Almost Paradise (4/?)
By Carol M.
See first part for details
Note: A little comic relief in this part. Who knew truth or dare could be so much fun! Don't worry, plenty of angst, action, torture and suspense to come, I promise (evil grin). Enjoy!
Darien swayed uneasily on his feet as he dragged the last of the palm fronds to their designated spot in the sand. Being the stubborn little punk he was, Darien had insisted on helping Claire and Bobby with the help sign they had spent all day building. But now, his stomach, head and neck were paining him beyond belief and to top it off, he had a killer sunburn. He threw the palm frond down in the stem of the P and then collapsed right there in the sand.
"Fawkes! Damn it, Fawkes, we told you, didn't we," said Bobby as he dropped his own palm frond and ran over to help his partner. He cringed when he saw Darien's red back. "God, partner, you look like an ad for Red Lobster."
Darien moaned in misery and sat up, trying to ignore the pain radiating from every part of his body. His stomach protested the movement and he threw up in the sand next to him.
Claire heard the noise and immediately set down what she was doing and ran to Darien. "Damn it, I knew we shouldn't have let you help us."
Darien shook his head. "The sooner we get off this thing the better, okay. You need my help to get all this crap done."
"Not if you're going to die on us," said Claire as she rolled him over and looked at his back. "I think you successfully managed to burn off the top layer of skin on your back," she said.
Bobby picked up Darien's discarded shirt and threw it in the sand next to Darien. "Yeah, see what happens when you go shirtless, hotshot. You get your little baby skin burnt to a crisp."
Darien rolled over and pushed Claire's hands off of him. "God, can you both just shut up! Look at this!" he shouted as he showed them his wrist. "Look at it! When this thing turns red, you're both going to die, okay. I'm gonna go psychotic, and I'm going to kill you!"
Darien pushed himself up from the sand and stood up uneasily.
"Fawkes…"
"No, just leave me alone, okay, I'm fine," said Darien as he staggered off down the beach.
"Darien, you're not all right, you're hurt, you need to rest," yelled Claire.
Darien waved her off and kept walking.
Claire gave Bobby a helpless look. "Now what?"
"Just let him alone for awhile," said Bobby.
Claire nodded uneasily and went back to working on the sign amongst the late afternoon light.
***
"We have to call off the search for today, it's going to be dark soon," called Clyde from his position on the deck of the aircraft carrier parked out in the Pacific Ocean. Clyde was the head of the rescue operation to find Darien, Bobby and Claire, and he had quickly become a pain in the Official's ass.
The Official stepped close to him and scowled. "My people are still out there, we're not stopping!"
"Sir, with all due respect, they're probably dead, okay. That line of planes is ancient. If it crashed into the water, it probably exploded into a million pieces. You aren't going to find anything out there," he replied.
"No, no, you don't know these people. They're the most stubborn group of people I've ever had the pleasure of working with. Trust me, they're still out there somewhere," said the Official.
"Regardless, we have to call off the search for tonight. I'm not risking my men for what is probably going to turn out to be a lost cause," he said as he radioed in the five planes searching for Darien, Claire and Bobby.
"When this is all over, you'll be out of a job, I can guarantee it," said the Official with anger as he walked away from Clyde.
***
It was dark and chilly when Claire decided to go look for Darien. He had been gone for nearly three hours and she was getting extremely worried about him. She had left Bobby at their temporary camp where he was trying to get a fire going.
She had been walking along the shore for nearly a half-hour when she finally found Darien. He was curled up on a rock near the shore, staring at his friendship shell.
"So this is where you disappeared to," she said.
Darien looked up at her and she could tell even through the darkness that he had been crying. "Yeah, what can I say, even without the quicksilver I'm undetectable."
She sat next to him on the rock and placed a hand on his quaking bare back. "How are you still conscious?"
"I don't know. I think the brooding has helped to heal some of my injuries," he said as he ran his hands over his arms. "So is this part where you reassure me that everything is going to work out fine, that we're going to get rescued, and I don't have to worry about going mad and killing you?"
Claire shook her head. "No," she said pulling something out her pocket. "This is the part where I rub aloe on your sunburn and then bring you back to camp so you can lay near the fire."
"You got a fire going?" asked Darien with surprise.
Claire cocked her head to the side. "Well, not exactly, but I'm sure by the time we get back, Bobby will have burnt down half the island."
"Yeah, you're probably right about that," he said with a half smile. He looked down at the tiny stalk of green that Claire was holding in her hand. "Where did you get that?"
"I found a whole little patch of aloe plants while I was getting branches for the sign," she said as she broke the stalk and clear liquid flowed on her hand. She took a dollop and rubbed it gently across Darien's back. "Is that better?"
Darien nodded. "Yeah, thanks," he said.
She rubbed a little more onto his back and then lifted up her bandage and rubbed some into her cut. Then she reached at her side and pulled his discarded shirt out of the waistband of her pants. "Here, put this on before you freeze to death," she said as she tossed it in his lap.
He put it on with care and then sighed deeply. Claire snuggled closer to him and rubbed his back softly.
"You ready to go back now?" she asked.
Darien smiled. "Might as well. Watching Hobbes try to start a fire is going to be better than watching the freakin super bowl," he said as he stood up from the rock and let Claire help him back to camp.
****
Bobby's face glowed from the reflection of the fire that danced through the night. Every couple of seconds, he would glance proudly at the large fire that had taken him nearly two hours to start. It was a triumph in the name of Bobby Hobbes. He looked at Darien with a wicked gleam. "Truth or dare?"
"How about truth?" said Darien a bit apprehensively as he moved closer to the fire.
"In the past year, how many times have you had sex?" said Bobby with a smirk. "With another person," he added.
Darien blushed and looked awkwardly over at Claire. "Isn't that a little personal, Hobbesy?" he said.
"Personal is the name of the game, my friend. And don't lie, cause I can tell when you do," said Bobby.
Darien sighed and rolled onto his stomach, putting his face in the sand. "Fine. Once okay, one freakin time! You happy?" came Darien's muffled voice.
"Yes, I am," said Bobby with a large smile.
"Okay buddy, you're turn," said Darien as he lifted his face up. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare!" said Bobby confidently.
"I want you to moon us from the water," said Darien with a smile.
Claire instantly broke out into giggles.
Bobby gave Claire and Darien an embarrassed glance. He stood up, rolled his shoulders several times and then strutted towards the water. Once he was about a foot deep, he bent over and took off his pants, baring his bottom towards Claire and Darien.
Claire blushed and had to stifle her laughter with her hand.
"Don't get much sun, do you Hobbesy?" cried Darien in amusement.
Bobby pulled his pants back up and walked back to the pair. He looked at Claire and gave her an annoyed stare. "Don't think you're getting off so easy here, missy. Truth or dare?"
"Truth," she said softly.
"What are you the most proud of?" asked Bobby.
Claire gave him a serious stare for a few moments and then looked over at Darien. "I'm most proud of us," she said. "I'm proud that I work on the QS9300 project. I'm proud to keep Darien healthy and sane. I'm proud to be a part of something that makes a difference. Most of all, I'm proud to have you guys as my friends."
Bobby raised his hands. "That was beautiful, Claire."
Darien agreed. "It was, I'm nearly in tears here, Keep."
Claire smiled evilly. "Well, I'm glad you liked it boys, because I have a little double dare for the both of you."
"And what's that?" asked Darien.
"I want to see you both naked," she said.
Bobby scoffed. "Come on, Keep, you just saw my ass, what more do you want?"
"I want to see both of you naked. Now come on, don't be shy, take it all off," said Claire with a wide smile.
"Ah, Keep, did you mix some alcohol into that coconut cocktail that we don't know about?" asked Darien.
Claire put her hands on her hips. "Fine, if you don't want to stand here naked, then at least streak for me."
"Claire come on, this is just wrong, I'm an injured man here," said Darien as he faked a whimper and clutched his stomach.
"Hmm, funny, you were able to make it half-way around the island before," she teased.
"All right, fine," said Darien as he looked over at Bobby. "Hobbesy, let's give the lady what she wants," he said as he struggled to his feet.
"Fine with me, I've got nothing to be ashamed of," said Bobby as he started to follow Darien down the shore. "But don't think that your dare isn't going to involve naked cartwheels and a coconut bra there, Keepy."
Claire laughed and watched the two partners walk down the shore. They stopped after about 30 feet and looked back at her apprehensively.
Darien glanced at Bobby. "Are we really going to do this?"
"Of course we are, my friend. We're not wusses. Take it off," said Bobby as he took off his shirt and his pants.
"Okay," said Darien apprehensively as he stripped off his shirt, shoes and pants.
They both stood there awkwardly in their underwear for several seconds.
"I'm waiting," Claire shouted.
Bobby looked at Darien with a determined expression. "Let's do it!" he said.
Darien nodded and he and Bobby both stripped at the same time. They both went barreling down the shore towards Claire, Darien running at a much slower pace then Bobby so he wouldn't hurt himself.
"Woohooo, boys, very nice!" Claire shouted. She started whistling and doing catcalls as she took in the very nice scenery. Once they ran past her, Claire dashed off in the other direction towards their clothes.
"Oh no you don't!" yelled Bobby when he realized what she was doing. "Let's get her, Fawkes," he yelled as they both turned around and ran after Claire.
Claire reached their clothes and picked them up in a huge bundle. Bobby and Darien came up swiftly behind her, both covering their most private parts with their hands.
"Keep, come on, give us our clothes back. It's getting cold!" yelled Darien in an embarrassed tone.
"What are you going to give me for them?" she asked slyly as she held them up in the air.
"We'll convince the fatman to get you a better computer," answered Bobby quickly. "Right, Fawkes?"
Darien nodded. "Absolutely."
Claire smiled and threw the clothes at them. "Deal," she said.
Bobby and Darien quickly picked up their clothes and put them back on as fast as possible. Both were blushing furiously.
Bobby was about to dare Claire to pour coconut juice on herself and then lick it off, when a huge bolt of lightning streaked across the sky.
"Aw crap," said Darien softly.
"Aw crap nothing. Rain means water which means we don't have to drink that coconut crap anymore," said Bobby eagerly. He started back towards their camp. "Let's get all the empty coconuts and line them up. We can use them to catch the water."
"Bobby, we're going to lose the fire," said Claire grimly as she followed him.
"There's nothing we can do about that right now. I got it going once, I can do it again," said Bobby.
Darien turned towards the ocean and looked up at the starry sky that was quickly turning cloudy. Rain meant water, but it also meant the rescuers wouldn't be able to see them if the rain continued through the night and into the next couple of days. He sighed deeply and turned around, glancing absently at the large cliff in the distance, the waterfall reflecting off it in the starry night. He groaned and slowly walked up the sand towards their camp.
TBC
