They left and landed in Virginia earlier than they'd anticipated, so Josh went to see Tyler before his therapy session.

When he got to his apartment, the front door was ajar, making him on edge already. Josh put a hand on his holster, slowly opening the door and walking in.  The inside was spotless, not a speck of dust or dirt to be seen. A mop and its empty bucket sat on the kitchen counter. A circle of blood stained the cream colored carpet in his living room.

Tyler was a genius, but organized he wasn't. His mind worked better in clutter, but everything was immaculate and almost obsessively fixed. Josh wondered if this was a very clean robber or a way of coping. He hoped it was the latter.

"Baby?" He called out, relaxing when Tyler waddled out of the bathroom, bloody toilet tissue up his nose. When he saw Josh, he jumped. Bags hung heavy under his eyes. He had a mustache now, his facial hair trimmed enough to show the scar on his mouth turning pale when he smiled.

"Christ, you scared the hell out of me," Tyler laughed, putting a hand over his heart. "Aw, you shaved your beard. I liked it."

"Josh policies, unfortunately," he laughed. "We had to leave early from D. C. There's... another case they want us on in North Carolina. Three junkies have gone missing from rehab and show up dead days later at the footsteps of the center. We think there's a pattern, but I don't know much else besides what Mark told me. We're supposed to get briefed on the way there."

Josh bit his lip, watching Tyler for a negative reaction. Instead, his eyes widened and a small smile spread across his face.

"Great! When do we leave?"

"Wait-" Josh made a T with his arms. "Time out. I thought you'd be mad."

"Why? I need to get out of this apartment and back to work, I'm going crazy in here," Tyler said. He grabbed his cane off the wall.

"Baby, you can't-"

Josh stopped when Tyler sent him the stupidest and cutest puppy dog eyes a 24 year old genius could muster. He wanted to say no, that he needed time to recover. Even though he knew if their positions were switched, he'd be begging to go back to work, Tyler couldn't come back just yet.

Two months left of his paid leave. They could survive that long.

"I know how much you want to get back to work, but I can't let you come with me," he said reluctantly, seeing Tyler's face fall. "Jenna wouldn't allow it, much less the Bureau. You passed your psych eval, but we all know you basically wrote the damn thing."

"What are you implying? That I somehow cheated a federal issued psych eval?" Tyler scoffed.

"All I'm saying is that you know how to answer to pass. I'm worried, and so is the rest of the team. I need you at 100 percent before you can got back to hunting the bad guys again, okay? I know it's hell, but I'd rather have you here and safe than out there and at risk."

"... You're always right. I'm just impatient."

Tyler kissed Josh firmly, smiling when he pulled away. There was something different about him. His posture was more rigid yet relaxed, like a military officer. He smiled naturally, something he hadn't seen in months, with a glint in his eyes Josh mistook for resiliency.

"Will you at least drive me to therapy?" Tyler asked, pulling the tissue out and tossing them in his trash can. "I don't want either of us to be late."

"Of course I'll drive you."

Josh helped Tyler down the stairs, opening the passenger door for him. "Hey, did you hear about those two murders a couple blocks away?"

Tyler went still, smile unwavering. He'd be scared too if he heard about a couple murders so close to his house, but Josh wasn't expecting to see the extent of panic in his eyes. "M- murders?"

"Yeah. These two idiots stabbed each other. Open and shut case." Tyler relaxed. "You didn't see it on the news?"

He shook his head. "I didn't- I heard the sirens, but that was it," he said.

"Relax, babe, I was just asking," Josh chuckled softly, grabbing Tyler's hand that was gripping the head of his cane with an iron grip. "I know it being so close must freak you out, but don't worry. He can't hurt you."

"Brendon?" Tyler asked, looking up almost in desperation.

"Spencer," Josh replied back softly. "He... he escaped custody after we found you." He paused and watched his face. Tyler didn't even flinch like he did when he mentions the murders. "We haven't been able to find him, but until then, we're under review by the Bureau."

"Again? When will they give us a break? First after Jenna's miscarriage, and now after-" Tyler huffed in frustration, not finishing his thought.

Josh expected him to be terrified of Spencer being AWOL rather than upset about the Bureau looking into them, but he chalked it up to adjustment. Tyler wouldn't be the same after, he knew that, but Josh felt scared that a large chunk of the person he knew died in that bunker.

They didn't talk much after that, Tyler telling Josh about him going to the restaurant the Kiyoko's owned, about how cute Dallon and Breezy's kids were when they came to visit, and how he'd gotten his third bloody nose that week in the morning.

"Nosebleeds? Is it an effect of the medicine?" Josh asked.

Tyler shrugged, looking out the window. "I don't think so. Nosebleeds are generally caused by fluctuations in cold weather causing the skin inside of the nose to crack, resulting in bursting blood vessels, severe allergies, excesses nose blowing, or the use of cocaine, which don't apply in this situation, but they can also be caused by stress, hypertension, and headaches." He paused and added quietly, "it's probably from the headaches."

There was the Tyler he knew. Josh almost smiled, but couldn't. Tyler had gone sickly pale. "But you've always had headaches. Why would the nosebleeds now and not before?"

"I was held hostage and tortured by a maniac for three months," Tyler said, his tone shifting suddenly from fear to sarcasm. He tilted his head to the side like he was listening to something and rolled his eyes, and Josh suddenly feared that he was listening to the voices he was hearing. "I think nosebleeds are the least of my problems."

"Fair enough." Josh tapped the steering wheel. "Jen told me about something your therapist said, about you hearing things."

This time, he could see his stunned reaction. He stood bolt upright, turning to look at Josh. "She knows about that?"

"So you have been hearing things."

"I mean... yeah," Tyler confessed, slumping back into his chair. "Usually it's just the drill, but sometimes it's an electrical buzz, and other times it's-" he paused and mumbled the last part. "It's Brendon's voice."

Josh didn't want to force him to repeat what he said, but he couldn't believe what he'd heard. "I'm sorry, did you say Brendon's voice?"

"Well, it's more of memory echo, really. I know it's not real, but it's so persistent. It's like he's narrating my thoughts aloud or something. Instead of me saying them in my head, it's him now."

Tyler sniffed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Spencer."

This was good. They were being completely honest with each other, to the point that it surprised Josh himself. He'd been afraid of Tyler lying about the voices and saying it was nothing. That a dark, dangerous part of Tyler came into the light the moment he killed Brendon.

Josh was right.