His vision swam as though he'd gotten up too fast, and although his eyes were still very much open, everything in front of him went black. He stopped, stood stock still, and put his hand up against a tree, hoping that if nothing else he could see again. He knew he couldn't really afford to stop, but he really, really needed to be able to see right now.
He pressed his hand to his temple, willing this to not be happening. Worrying about low blood sugar in the middle of running away from a pair of hundjägers was just plain absurd. But here he was, in the middle of the woods, without any food or anything else that might be particularly useful, going into hypoglycemic shock.
"Nick! What are you doing?" Monroe shouted, clearly noticing that he'd started lagging. "In case you hadn't noticed, those guys seemed kind of keen on us not being alive. So, my guess is, we should probably keep running."
"Yeah, Monroe. I got that," Nick said testily, pulling himself away from the tree and trying his best to catch up. His vision had gone from black to somewhat spotty. It would have to do. When he was at Monroe's side again, wondering why on earth he hadn't told Monroe about any of this, because he'd totally be the type to take care of it if -more like when, who was he kidding- he didn't, he asked, "You don't happen to have any candy on you, do you?"
Monroe, who kept doubling back to make up for Nick's continued lagging, did so once more and gave him a sharp sideways glance, "Nick, what on earth would we need candy for right now? It's not exactly like it has apotropaic qualities. Well, not that hundjägers are inherently evil, per se."
Nick felt like giving Monroe a look of his own because he had literally no idea what he was rambling about, but he didn't have the time, patience, or mental capacity for the inevitable lesson upon asking, "I need to eat something, something with sugar. I think I'm going to pass out if I don't."
"Oh god, Nick," Monroe said, stopping dead in his tracks and giving him a serious once over. Nick didn't need any confirmation to know that he looked awful; he could feel the sweat dripping off his hair, which could have been from running but he had the feeling it wasn't just that, and he was willing to bet some of the color had drained from his face. "You really don't look good, man. Uh, but, geez, I don't have any food. I didn't think we were going to be out here this long...um... Oh god, are you okay?"
He had started to sway slightly where he stood because it was becoming harder to ignore the spots in his vision, and it was all making him dizzy and lightheaded. Monroe caught his arm and pulled it across his shoulder. He gave Monroe a weak smile, and said, "Not really. I didn't think we were going to be out here this long either. Wish I had. This wouldn't have happened."
"Okay, okay," Monroe said, wringing his free hand in frustration, clearly trying to figure out what to do. "We've put a lot of distance between ourselves and our less than friendly company. Maybe we'd be okay to stop... would resting help? We could probably find some kind of wooden niche to hide in?"
"Maybe... temporarily, but it's...it's not going to fix the problem," Nick said, his words starting to lose some of their fluency.
"You need sugar?" Monroe asked. When Nick nodded intently, Monroe ran his hand down his face anxiously. "Nick, why wouldn't you tell me about this?"
Still kicking himself for this folly, Nick shook his head as he started to feel his eyes watering, from frustration and from guilt, feeling like this was all his fault. Tears weren't actually shed, but Monroe must have realized he'd upset him somehow.
"I'm sorry, man. Don't worry about it right now, not important," Monroe said. "Well, I think it's going to be easier on both of us if we do rest for a few minutes, and I have an idea, but you aren't going to like it."
"When you phrase it... like that, I already... don't... like it," Nick said, gripping Monroe's shoulder more tightly because he was starting to feel like it was the only thing keeping him upright. He tried to take a few deep, but rather shaky breaths in an attempt to calm himself down that ultimately made him feel a little nauseous. He held his hand over his mouth as Monroe guided him into a dense patch of trees.
"Okay, Nick, I'm going to leave you here, but just for a few minutes, scout's honor," Monroe said, leaning him against a tree. Nick just nodded; he didn't feel up to talking anymore. "If you hear the hundjägers, the forest cover should be enough, but if you lie down alongside this log right here, they'd have to be right on top of you to see you. Thank god I made you coat yourself in wolfsbane, right?"
Nick nodded again as Monroe, seemingly satisfied that he had comprehended, started to run into the more open part of the woods, "Nick, if they do see you, yell for me. I won't be far. If anyone wants to take you from me right now, they're going to have to put up a fight first."
Nick tried to smile at that, somewhat mollified. It didn't last long though. After Monroe had been gone for maybe a minute, he started twisting anxiously from side to side, looking for any sign of the other man's return. Rationally, he knew Monroe wouldn't abandon him in the woods, but he wasn't really thinking rationally anymore. He was sick. He was worried. And he hated to admit it, but he was scared.
Monroe reappeared what felt like an eternity later, but, in reality, was at most ten minutes, carrying a bunch of green and white plants. Monroe sat down across from him and started tearing the plants apart. Nick watched stoically, his eyes glassy.
"I haven't tasted one of these since I was a scout, but I can promise you it's not poisonous. And the inside's fruit, so there should be some sugar in there," Monroe said. "Here."
Monroe tried to hand the plant to Nick, but he didn't take it. Monroe tried again, "Nick, you just told me you needed to eat something. Crackerberry wouldn't be my first pick either, but I'd pick it over passing out in the woods. Come on. Take it."
Nick still felt nauseous, and he had decided that eating that flower was certainly not going to help; going into shock is a bit funny that way.
"Dude, please don't make me feed it to you," Monroe muttered. When Nick still didn't try to eat it himself, Monroe took a small piece and reached forward to give it to him. Nick tried to push him away.
Monroe stopped and rested his hand on Nick's shoulder.
"Nick, this is going to help. I know you know it's going to help," Monroe said, his eyes tinging red with worry and anxiety. This had the unintended, but welcome effect of shocking Nick's mouth open. Monroe took the opportunity and placed the fruit on his tongue, just willing Nick not to choke on it.
After a moment, Nick swallowed it, and then after another moment, wordlessly reached his hand out for more. He ate a few more of the plants and then leaned fully back against the tree.
"You brought me flowers. I'm charmed," Nick said once he started feeling a little more himself, trying to laugh it all off, hoping Monroe wouldn't make him own up to hiding things from him.
"Yeah, you aren't getting out of this so easily. So, um, were you planning on telling me about this at some point?" Monroe asked.
"Uh, yeah," Nick said, looking incredibly sheepish.
"Before now would have been good," Monroe said. "Surprise medical conditions are really never good. But, Nick, you know what you do. What we do."
"I know. Monroe, I'm really sorry," Nick said, then shakily standing he reached out and gripped Monroe in a tight hug. "And thanks. Just, thanks."
"Not everyday I get thanked for finding Canadian dogwood," Monroe smiled. "I'll take it."
"Wait, didn't you say it was... crackerberry?" Nick asked, scratching at his head, still feeling a little woozy and thinking that maybe he'd just missed something.
"Most plants have a lot of official and unofficial nomenclature," Monroe said, looking thoughtful. "Anyway, it's not important. Come on, let's get you out of here."
"The hundjagers showed up before we could get a good look around that house. We still don't know if that's where they've been hiding the missing bodies," Nick said, hating to leave a job unfinished.
"Also not important right now," Monroe said. "Nick, we can come back. While I'm glad there's a little bit of color coming back to your face, I'm still not sure you're okay. Because as much as I hate to admit this, I'm not entirely sold on the great healing powers of crackerberry. Come on, we're going home."
Once they were in the car, Monroe shot Nick a quizzical look, "I have to ask, since this is clearly a serious problem, but one you seem to know what to do about, I'm assuming there's insulin."
Nick nodded.
"Man, I live with you. I mean, I know not for that long, but where the hell do you keep it?" Monroe asked. "Are you hiding it? Because that's not exactly a good idea, for multiple reasons."
"I keep it in the trailer," Nick said. "I was in there all the time; it just kind of made sense."
"Not anymore," Monroe said. "At least not all of it. You're going to walk me through all of this. We are making sure that this either never happens again or that we're adequately prepared to deal with it if it does."
Nick tried not to laugh because he thought that maybe he did know why he didn't tell Monroe before. He thought that, perhaps, Monroe cared too much sometimes. Then, thinking that he loved Monroe for it anyway, he leaned across the center console and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks again," Nick said as Monroe blushed slightly. "Don't know where I'd be without you."
"Yeah, you do. Six feet under," Monroe said, giving him a look that said he didn't really mean it, no matter how true it was. When Nick raised his eyes warily, he added "Hey, I would be too without you."
"Well, glad we've got each other then," Nick said.