A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! More Jensen angst and whumpage ahead…

xxxx

Cougar was used to being in complete control of himself, of every part of his body. When he was focused on a target, waiting for the word from Clay or from Jensen or whoever, he was in control of his breathing, his hands, even his heartbeat.

He was not used to being out of control, not used to having hands trembling so badly that he could barely get the motel room's key card out of his pocket. He wasn't used to his heart pounding in his ears, his breath coming in gasps as he finally got the door open and went to the table, sweeping everything off of it, pulling bleach out of a duffel bag and scrubbing it down.

And he sure as hell wasn't used to watching Pooch and Clay carry Jensen inside, the blonde geek's head hanging limply, his arms swinging from side to side.

"Easy, easy," Pooch muttered as he and Clay shifted Jensen onto the table. Cougar got the first aid kit and brought it over as Clay took a pair of scissors to Jensen's pants, revealing a few burn marks and black bruises scattered over the tech's thighs.

"We have to get this shoulder cleaned up," Pooch said, and Clay nodded in agreement as he set up a saline drip, frowning as he tried to insert an IV into Jensen's arm.

"Can hardly get a vein," he grumbled, tapping Jensen's arm and shaking his head. "He's too damn dehydrated and he's lost a lot of blood."

Cougar swallowed harshly as he heard Clay's muttering, let out a small sigh of relief when Clay finally found a place to insert the needle.

"He's burning up," Cougar said quietly, heading to the sink to wet a washcloth. He was briefly grateful that they'd gotten a suite at the motel, even as he was ashamed that they were doing such an involved patch up job in a freaking Motel 6. He headed back towards Jensen and lay the washcloth across the wounded man's forehead, hissing slightly as his own forgotten injury was jarred. Pooch looked up and narrowed his eyes.

"You're bleeding," he said in an accusing tone. Clay looked up abruptly, and Cougar saw a flash of fear in his leader's eyes.

"I'm okay," he said quickly. "Just got grazed. It's nothing."

Clay shook his head.

"Damn it," he muttered. "Shit."

"What? It is already bandaged," Cougar said, frowning at Clay's obvious concern.

"It's not that. Jensen's blood type is A negative. No one else shares his type, and you're the only universal donor we've got. With you injured…"

Cougar swore under his breath. Jensen needed blood, but he knew that there was no way in hell Clay was going to risk having two men down.

"What do we do, then?" Pooch asked in concern as he gently bandaged the hand that was missing the fingernails. Cougar didn't blame him for avoiding Jensen's right hand, the one with the twisted and swollen fingers. If they screwed up setting those fingers, Jensen might never regain full use of them- a horrible blow for a computer geek.

"Give me a second," Clay responded. He ran his fingers over Jensen's rib cage, wincing a few times, then shifted down to the wounded man's abdomen, pressing gently.

"Damn it. He's got at least five busted ribs, probably more. And his abdomen is tight and swollen."

Cougar swallowed heavily, running a shaky hand over his own brow.

"You okay, Coug?" Pooch asked, looking critically at him. "You look kinda pale. We don't need you passing out on us, Cougar, sit down if you need to."

"No," Cougar said, shaking his head. "No, I need to help."

He stood and re-wet the washcloth, replacing it gently on the hacker's sweaty forehead.

"I believe that his cheekbone is broken, possibly his right eye socket, and definitely his nose," he said quietly, praying that the swollen nose would explain Jensen's raspy breathing. He knew that it was more than that- probably bruised lungs and aspirated water and if they were really unlucky, ribs piercing one or both lungs.

"Shit," Clay said quietly. "Help me sit him up."

The three of them gently leaned Jensen up, his head flopping forward to rest on Pooch's shoulder, Cougar grasping his shoulders from behind. Clay swore again when he lifted the gauze from the exit wound in Jensen's back, noting the blood and pus stubbornly continuing to seep from the wound. It looked like the bullet had traveled downwards, and Cougar suddenly realized just how lucky Jensen was that his heart hadn't been pierced.

Not that he was looking too lucky right now.

"Clay," Pooch said worriedly. "His breathing's getting pretty bad."

Pretty bad. Pooch was definitely good at understating things. Jensen's breathing was getting raspy and harsh, and a sickeningly wet gurgle seemed to punctuate every breath.

"I don't think we can handle all of this," Cougar said, his stomach sinking as he said it.

"Damn it," Clay said. "Give me a minute and I'll see if I can do something about that."

He stepped out of the room, leaving Cougar and Pooch to deal with Jensen's myriad of injuries.

"I'm going to clean out the front of his wound," Pooch said, looking squarely at Cougar. "Why don't you sit behind him and lean him against your chest?"

Cougar nodded, slipping quietly onto the table, stretching his arms around Jensen's waist. He suspected that Pooch was just trying to get him off his feet, but he frankly didn't care so long as he was helping his friend. Pooch was flushing the wound with a saline solution, but he sighed and shook his head after a few minutes.

"There's a lot of shit in there," he said quietly, making eye contact with Cougar. He pulled a pair of tweezers out of the first aid kit and approached carefully. "This is gonna hurt like a bitch."

Cougar knew what was going unsaid. He would have to hold Jensen down, if it came to that.

Pooch leant over, probing the wound as gently as possible. At first, Jensen showed no reaction, but as Pooch continued, the hacker started to shift and let out a small moan.

"Ssh, it is okay, amigo," Cougar whispered, wiping Jensen's face.

"Nngh," Jensen moaned, tossing his head from side to side. Cougar grimaced as he felt warm blood from Jensen's head wound smear across his shirt.

"Jensen, you are safe," Cougar said, and Pooch threw him an apologetic look before continuing. Jensen let out a scream and thrashed weakly.

"Stop! Please, stop! I won't tell you, I won't tell you, please, just stop!"

Pooch froze, bloody tweezers extended, and Cougar squeezed his eyes shut for a second before wrapping an arm tightly around Jensen's chest and running the other hand through the hacker's bloody, matted hair. He started whispering in Spanish, stroking Jensen's hair and his shoulder, soothing him as well as he could. Jensen stopped moving, falling back limply, his breathing even worse than before.

"Cougar?" He whispered, trying to see through swollen eyes, and Cougar nodded.

"Si. I am here."

"Told them," Jensen sighed, his eyelids flickering shut again. "Told them you'd come."

"Hey, come on kid, stay awake," Pooch said, relieved that the hacker had finally regained consciousness even while he cursed that it would be during such a painful but necessary procedure.

"Pooch," Jensen managed with a lopsided smile. "Thanks."

He fell limp again, and Pooch bit his lip.

"His temperature is rising," Cougar said worriedly.

"I know. And his pulse is weak and thready. We have to get his blood volume up and pump some antibiotics into him, fast, or we're going to be too late."

Pooch continued cleaning the wound out before sighing and grabbing a tube of disinfecting cream. He smeared it over the bullet hole, looking up at Cougar.

"This isn't going to be enough."

"I know."

Pooch pressed a pad of gauze down and bandaged it before turning to Cougar again. Cougar nodded and shifted to Jensen's front, letting the tech geek's head rest against his shoulder.

The exit wound looked far worse than the entry, and Cougar suspected that Jensen had been on his back more often than he had been on his stomach, leaving more time for it to get badly infected.

"Holy shit," Pooch said quietly, looking at the red and swollen wound, the pus trickling out, the red lines extending out from it.

Cougar's hands started trembling again, and he willed himself to calm down.

"Okay. Okay. Umm, shit, okay," Pooch said, and Cougar noticed that his hands were not the only ones trembling. Pooch hesitantly put his hands on both sides of the wound and pressed, sending more pus cascading out.

Jensen let out a piercing scream, his back arching and his face screwed up in pain.

"Jensen, Jensen, you've got to breathe," Cougar said worriedly as Jensen's face turned red. "Hey, take a breath. Jensen!"

Jensen was beyond his reach though, his entire body tense. Cougar finally pulled a hand back and slapped his friend across the face. Jensen gasped abruptly, sinking away from Cougar.

"Coug?" He whispered brokenly. "I don't…holy shit…Coug…"

Jensen's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed limply once more.

"I'm, I'm gonna be sick," Cougar muttered, stumbling off the table and towards the bathroom. Pooch looked after him in concern, holding Jensen up and stroking the younger man's back as Cougar retched into the toilet. Clay burst through the door abruptly, frowning.

"What the hell's going on?" He demanded, and Cougar could hear Pooch explaining in a low tone.

"Cougar? You okay?"

Cougar nodded, wiping a mixture of saliva and vomit from his mouth.

"Good. I've got someone coming to help, but we still need you right now. You think you're up for it?"

Cougar nodded again, standing shakily. Clay put out a steadying hand and helped guide Cougar to the table.

"I'm fine," Cougar said once he got there, shrugging Clay's hand off. He held Jensen again, feeling the heat rising from the hacker's body.

"He's likely going to scream again," Pooch said quietly. "I wasn't able to finish."

"Okay," Cougar said, nodding his head resolutely. "I can handle it."

This time, Jensen only groaned weakly, no longer strong enough to scream. His chest was heaving with pain and exhaustion, and by the time Pooch had finished, his breathing had been reduced to shallow pants. Pooch finished up, bandaging Jensen's shoulder and standing back, wiping a hand across his forehead.

"Let's get him on the couch," Clay said. He and Pooch gently picked him up and laid him on the couch on his side, using pillows to prop him up.

"You go sit down next to him," Clay ordered. He held up a hand when Cougar started to argue. "I want you to keep an eye on him. Watch his breathing."

"Okay," Cougar said, sitting down and settling Jensen's head into his lap. He allowed his own head to rest against the back of the couch, watching through bleary eyes as Clay and Pooch cleaned up the table where they'd operated so crudely.

"Here you go," Pooch said, handing Cougar a bottle of water as he knelt down next to him and checked his wound. "Not too deep."

"Told you," Cougar answered, wincing only slightly as Pooch re-bandaged the wound.

Jensen shifted weakly, peering vaguely up at Cougar.

"N-no," he muttered quietly, his voice cracking. He shrunk away from the sniper, shaking his head weakly. "No."

Cougar looked down, stricken.

"I, uh, I need to go, uh," Cougar stuttered, gently lowering Jensen's head onto the couch. "I just need to go."

"Coug," Pooch said, but the sniper continued towards the door without looking back. Pooch shook his head sadly and took Cougar's place on the couch, looking worriedly after his friend.

"Hang on, Jensen," he whispered. "Just hang on. You gotta hang on for Coug. He needs you, kid. Hang on."