A/N: Thank you for reading this, it's a tiny audience but I really appreciate it. Hey look a faster update! Enjoy, and don't forget to review. :)
She's turned to pacing again. It's the only thing she's got when she's not running the perimeter five times over as soon as the sun sets. She looks over at him on the bed pressed up against the cave wall and swallows hard. He's got a sheen of sweat coating his skin and his face is flushed, the virus makes him run hotter, metabolize everything quicker. They are so goddamn lucky for the time released proteins in his IV, or he'd be so thin. He's already gaunt, nothing at all like the man she knows. Healthy, all smiles—a sad one pulls at her lips, and she swallows hard again, her throat is dry. Everything is dry.
She's got a cover of sweat on her skin too, but that's what everyone's got in these caves. Her hair hangs in waves over her shoulders, and strands of it cling to the back of her neck and forehead. She needs to bathe and clenches her teeth at the thought. You've gone weeks without bathing before. She has to remind herself, but this isn't the same as Somalia, or any Hell hole she's been in. No being clean makes her feel more in control, because of the virus.
"Alicia." She turns leveling a concerned look at the young man in the doorway. A small, almost smirk graces her lips; he's the only one allowed to call her that, he's been gone for the better part of four hours. "Mark." He smiles and steps into the reasonably sized room and deposits a large cylindrical container in the corner. He points at it. "Drink some water." He says, motioning at the bottle sitting on one of the boxes in the opposite corner. He's also the only one who gets away with 'ordering' her. Alicia sighs, running a hand through her hair, before turning and picking it up. She sits next to the container and turns the water spout. The typically clear liquid comes out stained slightly blue; it's been purified and vitamins have been added.
Mark leans against the rust coloured cave wall and looks over at the sleeping man on the bed. "Any improvement?" He asks as Alicia downs the water in one go. She exhales with a satisfactory sigh; her mouth isn't dry any more. "No change since your team went out." She takes a deep breath. Malcolm doesn't know whether this is good news or bad. It's a plateau; what they're giving him isn't helping nor making anything worse. It's got her heart in her throat to be honest. "His white blood cell count?" Mark asks, looking at his boots; Alicia looks up at him a grin stretching across her features. "Have you been hanging around with the docs?" She teases with a slight laugh. He matches her brightened expression. "Actually yeah." He cocks a brow at her in silent reiteration of his question.
"Plateau-ed two nights ago, hasn't decreased at all since." She fills her bottle again and takes small sips. "Good." Mark says gruffly. There's a groan from the bed, and Alicia's on her feet instantly, crossing over and sitting at the edge of the bed. His eyes open slowly—her heart thumps painfully; she doesn't want to admit to her fear that she'll never see them again—and he searches for a second before his gaze lands on her. A slow smile comes over him when he sees her. "Hey." He manages hoarsely. She doesn't cry, no, but if anyone asked the man in the bed, he'd swear her eyes shone wetly just a bit (it could be the lighting though.). He likes to be reminded that she's got a whole array of beautiful emotions underneath the strong, stoic lieutenant he knows.
"Good to see you." She says, hand moving involuntarily to feel his cheek. She purses her lips, he's still too hot. "Likewise." He takes a deep breath, groaning in discomfort. She tightens her jaw trying to mask her concern. "I'm fine." He says hoarsely. She just nods, smiling, but the worry is still in her eyes. "Sure you are." He's about the say something back when the sound of booted footfalls interrupts him.
"Lieutenant Washington." The soldier sucks in a breath, then salutes. Alicia rises. "At ease, Corporal. What is it?" She stands a little straighter, going to put her hands behind her back in her customary stance, but the bedridden man takes her hand. "The scouting party spotted something near the portal." She says a bit breathlessly. Alicia's expression turns serious. "Go on." She says, and the Corporal nods. "Seven soldiers, ma'am. Setting up a secure camp. Our feeds picked up some of their conversation." She acknowledges Mark when he stops leaning on the wall. "I give them no more than a few hours before they're like the rest of them." Alicia nods, freeing her hand begrudgingly, and reaching for her gear.
"I need to take a look at the feed." She says, turning back the two soldiers. "Reynolds, stay here until Malcolm gets back." She shrugs into her armoured jacket and stoops to pick up her bottle. She smiles when a hand brushes a strand of her hair off her face. "You coming back later?" He asks, Alicia nods. "Of course." She takes his hand and gives it a squeeze. They turns and strides over to the door. "Let's go Reilly."
r-e-f-o-r-m-e-d
Her breathing is wheezy and her eyes are searching when she drops onto her back in the dirt. Elisabeth's eyes widen with fear, she takes a deep breath from the CO2 infuser and scrambles over to her daughter at the same time that Samson skids to a halt and presses another infuser to Maddy's mouth. The girl presses it to her face desperately. "Maddy! Maddy!" Elisabeth leans over her daughter. Jim look on with worry in his eyes, he's been given an infuser too; Uriol is occupying Zoe, Josh and Kara are sharing one a little ways away watching uneasily.
Maddy's eyes search the sky blindly, pupils dilating and constricting with the onslaught of oxygen and sunlight. After another moment her eyes flutter shut and her head falls to one side. Elisabeth looks slightly panicked, but Samson reassures her with a hand on her shoulder. "She's just unconscious. It's perfectly normal, nearly all of us had our heads between our legs for almost twenty minutes when we got here. Given her medical history, this isn't unexpected." Elisabeth nods, she's a little dizzy herself, and she takes a deep breath. It feels good. "I know." She says, she did the reading.
"We'll put her on low oxygen for a bit okay? Gradually bring it up to environmental normal." Samson waves to Partridge and Matthers. "We're going to bring Maddy to her tent and set up an OIF." The boys bring over a stretcher and get her onto it Jim joins Elisabeth while the soldiers pick her up and bring her to a tent. Elisabeth squeezes her husband's hand, he looks at her. "Go stay with her. I'll stay out here with the kids." Jim nods, ducking into the tent. Elisabeth turns then to where Josh, Kara, and Zoe are. She gets distracted by the scenery though. She's only seen jungle images in her grandfather's collection of National Geographic magazines that went back generations. It's so green, like a saturated photograph.
"Momma! It's like the colours in my book, the sky is blue!" Zoe runs over pointing at the sky, still squinting in the light they're all not used to. "It know, it's beautiful." Elisabeth says, smiling over at her son and his girlfriend. Kara's looking up at the sky too, a hand shading her eyes. "You can see the moon and the sun at the same time." She wonders pointing at the particularly large white circle hiding against the sky. Zoe says something so fast that Elisabeth barely catches it. "There's trees they're green jus' like the holo-ads back home and clouds cloud white clouds momma have you seen white before?" Elisabeth just laughs at her daughter's enthusiasm, and looks up in time to see Josh press a kiss to Kara's cheek.
There you have it. Who's on the bed? What will happen in the next few hours? Will Reilly's prediction come true? Review and lemme know what you think.