Here is the bonus chapter you asked for where Cole returns the favour! I admit I struggled to find the right scenario, most of what I thought of took place after Hunted, but I'm reluctant to write about Hunted while most fans have yet to see that season.
This one oddly enough struck me in the shower XD
I hope you all enjoy it! And thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed, favourited and supported this story, you are all so kind and encouraging! :D
MightyShipper: Thank you so much for your kind words! I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations!
YellowNinja: Glad you are enjoying! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well :D
The next morning, training was back on as usual in the temple grounds.
The usual sounds of grunts, thwacks, battle cries and the odd training dummy being torn apart, filled the air as everyone did their own thing, whether it be weight training, aiming practice, or hand-to-hand combat techniques.
Cole was especially enthusiastic during today's training. Thanks to Jay, Cole felt brand new and was running circles around the others, feeling happy and pain-free, like a wild animal finally being set free after being caged for so long.
Jay couldn't help but grin at Cole, knowing he was the one who made him feel this way.
Unfortunately Jay was so focused on watching Cole that he didn't notice Kai winding up for a round-house kick to his stomach. Jay noticed a moment too late and was caught completely off guard as Kai flew into him feet first. Jay, not having chance to defend himself, took the blow at full force and went careening backwards and slammed into the Temple wall with a sickening thud.
"Jay!" Everyone exclaimed at the same time, the sudden crash grabbing all of their attention.
Kai got to him first, Lloyd close behind.
"Jay! Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I thought you would dodge it! I didn't mean to-"
Jay groaned before weakly responding "It-it's alright Kai," Jay coughed a couple of times, the wind knocked out of him, "It was my fault, I should've seen it."
Cole knelt down next to Jay, arms around him to help him up. "Are you alright Jay? That was quite a hit."
"I think so-ouch!" Just as Jay tried to stand, his hand flew to his head, a pulse of pain coming from the back of his head.
"We should get you inside Jay and have you checked over for a possible concussion." Zane explained, helping Cole to lead Jay back inside.
Kai just stood there, hands to his sides, head down, feeling so guilty.
Sitting Jay down gently at the kitchen table, Zane began checking him over, his pupils, his responses, asking simple questions for any sign of confusion, but thankfully other than a headache, Jay didn't seem to be concussed.
Kai stood off to the side, watching the scene before him while his hands were fidgeting with guilt.
"It seems you've been lucky Jay," Started Zane, "but I would still advise you to take it easy for the rest of the day, just to make sure."
"That's not so bad buddy, least you get the rest of the day off." Cole responded, at the same time he began playfully ruffling Jays hair, but as his hand moved to the back of Jays head-
"Ow!" Jay immediately winced and ducked away from Cole's hand.
"Woah sorry Jay, are you hurt?"
"I'm..not sure, but something hurts." Jay attempted to reach behind his head to feel it for himself
"Let me see."
Jay lowered his hand to allow Zane to check for injury. Zane ever-so-gently ran his hand over Jays head, sure enough he could feel a small bump was forming on the back of his head.
Zane hissed when he felt it. "I almost missed that. Let me get you an ice pack Jay."
Jay buried his face into his folded arms on the table, annoyed with himself at the mess he was in from not paying attention while sparring.
"Oh dear."
"What's wrong Zane?" Cole got up to look in the medicine cabinet with Zane to see what the problem was.
"We appear to be out of ice packs, when last did anyone restock our medicine cabinet?"
"Huh, it has been a while. I guess now is as good a time as any to go shopping?" Cole offered.
"That would be wise, for now Jay, let me try something.."
Zane sat next to Jay, opened his wrist panel and flicked a couple switches, and then, gentle as can be, placed his open palm directly onto the bump on Jays head, the temperature of his hand now at freezing point.
Jay sighed in relief and leaned into Zane's hand, smiling, the coldness helping to numb his throbbing head.
"I'll go to the pharmacy." Kai offered, "It's the least I can do, I caused this after all."
Jay turned his head slowly to face Kai, hoping Zane wouldn't suddenly remove his hand, "Kai for the last time I don't blame you, it was just an accident, I should've been paying more attention."
Kai felt a little better at least, but nevertheless the guilt was still there. "Either way Zane's right we could do with a trip to the Pharmacy."
"I'll go too." Asked Lloyd, Kai nodded in approval.
"Actually now I think about it, we're pretty low on ingredients for dinner, I'll maybe go with you and picked up some groceries."
Zane, while keeping his hand on Jays head, immediately turned to Cole, scolding him almost like a parent.
"Oh no you don't Cole, we all know your shopping habits."
"Yeah Cole, last time we let you go grocery shopping, you came back with a dozen cupcakes, 3 tubs of frosting and 2 huge tubs of ice cream." Lloyd said, chuckling at the memory.
"And what's wrong with that? Nobody gave me a list!" Cole folded his arms, slightly offended.
"We only asked you to pick up some vegetables for a stew." Lloyd responded, still chuckling.
"Yeah well..I forget these things when surrounded by food okay?" Cole turned his back in slight embarrassment.
Lloyd, Kai and Zane good naturedly rolled their eyes at Cole.
"Be that as it may, I will go instead to make sure we get the right items for tonight." Zane's gaze briefly flicked to Cole before settling back onto Jay.
"I'm sorry Jay but I'll have to leave you temporarily, we won't be gone long."
Zane reluctantly removed his hand, Jay whined at the loss of the soothing cold.
Kai, Lloyd and Zane waved their goodbyes and trailed outside to summon their dragons and head into the city.
One by one, Jay and Cole could hear each individual dragon being summoned, and each roared enthusiastically as they took off, the roars soon fading into the distance.
Now peaceful and quiet, Cole suddenly remembered Zane's advice.
"Zane's right though buddy, you should go lie down for a while."
"Aww but I'm comfy here Cole." Jay hadn't moved from his position since they brought him in, he'd gotten rather cosy.
"Come on motor-mouth, if you don't want to lay in bed, you could at least move to the couch where you'll at least be more comfortable."
Jay only grunted in response, refusing to move.
"I could always set up one of the games consoles for you?"
Jay couldn't think of a counter argument to that and sighed. "Fine."
Jay moved to stand up…
…only to find he couldn't move.
"Uh-oh." He tried again to slide back from the table, only to find he couldn't move, his back had seized up.
"I..I can't move!"
"What?"
"I think my backs seized up!"
"How did that happen?"
"I guess the shock of impact after Kai hit me! Oh no what do I do?"
Jay began to panic, Zane told him to take it easy and this couldn't be helping.
"Jay…Jay calm down, don't worry, I'm sure we can fix this."
"How? The only one who probably could is Zane, and they won't be back for a while!"
Cole tapped a finger to his chin, humming as he tried to think of a solution. "Alright let me see something."
Cole walked behind Jay, and started very slowly and gently running one hand down Jays back, feeling for the problem.
"It actually feels like your muscles have seized up, as if to lessen the damage from the impact, your back does feel pretty stiff."
"So what do I do?" Jay stared at Cole wide-eyed, genuinely frightened he'd permanently damaged his back.
"You just relax and do nothing, this time-" Cole cracked his knuckles, "-it's my turn."
Jay looked at Cole in utter confusion.
"Uh what're you-"
"Shh now, just relax Jay."
Cole then placed his hands in the middle of Jays back and started making kneading motions.
Jay's eyes widened in realisation to what Cole was doing, then he sagged further onto the table in relief, burying his face further into his arms, eyes closed in bliss.
Cole was using Jays own massage techniques to help his back.
Cole was a quick learner, though he didn't quite have the experience Jay did, he already picked up the techniques pretty quickly. He made small circles with his thumbs in the small of Jays back, slowly going upwards as he went, then putting more pressure into the tight areas.
Jay buried his face even further into his folded arms, letting out a long quiet breath.
Maybe Kai kicking him wasn't such a bad thing after all? He could get used to this!
Cole worked gently but methodically, he could feel Jays muscles unwind and relax, releasing the tension from the impact.
He smiled warmly at Jay, who was clearly enjoying this. Encouraged, Cole happily continued.
Using his knuckles, Cole kneaded parts of Jay's lower back, now and then getting an involuntary jerk and a sudden giggle from Jay when he kneaded near his sides, thus discovering Jay was rather ticklish on his sides and ribs as Coles hands accidentally strayed a little too far.
Though only his back was the problem, Cole felt the job wasn't finished until he'd given his shoulders the same treatment. Though he made a mental note to avoid his neck, knowing it probably wouldn't help his pounding head.
And so Cole started kneading Jays shoulders, while unavoidably pushing Jay further into the side of the table but luckily Jay seemed too far gone to care.
Cole stopped briefly to check on Jay. His face pretty much buried in his arms, but from what Cole could see, Jay was the picture of pure contentment. Cole couldn't remember the last time he'd ever seen Jay this relaxed, he was always so quick to panic and point out problems. Seeing him like this was rare indeed.
Running his hands down Jay's back a final time, Cole seemed satisfied that he'd loosened up his back enough so that he could hopefully move again. He placed a hand gently on Jay's shoulder, reluctant to wake him but he needed Jay to get up and move just in case his back decided to seize up again.
"Jay? Buddy, how does your back feel now?"
Surprisingly Jay wasn't asleep like he'd thought, but whined that it was over.
"Aww it's over? That felt amazing dude!"
Cole looked away to hide a small blush forming.
Jay slowly and tenderly moved back from the table to try standing up.
He was elated to find that Cole's massage had worked like a charm. He could move around again! His back would still be sore for a little while due to the force of the impact, but nonetheless he could move again.
"Woah it worked? Cole thank you so much dude, I swear you are magic!" Jay took tentative steps toward Cole, eager not to do anymore damage to himself, and promptly threw his arms around Cole and buried his face in his chest.
Cole immediately returned the hug, wrapping his arms around Jay's slightly smaller form.
"You're welcome buddy." Cole's voice was muffled in the fabric of Jay's shoulder. "I had a good teacher after all."
Cole was absentmindedly rubbing one hand up and Jay's back. "Come on Jay, let's move you to the couch, at least that'll be easier on your back."
Jay groaned in protest, cosy as can be in Cole's arms, but reluctantly pulled away, knowing he was right.
Cole helped Jay into their living room, ordered him to lie down on the couch, then propped him up on some pillows, and even laid a blanket over him. Jay looked quite the cosy picture.
Now lying down, feeling warm and still tingling from the massage, Jay was already fighting to keep his eyes open.
Leaving Jay to himself, Cole left to make some tea, one of the few things he could make that was actually pretty decent.
In returning to the living room, he found Jay was fast asleep, a small smile still on his face.
Smiling warmly at the cozy sight, Cole set Jay's cup to one side, and ran a hand softly through Jay's hair, avoiding the bump on the back, and went back into the kitchen to leave Jay in peace and wait for the others to return.
Sure enough, a short time later the others came bursting through the door, shopping bags in hand. Cole immediately raised a finger to his lips at them, the universal sign for keeping quiet.
Lloyd, Kai and Zane all raised an eyebrow in return in confusion, until Cole silently pointed to the living room.
In super stealth mode, the others peeked in..
..and met the adorable sight of Jay asleep on the couch wrapped in a fluffy blanket.
They couldn't help but smile at the scene. Kai nodded in understanding to Cole, then they all piled back into the kitchen to tidy everything away.
Keeping his voice low, Kai asked: "So how is he? Is he feeling any better?"
"Oh he's much better, thanks to yours truly." Cole smugly pointed to himself then folded his arms, leaving the others confused as to the true meaning behind that statement.
And Cole planned to keep it that way.