable hands caught under his arms spurring him to stand, or make an attempt at any rate. His name- She was saying his name, and he looked, wide-eyed and wild, and was both surprised and relieved to find Briony's familiar face looming before his own.

His mouth opened as if to speak, then faltered as his feet slipped gracelessly in the mess on the floor. Strong fingers clutched at Briony's sleeves like a vise, and Nicholas pushed her bodily from the room, out into the hall, all the way to the opposite wall, pinning her.

"You leave right now, and you forget you ever met me. Do you understand?"

[never_atone]

Though no weakling, Briony was by no means a match for Nicholas, not in the state he was in. She tried to offer some resistance, but with a sharp gasp she found herself pressed against the cold wall of the Compound, staring into Nicholas' eyes, so wide that the light, cheerful blue looked almost frightening this close.

"No, I--" Understand? Of course she couldn't understand. He was mad, it was clear, though perhaps only from the moment and perhaps easily cured. His grip around her arms hurt, and foolish childhood nightmares threatened to invade the corners of her mind. This was the face she had imagined coming for her at thirteen. "No. Nicholas, let me go. You need help."

[redeem_yourself]

Becoming suddenly aware of how firm a grasp he had on Briony, Nicholas went briefly wide-eyed and jerked his hands back, abashed. "I'm sorry," he apologised, and then looked immediately down the hall one way and then the other.

"Briony, listen to me. If the man who did that-" He motioned fleetingly over his shoulder. "If he's here, and he sees you even talking to me, he might do the same to you. You need to go, right now."