Brazen glanced down at the snow. Sure enough there were footprints with an all too familiar tread pattern. They went around the side of the tent. Susan followed them to knee marks, hand prints. He'd fallen. There were a few drops of blood between the hand prints. Fear pushed Brazen to full alarm.

It took a second before she looked up toward the woods to see him leaning against a tree just beyond the edge of the woods. Susan hurried to his side.

"What the Hell are you doing out here?"

Snake hobbled and struggled to force his weight from the tree. Susan immediately waded through the brambles to help.

"I had to take a piss!" He growled the words out through the pain obvious in his expression.

Susan wasn't sure whether to laugh or be furious. The emotional combination left Brazen with and incredulous expression. "A piss?"

"Yeah!"

Brazen looked him over consumed by worry. He had no shirt on leaving the sickening purple bruises exposed to the frigid air through his open coat. His boots weren't even properly buckled, snow filtered in onto his bare feet.

"We need to get you inside." Brazen put her arm gently around his waist but Plissken didn't move.

"Fuck that!" Snake was being obstinate on purpose. Susan wondered if it was just residue from the days he had spent helpless in the tent.

"You can't stay out here." She protested.

"Why?" Snake shot it back at her.

"You're going to get cold. It's freezing out here." Brazen was desperate to get him back into the tent.

"Why don't you keep me warm baby?" He whispered it in the painful growl his voice had taken on since his injury. Susan glared at him and finally sighed out of frustration.

"INSIDE!" She demanded it and this time he started to move but his mind was still on the last topic. Brazen caught his hand just as it was about to slip under her shirt and shoved it away. Of all the things!

Opening the flap she helped him back inside and down to the floor. It was significantly warmer inside. Brazen slipped out of her coat and set it aside. Plissken had taken to mooching around on the bedding. She could tell he was sick of sitting around but he was in no condition to be up and moving either. Susan shook her head as she knelt down to remove his boots. The next few days were going to be a battle to keep him in bed and resting.

Brazen had to work the ice and snow out of the buckles. No doubt this was from when he had fallen. She remembered the blood on the ground. It was only a few drops but it was too much for her comfort. Susan freed the first boot and slid it off.

"You didn't…" Susan wanted to ask about the fall but the cold hand on her bare back took the words away.

"Do you mind?" Brazen couldn't keep the frustration out of her tone.

"Not at all." His hand slipped down over the curve of her hip. "The view's nice from right here."

Brazen felt her insides knot up from Plissken's disregard of his condition. She was worried sick. Couldn't he see that?

"You're half dead and that's all you can think about?" The words were cold as the ice she was working out of the other boot's buckles.

"No better time honey." Snake struggled to pull himself more vertical against the stack of pillows.

Brazen glared back at him.

"Tomorrow I might be all dead." Snake's expression was serious and flirtatious. How anyone could make that expression was beyond her comprehension.

The words though hit Brazen full force and her head turned down. She stared at her fingers which had stopped in the middle of releasing one of the leather straps. They wouldn't move despite her best efforts. Those words had frozen her in place. Tears started to fill her eyes and tremors sent shivers down to her toes. She hadn't cried since the first day she had heard about his condition. Those intervening days were pent up without release or recognition. Brazen burst into body wracking sobs. She couldn't stop them or fight the feeling inside anymore.

As soon as Snake's hand touched her arm she toppled into it. She felt weak arms around her but it did nothing for her. They weren't the strong arms she was used to and the feebleness only reminded her of the injuries. It hurt, everything hurt down to the pit of her stomach where the crying made her feel sick.

"Baby?" Snake turned her face up to look at him. Despite the pain in his eye a cocky smile spread in his expression. "I'm not dead yet."

"Stop this bullshit.' Snake wiped the tears off her cheek with the back of his hand.

Brazen choked back her tears still looking up at him.

"Better." Snake nodded in approval. "If I got to sit on my ass in here least be coherent company."

The disgust and rebellious tone caused Brazen to laugh. She wasn't sure why but it was so funny at that moment to see him acting like a bad child that had been grounded to their room. Brazen buried her face in his shoulder giggling madly from the release of tension. She heard Plissken sigh and caught a glimpse of his eye roll.

"What the fuck's gotten into you, now?" Snake huffed the words looking in the other direction. Susan cupped her own burning cheeks reveling in the relief of seeing him up and back to his aggravating self.