Chapter Seven

Kelly pushed his way through the thick plants trying to hinder him. After a quick but thorough recon to make sure they weren’t being followed, he felt he could rejoin the group without worry.

Nathan stood with the children in the clearing and Kelly paused to watch them for a minute, his soul drinking Nathan in. They looked good together…like a family.

Before Kelly had a chance to approach them, Nathan had spotted him and given the little girl to Brendan. G joined them, handing out juice to the little girl and the young man. Good. They would need the boost the juice would give them before the next leg of their journey.

Nathan swiftly approached him and Kelly attempted to drag Nathan into his arms where he belonged. Immediately, Nathan sidestepped Kelly’s attempt and pulled back.

Kelly could only stare at him in shock. Nathan refused to meet his gaze, which sent Kelly’s emotions rioting all over the place. What was going on? Why didn’t Nathan want to get close to him? Was it because of the others in the group? Hell, they all understood his need to reconnect, to hold the man he loved more than life itself. The man he would do anything to keep safe. They had even turned their backs to the two of them to give them a semblance of privacy.

Reaching forward, Nathan grabbed Kelly’s hand, dragging him unresisting to the far edge of the clearing. He stood there facing Kelly, nerves plainly eating him up as he gazed at the ground. Fear ran icy fingers up Kelly’s spine. Something was very wrong. Nathan hauled in a lungful of air, obviously preparing himself to say something very important but Kelly interrupted him.

“This first.”

Without giving Nathan a chance to escape, Kelly cupped Nathan’s face firmly and drew him down into a kiss. A deep, wet claiming. Nathan hesitated at first then slowly sagged into him, snaking his arms around Kelly’s waist. Relief filled Kelly. At least Nathan was still responding to him, maybe still wanted him. Releasing his face but not his lips, Kelly pulled Nathan against his body, holding him tightly. His shoulder still throbbed but he could deal with it. Right now, having Nathan close was more important.

“I needed that.” Kelly sighed against Nathan’s lips before diving in again for one more taste. Nathan opened eagerly for him before he dropped whatever bomb he had to say.

Noise in the distance had Kelly reluctantly drawing away but not letting go of the man he loved so desperately. No matter what, Nathan would know that Kelly loved him unconditionally. There was nothing, absolutely nothing that Nathan could say which would turn Kelly off or drive Kelly away.

“Kelly, I need to talk to you.”

“All right.”

Nathan reluctantly stepped out of Kelly’s arms as if he needed to put space between them, his expression anxious. What was he going to say? The air froze in Kelly’s lungs as a worst-case scenario suddenly flooded his mind. No.

“Were you raped?” he asked softly, hesitantly, afraid to press.

“What? No! Nothing like that!”

Kelly felt like a weight had lifted off his chest until Nathan began to pace in front of Kelly, unable to meet his gaze. Kelly gave him a minute to gather his thoughts, watching Nathan closely.

“It has to do with the children.”

“The children?”

Nathan gave a short, sharp jerk of his head. “You heard what Danna said. They have no father and no mother.” He stopped short.

Hugging himself, Nathan chewed his bottom lip, staring intently at Kelly, his eyes wide and pleading. “I know what it’s like to be unwanted, hurt by your parents. Those kids have been through so much pain and abuse but they are still so sweet and good-natured.”

He began to tremble and as much as Kelly wanted to gather Nathan into his arms again, he knew he had to wait for Nathan to say what was eating him up inside. Although, Kelly was beginning to suspect that he already knew what Nathan was trying so hard to put into words.

“They need me and I think…I think I need them too.”

Nathan dropped his gaze, focusing on the ground again, and swallowed hard. “I want to be their papa and I want you to be their dad. Brendan knows people who can fast-track the adoption process. I know we talked about having kids in a few years but…” Nathan paused as his voice began to wobble. “But if you don’t want to be their dad, I completely understand. I mean it’s a huge responsibility and…”

“That’s enough.” Kelly stepped up to Nathan and pressed a finger to Nathan’s lips. Nathan looked at him with his brown eyes growing very large. Kelly could see the tentative hope shining in them.

“Did you think I’d abandon them? Abandon you?” Kelly clasped Nathan on either side of his face, thumbs rubbing his cheekbones. “You are still a foolish man with not enough faith in himself or me. I love you, Nathan Kirkfield. You are everything to me. My only reason for getting up in the morning is knowing that you will be the first thing I see. I need your beautiful eyes to be the last thing I see at night. In a month, we will vow, ‘’til death do us part’.” He shrugged. “According to Granda, if it’s true love, and it is, there’s no ‘’til death’ parting, ever. You are mine and I am yours…forever.”

Kelly pressed a soft kiss to Nathan’s trembling lips. “Besides, could you just imagine our mothers dressing the kids for the wedding? It would kind of cool to have our daughter in a little bridesmaid dress throwing flowers and our son in a tiny tux carrying both rings on a pillow down the aisle.”

Nathan’s eyes were shiny as he searched Kelly’s face before a smile spread across his mouth until he was fully beaming at Kelly, tears slowly tracking down his cheeks.

“W-what did I do to ever deserve you? I love you so much.” Nathan grabbed Kelly’s head and devoured his mouth, molding his body fully to Kelly’s from shoulder to thigh as if he couldn’t get enough contact between them.

A deep groan rumbled up from Kelly’s throat as Nathan rubbed sinuously up against him like a cat. The man could make Kelly instantly hard, aching for him just by walking into the room. What hope did he have of resisting when Nathan melted any control he had without even trying? But when Nathan did try, he brought Kelly to his knees.

He wished they weren’t so exposed to the rest of the team. Gripping Nathan’s hips, he angled them away from their direct view and slid his free hand down the front of Nathan’s body until he reached the zipper to Nathan’s pants.

It was Nathan’s turn to moan as Kelly inched his zipper down and freed his hard and leaking cock, shielding his actions with their bodies. Pulling his own out, he gripped the two of them together causing them both to give a full body shudder. Kelly began to caress them from base to crown, collecting the pre-cum off their cockheads on every upstroke to ease the way.

Nathan’s head dropped to Kelly’s shoulder then he nuzzled into Kelly’s neck. He licked behind Kelly’s ear then grasped the sensitive flesh between his teeth.

“Baby…” Kelly sighed, feeling his balls draw up tight to his body as Nathan ignited a familiar fire in his veins. It felt so good to have his man in his arms again, safe and sound.

Tilting his head so that he could capture Nathan’s lips again, Kelly ran his thumb over the head of Nathan’s cock, dipping into the slit. Feeling Nathan begin to tremble and his cock harden even more, signaling Nathan’s imminent orgasm, Kelly stroked them harder, firmer while his tongue caressed Nathan’s mouth. He swallowed down Nathan’s cry as Nathan stiffened, his cock swelled and warmth flowed over Kelly’s hand. Immediately, Kelly followed him. His climax barreled over him in a wave of intense pleasure that he only felt in Nathan’s arms.

After a few moments, Kelly dug into one of the many pockets in his vest and dug out the small packet of wet wipes he always carried. He cleaned them both up and tucked Nathan and himself back into their pants. Then he just held Nathan tightly, feeling for the first time in a while like he could finally breathe.

“Excuse me, guys?”

They both looked up as Cookie interrupted them.

“Sorry to bother you but, Doc, can you spare a minute? One of the team got hurt and needs some medical assistance.”

Nathan separated from Kelly and turned to Cookie. “Of course. Who is it?”

“Me,” Cookie gasped out before his eyes rolled back into his head and he crumbled to the ground in a heap.

“Shit. Manny!” Kelly called out. “I need help here. Man down.”

All heads lifted. Both Moose and Manny scrambled to their feet and rushed in Kelly and Nathan’s direction, quickly followed by the rest of the team. Luis stayed back with the children which was clever thinking on his part. The kids didn’t need to see this.

Nathan dropped to his knees beside Cookie’s prone body and immediately went to work on him, searching for the wound. Nathan was amazing to watch when he did what he was trained to do, what he was born to do. He quickly straightened Cookie out and went over his lower body, his long surgeon’s fingers deftly running over Cookie. The man was out cold, which was probably a good thing.

“Steven’s breathing is good. His pants have blood, a lot of blood, soaked in them on the left side but no wound. It must be higher up.”

“Let me help.” Manny moved in on the other side.

He and Nathan undid and stripped the tac vest off Cookie, one shoulder at a time. The dark Kevlar fabric was also soaked on the one side. Carefully unhooking the Velcro straps, the two men pushed it aside and rather than removing the undershirt, Nathan accepted the scissors Manny handed him and quickly cut the fabric away from the wound. Cookie’s entire left side was saturated with blood coming from a bullet hole in his lower abdomen.

“Damn it. Only Cookie would manage to get hit just under the edge of the tac vest. A bloody one in a million freak shot,” Moose groused.

“Yeah,” Manny added. “But how long has he been bleeding? His clothes are soaked.”

Manny and Nathan shifted Cookie so Nathan could examine his back then laid him back down. He looked up at Kelly. “It’s a through and through. Since the smaller hole is in the back, that’s the entry point. From what I can tell the bullet missed all his organs and tore through muscle. The tightness of the vest probably helped him from bleeding out sooner. That’s the good news. The bad news is, I need to stitch this up and he needs a transfusion badly. He’s lost a hell of a lot of blood.”

“Can he be moved to a cot?” Brendan asked.

“Yeah, it would be better to get him off the ground.”

“Get him over here then. I’ve already got the tent part of this thing down.” Brendan directed them.

“Careful, don’t jostle him too much,” Nathan cautioned as he pressed the torn parts of the man’s shirts against the two wounds.

“It’s cool, Doc. We know the drill,” Frodo answered him as they lifted Cookie in unison and carried him over to the cot.

As soon as Cookie was on the cot, Manny dived for the heavier pack near the foot of the cot and pulled out a large bag with a Red Cross symbol on it. Kelly knew what he was going for. The kit was standard issue on any op and at one time or another they had all become very familiar with the contents of this pack.

Manny tore open the Velcro closure and began digging inside it. He gave Nathan wipes to clean the blood off his hands before passing him a pair of surgical gloves. He repeated the procedure with himself before donning a second pair. Manny took out a packet of gauze that he ripped open and Nathan immediately pressed it to the hole in Cookie’s back. Then Manny pulled out a pad laying it on the ground between himself and Nathan. He arranged a sterile suture kit, length of hose, needles and a blood typing kit on the pad.

“Here you go, Doc. Prepared micro screens for transfusion and needles, all the joys of home.”

“Very smooth. You’re like the Boy Scouts, always prepared.”

“Yeah, we kinda have to be. When I’m not blowing things up, I’m a field medic. What do you need next?”

“Seriously? Okay, I’m very impressed now. Blood types. I need to know blood types.”

“Well that’s easy. I’m A+.” Manny pointed at each person as he said their names.” Moose is O-, G is B+, Frodo is O- and Kelly is O-.”

“I’m AB-,” Brendan supplied.

Nathan froze then slowly he lifted his eyes until his gaze met Brendan’s. “You’re what?”

Brendan frowned. “AB-.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Why?”

“I’m AB-.”

“So? Your point is?”

Manny answered the question for him, “AB- is incredibly rare. It occurs in less than one percent of the population of North America.”

“I still don’t understand the problem. It can’t be that rare. Dad is AB- too. He cut his hand last week when he was putting up a shelf for mom and I heard him tell the doctor that he was AB-.”

Nathan appeared shell-shocked. “Neither of my biological parents were AB-. I thought I was a genetic abnormality and just ignored it.”

Manny put a hand on Nathan’s clenched fist. “Doc, you and I both know that’s not possible. One of your parents must be AB- for you to inherit that blood type.”

Kelly suddenly remembered the wedding picture that he had found back when they were selling the house that had belonged to Nathan’s biological parents. It had struck him at the time how Nathan’s parents didn’t resemble Nathan very much, except for maybe his father—a little bit. And yet, it was interesting just how much Nathan had in common with Matt, his uncle and adoptive father.

Brendan and Nathan locked gazes. The same thing had to be going through both their minds. If Nathan’s parents were not AB- and both Brendan and Nathan were…and Matt was…could it be?

Seeing them together, it was obvious how many physical characteristics they shared. They could have been real biological brothers. They were so similar in appearance. Nathan looked just like Brendan. Kelly let out a long, low breath. He wouldn’t want to be Matt when they got back.

Lucy, you got some ’splainin to do.

“Is it even possible?” Brendan whispered. “Could you really be my brother?”

“I…” Nathan began but Cookie groaned and Nathan’s attention snapped back to where it needed to be. There would be time for questions later.

“We need to get Cookie back onto the ground. Moose since you’re a universal donor, let’s start with you.”

G shook out a blanket and laid it beside the cot close to the medical supplies Manny had laid out. The men carefully moved Cookie onto it.

“Up onto the cot, please, Moose. We’re going to have do a gravity feed transfusion.”

“A what?”

“A gravity feed.” Nathan tore open the sterile wrappers for the needles, screen, and hose and then connected everything in the proper order. “It means that since we don’t have the use of a pump, we will let your heart push the blood into the hose and then let gravity pull the blood down into Cookie’s body.”

“Hold your arm steady please.” Nathan bound Moose’s upper arm with a rubber tie, tapped his elbow for a suitable vein, swiped Moose’s arm with an alcohol pad and smoothly inserted the needle.

“Damn, you’re good. Barely felt it.”

“I’ve been doing this for a long time. Practice makes perfect.” Nathan smiled at Moose before preparing Cookie’s arm and inserting the other needle. “Besides being a heart surgeon, I spend a bit of time in Trauma helping out.”

Kelly snorted. “A bit? They’d steal you permanently away from cardiology if you weren’t so damn good at it.”

Nathan laughed as he directed Manny to tip Cooke up slightly.

“Now to patch the hole so what goes in doesn’t back come out again.” Nathan immediately began stitching up the hole in Cookie’s back.

“The hole in back has to come first because gravity is pulling Cookie’s blood from it. So long as Cookie stays mostly on his back, the one on top can wait till the other one’s done,” Manny explained as he and Nathan worked together. “Plus, it’s the smaller hole, easier to fix.”

Luis and the children stood beside Brendan avidly watching even though Kelly didn’t think they should see this. Still, maybe it was good they got to see their new papa in action, see the brilliant, kind-hearted man that Nathan was.

They quickly finished closing the wound in Cookie’s back and laid him flat. From what Kelly could see, the exit wound was far worse. He knew that the force of the bullet punching through Cookie would tear flesh and fray muscle creating a huge hole as it left his body. Been there, done that.

After a few minutes, Nathan pulled the needle from Moose’s arm and switched out the needles inserting a clean one into the apparatus.

“Frodo, you’re up. Moose sit down and drink something with sugar in it. OJ if we’ve got it.”

“Here.” G handed him a juice pouch with the straw already in it. Moose took it then dropped cross-legged onto the ground.

Stitching the upper wound took longer as the damage was much worse. Nathan placed a bandage across it when he was finished then arched his back in a spine cracking stretch. Kelly winced at the sound of bones popping. Poor baby. That was a hell of a position to work curled over Cookie like he had been, especially considering how tall Nathan was.

Nathan leaned over Cookie again and lifted an eyelid then his lip, looking at Cookie’s gums. He gave a satisfied grunt and sat back onto his heels again.

“What did you just do?” Frodo asked curiously.

“Hmm? Oh, a spot check for anemia. Making sure Cookie’s tank was filling properly as it were.”

Huh. Kelly didn’t know checking for blood loss like that worked for humans as well as dogs and cats. Good to know.

Nathan clapped Manny on the shoulder. “Nice work, Manny. I’m assuming you know what comes next.”

“Thanks, Doc, and yes I do. One antibiotic and one diphenhydramine coming right up,” he replied, prepping a shot which he handed over to Nathan who injected Cookie’s hip with it while Manny prepared another shot.

“Okay, Frodo. You’re done.” Manny reached up and carefully removed the needle from Frodo’s arm while Nathan injected the second shot into Cookie’s other side. “Get some juice and relax.”

Kelly stepped forward. “Is it my turn now?”

“No, not yet. Cookie’s doing a lot better so I’ll hold you in reserve just in case.”

“Okay.”

“I get the antibiotic but what was that second shot for?” Brendan asked.

“That was so Cookie wouldn’t have an adverse allergic reaction to the blood that is being pumped into him,” Luis answered. “There are actually more factors than just blood type to consider but in a trauma situation without proper typing, this is the best that can be done.”

Nathan smiled up at Luis proudly. “Correct. Well done.”

Luis glowed at Nathan’s praise, his lips twitching up into a shy grin.

Slapping Manny on the back, Nathan bent over him to glimpse into the medical bag. “I don’t suppose you have a Ringers IV in that magical bag of yours, do you, Manny?”

“As a matter of fact, Doc, yes I do,” Manny said, hauling out the necessary equipment.

“Perfect. That bag is definitely bigger on the inside.”

“No,” Moose growled, shaking his head. “I will shoot the first person to ask the Doc if his last name is ‘Who’.”

“Awe, but Moosey…” Frodo whined.

“NO!” Moose stalked off.

Nathan looked at Manny in confusion. “What’s his problem with the Doctor?”

“He hasn’t been the same since Ten left.”

“Oh, well, that makes sense then.”

“Nathan, love, we really need to get to the pick-up point and that’s approximately five clicks, sorry kilometers away. Obviously, Cookie is not going to be able to walk that distance or any distance.”

“No. He’s going to have to be carried and carefully so his stitches don’t reopen.”

“Okay.” Kelly rubbed his chin as he analyzed the cot. “We can strap Cookie in place on the cot, and then we can take turns carrying it to the pick-up point.”

“If possible, can we give him a few more minutes before we start?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem but not too long. We really need to get out of here. The helicopter will take us to the DEA base where the plane is waiting to take us home.” Kelly paused. “Would you mind having a quick look at my shoulder? It got banged up a little bit.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

Kelly gave him a wry grimace. “Yeah, like you weren’t busy or anything.”

Giving Kelly an exasperated huff, that he knew Nathan didn’t really mean, Nathan opened Kelly’s tac vest and lifted his shirt. Pressing gently, he moved his fingers around Kelly’s scar feeling the muscles and tendons. Kelly hissed when Nathan probed a particularly tender spot.

“It seems all right,” Nathan said sympathetically to Kelly as he pulled the shirt down again. “I saw painkillers and an instant ice pack in Manny’s bag. As much as I would like to ice your shoulder, anti-inflammatory pills will have to do for now.”

“Thanks, love.” Kelly kissed Nathan as he handed him the pills and a bottle of water.

Nathan abruptly looked around, obviously searching for the kids, realizing that they no were longer there. Kelly pointed with a thumb over his shoulder and Nathan peered around him, his expression softening when he spotted them. Brendan, Luis, and Maria were speaking in rapid-fire Spanish while Jesus was curled up in Brendan’s lap, his small body snuggled against Brendan’s, thumb in his mouth, sound asleep again.

Nathan rose to his feet with a groan then slowly made his way over to Kelly. Kelly slipped his arm around Nathan who did the same, leaning into Kelly as they both watched them.

Kelly gave him a little squeeze. “Guess I’ll have to work on my Spanish, huh?”

Nathan tipped his head onto Kelly’s good shoulder. “You goof,” he murmured into Kelly’s neck. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

Smiling, Kelly rubbed his cheek into Nathan’s curls. Nathan knew damn well how many languages Kelly was fluent in.