I don't own Blindspot or any of these amazing characters…
Sorry it's been so long since I posted. I hope everyone is hanging in there. I want to send out well wishes and good health to everyone. Stay safe!
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Attempting to slow down her racing heart Jane took a deep breath, then another… all to no avail. None of her normal coping mechanisms she'd learned over the years was going to help her now. Not after watching Kurt get shot and fall over the edge of one of the tallest waterfalls in the region.
Her eyes turned to her family who all watched on with varying degrees of horror and dismay.
They'd been gathering critical information on Madeline when they'd been ambushed. They unexpected strife had taken them completely off guard. The thought of getting killed by something other than Madeline was almost too surreal to comprehend.
Jane had been exposed and she knew she should have been the one wounded. Kurt had shielded her…had he died for her? Her frozen muscles sprang to life. There was only one way to find out…
"Jane!" Tasha knew that look.
She didn't wait or think twice, as her body hit the ice cold water she ignored the bullets still hitting the water beside her and swam with strong sure strokes toward the waterfall. Her life or her death was down there, either way he wasn't leaving her behind.
Rich watched her disappear over the edge of the falls before turning to Patterson in mute horror.
"Did she just...?" He whispered hoarsely.
"We aren't going to know what happened until we figure out a way to stop this ambush," Patterson was remarkably calm. So calm it was freaking him out.
"Are you…" Rich began to ask if she was okay. He never got to finish.
Patterson suddenly stood up and began shooting at something he couldn't see. The resulting explosion ended the battle abruptly.
When she looked down at Rich he was watching her with an astonished expression.
"Let's go." She told him heading toward the cliff overlooking the waterfall.
Reade and Tasha passed him at a run.
He didn't waste any more time. What the hell just happened?
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Kurt was thankful he'd only been a breath away from Jane when the shooting started. Even as he acknowledged it had kept her alive he winced at the pain in his shoulder. He remembered getting shot, but the shock of the cold water had overridden even that pain. By the time he'd gotten his bearings there had been no avoiding the falls. His eyes had locked on Jane's the moment before he'd gone over and the devastation on her face would haunt him. He'd fallen for endless moments before the impact of the water beneath him had taken his breath away.
Sinking to the bottom of the pool he knew he'd been lucky. There were countless jagged rocks that by some miracle he'd avoided hitting. Struggling back to the surface he immerged to hear the sound of the battle still raging above him. He needed to get back up there. Looking up he considered what the fastest route might be. He made it to the side of the pool when he saw her come over the edge.
Where he'd fallen backward into the pool it appeared that she came down like she was competing for the Olympics. She entered the pond with barely a splash and his heart stopped as he waited for her to surface. He was already heading back into the water when she finally did. Their eyes met and time seemed suspended. Then her eyes fluttered down to his bloody shirt and she closed the distance between them with fast sure strokes.
"How bad are you hit?" She worried. Her voice was no nonsense, but her hand shook as she reached for the edge of his shirt.
"You could have hit the rocks on the way down!" He yelled.
"Kurt…" Jane knew he was upset that she'd taken such a risk, but he could yell at her all he wanted after she assessed his injuries.
Kurt couldn't stop looking down at her as she pulled his shirt away from his wound and saw that it wasn't fatal.
"Is the bullet still in there?" She asked him.
"Yeah," He admitted.
Her eyes closed.
Suddenly there was a loud explosion above them. Kurt jerked as he pulled Jane against him protectively, "We need to get out of the open."
Jane didn't argue. They headed for the tree line without another word.
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"Are they dead?" Rich demanded as he joined the others at the edge.
When nobody answered he looked down for himself.
"Where are they?" He worried.
"Hopefully," Tasha answered him, "Not at the bottom of that pond."
"Let's go," Reade began climbing down with the others following closely behind.
"There has to be a better way," Rich suggested as they inched down the jagged rocks with painful slowness.
"You could have gone the same way Jane and Kurt went," Tasha told him with tone.
Looking down at the jagged projectiles and frothing water he denied, "No thanks."
"Then stop complaining," She warned him.
Rich knew that his coping technique was going to get on everyone's nerves so he tried to stop…
"We just looked over the falls like…less than a minute before, how could she knowingly go over them?" He demanded to no one in particular.
"Kurt went over first," Reade reminded him as though that explained everything and Rich had to silently acknowledge it did.
"Did anyone see how badly he was wounded?" Rich worried.
"Rich," Patterson pleaded.
"I know," Rich admitted, "I just wondered if anyone got a good look at his injury before…you know…he fell."
"It happened too fast," Reade denied.
"But he was alive when he went over…right?" Rich pressed.
"If you want to make it down this cliff," Tasha abruptly warned him, "You need to be quiet."
"Yes, he was alive," Patterson insisted, "Rich, shut up."
"Shutting up," Rich immediately agreed.
It lasted for about twenty seconds before he asked them, "Jane wasn't hit was she?"
"I don't think so," Reade said shooting him a glare.
"Wasn't hit," Rich nodded, "That's good."
They arrived at the bottom of the falls, covered in dirt, hands scraped and breathless.
"So do we check the pond or the woods?" Reade looked over to Patterson.
"The woods," She insisted, "If they're still in the water we won't be able to help them. It took too long to get down here."
"We should check the pond!" Rich protested, "The water is cold…really cold. We might still be able to revive them."
Rich actually took a step toward the water when Patterson drew his attention, "There!"
He looked to where she was pointing. He could see than the shore was disrupted and there were broken branches heading into the forest.
"They must have made it out!" Rich said in laughing relief.
"One of them anyway," Reade agreed.
"Oh, please," Rich scoffed, "Either they both made it or neither of them did. Both of them would die before leaving the other."
"He's right," Tasha agreed hurrying after Patterson.
"He's…right?" Rich repeated in astonishment following after Tasha. Had he died? He'd never thought to ever hear those words from what's her name.
"Come on," Reade looked over at Rich in exasperation.
Rich followed for once falling silent.
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"It's awfully quiet," Kurt worried looking down at Jane as she worked on his wound.
"Let me get the bullet out and you fixed up," Jane insisted, "Then I'll climb back up to check on the others."
"We'll go," Kurt denied, "Together."
Jane wasn't going to argue with him. He wouldn't be able to keep up with her climbing skills and she wasn't going to wait on him. He could believe whatever he wanted.
Kurt wasn't fooled by her silence.
Jane knew how worried Kurt was about the others and this was the first time she'd ever left any of her team behind, but she couldn't think about that now. Her entire and complete focus was on Kurt. Until she got the bullet out and stemmed the flow of blood everything else would have to wait.
Kurt could easily see the conflict in his wife. He knew her heart and he knew it was breaking at having made the choice to save him over the rest of their family.
"Just patch it," Kurt urged her, "Then we can get back to the others."
Jane heard him, but she knew if she went back there was a chance she wouldn't be coming back. She wasn't leaving him like this.
"It won't take long," Jane insisted.
He let her have her way. When she placed a leather strip into his mouth their eyes met and he nodded at her to continue. She hated the pain she knew she was about to cause him, but they were miles from any type of medical facility and even if they weren't they couldn't go there without Madeline being alerted. She had the field training she needed to fix his shoulder and she would.
Kurt closed his eyes at the agony that rippled through him as she searched the wound for the bullet. When he heard that her breath was unsteady his eyes shot open and he realized that as painful physically as this was for him, this was emotional devastation for her. As their eyes met he gave her what strength he had to finish what she started.
The single tear that rolled down her cheek mesmerized him and suddenly the pain seemed to lessen. His entire focus was on her. The sun broke through the leaves and highlighted the dark streaks in her wet hair. Her clear complexion seemed pale even for her and her stunning eyes were glued to his wound as she treated him.
Once the projectile was removed she began to stitch his shoulder in neat and clean stitches before reaching for the bandage in her water tight fanny pack.
"I need to give you a shot," She warned him.
"Do it," He encouraged her.
Seeing the loving way he was watching her allowed Jane to draw her first full breath of air since he'd shielded her. He was going to be okay…
As she readied the needle a branch broke somewhere nearby.
Kurt was reaching for her even as she turned toward the sound.
Patterson halted as she saw Jane kneeling next to Kurt with her gun drawn.
"You're alive!" Patterson laughed with relief.
Jane's gun drooped before she let it fall away.
"Where are the rebels?" Jane worried.
"Patterson killed them all," Rich piped up as he joined the others and crowded around their missing family.
"Good to know," Jane turned back to finish injecting Kurt with the antibiotic.
"You weren't hit?" Tasha worried looking Jane over.
"What?" Kurt's eyes flew to Jane's.
"No," She reassured both of them.
"You should have seen her," Rich told Kurt, his voice gleeful, "She was like Tarzan…okay I know I should say Jane, but the way she swam toward the waterfall with bullets hitting the water all around her. You should have seen it!"
"That's enough Rich," Patterson warned him, seeing how upset Kurt was getting.
"Oh," Rich looked at Kurt, "You looked great too." He hastily reassured him.
Reade and Tasha shared an exasperated look.
As Jane helped Kurt to his feet his good arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her against him gently.
"I'm sorry I scared you," He whispered as he kissed her forehead.
Jane's eyes closed.
"I love you," She leaned back and met his eyes.
"I love you, too," He assured her as their lips met.
"Awww…." Rich said gleefully. "Jane, if I had gone over the falls…"
"You'd have been on your own," Jane assured him.
"You don't mean that!" Rich protested in outrage.
"Want to test it?" Tasha offered looking back up at the top of the falls.
"Not funny," Rich told her.
Reade was smiling.
As they continued on their way Rich glared at Tasha's back as he asked Jane, "So would you have?"
Jane squeezed Kurt gently and turned to Rich, "Sure Rich."
"I knew it!" His good mood was restored, "See she would have!"
Tasha looked over and met Jane's eyes, "Sure Rich…my mistake."
Kurt reached for Jane's hand as they followed after their family. They were living in a nightmare, but he wouldn't want to go through it with anyone else.
