A/N: In the draft, two items that Turner listed off were a fax machine (which Mom laughed at, because the office I work in has gone thru two or three of them in the time I've worked there) and paper clips (don't mind me, that's what I was looking at, at the time).

"Otoscope... ophthalmoscope..."

He shouldn't have found an inventory of medical items one would probably find in a field kit relaxing, Wolfman reflected as he read the book he'd switched to when last week's news got tiresome, but if it meant Turner wasn't going to wake up in a panic again, he'd take it.

"Sutures... replacement scalpel blades..."

At that, Wolfman frowned up at the sleeping corpsman. Why would he need replacements?

"Sterile silk... scissors..."

"What is he talking about?" Mav's sleep-clouded and vaguely hoarse voice asks, and Wolfman looked to find that Mav was staring at the underside of the top bunk, tired and confused.

"Sutures... tourniquets... trauma shears..."

Wolfman put the book down and moved the chair a bit closer. "You awake?"

"That, or I'm dreaming about a medical inventory." Mav frowned and met his gaze. "Wolf?"

"Yeah?"

"Who am I laying on?" Maverick turned his head and answered his own question. "Oh."

"You were having frequent nightmares," Wolfman explained, and Mav nodded in response.

"I know."

"Morphine... sulfa packets..."

Mav sat up slowly and looked back over his shoulder at Ice, still sleeping against the wall, with a puzzled frown. "It's kind of the last thing I'd expect from him."

"What is?"

"To do something Goose did a lot of when I needed it," Mav admitted, voice heavy with emotion. He still sounded tired, but he was awake. That had to count for something.

Wolfman was about to stand and wake the medic who was still counting off medical items when a hitching cry filled the air between them and Mav's eyes went wide. They stared at each other for long moments before the cry came again, which was followed by mumbling from... was that Slider, now?

Mav slid off the bunk to his feet and nearly fell over. "Woah."

Wolfman caught him, helped him to stand. "I got you." The hitching, hiccupping cry came again, and Mav tried to move, but Wolfman held him firm. "Words, Mav."

"Dizzy. Help me over there?"

Wolfman looked up at Slider, then nodded. "I'm not surprised. Should you even be standing right now?" Mav tried breaking his grip, and Wolfman got the message and helped him the short distance to the other bunk, only pausing at the realization that Merlin was watching them curiously from below.

Mav reached up and shook Slider's arm. When that didn't work, he jostled him a bit harder and then Slider came awake with a shout on his lips, panting as if he'd run a marathon, and Wolfman had to pull them both back when he swung at their heads.

Slider stared at them both as Wolfman quietly demonstrated controlled breathing and he followed his lead, and when he'd calmed enough to talk, he lifted his head and really looked at Maverick. "What are you doing up, Mav?"

"My turn," Mav said, voice firm and nudged Wolfman to get closer. Then he reached up again and pulled at Slider's arm.

Slider studied him, noting the glassy eyes and unsteadiness, and how insistent he was with the tugging on his arm. "For what?"

"Ron?" Merlin's voice came from below, startling him. "If he's trying to do what I think he is, then you should get down and let him."

"Why?"

"Because he's on his feet, however bad he might feel at the moment. For you."

Slider took that in, and then motioned for Wolfman to back up and take Maverick with him. Then he got down off of his bunk, and shared a look with Merlin. "For me, huh?" Merlin smiled and nodded, and Slider turned back to the other two, only to be surprised when Maverick broke Wolfman's grip and launched himself uncharacteristically at him. To say he was startled by the shorter, smaller pilot hugging him was an understatement. "Oh."

"You were crying," a tired, muffled voice said from his chest. Slider looked at Wolfman as he returned the hug, realizing the effort this must have taken, nodded to Ice's open bunk. "You were having a nightmare. My turn."

"Yes, Mav," Slider said slowly. "Your turn. Thank you. How about we sit down, huh?"

"No," Mav said. "Don't wanna."

"All right. Wolf, bring the bag from the infirmary over here please. I think they gave us a thermometer."

"Don't want that either," Mav said firmly.

Slider turned them slightly to look at Merlin. "Is this standard with any kind of fever for him?"

"Depends on if someone else was having trouble sleeping," Merlin said with a slight smile. "And he's come a long, long way." Slider frowned, and Merlin shook his head. "Later. Deal with your barnacle now."

"Am not," Mav protested. "It was my turn."

"Yes, Pete," Merlin told him sincerely. "Your turn. Can you take Ron over to that empty bunk? He looks like he needs to sit down. You should join him."

Slider blinked, startled at how quickly the reverse psychology worked, and briefly considered naming his first born, if he were ever to have kids, after his fellow RIO.

Wolfman had set the requested bag on the chair and was going thru it with a curious frown when he finally found the thermometer and also... "Ibuprofen?" He glanced up at the sleeping Corpsman, who had moved on to various kinds of scissors, and frowned slightly. "Actually, I think we do need this. Should I wake him and ask?"

"Give me thermometer first, then we'll decide," Slider said as he finally got Mav to sit down with him. "Mav, you mind if we take your temp? You're still warm." Mav shook head and curled into Slider's side. "All right, then. Wolf? Thank you." He regarded the smaller pilot for a minute, then glanced at both of them as he took the thermometer out of it's cover and shook it twice. "Of all the things I thought I'd be doing today, this wasn't one of them."

"Gaining a barnacle-like pilot that's slept most of the day, or taking his temperature?" Merlin asked humorously as he sat up.

"Both." Movement caught his eye and Slider glanced over to find that Ice was starting to twitch and mumble in his sleep. "Wolf?"

"What?" Wolfman looked at him, then followed his line of sight and frowned. "Oh. Want me to wake him?"

Slider studied Ice for long moments before shifting his gaze downward to the pilot in his grasp who hadn't noticed yet, and then put the thermometer in Mav's mouth. "Under your tongue, Mav. Sam?"

Merlin nodded and moved to go over and sit on the bunk next to Ice, dragging him into his arms. Miraculously, he settled down to just mumbling, and Merlin frowned. "Twenty more seconds?"

Slider sighed. Of course Tom was dreaming about the training accident. Didn't surprise him in the slightest. They waited, and then Slider took the thermometer back and studied it. "99.7... low grade. Yeah, I think we should give him the Ibuprofen now and tell Turner about it later. I'm surprised he didn't, when we got back here."

"Don't want it," Mav mumbled into Slider's side as Wolfman counted out two of the tablets and went to get the cup and fill it with more 7-Up. Slider frowned down at him, looked at Merlin, who shrugged. "Don't want meds."

Wolfman frowned at that. "Why not?"

"Don't want it," Mav said again. "Not sick. Not going to hospital again. Can't make me."

"Oh boy," Merlin breathed. "Mav, do you have a headache? Even a little bit?"

"Yes."

"And are you dizzy?"

"Yes."

"Then you should take the medicine, all right? Nick would want you to. We are not going to make you go to medical." Merlin caught Slider's concerned frown and put a finger to his lips. Slider nodded and watched as Wolfman brought the two pills and the glass, and handed those to Mav, who took both and chased the pills with the fluids. "Good."

Wolfman took the glass and froze as he heard, rather than saw, Ice wake behind him with a muttered "ten more seconds." "Sam?"

"He's awake," Merlin said, tone soothing. "Tom?"

Ice blinked the sleep out of his eyes, and looked down, then at Merlin in confusion. "Where's Mav?"

"Over here," Slider muttered, looking down as Maverick fell asleep again against him. "Huh. Why didn't he want medication?"

"Hates being in the infirmary himself," Merlin explained, and Wolfman, in the process of moving the chair back to where he'd had it, stared at him momentarily. "Also hates being the sick one and needing to depend on people. He cares now, so it's progress." Slowly, he let Ice go and looked him over. "All right?"

Ice shook his head. "No."

"Nor would I expect you to be, right now." Merlin shared a look with Wolfman as the other RIO put the glass back on the desk.

"Alligator Forceps... Surgical Stapler... Metzenbaum scissors..."

Ice tilted his head, glancing upward at the underside of the top bunk, frowning as Turner continued to sleepily list medical items. "He's not awake, is he?"

"No," Wolfman told him without even a glance upward. "And I'll take it over whatever nightmare it was I woke him from, before. It's refreshing, in a way."

"Bulldog forceps... Dermatome..."

"Might have to ask him about that one," Wolfman mused, then looked at Sam. "What do you mean, Mav doesn't like being in the infirmary himself? He's come a long way?"

Merlin sighed. "What he just did, with waking Ron up like that? Goose would have done it. In fact, he did it a lot, especially with Pete after something really bad." He motioned to the upper bunk. "And Goose had to talk the medics into keeping him here, rather than there, more than once, because if he didn't, Mav would give them the slip anyway. Bad hospital experiences when he was young."

"And the having come a long way?" Slider asked.

Merlin looked at the three of them one by one, then settled on Ice, who was frowning at him. "Does Mav strike you as someone who was particularly hostile to any kind of touch? Any at all, I mean."

"Not exactly," Ice said, confused at the line of questioning. "He didn't react well to me trying to lecture him on things like teamwork, but touch hasn't seemed to be a problem. Why?"

"Because that's how far he's come," Merlin finally said after a minute of silence. "Think about it: doesn't like hospitals, has a family name everyone knows, was passed from Foster Care Placement to Placement because no one wanted him, has a phone number for a social services case worker memorized, and every CO until Stinger would give him crap for anything and everything, because of who his father was. Stinger still does, sometimes. I know a lot, because he's in my squadron and we've shared a room since deployment, but... you get what I'm saying here, I hope."

"Carole didn't want to hear about her husband first, because she'd talked to Jenkins. Her first concern? Mav, and making sure he wasn't alone in that hospital room," Wolfman said, causing Ice to look at him funny for a moment.

Merlin nodded and glanced over at Slider trying to get Mav to let him go gently and Mav protesting with a low whine. "You might be stuck with him for a while." He nudged Ice's shoulder. "Come on. Let's go take a walk. Wolf, you coming?"

Wolfman met Slider's gaze and the man waved him off. "Yep. Let's go."

Slider was left with Hollywood, who had fallen asleep with a book in his hand, the Corpsman who was still reciting a medical inventory, and Maverick curled into his side.