Tired Ramblings

He has no idea how much time has passed, or how many miles. Somewhere along the way, he lost track of everything except placing one foot in front of the other. He's still so focused on maintaining his forward momentum that he doesn't even feel relief when base camp come into view, just keeps moving.

"Holy shit." A soldier sitting outside the nearest tent stands as Jensen approaches.

"He needs help," Jensen grunts. The soldier shouts for a medic, and a second later there's a flurry of activity as people swarm Jensen.

"You alright, soldier?" someone asks as they take Clay from off his back and get him onto a stretcher.

"I'm fine," Jensen says breathlessly. "Just take care of him."

He watches as they whisk Clay away. The exhaustion hits a second later, and he's on his ass in the dust before he even knows he's moving.

"Jensen!" Pooch bursts from one of the tents, Cougar on his heels. "Hey, you good?"

Jensen just nods.

"Drink," Cougar commands, pushing a canteen into Jensen's hands. Jensen takes it gratefully, gulping down water, not caring when some of it spills down his chin. He's pretty sure he's never tasted anything as wonderful as this in his whole life.

"We thought you guys were dead." Pooch's voice is shaky. "How'd you make it back?"

Jensen takes another drink of water before answering. "Walked."

Cougar lets out a low whistle as Pooch gawks.

"You carried the colonel all the way here?"

Jensen nods again. "How're you guys? Roque?"

"Cougs and I are good. Cougar got a few stitches. Roque's concussed, he's sleeping right now but he'll be fine...You should probably get checked out, too."

Jensen shakes his head. "Naw, I'm fine, Pooch." He holds his hands up, and even lifting his arms makes them ache. "Help me up."

Cougar and Pooch each take one of Jensen's arms and they pull him to his feet. Every muscle in his body screams in complaint, and he grits his teeth against the pain. The guys don't let go once Jensen is upright, which is nice because he's pretty sure that without their help he would just lay down and sleep right here.

"You sure you're good, J?" Pooch asks.

"Pooch, lay off. I just need some sleep."

Now that Clay is in the hands of the medics, it's harder to get his body to obey him and his footsteps are clumsy as they make their way to Jensen's bunk. When they get to his cot, he collapses onto it with a long sigh. The mattress is thin and the tent is hot and stuffy, but Jensen couldn't really give a shit.

"We'll let you know once there's an update on Clay," Pooch says.

Jensen is already asleep.

xxx

"Jensen?"

Somewhere in the hazy space between asleep and not, Jensen is distantly aware of someone touching him, of a hand gripping his shoulder and giving it a shake. He starts moving toward consciousness and regrets it almost immediately. He feels like he's on fire; he's too hot and every muscle in his body burns. A hand pushes his hair back, then lays flat against his forehead. The skin is blessedly cool and Jensen almost whines when it withdraws.

"Jensen, porfa. Open your eyes, parcero."

He does, because it's Cougar asking. The sniper is staring at him with wide eyes, his eyebrows pinched and his lips pursed with worry.

"Cougs," he says. The name scrapes against his throat. "What...what's goin' on?"

He closes his eyes again and a second later, he feels himself being lifted off the cot, slung over Cougar's shoulders, just like Jensen had done with Clay.

"I have you, Jensen," Cougar says. He sounds far-off again. Consciousness is slipping away from Jensen and he can't hold onto it. Cougar's voice is the last thing he hears before the black overtakes him.

"I have you."

xxx

Jensen wakes up in a room that's far too quiet and air conditioned to be a field hospital. If he was transferred here, that means he must've been in pretty bad shape. Which doesn't make sense, because he wasn't injured in the ambush. He feels like he was, a dull ache throbbing through his whole body.

"Hey, soldier."

Jensen turns, a little confused when he sees Clay sitting up in the bed next to him. There's a bandage wrapped around his head and his arm is in a sling, but he smiles when Jensen looks over at him.

"Colonel! You're okay?"

"A little banged up, but yeah, I'm okay."

Jensen shifts a little, then hisses as the movement tugs at an IV in the back of his hand. He frowns down at it, is about to poke it when Clay makes a disapproving noise.

"Leave it alone."

Jensen scowls, but does as he's told. He looks back over at Clay.

"Why am I here?" He vaguely remembers going to sleep after making it back to base, but everything after that is a blur.

"Cougar went to tell you that I was gonna be moved here, and you're damn lucky he did. You were in the early stages of kidney failure when he found you."

Jensen feels the blood drain from his face. "I – what?"

"Yeah, it was...what did the doctor call it? Rhabdo-something."

"Rhabdomyolysis?" Jensen's voice is a little strained when he said it; if there was any color still in his cheeks he's sure it's gone now.

"Yeah, that's it. How'd you know that?"

"My sister was in nursing school when I went into Basic. She wrote me at least three letters reminding me to stay hydrated because apparently she'd heard some statistic that people in boot camp are more likely to get it." He groans, leaning his head back against the pillows. "She's gonna kill me when she finds out."

"Yeah, that's if you survive Pooch and Cougar," Clay says, smirking a little.

Jensen winces. "I maybe should've listened to Pooch."

"Yeah, you think? You scared the hell out of 'em."

Jensen squirms a little as an image of a panicked-looking Cougar desperately saying his name flashes across his mind. He doesn't know if it's a memory, or if it's just his brain conjuring up images of what may have been. Either way, it makes a feeling of guilt settle in his gut.

"Sorry."

"It's not me you need to apologize to," Clay says. His expression softens a little. "You saved my ass out there, Jensen. Thank you."

Jensen shrugs. "Yeah, well. Someone had to do it."