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Chapter Seven
Forthesecondtimein Nathan’s life, Carter Beckett has shattered him with a love confession. Thank fuck Carter passes out after he says the words, leaving Nathan some time to remind himself Carter probably didn’t even mean them.
Always so good at knowing what Nathan needs, Benny chooses then to call for his update. Nathan ducks into the bathroom and closes the door before answering. “Ben, hey. How’s it going?”
“He’s taken a turn for the better. The doc thinks we caught the sepsis early enough. Meds are working. He's not out of the woods yet, and his fever is being stubborn, but… it's something."
“I’ll take it.”
“How did things on your end go?”
“Surprisingly well. Barely any resistance. Jason had some comments, of course. But everyone else is pretty damn excited."
“Fucking Jason.”
Nathan laughs. “Yeah, I’m not going to miss that asshole.”
“Ditto.”
“When do you think you’ll be able to transport Casey?”
“I’m moving him tonight. It'll be risky, but I can tell DuGray is getting antsy with me sticking around. The doc said he'd travel with us for an extra 10k, so he'll at least be around if something goes wrong."
“Carter is going to want to see him."
There’s a small noise on the other end of the line. "Yeah, listen... that might not be the best idea. Casey, well - it's not pretty, Nate."
“I don’t think Carter cares.”
“Just about everything they've put him through the past week is written all over his body. It's like a road map of torture. And he's still confused mentally. He's having hallucinations whenever his fever spikes. It won't just be hard on Carter to see him like that. It'll be hard on Casey, too. Confusing. And he can't know the truth yet, he's not together enough mentally to wrap his head around something so big. Seeing Carter could make things worse for him. Add to his distress."
“I’m not telling Carter no.”
Benny sighs deeply. “You’ve never been able to. I shouldn’t have even wasted my time.”
“Benny-”
“I don’t have it in me to argue about it, Nate. I've been up for 36 hours, I'm covered in sweat and vomit, and I'm risking my life and this mission to make the boy you love happy. Do me the fucking courtesy of not making me dwell on it."
Nathan flinches. Hard. "Fair enough…"
Benny sighs. “I’m sorry. I’m just – it’s been a long fucking day, you know?”
“I get it. You go, I won't hold you up. Try to give yourself a break though, yeah? At least a shower."
Benny laughs dryly. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll do my best. Stay safe.”
“You too, brother.”
Nathan slips the phone into the pocket of his sweatpants and heads back into the bedroom. He pauses when his eyes meet Carter’s.Shit.
“Hello, Carter,” he says softly. Carefully. He tries to act like he did last night when Carter came to his senses in the bath. Caring, but unattached. A man tasked with making sure the boy is safe, instead of a man in love. “Are you o - I mean… how are you feeling?”
Carter shifts on the bed, adjusting the blankets where they’re tucked beneath his arms. He pauses when he notices that Nathan had placed his moose on his chest, bringing one hand up to gently caress the stuffed animal. He keeps his eyes focused on his moose as he answers. “I’m… fine.”
“Are you hurting anywhere?” When Carter scoffs, Nathan adds, “Physically?”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal.” He shrugs. His fingers tighten on the moose, strangling the poor thing. “It’s not like you punished me or anything. You - you fucked me, and then you made me come. I got overwhelmed. That’s all. I got overwhelmed and crashed hard, like I usually do after we - you know.”
