Saturday Morning
Amita woke at first light, cold and stiff. She tried stretching, but her sore muscles complained with every movement. Rolling over, she saw that Charlie was still asleep. The bandages on his head had come off in the night, and there were nasty bruises surrounding the cuts. His eye showed a dark shadow under it, but she didn't know if it was a bruise or just a shadow.
His hair really tangled around his face, and asleep, he looked much younger than his thirty years. She sighed. It really wasn't surprising that they all treated him like a kid. He didn't look his age, he didn't really act his age, and all his innocence did was enhance the image. He really was very attractive, and she found her stomach twisting excitedly as she relived the kisses from the day before.
She blushed as she remembered the conversation they'd had. It was amazing at what you could say in the dark while not having to look at the other person. Rolling over, she tried to go back to sleep. It took quite a while before she realized that nature was not going to allow her to sleep, so she slipped out of the cave as quietly as she could.
When she got back, Charlie was sitting up pulling on a CalSci sweatshirt. He looked up at her as she began giggling.
"What's so funny?" he asked, frowning.
"I was just looking at your hair, and I realized what mine must look like," she said as she walked back over and snuggled back into her sleeping bag.
Charlie struggled to his feet, still using the backpack frame as a cane. She blushed as she realized that he had the same need she'd just relieved. Looking the other way, she burrowed down in the bag and tried to warm back up. It was still rather chilly out there.
She tried to give him privacy, but he was gone so longer she was beginning to worry that he'd fallen and hurt himself again. However, she heard the metallic scraping soon as he limped his way back into his sleeping bag.
Getting up, she met him and helped him sit back down. Without saying anything, she began checking the cuts on his head. She was amazed and a little hurt that he let her work on him without trying to kiss her again. He just sat there with his eyes closed and his jaw clenched. Once she finished there, she moved on to his knee. The swelling had gone down a little, but the bruising around it had gotten darker. She felt him tensing as she rewrapped it.
A gentle touch on her hand got her attention. Charlie was back to being unsure of himself.
"Why don't we see what's for breakfast?" she asked quickly, automatically trying to smooth the situation over.
"Amita."
She turned back to him to meet him in a kiss. When they parted, he whispered, "I'm sorry."
Stunned, she stammered, "Wh-what? Sorry about what?"
"Sorry that I'll never be romantic. I'll never be like the guys in, in the movies…"
"Charlie," she said with a touch of smile, "Don't ever try to compare yourself to other guys. You're not like other guys, because you're special."
Charlie grinned quickly and ducked his head to hide it.
"What?" she asked suspiciously.
"You sound just like my mother," he said quietly.
"Oh."
Don sat at his desk that afternoon, shuffling paperwork around but not actually accomplishing anything. There weren't many people in the office on a weekend, although he had seen Megan wondering around, but he couldn't stand just waiting around his apartment. He was waiting for Charlie to come back into cell range and return some of the messages that had been left. Alan's unease the night before had transferred to him. Every time he tried to convince himself that Charlie was just fine, a mental picture of him lying at the bottom of a mountain popped in to destroy his calm.
He was still trying to convince himself that everything was fine when his cell phone rang. Taking only a split second to check the caller ID, he felt his stomach fall when he saw that it was not Charlie, but Larry.
"Yeah?"
"Hello, Don?"
In spite of himself, Don had to smile. Larry had called his cell, but then still asked to make sure it was him? "Yeah, it's me. Is Charlie with you?"
"How did you know?"
Don sucked in his breath. "How did I know what?"
"That he never showed up with the group yesterday."
"He didn't? Do you have any idea where he might be?"
"Well, Amita said that she was going to take him out to see something and they would meet up with us about noon yesterday."
"Wait. Amita's with him?"
"Yes. Amita was the one who gave him a ride to the rendezvous. She used to hike up there in high school and said she had something to show Charles. Do you think something happened to them?"
"I don't know. Why didn't you call this in earlier?"
"Well, I first thought that they had changed their minds about going until I saw their car at the drop-off point. Then I couldn't get a signal on my phone until we got out here on the highway."
"Thanks for the heads-up. I'll get started on finding him."
"Good luck, Don."
Panic shot through Don for a second before he got himself under control. He grabbed his gun and his jacket and headed for the elevator.
"Don!" He whirled around at Megan's call. "What's wrong?"
"Dad was right. Charlie's missing!"
"What?"
"Larry just called me." He turned back to leave, forcing the profiler to keep pace to hear his explanation. "Charlie and Amita never showed up with the group, but their car is out at the rendezvous."
"Don, you can't go out by yourself," Megan protested.
"Well, someone's got to go find him. I don't have time to wait for a search and rescue."
"That's exactly what you need to do." She grabbed him and pulled him to a stop. "If you go out there half-cocked you're not going to accomplish a thing. The search and rescue guys are trained to handle this kind of situation. You will accomplish more with more people and finding out some information first. Did Larry see them on the way hiking back out?"
"I don't know," Don was forced to admit.
"Does anyone know if Charlie or Amita would have sidetracked for anything?"
Don looked at her. "Yeah. Larry said Amita wanted to show Charlie something. She used to hike in that area."
"Well, then, we can call her parents. They would have a better idea of where to start." Megan stared at him. "You know better than this. What's the first thing you need to do when someone goes missing?"
"You're right. I panicked. Fine. You call in the missing persons report and talk to Amita's parents. They probably don't know she's missing yet. I'll go home and get my gear and then we'll meet out at the drop-off point is and start looking there." He checked for her acceptance. "Does that sound better?"
"Much." She gave Don a quick hug. "We'll find him. Now good luck telling your dad."
"Damn! I forgot about Dad." He shrugged into his jacket. "I guess I'll head there first."
"Yeah. I'll keep you updated." Megan watched him take off. "Good luck."
Charlie and Amita spent the day deepening their newfound rapport. They cuddled up together and discussed math and physics theories, little personal stories, and of course, more kissing. Neither one of them actually said out loud that the chances of being found that day were practically nonexistent. Even if Larry did get out and report them missing, it would be late afternoon and a search party wouldn't even be mobilized until dark. The next day was much more likely.
As dark was falling, Amita crawled over and began preparations to spend the night on her side of the cave again.
"No, don't do that," Charlie said. "Bring your stuff over here."
"What?"
"Please. I was cold last night, and I'm sure you were, too. We'll be better off if we combine the two sleeping bags and share them."
"Charlie, are you sure?" she asked.
"I will be a perfect gentleman, but I just laid there and ached all over because I was cold. I figure you're probably as bruised up as me, so a warmer bed tonight won't hurt either of us."
His argument was logical and tempting, and to be truthful, Amita hadn't wanted to spend another frigid night trying to find enough warmth in the cold stone floor. She brought her gear over and they used the remaining light to fashion the sleeping bags together.
The newly doubled bed looked large enough, but they discovered that the size was deceiving. Once in the bed there was barely enough room for the two of them. The rounded sides of the bags pushed them together. On the other hand, they were both almost instantly warmer.
They finally found a comfortable position, Charlie lying on his back and Amita curled on her side beside him. The teasing chatter of the night before seemed inappropriate to the situation.
In spite of the awkwardness, Amita fell asleep very quickly. In the pitch dark, Charlie listened to her even breathing as she shifted slightly in her sleep. He couldn't see her features, but he knew them by heart. Silently he began wondering what would happen to them when they returned to the real world.
It was easy to use an extreme situation like this to bond in, but he knew that the social awkwardness he suffered from could tear them apart once they were back on campus. Charlie knew of several young men she'd dated since they had started working together, and not for the first time, wondered how he measured up against them. This was not a new concern; he had grown up in Don's shadow and used his brother as a gauge of normality.
A strange noise woke him up, and he lay still to see if he could figure out what the problem was. He guessed that it was very early morning hours, but he couldn't verify that because the light in his watch was broken. The noise was repeated before he finally identified it.
Little moans came from Amita as she twitched beside him. As carefully as he could and trying to ignore his aching knee, he rolled over to face her and put his arm around her, trying to calm her nightmare. The moans became worse until suddenly she jerked awake with his name on her lips.
"Amita, it's okay. It was just a dream," he whispered as he ran his hand up and down her back. "It was just a dream." Charlie had vivid memories of his parents doing the same thing for him when he was younger, and found that he felt much better giving comfort than receiving it. "It's okay. You're okay."
To his utter shock, she burst into tears. This was a totally new experience for him, and one he felt extremely ill-equipped to deal with. He let her cry for a few minutes until she seemed to be calming down. "Amita, what's wrong?"
"I don't know," she whispered miserably. "I know something awful happened in my dream, but I can't remember what. I just have these awful feelings."
He pulled her face toward his and gently kissed her forehead. She sighed and curled up closer to him, clinging to him to for support. It took them both a while to get back to sleep.
