JUSTIN: * Shane barely hears her well-wishing, and is thinking of a reply when he drifts off into sleep. His slumber goes well enough for a couple hours, before the cold -- cold that he shouldn't be feeling, but for some reason is -- starts to gnaw at his unconscious self. It causes him to reflexively curl up, a position that his body has a hard time accommodating in the cramped quarters.

JENNA: * Somehow, despite his movements, Jo doesn't wake, stirring drowsily and murmuring something vaguely in her sleep. Rather than moving away, as she only encounters the tent wall when she tries, her body eventually shifts itself to accommodate him, the extra body heat not seeming to bother her even as the sun rises higher in the sky.

JUSTIN: * Shane seems to be contented -- in his blissful, unconscious state of ignorance -- by this new-found heat source, and finds the soft surface far more to his liking than the hard ground beneath. His body relaxes, uncurling somewhat in favor of nestling into this pillow-like object.

JENNA: * Jo murmurs again as he settles, relaxing against him even as he does so. Apparently comfortable, it isn't until many hours later, when the sun is finally sinking below the horizon, that she stirs, woken by the unfamiliar sensation of his breath feathering against her. Her eyes open, and she blinks blearily, coming into her situation slowly, then is startled into full awareness when he stirs against her. The movement elicits a startled intake of breath, and she lurches in no particular direction, bound both by him and the tent.

JUSTIN: * Shane is disgruntled by the sudden movement of his pillow and comforter, causing him to stir again and mumble something completely incomprehensible. He does roll momentarily onto his back, giving Jo a window of opportunity -- if she can find a means of escape, as his body is still right up against her.

JENNA: * Seizing that opportunity, Jo rolls over on her stomach, fingers scrabbling at the tent flaps as she makes an effort to escape before he moves again. Her face is terribly hot and probably an unsurprising shade of crimson, and she begins to swear quietly when the ties won't come undone at her frantic bidding.

JUSTIN: * All the racket -- mostly the movement -- shakes Shane out of his sleep, in a very disorienting way. He tries with little success to sit up, only managing to flop around a bit, head trying to crane up to see where in the hell he is. "Wha... er..." He slurs in half-sleep, finally making out the shape next to him to be a person. "I'm not married..." Comes his revelation -- the kind that can only come from a delirious mind.

JENNA: "I can't imagine why not," Jo hisses snappishly, face heating again as she finally manages to get the tent flap open, letting in a rush of cooler air. She crawls out slowly, swearing again, though it seems to be out of embarrassment more than anger.

JUSTIN: * The sudden rush of air into the comparatively stuffy confines of the tent makes Shane's journey to wakefulness a whole lot quicker. He snaps out of his delirium, quickly rolling over from his back to his hands and knees, staring with a horrible feeling of worry. Between Jo's random cussing, and vague half-memories, he knows something bad happened. "Wha-what's wrong?" He's afraid what the answer might be.

JENNA: * By now on her feet, Jo glares at him for a moment, going (if possible) even redder than before. She doesn't answer, folding her arms around herself and looking away, much too embarrassed to put the incident into words.

JUSTIN: * This only causes more panic, and Shane feels a sense of illness settling in -- as if he didn't already feel bad enough. He scampers out, dragging his equipment along with him, and makes a few attempts to get to his feet. "What, what happened?!" He is desperately hoping for something innocent. Maybe he drooled. Or had a brief case of flatulence. Anything.

JENNA: "Nothing!" she half-shouts at him, bringing one hand up to rub at her face. "You were asleep. We were asleep -- it doesn't matter!" Her agitation appears to make these words a lie, however, and she shakes her head again. "Just -- it's time to get moving." Her face is still red as she returns for her pack, snatching it up and retreating to the overhang, where she seats herself and begins tearing savagely at a piece of jerky.

JUSTIN: * Shane's face struggles to maintain indignity, but the horror can't be fully contained. In the end, he must sink to the same distractions as Jo -- gathering his gear, tightening up his cloak, and sinking into far too much jerky for one mouthful.

JENNA: * After she's eaten as much jerky as she can allow herself, Jo gets to her feet again to strike the tent, which she does with equally savage efficiency. Before long, it is wrapped and packed, and dark has almost settled on the desert, hiding the hint of red still in her cheeks.

JUSTIN: * Shane is quite the opposite, a ghostly shade of pale that perhaps only intensifies in the light of moon and stars. He is afflicted with many problems at once, his stomach protesting the food, his mind protesting the thoughts of what he dares not say happened while he slept. His joints are weak, his muscles sore, and in all of it he's far too proud to let on that anything is wrong.

JENNA: * Once all her gear is together, she finally turns to face him again, hard as it is to even try to make contact. "Ready?" she asks shortly, gaze flashing to the sand before she lifts it again determinedly. "We've got a long way to go tonight."

JUSTIN: "I-I'm ready." Shane stutters involuntarily, and he clamps his mouth shut to avoid any more of the same. He draws his cloak closer and stares away at the sand, ambling out of the hollow and waiting for Jo to take the lead.

JENNA: * Jo nods shortly and sets off, head spinning as she tries to somehow erase the sensation of his body against hers. It is not going well, to her intense irritation, and she settles for marching them at a brutal pace in the hopes that her eventual soreness will make up for it.

JUSTIN: * Shane tries his damn best to match Jo step for step, but the further they go, the more numb his extremities become. It can't be the cold, he tells himself. It can't be the embarrassment. It certainly can't be the jerky. Eventually his movements turn to awkward staggering, and he begins to lag behind his leader, breathing escalating to the point where it sounds like he isn't getting any oxygen at all.

JENNA: * Jo eventually notices he's not keeping pace, though at first she ignores him, too angry and twitchy to respond to what might be a play for pity. Eventually, however, she stops, turning to him with forehead creased in concern. "Is something the matter?" she asks, arching an eyebrow.

JUSTIN: * Shane doesn't hear her, the sound of his own pulse pounding in his ears like barrel drums. His sight hazes suddenly, swimming and spinning in front of him to the point where he completely misses a step and falls hard on his side. A groan of pain and confusion comes out of him, and he frantically tries to right himself. It feels like he's sinking into the sand -- like his limbs are getting sucked into some sort of quagmire, making him feel ten times heavier. "I'm just dizzy, I'm just..." He runs out of breath before he can repeat his excuse, and his arms give way to send him face-first into the dirt.

JENNA: * Jo's irritation rapidly turns into alarm, and she skids over the sand toward him, dropping to one knee as she reaches his side. "Shane!" She attempts to roll him over, at least to get his face out of the sand, and calls again. "Hey! Shane! What's --"

JUSTIN: * Jo's voice is little more than a warbling siren, just another ear-splitting noise to join the ringing, the pounding, and then -- silence. He passes out, no more aware of what's going on as he was when he was awake. His skin feels hot enough to cook on, face pale and body heavy with unconsciousness.

JENNA: * Jo swears, now panicking, and presses her hand to his forehead, shortly afterward lowering her head to listen to his breathing. Then she swears again, leaning back on her heels and trying to think of what to do with him. The thought of leaving him only briefly crosses her mind, and she rejects it so quickly it gives her pause. She closes her eyes, pressing her hands to her forehead, then sucks in a deep, angry breath and attempts to pull him over far enough that she can take most of his weight on her shoulders. Finally situated, she half carries and half drags him slowly and painfully back to the camp site.

JUSTIN: * Shane is unaware of anything is happening -- feeling nothing as he is dragged along, hearing nothing when she cusses and panics. For a long while, he doesn't even dream, just cold black void that he is thankfully unaware of, except on the deepest subconscious level.

JENNA: * Jo stumbles wearily along the route back to the campsite, frustration and fear mounting with every step. She knows what's wrong with him now, but that doesn't ease her worries in the least. Finally reaching the hollow, she eases her unconscious companion to the ground, touching his forehead again and biting her lip. She decides for the moment it's safe to leave him lying there, half propped against the overhang wall, and reaches into her pack to see if any of her pilfered first aid supplies will be of help. Adding to her troubles, however, a crack of thunder draws her attention to a heavy bank of clouds, apparently rolling in from out of nowhere, and she promptly abandons her hunt for medicine to re-pitch the tent before it starts to pour.

JUSTIN: * Shane's blank slate of unconsciousness begins to slowly change to various, fever-inspired dream fragments, woven together in inexplicable ways. A good deal of them seem to focus on events since leaving Juno, each with a different, and often unrealistic spin to them.

JENNA: * Jo gets the tent up just as the cloudbank reaches them, and she's heaving him half to his feet to get him inside it when the first, heavy droplets begin to fall. She forces him hastily inside, laying him down as gently as she can before dashing out to retrieve everything else that got left in the downpour. By the time she returns, she's fairly wet, but that's the least of her concerns, as she sets about removing his cloak and coat and propping them underneath his head. She attempts to get him to drink some water before she goes through her supplies again, grimacing when she realizes she really will have to go back out there to retrieve one of the things she needs.

JUSTIN: * Shane seems very distantly aware of the water she tries to give him, and some of it makes it down his throat. The rest just coats his chin, with a slight gurgle escaping his lips. He manages to furrow his brow in a look of confusion, but he is still dreaming inside his head.

JENNA: * Jo grimaces, but she decides that'll have to do for now, snatching up her cloak and tugging it on before she dashes out into the deluge in search of a particular root and a cut of cactus. In this, the placement of the hollow is fortunate, as she doesn't have to go far before she finds precisely what she's looking for. Nevertheless, by the time she returns, she's sopping wet and bleeding from a slip on the rocks. She takes only a moment to wrap the wound, however, and mostly to keep it from getting into the medicine she's mixing. She tries a little more water with Shane before wearily turning back to her work.

JUSTIN: * The water goes down about as well as the first time, though it does seem to bring him to a state of semi-consciousness. His eyes open a sliver, but he still doesn't see anything, head rolling to the side with a low moan of discomfort.

JENNA: * Jo mutters a singularly unapologetic apology, but she does brush his hair back from his forehead with one hand, rapidly combining the ingredients with the other. "This won't taste very good," she informs him, even though he can't hear her, "but it ought to help the fever, if nothing else." She draws her hand away from him to set the mixture aside and cut a stretch of cloth from her cloak, taking it briefly into the rain before returning to rest it, cool and damp, against his forehead. She glances at the mixture, sighing, then picks it up and turns back to him, working on arm under his shoulders to lift him up a little. She trickles the medicine slowly into his mouth, almost drop by drop, determined not to let it go the way of the water.

JUSTIN: * Shane takes the medicine, sputtering reflexively at the bizarre taste, his body unsure of what is trying to get down his throat. The majority of the concoction reaches its destination, however, with only a minimal amount of fuss from him. The creases in his forehead ease slightly when he finishes, and his semi-consciousness slips slowly back to full sleep again.

JENNA: * She nods approvingly, easing him back onto his makeshift pillow, and sets the cloth back into place on his forehead. Then she sits back, as far as she can in the small space, and tends to her injury, cleaning and re-wrapping it, then scrubbing her other arm wearily against her forehead. This was not in the least how she'd intended her day to go. She doesn't dwell on it long, however, periodically giving Shane more medicine and swapping out the cloth for a cooler one, until the medicine is gone and she's left with little to do besides wait for his fever to break.

JUSTIN: * The medicine works its way through Shane's body, fast and effective. Color begins to return to his face at a noticeable rate, his breathing becoming more natural as time passes. Fairly soon he is resting easy, the creases of pain and subconscious worries fading. A few words of content slip out at one point, though it is difficult to tell just what they say, and he almost smiles.

JENNA: * Jo gives a low, intense sigh of relief as he settles into an easier sleep, feeling weary, even though she hasn't really been up longer than she normally is. Relaxing now that her patient is out of danger, she begins to hum gently, still taking time to swap the cloth out, occasionally brushing back his hair.

JUSTIN: * Another hour passes, at least, before Shane begins to wake to the sound of Jo's humming. His eyes slip open a crack, and he listens for a few minutes while he adjusts to the low light and continues waking. His lips finally part, and he tries to say something, throat dry despite the water she's been giving him. "What... happened?"

JENNA: * Startled, Jo jerks her hand away from his forehead, folding in her lap as if she intended to do so all along. She toys with the bandage on her hand for a moment before replying. "Desert fever." She glances at him with a very faint smile. "Insects around here carry it ... almost everyone gets it the first time they come. I did, too." She pauses again, reaching over to change the cloth on his forehead for a new one. "I guess you can consider it your initiation." She sets the cloth in place, mouth twitching again. "Congratulations. You passed."

JUSTIN: * It takes a minute for Shane's weary head to process what she's saying, but when it sinks in he groans at his own stupidity. "I should have said something sooner... I thought I was just tired..." He tries to move a hand to his forehead, but is still too tired to make the effort. It falls across his stomach instead.

JENNA: * Jo shakes her head. "Don't worry about it .. you got through it okay." She reaches for her canteen, wagging it slightly. "Drink some water. Then we'll see about eating something." She pauses, then reaches down to ease her arm under his shoulders again and help him up a bit. "We probably shouldn't move for another day."

JUSTIN: * Shane tries his hardest to sit up on his own, but he ends up relying on her support more than he would like to admit. "Another day?" He tries to sound surprised -- because he certainly is -- but it doesn't sound anything more than tired. He manages to take hold of the canteen without immediately dropping it, and takes some careful sips of the water.

JENNA: * She arches an eyebrow, easing him back once he's finished drinking. "Yeah, another day. You still need rest." She turns to her pack and digs out some jerky, offering him a piece. "We should be okay on supplies, even with the delay." For a moment, she looks extremely weary.

JUSTIN: * Shane doesn't look like he approves of this idea, but he isn't in a condition to argue. He'd admit it's for his own good, if he didn't hate to hold things up. "Sorry to hold things up..." He says with some guilt, taking the piece of jerky and attempting to chew at it. It's doable, though with tired muscles it takes quite a while longer to chew.

JENNA: * Jo shakes her head again. "Another day doesn't hurt." Her mouth twitches in a brief, ironic smile at what her chief would have to say in response to that. Then the smile fades as she recalls what his solution would be to begin with. "I don't mind putting off another lecture on my own incompetence, really."

JUSTIN: * Shane looks puzzled, swallowing down the last of his jerky and shuffling to be a bit more comfortable. "I wasn't... going to lecture..." He trails off, as his semi-delirious thoughts realize she might not be referring to him this time.

JENNA: * She grins at him. "My boss." She reaches over to remove the cloth from his forehead, this time not bothering to replace it as she settles into a more comfortable sitting position. "He won't be happy, no matter what." She gives a weary stretch, running her fingertips along the cloth of the tent. "At least the storm stopped."

JUSTIN: * Shane lies back on his makeshift pillow again, deciding it isn't worth the effort to remain upright. "There was a storm?" He has no recollection of this, but it then occurs to him that Jo does look a little damp. "I guess that part happened after I was out."

JENNA: "Mmhm." She begins shifting her loose belongings around, bunching her own cloak under her head on top of her pack and settling against it, arms folded. "It started not long after you collapsed ... lasted 'til not long before you woke up. Helped keep the water flowing, anyway."

JUSTIN: * Shane gets a hand to his face to rub some of the stiffness away, dropping it again with a tired sigh. "How long /was/ I out, anyway?" He makes an attempt at his canteen, but despite being thirsty, he doesn't seem all that interested.

JENNA: "Just a day." She closes her eyes, then opens them again, slipping back out to the front and poking her head out. "Yeah ... Sun's close to setting again." She glances back at him, then drops the flap again, moving back to her position. "It'll probably get cold again soon." Thinking about that, she picks up her cloak, now at least mostly dry, and tosses it loosely over Shane. "You'll need it more than I will."

JUSTIN: * Shane frowns, not at the gesture, but at the fact that he needs it. "I guess..." Is the only answer he can think of, and he settles, completely uncomfortable with his show of weakness. After a moment of quiet, staring at the tent wall, he turns his eyes up to her again. "You carried me all the way back here?"

JENNA: ".. Sort of. Part carried, part dragged." She nestles back down, resting her head against her pack and watching him quietly. "I was small when I got it ... knocked me out for three days. Lady who treated me said it was a near thing." She shrugs.

JUSTIN: "Oh..." Shane follows her down with his eyes. "I'm sorry to hear that..." He feels very awkward, all covered up in the cloak like a boy tucked in bed. "How do you treat the illness?"

JENNA: "Mm.. there's a kind of cactus .. and a root that grows around somewhere. Mix 'em up with some water." She yawns, apparently quite drowsy, then fixes him with an amused stare. "I'm still alive, so obviously I passed my initiation, too." She grins, folding her arms against the chill that's coming.

JUSTIN: "Well, I suppose that's one thing we have in common, then." He smiles weakly, and tries not to look away in his embarrassment. It is a little bizarre, this entire situation. Surreal. "Thank you... you didn't have to trouble yourself with me, I probably deserved what I got for following you all the way here."

JENNA: * Jo watches him unblinkingly for a moment, then she smiles and shrugs. "My boss would have told me to leave you. And lectured me about how we're not a charity." She closes her eyes, nestling down slightly. "I guess I don't listen to him very often." She opens one eye, looking at him again. "You're welcome."

JUSTIN: * Shane smiles crookedly, shifting a bit underneath the cloak. "Guess I'm lucky you're insubordinate..." He yawns deeply, fumbling to get a hand up to cover the sight. "Mm. After all that sleep, you'd think I wouldn't be tired." A brief, fleeting look of worry passes his face when he wonders if he did anything... ungentlemanly in his sleep again.

JENNA: * She opens her eyes again. "Your mind may have been out, but your body was fighting.. 'course you're tired." Her expression becomes momentarily amused. "Come to think on it, so am I." She peers at him for a moment, then smiles. "Rest is what you need, anyway. But if you don't mind, I'm not going to sit up and make sure you don't die in the night this time."

JUSTIN: "Oh -- of course! I don't want to keep you..." Shane fidgets again, wishing he wasn't in the position that he is. That is, a position that gives someone else cause for concern. Even if Jo seems a most unlikely person to fill that slot. "I'll be fine this time, I promise."

JENNA: * Jo nods, giving a faintly satisfied smile. "Better," she mutters drowsily. "Kind of annoying if you died after all the work I did." She's sounding very drowsy now, as if it's taking a great deal of effort to bother staying awake.

JUSTIN: * Shane shakes his head solemnly. "I wouldn't dare." He goes silent after that, as he also wouldn't dare to continue babbling at her when she's trying to fall asleep. He turns his eyes up to the tent, half-closing them and listening to the sound of water dripping outside.

JENNA: * Jo doesn't say anything more, and before long, her even breathing indicates that she has dozed off completely. She doesn't stir or speak, though after a short while she shivers once, attempting to curl up a little, then stopping when she meets resistance in the form of Shane.

JUSTIN: * The small nudge is enough to draw Shane out of his thoughts, and he peers down at Jo's sleeping self. Something about the way she's half-curled strikes him as familiar, and he's not sure why, though it does cause a strange fuzzy feeling in his chest. He shakes the feeling away and makes to lay down again, when she shivers lightly out of the corner of his view. He blinks, sitting upright again as much as he can to stare at her again -- then at her cloak covering him, and he bites his lip in thought. She'd throw a fit if he took it off, after she gave it to him, so he'll have to improvise. He goes digging through his things until he finds his discarded coat, dusting it off until he's satisfied. Hefting it, he crawls over to drape it across Jo's form, the thick fabric plenty big enough to cover her up to her neck. He smiles briefly at the accomplishment, then settles back in his place as if nothing happened, eventually drifting off.

JENNA: * Sound asleep, Jo doesn't notice his movements enough to wake, shifting only slightly when the coat settles over her. It's several moments before she even seems to notice it, and then her reaction is to nestle down into it, making a faintly contented noise. Their mutual doze lasts well into afternoon, between illness and weariness, and the sun is casting long shadows by the time either of them wakes.