Despite the shitty mattress and the broken night's sleep, Ian was awake early. He normally was at any rate, but as uncomfortable as he was in the kid–sized bed, he was awake even earlier than normal. He opened his eyes to a dull light in the cabin, and the sound of snores all around him. Who would have thought that so many kids could snore? He looked around, and then looked at his watch. It was just after 5 AM, and if he wanted to have a chance to run in peace and quiet, he was going to have to do it now, he was certain.

With that goal in mind, he dropped to the floor and reached for his bag. He could run in the same sweats he was wearing, but then he wouldn't be able to sleep in them that night, and he only had a limited supply of clothing, so he was going to have to make things last a little longer. He changed into a t-shirt and a pair of white sweats, pulled on socks and running shoes, and with a quick glance around to make sure none of the kids were awake, he opened the door.

And once more woke River up.

"What's up?" the Californian asked, groggily. "Another bear?"

"I'm going for a run."

"It's vacation. Go back to sleep."

Ian shook his head. River had all summer to be lazy, but Ian was still, technically, on duty.

"I'll be back in a bit."

"Watch out for bears."

"I couldn't get so lucky…"

River snorted, and closed his eyes, more than willing to take his own advice and go back to sleep, and Ian closed the door behind him silently.

While he stretched, he looked around, deciding his best running course, and eventually opted to just run the fence line. He didn't know exactly how far it was, but if he needed more, he'd run it again.

OOOOOOOOO

There were no bears. There weren't any cougars, or rabid antelope, or even a stray alligator, although he did startle a couple of deer, which immediately leaped over the short fence he'd been following and took off into the trees. That was all there was. A lot of trees and a lot of rough, uneven ground that forced him to pay attention to where he was putting his feet in order to keep from tripping up.

As he was running up the hill from the lagoon – on the other side of the fire pit – he came around a curve in the hill and almost ran right over one of the other counselors. It was a toss up as to who was more startled, him or her, but she was the one that went crashing to the ground with a surprised cry.

He stopped, looking down at her. And saw it was Ann, one of the counselors who was in charge of the six year old girls.

"Are you okay?"

She was wearing running shorts and a tank top, and he could see that she'd scratched her knee up pretty good – at least it was bleeding and dirty, but she nodded.

"I think so."

"Sorry about that, I didn't see you."

She gave him a wry glance.

"I didn't see you, either. I didn't expect anyone else to be up so early…"

"Nothing broken?" he asked, noticing that she was rubbing her ankle.

"It's a little sore… I probably just sprained it…" She looked at him with a mixture of pain and amusement. "You'll probably have to carry me to the nurse…"

Not if he could help it. He wasn't sure if she was teasing him or not – he didn't know her, after all, but there was no way.

"Let me see."

He knelt down in front of her, and she watched as he took her ankle in his hands.

"I thought you were in the Navy?"

Ian frowned, looking at her.

"I'm in the Air Force. Why?"

"You're studying medicine?"

He shook his head.

"My girlfriend's mom is a doctor, though. I've watched her."

Not to mention he had a few tricks up his proverbial sleeve. He had already taken care of the sprain, which had been minor, but still would have lamed her for a few days.

"Girlfriend, huh?"

Ian ignored the question.

"I don't think it's sprained," he told her, standing up and offering her his hand. "Try it out."

The knee was bleeding, but wouldn't give her too much trouble – and there was no way he was going to heal that. A sprain was one thing; a cut that miraculously stopped bleeding and healed up was another thing entirely. He'd learned that lesson.

She gave him her hand, letting him pull her to her feet, and tenderly put her weight on the injured ankle. And smiled in surprise.

"It's okay."

"Good."

"I should probably see the nurse about my knee though, huh?"

"If it hurts, you should."

"Come with me?"

He frowned. It was one thing to take care of the ankle to make up for running her down, but he wasn't going to go all the way out of his way and interrupt his run just because she wanted company. And she definitely didn't need help getting there, he'd already seen to that. So he used the first excuse that came to mind.

"I've got to finish my run before my boys wake up."

She looked like she wanted to try and convince him otherwise, but obviously decided that he wasn't going to change his mind, because she just nodded.

"I'll see you later."

Not if he saw her first.

"Yeah."

He'd see her. It was a small camp, after all, and he wouldn't be able to avoid her. But he'd try.

He turned and took off, making a mental note to change his route the next morning, just in case.