Chapter 49

I didn't sleep much the first night in camp. I rarely did, on trips like this... despite the fact that this was technically the culmination of months of planning it still felt like there was so much to do, so many things to think about. Plans for the next day, establishing a schedule, occupying Jonas, and of course there was Alex.

Alex. The godsend who had kept me together throughout this whole ordeal. It wasn't that I was used to having someone do everything for me - when I was with Keith we shared duties, but it was I who was meticulously organized, who dealt with the details and the annoying postgrads and kept everyone in line. But somehow, now, I didn't have to, because she was there for me, quietly and efficiently making things better so that I didn't have to worry about them.

Which, of course, made her the perfect assistant. But that wasn't all. As my eyes adjusted to the dark of the tent interior, I found myself looking across at her as she slept. She lay on her back with her head turned toward me, sleeping bag already unzipped down around her waist in the rapidly warming tent interior, her thin teeshirt clinging to her lean, solid figure, and I found myself having thoughts that I had never before had for an assistant (mine or anyone else's). Despite my solemn vow to behave 'appropriately' and not to invite trouble, it was getting very hard indeed to ignore the fact that the things I had felt for Alex were not just idle musings... they were still very present and very pervasive. Not to mention distracting.

The rainforest is never really properly silent - there's always the sound of insects, of rustlings and tappings and chirrupings and burrowings, and the longer you lie in the dark the louder they sound. That, of course, added to the very quite, tinny little beeping of Jonas's iPod, which he'd left in his ears playing music to keep him from being kept awake by exactly those rainforest sounds. None of those things was as distracting as the knowledge that Alex was slumbering peacefully just a few feet away, and would be for the next few months until we went home or I went insane from longing and went to sleep among the jungle plants.

I think I got about four hours' sleep in the end - enough for now, but not going forward. I hoped feverishly that the combined effects of my usual nerves with Alex's presence would lessen sooner rather than later, as I had no wish to end up making myself ill from sleep loss on this excursion.

Luckily, things settled in well enough, even with my slightly sleep-deprived supervision. Tim and Georgie were kitted out with their sample kits and and given grids of nearby spaces (and warned strenuously that if I found footprints they would be feeling my wrath) and sent off to begin collecting. Alex was setting up her workstation, getting the small generator running for power and somehow also managing to keep Jonas occupied helping with cables and fetching and carrying while I set up my own workspace, complete with records of my last trip several years ago and and all the necessary data to make comparisons with once Alex's analysis was done.

We took a break during the hottest part of the day (another reason this expedition was going to take longer than usual), sitting in the shade sipping lukewarm water and discussing our expected findings. Mercifully, Tim and Georgie were a little less incompetent when it came to work, and we'd made reasonable progress, so Alex would have plenty to be going on with in the afternoon.

My main worry now was occupying Jonas - though he was used to these expeditions, he was still a thirteen year-old boy, and the Amazon rainforest had little in the way of X-boxes and flat-screen TVs. Perhaps it had been selfish of me to insist that he come along, at least for part of the summer, but I couldn't stand the idea of not seeing him for several months so close to our last separation.

Jonas, however, seemed remarkably interested in Alex's work - moreso than he ever had been in Keira's, and to my surprise, amusement and delight Alex somehow managed to turn him into a sort of runner-slash-lab-assistant - she had him fetching and carrying at first but by the end of the day's work he was prepping samples in his own pair of latex gloves, shaggy hair held back from his face with one of my plain toothed alice-bands, his face a picture of fierce concentration as he debagged mosses and lichens with the same meticulous care as a nervous undergrad on their first big assignment.

Everybody was back in camp by the time the first rumble of thunder warned us of the oncoming rainstorm. Though we had set up as many shelters as we could in the clearing it was a tough task staying dry in the downpour, and I knew it wouldn't be long before we all felt soaked to the skin most of the time.

Jonas immediately retired to 'his space' and I could soon hear the sounds of his Nintendo DS, bought specially for this trip out of his own allowance, and I figured it was probably safe to assume he wouldn't be back any time soon. Alex had turned off and covered all of our electrical equipment just to be on the safe side, but continued scribbling in what I had assumed at first to be her field notebook until I caught a glance over her shoulder and saw, rather than her usual neat sketches and bullet points, that she had obviously shifted to a different notebook in which she appeared to be writing in neat continuous prose.

"I didn't know you kept a diary," I remarked, settling cross-legged on my cot.

Alex glanced up from where she was sitting in her own cot quickly, apparently surprised that I'd noticed her writing. "Oh, um. Well, I don't. Didn't." She shrugged. "I thought it would be a good idea while we were over here. Keep me sane."

"Or at least document your descent into insanity," I joked. "Either way it's a good idea."

Alex shot me one of those smiles where she met my eyes and my stomach twisted. "For when they find it, battered and bloodstained, floating down the river?"

It took me a moment to gather myself enough to speak. "Mm, let's hope not, eh?"

"Well, you're in charge," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"And don't you forget it. If you don't want to be on the menu when we all resort to cannibalism you had best get on my good side now!"

"Wow, that's a good point," she deadpanned. "What do I have to do?"

"Well, you have to work for me, for a start," I said, smirking. "Dealing with students and crunching data and any other inane task I come up with."

"Hm, okaay..." Alex said, a slight smirk appearing. "I think I could manage that... anything else?"

"Well, you'll have to be prepared to fly to exotic locales at the drop of a hat - or with a few months' notice. Once you're there you'll have to deal with more students, plus a sullen and cranky teenager, not to mention mosquitos the size of your hand."

"Wow. I mean, you implied this was going to be hard..."

I'm sure it wasn't her intention for her playful tone to sound flirtatious, but somehow that's what I heard, and of course it only encouraged me further. "Well, I haven't told you the worst part yet. You'll have to pretend to be my friend and spend time with me and laugh at all my jokes."

"Ah." At this Alex adopted an expression of deep sadness, shaking her head slowly. "I was with you to there. Sorry, I'd better get back to civilisation. If only you were witty, intelligent, kind... I mean, even if we had a hobby in common or something..."

My stomach flipped again at her compliments, and I had to shift ton my cot, throwing my legs over the side. "Ah well. It could've been a beautiful partnership."

Our fictitious job appraisal over, Alex seemed to eschew any final comeback, and yet she didn't look away from me, pen in hand still poised above the journal sitting in her lap as she... observed me, in silence, her gaze steady and penetrating.

The rain outside showed no sign of letting up, but I suddenly needed to be anywhere but in that small section of tent and stood abruptly, smoothing my damp palms over my shorts. "Well, um, I had better go check on Georgie and Tim, see how their first day went..."

"You'll get soaked..."

It's better than staying in here. I grinned wryly. "Welcome to the rainforest."

 

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