Three's a Crowd Part 2
By Carol M.
See first part for disclaimers and notes
Darien and Alex slowly walked down the path, being careful not to make a lot of noise. Darien was holding the turtle hat in hands, nervously palming it back and forth as he walked.
Alex turned and stared at him. "Will you stop fidgeting," she said with annoyance.
Darien took the hat and put it snuggly on his head. "Happy," he said sarcastically.
"Very," she said.
They continued to walk another five minutes when they spotted a large cabin in the distant brush.
"Okay, here we are," said Alex as she reached into her pockets and pulled out the microphones, earpieces and the video receiver. She stuck one of the earpieces in Darien's ear and pinned one of the microphones to his jacket. Then she took the other earpiece and microphone and did the same thing to herself.
While Alex was doing this, Darien pulled out the walkie talkie. "Earth to Keepie, earth to Keepie, come in," he whispered softly into the device.
A staticky "Darien?" came back over the walkie talkie. "Yeah, Keep, were just approaching the cabin. Just wanted to give you an update."
"Be careful," came Claire's voice over the walkie talkie.
"Always," said Darien. "Dirty Harry, signing off, over and out." He could almost picture Claire rolling her eyes at that one.
"Okay, we're ready. I'm going to be right over there," said Alex, pointing to a large bush sitting at the foot of a tree.
Darien nodded. "Gotcha Lexi," he said as he tucked the walkie talkie back in his pocket and adjusted his earpiece.
"Oh you are not even gonna start calling me that," said Alex with irritation.
Darien shrugged. "We'll see," he said as he quicksilvered out of sight. He saw Alex make her way over to the bush and do her own little disappearing act. He quickly started to walk towards the cabin. "Testing, testing, Fawkesy to Lexi, come in," whispered Darien softly into his microphone.
"Enough Fawkes," said Alex into her own microphone.
Darien walked closer to the cabin. He spotted two trucks parked in front. Several men were loading wooden crates into them. "You getting this, Monroe?" whispered Darien into the microphone.
"Oh yeah, right here in Technicolor," replied Alex as she watched the video receiver. "Get a little closer. Try and get some video of the guns."
"Yes ma'am," replied Darien. He turned his steady walk into a slow jog as he approached the cabin. He was so careful trying to avoid all the branches and holes in the ground that he didn't see a small wire that was stretched across the ground. He tripped and landed heavily with a loud "oomph", effectively knocking the quicksilver off his body and the turtle hat off his head, cutting the video feed to Alex. An alarm immediately started to sound. The men near the trucks looked over and spotted him.
"Hey guys," he waved, trying to talk his way out of this situation. The men responded by drawing their guns. "Aw crap," said Darien into his microphone.
"Fawkes, Fawkes, what the hell happened?" asked Alex urgently.
"I think I just got us both in big trouble," said Darien as he quickly got up and quicksilvered himself. The men from the trucks were running towards him, guns blazing. One of them fired just as Darien quicksilvered and he could feel the bullet whiz by his head. "Run, Monroe, run," yelled Darien into his mike.
Alex stood up from her position behind the bush and saw men running in her direction. One of them spotted her and started shooting. "Fawkes, where are you? I don't want to hit you," said Alex into her mike.
"Ahhhhh," was all she heard in response.
"Fawkes where are you?" yelled Alex into the mike.
"Right here," she heard him say as he unquicksilvered on the ground next to her. She looked at him and noticed blood slowly starting to stain an area over his left side.
"Oh god," she said as she looked at his wound. His eyes started to flutter and his face grew very pale. "No, no, you don't," said Alex as she slapped him lightly on the face, forcing him to open his eyes and focus. She took his face in her hands and made him concentrate on her. "We have to get out of here," she said. She took his arm and started to pull him to a standing position.
"Ow," he moaned with a hiss. "I can't, Monroe," he said breathlessly.
More bullets started flying their way.
"This is not the time to argue Fawkes," said Alex as she started to drag him away from the bush. She turned around and shot off a few rounds at the men who were rapidly approaching.
"Run, Darien, we have to run," shouted Alex, picking up the pace. Darien was forced to keep up with her because he was too weak to resist the pull from her arm. He tried to quicksilver himself, but found that he couldn't concentrate.
"Crap, I can't quicksilver," he whispered.
Alex continued to drag him through the woods. "No time, just run."
Darien put all his energy into trying to keep up the pace. The pair was actually getting pretty far from the gun dealers.
They continued to walk/jog for another 20 minutes through the light brush of the woods. Alex had no idea where they were, all she knew was that they needed to get the hell away from the cabin.
The farther and longer they walked, the weaker Darien felt. Alex could feel him start to sway out of her grip. She grabbed his arm and put it over her shoulder, holding onto him tightly, urging him on.
Darien could hardly walk on his own anymore. His head was swimming badly, he was incredibly hot and flushed, and his side felt like someone was setting off tiny explosions in time with his heart beat. "Alex," he pleaded weakly. "Please stop. I have to stop."
Alex pulled him tighter against her. "Just a little farther, Fawkes. You're doing good," she said, trying to encourage him.
Darien struggled to walk for another five steps and then abruptly stopped, swaying momentarily and then falling to the ground, taking Alex with him.
"Okay, okay, easy Darien. We have to get out of sight," said Alex as she crawled next to him. She pointed to a brushy area a few feet away. "Come on," she said as she started to drag him.
Darien moaned in pain, but tried his best to help her get him over to the brush. His rapidly dwindling strength caught up with him however, and by the time they reached the brush he was completely unconscious
Alex rolled his body so he was lying on his uninjured side Then she pushed his jacket aside and pulled up his shirt to look at his wound.
What she saw didn't make her happy. The bullet had gone in through his lower back and come out through his front side. The exit wound had left a huge hole in the front that was bleeding like crazy. She was surprised he had gotten as far as he had. Although she was no doctor, she had enough experience with gunshots wounds that told her no major internal organs had been hit. That basically left a lot of blood and a lot of pain for Darien.
Alex took her jacket off and rolled Darien flat on his back, setting the jacket underneath the entrance wound. Then she wrapped part of the jacket around his body and pressed it firmly against his wounded side, eliciting a soft groan out of the still unconscious Darien.
Holding the jacket with one hand, she reached into Darien's jacket pockets with the other hand, searching for the walkie talkie Claire had insisted that they bring. She came up empty. "Damn it," she said in frustration. He must have lost it at the cabin.
A sudden thought flashed through her head. She reached for Darien's wrist, checking his tattoo. Only four segments were red. Thank god for small favors, she thought.
Alex continued to sit next to Darien, firmly pressing the jacket against his wounded side, wondering what the hell she was going to do next.
"Keepie to Kirk, Keepie to Kirk, come in," said Claire trying to calm herself down with the silly tone. She knew it was no use. She had been trying to get in touch with Darien for over an hour, ever since she had heard the faint echoes of gunshots in the distance. She hoped he was okay. As much as she hated to admit it, she hoped that Alex was okay too.
She had tried to dial up the Agency on a cheap cell phone the Official had stuck in one of the bags, but she had gotten no signal. They were screwed and stuck in the woods.
She had determined that going back to the SUV was pointless because Darien had the keys and Claire had no idea how to hot wire a car. So she had decided to leave their little campsite and go in search of Darien and Alex. It probably wasn't safe to be at the campsite anyway and she just had a hunch that one of them was hurt. Probably Darien, she thought, since the guy couldn't seem to go a day without getting the crap beat out of him.
She walked slowly and carefully through the woods, clutching her medical bag tightly in one hand and her gun in the other. She searched through every nook and cranny, hoping to find them. She didn't dare scream their names in case the gun runners were in the forest looking for them. She continued to walk through the woods, praying she would find them and that they were safe.
Alex immediately walked over to Darien when she heard a soft groan escape his lips. She had been walking around the area trying to figure out where the hell they were. She could hear the gun dealers in the far off distance and she wanted to get Darien out of there as soon as she could.
She kneeled down to him, shaking his arm slightly. "Fawkes, wake up, come on," she said firmly. Darien's eyes fluttered open and he looked up at her with confusion.
"You were doing invisible recon at the cabin and you got shot, remember?" she replied to his questioning expression.
He nodded slowly, remembering. He felt sick, really sick. He really wanted to throw up, but he really didn't want to do it in front of Alex. He had a feeling she would never let him hear the end of it.
Alex started to pull on his shoulders. "We have to get out of here, Darien. Their looking for us and their getting closer," she said.
Darien shook his head violently. He swallowed several times, pushing bile down back into his throat. Couldn't she see that he was struggling very hard not to throw up all over her leather boots? Her pulling him around was not helping matters any.
"Come on, Darien, we have to move," she said, gently pulling him into a sitting position.
That did it. He managed to throw up all over Alex's shoes, missing his own body entirely. The vomiting hurt his side terribly, forcing his head back down on the ground. He lay panting on the ground, clutching his side and feeling miserable. He looked up at Alex with the puppy dog eyes. "Sorry," he said.
Alex shook her head and tried to wipe her shoes against the ground. "Oh don't worry Fawkes, when this is over, I will get you back for that," she said.
He nodded weakly. "That's what scares me," he said as he closed his eyes, his face etched with pain.
"Oh no you don't," she said as she lightly slapped him.
Darien opened his eyes with a whimper. "Just leave me here. I can't move Monroe. All I want to do is curl up and die," he replied helplessly.
Alex rolled her eyes and once again pulled him into a sitting position. "Now how would I tell Hobbes that I left his partner by himself in the woods to die? He would never forgive me. We have to get out of here and find Claire," she said. "Come on," she said firmly as she started to pull him up.
"Okay, okay," yelled Darien in a weak voice. "Just give me a second," he said as he removed the jacket from his waist and replaced it with his hand. "I guess I owe you a new jacket too," he said, holding up the jacket.
"I'll let that one slide if you get up," said Alex.
Darien slowly pushed himself off the ground, clutching his side with his left hand the whole time. "Okay, I'm up, now what?" he said.
"Let's go," she said as she put his arm around her.
"Go where?" he asked with concern. "Do you even know where we are?"
"That doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that we get as far away from the bad guys as possible," she said as they slowly started to walk through the woods.
Darien only nodded, too tired and hurt to argue. He had never felt this awful in his entire life.
Alex could tell how hard he was struggling. She could feel the heat coming off his body, probably from an infection. His grip on her was really weak and she could hear his soft but steady moans and groans as they made further progress.
"Can we stop and rest?" he gasped out a few minutes later.
Alex shook her head and grabbed onto him tighter. "Not now, later," she said as she dragged him.
"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" he responded weakly. "I mean you're in the driver's seat and I have no choice, but to do what you say."
"I just want to get you out of here, Fawkes. Just because I'm not coddling you every four seconds, doesn't mean I like seeing you hurt," she said.
The pair was silent for a few minutes as they continued to walk. Darien broke the silence. "Hey Alex," he said softly.
"Yeah," she said, looking up at him.
"What's your son's name?" he asked simply.
A serious expression drifted across Alex's face. "Billy," she said quickly.
Darien nodded in approval. "Billy Monroe, that's nice," he said.
"I know it is," she said coldly.
Darien sighed heavily. "Why do you do that?" he asked with frustration.
"Do what?" she asked with confusion.
"Why are you always so cold to me?" he asked.
Alex shook her head. "I'm not cold, Fawkes."
Darien laughed slightly. "Oh yeah you are. Admit it, Alex, you've hated me since the first day we met. You think I'm just this con running through the streets turning invisible and wasting the valuable tax payers money," he said with agitation.
"That's not true, Darien," she replied with seriousness.
"Oh yeah it is," he replied. "You don't trust me and you think I'm this piece of crap walking around, getting in the way. You trust Hobbes, but not me. Why?"
She stopped walking for a second and looked up at him. "Can you honestly tell me that if someone dangled some criminal scheme in front of your face that would get you out of the Agency, that you wouldn't take it in a second? You're a criminal, Fawkes and you always will be," she said firmly.
"That's not fair, Monroe. I didn't have a choice in being here," he said softly in a pain filled voice. "What gives you the right to pass freakin judgement on me anyway? Who the hell are you? May I remind you that the first day we met I spent the whole frelling day searching for your son. But I guess that doesn't count for anything because I'm a criminal with an evil nature," he said, in a slightly hurt tone. "Yeah, I bet you just love seeing me go quicksilver mad because then I'm that person that you so desperately want me to be."
Alex shook her head, agitated. "This is stupid, Darien. All I'm saying is that under certain circumstances, I don't trust you, okay. Maybe that's being paranoid on my part, but that's how I feel," Alex said in frustration. "But I do trust you with my life and with Bobby's life," she said softly. "I know you would die to save either one us because that's just the kind of guy you are, even though you don't like to admit it. You've got a big heart, Darien. I mean trying to get my son back, trying to save Adam, believing so completely in Bobby when he went postal," she said with sincerity.
"You know Monroe, I think those CTS skills are really coming in handy right now," said Darien weakly.
Alex laughed softly. "I'm not playing you, Darien. I know you have it tough. I never understood what it was like for you until I saw you go quicksilver mad at Gilliam's house. You were just lying there, red eyes, breathing hard, looking nothing like the Darien I know. To be honest, you scared the hell out of me and I don't scare so easily."
"Yeah, but you really enjoyed kicking my ass," said Darien.
"Hey, you let me kick your ass, my friend. You could have taken me down with no problem, but you didn't because you wouldn't let yourself. I admire that," she said.
He looked down at her, trying to read the expression on her face. Unless she was really, really good, her look was one of genuine admiration. "Thanks," he said softly.
"Yeah, yeah," said Alex rolling her eyes. "Don't let all this bonding go to your head. In about two minutes, you'll say something that'll piss me off and I'll go back to hating you."
"Oh I don't doubt that for a second," said Darien with a small smile.
They continued to struggle through the woods, as silence once again fell between the two.
Claire eyed her watch as she drudged through the woods. Seven o'clock. It was going to be dark soon and she still hadn't found Darien or Alex. At this point, she was beyond worried, she was down right scared.
Every once in a while, she would hear the echoes of men's voices through the forest. Probably, the gun dealers, she thought. That actually made her feel better. Perhaps, Darien and Alex had gotten away from them.
She continued to walk slowly, carefully looking around. She heard a sudden rustle from about 20 feet away. She quickly hid behind a tree, her gun out and ready to fire. Then she heard an all too familiar moan and a female voice firmly yelling, "We have to keep moving."
Claire dashed out from behind the tree, running towards the voices. "Darien, Alex, it's Claire, don't shoot," she said. She spotted them and picked up her pace.
TBC