"Is she alright?" Toby asked.

"More or less," Sam said. "She's pretty cold and wet. We're gonna take her back to Josh's."

Toby turned immediately and headed toward the shops in Union Station in search of CJ. "Where was she?"

Sam hesitated momentarily, listening as Josh talked, more to himself than to a shaking Donna in the backseat. "Lafayette Park," he said quietly.

"My God," Toby said. "For how long?"

"Long enough," Sam said. "Listen, she's gonna need some clothes, but we're...well, we're not gonna go back to her apartment tonight. If you guys could stop by, we'll give you a key and maybe CJ could pack some things."

"Not a problem," Toby said as he jogged up the stairs. "We'll see you in a few minutes." He snapped the phone shut as he reached the second level.

************

"I don't have a towel, a blanket, or anything," Josh said as he pushed the hood of Donna's jacket off her head. The soaked material hit her back with a loud thwap. Her hair was plastered to her scalp, and Josh brushed a few dripping ringlets out of her face with his gloved hand. "We should have taken Sam's car. He's probably got a whole emergency supply kit in his trunk."

Donna didn't respond other than to meet his eyes momentarily before she went back to shaking and staring at her knees. Josh pushed Sam's coat back off her shoulders. "Take this off," he tugged gently on the zipper of her soaked Redskins jacket. "Sam's coat isn't much drier, but anything's gotta be better than that thing right now."

Donna fumbled with the zipper but she was shaking so badly she couldn't quite close her fingers around it, so Josh unzipped the jacket the rest of the way and peeled it off her shivering shoulders. The black long-sleeve t-shirt she wore underneath was just as soaked, he noticed with more than a hint of concern, but this was the best they could do for now. They'd get her in a hot bath when they got home.

He held Sam's coat back up, but Donna just wrapped her arms around herself, shivering some more. "Donna," he said softly. She looked up at him expectantly. "Put this on," he prodded gently. She looked back at the coat behind her and fumbled to get her arms in the sleeves. Josh frowned again at the difficulty she was having, but he didn't know what else to do for her in the car. "We're not far," he said before biting down on the tip of the middle finger of his right glove and pulling his hand out of it. "Put this on." He laid it in her lap as he pulled off the left glove. 

Donna stared at the glove in her lap. "Y-your s-surp-pris-se," she stammered.

He smiled lopsidedly at her. "Yeah, and they're pretty warm, too. That was good foresight on your part." Seeing her make no move to put on the right glove, he picked up her left hand to slide that one on. He blanched when he felt the temperature of her skin for the first time. "God, Donna, your hands are freezing," he breathed as he pulled the glove on hastily and reached for the other.

"I'm fr-freez-zing," she countered shakily. "Oww," she moaned when he pulled the right glove on quickly.

"Sorry," he said as he pulled off his scarf. "I bet they're numb."

Donna held up her hand, now encased in Josh's glove and stared at it pitifully. "It hur-rts," she said. "N-not n-numb if-f it h-hurts." 

"Right," he said distractedly as he looped his scarf around her neck, then, almost as an afterthought, laid his hand on her cheek for a second.

Her face felt like ice, and he felt that nervous flutter in his chest again. Her hands were always a little cold, so he figured that was probably the coldest part of her, but her face shouldn't...it was almost like his hand was warmer when he wasn't touching her.

"Hey," he laid his other hand on the other side of her head, moving her face so she was looking up at him, instead of at her hands, with which she seemed to have an inordinate fascination at the moment. "Donna? Are you sure you're alright?"

She just turned her cheek further into the palm of his hand. "Y-you're warm-m," she stuttered softly as she closed her eyes.

"Donna, answer me," he tilted her head back toward the center.

"What's going on?" Sam asked from the driver's seat.

"I'm not sure," Josh said, furrowing his brow. "She's a little...she feels colder than I expected." He reached up to turn on the interior light and inhaled sharply. Her typically pale skin was as white as he'd ever seen it, with almost a blue tinge under her eyes, hidden up until now by the darkness and shadows of the park and the car. Her eyes looked just the slightest bit dazed as she continued to shiver badly.

"Sam?" Josh said softly. "I think maybe you should..." Donna was watching him closely and he didn't want to panic her. He was panicked enough for them both.

"What?" Sam said glancing into the backseat. His facial expression changed noticeably once he saw her in the yellow glow of the interior light. She coughed suddenly, bending forward toward her knees.

Josh took the opportunity. "I don't wanna jump the gun, but I've never seen..."

"Yeah, screw that," Sam said, taking a turn he hadn't planned. "We're gonna be safe this time."

"I'm s-so collld," Donna whined as the coughs finally trailed off. Josh turned back to her, unsure of what to tell her.

"I know." He glanced at the driver's console. "We've got the heater on, but it was just really cold out there. C'mere." He pulled her knees until her legs were across his, and she was sitting sideways in the seat. He pulled her against him, but she surprised him with another series of jagged coughs, more violent and persistent than the last. She wheezed a little when they subsided, fighting for air, and when she finally leaned against his body again and buried her face in his neck, he could hear the crackling in her lungs. "You're getting worse," he said softly, running a hand up and down her spine.

She nodded weakly, her body jerking in every direction at once as she shook. "I g-got sssome med-dicccine, b-but—" she coughed suddenly once, then slumped against his shoulder, too tired to finish the thought.

"I know," Josh said soothingly. "We've got it." He looked up as Sam turned onto 23rd Street and knew the time had come to tell her about the change of plans. "Listen, we're gonna get somebody to take a look at you before we go home."

"Hmm?" Donna mumbled with her eyes closed.

"Don't let her go to sleep," Sam said, looking at them both in the rear view mirror.

"Donna," Josh shook her awake, harder than he should have had to. "Stay awake, OK? We're gonna get somebody to take a look at you, make sure you're OK before we go home."

She furrowed her brow, not really understanding. "I'm c-cold, Josshh," she whined. "Jussst wan-na..." she finally noticed a sign pointing to the GW Emergency entrance and began to protest immediately.

"N-nooo!" she nearly shouted.

"Donna!" he chastised.

"I donnn't nee-eed it," she chattered.

Josh stared at her, unbelieving. "You don't need it? You can't even say you don't need it."

"Joshh, pleeeeassse," the stammering had slowly started to change to a slur over the last few minutes.

"I'm sorry, Donna," he said as Sam pulled the car to a stop and ran around to open the door closest to them. "I know you don't wanna deal with anybody right now. But you...look, this is the way it's gonna be, like I said. I just want you to get checked out."

They extracted her from the car and laid her on a gurney with the help of some orderlies, with Donna protesting weakly all the way. She fumbled for Josh's hand as they rolled her inside and he gave it to her, forcing his face not to betray his shock at how much worse she looked in the bright florescent lights of the ER.

She panicked momentarily, deciding to roll off the gurney and effectively halt her progress into the ER, but when she started moving around she realized they'd secured her to the gurney with a safety belt, just to keep her from falling off as they wheeled her along.

She looked up at Josh with tears in her eyes. "Damn you," she muttered angrily, without a trace of a slur or a stammer.

Josh smirked, pleased more than anything to see a fighting spirit still at work within her. "That's fine," he said. "But you see who's getting his way," he lifted their joined hands a little and pointed at himself with his index finger, "And who has to deal with it." He pointed at her.

"W-what els-se is newww," she drawled. "Don't w-want—"

"Donna," Josh pleaded, well-aware of the nurse standing close by listening to the conversation. "I need you to say you'll let them help you."

Her eyes flashed angrily at him. "I don't want—"

"Listen to me," he leaned close to her face. "You can be as mad at me as you want. I don't care. But if you can honestly tell me that you don't need...Donna, they need your permission to treat you. I need you to give it to them."

She stared at him for a moment, teeth chattering, anger boiling over, considering giving in to her desire to refuse treatment out of dread for what was coming and spite for Josh overriding her.

"Donna, I don't know what to do for you," Josh whispered softly, eyes bright. "I think you're too cold, and I'm not sure how to fix it without accidentally making you worse. If you won't let them help you, then that leaves me and Sam winging it, and I think you've gotta ask yourself...who would you rather have working on you? Trained doctors and nurses, or..."

Donna closed her eyes. She hated it when he was right and she was wrong. "Ok-kay."

Josh breathed a sigh of relief. The nurse began persistently pulling him away from her side, telling him he had to give them room and peppering him with questions about how she got in this condition. "They're gonna warm you up," he leaned over and kissed the chilly skin on her cheek, forcing himself not to gasp at the fact that she somehow felt even colder than before. "I'm gonna be right outside."

Donna cried out as another nurse slid her sneaker off her right foot. "Painful sensations in the extremities," she reported, quite unnecessarily.

"Sir," the first nurse started back in on Josh. "The best way to help her is to give us room to work and answer the questions that we ask you," she said.

Josh nodded, stepping away reluctantly, but Donna's gloved hands tightened as best they could around his. "Donnn't..." she tried, almost drowsily, then shook her head. "Ssstay."

"I...I can't," he said apologetically, brushing his fingertips across her temple. "I won't go far." He motioned to the door not far from Donna's feet. "I'll be right there. I won't leave. I promise."

With that, the nurse grabbed him by the shoulders, pushing him up against the doorjamb and commanding him to stay.

"What have we got?" Dr. Marcus Bennett rounded the corner into the room at a breakneck speed.

"Female, early 30s, conscious, semi-alert, with labored breathing," one of the nurses ticked off. "Exposure," she said as the rest of the medical team made quick work of peeling or cutting off the soaked clothes Donna was wearing and bundling her in a dry blanket.

Bennett, far more immersed in treating Donna than looking at her, didn't recognize her as he pressed a stethoscope to her chest. "Mucus in the lungs, probably an unrelated infection there," he said. "Core temp?"

"Working on it," another nurse said.

"Did the medics do anything during transport?" Bennett asked, obviously annoyed as he threaded his stethoscope back over his shoulders.

"Medics didn't transport her," the nurse said. "Core temp 94.8."

"Okay, big surprise, she's hypothermic," Bennett said, carefully examining her fingers. "Standard protocol, let's start an IV. Bolus her with a liter of D5 normal saline, warmed. Let's get her core temp up." He gently squeezed the fingers on Donna's right hand, which had since been stripped of Josh's glove, and she flinched. It was then that he noticed the healing cuts on her wrist. He turned it over carefully, then took a look at the other, finally reaching up to move the blanket aside and check her shoulder before moving ahead with his exam. "I don't like her color. Poor capillary refill in the fingers," he said. "And toes," he added moving to her feet. Let's wrap her in a hot air blanket, but be mindful of her extremities, we've got the potential for some further damage."

"Pulse is 88," the nurse reported.

Bennett nodded, pulling his stethoscope from around his neck again. "Not bad. Name?" He didn't receive an answer, as everyone buzzed around him, preparing the IV and blanket. "Anybody?"

"Donna Moss," Josh and Donna replied in unison.

Bennett glanced momentarily at Josh and seemed to barely register a familiarity, but he didn't have the time. He leaned over his patient. "We meet again," Bennett said with a well-practiced reassuring smile, which Donna weakly returned. "Donna, take a deep breath for me, OK?" he said, pressing the stethoscope back to her chest.

Donna complied, but the exhalation became a cough as Bennett listened to her lung sounds. "Try again," he said, moving the stethoscope. Donna did. "Again," Bennett said. She was more successful this time. He moved the stethoscope under her to her back. "And again." The last breath was a little ragged.

"You brought her in?" Bennett asked Josh across the room.

"Yeah."

"Was she submerged?"

Josh shook his head, trying to swallow the lump in his throat and keep himself upright as he watched the medical team bring out some of the scarier looking implements of the trade. "In the rain. She was sick before, she...went to the doctor this morning with a bad cold."

"With acute bronchitis," Bennett corrected. "Which is now worse. How long was she out there?"

"We don't know," Josh said remorsefully as Sam approached from behind after moving the car. "Could be since it started raining."

Bennett breathed out slowly. "Okay. Is she allergic to any medications?"

"No," Donna answered softly.

"And she's in good health otherwise?" Bennett asked, watching as the nurse secured a tourniquet above Donna's left elbow.

Josh nodded mutely.

"Okay," Bennett said. "Sir, I need you step out. I'll be out to talk to you in a minute." He turned back to Donna. "Donna, your body temperature has dropped a little lower than we'd like, so we're gonna warm you back up using heated IV fluids. We're wrapping you in blankets to keep you from losing any more heat. You're gonna feel much better in a little while. We're gonna insert the IV now, so you're gonna feel a little stick in your left arm, OK?" Donna nodded. "Let's get her head dry as quickly as possible," Bennett said as the nurse bent over Donna's arm to start the IV. "All the blankets in the world aren't gonna do any good while her scalp's wet."

The nurse tried twice unsuccessfully to hit a vein in Donna's arm, but her low temperature made the job much more difficult. Donna yelped on the second try, and Josh bit his lip.

"It's the cold," Bennett said and the nurse nodded. "Let's try a warm towel," he came around the side of the bed took the nurse's place by Donna's left arm. "You left your veins at home today, didn't you, Donna?" he said amiably. "I'm gonna numb the area with a little lidocaine so it won't hurt so much."

He slid the needle of a delicate syringe just beneath the surface of her skin and injected the lidocaine, and Donna braced herself against the stinging sensation. The nurse handed Bennett a heated towel, which he wrapped her arm in momentarily. "We'll give that a second to take effect, warm your arm up a little and see if we can't get those veins to come out and play for a minute."

He watched her vitals on a monitor as he pressed the towel against her skin, then pulled it away and did another pass with an alcohol-soaked piece of gauze before bending over her with the needle. "Got it," he said.

Sam finally reached forward and took Josh by the elbow, pulling him back through the doors and into the hallway. "What did he say?"

"He didn't really, at least not to me," Josh ran a hand through his own wet hair. "Hypothermia, but I don't know how bad or what lasting..."

"Yeah," Sam nodded.

"And something about the bronchitis being worse," Josh said, leaning against the wall.

"No kidding," Sam said, thinking back to all the coughing Donna had done in the car. "I'm sure he'll tell us in a minute."

Josh nodded, trying to banish the image of the large needle from his mind.

"She was pretty pissed," Sam said with a small smile.

"I don't care," Josh said. "Besides, she got over it, I think."

Sam took a deep breath and a moment to gather his thoughts. "I called Toby and told him, he and CJ are on their way here."

Josh nodded distractedly. "I hope we didn't..."

"Josh, look at them in there," Sam motioned to the flurry of activity around the bed. "This was not an overreaction, okay?"

"I know. I just...considering everything, I just don't wanna do anything to make her feel worse, you know?"

"Speaking of making her worse..." Josh looked at him expectantly. "You said in the park you wanted to call Stanley."

"Yeah," Josh remembered suddenly, reaching for his phone. "Will you stay right here so she doesn't—"

"Yeah," Sam nodded, waving him away.

Josh walked back toward the entrance while he waited for an answer on the other end of the line. When he got one, he told Stanley, without much preamble, the 30-second version of what had happened. Stanley listened wordlessly as Josh detailed Packard's release, Donna's disappearing act, the search, and the state she was in when they found her.

"What's her condition now? Will she be alright?" Stanley asked.

"I don't know," Josh rubbed at his eye tiredly. "I think so. They're working on her now. I think it's hypothermia, and maybe some other things, I'm not sure. The doctor said he'd be out to talk to us in a minute."

Stanley pressed his shoulders into the back of the chair. Dammit. She'd made so much progress in just a few days. This was a temporary setback, but it was also a rather large one. "Okay," he was silent for a moment. "Alright. Josh, I'm gonna catch the next flight I can get and I'll see you in the morning."

Josh stopped dead in his tracks in front of the ER's sliding-glass entrance. "You think you need to see her in person?"

Stanley propped his chin in his hand and ran a finger over his eyebrow. It was obvious Josh was still dealing with a bit of shock and denial as well.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do. She probably won't feel up to it tonight anyway, but I'll be there tomorrow and we'll play it by ear," he said. "Is anybody with the two of you up there?"

Josh was too distracted to pick up on the context. "Sam and I were together when we found her," he said. "CJ and Toby...are actually walking in the door right now," he said as he heard the doors sliding open and looked to his right.

Stanley was pleased to know Josh and Donna weren't alone after what they'd just been through...and were going through. "Good. I'll let you get back to Donna, then. Listen, Josh...I...well, I'll be there in the morning, but just...would you mind if I gave you a piece of unsolicited advice?"

Josh furrowed his brow. "Sure, Stanley," he said slowly.

"When things start to slow down a little, it's really gonna hit you, all of you, what's happened. The worry, the fear, it's all gonna catch up with you. You might even find yourself growing angry with her for scaring the living hell out of you, which is exactly what she did. And you have every right in the world to feel that way. But if you could just...if she seems to want to talk to you, let her, but...try not to force any of tonight's issues until after I've had the chance to sit with her, okay? I'll sit down with you, with any of you guys if you want to once I get out there, but...just be prepared for a delayed emotional reaction on your part, okay? Don't let it sneak up on you and overwhelm you."

"Yeah," Josh said, swatting CJ away gently as she fussed over him and tried to dry him off a little with her scarf. "I understand."

"Somebody should stay with her tonight if they don't admit her," Stanley said. "A couple somebodys, even. After the day you've had, you don't need to sit up all night."

"Ahkay," Josh said distractedly, still dodging CJ's mothering. "I wanna get back down there."

"Go," Stanley said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks, Stanley."

"No problem."

Josh flipped the phone shut. "Would you stop?"

"You're soaked," CJ said.

"You should see Donna," Josh said tiredly, walking them back toward where Sam was waiting.

"How's she doing?" Toby asked.

"We're waiting to talk to the doctor."

"I think things are slowing down in there," Sam said, craning his neck to look through the doors. The cold had begun to catch up with him, and he'd unconsciously folded his arms across his chest and tucked his hands under his elbows in search of warmth. Toby, CJ and Josh followed Sam's gaze but couldn't make out much with the number of people crammed in the tiny room.

CJ reached up and brushed Sam's wet hair back off his forehead. "The two of you look like cast rejects from 'Singin' in the Rain.'"

Sam smiled lopsidedly but distractedly. "I'm not much of a tap dancer," he said, peering through the doorway.

Dr. Bennett backed away from the bed and stripped his latex gloves off before he stepped out into the hallway. He stopped short at the sight of the four people he'd seen during Donna's earlier visit. "I see the gang's all here," he mused quietly. He addressed Josh directly. "She's got a mild case of hypothermia as a result of her exposure to the cold and rain. We're taking steps to bring her core temperature back up, and you'll see a marked improvement once we do. She's gonna need to take it easy and get plenty of rest, but she won't have any lasting effects. There's no sign of frostbite or any of the other typical complications we see with an exposure case."

Josh narrowed his eyes in concentration. "To bring her temperature back up, you said you were using an IV..."

"Warmed IV fluids," Bennett nodded. "It's not enough, when hypothermia's already set in, to simply put the patient in a warmer environment. The core temperature has to be raised, from the inside out. That's what this treatment does."

Josh nodded, taking the information in. "You said the bronchitis was worse…"

"Yeah," Bennett took Donna's chart from a nurse and flipped it open, making a few notations. "She was having a little trouble breathing, and with all that coughing she's got to be pretty miserable. So I'm also doing a breathing treatment. We're gonna have her inhale moisturized, warmed oxygen while she's on the IV. It will loosen up some of the congestion in her chest and make her feel a little better, and it has the added benefit of helping to raise her core temperature as well."

Toby spoke up from behind CJ. "Will she have to stay overnight?"

"I'm not ready to make that call yet," Bennett scanned Donna's chart. "I wanna see how she responds for the next few hours, try to get her on some warm liquids, that type of thing. At any rate, if you're planning on staying, you ought to get settled in. And arrangements should be made for her to stay with someone if she lives alone for the next night or two, assuming I don't admit her."

Bennett closed the chart and looked up at the group. "Just out of curiosity, do you people always travel in a pack, or…"

"Yes," they all responded in unison.

"Okay," Bennett shrugged. He pointed at Sam and Josh. "The two of you need to get changed into something dry. We're getting her settled in Curtain 4 right now, and once that's done you can see her, one person at a time. Jeanette," he called to the nurse behind the counter. "Hook these gentlemen up with two sets of scrubs, please."

Josh and Sam both started to wave off the offer, but Bennett cut them off.

"You can change, or you can stay like that, and with the draft from that door coming through here," he pointed toward the entrance, "in a few hours I'll put you both in beds beside your friend for the same treatment. I'll come get you when you can see her."

Jeanette appeared in front of them moments later with two sets of blue scrubs and two threadbare towels. "You can get changed in here," she said, pulling the curtain around an empty bed.

Toby and CJ headed back to the waiting area, where they were joined by Leo a few minutes later.

"What's the word?" he said, shaking the excess water off his coat.

"Mild hypothermia, and the bronchitis from this morning is worse," Toby said. "They're warming her up and giving her some kind of treatment to help her breathe easier now."

"They may or may not admit her, depending on how well she responds," CJ said.

"Have you seen her?" Leo asked.

"Not yet," Toby said, spotting Sam and Josh coming down the hall in the dry scrubs. "The doctor's supposed to come back once they get her settled in a bed." He nodded behind Leo. "You remember Doctors Seaborn and Lyman."

Leo turned around and spread his hands in question. "What happened to you two?"

"We got wet," Sam said as if he couldn't believe Leo hadn't made the connection.

"What are you doing here?" Josh asked.

"Toby's been keeping me apprised all evening, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for you," Leo arched an eyebrow at him.

Josh scraped a hand down his face. "I forgot, Leo."

"I know," he said in tone that communicated forgiveness. "Is she gonna be okay?"

"I don't know," Josh said. "Physically, yes, I think. But I have no idea where she is as far as the other thing."

"You found her in the middle of Lafayette—"

"Curled up on a park bench in the dark, in the rain, soaking wet, and shaking so badly she could barely talk," Josh said.

Leo shook his head in disbelief. "Why wouldn't she just go somewhere where she could at least get out of the—"

"I don't know!" Josh said, voice rising steadily. "How am I supposed to—" he took a deep breath and stared at his feet for a minute. "I don't know, but I think she just…she's so scared of this guy, and this was what she was more afraid of than anything. Him not being behind bars. I guess when she heard, she just…shut down. I don't know, maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about." He turned and took a few paces away from the group.

Leo breathed out through his nose. "You know who would know?"

Josh ran a hand through his damp hair as he exhaled loudly. "He's on his way."

Leo raised his eyebrows. "Seriously?"

Josh nodded.

"Good," Leo said.

"Excuse me," Dr. Bennett said. The group turned to face him. "I see we have someone new. This is exciting," Bennett said with a little smile. His amusement with this obviously close, but incredibly off-beat crew of people was growing steadily. He cleared his throat. "You can see her if you like," he said to Josh.

Josh nodded and followed Bennett down the hall.

"How did you find her in the park?" Leo asked Sam.

"I'm really not even sure," Sam said. "We were just driving by, and Josh somehow spotted her. I hate to think what…if we hadn't…" he trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence aloud. "You should have seen her, Leo," he said softly.

********************

"Mr. Lyman, we don't ask 'why' when we treat patients out of morbid curiosity or some attempt to invade their privacy," Dr. Bennett said on the way down the long hall. "We don't care what got them in the condition to need our help, beyond what clues it might provide as far as the best treatment give. But I have to…from her body temperature, she spent several hours out there, and she's hesitant to offer any explanation as to why. I'm not her primary care physician, so I'm stepping out here a little bit, but…look, what I'm saying is that I need a reason not to order a psych consult for her."

Josh stopped in his tracks and shook his head. "She's not…" he trailed off and looked at the ceiling. "Well, ahkay, she is. She's…you know, a little…but she's talked to somebody."

"She saw someone after the robbery?" Bennett said. "Because I can refer her again if—"

"She saw a private counselor. She's seen him several times, and she'll be seeing him again. A lot, if what happened tonight is any indication," Josh said. "I appreciate your concern, but she doesn't need…there's no need for the psych consult. She's seeing someone. A trauma specialist. I've already called him."

"You mind if I ask how often she pulls stunts like this?"

"She hasn't before," Josh said, falling into step beside him again. "She's been pretty upset off and on this last week, but she was really starting to pick up some steam these last few days. And then…"

"The bastard makes bail," Bennett said. "I saw it on the news this afternoon."

Josh raised his eyebrows, surprised at the level of emotion from Dr. Bennett.

"I treated half the people from the bank that night, including signing off on the security guard," Bennett said by way of explanation. He shook his head frustratedly. "I don't understand people sometimes. I don't understand what makes them want to shoot and stab and beat each other with such fervor and frequency. But they do. I should know; I patch them back together every single day. When they can be patched back together, that is. Anyway, I just wanted to be sure she was talking to somebody."

Bennett pulled back a curtain and Donna was there, propped up on a more comfortable-looking looking gurney than she was wheeled in on. It was a bed designed for a longer stay, he realized with a pang in his chest. Josh's heart beat hard against the inside of his ribcage when he saw her. She looked both better than when he'd last seen her and pitiful at the same time, wrapped from shoulders to feet in layers of blankets, hooked up to several different monitors and the IV tube, large oxygen mask covering her nose and mouth, attached to a wide hose that snaked down her chest and off the bed. A small towel was wrapped around her head. Her eyes were closed, but even from this distance, he could tell she wasn't really sleeping.

"She'll probably doze on and off during the treatments," Bennett said. "Her system's been through a lot. It's OK to touch her, but her skin's a little sensitive and more prone to damage because of the exposure, so be careful, especially with her hands. Keep her as covered up as possible unless she complains of being hot. We'll be back to check on her periodically."

"It's OK for her to sleep?" Josh asked, never taking his eyes off Donna.

"It is now," Bennett said. "We're monitoring her core temperature, and if it drops again or if she spikes a fever, which is a possibility, especially with the bronchitis, an alarm will go off to let us know. So there's no danger in letting her get some rest."

"Can she talk with that thing?" Josh asked softly.

"It's just a mask," Bennett said. "She's not intubated. She can talk, but it's better if she takes regular breaths so the O2 can do its work, so try not to let her just ramble on." Josh smiled softly. "Let us know if you need anything. I'll be back in a while."

Bennett closed the curtain behind him and Josh approached the bed slowly. She opened her eyes drowsily when she sensed he was near, and beneath the mask he could see her lips spread into a sleepy grin. "Don't you look cute," she said slowly, with only a trace of a stammer.

He couldn't help but smile as he bent over the bed. "Before you consider any new career options, it's important to see how you look in the appropriate garb." He leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead, and was relieved to discover that, while her face still felt cool, it wasn't the same shocking cold he'd felt in the car. "Hi," he whispered against her skin.

"Hi," came her soft reply, muffled by the mask.

Josh moved to her temple and pressed another kiss there. "How ya feelin'?"

"A little better," she whispered, fogging up the inside of the mask with every breath. "Kinda tired."

"I'll bet," he found he couldn't raise his voice above a whisper and couldn't stop kissing every exposed bit of skin on her face as he pressed his lips to her cheek just below the elastic strap that held the mask on. "It's gonna take a while to warm you back up. Go to sleep."

She shook her head slowly and moved her left arm under the blanket to reach for him, wincing as she jostled the IV line.

"Be careful," he admonished, placing a light hand on her shoulder to still her arm and peeling back the blankets on impulse so he could see if she'd hurt herself. "Ouch," he said as he got his first good look at IV. 

"Feels-s weird," she drawled slightly as a small shiver shook her. "I can feel it…can feel the warmth as it flows into the vein."

He was unsure whether the sensation was real or her imagination, but he was sure he didn't like looking at the spot where the tubing sank beneath her skin. "I bet that does feel weird." He replaced the blanket and looked back into her eyes.

She watched him for a few seconds, exhaling loudly into the mask. "Mad at me?"

"For what?" he asked. He still couldn't bring himself to speak above a whisper.

She let her eyes wander around the curtained space for a minute, but stringing together a detailed answer seemed like too much work. "For having a nutty," was what she finally settled on.

Josh cocked his head to one side. "I am not mad at you for having a nutty."

"I meant…" she paused as she breathed heavily into the mask once or twice, trying to tamp down a threatening cough. "Are you mad at me because I worr-worried you."

"You bet your ass I am, Donna," he whispered softly, brushing his knuckles gently across her cheek.

She closed her eyes and little tears appeared at the corners. "I'm sorry, Josh."

"It's okay. We'll deal with it later." He lightly ran a fingertip across her cheek just above the elastic strap.

One tear escaped the corner of her eye and trailed across her temple into her hair. "When I heard he was...when I heard he was out. I just...I don't know, it was like my brain stopped working. I didn't know what...I just couldn't think straight." Her breathing quickened, became more shallow as she fought tears.

"Listen to me," his voice was still very low, but it was firm as he bent close to her face. "Donna, you can't talk about this right now. You're tired and you're sick, and you don't need to get worked up."

She shook her head, her silent protest, her only form of resistance.

"Donna," he got even louder. "This is not the time."

"Gotta do it sooner or later," she mourned.

"Later, then," he said. "I...I called Stanley. He'll be here in the morning. He'll talk it through with you."

She looked up at the ceiling tiles for one second before her face contorted into a sob. "I..." she took a deep breath, ignoring the protest her lungs made. "Look at me, Josh. I mean, just look," he saw a small movement beneath the blankets that must have been her arm indicating her body. His eyes traveled the length of her, bundled in so many layers she looked to be twice her real size, big menacing needle in her arm, big mask covering her face, blue tinge still visible under a pair of exhausted, haunted eyes. "I am royally fucked up," she declared, sounding young as the mask muffled her voice.

"Huh uh," Josh brushed his thumb across her forehead, unable to keep his hands off of her. She shot him a 'get real' look. "Ahkay," he said, leaning his head from side to side. "We are. A little bit. But we're gonna be alright."

She huffed exasperatedly, turning the mask white. "How do you know that, Josh?"

"I told you this morning," he whispered. "I believe in the eventual, but utterly complete triumph of Donna Moss."

Through the plastic he saw the corners of her mouth turn up slowly as her eyes drifted closed. "And the rightness of you," she drawled sleepily.

"Not so much with me and the rightness," he said softly, more than a hint of sorrow in his voice. "Why don't you go to sleep? You're not supposed to be talking that much on this thing anyway." He tapped the edge of his fingernail against the mask.

"Feels really weird," she mumbled, only half awake. He nodded, sitting down in the chair beside the gurney and draping an arm over her, unwilling to loose contact, but refusing to risk hurting her hand, which was buried somewhere beneath all the blankets anyway.

"Go to sleep. I'll be right here."

She didn't respond, but her breathing evened out in seconds. He watched her for a few minutes before he finally leaned his head forward on the gurney, tiring suddenly in the relative silence of the room. The top of his head was resting gently against her hip, his forehead was against the scratchy sheet, and it was only moments before he was lured into a light sleep by the beep of the IV monitor as it released each drop of solution into the tube, and the rhythmic, amplified sound of Donna's breathing through the mask.

************************

He didn't budge from that position until he felt a pressure on the back of his head. A gentle, familiar pressure that slowly snaked its fingers into his hair. He rolled his head to the side and smiled, planting a kiss in her palm without even opening his eyes.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," she whispered, the gentle words sounding harsh through the mask.

He opened his eyes to see she looked worlds better and he couldn't stop grinning. "Hey," he whispered, clearing his throat when his voice came out hoarse. "You look better."

"I feel better," she nodded. "We fell asleep."

"Yeah," he dragged his hand down his face, then looked down at her hand, which had dropped to his arm when he sat up. He picked it up as gently as he knew how. "Does this hurt?" He noticed the skin on her hands still felt too cold.

She squinted a little as she searched her sluggish brain for words to describe the sensation. "It just feels a little tender. Like you've got sandpaper on your hands or something."

He kissed the back of her hand gently. "You're supposed to stay covered up, you know," he tucked her arm back under the blanket, but kept his hand there with it. He looked at his watch. "We slept about 20 minutes. Feels like longer."

"I know," she breathed. I woke up when they came in and started a new IV bag." She looked back at the full, clear bag hanging on the IV pole over her head, then back at Josh with a little smile. "He said I'm 1.4 degrees warmer than when I came in here."

Josh's eyebrows shot up. "Was he worried about fever?"

Donna shook her head. "He said everything looked OK for now."

"Well, that's a start," Josh said. "You should have woken me up to talk to him."

Donna shook her head. "He said you didn't need to. They still won't let me take this thing off, even though I can breathe fine." She lifted her other hand out of the blankets and tugged on the hose connected to the oxygen mask.

"Stop!" Josh admonished, tucking her other hand back under the blanket. "Can't you follow simple instructions?"

"It hurts my face," she moaned. "I think it's on too tight."

"I know you're feeling better if you're starting to whine," he said, reaching up and fiddling with the elastic straps attached to the mask. "That's as loose as I can get it."

They were nose to nose except for the mask, and he found himself staring into her eyes. They looked tired, and sad, but they were more alert than they'd been since they found her in the park, and his heart leapt. She reached up clumsily and pawed at the mask and he lifted it off of her face, pulling it down toward her chin momentarily as he pressed his lips to hers. Her nose felt a little cool against his, but her lips were warm and moist from the oxygen.

"Still mad at me?" she asked against his lips.

He pulled back momentarily, only to lean in and kiss her again gently. "Yes ma'am." He replaced the mask. "That's the last time we're taking it off." He couldn't help but grin as he listened to her slightly sped-up breathing.

"Don't need it," she said.

"I don't know about that," he said with a little grin. "It sounds like you're breathing a little hard there."

"You're just full of yourself, aren't you?"

"With reason, apparently."

She breathed out long and hard against the mask. "I feel bad about Sam."

"You don't feel bad about me?" He meant it to sound like a joke, but it fell a little flat.

"Yes, but that's a longer discussion," she said. "I just…I think I hit him earlier."

"I think he's tough enough to handle it," Josh slouched down in the chair and rubbed at his eyelid, which had taken to twitching. It always did that when he was tired.

She sighed. "Remind me to apologize to him."

"You can tell him when you see him later," Josh motioned vaguely out toward the waiting area as he tried to get comfortable in the plastic chair.

She furrowed her brow. "He's still here?"

Josh opened his eyes. "Of course he's still here, Donna, he wanted to make sure you were alright. CJ and Toby came, and Leo was here earlier, I don't know if he's still—"

"What?!? Josh," Donna struggled to sit more upright. "We've been holed up back here all this time and they're out there waiting to see me? You should have told me that!"

"They're only letting one person back at a time," Josh said as if that explained all of it.

"And you appointed yourself the one," she surmised.

"Well, who else would you have picked?"

"No one," she grinned. "But I still need to speak to them. I need to…this is perfect. Will you go get Sam?"

Josh seemed a little hesitant. "I don't want you to push yourself too hard…"

"I'm gonna talk to him for five minutes, Josh," she said, blinking slowly against the exhaustion that wracked her bones. "I'm not gonna do wind sprints."

He leaned forward, propping his elbows on the edge of the bed and his chin in his hands. "I can't come back here if Sam's back here."

"Then I'll have to apologize fast," she snaked her hand out from under the covers and ran her index finger lightly down his nose. He smiled, because her touch felt even warmer than before. "Go keep the others company."

***************

She'd nearly drifted off in the few minutes it took Josh to go to the waiting area and send Sam back, but her eyes popped open when she heard the curtain hooks scrape along the rod that surrounded the bed. 

Sam smiled as he pulled the curtain closed behind him. "Hey, sweetie," he said softly.

"Hey," she breathed into the mask.

He bent forward and put his hands on his knees, bringing him close to eye-level with Donna. "You feeling any better?"

"Uh huh," she said.

He nodded. "Good," he said, with a trace of a relieved smile. "You had us a little worried."

"Gotta talk to you," she said, shifting around a little under the covers. She was even beginning to be able to feel her toes again.

"About what?"

"I'm sorry about what I said," she cocked her head at him.

"Donna—"

"I mean, I don't really remember it all that well, but I'm pretty sure I hit you, or pushed you, or...I don't know, but I..." she felt tears stinging her eyes again, and she looked up at the ceiling willing them not to fall. "I was upset, Sam. But not at you. You've been...since this happened, everybody has just been..." 

"A friend," Sam said. "Like we're supposed to."

Donna sniffed, reaching up and readjusting the mask on her face slightly. "Anyway, I just didn't want to...didn't want you to think that...I'm sorry." She took a deep breath a felt a low rumble in her lungs, but managed not to cough.

Sam leaned forward and kissed her forehead, and, afraid of hurting her if he hugged her outright, put a hand on her cheek and rested his own cheek on top of her head. "It's gonna be better than you think right now," he said softly. "In the morning, it's gonna make more sense, you're gonna see that we've still got options that will put this guy back where he belongs, and..." he trailed off, the words sounding empty in his own ears. "I don't know. But I believe you have it in you to come out on the other side of this thing."

Donna leaned into his chest a little. He was warm and strong and all heart. They all were, these friends of hers who loved her and looked out for her and cared for her. These friends of hers, and Josh. She wasn't sure he fit solely in the other category anymore. "Thank you," she whispered.

"For what?" Sam asked.

"Everything," she said. "For you."

Sam smiled softly. "I don't really know what to say. You're welcome."

"Sam?" she said into his borrowed shirt.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you and Josh dressed alike?"

************************

In the waiting room, Josh told Leo what Stanley had said about keeping people with Donna for the night if she was sent home. Leo told him to do what needed to be done and to give Donna his best. He headed back to the White House.

Toby and CJ had talked with Josh for a little while, and eventually took Donna's key and went back to her place to pack some clothes for her, wherever she ended up staying for the night. Sam had wandered back to the waiting room, leafing through 6-month old magazines while they waited for some definitive news.

An hour later, Josh was back in his chair with a cup of coffee and The Post. Donna had drunk a little warm cider 20 minutes earlier, but the nurse had made her put the mask back on. She had continued to improve steadily, and, while all the stuff with Stanley still had to be dealt with, the tension level of the group had dropped considerably.

"Josh?" Donna breathed into the mask.

"Yes, Darth?" He didn't even look up from the day-old paper.

"Stop calling me that," she grinned.

"Just say one line for me. Tell me to join the dark side. Ooh! Do
this one. 'Luke, I am your—'"

"Shut up!"

"Ahkay," he leaned back in the chair and looked at the page again.

"You look tired," she said finally.

"You don't look so great yourself," he deadpanned.

"We're talking about you," she said.

He dropped the paper in his lap. "It's been a tiring day, Donna," he said as he rubbed at his still-twitching eyelid.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Tomorrow," he shot back. "We're dealing with this right now, we'll deal with the rest of it tomorrow."

"Know what would help?"

"Hmm?" He let his head fall back against the wall and closed his eyes.

"A sip of coffee," she said.

"I have a whole cup of coffee here."

"I meant a sip for me."

"I know. No."

"Please, Josh."

"No! What's the matter with you? He said no caffeine!"

"You're being ridiculous."

"I'm being…wait, I'm being ridiculous?!? You're hooked up to an IV and asking for caffeine, caffeine that was forbidden by a doctor, who knows things, and I'm being ridic—"

Dr. Bennett pulled the curtain open at that moment. "The forbidden is always the more attractive option, you know."

Josh cast a smug look at Donna, happy to have backup for once in his life when he was doing battle with her.

"So…" Bennett pulled his stethoscope from around his neck and removed Donna's mask, pressing the disc to her chest. "Let's try the breathing again. As deep as you comfortably can."

Donna was obedient and fairly successful with her deep breaths, and Bennett listened carefully to her lungs. He checked her pupils, the capillary refill in her fingers and toes, had her follow his finger with her eyes. Bennett turned the monitors toward him and studied the readouts carefully.

"97.9," he said. "And what a different three degrees makes."

Donna nodded.

"If I give you a series of strict rules to follow, like for example, oh, I don't know...no caffeine, do you think you can stick with them, and I mean to the letter?"

Hoping he was going where she thought he was, Donna nodded earnestly.

"Alright then. I'm sending you home," Bennett said. Donna broke into a wide smile. "It's not as simple as all that. I'll be back in a few minutes and we're gonna talk about the rules, but first, I'm gonna send in a nurse in to take out the IV, and I think your friends are back with some clothes for you."

Bennett disappeared into the hall and Josh leaned over Donna's bed, taking her hand when she pulled it out from under the covers. "Good job, Donna," he whispered just before he pressed his lips to hers.

"It wasn't an assignment," she said with a little lilt in her voice, bringing her other hand up to the side of his face as she returned the kiss. She froze suddenly.

"What?" Josh asked.

"Home," she squeaked. "I didn't realize..." her eyes filled with tears. "I don't...Josh, I don't think I can..."

Josh pressed the back of her hand to his chest. "Would you feel OK at my place? If I was there? You've got to be someplace where you can get some rest, Donna. My place, a hotel, I don't care where, but we're going someplace where you can fall asleep and stay that way for a while. We won't leave you alone. Somebody will stay there all the time until you're feeling better about...things. Do you think you could handle my place?"

Donna only considered it for a moment before she nodded and squeezed his hand gently with what little strength she'd regained.

"Donna?" CJ appeared in the curtain opening with Toby and Sam in tow, curious expressions painted on.

"Hi," Donna waved them closer.

"How do you feel?" CJ came closer and laid a hand on Donna's cheek.

"A lot better than when I got here," Donna said.

"You don't feel too frigid," CJ smiled as she turned the back of her hand to press it against Donna's other cheek.

"97.9," Josh said.

CJ stared at him blankly. "Is that good?" she asked as a nurse walked in.

"Good enough to get her discharged," Josh said.

"Good!" CJ smiled at Donna. "I brought you some clothes." Toby stepped forward and handed CJ the duffle bag that was slung over his shoulder.

"That's a good thing, because I'm gonna need 'em," Donna said through a yawn.

Josh's mouth went dry. "Wait a minute, are you naked under there?"

"Josh!" CJ reached over smacked him, hard, in the shoulder.

"I'm just asking!"

"Well, don't!"

"Look, just because I wanted to know for no other reason than that I'm a bright, inquisitive boy, doesn't mean that — oh my God that is the biggest needle I've ever seen." He leaned forward and put his hands on his knees, hanging his head.

The nurse who'd just removed Donna's IV and was currently pressing gauze to the site regarded him with thinly veiled annoyance as Josh did his best to take deep breaths. After a few seconds, he swallowed hard and pulled himself upright.

"Serves you right, chauvinist pig," CJ retorted, dropping the duffle bag into the empty chair and unzipping it.

Josh ignored her as he stared at Donna with something bordering on amazement. "That didn't hurt like hell?"

"It didn't feel good," Donna mumbled as she did her best to avert her own eyes from the tubing that had been in her vein.

"I mean, seriously, that thing's like the size of a drill bit!" Josh said as he stared at it on the tray. "How did you keep yourself from knocking him down to keep it away from you?"

"The same way you did when they started all of yours," Donna groaned slightly as the nurse pressed down harder with a new piece of gauze. "I was otherwise occupied at the time."

"The same way I..." Then it hit him. He didn't remember when they'd put most of them in the first time, but he had been rather fixated on them during his recovery in the hospital. He remembered finding the line in his neck for the first time in a drug-induced haze and Donna admonishing him not to pull on it. Remembered, once they'd dialed back the morphine a little bit, realizing he had multiple tubes in his arms in addition to the one in his neck and feeling lightheaded at the thought, remembered how Donna had pestered him the rest of the time he had them in to "be a man" about it, that it was helping to fight off infection and make him feel better. He'd spent most of the rest of his recovery studiously ignoring their presence so he could pretend they didn't exist. And he'd been happy to let that memory fade as soon as he could. No wonder he'd been so queasy from the moment he'd seen Donna's IV. "I forgot about that."

Donna met his eyes momentarily. When all was said and done, the only evidence of the central line had been a tiny scar low on his neck, so small you might not notice it if you didn't know it was there, especially once it had faded from pink to white. Two tiny white marks in the bend of his left elbow, the size of freckles, remained to tell the tale of the tubes that had been in his arm. He'd noticed, once, in particularly good light, a small mark, no larger than a speck of sand on the back of his right hand as well. He'd had so many other, larger scars, inside and out, that the little changes had been forgotten over the years.

"Alright, everybody out," the nurse admonished. "You can stay," she looked pointedly at CJ. "We'll help her get her dressed in something warm."

"I think I can probably do it," Donna said, shifting on the gurney.

"We need you to stay sitting for a while yet," the nurse said, gently pushing her shoulder until she laid back on the gurney. "Sometimes patients don't react well to a sudden shift in equilibrium."

Josh, Toby and Sam spent several minutes out in the hall reviewing the game plan for the night, and Josh and Sam changed back into their own, now dry, clothes. The nurse taped gauze to Donna's arm and CJ helped her pull on a pair of sweatpants, a turtleneck and sweatshirt, and a pair of warm socks. CJ had originally insisted on two pairs, but relented when she realized Donna's shoes wouldn't fit.

As CJ fished a scarf, gloves, and a wool hat out of the bag to go with the heavy coat she'd brought, Donna eased herself into a sitting position slowly and turned sideways, with the nurse's help.

"Can I...?" came Josh's voice from the other side of the curtain.

"Yeah," CJ said, zipping the bag back up.

Josh pulled the curtain open. "They dried your shoes," he said, holding her sneakers up with a little grin.

Donna tried to tamp down the panic that had steadily been rising in her gut since she started getting dressed. "That was nice."

CJ hoisted the bag on her shoulder. "I'm gonna go give this to one of the guys, could you help her with those?"

"Yeah," Josh said, having already picked up on the panicked look on Donna's face. "Oh, Sam's trying to get her checked out, could you make sure he's not, you know..."

"Doing it wrong?" CJ grinned. "Yeah."

She left Josh and Donna with the nurse, who was turning off the IV monitor and tidying the space as she kept one eye on Donna. Josh cleared his throat softly.

"I'm sorry, do you mind if we..."

The nurse smiled apologetically this time. "I need to stay in case she gets dizzy."

"I'll stay close," Josh said, knowing Donna wouldn't open up to him with someone else in the room. "Please...I'm sorry to have to ask you to...but just...for a few seconds?"

The nurse looked between Josh and Donna and an understanding expression flickered across her face. "Don't let her get down. And I'm going to be right on the other side of the curtain."

"Thank you," Josh said as she pulled the curtain closed.

He came to stand between Donna's knees, setting the shoes down on the gurney beside her. He placed his hands gently on her hips and leaned his forehead against hers. "You're still with me, aren't you?"

Donna closed her eyes and brought her still-cold fingers up to his jaw. "I'm trying."

"I just found you, you know," Josh said softly, forcing a bit of a joking tone into his voice. "I don't want you to run off and leave me again."

"I don't want to leave you," Donna said in a shaky whisper. "I didn't want to the first time. But sometimes the fear is just so...so strong, I don't know what to do but run." Two little tears dropped quickly down her cheeks.

"Hey," Josh said softly. "What are you afraid of, Donna?"

"Everything," she whispered sadly.

"Alright, don't try to see the whole board," Josh said, his own heart breaking a little at her admission. "Stanley will be here in the morning, and he can help you with the whole board. What are you afraid of for tonight? What are you most worried about right now?"

Donna looked down at his chest for second. "Right now, I just don't want to be alone," she said, pulling the fingers of one hand away from his jaw and dragging them down his neck to his collarbone, flattening one side of his rumpled shirt collar as she did so.

"Gotcha covered," he said, tilting his chin forward and kissing her sweetly. "You're not gonna be alone, not for a second. You're gonna get tired of us, we're gonna be in your face so much. We'll go home, you'll go to sleep, and we'll deal with the rest of it in the morning. Hmm?"

Donna swallowed hard and nodded unevenly, a little too eager to reassure him.

"Sam's warming the car up and pulling it around," CJ said as she reappeared in the curtain opening. "They bagged up your clothes." Toby now had the duffle, but CJ was struggling with a plastic grocery bag and Josh's coat. She looked up and saw Josh and Donna leaning on each other. "Is everything..."

"I think we're just a little weepy," Josh said softly, lightly pulling his fingers across Donna's cheeks.

CJ stood at the foot of the bed, with Toby at the edge of the curtain. "Should we..." she started uncertainly. "I don't know...does she need—"

"We're alright," Josh said, looking directly at Donna to drive the message home. "We're just tired."

Donna nodded and looked over at CJ. "We're just tired," she said.

CJ nodded and tried to smile reassuringly. "Okay."

Together, Josh and CJ made quick work of putting on Donna's shoes and bundling her up. Dr. Bennett reappeared and checked her temperature one more time.

"97.9, you're holding steady. That's good." Bennett said. "I want you to go home, get plenty of rest. Don't even get out of bed unless you have a reason. It's very important that your body has time to recuperate. You're gonna be pretty low on energy for the next few days, but that should gradually increase. You're gonna need to take the next couple days, minimum, off work. I've signed a note for your employer; it's with the rest of your paperwork." CJ glanced at Josh with a little grin. Josh returned it, but chose not to interrupt. "Do not, do not, do not go outside for the next 24 hours unless absolutely necessary. And by absolutely necessary I mean, if the building is on fire. You're gonna be especially susceptible to a relapse at first, so you need to stay indoors and stay warm. Keep your head covered whenever possible, that's where you lose the most body heat. I want you to limit your outdoor exposure as much as you can until you're fully recovered. Keep your place warmer than usual, but not so warm that you break out into a sweat. That's your body's way of cooling itself, and that's the last thing we want right now." He took a breath as CJ zipped up Donna's jacket while Donna could only watch, fingers hampered by the mittens she usually wore out in the snow. "Do you have a digital thermometer?"

"Yeah," Josh answered for her.

"Take her temperature when you get her home, then every hour for the next few hours. If it drops more than two tenths of a degree, I want you to call me back immediately," Bennett handed him a card with his pager number. "Give her warm, sweet liquids and high-calorie foods. No caffeine for the next 24 hours. She should not be left alone for the next day or two," Bennett bored through Josh with his eyes, making sure to silently communicate the double reason. "Relapses in these cases can come on suddenly, and since hypothermia hampers the patient's ability to reason, she may not even realize she's feeling worse before it's too late to call someone.

"The other danger here is that the bronchitis may cause her to run a fever, so discontinue any heating measures you may have been using if that happens. Give her the antibiotic her doctor prescribed, and use Tylenol to keep her fever down if she starts to run one. Fluids and bedrest are gonna be your biggest benefit here, too. If the congestion starts giving her trouble again, she can try long showers. The steam helps.

"Don't hesitate to call me if you have any questions. Better to bug me over the phone than to come rushing back in here because she got worse." Josh glanced at CJ, who nodded that she'd been listening. He tucked the card in his coat pocket, which he'd since put back on.

"Okay," Bennett said, approaching Donna and laying a hand on her elbow. "Let's see how you do with standing."

Donna gave him a quizzical look and slid slowly off the gurney. She looked alright for half a second, but wobbled and tilted forward quickly, only to be caught the next instant by Dr. Bennett and Josh.

"It's alright," Bennett said as she began to get her bearings. "You've been off your feet for hours now, and your whole system's off, so it might take a while before you're steady again. In the meantime, you can ride out in style."

Toby pushed the waiting wheelchair closer to shorten her trip, and she let them lower her into it without protest.

Bennett flipped down the footrests and lifted her feet onto the shiny plates. "Feel better, Donna," he said, wrapping her scarf a little higher around her face.

Josh shook Bennett's hand gratefully. "Thanks. A lot." He couldn't help but grin sheepishly. "Again."

"Well, I've gotta find some way to pass the time," Bennett smiled. "Take care of her," he said pointedly.

"You got it."

Toby turned the chair toward the exit and started pushing slowly while CJ handled the luggage and Josh followed, a little numbly. 

"Oh, I almost forgot," Bennett said. "I know I told you earlier to be careful when touching her, and you still need to, but most of that sensitivity should have gone away now. It's better if somebody's in the room with her at night, so you'll hear if she has any trouble, and actually sleeping next to someone will help keep her temperature up until her body remembers to do it on its own again. So, you know..." Bennett winked conspiratorially. "Don't let her kick you to the couch."

The four of them were dumbstruck as he turned and walked away. He thought...he not only thought, had just assumed...had been positive in fact, that...

"Well," Josh cleared his throat unevenly. "That couldn't have been more awkward."

"No," Toby agreed.

Donna hunched down behind her scarf, feeling her face grow warmer and warmer with every passing second.

CJ stared after Bennett for a moment, fighting the natural anxiety she always felt when dealing with perception issues. She silently decided that there was no real harm done and Donna didn't need the extra grief. She turned to the guys. "Which of us do you suppose he was talking to?"

Josh and Toby were slack-jawed and CJ winked at Donna as she led the way to the exit.

Special thanks to Phyllis, who kept me from sounding like a complete and total medical dunce with her sharp eye!