Chapter 5

"So she really put on body glitter before her surgery?" Matt laughed, holding his hands out to the flames.

"That was after she tried to purchase a designer hospital gown," Jack added, eyes twinkling as he added another log to the fire.

"I guess the life of a doctor is never boring, huh?" Stretching back out in the sand, Matt tilted his head upward.

"I say don't fall asleep, and you choose to lie down." Extending his hand, Jack poked Matt in the side. Matt yelped, and Jack burst out laughing. "Did you just…did you just giggle?"

"I do not giggle," Matt insisted indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest and turning on his side to face Jack. "I chortle, or chuckle, but I never giggle."

"Right, right, that's what all they say." A shiver ran through Jack's body, and Matt raised himself up on his elbow, face full of concern.

"You're freezing," Matt stated, and started to pull the blanket off his body.

"I am not taking away an injured man's blanket," Jack insisted, wrapping his arms tighter around his shaking body.

"Then we'll just have to share the blanket," Matt insisted back, picking half of the blanket up to make space. Then Matt watched as Jack seemed to literally freeze, moving not a single muscle from his small patch of sand, only the sped-up pulse pounding under his skin, and his rapidly heaving chest, providing any indication he was even still alive.

"Either we share it, or you take it, but you gave me your jacket, which is soaked in my blood I might add, and I'm not going to have you die of hypothermia because of that," Matt rambled, catching himself, and forcing a stop for breath. "Besides, Doctor Jack, extra body heat helps starve off that hypothermia, right?"

"Oh, so now you're the doctor," Jack said with a soft laugh, and Matt grinned as Jack turned his head to face him.

"I'm starting to get so sleepy, starting to close my eyes…" Matt droned, biting his lip to keep from laughing as he let his eyes shut. "If only there was a doctor sharing my blanket who would be able to keep me awake with his fascinating surgical stories…"

"You do not play fair." Jack's voice came from directly next to Matt's ear, and when Matt opened his eyes, Jack's face was a scant centimeter from his, their eyes locked. Jack blinked, and whipped his head around to face the stars, crossing his hands on top of his chest, arms pinioned at his side. "So tell me what you do for a living," Jack said, gaze firmly fixed on the pinpricks of light overhead.

Matt reached forward to take the little girl's hand, and she flinched, body shrinking into itself.

"Sweetheart, I'm not going to hurt you," he said, but the girl didn't move, just cradling the broken arm she had come in with, the broken arm that had triggered the nurse to give them a call."Sweetie, just tell me what really happened, and I can help you, I promise, all I want to do is help you."

She opened her mouth, but the door to the room opened, and the minute her father lumbered in, the little girl said, "I fell," the words tumbling out of her mouth in such obvious memorization Matt wanted to cry. Her father dragged her out, and the patrolman who had entered with the father clenched his fists and said "We couldn't hold him. No proof, though we sure fucking tried."

"There's never any proof," Matt choked out, brushing past the patrolman and stumbling in drained exhaustion to his desk, collapsing into his chair. Head down on his desk, he heard footsteps approach, but didn't look up.

"You look like you've had a hard day," the man said, and Matt looked up, straight into deep blue eyes.

"Understatement of the century," Matt sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. The man placed a Starbucks cup down on Matt's desk, and Matt grabbed it, taking a long drag. Eyes closed in satisfaction, he let out a soft moan. "I could kiss you right now."

"How about you let me take you for a drink, first?" the man grinned, and Matt laughed, nodding his head.

"I'm Matt."

"David."

"I'm not really sure what I do right now," Matt said softly, burying his hands in the sand. "I'm kind of between jobs, making some decisions."

***

Jack woke up to darkness, and Matt gone. Sitting up quickly, he found Claire sitting a few feet away, staring at the flames, rubbing her stomach. "Hey," she said with a smile, and saw his eyes flicker to the empty space next to him. "Sorry I interrupted your cuddling there. But I knew Matt wasn't supposed to be asleep, so I woke him up, and then he went to find some food."

"My…cuddling?" Jack dragged his eyes away from the emptiness, and stood up, brushing the sand as casually as he could from his pants.

"Yeah…" Claire trailed off, staring at him for a second. "I assumed…I mean, the way…you just had your arm around Matt… must have happened by accident while you slept."

"Oh, right, yeah I must have been trying to steal all the blanket," Jack said hurriedly, fingers shaking slightly, a blush deepening his cheeks as he forced a laugh out.

"Right, right, of course," Claire agreed, eyes full of puzzlement as she turned back to the flames.

"How are you feeling?" Jack asked, but just then Matt appeared, holding a pile of food trays from the plane.

"I brought dinner for four," Matt said with a grin, handing two to Claire. "Since you are eating for two." He turned to hand one to Jack, but Jack had moved a few feet back.

"I'm fine, I'm going to go take a walk, clear my head," Jack said quickly, but just then what could only be described as a terrifying howl rose from the nearby jungle, and everyone froze where they stood.