He tried to look around but he was still feeling incredibly weak and his neck was stiff. He couldn't see Jack though so he figured he was alone. He wondered if the surgery had worked, if he was really going to be okay. He couldn't remember much of it. He couldn't remember much of anything after using the radio in the Beechcraft, but he figured that was a good thing. He had some hazy images in his mind but none of them were pleasant, it was all blinding pain and dizziness and disorientation that he still hadn't managed to shift. And now he felt kind of sick too. He found keeping his eyes open quite a chore but he hated the feeling of slipping away that he kept getting so he tried to fight it.
And then he heard something and managed to move his head to the far left to find out it's source. It was Kate. She was working something with a makeshift pestle, apparently unaware that anyone could see her.
"What are you doing?" Boone asked.
Kate jumped at the sound but a smile of relief came over her face when she saw Boone. "Hi," she said. "I was, erm, crushing up sleeping pills to put in Jack's juice," she explained, checking Boone for a reaction. She then added "He hasn't slept and he gave you a lot of blood and I think he needs to rest."
"I think that's a good idea," Boone replied. "Thanks."
Kate gave a little shrug and carried on with what she was doing. She fixed the drink for Jack and then glanced at entrance before moving over to Boone.
"Where's Jack?" Boone asked.
"He's just getting cleaned up, he'll be back in a second," Kate assured him. "He's talking to Shannon by the pool," she added, glancing towards the door again.
"Shannon's here?" Boone asked.
Kate nodded. "She's been sat in here most of the day," she told him. "She was getting a little impatient with you."
"Impatient?" Boone asked.
"Cos you were sleeping," Kate explained.
Boone nodded a little but it hurt like hell so he made a mental note not to do it again. He sighed in pain, trying to breath without his lungs hurting. He remembered something about his lungs. A collapsed lung. Jack stabbed him in the chest to help him breathe.
Then Jack came in and saw Boone awake, a smile coming over his face. "About time," he said tenderly, moving and sitting by Boone. "How are you feeling?" he asked, gingerly touching the side of Boone's face.
"Like a plane fell on me," Boone replied.
Jack gave him a look. Obviously they weren't seeing the funny side of this yet. "Are you in a lot of pain?" he asked.
"Yeah," Boone replied regretfully.
Jack nodded. "I've got a couple of things I can give you but I don't know if they're strong enough to have any effect so we might want to save them. You need morphine really, I don't have anything that can match that."
Boone found his eyes closing again. "I dunno," he slurred.
"Boone," Jack said and Boone could tell he was leaning over him, he could feel his breath on his cheek. "Boone, can you open your eyes?"
Boone opened his eyes and looked at Jack. Things were a little blurry but he could see. Jack took a pen and started moving it in front of Boone's eyes.
"I need you to follow this for me, okay?" Jack requested. "Just follow it with your eyes."
Boone followed the pen and found the focus actually helped keep his eyes open.
"Okay, good," Jack told him, putting the pen away. "You feeling dizzy? Disorientated? Nauseous? Light headed? Giddy?" Jack reeled off. "Do you know who you are? Where you are?"
"Yes, unfortunately," Boone replied.
That earned him a smile from Jack.
"Jack, you should drink something," Kate cut in, holding the juice out to him.
"I just had some water," Jack dismissed, keeping his focus on Boone.
"This has vitamins in it, it'll do you good, you haven't eaten," Kate continued.
"I'm fine, Kate," Jack insisted.
"I think you should drink the juice, Jack," Boone managed, looking at him.
Jack sighed and took the juice. "Fine," he mumbled, taking a swig. "I'm only the doctor, what do I know?" He drank down the juice and then turned his attention back to Boone. Kate gave a little smile and excused herself, confident her job was done. "How's the leg?" Jack asked.
Boone remembered the leg. The leg was crushed. Jack told him he was going to perform surgery. Boone remembered that the pain was sharp at first and it was so sharp that he barely felt it, it didn't quite register. And then he remembered something warm trickling down his calf and knowing that it must be his blood. Then he remembers a different pain, a worse pain. It wasn't the clean pain of before, it was like being pushed and pulled under the surface. He could feel tugs and he could feel pressure and he could hear urgent voices but he didn't know what they were saying. And he wanted to leave, he wanted it to stop, but he couldn't move and it took him a while to realise that it wasn't that his body was failing him, someone was holding him down.
"Hurts," Boone mumbled, feeling exhausted. "Feels tight."
Jack looked it over and nodded. "It's swollen again," he agreed. "I'm gonna elevate it, should relieve some of the pressure and feel a little better," he said.
He moved a few things around and then gently lifted Boone's leg but the first touch was agony and it didn't get any better. Boone took a sharp intake of breath and held it, trying to relax and let it happen, trying to ignore the pain.
"I know, I'm sorry," Jack said gently as he placed Boone's leg on something. "You need to tell me if your toes start to tingle or if you can't feel them anymore."
"Is that bad?" Boone asked.
"It means I'm cutting off the circulation to your leg and we need to put it back down," Jack told him. "Just pins and needles."
Boone wasn't sure if he believed Jack. He knew that the leg was bad, he could remember snippets of conversation about it. There was something about pooling blood and open surgery and, he swore, amputation.
Shannon came in and looked at Boone rushing over. "You're awake," she stated. "Are you okay? How do you feel? Can you breathe?"
Boone nodded and then remembered the mental note a little too late. He moaned a little and closed his eyes against the dizzy spell.
"Hey, it's okay, just don't try to move," Jack told him. "Shannon, he just needs to rest right now, okay?"
"You throwing me out?" she asked, sounding all brat-ish. "I'm his sister, I'm family, you're just the guy he's screwing. Why I have to leave and you get to stay?"
Boone didn't want to open his eyes but he had to look at Jack's reaction. He looked kind of pissed off.
"I get to stay because I'm his doctor," Jack stated. "And I never said you had to leave, you can stay as long as you like, but you have to let him rest."
Shannon looked annoyed but shrugged a little. "I don't care," she said. "I had something I wanted to do anyway." She turned to Boone and looked at him and he could tell that she'd been crying. In fact she kind of looked like crap. "I'm glad you didn't die," she said, which was probably Shannon's version of a heart-to-heart. "That would have sucked," she added. She leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead. "Feel better." She looked at him somewhat awkwardly and Boone couldn't help but appreciate the effort. If he was honest he didn't really think she'd come.
She got up and walked around Boone to Jack. "Thanks," she said. "For all the doctor stuff."
Jack nodded. "Least I could do," he replied.
"No," Shannon said. "I wasn't here but apparently you were pretty amazing. So thanks."
Jack gave her a smile and suddenly Shannon moved forward and put her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a hug, which so wasn't Shannon. Shannon didn't hug, she wasn't an affectionate person at all, Boone sometimes thought she took lessons from Sabrina. Jack seemed a little shocked too but put his hands on her waist and held her as she fidgeted a little. She then pulled away and stood up, her hands behind her back, looking a little like a schoolgirl, Boone thought.
"I'll come back and see you later," she told Boone.
"Okay," he said and gave her a smile. She didn't return it, in fact she was looking rather serious. She lingered for a second and then made a quick exit.
Jack turned back to face Boone. "Is there anything else I can do to make you more comfortable?" he asked.
"Not unless you have an ice pack," Boone replied, the jungle heat really getting to him right now.
Jack put the back of his hand to Boone's forehead and nodded a little. "Yeah, you're running a fever," he told him. "I gave you some antibiotics earlier so it shouldn't get too serious. I can get you a damp cloth."
"I don't want you to leave me," Boone replied.
"I'm coming right back," Jack assured him.
"You look like shit," Boone pointed out.
Jack smiled at him. "Yeah, I probably do," he conceded.
"You should lay down," Boone told him, knowing those sleeping pills Kate slipped him would be taking effect soon.
"I'm okay," Jack dismissed.
Boone could feel his eyes closing again. "Please," he said. "Lie down with me so I'm not alone. I wanna feel you there."
Jack looked at him and sighed. "I can't," he said. "I can't hold you, not without hurting you. You have stitches and bruising everywhere, I can't put my arm over you."
Boone lost the fight with his eyelids. "Figure it out."
He didn't feel anything and thought that Jack had given up, thinking Boone was asleep. Then he felt Jack's fingers intertwine with his and Jack shifted so he was laying down and curled up to Boone's side, his free hand wrapped around Boone's arm. Boone had never felt safer. With Jack looking after him he was definitely going to be all right. He heard Jack's breathing become deep and regular as sleep took him over. Boone then gave up his own battle, letting things slip away again for a while.