Summary: Let's start with that wonderful scene from UC4 where Elena finds Nate unconscious in the jungle. So much untapped potential.

The air was thick with humidity and alive with the buzz millions of insects. The jungle itself was breathing around her, and yet Elena took no notice. Nate, her Nate, was out here somewhere. Alive? She didn't know and it was killing her. Try as she might, she was finding it harder and harder to hold onto her anger. He was doing this to save his brother. Elena knew her husband well and she knew just how far he would go to save one's he loved. How could she fault him for that?

As she stumbled over an exposed root, something caught her eye. The sunlight that filtered through the canopy above glinted off of something in a nearby puddle. She stared at the spot for a moment before realizing what she was seeing. Her stomach dropped as she raced toward the clearing.

"Nate!" She cried, splashing through the puddle and dropping to her knees next to him. He was so completely, frighteningly still that feared he might be dead.

"Oh my God…" She breathed, gently rolling him onto his back. Beneath his tan, his skin was ashen. Blood still dripped from the gash on his forehead. Even as she moved him, he didn't react to her touch. "Nate…Hey! Nate!" Elena yelled, shaking him and slapping his cheeks. Fear clawed at her as she desperately pressed her fingers to his throat.

"Come on, Nate. Come on." After a moment, she felt the reassuring thump of a pulse against her fingers, weak and a bit too fast, but there all the same. "Thank God…" she whispered, her head resting on his chest. She fumbled with her radio for a moment.

"Sully. Sully, you there?"

"Yeah, you find him yet?" Sully asked. Elena had to hold back a sob.

"I…he's hurt. Head injury. I can't get him to wake up!"

"Jesus kid…alright, gimme your coordinates and I'll see if I can land close by and meet up with you. You call me if anything changes, okay?"

"Always." She promised. She quickly gave him her location then returned the radio to its holster.

Blinking back tears, she pulled herself to her feet and grabbed Nate under his arms. Nate was no lightweight and hauling him through the muck was exhausting, but Elena needed to get him out of there. As she settled him against a fallen tree, he groaned softly. The sound was weak and filled with pain.

"Nate?" She asked, crouching in front of him. His face was pinched in obvious discomfort. "Hey, open your eyes." She coaxed. After a moment, hazy blue eyes blinked open.

"'lena?" He mumbled, confusion evident in his unfocused eyes.

"Hey you. You with me now?" She asked, gently carding her fingers through his hair.

"I don't…Elena…wha'?" He slurred.

"Shhhhh…" Elena soothed, seeing the agitation beginning to cloud Nate's features. "We're okay. We're on Avery's island, remember? Off the coast of Madagascar?" She prompted, hoping he'd be able to piece it together.

"L-Libertalia." He murmured. Then his gaze sharpened and he stiffened. "Sam!" Nate tried to pull himself up, but his shaking arms refused to support his weight.

"Whoa, easy Nate." Elena said as she eased him back down. "You're not ready for that yet."

"I have to…Rafe…he's gonna…" Nate mumbled disjointedly, trailing off. His eyes were jumping around with obvious disorientation as he tried to place his surroundings. It worried Elena to see him so out of it. With careful fingers, she began examining the wound on his head. The cut was deep and the area had already swollen to a painful lump. A dark bruise was beginning to form around it. Still, she counted her blessings as her probing fingers found no obvious sign of a skull fracture. He had a concussion for sure, but that at least she could work with.

"Hey, you still with me?" She asked, gently taking his face in her hands and forcing him to look at her.

"Yeah…yeah. Why'd you…why are you here?" Nate asked. Elena smiled, relieved to see that he was more alert now.

"Sully. He, uh, explained a few things to me. Besides, I couldn't just leave you for dead, could I?" She said with a wink. "Now, how about you tell me what happened here?" Nate closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

"He lied to me. Sam. Made the whole damn thing up. Alcázar, the escape, all of it." He said bitterly.

"Why?" Elena asked. Sully had shared his reservations about Sam with her, but the news still came as a surprise.

"Avery's treasure. It's been his obsession for decades. He knew I wouldn't help him if I knew the truth."

"So he made up some story about owing money so that you'd help him." Elena finished.

"Yeah. All for that goddamn treasure."

"So, why is Avery's treasure such a big deal to him?" Nate sighed.

"It all started when we were kids." He began. Before he could stop himself, the story of the night he and Sam had broken into the woman's house was spilling out of him. Elena listened without interruption as she cleaned with wounds, even as her husband's sentences became rambling and disjointed toward the end. It was clear to her that the death of the old woman still weighed on him, even now. Then out came the explanation behind his name.

"And everything changed after that. Y'know, we became explorers. Adventurers. Mostly thieves-Ow!" Nate gasped, wincing as Elena finished cleaning the worst of the mud from his cut.

"Okay, just hold still." Nate sighed sadly.

"You know, for a while it felt like if we weren't taking turns going to jail it was because we were in jail together. And…after I lost him I—or after I thought I'd lost him…" Nate trailed off.

"You didn't want to bring him back up again." Elena replied, understanding the sadness in Nate's expression.

"Something like that." He whispered, staring past her at nothing in particular. After a moment, he shook his head and looked up at her. "Well, that's it. Now you know everything." The look in his eyes was the most open and unguarded she had ever seen. Elena laughed softly.

"With you, I doubt that's everything. But…it's a lot." She said, leaving the silence to speak for itself.

"Love to know what you're thinking." He said softly, the soft expression on his face reminding her why she had come back.

"I'm thinking that you're lucky that I found you when I did."

"Yeah." He agreed softly, a small, half smile playing across his lips.

"I'm glad you didn't lose a limb or anything. It would have been a royal pain getting you out of here." She phrased it as a joke, but Elena couldn't help but think that it had been a very real possibility.

"How did you find me anyway?" Nate asked.

"Oh, you know, it was easy. Just follow the sound of gunfire."

"No, I mean how did you get here…?" Elena just smiled at him as he heard the familiar sound of airplane engines from above. Sully.

"Oh, of course." Elena pulled out her radio from her belt.

"Come in, Sully."

"Hey, darlin'. How's he doin'?" She could hear the edge of concern in his voice.

"Oh, you know. He's banged up, but he's alive. Par for the course. Now we just need to rescue the other Drake."

"What do you mean?" Sully asked.

"I'll let Nate tell you." Elena replied, she squatted next to Nate and handed him the radio.

"Hey pal." He croaked. "Glad you could join us."

"Wouldn't miss it. Damn good to hear your voice, kid. You okay?"

"More or less." Nate could imagine Sully's frown.

"So what happened to Sam?"

"Rafe's got him."

"Shit…you know where they are?"

"Uh, yeah. They're headed to the northern side of the island."

"I'll see if I can find a place to set down over there. Once you get him, we'll need to get out of here pretty quick."

"Good thinking, Sully."

"Hey, hey…what about the treasure?"

"Forget it." Nate said with conviction. "We don't need it."

"But Alcázar-?"

"No. There is no Alcázar. It's all bullshit."

"Wait, you mean…the debt, the escape?"

"Yeah, Sam made it all up. What an asshole, right? Look, I'll fill you in on everything when I see you, okay?"

"Yeah, I can't wait. Look, you two be safe down there." Sully cautioned.

"You know us." Nate replied before signing off. He handed back the radio and Elena held out her hand.

"Come on, we've got a lot of ground to cover." Nate took her hand and let her pull him to his feet. The moment he was vertical, however, a wave of pain and dizziness crashed over him.

"Whoa, Nate!" He heard Elena yell from what seemed like a million miles away. His vision greyed out and when he could see again, he realized he was still upright. Elena had slung one of his arms around her shoulders and was holding him tight against her as he swayed and his knees tried to buckle.

"Mmmmmphh…" Nate groaned.

"Hey, you with me?" Came Elena's voice in his ear. He could hear a slight tremble in her words.

"I…uh…think so."

"Just take a sec, okay? You've got one helluva concussion." Nate nodded and leaned against her, riding out the nausea and dizziness and pain. It wasn't his first concussion, not by a longshot, but he could tell that this was a bad one. After a minute, he straightened.

"Okay…I'm good."

"You sure?" Elena asked skeptically. "Look, Nate, you're no good to Sam or anyone if you pass out."

"I'm okay. I promise." Reluctantly, Elena released her grip on his shirt. His legs still trembled a bit, but he managed to stand without her assistance. After a few steps, his gait became more steady. His head throbbed viciously and his vision was still blurry, but he could do this. He had to. Accepting a gun from Elena, he set off toward the island's north shore. He didn't see Elena behind him, nervously biting her lip as she watched him weaving from side to side.

Well, that's all for this installment! I personally felt that it was extremely unrealistic that Nate could just brush off a serious fall like that. Then again, do I really want to look for realistic scenarios in a videogame? Nonetheless, I thought this scene needed a little extra. Feel free to send me any prompts!