Chapter Five:
He gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain that had begun to appear in his lower limbs, since Merlin's spell. It was bittersweet. He was grateful to be able to have sensation return, but the pain was utter hell. The doctors put him through a set of evaluations to set up his physical therapy regimen. He laughed to himself, when he heard one of the therapists refer to a piece of equipment as a medieval torture device. 'If they only knew...' he thought cynically.
Afterwards, they tried to encourage him to take some painkillers, but after seven years of only taking herbal concoctions, he stubbornly held out against the modern equivalents.
The last nurse left, after unsuccessfully trying, once again, to get him to agree to some pain management. Gwaine closed his eyes and laid back on his bed. His room was a private one, for which he was thankful. A long window faced the west, and the room was high enough that he could see the Rockies in the distance.
On the lower horizon, the muted colors and reflective glass surfaces of the city bled into the greens and browns of the forested foothills. foothills. Moving upwards, they blended into darker shadows of blue as they transitioned to the actual mountains climbing towards the sky. At around the twelve-thousand foot level, the trees began to thin out. Five-hundred feet higher, and they were gone altogether.
From his room, he could see where the blues of the forest ceased abruptly and gave way to a mixture of gray stone and white frost, in an area known as timberline. Close to another two-thousand feet beyond that, was the nearly year-round snow-capped summit of one of Colorado's "14ers"[1]. Pikes Peak stood strong and tall.
Gwaine had hiked it, quite often, years ago. He could almost remember the taste of the crisp, thin air, as it burned and stole the oxygen from his lungs. White puffs of steam would escape his mouth with each breath. On a clear day, a man could see all the way to Kansas and Oklahoma from that height.
He had a brief thought. He wondered if Percival had ever experienced the joys of altitude sickness. 'Probably not,' Gwaine thought, as the highest point in the British Isles barely topped four-thousand feet. He was sure he was going to have some fun torturing his friend. He planned to take the large man on a ride up the Cog Railway, since it would be unlikely that Gwaine could hike up Pikes Peak on foot anytime in the foreseeable future.
He didn't realize he had fallen asleep, until he heard the door of his room open.
"Sheesh! You haven't gotten your lazy ass out of that bed yet, Dallon?" Cameron's voice dripped with sarcasm.
He thought about telling his buddy where he could shove the hospital bed, while he yawned...but he refrained, "How're you today, Cameron?"
"Oh, you know, still waiting for you to say 'yes', and agree to be on my team when you get upright again."
"No luck with the others, I gather?" As much as he enjoyed bantering with his longtime friend, Gwaine hoped the visit would be short.
"Nope. Still waiting to hear back from Carter. I was supposed to start going through personnel files today, but then I got the weirdest call, and had to go pick up a couple of people from the airport."
Gwaine gave the other man a tired look. "I'm really not feeling up to hearing your life story today."
"Well, actually, the people I picked up, are part of your life." Cameron went to open the door. Waiting anxiously behind it were two people, who, just weeks ago, Gwaine had resigned himself to never seeing again.
A woman, a few years older than Gwaine, with the same chestnut hair and dark brown eyes, pushed her way in.
"Laney?" Gwaine gasped, realizing it was his sister.
"Where the hell have you been?" She said with a raised voice. She came up to him and punched his shoulder.
Gwaine winced and his sister immediately looked ashamed. "Oh my god, I'm sorry. They told us you were found injured, I didn't mean to..."
Chuckling through his discomfort, he put his hands on hers to stop her rambling. "It's alright. I'm going to be fine." He found himself suddenly smothered by a hug.
"Elaine, quit babying him." A gruff old voice said sternly.
Gwaine looked up to see his grandfather, waiting patiently at the foot of the bed. His eyes shifted back and forth between his sister and Pops. "You two...in the same room together?"
"Yeah. Well, someone had to come take care of him after his first heart attack, when we got word you were MIA."
"Heart attack?" Gwaine felt a heavy guilt settle on him. He tried to push himself more upright in the bed.
"I'm fine, now." Pops said, brushing off his grandson's concern.
Gwaine took a moment to look at the man he grew up with. Boyd Dallon was over eighty years old by now. Gwaine had never known his grandfather's exact age. His hair was fully white, and much thinner than Gwaine remembered. The old man who used to stand straight and strong, was now hunched over and carried a sadness to him that the knight had never expected to see. He was dressed in much the same as Gwaine remembered: a button-down plaid shirt with rolled up sleeves, faded jeans, and a worn-out out Stetson clutched in his hands. Glancing down at Pops' feet, Gwaine was surprised to see the orthopedic shoes in place of old, beat-up Justin boots.
"I'm sorry, Pops...I didn't mean to..." Gwaine felt his eyes beginning to sting. The lack of a full night's sleep, increased amount of physical pain, and the mental anguish of the past couple of weeks began to hit him. Seeing his grandfather appearing so much older than he remembered, and feeling it was his own fault for being gone so many years, was extremely difficult. He inhaled sharply and turned towards the window, away from the three people in his room.
He turned back when he felt a trembling hand squeezing his shoulder. His grandfather's rheumy eyes blinked at him from the bedside, and Gwaine lost his thin hold over his emotions. The two men embraced. All of Gwaine's pain coming out in a pool of tears, on the shoulder of the man who meant more than anything to him.
Gwaine didn't see Cameron quietly tap Laney on the shoulder and motion towards the door. She looked over at the two men and understood. She was never as close to their grandfather as Gwaine had been. Laney allowed Cameron guide her out into the hallway, leaving them alone.
"What happened to him?" She asked the colonel after the door closed.
Cameron looked down for a moment before meeting her eyes. "It's classified."
"Bull shit! He's my brother, I have a right to know."
"No, Laney, you don't." He stated firmly. "I can tell you, the mission he was on went south due to a technical malfunction. He was MIA...and a held hostage, for a time. He's back now, and everything will be fine."
Her arms crossed defensively in front of her, and she gave him a measured glare. "Until you, or someone else, drags him back into it all. What the hell am I supposed to do about Boyd? I can't keep taking care of him!"
"Is that what this is about? Who's going to take care of your grandfather?"
The brunette woman suddenly looked ashamed. "No...I just know it'll kill the old man if anything else happens to Gwaine, and I don't want to bury him alone."
Cameron nodded and let the subject be. He began walking down the hall. "How many rug rats you got now?"
"Three boys."Laney replied, thankful for the brief change in topic, so she could rein in her emotions. "The oldest is almost a teenager, and all but my youngest absolutely hate living in Wyoming, but the old man refuses to leave the ranch."
"What about that guy you married?" He asked.
She chuckled sourly. "He claims Boyd drove him off, but the asshole was just looking for an excuse not to be a father anymore."
"Ouch." The Air Force Colonel was feeling sorry that he had asked.
(*~*~*~*)
"Don't they have a good razor in this place?" Boyd asked, finally pulling back from his grandson.
Gwaine flipped his hair out of his eyes and chuckled, while wiping his face. "I kind of like the longer hair."
"Yeah, you always were a rebel." The old man looked around the room and spied a chair nearby.
Gwaine noticed, and at first he automatically tried to move to assist, but a jolt of pain had him pinned to the bed with a hiss. "Let me call a nurse and have 'em move a chair closer to the bed for you." Gwaine offered, as the pain slowly subsided back to a numbing ache. He was seriously rethinking the wisdom of his choice with Merlin the night before. Making a mental note to himself, he decided to speak with his friend about it later.
"No, no...I got it. No need to bother anyone else for something as simple as moving a chair. Hell, I ain't even able to move around my own house anymore without that sister of yours nagging at me." Boyd finally managed to slide the chair across the floor. He sat down in it, clearly out of breath. Gwaine watched him in silence. "Well, aren't we just a couple of coffee boilers, sitting here and doin' nothing."
The younger man chuckled.
"I don't suppose...you could tell me what happened to ya?"
Gwaine shook his head. "I Wish I could, Pops."
"Well, you just cowboy up, and you'll be back to the grind in no time. Did I ever tell you about that time I was shot behind enemy lines?"
"Yes, you did." Gwaine smiled, "but you know I wouldn't mind hearing the story again."
(*~*~*~*)
By the time Laney arrived back to the room, she found her grandfather sound asleep in a reclining chair next to the window. Cameron popped his head in and waved goodbye to Gwaine, then went on his way. Laney sat gently on the edge of the bed, near her brother's legs. "You should probably take a page out of Boyd's book there."
"Why can't you just call him 'Pops', or grandpa...or something, Laney. You're always doing whatever you can to get under his skin."
Elaine looked at her brother. "Because I've always called him 'Boyd'. There's nothing wrong with it. I was practically a teenager already when we first met him. Our whole lives uprooted after mom died, taken to a foreign country..."
"It's not his fault!"
"I didn't say it was. Sheesh! You two are always so defensive of each other!" She shifted and put her hand on her brother's leg. Laney immediately removed it when she saw him grimace and ball his fists in the bed sheets. "Have you taken anything for the pain?"
Gwaine shook his head and tried to relax. He could never remember a time when he'd been in so much pain. He wondered if this was close to what Elyan suffered from the nathair, or if this was more a combination of everything that happened.
"You should. Why do you always have to be so stubborn?"
"Laney, you have no idea what I have been through."
"No, I don't. According to your buddy, Cam, it's doubtful I ever will." They lapsed into silence for a bit. "Can you tell me anything?"
"No...even if I could, there's some things I'm not sure I'd want to talk about."
Elaine sighed heavily. "How long do they think it'll take...for you to get up and moving?"
"They don't even know what's wrong with me."
Laney bit her tongue and studied him for a moment. "But you do...and you're not telling them." She guessed, from the look on his face. She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes.
"The meds they try to give me cloud my mind." He said, sidestepping the conversation. There was no way he'd be able to explain to his sister about magic, or the creatures straight out of some horror movie, without her thinking he was completely insane.
"But you're safe here Gwaine, can't you see that?" He didn't respond. "Fine, be a stubborn jackass, if you want. I'm going to go get something to eat. We were on a plane before daybreak, and the 'snack bags' just don't cut it anymore. You want anything?"
He shook his head. Before she could reach the door, it opened, and a large man, with a bright smile came in. She noticed her brother's eyes light up when he spotted the big man.
"Percival!"
"Hello, Gwaine."
Laney thought it odd the way they clasped forearms as a greeting, instead of a handshake. Right now, however, there were quite a few oddities surrounding her brother; a thick British accent, which she had noticed but didn't mention, being another. Two other people came in behind the blond man. The first was a lady with dark skin tone, and had a confident, yet friendly manner, about her. The next was a man, probably near her brother's age, with black hair and blue eyes that appeared far too old for his face.
"Merlin!" Her brother called out with a tired smile.
Laney stopped and crossed her arms. "Percival, Merlin, and Gwaine...bad accent, old fashioned handshakes...what the hell? Were you kidnapped by the SCA* for some Round Table Re-enactment Troupe? ...Forced to joust at the local Renaissance Festival, or be drawn and quartered?"
Gwaine blinked and licked his lips nervously, which wasn't the reaction she had expected.
Merlin came to the rescue. He gave a cheeky grin that stretched from ear to ear. "Actually, that is a bloody good cover story. We should offer that to your CO."
Gwaine rolled his eyes at Merlin in a way that seemed almost too natural.
Percival handed his friend an empty plastic cup that was sitting next to the bed. "You can throw it at him, if you want. It actually does help."
It took Gwaine a moment to comprehend what the large man was referring to. When it dawned on him, he chuckled, took the proffered item and chucked it at Merlin.
Successfully ducking the projectile, Merlin turned to Laney as if such an occurrence was normal. He held out his hand and flashed her a brilliant smile. "Colonel Merl Emrys, and you are?"
"Elaine Dallon."
"Dallon?" Gwaine asked from the bed. "What happened to being Mrs. Phillips?"
Laney rolled her eyes. "Well, when he decided to run off with a nineteen year old bleached blond, I decided to divorce him."
"Oh..." Gwaine wasn't certain how to respond to that. "How's...Toby taking it?"
"Well, there isn't just Toby anymore. There're Toby, Greg, and Randy now, and they are handling it...well, they're just handling it." She put out her hands to indicate it wasn't a subject she wanted to address at the moment.
Gwaine nodded in understanding. "Are they here?"
"No, we left them with friends from school. I didn't know how bad you were, or how long we were going to be." She explained.
"Mmm...that's too bad. I can't wait to meet them."
His sister actually smiled pleasantly. "They can't wait to meet their uncle, too. Now, I really need something to eat. Are you sure you don't want anything?"
He grinned slyly and shrugged, "Bud? Coors?"
"Fat Tire?" Laney smirked, and he nodded enthusiastically. His smile widened at the thought of getting to drink one of his favorite beers. "Why not, it's not like alcohol is going to interfere with any medications." She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Laney, I want to apologize for telling everyone over the years, you were an 'old toad.'" Gwaine offered his sister a sincere smile.
She picked up the discarded plastic cup that laid on the floor, and threw it at him. The others started to laugh loudly, but were interrupted by an earsplitting snore from the recliner. Laney shook her head and looked at her grandfather. "Ha! World War Three could be going on, and that man would still sleep through it." She pulled open the door and walked out.
Martha's eyebrow rose in curiosity, and she moved over to the foot of the bed. She pulled out the clipboard with Gwaine's chart and began to review it. The doctor in her noted different aspects of what was written. She began asking Gwaine questions about his levels of pain and movement. Her face gave away nothing, as she processed the information.
"Well?" Gwaine asked, curious about his condition.
"I need to go look up a few things, and do some research, but I think it's a good start." She smiled encouragingly. "I'm going to get some tea. Care to join me?" Martha asked her fiancé.
Merlin nodded and headed towards the door.
"Subtle!" Gwaine called out behind them. He shook his head and turned back to Percival, who chuckled.
(*~*~*~*)
She saw the colonel and the woman in the hallway. They were sitting in the seats just outside of her brother's room, and appeared to be in a deep discussion. The woman's back was towards her, and the man was facing forward on the other side of her.
Laney ducked into a nearby doorway to listen. Their accents were thick, and she wondered why her brother, who had supposedly been held as a prisoner of war, would be receiving visits from people like them. The 'Colonel' especially was an enigma. He appeared far too young for the rank he held...except for his eyes. Even when he joked about the cover story, Laney could see there was so much hidden in their blue depths.
"...I don't understand, Martha. What I did, should have worked better than it appears to have. He shouldn't be in so much pain." The colonel told his companion, which made Laney wonder if he was a doctor of some sort.
Martha shrugged, "I agree. According to his charts, and scans they did at the SGC, the physical injuries wouldn't account for this level of pain and weakness in his limbs. It's probably more psychosomatic than anything else, due to the torture and the shock of being home."
"...and the betrayal." Merlin wiped a hand over his face. "I can't imagine the hell he's going through over that. I'd never seen him so happy. Then, to have her betray him...betray all of us, like that...he was in love with her.
"I'd only heard about it...what she did, after the fact. I was so wrapped up in my own grief at the time...on top searching for him and Percival. I remember, Leon and I spent years looking for some sign of them, only to come up empty handed. That woman was the reason he was captured."
"You want my suggestion?"
Merlin nodded, "Always."
"We need to take him back to England." Laney could see the shock visible on the man's face. Martha continued, "I can work out a transfer based on his psychological symptoms, so you can take him back to where you all were just before it happened. I understand how different things are there now, but it's the only way I can think of for him to try and get some closure...and hopefully, move forward with the healing process."
"Good luck in getting my brother to go anywhere with you, out of that hole he's dug himself into...especially if he thinks that you're trying to act like a shrink." Laney said, finally making her presence known.
Martha turned around in surprise. Merlin barely batted an eyelash.
"Look, I know my brother, or at least I used to," she explained. "Unless there's some other reason for him to go there, he's probably not going to budge."
Merlin snickered, "You're right, he is rather obstinate.." His face suddenly lit up. "I've got it! I still haven't chosen my best man for our wedding!"
Martha gaped at him. "I thought you were going to talk to Mickey about that?"
He gulped and looked sheepish. "I haven't gotten around to it yet. Mickey will understand!"
Her jaw hit the floor. "The wedding is less than two weeks away!" Martha groaned into her hands.
"I love you." He said giving her a lopsided grin, his eyes wide with feigned innocence.
(*~*~*~*)
When the three of them re-entered the hospital room, they were surprised to see Gwaine's grandfather awake. He sat in a chair at one end of the pivoting bed table, which was positioned alongside the bed, instead of over the bed like it was supposed to be. Percival sat facing him at the other end. A deck of cards was set between them.
"Elaine, can you believe this big buster here has never played cards?" The old man asked, picking up the deck and shuffling it, with an ornery twinkle in his eye.
Gwaine was lying back, with his eyes closed, but they could tell he wasn't sleeping.
"Come on, Boyd. The colonel here needs to talk with Gwaine. Why don't we go get some dinner and see if we can find a room for the night." Laney walked over to her brother.
"Colonel, huh?" He scrutinized Merlin and seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. "Oh, we ain't hurting nothing, Elaine. They can talk with us here."
Gwaine sighed, and opened his eyes a crack. "Pops, don't argue."
Boyd looked over his grandson and huffed. He stood up shakily and patted Gwaine's forearm. "You'll be back in the saddle in no time, buck-a-roo. Just remember, you're a Dallon, we always make it."
Brown eyes misted over, as Gwaine smiled at his grandfather. He never realized, while in Camelot, just how much he missed the old man. "Thanks, Pops. I'll see you tomorrow."
The large knight, also bid his friend farewell and left the room with Boyd, asking more about the card game they had been playing.
"Percival and I can drive the both of you to a hotel, and to get a rental car if you like. Then we can come back here to get Merlin." Martha offered.
"That'd be great, thanks." Laney turned back to her little brother. "You know, Boyd would have argued with me six-ways-til-Sunday about leaving. He listens to you though...he always has. Maybe tomorrow, I'll bring you that beer." She leaned down to give him a hug and a kiss on the forehead.
"I'm going to hold you to that."
The two men fell silent for a while, after the others left. Merlin leaned back against the cream-hued wall, fascinated by the spectacle of colors outside the window, as the sun began to set behind the mountains. "Can I do anything? ...Get you anything?"
Gwaine shifted in the bed, his level of discomfort obvious. "Can I change my mind about the method of healing? Just have you fix it all at once?"
Merlin's eyes dropped, and he stared at the laminate floor. He didn't know how, or if he should, tell Gwaine that there was nothing more he could do magically. Even though the spell he had performed the day before was supposed to provide gradual healing, the injuries weren't as severe as he had initially thought. Part of him wanted to shake Gwaine, convince him it was all in the man's head. Even though Merlin knew from experience how hard it could be, not only to get through to Gwaine, but also how something like that could do more harm than good.
He settled for one of the half-lies he'd always been proficient in...except when it came to Martha. "I can try, but not here." He shrugged, "Actually, I want to take you home with me."
Gwaine eyed up his friend and then turned to watch the sunset. "I doubt they'll let me out of here, anytime soon." He didn't want to admit, that going back the UK, the place where he'd spent the last seven years of his life, albeit in another time, was the last place he wanted to be.
"Well, they're going to have to." Merlin pushed off the wall and moved next to the chair at Gwaine's bedside. "You see, I'm in a bit of a bind, that only you can help me with."
The knight laughed, "Now that I know you have magic; I doubt I could help much." Gwaine's face changed to an expression of curiosity. "Wait, If you had magic, why did you need me to go with you to the Valley of Fallen Kings?"
The warlock sat down and licked his lips. "I'd lost my magic at that time. Morgana sent a creature to Camelot, that drained it from me. I was going to the Crystal Cave there, in the valley, to try and get it back...but that has nothing to do with why I need you now. My magic, for what it's worth, does me no good, whatsoever, against an angry woman in fear of her wedding day being ruined by an idiot."
"Oh my...that is a pickle." He stared at Merlin with a small grin.
"You see...the wedding is less than two weeks away, and I haven't decided on a best man."
Gwaine nearly rolled off the bed with his laughter.
"Please, Gwaine! For old times' sake, help me!" Merlin pleaded.
Gwaine, at first, wanted to protest, but whether it was two weeks or two thousand years, he couldn't find the heart to deny his first friend from that strange land. "Alright. Alright. If Dr. Jones can swing my release, I'll do it." He may have grumbled about it, but Merlin could see the old spark returning to his friend's brown eyes.
Footnotes:
[1] 14ers: yes this is the proper spelling. ;) Colorado is partially known for the mountains that top fourteen thousand feet above sea level. Pikes Peak is probably the most well known of them. If you're having trouble visualizing the mountain, just google Pikes Peak and click images. It's really an amazing mountain to see. "Pikes Peak or Bust" was a slogan during the Colorado Gold Rush days. Wikipedia has some great info on it.
[2] SCA: The Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. Is a group of people that get together and recreate medieval events such as battles, feasts, and tournaments.
As always: thank you to Nance for beta-reading. We went back and forth a couple times on an issue in this chapter, but I think we finally got it smoothed out, and it turned out all the better for her help! And IcarusLSU for his idea bouncing as well!
Thanks for the reviews so far! I love reading what you all think of this story, so please keep 'em coming!