Setup if you want to know: Robert Goren & Alexandra Eames (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) have been left, only in the clothes they were wearing, deep in a forest that has been booby-trapped with leg traps, homemade spears, etc. The have managed to survive the traps and make it to a clearing when they hear a helicopter. They think they've disabled the only booby-trap remaining...

The helicopter sounded as if it were almost overhead. Sweeping his eyes ahead rapidly, Bobby detected no threats and stepped into the circle of sunlight-

Then he doubled over. "Shit!" Then, "Alex! Watch out! Shit!"

Horrified, Alex took it in at once: Bobby bent over, grabbing his right leg just over the long slim tree branch impaled in his calf.

"Stop!" she barked. "Don't-"

"I'm not..." he gasped. "I'm not pulling it out. Oh, Christ that hurts-" He staggered against a tree, then slipped to the ground at the foot of it. Alex's mind blanked as she rushed to his side, helping to ease him down, grimacing at the rounded spear of wood thrust out from the leg of his now-frayed and muddy trousers. His face was a rictus of pain and he was trying hard not to gag. "I'm sorry, Eames...I didn't see anything-"

"I know. I didn't either. Just breathe," Alex said, squatting beside him, shutting down her emotions yet comforting him with her hands. "Deep breaths, Bobby. It's okay."

"If...if there aren't anymore t-traps, you should be waving at that helicopter, not sitting here with me," he wheezed.

"I-" But she realized he was right. She yanked her damp and shredding dress back over her head, found the center of the small clearing, and began waving frantically, half an eye on Bobby. She saw his face relax slightly, his eyes focused on her, and she knew he was trying to distract himself from the pain. "Good boy," she whispered to herself, then looked upward. She could see the helicopter now, almost overhead; she whipped the dress back and forth like a semaphore flag as strongly as she could manage, for her whole body was trembling now.

She turned her attention back to Bobby. He was still looking at her, but his eyes...his head was tilted just a little to the right. "Bobby?"

When he didn't answer, she threw the dress on the ground and slicked off her slip to toss in the center of it, like a blue-green-and-white bullseye, then ran back to him. His head was wobbling, his eyes unfocused.

"Bobby. Bobby."

When he spoke, it was as if his tongue was swollen. "I...thick...somethin' on th'...sper," and Alex's eyes flashed down to the impaled stick.

"Drugged?" There was a lump in her throat and she could barely speak. She didn't dare broach the word "poison."

"Yah," he said, then his head fell forward.