The third day had already come and the forest still had not seen any sun. The dampness and the cold sent shudders throughout Nathan's body and Faye could do nothing but pull the layers of blankets and leaves up to his chin. She had not slept since the night before as her conscience gnawed at her, blaming her for not stopping him when she already knew in her gut that something was wrong.

She reached under the covers and felt the hives that formed on his skin. They didn't feel as bad as it was the first time. Even his confused muttering in his sleep quieted down for quite some time. At least she could be thankful for that.

Chinook came up to them with two bowls of vegetable soup and some barbecued bird and sat down in front of her. "How is he?" he asked.

"His heartbeat is even now," she reported, thinking about some of the other things that were not that obvious, "-and he doesn't look like he's in so much pain right now."

"That is good." He smiled. "Let him drink this and I will prepare the medicine."

There was nothing she could do but to acquiesce. In truth, she wanted to do more than just feed him and the only reason she did not want to do it was because it was a messy business. If she could make the medicine, she would, but she could not understand a word Chinook's mother said, and so, she resigned herself to the task.

She positioned herself behind him and cradled his head in between her lap and her arm. It was a feat of a balancing act just to make it enter his mouth and making him drink it was even tougher. He sometimes spat and coughed the soup out, which frustrated her, but in the end, there was more soup that went into his system than what spilled all over his face and her thighs.

At the same time, Chinook came with the medicine and fed the contents into Nathan's mouth. He smiled at her then left, telling her to call his mother if she needed anything since he would be out.

Nathan's head was still on her lap looking peaceful and content and she could not help but brush the hair over his forehead away. It had been eight years since she last had human contact, and that was when she left home and her parents hugged her. Having him in her arms was not an unwelcome feeling. She would admit, if only to herself, that she missed the feeling of holding another person beyond a handshake. Handshakes were tiring and too bloody professional. It was so different from caring, personal touches. And she missed the latter kind.

Outside, the rains promised more bleak days ahead, removing any hope she had of leaving anytime soon. The clouds overhead made her lose all sense of time. She did not know what time of day it was without looking at her watch, which made her wonder how the natives could tell if it were morning, noon or sunset.

"I'm not dreaming, am I?"

Nathan's voice bolted through her like a lightning and stunned her just as electricity would. Faye refused to answer hoping that he was just having another one of his delusional sleep mutterings. Even when he touched the arm that cradled his head, she didn't move.

"Not that I'm complaining, but this is very surprising even for you, Faye."

Shr couldn't help but look down at him and she saw him smiling up at her. She was not sure how to react then. Ignore him or suddenly let go of him, he would still use this time to poke fun at her.

His hand traveled up her arm, and she reflexively pushed away from him. His head dropped on the floor hard and he clutched it in between his hands.

"Holy...!" He groaned. "You made my head hurt ten times worse!"

She tentatively reached out to him, her guilt gripping her throat again.

Nathan's eyes suddenly opened and he looked at her with a smirk. "So you do care about me."

Her jaws tightened and she took her hand back as if his skin seared her hands. "You wish! I just..." she hesitated, "I just didn't want to send your corpse back to town. You stink enough!"

He crouched up laughing and took her wrist and brushed his hand against her pulse. "High pulse rate." He grinned. "Liar."

She snatched her hand back, not only because he spoke the truth, but also because his touch tingled her spine from her tailbone up to her neck. "Shut up! You're such a flirt! I swear I'll find your girlfriend and tell her who you really are. Then you'll see how it feels to be dumped."

He frowned. "Give it your best shot."

It was the second time, she noticed, that he frowned at the mention of his girlfriend. The girl, whoever she was, was his weak link. It was best to know more about her then use her against him. All she had to do was make him trust her and divulge every bit of information he had about the girl to her.

"You sound like you don't care about her," she fished, hoping that he'd spill something out.

"Yeah. I don't." He shrugged.

The response made her skeptical and she voiced it out to fish for more information. "Uh-huh...if you didn't care, you would have left her a long time ago. Or are you that much of an ass? Not that I'd be surprised."

He grunted. "So Sara's a nice girl, but really? She's a psycho. I mean, there is really something seriously wrong with her head. There's this obsession about her that no restraining order can hold back. So I just have to pretend that we're together so she doesn't kill anyone. And if she found out I've been alone with you, she'll scream bloody murder at you and stab you repeatedly."

She rolled her eyes. "Weave a more believable story next time. You're a horrible liar. You just got that idea from a movie. I believe it was entitled, 'Obsession'."

His frown suddenly turned into a grin. "If I'm a horrible liar, you're even worse. I just took your pulse to make sure. Standard procedure for lie detection. That, and you can't look me in the eye when you lie."

"Whatever! You're just so egotistic, you think someone would really care about you that much. Dream on." She crossed her arms under her chest. "You want the truth? I feel guilty for not stopping you. Why? Because whether I'm a mule or whatever you want to call me, I'm still female and I have maternal instincts that I can't deny that makes me want to help even egotistical idiots like you."

"So it's the truth now, huh? Then I have a confession, myself." He reached out to her quickly and pulled her into his arms. He dropped the tone of his voice three notches and whispered, "I chased after you because I'm a man, no matter what you call me. And I have the instinct to protect even overly-independent women like you."

For a moment, she froze as she leaned on his chest, surprised at the entire thing. Then the tingling sensation on her spine started up again, but this time, it went to the tips of her fingers and toes. The breath she did not know she was holding burst from her mouth and she felt her whole being become very aware of him, from where their bodies connected to each beat of his heart and each breath he took. With that sensation came the sudden feeling of loss as he tore away from her and crawled over to the wall opposite her and leaned on it.

His hands rubbed up his face, his fingers tangling in his hair as he grazed them up to the nape of his neck. "Sweet baby Jesus!" He breathed. "When did you become a woman?"

Soooo, HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY everybody!

How was the chapter? Did you see any progress with them? Lol, I can see Nathan just ruined everything at the end. xD

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