The night seemed to drag on forever, and Rey felt almost like a robot as she continued to march along behind Dominguez. She kept her eyes shut; it was so dark she couldn't see much, but her eyes kept trying to focus on things, and that only made her head throb even more, so she just kept them closed. Her grip on the pack on Dominguez' back was strong, but a couple of times she felt her fingers slip, exhaustion and pain causing her to become disoriented. Both times, Dominguez stopped, turning toward her in the dark. He handed her a canteen and she drank as much as she could, then he stood quietly, as if waiting for her to decide when she was ready to continue on. He never spoke, but at her nod he helped place her hands back on the pack, and they continued on.

The third time her hands slipped, she almost stumbled and fell. He turned sharply and caught her elbows. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see grey light and the dark shape of the man in front of her; dawn was coming. She took a deep breath as he let go of her and once more handed her the canteen. She worried she was drinking all of his water, but she watched as he slipped out of the pack, placed it on the ground, then squatted down and pulled out another flask, taking a deep drink from it. He removed the goggles and shoved them in the pack, then looked up at her.

He nodded toward the bottle in her hand. "Finish that," he told her. "We'll be able to get more soon."

As weak and pained as she was, she once more took note of the lack of accent in his voice. Or rather, the flat, mid-western American accent he spoke with, which was very different from the Spanish accent she had expected. She finished the water in the canteen and handed it back to him, watching as he placed it in the pack and closed it up. He stood and pulled the pack back on, looking at her as he did so. "Are you good, Sister?" His voice was quiet but easily audible over the growing cacophony of the jungle waking up around them.

"Depends on what your definition of 'good' is," she quipped, then winced as a sharp pain stabbed her in the right temple.

He snorted. "I'd say that's a 'yes'," he told her. "At least for what I mean." He nodded to the side. "You don't need to hold on to my pack anymore, right?"

Rey sighed and looked around her. It was getting lighter and lighter out. "No."

He nodded, and without another word turned and continued to march off into the jungle. With another sigh, she followed.

It was several minutes before she spoke again, rubbing her right temple as she did so, trying to find a pressure point to help ease the stabbing feeling if only for a few seconds. "Where are we going?"

He glanced back at her, noticing her action. "What's wrong?" he asked as he stopped.

"Nothing!" Immediate denial. It was automatic.

He turned to face her again, his head tilting to one side. "Sister?" There was a threat in his voice, but she felt no fear.

"I have a migraine," she admitted. "I get them. It is what it is."

"Medicine?"

"Back at the village, obviously." Despite her agony, she couldn't stop the sarcasm. Again, it was automatic.

He clenched his jaw and looked off into the jungle. "I'm sure you realize by now that if they catch us, they'll kill us."

She was surprised by his honesty, but pleased by it as well. "Then why are we standing here?"

She saw the corner of his mouth lift, and not for the first time found herself staring at his full lips, easily visible despite the beard. He nodded, then turned and started walking. She followed, swallowing down a surge of bile in her throat; her migraines rarely led to vomiting, but this one was a doozy, and her constant movement wasn't helping.

"To answer your question," she heard him say as they walked. "I'm taking you to a place where we can lie low for a while, safe and hidden." He paused. "You can rest there."

Rest. While that should have sounded wonderful, the migraine that throbbed through her told her rest would be impossible. All she could do was keep going, one step in front of the next, eyes on the ground so they didn't have to focus on too much, her hand coming up every once in a while to rub her neck or put pressure on her temple. It wasn't the first time she had had to push through one of these, and it wouldn't be that last; it was her cross to bear, one she had been burdened with since she was a child. She was aware of the concerned glances her captor/rescuer gave her, and while she refused to acknowledge them, she felt tears seep from her eyes nonetheless.

He stopped one more time just as the sun started to penetrate the canopy, letting her take a break behind a tree, then giving her more water. She hadn't really needed the break; she was sweating out all of the water she had drunk, both due to the growing heat of the day and the fever she knew her body was producing due to the migraine. She made eye contact with Dominguez briefly as she handed the canteen back to him and winced at the frown he was giving her. She knew she must look horrible. Pale, sweating, her right eye probably drooping and red, her head cocked at an angle as she tried to keep her neck stretched out. She took a deep breath and looked back at him steadily.

His brown eyes were amazingly gentle as they assessed her, so very different than the way they had looked back at the schoolhouse, than the way they had looked when he killed Teedo. He continued to stare at her for a while, then nodded sharply and turned again. She followed without hesitation.

The sun was fairly high in the sky when they came to a clearing bordered on two sides by a large natural rock wall. In the center was a small body of water, and Dominguez went right to it, immediately removing his pack and bringing out two empty water containers to refill. She walked up to stand beside him as he squatted next to the water, watching carefully. He was obviously very familiar with the area, and that comforted her a great deal. The jungle didn't feel half as scary now.

He glanced up at her as he filled the canteens. "It's a spring, comes out of the ground right here, so the water is clean," he told her. "One of the few left out here that's safe to drink without using purifying tablets."

She nodded and looked around her. It was a beautiful spot, and she knew from experience it was probably an area where a great deal of the local wildlife gathered to eat and drink. When she looked back down at her companion it was to find him staring up at her, a questioning look on his face. "What?" she asked sharply.

"Can you climb a tree?"

She stared at him for a long time, wondering if her migraine was making her hallucinate. Did he really just ask her if she could climb a tree?

He stood from his squat, bringing the pack up and throwing it back onto his shoulders. She tried not to focus too much on the way the muscles in his bared forearms tightened and flexed as he settled the pack. She really was going crazy, wasn't she? "Uhmmm," she managed to utter as he continued to look at her expectantly.

She swore she saw a glint in his eye as he motioned toward a tall tree that sat between the spring and the rock wall. "Do you think you can climb that?" he asked again.

She looked up at the tree, furrowing her brow and then immediately rubbing her right one as the action intensified the pain there. "I can climb trees…" she started.

"That skirt won't help," he muttered.

Rey looked down at her long blue skirt. It and the white sleeveless blouse she was wearing over the blue camisole were modest and appropriate for working in a Catholic school, but they were dirty and sweaty and not made for hiking through a jungle. Or for climbing trees. With an exasperated sigh, she gathered up the skirt, bunching up the back and then bringing the front of it through her legs, pulling it up over her butt and bringing the ends around her waist, tying them together over her belly. She looked at him, a bit shocked to see a grin on his face. "Girding your loins, Sister?" he said, the laugh lines by his eyes prominent and fascinating.

"Whatever works," she told him.

He nodded and motioned with his head to follow him. She watched as he began to climb the tree, pulling himself up from branch to branch. She followed, a bit more cautiously. While pulling her skirt out of the way gave her more maneuverability, it also left her legs bare to be scratched up by the bark of the tree. She looked up after every branch, wondering what exactly this effort was for; were they going to sleep in the tree?

Suddenly, she realized Dominguez had reached a branch that allowed him to step lightly over to a small ledge in the rock wall. He moved along the ledge a bit, and as Rey got closer, she noticed it wasn't just a small ledge, it was an actual trail that led up the side of the cliff. She reached the branch and carefully stepped over to the bench in the rock. Dominguez grabbed her hand and helped support her; the ledge was narrow, but not impossibly so. When he was sure she was secure, he turned and continued walking up the path. She followed, in awe of the situation she had found herself in.

The path they walked along passed a small alcove in the rock. Dominguez stopped and motioned to it. "Bathroom," he told her. He continued up the path a short way, and Rey's awe grew as they entered a large cavern. It wasn't completely enclosed, with several holes of various sizes in the rock wall to her right, the outer wall. The holes allowed light to filter in, but the cave was still cool and sheltered. "We'll be safe here," Dominguez told her. She noticed several boxes along the internal wall, and near the openings on the other side were stacked several blankets and sleeping pallets.

Dropping his pack, Dominguez set out spreading one of the padded pallets on the ground and added a couple of blankets to it. "You will still need to be quiet; people down below by the spring can hear conversation up here. And we won't be able to have a fire, but I do have a cookstove, so when you're ready, we can eat more than jerky." He motioned toward the 'bed.' "You can rest here." He moved back to his pack. "Are you allergic to any medication?"

Rey had walked over to the bed and kneeled on it, still a bit shocked by the events of the past few minutes. A secret cave. He had brought her to his secret cave in the jungle. "What?" she responded a bit late.

"I have a Percocet," he told her. "I know pain meds aren't always the best option for migraines, but it should help you sleep." He pulled a pill vial out of his pack, then brought it over to her with a canteen and some jerky. "I'm not sure what the expiration date is, but it should still be good."

She took the vial, the food and the water. She opened the small vial and let the single tablet drop into her palm. He had walked back over to his pack, grabbing another sleeping mat and spreading it out close to the entrance. She popped the pill, swallowing the water gratefully along with it. She knew he was right and the opioid wouldn't do much for her migraine, but she was desperate, and if she could sleep until it was over… "Why do you have only one?" she asked suddenly.

He opened his mouth, but then hesitated. He looked at her, as if debating about how to answer. Finally, he told her, "I was addicted. Almost a year ago." He took a deep breath and sat on the mat, removing his holster as he did so. "I carried that around as a sort of talisman, a reminder that I was stronger than it."

She stared at him, her awe extending to him, now. A drug lord's son addicted to opioids, and breaking away from the addiction on his own? Who was this man? And why was he doing this for her? So many questions ran through her burning brain, making it hurt even more. She ate the jerky automatically, knowing the drug she had ingested would upset her stomach if it remained empty. Soon, she felt her eyes droop.

"Sleep, Sister," she heard him say from across the cave, his voice soothing. "You're safe here. I promise."

She believed him. And she slept.

XXXXXX

A/N: Guess what tomorrow is? Star Wars Day! It also means the Damerey May the 4th Mix 'n Match Fanfiction Challenge is taking place and I wrote my first Star Wars challenge Fic! So, look for The Doodle Dilemma, my little Modern AU one-shot, sometime tomorrow! Thanks for reading!