"I could fucking kill Homer for saying what he did," Skip growled, raising the collar of his jacket against the rain. "What a complete bastard that guy is."

"He didn't seem tired until that argument they had. Dex, I mean. He was pissed, I really thought Homer was gonna leave in a body bag."

"Nobody's business who does what with who. Least of all Homer's. Where's that guy get off, saying stuff like that?"

"Yeah." They were silent for several minutes. "Be nice to just be the two of us up here nights again."

"Yeah. Like it was before they stuck us with Gates." Headlights turned onto the far side of the bridge and approached quickly. "Looks like Dex's ride's here."

"You want me to go get him?" Tommy offered.

"No. I want the Captain to see him like he is right now. Maybe if he does he'll take him to a hospital. Can you believe all of that blood he's got on him? If he'd of come stumbling up without us noticing, I might of took him for a zombie and blown his head off."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. The boss should see him that way. I really think he's got a concussion. Guy's a genius, he can't just go around getting knocked in the head and not have a doctor look him over."

"I wish I could have found that first aid kit, cleaned him up some. Or at least a blanket, I think he was still shivering when we came out here. This rain's nasty, and who knows how far he walked in it."

"You tried, Skip."

"Doesn't show to look at him, though, does it?" Their conversation broke off as the sleek car pulled up beside them. It had barely come to a halt when a figure recognizable to everyone in the literate world leapt from the driver's side.

"Is he inside?" Sky Captain asked as he came around the car, his crisp accent overriding the patter of the steady downpour on the pavement.

"Yes, sir."

"…You left him alone?" he lectured as he glanced in the window and spotted the man slumped over the table. Before either of the guards could answer he strode past them and inside.

"We're gonna pay for that," Tommy muttered.

"Dex will back us up," Skip consoled him. "Relax. If anyone can talk Sky Captain out of something, I'd bet money on Dex." He felt rather than saw Tommy's questioning look. "Just a feeling I have," he shrugged a little sheepishly. "We'll be fine."

Joe stepped into the guard house, let his eyes adjust to the indoor light, and strode forward. "Dex?" he asked quietly, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Ow…you mind, Cap? That arm's kind of sore."

"Sorry." Squatting down in an attempt to see the injured man's hidden face more clearly, he moved his hand onto his engineer's knee, leaving it there when he heard no protest. "Dex, you're soaking wet. Where's your jacket?"

"…Think I left it in the car."

"How far did you walk in this storm?"

"I don't know, a mile or two. Not far."

"Not far," Joe repeated sarcastically as he pulled his own heavy coat off and draped it over the trembling figure in the chair. "Far enough to catch pneumonia, it looks to me."

"I'm fine, Cap, really. Just need to sleep for a while, and I'll be fine."

Sleep? Sky Captain frowned. Sleep was a far cry from what they'd been planning for when Dex returned from picking up the package he'd been subtly hinting about for weeks. "That's not exactly what we discussed for tonight," he ventured, hoping for an explanation.

"Well, to be honest," came the reply after a long silence, "I kind of thought you might not want to do what we had planned after you saw my new look."

"Your what? What new-" Joe sucked air in quickly between his teeth as Dex raised his head a few inches and turned to look at him. Taking in his crooked nose, the deep bruises under his eyes and across his cheeks, and the rivers of red that had coursed down half of his face, the pilot felt a lump form in his throat. "Dex, my God, what happened to you?"

"A deer decided it wanted to be my hood ornament." He lowered his head slowly back onto his good arm, his desire to just close his eyes growing as he warmed beneath the other man's jacket. If his hand creeps up just a little bit, I could almost pretend like we're in bed, he thought wearily. Even like this, it'd be so easy to go to sleep…

"Don't close your eyes, love," he heard a voice order, low and close to his ear. "Not until we get you to a doctor."

"Tired…"

"You've got a concussion. There's no way you avoided one, the way your face looks." He stood up as he spoke, glancing out at the car to judge how far they had to walk. At his words, Dex felt his eyes fill with tears. So he does think I'm ugly now, he bemoaned quietly. Everything was so perfect, and then that stupid deer had to screw it all up… He choked back a sob, hating the idea that Joe might want to go back to being just friends. We never even got to open the box. It's not fair, damn it.

It took a few seconds for Sky Captain to realize what was going on. "Are you…" He knelt back down on the floor. "Why on earth are you crying? Is the pain bad?" he asked, biting at his lip. I hate seeing you hurt. Please, please stop crying, you're only going to make it worse if your nose gets stuffed up. "Listen, we'll go back down to the infirmary and get you some morphine before we go into town, all right? Please, tell me what's wrong. It is the pain, isn't it?"

"I know I look awful, Joe, alright? You don't have to…you know…do this, if you don't want to anymore. I understand. It's okay, I won't leave, you know I couldn't leave you anyway."

The problem struck him as he listened to the man he adored blubbering. What was I thinking? 'The way your face looks.' You really are a complete ass sometimes, Sullivan, to say such a thing to him when he's like this. "Dex!" he exclaimed, glancing outside again to make sure that the guards were still far enough from the windows that they wouldn't hear anything from inside. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking before I spoke. We'll get it fixed, I promise. Don't worry about it. You'll be just fine in a few weeks. Besides," he added, levering his lover's swollen, tear- and blood-streaked face up with the utmost care, "you know full well that I would love you more than anything in the world no matter what you looked like. You're still my Dex. All right?" His voice shook slightly as he spoke. He's completely addled, he knows full well that I can't live without him. But what if he doesn't believe me? If he carries on like this, I'll never get him out of here without those two suspecting something.

Fortunately the explanation cleared the engineer's head enough for him to realize that he was being foolish. "Yeah," he mumbled painfully. "I know. I'm sorry, I don't know what happened there, I just…God, Joe, I'm so tired…"

"Shh, you're all right," he soothed, standing up again now that the tears had ceased. "Come on, now, we've got to get you to a hospital. Can you stand?"

"Sure thing, Cap," he sighed, gathering what little energy he had left to shove himself up out of his chair. The motion sent another shock through his skull, forcing him to gasp. He cried out as the rush of air through his broken nose caused a network of nerves to scream in agony. He didn't dare open his eyes afterward, knowing that if he did the room would be turning and he would immediately throw up. And that would really hurt, he informed himself, hoping the threat of further pain would quell his twisting stomach. "It wasn't like this earlier," he whined, practically collapsing into the other man's arms.

"You've warmed up since then," Joe told him. "That's why it's worse now. Can you walk?"

"…Maybe?"

He sighed. "All right, come on. We'll get to the car somehow." Bearing most of his slender engineer's weight, Sky Captain got them to the door and wrestled with the handle, attempting to get the door open and keep his partner from sliding to the floor simultaneously. Seeing them trying to exit, Tommy rushed up and held the exit open so that the two could stumble into the semi-darkness around the guardhouse.

"Is he okay?" Skip asked, also coming forward.

"Not really, no," the pilot replied. "Get the car door." The guard nodded and splashed to the sedan ahead of them, opening the passenger door as wide as he could. "Good. Now get inside, the both of you, before you wash away or something."

"You sure you don't need-"

"I've got it, thanks," Joe cut him off brusquely as he swept his semi-unconscious load into his arms. Giving him a subtle squeeze, he set him gently inside of the idling auto. As the door to the guardhouse slammed shut in the background, he pressed a soft kiss against damp hair. "Stay awake, do you hear me?"

"Sure thing, Cap," he heard whispered back groggily.

"Good boy, Dex." He shut the door securely and jogged around to his side, only noticing once he'd seated himself that he was soaked through thanks to his lack of a jacket. "Blasted rain," he cursed, putting the heat on full. Seeing the figure beside him flinch as the fans kicked on, he frowned. "What is it?"

Dex shook his head slightly. "The heat makes it worse," he admitted. "But it's okay." He pulled his left arm close against his stomach and swallowed heavily. "Let's go, huh?"

"Maybe we should go back down to the barracks and wait for an ambulance," Joe suggested a little nervously as he watched him in the filtered light. "At least then we could get you some morphine. I know you're in pain, Dex, I can tell. You can't hide it from me."

"Never could," the engineer smiled slightly. "Just take me to the hospital," he requested, his tight expression returning after a few seconds. "I'd rather ride with you."

"I would come with you in the ambulance. It might be a smoother ride that way."

"They won't let you ride in back. They'll make you sit up front. I don't want you to go away right now."

Sky Captain felt his stomach knot up at that plea for him to stay close. "If that's what you want, love, then I'll take you. It's going to be a long drive, though, with this rain. I promise, it's going to hurt like hell."

"So long as I'm with you, I don't mind."

"So stubborn," he sighed, reaching over and rubbing his leg.

"Gee, wonder who I could have learned that from…"

Laughing, Joe shifted the car into first and pulled forward through the gate that had been raised in anticipation of their departure. "I love you. Don't you ever forget that," he hissed as darkness closed in around the car.

"Love you too, Cap. Always have, always will."