TAMED

Waking Up

The morning came about slow, painfully slow for Vince. It had already been nine days since he, Levi, and Ares had been air lifted to a large hospital in Rome. The other Hounds had been taken into custody by personnel at the US embassy and the two weren't given any further information from there.

"Vince..." Levi began as he sipped on his now cold coffee. "There's no point in fussing over him. Every day you stress and worry to the point of exhaustion."

Vince glared hard and refused to look at the man, whom he perceived as completely heartless at the moment. It was true though, after Alejandro had used the shock collar to electrocute him, he never woke up. The doctors said he was stable but comatose and now had a heart arrhythmia which was being managed with medication.

"It's been so long..." Vince sighed as he sat down. He and Levi were fitted with ankle bracelets from the department of Justice. While they were allowed freedom for the most part on the condition that they kept everything involving "3170" very hush-hush, they had been at the hospital consistently every day since arriving. Immediately upon arriving Ares had needed emergency heart surgery which fortunately he'd survived despite being so weak. He also no longer wore the bandages around his neck where the collar had singed him, but the flesh was beginning to scar, with some areas still healing.

"All we can do is hope for the best." Levi ensured as he welcomed his friend to the chair beside him and placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. The two looked on at the sleeping Hound. On his face was an oxygen mask, and in both of his arms were I.V lines. He wore a simple light green hospital gow and was covered with a set of white cotton blankets. It was strange, seeing him this way. He seemed so vulnerable.

Just then a knock came at the door. The two men looked to their left and watched as the handle turned and a nurse allowed a well dressed man to come in.

They recognized him immediately as Michael. The man thanked the nurse and waited until she exited and closed the door to speak.

"Well now there's a few faces I haven't seen in a while." The man teased as he approached and sat in a chair on the opposite side of the comatose soldier. Levi gave him a friendly smile but then became more serious.

"What is it?" Vince questioned him as he took note of the change in demeanor.

"He's not here alone. " The experienced agent replied as he kept eye contact with Michael. Said man huffed an airy laugh and sighed, setting down a folder on the nightstand beside him. "Nothing gets past you old friend." He mused and then tapped the small microphone that was connected to his collar. "Come on in."

Vince hadn't even noticed the mic for one second. It was so small that to him it just looked like a part of the man's suit. Levi and his younger counter-part watched as three fully uniformed army men entered the hospital room.

Vince's heart slowly began to speed up, eventually pounding anxiously in his chest.

"I'm sorry, but it's just a precaution." Michael insisted as he raised his hands up defensively. "It's best if we all just stay calm."

Vince, suddenly putting two and two together, watched as a new doctor walked in. Immediately the younger in the group stood and placed a protective hand on Ares mid section.

"I won't let you hurt him. Not a chance in hell."

Levi cleared his throat as the room became ever tense. He tilted his head to Michael, who simply nodded and with that Levi stood.

"Vince..." He said gently, placing a delicate hand on his back. "Just calm down. Let's at least see what they have to say. You're jumping to conclusions."