AN: Thank you to the reviewers. And thank you to Greg for beta-ing.

LXVII.

On the medic van, Jimmy found Lourdes loading a few boxes with vials.

"Where's Dr. Glass?" he blurted out.

"Hello to you too," Lourdes replied, bemused, "She's in the hangar; we're unpacking a few things for a make-shift clinic. Is everything okay? Do you need me to look at…?"

Jimmy bolted from the van before Lourdes could finish her sentence, sprinting into the hangar, nearly running into a group of fighters, Maggie and Anthony amongst them, and slamming to a halt, eyes wide on their new base. It was his first time inside the hangar, though not his first in an airplane hangar. His friend from before the war, Ryan's father had a pilot's license and owned a couple bi-planes, World War II reproductions. The hangar he rented out space for them at, however, hadn't been nearly as big.

This hangar, from the looks of it, had been used for housing private charter jets. It was huge. All of the 2nd Mass and most of their vehicles could fit comfortably inside, which for some, it would be nice to sleep indoors for the first time in months, however, it made finding Dr. Glass that much more difficult.

"You okay, Jimmy?" Maggie asked, sidling up beside him.

"Have you seen Dr. Glass?" Jimmy demanded.

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Jimmy snapped, "Why…why would you think something's wrong?"

"Right. You're not acting suspicious at all. How silly of me," Maggie muttered.

"Dr. Glass was….where exactly?" Jimmy pressed.

"To the back and right, far corner," Maggie answered, Jimmy darted through the hangar without another word or glance her way, and she shouted after him, "You're welcome."

As promised, Dr. Glass was busily setting up shop in the far back right corner of the hangar. She had a few cots propped up, and was laying out blankets, while listening to a civilian couple. From the sounds of things when Jimmy walked up, the husband had a strange itch in a personal place he didn't want to reveal, probably because his wife was present.

"Tell you what, I have a cream somewhere that I can give you to try, and then when I have things better set up, Zeke, you can come back and we'll discuss it further," Dr. Glass told them, glancing at Jimmy and smiling, "Hey, Jimmy, what's going on?"

"I need to talk to you about something."

"But Dr. Glass, how are you going to just give him a cream if you don't know what the problem is," the woman complained.

"Deena, it's an antihistamine, it'll give Zeke relief from the itching, and once I've diagnosed what's causing the itching, then we can talk about treatment," Dr. Glass calmly explained, looking to Jimmy, "Go ahead, sweetie, what's up?"

"Uh…well, I was hoping," Jimmy darted a meek look to the couple now surveying him dubiously, "The thing is that I need to talk about…um…what I have to talk about has to do with…uh…someone."

"Oh," Dr. Glass's eyes widened in realization, "Private conversation. Right. Give me five minutes and I will meet you outside. Zeke, let me grab you that cream."

Jimmy sighed and nodded, wandering outside of the hangar, pacing at its entry way until Dr. Glass appeared. She put a hand on Jimmy's shoulder and guided him a little farther round the side of the building, out of sight and hearing range of other people.

"Alright, sweetheart, what's the matter?"

"I don't really know how to explain it, so it's probably better if I just show you," Jimmy rambled, as he rolled up his sleeve and held out his arm. Dr. Glass stared a moment, readjusted her footing and gently took Jimmy's wrist, pulled him a little closer, turned the forearm, catching the sunlight off the translucent patch of skin.

"Oh Jimmy," Dr. Glass gasped, glanced up at him, "How long have you had this?"

"I don't know," Jimmy quietly answered, heart and head racing, he tried to think, "It comes and goes. I noticed it several weeks ago, back at the community center. I thought I was seeing things at first. It would be there, and then gone. There's more, on my other arm. Do you know what it is? Is it something you…you've heard of…before…or…?"

He didn't know how to get at the question he wanted to ask, but Dr. Glass seemed to understand, her features softening into a strange sympathy.

"I have honestly never heard or seen anything like this," she gently confessed, "But that doesn't mean anything. There are a lot of things in this world that I've never…"

"But it doesn't look like something from this world, does it?" Jimmy challenged.

Dr. Glass lowered her eyes, "No. It doesn't."

"It's something alien, isn't it?" Jimmy whispered question.

"I cannot say that for certain," Dr. Glass told him firmly, "Let's just slow down, and get a few details, okay? Let's see, have you gotten anything on your skin recently, a chemical that you didn't recognize? Could be liquid, could be powder…?"

"No, nothing like that," Jimmy murmured. He thought briefly about the alien blob structure that he and Ben, and the other unharnessed kids went to blow up, that moment when it reached for him and he touched it, but he knew the mark had been appearing long before that.

"Is there anything else that you've noticed, anything else about this, or any other symptoms you've felt?"

"Um…I don't…I'm not sure…" Jimmy murmured, rubbing a hand over his face, "I've been feeling sick a lot lately. Like, my stomach, I can't keep anything down. I feel hungry all the time but the minute I eat something it comes back up."

"Okay, nausea. What else, sweetie?"

"Cold," Jimmy continued carefully, "Uh…I get cold suddenly. Black outs. I thought it was because I wasn't eating…"

"That might still be the reason," Dr. Glass put in, "But we won't rule them out as possible direct symptoms of whatever this is, too."

Jimmy took a deep breath and met Dr. Glass's concerned gaze.

"The thing is…it began about when I started spending a lot of time with Ben," Jimmy said, paused, squeezed his eyes closed, "Do you think it's possible that…that maybe Ben…that the harness did something that…?"

"No. No, no, sweetie. A lot of people have contact with Ben on a daily basis," Dr. Glass reasoned, "His brothers, his father, long before you started spending any amount of time with Ben, they were always around him. Just about everyone in the 2nd Mass has had contact with Ben, not to mention the others. No one has mentioned anything like this to me."

"That's not what I mean," Jimmy corrected, tugging his sleeve back down and fidgeting as he explained, "Yeah, everyone's had contact with them but I'm the only one that's…that's…the thing is that this all started around the time that, well it wasn't long after anyway, that me and Ben…that we first…had our first…first time together."

"I see," Dr. Glass whispered, touching a hand to her forehead, deep in concentration, "That's true. You are the only one that's ever been intimate with one of them."

Jimmy flinched subconsciously. He didn't like the way she worded it, 'one of them', but of course, how else would she say it. They weren't human, not exactly, not anymore. They were something else now. But that phrasing, coupled with the reality of Jimmy's situation, shocked through him the realization, Ben wasn't human anymore and what that meant, and the danger he could unintentionally pose to Jimmy or anyone else, no one could know for certain until it was too late.

"Have you talked to Ben about it?"

"No," Jimmy cried, "I can't and I'm not going to. And you have to promise not to tell him. It's in the code right? Doctor patient confidential stuff?"

"Jimmy, if you think Ben has something to do with this, then he needs to know about it," Dr. Glass argued.

"I can't, Dr. Glass, he already spends half his time listening to people talk shit about him around camp because of what the aliens did to him, the rest of the time he worries that the things they say are true, and any minute the aliens could take control of him again and make him kill everyone he cares about, he spends all of his time wondering if deep down inside I'm secretly revolted by those things in his back, if he finds out that he might of given me some kind of alien STD…no, no way. He'd never forgive himself," Jimmy ranted, "So, unless we know it's him for certain, I'm not telling him. And you can't either…the patient doctor thing."

"Okay, okay. I won't tell him. I promise," Dr. Glass soothed, sighed, "But until we know for sure what's causing it, you and him might have to remain abstinent for a while."

"What's that? What does that mean?"

"It means, if you think being intimate with Ben is what's causing this, then you might need to not be intimate with Ben, just until we know for certain," Dr. Glass explained.

"Yeah, right. Have you met my boyfriend?" Jimmy scoffed, "Hands off is not in his vocabulary. How the fuck am I supposed to tell him to keep his pants on for 'a while' without showing him this? He automatically thinks anytime I hold out on him, he's being punished for something, and, fine, usually that's the case, but that's beside the point. He's not going to take it well. And we're supposed to tell his dad about us tonight, Ben's got all these grand plans for us after Professor Mason knows."

"Sweetie, if this is alien and Ben is the cause, it's a serious matter," Dr. Glass said sternly, "I understand that you don't want to hurt Ben, but you need to sort out what's most important right now. Have you thought about the possibility that this is something affecting him too? That if you've caught something from him, then that would mean he has something, an alien infection or disease. He could be sick as well."

Jimmy folded his arms over his stomach, lowered his eyes, bit his lower lip. He thought of Ben's time losses, the violent behavior, restlessness, and sudden, uncontrollable rages.

"Jimmy, do you know something else?" Dr. Glass questioned. Telling Dr. Glass would be a betrayal to Ben, and there was no way to know for certain that the two were connected.

"I don't know. Can we just wait a little bit?" Jimmy wondered, "It's been going on for weeks now, and I'm not dead yet, so it can't be too serious."

"That is not the right way to think about this…"

"We're telling his dad about us tonight," Jimmy repeated, looked up at Dr. Glass pleadingly, "Can we just get through tonight, and a couple days, and then tell Ben about it? Please? This is important to him."

Dr. Glass sighed.

"Come on, doc, isn't there like a cream or something you can give me until we have time to really figure out what's causing it?" Jimmy whimpered.

"My biggest concern right now is that you're not eating," Dr. Glass wearily began, "I want you to try small amounts, just enough to keep something down. Fibrous foods, like granola and cereals, and liquids. I think we still have some protein shakes in the food stores, I'll write you a letter for the kitchen staff, and I'll see if I have any Dramamine to help with the nausea."

"Okay, thank you," Jimmy whispered.

"I want to see you every day for checkup, too," Dr. Glass continued, "Tomorrow morning, come pay me a visit. I want to keep a close eye on it."

"It might be gone by tomorrow," Jimmy said, frowned, and rubbed at his arms uncertainly, piped, "I'll see you later."

It wasn't the peace of mind Jimmy had hoped to obtain, tearing from that shed earlier in search of Dr. Glass. He'd wanted to hear that Ben couldn't be connected, and that his strange 'rashes' fit the description of some rare disease carried by rats in East Asia. Even if the news was grim, that he was dying and no cure existed, at least Ben wouldn't be the cause.

Jimmy trudged away with no destination in mind. Others in the 2nd Mass were busy setting up their belongings, staking claim to spots in the hangar, but Jimmy had no belongings and no claim to anywhere. On top of that, the one person in the world that wanted to give him a place was quite possibly making him sick. He was ready to crawl into a hole and stay there for the rest of eternity; life was overrated.

…

Settling into a new camp was always a little thrilling for the civilians; if not somewhat depressing. There were noticeably less people in the 2nd Mass, the death toll was high those days, and the loss of belongings during the community center attacks, which could be felt most clearly during move in, was like pouring salt in those wounds.

Ben looked for somewhere to make himself useful. Most of the civilians were disinterested in his assistance. They were fine with him on the battlefield, putting himself between them and the enemy, but he wasn't trustworthy enough to carry a box or pitch a tent. Dai, however, didn't mind putting him to work and assigned him reorganizing the artillery truck and doing inventory.

Though it was only busy work, Ben preferred it to the nothing he could be doing. He hated feeling useless; it only led credence to allegations around camp that he didn't belong. Besides, not having to concentrate on what he was doing, allowed him to let his mind wander and listen to people around camp. He was in the middle of eavesdropping on a conversation between Weaver and his father, Tom resumed duties as second-in-command for less than a week ago and the two were already fighting again, when Maggie appeared at the entry of the truck.

"Hey," she greeted, "You got an extra clip in there for a 9 millimeter Beretta?"

"Uh…" Ben glanced around and turned a few things over, frowned at the mess, and shrugged, "Does it look different than a clip for a non-9 millimeter Beretta?"

"All the time you spend with Jimmy, and you don't know the answer to that question?" Maggie teased, grinning and laughing. She climbed into the truck, digging through some things before finding what she needed.

"Surprisingly, we really don't talk about guns a lot," Ben replied.

"You mean to say there are more things going on in boys' heads than guns, cars, and explosives? Someone alert the presses," Maggie said, drew her brow together and asked, "Is everything alright with Jimmy?"

Ben glanced up, startled by the question and Maggie's sudden change of tone.

"Yeah, why? At least he was fine last I saw him," Ben answered, smirked, "Actually, he was feeling pretty damn good last I saw him."

"He came bursting into the hangar like he had hell on his heels a little while ago, asking for Dr. Glass, didn't even pause for a simple hello," Maggie explained, "You don't know what that might've been about?"

"No. I didn't know," Ben raised a brow, a small hint of panic entering his voice, "Maybe I should go see?"

"I'm sure it's nothing. I saw them chatting, and Dr. Glass didn't seem too alarmed," Maggie replied.

"I wonder if he's getting cold feet," Ben realized.

"Cold feet over what? Is there something I should know about?"

"Huh? Uh…he didn't tell you? We're telling my dad about us tonight," Ben clarified, and Maggie's eyes widened.

"Really? That's a big step. Honestly, though, I'm surprised you were able to keep it a secret. Your brother had a bet going with Anthony and Dai on how long it would take before your dad walked in on the two of you in a compromising position," Maggie said.

"He almost did once. I had Jimmy tied up on the bus and my dad shows up, right, trying to get on. I had the door locked," Ben exclaimed, "So I'm trying to untie Jimmy, but the knots are all tangled up, and he's not wearing any clothes, and my dad's off to get a crowbar…"

Ben faltered, considered Maggie, her face red, eyes wide as saucers, doing her best to stifle the laughter, and realizing what he'd just said.

"I probably shouldn't have told you any of that," Ben murmured, saying, "It would really go a long ways in keeping me alive if you never mention to Jimmy that I told you."

"Lips sealed," Maggie promised, "But I've no clue how I'm going to look at him without giggling like a school girl for a while. So, tied up, huh? I never took Jimmy for that kind of thing."

"I may have done it against his will," Ben confessed.

"Always have to watch out for the bookish ones, I knew I should've warned him about that," Maggie joked, then questioned, "You nervous about telling your dad? You two have never told anyone, have you?"

"I guess not," Ben noted, wrinkled his nose, "It sort of feels surreal and unnecessary, you know? Like, I half-expect him to just stare at us like we're idiots and say he already knows. But for that reason, that we've never told anyone, I guess, I'm kind of excited. I don't know, I get to say, dad, meet my boyfriend. It makes it feel kind of more real in a way. Normal, you know?"

"I get that."

"Jimmy's nervous. He's acting like we're walking into a pit of vipers. I'm not, though, I'm actually really excited about it," Ben confessed.

"You think you're dad's going to handle it alright?"

"If he doesn't, I don't care," Ben said, nonchalant.

"Rebel for love, huh?" Maggie folded her arms over her chest, leaned against the truck.

"It really gets to Jimmy that I'm not worried at all about my dad. I think it's making him more nervous. I don't get what there is to be so worried about, though? How much for the worse could it possibly change things?"

"Your dad could try to stop you from being together," Maggie pointed out.

"He can try, yeah," Ben conceded, "He won't succeed. So why worry?"

"You ever think that maybe that thought process of yours that you've got going on there is why Jimmy is so freaked out about all of this?"

"Jimmy's freaked out because I don't care one way or the other what my dad says, I'm staying with Jimmy? How does that make sense?" Ben demanded, setting aside the ammunition he was sorting out.

"You know, Jimmy reminds me a lot of myself when I was his age. My family called me the 'wild child', because I didn't conform to their ideas of how a proper young lady should behave. At school they had less polite ways of phrasing it," Maggie said, "When I was fifteen, sixteen, I started dating this boy, he was smart and came from a good family, went to church every Sunday, brought home good grades, was looking at a scholarship to some private university."

"I'm guessing this guy is 'me' in this analogy?" Ben mused.

"Well, you are smart," Maggie replied cheekily, lowered her eyes and continued in a more somber tone, "We'd been dating a couple months and he kept talking about how much he cared about me, how I made him feel. He was dead-set on bringing me home to meet his parents, and I avoided it for a while, because I told him they wouldn't like me, I wasn't the type anyone would want their child bringing home, but he insisted, said he didn't care what they thought. So I finally agreed, against better judgment, and went home with him. As predicted, it was horrible. His mother made me feel like the lowest piece of scum, and his father wouldn't even talk to me, and he made this big scene about how he loved me, and they couldn't tell him how to live his entire life."

"Sounds awful."

"I'm not an idiot," Maggie said evenly, "I'm a lot of things, I always like to think an idiot is not one of them. But, oh boy, was I stupid back then. I really wanted to believe everything he said about caring for me, loving me, but he broke up with me two weeks later. Turned out the only reason he was even dating me was to piss off his parents because they wouldn't get him a car for his birthday."

"So, you think Jimmy is my way of acting out and that…well, what exactly is my car?" Ben wondered.

"That's not what I said," Maggie corrected, "The point I'm trying to make is that I think Jimmy might be worried you aren't stressed your dad will be upset about the relationship because, maybe, that's exactly what you want, is for your dad to be upset about it."

"I'm not worried about it for exactly the reason I've said, exactly what I've told him," Ben raged, "It doesn't matter. We're telling my dad about us, we're not asking for his blessing, or anything, just letting him know."

"We're not strong people, Jimmy and me, not as strong as we try to make the world believe. If you are knowingly walking Jimmy into a den of wolves, Ben," Maggie began.

"That's not what this is," Ben protested.

"Then what is it? I mean, what is any of this to you?" Maggie gently asked, "What do you see happening when you've told your dad? After that? Farther down the line? If things fall apart, where does that put you? Where does that put Jimmy? What have you got to gain from this? And what could he lose for it?"

"I always thought you were on our side," Ben mumbled. It felt hard to breath and his head hurt.

"I'm on his side, Ben, someone has to be," Maggie whispered, kneeling to eye level with Ben, "I don't want to see that boy get hurt. Losing you will hurt him. But feeling like he never actually had you to begin with, that will kill him. I just want to be sure you've thought everything through. That you're not dragging him into a fight where he'll be the only real casualty."

"I don't really know," Ben answered, shrugged, "All I know is that it'll feel nice to tell my dad that this is my boyfriend and I love him. I don't know much after that. I'm sorry that you were hurt by that guy, Maggie, but I'm not him. If I wanted to rebel against my father, this isn't how I'd do it. I know Jimmy has a lot at stake, but so do I. I'm the one that's put my heart out there more times than I can count, and to be honest, lately it feels like it's still hanging out there, on the line. I'm scared if I do this I'll lose him, I'm scared if I don't I'll lose him. I guess the whole point, the thing that I really want is, that once it's said out loud, once it's out there in the open, then it'll be something solid and real and, maybe then, he'll finally know exactly where he stands with me."

"Alright, then. So you are nervous," Maggie determined, straightening and hopping off the truck, she turned back and smiled at Ben, "Things are going to turn out fine."

"I hope so," Ben whispered, closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath, "I really hope so."

.

.

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AN: Right, so the boys are prepping for their big confession to Tom, Jimmy got a check-up (sort of), and Maggie is watching out for her boy...what else is new. Right, next chapter should be the...yes, it is, the big confession chapter. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint, because it disappointed me. Sorry, I'm a feeling under the weather.

Please let me know what you think, thanks.

Reviewers: This'll be short because I feel like crap. SassySavanna190, yeah, Ben would be a cute nurse all dressed in scrubs. They're easy to get out of, you know. Yes, Dr. Glass is awesome. NOxONE, wow, you might be the only one who isn't gnawing at the bit for Tom to find out about the boys. Football is on? I don't know, what season is this? Oh wait, frick, Halloween is coming. I need a costume. LuckyDreamer91, yay, I love when people are interested in the story. It sucks when they aren't. Next chapter, we get to see TOm's reaction. No spoilers, but Jimmy is certainly calling it an illness. Yes, Anne wants to be a part of Ben's life, and the other boys, because she wants to be a part of Tom 's life, good catch. Agreed about Roman, he can't die, he's creating a lot of the current conflict and without him there'd be no story. Dee, I knew you'd love the fluffy stuff. Soak it up while you can, because it ain't going to last much longer. Matt probably has been getting the birds and the bees from kids around camp, maybe not necessarily someone older than him, but definitely someone whose painting a clearer picture for him of what Ben and Jimmy might be doing behind closed doors. Isn't that the way most kids learn about the birds and the bees? Maybe that was just me...I do think he understands by now the problem with Ben/Jimmy, because unfortunately, he's probably heard about that from kids around camp too, but I think he knows from the first hand interaction with the two, that they are in love and why would anyone fuck with that. I can kind of see him getting with fights around camp with people trying to trash talk Ben and Jimmy being together, and him getting all defensive "You don't know them. Jimmy makes my brother happy, asshole!" I agree that Anne, like all the characters, wasn't explored as best she could've been on the show. And you're mental images for Tom are cute. Yeah, Jimmy can deal with crude sex talk but not love talk (and note that when he talks about it, he distances the action from emotion as much as possible. It's just this thing they do cause it physically feels good). I have to wrap this up because my nose is running and I need medicine. Um...yes, book is back. Yay, Jimmy save. Ah...airport, no spoilers. Glow-y skin, what! And powerful Jimmy. Snarky174, I don't know what the DNA song is, but Soldier by Ingrid Michaelson, Where Does the Good Go by Teagan and Sarah, and Eyes on Fire by...I don't remember, oh well, are the big songs that conjure up Ben/Jimmy love-ness, oh, and Bon Iver's "Skinny Love". Yes, I'm a girly wanna-be hippie. Glad you like the story.

I have to go get medicine, thanks for stopping in people. Hopefully if I get caught up on my homework, I can finish writing the last few chapters of this part of the story and post chapter 1 of Raising Skies. If you haven't gone to read Raising Skies yet, please do. I made the cover image all by my lonesome, it took me all of an hour...I think. Yeah, it's hideous, make fun of it. Thanks. See you all next Sunday.