A/N: Hey guys, I'm goin crazy. WINTER BREAK IS HERE! THAT MEANS I GET TWO WHOLE ENTIRE WEEKS AWAY FROM THE TERRIBLE HELL I CALL SCHOOL. AND THAT ALSO MEANS UPDATES. DRAMATIC. ANGSTY. AWESOME. UPDATES. YAAAAAAYYYY! I THINK I HAD TOO MUCH COFFEE...
They all sat around for a while after Archer brought Roach back to the infirmary. They all knew Roach wasn't going to get any sleep without some... stimulation. When he ate his dinner, it had sedatives in it. He didn't eat much, but they were just glad he ate something and was getting some rest. It was almost 9:00 at night now.
"Damn." Toad said, shaking his head.
"I know. Roach wouldn't tell us even if we killed him."
"We''ll just have to find a way to get through to him."
"You make it sound so easy." Logan said.
"It is easy. If you're not dealing with a stubborn arse like Roach." Keegan laughed.
"That didn't help. At all."
"Hey, how did Riley know he was lying?" Price asked Hesh and Logan.
"He was sitting in his lap, so he probably felt his pulse speed up which showed he was nervous, which meant he was most likely lying."
"Huh. Well that was awesome, we're doing it again."
"Um, Roach probably isn't gonna let Riley sit with him again."
"Too bad for him. Because he's gonna sit with the damn dog whether he likes it or not."
The next day, Roach woke up fairly early. After Archer cleaned his wounds, made sure he ate something for breakfast, and he took his pain meds, they went to the rec room. Roach still hated being carried and he whined about it to no end, but Archer ignored him. Archer was curious as to why he hated being carried so much, so he started walking really slowly just to buy time and see how Roach would react.
"What's up with you?" Archer asked.
"What do you mean?" He replied tensely.
"Why does it bother you so much when someone carries you?"
"I don't know, it just does."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, really. And if you don't start walking faster I'm gonna kick your ass." Roach said as he squirmed uncomfortably in his arms.
"If you don't stop moving I'm gonna drop you." He teased.
"I swear to god, if you drop me-"
"I'm not going to drop you. But I'm not gonna put you down until you tell me why you hate being carried."
"Archer. Put me down."
"Nope. We can walk around like this all day unless you tell me."
"Put. Me. Down." Roach said, writhing in his arms. He felt Archer's hold on him tighten and he panicked, struggling harder.
"Stop moving!" Archer said, taking pity on him and heading for the rec room.
"I will if you put me down!"
"If you wait a secon-" Archer went to say, but was cut off when he tripped on the raised doorway of the rec room.
Roach was still panicking about not being able to get down, but suddenly he felt weightless. That didn't last long though. He hit the floor hard and it knocked the breath out of him. Pain exploded in his head as it came into contact with something solid. Then everything went black.
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As usual, mostly everyone was hanging out in the rec room. Keegan and Merrick were in another part of the base, practicing their aim. But everyone else was in the rec room, most of them playing video games or reading. They heard talking coming from down the hall and knew it was Archer and Roach. They sounded like they were arguing about something.
"Stop moving!"
"I will if you put me down!"
They were right outside the door now.
"If you wait a secon-"
They heard a surprised gasp and looked up just in time to see Archer trip over something and drop Roach. Roach hit his head pretty hard on the floor, then immediately went limp. Everyone got up and rushed over to Roach, who seemed to be unconscious. Archer was the fastest and got to him first.
"Roach! Wake up!" He yelled, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him.
By now, the rest of them were all crowded around, trying to see if Roach was okay. He didn't respond to anything, though. He kind of just... laid there. Archer gave up on trying to wake him up and was now checking for concussion. He forced Roach's eyes open and shined a bright light into them, looking at his pupils. One was alot larger than the other.
"Shit, someone help me get him back to the infirmary."
"Don't tell me he has a concussion." Hesh said.
"He does, we gotta go."
"Damn it." Ghost said as he carefully picked him up.
They all went to the infirmary and watched as Archer starting working on Roach. The first thing he did was put an IV in his left hand, probably something to help with the pain. Then he went over to a table and grabbed a syringe. At first, they thought he was going to give him some kind of medicine, but then he stuck the needle in Roach's arm and started drawing blood.
"Why do you need blood samples?" Toad asked.
"I have to do tests to see how bad the concussion is. I would do an MRI or a CAT scan, but we don't have the supplies for that and I'm not taking him to a hospital."
"Why not?"
"Because he would sneak off as soon as he woke up, he's done it before." Archer replied as he took the needle out of Roach's arm and set it down on the table.
"Oh, yeah. I remember when he did that. You were so pissed."
Archer didn't reply, as he was checking on his other injuries. His face was mostly fine, although a nasty black eye was starting to form. He wasn't going to be happy about that. The cut on his face was starting to scar, but that was okay. His breathing was shallow, but that was pretty normal if you had five broken ribs. He pulled his shirt up and removed the bandages around his abdomen to get a look at his ribs. They looked worse than before. There were nasty black and purple bruises that trailed all the way up his sides.
"He doesn't look so good..." Logan said quietly.
He tried not to stare at the dozens of scars that marred his body, but it was surprisingly difficult. He couldn't believe that Roach was only 19 and had so many scars. He wanted to ask about it, but figured it was a personal question and didn't want to offend anyone.
"Well he was getting better, but now it's gonna take longer for him to recover." Archer sighed as he tightly wrapped the bandages around his ribs again.
He grabbed Roach's shoulder and rolled him over just enough to see his back. Blood was on the sheets from where his opened cuts had bled through his shirt and onto the mattress. Several cuts had opened from when he fell and they were bleeding. Archer left him where he was and got some peroxide and cotton balls. He set those down and cut his shirt off so it would be easier to get to the cuts. Roach didn't respond when he started cleaning the open wounds with the peroxide, he was still out cold. It didn't take Archer long to finish up.
Keegan and Merrick rushed into the room, looking relieved at first, but then they saw Roach.
"What happened?"
"Archer dropped him and now he has a concussion. Yes- you can blame Archer." Price said with a smirk.
"Hey! It was Roach's fault! He wouldn't sit still and then I tripped."
"Did you really expect him to sit still while you were carrying him all over the fucking base? You know he doesn't like being carried." Ghost said pointedly.
"Why does that even bother him anyways?" Kick asked.
"I'm not sure." Keegan chimed in.
"Would you guys shut up! If he wakes up and freaks out, I'm sending you all out and you won't be allowed to see him for a week!" Archer said, glaring at the whole lot of them.
"Sorry." Everyone mumbled.
Archer sighed and grabbed the syringe filled with Roach's blood and went to one of the nurses standing in the corner. He gave it to her and said something they couldn't hear. She left with the blood and Archer came back and continued to look Roach over.
"Where's she going?"
"To the lab to test Roach's blood. I was going to do it, but I don't wanna leave him alone with you guys."
They all looked offended.
"We can deal with him just fine, thankyou very much."
"That's not what I meant. Concussions are the kind of thing where you have to watch the person constantly to make sure they don't die or pass out or do anything else that is bad. They have to be taken care of constantly and I'll probably have to experiment with a few things, so unless any of you feel like doing that, I suggest you be quiet and leave me be."
"Damn, that was harsh." Keegan said, shaking his head.
"I'm not a nice person." He shrugged, looking at the stitches in Roach's leg.
"How bad is it?" Price asked.
"Oh, his leg is fine. But his ribs got worse and he opened a few cuts on his back. I'm just glad he didn't try to catch himself when he fell, not that he really had enough time to."
"Does he have a fever?" Merrick asked.
Roach's face was flushed and he was sweating profusely.
"Hang on a sec." He said as he finished looking at his leg.
He laid a hand on his forehead and swore.
"Holy shit."
He went to the table and dug through the supplies until he found a thermometer. He walked back over to Roach and tried to put it in his mouth. Roach's jaw immediately locked when he felt something near his face. He turned away from the thermometer.
"It's a fuckin' thermometer, open your mouth." Archer said, lightly slapping his face.
Roach growled and moved away from his hand. Archer grabbed his face and tried to force his mouth open. Then Roach's eyes opened.
Roach's POV... mostly
Something was by his face and he moved away from it.
Can't you just leave me alone for once?!
He could hear someone talking to him and then someone touched his face. He growled. He didn't like people messing with his face. Someone grabbed his face.
Holy fucking shit!
His eyes snapped open, only to be met with blindingly bright light, which did not help his headache. He immediately shut his eyes and tried in vain to make the incessant pounding in his head go away. He felt like he was burning and freezing to death at the same time and he felt like he was gonna throw up. He didn't even notice he was shivering.
"Roach? Are you awake?"
Each word he spoke made the pounding ten times worse. It felt like his head was being split in half. He curled up on his side and held his head, trying to make it stop. Tears pooled in his eyes. Pain flared up in his ribs and the pounding got worse when he heard people talking. Tears ran down his cheeks in a constant stream and the pain in his ribs increased as his breathing got faster. He felt hands pawing at him, trying to get him to lay on his back so he wouldn't hurt his ribs worse, but he didn't care.
"What's wrong?"
The pounding got worse and worse until he couldn't bear it anymore. He cried harder and it got difficult to breathe. The pounding got worse as he heard more talking, but this time it was closer. He felt someone rub something on his arm, but was too far gone to care. Then there was a pinprick in his arm and a few moments later, the darkness came. But this time he welcomed it.
A/N: Ugh... I'm dying from the sugar crash of death... BUT... there is a way to save me... *whispers* review...!
P.S.- "Review" was my last word, so you better review. If you don't I'll haunt you...
