Hedera looked up at Tate and shook her head, "No, nothing is wrong. I was thinking if I had some young true moss, it could help him heal faster and maybe help eliminate scarring. I couldn't find any at the creek."

Tate jumped up, "I'll be right back." He ran toward the water and flew off through the opening in the trees.

I looked at Ash, but he didn't seem worried. "Should he be running around by himself right now?" I asked.

"He'll be fine. He knows what he's doing. If he can help Mark heal faster and keep him from having scars, he's going to do it."

Mark started moving at the sound of his name. He blinked his eyes a few times and gave me a little smile before lifting his head to look around, "Am I dying?"

"No! Are you hurting?"

"Yeah, but I'm OK, I think. Why are you all staring at me? Where's Tate?"

I was immediately relieved. "He went to get something for your back. Hedera thinks it'll help it heal faster, and maybe you won't scar."

"What?" He tried to sit up, but Ash put his hand on Mark's shoulder.

"It's alright; he'll be back soon. There's nothing to worry about."

"Are you kidding me? Would you want Jolie wandering off by herself right now?" He shrugged Ash's hand off and sat up. When he took a deep breath, I could tell the movement hurt. Standing, he said, "Let's go find him."

Before I could object, Ash was in front of Mark. "We wouldn't even know where to look. I know he won't leave your side for long right now. I'm sure he'll be back any second."

Mark looked like he would protest, but thankfully Tate landed by the creek at just the right second. He was carrying a huge rock with him, but it didn't seem to hinder his movements. 

Smiling at Mark, he said, "You're up. How are you feeling?"

Mark's eyes widened, "You shouldn't have gone off by yourself."

"I was only gone for a minute, and I got you this," he held the stone higher as if we didn't notice he was carrying a boulder the size of a freaking laundry basket. "I thought you would be happy."

Mark looked confused, "Umm, thank you?" He glanced from me back to Tate, "It's a really nice big-ass rock."

Tate chuckled, "Not the rock."

He sat it down in front of Mark, and we could see the top was covered in a thick coating of lavender colored moss, "This is what I got you."

Hedera had been standing quietly behind us the whole time. She stepped forward with a surprised look on her face.

"I wasn't sure if I would damage it by taking it off, so I brought you the whole thing," Tate shrugged.

She smiled, "Thank you, that's perfect."

Digging around in one of her small bags, she pulled out what looked like a little paint scraper made of wood. Kneeling in front of the rock, she motioned for Mark to come closer.

"If you'll lay right here, I can move the moss directly from the rock to your back without losing much of the moisture."

Tate grinned, "See, it's good that I brought the whole thing."

Hedera nodded, "It would have helped either way, but giving it no time to dry out will be most beneficial."

Mark stretched out on the ground beside her. She carefully scraped some of the moss off in little hand-sized sheets, then gently laid it on Mark's back.

He closed his eyes with a sigh of relief, "That feels so much better."

Tate smiled and sat beside him, taking his hand, "I'm glad, my favorite."

"Next time, just stay with the group, though, OK?" Mark said, looking up at Tate.

"I make no such promise."

Mark looked at him through squinted eyes as Tate smiled contentedly back. Before they could start to argue, I asked, "How long should he keep that on?"

"Just until it dries, it won't take long," Hedera spoke softly as she worked. When his whole back was covered, there was still a good bit of moss left. "Are there any other injuries?"

I shook my head, but Ash said, "Can it help the cuts on her thumb and her lip?"

Hedera nodded, "Of course." She scraped off a small piece and handed it to me. "It might be easiest to hold this to your lip with your thumb. Two birds, as they say," She smiled, "Anything else?"

"Yes!" Mark said, "Can Tate have some for his hands and arms?"

She started to scrape some off for him, but Tate shook his head, "Wait. I'm fine; I don't even feel it anymore. Can it do anything for bruising?"

Mark started to say something, but Tate waved him off. Hedera looked like she was considering it. "I'm not sure it could help with bruising used externally, but maybe taken internally."

Tate looked at Mark with enthusiasm, but Mark didn't look excited when he said, "You want me to eat that stuff?"

"You wouldn't eat it, just drink the liquid," Hedera answered.

Mark's answering cringe, said he didn't think that was much of an improvement.

Tate leaned down in front of Mark, "If you drink it and it helps, you'll be able to walk and breathe without being in pain. If you don't drink it, you'll be so slow limping out of here I might have to carry you."

Mark huffed, "What if I drink it and it doesn't help?"

"Then I'll still happily carry you," Tate smiled.

Mark rolled his eyes and looked at Hedera, "Can I sit up now?"

"Yes, I think so. Just move slowly so the moss will stay in place. It should be dry enough to remove in a few minutes." Mark sat up slowly and held his hand out to Hedera for the moss, but she shook her head, "I'll help you, just tilt your head back."

Mark looked frustrated but did as he was told. She held a handful of moss over his mouth and squeezed it with both hands. A thin stream of lavender liquid fell, it wasn't much, maybe an ounce, but she said that should be enough.

"We should know if it's helping very quickly," she told him.

Mark made a face and shrugged like it wasn't so bad, "It makes me think of the wheatgrass juice we got at the smoothie place. Remember that?"

I chuckled, "I remember that neither of us liked it."

"She was squeezing moss water into my mouth, so the bar was set pretty low," he giggled and then looked surprised that the sound came from him.

Tate grinned, "You seem like you feel better."

"Definitely," he started moving around, stretching his back. "Can we take this stuff off yet?"

Hedera went behind him and started poking around on the moss, "Yes, it's dry." She carefully removed the pieces, "This looks much better."

Tate moved to stand behind her as she took off the last of it. "It's almost completely healed! That's amazing, Hedera, thank you," Tate smiled at her.

I dropped the piece I was holding to my lip, and I could tell it was better too. I could move my mouth without it hurting, and the cut on my thumb was gone.

Mark jumped to his feet, and we were all surprised by his quick movements. "Yes, thank you, Hedera," he kissed her cheek. "I feel much better."

She smiled shyly, "You're welcome."

Turning, Mark reached out to hook his fingers into the waist of Tate's jeans before boldly pulling him against himself. "Thank you for going to get it for me, my badass god of war."

Tate's grin was huge, but before he could reply, Mark's hands moved to Tate's face, and he brought their mouths together in a hard kiss. Tate made a sound of surprise but quickly caught up to Mark's train of thought. He wrapped his arms around him, and they kissed in a way that made me blush and turn around.

I was excited for Mark, but I was shocked at his behavior. He was usually so private; I didn't expect him to be the major PDA type. I smiled, thinking about how happy he must be.

I looked up at Ash, and he laughed, putting his arms around me. "I guess he's feeling better."

Hedera cleared her throat quietly, "Maybe I should have mentioned...," her voice trailed off, and Ash stared at her.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

She shook her head and went on in a whisper, "No, it's just that I was only thinking of the healing properties in the moss. I wasn't thinking about anything else it might do and...I've seen some of the fae at court use the moss...recreationally," she looked extremely uncomfortable.

My eyes bugged out at her. "What do you mean recreationally? Like he's drunk now?"

"I'm not sure. There's no alcohol, of course, but it does seem to make them very friendly with each other."

My mouth popped open, "Perfect! We found organic faerie ecstasy. Mark is going to freak out when he realizes." I looked at Ash, "Go make them stop."

He chuckled, "I'm not getting in the middle of them. Regardless of how he'll feel later, I don't think either of them would appreciate me getting between them now." He looked past me to them and his eyebrows shot up.

Turning, I saw Mark had backed Tate against a tree and it looked like he was about to climb him, that was if they didn't eat each other's faces off first.

"Seriously, guys?" I yelled at them, but they didn't even notice.

Mark might be the only one drugged but Tate didn't mind the attack. If anything he was making it worse. He had his hand fisted in Mark's hair and his head pulled back while he kissed his neck.

I walked over and smacked Tate on the arm, "Hey! Cut it out!" He looked at me like I was crazy and Mark giggled. I glared at Tate and pointed to Mark, "Does this seem right to you?"

Mark was leaning against Tate's chest with his head tilted back looking up at the leaves. He was still giggling as he ran his finger tips back and forth over Tate's shoulders. Tate watched him for a second before smirking, "I mean, it doesn't seem wrong."

I punched him lightly, "Cut it out. She drugged him and when he realizes how he's acting he's going to freak out!"

Tate looked confused and gently backed Mark off of him. Once they had a little space between them, he looked at Hedera, "What's she talking about?"

Hedera looked embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I didn't think of this. I just knew it could help him heal faster."

Mark was ignoring us and using the space between them to run his hands over Tate's abs. I couldn't really blame him, they were pretty amazing, but I knew he would never knowingly do that with an audience. I reached out and took his hand since Tate looked reluctant to stop him.

"Mark, cut it out," I pulled on him until he looked at me and I had an awful thought. "Crap on a cracker! Please tell me this wasn't your first kiss."

He giggled again, of course. "Don't worry; it wasn't! We kissed yesterday and this morning too. Oh, manita, I was wanting to talk to you about it, it was amazing. I love him."

I squeezed his hand and pulled him away from Tate. Judging by the shock on Tate's face, and the fact that they'd only known each other for a couple of days, I didn't think they'd talked about that yet. I didn't want Mark to be embarrassed later, but Ash and Tate were smiling and Tate looked ecstatic.

I was so excited for Mark, but I really wanted all of this to happen for him when he'd actually remember it and I was sure he was thinking like himself.

"Now that Mark's OK to walk, I think we should get going," I said.

Mark turned to reach for Tate but I pulled him back, "Why don't we let them lead the way and we'll follow."

He smiled and gave me a hug, "I love you, manita."

"I love you too," I laughed, as he pulled me against his side and started playing with my hair.

Ash walked over to the Queen who was still sleeping on the ground wrapped in vines. "What should we do with her?"

He looked at Hedera and she shrugged, "I don't think the vines will kill her, but being in them for so long will leave her weakened. If it's a long time before she's found, I don't know if she'll recover."

"I'll toss her in the creek. Her recovery won't be an issue," Tate's voice was cold.

Ash shook his head, "You're angry; we all are. Do you think throwing her injured and unconscious into the water is really something you could live with later?"

"I'm doing fine so far. What's one more death on my head?"

"No," Mark spoke softly as he stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Tate's waist. With his head resting on his shoulder, he mumbled, "I don't want you to be sad." Even on faerie drugs, Mark was still the most caring person I knew.

Tate huffed and kissed the top of his head. "Well, we can't just leave her here. What other choice do we have?"

I started to say; I'd do it. Crystal was a terrible Queen, she didn't care about her people, all I'd seen her do was cause pain. As I studied her still form, I imagined her dead and my stomach turned. I couldn't do it.

Looking around the group, I knew they were thinking the same thing. Fighting for your life is one thing, killing someone as they sleep is another. None of us was capable of that.

"Maybe we can just leave her and get out of here," I suggested.

Ash looked at Tate and he gave him a slight nod. None of us was crazy about letting her go, but we didn't have much of a choice.

With that decided, Ash leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Sleep, Crystal." A sigh escaped her lips and he nodded, "That should keep her out for a while."

"Great. Let's get out of here," Tate walked off and we all followed.

This chapter is dedicated to @Bookoholic777 !!! Thank you for being so supportive! I'm always excited when I see your name pop up with comments!