Tick-Tock

"Carlisle," A voice called from the stairway leading down into the basement of the house—the location of the medical center- where Carlisle had moved the two badly injured young wolves so that they might be monitored more closely for any further complications in their healing.

He turned from his examination of an overly groggy Paul to find Jake standing just inside the room. "Jake, what brings you down here?" It was obvious to him that Jake was still a bit stiff from his own wounds but that he was far more healed than either Paul or Jared.

"The need to check on the temporary members of my pack, I guess." He answered moving over to Paul's bedside. He was too lethargic and sleepy to really notice Jake's presence but his color was much better than it had been when he had first arrived. "Is he going to survive Sam's attack?"

"Bleeding is under control, the wounds have been closed and there's no infection, another day or two and he'll be up and around—a bit sore but up and around." Carlisle assured as he moved to examine Jared.

Jake didn't have to question Carlisle about Jared's condition; he could feel the concern radiate from Carlisle as he began examining the still unconscious, mostly unresponsive young wolf. One entire side of Jared's face was swollen and the severity of the bruising was plainly obvious.

"Come on Jared, you have to want to wake up dude," Jake coaxed putting his hand against Jared's shoulder as Carlisle carefully felt of Jared's bruised face and skull. Jared's muscles quivered in a spasm that seemed to radiate throughout his body. "Is he…?"

Carlisle shook his head, "The swelling has diminished some but not enough," He locked gazes with Jake, his expression somber but positive. "Mild seizures; it's a sign that his brain was not damaged to an extent that would prevent him from regaining consciousness. Considering the magnitude of his concussion, it may be another day or two before he regains consciousness and then it may take several days or weeks before he is able to function normally."

"I'm going to throttle Sam," Jake muttered more to himself than aloud, knowing full well that Carlisle had heard every word. He gave Jared's shoulder a squeeze hoping that maybe he would at least realize that he had been there to support him even if they had not been the best of friends since the rift had been forged between the packs.

Another convulsive spasm rocked Jared's body as Carlisle put medication into an IV in Jared's arm. His muscles twitched rather violently and his eyes fluttered open briefly but it was obvious that his overall awareness was still greatly diminished. "Easy Jared," Carlisle soothed testing his level of consciousness by waving a pen light in front of his eyes and checking the tightness of the cloth restraints that kept him from further injuring himself during the seizures.

He blinked sluggishly in response to the beam of light and tried to shake his head only to find that the attempt was futile as the C-collar prevented any side-to-side movement.

"Jared," Jake called keeping his voice calm and void of any concern. He realized that there was a possibility that Jared was not actually awake, that this was merely a reaction to the mild seizures he'd been suffering with in the past few minutes. "Carlisle is he…?"

Carlisle shook his head, "This is progress in the right direction, yes, but his awareness remains greatly diminished. Until the swelling dissipates from the injury to his skull, there will be little or no progress as far as his awareness is concerned. Time is going to be the best medicine for an injury of this nature."

"I sure hope he's okay, we're going to need him before this mess with Ulysses is over with, I'm afraid," There was concern and a bit of trepidation in Jake's voice as he watched Jared's body relax back into comfortable unconsciousness.

"Give him a couple of days; I think you will be surprised, once he regains consciousness, as to how quickly he recovers." Carlisle's words and his confidence in Jared's slowly improving condition provided at least a tiny ray of hope to ease Jake's concern.

"Yeah, let's hope we have that long," He muttered more to under his breath than aloud. He watched Carlisle work with Jared; the more he saw the more Sam's accusations of Cullen's worked to further piss him off. "Carlisle, you know that I…well…I don't believe anything that Sam told my father. I mean, yeah I said some stuff at first because I didn't…"

"Jake," Carlisle shook his head, "You were only protecting the treaty. It's what you, as a member of the wolven are supposed to do. No one here faults you for that."

"I know I just wish…" He stopped realizing that Carlisle's gaze, full of understanding, was firmly fixed upon him.

"Don't; let's focus on dealing with Ulysses and keeping these lands at least somewhat untainted." Carlisle insisted giving Jake a pat on the shoulder as he finished up his examinations of Paul and Jared. "Come, they need to rest." He motioned Jake to follow him back up into the main part of the house…