They were not rescued soon. Days passed, slurring together in a haze of heat, thirst, and hunger. Marenn's leg grew worse, filling with pus and liquid and turning sickly grey and black. She slipped in and out of consciousness as the infection began to spread. Susan and Marcus looked on helplessly.
Well into what might have been their third week on the planet Ivanova had aptly christened 'Hell', they saw dark clouds gathering in the distance. There was a mad flurry of action as they scavenged bits of debris from the lifepod to use as water catchers in the event of rain. As dusk approached, the clouds opened up and the desert became a lake.
Marenn was aware of the water in a feverishly delirious way as it trickled along the ground beside her. Susan and Marcus threw themselves into the rapidly filling hole with the lifepod, wading in the warm water to its deepest point, splashing it over their filthy bodies, washing away layers upon layers of sweat and dirt. Susan stripped what remained of her uniform off down to her underwear without a second thought and did her best to clean it as well as herself. She hardly noticed Marcus's surprised eyes on her.
When she'd gotten her uniform as clean as it would get, she wrung it out and draped it over an unsubmerged part of the lifepod, and sunk up to her shoulders to watch Marcus out of the corner of her eye under the guise of washing her hair. He had turned away from her to remove his own clothes and rinse them, and for several long moments, she afforded herself the purely feminine pleasure of letting her eyes roam across his shoulders and down his back, lower…
He turned around and she jerked, startled and embarrassed to be caught staring. "See something you like?" he quipped. Her jaw dropped. The bold little—
She heaved an armful of water at his face, laughing as he staggered backwards in astonishment and fell over. He surfaced a second later, spluttering and wiping his hair back from his face. Their eyes met in the darkness and a slow grin spread across his face. "You're on."
The wave that came back at her was high enough to splash right over her head, but she lost no time in returning fire. The battle went back and forth, neither side gaining or losing ground. "Is that the best you can do?" Marcus taunted, jumping back to dodge a new spray of flying water.
Susan glared daggers at him and he wondered if baiting her might've been a bad idea for the brief moment he had before she launched herself at him. She caught him about the middle and they tumbled backwards into the shallower water by the side of the pit, a thrashing mass of limbs and water.
More by accident than design, he jabbed several fingers into her side. She arched away from him immediately, letting out a surprised shriek, a sound he hadn't thought her capable of. Their eyes met again and she shook her head slowly, backing away, "Oh, no nononono… don't even think—"
He dove forward and tickled her again with a wicked laugh. She writhed, trying desperately to get away from his seeking fingers. Suddenly, Marcus gave a cry of pain and stopped his assault.
Realizing one of her flailing arms must've hit his injured rib, her stomach twinged with guilt. "Are you alright?" she asked, genuinely concerned. If she'd made it worse, or undid however much had managed to heal… "Marcus? You okay? Marcus?"
"Yeah," he grunted, examining the wound with one hand. "I guess it's not quite better yet." He offered her a strained smile.
"It's my fault," she said, "I should've been more careful." She watched him as he probed the almost-faded bruise, and remembered with a deep-seated rush of heat that neither of them were clad in anything more than their underwear. She hastily took her hands off his upper arms, where they'd seemingly set themselves out of concern, and he looked up at her quizzically. "I…"
He appeared to realize what was on her mind and she had to give him credit as his eyes flitted downwards from her face. So, not so innocent after all… She cleared her throat. "I should go check on the rain catchers."
It was impossible to sleep. Inside the shelter, the noise of the rain on the metal roof was deafening. Outside, the night was cold and the water had chilled the ground, taking away their usual source of heat. They huddled in their freshly washed clothes, soaked to the bone and shivering, all night long, while Marenn, somehow, slept more peacefully than she had in days.
The rain stopped just before dawn, and when the clouds cleared, the sun was several inches above the horizon. The temperature slowly began to climb, bringing welcome relief to the damp, chilled castaways. As the day moved on, flowers and small, leafy plants sprung up from beneath rocks and shrivelled cacti swelled promisingly. Somewhere nearby, a bird chirped. Marcus wished for a gun.
Susan staggered to her feet and vanished briefly behind the shelter to visit the small latrine they'd dug out by an old, dead tree with an aptly bent branch. When she returned, Marcus held out a piece of fleshy cactus. She eyed it dubiously. "Really, it's good," he assured her, chewing a piece himself. "Quite mild, with a lovely tang of citrus, and—oh, my! Do I detect a hint of saffron in the aftertaste…?"
Rolling her eyes, she took the bit of fruit from him and bit into it. Immediately, she spat it back into her hand. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, staring at him in horror, "How can you eat that?"
He chuckled and popped another piece into his mouth. "Being a Ranger tends to widen one's taste in food," he explained, leaning in close as though telling a secret, "You should've been there to try these delightful larvae I found on Beta 526. Truly exquisite."
"I bet," she nodded doubtfully, eyeballing the half-chewed cactus in her hand. It had a high water content, and probably other nutrients as well… she really should eat it. So, squashing her taste buds down into a tiny corner of her mind where she couldn't hear their protests, she put the thing in her mouth and swallowed as quickly as possible.
Marcus laughed, "Not exactly bacon and eggs, but you'll get used to it."
She swatted his arm in annoyance and lowered herself onto the large rock. A minute or so later, while he munched contentedly away on the desert vegetation, she shielded her eyes to look up at him. "Thanks, Marcus," she said sincerely.
He met her eyes, not entirely sure what he was being thanked for. Then, too quickly for her to react, he ducked in to set a quick kiss on her cheek. "Not a problem," he quipped, jumping to his feet before her dumbfounded expression could transform into anything more menacing. "I'm going to go exploring."
She stared after him. "Exploring what?" she called belatedly. There couldn't possibly be anything else out there that they couldn't see from right here.
"Maybe there's an oasis," he called back optimistically.
She sighed in exasperation, unconsciously putting a hand to her cheek. The nerve…
There was a small scuffling sound from behind her and she turned. "Marenn?" she questioned, making a mental note to chew him out for it later. The Minbari murmured something unintelligible. Taking the piece of cactus Marcus had left, Susan crawled under the shelter and offered some of it to Marenn. "Here," she said, taking the young woman's hand and placing the piece in it. "It may not taste great, but Mama Marcus assures me it's good for you."
Marenn's pale eyes gazed listlessly at the food and Susan sighed softly. She gently took the bit of cactus back from the woman's hand and brought it up to her mouth. Tapping her own lips, she instructed, "Eat."
Marenn's mouth opened slightly and Susan pushed the cactus in, feeling ridiculously like a mother with a sick child. She helped her to sit up a bit while she chewed, being careful not to disturb her injured leg. When that piece had been swallowed, she tore another off from the main chunk and gave it to her as well, shifting her limp body to lean back against her own so that Marenn's head rested on her shoulder and Susan's right arm could reach around her side. It was reasonably comfortable, despite the extra body heat the contact created and the sharp edges of Marenn's bone crown digging into Susan's neck and shoulder.
Slowly, between the two of them, the piece of cactus shrunk. By the time Marcus returned, Susan was slipping the last tidbit past Marenn's lips. She looked up as Marcus' inquiring face appeared in the door of the shelter, peering in at them.
"Don't you two look delightful," he commented brightly, "Nurse Susan and her wonderful patient." He switched into Minbari, "How are you feeling today?"
At the sound of her own language, Marenn raised her eyes to find the speaker. Seeing only another human, she let them fall closed again. Susan and Marcus' gaze met. He beckoned her to join him outside. Gently, she eased herself out from under Marenn and crawled out of the shelter.
Standing, she came up beside Marcus, noting in full for, surprisingly, the first time that he'd abandoned his shirt. His skin, which had most likely once been pale, was burned and peeling on his shoulders and back and angry red across his chest. She winced sympathetically and was glad she'd made the decision to keep her shirt on.
"What is it?" she asked.
He pointed out towards the horizon. "There's a valley up there, about three miles away. It's dry right now, but there are plants, meaning—"
"Meaning water flows through it," she finished for him. "We should go."
He nodded slowly, almost regretfully. "Yes. But Marenn… we can't move her."
"Why not?" Susan demanded, glancing over her shoulder at the woman's unmoving form. "Just give her some more of those meds, she'd be unconscious. Besides, it's been what, three weeks now? It must've healed a bit, right?"
"Not really, no," he replied. "And it's infected, you know that. I'm no doctor, but my guess would be that if we move her, it'll be more likely to spread."
Susan ran a hand over her forehead, swiping away the sweat gathering there. "So what are we going to do? We don't know when the next rain's coming and our water isn't going to last long enough for her to heal. If she heals." It was added as a cruel afterthought, muttered and not meant to be spoken aloud.
Marcus rounded on her. "She will heal," he hissed. "Or we'll be rescued." He took a deep breath and his voice returned to normal, "Either way, she'll be alright. She'll be alright."
Susan put a gentle hand on his sunburnt shoulder. "It's not your fault—"
"What's not my fault?" He jerked away, roughly shaking her off. "Nothing is not my fault! She'll be fine!" He turned his back on her, staring off into the distance as he struggled to collect himself. A moment later, he returned with a smile. "Sorry."