It was a little over an hour before she finally woke saving him from trying to find another story, another memory to tell. She had curled deeper into him at first sending the feeling rushing back to his leg. With a quick shift of his hips he put her in a better position on his leg hopefully staving off any pain or numbness that was set to come. When she moved again he heard the muffled hiss, wincing himself when he realised she had pressed on the gash on her head.
"Hey."
"Hey." came the muffled reply buried somewhere in his shoulder. "What happened? Where are we?"
"We crashed. We are in a powerless jumper with next to no supplies waiting for rescue." He was aware of how blunt he sounded but there wasn't anyway to sugar coat just how screwed they were. "You hit your head and have been out about an hour."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, so now you're awake I need you to stay that way. OK? Talk to me; tell me about the cavern and that fun flower. Wasn't that the one that made you...?" He knew she couldn't see his grin but he couldn't help but remember the overly amorous way she had been.
"Yes but it is in ice. No vaccination, so no effect. And it's encased in ice." Her words were stilted broken as her head pressed into his chest. He realised she had repeated herself but shook it off as her not being fully awake.
"But it's alive. It did the glowing thing."
"Yeah David was excited." Her voice was lower, words slowing down almost pushed out with her breath.
"Hey. When we get back we will get a few days off. What do you want to do?"
"Sleep."
"Well yes that's sort of a given Merry. I was thinking of trying to start a new painting but I'm not sure yet. Maybe go out onto a balcony if it's warm, have some lunch and relax." It took a few seconds before he realised she wasn't answering him. Shaking her he hoped for a reaction but he got nothing. Bringing his hand up he lifted her face up his heart racing when he spotted her closed eyes. Gripping her face he shook a little less than gently. When it didn't get him anywhere he took to tapping her cheek calling her name until she opened her eyes. Her half lidded eyes were unfocussed her body still against his shivering one.
He knew what was happening. They had been in the first stage of hypothermia almost as soon as they had crashed with the added scrapes and gashes thrown into the mix. But it was plain to see she was slipping deep into the second stage. With her face and hands covered he knew it would be difficult to see if she was turning blue and part of him really didn't want to know. If he knew he would worry and would watch the later stages unfold before his eyes torturing him with each passing moment. But not knowing was just as bad. The military part of his brain took over his hand tugging free to gently pull the scarf away from her face. There he saw the faint blue line surrounding her cracked lips, the remainder of her face a deathly pale.
His hands were shaking and he wasn't sure whether it was nerves or the cold. He blamed the cold. The pains in his fingers were too much ignore before he tried to move them. Pushing away the agony of bending his fingers he pulled her hand free of the covers. He held it up holding her at the wrist as he spoke clear and calm.
"Merry. I need you to touch your little finger and your thumb. Just do it for me Merry and I'll leave you alone." She didn't move even a touch her eyes staring blankly at him. "Merry put your little finger to your damn thumb!" He heard and felt his own sharp intake of breath as her finger twitched and then moved forwards a little the movement stunted. She seemed to change tactics and attempted to move her thumb instead, reaching it over her hand but still coming up short.
There was nothing he could do to help her. Clicking the chemical packs he wrapped her up in the blanket pulling her closer to him. He clung to her knowing it wouldn't be long until he slipped into the second stage. He was fighting the shivers trying to put his mind elsewhere but they were uncontrollable now. Her shivering had never come and he knew that was a bad sign. She was so much smaller than him and had a decent head start with the weeks she had spent on this ice planet. He knew his mind knew this wasn't going to end well but his heart had a shred of hope. Hope that a miracle could be pulled from somewhere. Hope that it wouldn't take them long to realise they hadn't returned with the others and he hoped a jumper would make it through the storm to rescue them.
_
As the hours ticked by his body gave in to the sudden warmth in his limbs, relaxing for the first time. There was an ache in his chest as his body urged for a deeper breath but he didn't have it in him. Something felt wrong about it but he couldn't put his finger on what so he shrugged it off. Giving up on thinking he laid his head down on hers, letting the welcoming darkness envelop him.