One last little bit of Will!whump, mixed with a bit of comfort.

...baby! Where's my...

...food for thought, the slimy dickweasel...

...thanks you for your input, Agent, er...

...not too many good beach weekends...

...find my baby!

green eyes. malevolent little smirk. numbing cold vice grip skin-bones-nerves.

oh. woman on the road- -daughter from the lodge.

cicadas and blue sky and a van in a ditch...

"Mmf. Actually quite good, scrapple. Are you sure you won't have a bite?"

"Stop waving it at me. I am not putting that in my mouth."

"It's spiced, fatty, fried pork product on buttered toast. What's not to like?"

"'Product'. There's the issue right there. It's awful."

"Now, offal is things like organs, and viscera. Scrapple is snouts and bits, so they tell me, so technically it's not offal..."

"I said awful, not offal, but my point stands. You don't eat something with 'snout' in the ingredients list."

"It's surprisingly good for nose, though."

"You come from a people who invented haggis, Benji. I don't think you're qualified to judge 'good'."

"Will you two stop? You're going to wake him up."

"I thought we wanted him awake now. In any case, he is- his breathing changed two minutes ago."

Will cracked his eyes open. At first he saw only a grey blur, hazed further by the screen of his eyelashes. Then he blinked heavy lids and the blur resolved into the soothing blue-grey wall of a hospital room, a silver bedrail, a soft white blanket drawn up to his waist. A line of tubing trailed down over his bare shoulder and terminated at a heavy swath of tape on the back of his hand.

Movement at the corner of his eye then, and the creak of vinyl chair cushions. He rolled his head- though it was more of a flop to the side- and met the gazes of his teammates, varying degrees of relief visible on their faces.

Now would be the time for a witty quip, something snappy to show an agent of the IMF might get knocked down but was never out of the game. Droll comebacks were a staple of the trade after all- look at James Bond.

"Hey," was what he croaked out.

"Hey yourself." Jane leaned forward and rested her hand in the curve between his neck and shoulder. She gave a little squeeze. "Welcome back."

"Good to be." Will worked his jaw, unsticking his tongue from the roof of his mouth, and without prompting, Benji set down his sandwich and crossed to a wheeled bedtray that had been pushed to one side. Will heard the rattle and slosh of icewater being poured and then Benji was back, carrying a plastic tumbler with a straw poking from it. Will reached to take it and his hand stopped short. "Th' hell?" He tugged sharply, and with the other hand as well, but they stayed pinned neatly along the bedrails.

"Those can probably come off now." Ethan leaned around Jane with another creak of vinyl and Will felt fingers at his wrists. Light pressure he hadn't noticed eased, and rough cloth slid out from under his wrists.

"Restraints?" Will lifted his now-freed hand and flexed it; there was a pad of gauze taped to the heel of his hand, but it felt fine, if a little stiff.

"You took a swing at the resident who was trying to change your dressing," Ethan told him. His voice was stern but his mouth twitched, and he quickly turned aside to roll up the strips of gauze.

"I... don't remember." Will took a long drink and let his head fall back against the upraised head of the bed.

"You were pretty out of it," Benji said cheerfully. "Your hemoglobin counts were in the red zone, and what blood you managed to retain was swarming with bad stuff. Apparently you spent the last few days bleeding all over a Pennsylvania mountain in the arse-end of nowhere."

"That, I do remember." Will let his gaze wander over each of his teammates in turn- Benji, looking almost giddy now that it was safe to poke some irreverent fun; Ethan, trying to hide the relief in his eyes with a poker face and folded arms; and Jane, with the most openly relieved expression. "Thanks for finding me. You're going to have to tell me how the hell you did it."

"Well, my mom is thrilled that cross-stitch saved the day," Jane said.

"I may take it up," Benji added. "Now I know that anything can be converted to a pattern."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Will ran his hand down to the layer of gauze taped across his stomach. "You mean I have stitches?"

"A few," Ethan said, "...hundred!" Benji broke in. "If we're keeping score, you're the frontrunner by far. Not that you'll be doing much running for a bit... okay, I'll stop," he finished, catching Jane's eye.

"The doctor said you should make a full recovery," Jane said, taking the empty cup from him and going over to refill it. She pushed the tray up to the bedside within easy reach. "You're going to feel like crap in the meantime, though."

"But you'll be up kicking butt again in no time," Benji said, with a slight emphasis on the word 'butt'.

Will ignored him. He flicked his gaze over to Ethan, who had settled back in his chair and was toying idly with the rolled-up gauze. "Guess you're going to need to debrief me."

"Eventually." He nodded at the IV stand. "Once they wean you off the heavy-duty meds." Ethan smiled, a quick flash of white teeth in a darkly-stubbled face, the only sign he had been keeping a vigil. "I've been on those- answers don't always line up with the questions."

"Okay." Will shifted, with extreme care, holding his breath while he inched into a more comfortable position. He could feel the bulkiness of heavy gauze padding the side of his hip, and beneath it the sharp tug of stitches and tubes; he didn't pull the blanket back to check the damage, because he could also feel it covered nothing but bare skin. He subsided with a soft hiss between his teeth. "But I need to know- you got him, right? The guy running the operation?"

"We got him," Ethan confirmed. "His name is Salvatore DiSabatino. He has a bit of a background in 'Family enforcement', but we're still working out how he made the leap from mob work to human hunting excursions."

"He never gave me his name- called himself the Coordinator."

Jane snorted. "How very Pretentious Villain of him."

"There was a woman, too," Will said, fumbling for his water cup again. "She didn't deny being his daughter..."

"She's in custody, too. The feds have them both now, for kidnapping across state lines, just for starters."

Green eyes. Panic, raw and convincing, over a nonexistent missing baby. The rush of ice when she gripped his hand. Will set down the chilled tumbler. They'd lied- the memories were coming back, in jagged flashes. He supposed it had never mattered before if the toxin was permanent or not, because no one survived to put the claim to the test. "She tricked me good," he admitted.

"She tricked a lot of people over the years," Ethan said. "They've brought in cadaver dogs and ground-imaging equipment and are starting to find bodies. There's at least one dump site under a stone wall at the north edge of the property. Benji turned over the list of names we uncovered while tracking your disappearance, and the feds will compare DNA."

"There were at least a dozen," the tech told him soberly. "You lucked out, Will."

Will shook his head. There was still enough narcotic left in his bloodstream that he was starting to slide under again- his vision was beginning to tunnel out. Even so, the bullet wound was making its presence felt again, and he shifted restlessly from the building ache. "Wasn't luck. Was 'cuz you guys came through for me."

Benji brightened. "Well, when your arse is on the line, your team will jump in to save it. It's kind of our specialty."

"That, and butt jokes." Will shifted again, finding it increasingly difficult to get comfortable. "How long 'til you get it out of your system?"

"At least three missions worth. I propose that we use planets whenever possible, and that Will's codename from now on is 'Moon'. Or we could go with train cars- Engine, Sleeper, Tanker, and, of course, Caboose."

Jane tried to hide a grin. "I think someone needs a nap, and it's not just Will." She bent down and brushed a kiss onto his forehead. "We'll go back to the hotel and grab a shower and something to eat and come back to see you later. You need anything in the meantime?"

"Pizza. Pants."

Jane let the smile bloom across her face. "When you can stay awake for longer than ten minutes without turning grey and sweating, I'll bring you a large ultra-loaded."

"Thanks, Jane. Benji."

"You bet. Feel better soon- I know it's hard being the butt of a joke, but..."

"Take him out," Ethan groaned. He caught Jane's eye as she herded Benji toward the hallway. "And send in a nurse, would you?"

The door closed behind them, cutting off Benji's remark, "You know, if you're hungry, I know a diner down the street that serves up some great scrapple..."

Will tried to push up onto his left side, wanting to ease the insistent throb that now gripped his right side from ribcage to knee. His arms didn't want to cooperate, but the drugs weren't enough to combat the pain, only to make him clumsy. He gave up and sank back, rolling his head slowly to focus blearily on Ethan. The other man had subsided back into the chair with the air of someone planning to remain for a while.

"Y' don't need to stay. When th' nurse comes in, I'm gonna ask her for another dose an' it'll probably put me back under."

Ethan stretched out his legs and folded his hands on his stomach. "Not a problem," he said quietly. "Your job is to take it easy and heal. My job- is to keep watch so you can."

Distantly, Will heard the door open again, and Ethan telling someone that the meds were wearing off and Agent Brandt needed another dose. He heard the muted click and crinkle of IV bags being switched and a moment later the flush of morphine swept aside the gnawing pain.

He was sinking under again. For a moment, he fought against the beckoning darkness- too much could happen while he was unconscious. And then he heard the reassuring creak of vinyl as Ethan settled in for the duration, and knew someone had his back, and he could rest.

the end

My dad grew up in the Philadelphia area, and scrapple was a big part of my childhood. I think it's delicious, but you don't want to think too hard about what's in it.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who read, who commented, and who gave this story a chance. And a shout-out to niagraweasel, who inspired me to expand on some of the ideas I had.

Until next time, when inspiration strikes and compels me to whump one of Jeremy Renner's fine, fine characters!