Z was startled when he came in the next morning, and gave the smaller agent a glance, and then, coming in just behind him, there was the doctor assigned to them, who looked just as bewildered.

Klaus was out of his bed -- the sheets in fact, were a little ripped and wadded up at the bottom of the bed, and he was still sitting in the chair beside Lord Gloria's bed. His left hand was clasped in Dorian's stone-fingered grasp, head resting back against the wall.

A whispered softly, "Well, it looks like they've been awake..."

"It... would seem so," Z spoke a little nervously, looking to the doctor. "Should... we move him back to his bed?"

"Major Eberbach," the doctor said clearly, leaning close to him. "Major Eberbach?"

"Nnnh?" A groan of noise, as the one grey-green eye slitted open for a moment before his entire body tensed and he was awake.

The doctor cleared his throat slightly. "I'm Doctor Schneider. Would you like to go back to your bed?" he asked.

"[So we made it out...?]" Klaus's one eye was unfocused, fighting to keep it open at the moment until he gathered himself better. carefully, though, he pulled his hand from Dorian's grasp, sitting up fully at last. "'s Z? Why're you here?"

"Yes, sir. We're here to make sure you're all right," Z said slowly. "We got you out. Lord Gloria's men were keeping an eye on things even though he told them not to, so when trouble struck, they gave us a call..."

One more failure to take onto the mission -- he'd gotten them caught, and hadn't been the one to get them out. No back up, no... Hazily, Klaus looked to Lord Gloria for a moment. Had the man's actions the night before been a complete dream? "'s he goin' t' be 'kay?"

"Physically, yes, sir," A said softly as he reached to help the Major back to his bed. "They think there'll be some scarring..."

All his effort of moving forwards, though, got him was a shake of Klaus's head, as the man didn't rise. "'m okay h're."

"Sir, you might need to lay down," Z pointed out. "You're not in such great shape yourself...."

"Really, sir," A tried to coax, smiling nervously at the major as he grasped the man's elbow to help him up -- only to get a cut off noise of pain, bit back quickly by Klaus. "Oh, the gashes -- sir, I forgot, I'm sorry, Major..."

The sound woke Dorian with a start, a cry parting his lips that was more fear than not, blue eyes unfocused and desperately, desperately afraid. "MAJOR!!"

Both of them in the same room, yelling at each other or not, had the same effect no matter what -- minor chaos. Klaus turned to Dorian again, shrugging off A's barely there grasp. "'m h're."

That seemed to be all it took to lull the British thief into a semblance of calm, that tall body curling in around itself shocking both of the Alphabets as much as their Major's strange reassurance.

"Major, it's time for your medications," the doctor explained gently. "If it's necessary, we can have the beds moved more closely together."

"Ja." he stood on his own, still shakily, and stiff, and let A help him a little, back onto the bed. "'d be a good idea. 'n I think I... r'pped my IV out... n't sure..."

"We'll take care of everything," Dr. Schneider assured him, pressing the call button. "Don't worry about a thing, Major."

"'m n't worried... I just cn't... see pr'ply, 'n I need a sm'ke..." He laid down, though, and let A put the pillow under his head, sheets coming up.

"You rang?" a nurse asked, peeking into the room a few moments later.

"Ah, yes... Could you bring the morning's medicine and go ahead and call psych? Our patients seem to have awakened. You might want to add a sedative for Lord Gloria, as well, thank you," the doctor told her. "Oh, and we'll be shifting the beds a bit closer... They seem to want that..."

"I'll get an orderly, then," the nurse said briskly.

"You don't have to bother -- we can do that," Z offered.

That seemed to gain him a strange look, but the nurse didn't say they couldn't, so A moved one of the two bedside stands out from between the beds and got on the other side of Klaus's. "No problem, right?" he said, eyeing the thing. "I mean, I'm not going to tangle any lines or anything, am I?"

"It should be fine," the doctor said absently as he stepped over to Dorian's bed.

The Earl's blue eyes were open and focused entirely on Klaus. They did not waver or shift until the doctor touched him, and then they widened, fear overriding the necessity of watching the other man so that he shuddered and pulled away from that touch.

Psych was going to have a fun time with those two, the doctor was sure of it.

"I don't think Lord Gloria likes being touched," A said once they'd stopped moving Klaus's bed. The major was already dozing a little again.

"I believe you may be right," Dr. Schneider replied dryly.

Z shook his head as he shoved the other bedside stand towards the corner. "I'm going to go and tell Bonham that they're awake," he said, heading for the door.

"And I'll wait here," A murmured, peering at the Major for a moment, before looking back at Lord Gloria. "This is just a mess."

"It certainly isn't pleasant, is it?" the doctor said almost sadly. "Such suffering."

"What exactly is psych going to do when they come down?" A asked, moving to a spot that was between the two close-together beds.

"They'll have to evaluate both of them and determine what kind of care they need. Your Major seems almost diffident, and Lord Gloria," the doctor said, indicating the Briton with a wave of his hand, "seems both terrified and obsessed..."

"Wait until the Major's off of pain killers. I don't think it's... set in yet, what's happened." A looked over to Lord Gloria again. "And Lord Gloria has every right to be that way."

The doctor nodded slowly. "Absolutely..." Notes were being made now on the charts at the ends of both bed, quickly and efficiently. "Since the nurse will be coming back and psych will be here shortly, I'm going to make my other rounds. Have a nice day."

'Have a nice day'... A sighed, pulling one of those chairs up towards the middle of the room, and plopped down to wait for Z and or Bonham to come back, and for the psych people to arrive.

A sound at the door drew his attention -- Bonham, arrived to check on things. "A," he said quietly, moving into the room. A look at the Earl told him quite a lot, and none of it was good. Those cerulean eyes were fixated firmly on Major Eberbach, and his gaze didn't move even when Bonham sat down beside him. "Hello, Earl."

"They're both awake, I think..." Z said, closing the door behind him carefully. "Someone from Psychiatric is coming down soon, I think -- can you try to rouse the Earl a little?" Then he shot a look over to A, "And you can help me wake the major up a little. Get him up sitting."

Even the touch of Bonham's hand brought a visible flinching and withdrawal from Dorian, the blond thief sliding to the edge of his bed with a soft sound. He glanced away from Klaus only momentarily, long enough to ascertain who was touching him, and then he went back to watching the other man. Guilt was written all over those beautifully expressive eyes, guilt mingled with fear and a strange, intense self-loathing, the only things clearly available through the bandages swathing him. "M'lord..."

"I'm sorry..."

"Lord Gloria, what are you apologizing for?" A pressed while Z gently shook the Major to consciousness. Z was probably the only person in the room who could wake Klaus without an outburst -- excepting, of course, Dorian, who would have only gotten the outburst once he'd said something to Klaus after waking him up...

...but that was usually. And the usual rules just weren't applying at the moment.

"I stopped talking," Dorian whispered, shame written on every inch of him. "I'm so sorry. I stopped talking..."

"Why were you talking, m'lord?" Bonham asked in a worried tone of voice, while Z shot A a glance. Was Dorian trying to tell Klaus that he stopped talking, that he didn't say everything? Just how much damage had been done to the West in that room?

And over in the other bed, Klaus groaned as Z made the device on the side bend the mattress so that he was sitting. "['at day 's it?]"

"[It's Monday, sir,]" Z said gently. "[Psych is coming up for a consult on you and Eroica, sir...]"

"[Psych...?]" Klaus opened his eye again and looked around hazily for a long moment. "[Tell me... everything that happened.]"

"[Bonham and Jones disobeyed Eroica, sir. They followed, and once they knew you were in trouble, they called us. It took us a while to get there,]" Z said reluctantly, "[but you were rescued. We killed two men as they left the building, a redhead and a blond, but we don't know how many might have escaped...]"

Blond -- what a vivid description. His men had always had a way of leaving out anything that could have been important. Klaus was quiet for at least three, maybe four minutes as he ran through everything he could remember. "[Five total. Three officers, two grunts. Was the blond 'n officer?]" He fixed a gaze on his two agents that said, despite his current state -- of which he wasn't fully aware of yet -- that he was mission intent.

"[Yes, sir,]" Z answered firmly.

The blond officer had been the first one to 'have' Dorian.

"['s good,]" Klaus murmured decisively, closing his eye for a moment. "[One guard, one lower rank'd officer, and their commander still need to be f'nd.]"

"[...yes, sir," the blond agent murmured, knowing they'd have to wait for a debriefing to get the descriptions of the men necessary to find them.

"Sir..." A said softly. "I hate to ask you this, but... what did Eroica tell them? He keeps saying he's sorry and that he stopped talking..."

The switch from German to English took a moment for Klaus to register -- not a good sign for a man so fluent -- and then a moment more to remember the answer. "[th' officer who interrogated us made 'm talk -- j'st anything that came to his mind. 'e started to sing, but forgot the words, and...]"

And the man had plunged a knife into his eye for it.

"Gott..."

"[And, sir?]" Z asked gently, the expression on Klaus's face frightening him slightly because it was accompanied by an aching sob from the thief across the way.

"My eye's gone, 'sn't it?" Klaus asked, looking straight at Z, his un-bandaged eye wide in horror as everything finally, *finally* sank it.

"Yes, sir," A murmured, hating to answer that question. "I'm sorry, sir..."

"*Shit*," A low, tight hiss of noise from him, that curse, as he looked at his bandaged hand, head turning to look at it. "H-how... how bad?"

"It's a total loss, sir," Z informed him quietly as Dorian wept hysterically in the background.

"A-all of it? I... thought it was just two..." His voice was a little panicked now, but only quietly so, as he looked over to Dorian. "Lord Gloria? What's wrong?" He didn't need the man crying, not now...

The words were back, barely spoken, hysterical. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" Oh, and he was, terribly, deeply *horribly* guilty and so very ashamed and so very *sorry*!

"I'm calling a nurse, m'lord," Bonham said grimly. "You can't keep on like this or you'll make yourself ill!"

"Hit that button there," A said to Bonham, even as he tried to stop Klaus from getting out of the bed.

"[Nein, this is my fault, this entire fiasco,]" Klaus uttered, pushing past A easily since the man was wary of Klaus's injuries. "Lord Gloria..." A hand, light, rested on the blond's shoulder. He'd always been reluctant to touch the man, but now it seemed a necessary and there was no chance of the man hitting on him. "'s all my fault, that we w're caught. 'u need.. to calm d'wn."

The touch brought a slight pulling away, but it also brought slightly calmer breaths, as if the mere feel of those fingers against him were enough. "I'm so sorry... I'm *SO* sorry..."

Lightly settled there, those fingers stroked softly, completely unsure. "'s my fault. Y're a civ'lian. Y' did perf'ctly."

"I stopped talking," Dorian sobbed, heartbroken. "Your perfect, beautiful eye. It's all my fault. It's *all* my fault. Too stupid to even keep running my mouth..."

"Oh, Jesus," Bonham whispered.

A leaned over for the man and rang the call button.

The hand on Dorian's shoulder squeezed lightly. "I dun' care. 'f I h'dn't 'f told y' to shut up, 'f I h'dn't cuss'd 'im out, 'f I h'dn't let the door cl'se... None 'f it wo'ld 've happen'd."

There were no words after that, but the crying didn't stop, and Eroica began to rock slowly in the bed as if for comfort.

It was frightening to see Dorian that way -- he was always cheery, flamboyant and just *up* about so much... Klaus kept his hand there for a moment more before he let Z move him back to sit on his bed. "'s like watch'n' light dr'wn," Klaus murmured vaguely, before looking at his favorite agent almost desperately. "[My entire hand?]"

"[Two fingers only,]" Z murmured. "[We couldn't find them, so they did some reconstructive surgery to get the muscles to lay properly.... but the other fingers are there, and the hand should be all right..]" Aside from the fact that he could never hold or fire a gun with it...

"[Which ones?]" He needed to know, desperately so -- he knew, was sure that he'd lost his little finger, but beyond that, it had only been another sharp pain...

Z almost sighed, just barely managing to hold it back. He really didn't want to tell the Major, but... "[Index and pinkie.]"

"Someone rang for a nurse?" a woman asked, coming in with a tray holding several medications. "And psych is running late. They say it'll be another half hour... oh, dear, I see Earl Gloria isn't doing well..."

"'s hysterical," Klaus told her. "'e needs t' be c'lmed down." He was looking at the bandaged mess as he told her that -- his hand had been rendered useless. His right hand, the hand that held his Magnum... completely useless. No trigger finger to fire with, no grip...

"We've got a sedative for him here," she said. "Lord Gloria, you have to take your medications," he was told loudly, her hand reaching for him.

He damned near fell out of bed to avoid being touched, Bonham catching him before he could and gently pushing him back in. He could feel Dorian trembling violently, jerking in reaction to his touch, but it couldn't be helped. "Lord Gloria," he said firmly to catch Dorian's attention. "She has medicine for you."

"Pl'se c'lm down, Dorian," Klaus added, having startled again when Dorian moved violently to avoid the nurse. "'s okay."

Again, words from Klaus seemed to calm him, enough so that he nodded and reached for the cup of pills with a shaking hand, looking over at Klaus as if to see if that was the thing to do.

Klaus was a little surprised by that look, but gave Dorian and affirmative nod. "Ja."

The pills were shaken into Eroica's mouth and he took the water Bonham gave him to swallow them down before curling up into a ball, watching Klaus again. "I'm really sorry," he whispered. "Really really..."

Klaus was quiet for a moment, and then he murmured, sure to make his words clear, "Don't be."

"I am," Dorian sighed as the nurse moved to Klaus's bed, handing him a little paper cup full of pills, as well. "I am..."

/God,/ A thought, utterly aching with some vaguely unpleasant emotion. /This is horrible.../

"I d'n't need a sed'tive -- t'ke it out," he told her, handing the cup back, as suspicious a man as he'd ever been.

"One wasn't requested for you," she informed him gently. She *didn't* tell him that the painkiller would probably have a sedative effect -- he needed it too badly.

That got her a drilling look for a moment, and then Klaus obediently took the cup back, taking all the pills at once, swallowed dry. He followed with the water that Z handed him, draining the full glass and handing it back to him. Once the nurse saw that he had taken them, she slipped from the room. "When 'm I goin' t' be debreif'd?"

"After psych comes in," A said. "I'm afraid the Chief insisted. He's really worried, Major..."

"[Fat slug,]" Klaus sighed irritably. "[Why?]"

Z shrugged slightly, looking at Klaus earnestly. "[He's sort of fond of Eroica, sir, and as much as he doesn't *like* you, he does get the most *work* out of you...]"

"[I know th't. Why worry?]" he pressed -- was there something he wasn't being told. "['ll be fine. I need t' be debrief'd.]"

Leaning close, A whispered, "Um, sir, there're signs of gang rape with Eroica, and you've had an eye... hurt, and fingers cut off. I think the chief's considering your welfare as much so that you *can* be debriefed as anything else. If Lord Gloria can only cry, he's not much good to anybody..."

Klaus had to agree there. "[Lord Gloria needs the h'lp. But I don't. I can be debreif'd now.]"

"[Yes, sir,]" Z murmured, thinking quickly, "[but the rest of us have to humor the Chief. We went in to get the two of you without orders, so we're sort of treading lightly...]"

"[T'll him I order'd you to debrief me,]" Klaus insisted sharply, leaning back in the bed again. "I want 't get 't over with."

A glanced across the way as Bonham came towards them. He noticed that Eroica was sleeping now, but still hiccoughing lightly, and that was something of a relief. "Well, sir, since he's got higher rank, I'm afraid his order sort of supersedes yours," A said sheepishly.

"I d'n't need to see the fuckin' psych people... They're full of shit, just a bunch 'a babble." Klaus let his hands fold in his lap, the right one so strangely awkward. He sighed again, unhappily, and then moved his left hand towards his mouth, two fingers slightly parted in a familiar gesture for a cigarette.

"'Ere, Major," Bonham said, pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from a pocket. "Figured you'd want those."

"One way or the other, sir, you're still going to have to go past psych first. Sorry," Z apologized.

The pack was hard to peel the plastic off of one handed, and open, but he didn't ask for help -- he managed to fit it between his lips, and then found he couldn't properly mark the depth and position of it while using his left hand with one eye. "[Light this.]" It was an order directed at Z while he glowered at him.

"Yes, Major," was the correct and *only* answer Z could give, and he lit the cigarette.

Klaus took a slow drag, then murmured, "[We didn't talk.]"

"Nothing?" Z asked softly.

"Nothing."

Z and A both nodded as Bonham looked over at Dorian, reaching up to rub thoughtfully at his face. "The Earl didn't know anything to say. You didn't tell him anything. They just did what they did to *him* to try and put the fear of God in you before they started on you, didn't they?"

Klaus nodded slowly, nursing steadily at the cigarette. It was calming him nicely, and everyone in the room seemed glad that things were quiet again. "I couldn't look 'way, 'r they would 've killed 'im."

Bonham nodded again, thoughtfully. "So. You watched what they did to him, he had to talk through what they did to you, and he couldn't."

"'s right," Klaus affirmed, closing his eyes for a moment. It was still burned into his mind, seared there, what was done to Dorian... "B't we liv'd."

"And that's the important part," A agreed quietly, watching Bonham nod.

"Yeah..." the older thief agreed, expression neutral. /But is it really living? If he's going to be the way he has been so far? Will he get better? Hell, will the Major get better? He thinks nothing's wrong with him, but we all know better.../

A knock sounded on the door then, lightly, before it opened, allowing in a couple of men dressed in khakis and sweaters as opposed to white uniforms or doctor's coats. They didn't even have little name-tags on, and their sweaters were both neutral shades of green and brown, very soothing, one would suppose. "Hi, there," the first one said, a little man with glasses and a monk's fringe of hair, the top of his head gleamingly bald. "You most be Major Eberbach, right? I'm Dr. Spalding and this is Dr. Tigner. We're coming by to talk to you a bit..." Hazel-green eyes glanced at the visitors. "I'm sorry, but perhaps you could step out of the room for a while?"

Klaus gave a snort, looking over to his men, and Bonham. "'f Lord Gloria w'kes, 'll tell you." It was a clear dismissal for Bonham, and permission to leave granted to the other two. "'t w'n't take long."

The little bald man only smiled, nodding at the men as they left and taking a seat close to Klaus as the other doctor checked on Lord Gloria and then lightly brought a chair to the end of the bed. "Well, then, Major Eberbach. I'm pretty sure you know we're here to do a psych evaluation, talk through some things, see how you're doing. How are you feeling this morning? We're glad you've finally awakened."

"'m fine," Klaus murmured, tapping a little ash into bedpan because he didn't want to drop it on the floor. "'ve slept too long."

"Well," Dr. Tigner murmured, his voice deep and calm and terribly assured, "why don't you tell us a bit about what happened?" He seemed to gain some understanding as he looked at Klaus. "It'll help us when the other patient wakens. We've been told there's some hysteria and a great deal of guilt, so..."

"'re you NATO approved? Some of 's classified information," Klaus told them both, tapping ash again.

"We're with their medical staff, yes," Dr. Spalding replied solemnly.

"'re in the NATO hospital? No-one tells me 's things..." A shake of his head and silence while he took another deep, smoke-filled breath. he could have used a drink, too, but he needed two hands for that, didn't he? "'s just like debriefing, then?"

"Not an official debriefing, per se," Dr. Tigner murmured. He had dark red hair and terribly blue eyes and he seemed more commanding than the little man. "More informal, I suppose you could say."

"'s the same thing," Klaus decided. "We broke into the Stasi building. Got trapped, gassed. 'n we woke up, we were chained. Lord Gloria d'n't have any 'f his picks on 'im, 'n I couldn't break the chains." He snubbed out the filter, and started to fumble a second cigarette free. "'n then the Stasi men came in."

An encouraging nod seemed to be simultaneous action from the two, Dr. Spalding saying quietly, "And what did you think then?" Better to use a more concrete word than 'feel' there, he decided. Major Eberbach wasn't likely to react to a word like that very well.

"That we 're in deep shit," Klaus murmured, looking at his borrowed lighter for a moment, and the cigarette. Well, he could try to light it himself, slowly... "We 're each chain'd to a sturdy chair, 'nd the higher offic'r started t' ask Lord Gloria questi'ns."

"Questions about your mission?" the taller doctor prompted gently.

"s right," Klaus murmured, slipping the cigarette into the corner of his mouth and picking up the lighter. Once he'd flicked it on, he moved it carefully closer until it touched and caught the tip of his cigarette. /Perfect./ Then he turned it off, and set it down, taking a draw before he spoke again. "'d told 'im not to speak, so he didn't. He talked a little, prattle, and then, the officer started to cut 's face."

Neither doctor seemed to react too terribly to that and the soft sounds of Klaus's speaking went on again. "'e told me that I had to look at Lord Gloria, or he'd cut 'is throat. So I look'd. Then 'e made Dorian... made 'im give him a b...blowjob. I told him to go along with anything, so we might get out alive." Despite the fact that his voice seemed flat, there was a slight twinge there -- not disgust so much as something almost guilt, almost *aching*.

"And then?"

"'e asked Dorian to talk 'gain. Lord Gloria refused, 'n the man said something to him that I co'ldn't hear. Then the Stasi asked me t' talk, 'n when I refused he... us'd a knife to sc-scrape his... semen off Lord Gloria's cheek." They waited for him to talk again, both simply looking at him quietly, expectantly. Obviously, that particular subject was one that wasn't easy for him, and both of them made note of it. "'e cut Lord Gloria's face more, then told the other four in the room t'... have 'im. They took him out of the chair, chained him against the wall, 'nd... stripped him, tortured him and r raped him. Repeatedly." Klaus let out a shaky breath, his visible eye far from any state of closing as if he were trying to avoid seeing what he *could* clearly see in his mind's eyes. "The offic'r kept talking t' me. I co'ldn't look away."

"Because the man said he would kill Lord Gloria if you did," one of them said softly, more statement than question. "How did it make you feel? To see that?"

"I kn'w... Lord Gloria's a queer. 's been chasing me for years. Everyone know's that he loves me, but... I... No one should ever have that happen t' them. 'specially not Lord Gloria. He's a good, honorable person, even 'f he 's a pervert." Klaus took another slow drag and tapped his ash once more, the gesture almost nervous.

"Did Lord Gloria say anything to them?" the shorter man, Dr. Spalding murmured.

"When?"

"While they interrogated him," Dr. Tigner replied.

"That w'sn't interr'gation. 's sick. He ask.... pleaded for them to stop. By th' third man, he passed out." That gained him a nod, an indication to go on. "'en they dropped 'im to the floor after the fourth, I started in the chair. Couldn't help it -- jus' a reaction to not let him fall. They started to laugh, and the head officer had them pick Lord Gloria up and put him in my lap. He asked me if I thought Lord Gloria would like to wake up there -- I told him I d'n't know, and they shoved him off my lap and picked him up, then put 'im back in the chair again. They left to let 'im regain consciousness."

"You seem so calm," Dr. Tigner said. "What do you feel, now that you don't have to remain as calm as you did while that was happening?"

"When I get out of here, 'm going to find that officer and kill him." That, too, was said in that strangely flat, calm tone, an undercurrent of anger barely audible.

"Do you think that killing him will make you feel better somehow?" came the question from Dr. Spalding.

"It will."

That didn't seem to surprise either of the doctors -- both, after all, had been briefed on Major Eberbach before entering the arena, so to speak. Instead, one of them prompted quietly, "And what happened then?"

"Lord Gloria woke up -- he asked if he'd said anything, I told him no. 'nd I apologized for taking him on this mission. Then they came back in -- the officer had them lift Dorian's head so he could watch when they started on me. They started by cutting off my clothing, because they knew if I was moved from the chair I'd take them out." Klaus snubbed out the filter of that cigarette, and started another. A nod indicated that he should go on, both men watching the steady consumption of those cigarettes. It was the third, so far. Though it seemed, with each progressing breath of smoke, the clarity of his speech got better -- like listening toot a man talk while he woke up at the same time. "They told Lord Gloria that he was to watch me, or they'd cut something off. He said he understood, and then the officer told his men to 'begin'." And then, Klaus was quiet, smoking again.

"And what did they do?" Dr. Spalding asked him.

Klaus cleared his throat, cigarette coming away from his lips, and when he spoke, it was particularly detached. "On of them ran his hands over me while the officer told me that that's how queers do things. Someone... groped me, while another put a... finger or thumb inside of me and twisted it. I gave the officer only my name and rank." Silence seemed to indicate that he continue, and he drew on the cigarette again.

"It was... painful, and from the expression on my face, the officer picked up on it as a weak point -- but told me he declined to remove me from my bindings for his safety. I'd had my eyes closed the entire time, so I opened them when I heard a metal sound and the... digit was removed. Lord Gloria was looking at me, and they'd brought in a table of surgical instruments."

"Surgical instruments?" Dr. Tigner asked softly.

"A scalpel in particul'r. He asked me questions about the break in and every time I didn't answer, he cut deep into my chest. Then when he'd made a matched set, he just started slicing. Dorian started to beg for him to stop, and I told him to shut up.'s when the sick fuck got the idea of making Dorian talk. He cut off my fingers while Lord Gloria talked and sang, and when he stopped, said something... I can't remember what, and then I lost consciousness."

The change from Lord Gloria to Dorian and back again was noted and one of them nodded. "Do you remember anything else between then and waking up?"

"Nothing."

"Overall," Dr. Tigner murmured, "how does all of this make you feel?"

"I already told you," klaus uttered, giving them both a flatly displeased look.

"You want to kill someone," Dr. Spalding replied, trying not to make that sound too dry. "So, you're angry? Furious, upset? Because of what happened to you?"

"'m a professional. I do this for a living, because it's my job and I believe in what we do. Lord Gloria's a contracted sometimes employee who thinks it's a game. I knew what would happen -- I expected something sick. He didn't. 's not right to do that to a civilian."

Dr. Tigner took a deep breath. "So, it's Lord Gloria's hurt you feel anger over, not your own."

"s right. I've done some sick things in the line of duty, myself, but never to a civilian." He finished his cigarette, thought about starting a fourth, and put it off for the moment.

"Is anger all that you feel?" Dr. Spalding asked.

"What else 'm I supposed to feel?" Klaus snapped at them, rather suddenly.

Dr. Tigner only shook his head slightly. "Whatever you feel is appropriate. There's nothing wrong with anything you feel about the matter...."

A soft pained whimper sounded, edged and just barely audible as a momentary silence stretched between them.

Klaus looked over and past them, concern flickering over his face. "Lord Gloria?"

Dorian didn't seem to be waking, though he was shifting and obviously seemed uncomfortable. Another sound came, the two psychiatrists now watching both of them.

"Is he having trouble any time he sleeps?" Spalding asked softly, uncertain as to whether Klaus would know the answer or not.

"Yes. He was crying last night and 's what woke me up. I sat in the chair b'side his bed until he fell asleep again." Klaus was still watching Dorian a little, trying to determine if it was the start of a nightmare.

He seemed to quiet down, though, for the moment, leaving all of them watching him. "How do you think Lord Gloria is going to handle what's happened to him? We know he's been hysterical...." Spalding murmured, Tigner remaining quiet.

"I don't know. 's tougher than he looks..." Klaus finally did light that cigarette, another pain-staking effort of unfamiliar coordination.

"So you think he might pull himself together given enough rest?" Tigner murmured.

"Maybe. I really don't know." He wanted to say yes, but there was no way to tell -- if only the man would stop apologizing to him!

"Have you noticed any strange behaviors aside from the difficulty sleeping?" Spalding was asking the questions again, and that seemed somehow as if the man had read his mind!

"He keeps apologizing for my eye."

"Why?" The why of it hadn't been entirely clear in what Klaus had told them, though Tigner felt that he *knew* why...

"The officer threatened to hurt *one* of us if Dorian stopped talking. When he did, I was pulled upright again, and..." He shrugged, tapping ash off of his cigarette.

"And that was when you went unconscious..." And, by any guess, when they'd destroyed Klaus's eye. "So he feels guilt about this."

"Obviously," Klaus murmured, as if the two men were stupid.

"Do you feel guilty? For what happened to him?" Spalding asked.

"It really is my fault we were captured at all. And my fault that he was even in East Germany." Klaus seemed to say that is if he was discussing the weather, or the newspaper -- but there was an edge around the line of his mouth, the corner of his eye, that was hardened.

"Was there anything you could have done to prevent it? It seems unlikely," Tigner murmured, "so there's really no reason for either of you to feel guilty or at fault."

"It's my duty to protect him," Klaus told them firmly. "He was my responsibility on this mission. I let the door close; I was unable to manage an escape after having escaped successfully on many prior occasions."

Spalding told him softly, "The possibility of escape on prior occasions doesn't guarantee that it would have been possible to escape on this particular one, Major. Were the persons who captured you prepared to do so on this occasion?"

"Obviously -- it was a trap," Klaus commented, shifting restlessly for a moment before he gave up with trying to lay or relax at all. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and crossed them, wishing he had more on than that idiotic hospital 'gown'.

"Then it's certainly not your fault that you couldn't get both of you loose," Spalding explained to him patiently. "If it was a trap, then it must have been a very good one. You aren't at fault."

"It's my responsibility to keep my eyes open for anything suspicious. I shouldn't have let the door close!" Klaus snapped, flicking his cigarette into the little pan. "I failed in my duties and nearly cost a civilian contract his life!"

"And your own injuries?" Tigner asked him mildly. "Your own life?"

"'s the least that I get for slipping up so badly," Klaus murmured, buttressing a shoulder against the part of the mattress that was nearly completely vertical. "I know what's been at risk from the first day I was an officer."

A glance slid between the two men in sweaters and Tigner nodded to Spalding. "We'll have to come back to speak with Lord Gloria," he said quietly. "Until then, try to get some rest, Major, and think about what we've said. It really *isn't* your fault, you know."

"Everything in a mission is the commanding officer's fault if it goes wrong," Klaus countered, watching them stand up. "Can I be debriefed now?"

"We'll talk with your Chief," Tigner promised as he placed his chair back on Dorian's side of the room.

"Don't bullshit me," he growled, shifting back to sit fully on the bed again. "I want to close this mission off."

"Of course," Spalding said smoothly, "but he's the one who'll have to send someone for the debriefing."

Bureaucracy. Klaus reminded himself that, despite A and Z being right outside, the orders would have to be given. So it was in a tense tone that Klaus finally uttered, "[Fine.]"

That seemed to throw Spalding, but not Tigner, who simply smiled and nodded. "We'll see you again soon, Major," he said as they headed for the door.