"Tina, you alright?" Newt's voice came through the ringing in her ears. Tina groaned and shifted herself into a sitting position. I'm such an idiot, was her first coherent thought. Of course she'd had to slip on the mountain path they were hiking and hit her head and spoil all the fun. She put a hand to her head as Newt's concerned face swam in and out of focus. 

"She doesn't look alright," Theseus remarked with a bit of a frown. 

"I'm fine," Tina insisted, pushing herself to her feet and immediately regretting it as a fuzzy darkness spotted her vision. 

"Hold on, there you are," Newt said, taking her by the shoulder. "Sit back down, take your time."

Tina just groaned and leaned into him, crossing her arms and planting her face on his shoulder. Newt took the opportunity to examine her wound more closely--a nasty bruise and a small cut, as well, which had bled down the side of her face. He tried to brush away the blood, but it had already thickened too much to be wiped off dry. By instinct, he went to wet his thumb in his mouth, then caught the looks of Theseus and Jacob and thought better of it. 

"Tina, you can sit back down," he said again. She just groaned again and uncrossed her arms and wrapped them around Newt. "I don't want to." 

Theseus raised an eyebrow at Newt, who glared back before returning Tina's embrace.
Theseus leaned over to Jacob and muttered, "he never lets me hug him." 

Jacob shook his head and muttered back, "well, sorry to say, Theo, you're not Tina." 

As if in response to her name, Tina rolled her head and lifted it off Newt's shoulder, still keeping one arm tentatively around him. "I'm fine, we can keep going," she said, and Newt frowned down at her. 

"Tina, I don't think you're exactly in the best condition to carry on just now," he said, and she pouted and took her arm from him and crossed them. "I am so. I am not weak." 

Theseus watched amusedly as Newt fumbled with his words. "Tina, I didn't mean--"

"Can you even walk, hon?" Jacob asked, sticking his hands in his pockets. 

"No, don't challenge her," Newt said, and Tina glared at him and said, "of course," to Jacob. She made to meander down along the path past the other boys, but as soon as she placed her weight on her right foot she winced and reached her hand out to Newt. She paused before she touched him, her hand hovering just above his sleeve, her face plastered with pain and regret. 

"Tina..." Newt sighed. He approached her, slipping an arm around her again. Theseus chuckled and Tina shot him a murderous glare. "I think I sprained it," she muttered to Newt, finally yielding to the pain and weakness and leaning her head on his shoulder. 

"Right then," Newt said, and swung her up into his arms. Tina tensed and clutched at his coat. "Newt, what are you doing?"

"I'm carrying you," Newt replied matter-of-factly, starting down the path again. 

"Theseus!" Jacob exclaimed as Newt passed them. "Carry me!" 

"Yeah, right," Theseus said, pocketing his hands and following his brother. 

"Newt," Tina protested, "put me down." 

"And then what?" Newt said, "we'll wait around till your ankle heals?" 

"Well you don't have to carry me," Tina insisted, nestling into him anyhow. Newt beamed down at her, her arms around his neck, and said, "yes I do." 

Tina sighed and pressed her face into his shoulder again. Theseus, who had come alongside his brother, tucked a strand of Tina's hair behind her ear to keep it from getting in the blood. "Does it hurt?" he asked, and she nodded into Newt's collar.

Newt carried Tina the mile back to Theseus' house down the forest mountain path. Theseus opened the door and hurried to fetch his first aid kit as Newt set Tina on the couch and Jacob loosened his tie, panting from their hike. Tina squeezed her eyes shut and leaned back against the cushions. 

"Here we are," Newt said, taking the kit from Theseus as he stepped over the furniture with it. Newt poured alcohol on a cotton swab and began to clean the blood from Tina's face. When he reached the cut, she inhaled in a wince and screwed her eyes shut tighter. 

"Sorry," Newt said, pausing for a moment and brushing her hair out of her face. She sighed and opened her eyes for a moment, watching Newt as he bent diligently over her wound. All discomfort in physical proximity, all awkward shifting gaze, all cautious tremoring hands had vanished the moment she had become an injured creature. He pressed a bit of gauze to her temple and said, "Theseus, will you get me a bit of that tape?" He smiled at Tina, noticing for the first time that she had opened her eyes. 

Theseus, crouched at his brother's side, ripped off two pieces of the medical tape and handed them to him. Newt secured the gauze in its place, then shifted back from the couch. "Right, let's see that ankle," he said, lifting Tina's foot gingerly onto an ottoman. "Does that hurt?" he asked, slowly bending it one direction. Tina shook her head and he twisted it the other way. "Now?"

Tina inhaled sharply and nodded. Newt frowned and examined her ankle some more, massaging the muscles. "I don't think it's sprained," he said finally, "just a bit twisted. A little ice should help."

"I'll get that," Jacob offered, returning shortly with a tea towel full of ice. He and Newt arranged it gently on Tina's propped-up ankle, and she leaned her head back and closed her eyes again, brow furrowed. 

"You cold?" Newt asked as she began to tremor. 

"A bit," she said weakly, and he nodded. "Probably the shock, too," he said, taking a blanket from the arm of the couch and shaking it out over her. She cracked her eyes open to smile a thanks at him before settling down comfortably. 

After a few minutes, when her breathing had evened out and he was certain she was asleep, Theseus nudged Newt and said "What was that all about, were you practicing to carry her down the aisle?" 

Jacob sniggered and Newt flushed and glared at Theseus. 

"I'm not getting married anytime soon," Newt retorted. 

"Notice that he didn't say he wasn't marrying me, just not marrying anyone anytime soon," came Tina's groggy voice, and the three boys whipped about to see her smirking at them from the couch. 

"Tina, I--" Newt began, and Tina punched his arm with a tired playful smile. "I'm teasing," she said, then laid her head on his shoulder and sighed contentedly.