"Derek...?" Her voice broke as she shifted to gaze into bright hazel eyes that could melt her heart and test her resolve. "Oh Derek..." She blinked, trying to clear her clouded vision and catch her breath. Was this possible? Her hands gently caressed his brow, seeking the warmth within him. "My God... Derek, you're alive. I thought..." A shiver ran through her, and she jumped as a boom of thunder echoed into the cave.

"Are... you... all right?" A sob caught in her throat as she started to laugh at his question, then cried as she moved to kneel next to him.

"I'm... fine..." she managed to say between sobs as she struggled to get her emotions under control. "I was... a little worried... about you though," she said, her fingers lightly skimming over his face.

"My arm... hurts..." His left hand went up to his hair. "Head..." His dazed, lost look concerned her.

"I'll move the lantern and take a look." Dammit, she needed to check him out, she realized as she wiped her eyes. She should have done it already but she believed... Taking a deep breath, she blew that notion out of her. He had been shot in the right arm, hadn't he? And there had been a second shot...

She gasped at the blood on his hand. It was bleeding, his head was bleeding... Shit... "Derek, don't touch it," she said, fighting to keep her voice level. "Let me see if I can find something to clean it. I need to see how bad it is." Meanwhile, what could she use...

The young Legacy member took a shaky breath and tried to gather her thoughts. She had to stop the bleeding... All they had were what they were wearing, unless Jeroen had a first aid kit somewhere nearby. All right, she'd just have to find something. She got Derek into this mess, and with God's help she'd get him out of it.

Alex clenched her fists as she stood, trying to quell the panic that rose within her. But how in the world were they ever going to make it down this mountain? Derek was not in good shape, and her right ankle was starting to throb once more now that the adrenaline was wearing off. She also hadn't seen their knapsacks, and she couldn't believe that Jeroen would leave them close by to be found near his... hidden treasure trove and burial site. Nonetheless, she decided that she'd try to find them once the rain eased up or when dawn came. Maybe he had been in too much of a hurry to throw them far.

She made sure that Derek was comfortable before she quickly explored the rest of the cave. There were a few bottles of water, but would it be better to have them for drinking or cleaning? Whatever she decided, she still had to wash out the wound and she didn't see anything that would help.

As Alex walked deeper into the cave, the hairs on the back of her neck began to rise. She tried to shake it off, hoping it was merely her imagination. "Please, leave us alone," she whispered. A light breeze brushed against her face, and she felt the muggy air crackle around her. "No more visions. Not now." Alex closed her eyes tight, concentrating her mind on Derek. When she opened them, the heaviness was gone.

She sighed as she continued to search, trying to ignore the twinges in her ankle and her Sight. In the back of the cave were several ritual bowls, which she presumed Jeroen had left behind to sell at a later time. It went against all she had been taught to cause more damage to artifacts, but they were the only items she saw from which Derek could drink or she could use to wash him with whatever she could find to use as cloths.

At least she and Derek were out of the storm, but they had no heat, and no possibility of going anywhere this night. In the morning they would somehow have to work their way down and find some help. Well, that was a problem best left until then, she thought as she adjusted the frilly elastic border of her damp top. For now she had to check out Derek's injuries and clean them as best she could with causing him as little pain as possible. Maybe that would get her mind off how wet and chilly she was. A slow smile appeared on her face. Maybe she could dream that they were back at their hotel taking a nice hot shower and about to go out to enjoy a wonderful dinner.

Grabbing two bottles of water and several of the larger bowls, Alex turned to move back to Derek when a bright glint caught her eye. What was...? She smiled as she bent to pick up the mangy, dark blanket that was almost hidden on the stone floor. This would come in handy to keep Derek warm. But the stench of it... She held up the black coverlet and wrinkled her nose. "This doesn't smell very good." She laughed. "But then neither do we."

He had passed out again, she noticed as she made her way to him. Kneeling beside him, she tenderly touched his face once more. "Derek? Wake up." He looked up at her as she placed the items beside them, but she wasn't sure he was focused on her. "How are you feeling?"

"...fine..." He slowly looked around. "Did we... fall in? Wet..." Fall in...? The night they fell into the hotel pool? God, it seemed so long ago. If things had simply gone well that night... She and Derek would have made love but for her attitude and knowledge that Derek had requested a background check on Jeroen. She had given him grief, when he was only doing his job. She knew that... yet she had overreacted. Why didn't she trust him then? If it had been a test, she had failed miserably. And Derek was right about the young consulate worker...

"We... got caught in a bad storm," she told him softly as she removed his shirt. She hated to have to use it, but there was nothing else available to clean and bind his injuries. He gave her no resistance, and that worried her. She poured one bottle of water into the bowl. "I'm sorry," she whispered to... whatever or whomever might be listening or watching in the cave. "I need a container so I can wash him off." As if in reply, a cold wind blew in from the entrance of the cave, and a crash of thunder followed.

Dark blood was matted in his hair along with mud, she saw as swabbed the area. He began to mumble as she gently cleaned his forehead. It appeared to be a pretty good gash. Thankfully the bullet hadn't caused any serious damage on its journey from above his left eyebrow along the side of his head. Derek might require stitches as soon as they reached civilization again. If they were lucky enough to do so. There was also another problem with that, but hopefully Jeroen would be with his buyers for quite a while, giving her and Derek the time they needed to get out of the area in case he decided to return.

"I'm sorry, Derek. This will have to do." She began to rip his shirt into strips as best she could. Pressure would need to be kept on the wound, but she wasn't sure how she'd be able to do that. As she rinsed out a piece of his shirt to dab at his head injury once more, she was glad to see that the bleeding had eased. The chilly rain and muddy earth had formed a semi-dressing, but she had to wash it out and place her own makeshift one on it to keep it as clean as she could. Folding a ragged, torn piece of his shirt, she pressed it against his head, then pressed his hand against it. "Derek, you have to hold this tight." He nodded as he looked at her, and she was gratified to observe understanding in his eyes.

She moved over to his other side to take a look at his right arm. Blood had clotted there, but it seemed to be a clean entrance/exit wound from what she could tell. She examined it more closely as she wiped the mud and dirt away. Again, all she had to put on it was a rinsed strip of cloth from Derek's shirt. She wished she had something cleaner for a bandage, but there would be nothing like that until they reached medical help. One of the few things she could do was to wrap the blanket around him.

Her mind returned to their knapsacks. If only she had several of the things that she had placed in hers. She had tossed a bottle of aspirin in at the last minute, but that did little good now. Her cell phone would also come in handy, as would the granola bars. Her stomach grumbled in agreement. With things quiet, her hunger was making itself known. Maybe she could take a quick peek outside and see if she could find anything else to use or eat.

Standing at the mouth of the cave, she gazed out at the scene. Trees and ferns swayed, and leaves and branches were tossed about in the gusty wind. Lightning continuously flashed across the sky, and great booms of thunder followed. She shook her head in amazement. Dammit, she had no idea that they would have run into something like this... She and Derek would have made their way down much earlier if they had not run into Jeroen, and they would have been back at the hotel at this moment. Now the darkness had closed in around them, and they were stuck here for the night.

A fire would be very nice too, but in the long, narrow confines of the cave she was afraid that they might die of smoke inhalation. She'd better not take the chance. A girl scout she was not. She was damn lucky she managed to get herself out of the pit, she had to admit, though she wondered if it would have been possible had the vines...

The vines... Maybe she could use the vines by the pit! She could use one as some sort of strip to hold the cloth bandage or whatever to his head, or perhaps she might be able to fashion a sling for his arm. But would they be easy to manipulate? She needed to go back to the pit and grab several of them. She merely had to be careful and keep her head down for any more holes in the ground.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered. "I'll be right back," she yelled over her shoulder to Derek. The rain was coming down in torrents, and the wind was raging as she hurried toward the marae's ancestral pit. A small scream escaped from her as a large leaf struck her face. She sputtered and pulled it off her. What was she thinking by doing this? It was just too dangerous to be trying to retrieve the vines at this point in the storm; it would have to wait.

She ran back to the cave, almost tripping over a piece of fallen fruit, the large leaf still clutched in her hand. Should she... She grabbed the now-several pieces of noni fruit she spotted that had dropped from the tree. At least they might be able to have something to eat.

"Well, Derek," she said as she placed the leaves and fruit on the cave's stone floor. "It looks like this will be our lodging for the night."

"Not too bad." He attempted a smile and she was heartened to see a spark of mischief in his eyes as she sat beside him. "But it's not the kind of place... I'd choose to be alone with you."

"But it's so wonderfully decorated," she teased him before her voice grew serious. "Listen, we're both soaking wet and all we have is this wretched-looking blanket. We'll have to share body heat and you need to keep this on to make it through the night. In the morning, we've got to start down at first light."

"Won't it be faster if you go..." His brow furrowed, as if trying to connect his thoughts. "Faster without me."

"No way," she shook her head emphatically. "We came together, we go back together. Besides, with my ankle, I'll have to hold onto you as much as you'll have to hold onto me."

"We should share the blanket..." He coughed, and she chided herself for not having some drinking water close to him.

"Drink this." She placed water in a bowl and held it to his lips. "And we will not share that blanket."

"What's this?" Derek asked as he pulled back.

"I found a ceremonial bowl to put some water in. Jeroen evidentially took our water bottles for himself."

"This looks like an artifact. Alex, we can't..." God, even in this situation, the archeologist in him argued the point.

"That may be, Professor Rayne, but you need some water and I needed to rinse your shirt for a bandage." His eyebrow rose as she pointed to the other bowl. "Don't give me that." She smiled at him. "I'm sure the gods will understand." Sighing, he leaned forward and drank.

"Good. Now I'm going to rinse this makeshift dressing and put a different one on your head. I wish I had some painkillers for you, but I'll be as gentle as I can." She removed the bloody bandage and placed another cool, clean piece of his shirt over the gash with only a grimace and the balling of his fists from the older man.

"Why don't you lie down and I'll apply more pressure. Maybe I can try and get it to stop for good." Derek mercifully did what she asked without fighting her on it. His eyes closed, and for a moment she worried that he had passed out again. He was paler in the lantern's light, but then likely so was she with the lack of food and stress of the visions she experienced. And she wasn't going to be able to go after Jeroen...

She hummed a soft tune as she tied two strips together and smoothly wrapped it around Derek's head to keep the bandage in place. Alex did the same to his arm, though with a less degree of success. It wasn't a great job, but it held the damp padding against his wound.

With her patient soon dozing on the stone floor, she wrapped the shabby blanket around him a little tighter and gently pushed back the damp hair from his forehead. Alex then walked farther back into the cave to attempt to crack open the noni, and to disturb Derek as little as possible. Although not as tough as a coconut, the noni still provided her with a challenge when all she had were for tools were a few uneven, sharp rocks that protruded from the cave's walls, but the fruit shortly cracked open and she tested the juice inside. She crinkled her nose. No, it wasn't enough to have her give up orange juice.

The Legacy member had heard about the plant and the claims of what the fruit could do. Didn't the leaves of the noni tree have a medicinal use as well? Her eyes gazed at the man she loved. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Returning to the opening of the cave, Alex could see that the tropical storm had lost some of its power. She ran to the noni tree and quickly pulled off a quantity of its leaves, grabbed another fallen fruit, and rushed back to their shelter.

"Why did you go out in the rain?" Derek sat up, using his left arm as support. "What's all that?"

"This," she held up the white, potato-looking fruit, "is a ripened noni. It's been used in Hawaii and French Polynesia for hundreds, if not thousands, of years to treat such things from arthritis pain to food poisoning." She grinned at the dubious expression that he gave her.

"Then we have these." She smiled brightly at him as she held up her trophies. "These are the leaves of the noni tree. They have healing properties."

"And what are you planning to do with them?" She bit her lip to keep from laughing at his skeptical frown.

"I'm going to put them on your head."

End part 30