"Irish... why don't you wear more green?" Jacen asked out of the blue as he focused on Kealey. It was a question that really had nothing to do with the situation they had found themselves in and yet it seemed of the utmost importance at the moment. Maybe he was still a little loopy or maybe he'd just realized that all Irish people were supposed to wear green, whatever the reason, Jacen wanted to know.

Moments later Kealey was placing a gun in his hand before rushing off to gather the supplies he'd asked for. Lifting the weapon, Jacen stared at it for a few moments before moving his gaze over to where the closest unconscious man lay sprawled in the dirt. "You look like I feel." Jacen muttered before placing a hand on the ground and slowly levering himself up to his feet.

"Aww crap." Jacen muttered once he was up and swaying ever so slightly. Why was it that standing always made a person feel light headed? Or did this just happen to people with concussions? He couldn't remember exactly.

From out of nowhere Kealey was suddenly at his side with knife and cord in hand. Why had he asked her to go get them again? Looking back over at the man in the orange jumpsuit Jacen suddenly remember. Oh right... convicts.

"Cut off lengths of rope about two to three long." Jacen said after a moment before slowly reaching back to slip the gun into the rear waist band of his pants. The feeling of the weapon pressing into the small of his back was actuall somewhat comforting and he found it much easier to focus. Gritting his teeth against the waves of dizziness that tried to overtake him, Jacen slowly made his way over to the first man and then crouched down beside him. "I need three pieces of the rope."

Securing the four men was a much longer process than it would have been if Jacen hadn't been doing his best not to fall down each time he stood up but eventually they finished it. Left in their wake were the four convicts with each one having their hands tied behind their backs, their feet tied together, and then their legs bent back so that the cords on their hands and feet were then tied to each other.

"Kealey... is there any ice left in that cooler?" Jacen asked as they made it back into the main camp and he slumped down onto one of their log seats, "My head is pounding."

Jacen mentioned her wearing green because she was Irish and Kealey had to smile despite the worry his random question caused. ”We’ve talked about this before…” she said, ”Remember…sparkly shamrocks…you’re gonna sit in the front row?” she added as she hurried away to get the items Jacen had asked for, only to find him standing when she returned.

”Are you sure this is a good idea?” she said, noticing that Jacen was slightly less than sturdy on his feet at the moment. He seemed to think it was, though, and she didn’t argue. They needed to secure the convicts, though, and Jacen seemed to have an idea about how to do just that. Two to three ft pieces, Kealey repeated to herself, shaking her head and wishing for probably the hundredth time that America would just switch to the metric system like everyone else. Soon enough, though, the pieces were cut and they were working to secure the men by the tents. Then it was off to the clearing, with Jacen still moving on what appeared to be wobbly legs.

The man Kealey had tied with her shoelaces had apparently lost the brief battle he’d fought against his unconsciousness and posed no problems as Jacen retied him with the thicker, more sturdy, cord. Kealey wasn’t watching though, she was staring at the other man. She’d done a number on him…his face was blackening from where she’d kicked him and he was wheezing slightly and curled into a ball where he’d fallen. Those feelings had been so strong…she’d wanted to hurt him so badly…which meant he’d wanted to hurt her. It killed any trace of teasing that had crept back into the situation and Kealey rubbed idly at the side of her face and looked down at the bruises raising on her legs and feet. They’d been lucky.

Jacen finished with the man, and back to the camp they walked, Jacen heading to one of the logs to sit while asking Kealey to see if there was any ice. Immediately she did so, slipping out of her over shirt and piling the ice into it before returning to Jacen and sinking down next to him on the log.

”I’ll do it…” she said as Jacen tried to take the ice pack and gently laid it against the back of his head, holding it there with one hand while she studied his face. ”I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life, Jacen. You were so still…” she paused for a moment and shook her head, worry creasing her forehead,”You don’t think I hurt any of them too badly, do you? The second man in the clearing looked to be in a bad way…but I couldn’t help it…those things he was feeling…” she stopped and shuddered slightly, unable to explain further, then looked around the clearing. ”So from here…Do we leave our things here and go get help, then come back?”

Shamrocks and front row. Jacen had forgotten about that conversation. It probably had something to do with all that had happened since that rather care free time at the western bar. He'd hurt Kealey, then apologized, they'd escaped a murderer, become lovers, and now they were a couple. "Remind me to go get you a shamrock outfit for us to enjoy at the apartment." Jacen muttered as Kealey pressed the ice pack up agaisnt the back of his head, "I see no reason to wait."

Situations like this always seemed to help put things in perspective. When life was so uncertain, even on what was supposed to be a safe camping trip, why would you try to put things off? It was far better to enjoy life and enjoy experiences while you still had the time.

"They'll all survive Kealey." Jacen reassured the young woman as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Even bruised and dirty she was still beautiful. Those men surviving was more than they deserved. Just the fact that they had dared to interupt Jacen and Kealey's weekend was more than enough reason for them to earn whatever pain and discomfort Kealey had submitted them to.

Suddenly, with no thought for the pain, Jacen lifted a hand and gently gripped Kealey neck, putting just enough pressure on her to pull her down and plant a heated kiss on her lips. "You did what you had to do Kealey and I'm very proud of you."

But now it was time to decide what to do. There was no way Jacen wanted to take the time to break down the whole camp site but he didn't want to just leave everything behind either. "Let's pack up our clothes and leave everything else. We can pick up the camping stuff from the state troopers after they've takne care of their escaped felons."

Of course that meant getting up and releasing the pressure of the ice which Jacen was loathe to do but it was still necessary. Gritting his teeth Jacen climbed back up against, a little more steady than before, and headed for the tent. He'd get his clothes, Kealey's clothes, and his knife. EVerything else the state troopers could deal with.

Well, Kealey decided, Jacen couldn’t be hurt too terribly bad if he was planning on finding that shamrock outfit for her to wear at the apartment. The idea of that made her blush, which seemed slightly silly in lieu of the skinny dipping they’d done earlier that day and she smiled and chuckled, ”If you can find it…I’ll wear it.” she said, keeping the ice where it was on the back of Jacen’s head while she shook her head in amusement.

Jacen said that all the bad guys were going to survive, and Kealey nodded her head slowly, relief flooding her features. Those men had broken the law, and ruined what had been a perfect weekend, but Kealey was still determined that it was not her place to judge or punish them. She’d neutralized a threat; the rest was up to law enforcement and God.

At the hand on the back of her neck, Kealey looked to Jacen and moved easily with the force he was exerting, returning the kiss eagerly then blushing and dropping her eyes when he said he was proud of her. It made her feel warm from head to toe and she shrugged, ”I’d do it again in a second. When I saw you on the ground I felt like I could have taken on a hundred more.” she poked him gently in the ribs, ”Don’t scare me like that again.”

Jacen wasn’t a fan of packing up the entire campsite, but he wanted to make sure that they at least got all their personal affects before they left to get help. Then he rose and started walking for the tent and Kealey huffed slightly, leaping up and running in front of him. ”And just what do you think you’re doing?” she said, planting her hands on her hips and looking up at Jacen, ”Sit back down on that log and hold that ice on your head while I get the clothes together. I can’t paddle the whole way back by myself and I’d rather you rest before we go.”

Kealey's concern felt nice. Not only had she been willing to fight back when she saw the convicts, revealing an iron will that Jacen hadn't known she posessed, but she was also showing that the reason she fought back was because of Jacen. "I'll do my best to keep from scaring you any more." Jacen said with a slight smile.

He hadn't been expecting Kealey to intercept him before he could even get inside of the tent. In fact, he hadn't really been expecting her to intercept him at all. "Did I mention that you're stubborn?" Jacen asked with a wry smile as he accepted the ice pack from Kealey and walked back over to sit down on the log once again. He was deffinately starting to recover hsi equilibrium but the idea of having to paddle back to the parking area was not at all appealing. They had made it in short time on the way over because he'd been well rested and uninjured. Trying to paddle back while sporting a large bump on the noggin was not going to be fun.

"Do you have a drivers license Kealey?" Jacen called out as he suddenly remember what would come after their paddling. He wasn't really sure he was up for a drive but they had never discussed whether she even know how to drive. "I've got a radio in my truck... I can always call for help." The S.W.A.T. officer mused to himself as he tipped his head forward to stare at the ground and press the ice a little more firmly against the back of his head and neck. "Though, they'd probably insist I rid in an ambulance. No way can I leave my truck out here."

Jacen was smiling when he said that he’d do his best to make sure he didn’t scare her again. Kealey didn’t smile back, though, she just nodded her head. ”Good.” she said, raising a hand to his face for a moment and wondering why it seemed like such a grave comment. It was important though, and Kealey felt better hearing Jacen say the words.

Jacen had seemed surprised when she stopped him, and some of the laughter returned to her face when he pointed out, again, that she was stubborn. ”I’m stubborn?” she teased, already gathering things up as she spoke, ”This coming from the one trying to pack up clothes just after havin’ his brains scrambled like this morning’s eggs.”

Jacen called out to her a few moments later and Kealey stopped almost dead in her tracks at his question. She shook her head slowly, ”I’ve never had need of a driver’s license, Jacen. Even if I hadn’t grown up in the convent, only the wealthy drove cars where I was from…I just never learned. “

Jacen said he had a radio in the truck and that they could call for help. He seemed to think that would only result in him having to ride in an ambulance though, and he definitely didn’t seem to be interested in leaving his truck in the parking lot. Kealey mused over this for a few moments as she dragged the things she’d gathered back towards Jacen. ”Do you think you need a hospital? You were really groggy there for a little bit.” Kealey frowned, studying Jacen’s face and trying to see if any of that remained. It didn’t look like it…but he still didn’t look completely steady. I’m sorry I’m not more help…but we’d better get moving before they wake up.” Around the campsite Kealey looked with a frown, it seemed so soon to be leaving…they’d just gotten there the night before. The food was still out too, and Kealey frowned…she still hadn’t ever gotten to eat s’mores. The blond sighed, at least they’d have something to do next time…well besides finishing the game of hide and seek they’d started.

OOC - Feel free to gmod any and everything you want in your next post, just assume she’s gathered everything up…or we can just wrap it up. We’re about at that point.

"I'm not going to need a hospital." Jacen said as firmly as he could before slowly rising back up to his feet. His head hurt like hell and the pounding in his temples was swiftly spreading through the rest of his body but at least things were no longer spinning or splitting into double or triple images. No, everything might hurt but he could most definitely drive. Heck, he'd probably even be feeling pretty good once he got a few pain killers into his body.

He was just beginning to turn to walk toward the canoe when Kealey's last statement suddenly made his stop. Turning back to her he looked at her with obvious surprise before reaching out to take one of her hands and pull her close. "Kealey, you probably just saved my life by taking out three of those idiots. You don't have a driver's license, heck, that's no worse than at least half the population of New York City. I don't care in the slightest about that. What's important is you and the person you are. Thank you."

***

The canoe ride took at least twice as long as the previous trip had but after a lot of teeth gritting to try and overcome the pain, Jacen and Kealey arrived at the landing. A short hike later and Jacen was stretched out in the seat of his truck, calling for whatever local or state authorities might be nearby.

By the time the authorities arrives, Jacen had already fished out a double dose of Tylenol from his dashboard and swallowed it down with some of the water they'd brought from camp. The pain was beginning to recede but Jacen still knew it would be better not to push himself. Nope, once they made the drive back to NYC, it would be time for a nice long nap. Hopefully while snuggled up with a certain blond.

***

Why in the world did he like driving so far? What had possessed him to drive all the way out to Lake Lila? Surely he could have made a shorter drive and been someplace enjoyable all the same. At least then he would have had to drive all the way home with this throbbing headache!

Finally the truck pulled into the parking space at his apartment and Jacen breathed a sigh of relief. They were back... they were home. "I am going to sleep for a week." Jacen said somewhat tiredly as he and Kealey climbed out and grabbed the few possessions they had managed to bring back with them, "Care for a nap before we try to scrounge up something for dinner?"

***

Drifting off to sleep Jacen found that his opinion of the weekend was definitely up in the air. On the one hand he had enjoyed so much time with Kealey and even convinced her to go skinny dipping. On the other hand they'd been attacked by some escaped convicts and he'd gotten clocked over the head. Thinking back to the moment when Kealey had dropped her towel and then walked into the water, he felt a smile tugging at his lips.

"It was worth it..." Jacen thought as he finally drifted off to sleep, "Definitely worth it."

Kealey almost muttered something about a pot calling a kettle black when Jacen refused the hospital, but she held back and smiled instead as he grabbed her hand and pulled her close. Just for a second, Kealey stood there, leaning her head against his chest and kind of basking in the praise he gave her. Kealey had never done anything like this before, and having someone confirm that she’d made the right choice made all the difference in the world. ”I’m just glad they didn’t find my clothes at the pool. I’d have had to fight them in nothing but my skin.”

The trip back to the canoe, and the paddle back up the river was less than fun. Seriously. Jacen was still hurting from his head and more and more Kealey wished he’d agreed to go to the hospital, at least to get checked out. It was his head, though, and Kealey kept her mouth shut. There was such a thing as making a bad situation worse, and Kealey wasn’t interested in doing that. Not at all.

Soon enough, they were back in the truck and Jacen was taking pain killers. Then they were off. It was a relatively quiet drive and Kealey found herself exhausted as the adrenaline from the day’s events wore off. Exhausted and sore, and a look in the visor mirror in the passenger side showed evidence of said activities. The mirror snapped shut and the visor popped closed with a satisfying thump then Kealey leaned back in her seat, relaxing slightly but refusing to go to sleep…just in case.

All that accomplished was even more exhaustion, and a kinked neck by the time they pulled into a parking spot at the apartment. Jacen commented that he was going to sleep for a week and Kealey frowned slightly as she climbed from the truck. Weren’t people with concussions supposed to wake up every half-hour or something like that? Kealey was so tired, though, laying down with Jacen sounded like a great idea.

”I don’t think I could eat right now if I tried…” she said wearily as they made their way inside, still trying to figure out how she was going to make sure to check on Jacen.

***
There was definitely something to be said for cuddling, Kealey decided a short time later. It was quiet and cool in the apartment and before she knew it, Kealey was drifting off to sleep…

…only to have her eyes fly open what seemed like a few minutes later, she was going to have to be more careful so she could check on Jacen, she said, eyes focusing on the clock so she could see what time it was. An hour and a half?! She’d been asleep for an hour and a half?! Sitting up quickly, Kealey turned to Jacen , he was still sleeping…but wasn’t that what happened? Didn’t people go to sleep and just not wake up?

”Jacen!” Kealey said with quiet urgency, reaching out to gently shake his shoulder. ”Are you alright? You got to wake up for a minute.”

Dreamless sleep was deffinately one of the most condusive to real rest and that was exactly what Jacen was enjoying when suddenly someone was touching him and shaking him. Rising through a fog of haziness he went through that brief moment of not knowing where he was or who in the world was talking with him.

Then everything came back with amazing clarity and Jacen fell back against the pillows. "I'm awake Kealey... I'm awake."

His brain felt like it was moving through mud as he tried to come up with some sort of explanation as to why Kealey would have woken him up. Glancing over at the clock he found himself to tired to do the math and figure out how long he'd been sleeping but he did know it was still the same day as when he'd fallen asleep which meant he hadn't slept nearly long enough.

"Do you need something, beautiful?" Jacen asked with a yawn, rolling over to look at his blond bedmate, "Starting to get hungry?"

She had to need something, absolutely had to, otherwise there was no good reason for her to wake him. Maybe she was hungry, maybe she was still a little scared, maybe she'd even had a scary dream. Heck, maybe she even wanted to finish what they'd been starting back at the pool. "Have I mentioned lately how nice you look?"

Jacen opened his eyes and Kealey breathed a deep sigh of relief. She hadn’t stayed asleep too long, and he was okay. Now that he was awake, though, she felt bad. He really did look tired. What she knew was conflicting with what she felt, though. Jacen was disoriented, but that could have simply been from the fact that he was still trying to wake up.

Jacen turned over and Kealey smiled a sheepish smile at him, shrugging her shoulders and running a hand over his cheek. Jacen yawned, and that made Kealey yawn and she shrugged her shoulders. ”I just wanted to make sure you were okay…in a First Aid class I took they said that people with concussions should be woken up every so often…but I fell asleep for too long and got scared when I woke up.”

Jacen asked if she was hungry and Kealey shook her head, frowning slightly, ”No, not hungry. I think I’ve got too much else going on in here…” she said, tapping one finger against the side of her head. ”I’m sorry I woke you up. It’s just been a long time since I got to care if anyone was okay…and I kind of messed up.”

Jacen said she looked nice, and Kealey had to laugh, casting a look down at her dirty, rumpled clothes and her hand instantly went to her hair. ”I look a mess, Jacen…you can’t possibly think I look nice.” but she was smiling as she said it.

For a brief moment, Jacen felt a twing of annoyance surge through his body but it quickly dissapeared when Kealey explained that she cared whether he was OK or not. They had never really expressed any sort of deep emotional atachment to each other, even though they both knew it was there, but now she was admitting at least some of the feeling. It was touching, and while he wasn't sure that he was quite ready to say the words, he was more than willing to show it in his actions.

Leaning closer, Jacen gently pressed his lips against Kealey's. The touch was electric and immediately he found himself fully awake and fully aware of the woman that was laying next to him. She was special, caring, funny, with just the right mixture of spitfire and minx hiding beneath the surface. With his mind suddenly filled with images of their time together at different opportunities, he pulled her close and began to tug at her shirt.

Piece by piece, the dirty, rumpled clothes fell to the floor, gathering in a pile that was soon forgotten by the pair in the bed. No thoughts were given to tangled hair or bruised and scratched skin. All that mattered was that they had survived and that they were together. Everything else could momentarily be shut out and forgotten for some other time.

(Fade To Black)