Managing

Still feeling the strong hold of exhaustion, Jean's heavy eyelids slowly lifted. But after a few moments of trying, her eyes remained shut, as sleep attempted to pull her back into unconsciousness. Fortunately for her, and her stomach, the smell of food entered her nostrils and encouraged the doctor to open her eyes.

"Mmm…" Jean murmured her head spinning as she lifted her head to view the plate left in front of her. Fish..? Where the hell did this come from? Jean thought as she steadied herself while attempting to sit up straight.

Her stomach growled hungrily, as the smell of the cooked fish reminded her just how long it must have been since she last ate. So, Jean grabbed the plate and the fork, which was placed on the plate next to the fish, and feasted upon it hungrily. She was so busy devouring her food that she didn't even notice the sleeping Kitty on the other side of the fire. It was only when Jean had finished her meal that she noticed the young girl, and quickly felt guilty for not noticing her before.

"Kitty?" she called out softly, placing the empty plate and fork down next to her.

When Kitty didn't reply, Jean quickly moved to sit next to the sleeping girl.

"Kitty?" she called out again, her hands giving Kitty a little shake, before stopping when she noticed the bandaged wound on the girl's leg. What's this? Kitty hurt herself? Jean thought as she studied the bandage. I should take a quick look—just to see how bad it is…she concluded as she carefully removed the bandage. "Holy shit!" she commented out loud when her eyes met the cauterized wound on Kitty's leg.

"Uh..?" Kitty mumbled sleepily, awakened by Jean's last comment. Jean's attention moved from Kitty's wound to Kitty's confused expression. "Jean? What are you doing?" Kitty asked as she moved to sit up.

Jean flashed the girl an expression of worry and annoyance as she replied, "What does it look like? I'm checking your wound."

Kitty sighed heavily as she rolled her eyes in response to Jean's tone. "And we're back…"

"What?"

"Nothing..!" Kitty quickly replied in an attempt to avoid another argument with Jean. There was a moment of silence as Jean studied Kitty's wound while Kitty tried not to make the pain from Jean touching her wound too obvious. "Is it septic?" she asked worriedly. "I mean, I tried to keep the wound as clean as I could…" she added as Jean shot her a reassuring glance.

"It looks fine to me—for now at least…" Jean verbally assured as she continued to study the ugly wound. "But it looks like you're going to have one hell of an ugly scar—but you'll definitely keep the leg," Jean added, as she couldn't help but admire how well Kitty took care of the obviously bad wound.

"Thank God," Kitty commented in relief then moved forward to take a closer look since Jean continued to marvel at her handiwork.

"You cauterized the wound!"

"Yeah, I uh, it was bleeding pretty hard…and I…thought that the only way to stop the bleeding was to cauterize—did I do the right thing?" Kitty responded worriedly, her gaze moving from her wound to Jean's pleased expression.

"Well, I would have encouraged you to apply pressure and keep the wound tightly wrapped…but I think, under the circumstances, you made the right call," Jean answered as she turned to grab Kitty's backpack. "I'm very pleased with your handiwork. I can't imagine how painful it must have been—most people wouldn't have been able to put themselves through this type of pain, willingly…" Jean explained as she searched Kitty's bag. "The bandages are in here, right?" she asked as she searched the side pockets of Kitty's bag.

"They're right here…" Kitty responded quickly, reaching behind her to grab for the bag that contained the med-kit.

Jean removed her hand from Kitty's backpack then reached for the med-kit in Kitty's small hand. As Jean opened the bag and quickly got out what she needed, she answered the girl with a polite smile.

"I was just about to clean the wound again…but I guess I fell asleep," Kitty explained, shrugging her shoulders in response while leaning back and watched the doctor skillfully dress the ugly wound.

"That's ok. I guess you earned your right to have a nap—after all, you did find us a great camp site, built us a warm fire, cooked us a meal, and…" Jean paused to look up into Kitty's tired eyes before continuing. "…you saved my life."

The look in Jean's eyes was intense, and the intensity affected Kitty in an unexpected way. The young girl looked back into Jean's kind and thankful eyes—unable to look away from the power and feeling that Jean's eyes sent her way.

"No problem…" Kitty shrugged off, her eyes finally able to break away from Jean's influence, a gentle yet childish laugh showing the young girl's current discomfort.

But Jean didn't care, the truth of what Kitty had done blocked out any and everything but the fact that a little girl was able to do so much under the current and difficult situation. Jean was more than a little bit affected by the obvious willpower, and intelligence that was added to the girl's overwhelming courage. And with her eyes still firmly planted on Kitty's stature, Jean found her mind swarming with questions.

"It is a problem…" Jean muttered breathlessly, her eyes looking away from Kitty long enough to apply the finishing touches on her wound, before returning to Kitty's now offended expression.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Kitty demanded, obviously offended by the idea that Jean was ungrateful for all that she had done for the older woman.

Jean chuckled softly when she realized that the girl had taken her comment the wrong way, and quickly attempted to explain herself. "I didn't mean that I wasn't grateful for what you did…" she began, her hands pulling down the pant leg of Kitty's jeans over the now dressed wound.

"Then what did you mean?" Kitty asked her muscles tense as she watched Jean's eyes meet her gaze calmly.

"I meant…" Jean began, moving so that she could sit next to Kitty rather than kneel uncomfortably on the cold dirt and rocky ground. "…it is a problem, that you saved me, because I have no idea how I'm going to repay the favor," she explained, a look of awe and a gentle reassuring smile brightening her exhausted features as she took in Kitty's reaction to her words.

Repay the favor? Kitty thought, biting her bottom lip as another thought answered Jean's statement. I know how you can repay the favor, Jean. You can start by placing those sweet cherry-colored lips on mine. I wouldn't mind if you held me right now either. Hell, to top it off, you can wear that sexy lingerie I bought you… Stop it, Kitty, that's enough! Kitty interrupted her thoughts, jerking into attention at the realization that she was having another 'very' inappropriate thought about Jean. Bad, Kitty! Jean isn't interested. Besides…do you really want Jean to do any of those things after all the shit she said to you? Did you actually forget what you told Jean the other day?

"Kitty, are you ok?" Jean asked with a look of concern, her eyebrows burrowed as she waited for Kitty to return to planet Earth.

With the sound of Jean's voice interrupting her thoughts, Kitty jerked into full attention. "Huh? Oh, right, uh, sorry…I guess I spaced out for a second," she answered with a weak smirk, her eyes looking away from Jean who smiled back.

"Well, I don't doubt that, you must be tired. We've had a long day—especially you," Jean replied with a nod, her expression not revealing whether or not she'd heard what Kitty had been thinking, much to Kitty's relief. "So, I see you got the tent out…" Jean commented as she rose to stand on her wobbly legs.

"Uh, yeah, I tried to dry it out…" Kitty answered, reaching for a couple pieces of wood and skillfully placing them in the fire.

Jean made her way towards the tent, feeling the outside and inside of the tent to discover the tent to be mostly dry. She looked inside it and sighed as she turned to study the area around her as she spoke. "The tent is pretty small. How on earth did you and Stephanie manage to fit in it?"

Kitty turned to look up at Jean, who began to comb her hair with her long, thin fingers, her eyes staring straight ahead. "I don't know…it wasn't really that tight of a fit for the both of us. We usually left half our stuff in that supply tent—so it worked out alright for us," Kitty answered with a shrug before returning her attention to the fire.

"Oh," Jean replied, her arms crossed as a small gust of cold wind left her feeling cold. "Well, I guess it'll work out. We only have your stuff, so I guess it'll work out…" Jean stated positively as she made her towards the warmth of the fire. "Do we have anymore blankets?" she asked as she sat down next to an uncomfortable Kitty. "And what about sleeping bags? Do you have yours?" she added, her hands extending towards the fire in an attempt to warm up her chilled hands.

"I, uh, I think we have two blankets. I used both of them to keep you warm while I was out getting firewood and food…" Kitty responded thoughtfully, pausing for a moment to ponder Jean's next question. "And I'm pretty sure most of my clothes and stuff are dried by now, so we can, I don't know, wrap ourselves up in them?"

"Ok, cool, that should help keep us warm…" Jean commented, watching as Kitty shivered slightly.

"And as for a sleeping bag…I found mine drifting along the shoreline a couple hours back while I was fishing. So I brought it back and hung it on this clothesline I made with the string I found in my backpack. It should be dry now…hopefully…"

"Well, that's great, Kitty," Jean replied lowly, her mind worrying about the chances of the two getting hyperthermia.

Knowing what Jean must have been thinking, Kitty quickly rushed to sooth Jean's worries. "I know it's going to be weird, but…I was thinking…that…" Kitty began, her heart thumping in her chest as she struggled to utter the rest of her sentence while Jean watched the girl curiously. "I was thinking that we could share my sleeping bag—it's big enough to fit us both—but it'll be a tight fit—and I promise to be appropriate and respectful! It's just for one night or until we can get help…" Kitty finished, her stomach tying into little knots as she expected the worst response ever from Jean.

"It's ok, Kitty," Jean began, an uncomfortable smile spreading her lips as she suddenly felt a curious feeling of excitement at the idea of sleeping so close to the girl. "I understand. Besides, it is a one time thing—and we're in a situation where we have to manage…where our very survival counts on it, right?" Jean replied with a question, her eyes capturing Kitty's innocence.

"Right, we'll just have to manage…" Kitty whispered as she to begin to feel the excitement of sleeping so close to Jean, despite the anger she still felt towards the woman.

After the fire was put out, and Kitty's clothes and sleeping bag were dry and placed in the tent, Jean and Kitty entered the tent in silence. Kitty silently unzipped the sleeping bag all the way before slipping inside, lying flat on her back, and waited for Jean to lie next to her.

Ok, not too difficult…oh God, she's a little more than too close for comfort! Kitty mentally complained as she felt Jean press against her.

With the sleeping bag opened wide, Jean grabbed for the two blankets and handed one to Kitty. "Here, Kitty, you wrap yourself up in this blanket and I'll wrap myself up in this one…after that we'll have to huddle close together in order for us to fit in this sleeping bag…" she explained as she watched Kitty grab hold of the blanket.

After the two women wrapped themselves up in the two blankets, they uneasily laid back down next to each other before Jean quickly zipped up the sleeping bag as best as she could. Now laying so close to each other, with Kitty on her side facing one direction, and Jean on her side facing the other direction, the two struggled to get comfortable.

"Cold night," Jean commented, earning her a knowing smile from the now shivering Kitty, who continued to remain silent. "Well, goodnight, Kitty," Jean added, her heart pounding in her chest at the notion of Kitty's close presence. "See you in the morning…"

"Good night..." Kitty responded unsurely, pausing for a moment to try to control her rapidly beating heart and her somewhat unregulated breaths. "Ms. Grey…" Kitty finished, being mindful to call Jean by her desired name and not the name that Kitty was forbidden to use.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, the two women soon found themselves soothed into sleep by the calming sound of the gentle wind against the branches, and the crickets outside their tent, with the occasional hoot from the owl that stood watch over them.