Tripped up
Cody steps on a trip wire and Nick takes him to Joanna's.
Note: The story takes place before the end of the third season.
Cody, Nick in Murray are walking through scrub bush. Cody is in the lead, as usual. Murray is behind him carrying a bunch gear and a big camera. Nick is bringing up the rear. They are all wearing black clothes and Cody a black cap to cover up his sandy blond hair. All three have put army camo paint on their faces. Murray's white tape on his glasses stands out in the dark.
"Isn't this boss guys? I really think this night vision camera with the zoom lens is going to work, " Murray said excitedly.
Cody glances back, "Yeah Boz it is a really a good idea being able take pictures from a distance at night."
"Other than having to tromp through the bush to get to where we want to get at night," Nick gripes as he is swatting at mosquitoes.
Murray points," Look I think I see the house there through the bushes."
As Cody turns to look he takes another step forward. He feels something on his leg. "Shit, Nick, I think I just stepped on something. Maybe a trip wire. Everybody stop."
"Cody what is it?," Nick asks with worriedly.
Cody shifts his weight slightly. There is a swippp sound and Cody grunts.
"Cody! Are you OK?," Nick rushes up to Cody's side. Both Cody and Nick look down at Cody's right side where there is a big dart. Cody looks up at Nick. Cody starts to say something but then he collapses. Nick catches him and gently puts him on the ground. Nick brings Cody's upper body into his arms.
"Cody, Buddy, talk to me." Nick reaches for the dart.
"Stop Nick, let me get a bag for that. We may be able to get a finger print off it." Murray gives him a bag and Nick gently pulls the dart out of Cody's side. Murray risks putting on his headlamp and takes a good look at Cody's side, which looks OK just a slight beading of blood, and then at the dart.
"Hmmm, it looks like tranquilizer dart. I saw these used when I was doing an experiment at a zoo. It was really boss Nick. We were studying gorillas to see if we could figure out how they were using tools, how they decided to use which tool to use for what task. We were hoping that if we could do that we could apply it to our AI research. Wow those Gorilla's what incredible creatures...
"Murray, Murray!"
"What? Oh yeah, sorry Nick."
Nick lets out a breath, "How long did the tranquilizer dart knock the gorillas out for."
"Well it would vary, depending on the amount of the dose and the size of the gorilla. There were also some gorillas that seemed to be really resistant to the drug. I'll tell you it was quite a surprise when one woke up before it was supposed to!, " Murray giggles. "You should have seen the look on...
"Murray! Murray, how long do you think Cody will be out."
Murray pushes up his glasses. "Well Nick, it's tough to say. Cody weighs about 190, but we don't know how much of a dose was in this dart."
"Minutes, hours? What?"
"My best guess Nick would be at least a couple of hours."
Meanwhile a truck is pulling up to the house.
"Nick you take Cody somewhere safe, I'll stay here and take the pictures."
"I'm not leaving you out here on your own!"
"Look, I will hide back in the bushes no one will see me. I have a really good vantage point here. We already triggered the booby trap. I expect they probably have put them spaced out in the area. I'll move forward , find a good spot, then you go. Get Cody out of here before someone comes. If it were me I 'd have an alarm set on the trap so I knew when it was set off. I bet animals set them off all the time. If they don't actually see anyone here they won't look that closely. "
" I don't know Murray. I don't like this."
" I will be stealthy "Nick, I can be stealthy! I'm thin and wiry I can blend into the bush!"
Nick lets out a long breath, looks at Murray then down at Cody in his arms and makes a decision.
"K, go find your position. I'll stay here and watch where you go. Then you stay there. You hear me, you stay there. That way when I come back I can find you."
"OK, OK. Here I go."
Murray creeps carefully and stealthily through the bush. He finds a spot, lifts up the camera. He has a great view of the house and the driveway. He gives Nick a thumbs up. Then moves deeper in the bush and disappears from sight.
"How about that, Cody, you really can't see him in there. C'Mon Buddy, let's get you out of here".
Nick pockets the dart. Carefully lifts Cody up over his shoulders in a fireman carry. Grunts.
"Geez, I think I'm going to have you cut back on the bear claws!"
They make it over to the Jimmy and Nick gently puts Cody into the seat and buckles him in.
"Where to take you, Big Guy, I don't think I want to leave you alone anywhere."
Nick is standing outside a white door, with Cody over his shoulders. He knocks lightly. Waits then knocks a little harder. The outside light comes on. You see a shadow in the eye hole and then hear the sound of the chain lock coming off and the deadbolt opening.
The door opens. Joanna puts her gun down on the side table. She is in a comfortable sleep clothes.
Nick comes into the room.
"What on earth Nick! What happened? Is he OK? Here, put him on the couch."
"No time to explain. He was hit by a trank dart, I'm going to leave the dart here. I have to go, I left Murray, I have to get back to him."
"Nick! What is going on?"
"I need a safe place for Cody, take care of him. I'll be back soon."
"How long is soon?," she shouts at his back as he runs out the door. Joanne watches nick run out to the truck. She closes the door behind her and locks it back up. She shakes her head, grumbling slightly and walks over to the couch.
Cody looks very peaceful. She looks down at him. Gently takes his hat off and pushes his hair off his forehead. Lifts his shirt and looks at his side. She sucks her breath in through her teeth as she imagines how much that dart must have hurt.
"Well Cody, I guess it is just you and me for a while. Let's see if I can get you cleaned up a bit."
Cody is in camo gear, walking through the jungle. There is one other soldier with him. They are moving quietly through the jungle with their guns drawn.
"Almost to the rendezvous point Walker, " Cody whispers.
They are both tired. They got cut off from the others in the group and Cody is anxious. He and Walker are trying to hurry and be careful at the same time. "
"I don't know how we got cut off man. One minute everyone was there, the next, all I see is smoke," Walker says quietly. "I hope they made it back".
"Yeah, me too. Let's find Nick and the chopper."
They continue to move forward. Walker takes a step and they both hear the sound. SNICK.
Walker freezes, "Oh crap man, I just stepped on something." Walker starts to sweat, "Cody what am I going to do?"
"Just stay still. I'll see if I can find a rock or something."
Just then another man comes up through the bush. Walker startles, his weight shifts. BOOOOOM.
Cody shouts, "No!" as he is thrown to the ground. He gets up an runs over to Walker. The top of Walker looks fine. Cody starts to keen and picks up Walker. The other soldier, Colter, is one of theirs and starts to cry." I didn't know he was standing on something I didn't mean to scare him!"
"Help me, help me bring him back to the chopper, he'll be fine."
"Cody, man, he's dead."
"No he can't be he's fine. He's just resting."
Cody screams at the soldier, " Help me!"
"OK, OK man, I'll lead, we'll head back to the chopper."
Cody pulls Walkers body closer to him and they start through the bush. "There! There's the chopper. C'mom Walker hold on we're almost there."
Colter and Cody get to the chopper. Nick had spotted them coming and had fired up the bird. Colter turns to Cody, "Cody put him down."
"No."
Colter calls out to Nick. "Ryder, come down here for a minute."
Nick comes out of the pilot seat and sees Cody holding onto Walker. He turns to Colter , "Is he?"
"Oh yeah man, there is a part of him missing."
"Oh Jesus. Cody c'mon big guy, put him down, so we you can sit down and hold on."
Cody, still holding Walker is shaking his head and rocking back and forth with Walker.
"CODY! Put him down."
Cody looks up at Nick. " He's dead isn't he."
"Yeah, buddy, yeah he is."
"He's dead. He's dead."
"Cody look at me, put him down. " Cody finally lies Walkers body on the floor of the chopper.
Nick gets Cody strapped in. Cody is sitting there and looking at his bloody hands.
Joanna is watching Cody with a worried expression on her face. He is moaning on the couch. She catches a few words like "help me", "no", "he's dead". Cody takes a shuddering breath and it looks like he is trying to wake up.
Joanna starts to talk to him, nonsense mostly, trying to calm him down, reassure him. She holds his hand and strokes his forehead.
"It's OK Cody, I'm right here, your safe, no one's going to hurt you."
Finally he opens his eyes. She realizes that he really isn't fully awake and continues to talk softly to him.
He sits up, looks down at his hands, "He's dead. I tried to save him Nick but I couldn't. " He's sitting on the couch rocking and looking at his hands.
"Cody, Cody, look at me." Cody slowly looks up from his hands and starts to focus. "Joanna?"
He puts his hand to his head, then to his stomach, " I'm gonna be sick."
Joanna quickly grabs a waste basket from beside the couch. Cody empties his stomach.
"Better? ", Joanna asks as she uses a cool cloth to help Cody wipe his face and mouth.
"Yeah, Sorry about that. "
"Think you are going to be sick again?"
"No I think that cleared things out .", he says with sheepish grin. He grimaces a bit and puts his hand to his side. He lifts up his shirt and you can see a bullseye pattern where the dart hit him.
"whoa. Guess that 's why my side hurts!". "How did I get here?"
"Nick brought you."
A sudden remembering fills his face and he tries to jump up off the couch. "I have to get to them and help them."
Joanna pushes him back down on the couch, "Right now you aren't going to be of any use to them. I don't think you can even walk across the room . The best thing you can do is let the drug clear your system a bit more and wait for Nick to come back."
Cody does not look happy but nods his head. "How long have I been here?"
" A couple of hours."
"They were only supposed to be taking pictures. They should be back here by now!"
Just then there is a quiet knock at the door. Joanna grabs her gun off the table, looks through the peep hole and unlocks the door. Nick and Murray rush in.
Nick sees Cody sitting up. Goes over and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"How are you doing big guy? You gave me a bit of a scare".
"I'm good, a little queasy but good".
Murray waves a packet of pictures, "We got the pictures developed at the quick stop store. We got them. It 's all here in the pictures."
A couple of days later Cody is on the deck of the Riptide polishing the railing. He's humming ask he rubs the cloth with the cleaner over the brass. Joanna comes down the gangplank and heads over to the Riptide.
"Permission to come aboard" , she shouts with a smile.
Cody stands up with the cloth in his hand, smiles back, "Granted." He gives her his hand and helps her step onto the boat.
"I wanted to drop by and see how you are doing."
"Thanks so much for taking care of me. I'm feeling fine. Took about a few more hours for the tranquilizer to fully clear my system but Nick put me to bed and I was able to sleep it off."
"How's the side?"
"Good, lots of pretty colours now." He lifts his shirt to show her the bruise, "but it doesn't hurt anymore. The pictures that Murray shot showed the exchange and you could make out the faces. Mr Coulborne is going to jail for a very long time."
" Yeah, I heard. That's good."
Joanna looks away, shuffles her feet a bit.
Cody cocks his head to the side, has a puzzled look on his face, "Is there something else Jo?"
Joanne looks down at the deck, then up into his eyes, " While you were I don't know what to call it, under?, and as you were waking up or tyring to wake up. Oh I don't know how to ask this."
"Well, just spit it out. We're friends, ask me whatever it is you want to ask me."
" I know you were in Nam. I guess I just really never thought about it before. You and Nick and Murray seem unaffected by it . But..." Joanna puts her hand lightly on Cody's arm.
"Cody do you have delayed stress syndrome? There is nothing wrong with that if you do. "
"where is this coming from? Did I say something or..."
"When you were out of it you had some sort of flashback or a nightmare. I was wondering if you are still having them. It was really scary. You didn't recognize me, you were back there in your mind. Do you remember?"
"No, I don't remember but yeah I have nightmares from time to time very occasionally a flashback. I'm not crazy. I do just fine." Cody is looking a bit embarrassed and angry at the same time.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. You know I see this sometimes in some of the guys that I work with and sometimes they don't get help when they need it . I just wanted to make sure that you are OK and let you know that if you need help I can help you get it."
Cody's shoulders relax and he realizes that Joanna isn't judging him, she just want to help.
"Oh Jo, thank you. I think I've told you that when I first got out, Nick stayed in another 6 months. So I came back here and shared an apartment with a guy named Byron. I did a lot of partying, had a nice girlfriend, and was doing all the things I thought that I should be doing. I was OK. I mean I was a little anxious and Byron would tease me about 'securing the perimeter'. I would walk around the apartment building each night then come back to the apartment and make sure all the windows and doors were locked. Drove Byron crazy as I locked him out of the apartment more than once.
Nick got out and we got an apartment together. I don't know if it was because I was with Nick so I knew I could let go or whatever the trigger was, I started having nightmares and flashbacks. I stopped sleeping, starting drinking, a lot of drinking. It got to the point where I hadn't slept in 4 days. Nick locked up all the guns and ammunition and drove me to the VA Hospital. I saw one doctor there and all he wanted to do was put me on pills, I didn't want to do that and I refused to stay there and refused to take the meds. Nick started asking around and found a psychologist at the hospital that was doing a treatment called "CBT". He took me to that Dr. the next day. He came in with me. Man, I look back now and you know, Nick saved my life by finding this guy for me.
"CBT, what's that?"
"It's cognitive behavioural therapy, basically it's mind over matter. The doc was able to teach me to watch for triggers and then how to talk myself through them and also coping strategies to help with the anxiety. It took about a month but I got back to a point where I started to sleep regularly again. That was a big key for me. Physical activity, holds up the rag, like cleaning, playing volleyball, walking the beach and really watching how I am reacting to things. I still have triggers, but as long as recognize them I can pretty much keep ahead of the nightmares. Unless of course I'm sick or I guess drugged.
"I had no idea."
"I'm sorry I scared you. Thank you though for caring enough to come and ask me."
"You just seemed so lost. I was able to talk to you and calm you down and eventually you recognized me and you I don't know came back I guess.
"Nick takes good care of me and helps me. Don't tell him that though, he already has a big enough head!He usually sees that I'm getting anxious even before I see it. Next thing I know he's saying 'lets go play volley ball' and we do and it's better. So the short answer to your question is yeah I have delayed stress syndrome. It will always be there. But I manage it with help from my friends. Friends like you. "
Joanna reaches out and takes his hand, "Thank you Cody, for telling me this."
" I'll tell anyone who asks, but not very many people do. Thank you Jo for being a good friend."
Joanna and Cody stand at the railing for minute and smile at each other. Joanne's radio squawks.
"Duty calls, see you later." She heads up the gangplank and shakes her head. She knew that Cody was a lot more complex than he let people see. She was glad that Cody trusted her with his story. She takes one more quick glance back at Cody, he raises the rag as a mock salute, she smiles and waves back and leaves him in the sunshine.