Three's a Crowd Part 3

Three's a Crowd Part 3
By Carol M.

See first part for notes and disclaimers.
Special note to Darien: I'm sorry baby, but you are going to be hurting during this part and I apologize. Fortunately you're going to have two hot chicks cooing over you, if that helps J

"Alex, it's Claire," said Darien as he pointed to a figure running towards them. He almost started to sob in relief. Claire always made him feel better when he was hurt and even though he knew Alex was trying her best to be gentle, she wasn't doing a great job.
Darien could see Claire's face fall as she neared them. She immediately ran up to him and softly touched his wound. "Oh my god, Darien," she said. "We have to get him on the ground," she said firmly as she took Darien's arm and gently lowered him to the ground with Alex's help.
"Oh Darien," she said as she gently felt his forehead. "He's burning up," she said with concern.
Alex kneeled down next to Claire, eyeing Darien. "What do you need me to do?" she asked.
Claire pointed to her medical bag, which she had dropped on the ground. "Get some bandages, disinfectant, tissues and tape out of my bag," she said as she lifted up Darien's shirt and looked at his wound. She winced in sympathy. The wound was an angry red color, seeming to pulse with every beat of his heart. He was on his way to getting one bloody hell of an infection.
Darien looked up at her through scared, pain filled eyes. "How is it, Keep?" he asked softly.
She tried to smile to ease his fears. She took his hand and rubbed it gently. "You're going to be fine, Darien. I just need to clean it and then wrap it up. Just try and relax, okay. This is probably going to hurt," she said.
"Well that's nothing new," he said sarcastically.
Claire smiled for real this time, glad that he still had his smart ass sense of humor.
"Here, Claire," said Alex as she handed her the requested medical supplies.
Claire took the supplies and set the tape and bandages on the ground. Then she took one of the tissues and poured the disinfectant on it. She looked at Darien with hesitation. "Sorry for this, Darien," she said gently.
"'S okay, just do it," he said, fear and hesitation evident in his voice.
"Okay," she said as she gently pressed the tissue against his wound. Darien's face instantly clenched in pain and a loud hiss escaped from his mouth. Alex took a step back from the pair, looking away.
"Easy, easy," Claire said as she poured a little more disinfectant on the wound. Darien started to pant in pain. "Almost done," she said as she finished cleaning the wound on his front and turned him slightly to get to work on his back. She wiped at the other wound gently, trying to ignore the small tremors of pain that were coursing through him.
"Okay, done with cleaning, now I just need to bandage it," she said a few seconds later. She reached for the tape and bandages. She took one bandage and pressed it lightly against the front wound, taping it against his skin. Then she took another bandage and did the same thing on his back. "Okay, I'm all done," she said as she looked up at Darien's face, noticing a few stray tears trickling down his cheeks. Her stomach started to clench, knowing that she had put those tears there. She put his shirt back down and gently started to rub his arm. "I'm sorry, Darien," she said softly, feeling terrible for causing him more pain.
He looked at her and gave her a weak smile. "Don't be Keep, it's your job," he whispered. He shifted slightly. "Gonna sleep for awhile," he mumbled as his eyes closed and he drifted into unconsciousness.
Claire looked up at Alex. "Can you get the water bottle out of my bag?" she asked.
Alex silently nodded and went over to Claire's bag, pulling out the water. She handed it to Claire.
"Thanks," said Claire absently as she opened up the water bottle and poured some on another tissue. She took the damp tissue and started gently wiping Darien's hot, feverish forehead.
"How is he?" asked Alex, as she kneeled down next to them.
Claire shook her head. "Not good. He's got a high fever and signs of an infection. If we don't get him out of here soon, he could die," she said grimly. She finished wiping his forehead and then tenderly started to stroke his hair. "If he hadn't been dragged all over the woods, he might be doing better," Claire said softly, eyeing Alex.
Alex immediately stood up, crossing her arms over her chest. "What was I supposed to do? Palm's guys were coming after us, shooting. I couldn't just leave him there. I've got news for you Claire, those guys are still out there looking for us. If we don't keep moving, then we're all going to die," she said with anger.
"You mean you're going to die," said Claire. "You don't care about me and you certainly don't care about Darien. To you, we're just tools you can use to complete your agenda. You just use people and throw them aside, you don't care about who you hurt."
Alex laughed slightly. "Don't go getting all noble on me, Claire. You hurt and manipulate just as much as I do. You hold that counteragent over Fawkes' head, taunting him every six days. How long was it before you finally taught Bobby how to give him the shots, huh? You get off on having power over Fawkes. And let's face it Claire, if this was the real world, we both know you would have no power over a man like Darien," said Alex smugly.
Claire was absolutely fuming. "It is my job to keep Darien safe. It's not pleasant what I have to do to him sometimes, but it is necessary. If I gave him counteragent every time he wanted it, then he would have built up a tolerance to it already. And where would that leave Darien? I'm doing my best to figure out how to get that gland out of his head and in the mean time, I'm trying my hardest to keep him comfortable," said Claire as tears of anger and fear started to fall from her eyes.
She looked down at Darien and saw all the blood that stained his shirt and jacket. She glanced at his face, his forehead crinkled up in pain. She put her face in her hands and sighed heavily. "I don't want him to die, Alex," she said softly.
Alex slowly walked over to Claire and sat down next to her, awkwardly patting her on the back. "I don't either," she said.
"What are we going to do?" asked Claire, removing her hands from her face and looking at Alex.
Alex looked at Claire sharply. "I'm going to find my way out of here and get back to the SUV. Hopefully, Palm's guys haven't destroyed it yet," she said. Alex reached into Darien's pants pocket and pulled out the keys to the car.
Claire sighed with worry. "Alex is this such a good idea, splitting up like this?"
"What other choice do we have?" asked Alex as she looked at Darien's pale form. "Just keep him alive 'til I get back, okay?"
Claire nodded and Alex walked off.

Bobby Hobbes was bored out of his mind. He had been sitting in the van for twelve hours, doing surveillance on Roundling. The most interesting thing the guy had done all day was picking up his laundry.
He sighed heavily and leaned back in his seat. Bet Darien's having a ball right now, thought Bobby. He was just getting into an interesting little fantasy involving Claire, Alex and some whip cream when Roundling's phone rang. Bobby instantly grabbed his little mini satellite device to listen to the conversation.
"Roundling,"
"Yeah, Roundling, we got a little problem up here. There's not going to be a new shipment tonight," said a voice on the other line.
Roundling sounded agitated. "What kind of problem?"
"Well we got some folks up here poking their noses where they don't belong. Three of them. We think they might be government agents or something. Found some papers in the glove compartment of their truck. If they are Feds, we don't want any heat on us," said the voice.
Roundling sighed heavily. "Fine. Keep me posted and let me know the second those guns are ready for delivery."
"Will do," said the voice.
The connection ended.
Bobby instantly reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed the number for the Agency. "Come on you fat bastard, pick up,"
"Excuse me," he heard the Official say on the other line.
Bobby flinched. "Oh, sir, hi this is Hobbes. Um, have you heard from Fawkes or Monroe or the Keep today?" he asked.
"Nope, not one word. There not due to check in until tomorrow," said the Official dryly.
"Sir, I'm getting a bad feeling. Some guy just called Roundling and said that the shipment was off because some Feds were poking around. I think maybe I should go up there and check it out," said Bobby.
The Official cleared his throat. "Absolutely not. You stay put. Monroe and Fawkes can handle things. I don't want to blow this whole case because of your paranoia."
"Yeah, but sir..."
"Stay put. That's an order," said the Official, hanging up on his end of the line.
"Damn," said Bobby as he threw his cell phone on the seat next to him. He looked at Roundling's house for a few seconds. He was getting a very bad feeling.
After another minute of sitting behind the wheel, Bobby gunned the engine of the van to life. He drove away from Roundling's house and made his way towards the direction of the freeway, trying to remember exactly where that his partner was at cabin was.
"Fawkes, if I'm wrong about this, I'm going to kill you," said Bobby to himself as he made his way onto the freeway.


"We're screwed," said Alex as she jogged towards Claire. She had finally found her way back onto the path after several wrong turns and had gotten back to the SUV. All the tires were blown out and the engine had been ripped apart. "The SUV is a mess, no way we can drive. And there's no one else out here to help us, only the gun runners, and there coming right towards us," said Alex. "They're going to be here any second. We have to move him."
Darien, who had woken up a few minutes earlier, shook his head. "No way, Lexi," he said hoarsely.
Claire nodded. "He's right. If we move him then his wound might start bleeding again," she said.
They all jumped when they heard rustling in the woods.
"That's them, what the hell are we going to do?" asked Alex with a trace of panic in her voice.
"Well I think I hear my name being called," said Darien softly on the ground. "Gather round girls and grab onto me," he said.
Claire looked at him with concern. "Are you sure about this, Darien?" she asked.
Darien shook his head. "No," he said. "But we don't really have much of a choice now, do we," he said.
"Okay," said Claire, sounding very unsure. She grabbed her medical bag and slung it over her arm. Then she sat down next to Darien, rolling him onto his uninjured side. She laid down and spooned him from the back, wrapping her arms around him. Alex followed suit and laid down on the other side of Darien, taking his hand in hers.
They could hear the gun runners rapidly approaching. "Now Fawkes," said Alex urgently.
Darien took a deep breath, channeling all of his energy into speeding up his heartbeat. "Here we go," he said as the quicksilver slowly coated all three of their bodies and the medical bag.
Darien instantly regretted quicksilvering all of them. His increased heartbeat was making his bullet wound throb with agony. Every pore of his body started to ache with the pain. It took all of his power to keep the quicksilver flowing.
The men approached, talking softly, looking around. "There around here somewhere," said the man who had talked to them earlier at the campsite. "The blood trail leads right here," he said, pointing to the ground.
"Well where the hell could they have gone? It's not like they just disappeared into thin air," said another man.
Claire probably would have laughed at that comment if their situation had not been so dire. As it was, she was feeling awful for Darien at this point. She looked up at his face and saw that his eyes were tightly closed, tortured agony spread across his face. Sweat mixed with tears ran down his cheeks, leaving the collar of his shirt soaked. She wrapped her arms tightly across him, flinching when she heard soft whimpers start to escape from his lips. This had to be killing him.
Claire started to rub his chest softly with one hand and the back of his neck with her other hand, trying to do something to make him feel better. The men continued to stand and talk practically right on top of them. As the minutes went on, she could feel Darien struggle more and more. She could feel his chest heaving for gasps of breath. Small tremors of pain were working there way across his chest and into his stomach. His whimpers grew louder with every passing second, threatening to reveal their location.
Even Alex was concerned about Darien. She had never seen him hurting this bad before and felt horrible for him. She took the hand that she was holding and started to caress it gently, joining Claire in her mission of trying to ease his pain.
For ten minutes, the trio lay on the ground invisible, while the men discussed their situation. Finally, the men walked out of the area. Instantly the quicksilver was shed.
"Darien," said Claire with tears in her eyes, as she leaned over him and looked in his eyes.
Darien looked at her with his eyes half closed, completely wiped out from the pain.
"I'm sorry, Darien, I'm so sorry," cried Claire as she ran her hand gently along his face. She reached down and looked at his wrist. Six out of nine segments red. "I'm going to give you a shot, okay," she whispered softly into his ear. Darien nodded slightly.
Claire reached into her bag and pulled out the syringe of counteragent. She took out an alcohol wipe and gently rubbed it over the crook of his right elbow. Then she carefully injected the counteragent into his arm. He flinched for a second and then relaxed.
"Maybe you should give him some water, Claire," said Alex, who was pacing back and forth, not really sure what to do.
Claire nodded and looked at Darien. "Are you thirsty, Darien?" she asked.
"Yeah," he whispered.
Claire reached into the bag and pulled out the water bottle. She took off the cap and then gently lifted Darien's neck slightly off the ground. She placed the bottle to his lips and let him have a few swallows. When he was done, she lowered him back to the ground and put the bottle back in her bag.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked him as she took his hand and started rubbing it.
He opened his eyes and gave her a small smile. "I'm not even going to touch that one, Keep," he whispered so softly she had to bend down to her it.
She smiled and hit him playfully on the shoulder. "Always the smart ass," she said, grateful for being able to smile.
"That's how you like me," he responded.
"Seriously though, is there anything I can do for you," she asked again.
"I'm kind of cold," he responded.
Claire instantly took her jacket off and draped it over him. Then she gently pulled him into her lap and started rubbing his arms and his chest, trying to warm him up. After a few minutes, she simply leaned down and pressed her own body against his, holding him tightly in her arms. She could feel him start to relax and after a few minutes he was asleep.
Alex stopped her pacing and sat down next to them. "You know Claire, you would be a really great mother," she said softly. She looked at Darien draped in Claire's arms. "Actually, I guess you already are a good mother."
Claire looked at Alex and smiled. "Thanks. I'm sure you are a good mother too," she said gently.
Alex nodded. " You know, I'm going to get my son back," she said matter of factly. "I have to. He's all I have," she said, looking away as tears started to pool in her eyes.
"That's not true, Alex," said Claire.
Alex turned and looked back at Claire. "Come on, Claire. Who else do I have? You and me aren't exactly best friends and Bobby and Darien both just tolerate me as a third wheel. You guys could care less about me."
"Well, if you let us all in, maybe we could be friends," suggested Claire. "You know when me and Darien first met, he hated me and I hated him. It took a long time for us to become friends," said Claire looking down at Darien who lay silently in her lap. "But it was worth it," she said as she leaned down and gently kissed him on the forehead.
Alex smiled. "Too bad he wasn't awake for that. I'm sure he would have enjoyed it. I know Bobby would be jealous."
Claire laughed slightly and rolled her eyes.
Silence fell between the two women as nightfall slowly started to sweep through the forest.

"Oh this is not good, this is not good at all, my friends," said Bobby to no one in particular as he surveyed the heavily damaged SUV.
He pondered reaching into his pocket for his cell phone to call the Official, but decided against it. Back up might just get his three comrades killed if they were being held hostage.
Bobby reached into his van and picked up a few spare clips for his gun, putting them in his jacket pockets. He pulled a flashlight out of the back of the van and then quickly started walking down the path to search for his friends, hoping he wasn't too late.

TBC