Almost Paradise (3/?)
By Carol M.
See first part for details
Note: Well after reading Mike's script I don't feel so bad for torturing Darien in practically every one of my fics. I guess us fic writers aren't the only ones who like torture him, huh? On with the story…
Bobby Hobbes had woken up to a lot of strange things in his life, but he didn't think anything could ever compare to this. He realized to his horror that he was being attacked by hair. Brown hair. His partner's hair. Somehow in the middle of the night, his face had rolled against the back of Darien's head and had stayed there. He quickly sat up and spat on the sand next to him. He loved his partner and all, but eating his hair was just a little too close for comfort. He shook his head in disgust and rolled his aching shoulder. This whole thing was just too weird.
He shook his head and looked out at the ocean. He couldn't stifle the gasp of awe that escaped his lips as he looked out at the morning sunrise. The sky was a thousand different colors; reds, purples, pinks, oranges, even greens. The colors reflected against the water, making the ocean look like it was sparkling with the colors of a twinkling diamond. The air smelled salty and sweet, almost heavenly. He had to admit that even though they were stuck here against their will, it wasn't half bad.
He turned around and looked at the tropical landscape behind them. There was about 20 feet of white crystalline sand followed by a thick forest of palm trees and flowery shrubs. In the background of the palm trees, he could make out a large cliff, which seemed to have a glittery waterfall pouring from the top.
Bobby turned his head to look back at his furry-headed partner and his Keeper. Claire's arms were wrapped completely around Darien, and he was tucked protectively against her body. He was glad that Darien had someone that genuinely cared for him. He knew that Claire's ultimate job was to protect the gland, but she couldn't hide the fact that she was in Darien's corner and always would be. She would protect him to the end and that's just what Darien needed, whether he would ever admit it or not.
He smiled slightly and called out Claire's name softly. When she didn't respond, he called her name again, a little louder this time. She groaned and sat up slowly, taking care not to jostle Darien. "Morning, Bobby," she mumbled.
"Morning, Claire. It's beautiful, isn't it?" he said as he pointed at the sky and back at the palm trees behind them.
Claire looked around and a small smile grew on her lips. "Not bad at all," she said in appreciation. She glanced down at Darien, who was still unconscious. She grabbed his shoulder, rolled him over and shook him slightly. He moaned, but didn't wake up. She sighed and cursed under her breath. Then she began to undress him, lifting his body up so she could take off his jacket and his shirt. When she was done, she lay him gently back in the sand and began to examine his torso in the bright morning light.
She saw that his head wound had bled during the night. She quickly tore of a piece her shirt and ran to the ocean to dip it in water. When she returned, she gently wiped the dried blood off of Darien's face and scalp. Once she had cleared the dried blood, she was able to get her first clear view of his actual injury. He had a very deep gash across his forehead and a large purple bruise and bump in the center of the cut.
She grimaced and gave him a light caress on the cheek.
When she finished examining his head, she moved down to his waist to examine his stomach. A large black bruise stretched from the bottom of his ribcage to below the waistband of his pants. The bruise ran across his entire stomach and stopped near his sides. She undid the top button of his pants and pulled the zipper down a little bit so she could see the remainder of the bruise.
Bobby turned his gaze towards Claire and Darien when he heard the sound of the zipper. "Jeez, Keep, you trying to molest him over there or what?" he asked.
Claire's face flushed. "No. Come over here and take a look at this," she said as she pulled his pants down slightly and saw where the black bruise tapered off into a sickly looking green and yellow.
Bobby stood up and walked over to Claire and Darien's position, glancing at the nasty looking injury on Darien's belly. "Ouch," he winced in sympathy. "How is it?"
Claire pressed down on Darien's stomach eliciting moans and groans out of him. It felt a little tender but it didn't show any signs of internal bleeding. "I think it's okay, at least for right now," she said with a small smile.
Darien's eyes opened in a small slit filled with pain. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" he whispered hoarsely.
Claire gave him a bright smile. "Good, you're awake. How do you feel?" she asked.
"Sore, tired, you know, the usual," he responded as he looked down and realized his state of undress. "Um, I'm just curious, why am I laying in the sand half-naked?"
"I needed to examine you," replied Claire.
"Uh huh, sure, you were just trying to check out my hot naked body," he said with a teasing smile.
"Ah, Fawkes, I hate to break it to you, but it ain't so hot there, my friend," replied Bobby sarcastically as he sat down next to Darien.
Darien rolled his eyes and looked up at the two of them curiously. "So what now?" he asked as he struggled to sit up. The struggle stopped when his face turned white and he nearly passed out again. "Okay, maybe I'm just better off down here," he whispered as he closed his eyes and swallowed hard.
"Well first off, I'm going to take a little stroll around Gilligan's Island here and see exactly what it is were working with. Maybe I kind can some food and fresh water while I'm at it," said Bobby as he stood up, grasping his shoulder.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're not going anywhere Bobby, you're hurt," said Claire.
"What's your point, Keep? I'm fine, okay. You stay here with Fawkes and make sure he doesn't accidentally drown himself again. I'll be back in an hour," said Bobby as he took off in a brisk walk to their right.
"I'm going to time him," said Darien as he messed with his watch. His body tensed when he saw his tattoo. "Oh my god," he said softly.
"What, what is it?" asked Claire with concern.
He looked up at her with puppy dog eyes. "We don't have any counteragent, do we?"
Claire shook her head. "No, we don't, Darien," she answered truthfully.
"So in six," he glanced at his tattoo, "no, make that five days, I'm going quicksilver mad on a deserted island. A deserted island with no tranq darts, no straitjackets, no padded rooms. What the hell are we going to do?" he asked in a panic.
"Calm down, Darien. We're going to be rescued anytime now, okay. The Official will have the entire San Diego fleet of planes searching for us, just relax," she said soothingly.
Darien shook his head. "This isn't what you signed up for Claire. You're not supposed to get stuck on some island with a homicidal maniac running loose," he whispered close to tears.
"Stop it, okay, just stop it," she said gently as she wiped a stray hair out his eyes. "Look, we're in a tough spot right now, but we've been in tough spots before and everything has turned out all right. Come on, you got Bobby in full survival mode, me in full doctor mode and you in full sarcasm mode. How can we not succeed?" she said with a smile.
Darien laughed slightly and smiled. "I guess what you're trying to say is, we deal with the madness when it actually happens, right?"
Claire nodded.
"No use worrying about something we can't change," he added.
"Exactly," she said.
"You should have been a psychologist, Keep," he responded.
"I already am," she said with a laugh.
"Yeah, no kidding," he answered. He looked her up and down, and a small frown appeared on his face. "What about you? How are you doing?"
Claire shrugged and showed him her arm. "I got a little cut here, which I think is getting a little infected," she said as she pulled up the bandage and looked at the crusty cut. "Hopefully the cavalry will arrive before it needs to be cut off."
Darien nodded. "What about Hobbesy, how's he doing?"
"He bumped his head and dislocated his shoulder, but he's doing okay," she replied.
"Good," he said softly. "Hey, do you think we could move into the shade for awhile. The sun's making me feel kind of crappy."
"Sure," she said as she helped him to a sitting position.
"Oh god, this is gonna hurt, isn't it?" he moaned.
"Yep, now come on," she said as she carefully pulled him to his feet. He clasped his arm around his stomach and let himself be led over to a spot under a shady tree. Claire set him back down on the ground gently and helped him to lay back.
"Claire," he said softly.
"Yeah," she answered.
"Thanks for taking care of me," he said.
"My pleasure," she said with a smile.
****
The Official stared up from his paperwork in disbelief. "What do you mean it never arrived, Eberts?"
"Apparently, the plane went off the radar half-way during the trip and never reappeared," answered Eberts.
"You mind telling me why we weren't informed that the plane had gone off the radar?" asked the Official with anger.
"Apparently the air traffic controller was bringing in a whole fleet of planes and lost track of it," said Eberts as he checked his watch. "When he realized it was gone, he tried to radio the plane for approximately two hours but never got through. Fawkes, Hobbes and the Keeper were due back nearly three hours ago, sir."
The Official picked up his phone and dialed a number harshly. "Where is my plane?… Excuse me? Do you want me to have my superior call you? Yeah, yeah starts with a G and ends in an E. No, I didn't think so. I want a search plane gassed up and in the air within an hour," yelled the Official as he slammed the phone down.
Eberts looked at the Official attentively.
"Eberts, pack a bag, we're going on a little trip," said the Official.
Eberts gave him a small smile. "Right away, sir."
****
"Well I've got good news and I got bad news, which do you want first?" asked Bobby as he returned from his one-hour tour of the island.
"Bad news," said Darien and Claire simultaneously.
"Okay, well the bad news is, there is no way off this island and there's no freshwater," he said grimly.
Darien raised his eyebrows. "So…ah…what's the good news?"
"The good news is that there's food," said Bobby as he tossed three coconuts in the sand.
Claire looked up at him and gave him a big smile. "Well done, Bobby."
Bobby nearly blushed. "Thanks. Oh, I almost forgot, I got you both presents," said Bobby as he reached into his pockets.
"Presents?" asked Darien in amusement.
Bobby pulled out a large red hibiscus flower out of one pocket and handed it to Claire. "I thought this might look pretty on you," he said.
Claire smiled and thanked him. She tucked the large flower behind her right ear.
"This is yours Fawkes," said Bobby as he pulled out a multi-colored shell and handed it to Darien.
"Ummm, what is this, buddy?" asked Darien.
"It's a friendship shell, partner," responded Bobby.
Darien chuckled, admiring the beautiful shell. "Thanks, man."
"Okay, first things first, how are we going to eat these things?" asked Bobby as he picked up a coconut.
Darien looked around, searching for anything that they could use as tools. His gaze landed on Claire's high heeled boots. "Keep, take of your shoe."
"Huh?" she said.
"Your shoe. We can use the heel to pound open the coconuts," he said.
Bobby smiled with pride. "I've taught you so well."
"Hey, I will have you know that I learned all my survival skills from the Boy Scouts!" said Darien as he slowly sat up.
Claire took off her shoe and looked at him with doubt. "You were a Boy Scout?"
"Well, no. But I used to terrorize all the Boy Scouts, you know, steal all their crap, pull pranks on em. I think some of their knowledge rubbed off on me," said Darien as he took the shoe from Claire and reached for a coconut. He planted the fruit on the ground and then firmly hammered Claire's heel into the top of it. It split open, allowing the whiteness of the fruit to peak through. "Walla," said Darien proudly.
He repeated the action to the other two coconuts and soon the trio was enjoying breakfast. When they were finished, they sat around admiring the view for a few minutes. Darien sank back to the ground and clutched a hand to his aching stomach. "What's next?"
"Now, my friend, we find a way off of this island," said Bobby.
TBC
