Fuchsia and I had just made it through the doorway of the cottage when Jax started to wake up. We struggled as he thrashed; his slippery fevered skin made it impossible to hold on to him. He slipped from our grasp and fell to the floor, he rolled to his side pulling his legs to his chest and crying out in pain.

Fuchsia and I both knelt by his side. His normally pale skin was red and he was breathing rapidly. Jax cried out again in pain. Without meaning to, I yelled, “dammit Fuchsia! Can’t you give him something? This is horrible!”

She gave me a fierce look, her eyes red and filled with tears. She quickly stood and turned to Sina and said, “help Bren get Jax to the couch and I will be right back.”

I looked up towards Fuchsia and noticed that Keri was standing in the hall, not moving, her eyes just fixed on Fuchsia.

Fuchsia walked into the hall and stopped in front of her mom, an uncomfortable silence circulated through the room only broken by Jax’s again pained cry. Keri reached out and squeezed Fuchsia’s arm and said, “what can I do to help?” Defeated and tired, Fuchsia folded and placed her head on Keri’s shoulder.

Fuchsia let out a sigh and stood up straight again. She shook her head slowly and walked off to the makeshift lab. Keri followed behind Fuchsia.

As soon as they disappeared through the doors, I returned my full attention to Jax. I carefully brushed his knotted, sweat drenched hair out of his eyes. His eyes were swollen and puffy, and I was somewhat thankful he couldn’t see me right now. My appearance might upset him again in his weakened and confused state.

Sina cleared her throat behind me and said, “Bren, let’s move him to the couch.”

I scooted behind him and locked my arms around his waist. I looked up and could see Sina looking over her shoulder. “Are you ready?” I asked.

She nodded and said, “Let’s go”.

We didn’t have far to go luckily so the descent to the couch would be easy. Lyra and Jackie had moved pillows out of the way and were standing near us. Just after we had laid him down, noise erupted from the other side of the cottage. I could hear Fuchsia and her mother arguing. Moments later Keri emerged from the makeshift lab carrying something. I could tell she was upset, she looked at me and sighed.

“Where is Fuchsia?”, I asked.

She ignored my questions and said, “I’m going to administer two injections of tranquilizer. The first should help to reduce the pain that he is experiencing and allow you to talk to him. We need to get as much information from him as we can before I give him the second tranquilizer. Fuchsia will join us in just a minute and help ask him questions.”

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I looked back at the lab, waiting for Fuchsia to show her face. Keri gently patted my arm and said, “she just needs time to collect herself before she comes back out here.”

I nodded and looked back at Jax. He was in a fetal position and breathing rapidly. I reached out and laid my hand on his back to offer comfort but he flinched as soon as my fingers touched him.

Keri leaned over closer to Jax and spoke softly to him. “hey Hun. It’s Keri. Can you hear me?”

Jax didn’t open his eyes, but nodded slightly.

Keri touched his forehead with her hand and said, “I am going to give you something to make you feel better, ok.”

Jax gave another small nod. He was still sweating but now he was shivering uncontrollably.

I felt a nudge at my back and turned around to find Jackie. He was holding a stack of small towels and a thin blanket. He pushed them towards me as he said, “Lyra and I found these in the hall closet, you will probably need them.”

Keri reached over me and took one of the towels from Jackie. She started wiping the sweat from Jax’s exposed upper body and arm and said, “I need you to hold his right arm, Bren. Jackie, I need you to stand at his head and shoulders and Lyra you can make sure he doesn’t move his legs. We need to minimize his movement as much as possible.”

I noticed Sina had disappeared, but I assume she had gone to be with Fuchsia.

Keri opened the container that held the tranquilizer. Plastic bits fell to the floor as the injection was readied. She gently brushed atop his deltoid with the dermal light disinfecting tool. She slowly moved the tranquilizer towards his arm and said, “ok, here goes the first injection.”

We all held our breath, afraid of how Jax would respond to the injection. It only took seconds and he seemed unfazed by it. Keri wiped his face and neck off and then placed a hand on the side of his cheek and said, “now we wait.”

I placed a hand on his arm and he jumped as if I had hurt him. I quickly moved away but his eyes opened and he grabbed my hand tightly. For the first time since we left the hospital, his eyes were open and locked on me. I was afraid and tried to pull away as he stared at me. There were no obstructions, he could see me clearly. My cybernetic eye was exposed and in the raw, I was terrified to see his reaction and quickly covered it with my other hand and pulled loose of Jax’s grasp.

Jax rolled to his back and grabbed my fleeing hand with his other hand. Both of his hands now squeezed my hand preventing me from leaving. I started to speak, but my voice stilled in my throat, choked by fear until Jax spoke. “Don’t leave me, please!”

I was filled with a mixture of emotions and I couldn't control it. Tears ran down one side of my face and before I could wipe them away Jax had sat up. He placed his hands on both sides of my face and was looking curiously at my new eye. He tilted his head and wiped the escaping tears away, and then he leaned forward and kissed me. His hands trailed down to my shirt, separating our lips as he crumpled forward against my chest. I wrapped my hands around him and hugged him tight. How many more times were we going to be separated? How many more times were we going to go through hell before we could find happiness and peace?