"He's in a coma. We lost him for a little bit there but we're able to bring him back. The time that he will wake from a coma is undetermined." The doctors spoke slowly and Mac narrowed his eyes at this.

"What are you not saying?"

Gleaming white floors and harsh fluorescent lights lined every hallway. Mac forced himself to concentrate of the young doctor who seemed to emanate nervousness.

"Well, judging by the CT scans that we did there's a likelihood that he may never wake up. It doesn't seem like he is there at all. If he does wake up, he may not be the same."

Mac exhaled sharply, "Do you see any chance for a full recovery?"

The doctor shifted uneasily, "If there is it would have to be an act of God."

There was never a heavier weight to be felt than when those words exited the doctor's mouth. How would he explain this to everyone when he couldn't fathom this himself?

He had flashes of Adam bloody and unconscious on the floor and the apartment in complete shambles.

Mac nodded, "Thank you for your time doctor."

This was not how he wanted to end this day or start it judging from the time. He watched as the doctor walked away and turned to see half his team down the hallway.

The anger lied stagnant in the air. They were all angry; it was easier to be angry. Once their anger was gone than the worst of it would start.

Stella took one look at his face, being the most familiar with his expressions, she looked away quickly. She knew that face carried no good news. Mac approached them and Danny straightened giving him an appraising look.

"How's he doin'?" He asked. His voice was gravelly from lack of sleep. They had processed the scene and then came straight here. None of them had spoken as they waited for the inevitable bad news. When they had found him he was very close to death.

Flack and Hawkes were there as well looking at Mac expectantly. Mac sighed for the millionth time.

"The doctor is not optimistic. Adam is in a coma right now and they don't know if he'll ever wake up."

A ripple effect of expressions waved through their faces. Danny was the first to react verbally but pretty much summed up what everyone was feeling.

He hit the wall with his fist, "Dammit, how the hell did this happen?"

Flack grumbled in agreement, "I asked the neighbors. No one has seen or heard anything."

"But there was enough struggle and certainly enough trauma to cause some noise." Stella added, her voice faltering on the word trauma.

Flashes of blood on the wall, all over the floor pointed to a slow and torturous journey to unconsciousness. His was place torn apart from top to bottom. Whoever came to him wanted something and Adam was determined not give them anything.

"Well, we're not helping him much here. Let's solve this case – it's top priority." Mac said resolutely hoping to have something to focus on other than the dire news that Adam wouldn't be Adam anymore.

He watched his team slowly trudge out. Stella squeezed his shoulder hoping to reassure him. The strong front did not fool her at all. He waited for them to go and leaned against the wall. Adam was the obvious favorite in the lab to Mac. It was painful to see the usually animated young man completely lifeless.

Mac took one last look down the hallway and started. A young boy stood alone, his head tilted, looking straight at Mac. And a few seconds he just vanished.

"Is everything alright?" He turned around to see a brunette, slightly overweight nurse examining him with concern. His team had seemed to rush away.

"Yes, just lack of sleep is catching up to me." He smiled tiredly at her and the nurse nodded and bustled away.

He made a turn and then nearly yelled allowed. The young boy who was down the hallway now stood in front of him. He looked up at Mac with big blue eyes.

"Hey Mister Mac, I'm lost can you help me?" He said tentatively as if Mac would say no.

"How do you know my name?" Was the question he asked out loud but his mind was frantically trying to make sense of all this.

"Well, duh, I see you like nearly every single day. I bet I've seen you like a bazillion times." He said flailing his arms out wide.

"Well, kid, I don't think I remember you." Mac said honestly. He wondered how the kid had gotten in the ICU, he seemed just fine. They usually didn't let kids in here.

"You don't remember me?" His eyes got even wider and water started to pool in them as his face started to turn red.

"Wait, wait, it's okay, shhh, maybe if I had a little help I might remember. I'm old and sometimes I forget stuff. What's your name?" He said smiling encouraging.

"Adam Ross, sir." The boy said without batting an eyelash.

Mac staggered back. He was going crazy, there's no other explanation. He just needed to get some sleep and this would all go back to normal. Well as normal as any day of having one of his team in a coma.

The boy sighed despondently, "You're no help. I'll never get home if you don't even remember me. See you mister Mac." The boy disappeared right in front of Mac's eyes once more.

Mac rubbed his eyes in disbelief. What the hell just happened?!

"The blood spatter here tells us that this is probably where they started. They must've gone in a circle because this book is on this blood spot and there seems to be blood all over it." Lindsay was holding a flashlight trying to be objective as they tried to retrace the route of the violence.

"Well if they started here first then we can assume that the victim was pushed over this table and landed here next." Danny muttered as he walked around the table to another patch of blood and broken glass from the table.

"Then he was lifted from the ground and it seems to be pushed up against the wall and I assume that knife on the floor was applied to the victim's throat and then the knife was thrown down." Lindsay added pointing her light at the bloody knife. That knife had caused the most damage – Adam's severed throat along with his massive head injury was the most critical.

"After that he seems to have been dragged to the coffee table and thrown to the floor right next to it. They must've used this paperweight to knock him out completely." Danny said pointing at the strange looking Spock bust.

"So the victim's throat was slit and he was left unconscious on the floor. He obviously could no longer help or had already helped enough. Seeing as every book seemed to be open and searched – I'm going to guess that the victim didn't tell the suspect what he wanted to know."

"Right and whatever they were looking for was small enough to fit in a book." Danny furrowed his eyebrows. He felt the urge to pick up all the books and place them back in their right order. Adam would go crazy to see everything out of place.

"Danny, focus on the case. We can focus on everything else once this is solved." Lindsay said but knowing it was fruitless. She could hardly say victim without feeling like she was going to cry.

Danny cleared his throat, "Right. Adam seemed to have a guest before all this happened. See the food from the table. That looks like it was meant for two. Maybe this guest is our perp."

"Or our anonymous 911 caller." Lindsay added still confused on who called it in. Danny walked to the front door and leaned closely to the door frame.

"You might be right. There is sign of forced entry. Where did the 911 call come from?"

"They said the payphone right out front." Lindsay said with mild frustration.

"Let me guess, too many fingerprints to get any conclusive data?"

"Worse, handset was completely wiped clean."

Danny closed his eyes in irritation. It seemed that they hit dead end after dead end.

Danny felt a soft brush on his shoulder and opened his eyes. Lindsay was looking at him sympathetically.

"I'm going downstairs to get my kit. I'll be right back." Danny nodded and watched her disappear past the door frame. He sat on the uncluttered part of the couch.

Suddenly a young boy appeared right next to him. Danny swore violently and flinched away. The young boy turned to him and looked at him curiously.

"Do you think you can turn on the TV? It's so boring here." The boy asked with a slight pout.

"How'd you get in here?" Danny asked avoiding the question "How did you appear from nowhere?"

"I live here. It's really messy and I tried and I tried to fix it but I just can't. I want to watch TV now though, I'm tired of cleaning." The boy complained sullenly.

"Adam never said anything about having a kid." Danny said more to himself than to the boy.

The kid glared at him, "You're just like Mister Mac. You don't remember me at all. I am Adam."

"Adam is a 28 year old man who is currently in a coma. You are a ten year old boy who seems to be some weird figment of my imagination."

"First of all, I'm eleven. Second of all I don't know why I'm here – I just know that they wouldn't stop hurting me so I left." The boy said shrugging.

"Left?" Danny repeated incredulously. The younger version of Adam crossed his arms and glared vacantly forward.

"Wait, do you know who was hurting you?" Danny thought asking the weird apparition – maybe his subconscious was trying to tell him something.

The boy's eyes started watering, "They wouldn't stop. It was over and over again. They hurt me even though I was big. Mommy always told me when I was big no one could hurt me anymore. Why did they do this to me?" He looked at him his breath hitching.

Danny flinched at the wide innocent eyes, "I don't know but maybe you can tell me who did it and I can find them."

"I don't wanna think bout it. I just want to watch TV and make it all go away!" The boy answered stubbornly but still seemed on the verge of crying.

"I can help you." He insisted.

The lights flickered violently.

"I don't want help. I just want to forget!" The boy sobbed and then abruptly disappeared.

Danny stood up and looked around curiously. He was breathing hard and felt his heart beating quickly. Was that real or was it just his mind playing tricks on him? The boy, Adam, kept on saying "they". Was there a possibility that there was more than one?

Was he really going to take this seriously? He never believed in ghost or spirits but this just seemed so real.

"Everything okay?" Lindsay asked looking at him with concern. Danny took a deep breath.

"Yeah, yeah – everything's fine. Let's collect the evidence and get out of here."

Lindsay gave him a strange look due to his anxiousness in his voice but chose to ignore it.

"I was wonderin' how long it'd take ya pigs to drag me in to blame me for somethin' I didn't do." A seed looky man sat in the interrogation room of the local precinct. He was balding, and almost emaciated-looking. He looked like a drug addict and had an extremely violent rap sheet.

The most important face is that he lived right across the hall from Adam.

"Stop with the complaining, just answer the question." Flack sneered.

"I didn't do nothin'. The kid was quiet and he didn't bother nobody. Why would I want to hurt the first decent neighbor I've had in years. The only problem he had was he was livin' in the wrong side of the tracks."

"And you didn't hear anything coming from Adam's apartment?"

"Well this ear don't work too good and I was sleeping. Course I didn't hear anything."

Flack sigh and rubbed his face tiredly. He hadn't slept in at least 30 hours and every single neighbor was absolutely unhelpful. He would've dragged Adam to his spare room if he'd known how horrible his living conditions were.

"Can I go now?"

Flack signaled the mirror, "Yeah, get him outta here."

Flack slumped in the hard plastic chair and Mac entered. "What do you think?"

"I think there's something going on but I can't place my finger on it. Any news on Adam?"

Mac shook his head, "There was a spike in his heart rate about an hour ago but other than that he's still in a coma."

"Have Danny and Lindsay found anything?" Flack was sick of this case even though it just started.

"I haven't spoken with them yet. You want to head on to the lab with me. It doesn't look like we're going to get any more information here."

Flack nodded and regarded Mac for a second. There was something off about him but he couldn't quite place it.

Mac walked ahead and Flack stopped. He'd forgotten his keys in the interrogation room.

"Mac, I'll catch up with you. Need to grab my keys."

Mac nodded absently. He seemed to be thinking hard and Flack rushed off to the interrogation room. When he entered he stopped suddenly. Some kid was messing around in the interrogation room.

"Hey kid, get out of here. You shouldn't be playing in here." Flack said attempting to shoo the kid out.

The kid stared at him with haunted eyes, "I don't like that man."

His curiosity peaked "What man?"

"The scarecrow man. I don't like him." The kid said and tears started to trickle down his face.

"Hey it's alright, he's not coming back."

"No, he always comes back. He knows everything." He boy said in an assured tone.

Flack raised an eyebrow, "Whose kid are you? This isn't a place for kids – it's dangerous."

The boy sighed sadly, "I'm nobody's kid. Nobody remembers me and I'm tired of hurting." The boy's neck started to bleed and before Flack could yell out the boy disappeared.