A/N: aaaand back from the grave again. Thank you so much for the kind words in the reviews and for patiently waiting each and every time. I hope it was again worth the wait and to thank you all, I made this chapter a bit longer than I usually do with this storyline. Let me know your thoughts on this fluffy chapter.

Chapter 8

Will was restless in his bed, he didn't know how long he had to stay here but was sure that every minute was too long. He had to start training again now he knew how much skill he was lacking in a fight.

Once the nurse had left the infirmary, Will silently walked towards the window. Luckily the infirmary was based on the first floor of the castle, because Will didn't think he was up for a huge climbing adventure.

Halt had just left to get his report to the Baron so Will knew that he had some time to get down. He could also use the stairs of course, but he didn't have his cloak here and would therefore be easily visible for everyone inside the castle. Climbing the wall however was something no one expected to see, thus a lot safer.

Standing on his feet now, Will noticed how sore his ankle still was. But he had to go back to the cabin. In three weeks time the next gathering was scheduled so he had to be ready. Will had never asked Halt what happened to apprentices that failed their exam, but he had the idea it wasn't a good future prospect.

Of course he knew Halt would do anything in his power to sway Crowley's judgement, but then what would he say? Will had missed his first year assessment due to the kalkara hunt, then his second year assessment was missed when he was in Hallasholm, the third year he barely managed to succeed due to his missed year. No, Crowley was a kind commandant but Will couldn't believe that it would be reasonable to keep someone who had never shown his skills.

A trembling sigh escaped Will's throat and he placed his foot outside the window. As if he had never been injured, he slithered down the wall and soon enough he felt the steady ground beneath his feet.

Triumphantly, he strode away from the castle and walked to the cabin. Only after a few minutes the hard truth hit the young ranger. His ribs were on fire and even this short walk got him out of breath. His pace was slowing down every second and soon Will began to regret his decision. Nevertheless, the young ranger pushed through all the pain, telling himself over and over that he could rest after the gathering.

A small cry of relief escaped Will's mouth as the cabin came into sight. He wanted nothing more than to get to his own bed, but he had to check on his friend first. He hadn't seen Tug for days now and knew the shaggy horse would be worried.

He went into the stables and was greeted by a soft neighing. Tug was happily trotting at his place waiting for his master to come to him. With his last piece of energy Will strode towards his friend and leaned against him.

"Hi boy, how are you then?" Will asked as he stroked the soft nose.

Starved, he refused to give me apples. Are you alright?

Will held back a laugh, knowing it would only hurt him a lot, but knew it was typical Tug to be upset by a week without apples. He grabbed an apple from the basket and gave it immediately to his friend who started munching it contently.

"I'm fine, maybe the whole walk back here wasn't such a smart thing to do." Will admitted to his friend who seemed rather preoccupied with something behind Will.

But before Will could find out what the horse saw, he felt a strong hand turning him around. He watched the dark eyes staring at him as the voice thundered, "You think?"

Halt had his mind full when he delivered the report to Arald. The Baron had asked sympathetically how Will had been doing. This time Halt remained just with the physical aspects of Will's progress. After his talk with sir Rodney he honestly didn't know what was going on in Will's head.

After he left the tower he doubted whether to seek counsel from Pauline how to handle this situation. But deep down he already knew what she would say; be honest with him, give him space to talk about it.

That made it the most difficult of all. Talking was far from his strong suit if it wasn't about tactics. But now he had to, otherwise he knew all the dark thoughts would eat his boy up.

He walked into the infirmary only to see three distressed nurses running around. Halt could immediately feel something was amiss and didn't waste a second, "what's wrong?"

The women turned around in shock, not one of them had heard the ranger enter the infirmary. One particularly brave nurse stepped forward and told the news.

"Ranger Will is missing sir." She spoke with a slight squeak in her voice, afraid what the ranger in front of her would do to them for losing his boy. They had experienced how protective the man had been, inquiring about all their actions to help the young lad.

The face was hidden in the cowl but the shadow that hid his face seemed to grow even darker at hearing the news.

"Missing?" he hissed.

The ladies nodded in synchrony, not able to say something aloud.

"How in Gorlog's name, can a man with broken ribs escape this place?" the ranger thundered.

"It is not a prison here. Someone is always outside the infirmary, so he didn't leave through the main door. We don't know how he could've escaped, but he did and he is free to do so." The nurse spoke resolutely.

Halt nodded and took a deep breath to calm himself. It was indeed not their job to keep their patients in their beds against their will. He had known Will had grown restless so it wasn't surprising that the boy had taken matters into his own hands. He looked around the infirmary, knowing Will he had indeed not left through the main door. Which of course left the window as only option.

In fact, one of the windows was still open and Halt walked towards it, half expecting his apprentice to hang to one of the bricks trying to get down. But it seemed the boy had already climbed his way down. Just in the distance, close to the tree line, Halt could see a figure limping away from the castle in the direction of the cabin. He could see that the young boy held his ribs firmly and wasn't able to move too quickly. Halt knew he would catch up with Will maybe even before he had reached the cabin.

"Thank you for the service, I'll take it from here." He said without looking at the three nervous ladies and left the infirmary.

When Halt arrived at the cabin he could hear Will speak to his companion, "….wasn't such a smart thing to do."

Without thinking he grabbed Will's shoulder and turned him around, ready to lecture him, "You think?"

Only what he didn't expect was the fearful reaction from Will as soon as he was turned around. As if he had been hit by a bolt of lightning Will pried himself away from the grip of his mentor and stumbled backwards only to fall harshly on the ground. His head made a painful thud, luckily in a soft cushion of straw. Halt couldn't imagine the guilt if he had also caused Will to get a concussion on top of everything else.

However, the landing had already made its impact on Will's ribs as he was gasping for air in pain. The lack of oxygen going to Will's lungs seemed to cause more panic and Halt could only wait painfully for Will to calm down.

"Will, I'm so sorry. Try to relax, you're putting more strain on your ribs this way." Halt spoke as gently as possible when he sat down next to the boy. Tug softly put his nose against Will's cheek which seemed to make him calm down a bit more.

After a few careful breaths Will looked up at his mentor and smiled sheepishly, "I suppose we'll have to work on that."

Halt bit his lip, fazed by the fact how easily Will could forgive him for this stupidity. He slowly placed his hand on Will shoulder again, this time not provoking any terror. "I suppose so. But for now you'll go to bed and rest. You're burning up from exhaustion after this ridiculous adventure."

Slowly he helped Will stand up and walk back to the cabin. Halt made sure to keep a close eye on Will until the lad fell asleep. For a moment Halt hesitated to sit down in the chair next to Will's bed to make sure the fever didn't get any worse and to wake the boy as soon as the nightmares would return. But after seeing Will's reaction in the stable, he knew that it was wiser to keep his distance for the time being.

Will awoke more relaxed than he had the previous days. His own room was comforting even though his ribs were bothering him greatly and his head was throbbing now as well.

Slowly he rose from the bed and took a few careful steps towards the living room. However when he opened his door, he was almost tackled by his mentor who was still asleep next to the door on the ground.

With a jolt the old ranger woke up and stared right into the questioning brown eyes.

"What are you doing here on the ground?" Will asked confused. The situation was almost humoristic had it not been really strange behavior on Halt's part.

Halt stood up slowly, and sat down on one of the dining chairs. "You developed a fever last night and I needed to be close in case it got worse."

"Then why not sleep in the chair in my room? You've done that before when I was sick with the flu."

A moment of silence hung between the two of them. Halt didn't want to spell it out for the young boy, but he was clearly oblivious to the reason why Halt couldn't stay in Will's room.

"I don't think we're there yet." He said eyeing his son meaningful. Suddenly Will understood and almost apologized before remembering Halt saying he didn't want to hear that.

Under the watchful eye of his mentor, Will sat down at the dining table and looked at Halt. "So what's for training today?"

Halt could only stare at the boy in disbelief. "You're not training today. After breakfast you'll go back to bed or at least the couch."

"But I need to train." Will spoke resolute and Halt could immediately feel something was off. He had grown used to Will whining about training when he was sick or injured. But this was not whining, Will was almost demanding it now.

"Why?" Halt asked slowly as he tried to read the young man's face unsuccessfully.

"Because training is important."

"It is, but so is your recovery."

"I'll recover after the gathering." Will could see Halt pinching the bridge of his nose, as he was clearly trying to keep himself together.

"Will, I've asked Crowley to postpone your physical tests. It's not that rare with our jobs for apprentices to be injured on the day of testing, it has been postponed before. Once your ribs are healed, you'll pass those tests easily."

Will bit his lip and decided to just ask what had been on his mind, "What if Crowley doesn't agree? It's not the first time I won't be able to be tested at the gathering."

"Then our commandant would have lost his mind." Halt spoke grinning to himself. He knew Crowley was very fond of Will and would almost rather hand in his own oak leaf than to let Will go. But Halt realized that this was not known to the young lad in front of him.

"Are you afraid he will kick you out? That I could kick you out? Is that what's bothering you?" Halt asked trying not laugh at the idea. He knew Will took this very seriously and it would only hurt him if he thought Halt wouldn't take it as serious.

Will stayed quiet but Halt could see a glimmer of tears forming in the brown curious eyes. Luckily Will wasn't that scared anymore during the day, because he would have freaked out by the sudden embrace of his mentor.

"I promise you that won't happen." Halt spoke as he held Will.

But the young man shook his head , "you can't," he whispered.

Halt gently took Will's shoulders and held him at a distance that they could look each other in the eye. "Will, when I was under the influence of the potion, what did I say to you?"

"It was nothing." Will tried to keep his emotions at bay, not wanting to hurt Halt even more. But his mentor didn't give up that easily.

"From what I've heard from Sir Rodney it wasn't nothing. And based on the fact that you're suddenly terrified of being kicked out of the corps, I gather it wasn't a mere comment on your skills, which I hope you know was far from the truth."

Will kept silent, but so did Halt. It was a tactic Will recognized, keep silent long enough for the other to feel uncomfortable and they'll start talking. Despite the fact that he knew this was Halt's plan, Will couldn't resist the urge to end the silence between them.

"I don't want to be alone, Halt." He said as his voice broke and the first tears slid across his face. They were gently wiped away by a calloused thumb.

"What makes you think you'll ever be alone?" It broke Halt that he had to push through with the questions, but he knew that if he didn't ask now, the answer would never come.

Will looked away, not daring to look Halt in the eye as he spoke the next words, "Because I'm an orphan, and I'll always be one."

Seeing his boy this shattered made Halt wanting to pull him into an embrace and never let go. It was astounding what the boy had suffered through in his young life and yet remain his cheerful self. For a moment Halt wished that Pauline was here, she could smother his boy and deal with all these painful emotions. But then again he realized that only he would have a chance in changing Will's mind.

"Now listen to me very carefully. I sadly cannot change the fact that you had to grow up without your parents. But you do have a family and that is something that will not change no matter what happens. Don't tell me that Horace, Alyss, George and Jenny are only former roommates to you." Will shook his head at this as he knew they were much more than that.

Halt continued, "I know you're a brother to Gilan and I know I can't ever take the mantle of your father, but to me you're the son I never had."

A sob escaped from Will's throat as he lunged himself back into the warm embrace of his father. "Thank you" he could only whisper, but many more words were spoken with that.

After a while the two rangers decided that it was time to stop the hugging before anyone outside would take a peek through the window. They sat down at the table with a fresh cup of coffee. However, there was still a question lingering in Halt's mind and he just couldn't wait to ask it.

"Why did you think all those horrible things I said were true? Have I ever caused you to hesitate on how I feel about you? Because if so, I'd rather know."

Will shook his head in answer to the last question and thought a moment about how to answer the first one. "It was just that the potion could use your fighting skills to do bad things, it didn't create new skills."

When Will stayed silent, Halt filled in the next part, "So you thought that the words couldn't also be created out of nothing?"

Will nodded, even though he realized it was ridiculous, it still seemed like a reasonable explanation. Even Halt had to think about this one but then took a small sip of his coffee.

"So you didn't think it might turn the good thoughts completely around. I see you as a son, so with the potion I told you that you are all alone."

Suddenly this explanations seemed so much more logical and Will could slap himself, had it not been for the headache, for not coming up with that himself. A sheepish smile formed on his face, "I hadn't thought of it that way."

Halt's eyebrow rose and he patted the young man's leg, "and that my boy, is why you are still an apprentice. You're clearly not ready to think yet."

Will laughed loudly even though it send pain flaring though his ribs. Suddenly he remembered the other things that Halt had said while under the influence of the potion.

"So when you said I was a horrible ranger….." Will could see a hint of a smile forming on Halt's lips, but the old man just moved his eyebrow as usual.

"Well don't get a big head. You still let those thieves get away. You were lucky those empty headed knights were able to catch them." Halt joked, knowing that Will wouldn't take that comment to heart.

Indeed Will smiled, as he knew now that he had handled the situation the best he could. "Well I was a little busy with a greater threat to the kingdom than a group of thieves. Besides, I knew that they were out of poison so it was quite safe for a few knights to handle it."

"A greater threat? I was bound by my legs and had thumb cuffs on when I woke that morning. Are you really saying that was a dangerous situation?" Halt said successfully trying to pull the leg of his apprentice.

Will laughed as he thought how ridiculous it actually sounded and the truth how dangerous Halt could actually be. "You managed to choke me with those cuffs on, and knowing you it would probably take a few minutes before you wrestled yourself out of those ropes and kill everyone in your path."

"Why not knock me out immediately? First part of your training, never let anyone surprise you." Will grinned at the fact that after all this, Halt still found a way to lecture him.

"Well I tried some damage control to your head. You're not getting younger Halt."

Halt nodded satisfied and drank the last drops of his coffee, "No at the rate you're giving me premature grey hairs, I'll look like an elder in two years."