Steve came to when he felt a hand on his neck, then move to his cheek, before carefully brushing his hair back. The bone chilling cold that had spread through every sinew of his body earlier was now replaced by a comfortable warmth enveloping his senses.
His head was bedded against something soft and he could smell Mike's aftershave nearby. Noticing that he'd stopped shivering; Steve did a quick inventory of all his body parts when the pain from the cut on his side returned with a vengeance.
Quickly sliding his fingers over the battered area, he could feel padding covering both, the wound on his side and on his shoulder.
"Don't touch it."
Mike's strained voice was right above him and Steve fought to open his eyes, blinking momentarily when the dome light of the Galaxy blinded him. A strong arm was wrapped around him, holding him close and he noticed the weight of Mike's chin on his head, when the Lieutenant shifted for a moment.
"Mhm…"
"Don't try to talk. Save your energy. We've got a few more hours till morning…"
He could hear Mike take a deep shuddered breath, before tightening the arm around his chest, holding him even closer to help both of them to stay warm. When the chin returned to its resting place on top of his head, Steve could tell that his partner was trembling.
Unable to recall what happened after he put the Galaxy in park, Steve noticed that they'd switched positions at one point, with Mike now in the driver's seat and his side of the bench covered in discarded plastic wrapping material. Several large blood stains against the beige fabric on the passenger side made him wonder just how badly his partner had been injured.
Noting that the car was running but not moving, he glanced through the windshield, feeling his heart sink when he saw a tree that had fallen across the road, effectively blocking their escape route.
"After I was forced to stop here, I checked the map we got from the boys…", the Lieutenant said with a shaky voice and shifted in his seat, "Looks like we're about eight miles north of the Hollow Springs Campground. From there on its another fifteen miles downhill to get into Clear Lake. If we keep up a brisk pace in the morning, we'll be home in time to greet Jeanie as she steps off the bus."
Chuckling, Steve let his eyes drift across the interior of the Galaxy, noticing the condensation building up in the corners of the windshield and on the inside of the passenger window. The cold creeping in through the shattered rear window was beginning to overpower the heater alarmingly fast.
"I don't know if she'd appreciate us in our current…condition…"
"Probably not…"
They fell quiet for a while and Mike's slow rhythmic breathing was beginning to make him drowsy.
Closing his eyes once again, Steve tried hard not to let the misery of their situation get the better of him. Even if Roy and Andy never made it into town, he knew that by now, DeWitt would grow worried about their lack of communication and hopefully send backup.
All they had to do was hang in there long enough.
"Don't go to sleep …you were unconscious for over two hours. I don't know if I can wake you up again if you go back to sleep. And I most certainly will not carry you down this mountain, Inspector."
He opened his eyes again when he felt Mike's hand gently tapping his cheek. Glancing over he noticed that the Lieutenant's fingers were caked in dried blood… not all of it his, that he was sure of.
"So what…what are you going to tell Jeanie when…when she asks why you didn't call her last night?"
Deciding to make small talk when he found himself getting drowsy again, Steve was surprised to hear Mike chuckle.
"I'll tell her to put this Eric character back on the bus to Phoenix and sit down for a couple of hours of story-telling time."
"You mean the part about us shooting up an old farm house to free two innocent kids, and how you nearly got your organs ripped out by some crazy Korean doctor whom I engaged into a knife fight with right after someone tried to put me down like an old dog?"
"Hm mhm."
Managing a brief smile, Steve reached up to cover Mike's arm with his own.
"You know she won't believe a word of it…"
"That's what makes it so good…"
Steve fell quiet again when the overbearing drowsiness threatened to drag him into the comfortable oblivion of sleep. Between the steady humming of the Galaxy's engine and the heater blowing warm air his way, it became easier and easier to give up the battle.
Closing his eyes for a brief moment, Steve drew in a deep breath, grinding his teeth at the pain coming from his side and cursing himself once again for letting the manic doctor get close enough to cut him twice.
As the fog slowly overtook his mind, he never even grew alarmed when Mike's warm hand around his chest went limp.