Uncharted Fan fiction Chapter Four

Aftermath

Nathan ran over to meet Sully at the entrance to the medical tent, tripping over himself on the way after hearing Elena was finally awake. After all this time and everything that happened including the most recent scare where he really thought he was going to lose her, he had to see it with his own eyes to believe it.

"She's still a little out of it, but she's awake now". Sully held the tent curtain open for him.

He was nervous to the point where his mouth was dry and salivating more than usual to compensate. His heart was beating fast, so fast he felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. He swallowed hard, took a deep breath to try and calm his racing heart and slowly walked in, not knowing what to expect or what to say. His eyes met Elena's and his whole body froze.

"Hi" Elena said softly, smiling at his presence.

The sound of her voice was soothing, soft as the morning sun peeking through the mountain tops, and in an instant, all of his fear, all of his anger, all of his regret and guilt vanished as if a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.

He walked over to her bedside and pulled the nearby chair up close so he could sit beside her. He studied her, making sure it was all real and he wasn't dreaming again. Some color had returned to her once pale face, leaving her cheeks rosy from the cold and her recent fever breaking after the allergic reaction during the blood transfusion. Her eyes were still a bit hazy after being on many strong pain killers, but she was looking into Nate's eyes which for him pierced right into his soul. It was something only she was capable of doing to him, making him feel vulnerable which, for Nate, usually led to hiding his feelings with sarcasm.

"Hey stranger" he said sarcastically, still feeling incapable of forming a coherent sentence.

She played along, sensing his sarcasm, knowing it was his form of defense against acknowledging his emotions. "Do I know you?" she looked at him, waiting to see his reaction.

His heart sunk. "Elena it's me, Nate?" his voice sounded worried.

She looked at him confused. "I don't know any Nate", keeping a straight face was killing her.

He started to get nervous. "C'mon, we found El Dorado and Shambhala together? I rescued you both times?" he paused between questions desperate for her to remember. He made his part in their adventures sound more heroic to feed his own ego and compensate for what really happened.

"You mean you abandoned me to find El Dorado with Sully so you could keep the treasure to yourself and almost left me for dead in Shambhala" she was quick with a comeback.

"That's not funny!" Nate scoffed upon learning she was bluffing the whole time.

"No, what's funny is you pretending to play the hero!" she laughed, pleased by his emotional reaction. He rolled his eyes. "Oh please, you have done much worse" she giggled, proud she got him back. He gave in and laughed with her, just happy to see her awake again after so long. Their laughter subsided slowly.

"Hey there cowboy" she said in a sweet, welcoming tone smiling at him.

"Welcome back" he said coyly and returned her smile with his own side smile.

She looked at him and noticed the blood stain that had seeped through his shirt from once again over exerting himself and pulling on his stitches. "What happened to you?" her tone shifted to concern.

"What, this?" he looked down and back at her. "Nothing that won't heal" he couldn't believe after all she'd been through she was worried about his injury which was minor compared to hers. "What about you? How are you feeling?" he anxiously waited for her response hoping it would calm his nerves that had been on edge since Shambhala.

"Oh you know, I'm still in one piece aren't I?" she joked because she knew she almost wasn't when the grenade went off.

"How ya feeling darlin'?" Sully walked in and said boisterously with a cigar hanging out of the side of his mouth.

"Sully!" Elena tried to sit up to greet him from afar, forgetting she hadn't moved in over a week. Her wounds, her sore muscles, and her bruised and battered internal organs quickly reminded her. She fought to avoid screaming out in pain and instead aggressively inhaled through clenched teeth and wrapped her arms around her abdomen, cradling her wounds with her arms. It was enough to make Nate spring up out of his chair to help her.

Chloe had followed Victor in quietly as to not be noticed right away. "Take it easy sunshine, you've only just regained consciousness" she said, still keeping a respectful amount of distance.

"How long was I out?" Elena looked up at Nate. He was having a hard time processing it all and found himself speechless when she looked directly into his eyes. She was awake, she was alive, and after all this time.

"It's been over a week since Shambhala". Chloe informed her after seeing Nate in a stupor and unable to answer her question.

"Over a week? Oh no, Schafer!" her voice sounded panicked and she attempted to get up as if to go recover his body herself. She didn't want to leave his body after he died, but at the time they had no choice.

Nate motioned for her to stay in bed, "Elena, it's ok. A few of us took a trip and recovered his remains. We brought him back to the village, gave him a proper burial and held a small memorial service for him while you were...you know" he explained to calm her down, not liking seeing her work herself up in such a fragile state.

Relieved to hear Schafer wasn't just left there, she laid back down in her pillow.

"You really gave us quite the scare" Sully addressed Elena, came up behind Nate and put his arm around his shoulder with a playful grin on his face. He knew Nate wouldn't want Elena to know how her almost dying had really made him feel. Yet Sully, knowing his best friend, sensed that this girl was different than all the others and he was rooting for them both to figure it out in their own time.

Chloe, still keeping her distance, saw how Nate had been around Elena and knew it was time for her to let him go. He had never looked at her the way he looked at Elena. Her and Nate never really talked about their relationship after they ran into Elena and Jeff in Nepal and everything that led up to discovering and destroying Shambhala. But now, seeing his face light up around her told her everything she needed to know to make the decision. She only hoped that one day, someone special might look at her the same way Nate looked at Elena.

Elena's eyes fought to stay awake, the pain from her wounds in combination with the many pain killers and herbal medicines she was on made her very drowsy very fast. Sully seeing this motioned for everyone to leave to allow her to rest "Get some rest darlin', we'll see you in the morning" Sully, Chloe and Nate began to walk outside.

"Nate? Wait." Elena used the last of her energy to call on him before he made it out of the tent.

"Yeah? You ok?" he looked back at her, still on edge.

"Yeah it's just..." she paused to think of how she was going to phrase what she wanted to say next, leaving Nate anxious thinking something was wrong.

"What? What is it?" he started to panic a little, the thought of her convulsing, on the brink of death still fresh in his mind. It was a miracle she survived it all.

"Will you..." she hesitated "Will you stay with me tonight?" she was afraid that if she fell asleep she might not wake up again.

His eyes softened upon hearing her request. Relieved, he said in a soothing voice "Of course".

He walked over to the chair by her bedside and sat down. Little did she know this wouldn't be the first night he stayed by her side. He had nodded off in the same chair quite a few times when she was unconscious while keeping a close eye on her.

His presence comforted her and she fell asleep almost instantly. He watched her eyes fade until they remained closed signifying she had fallen asleep. It made him uneasy because it reminded him of when she was unconscious and he didn't know if she would ever wake up again, so he fought to stay awake to keep a watchful eye on her for as long as he could before his own body fought him, demanding he fall asleep as well. He started to sink down in his chair and slowly faded.

Two hours went by and he was abruptly awoken by the sound of Elena having a nightmare that was causing her to toss and turn which was hurting her wounded body, but not enough to jostle her awake. He tried holding her hand and stroking it to calm her but it had little effect. Concerned and also exhausted himself, he crawled into bed next to her and put his body up against hers to stop her from thrashing around. Feeling the warmth of his body subconsciously, she rolled into him and put her head on his chest and her hand over his heart. Nate was taken off guard at first, but then the familiar feel of her body on his allowed them both to relax into one another and fall into a deep sleep.