It's evening again, already dark outside. Rachel's been home once, and back to work, filed her report, typed up Tim's which he scribbled hastily before she left, while Raylan's vitals were being checked, and his medication changed. She's brought the statement in a file for him to sign, and a change of clothes for Tim too.
It's very quiet, Boyd's asleep, Ava curled up in a chair next to his bed. The cot that Tim was sleeping on is still there, butted up to Raylan's bed, and still occupied and Rachel can't help the smile that comes to her face.
They're both asleep, facing each other, fingers touching. There's no way she can resist, she slips her phone out of her pocket and snaps a quick picture. It says something for their complete exhaustion that the flash doesn't wake them.
Raylan is not really looking any better, the grayish tinge to his skin and the darkish bruise-like patches beneath his eyes, coupled with the pinched frown do not suggest that his rest is any easier than it was a few hours ago.
She can feel her own anxiety levels rise, Rachel can read charts, and Raylan's chart has definite signs that he isn't completely out of the woods yet. According to the readings his temperature has spiked twice since she left at eight am, and they've already tried weaning him off the medication once today without success.
She moves up a little closer to the bed. At some point someone has changed Raylan's bandages, and done something different to the position of his arm and wounded shoulder. The arm's pulled back, pinning the shoulder into an almost backward arch, it's clearly a lot more uncomfortable than previously, and Rachel wonders if that is the root cause of Raylan's exhausted demeanor.
She can't help herself, she reaches out and gently strokes his cheek avoiding the neat line of stitches. His eyes open slowly.
"Hey." She says softly, and smiles at him.
Something resembling Raylan's trademark grin lights up for a second or two, ignoring the stitches which tug at his cheek.
He clears his throat a little, and tries to moisten his lips with his tongue. Rachel's already there, holding the beaker and straw so that he can get some sips of water for his dry throat.
"Rachel… good to see you." It's sleepy sounding and a bit slurred, but his eyes are a little brighter, and she lets out the breath that she wasn't even conscious of holding. He's going to get better, it's going to take time and he's going to be stuck in hospital for a while, and then physiotherapy for even longer.
There's a funny-sounding snort from the other side of Raylan's bed, and Rachel suppresses a grin. Tim shifts a little in his sleep and Raylan's eyes turn to his friend. There's something in his gaze that almost brings tears to her eyes. She's certain that neither of them are aware of it yet, this thing between them and what it means. It's strange, because they are certainly at odds when it comes to the rules, but there's this respect between them, a trust and a reliance. Rachel holds this tenderly in her heart, because it feels good to know it.
By nine pm, Ava's gone, Boyd's fallen asleep again, and another chicken dinner has been delivered. Courtesy of Tim this time. Once again, Raylan's official hospital dinner arrives.
Raylan picks up the spork and pokes the strange square sitting in the middle of the indefinable grayish sludge that might have been gravy, but then again he's not certain. "What is that?" He frowns.
Tim peers at it closely, takes the spork and gives it another couple of pokes, shrugs "dunno."
Raylan gives it a push to one side. "Chicken." He holds out his hand.
"Well, you're obviously feeling better." Art stands by the doorway. His three deputies have been spending a lot of time together just recently, and he knew exactly where Tim and Rachel would be.
He knows that this newfound togetherness is unlikely to halve his Raylan-Disaster quotient, but Art would be happy with just a little of Tim and Rachel rubbing off on Raylan. Because what Raylan's unique ability to find trouble came close to costing them all this time makes Art's heart pound and the ground not feel too stable beneath his feet and he's far too old to cope with this.
He walks into the room slowly, takes the opportunity to have a closer look at Boyd Crowder. Damn. The bits of Boyd that he can see are covered in bruises, the ugly hospital gown covers heavy bandaging and his broken arm is covered in cast running from his knuckles up to his shoulder.
Art hopes that the poor devil is drugged to the gills because that looks really painful. It's a very strange feeling, he's never felt pity for Boyd Crowder before. In fact the emotion closest to his heart where Boyd Crowder is concerned is a hearty dislike. Raylan cannot help himself. They dug coal together when they were nineteen and Boyd saved Raylan's life. That act is burned so deeply into Raylan's soul that he will never get it out.
Tim picks up his washkit, and the change of clothes that Rachel brought with her "I'm going to get a shower." He announces, as Rachel finds a reason to clear the remains of their chicken dinner away and sneaks out leaving Art with Raylan.
Art shifts a little uncomfortably, Raylan should be in a world of trouble, not the least for scaring his boss half to death, but all he can think right then is how glad he is that Raylan's alive, and how this time it was too damn close.
"You've got some leave coming, and it's going to be a restful time for me." He starts, because expressing how much he feels about this whole experience is going to turn him to mush, and he's not going to cry in front of Raylan. Neither of them would know what to do with that.
"I'm fine."
Sometimes Art really doesn't know how Raylan manages to utter such lies and not get struck dead on the spot. His eyes narrow and he's actually about to say something along those lines, when he sees the look on Raylan's face.
Beat all to hell, stitched together, all bandaged up like a mummy and Raylan's actually messing with his head. Art tries not to smile.
"Dammit." He shakes a stern finger at his most troublesome deputy.
Raylan grins, his eyes flutter closed, he's surrounded by friends, and that will do for now.