Black Jack pulls his cape closer over his shoulders as he stands at the edge of the small cliff overlooking the water below. The small seaside hotel behind him had been taken over by himself and the others as a base of operations for their mission, he'd spent the last couple of days setting up a room for surgery in case it had been needed.

He looks over at the sea once again before heading back inside, shutting the door firmly behind him and checking the shutters the young man Xander had built for the occupied rooms. They're going to be needed tonight, according to the news a storm is blowing in that will hit by nightfall. He'd argued in the beginning about making radical changes to the hotel but the changes had made being there more bearable, even if he did have to put up with squealing teenage girls who thought he was cute. He scowls. . . he is not. . . cute. Walking over to what had been the check-in desk when the hotel was operating, he checks the computer screen that shows where everybody is thanks to transponders everybody wears as part of their clothing. A quick look assures him that he had been the only person outside and he turns the PA system on.

“I'm locking us down, the wind is already beginning to pick up.” he sits down and inputs the commands to lock down the building, hearing the sounds of thunks as doors and windows are locked automatically. A look at a second screen tells him that everything is locked and he stands up as Xander walks into the room, absently rubbing the back of his neck. Walking around the desk, he taps in a few commands and checks the weather outside, shuddering. “I'd heard this area gets some nasty weather, but this is the first time I've actually seen it in person.” He looks over his shoulder at the other man. “What kind of preparations do I need to make in case we lose power?”

“We've got a generator for the most important areas. That should last for as long as the storm lasts, if we have enough fuel.” Black Jack says slowly, mentally checking what will be needed if they're locked inside for any length of time. “We should shut down the computer system, only leaving one operating where we are. . .”

Xander nods. “If we lose power, we don't want to run around the hotel shutting down computers.” He taps in a couple of commands and a message flashes on the screen telling them the computer system will be shutting down in fifteen minutes, giving anybody working ample time to close and save open documents before the system shuts down.

“Where is everybody?” Black Jack asks, following Xander into the heart of the old hotel, there should have been at least one person yelling about the computer system going down.

“I sent them off to G-Man when I heard the weather forecast, it sounds like we're going to be locked in for a couple of days and they'd be bouncing off the walls.” Xander says. “It's just you, me, and the creepy guy.” Black Jack smiles slightly at the nickname Xander had given Dr. Kiriko. Then the rest of what Xander had said sinks into his brain.

“Piniko actually agreed to go?” Black Jack stops and looks at the other man.

Xander's lips twitch. “Not exactly, Dawn packed her a bag of clothes, I picked her up and walked her through the portal, handed her off to Buffy and ran like hell back through, hoping it would shut before she could get loose and run back, she was not happy but Buffy's stronger than she looks. She won't be happy when she gets back, but it will be my shins she's kicking, not yours.”

“What happens if . . .”

“Something happens?” Xander says, holding up his wrist. “See this button on my watch, I push it and Dawn can be here instantly, it's our emergency signal. First sign of trouble, it's getting pushed. In addition, Willow's got a wellness charm on me, if anything happens and I'm significantly hurt, it goes off and they come looking for me. Saved my life in Africa.”

“We're supposed to be safe here, I doubt that you need it.”

Xander barks out a short, humorless laugh. “Trust me Doc, the places that look the safest are usually the most dangerous. Ask me about my hometown sometime.” He looks at him. “Something happens and I can't push it, you do since you'll probably be with me. Tell the creepy guy too, huh?”

“You shut down the computer system?” Dr. Kiriko asks, one eyebrow raised into his white hair as the other man enters the lab.

“In case we lose power it will be easier to shut down one or two than run around the hotel shutting them off.” he says calmly, pulling on a lab coat. He walks over to the PA system and presses a button, “Xander, get some containers and fill them with water. If the storm is as bad as they predict, we'll need them.”

“Already taken care of.” Xander says when Black Jack releases the button. “I filled and froze five five gallon containers, figured if the power is out that long they'll be thawed by the time we need them. And they can keep the food cold if need be. Filled the other five five gallon containers, they're sitting in the kitchen and cleaned a couple of the tubs in the rooms we don't use and filled them with water. I like being prepared.”

“I do not like that kid, something about him makes the hair on the back of my neck crawl.” Kiriko says when Black Jack turns back to him. He snickers. “I think the feeling is mutual, he called you creepy guy earlier.” He sits down at the computer and runs the latest test data. “Also, if something happens, there's a small red button on his watch. Press it if there's trouble, it will bring help.” Kiriko looks at him. “He told me earlier, that way one of us could summon help if he couldn't.”

“Does he think something might happen?” he asks, remembering the stories the girls had been telling about Xander. Black Jack looks over at him. “Maybe, he sent the others away, he's got enough food and water stockpiled for a week if we need it,and the shutters should keep debris from breaking any windows. If the storm is as bad as they say, we might not be able to get out for a while.”

A few hours later the lights begin to flicker and with a sigh Black Jack shuts down the computer, standing up to stretch. “I'm going to get a hot shower now in case the power goes out completely.” he calls over his shoulder. A muffled grunt from the table is the only comment from Kiriko, who doesn't bother to look up from the microscope.

Ten minutes later Black Jack is drying off from his shower when the lights flicker again and finally go out. Sighing, he wraps the towel around his waist and fumbles in the dark to find the flashlight Xander had insisted be put in every occupied room. That allows him to dress and head down the stairs to the first floor as the backup generator kicks into life.

Kiriko heads down the stairs as well after putting what he had been working on up for the night, following the sound of voices to the basement kitchen, finding the other two men listening to a weather report on the radio, stopping in the doorway to listen.

“That sounds bad.” He says, coming into the room and dropping onto a seat at the table.

“It looks worse.” Xander says, pulling up a radar picture, showing the storm heading towards them. “I've never lived through a hurricane, but a couple of the girls have and they helped me design the storm shutters. It should keep most of the wind out, but we might have to stay down here if it gets too bad.”

“Stay down here?” Kiriko says with a frown.

“Pull down a couple of mattresses and bedding, there's the small room off the kitchen that we can barricade if we need it. Though if it does get that bad I'm calling for a pickup.” Xander mutters.

Kiriko snorts and takes the bowl of stew Black Jack hands him, eating quickly and heading back upstairs to his room. Black Jack helps Xander clean the small mess from dinner and heads back up to his room, lying down on the bed and listening to the storm rage outside. He'd spoken to Piniko before his shower, listening to her complaints about not being there with him with a smile. His answer of he'd rather have her there safe than with him possibly in danger does not make her any happier.

In his room Xander checks the weather again and lies down on his bed, looking up at the ceiling and remembering the call from Giles a couple of months ago asking him to head for the hotel the Watcher's council had purchased for land taxes to protect two doctors working on a 'project' with a hand picked team of Slayers.

He'd just gotten off a plane from Africa for a two week 'vacation' in Cleveland, he'd spent a night at the Cleveland school, just long enough to get a hot shower, do laundry, and replace gear before heading back to the airport, this time with a group of four slayers, Andrew, and Dawn. He'd been expecting the worse when he arrived at the hotel, it had been in receivership for years before being sold for taxes, but amazingly the damage had been minor. The Slayer strength had been helpful in fixing the few repairs needed, though they had complained about getting their hair dirty while cleaning rooms. Dawn had snorted and told the whiny ones to put a towel on their heads if they didn't want their hair messy, rolling her eyes as she and Andrew had worked on installing a computer network. The hotel had been ready for the doctors when they arrived, taking over one of the top floors for their work areas.

The two doctors had been a shock, the one with the black and white hair, scar on his face, and little girl with him had been unusual, but the other guy had sent his 'bad shit' meter off the scale. The long white hair, black clothes and eyepatch, and superior attitude had everybody calling him Snape behind his back.

The two doctors had locked themselves in the lab when they arrived, only stopping work when one of the girls would bring a tray of food up for them, or they drug themselves off to bed for a few hours sleep while one or another test was running. Luckily, both men had been asleep when a couple of the Slayers had come off patrol with minor injuries, by the time they had gotten up and joined the others for a hot meal the remaining injuries could be written off as minor injuries from roughhousing.

The two doctors had been mildly dismayed to find out their 'bodyguards' were two young men and a handful of young women but had been told repeatedly by the government agents that they were in very capable hands. Kiriko hadn't believed it for a second, how dangerous were teenage girls anyway? What, were they going to squeal at the bad guys? Even if the one young man did have more weapons than the government agents and had the girls taking turns on 'patrol'. Let Black Jack deal with them, he'd seen to have developed a soft spot for the annoying creatures.

And Black Jack had dealt with them, he'd seen one of the boys come in limping and had called for Piniko to bring his bag, stitching up the young man's head wound and binding his ankle and ribs. He hadn't believed for a minute the claim that he'd walked into a tree in the dark, the head wound was too clean to be from anything but some kind of blade and the bruises already beginning to come up didn't match either. He'd gotten the boy up to his room after he'd ordered the girls to set a guard and call their Mr. Giles for backup if they needed it and shook his head in dismay as he helped him peel off his clothes and get cleaned up. The scars hidden under his clothes tell him he's been hurt before and only a redheaded woman he'd never seen before coming into his room and telling him to get his butt in bed NOW Mister keeps him from getting dressed again and going back downstairs. The scowl on the woman's face has his patient ducking his head and sliding under the covers, mumbling under his breath.

The bellow of 'I heard that mister' from the hallway has him snickering silently. His patient sighs and settles under the covers, realizing he's not going to be going anywhere for a couple of days.

“They do care about you.” Black Jack says quietly, propping the injured ankle up on a couple of pillows to reduce the swelling. An ice pack is draped over the ankle and Black Jack pulls the desk chair up to the bed, starting a file on his new patient.

“Who is your primary physician?” he asks quietly as the door across the room opens. Piniko looks around the door and he quietly motions her inside with a smile. She sits beside the chair as the door opens again, a blonde women he hadn't met before coming into the room and pulling a chair around to the other side of the bed.

“Don't have one.” Xander mumbles, giving up the battle against the mild pain killer Black Jack had given him before starting stitching him up. Buffy's here, she'll keep the monsters away. Black Jack watches the younger man give up the fight to stay awake, almost as if he couldn't allow himself the luxury of falling asleep, interesting. That, and the numerous scars, tells him a lot of his patient's early life.

“Xander has been out of the country for a few years, before that our hometown was destroyed in an earthquake.” Buffy shrugs. “Xander was never around long enough to find a doctor after we moved to Cleveland, and before that. . .” her voice trails off. “Well, let's just say that our home town wasn't the best when it came to medical care. Our local hospital employed bad doctors who were more likely to kill you than cure you. We pretty much took care of ourselves when we got hurt, it was safer. And where Xander traveled, there weren't that many trained doctors. He was only back in the country a few hours before Giles sent him here with the others.”

Black Jack shakes his head sadly, making a note on the file. “And you are? Since my patient seems to consider you safe enough to allow himself to sleep?”

Buffy shakes her head. “Sorry, used to everybody knowing who I am.” She holds out a hand. “Buffy Summers.” Black Jack puts down the notepad and shakes her hand solemnly. “Summers, any relation to Dawn Summers?”

“My kid sister.” Buffy says fondly.

“Do you know what these scars are from?” Black Jack picks the notepad back up.

“Some of them, we . . . we were members of a protection patrol back home. Willow could probably tell you more about them, she's been his best friend since they were five and patched him up a lot of times from textbooks.” Buffy shakes her head at the shocked look on his face. “Xander's parents weren't the nicest of individuals, anywhere else somebody would have taken him away from them, but in Sunnydale. . .” her voice trails off and she shakes her head.

“Willow?” Black Jack asks.

“Redhead, about my height.” Buffy makes a hand motion to where her head would be if she were standing. “We both came when we found out Xander had been hurt.”

“I believe I already met her, if she's the redhead who came in earlier. Told Xander to get his butt in bed now, mister?”

Buffy snickers. “Yeah, that's Willow.”

Down in the kitchen, Xander is busy bringing supplies into the room off the kitchen. It may seem like he's making a mountain out of a molehill, but better safe than sorry. He can put everything back after the storm blows itself out if he has to. He winces, holding his stomach as he puts cots and bedrolls down in the closet, leaning against the wall breathing slowly until the pain passes. Looking over his supplies, he checks the weather once again on the radio before heading upstairs.

Walking into his room, he strips and goes into the bathroom, showering off dirt and sweat built up from everything he'd been doing to get the hotel ready for the storm. Stepping out of the shower, he grabs a towel to wrap around his waist and begins toweling his hair, letting it fall in waves down the middle of his back. The younger Slayers had begged him into letting it grow before he left for Africa, and finding a barber had been the last thing he'd been thinking about while in Africa. The harsh African sun had bleached a white streak in it. Personally, he thought it looked stupid, but Andrew and the girls thought it made him look like a old fashioned super hero or cover off a romance novel, but the natives had whispered about a legend concerning the white man with the white hair, helping him find and train the Slayers there. He'd been sorry to leave Africa, but the others had told him it was time to go, he was always welcome in their villages, at their hearths, and in their hunts. Pulling on underwear, he walks across the room, listening to the wind beginning to howl outside his room..

Settling down on his bed, he lies back his arms folded behind his head looking up at the shadows flickering on the ceiling from the light in his bathroom. Rolling onto his side, he hisses at the twinge in his side and rolls the other way, pulling a pillow under his head and drifting off to sleep.

A rapid pounding on his door wakes him up a few hours later and he walks across the dark room, walking into furniture and the wall before finding the door. Pulling the door open, he finds Black Jack outside the door with a flashlight.

“The wind is picking up, we're heading down to the basement until it's over.” he says.

“Let me get dressed.” Xander says, turning in the doorway and grabbing a flashlight from beside the door, quickly dressing and following Black Jack down the stairs. He can hear the doors rattling across the room as they go through the lobby and he aims the light across the room at them, feeling the wind leaking around the edges of the shutters and hurries down the stairs after the other two men.

“You've been busy.” Black Jack says, flashing his light around the room. Xander walks down the hall to where the generator had been installed, wincing at the pain in his side when he bends over to check the settings, flipping the switch and setting it humming.

“Good,” Kiriko says in the other room as he pulls out his laptop, pulling up the latest weather reports as Xander enters the room, checking the doors behind him. Xander walks across the room and reaches into the closet to pull out the cots and bedroll, hissing in pain as his stomach explodes in agony.

Black Jack grabs his arm as he drops to his knees, keeping him from hitting the floor. Kiriko moves quickly across the room, grabbing his other arm and pulling him across the room. Xander is put into a chair, taking a deep breath as the pain in his side finally subsides. Black Jack drops onto the chair beside him, grabbing his wrist to check the pulse as his other hand cups his cheek and forehead.

“You're running a fever, where does it hurt?” he asks as Kiriko sets up a nest of blankets across the room.

“My side,” Xander finally says, face relaxing as the pain passes, hissing as Black Jack presses against his side, trying to swat his hands away as he finds the spot in question.

“Appendix?” Kiriko asks across the room, quickly checking the medical supplies Xander had brought into the room.

“Looks like it,” Black Jack says, helping Xander to his feet and leading him across the room, undressing him and lying him in the blankets, pressing again on Xander's side. The wince and grunt Xander can't stop confirms his suspicions.

“Can't be,” Xander pants. “I had it out when I was eight. . . ah hell,” Xander says, realizing what has to have happened.

“What?” Black Jack asks, lifting his patients head to swallow two aspirin and sip from the glass of water Kiriko holds to his lips.

“I lost an eye about three years ago. While I was in Africa, one of the Shamans performed a spell that caused it to grow back.” Kiriko and Black Jack stare at each other across his head. “It's the truth, I swear. On the computer there's a folder marked pictures, check the pictures from three years ago.” Black Jack pops a thermometer in his patient's mouth and watches as Kiriko walks across the room, opening the files in questions. He looks at the picture in front of him, the annoying boy across the room, and back at the picture. “What happened?” he asks, coming back across the room.

“The Shaman said, 'What was lost is regrown.' I didn't think anything of it at the time, but if his spell could regrow my eye, why not my appendix.” Xander laughs around the thermometer in his mouth. “Another chapter in the life of it could only happen to the Zeppo.”

“What do we have in the way of medical supplies?” Black Jack asks, looking over at the boxes in front of Kiriko. He pauses to brush hair off Xander's forehead before standing up and walking over to the other man.

“Compact medical kit, definitely not your normal first aid kit.” Kiriko smirks, unzipping a small black case. He shakes a bottle of pills that can be dissolved in sterile water for injections. “Antibiotics, pain killers, suture kits. . .” he looks over his shoulder. “Almost as complete as your own gear.”

“I doubt he's performed major surgeries,” Black Jack says, taking the case and looking it over. “You're not joking.” He takes each bottle out and looks at the labels. “This is his personal medical kit, I recognize the handwriting.”

“Just what has our young friend been doing?” Kiriko asks with a raised eyebrow. “This isn't for show, it's been used, and used frequently.”

“I'm wondering just how bad his hometown really was.” Black Jack says quietly. He shakes his head and quickly looks through the supplies before heading for the door.

“And where do you think you're going?” Kiriko asks, grabbing him by the arm.

“I want to get him on an iv as soon as possible. Hopefully we can hold off having to operate until after the storm passes.”

“Tell me what we need, I'll go up and get it.” Kiriko says, looking at him. “You've got Piniko to think of.”

Black Jack stares at him a minute and nods, “saline and glucose, iv antibiotic, tape or something to hold the bags up. My bag in case we have to operate down here, sterile gear, rubbing alcohol to bring the fever down so we don't use up all the water. . .” Black Jack and Kiriko quickly empty two of the large bags Xander had brought down for supplies.

“I'll see what else I can find up there that I think we'll need.” Kiriko looks back at the figure in the blankets across the room and heads out the door. The door is rattling despite the shutters covering it as he makes his way through the lobby and he wonders if there's spare plywood he can put over the windows in the surgery Black Jack set up upstairs. As much as he dislikes the brash, irritating young man, he's not going to let him die if he can help it.

He quickly crosses the large room, sighing as the stairwell door shuts behind him. He takes the steps two at a time and emerges down the hall from the labs. He opens the door to the stockroom and holding the flashlight in his mouth, fills the bags with supplies. Running into Black Jack's room, he brings out his medical bag and quickly makes his way back into the stairwell.

The old glass in the door finally loses the battle with the wind and shatters as he passes it, shards landing in his face, hair, and hands. Biting off a colorful curse, he makes his way down the stairs into the kitchen.

Black Jack gasps as Kiriko enters the room, crossing the room and pushing him into a chair. He grabs a handy cloth from a drawer and holds it against the bleeding head wound.

“What happened?” He asks, carefully picking glass out of his hair and brushing it off his clothes.

“The glass in the door shattered as I was passing it.” Kiriko says, closing his eye as Black Jack lifts the cloth to check if the bleeding has stopped. “I'm going to have to clean this, there's still glass in there.” He grits his teeth as Black Jack cleans the wound out, injects a local, and puts in a stitch.

“There,” Black Jack pulls off his gloves after putting a bandage on Kiriko's temple. “It didn't really need a stitch, but I didn't want it scarring. How bad is the damage?”

“I didn't look, too busy ducking flying glass.” Kiriko says, his lips twitching. “Let me go look. Would you happen to know if our friend there happens to have any big pieces of wood hanging around?”

“Room off the desk,” Xander says quietly, sitting up. He winces and Black Jack is immediately across the room pushing him back into the blankets. “There should be a couple good sized pieces left in there. Let me up, I gotta go take care of the door.” He struggles weakly against Black Jack's firm hands.

“No, you stay put.” Kiriko orders. “I'll go look.” He grabs a heavy jacket and heads back up the stairs.

“I should be the one going.” Xander mutters, trying to get up. Black Jack effortlessly pushes him back down. “Don't kid yourself,” he says with a smile. “Kiriko is protecting himself just as much as he's protecting us. . . and you're the one with the appendix that could go at any time.”

Xander still tries to get up as a few choice curse words and banging can be heard coming down the stairs, but Black Jack calmly holds him in place with one hand on his chest as footsteps come back down the stairs.

“Done,” Kiriko says briskly, taking off the heavy jacket and pushing hair out of his face. “I found a couple of pieces of wood that covered most of it, plastic and tape took care of the rest.”

“Good, help me set up an iv.” Black Jack calls over his shoulder. Kiriko brings the bag over and tapes a iv bag to the wall over Xander's head as Black Jack slips a needle into his arm and starts the liquid dripping. A mild sedative is injected into the port and Xander, still muttering, drifts off into a light sleep. Kiriko walks across the room to the sink and fills a basin with cool water, returning to Black Jack's side. Cloths from the drawer are dipped in the water, wrung out, and placed on Xander's forehead, neck, chest, under his armpits, and groin.

Black Jack's hand lingers briefly on Xander's cheek, checking the fever again.

“How is it upstairs, can we use the operating room?”

“Maybe, if I can find a piece of wood to cover the window. What is the latest on the weather?”

Black Jack turns on the computer, bringing up the latest weather. “We're on the edges of the storm, the worst of it won't be reaching us for 48 to 72 hours.”

“What about him?” Kiriko shakes his head in the direction of the sleeping young man. “Will he hold out until the worst is over?”

Black Jack looks over at Xander and shakes his head. “The pain is still high in his abdomen, we have eight to ten hours, but I wouldn't put it off any longer than that.”

“Well then, I'd better go back upstairs and find something to put over the window in your operating room.” Kiriko pulls his jacket back around his shoulders and heads back to the room off the office. A piece of wood looks promising and he carefully wraps it in plastic before heading upstairs. Kiriko sighs in relief when he sees the wind isn't fully hitting that area of the building like the rest and shakes his head at Black Jack's foresight of setting up his operating room in a sheltered area. The board is nailed to the window frame and he heads back down the stairs.

“Okay, I've got the window covered.” he tells the other man as he enters the room. “But I don't know how long it will last, the wind is already picking up from earlier. If we want to use it, I wouldn't wait.”

“We're not,” Black Jack straightens up from where he'd been bending over Xander. “His fever just went up and the pain has shifted.”

Xander moans and opens his eyes as the blankets wrapped around him are pulled away, the cool air feeling good on overheated skin. He's lifted into a pair of strong arms and the bag dropped onto his chest as he's carried up the stairs to a room and laid on a hard surface.

Kiriko busies himself turning on the generator that powers the operating room in case of emergencies as Black Jack adds a bag of iv antibiotics to the line in Xander's arm before moving to the head of the table and starts working on the anesthesia, putting the mask over Xander's mouth and nose as the gas begins to start flowing into it.

“Deep breaths, Xander.” Black Jack says, holding the mask with one hand while running his fingers through Xander's sweaty hair with the other. Xander looks up at him and does as he's told, his eyes slowly flickering closed as his breathing deepens. Black Jack lies his hand on Xander's neck, checking the pulse as the younger man goes under.

“Is he out?” Kiriko asks from the doorway.

“Yes,” Black Jack says, pulling back an eyelid. He adjusts the gases flowing through the mask, giving him more oxygen before following Kiriko out the door to the sinks.

“You think it might have burst?” Kiriko asks Black Jack as they start to scrub up.

“From what Xander told me of his previous appendectomy, it sounded like it did then too.” He shakes his head sadly. “Also from what he told me the hospital in his home town was bad, very bad. They botched the surgery, he nearly died on the table.”

“I hope somebody stepped in and did something?” Kiriko asks icily, he hates incompetence.

“From what Xander and his friends told me, and from what I could find out online . . . no. They would just transfer incompetent doctors from one floor to the other. Most inhabitants of their town went elsewhere for medical services if they could help it. The hospital was still in operation when the town was swallowed by a sinkhole after an earthquake.”

“Sounds like it wasn't much of a loss then.” Kiriko sniffs, gowning up and following Black Jack into the operating room.

Kiriko brings a sealed tray of instruments to the table as Black Jack swabs Xander's stomach with Betadyne, then covers his patient's abdomen in surgical draping before holding out his hand for the scalpel. He makes the initial incision and quickly finds the appendix, hissing.

“Suction, quick.”

“Burst?” Kiriko asks, already moving.

“Yes.” Black Jack says, suctioning up the poison, flooding the incision with sterile water, and suctioning again. “I think I got it all.” He irrigates the area again, suctions the water a final time, and removes the appendix. He looks the incision over before reaching for a threaded suture needle, closing the incision with delicate stitches.

“There, the scar shouldn't be too bad.” Black Jack says, untying and pulling off his mask, cap, and gown. Kiriko follows suit, stuffing them in a bin to launder later as Black Jack bandages Xander's stomach, unhooks him from the anesthesia, and lifts him back into his arms.

Kiriko and Black Jack carry Xander back down the stairs, settling him carefully back down in the nest of blankets. Black Jack checks his vitals as Kiriko tapes the bags back up on the wall before looking at his watch.

“It's nearly three in the morning. Do you want to keep the generator going or shut it down to save fuel?” he asks, coming back into the room from shutting the door leading to the lobby, shutting the door of the room behind him. Kiriko puts down the flashlight and looks around, he should feel closed in by the lack of windows, instead he feels safe. A small vent high in the room gives them air, so he doesn't feel like he's suffocating.

Black Jack looks over at the generator. “Do you know how to turn it back on?”

Kiriko snorts. “Just flip a switch and push a button.”

“Shut it down while we're sleeping then.” Kiriko nods and busies himself pulling out one of the small oil lamps Xander had brought down, checking the oil before lighting it and putting it on the counter before shutting off the generator. The room is silent except for the sound of the wind outside, audible even down here and he jumps, startled when he hears a burst of static. Turning around he sees Black Jack adjusting the dial on an emergency radio, one of those that you wind for power, and stalks over, pretending he hadn't been startled.

“Whatever are you doing?”

“Trying to get a weather report.” Black Jack waves a hand. “Make yourself useful, make places for us to sleep. I'll take first watch to keep an eye on Xander.”

Kiriko grumbles but does as told, making two thick nests of blankets on mattresses before taking off his shoes and crawling under the blankets still dressed. “It's doubtless going to turn cold without any heat.” he says at the look.

“I hadn't thought of that,” Black Jack says softly, shaking his head. He pulls the covers up around Xander more firmly, walking over to the closet where Xander seems to have stored most of the emergency supplies. “Ahh heaters, he thought of everything.” A few minutes setting it up and it soon starts warming the room. Black Jack shuts it down when the room warms up, not wanting to waste fuel.

“How are we on food?”

“I asked Xander about that earlier. He said the kitchen has it's own dedicated backup generator from when this was a hotel that should keep everything good for two weeks before it runs out of fuel. It runs the freezers, refrigerators, and stove. Hopefully we won't be without power that long.”

“So we can cook and eat.” Kiriko says.

“And we should be safe down here with the doors shut.” Black Jack agrees. “It's just a matter of waiting out the storm.”

Kiriko settles himself in the nest of blankets, staring up at the ceiling. “I'm going to put the lamp out.” Black Jack tells him a couple minutes later. Kiriko nods, “Save it in case we need it.” The light goes out and he allows himself to go to sleep.

Black Jack listens to the quiet breathing of Kiriko and his patient as his eyes adjust to the darkness. Black Jack settles against the wall, his cloak wrapped around him to keep the chill away. He's about ready to wake Kiriko for the next watch a few hours later when a sound has him fumbling for the flashlight, turning it on to see Xander moving restlessly in the blankets next to him.

He reaches out and pats Xander soothingly on the shoulder over the blankets and he moans, blinking as he tries to wake up. Black Jack checks his vitals and Xander turns his flagging attention on him, fighting the affects of the anesthesia still in his system.

“'verybody 'k? Th' stor'?”

“Yes, you're the one who with the burst appendix.” Black Jack says calmly. “We've shut the door of this room and the door leading to the lobby.” Black Jack calmly says, seeing by the glazed look in his eyes he's not going to last long. “Now, I want you to take these.” he carefully slides two aspirin into Xander's mouth after sliding behind him, looping an arm around his chest careful not to go near the younger man's stomach, “Drink this,” and he holds a glass of water to his lips, watching the younger man slowly drink it down, “And go back to sleep.” He goes to put Xander back down in the nest of blankets, a suddenly strong grip on his arm holding him still.

“W'y the gen'ator 'ff?” Xander asks, twisting his head to look up at Black Jack.

“It's the middle of the night, we decided to turn it off while we were asleep. Which is where you should still be, I had to knock you out quickly and keep you out for the surgery so you wouldn't be waking as quickly as you would have for a normal operation where the anesthesiologist was monitoring you and would have had you nearly awake by the end of the operation. You should have been out for hours yet.”

“'ve always had a rea'tion to drugs.” Xander says, his voice growing less slurred as he blinks, eyes growing adjusted to the darkness of the room. “Wha' time is it?” he asks, blinking up at the other man.

Black Jack brings his watch into view of the flashlight. “Nearly seven in the morning, we brought you back down from surgery around two. Now you really need to rest, it's the only way you're going to get the rest of that drug out of your system.”

Xander looks up at him. “I'm supposed to be taking care of you, you shouldn't have to take care of me.”

“Again, you're the one who had his appendix burst.” Black Jack says calmly. “Now you really need to go back to sleep.”

“No, I'll stay up, you need to get some sleep. After all you did have to operate earlier.” Xander says, trying to get up. Black Jack's arm tightens around him, keeping him from hurting himself further.

“Yes. . . on you!” he says. He doesn't want to have to sedate the younger man but this insistence on getting up immediately after emergency surgery. . .

“Both of you go to sleep,” Kiriko growls from his nest of blankets, propping himself up on one elbow and blinking against the flashlight aimed his direction. “I'll stay up.” he untangles himself from the blankets, stretching and yawning as Black Jack gets Xander settled back down in the blankets, changing out the iv bags. Black Jack brushes damp hair off Xander's forehead, checking the fever at the same time as the younger man gives up his fight against unconsciousness. The other man might be a scary, cranky bastard but he can protect them until Xander recovers.