They finally made it back to the camp, after hours and hours of Will walking with her in his arms and many more breaks than he would care to admit. She managed to stay awake the majority of the time. The three hour trip out there turned into a seven or eight hour trip back. He hadn't known he could ever be that tired or weary. He set her inside the tent and told her, firmly, to change. He started up the fire and had it flaming in a matter of minutes, thanks to the fire starter Kate had insisted on bringing. Boiling water he began to make soup from their MRE's that she had also insisted on packing.
"Will?"
He heard her soft call and popped his head into the tent. "Yeah?"
"I can't get my pants off."
He blinked his eyes blearily at her. "Um… ok?"
"Will, I need you to help." The last word came off on a cough, her lungs racking and her chest convulsing from the movement. He stumbled in, his foot catching on the lip of the entrance and he face-planted down next to her onto his own sleeping bag. He didn't wait until she was done coughing before he started to pull at her wet jeans. Denim was probably the most difficult material to get off when wet so he wasn't surprised that she was having a hard time.
He twisted her hips and she cried out suddenly. He stopped, his hands flying into the air in a defensive manner. "What? What I'd do?"
She took slow calming breaths trying to avoid another coughing fit. "I think…" She breathed and started again. "I think I have some broken ribs, or a hip. I don't know. It hurt."
"Ok, I'll try to be more careful." He started on her pants again that were down to her thighs. He reached her ankles and then realized that he hadn't taken her boots off. Or that she hadn't. Slowly he began to untie the laces and pulled them off one by one. "You got it from here?"
"Yeah, I think so. Thanks." She moved slightly then stopped. Her eyes flashed to him and glared. "Are you leaving?"
"Um… yeah, sorry." He moved back out of the tent, zipping it mostly shut. He turned to the fire and stirred the now boiling soup. He pulled the pot off and left it on the side of the fire ring that they had made the night before. He called back over. "Kate! You dressed yet?"
"Yeah," came the soft reply. He moved over to the tent and gripped the bottom of it.
"I'm gonna pull you closer to the fire."
"Ok, but not too close." She started coughing again, but he didn't wait this time. He ripped his hands back and the tent slid with the force of it closer to the burning flame. He got up and turned it so that it was side long against it. That should keep her warmer. He moved around and grabbed the pot that was still hot and poured the liquid into the metal cups they had. He brought them into the tent and sat with her while they sip in the warmth.
Magnus was done leaning over slides. She was done looking at test results. She had an answer and it was amazingly simple. She moved back into the infirmary room where Erika and Henry were waiting. "You love," she glanced at the woman, "have a UTI. Simple as that."
"That's it?"
"That's it." The young woman smiled and then grimaced slightly. Magnus handed her a small container of antibiotics. "Four times a day, with food. One at each meal and one before bed. Ten days. You should start to feel better soon."
"That's it? Really, that's all it was?"
"Well quite a bad one, I'm afraid. I'll urge you to pay more attention next time, but yes, that's all it was. I want you to rest for the next few days. Little movement, I'm sure Henry will see to that. No work." She scolded. "And if you're not feeling better by then, I'll have another look at you. So nothing," she reemphasized, "for three days. Understood?" Both of them nodded and Magnus looked at them a moment longer. "Alright, well I'm done. You can get dressed and then to bed for you." She pointed at Erika one last time before slipping off her lab coat and heading for the door.
Slowly she made her way to the kitchens; she was starved that was for sure. After missing her meal with Declan, what else could she expect? She walked into the room to see her old friend at the stove top cooking something. She wrinkled her nose, but straightened it out before he could see.
"Cod, I thought you reserved that for breakfast?"
"Had a craving."
"Ah." She slipped open the fridge and looked around at the containers that were neatly stacked. She stood back with a hand on her hip and scanned over the items. She finally turned to him. "Do we have any ice cream?"
"Uh… yeah, I think Will has some mint chocolate chip." He grunted toward the secondary freezer that he kept. Magnus smiled and moved over lifting the door to find said ice cream resting on top.
She grinned and turned to her old friend. "Our secret?"
"Always." He moved back to cooking his fish. She took out a bowl and scooped two rather large chunks into it. Taking another moment to think she placed two more scoops of ice cream into the shiny porcelain bowl and put away the box. She took her precious dinner and moved back to her office. When she reached the room, Declan was sitting in his usual chair across from her desk reading over some paper work.
"Hello Declan." She sat and bit into some of the ice cream savoring the flavor as it melted on her tongue. "Sorry about earlier," she continued before taking another bite. "Bit of an emergency, all is resolved."
"That's alright. I know how it goes." He looked her over and smiled. "Late night snack?"
She hummed, "Dinner actually."
"I still have some of the picnic if you like. It's in the kitchens."
Her eyes crinkled at the corners, "Thank you, I might just have some of that later. So, the school."
Will was lying on Kate's side trying to keep her as warm as possible throughout the night. He was so worried that he was having his own problems sleeping. He could see her shivering through the sleeping bag that she was tucked into. It must have taken him hours before he finally spoke. They both knew the other wasn't sleeping. "Kate." She didn't respond. He spoke louder, "Kate, I know you're awake."
"What do you want?" She couldn't help the rattling in her teeth.
"Twist your sleeping bag."
"What?"
"Twist it so the zipper is over your front." He waited until she started moving and then unzipped his own bag. When she was done rustling around he unzipped her and watched her not even flinch at the cold air. He laid his bag on top of her and moved down to her feet where he started to zip them together. It took his fingers so many tries to get them to work that he wasn't sure he would actually get the edges together and he kept thinking that perhaps this is had been a horrible idea.
Finally he got them started and he moved up following the zip. He had both sides completely done. Shivering violently once himself he started to slide into the sleeping bags. "What are you doing?"
"Keeping you warm, popsicle." He moved his arms over her stomach and pressed his front into her side. His hands didn't stop moving on her until she fell asleep and he felt heat starting to slowly seep back into her body. Finally he let his eyes drift shut.
The sun woke him far too soon. She was still sleeping soundly and really didn't want to wake her. The coughing had gotten worse that night. He slid out of the sleeping bag and made his way to the entrance of the tent. Slipping on his shoes he moved out and stepped into a good foot and a half of snow. "What the hell?" He moved around and eventually found where the fire pit was. He cleared the white fluff away and started the flames. He was doing a dance by the time the wood lit and decided next time he would take a piss first. He was heating snow for instant coffee while he pulled out his phone and tried to get service again. There was nothing. He stalked a little further away but he was nervous about leaving Kate that far. Still nothing.
There was hardly any sun overhead, the clouds were dark and snow was still falling. He moved back to the fire and pulled off the melted snow. He added more wood to it to keep it going for a while before he moved to pull his pack down from the tree. The pulley system he had rigged was crude but it worked to keep the wild animals away from his stash of food. He pulled out the supplies he wanted before hiking his bag back up into the tree. Securing the rope he moved and slipped back into the tent after checking on the fire once again. He mixed his coffee and slid into the bag with the still sleeping Kate. He sipped at his mug and watched her. She was pale still, but at least she was sleeping. He played with his phone a bit and slipped the lock back and forth. It wasn't until the third or fourth time that he realized the battery was close to dead. He killed the power.
He would have to find some sort of service soon otherwise they would be stranded there for days, if not longer. There was no way he could carry her out and down to their car in that amount of snow and the terrain they had covered on the way up. They would essentially be stuck there.
