You might hate me for a minute...I make it up to you at the end 3
Static. Then a blip.
We've got her!
More static.
Shit. This head wound looks bad.
A pause. Static. Another click of the radio.
I'm getting a weak pulse. God, she's barely breathing. We gotta get her out of here NOW.
And then everything descended into organized chaos.
-000-
Elliot sat with his knees up, forearms resting on them with his fingers laced. His eyes stared straight at the green nylon fabric of the tent, but he wasn't focusing on anything in particular. His mind was playing this evening's events on loop.
Frantic resuscitation efforts. Long dark hair hanging off the EMS backboard as a sweet girl was lifted into the life flight chopper. But those images didn't haunt him the most. No. It was the silence following the chaos that sent shivers coursing down his spine.
Clem was fighting for her life in that chopper, but Colton? He was lost somewhere in the silence of the woods. So it was the silence that was eating him alive.
The zipping of the tent zipper interrupted his thoughts, and thankfully broke through the deafening silence. She stepped in, bag of ice in hand, and hair clipped back, away from her face. She turned away from him so she could zip the tent closed.
When she turned he could tell she was favoring her ankle. "You didn't have to stay, Liv. You could have seen Noah and come back in the morning. I know you don't want to do this." She had made it quite clear she wasn't interested in sleeping in a tent on the ground.
She rolled her eyes and sat next to him on the camping sponge. "Shut up and help me prop my ankle."
"Has anyone told you you're insanely stubborn?"
"Everyday of my life. Pretty sure Fin will have it inscribed on my headstone. Now help me." He chuckled at that before he grabbed his camping pack and dropped it onto his duffel bag. He handed her his pillow and she laid back while he helped get her ankle elevated.
Once he gently situated the ice on the spot that had the worst swelling, he impulsively laid next to her. His head nearly touched hers, but he laid on his back, body angled away from her. It felt cozy. Intimate I'm a close friend sort of way.
She laid next to him quietly, with the back of her hand resting on her forehead. She kept her eyes closed, and he knew she was also re-living the trauma of the day.
It was a good thing she stayed, really. He knew if she weren't here, he would be poking around in the darkness. She must have known that, because she was choosing to sleep on the ground, probably in an attempt to keep him from inadvertently killing himself.
Silence passed between them for a while as they both laid absorbed in their thoughts. He heard her yawn, and he tilted his head up to see her better. "We probably should get some sleep," he admitted. He knew full well they weren't sleeping tonight. "Do you need something to sleep in? Your pants are caked in mud."
She turned her face towards his. They were so close, their noses nearly touched. "Yeah if you have anything extra," she kept her brown eyes on his, "I didn't exactly plan this trip out."
He held her gaze and lifted a hand to her face. "No you didn't," he said softly. They laid like that for a moment, before the air became too intense and she pulled back, and tried getting herself into a sitting position.
He hurried himself up, helping her with her iced ankle. "You probably should elevate it again after we change. Just a little before we sleep."
He knew she was holding back a sarcastic remark, but he pulled his duffle open and pulled out a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt. "It gets pretty cold at night here." He handed her the clothes. "I'll be just outside," he said as he unzipped the tent.
"Okay," she said softly as he zipped the tent closed.
-000-
Figuring out their sleeping arrangement was a little tricky. They really only had whatever Elliot brought, which was a camping pad, a sleeping bag, a pillow, and an extra blanket. It was really only enough for one person, but they had to make it work.
She knew she could have left the campsite. She could be sleeping in a crappy motel room bed, next to her son. She could have, but in a real way she couldn't.
She knew him, and she knew he would wander around those woods, flashlight in hand, searching for that boy through the night. His frame buzzed with a familiar energy. An energy she recognized. He was imploding, and when he started to implode he became dangerously self-destructive. She wasn't leaving him alone to do something stupid.
So now, they laid next to each other. Her in his clothes, and on his camping pad. They decided to unzip the sleeping bag so they could throw it over both of them. He would have happily let her take the entire thing. She knew that. But he needed to get some amount of sleep tonight. He, of course, threw the extra blanket over her, insisting he was a warm sleeper and didn't need the extra coverage. She knew it was true because she had spent thirteen years sleeping on the upper bunk in the cribs. She can't remember a time where he used a blanket.
She rolled onto her side, and found her eyes drawn to the muscles of his back, visible through his well fitted tee shirt. He was so tense she could almost hear his mind screaming.
She bit her lip, trying to figure out her next move. Ultimately, she ended up reaching out for the back of his shoulder. She hesitated, knowing she was flirting heavily with a line they had not yet crossed.
She allowed her perfectly manicured fingernails to trace circular patterns across his shoulder and back. Her touch flit lightly across the fabric of his shirt. She didn't need words, her delicate touch visibly eased his tension away.
She knew he was awake. His breathing was a dead give away. His long slow breaths gave way to shorter ones as her fingers slid softly over his back. Finally, his flurry of thoughts spun out of his mouth. "I know I'm not responsible, but I can't help feeling like I am. And I can't stop thinking about it. We found Clem barely alive. Where the hell is Colton, and what if we don't find him," he stopped, but when he started again his voice shook. "What if we don't find him in time?"
She knew what he meant. Clem was in bad shape. Really bad. She wouldn't have made it through the night, and even now, they didn't know what damage her body sustained or if she would ever recover. If Colton was hurt just as badly… she didn't want to consider the outcome.
She continued stroking slow circles on his back while she spoke. "We've only seen evidence of Clem. We haven't seen a sign of Colton anywhere. Maybe he's not hurt, just lost."
He kept his back to her, and his gaze focused on the netting of the tent. "Your team gonna interview Lucas and his dad tomorrow?" He shifted his weight a little, but still kept his back to her.
She sighed, and allowed her fingers to brush against the skin at the base of his neck. "Yeah, if they cooperate. I don't have high hopes for that."
She watched a string of goosebumps trail behind her fingers as she continued brushing her fingers over his skin. "I don't either." He said, and she noticed the tone of his voice changed. It was deeper, bordering on a husky quality.
She knew she should stop her fingers from exploring his neck and back, but instead she kept the distraction of conversation."It's obvious, Colton wouldn't hurt Clem. There is no way, but what if Clem was the target and Colton tried to get in the way or help her. Like he did with that colored pencil incident.
He sighed, "This is a lot more serious than spilled colored pencils."
"I know, but if something was happening to Clem, and Colton knew about it, wouldn't he try to stop it from happening?" She knew Noah would, and she knew Colton wouldn't let anything happen to his friend.
He finally followed her train of thought, "So he follows whoever took Clem. They spot him, and what, they kill him too?" He thought for a minute." There isn't even a speck of blood that's his."
"Maybe that's a good thing." Her hand stopped moving, but she left it resting on one of his shoulder blades. "Maybe that means he got away. You've been out in those woods. When it's dark you wouldn't know up from down. If he managed to get away then he might still be out there somewhere." She felt a small glimmer of hope flickering in this all consuming darkness.
"I hope that's true." He didn't sound convinced, but at least his radiating tension had somewhat abated.
"Me too. We will get up when there is enough light and start looking again." She swallowed, unable to get the image of the lifeless girl out of her head. "We may still be able to find him."
He reached for her hand that still rested on his shoulder blade, tugging gently, making her scoot closer to his back. His fingers laced into hers, and he relaxed his arm making it so her arm snugged around his torso.
The position was warm and inviting, well, once she got her heart to chill the hell out.
Her lips were desperately close to the back of his neck when she whispered. "Go to sleep El. We'll find him in the morning."
-000-
She woke up sometime in the darkness of the night disoriented. The unfamiliar sound of crickets chirping filled the air, and we suddenly became aware of the muscled arm draped over her waist. She breathed slowly, trying to keep her heart from beating out of her chest. Somehow, in the course of the night she must have snuggled into whatever best source she could find. That heat source just happened to be the bulky body of a well muscled man.
At some point they'd become hopelessly tangled up. His head now shared her pillow, and her leg was wrapped completely around one of his. One of her hands laid on his chest while his arm laid over her waist. It must have been some sort of dream twister that got them here, but she wasn't entirely sure how to extricate herself from him without waking him up. As she laid there, she wondered if she wanted to untangle herself. She didn't. Her shoulder was becoming numb so she shifted her weight so it wasn't pinned so hard onto the ground. He must not have been sleeping deeply because her small movement caused his eyes to open sleepily.
His face was so close, and they were breathing the same air. Her heart pounded, because their faces may be close but every other part of their bodies was tangled with the other. She waited for him to make a move, and she realized he was doing the same. His blue eyes held hers, daring her to do something.
She returned the stare, two could play that game. Someone would have to break the stalemate. Turns out, he did.
She swore she imagined his hand moving. At least at first. His movement was slow. Tentative. But sure enough, his hand moved down her waist, over her hip, and slowly down the outside of her thigh until it settled on her knee.
Despite her best efforts, she couldn't hide the audible change in her breathing. She knew he heard her breathing quicken when she saw a smile teasing at the corners of his mouth. Damn him. She almost shook her head in disbelief, but instead she upped the ante.
Moving just as slowly, she slid her hands beneath the bottom of his shirt, her fingers pressing into his abs as she moved them up. She could feel his chest tighten as his breathing hitched. It was her turn for the self-satisfied smile, knowing she won the game. At least she thought she did, until his hand started to move again.
She felt herself throbbing as his hand moved up her thigh, making her gasp so loud it was almost embarrassing. But his hand continued its ascent until his hand was pressed right on her ass, his pinky rubbed at her pantyline suggestively.
Oh God. She knew this was getting out of hand, but the competitive part of her couldn't let him win. So her hand moved.
Her fingers dipped over his ab muscles, carefully feeling each one as her hand trailed down his abdomen. His breathing was outright ragged when she reached the waistband of his pants. She let her fingers dip just below his waistband, barely, just enough to make him crazy.
"God Liv," her name came out in a rush of air. And that did her in. She broke. Her mouth was instantly on his.
She wasn't soft, but neither was he. Her mouth moved against his and both her hands gripped his shirt, pulling him impossibly closer. His tongue was in her mouth before she could even think twice, and she more than welcomed it. His hands worked their way back to her ass, and she couldn't keep an audible hum from escaping her mouth, but it was muffled by his. Her arms wrapped around his neck and when her tongue slid against his he let out an audible moan.
An inexplicable giggle escaped her lips, and she could feel his mouth smiling against hers. "What?" He said with a breathy chuckle.
"God you're loud," she teased. She pecked his lips. "There are other people at this campsite."
"Hey, I wasn't the one with her hand down my pants," he whispered.
Maybe it was the tension of the godawful day, but she couldn't stop the laugh. He didn't hesitate to roll himself on top of her, silencing her giggles with a kiss. When he withdrew, his face was plastered with his crooked smile. "I'm loud!?" He whispered. "You're having a laughing fit at two in the morning!"
He rolled off of her onto his side and she dropped her head into his chest trying to stifle her giggles. "Oh my God this is so inappropriate," she said as she breathed to stop her laughter.
She could feel him shaking his head, his chin brushing against her hair. She finally got control of herself, and he dropped a kiss on her hair, keeping his arms wrapped tightly around her. "You good?" He chuckled.
"Yeah," she breathed. "This has been the most hellish day I've had in a long time. I just," she let out a long slow breath. "It's funny though, twenty five years and this happens now?" She looked up at him, "it's kinda ridiculous if you think about it."
He chuckled, "I guess you're right." His hand rubbed her back as they fell silent. The gravity of the situation once again descended. He placed a lingering kiss on her forehead. "Get to sleep. We have another long day tomorrow."
I have a busy weekend, but expect a new chapter Monday! Have a great weekend!