Open Case File [COMPLETED]

Stuck Together

This is really early on, like around the time of Carter and Donovan's 1st year with the FBI.

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

Carter coughed the taste of dust sticking to her tongue and coating her throat. With a second cough, she managed to dislodge the grime choking her. Wiping her eyes, she squinted at the world around her, trying to see. A single beam of light from her fallen flashlight cut into the darkness and highlighted a gray wall marked with graffiti.

A moan beside her drew her attention. She made out a prone figure, watching as it rolled onto its side. At least that answered one question she had. The figure swore and Carter pinched her nose, the voice one she wished was anyone else's.

"What the hell happened?" Mason asked.

He shook his head, sending out a cloud of dirt.

Carter didn't answer. She ground her teeth at having something go wrong and more than that having to be in a situation with Mason at all. She pushed herself up to a sitting position. She was shaky, but she didn't seem to be hurt.

Mason clambered to his feet and snatched up the flashlight, casting the beam around them. The metro tunnel was a patchwork of faded graffiti and old tracks. When the light hit one end of the tunnel it was to find that part of it had caved in.

"Guess that means that our job is done," he said, "since getting near to where the embassy would be likely to be infiltrated from below is out of the question."

"Obviously," Carter said.

She climbed to her feet but the second she put weight on her right leg, she let out a cry and crashed back to the ground, rocks digging into her skin. Mason spun around, spotlighting her. She turned her face away and twisted her leg. Along her thigh was a bleeding gash. She swore as Mason crouched down next to her.

"Got any medical supplies in that backpack of yours?"

Carter glared at him. "No. This was supposed to be a recon mission. Why do you think they let you go on it? You would be next to useless if we were put in real danger."

Mason stared back at her. "Oh, how you wound me."

Fighting back the urge to punch Mason, Carter gently brushed aside the dirt around the cut with her jacket sleeve. The more she revealed the worse it looked. She closed her eyes, trying to clear her head and figure out the next step. Beside her, Mason unzipped his jacket and took it off. She eyed him as he reached for the hem of his shirt.

"What are you doing?" she said.

He paused so he could give her a condescending look. "This next to useless human is going to help you not bleed to death. Try to keep your hands to yourself."

"Mason, the only time I've ever wanted to touch you was when I had my hands around your throat." 

Shaking his head, Mason pulled off his shirt, revealing pale skin and a toned torso. After dropping his shirt, he tugged his jacket back on and zipped it. "Your brain can now start functioning again, I'm covered up."

"How very much like a guy you are to think that I could lose my ability to think because some guy took off his shirt."

"Not some guy. Me."

"I would rather watch two lions mauling each other than see you shirtless again."

"That doesn't surprise me you're a very violent person." Mason took his shirt and ripped it into three long strips. As he went to wrap her leg, Carter snatched the fragments from him.