If the day before had been tiring, the next day was exhausting. Josh was woken before dawn to deal with an emergency patient, and then was plunged into a series of surgeries and consultations. He was used to working on limited sleep and no breaks, though, and while his body was tired, his heart was singing. It had been many years since something as simple as a goodnight kiss after a date - and really, their times at their boulder were dates, even without traditional city entertainments like restaurants and movie theaters - had brought him so much joy. Anna, the nurse who had cast long looks at him at the start of their mission, watched him with narrowed eyes but said nothing, instead pushing through with him as the time usually set aside for their breaks got eaten up by an unwillingness to give less than their very best to each patient.

Thus when the sound of Professor Rankowski's voice two hours before the scientists were due to return to base calling for medical attention shattered the calm of the afternoon, Josh felt like everything screeched to a halt and his heart had dropped out onto the ground beneath him.

Alexis.

He had just been finishing up with his current patient, and Anna took one look at his face. "I've got it from here, Doctor. Go!" she said, and he didn't stick around to argue.

He had further to go than some off the others, though, as his consulting area was in the far corner, and Doctor Redfern was already organizing a somewhat limp figure onto a stretcher as Josh came barrelling around the side of their makeshift hospital.

He barely paused to identify the wounded (it was the idiot-child Pi) because helping Dr. Redfern to get the boy settled was a blood- and mud-covered Alexis. As soon as she straightened, he gripped her by the shoulders - clearly they, at least, were unhurt - and spun her around to face him, unconsciously lifting one hand to cup her cheek even as the other hovered down to the patches of blood on her shirt.

"Alexis, are you hurt?" he demanded, checking her over, frenzied. She gripped his wandering hands and stilled him, her eyes filled with bemused adoration.

"Josh, I'm fine. It's not my blood," she reassured him.

His heart was still thundering, and had her hold on his hands not been so firm he would have started checking her over once more. "Are you sure?"

This time she smiled at him, and finally he was satisfied. "I'm sure. Pi wouldn't listen to anyone else so I had to help him back."

"What happened?" barked Dr. Redfern, who was carefully checking the real patient over, and Professor Rankowski explained.

"We were in a toucan nesting area and Pi strayed a little from the group and then panicked when they started swooping at him. He tripped over some underbrush and fell down a bank, and knocked himself out for a few moments. We were reasonably certain that he hadn't done any real damage, but those scratches wouldn't stop bleeding and of course his head should be looked at. He wouldn't listen to any instruction, either, aside from young Alexis, here. He kept talking about toucans attacking his butterflies."

Dr. Redfern nodded. "Let's get him inside. He might need stitches, or at the very least, a head examination" He gave the signal and the stretcher-bearers lifted Pi up and followed Dr. Redfern and the attendant medical staff back in.

Professor Rankowski looked over at Alexis. "You did a wonderful job today, Alexis. Go ahead and get yourself cleaned up. We'll take care of the equipment and your logs."

"Thanks, Professor," she said, tiredness evident on her face in spite of her smile, and glanced up at Josh. "I'll catch you later?" she asked shyly.

"Of course," he nodded, and watched her go. The professor had turned to his students to issue instructions, and a moment later, Josh was left alone.

He made his way slowly back to his consulting area, where he was met by Anna.

"Sorry about that," he said, sinking into his chair. "Everything go okay?"

"No problems at all, and I even started in on some of the paperwork," Anna grinned.

"Thank you!" Josh said fervently, picking up a clipboard. "Now, who's our next-?"

Anna gently but firmly took the clipboard out of his hands. "Dr. Davidson," she said formally - they had been on first name basis since the start of their tour, "You didn't take a break at all yesterday, and you haven't taken one today, either. It's after 3, and you've been working since sunrise. Go take a real break."

He frowned at her. "Are you sure?"

"I could use one, too. Seriously, go see that girl of yours. You'll be better for it." Her eyes were knowing and tinged with a hint of disappointment, but her mouth was set in a firm line.

And he really wanted to see Alexis again, without everyone around, so he could really be absolutely sure she was okay. Not that he didn't believe her, but seeing her so disheveled and covered in blood had been enough to give him a shock he had yet to recover from.

He stood and headed for the food area first, picking up a sandwich and some fruit which he demolished on the way to the campsite. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he took his first bite.

Alexis's tent was empty, the flap not quite drawn shut as if she expected to return any moment. He glanced around but there was no sign of her returning, and he frowned. Perhaps she was more shaken up by the incident than she had let on and had retired to their boulder to find some peace? Ought he to follow her? But what if she had been injured and she hadn't wanted the professor to know? He decided to check and see, anyway.

A little over half way along the path to their boulder, a large, low tree hung out over the riverbank all but concealing a small, deep portion of water from the part of the river by the camp where they had played in the water the day before. On their walks to and from their boulder, it had simply registered as a dark stretch of path along the edge of the water, but as he rounded the bend in the path that hid this spot, he stopped short, inadvertently kicking a pebble into the water.

Alexis was in the water, hidden by the tree to all eyes but his, and though he could see little more than her back and her beautiful hair currently bundled into an adorable knot on top of her head, all her milky skin from her neck to the flare of her hips was on display.

He was unable to look away from the vision before him.

The pebble made a loud "plop" sound as it fell into the water, and Alexis instinctively ducked down before looking around, in an attempt to preserve her modesty.

"Josh?"

"I- sorry, I didn't know- I had a break and I wanted to see- I mean, to find out if you're really okay, and…" All of a sudden he realized that he was still staring at her, and both hands flew up to cover his eyes. "I'm sorry. I thought you might be upset about Pi, and be up at the boulder."

She gave a low, embarrassed laugh that somehow eased his awkwardness. "I told you, I'm fine. I'm just washing off. I was about to get out anyway. Mind turning around for a moment?"

"Of course." He spun around, still keeping his hands firmly over his eyes. He heard a few light splashes, then the sure sound of her wading out of the water. A few seconds more, then she cleared her throat.

"You can turn around now," she said, and he cautiously lowered his hands and peered around. She was wrapped in a pale blue terry cloth robe that gave no indication that she was most likely not wearing a scrap beneath it, and had he not seen for himself that she had been naked mere seconds earlier, he would have been none the wiser as it covered her from neck to just above her knees. However, he did know, and couldn't stop his eyes from raking over her form before stopping to stare at the knotted belt at her waist and secretly willing it to come undone.

She cleared her throat, and he raised his eyes to her face. Her eyebrow was arched, letting him know he had been caught ogling her, but there was a smile playing around the corner of her lips. "Like what you see?" she asked drily.

He moved to meet her, offering her a self-deprecating grin, but his answer was sincere. "Very much." He lifted a hand to dust back a loose tendril of her hair, and she blushed, pausing indecisively for just a moment, then stepping into him for a hug. He wrapped his arms around her, the feel of her in his arms doing more for his momentary panic than any verbal reassurances.

"I really am fine," she said eventually.

"I know. And I know it's completely irrational, but I was worried," he admitted. She released him, stepping back a little so she could see his face. Was it weird that his arms felt empty?

"It's sweet of you to care, but I'm a big girl. I can handle myself." She said it with so much dignity he found himself believing her.

"I'm sure you can," he began seriously, then flashed her a flirtatious smile, sliding his arms around her waist and reeling her in, "but I so enjoy being allowed to handle you."

She bit her lip, looking up at him coyly from under her eyelashes. "Think you can handle it?"

"Try me," he said, bending down to kiss her. The temerity of her kisses last night had disappeared, and he was delighted to find that she quickly took control of the kiss, nipping and sucking, exploring. He felt her nails scrape up into his hair, angling his head so she could delve in deeper, and he groaned and fought back, running his hands up and down the soft terry cloth at her back, plundering her mouth. When oxygen became a necessity, he broke away from her mouth and moved along her jaw to nip her ear, tracing a line down her neck and along the thin strip of skin peeking through at the collar of her robe. Her hands were clinging to his hair, her chest heaving, and he was just following that enticing line down, down - was just nosing the cloth to one side to access the top of one delectable breast he planned to feast upon - when a shout of laughter from the camp, blocked by trees but really only yards away, had them both freezing.

Unwillingly - oh, God, so unwillingly - he forced himself to pull away. Their eyes met; hers were almost black with arousal, still trying to come back down to earth from the haze, and he could only imagine that his were the same.

"I, uh…" he began, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I should really get back to work," he said regretfully, and she nodded, but didn't release him.

"See you tonight?" she asked, her voice hopeful, and he nodded.

"Tell you what, meet me up there around moon rise - that's, what, around 10:30? Everyone should be asleep by then - and I'll raid the food supplies and we can have a picnic," he suggested, and she grinned, leaning into him to kiss him once more.

"Sounds perfect. Now, Dr. Davidson, go save some lives and let me go get dressed," she commanded, and he groaned.

"Sure you don't need help with that?" he teased, and she laughed.

"Go!"

"Okay, okay, I'm going. I'll see you tonight."

She smiled softly. "See you tonight," she agreed.

Of course, after that interlude he was much, much more distracted, only in a much, much more pleasant way. He hummed to himself as he worked, and tried to ignore Anna's knowing looks.

"I see you enjoyed your break," she commented.

He grinned. "Yes, I did, thanks," was all he said, though. He wasn't going add to the rumor mill any more than he could help.

He was just greeting his second-to-last patient for the day when his eyes were drawn to the entrance to their makeshift hospital, at the far end from his corner. Alexis was the only redhead in the group so it was always obvious when she came or went. She didn't seem to be looking for him, though, instead moving over to their recovery area where Pi was being kept for observation. He had forgotten all about the boy, but Alexis had a generous heart so it didn't surprise him that she hadn't. He firmly squashed the worm of jealousy that began to eat at him as Pi brightened when he saw his visitor. The boy was clearly harboring a crush, and had his own arrival on the scene not interrupted things, perhaps Alexis might have returned it. But an image of her breathlessly moaning into his kiss earlier in the afternoon sprang to mind, and by comparison there was nothing to indicate anything more than friendship in the smile she offered the boy in return.

He carried on with his patient, trying to block all non-professional thoughts from his mind as he carried on with his consultation. Thankfully it was a fairly straightforward case, but still he was relieved when Anna escorted the patient away. One more, and he could stop.

As Anna passed Alexis, he was surprised to see her excuse herself from Pi and stand, catching Anna's arm and asking a question, her cheeks pink. A whispered conversation followed, and Anna nodded, heading over to the medical supplies as Alexis hovered. Then Anna returned, handing Alexis… something… he couldn't quite see what it was, and she quickly concealed it in the pocket of her shorts. Then she happened to glance his way, as if she felt his eyes on her, and their gazes locked. He quirked his eyebrow in question, and the color of her cheeks darkened from pink to the deepest red, then, without pausing to bid farewell to her friend, she fled.

Well, that was odd.

So, too, was the look Anna was giving him as she returned with their next patient. "I just hope you know what you're doing with that girl," she murmured, he looked at her in question, but she had turned to their patient and was completely professional, if a little aloof, for the remainder of their shift.

After he was done for the day, he wandered back to the camp, but there was no sign of Alexis - nor of most of the student scientists. He was a little disgruntled as he would have liked to asked her about that scene in the hospital, but considering how heated their earlier make-out session had been, he figured it was probably wiser to not be seen with her in public if he didn't want to cause tongues to wag. Instead, he joined Dr. Redfern and some of their other colleagues in a casual chat.

The students didn't return until dinner was being served, and they all made themselves comfortable around the campfire again as the tropical sunset blazed across the sky, brilliant and brief, and darkness settled in early. Like the night before, the evening was spent in conversation, and when Josh did happen to catch Alexis's eye across the circle, he was pleased to see there was only residual levels of embarrassment remaining in her gaze.

The early start that morning - for Josh was not the only one woken before dawn - sent the majority of their group to bed early, and Josh himself was happy to be among their number. Not that he planned on sleeping, but he didn't want anyone witnessing his departure for the boulder, as the supplies he planned to bring tonight would be sure to cause questions.

An hour later, the camp was quiet, only the sounds of the surrounding forest and Dr. Redfern's chainsaw imitation breaking the stillness of the evening. Josh exited his tent stealthily and stood, reassuring himself that no late lingerers remained, then grabbed the bundle out of his tent and zipped the flap. He made a detour past the food supplies, picking up a plastic-wrapped platter of leftover fruit portions that had been served for dessert and a bag of chocolate chip cookies, then headed up the path. He wasn't exactly sure how long he had and he wanted everything to be ready by the time Alexis came.

He started by unfurling his bedroll on the narrow ledge between the boulder and the river, and opening his sleeping bag to cover it, creating a much more pleasant space to sit than the boulder itself - it was convenient, yes, but he was tired of sitting on it for hours at a stretch. Then he arranged the oddments of food he had acquired in the middle, and was just regretting the lack of candlelight to really set the mood - although even if he did have candles all they would do is attract every mosquito for miles around so it was probably for the best there were none available - when the soft sound of footsteps warned him that Alexis was approaching.

He rose to greet her, leaning in to brush his lips across hers in greeting. "Hey," he whispered, and she smiled back at him, shy and eager.

"Hi," she responded.

He led her by the hand around the boulder, revealing his little set up, and she grinned at him.

"This looks amazing," she said, and paused to remove her shoes before settling down, cross legged, her back against the boulder.

"I figured we might as well be a little more comfortable," he grinned, toeing off his own shoes and joining her. "Sorry there isn't much more than fruit and cookies, I didn't want to disturb anyone."

"This is great. I'm not really hungry yet, anyway, after that dinner," she said, unwrapping the plastic from the small platter and selecting a slice of cantaloupe. She glanced up at him. "Everything okay?"

"Great!" he replied, perhaps a little forced, but now that they were here by design rather than by just finding one another, something felt... off.

"Josh?"

"Is this awkward to you? I mean, what are we doing here?" he asked.

She took a final bite of cantaloupe and tossed the skin into some nearby underbrush. "Eating fruit under the stars, maybe making out, maybe more than making out. Why? Having second thoughts?"

"I just - should I even be here? You're so young-" he began, but she interrupted him, her blue eyes snapping.

"I'm 19!"

"I'm not," he pointed out, and she deflated.

"I thought you wanted this," she said in a small voice.

"I do," he found himself answering honestly, against his better judgement. "Alexis, look at me. I want you. I have ever since that awful truck ride when you wouldn't even talk to me."

She ducked her head. "Then what's the problem?"

"I need to be sure that you really want this. That I'm not forcing you."

Oh, that's a look. "Really?" she asked, unimpressed. "Our make out session this afternoon wasn't enough of a clue? Or how about the fact that I'm here, tonight, willingly and of my own free choice?"

"I'm just trying to do the right thing here!"

"By making me doubt whether you even want me? Sexy."

He sighed. "Consent is always sexy, Alexis, and especially considering the differences in our ages, if I'm not absolutely convinced that you are 110% sure and enthusiastic about this, then we are stopping immediately. And I mean that, at any point. You have to be sure that you're sure, because as much as I want you, I refuse to be that guy."

She looked at him consideringly for a long moment, then sighed, her momentary anger melting away. "You're sweet, but it's really unnecessary. I've thought about this, Josh, and I'm sure. Here, I can prove it to you. This is my contribution to tonight's activities," she said, and, with a most attractive blush staining her cheeks, she withdrew a small package out of her pocket and handed it to him.

It was a simple paper bag, identical to those they used in the clinic. He opened it, and pulled out a handful of foil packages.

Condoms.

Shit, no wonder Alexis had been so embarrassed when he had caught her talking to Anna. And no wonder Anna had been so implacable afterwards.

He stared down at them, then lifted his eyes to Alexis, who looked like she was trying to hold back a giggle. Not that he blamed her; he knew his mouth was hanging open.

"You act like I've never done this before. Granted I don't have vast experience, but I'm a consenting adult and I know what I'm doing," she assured him, recovering the fruit platter and placing it and the bag of cookies up on the boulder behind them before stretching one leg over so that she was straddling him. "The question is, Dr. Davidson, do I have your consent to have my wicked way with you?"

He had to check, one last time. "You're absolutely sure, Alexis? Because it's going to complicate things, what with Kate and your dad…"

She brushed her lips against his. "I don't care about that. And I'm not doing this with you because I'm angry at them; I'm doing this because I want you," she whispered.

"I want you, too. Not as a way to get back at them, either, but because I think you're amazing and in spite of everything I think we somehow work," he replied, brushing his lips over hers in like manner.

"In that case," Alexis mumbled in between meeting his lips again and again, "Can we please stop talking about my Dad and your ex? Or even better yet, stop talking?"

"Sounds perfect," he replied, and started kissing her in earnest.