AN: Thank you for the reviews you guys.

Thank you to Greg for beta-ing.

XLIX.

Although they managed to get out of the town, the 2nd Mass was far from safe. Some of the enemy units were in hot pursuit. They'd suffered so many casualties during the assaults, diminished to nearly half their original numbers, and those fighters that survived were in such rough shape that there was no possible way they could muster another fight. Their only option was to run, which meant they needed to stay in constant motion. Fighters were assigned patrol in rounds, grabbing half-hour breaks between four-sometimes-five hour shifts, by the seventh day they were all beyond exhaustion.

The group relied most heavily on Ben. He didn't need as much rest, so could work longer shifts. He was juggled around, would cover for a patrolman on one side of the group for a few hours, then go directly to the other side and cover for another patrolman. He hadn't spoken to Jimmy since the run from town, he was lucky to see the other boy in passing. It was on one of his rare breaks that he finally found an opportunity, spotting Jimmy on patrol with another fighter. Ben slipped around, grabbed hold of Jimmy by the shoulders when no one was looking, dragged him behind a tree, pinned him to its trunk and crushed him in a breathtaking kiss.

"Ben," Jimmy gasped protest as soon as he managed to struggle free, "What the hell, man? I'm on patrol."

"We're always on patrol. We can take two minutes," Ben returned, darting a quick peek at their passing caravan, then twining their fingers and resting their foreheads lightly together, he whispered, "I missed you."

Jimmy frowned, but his features softened, "One minute," he leaned into Ben, murmuring against Ben's lips, "I missed you, too."

They melded together, mouths parting to let their tongues entangle themselves until, "Ben," a familiar voice bellowed from camp, nearly in unison to Jimmy's patrol partner hissing, "Jimmy?"

Ben winced, scowling, as Jimmy pushed him gently away.

"We got to get back," Jimmy recommended, but Ben refused to relinquish his hold, expression hardened.

"When are we going to have a chance to talk?" Ben wondered.

"I don't know; probably not anytime soon."

Ben made a face and Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"I'll find you later tonight, when I get off patrol," Jimmy suggested, then sighed, "If I ever get off patrol."

They kissed once more, then Jimmy slipped out of Ben's embrace and darted through the trees towards his patrol partner searching for him and Ben wandered back to report in to Weaver. It was nearly another five hours later when Jimmy finally got off patrol, only to end up on weapons detail for a few hours afterwards. He finally got a moment's break when the caravan had stopped for dinner; he grabbed a granola pack snack and bottle of water and went looking for Ben. He found Roman instead, leaned against a tree on the group's fringe.

"Where's Gia and Doug?" Jimmy asked, tentatively approaching the older boy while taking a casual sip of his water.

Roman shrugged, quietly noted, "Probably off somewhere talking about Kelsey."

Jimmy nodded, and remained respectfully silent. He and the girl hadn't really gotten along. She unnerved him, plain and simple. She meant something to Roman, what that was exactly wasn't entirely clear, but Jimmy knew the other boy felt lost without her and Jimmy didn't want to make it any worse for him.

"I never thanked you," Roman said, and Jimmy wrinkled his brow in question, "For not saying anything, when I lied to your friends."

"Anthony's my friend, but Pope and the others…" Jimmy rambled correction, frowning at the strange fluster he suddenly felt by Roman's uncharacteristic moment of modesty. He cleared his throat and, with his head ducked down, went to lean next to Roman against the tree, "It would be nice, show of good faith, if you told me why you lied and what exactly it is I'm covering for you guys."

"I can't tell you," Roman mumbled.

"Right," Jimmy scoffed, shaking his head and starting away, "Whatever."

"No. I mean, I really can't tell you," Roman called after and Jimmy faltered, turning back curiously. The older boy had his face turned away, his features darkened and touched with a hint of sadness.

"You don't know why she left, do you?" Jimmy guessed, taking a step back towards Roman, "Why was it that you guys wanted to go out to that structure? Destroying the source of a signal only you guys could hear doesn't make sense, there's got to me more to it."

"Exactly like Kelsey said, to get in good with the group," Roman explained.

"I know that's bullshit, so try again."

"It's not bullshit, that's what it was about for us," Roman insisted, "To prove our worth to the group," he took a deep breath and dropped his chin, quietly admitting, "And to prove…to prove your razorback needed to go."

Jimmy narrowed his eyes dangerously on Roman, and seethed, "You thought you would catch Ben out there conspiring with the aliens or something, huh? Asshole…"

"And what of it," Roman shot back, "You still trust him, after everything that has happened?"

"Yes," Jimmy answered without hesitance, then challenged, "What exactly did he do back there that makes you think I should stop trusting him? I trust him even more after everything, and you guys, not so much…"

"Aliens showed up at camp at the right moment when those two were long gone. How do you explain that? Not to mention, he abandoned you out there, Jimmy."

"When we arrived Ben and Rick were pinned down," Jimmy returned sharply, "They were almost dead…"

"They walked away just fine though when we showed up to 'save them'," Roman pointed out, "You're still just ignoring that he abandoned you back there, and where the fuck did Rick go, huh? Maybe it was all a plan, to get Rick out of there in a way that no one would ask questions…"

"You really think you've got the room to talk with Kelsey gone?" Jimmy growled, "Ben didn't abandon me, he just…"

"What? Just…lost control? Same way he loses control and you get another bruise…"

"Fuck you," Jimmy spat, "You don't know anything about it."

"I know everything about it. I wrote the book about it," Roman hissed back, "Cute guy, real sweet, treats you like the center of his world, like his life can't go on without you in it and you feel like it's better than you deserve, like you aren't worthy of him and his affections, because every day of your life you've been told you're the lowest piece of shit in the world, so when he knocks you around a bit, you feel like it's okay, like it balances out."

"That's not how it is," Jimmy argued.

"And what if it is? What if the aliens are controlling him? Forcing him to treat you nice, sweet talk you so that you'll do whatever he needs you to do for him," Roman continued, "Back him up when people suspect him, cover for him, lie for him…"

"Shut up," Jimmy murmured, stomach churning in disgust. How carelessly those words fell off Ben's tongue: I care about you, I like you, and I need you. Most days they barely knew one another, forgetting that they'd only really just met. Such sentiments seemed to come easy to Ben, as though he didn't even know what they meant, the full extent of their value, but maybe he didn't need to, maybe they were all just a means to the aliens' end.

"Make excuses for him, like you're doing now. He didn't abandon you out there, right? He just…disappeared for some reason, and Rick just disappeared," Roman persisted, "But it's not because of the aliens because if it was because of the aliens then that would mean he's still under their control and nothing he says to you is true and that you don't actually mean shit to him."

"Kind of like you don't mean shit to Kelsey," Jimmy quietly stated. He flinched back involuntarily when Roman closed the distance between them, but the strike he expected never came. Just the blast of heat and the sweet scent of the older boy's sudden close proximity. He peeked up at Roman, and was startled by the older boy's expression, conflicted and somewhat sad.

Roman smirked, loosened his stance, "I recall hearing something once, about your mouth, brat."

"Yeah, I know, it's the worst thing about me sometimes," Jimmy admitted.

"I don't know," Roman smiled, leaned in a bit, eyes burning intent on Jimmy's own shivering blue, "I'm starting to really like it, myself."

"Oh…okay…I should go," Jimmy stammered, stumbling back a few steps.

"Right, you should run and find your razorback, see if he needs something from you, an alibi or a punching bag," Roman grumbled, falling back towards the tree once more, leering at Jimmy, "And everyone thinks he's the dog…"

"Do you ever get tired of being an asshole?" Jimmy demanded, shaking with confused frustration, a strange chill rippling through his body. One minute Roman is thanking Jimmy; the next Roman is attacking him then flirting with him and now insulting him. Jimmy wasn't entirely certain Roman even knew what it was he wanted from Jimmy.

"Do you ever get tired of being his bitch?" Roman sneered.

"Let me ask you, Rome, what exactly did you do back there that was so fucking special, huh?" Jimmy seethed, reeling on the older boy, "Besides strut around like one incredibly arrogant idiot and run your mouth off just to prove how stupid you are; what is it that you did to earn the admiration you seem to think I owe you so much?"

Roman tilted his chin down, snorted softly.

"That's what I thought," Jimmy scoffed, "Whether you, or anyone else in this camp for that matter, trusts him or not, Ben is still the better fighter and he still came through in the end which is more than can be said for you or anyone else..."

"What about you?" Roman asked and Jimmy faltered.

"What?"

"You always make him sound like some great hero but what exactly did he do out there that was so great?" Roman demanded, "Weren't you the one who came up with the plan to take down that alien structure, built the bombs, led the entire group to safety? And what did he do? Disappeared, abandoned us, and got the handy man killed…"

"I'm done," Jimmy muttered, starting away again, determined to actually leave this time, when Roman grabbed hold of his arm, jerking him back.

"Really? Because it's just getting good…"

It might have been the cool air, the lack of sleep, food, abrupt movement or a mix of everything, but when Roman grabbed hold and yanked him back, Jimmy lost his footing, nearly tumbling to the ground, and Roman's arm caught him round the waist, as his stomach twisted suddenly with nausea, his water and what little of the granola he'd eaten spewing across the ground, body convulsing violently. Though Roman maneuvered awkwardly to dodge the spray, he kept a surprising hold on Jimmy, using his hand to swipe the younger boy's hair back from his face.

When it was over Jimmy slapped a shocked hand over his mouth, choking for breath. He took a moment to recover and then realized Roman was carefully cradling him, keeping him steady on his feet. Jimmy instantly pulled back, staggering back a pace, but Roman still had to reach a hand out, grip his shoulder to keep him from falling over.

"What the fuck? Are you drunk or something, brat?" Roman asked, he kept his tone light though it wavered slightly with concern.

"No. I don't…" Jimmy stammered, spitting any last remnants of vomit out of his mouth then wiping the spittle from his lips with the back of his palm, "I'm not."

"You eat something weird then…?"

"No. Nothing. I don't know."

"And are you always so cold to the touch?" Roman continued, pressing his palm to Jimmy forehead, only for Jimmy to quickly swipe it away.

"It's none of your business," Jimmy whispered harshly, pushing Roman back and doing his best to ignore the hurt look that flashed across the older boy's features, "I'm fine. I probably just…caught a cold or something. I need to go."

"You keep saying that, brat, but you haven't yet. You sure it's the truth?" Roman asked, his voice a low rumble, his lip curled up in bemusement.

Jimmy shook his head, folded his arms over his chest, and slowly started back towards camp, passing Gia and Douglas along the way, the pair headed for their friend. They whispered greeting and he nodded acknowledgment, but didn't pause, certain if he did he'd end up pulled back into Roman's dense gravitational field and wouldn't be able to prove the smug bastard wrong on at least one thing he'd said their entire conversation.

Jimmy staggered to a slow pace, shoulders slumping slightly, eyes trailing the ground. Not that he believed the things Roman claimed about Ben, it was just hard to argue with them when the other side was entirely convinced of Ben's guilt and all Jimmy had to go on were his feelings for Ben. That didn't mean that his judgment was clouded where Ben was concerned. And maybe Roman was right that Jimmy didn't think he entirely deserved Ben, but that didn't mean he let Ben get away with things. They argued, and Jimmy won most of the time…er…some of the time…they compromised, anyway, and neither ever really won or lost.

According to another fighter, Ben took up post guarding the rear of camp. They'd traveled into another urban area, and Jimmy wandered through the debris and ruin in search, finding himself walking nearly a quarter to half mile back as thoughts dark and growing darker tumbling through his head. He didn't realize how distracted he'd become when he nearly walked right into the path of several scouting Skitters. A hand slipped over his mouth, dragged him behind cover, and he sank almost instinctively back into the familiar warmth and smell. The hand fell away, and lips nestled soft against his neck

'What are you doing out here?' Ben mouthed against Jimmy's skin, hot breath scorching through him.

'Looking for you,' Jimmy replied, expertly silent, he delicately turned and searched out Ben's eyes in the night's low light.

Ben pushed away Jimmy's hair, placed a kiss on his mouth, then pulled away slightly and made an odd face.

'I puked earlier,' Jimmy softly explained voice just below a whisper. He sheepishly covered his mouth, wincing somewhat apologetically, and Ben perked a startled brow.

'You okay?'

Jimmy nodded reassurance, and Ben brushed a kiss across his cheek, then Ben unsheathed his blade and motioned at Jimmy's rifle. Jimmy positioned the gun at ready, and Ben signaled that there were five Skitters in the area.

'I'll draw their attention,' Ben decided, signaling for Jimmy to take out the Skitters from their current position. Jimmy frowned, he didn't like the plan; increasingly all of the recent plans made were putting Ben in the greatest position of danger, but Jimmy nodded agreement regardless. He readied himself as Ben slipped out of hiding, snuck up on the first Skitter and drove his knife through the base of its neck. Its death wail instantly drew the other Skitters back and between Jimmy's rapid fire, and Ben's knife, they were all dead in milliseconds.

Ben cleaned his blade, re-sheathed it as he meandered back towards Jimmy, eyeing the other boy with a sudden hunger burning in his eyes and a restless energy cascading from him in droves.

"It's been awhile since we've worked together like this, just you and me, I almost forgot what a perfect team we make," Ben whispered excitedly, swiftly closing the distance between Jimmy and himself and crushing an explorative kiss to Jimmy's mouth before Jimmy could stop him.

They rapidly broke apart and Ben wrinkled his nose.

"Vomit taste," he complained.

"Sorry. I have toothpaste back at camp," Jimmy murmured.

"Actually, this might be more fun. Where can I kiss you besides your mouth?" Ben teased, and as though to answer his own musing, dotted kisses up alongside Jimmy's jawline, pushing the hair away to suckle his ear. Jimmy whimpered, slipping his hands up under Ben's shirt to ripple over hardened muscle and soak up Ben's warmth.

"Ben, wait," he murmured, struggling away from Ben's ministrations, feeling suddenly sapped of air, "I thought we were going to talk."

"Seriously?" Ben groaned, pulling away and taking his warmth with him, stalking a few paces from Jimmy, rubbing his face furiously, then turning back to set a hardened glare on the other boy, "We haven't seen each other in over a week…."

"We've seen each other."

Ben fixed Jimmy with a severe look and Jimmy dropped his gaze, nibbling his inner cheek.

"Fine. What do you want to talk about?" Ben demanded.

"What happened back there?" Jimmy questioned, shoving his hands in his pockets and shifting his weight nervously, "At the alien structure."

Ben frowned, turned away, silent a moment as a strange, unreadable emotion passed over his features.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Where did you go? After we blew it up," Jimmy quietly pressed.

Another pause.

"I couldn't find you so I went back to camp. It's what you told me to do," Ben said.

"I told you to grab the others also," Jimmy replied.

Ben remained silent, folding his arms over his chest.

"You lost control out there, didn't you?" Jimmy asked. Ben dropped his chin, looking up at Jimmy plaintively and Jimmy groaned, "This is getting out of hand. We need to figure out…"

"Figure out what? We've already been over this. My options are tell Dr. Glass so she can do nothing, maybe possibly report to Weaver so he can tell everyone, panic the group and get me kicked out or worse, or we can do nothing and hope it goes away," Ben returned.

"And that no one gets killed," Jimmy mumbled.

"What?"

Jimmy cleared his throat and repeated louder, "Hope it goes away and that no one gets killed."

"You think I'm going to kill someone?" Ben demanded, tone cool.

"I didn't say that," Jimmy whispered.

"I didn't say that you said it, I asked if you thought it."

"Okay. I'm done talking," Jimmy muttered.

"Of course you are," Ben grumbled.

Jimmy sighed and took a step towards Ben, pausing when Ben tensed at the approach.

"I'm on your side, you know," Jimmy insisted. He closed his eyes a moment, took a deep breath to collect his thoughts, emotions, steady his voice, "I don't think that you would ever hurt anyone. Not if you could help it. Or that you would want to kill someone…but if you can't help it…Ben, you've done things when you lost control, you've hurt people…you've hurt me…I just think that it could be possible…"

"Where were you after the explosion?" Ben cut in.

"What?" Jimmy wrinkled his brow.

"After the explosion, where were you?" Ben repeated tersely, again that unreadable emotion passing over his features.

"I…" Jimmy frowned, thought of the alien mass reaching out to him, the cold that washed over his body, the flicker of images, emotions and memories not his own, waking covered in blood with no apparent source, "I was too close to the blast…hit my head, I guess, blacked out."

Ben's expression relaxed and he darted his eyes away, "I thought…"

"Thought what?"

"Nothing. Never mind," Ben mumbled, clearing his throat, "What were you talking about with Roman earlier?"

"What?" Jimmy gaped, heart slamming hard against his chest, "Were you spying on me?"

"No. If I was spying on you, I would've listened in on the conversation instead of bothering to ask you about it," Ben shot back, narrowing his eyes on the other boy, "Why are you getting so defensive all of a sudden?"

"I'm not," Jimmy stammered, flustering, "You're…defensive…"

If Ben saw him talking with Roman, what else did Ben see?

"You're the one that wanted to talk," Ben said, "But you don't actually want to talk about anything."

"Fine," Jimmy replied, "Let's just make out then and…"

"No," Ben scoffed, "I want to know what happened between you and Roman."

"Now something happened between us? Jesus Christ, Ben, we just talked," Jimmy cried.

"And don't forget the part where you ended up in his arms. Again," Ben returned tartly.

"Of course," Jimmy muttered, shaking his head and growling, "Next time why don't you just come right out and fucking say what it is you really want to say? You accuse me of not talking; you're the one that's playing games."

"Alright, you're right," Ben mumbled, "You want me to come out and say it, well here it is. At first, it was that it was a mission, orders from Weaver to train them. Then it was just that he kept coming around you, and what the fuck are you supposed to do, right? And now..."

Jimmy dug his teeth hard into his inner cheek, tensed his shoulders.

"Now, I think you like it," Ben grit out.

"I felt sick suddenly, I almost fell over, puked my guts out in front of him, you think I liked that?" Jimmy challenged.

"I don't know. All I know is it's becoming a habit of yours to get weak in the knees around him," Ben grumbled.

"Twice, Ben, it's only happened twice," Jimmy shook his head, "You really want to know what I was talking about with him? We were arguing. Okay? We were arguing about you. He thinks I'm an idiot for trusting you. He knows that you lose control, and he knows some of the things you've done when you have. He knows what you've done to me, and he keeps trying to use it to convince me how stupid I am for trusting you. It'd be nice if for five fucking seconds you could be just as stupid as me, but you've never been stupid, have you, Ben? You've always known exactly what it was you were doing right from the start."

"What are you talking about now?" Ben whispered question.

"Nothing. I don't know," Jimmy whispered, rubbing his face furiously, smearing away tears he hadn't realized formed in his eyes, "I can't do this."

"Do what?" Ben murmured an odd tremor in his words.

Jimmy took a deep breath, dropping his arms to his sides and peering up at Ben distantly, "We should get back to camp. Weaver'll want to move again soon."

"No, wait, you're just going to walk off after saying all of that?" Ben demanded, reaching forward to grab Jimmy, stop him.

"That's exactly what I'm going to do," Jimmy said, tugging out of Ben's grasp, "We've been going nonstop for over a week now, we're tired and cranky, and after that battle…we should just stop talking before one of us says something we can't take back. When…if…we ever find a place safe enough to set up camp for a bit, we'll talk then."

"And until we do?" Ben prompted.

Jimmy shrugged, turned away, and stalked back towards camp. After a few heartbeats, he heard Ben fall in step behind him.

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AN: Yeah, I know, not the hot, steamy reunion everyone was hoping for. It's coming, eventually, I think. Anyhow, there's that. Next chapter should be...one people have been looking forward to.

Please let me know what you think!

Reviewers: SassySavanna190, I'm glad last chapter made you laugh so much. I love writing those characters, but I always worry the things they say might be too over the top...ah...yeah, I guess Matt is right in a way. It's a different kind of love. I love writing Matt and Jimmy interaction, yeah, I love writing Jimmy interaction with every character really, fills the void that the show left, I think. I swear, I don't think the show's writers knew what to do with him. PsycLinc, emotional truthy-ness, I like that. Yeah, Matt is pretty blunt. Hm...the horny after stressful situations thing, the social scientist in me wants to analyze it, so forgive me, but I can't help wondering if that something everyone experiences (I know after stressful situations, I haven't experienced it), if it has to do with particular situations (content), is it a particular person (because jobs in the emergency services tend to attract certain personality types), is there an evolutionary basis (I can think of a few...), and I'm boring you, so moving on. WhisperMaw, well, it's been awhile. Glad you think so, I'm never sure how he's going to come across to the readers. Dee, it was short, but a lovely point. A world ruled by Pope and Matt, now that would be the most adorable sitcom ever. Pope would try to do evil things and Matt would give him a puppy dog pout, and, begrudgingly, Pope would change his mind and make it look like he didn't ever care to begin with although deep down, everyone knows, he does care. Anyway, yes, translucent skin is a problem.

And there you have it. I've got to go hiking. See you all next Sunday.