Chapter 4: Fever

Yuuri felt Victor shiver against his back and turned to face him as the Russian skater clung to him, taking ragged breaths.

"Victor?" he called softly, feeling with his hand to find Victor's face.

He made a sound of distress at finding the flesh hot and dry.

"Alek!" he called urgently, "Victor's spiked a fever. Tasha said to call her if he started to get sick like that."

"Damn it," the handler muttered under his breath.

He stepped out of the room, leaving the two alone as Yuuri sat up and tried to rouse his discomfited partner.

"C'mon, wake up, okay?" Yuuri coaxed him, patting Victor's flushed face and running fingers gently through his hair, "Victor?"

Victor shivered and made a worrisome rattling cough. A moment later, the door opened and Tasha entered the room, followed by Kat and Alek.

"Are you causing us trouble again, little ice prince?" Kat chided him, "I thought you were going to really try to stay out of trouble."

Victor groaned, trying to bury his face in Yuuri's shoulder.

"D-don't touch m-me," he complained, "Your h-hands are c-cold!"

"My hands aren't cold," Tasha said quietly as she examined him carefully, "You just have a pretty high fever. It's okay. I've prepared for this. We'll just need to take you to the infirmary."

She gave the handler a meaningful glare.

"Do you think you can carry him there without killing him, stupid?" she said icily.

Alek scowled, but he stepped forward and lifted the semi-conscious skater carefully.

"Wh-where are you taking him?" Yuuri asked urgently, "Is Victor going to be okay?"

"Victor will be fine," Kat assured the anxious Japanese skater.

"How do you know?" Yuuri demanded, "You said that you wouldn't really hurt him, but he was shaking all over and he could barely breathe without coughing! He's really, really sick. Victor needs to be in a hospital."

A warm palm curved around Yuuri's cheek suddenly, and he stiffened and caught his breath. He felt that the person touching him was gazing at him closely.

"Our little cherry blossom misses his precious ice prince?" Kat purred softly, her strange eyes blinking slowly, "We can't allow that, now, can we?"

"C-could I please see Victor?"

Kat sighed, sliding her hand under Yuuri's chin and lifting it.

"Poor thing. I don't think you'll be seeing anything right now. Am I right?"

Yuuri's heart pounded strangely in his chest and he struggled with an instant urge to pull away from her.

"You're a tricky one, aren't you, little cherry blossom," Kat continued, "Sometimes small and scared, but sometimes…"

"Will you please let me go and sit with Victor?" Yuuri asked, swallowing hard.

Kat considered, then gave him a crooked smile he couldn't see.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," she decided, "Besides, I have some things to say to your handler about his job performance. Come along."

Yuuri felt an arm curl around him, helping as he climbed to his feet. He swayed uncertainly for a moment as a dizzy feeling went through his head.

"Still feeling that concussion?" Kat said sympathetically, "You really are a delicate little thing, aren't you? Looks like Alek almost killed you too."

"I'm fine," Yuuri said, his jaw stiffening, "I just need to get to Victor. I'm worried. He sounded bad."

"Tasha is a great medic," Kat assured him, "He couldn't be in better hands."

"Victor needs a real doctor!" Yuuri snapped, "I've never seen him like he was."

"He did look pretty sick, but we'll take care of him. Just don't you start making trouble for us too."

"Victor isn't in that shape because he was making trouble!" Yuuri exclaimed, his hands clenching as he stopped in the hallway, "You knew he was only trying to explain how to keep Yurio calm. You should have been grateful to him for trying to keep everyone calm, but instead, you hurt him, just to intimidate the rest of us!"

A little yelp of surprise and pain escaped him as Kat turned them suddenly and forced him up against the wall. Yuuri quivered, but his blind eyes blazed rebelliously as Kat's face came closer and her voice hissed roughly in his ear.

"You don't look intimidated, do you? I said before that you were tricky, and I think this proves it. You've shown your true colors, haven't you, my sweet little cherry blossom. This is your inner Eros, then? I thought that if Victor was threatened, it might come out."

"Look, I'm not trying to cause any trouble. I just want Victor and the rest of us to get home safely. Whatever that takes…"

Yuuri's breaths stopped as Kat's lips came close to his ear, so that he felt a touch of hot breath that made his insides fill with ice.

"Be careful what you wish for, Eros. You might be biting off more than you can chew," she warned him, "Come now. I think you're good the ice prince."

She led him to the door to the infirmary, where they paused as the sound of Victor coughing and swearing furiously in Russian reached them. Tasha gave them an apologetic look over her shoulder and beckoned them to the Russian skater's bedside.

"What was that?" Kat asked, looking amused, "I thought he was going to go through the roof, for a moment."

"He's too weak to get up to pee once the diuretic starts working," the medic explained, "so I had to put in a catheter to drain the excess body fluids."

Yuuri cringed.

"Ouch," Kat giggled, "Better go and make him feel better, sweetie."

She guided Yuuri to Victor's bedside, where he sat down in a chair and slipped his hand into Victor's sweaty and shaky one.

"Are you okay?" Yuuri managed in a whisper.

Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes as he felt Victor kiss his fingertips.

"I'll be fine," the Russian skater whispered, "Don't be afraid."

"You still feel too hot. Are you comfortable? D-do you need anything?"

"I'm okay. I just…need you, solnyshko. I just need you close to me."

"I'm right here," Yuuri whispered back, resting his cheek against Victor's, "Victor, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know if we can do anything," Victor whispered back, "We don't know where we are. We haven't any shoes or warm clothing. Some of us are hurt or sick. I think that, right now, we have to try to learn as much as we can about who these people are, what they want and where they've taken us. When we know those things, it will be time to start thinking about how we can get away."

"Okay," Yuuri breathed, calming, "While you're resting, I'll try to find out what I can."

"You have to be careful, Yuuri," Victor warned him, "You're already hurt, and I don't want anything worse to happen to you. But…if you are able to speak to any of the others, pass on what I told you. We need to have everyone working on this."

"It doesn't seem like they're giving us any contact with each other," Yuuri observed, "but if I do get to talk to anyone, I'll pass on what you said."

"Good," Victor sighed wearily, "Yuuri, I feel terrible."

"Yeah, I bet you do," Yuuri answered, rubbing his cooler cheek against his lover's, "You sound bad too."

"I'm better with you here."

"Try to sleep now, okay?"

"Okay."

Victor quieted, but Yuuri still felt a twinge of concern at his uneven breathing. He heard the others move closer again and Tasha patted him comfortingly on the arm.

"He'll be okay. I gave him something to make the fluid drain so that he will breathe better. He's had an antibiotic shot to keep infection from setting in. He just needs to sleep."

"Can I stay with him?" Yuuri asked, "Y-you can cuff me to something here. I won't cause any trouble. I promise. I just don't want to leave him."

Tasha looked up at Kat questioningly, but Kat's eyes narrowed and glinted.

"The ice prince is just going to be napping for now," she answered, "and someone needs to keep a close eye on you while you're feeling so protective of him, my tricky Eros."

"But, I'm not…"

"I'm also afraid that Alek is not going to be available to watch you, so…what to do?"

"You could put him with Miss Mila?" Tasha suggested.

"Hmm, I don't know if I like that."

Kat's sharp, painted fingertip tapped her cheek once, twice, then a third time. Her cat's eyes gleamed and her smile turned wicked.

"Well, maybe…I will just babysit him, myself," she suggested.

Yuuri's blind eyes rounded in distress as he was dragged away from Victor and brought to his feet.

"We have to make sure he behaves himself, after all. Wouldn't want him getting ideas from the ice prince's bad behavior."

"You'll need to be careful with him," Tasha warned her excitable comrade, "You've already blinded the poor thing and roughed him up. And you know he gets anxious."

"Yes," Kat said, her voice lowering ominously, "I know that. And…given that his Eros is so tricky and dangerous, I think scaring him a little is definitely called for. We need to put him back in his more delicate cherry blossom mode…before he gets himself hurt more."

Tasha sighed and shrugged.

"You're the boss."

"N-no, wait!" Yuuri objected, struggling as Kat pulled him towards the door, "I want to stay with Victor! I need to know he's okay. I promised him I would stay with him!"

"Vaska, give me a hand with him."

Yuuri yelped as he was lifted and thrown roughly over a bigger man's shoulder.

"Victor!" he called out.

Hearing no answer, he continued to call out the Russian's name as he was carried into another room and dropped onto a bed. He started to scramble away, but Kat's hands took hold of him, and he felt her wrapping leather straps around his arms.

"Lie down and be still. You know, you need to rest too, feisty Eros."

"I need to be with Victor!" Yuuri complained, struggling, "He's really sick."

"We're taking care of Victor. Hold still and calm down."

"You're the reason he's like that!" Yuuri accused her, "You ordered him treated like that, even though you knew he didn't deserve it. You're a damned monster!"

Yuuri sucked in a scared breath, stiffening as he felt Kat climb on top of him, and his captor held him in place with unexpected strength. He didn't have to see the other's eyes to know they were filled with dangerous fury.

"You don't know just how right you are about that," Kat hissed in his ear, her hands rough as they finished binding his arms, "but you are about to find out. Let me tell you a little secret, you nasty little Eros. Georgi isn't the only one among you who we can sacrifice. You know, we're not getting quite what we want in negotiations for you, so you might want to keep that in mind. How do you think your ice prince would feel, going home with your dead body?"

Yuuri's chest heaved and he turned his head away as Kat's face came close to his again.

"Cross me again, and you are a dead blossom."

Yuuri went limp and silent, giving no more objections as Kat's hands wrapped more of the strong leather straps around his ankles, leaving him spread out on his back and completely vulnerable to her.

"Now then," Kat purred, batting her eyes, "your punishment for being such a bother…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Victor kept his eyes closed and his breathing slow and even, listening carefully to the sounds that reached him. Over the steady beeping of the machine that monitored his heart rate and oxygen level, footsteps sounded nearby as the evening watch appeared to be changing.

"Hey," a male voice said softly, "I heard there was some excitement earlier."

"Mmhmm, Alek's been punished, "He damn near busted two of them."

A low whistle sounded.

"I would not want to be him right now."

"Yeah? Then, you'd better make sure nothing happens to the ice prince in there. He wasn't looking so good before. Let him sleep. Don't touch him unless you have to."

"Got it."

"Well, I'm off."

"Night."

"You too."

More footsteps sounded, and seemed to get louder. Victor remained carefully limp and motionless, except for the steady rise and fall of his chest. He felt the guard's eyes watch him closely for a minute, then he turned and walked out of the room again.

Victor continued to listen, exchanging sleep for what little bits of information he could capture.

"…storm coming in later tonight…"

"…Khipa's late…"

"The boss isn't going to like very much how this is going."

…putting pressure on Yakov. Boss doesn't want to have to kill Victor, but as a last resort, it would let them know we're serious. Besides, look at the bastard. He's half dead and may die on us anyway."

I'm not as dead as you think.

A small movement yielded the information that he wasn't restrained in any way.

You've underestimated me.

He shifted slightly, then winced at a little pain he felt in a very sensitive place.

Fuck.

Catheter.

I hate these people.

It's not exactly a restraint, but it's going to make getting up and down pretty much impossible.

Frowning, he turned his attention back to the voices that floated into the room from time to time.

"…Toska's got duty on the shed…"

"…No one's in there now. Victor's in the infirmary and Kat's got Yuuri Katsuki in her bed."

"I don't envy him."

"No, you don't."

"Yuuri?" Victor whispered, his heart quickening.

He groaned inwardly at the beeping set off by the increase in his heart rate.

"Fuck…Yuuri!" he shouted, shifting.

OW! Fuck…catheter…

"Take it easy now."

"Wh-where are you Yuuri?" Victor panted, thrashing around aimlessly, "Yuuri!"

"Get Tasha!"

"Yuuri!" Victor called out again, "He's in trouble."

"He's fine."

"N-no, I know. I know he's in trouble."

He felt Tasha's hands touch his face and her soothing voice sounded.

"Oh, you've got some energy after all? You're going to make trouble, ice prince?"

"Sh-she's going to hurt Yuuri. She hurt me, now she's going to hurt him!"

Tasha gave a little chuckle.

"Kat won't hurt your little cherry blossom. Relax. I don't want to have to sedate you."

Victor's jaw clenched and his blue-green eyes glared petulantly.

"I don't believe you! Why should I? You and the others said before we wouldn't be hurt. But you hurt me…and Yuuri is FUCKING BLIND!"

Even Victor was surprised at the loud objection the machines made at his outburst. Tasha's eyes narrowed and she reached under the blanket and took hold of the catheter tube. Victor froze instinctively, holding his breath as the medic stared into his widened eyes.

"Do I have your attention now?" she asked sternly, "No one wants to hurt any of you, but you need to understand that no one among you is indispensable. Cause too much trouble, and we'll kill you. It's as simple as that. Lie there and let yourself feel better. Don't cause any more trouble. Do you understand, Victor?"

"Is there a problem?" Kat said from the doorway.

Victor shivered and gritted his teeth, earning a look of approval from the medic, who gave Kat a weary look.

"Victor is very ill and I think he needs comforting," she said, making the Russian skater blink in surprise.

What?

But she just said…

"Could you bring Yuuri Katsuki back for a little while?" Tasha asked.

Kat rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she sighed impatiently, "What a pain. We were having so much fun too. He really is a sweet little blossom. I'm so jealous that he already seems very attached to his little ice prince."

Victor stiffened, but Tasha's touch on his arm made him go still and quiet again.

"Vaska, go and untie the little cherry blossom. His ice prince needs him."