"So Lifelike!"

By GirlX2

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The ride to the hospital was deathly quiet. Jack sat motionless in the passenger seat, having a million questions, but not daring to ask. Matt mumbled what might have been prayers under his breath. Once they arrived Matt slipped him into the inner pocket of his black coat.

Jack cursed the darkness. He couldn't tell what was happening or even ask Matt for a clue. The only situational gauge he had was the frantic beating of Matt's heart through the thin material. It grew steadily faster as time passed.

'And here I am, about as useful as that damned monkey.' Jack tried to quell the rising rage in his own chest.

'You've got to be calm now.' The annoying inner voice said. 'For Dana's sake.'

Jack took a sharp breath. Dana. Had her bones been broken? Was she dying? Incapacitated in some way that would leave her 'simple' or worse? Matt had only explained the bare essentials of what a 'car accident' could mean, and they had no idea just how bad Dana's accident had been.

Jack was startled out of these thoughts when Matt lifted him out of the pocket. They were alone in what appeared to be a washroom.

"Mrs. Braxton told me what's going on." Matt looked a little less worried. "Dana was banged up pretty good in the accident, but it's mostly just bruising. Her ankle is worse for the wear though and she'll have a splint for the next few weeks, but she's going to be fine."

Jack sighed in relief. "Thank the lord."

"We can see her, but it has to be quick. I can't risk anyone seeing you." Matt said. "Not to mention she needs rest."

Jack's first impulse was to argue, but he restrained it. However much he disliked Matt, Dana was more important. Matt slipped the pirate back into his jacket pocket.

'Until Dana is well enough to come home I'm going to be stuck with this sod.' Jack realized with dismay. The loud clik of a door shutting intruded on this thought.

"Oh God, Dana…" Matt said quietly. Jack waited for a response from the teen, but there was none. After a few more moments Matt fished him out.

Dana lay asleep on the grayish hospital cot.

Jack had seen a lot of carnage at sea, and the injuries that Dana had sustained were a good deal less horrific than he'd feared. A bandage ran across her forehead, stained ever so slightly pink. Her face and arms were covered with small bruises and scrapes. One eye had been blackened. Her legs were covered, but one seemed lumpier than the other.

'The splint.' Jack realized as Matt set him onto a beside table.

Matt sat on the bedside chair and lay his hands gently on her shoulders. His back was to Jack, but the Pirate thought he spotted several drops of water falling from the teen's facial area. He kindly pretended not to notice.

Dana's good eye blinked several times and she squinted at him. "Hi honey."

Matt leaned over and kissed her gently. "Hi sweetie."

"Where's my glasses? They took my contacts." She motioned vaguely at the table.

"Over here." Matt reached over Jack, picking up a set of square-ish black framed glasses.

"Thanks." Dana put them on.

"I didn't even know you had glasses." Jack piped up.

"Jack." Dana gave a sigh of relief, and picked him up. "I wondered what had happened with you."

"I wouldn't leave him home alone." Matt replied, squeezing her other hand. She set Jack onto the pillow beside her.

"Well no, someone may have seen him." She replied.

"Uh, actually…"

"Did Ian find him?" Dana asked calmly.

"Yeah." Matt said sheepishly.

"Is he gonna be cool about it?" She continued.

"Yeah."

"Okay then."

"You're being awfully calm about this." Jack observed.

"I won't be once the morphine wears off." She replied, grinning. Matt laughed.

"Why did I think even a totaled car could stop you from being a smartass?"

"It was totaled?"

"Er…"

"Psych! I already knew."

Jack watched the verbal joust, feeling very awkward. When a woman was involved he was usually part of a love triangle, not merely a third wheel. The easygoing manner the two before him were sharing, even in this place, only made him feel deeper out of place.

This time Dana didn't notice his displacement. She and Matt were talking in more serious tones, he telling her about his fear after the news of her accident, she calming him. After a few more minutes she gave a tired sigh. Matt stood up.

"You need rest." He said. "I should get out of your hair."

"You need rest too, you have work." She reminded him. "They're letting me out of here tomorrow. Maybe you can swing by my house?"

"Not a problem." He kissed her forehead.

"As long as your going to be alright." Jack said, trying to be 'the adult'.

She nodded. "I'll be fine as long as you two are getting alone. I expect both of you to be in one piece tomorrow."

"If I've survived with 'im this long another night won't kill me." He said.

Dana reclined back onto the pillow, her eyeline sinking below Jack's. "Good."

He looked up at Matt. "I want you to know, this is not romantically intended."

Before the teen could respond, Jack had leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"And to think, if this was any other place, I may have swooned." Dan smiled at him.

"Try that when she's not in the hospital and I'll swat you flat." Matt picked the pirate up.

"Of course." Jack grinned up at him, knowing the threat was only in jest.

'Hoping it was, anyway.'

-

They'd left the hospital shortly afterwards. Matt switched on the car's stereo system, treating Jack to a loud rendition of 'La Vie Boehm.'

It seemed, for the moment anyway, the boyfriend and the buccaneer had made peace.

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