Chapter 12: Jason

The doctor approached us silently. His head was down looking at the chart in his hands. He stopped and raised his head to look at us. "Where are this girls parents?" he asked. It was obvious that he was not one of the doctors that was in on the big secret.

"Ummm. They're in Paris right now and they can't be reached, but I'm her brother and I can take responsibility for her," Mark spoke up thinking quick. He took me and everyone else offguard.

The doctor looked at him skeptically, not sure of what to think. "Hmmm, okay, I guess. Well the wound wasn't very deep, but it did become infected in the time that it took to get her here, and she had lost a lot of blood so we had to give her a blood transfusion." We all knew what to think. She would need another one to put the tracking chips back into her blood. "She needed a few shots and some stitches, but she will be okay in a few weeks."

"Thank you, doctor," Zack said. After the doctor had left he turned to Mark, "Good thinking, Mark." That took us all offguard. Especially Mark. We all followed the doctor to Marit's room. She laid in the bed, still asleep, moaning once in awhile. "She looks pale," Zack said sitting in the chair beside her bed and taking her hand in his.

"Yeah, she does, but just give her some time. The doctor said she'd pull through, remember?" Denise said taking a seat in a chair at the end of the bed. Her knife scratches had been cleaned and covered to prevent infection. Zack nodded looking at her with loving worry. It made me sick the way they were so lovey-dovey. JC and Denise, too. That made me even sicker. He took a seat beside Denise and put his arm around her. She snuggled up to him in return. I rolled my eyes and glanced over at Mark who was staring intently at Marit as if he had some kind of thought on his mind.

"Mark?" I whispered moving closer. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," he replied glancing at me for a moment and then returning his gaze to Marit.

"C'mon, man. I know there's something wrong. You're in deep thought. C'mon tell me," I begged nudging him with my elbow.

"Okay, fine. But not here. Let's go out into the hall," he said grabbing my upper arm and pulling me toward the door. He opened it and pulled me out then gently closed the door behind him.

"What is it?" I asked putting my nose into his business.

"Jason, I-" he broke off and dropped his head to his chest, almost shamefully.

"What, Mark?"

"I think I have a crush on Marit," he finished keeping his head down and his eyes to the floor.

I was shocked. I'd never seen it coming. Marit and Mark? What had happened down in that ravine that had changed his perspective of her? I couldn't believe it. I laughed, "You're kidding, right?" He raised his eyes to look at me. He wasn't joking. I stopped laughing. "But how? I thought you hated her," I demanded confused.

"I just didn't like her, but being down in that ravine gave us a little bit of time to get to know each other, and I think I have a crush on her," he explained. "I mean when I saw her laying on the ground bleeding to death, I felt like crying, like I would be lost if I lost her. Like we were in a relationship. It was really confusing."

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" I cried out, but quickly lowered my voice remembering that we were in a hospital. "What are you going to do about it?"

"What can I do? She's in love with Zack and I'm no match for him in any way. She would never leave him to be with me," he said sadly looking in the window on the door at Zack holding Marit's still hand.

"I guess you're right. You've got to get rid of those feelings, man. You can't let anyone know about this," I said almost panicking. If he could form a crush on Marit, who was to say he couldn't come up with a crush on Denise? And she was MY girl, not his.

"I know, I know, I've been trying to do that, but it's so hard to do when you feel so bad for her," he said.

"Hey, maybe it's just compassion for her situation that you're feeling," I suggested hopefully. He turned his eyes on me, slim hope shining through them.

"Maybe," he mumbled glancing back into the room. "C'mon, let's go back in there before they get suspicious." He opened the door and entered the room silently. I followed and closed the door.

"What were you two doing out there?" Denise asked curiously.

"Just having a man-to-man talk," I said stepping up beside Mark.

"A man-to-man? How can you have one of those when you're not even a man?" Denise asked laughing a little. JC laughed with her.

"Ha ha ha, shut up," Mark sneered.

Marit moaned and moved a bit, taking her hand from Zack's. When she couldn't roll onto her side because of the pain caused by the pressure, her eyes flared open and she sat up in the bed. A cry rolled from her lips and she collapsed back to the bed once again. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, Marit. But you're going to be okay. The doctor said so," Zack said taking her hand again and kissing the back of it happily. I glanced over at Mark who winced when Zack's lips touched her skin.

"So I'm not dead? No-I couldn't be. Otherwise it wouldn't hurt so much," she mumbled closing her eyes weakly.

Zack laughed a little. "Do you remember what happened, Marit?" he asked her.

"When? What injured me? Or when they took me from the ravine? I don't really remember anything else after that, except that I had a dream, and you were there," she added especially for Zack. He smiled, Mark frowned.

"Never mind. It's not important," Zack said laying his head down on her arm as she fell back to sleep.

"We better go," Denise said standing up and heading for the door. JC rose and followed her.

"You coming, Zack?" JC asked.

"No. I'm going to stay here until she wakes up," he said keeping his head on her arm. JC nodded and they left.

I turned to leave as well and had to catch Mark who stood stock-still. "Mark, we better go. Are you going to be alright?"

He nodded and turned to follow me out the door. It wasn't bad for a second mission that wasn't really wanted. In fact, I don't know if you'd really call it a mission. Either way, we'd all come out alive and ready for another one.