Page 37 of Part & Parcel

Kelly’s chest heaved with the remnants of panic and confusion. He blinked at Eli, mouth hanging open. Eli rolled over, disappearing from Kelly’s view. A moment later, Ty sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed Kelly had just bailed out of.

“Dude, you crushed my ribs.”

Kelly looked down at himself, straightening with a wince as the newly stitched wound in his side pulled. It was healing already. Kelly put his hand over it and gave the room another desperate once over. “What happened?”

“Which time?” Ty asked, laughing. It turned into a cough and he doubled over, holding his ribs. “Oh God, I think they’re really broken.”

Ty stood, revealing a bruise spreading across his rib cage. “I didn’t do that, you need to get those looked at.”

“Corpsman up,” Ty called.

Kelly shook his head, hand returning to his side. “Who stitched this?”

“I did,” Ty answered with a huff. “It’s good work.”

“Where are we?” Kelly asked again.

“This is the softest pillow I’ve ever had,” Digger said.

“That’s my ass, man,” Eli told him, voice muffled like he had his face in the mattress. “You sleep sideways.”

“I don’t care, this is nice.”

“Shut up!” Owen called. From the sound of it, the three of them were sharing a bed. How the hell had all three of them fit into a queen-sized bed? “That better be a gun sticking into my hip, man.”

Kelly swallowed hard, blinking to focus his vision. “Where’s Irish, is he okay?”

Ty nodded, then looked over his shoulder at the other side of the bed Kelly had bailed from. “Irish. Hey, Irish!” He tossed a pillow toward the head of the bed.

“No,” Nick grunted in response.

Kelly sat there for a time, breathing heavily, trying to remember how they’d all wound up here together, sleeping in puppy piles in a strange hotel. He finally shoved himself to his knees and crawled back to the bed before using it to climb to his feet. He wobbled when he stood, putting his hands out to steady himself.

“Holy God,” he muttered. He looked to the side, out the floor to ceiling windows. “Oh Jesus, is that the Empire State Building?”

Ty stood and trudged over to stand beside him, wavering as he blinked at the window. “Are we stateside?”

“Are we alive?” Owen countered. “I don’t feel alive.”

Nick slid out of the bed and shuffled to the window, his shoulder bumping into Kelly’s as they both looked down at the streets of New York City far below.

“Are you freaking out?” Nick asked Kelly under his breath.

“Yes! Join me!”

Nick snorted and wrapped an arm around Kelly as he waved a hand at the scene outside their window. “Welcome to civilian life, Doc.”

Kelly turned to the others, eyes going wider. They were all in various stages of sitting up. Ty was still standing behind them, weaving from side to side like he was trying to keep his balance on a ship. He shook his head, looking sick.

Eli was sitting with the sheets pooled around his lap, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand. “Ay Dios mío, dame fuerza.”

Kelly raised both eyebrows.

“I don’t remember anything right now,” Eli said. “Did you say we’re stateside?”

“We’re in DC,” Digger told them. “At least . . . I thought we were.”

“What are we doing in DC?” Owen asked, raising his head finally.

---