WITH YOU BY MY SIDE
He was shivering –
And wheezing.
Scotty reached through the darkness to adjust the jacket covering Kelly. Chills, the fever…that side wound. It needed a good look in full daylight, some clean bandages. He hadn't dared apply the salve to the deep gash. Instead he'd used the greasy stuff on the ruined wrists and ankles, lubricated the underside of the rough shackle. Small ministrations…
Now there was this wheeze.
"You okay?" he asked, sliding a hand through the sweat soaked hair until it found the clammy forehead.
"Y – yes …sorry," Kelly stammered back through chattering teeth. He coughed, wheezed again.
"Here – sit up…" Scotty carefully guided him, felt the hitch of breath.
"Okay," Kelly nodded; his scruffy cheek rubbed against Scotty's ear. "I'm good…what now?"
Scotty reached behind them and towed a hay bale forward, then eased Kelly back against it. Next he scooped up some of the loose stuff and packed it around him. Then he fixed the jacket again. "There, how's that – better?"
"Sure…" wheeze, "thanks…" wheeze.
Scotty settled next to him, their elbows and knees touching each other. The wheeze came again, harsher this time.
"Must be – close to dawn," Kelly said. He drew his legs up. "Always c-coldest – what they say…"
He wouldn't complain, wouldn't admit that he was sick – really sick – and miserable, even when he had every right to. Instead, he'd accept it as recompense for failing his part of the assignment. I blew it… meant so much more, as in I failed everything…you, us, the Department, our country…myself.
No, this wasn't a failure, not yet. They were under cover and out of sight. They'd had something to eat. There was salve to soothe raw skin, hay to cushion the hard floor, a car in the yard and a telephone in the house. They'd relay the names to Carmody, find their way back. Kill if they had to.
They just needed another day to let Kelly recover , maybe two…
Kelly was still shivering.
"Thought you said you were better," Scotty commented. He shuffled, worked his feet under some hay. It was getting colder.
"I am better." Kelly tried for indignation. "Can't y-you see a-anything, Jack? Wh-what kind of s-spy are you, anyway?"
"Right now, I'm a cold one." And a worried one… "Share some of that, will you?" He got an arm around Kelly, drew him back against his side.
"Well, s-sure, Herman…mi casa es su casa," Kelly mumbled, yielding easily. "Better a blanket than a stone…I always - say…"
Scotty tucked the jacket back under Kelly's chin, got piece over his own shoulder, hunkered in close. "Just so you know, I wouldn't do this with just anyone." He carefully fitted his arm under Kelly's, avoided the raw wrist, any pressure on the ribs.
"I hope not…Thanks, man," Kelly sighed, easing into the growing warmth. "Be better – tomorrow…"
"Better than better," Scotty corrected, warmer now too.
"The best," Kelly murmured.
They had to believe it.