Whatever It Takes {MxM} *COMPLETE*

{7} - Missing

But he didn't.

Pivoting on his heels, he stormed out, his next destination, the office. Once again, he took to the tiled floors like a track runner, not stopping till he was upon the group standing just outside the office door.

"Where is he?" he asked, addressing everyone and no one all at once. "Why is his room empty? Tell me where he is! And don't think to lie to my face."

Brookoff stepped forward from amidst the crowd and put a comforting hand to his shoulder. Rafe looked at him, puzzled. Just last night he'd spoken with him from the resort so how was he back so quick?

"We have looked everywhere, Rafe." Daniel said quietly. "We can no longer ignore the fact that he might have been kidnapped."

"K-kidnapped?" He wanted to cry. Throw himself to the floor and curl up and cry his fuking eyes out but Rafe knew that wouldn't help the situation as it was. "How?" he asked hoarsely, his eyes condemning them all.

"How can someone make off with him and not be sighted? Andre can't walk so he must have been wheeled out of here. Are you going to stand there and tell me no one saw anything? God damn you. God damn you all. Why do you even work here? You should all be fired for your uselessness. Right after I rearrange all your faces and make you see cross eyed!"

"Notti, you will apologize this very second for your blatant disrespect!" Brookoff yelled, his nostrils flaring.

"Apologize?" he scoffed. "Apologize for what? These people before you only pretend to care for Andre because you are here and they need to keep up appearances but I know better. They allowed his abuse and did nothing. They allowed his pain and did nothing. They allowed him to be taken away and possibly killed and did nothing. They did nothing!"

With each word he uttered, his voice just seemed to increase in both volume and fervor. His heart was pounding much too fast for his liking and his lungs seemed to have seized and refused to allow him the breath he so desperately needed.

He pressed his face into Natasha's and growled. "You knew he was important to me. You knew! I told you to watch him. I told you to make sure he never had a need of anything. I told you to protect him, Natasha. You let me down!"

Clutching his chest, he sobbed out loud, his cry, one of agony which tore at his very being. His eyes widened and he collapsed, crumpled, his weight falling abruptly onto his knees as he knelt on the hard tiled floors.

His hand to his heart, Rafe looked up at his boss, his eyes glittering with amounting tears. "I think imma faint." He whispered in surprise, his body falling to the floor as darkness claimed him.

~~~~~~

A cold hand to his forehead...a slight kiss to his cheek...a small whimper and a quiet sob...a single teardrop splashing onto his chin. Those were the things which brought Rafe slowly back to awareness.

Opening his eyes, he rolled toward the sound of the soft weeping and froze, his heart stuttering within his chest, his mind going blank with confusion for what he saw before him could only be a figment of his imagination, conjured up to torment him.

Or at least, that's what he thought it was...until Andre smiled tremulously at him, his lower lip quivering softly, an aftermath to his earlier crying.

He reached out a hand, unsure, but quickly brought it back down and shook his head as if to clear it of its befuddled thoughts. "I have to stop thinking about him so much." He mumbled, scrubbing a hand to his face. "I'm...I'm going crazy."

Sitting up, Rafe surveyed his surroundings, only now realizing he was in one of the rooms at the hospital and that he no longer wore his shoes. And then...he remembered why he was here and how he'd collapsed in utter exhaustion before he could start slapping people for being so useless.