We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home – Australian Aboriginal Proverb

New South Wales, Australia

Coughing.

Her brain tried to process that sound. It sounded violent, but after a moment...she realized it wasn't hers. That only seemed to trigger a cough that bubbled out of her. "Jack?" she breathed. She couldn't bring herself to open her eyes yet, though her head rolled gently to the side. Right now, her body was finding it paramount to concentrate on the steady intake and expel of oxygen to and from her lungs.

Silence.

Breathing in and out.

"Jack?" she whispered again, this time her voice breaking as pain found its way into her voice. It was something that Clara hadn't even realized was there. Her arm hurt, the insistent pain forced a hiss from her as Clara slowly opened her eyes. It was dark, but she could see illumination...and she remembered that had been Jack's flashlight...or maybe it had been hers? Blinking, she tried to force the memories upward as evenly as they would allow.

They'd found the little girl.

The unsub tried to kill them all.

Clara vividly remembered passing the girl to Matt and him running far faster than she or Jack would have been able to. Mae was closer to the entrance to the tunnel with their local escorts. The little girl had to have gotten to safety. They all had to be safe.

The explosion.

They hadn't been able to talk down the unsub. Jack had tried to push her out of the way, but she remembered that she'd reached for him, their fingers entangling, and then everything had gone black. Now, though, she didn't feel him close. The coughing she'd heard before hadn't been extremely close. Had it been the unsub? Had he survived the blast too?

"Jack?" Clara called again as she slowly tested each limb.

Her left arm was pinned, that was the one that was bringing her the pain. Clara's left leg felt restrained, but it didn't throb with pain like her arm did. Turning her head, she tried to take in as much as she could with the little bit of light she did have, rocks were everywhere-

Shoes.

"Jack!" she cried out, unable to move to him.

Her eyes didn't leave the sight of the shoe. Sucking in a breath, she thought about the details in that moment. The shoe was brown. No, it was tan. Closer in color with the dirt. Then she realized that it wasn't a shoe, it was a boot, something like a work boot-more like something you'd wear in a construction atmosphere.

Not Jack.

Her breathing started to quicken as her heart raced and her head spun. The shoe didn't move, not even a twitch. That had to have been the unsub. That meant that Jack was still somewhere...somewhere close… As her brain tried to turn round the events that had happened before the railway tunnel had been filled with debris.

Breathing in the dusty air, she pushed it out slowly. Clara was trying to calm herself and try to focus on what she remembered. The entire tunnel wasn't filled to the brim with rock and dirt, so she had to believe that there was hope for Jack and hope for a way out. If nothing else, she knew that Mae and Matt would be on it trying to get a rescue together to get them out.

There was coughing again.

Closing her eyes, she tried to really listen, to pinpoint the direction. It didn't help to do anything more than to further frustrate her. Clara opened her eyes, mumbled to herself, and trying to dislodge the rock that was holding her left leg in place. She was trying to twist herself in a way where she could use her right left to apply pressure in an effort to have another limb free.

There was a rumbling and dirt fell from the ceiling. Her eyes squeezed shut and she instinctively tried to protect her head. The sound of rock hitting rock made her panic enough to forget that her other arm was pinned and yanked it-the pain was enough that her eyes were instantly filled with tears and forced a bubbled cry of pain from her throat.

"Hey, Clara...Clara, you're going to be okay."

And that voice…

Her eyes found his as his hands rested against her good arm. "Are you hurt?"

"Jack," she breathed. He was okay. Clara could banish any thought of him being trapped under rock. "The unsub," Clara said as she nodded and then motioned in the direction of the boots that she'd previously thought belonged to Jack.

"Are you hurt?" Jack questioned again, seriously so, his eyes not leaving hers.

"My arm," Clara told him. "My leg is stuck, but it's not hurting...at least I don't think so." She'd had it before where she'd been shot and stabbed...her brain had only recognized the gunshot wound and pain. It hadn't been until someone had pointed out the blood staining her clothing in a different area that her brain even triggered a response. "But go check him…" If the unsub was alive, then they needed to know for multiple reasons.

She watched Jack as best as she could after he gave a nod and moved away. Jack was quiet, but he wasn't gone for long. He was silent, but Clara knew his face.

"He's gone?"

Jack nodded.

Clara didn't know what to say to that. She knew that she needed to focus on the fact that they'd gotten the little girl and she was safe now. It took her a moment, but she spoke up again, changing the direction of the conversation. "I can't move, Jack, but you can...you can go and see if there's a way through-"

"You know Matt would already be trying that," Jack countered.

That was true.

"Either way, you should try."

"I'm not leaving you, Clara," Jack countered quite seriously and rather stubbornly. They stared at each other in silence for a good minute before he spoke up again. "Why don't we see if I can't get those rocks off of you?"

"Jack-"

"If I can't, then I'll stop, but it would be good to better assess injuries without anything in the way."

Clara drew in a breath, staring at him for a long moment before closing her eyes again. She pushed out the breath and opened her eyes, Jack still staring right at her, she knew that he wasn't going to listen. Not when it came to her. Not when it came to any of his team. "Maybe try my leg first?" she put out there. "My arm is likely broken...let's try the limb that isn't injured yet." She didn't miss the disapproving look that crossed his face when she spoke about being injured.

"I'm going to go slow, but you tell me if it's too much," Jack instructed.

Clara nodded and then vocalized her acknowledgement a moment later when she realized that where Jack had moved to try to lift the rock, that he wouldn't be able to see her nod. "Okay." She couldn't really see him, so she just lay there, waiting.

The shifting in the pressure on her leg didn't go unnoticed. It didn't hurt more or less, but the pressure was lifted. "Move it now, Clara," Jack said calmly, but there was some strain in his voice. So, she moved it towards her other leg. "A little more." Clara moved her leg until it was pressed against her other. There was a loud thud as Jack dropped the rock.

"I can move it and it still doesn't hurt," Clara told him with a smile on her face as she proved it by moving her leg around a bit, bending at her knee, and point and flexing her foot.

"Let's still make sure," Jack said as he moved to check over her leg. His hand ran over it, but Clara was certain that even in the dim light, he'd be able to see if blood had soaked any area of her light colored pants. Keeping still, she allowed him to check her over because she knew that there would be no other way to actually assure him she was really okay otherwise. "Seems okay…"

She smiled at his almost disappointed tone. "I told you."

"Yeah, yeah," she heard him say and could hear the smile in his voice before his face finally came into view. He knelt down next to her. His eyes turned cloudy with concern and worry. "I'm going to try to free your arm, but I want you to tell me if it's too much."

"It's definitely hurt," Clara told him seriously. It hurt, but it wasn't killing her. "But believe me, if I can't handle it...you'll be the first to know," she added a bit cheerfully. There was no need to be all doom and gloom when they knew that they would be rescued, it was just a matter of time. Getting medical attention wasn't something she was worried about either, Mae was outside of the cave and there'd likely be emergency medical to check over the child they'd just rescued.

"Okay." He went quiet as he moved to the other side of her arm, the other side of the rock, and mostly out of sight. "I'm going to go slow...ready?"

"No, but do it anyways," she told him. Even though the pain wasn't killing her, the numbness she was feeling from lack of good circulation probably wasn't helping her properly assess the injury as the time passed. Clara picked a spot, which happened to be the bit of the top of Jack's silver flecked head that she could actually see. Pulling in a breath slowly, she then pushed it out slowly. Breathing and Jack's hair were all she could concentrate on.

Jack was careful. It was something that she'd expected, especially already knowing that she was injured in some way. The lifting of the rock was definitely something she could feel, it was like the numbness was expanding and furling to an electric tingling. The feeling wasn't what diverted her attention from her two focuses, though, but the sound Jack was making. He was breathing harder and he sounded strained. "Can you move your arm?"

Clara tried. "No. I don't think it's moving."

"It's not," Jack confirmed after a moment.

She couldn't hold it back, it was like the pain suddenly slammed into her with the rock lifted, even that she could still feel it just above the skin. The cry escaped her lips and she squeezed her eyes closed as she concentrated on pushing the breath out.

"Clara? Does it hurt too much? Should I stop?"

The pain didn't stop now and her arm just seemed to be transmitting the pain more and more to her brain. There was no longer the numbness that had been there before, though there was still the tingling here and there. The pain was what overpowered it all, the tingling felt like nothing compared to the pain. "I-I don't know," she managed to get out without a cry sneaking out.

"Let me check something," she heard Jack say and could feel that he was adjusting his position. Clara sucked in a breath as the top of his head disappeared behind the rock, she wasn't sure how to feel about it. Her brain really didn't seem up to processing much more than the pain. The rock dropped a bit to hit the top of her arm and she cried out in pain, her other hand coming to clamp down over her mouth to contain her vocalized agony. The thing that scared her even more than the pain she felt was the sound that Jack made, a kind of gasp that broke. His voice, though, a moment later relayed complete calm. "Clara? I'm going to gently lower this back into place. We're going to let the pressure remain for right now."

Something was wrong.

"Jack? What is it?" she asked a moment later. The pressure causing her nerves to likely be pinched, causing the numbness to start to set in once again, was actually easing the pain. She knew it was there and just kept waiting for it to hit her once more.

"The arm is definitely injured," he said gravely.

"Is it that bad?"

It wasn't the fact that he wouldn't look at her or that he'd not pushed to move the rock, but the way he'd spoken. Clara was fairly sure that she wasn't in mortal danger, she felt clear headed and though she had numbness and knew the pain lie behind that wall...there was no wash of icy overall feeling or tug of fatigue.

"The rock isn't smooth, your arm has been punctured," Jack said gently. This time, he looked right at her. "I lifted it, not much, but it was enough to see that I cannot be sure how much further it goes into your arm and though leaving it there can't be good, I feared the damage I could do by removing it altogether."

"Mae's just outside-"

"I know."

"They're coming-"

He smiled now. "I know." Jack shook his head a bit. "Why are you the one who's trying to assure me that everything's going to be okay? That's supposed to be my job."

"Someone has to do it," she teased with a smile.

"Clara, I-"

"You're going to go and check to see if we can get out? If you can hear Simmons and Mae?" Clara supplied.

His mouth opened like he was going to say something and then he shut it again, shaking his head a bit once more. "Okay," he said finally. He looked worried, which was like Jack, but she could tell that he was going to go through with it. Jack got to his feet and moved in the direction of the tunnel opening. Clara watched as he reached out, pressing his hand against the fallen debris before disappearing from her view.

Sucking in a breath, she tried to relax. Clara stared upward, the bit of light that was present did little to give her to look at. So she just thought about what this would mean for them. Her being injured likely would possibly mean getting treatment and right on the plane so that she could be looked at once again once they landed. Clara had really hoped that once the case was closed that perhaps they'd be able to have dinner together before they had to head home. It was sort of a nice way to wrap things up.

She didn't know how long Jack had been gone, but eventually she'd closed her eyes and had tried to focus on something positive because her brain had locked onto all of the negative possibilities with her injuries and had just put that on loop. Negativity was never a good thing, it only poisoned the soul. Clara knew that she had to stay positive. So, she'd thought about their dinner in Paris, that was how she'd love for each of their cases to end. It wasn't always possible, but it was always a sort of positive note to leave each country they had to visit on bad circumstances. When she opened her eyes again, though, she found Jack next to her just staring at her. "Hi," she said softly in response. Had he thought that she was sleeping? Had she been? Was that why she hadn't heard him? Or did Jack just creep that quietly?

"They're working on it."

"You talked to them?"

"I could barely hear them, but yes," Jack confirmed. "Mae said to not move you or move the rock. They have an ambulance already out there and are moving as quickly as they can to safely get us out of here."

"Team's on it."

"Like always."

"So, what shall we do to pass the time?"

Jack sat there and they both were quiet for a moment. "Talk?"

"You didn't bring cards?" she teased.

"Not this time."

"You know, it's been awhile since the two of us have talked…"

"You know, you should come over for dinner some time," Jack told her. "Everyone should-"

"I think we normally try to do things apart when we can when we're actually home," Clara pointed out.

"You, Mae, and Monty have breakfast sometimes."

"True."

"Is it weird for you to be around Simmons and my family?" Jack asked, his tone turning extremely soft and gentle.

Clara pondered that for a moment. "Because of Brad?" It wasn't just Brad. "I-" She didn't know how to say it. She didn't want to. "I don't know how to explain it… Maybe it's partially because of Brad, but it's other things…" She paused for a moment, not sure how to go on with that conversation. "I like it when we're all together, though, all the families. The kids… I still can't believe how grown up yours are...it seems like not that long ago Ryan was Emma's age."

"Right? I keep telling them to stop growing…"

"Does that make it any easier? That they're older? Do you worry less?" Clara asked curiously. She didn't have children, but she had a feeling that as a parent that you never stopped worrying.

"No. I think I actually worry more," Jack told her. "They all want to travel further away...which makes it harder for me to ensure they're protected."

"You've taught them well-"

"And that's the hard part...letting them go...out into the world and hoping that it's enough."

Clara smiled at that, thinking about it. Sometimes that's all you could do, hope. The numbness in her arm was bothering her. She was certain that it wasn't good to hold off circulation for too long, but she had no idea how much time had passed. She tried not to think about it. Jack had lifted the rock mostly from her arm not too long before and Mae had said to leave it be. Her thoughts turned to their talking about things. "I never thanked you for needing me in Bangkok, for bringing me home…"

"If it had happened earlier during your sabbatical, would you have come home?"

"You mean, if you had made it happen?" she questioned.

Jack just smiled and shrugged

"I don't know," Clara said as she thought about it. She pushed out a breath. "I mean, I guess Bangkok was just the right place and time… Everything happens for a reason, right?"

"I'm glad it did. I'd missed you."

"As much as I missed you, missed everyone, I think I really needed that time away...to just disappear into different worlds...cultures...languages…"

"I understand needing time, I'm just glad that you chose to come home with us."

Clara smiled at him, but stayed quiet. She knew that she was doing good with the team. She was glad that she'd been making steps in moving forward with her life. There was still a bit of unease in her life, confusion, and Clara wasn't sure how to properly convey that...or even if she should. Flying around the world with a team of profilers meant that none of them were normally able to keep anything secret or to themselves, which was likely good. They had each others' backs and they were often each others' counsel. But with this…

"Clara? You okay?"

"Yeah."

"You went quiet."

"So did you."

Jack smiled.

"I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"About...how confusing life can be." Clara was quiet for a moment as she tried to form the right words. "I know it might sound weird, but I never saw myself with anyone besides Brad once we were married...now he's gone though...and…I..." She stopped talking. Closing her eyes, she brought her free hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"Clara?"

"Hmm?" She didn't open her eyes though or move.

"You okay?"

"Yeah...just…"

"Life isn't as we expected it to be? The future anyways?"

Clara opened her eyes again and rested her hand on her forehead. "Yeah, the future is never guaranteed."

"Sometimes you think that the person that you marry is who you'll be with and love for the rest of your life," Jack said as he stared at her. "Life is full of complications."

"Yes," she agreed as her eyes stared back at him. "It really is…"

"Jack?! Clara?!" Simmons called. His voice was close and clear.

Her eyes didn't leave Jack's, not until he turned his head in the direction of their friend. "We're here," Jack called.

Simmons appeared with a group, including Mae. It was good to see them both safe. "Let's get Clara so that we can move her," Simmons said, motioning for the medics to get moving.

"I can walk, I just need the rock moved," Clara pointed out. It wasn't like she was an invalid. They'd brought a stretcher in there just the same though.

"Let's be safe," Jack told her as he reached out and touched her free arm.

He was right. If it was anyone else, she'd have insisted on the same treatment. So, Clara lay there answering questions that were put out to her. Jack and Simmons lifted the rock off of her arm while the medics worked to stabilize her arm and get her ready for transport. The pain had returned, but Clara just bit her bottom lip and breathed (all the while, Mae being able to read her face far too well and relaying it to the medics). They gave her some pain medication, but it wasn't enough to cancel out the pain that she was feeling, the pain that was flooding her entire being.

They transferred her to the stretcher and secured her. Jack, Simmons, and Mae were keeping close as they moved her. As they made it through the rocks, Clara heard it...the rain. It hadn't been raining when she'd first gone in, she thought they'd have quite a bit of time before the storm came. The sound was calming. She found herself being shielded from the rainfall by umbrellas held over her like a rainforest treetop canopy. As they moved her away from the old railway tunnel, she noticed that the already beautiful abandoned green lush covered tunnel now had a small waterfall running down one side of it because of the rainfall.

As she was hoisted up into the ambulance, all she could think was that they'd done good. They'd gotten the little girl, she was safe (likely already back with her parents), and the team was safe. She was hurt, but she'd be fine. Jack settled into the back of the ambulance with her, Simmons and Mae promised to meet her at the hospital (someone had to take their vehicles from the scene).

Whatever it was.

Fate.

Coincidence.

Hope.

Chance.

Clara was glad that Jack had brought her back...that he was in her life again...and that they'd have a future together, no matter what roles they played in each other's life.

The End.