Author's Note: HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY, bellakitse! I know, it's superlate but they didn't want to cooperate but I won in the end. xD You are such an amazing friend and I hope you had one of the best days. Love you, girl. *squishes*
Disclaimer: I own neither the show nor the characters. I don't earn any money with this piece. I just do it for fun.

She is busy helping Elisabeth with another patient, trying to distract herself, when the first rumors start to fly. News has always traveled fast in Terra Nova and this time isn't different. Before Skye can ask one of the other nurses what exactly is going on, Reilly comes through the hospital doors, fingers gripping her weapon so tight that her knuckles are turning white.

"The Commander and your husband need you at the gate. Now."

Elisabeth doesn't hesitate, instructs another doctor to take over and motions for Skye to accompany her. Reilly's troubled gaze meets her across the room and Skye wonders what's happening out there that's causing such strong reaction in her friend. When they reach the gate, they find Taylor talking to Curran and Reilly's behavior starts to make sense. They all have their own ghosts of their past and when Skye looks back to her friend, she's confronted with one of her own.

"Hello, princess." Carter's covered in dirt and sand, restrained by Guz and his men, unable to move, but that doesn't stop him from smirking at her. It is as if the ground opens up under her feet, moments of the last few weeks flashing through her mind (his hand, warm and heavy, resting low on her back as he guides her through the camp - hooded eyes following her as she hastily leaves the rover - his presence solid and comforting behind her as she argues with Lucas - fingers tangled in her hair, every inch of his body pressed against her as he drags his lips down the arch of her throat) and Skye narrows her eyes at him, hides the turmoil of emotions his unexpected appearance brings forth inside her behind a scowl. It only amuses him further, his smirk widening, and she can't shake off the feeling he knows exactly what she's thinking. Bastard.

Then the smirk is gone and he tilts his head towards her left side. "Brought you a little gift." Skye turns around and suddenly she feels lightheaded, stumbles a few steps and sinks to her knees next to the one person she thought she had lost forever. "Mom?"

Her mother looks so fragile in the broad daylight but she's smiling, clasping her daughter's hand with strength that has been missing in all those years, and Skye's vision grows blurry. Her mother will recover in no time, Elisabeth assures her, since the drug the Sixer's used to treat her with is easy to reproduce, especially now that Carter has given them all the information about it. At the mentioning of his name, Skye starts and raises her head, the intensity in his hazel eyes stealing her breath. Her head's reeling, she doesn't know what to make of him and his actions, confusion mixing with gratitude and something entirely else (moist air ghosting over her skin as he breathes her name against her lips), and in the end, she whispers only one word but it conveys everything.

"Why?"

Carter regards her in silence, jaw set and eyes hard, and for several heartbeats they simply stare at each other, but then his gaze softens and he's about to speak when his face suddenly loses all color and he slumps forward, Guz's hold the only thing keeping him upright. Skye springs to her feet and is at Carter's side in seconds, one of her hands gently cupping his cheek to tip his head back, the other closing around his hip. The skin there is slick and when she pulls her hand back, she's horrified to see it coated in blood.

oOo

She's nibbling at her nails, concern written all over her face as she watches him lying there on one of the bio beds, unconscious but alive, the deep cut in his side now stitched up and bandaged.

"He's going to be fine," Elisabeth announces before she leaves and Skye gives her a small but grim smile. He better be, she thinks, worry giving way to anger. Before her mother fell asleep, she and Curran had told the story of their escape, how it had been all planned by Carter, who had woken them in the middle of the night and walked them around the guards in the camp but then Lucas had crossed their path, ready to stop them by any means necessary. Without hesitation Carter had tackled him to the ground and during the following fight he must have been been injured by Lucas with a knife. Stubborn as he is, Carter hadn't said anything about it and for the last days walked around with an infected and bleeding wound.

Skye leans against the bio bed and takes one of his hands in hers, intertwining their fingers. "You're an idiot," she chides him softly but her voice lacks malice. With a heavy sigh, she turns her focus to his wound and carefully peels back the dressing, so concentrated on her work she misses the slight twitch as Carter wakes up.

"You know, princess, if you want to play doctor, all you have to do is ask," he murmurs, his voice a husky whisper, and her head jerks up to his face. Blood rushes to her cheeks as his words register and she snatches her hand away from his injury as if burned, tries to untangle their fingers but he holds on tight, rubs his fingers across her knuckles and the sensation of calloused fingertips against soft skin sends a shiver down her spine.

Her tongue sneaks out to wet her sudden dry lips and Carter's gaze drops to her mouth, eyes darkening as he growls her name in a low tone, tugging her closer while struggling to sit up at the same time. Placing a hand on his stomach, she tries to stop him but he's determined, his hand curling around the back of her neck. Heats coils in her belly as he pulls her down, his mouth covering hers in an almost bruising kiss.

He tastes like the jungle, wild and untamed, and just like that night they kissed outside her mother's hut high up in the trees of the Sixers' camp, desire flares hot between them, breaking over them like a tidal wave. When his tongue traces her bottom lip, she moans quietly, her fingers digging into the muscles of his stomach involuntarily, and with a groan of his own he arches up into her touch.

A commotion right outside the curtain that separates them from the rest of the hospital jolts them back to reality and they break apart, left flushed and breathless. Carter's hand slowly falls away from her nape, his thumb brushing against the corner of her mouth, a promise of later and more, and the last piece of the puzzle falls into place, the answer to her question beginning to take shape.

- END -