"Snake, get up." His voice was chocked as his watery eyes searched the other`s face desperately for any signs of consciousness. He blinked away the tears that were beginning to sting and, without even realizing what he was doing, pulled the limp body towards him in an awkward embrace, giving in to his internal emotion and wishing that some of his strength might be transferred to the other through the contact.

Snake felt like he was on fire and his body stiffened considerably, he opened his eyes and saw a hazy room circle in front of him as his chin rested on Ocelot`s shoulder. With great difficulty, he lifted a bare arm slowly and wrapped it around the other as a response, not caring that most of his weight was still resting on the cat. They stayed like this for another couple of minutes, breathing with great difficulty as their pulse increased by the second. Snake had never imagined that he would be hugging Ocelot like this, although the thought might have seemed laughable to him before but it seemed just like second nature to him now, normal and as much as he hated to admit it, he didn`t want to let go.

Ocelot was too relieved for words when he felt Snake`s arm around him. He shifted the other in a comfortable position and then went still, savoring the feeling. He never knew that such a trivial contact could have this much effect on him, like each and every fiber of his body was ablaze. After it felt like the other might be feeling well enough, he pulled back, slowly leaning him back on the wall, facing him.

There was a short lived silence in which Snake tried to adjust his vision and focus his attention on something other than his aching limbs. Ocelot ran his hand through his hair uncertainly, "you alright?"

"yeah," he said, trying to sit up straighter, shutting his eyes at the agony of it. Ocelot didn`t say anything for another while, then backed away a little, when he realized that he was still considerably leaned over the other.

"I have to take you to your cell." He forced his voice to sound calm as he stood up. Snake`s eye brows raised in recognition as he took a deep breath and tried to pull himself into a standing position. Ocelot held out his hand for the other, Snake just regarded it with a considerate look before getting to his feet with the help of the wall. Ocelot`s lips raised at him slightly and he retreated his hand back. Snake leaned against the wall to make his breathing normal before he took a step away from it and waited for Ocelot to take out his weapon and usher him away.

Snake felt like taking a sharp object and start digging in his own limbs for food, his blood would work well enough for his thirst. His second night was agonizingly slow, with him all weakened by Volgin`s torture and now with no food or water. He tried with all his might to forget the empty stomach and fall asleep but was failing miserably at the attempt. Eva had come to visit him the very first night, being close to the colonel meant she could wander around the building on her own. To his disappointment, she had just brought her well wishes and concerns while Snake would gratefully have replaced them with a piece of bread and a gulp of water. The last he had seen of Ocelot was when he had left him here and Snake knew Volgin must have stopped him from visiting him. Now as Snake was leaned against the damp wall, counting on the seconds of the night as they dragged away, he hoped that Ocelot might show up. He didn`t know why but he couldn`t let go of the embrace they had shared in the torture room. Every time he thought about it, it seemed to him that he was reliving it. The sensation was so strong that he could almost feel the other`s body next to him, he could feel the presence so strong that it almost felt too real to be in his imagination. He could nearly hear the soft clicking of the revolver, relaxing his nerves, and he was beginning to feel grateful at his mind as his breathing started to become deeper, drifting him away from the scathing reality.

Ocelot closed his eyes and took a deep breath, sighing at the irony of it all. He had been leaning against the outer wall of Snake`s cell for about an hour now, since his entry in there was banned, and was spinning the revolver in his fingers slowly, hoping that it might help the other in some way. He opened his eyes again to look at the dark sky above, trying hard to forget what was happening for the sanction of this simple moment. God knew how he had been avoiding Volgin since yesterday, trying to satisfy him for an hour or two before slipping out and standing at this very spot. He didn`t know why he was wasting his nights like this, he couldn`t talk to the one at the other side of the wall, not because the guards might hear him, no, they wouldn`t be able hear him because of the extra glass doors at a little distance outside the bars, but just because he couldn`t bring himself to utter a single word at such an unpromising time, fearing a few exchange of the words might lead him to do something irrational and regretful.

"…where were you?" Smack… electricity.

"i…uh… went out for a…" another rough clutch at the side of his face.

"don`t lie to me kitten." Laughter. Menacing laughter. "I need you here… in my bed…"

Grunts. Teeth clenched in pain, "argh..."

"i`m going to meet up with Ivan for the next week… you think you can handle it without me?"

Electricity… blood on the lower lip, "uh…" fighting back the wince, "yeah…"

"…good…"

Snake opened his eyes; the sweat was evident on his forehead. He watched closely as the glass doors slid aside to reveal Eva, she beamed at him as the guard closed the door behind her. She was standing in the space between the glass and the bars, no visitor was allowed inside the bar. Once completely sure that the guards were out of ear shot, she groped her pockets and took out a small water bottle and a crumpled piece of fruit cake.

"here." She extended her hand through the bars. Seeing the food, Snake got up with shaking legs and took it from her, making sure that the look on his face wasn`t that desperate. It seemed to him that he had succeeded in masking his starvation from her because a small hint of disappointment crossed her features, like she had been expecting him to act more rashly. When he was about to set it aside, she said, "you aren't allowed this stuff yet, finish it up so I can take back the empty bottle with me."

"thanks anyway." He grunted, bringing the bottle to his lips, it seemed to him as if all of his vessels had been thirsty and craving even for a single drop of the liquid. He suddenly felt much better, finishing the contents of the bottle in a single gulp. Eva watched with slight satisfaction as he took in the fruit cake she had brought with the same appetite. Taking the bottle from him, she placed it back in her pocket and smiled, "Volgin, he`s going out of station today, to meet Major Raikov I think."

"for how long?" Snake looked up at her, slightly amazed.

"a week`s the plan. Hopefully if we are lucky, the major might hold him off a bit longer." Eva wondered out loud.

"is it any good for us?"

"not much, Ocelot`s going to be in command now and I've seen how the things go between you two." She rolled her eyes, apparently she hadn`t seen how things went between him and Ocelot. She told him that she was on the verge of devising the perfect plan for his escape, Snake tried to make a grateful face on that. After a while of other pointless talks, she excused herself. Before she was about to get out, she turned around and said hastily, "oh and I forgot, the Boss had sent these things for you." Snake looked down in his hand at the small chunks of the remains of the cake, as he looked up at the embarrassed Eva she said, "I had almost overlooked the fact that you weren`t served here." She managed a small humiliated smile, "she didn`t want me to tell you but I thought that you ought to know."

He just grunted as he dusted his hands off his pants, Eva shrugged shortly before getting out. Snake went back to the wall and leaned against it, arms crossed against his chest as he mused over what Eva had told him. Ocelot was in charge now, except for the Boss of course. Hearing this news, Snake felt slightly uplifted, maybe now he would get an opportunity to see him. But some part of him, which still thought of every situation from a critical point of view, hoped that the cat wouldn`t show up, if that meant that Volgin`s trust was retained. What if the colonel had gone leaving some sort of private eye on him? This all was leaving him confused and he was practically bouncing over the options whether he wanted Ocelot to show up or not. What disturbed him most was that why was he so concerned about whether to meet Ocelot or not, when he should have been thinking about some flawless escape?

The glass doors, although made of clear glass, obscured the prisoner`s vision, he could only see the faint traces of the hazy outlines. It was as though they were only a one way camera since the soldiers on the other side could clearly monitor his each and every move. To an ordinary prisoner, it must have been very difficult to distinguish between the forms but Snake was anything but ordinary, not to mention that he was far ahead from distinguishing forms when it came to his intuition.

He looked ahead and saw him talking with the guards on the other side, unintentionally; he felt his body become rigid as he straightened up just a little after seeing the glass sliding aside. In walked Ocelot with his same proud air around him, he looked up to meet the other`s gaze and smirked lightly, his thinned face lighting up a little. Adjusting the red cap on his blond hair, he inhaled; he had been wanting to see Snake for so long that it almost felt like a dream now. His eyes wandered on the drained face for a second before he took a few steps towards the bars. Snake didn`t move from the spot, he just raised an eyebrow at the other as he took out a key from his pocket and unlocked the cellar.

A/N: R&R people... let me know what you think... i know there wasn`t much snocelot in this chapter but believe me when i say that the next one`s gonna be one hell of a rock-you-outta-your-seat thing!

^_^