A/N: Back to Maverick and Rooster. Hopefully this chapter is than the last one. :) Let me know what you think! Also, sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes.

Maverick wasn't sure how much sleep he got, but it was still dark out when he woke up. He turned over onto his uninjured side to look at Rooster. He's breathing was still off, but at least he was resting. Maverick squeezed his eyes shut as another wave of pain washed over him. The rucksack didn't have any pain medication; even if it did, Maverick knew he wouldn't be able to take some, it would only make his concussion worse. He also found he couldn't really move his left leg anymore; it was too painful. He groaned inwardly. His hip really needed to be fixed, otherwise it may cause even more serious injuries. Gosh, he really didn't want to wake Rooster up, but it had to be done.

Maverick nudged Rooster carefully. Rooster's eyes fluttered open and he turned his head to look at Maverick.

"What's wrong, Mav?" he asked groggily, sitting up and wincing.

"I may have dislocated my hip when I crashed." Maverick admitted, "I didn't want to worry you; thought I could put it back myself. You were asleep, and I couldn't put it back, so I just fell asleep."

Rooster looked at Maverick with concern. "I don't know how to put a hip back in place." He spoke.

"That's okay." Maverick said, "I know how to put a dislocated bone back. It'll be painful though." He paused for a second, "Do you still have my glove?"

"Yeah, right here," Rooster pulled Maverick's glove from his pocket, "Mav, I really don't want to cause you discomfort."

"It'll be more painful if I don't get it back," Maverick said grimly, taking the glove. "Let's do this outside, there's more light."

Rooster nodded, and carefully crawled out of the makeshift tent. It took Maverick longer than he wanted to get out, but he had to stop every few inches when pain flared up body. Finally, he made it out and lay down on the snow, panting slightly. "You good?" Rooster whispered. Maverick nodded slightly. "Okay," he took a deep breath, "Let's get this over with."

"What do I do?" Rooster asked, shivering slightly from the cold.

"Well, in normal circumstances, you'd usually give the person medication, and their hips are held down by a sheet. But this isn't normal, so we won't do that." Maverick started, "When you count to three, you're going to gently grab my knee and move it over the hip joint, okay?" Rooster nodded and Maverick continued, "Then you're going put your knee under my knee and lift up under the knee and at the same time push down on my ankle." Rooster nodded again. "Do you understand."

"Yeah, I do."

"Good. Grab my knee." Maverick instructed. Rooster gently took Maverick's left knee in his hands. Maverick felt a shiver of pain travel down his leg. He ignored it.

"On three," Rooster said. "One…" Maverick grabbed the glove and shoved it into his mouth. "Two…" Rooster took a deep breath. "Three!" He quickly and gently moved Maverick's knee over the hip joint. The pain was intense it felt like it was on fire. He let out a muffled yell, breathing heavily. Rooster's heart was thumbing against his chest, he started to move over to comfort Maverick.

"'o! 'on't et ho." Maverick said roughly, the glove still in his mouth. Rooster must have understood him because he stopped moving. "Continue." He spoke.

Rooster nodded, breathing deeply. Maverick was too caught up in his own pain that he failed to notice Rooster's wince when he breathed. Rooster counted to three again and moved Maverick's knee. There was a sickening 'pop' and Maverick's hip was back in his socket. He cried out in pain and curled up into a ball. Hands were touching him, a soft, panicked voice whispering in his ear. "I'm so sorry, Mav! You alright?"

Maverick brushed him off lightly, gritting his teeth, and sitting up. He paused there for a moment, waiting for the dizziness to subside. "Come on," he muttered, "We gotta start moving. Those soldiers will start coming for us and we'll get caught if we don't leave now."

Rooster nodded. Both of them started grabbing the rucksacks. "Mav, will we need to take this parachute?" he asked.

"No, leave it. It'll only make it harder to not be seen." Maverick answered, shouldering his pack, "We need to go north, towards the mountains. It'll have better transmission up there."

He looked up at the snowy forest before them. The moon shone dimly between the trees. He'd chosen to hide in the forest for many reasons. 1) It was the only place he could go. 2) It could keep you well hidden in the dark. 3) It provided shelter for you in the blizzards. That was pretty much it.

"Let's move, before we catch frostbite." Maverick started limping towards the north. His leg was still a bit stiff. Rooster followed quickly behind.

"I don't think you can catch frostbite. I think that it catches you." He said, panting slightly.

"Haha, very funny Roosrer." Maverick said dryly, limping over some tree roots. "So funny, I forgot to laugh."

Rooster smiled wearily. "You said I never failed to crack a joke. Gotta live up to that saying."

"Hwy, Rooster?" Maverick asked.

"Yeah?"

"What frequency is the carrier on?"

"Oh, ummm," Rooster thought for a moment, "Triple Nickle. "*

"Gotcha."

The pair continued in silence, trudging through the crunchy snow. The only sounds they heard were they're own footsteps and labored breaths. About two hours of walking, they caught sound of a chopper in the sky. Rooster spotted it because of the searchlight it was using to look for them. Maverick quickly pulled them into a snowbank, and they watched the helicopter fly over them. The helicopter mercifully flew on and didn't catch them. Maverick breathed a sigh of relief and silently motioned to Rooster to keep moving.

They moved quickly and quietly. Both had enough training engrained in their minds to remember not to make any noise to avoid detection. Occasionally, they would have to stop again when the helicopter flew over them. Maverick's leg was killing him, and he could feel a small trickle of something wet and sticky trailing down his thigh. He needed to change the bandage so it wouldn't get infected. There was no way that they could get the bullet out here in the wilderness. Thankfully it hadn't hit an artery, although he was sure ot was close. He was also starting to get dizzy again, and sometimes would forget what they were doing, he definitely should be getting rest, but that wasn't an option.

Rooster meanwhile struggled silently. He didn't complain about the pain or mention it. Neither of them did. The adrenaline running through his veins (and probably the freezing air too) seemed to numb his pain for now. His arm was hurting a lot. Almost like some person decided to drop a boulder on him, and again for good measure. He hadn't mentioned it to Maverick, but Rooster was pretty sure he had a few broken ribs. It was hard to breath, painful. But they had to keep moving.

It was almost 7 in the morning when they decided to stop. Maverick dug out a small hole in the shelter of some trees with the help of Rooster. Maverick noticed the pain Rooster bore, but he was quiet. Finally, they settled down for the day. Training had taught them that moving in daylight was risky.

Rooster laid down gingerly. "You alright, kid?"

"I may have broken a few ribs. Nothing we can do about it though." Rooster said.

Maverick looked at Rooster with concern. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I just told you; we can't do anything about it."

"I could have given us more rest stops."

"We're on a tight schedule, " Rooster muttered. Maverick hummed in agreement. Then he moved over a little, shifting Rooster so that his head lay o his lap. "Get some rest, kid. I'll take watch."

Rooster blinked blearily up at him, "But you need rest too, Mav." He said groggily.

"I'll be alright, Bradely."

Maverick trapped a flexipak from his rucksack, drank some water from it, then trickled some down Rooster's throat.

Rooster closed his eyes and hummed a thank you. They say there like that for a while, and Rooster finally got some shut eye. Maverick went into a half-awake-half-asleep mode. Silence. They would make it. One of them would at least make it. They had friends looking for them, they could be found soon. Hopefully by the right people...

Further notes: *For the Triple Nickle, I'm thinking that the Navy used codes for certain frequencies. So, when Rooster soad it's on Triple Nickle, he meant channel 15. Also, if you didn't understand what Maverick meant when he was getting his hip relocated, he said, "No! Dont let go." I had a good idea about what happens. It may hurt a few of you though...should I do it, yes or no?