Untouchable ~ A Jared Leto/MARS Fanfiction

Chapter Three

But Shelby returned empty handed after combing the area for a couple of hours, and I've now given up on the search. Two nights have passed. If Jared did have a phone and dropped it somewhere, its battery would almost certainly be dead by now.

Jared's horrendous fever finally broke very early this morning, and he slept peacefully through the night. Now that I can leave his side for a longer period of time, I'll have to summon help for him another way.

It's breezy this morning, with fine sand, white down from the cottonwood trees, and goldenrod pollen flying everywhere. As I duck through the low doorway, I rub the grit from my eyes. I straighten up and meet his wide-awake gaze, glowing brilliant blue even in the dim light inside the hut.

Like jewels.

For a moment, I just stand there staring at him like I did two mornings ago, unable to move or say a word. I've gotten accustomed to his presence, at least while I was frantically working to save his life, when he was unconscious and those eyes weren't piercing right through me. But now he stares back, unblinking, a half-smile playing at his perfectly chiseled lips.

"Hello," he says. His voice is groggy and weak, but he's completely lucid and alert for the first time.

"J—uh, hi," I stammer. "You're awake. I mean, really awake."

Jared's eyes leave mine and they sweep around the hut. "I'm not quite so sure of that. Where the hell am I? What is this place? I feel like I stepped into a time warp to about 10,000 B.C." His eyes meet mine again, then survey me head to toe. "Except you're wearing jeans and a t-shirt."

"I built it this after we found you. My daughter and I did, actually." I slowly approach him, wondering why I'm so nervous all of a sudden. I mean, I've been taking care of this man, I've undressed him, bathed him, stitched him back together, but now I feel clumsy and foolish. It's because he's awake, he's Jared Leto now, not just an injured and very sick man.

"Your daughter." A deep line forms in his perfectly smooth forehead as he frowns. "Yeah, I remember a kid finding me. A little girl with her hair in braids. I thought I dreamed it. She's your daughter?" Then his expression clears. "Yeah. Of course she is. She looks a lot like you." He shifts a little, and sucks in a hiss of pain. "Christ...my leg...hurts like a motherfucker."

I kneel down next to him. "I'm sure it does. Just relax. You broke both your tibia and fibula bone. Your leg's in the best splint I could fashion for you, but you can't move too much or you'll displace the bones again."

"Oh. Wow. Fuck." The words hiss from between his dry, cracked lips. "I really did it, didn't I. I'm gonna be out of commission for a hell of a lot longer than I planned to be."

"They were clean breaks, and with surgery, they'll heal well. You also have a nasty gash on your leg, which took twenty-eight stitches. The snakebite is what worried me. I had to use all my antivenom."

"Snakebite. Oh, yeah. Shit," he groans. He slides his arm out from under the sleeping bag and glances at it. The swelling has gone down, but the area around the bite is still red and tender. He studies it for a moment, and then returns his gaze to me. "Who are you? A nurse? A modern-day Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman? Maybe an angel?"

"No to all of the above," I examine the bite wound, not looking at him. "It's mildly infected, and so is the cut on your leg. I used aloe for a topical, and colloidal silver by mouth—"

"What's your name?" Jared interrupts.

I tear my eyes away from his arm and study the ground beneath me. I take a deep breath and reply quietly, "I can't tell you that."

"Why not?"

I shake my head. "I just can't. But now that you're awake, I can finally ask you why you're out here alone, and without a phone."