A/N: Special thanks to my most consistent reviewers. I love hearing what you have to say. This chapter continues upon the angst of the previous but also moves our plot along. I hope you read, review, and enjoy. And if you don't, tell me that, too!

Chapter 14

When she arrived back in the room a little over an hour later, he was still asleep. The sun was setting, and she was getting hungry. She sat on the bed and softly ran her fingers through his hair in a half-hearted attempt to wake him. Although, if he still needed the sleep, she wanted to leave him alone.

"Auggie?" she spoke his name just above a whisper. "Are you hungry?"

He stretched his arms to his sides and blinked a couple of times. "Where am I?" he asked. He was waking from a sighted dream, and that often left him disoriented for a moment.

"With me. In Costa Rica. In our room."

"Yeah," he remembered, his hands reaching for her. "And I was being a bit of an ass."

"You?" she asked with sarcastic surprise.

"I know. Shocking, right? But I am sorry." His hand found hers. "Let's not talk about work anymore until we get back."

"Okay, but then we do need to talk about it."

He nodded. "We will, but not on vacation." He sat up. "I'm actually not feeling so great. Why don't you grab some dinner without me?"

She felt his forehead. "Are you getting sick? You do look a little pale."

"Just a little headache, but I don't want it to get worse. I'll just take some meds and hang out here and be good as new in the morning."

"You sure?"

"I am."

"Can I bring you anything?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm sorry to send you off to dinner alone, but I think the smell of food might do me in until this one passes."

She reached down and kissed him. "Do you have everything or know where it is at least?"

"I think so. If not, you'll be back in an hour or so."

"True," she smiled as she placed a bottle of water and his pills in his hand. "Feel better."

"Oh, I intend to."

He was sleeping when she returned, so she quietly changed and fell into bed beside him. Just before dawn, though, his thrashing and moaning woke her. Instinctively, her hand reached for him but pulled back in surprise at the scalding temperature of his skin.

"Oh, God. Auggie." She jumped up and turned on the lights. His previously pale skin was now flushed red. He twisted uncomfortably in the bed. She could see that although he was squeezing his eyes tightly shut, he was awake, if not coherent. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"It hurts," was all he moaned in reply.

"Where, Love? Head? Stomach? Somewhere else?"

"Head. All over. 10." He tried not to move, but spasms of pain wracked his body.

She scoured the recesses of her mind for all her knowledge of medicine, tropical and otherwise. "Malaria?" she asked aloud. The fever fit. They were in an endemic area.

"Dengue," he managed. "Nothing else like it."

"Fucking mosquitoes," Annie mumbled as she took stock of their supplies and quickly looked up the symptoms and treatment on her phone. "Shit. Although the treatment is supportive, this says you can get a lot sicker before you start feeling better. We're going to need an evac."

"Thanks. No jungle medicine. Not an op."

"You probably shouldn't take more ibuprofen, but you can take some Tylenol."

"So cold, then hot. And thirsty," he managed.

She grabbed a cool bottle of water and two pills. He swallowed them as he took small sips of the water. "We need more than this. Gatorade at the very least." In the bathroom, she grabbed a couple of towels and doused them in cool water. After placing them around his head and face, she dug again in her bag and found two packets of oral rehydration solution and added them to the remaining water bottles. She glanced at the clock. Four am here made it about 7 am in the District. She made the call to explain their situation before she climbed back in bed with him and tried to sleep until the reply came.

She woke again about two hours later as the sun was coming up. Auggie's fever wasn't any less, even with the Tylenol and cool compresses. The flush of his skin had now given way to what appeared to be an at least partly petechial rash. She pressed against his burning skin; the spots did not disappear, confirming her fear. His platelets and likely red blood cell levels were dropping, putting him at risk for hemorrhagic fever and shock. He needed medical attention now.

As she stood to grab her own phone, someone knocked on the door. Knowing it was far too early for the maid, she wasn't quite sure who it could be. She opened the door and stepped back in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" she asked the man standing in front of her.

"Arthur sent me," Ben Mercer answered. "More specifically, he called to see if I was still in the area, and I was. For the most part."

"Arthur doesn't work for the CIA anymore," she sputtered, still surprised that he had materialized in front of her. They hadn't spoken Ben's name in months before Auggie brought him up the night before. She hadn't seen him since his elopement from Bethesda nearly four years earlier.

"I don't always, either." He motioned toward Auggie on the bed. "I figured he would have explained what it's like working for Arthur by now." He shrugged. "Never mind."

"Can you get us out of here?"

"Yeah. I have a plane waiting and a doctor on his way. Where do you want to go?"

"Chicago," Auggie answered quietly from the bed.

"Okay. Arthur said wherever you want." He turned to Annie. "Get your stuff together and check out while I take care of him." Ben set his bag on the floor and opened it, pulling out supplies to start an IV and infusion of fluids. When Annie left the room, he shook his head, standing over Auggie. "Not sure we're going to find a vein here, Buddy. You're kind of in shit shape."

"I'm aware." Auggie sighed. "Just look."

"Yeah, okay." Ben shut up and went to work, eventually finding a suitable IV site and getting the drip going by the time Annie got back.

"I told them Auggie was sick and that we'd be leaving with you. They offered to call the local doctor. I had to convince them not to."

"When was the last time he had Tylenol?" Ben asked, ignoring the rest of her story.

"About 4 hours ago."

"Okay. I'm going to give him some through the IV. It doesn't do much more for fever, but it's pretty good for pain. I'd like to try to get him more comfortable before we try to move him. My guy is bringing a cot we can take him out on, but still, it's gonna be a bit of a jostle to get where we're going."

"Gonna throw up," Auggie called from the bed. Ben pulled a basin from his bag and thrust it into the other man's hands just in time.

"I've got something for that, too," he told Annie as he injected two separate syringes into Auggie's IV line. Right after he finished this, another knock came at the door. Annie opened it and found a dark-haired man in his 40's, also carrying a large bag. Ben looked up. "Come in." He turned to Annie. "This is Dr. Jack Carson. He's been working with me for a while."

The doctor said a brief hello before he headed toward the bed and Auggie. Ben outlined the treatment he'd already started, and they prepared to move their patient to the cot to bring him to the truck waiting below. Over the course of the time it took them to get ready to go, Annie noticed that Auggie had relaxed slightly. His breathing and heart rate had slowed as his fever decreased slightly and his pain subsided substantially.

She leaned close to him. "They have a stretcher thing to carry you out. Are you okay with that?" He nodded, totally spent from the happenings of the morning. "They're taking the bags down now and will be right back up."

"Sorry," he whispered.

"Shhh," she quieted him. "Rest now. We'll be home soon," she assured him as she reached for her phone to call both the Campbells and the Andersons.

Ben and Jack arrived back in the room with the cot. Auggie expended what little energy he had remaining helping them move him from the bed. They carried him down the steps and to the truck. Annie came behind with the concierge and proprietor running after her, expressing their concern. Annie thanked them but assured him that Auggie would be fine and that his sickness was not contagious as she watched the others load him into truck. She hoped she was telling them the truth.

On the plane, Dr. Carson busied himself checking Auggie's fluids and vital signs. Annie sat backwards in her seat watching with considerable concern. Ben reached over about an hour into the flight and touched her hand.

"He's going to be okay, Annie." He tried to reassure her. "Even with complications, people who are treated appropriately get well with no ongoing problems." He nodded toward the doctor. "Jack and I both had it last year, and we're as good as new."

She moved her hand from under his touch. "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you were strictly Africa and Asia."

"They've filled books with things you don't know," he quipped with a raise of his eyebrows.

"I'm assuming that's your way of saying not everyone needs to know where you are at any given moment." She shrugged. "At least they don't think you're rogue anymore. Wait, do they?"

Ben laughed. "Not completely. Things got a little dicey when Arthur left. I always worked for him – not Henry, so I had to keep it under the radar for a while, just like I'm guessing you guys did to. But I'm good at disappearing." He picked at his thumbnail as though he was deciding whether or not to tell her more before he continued. "I came over here to help out in Colombia. Wasn't sure what I could do, but I've been here on and off with Teo for the past two years or so."

Annie shook her head. "Wait. You know Teo?"

"You think Arthur stopped watching out for him when Auggie was no longer available?"

"But you and Auggie haven't worked together. Have you?"

Ben shook his head. "He covered Europe and Central and South America and I was Asia and Africa. We didn't ever have to meet face to face, but I knew Arthur had other people in play."

"Did you know Helen? Do you know her?"

Ben nodded. "There aren't a lot of us left from the original crew, but we've crossed paths a few times over the years."

"Recently?"

"I don't think we should talk about it."

"So yes." Ben looked away. "Did Auggie know she was still alive? Did you tell him the last time we were together?"

"When would I have told him? I wasn't ever alone with him. Plus, he wasn't thinking about Helen when you were around."

"Well, anyway. Thanks for coming."

"Arthur said you needed help."

"Auggie needed help," she clarified.

He lowered his voice. "I didn't come for Auggie."

She realized she wasn't wearing the engagement ring. She reached for her bag and retrieved it from the front pocket. "You haven't seen this yet, so I'll let that slide." She slipped the ring onto her finger.

"I've heard it doesn't usually go well when he starts handing out rings."

"Well, you've left me two too many times to have a say in that."

"I am who I am, Annie. So you're right. I have no say, other than hoping that you'll be happy."

"Thanks, Ben. I appreciate that." She hoped he meant it.

The sat in silence for the rest of the trip with Annie occasionally making her way back to Auggie's bed to check on him. Most times she found him sleeping or in too much pain to do anything more than tolerate her hand on his briefly. They had no way of analyzing his blood yet or of giving him a transfusion even if he did need it. That would have to wait until they landed. Annie prayed that Dr. Hamilton had been able to get a team together to meet him at the airport.

When they landed less than 12 hours after she first discovered Auggie in his feverish state, she wasn't feeling so great herself. A sigh of relief escaped her when she saw Brendan, Dana, Jim and Gwen waiting with an ambulance on the tarmac. After the medical staff boarded the plane to tend to Auggie, she made her way down the steps with their things. Brendan rushed forward to help her.

"They say he'll be okay, just out of commission for a couple of weeks," were her first words of assurance to him as he slung the two bags over his shoulders.

"That's good, but how are you?" He asked as they covered the distance between the plane and his family.

"Really glad to see you."

TBC