“Echo!”
Jesse’s halfway across the medbay before Rex can even think of stopping him. He wouldn’t bother even trying, but as worked up as Jesse is, he’s genuinely afraid he might hurt Echo by accident.
“Jess,” comes Echo’s voice, rough and quiet but audible even over the slap of Jesse’s boots on the floor.
“Oh my God,” Jesse sobs and then he’s on top of Echo and Georgie is shouting at him and Echo and Jesse are laughing and crying and Rex doesn’t have the heart to do anything about it.
Later, after the flimsiwork’s done and Rex’s shift is over and the Batch is set up to sleep in a few empty bunks and it’s all starting to sink in, he goes back to the medbay to see Echo.
Jesse is there, in Echo’s bed, and Rex isn’t sure if he’s returned or if he’s never left. Either way, he’s plastered to Echo’s side, awake though Echo’s out cold and watching Rex approach with hazy, puffy eyes.
When Rex sits down, Jesse closes his eyes again and buries his face in Echo’s shoulder before croaking out, “Anything?”
“No.” They’d search for hours, scanning the system and sending out messages on every frequency, scouring the continent for any sign of Kix. Nothing. He was just… gone. Disappeared between one minute and the next while they loaded Cody onto the transport. “Jesse, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s only been fourteen hours,” Jesse says. “He could have gotten lost.”
Rex says nothing.
“He asked, earlier. Before he passed out.”
Rex bites his lip. “What did you tell him?”
“Told him he was missing.” Jesse shudders and twitches like he wants to hold Echo tighter, then thinks better of it and rolls over to face Rex. “He knows about Fives. Didn’t even have to tell him. He knew when he woke up.”
Rex nods. That, at least, he’d expected. In no universe was Rex a good enough liar to convince Echo of anything false regarding Fives and in no universe was he cruel enough to do it.
“He didn’t really react. Just sort of. Looked.” Jesse squeezes his eyes shut and a tear slips down his cheek. “Rex…”
“I know, Jess. I know. I’m so sorry.”
It’s a tight fit, three vode in one gurney, but when Georgie finds them in the morning, they’ve somehow made it work. Rex and Jesse and Echo all crammed in one bed, limbs hanging off the sides and blond curls in Jesse’s mouth and Echo on top of both of them, swaddled in so many blankets Georgie’s surprised he can still breathe.
He marks Rex and Jesse down as sick and lets them sleep.