knife_bender | An Insane Asylum in Dallas

How Diego ended up in an insane asylum for 75 days should have been a long story, but it really wasn't. After being sure Annie and Five were nowhere to be found, Diego figured he had been brought to this time (September 1963, as he found out) for a reason. Namely, to save President John F. Kennedy.

You show up at Lee Harvey Oswald's house one time to kill him, and suddenly you're a 'bad guy' who is 'crazy' and needs to be 'put away'.

So here he was in November, sitting in on another mind numbing group therapy session.

Lila	And meanwhile, Lila was more bored than she could say, and had no problem showing it. At least no one in here told her to sit like a lady, and the great thing about 1963 was that they just gave you cigarettes as a matter of course! Not that she was smoking this one. She was just playing with it as she lounged here in her chair next to her best friend in here, Diego. He maybe didn't know they were best friends. It was her secret.
Dr. Moncton	"Thank you for sharing that, Allen, I think fear is something we can all relate to," said the doctor who was currently running this awkward session. "Okay, who else would like to share? Anyone? Come on, who's next?" He set his sights on one of the people not meeting his gaze. "Diego, you've been awfully quiet this morning."
Diego	Ugh. Not this again. "Just taking it all in, Doc," Diego said. "Letting all that healing shit wash over me." Now leave him alone so he could go back to his room.
Dr. Moncton	"Last week you mentioned your father," the doctor said, ignoring Diego's attempt to brush off therapy. "How your whole childhood felt like some kind of experiment."
Diego	"It was an experiment," Diego replied. "Literally, it was an experiment."
Dr. Moncton	Interesting, but not the first time he had heard that. "Let's dig deeper. You say your father is a villain."
Diego	Finally, something he was happy to discuss. "Hell yeah he was."
Dr. Moncton	"So you had to play hero to make Daddy mad." And attempt to assault a poor innocent man like Lee Harvey Oswald.
Lila	Did Lila genuinely find that sort of hilarious? Yes. (It was the incongruous use of 'Daddy' more than anything.) But she also kept giggling for longer than was strictly appropriate, too, as she looked over at Diego. It was an insane asylum, after all.
Diego	Diego ignored Lila; he had a carefully crafted plan brewing here. He schooled his features to look more upset than he actually was. "I'm a grown ass man, Dr. Moncton--"
Dr. Moncton	"Who still defines himself in opposition to his father," he replied. "His dead father. That really isn't defining yourself, is it, Diego?" The doctor sat forward a little, offering Diego a look of kind understanding. "Who is the real Diego?"
Diego	"I don't know," Diego admitted. He let out a played up sigh and let tears well up in his eyes. "I guess I've never known. But I'm ready. I'm ready to find out." He was fucking nailing this healthy person shit.
Lila	It was an admirable performance. Which was why Lila stuck that cigarette she'd been playing with between her teeth and slowly clapped. Her applause was clearly sarcastic -- just look at her expression! She wasn't even being subtle, because Diego wasn't, either -- but the other patients joined her in slowly applauding this breakthrough, too.
Dr. Moncton	It was hard to tell if the doctor actually thought Diego's reaction was genuine, but he did look pleased by the interaction. It was always a momentous occasion when group therapy was more than him talking and the patients staring. "Thank you, Diego," he said. "Okay everyone, quiet time until lunch."
Lila	And as soon as the doctor was preoccupied with some clipboard bullshit and a nurse, Lila was leaning over into Diego's space. "You're so full of shit."
Diego	"Tears too much?" Diego asked. That had been a spur of the moment add on.
Lila	"He saw right through it," Lila assured him. Though it had been quite a performance.
Diego	Diego shook his head. "Nah, he totally ate that shit up."
Lila	"Bet you three lunch Jellos you're wrong," Lila proposed.
Diego	...damn that was a good deal. Jello and cigarettes were really the only real currency around and Diego didn't smoke. "You're on."
Lila	"All right." Lila grinned at him, still leaning quite a bit into Diego's space, and stuck her cigarette back between her teeth. As soon as his seat was vacant, she'd be sliding over into it, too. Because she was adorable, and there were only so many ways to flirt with someone while also still seeming like a convincing asylum patient.
Diego	Was that flirting? It just seemed invasive. Diego wandered towards Dr. Moncton, trying to look like a cool guy who had no mental health issues whatsoever. "Dr. Moncton. Hey, you got a sec?"
Dr. Moncton	"Sure, Diego," the doctor said. "What is it?"
Diego	"I've been doing a lot better lately, haven't I?" he asked.
Dr. Moncton	"True, you are calmer now, less combative," he said with a nod. "It's nice seeing you open up in group."
Diego	Oh those jellos were so his. "So, uh, when do you think I might be getting out of here?"
Dr. Moncton	Ah. Well that explained all of this. "Well the review board will reassess your case in 90 days."
Diego	"90 days?" Diego repeated. "No, I can't. I can't wait that long." He had to save Kennedy! ...and find all of his siblings and his girlfriend. But Kennedy was his hard out!
Dr. Moncton	"Just take it one day at a time, Diego, okay?" Dr. Moncton said, helpfully patting him on the shoulder before walking away.
Diego	Diego reached out to grab the doctor's elbow. "No, no you don't understand. They're going to kill the president a week from today."
Dr. Moncton	The doctor looked down at where Diego was holding his arm and then over at the security guards who were already noticing what was happening. "Diego, I thought we moved past this. You know what a hero complex is?"
Diego	Diego rolled his eyes. "Yeah, they're assholes who think they're heroes." But, see, he was a real hero. Trained for it and everything. So this didn't apply to him.
Dr. Moncton	"This paranoid fantasy about President Kennedy is what got you committed in the first place." Not that Diego needed to be reminded of that, probably.
Diego	"They are going to kill him," Diego said, jabbing his fingers into the doctor's shoulder. It was distracting enough that nobody would notice Diego taking the pen out of Dr. Moncton's pocket and slipping it in the back of his hospital-issued sweat pants. "They are going to shoot him in the head, right here in Dallas. All right, understand?"
Dr. Moncton	All right, that was about enough. He looked over at the security guards and gave them a subtle nod. "Diego, let go."
Diego	Diego lifted his hands in the air, an action from someone who had clearly tangled with the security guards before. "Okay, okay. I'm done. I'm sorry."

Diego	Okay, so, the thing with the doctor had not gone well. He now owed Lila jello, and he was being forced to make a stupid friendship bracelet. Could life get worse? "This is so stupid," he said, throwing aside his bracelet. "I can't."
Lila	"Maybe for you." That reply was almost automatic, as Lila watched Diego struggle and abandon his bracelet and she idly poked at her own craft supplies. A thought seemed to occur to her, and she gasped in delight. "This'll cheer you up!" She kicked her foot up onto the table, looking over at him with a sly expression as she drew a...strip of bacon out of her white, non-laced shoe and offered it over. Again, Lila was kind of playing jump rope with the line between 'flirtatious' and 'actual mental patient,' but she was trying here!
Diego	"Bacon." Shoe bacon.
Lila	"Smuggled it out of the lunchroom," Lila told him, straight-up proud of herself as she glanced around to make sure no one had noticed this clever bit of subterfuge. "Do you want some?"
Diego	Diego gave her a look. "No." He may have been in the nuthouse but he wasn't crazy.
Lila	Lila's your loss was clear, if non-verbal, as she bit into the bacon with a loud crunch and turned back to her own crafts. "To be honest," she said, casually picking up a crayon, "I was saving it for your great escape."
Diego	Diego froze for a second because nobody was supposed to know about that. Then tried to play it off even though he was just terrible at it. "What are you talking about?"
Lila	"Just saying," Lila continued, clearly very preoccupied with her crayons, here. "Whatever it is you're planning, I can be very resourceful." Of course he was planning something, please. Watching Diego was, of course, why she was here, but even without that factor, this secret plan of his was way more entertaining to her than television or crafts.
Diego	"Look, even if I were planning something, and I am not," he started. "You would be the last person I'd take." Sure, she was cute (he was taken, but he had eyes), but she was a very strange person who talked too much. Last thing he needed when making a great escape.
Lila	Lila made a little show of looking wounded. "It's because of the jellos, right? You can have them back." Such sacrifice.
Diego	"No, it's not because of the--" Diego took a second to collect himself. Obviously there was something wrong with this woman if she was here so he had to make things simple. "Look, I'm a lone wolf. I don't run with a pack." Which was such a lie, but whatever.
Lila	"Perfect," Lila drawled. "Because I'm somewhat of a lone wolf myself." And that was awfully close to actual honesty, so she needed to offset it immediately by reaching over to pluck up the glue, plug one nostril, and take a hearty, demonstrative sniff.
Diego	Diego rolled his eyes. It was probably a good thing a security guard interrupted because he honestly didn't have a response to that. "Hargreeves, you have a visitor." That was the first visitor in 75 days. He wondered who even knew he was here. "Who is it?" "I ain't your secretary."
Lila	"Maybe Daddy finally came to say 'I love you,'" Lila suggested, grinning at him. That was a little mean, but to be fair that glue had gone right to her head.
Diego	Diego put on a (bad) British accent as he got up to leave. "Piss off."
Lila	Lila watched him go, turning back to her crafts with a shrug. Once she spotted the bracelet Diego had been working on, though, she leaned forward and snatched it up to slide onto her own wrist. Best friends. Bracelets to prove it, now!
Five	Well. There was family there to visit him. Though the odds of any 'I love you's' popping up were decidedly not happening on Five's behalf. Because he was Disappointed In You, Diego. Deeply so.
Annie	Annie could be effusive enough for the both of them, fortunately! Even if she was clearly nervous as she sat here at this table, drumming her nails as they waited for Diego. In an asylum. This place gave her the creeps, and they needed to get Diego out of here ASAP. Though she was also -- well, not disappointed, exactly. Concerned was a better word?
Diego	Well you should be concerned because the wolf man was coming into the visitor's room. There was an immediate look of relief when he saw who had finally come for him. "Annie, Five--" He immediately went to move to embrace Annie, but a pointed cough from the security guard had him obediently sitting down in the uncomfortable metal chair on the other side of the table. Someone may have been manhandled by security before.
Five	"Hello, Diego," Five said, folding his hands on the table in front of him. "You look good in white." There, he started with a compliment before he'd get into the lecture.
Annie	That security guard was getting such a dirty look, though her attention was quickly diverted back to Diego and reaching a hand across the table to him and -- "Your hair," Annie breathed, taking in the whole...wolfman thing. (Again: totally working for her, and again, not really the time or place.) "Oh my God, Diego, we're gonna get you out of here." Somehow. Maybe she could just sign him out or something?
Diego	"No kidding," he said, risking the rule breaking and reaching his hand out to take hers. "It's about time you guys showed up."
Five	Oh, that was some real Midnight Express shit right there. "We were delayed," Five replied dryly. "How did you know I'd come?"
Annie	It was romantic, shut your narrative mouth. "Because of course we'd come," Annie answered, kind of moving on from shock and into straight-up worry as she studied Diego from across the table. No, Annie, that was how he might have known you would find a way to get here. "I'm so sorry you've been in here so long."
Diego	Diego shrugged a shoulder like it was totally not a big deal he had been in a mental hospital for three months. He was totally fine. "I knew you'd come because that's the kind of shit you pull," Diego said to Five. "I guess I should be grateful you managed to keep Annie with you."
Five	Five did a little shoulder shrug like it was the least he could do to keep Diego from going crazy... oh waaaait. "Where are the others?"
Annie	That would be so convenient, if they were just locked up in here with Diego. Just because they'd only been given one mugshot didn't mean the others hadn't been picked up. "How long have you been in here?" Annie asked. They'd find the others; Diego was right here in front of her, looking kind of terrible. (In a sexy way. Shh.)
Diego	"You haven't found them yet?" Diego asked. He understood why it took so long to find him (because who would ever think he'd end up here?), but he had hoped that they had at least managed to find somebody. "I've been here for 75 days." Which explained the hair. "Landed in an alley--"
Five	"Commerce and Knox," Five filled in for him.
Annie	"Us, too," Annie acknowledged with a swift little nod. "But we got here this morning." Honestly, Annie could have used seventy-four or so extra days to deal with all the teleporting and shock and confusion. It had been a long day already.
Diego	Diego, unfortunately, had a lot of time to deal with the shock and confusion because there wasn't much else to do here. "How did you even know I was here?"
Five	Five scoffed and dig out the newspaper clipping he'd taken from Elliot. "Page 16. "Disturbed man with multiple knives arrested outside 1026 N. Beckley. That's Lee Harvey Oswald's house. Care to explain?" WERE YOU TRYING TO FUCK UP THE TIMELINE, DIEGO?
Annie	"Babe." Oh, no, babe was, like, their code word for 'Your crazy is showing.' Not that Annie needed any kind of secret code with the way she was looking at him all worried like that. "What were you thinking?"
Diego	Look, he knew how it sounded. But it made sense when he was given the chance to explain. "Let's just say Dallas law enforcement has not been supportive of my attempt to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy." See? DO YOU SEE? TOTALLY LOGICAL.
Five	"Because it hasn't happened yet," Five stressed. Because you had to know he couldn't let you do this, right? Right?
Annie	"You can't go after someone for a crime they haven't committed yet, Diego," Annie pointed out gently, giving his hand a little squeeze. Like, yes, paradoxes, paradoxes, whatever. She'd leave that argument to the nerd who understood what he was talking about, for now. "Lee Harvey Oswald is still innocent." And maybe would remain that way! Who could say! Annie wasn't really a conspiracy theory person, but wasn't the thing about the Kennedy assassination that there was...like, wiggle room on who could've done it?
Diego	"And it's never going to happen. Not on my watch." Things sane people said. Diego leaned in closer, lowering his voice so the guards couldn't hear him. "Look, I've been shaving down the bars in my room. Another day or two, and I'll be out of this place, then I'm gonna stop Oswald and save the president. You want in, say the word." You might say 'he's lost his mind', but unfortunately he had been trying to kill Oswald since day one.
Five	"Listen to me very closely, you gibbering moron," Five demanded, leaning in closer. "You are not going to do a goddamn thing."
Annie	"How about we just focus on getting you out of here?" Annie suggested, dropping her voice low and trying to be reassuring. They could negotiate this horrible Kennedy plan into something more manageable if she got Diego into a different environment, she was sure. And she could also feel a slapfight coming on.
Diego	"Yeah, see, that's exactly what I'm saying. I need to get out of here." He knew you'd agree with him, Annie.
Five	"No, we have to stop the apocalypse," Five ground out. "Not save some politician." Also, Five might have been the second shooter. So. You know.
Annie	"We saw it, Diego," Annie added, solemn and worried and sincere as ever. "It's in ten days." And super-sexy black-clad Hargreeves going totally fucking ape on that street in Dallas, but she could get to that later. "We ended up there at first, by accident," she added softly. (And as much as she didn't like thinking this way, she was starting to appreciate what a good team she and Five made, with their different approaches. Good cop, vaguely-contained rage cop.)
Diego	Diego gave them a look that clearly said he thought they should be on the other side of the table. "Okay, I'll bite. What causes it?"
Five	"I don't know. Maybe some looney-tuned asshole with a hero complex tried to save the president and screwed everything up." Because time travel was delicate and he had regrets in allowing his siblings to do anything. Ever.
Annie	"We don't know," Annie contributed, because that was the important part there, and the look she was giving Diego was pleading with him not to take the bait. Please. Could we all just focus, here.
Diego	"Wait. Wait, wait." Diego held up a hand. "So you're saying I could have saved the president? I knew I could do it." Just forgetting about the whole world ending thing. "Okay, okay, I'll help you."
Five	"Thank god," Five sighed, so relieved this wasn't going to be a thing.
Annie	"Beautiful," Annie said, clearly relieved. They needed to get Diego out of this asylum, because he was acting so weird. This Kennedy thing obviously wasn't happening, but like...fine, if that's what he needed to think so they could get him out of here.
Diego	"After I save Kennedy." What, you think he was going to let this go? "And then you swing us back a few decades so I can slit Hitler's throat off with a butter knife." Oh man, that was going to be so sweet.
Five	"This is why your only friend is also insane," Five said with a deeply annoyed sigh. You choked out a mannequin, McGarrett! "You know what?" he decided with a slight glance over at Annie and then directly at the guard. "Guard, my brother's plotting an escape. The bars of his room have been shaved down."
Annie	"Damn it, Five!" This had been going kind of well, and Annie was sure she could talk Diego down out of this Kennedy thing if she could just get him out of here. Legitimately, even, maybe! She could have tried! But no, no, you had to be spiteful and ruin everything, Five, and now everything was so much worse. So help her if he teleported her out of here right now, when she was already eyeing the guys staked out by the door and kind of running the odds on whether a 5'6" blonde beating the shit out of two very large men was gonna attract a lot of attention here in 1963.
Diego	"You piece of shit!" Diego stood up, fully prepared to jump over the table to grab Five, but quickly found himself pinned down by the guards. One of them called for a nurse which made Diego struggle against their hold even more. "No, stop--"
Five	Five lashed out to grab her arm before she could also ruin the timeline more than he was certain had already happened. "It's for his own good," he snapped. If you thought this was spite, clearly he wasn't doing his job well enough.
Annie	It sure looked like spite from over here! Even if eventually, the pragmatic portion of Annie's brain might catch up with her and realize that Five was genuinely acting in Diego's interests here -- it was just hard to recognize that when Diego was being pinned against a table and every instinct was screaming at her to get those guys off him. And she didn't, but she was real resentful you'd put her in this position, Five. "I'm coming back for you," she promised softly, leaning in close enough for Diego to hear and choosing her words carefully for those guards' benefit. "Hang in there. I love you."
Diego	If Diego wasn't exactly finding Annie's words soothing, it was solely because of the woman who entered the room with a large needle. "No, Five! Tell them--no, not the needle--" Too late, big old needle was being jabbed into his arm. It was the sixties, what was antiseptic?
Five	"We will be back," Five agreed leaning in as Diego fell under the sway of whatever they'd injected him with. Maybe with the rest of his siblings to keep Diego from going off on his mission to murder Lee Harvey Oswald. Luther might be good for keeping him on track, right?