"Facey, It's cold."
Face sighed. He reached over and grabbed the other blanket and his own coat, wrapping them around Murdock as he started to shiver. He rested his hand on the pilot's forehead, before raising it to his own and wiping away the sweat that had gathered there.
He hated jungles.
The steamy, sticky, muggy air. The insects the size of small rodents and, oh yeah, the constant rain. He pulled Murdock further under their rudimentary shelter as another downpour started. He glance briefly in the direction that Hannibal and BA went a few hours ago, but there was no sight or sound of them returning. He slowly pushed himself upright, trying not to disturb his lover too much, as he leaned over and gently pulled apart the pilot's pant leg.
The gashes inside were angry looking, swelling and leaking a yellow and green goo. Face sighed again and reached for the Med Kit. They were almost out of everything. Opening one of the bottles of water, he gently poured it over the wound, washing it out as best as possible. Taking the last of the gauze, he applied the last of the antiseptic gel to it before wrapping it around HM's leg. Rummaging around in the bottom of the kit, he found the last packet of Tylenol.
"HM?" he rolled the wounded man in his lap. Those changeable blue-green eyes that he loved so much opened, but they were foggy, unfocused. "HM? Do you think you can swallow these? We need to get your fever down."
He propped the pilot up slightly as he held the water bottle to his lips, letting him get a mouthful before slipping the first pill between his lips. He watched Murdock's throat muscles work before repeating the process with the second pill. The act seemed to exhaust him. Face let his hand twirl in the pilot's longish bangs while he rested. He again glanced at the trail. By his estimation, Hannibal and BA should be back soon. The trek to the nearest village and back should have only taken three hours. And the sooner they got Murdock on the Medivac and back to base the sooner Face could start to relax.
"Uhhhhh"
"HM?" he looked down just as the pilot started to tremble violently in his lap. "HM!"
"F-Fa-Face. Cold. I'm co-cold."
"I know, buddy." he ran his hands up and down Murdock's arms. "Boss will be back soon and we'll get you out of here, okay?"
The pilot nodded. Or, at least Face thought he did, he was still shaking badly.
"Te-tell me-me again?" he brought his hand up in a week caress of Face's cheek. Face caught the hand as it fell, brought it up to his lips and pressed kisses into the palm.
"When I walked into the hospital in Mexico, the reason I stopped you, when there was a lot of other doctors around, was because the face mask you were wearing highlighted your amazing eyes. While you were working on BA, I kept trying to see the your name tag, not that it would have done me any good, and then, of course, you lit my arm on fire."
"You smelled like gas." even through the tremors, the pilot smiled.
"After we got back to Base, and Hannibal was trying to get Bosco reinstated, I was showing you around and every time we stopped, you had some observation, some comment that let me see a glimpse of how smart you were. And then by the end of the week, we were, not only friends, but best friends. The kind of friends that made me wonder how I survived that long with out you. The teams first couple of years kinda blur together. Everything was so perfect. Then you started dating Kelly Stevens."
He ran his hand down the side of HM's cheek. "She was sweet and caring and pretty much an all around awesome person and I couldn't understand why I didn't like her. You two seemed to be getting serious and I met Charisa...anyway when that imploded, you were the only one who knew where to find me, the only one I really wanted to find me. I have no idea what we talked about that night. I just know that we drank through a liqueur stores worth of bottles and that I knew that I never wanted to be more then a few steps away from you.
"It took me another month to realize that I was in love with you. Another two going back and forth on whether I should do anything about it. And then I finally decided to act on it. I spent a week planning, trying to figure out a) if you were interested in men, specifically me and b)the best way to seduce you. I had decided on the slow approach. Take our movie nights, add a bit of romantic gestures here and there. See how you would react.
"And then the first night I tried something, I sat closer to you then usual on the couch, my arm along the back, you just smiled at me indulgently, like I was a particularly slow puppy, before curling into my side. When we made love that night is still one of the best memories of my life. I love you, HM."
The hand on the pilot's forehead felt cooler, so he hoped that the fever was receding. Face looked down, expecting to see that Murdock had fallen asleep. The hope was in vain as HM's eyes had rolled back into his head and he started to convulse.
"HM!" he slid out from under the pilot, clamped his legs around Murdock's injured leg to keep it still and braced himself over him in a way to make sure that he didn't injure anything else.
He didn't think he'd ever been more happy then he was a minute later when he heard a chopper. He looked up as the Medivac landed in the clearing, the medics rushing out and taking over. With the gear they'd brought, the were able to stabilize HM and load him onto the chopper.
He didn't remember much of the flight home, just that he wasn't able to even hold HM's hand. The medics stayed close as HM had another seizure just after they lifted off.
But that didn't matter now as he squeezed HM's hand and shifted on the semi-comfortable chair in HM's hospital room. As soon as the pilot woke up, the doctors were releasing him into Face's care.
It was only two hours later that they were at their apartment, new prescription of painkillers and antibiotics added to rows of bottles on Murdock's dresser, leg carefully propped up as they snuggled in their bed, head resting on the same pillow. It was now that Face felt like he could finally relax.
"So," he said, as his eyes fluttered sleepily. "Tell me again?"
Murdock smiled. "When you stopped me in the hospital in Mexico..."