When the nurse looked in on them she was mildly surprised to find them both asleep. The night shift had told her they had spent most of the night talking quietly. She removed their breakfast trays, making note that they seemed to be eating more with each meal. She took in the two sleeping men. One had rugged good looks and the other was just plain handsome. It's a shame the doctor put them off limits, she thought, some might go for that rugged looking one but I'd sure like to get to know that other one. She looked again at Artie, sighed and left the room.

THREE DAYS LATER –

"Gentlemen, I must say I am mildly surprised at your behavior," the doctor said.

"We just wanted to show you that we can behave," Jim replied.

"Uh huh… the President's punishment wouldn't have anything to do with that would it?" the doctor asked, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Now that's not fair," Artie said, "here we are trying to be model patients and everyone thinks we're up to something. I think my feelings are hurt…what about you, James?" Artie looked at his friend.

"Well, I'll reserve judgment until we find out if the good doctor is springing us from his lovely establishment today," Jim grinned hopefully at the doctor.

"No need to reserve judgment, Mr. West. I am indeed springing you today. PROVIDED Mr. Gordon promises to take it easy and get plenty of rest and you as well, Mr. West."

"Your ribs are going to cause you some problems for a while yet. I was given a full report on you two…so Mr. West, I want your solemn promise that Mr. Gordon will take things slow and easy. His ribs won't heal as fast as they could because of the serum and if he ends up back in my hospital both of you will feel my wrath."

"Doctor, I promise Artie will follow your instructions to the letter and I promise I won't leave his side unless absolutely necessary," Jim crossed his heart with the first two fingers of his right hand.

"Hmm…I think I'm being played, but I think you two could manage to behave for one more week."

"Mr. Gordon, I'm sending you some extra medicine. Once you start moving about those ribs are going to become quite sore. We discovered that serum takes about three weeks to wear off."

"You'll still need plenty of sleep, that seems to help it dissipate quicker. The more active you are the slower it will leave your body."

"Then we'll sleep until we never want to sleep again," Artie stated.

"And gentlemen, I will need to see Mr. Gordon in a few days and the both of you in about a week."

"We'll be here, doctor," Jim promised.

"Good, now get out of here we need these beds for real patients," The doctor smiled as he left the room.

Jim gathered their clothes and got dressed. When he finished he helped Artie with his shirt and jacket. Jeremy had brought Artie a new shirt from the train as the hospital had thrown his other one away. They left the hospital and headed back toward the train in a hansom cab. Artie was seated across from his partner and was looking out the window, watching the town.

"Jim, have the cabby head for a hotel. Preferably one in a busy section of town."

"Why, pal, what's up? You okay, your ribs bothering you?"

"It's not that. I think we're being followed."

Jim rapped on the roof and told the driver to head for the nearest first class hotel. They arrived at the hotel and Jim helped Artie from the cab and paid the driver. Artie made a pretense of slipping so they could get a look behind them. They couldn't see inside the coach that had pulled up down the street but no one got out of it either.

"That tears it, Jim. We're being followed."

"Sure looks that way, pal."

"What are we gonna do? We can't go ask them why they're following us…it could be a trap Richmond set up."

"Yeah, I know. It looks like we're staying at this hotel for the night at least," They went inside.

After they checked in they sat in the hotel's restaurant where they had a good view of the front door. They sat watching the door for some time before Jim decided their tail wasn't willing to make itself known just yet. He looked over to his partner and saw him nodding off, something he was surprised and unhappy to find himself wanting to do. Jim reached over and tapped his arm.

"Hey, pal, our friends don't show any signs of showing their faces tonight, so why don't we go up and get some sleep?" At Artie's nod they went upstairs and were quickly asleep.

"Your report, please, Mr. Pike," Richmond asked the agent.

"We think Loveless has left the area. There has been no sigh of him or any of his known henchmen since we rescued agents West and Gordon."

"You think? Why don't you know for certain?"

"Loveless is a pretty slippery and crafty individual, Colonel. We might have too many men out combing the area for him. If he's still in the area he'll just stay hidden until we stop looking. I thought if we pull the patrols back maybe we could draw him out. You know, make him think we've stopped looking."

"That's just might work. West and Gordon were released from the hospital today and I would hate for them to find out we lost Loveless."

"All the men have been informed to steer clear of West and Gordon, sir. Should they run into them they have been instructed to tell them they are on vacation or something."

"Hmm let's hope they buy it. I want those two away from this case. They need rest more than anything else and come hell or high water I intend to see that they get it."

"I understand, sir. Has the President left for Washington yet?"

"Yes, thank goodness. I wish we could have sent James and Artemus back there with him but this doctor here seems to know more about this serum than anyone else, so they might as well stay here."

"Have we learned anything more about the serum?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. Just what we've been able to tell from James and Artemus' blood."

"We need to find Loveless then. I'll get going and check with the other agents on this and see what they have," Jeremy rose to leave.

"Pike, don't forget to get some rest yourself. All I need is you AND the Dynamic Duo convalescing together," Richmond smiled as Jeremy smiled back and left the room.

The next day Artie woke to find sunlight filling the room. He glanced at Jim's bed and was surprised to find his partner still asleep. Generally, as soon as the sun came up Jim was wide-eyed and bushy tailed. That serum must have affected him more than he thought or wants to believe. We really have to nail Loveless this time…something on a more permanent basis, Artie thought as he lay in bed staring at the ceiling. He thought about surprising his partner by ordering breakfast sent up until he looked at the clock…it read 2pm! Whoa, we slept nearly 24 hours?! No wonder I feel rested, Artie gasped. He moved to sit up and groaned. He had slept on his back all night as it was easier for him to breath that way. He reached up and clamped his hand over his mouth so he wouldn't wake Jim.

"You can remove your hand, pal. I heard you," Jim said as he rose and crossed to Artie's bed.

"Sorry, Jim. I didn't mean to wake you," Artie replied apologetically.

"No harm done, pal. Judging by the light in here I can see we both slept in a bit," Jim chuckled as he settled on the edge of Artie's bed.

"Yeah, what's up with that? Did the hospital stall sneak in here and spike our water?" Artie shook his head and laughed.

"Colonel Richmond I could see, but the hospital staff…that's hard to believe."

"Well, apparently you didn't leave your usual broken hearts this time; just broken nurses and orderlies…HEY you never did tell me what happened between you and that orderly."

"Oh that. It's not something I'm very proud of, pal," Jim replied softly.

"If you don't want to talk about it I understand. Just next time you have a party like that wait till you can invite me," Artie winked at his partner.

"No problem, Artie. Now, what about breakfast?"

"Well, looking at the clock I think we'd be calling it dinner," Artie replied as he pointed to the clock, "and a late one at that."

"Whoa, I figured we'd sleep late but not THAT late. Yeah, I guess we could go down to dinner," Artie moved to get up and groaned.

"Hey, pal, what do you say to ordering dinner sent up here? We can always go down for supper. We are on a sort of doctor imposed medical leave," Jim sympathized with his partner's pain.

"That sounds okay to me. Hey can you look out the window and see if our little friend from yesterday is back?" Jim crossed to the window and looked out.

"Well if they won't come in here then they can just wait until we go out. Looking at the weather outside I'm in no hurry to venture out," Jim commented.

"Maybe if we wait long enough we can draw them out…make them come in here."

"That might work, Artie. You take your time getting dressed. I'll get us some food," Jim offered as he pulled his boots on.

"All right," Artie agreed.

Jim returned to the room a short time later carrying a large tray with two covered plates, a pot of coffee and two mugs. He opened the door and entered the room. He looked around and smiled when he spied his partner on his bed, his boots and pants on, his shirt hanging open, snoring softly. Jim quietly set the tray down and approached Artie's bed. Man, those are some nasty bruises, that's really got to hurt, Jim thought as he took in the bruises showing over the top of his friend's tightly bound chest as he leaned down to gently shake his friend.

"Hey, pal, wake up…food's here."

"Huh? What? Oh man I didn't mean to fall asleep," Artie sat up pulling his shirt closed.

"It's okay, Artie, that's what we're supposed to be doing. You're just better at it them I am," Jim grinned and Artie just rolled his eyes.

"Let's eat then we can figure out how to draw our tail out," Artie suggested.

Jim agreed but he didn't take his eyes off the window. When he had placed the tray on the desk something outside had caught his eye. The same coach from yesterday and returned. He motioned to Artie to stay on the bed as he handed him his plate. No sense in alerting Artie just yet…they could be shopping or something. Jim grabbed his plate in one hand and the mugs and coffee in the other and went over to sit on Artie's bed, placing the coffee and mugs on the nightstand. They ate their meal, quietly chatting, Jim trying not to look out the window too many times so as not to alert Artie. After an hour the coach was still there.

Jeremy looked up from reading the paper and looked across the street to the hotel Jim and Artie were staying in. Secretly he was glad they had chosen to stay in town and not return to the train. It made his job a lot easier. He had seen Jim at the window and quickly covered his face with the paper. Jim would kill me if he found out I was keeping an eye on them. Even in disguise they always seem to spot me. Jeremy went back to keeping an eye on the street, noting the coach across the street, the occupant mostly hidden from view by a heavy drape seemed to be staring intently at the hotel.