A/N: Yeah, so I decided to take pity on you guys and throw in the next part. :) (Be mindful that it's late for me right now, so while I did proofread and edit, if there are grammar issues or missing words, it's 'cause my brain is sleepy!) Thanks for all the reviews, faves, and alerts! Those came fast!
"Shit!" Clay yells, dropping his side of the box and diving into the water. Aisha curses, too, taking the time to shove the weapons far enough into the shallow water that they won't be swept back out into the current. By the time she turns to help with the rescue, Pooch and Cougar are well ahead of her, trying their best to catch up to the Colonel and the unresponsive Jensen.
She curses again, turning her attention, instead, towards the shore. She drags the box the rest of the way up and leaves it on the rocks, moving quickly back into the woods. As she walks, she stoops down to pick up varying sizes of sticks and driftwood. "You'd better be alive, you little perv," she says under breath.
Clay pulls furiously at the water around him, rapidly cutting the distance between himself and Jensen. As he gets closer, he pauses for just a second to get a lock on the young techie's location. "Ah, hell," he hisses as he realizes Jensen is facedown in the water. He swims faster and within seconds he is able to reach an arm out, wrapping it around Jensen's torso.
"Jensen!" he tries as he flips the young man onto his back. He pulls his face in close, listening for just a second. "Goddammit," he whispers, and begins swimming back to the shore. It doesn't take long for him to meet up with Cougar and Pooch, and with all three working together, they make quick time in getting Jensen back to solid ground. Without hesitation, they lay him out and, with unspoken teamwork, begin to administer CPR. Clay handles the chest compressions, Pooch does the breathing, and Cougar counts out the time.
"Jensen, you son-of-a-bitch, you had better breathe," Pooch demands as he leans in to breathe for him for the third round. After the second breath, Jensen sputters and coughs violently, spraying water into Pooch's face.
"Get him up," Clay orders, and Cougar helps Jensen into a sitting position.
"Let it out, friend," Cougar soothes as Jensen regains control of his lung function.
Looking up into each of their concerned, yet relieved faces, Jensen turns to Pooch. "Dude?" he asks, his voice sounding shaky and tired. Pooch leans a little closer, listening, as Jensen continues. "Did you kiss me?" he finishes, a playful grin on his face.
Pooch sits back, his jaw tightening. "Oh, fuck no!" he yells out, standing up and crossing his arms over his chest. "That's the thanks I get for providing you with precious oxygen? Fuck this shit! Next time I'll just let some of your brain cells die before I help you."
Cougar and Clay laugh, the tension releasing as they help pull Jensen to his feet, the blonde grinning from ear to ear. Pooch pulls back on the rubber band that is holding Jensen's glasses into place and snaps it to the back of his head, making him flinch.
"Hey, now that was just uncalled for," Jensen frowns.
"Can't help it," Pooch grins, "That thing looks ridiculous and it just screams snap me!"
"This 'thing' is the only reason I can still see that pretty face of yours, Mr. Prince Charming...How 'bout another kiss?" He leans in towards Pooch, making kissy faces, and Pooch pushes his face away, gently.
"You are such a punk," Pooch mutters, then lets his own laughter spill out. Slowly, with Clay and Cougar supporting Jensen between them, they make their way back down the river's shoreline to where Aisha is waiting with their gear.
Aisha, sitting on the weapons box in front of the fire she had created, finishes loading the clip of her handgun and jams it back into place, taking a second to aim it at nothing in particular. Her head jerks up over the gun as she spots the boys – all four of them – moving awkwardly in her direction. She stands as they approach, all of them shivering with the cold, Jensen barely able to stand, but all of them smiling.
"You guys look like a bunch of idiots," she says by way of greeting them, her own smile shining through.
"A fire," Jensen says, his voice taking on a dreamy, thankful tone in spite of the trembling. He turns to Aisha. "You're an angel. A beautiful, scary, gun-toting angel."
She snorts out a laugh, helping the boys get Jensen situated comfortably in front of the fire before she tugs on Clay's arm. He takes the hint and follows her away from the group.
"So, what happened?" she asks when they're out of earshot.
Clay shakes his head, shrugging his shoulders. "I have no idea. No gunshot wounds, no internal injuries as far as we can tell; he isn't hypothermic, despite all his paranoid protesting, which actually tells me that mentally he checks out. I don't know - he seems fine. Maybe he just passed out from exhaustion."
"Don't bullshit me, Clay. The way he went down back there? That wasn't exhaustion. Exhaustion makes you crumble, starting from the knees up. He didn't crumble, Clay. He dropped like a fucking rock, like every system in his body just shut down at the exact same time. That doesn't happen to people who are 'fine.'"
Clay sighs. "I know, but there's nothing we can do about it right now. As long as he's acting normal, the best we can do is keep an eye on him and focus on getting the hell out of here in one piece."
Done with the conversation, he turns to head back to the fire when Aisha speaks up softly behind him.
"Can we get out of here in one piece?" she asks. "Those assholes are coming after us, and probably fast. We'll be moving through unfamiliar territory with virtually no survival gear, and it'll be hard enough watching our own backs without having to worry about babysitting-"
Clay spins on her quickly, his eyes blazing dangerously into hers. She stares back, unmoving, her face locked into a stone-cold mask of indifference. A second later, his eyes soften as he smiles at her.
"Sweetheart," he starts, still smiling, "I know you mean well, but if you ever suggest I leave one of my men behind again, I'll make sure the one that gets left behind is you. Are we clear?"
"You know I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't think it'd be in the best interest of-"
His smile fades and he moves in on her closer. "Are. We. Clear?"
She smiles back at him. "Crystal," she purrs, her voice laced with sharp ice.
Clay backs off, perking right back up. "Good," he grins, "glad we could have this little talk."
She lets out a breath as he saunters back to the fire, waiting a few beats before she straightens up and strides along behind him.
A/N: There, see, no awful cliffie this time. Just all those unanswered questions concerning what's wrong with Jensen, and if the bad guys will catch up to them, and why the team was rafting down a river to begin with, and what the mission was, etc, etc... *evil* :)