Scene 3:
Back at GD, Carter watched Alison working over Kevin from outside the medical lab. Kevin had been brought in on a stretcher, back and neck securely immobilized, but the emergency tech had assured Carter that with Kevin awake, talking, and able to describe the pain, it was just a precaution.
As Carter watched, a huge smile spread across Alison's face, and she brushed Kevin's face lightly with one finger. She put down her portable scanner, and began to undo the restraints and help Kevin up. Carter gave a sigh of relief and entered the lab.
"Hey," he said to both of them by way of greeting, moving forward until he could rest his hand on the small of Alison's back.
She smiled up at him warmly, "Hey, yourself. Thanks for finding him. He's going to be fine: a broken collarbone, some bumps and scrapes—and a great story to tell. Not bad for a morning's work."
"Hey, Jack. I told you that dog was just crazy," Kevin managed a smile, despite the pain.
"Let's get you cleaned up, honey," Alison turned away from Kevin, and started looking for antiseptic wipes.
"So how long was the dog with you?" asked Carter, curious.
"Oh, I don't really know," Kevin started to shrug but then grimaced with pain, and eased his shoulder back down. "It felt like a really long time, but it probably wasn't."
"Did it do anything else weird?" Carter asked.
"Like what?"
"Oh," Carter shrugged himself. "I don't know. Not sure what I'm thinking, really. Had you ever seen it before?"
Kevin shook his head as Alison started to wipe his face clean. "You might need a couple stitches here," she said, her hand on his chin turning his head to the side. "It's worse than I realized at first."
"That dog kept licking me," Kevin said. "I thought it was going to eat me for a minute. It was huge."
"It wasn't aggressive, was it?" Carter asked.
"Nah," Kevin shook his head. "I mean, it kept growling at me when I'd try to move, but when I was lying still, it was friendly. Too friendly, I'm probably covered in dog slobber."
Alison smiled, "A little dog slobber never hurt anyone. I'm going to give you a couple staples to close up this laceration, and then we'll get you a sling for your collarbone. First, though, how about some pain relief?" She picked up a hypodermic from the tray next to her.
"A shot, Mom? Can't I just take some pills?" Kevin complained.
"Now I know you're fine," Carter grinned.
Alison wiped Kevin's arm with an antiseptic, and murmured, "Close your eyes, honey, you won't even notice the sting." Quickly, she injected him.
"Ouch," he said, but it was more rote than real, the pain of the shot not really comparing to the pain of a broken bone.
"Go ahead and lean back. Try to rest. I'll be right back."
Alison and Carter stepped away from the cot, as Kevin obediently lay back against the upraised top half. "Thank you so much, Jack. It's a good thing you didn't see me race back here: you'd have had to pull me over and give me a speeding ticket. I was more scared than I wanted to admit."
"A missing kid is every parent's worst nightmare." Carter gazed down at Alison's upraised face, her warm brown eyes, her lovely cocoa skin. His head tilted very slightly forward, and then he looked around at all the people moving around the lab, and pulled back.
Her smile flashed. She knew what he'd been thinking. Reaching up, she brushed a quick kiss across his lips.
"I'll see you tonight?" he asked quietly.
"Come by the house," she nodded. "I'll cook." She started to move away, heading off to find the staples and the sling.
"Oh, hey, wait," Carter said. "I just remembered, Andy's got some blood we'd like to get tested. And—have you had anyone come in with any serious injuries in the past couple of days?"
"Serious injuries?" Alison shook her head. "Not that I know of, but I can check the logs. I think Kevin's probably the worst injury we've seen this week, though." She leaned over a computer terminal, and quickly clicked through a few screens. Standing up again, she shook her head. "No, no serious injuries. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, we found some blood in the woods. Kind of a lot of blood. But nothing else."
Alison's eyebrows raised. "Thank you for not telling me that earlier," she said fervently. She would not have wanted to hear about mysterious blood puddles while Kevin was still missing.
"Anybody missing from GD?"
Alison shook her head. "You'd have to ask Fargo or Jo," she said, gently. "I really wouldn't know."
"Oh, yeah, right." Carter grimaced a little, realizing he'd again slipped up. Sometimes it was hard to remember that this timeline was different, and that Alison wasn't in charge of GD. "I'll do that."