He opened his eyes, or tried too. It seemed as if a pile of sand had been poured on them. Lifting his hands to rub the dryness away pain shot through his left shoulder and he gasped.

"Hey, be careful there." The bed dipped and Jax's voice grew closer. "You're going to be alright, Tarzan."

She placed a wet cloth over his eyes and lightly dabbed at them, then removed the cloth. "Anesthesia makes your eyes and throat dry. I can give you some ice chips."

"Yeah." He croaked out, his parched throat unrecognizable to himself.

Blinking his eyes open he watched Jax as she dumped some ice chips from the yellow plastic pitcher on the bedside table into the glass. Then unwrapped a plastic spoon and tossed the cellophane wrapper into a nearby wastebasket. Lifting some ice chips from the glass with the spoon, she held it to his lips and watched him closely as his lips closed around the spoon and took the chips of frozen water into his mouth. He inwardly smiled. She cared.

He let the chips melt in his mouth which took only a few seconds then swallowed.

"More?"

"Yeah."

She mirrored her motions, lifting the chips to his mouth. He watched her eyes absorb him. Her eyes moved to his and held for a moment before she said, "You were shot in the shoulder and the bullet nicked your Brachial artery. It was a small nick but it created a pinhole which leaked blood into your shoulder. It made you dizzy and you lost a lot of blood, not enough to endanger your life, since you have great teammates. Wyatt helped you and we got you to the hospital right away."

Her lips curved up into a serene smile, the corners of her eyes crinkled and for the first time he thought she looked absolutely beautiful. Not just attractive or pretty, but gorgeous. Her olive skin was flawless and fresh, the whites of her eyes bright which made the brown of her irises look dark and mysterious. He remembered her lips and how they felt against his and it made him smile.

"Great teammates? Is that how this is going to go? I'm never going to hear the end of this again because you had to get me to safety?"

She snickered and it was the most pleasant sound. "There may come a day when you'll hear the end of it." She moved to set the cup on the table and that's when he noticed the front of her shirt had blood on it. "But not anytime soon."

She looked at her shirt when she saw the direction of his gaze. "It's your blood from when I lay over you in the back of the truck as we were driving away."

Slowly nodding his head he cleared his throat. "I remember."

"Okay. So, Gaige worked some magic and got you in a private room. But, we're planning on taking you back to the hotel tonight because we simply don't trust Mags and how far reaching she may be. We're in Jasperville now and it's not far enough away, so we're going back to Stangleville, where we stayed last night but to a different hotel. If we can get you released. You need to do your part. When the doctor comes in, he needs to see your vitals are good. Since Wyatt is a medic, he can take care of you and the doctor has already spoken to him. He knows the potential danger we're in, and frankly, they don't want us here any longer than we need to be because of it. Wyatt did a great job of patching you up and stifling the bleeding while we were in transit."

An ugly little jealousy gremlin jumped into his head. "You and Wyatt a thing?"

She raised one eyebrow and looked at him like he spoke in tongues.

"What?"

"You seem very fond of him and he you. I just wondered if you were a thing or if you had ever been a thing."

"Nope." She stood, hands on her hips and squared her shoulders. "And not that it's any of your business, but the only team member I've ever slept with is Hawk. One time and we both knew it was a mistake afterward and we've never slept together again. I'm not a pass-around girl, I don't sleep around, and mostly, I'm a professional. I didn't get my job by sleeping for it and I won't keep it that way, either."

"Easy, easy, easy." Wrestling with his tired body he sat up in his bed, swung his legs over the side and looked at her. "I didn't mean that. I mean, I didn't mean to imply you were someone who slept around. Wyatt said something yesterday about what a spitfire you were and the way he said it I wondered if you and he had..." He shook his head then looked into her eyes. "Hawk?"

"Once."

"Right. None of my business. Except, I'm kind of making it my business."

He saw her swallow and fidget with her fingers. Her voice was soft when she replied, "Don't."

"Jax?" He slowly stood, holding onto the bedrail and afraid to move just yet. His knees felt a bit shaky and he didn't trust them. "Come here."

"Tarzan, don't hurt yourself."

"Come here."

She hesitantly stepped up to him and he placed his right hand on her shoulder.

"I think you care."

"Stop."

"I do, too, Little Mama. I care."

Her head tilted up to look him in the eye. She swallowed again then pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.

"I don't think this is a good..."

"What's going on in here?" Josh entered the room, Ford and Wyatt behind him. He didn't seem mad but the look he gave his sister meant there'd be a discussion later on.

"Dodge lost his balance and I was here to save him. Again." She giggled probably more to appease her brother than anything. "I think he's anxious to get out of here."

Swallowing again he took a breath. "If you can help me over to the chair, I'd like to put my pants and shoes on." It suddenly dawned on him that he was wearing a hospital gown and it seemed his underwear, thank God.

"Shouldn't you wait for the doctor to release you?" Ford walked up to him and wrapped one of his big arms around Dodge’s waist to help him to the chair. Disappointment flooded through him that Jax wasn't tucked under his arm, but he had a feeling they'd have other opportunities in the future. That Little Mama cared. It was a start.