Chapter 9

"Chrissake... I'm a bloody..."

Ray was startled by his mate's hiss. "What?"

"This seat, what's the point in trying to get you dry if you have to lie on it as it's soaked all through? It's dripping bloody water and the mattress is soon soaked too. Mate, you'd better start thinking about it while I search for a good towel."

Ray grabbed the practical thankfully. He wanted desperately to think about anything else than his helplessness... "Planks? Boards? Shelves? If you manage to sneak one under my back when I still have my clothes on? And then somehow pull the seat from under me?"

Bodie was delighted – not only because the idea but because of his mate. There was a bookshelf, worth a try... the shelf wasn't too thick but it was solid wood and might be broad enough. "Ok mate – shall we give it a try right now?"

"What's the point in waiting?" was Ray's reply.

Bodie walked to the bookshelf and emptied one of the shelves quickly. Yepp solid wood, some 12 inches wide... he would just have to be extremely careful. Thank goodness he hadn't yet stripped his mate, the thick clothes would prevent the board from scraping too bad and Ray's jacket had a hard slippery surface.

Again Bodie felt his head spin. God he would have to be quick with it... but Ray must not slip sideways, so he would need to make sure the plank stayed level when he tried to remove the seat. The pieces of firewood would maybe help there.

Bodie didn't waste a moment more. Two minutes after Ray's suggestion he was already removing the belt he had used to secure Ray's head against headrest, and he started to stuff the shelf between Ray's jacket and the backrest, pulling Ray from his jacket every now and then. Bodie was sweating again almost instantly and Ray winced a few times, but in a couple of minutes the board was actually in its place and Ray felt he would soon suffocate as the end of the board had pushed his jacket and pullover down with it and they pressed his throat. Ray grunted but didn't give any further complaints when Bodie removed the pieces of firewood from under the backrest and put one under the board's end.

"I would appreciate you staying REALLY calm and quiet now, mate. Your weight will be the only thing holding you on that board... any bloody paramedic would kill me for even trying this. Now I have to start trying to pull the seat."

"Don't."

"Why? Do you prefer the wet seat after all?"

"No. I just meant don't try to pull the seat. You won't manage with that arm of yours without sideyanks. Push."

Bodie was puzzled. He just didn't get it. "Eh?"

"Push with your feet. Sit behind my head, you can hold the board with your hands, and push the seat with your feet. Should be more even movement that way and seat is pretty close to the end of the mattress, right? When you get it over the edge it might be easy to pull or push the rest."

Again Ray was out of breath so Bodie just clapped him briefly on the shoulder. "Good thinking, mate." He removed his cold wet booties and did as Ray had suggested, sat on the mattress behind the curly head, took a tight grip of the board, and firmly placed his heels against the backrest by Ray's shoulders.

"Ready?"

"Go on before you strangle me..."

And Bodie did. He managed to pull the board some, while pushing the seat with his feet and as he also managed to grab with his better hand hold of Ray's jacket's neck, he actually got the seat move the inches it needed, sliding under the board, over the edge of mattress, and from there Bodie managed to continue pulling carefully as Ray's weight held the shelf. And finally, in a couple of minutes Ray was free from the seat, pale and shaky, but still not complaining. And Bodie, gasping and feeling his brain would explode any minute, used the last of his strength to pull his mate further on the board so that Ray's feet also got on the mattress, with a pillow from the settee under his hams; then to pull the shelf itself away from under his mate. Bodie swallowed a couple of the painkillers and the last water from the mug, and although he knew he should have some rest, he didn't dare to sit or lay down, fearing he wouldn't get up again.

"Ok mate, now it's off with yer clothes finally. No more foreplay."

Green eyes were watching him. "I manage. Rest."

"Not bloody likely. It's not that warm here. And I want to do it when I still can. Can't guarantee that later."

"Bodie -"

Alarmed Ray was interrupted: "Shut up mate. Just shut up. It's only minutes, I rest after that." And Bodie lowered himself on his knees beside his mate.

It was tricky, to try and get Ray's jeans down, them being tight, soaked and Ray's weight on them. Bodie simply didn't dare to lift his mate anymore... so all he could do was to try little by little by little, his fingers getting soon tired and numb. But there was no choice, the pants had to get off, the room was not warm enough to maintain the body-temperature of his already hypothermiac mate.

It took quite a while before Bodie managed to pull the waist of the jeans over the hips and he was already so frustrated that he decided to go for the underpants at the same time. Luckily they were a lot more flexible. When the worst was thus over, it wasn't that hard to manage the rest of the journey. Bodie felt embarassed... not because of nudity of his mate, but because of the whole situation, because he felt that he might break Ray, who suddenly seemed... so absolutely helpless... fragile.

Ray didn't know what was the worst... the humiliation he had suffered when Bodie started to undress him, or the tenderness of his mate carefully rubbing him dry with a big towel he had dug out from somewhere.

Then Bodie gently covered Ray's lower part with the clean warm quilt which had been hanging over a radiator, and moved to ease Ray's arms from the sleeves of his jacket and likewise he managed to do the same with the pullover. The jacket slid easily enough from under Ray, but the neck of the pullover was so unco-operative that finally swearing Bodie grabbed the scissors and slashed the pullover open before being able to pull it away. And he was so tired and angry that he did the same to Ray's vest despite his mate's complaints.

After he had thrown the now useless piece of fabric away, Bodie forced himself to calm down. "Sorry 'bout that..."

Ray didn't have time to open his mouth as Bodie gestured him to stay quiet, and rubbed him thoroughly dry, carefully checking the bruises and fingering his ribs. At least two broken ribs... "How bad does it feel? Can you breathe properly?"

"Been worse, nothing punctured I think. Just need to breathe careful".

Bodie was content, he trusted his mate's experience in that matter. "Good... hard to try and bind them. Still feeling arms and fingers and such?"

"Could bang yer head if you want to test," came the instant reply, and a corner of Bodie's mouth twitched.

"Neck?" asked Bodie feeling about Ray's stomach-area.

"Definitely not there... " Bodie was forced to chuckle. "Hurts but is better since the support."

Bodie continued to probe and frowned. "What about this?" Ray felt the pressure and swore. Bodie sighed. "All right, mate, it's better we sort this out now before I try to get pants back on you." He went to search the things he would need, and blushing Ray Doyle shut his eyes tightly, the soon commencing ultimate humiliation starting to swell in his mind.

Bodie decided to take a look on the other drawers he hadn't checked in the bedroom, and soon pained Ray heard his whistle and an awe-filled "Oh bloody hell..."

Bodie emerged back to the door, carrying something in his hands. "You're so not gonna believe this, mate. This is something absolutely unbelievable. You know, when we get out from here we'd better buy that old chum Duncan's grandpa a box of whisky. Big box. Or a whole bloody barrell while we're at it... that stingy Scot... "

To his amazement Ray saw an actual broad grin on his mate's face. "Oi, have you found his life's savings or what? A million quids?"

"Even better, old son, even better... from this on I never complain about those oldsters who hoard everything they ever get in their hands... believe me mate, that old man saved you from a LOT of pain... " Bodie had left the box on the table and went into the kitchen, having something in his hand. Ray didn't see what it was but had the very uncomfortable feeling he would find out all too soon.

And so he did.

When Bodie returned, Ray saw not only canisters in his hand, but also a thin tube that he recognized instantly. "Oh chrissake..."

Bodie looked at him sternly. "You'd better be thankful, Raymond. At least this is something that has been made to that purpose. I guarantee you wouldn't have liked any alternatives I might have found here, like those straws... besides, this looked like it hasn't been used, just taken out the package, but I sterilized it anyway."

Ray was miserable. "Can't it at least wait?"

Bodie felt a pang of pity being forced to add even this to the misery his mate was in. "No." He sighed. "Listen mate, nobody's coming here tonight. And your bladder is full already. If I do it now, you manage well overnight. I may not be able to move you, if... you know... " Ray knew. If he would wet himself.

Bodie sighed again. "And to be honest, I don't know if I'll be able to do this anymore tonight if we wait too long." They looked at each other in silence, each worried sick over the other.

Ray gave up. "You know how it's done then?"

"I've been taught how, and I've done it before in the bushes... been done to me too, you know that. So no worries mate, nurse Bodie at your service."

"That nurse 'd better nurse himself too and rather sooner than later," Ray grunted.

Bodie's mouth tightened. He was going through the tubes, jars and bottles he had found and decided to ignore Ray's remark. He needed to find some sort of lubricant... There was also a box with tablets... he took out the paper from the box and gave it a glance. Dexamethasone... for rheumatoid arthritis... anti-inflammatory... he tossed the paper on Ray's chest. "Take a look, could this be useful?" At least reading might help keeping Ray's mind occupied the next minutes... Bodie went to fetch the clean pure warm water and towel he had reserved for cleaning Ray and returning, pulled the quilt down and started to tend to his partner.

Ray tried in vain to concentrate on the paper while his partner took care of the humiliating process. It wasn't so much the physical discomfort, that was nothing compared with what he had experienced with his back before the painkiller had started to take the worst edge... or even the process itself, Ray had been hospitalized enough times to have it done to him before... but this was no hospital, and it was not a nurse paid for it... It was... Ray felt like suffocating.

"Just relax" came the quiet, matter-of-factly note from his mate who was now totally concentrated on the medical.

Ray tried to breathe evenly and let go of his anxiety. He thought about his mate. He didn't know anyone else, who after all this time - after all these years, tens of thousands of hours spent together, working, fooling around, relaxing in some bar or fighting for their lives, hell, more time than most ever spent with their wives - still could surprise him. He knew his mate so well, and yet, like this evening, Bodie had pulled out skills he never could have anticipated...

He stole a peek at his mate who was following what was happening in the transparent plastic tube. Ray's humiliation took over. "Chrissake, Bodie, do you really have to watch it?"

Bodie looked at him, surprised. "Actually, yes. Need to see if there's blood." And he turned his head back as he had said the most natural thing in the world.

Ray stared at his mate's head, wordless.

"The back any better?" Bodie asked without turning his attention from the immediate.

"A bit, pills are starting to kick in."

"Thought so, you look a tad better. Got any sense out of that paper?"

Ray lifted it again in front of his eyes and tried to get through the medical jargon. "Something about reducing the swelling here... yeah, I s'pose if it works that way, it might help with the spinal cord... "

Bodie thought a moment. "With a meal or to empty stomach?"

"Not hungry", grunted Ray.

"I didn't ask if you were, did I?" Bodie threw a side-glance at his mate. "We need to eat, haven't got a decent meal since... ever. Took our stuff from the car. Besides we're pretty much finished with this for now. What if I throw some more wood in the fire, take a couple of those soup-cans, and slice some bread for sandwiches? Oh and sorry mate, looks like it's time to take this out..."

Ray couldn't help but groan a couple of foul words. Clearly that was a part where nerves still were functioning. Removing the tube didn't luckily feel as bad as inserting it had done.

"Yeah, I know mate, no matter how pretty the nurse, still it feels..."

Ray looked at his partner and grimaced. "Not even a blind bat could call you pretty. I won't take a bite of any food before you get changed into dry clothes and clean your face properly. That wound doesn't look good even on you. And I want to see how your ribcage looks like, and that shoulder of yours. And once we've eaten, you bloody hell lay down and quit with your stunts for today, you hear me?"

Bodie chuckled, that started to sound like Ray. "Yeah Mum..."

Staggering to his feet Bodie looked at a clock on the wall and was astonished. Hell, it was only 8 pm and felt like it could have been way past midnight! He gave the fire more food, and the pieces of firewood reminded him that Ray would maybe have it difficult to eat having his head so low, so he took another shelf from the bookcase, pulled that with the previous one under the mattress and managed to lift the end with pieces of firewood again.

"Still ok for your back?"

"Yeah, thanks... and now you bloody moron, get changed!"

"All right all right... will just take these out and put the soup on..."

Bodie found the bathroom, emptied the canisters, and flushed them along with the tube. He would have to sterilize it before next use... hope it would last in case there would be further need... Oh shite... he let out a deep, shaky sigh. Jesus. He had never felt this way... how the hell would he make it through the night?