pov. Stephen
All I could hear from my cell phone was the beeping sound that came when it hung up. Panic squeezed my lungs, the last thing I had heard from Tony had been a hacked off scream. My world slowed down, I could hear my own heartbeat, so fast with fear that it was a wonder I was still standing. My cell phone slipped from my numb fingers and hit the floor, in my trance the impact sounded like a thunderstrike. Tears formed in my eyes.
"Let go of me right now!"
Tony's screams snapped me out of my shock trance "Tones." I muttered and ran. I grabbed a short sleeved shirt from the chair and pulled it over my head as I ran down the second floor hallway. Taking three stairs at a time, I ran down the steps, still wearing socks. I jumped the last five steps, landed safely on the wooden floor, and continued running down the hall to the door.
In doing so, I overlooked Adrian already sitting in the living room "Stephen, what the hell is going on?!"
I didn't have time to stop to answer him, I didn't even take the time to put on shoes "Tony's in trouble!" I yelled over my shoulder as I yanked open the door and rushed down the stairs beyond. I didn't even notice the small stones digging a little through my socks into the soles of my feet as I ran at full speed down the street toward Tony's house. I was running faster than I had ever run in my life, faster than I had even run in the deciding game of my last football season. Pure fear for Tony and desperation propelled me and seemed to give me wings. I turned the corner and what I saw made me run even faster. Tony was being held by a man in a white uniform similar to that of a nurse, while a second opened the door to something that sent a shiver down my spine. He opened the door to something painted like an ambulance, but the back door was solid steel and the single, tiny window had bars. Suddenly Tony stepped on his guard's foot and rammed his elbow into his face. Relieved, I pushed the air out of my lungs as he picked himself back up and came running toward me, leaving faint footprints of blood on the asphalt. I didn't stop running towards him, all I wanted at the moment was to take him in my arms and protect him from those men. Because if these two men were what I thought they were then I would leave no stone unturned to prevent them from taking Tony. I saw a relieved smile creep onto Tony's face when he saw me. But I couldn't return it "Tony behind you!" I tried to warn him, but either he didn't hear me or he was still in such shock that he just couldn't understand me. Helpless, unable to do anything about it, I had to watch my boyfriend collapse under the surge of a taser and writhe on the ground, twitching. "NO!" I screamed desperately. But I was too far away. One of the men simply lifted Tony up. Though he kicked and punched, he couldn't escape. My heart froze as they threw him into the car and slammed the door behind him. I slowed down and finally stopped in the middle of the street. It sucked the air out of my lungs as I watched Tony desperately rattle the bars. But it was even worse when his head disappeared from the bars and the car turned the next corner. I felt like I wasn't getting enough air, the ground beneath me started spinning. My knees gave way under me and I fell to the hard floor of the street. A tear dripped onto the asphalt, if I had enough air I would have screamed, but I didn't even have enough air to breathe. "This couldn't have happened," I muttered. Not even Tony's dad could be so cruel as to put his own son in a re-education facility. " Yeah he is" bitterly I slammed my fist against the asphalt, a sharp pain spreading through my hand and slowly extending up to my shoulder. A quiet sob escaped me. I had promised Tony that we would get through whatever came together and I had broken that promise. This realization robbed me of the last bit of air that was left in my lungs. Gasping for air, I leaned my hands on the ground.
I whirled around in panic when I felt a hand on my shoulder, but I only looked into the green glittering eyes of Adrian, who had knelt down on the floor next to me "Stephen you need to breathe!" he yelled at me.
His words reached my ears, but my brain refused to process them. Uselessly, I flapped my mouth open and closed without breathing the slightest bit of air.
Adrian shook me a little by the shoulders "If you don't breathe, you won't be able to help Tony!" he looked at me, eyes sparkling with concern "So breathe now, for fuck's sake!"
I focused on Tony all by myself. He needed my help, I held on to that one thought as I took my first breath. And then another, and another. I slumped a bit when I managed to breathe normally again and ran my hands through my hair frantically.
Adrian stroked my shoulder reassuringly "What happened?" his cap sat a little askew, unlike me he had black leather boots on.
Two tears rolled down my cheeks in sync, I didn't like showing weakness in front of others but I just couldn't stop it "Something horrible."

pov. Bucky
The annoying ringing of my phone snapped me out of my wonderful sleep. I swung my head pad over my head and just tried to ignore it, but it kept ringing. Annoyed, I opened my eyes, my gaze falling directly on the alarm clock, which was standing on the nightstand next to the bed. It was only eight o'clock. Grumbling, I stretched, Sam's arm falling off my hip, he was still sleeping peacefully next to me, his dad's dog tags, which he didn't even take off to sleep, twinkling on his neck. I got a grip on the cell Phone, Stephen's name flashing at me. Still half asleep I picked up "Have you checked your watch?" I reported, not very friendly.
"Sorry" I sat up, Stephen's voice sounded raspy, like he had been crying "everyone else didn't pick up."
I propped my arm on my knee, next to me Sam blinked his eyes open "Stephen, please tell me I'm just paranoid and nothing bad happened." I prayed my gut was wrong for once in my life.
For a second there was silence on the other end of the line "I can't." it came quietly then "it's Tony, they......" Stephen faltered for a moment, something that sounded like a sob was heard "they took him."
My insides tightened and I jumped out of bed "who, Stephen, who took him?" i clamped the phone between my ear and shoulder and plucked a shirt from the box.
"The only thing I know is that he's at St. Helen's Hospital." Stephen's voice was getting quieter, whether that was because of him I didn't know. But I could feel panic spreading through me. St.Helen, I knew that place. If Tony was really there, he had to get out of there as soon as possible. I forced myself to push my panic to the back of my mind and grabbed the phone again "Sam and I will be with you in a minute." I ran my hand through my hair and tied it back a little with one hand "We'll get him out of there." I assured Stephen before hanging up.
I ran my hand over my eyes and sank down onto the bed. Memories from the darkest time of my life flashed through my mind. Memories I had repressed ever since.
"Hey," I felt Sam crawl up next to me and press a kiss to my temple "what's wrong?" he looked at me questioningly, resting his head in one hand.

I sighed "Tony's dad went crazy." I clenched my hand into a fist in anger, what had gone wrong with this man to do such a thing to Tony, his own son "He sent him to St. Helen's Hospital." a cold shiver ran down my spine at the thought of going anywhere near that place "there's an unofficial ward there" my lips trembled a little " a re-education ward." I stared into space for a bit, talking about it brought back only more memories.

I felt Sam sit up next to me and put his arm around my back "are you sure?"
I took a deep breath in and out, I never really wanted to tell Sam about my time in that place, but now I guess I had to "Yes I am," I turned my head and looked him straight in the eye "I was there."
Horrified, his eyes widened "What?" he scooted a little closer to me, his closeness having a comforting effect on me and pushing the memories back a little "why didn't you ever tell me?"
I sighed "what difference would it have made, that was years ago." I stroked his hand a little "but we have to get Tony out of there." I pushed myself up off the bed and pulled Sam after me "even a stubborn guy like him will break sooner or later there." I saw Sam was about to say something but then refrained and instead pulled some clothes, a pair of black cargo pants and an olive green shirt out of the closet.

But even so, I knew what he was going to ask me. How in the world did I not break there? The answer was simple, I did break there. I still would have been if I hadn't met Sam. A slight smile played around my lips and I cast a sideways glance at my boyfriend, who was in the process of making the dog tags disappear into his shirt.
He looked up and eyed me confused "What's wrong?" he ran his hand over his face once as if he thought there was something smeared on it.
I just grinned "Nothing." I leaned in a bit and planted a quick kiss on him "We have to go." I took the car keys from the nightstand as I walked by and put on my black leather jacket. A jingle told me that Sam had put the apartment key in his pants pocket. With quick steps we walked to the car. As soon as both doors were closed, I let the engine roar to life, possibly giving it a little too much gas.

I must have exceeded the speed limits a few times as I sped through morning New York. Trees, blocks of houses, fields, and people jogging in the early morning hours flew by until I slammed on the brakes in front of Stephen's house. Normally Sam would be scolding me right now for driving so fast, but not today. As soon as the car stopped, the front door was ripped open and Stephen came rushing out. As he walked, he pulled on his gloves and was in the car within seconds.

He looked terrible, his eyes were red and he was unnaturally pale "I couldn't help him." was the first thing he said as he sat, his voice drenched in guilt.
Sam turned to face him, one of his hands coming to rest on the back of my neck "You're not to blame in the slightest" forcefully he looked at him "for any of this."
As if Sam hadn't said a word Stephen simply muttered "I should have helped him."
I started the engine "Stephen listen to me" I rammed the transmission into gear and drove off "we'll get him out, I promise." I passed a car in front of me, the driver honked at me. I shifted back and forth like crazy, weaving through the morning traffic. It usually took 50 minutes to get from Stephen's house to St. Helen Hospital; I made it in half an hour. The whole drive, Stephen was silent, staring into emptiness.

I turned into the hospital parking lot with squealing tires and grabbed the first parking spot I could find. As soon as the ignition was turned off, Stephen unbuckled his seat belt and jumped out. Sam and I followed him across the parking lot, between cars, past people with all sorts of injuries and ailments, some visible some not, on and on toward the big building. It was painted a shade of white, with many windows providing a bright atmosphere inside the hospital. The closer we got to the entrance, the more I had a lump in my throat. The need to just turn around and run away grew. The fear of never getting out of this building again if I walked through the glass revolving doors became almost overwhelming.

Sam's hand slipped into mine and held it tightly "It's okay, I'm here." he assured me quietly. Ahead of us, Stephen disappeared through the glass door.
I took one last deep breath and then entered the place I never wanted to set foot in again.

pov. Stephen

My shoes left a clacking sound as I walked across the bright tiles of the reception auditorium toward the information and registration desk. Every now and then I could see in a pane of glass that Sam and Bucky were almost behind me. Bucky was slightly pale around the nose and was almost clinging to Sam's hand. There wasn't room in my head to worry about both Tony and Bucky at the moment, though. I squeezed my way between people, getting nasty looks from some, but I didn't care. I finally reached the large counter, behind which sat two women. One of them had a headset on and was relaying the incoming emergency calls.
The other smiled kindly at me "How can I help you?"

I had to force myself to talk at a normal volume, after all, this woman couldn't do anything for the back end business of a single department "Can you tell me if Anthony Stark was admitted today?"
The woman raised an eyebrow "Are you a relative?" her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
I clasped my fingers, the dashboard "No I'm his boyfriend." I saw in the glass wall behind the woman, that Bucky and Sam stopped a few feet away.
The woman smiled a little and then started typing "your boyfriend was actually admitted two hours ago." she looked at me sympathetically "but it says here he has severe mental problems and has been moved to the locked ward."

I took a shaky breath in and out, my hands balled into fists "Can I visit him?" I pressed out between clenched teeth. I needed every drop of self-control I had in me not to lose it. Tony has serious mental problems, bullshit.
Again the woman clicked around "I'm afraid I can't tell you that, but" she picked up a phone "Head of Closed please in the anteroom" she put the phone back down "I'm sure the Head can."
I forced myself to smile "thank you." i turned as a door opened not two feet from me. A fiftyish woman walked toward me on heeled shoes in an ugly green and black patterned dress. Her lips pinched together a bit as her gaze fell on Bucky, who was looking at her as if she was Satan himself.

Sam and Bucky were still holding hands. Not a single emotion was visible on her face when she arrived at my place "So what do you want?"

My friendly fuss evaporated "I want to visit Tony." prompting, I looked into her cold, emotionless, gray eyes.
Again she pressed her lips together slightly "Oh yes young Stark" she eyed me appraisingly " I am sorry that won't be possible."
I took a step towards her, trembling with rage "And why not?" I knew exactly, the real reason. I would mess up their progress, but I was anxious to hear what excuse she would give me.

"Anthony is not sane" she tilted her head a little "he almost broke a rib from one of our caregivers, he is a danger to others and himself."
Shakily I breathed in and out, Tony had fought back. Involuntarily I had to smile, it was contorted with anger, but my heart lightened a lot knowing Tony was fighting.
But the old lady wasn't done yet "As soon as the treatment kicks in and he's on the mend, I'll let you know." she smiled slightly at me, gloating, not friendly like the lady at the front desk before, turned and stalked away.

This was too much for me "You know very well that nothing is wrong with him, now let me see him!" I wanted to run after the woman, but I was held back by someone.
Looking to the side I saw Sam and Bucky holding my arms.
"Stephen drop it" Sam held my right arm and looked at me urgently "it's not worth it!"
" Let go of me!" rather half-heartedly I fought them off "we have to do something!" I wasn't going to just wait and twiddle my thumbs while they did who knows what to Tony there.

"Hey!" Bucky let go of my arm and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket "Nobody said we wouldn't do anything." he typed in a number and hit dial.
I squinted my eyes in confusion, what was he doing now "What are you doing?" I signaled Sam to let go of me, the woman was long gone.
Bucky put the phone on loud so we could listen in "we're going to get someone in there, it's important that Tony doesn't give up hope, and then we'll have eyes and ears in there." he ran his hand through his hair " answer it already!" he muttered.

I glanced at the display, blinked once and looked again, but the name of the person Bucky was calling remained the same.
After a few beeps, he finally picked up "Buck I'm on shift right now." he answered.
Bucky bit his lower lip for a moment "I wouldn't have called if it was really important" he scratched the back of his head, I knew how hard it was for him to ask for help, but it was for Tony "Steve, we need your help."