Cougar bit his lip so hard he tasted blood as he watched Diane work on Jensen's hands. Everyone else had fallen asleep, exhausted by the day's dramatic events, but Cougar had stubbornly kept himself awake and insisted on being by Jensen's side while Diane tried to fix the damage Max had inflicted on the tech's hands.
Diane had taken x-rays of Jensen's right hand and then gone to work bandaging the ravaged, nail-less fingers on his left hand. Cougar had helped as much as he could, holding the fingers stained with dried blood out straight and forcing himself not to look away. Diane cleaned the injured digits as well as she could before wrapping a bandage around them.
"This next part might get a little uncomfortable," Diane said as she finished bandaging the last finger and turned to Jensen's right hand. "This hand is a bit worse off." An understatement if there ever was one.
"It's okay," Cougar said, nodding once at Diane. "I will stay."
Diane narrowed her eyes and inspected the quiet sniper closely.
"He probably can't even hear you," she said quietly. Cougar took a deep breath and looked at his best friend. Jensen was pale, a line of blood trailing from an IV bag above his head into his arm. An oxygen mask covered his face and there was a heart monitor behind his head that was beeping quietly, steadily. Bandages covered his shoulder and his abdomen, with small patches over the various burns he'd received and stitches closing the cuts scattered over his face.
"Maybe not," he said finally, looking up to meet Diane's gaze head on. "But I'm not leaving him alone."
"Okay," Diane said. "But don't think I don't know that you've been injured too. If you feel yourself getting light-headed, you get your ass to a bed, you hear me?" Cougar nodded.
Diane grasped Jensen's hand in hers and took hold of his first finger. She straightened it suddenly and with an audible crack, and Cougar swallowed down bile, gripping Jensen's shoulder in one hand and running the other uncertainly through his own hair.
"One down," Diane said, looking up at Cougar. "You okay?"
"Umm," said Cougar.
"Cougar?"
"I'm okay. I'm okay."
It sounded as if he was trying to reassure himself as much as Diane, taking deep gulping breaths.
"Alright, then I'm going to continue."
Diane continued.
Cougar held out.
For one more finger.
"I am sorry," he said, standing suddenly and feeling his head spin. "I- I have to-"
"Whoa, slow down there," Diane said, gripping his shoulder and helping him upright.
"'M gonna be sick," he whispered, and Diane wordlessly held out a basin. Pooch stumbled sleepily out of an adjoining room just as Cougar bent over the small tub, retching. Pooch sent a questioning look towards Diane.
"I'm setting Jensen's fingers," Diane said, "and Cougar…"
"Oh, Coug," Pooch said, quietly walking over to his friend. "You overdid it, brother. You should get some rest."
Cougar shook his head, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"No," he muttered, looking at the floor. "Jensen needs someone."
"I'll be here for him, okay? You go get some rest. You'll be no good to him passed out, and you got injured today too."
"Okay," Cougar said finally, allowing Pooch to help him get to his fee. Pooch led him into another room, settling him onto an exam bed. Cougar shifted slightly, the paper on the bed crinkling under his weight. Pooch handed him a water bottle and gave him a half-smile before walking out of the room.
xxxx
Clay woke up to find Aisha sitting in a chair and staring directly at him.
"Sitting watch?" Clay asked, and Aisha shrugged without looking away. She looked uncomfortable, an emotion Clay wasn't used to seeing in her.
"I guess," she said with another shrug.
"What's going on, Aisha?"
"Nothing."
"Aisha."
Aisha was incredibly stubborn.
Clay was also incredibly stubborn.
"I'm leaving, Clay."
"Leaving for where?"
"I'm not sure. Just, I need to be on my own. I was before, you know, I was alone, and that was going really well. And I don't think I'm as effective on my own, you know? I mean, Max is still out there and I haven't gotten to him."
Clay was silent for a minute, sitting with his chin in his hands and looking closely at Aisha.
"So you're running?" He said finally. Aisha shook her head.
"I'm not running. I've been thinking about this for awhile-"
"Bullshit."
Aisha looked up, startled by Clay's bluntness.
"What the hell do you mean?" She demanded, fury starting to rise to the surface.
"I mean that you're running."
"Clay, I don't know where the hell you get off, but-"
"You're scared, Aisha." He held up his hand when Aisha started interrupting him. "Let me finish. You've gotten to know this team. You've gotten to know these boys. You've started to think of Jensen as that irritating little brother you never had. You've started to feel like you have a family now, and you're scared of losing that."
"No," Aisha said, shaking her head again. "No, I'm not scared."
"Aisha, it's okay to be afraid. Hell, I was terrified today."
"You can be terrified. I can't."
"You can't run forever, Aisha. You're either going to get old and lonely, or you're going to die young and lonely. Yeah, Jensen almost died today. He didn't. But even if he had, he would have died knowing that we didn't abandon him, and that we care for him and support him."
"He'd still be dead," Aisha whispered, wiping at her face with frustration.
"We all die someday."
Silence permeated the room, though it wasn't uncomfortable. It was broken by a sudden laugh from Aisha.
"Usually it's the other way around," she said, still laughing. "Usually the man won't talk and the woman won't shut up. Emotions should be my strong point, not yours."
Clay smiled lopsidedly and Aisha was abruptly reminded that this man was charismatic and devastatingly handsome.
"Well, we've never been exactly traditional. In anything."
Aisha nodded, shifting in her seat.
"So. Diane."
"Diane," Clay repeated, smiling mischievously.
"Who the hell is she, and why the hell did you bring her here without talking to us first?"
"Aisha, I don't need to consult you on every decision I make. You do stuff without telling us all the time. Diane is a friend of mine from years ago-"
"A friend?"
"A girlfriend, and she was a trauma intern at the time. I called her because I will do whatever is in my capability to save the members of my team. You told me once that that was my weakness. Well, it is, and I will admit it, but I sure as hell won't change it. I look after my team, Aisha. Whatever it takes."
Aisha was quiet a moment.
"You'd do the same for me?" She asked it with her eyes pointed at the ground, hands fingering her shirt uncertainly.
"Hell yes."
Aisha looked up, finally, smiling.
"I might stick around a bit longer," she said.
xxxx
"So why did you agree to help him?" Pooch asked, watching as Diane casted Jensen's hand.
"Jensen or Clay?" Diane responded without looking up.
"Both."
"Jensen was easy. No matter what feelings I have or don't have for Clay, I'm not going to let someone die if I can help them. Clay- Clay and I may not have parted on the best terms, but I still respect him and what he does for our country. If he has a colleague who needs help, I'll give it."
"Sounds like you're just a good Samaritan, huh?"
Diane smiled. "I guess so." She looked up, seeing Pooch's smirk.
"And I might still have a bit of a crush on Clay."
"Thought so," Pooch said, grinning.
"Oh, I know that I don't have a shot with him, and I know that we were done years ago. I thought I was over him, but when I heard him again, and then saw him…Well, let's just say that he aged well."
"Well, whatever your motivations, thank you. For what you've done here. For him," Pooch said, gesturing towards the still unconscious hacker.
"It sure as hell wasn't a cakewalk, but I don't regret coming here to help you." Pooch smiled at her again.
"He's pretty stable, right?"
"Yeah. He should be out for a while yet."
"Then why don't you go get some rest? You look like you could use it."
Diane nodded and smiled gratefully.
"Thanks, Pooch. I'll do that."
Diane walked out of the room, yawning and stretching her arms above her head.
Pooch watched her go, then grinned and pulled a permanent marker out of his pocket, turning with a roguish smile towards Jensen's brand-spanking new cast.
xxxx
A/N: Sorry the wait was a bit longer for this chapter and it isn't super long…I got to go to a wedding last week, which was awesome, but also meant that I didn't have much time to write. Probably one chapter after this, so thank you for sticking with me and for the reviews!