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The boat is always moving while in the open ocean. Unless they are partial-docked with the anchor down in shallows, but they are within at max two miles off land and the anchor is packed away. So a fall off the ship leaves someone on the wake of the ship usually fairly quickly. The ships engine is less stoked at night.
So Ben dives into the water from the back of the ship, attempting to follow the wake.
Not far off, he can sense the gem and is confirmed that Trott is in the water and fuckin zooms towards the gems location with his magic.
It’s pitch black out, but Ben’s dark vision allows him to see Trott, who’s barely keeping his head above waves.
“I’m here.” Ben says before he touches Trott. Trott immediately clings to Ben at contact, Ben scoops him up in his arms and holds him slightly more out of the water. Trott’s shaking and his teeth loudly chatter as he curls into himself against Bens chest.
"'bout time." Trott weakly chuckles. After a moment, he relaxes against Ben.
"I am so fucking sorry I didn't notice sooner!" Ben apologizes over and over as they travel along the surface of the water, using the Ocean Crystal to keep Bens upper half well over the water as they travel back to the ship.
"It's, okay." Trott grips him harder as another violent shiver rips through him. He'd been in the freezing waters for several minutes. 10? 15? Neither had any clue of how long Trott had been in the water. Ben hadn’t been measuring distance. He hadn't even thought of it, he’d tunnel visioned on the fact Trott was gone.
Ben thinks to himself, if it had been someone else, someone not as strong, they probably would have drowned.
Ben rises a pillar of water with him and Trott at the top, splashing them onto the ship as the pillar loses shape and streams back into the ocean.
Ben gives Trott a moment, before lifing him and carrying him into the med bay. There’s no one in, everyone is asleep as the clock says it nears 3am. Ben had even considered calling anyone immediately, he’d wake Smith and Ross as soon as he knew Trott was stable enough for Ben to turn his back on him. Ben knew enough about the effects on hypothermia from ocean waters on non-oceanfey to care for Trott adequately.
Ben does a full assessment of Trott as he out of his soaked clothes
Ben affirms that Trott’s mildly hypothermic, and extremely physically exhausted from fighting the freezing waves to stay on bobbing at the surface.
Trott just lays on the bed, soaking up the warmth from the dry medbay sheets and blankets Ben had wrapped him in. The warm air being blown on him from the medbay vents smelled of the burning coils that created the heat, but Trott was thankful that the coils had grown hot so fast.
Ben returns to his side after walking around a bit, holding a mug that had steam rising from it.
"Do you want me to wake up Ross and Alex? You’re stable enough- I wouldn't go far, I'd ring them like there’s an emergency fix in medbay."
"Ah, no, it's okay. I'm not dying, 'm just cold." Trott shifts a little to look up at Ben and starts to try and sit up, but visibly grimaces. “Don’t need to worry them.”
"Take it easy, you're gonna be sore for a while." Ben gently pushes Trott back onto the bed by his shoulder. Trott closes his eyes and slowly hugs himself. Ben sets the metal tray down, and Trott notices there’s several pills in a small paper cup. “Hot chocolate?” Ben asks softly.
"You're wasting them." Trott protests in a soft grumble.
"No, I am not." Ben states plainly as turns to Trott, holding the mug and the paper cup of pills.
“Relax and sit up so you can take these, I'll raise the bed.” Trott groans in complaint, but shifts his back a little up as Ben reaches down and manually lifts the incline of the bed frame, helping him sit up.
"My fingers and toes have started to hurt." Trott admits, flexing his mostly stiff fingers as he shakily reaches for the mug on the table.
"That's hypothermia." Ben notices Trott reaching for the paper cup and not the mug, and Ben gently puts his hand on Trotts “I know how you are, I'm making you take these with the drink and not dry.”
“Damn.” Trott weakly laughs. He attempts to take the mug as Ben slides it closer to him. But his hand shakes and he finds that he can’t lift it, wordlessly and exchange happens and Ben shifts.
“Don’t worry.” Ben reassures, picking up the mug and bringing it to Trotts face as Trott picks up the paper cup. Trott knocks back the three pills and Ben brings the mug to his lips. As soon as Trotts taken a sip and leans away from the mug. Ben pulls it away from his face.
“One of those is for pain, you’re gonna hurt real bad as you warm up.” Ben reaches out, and Trott lets him take one of his hands to feel them.
"No amount of “Zoey Magic Healing” is gonna warm you up, only blankets and time will help." Ben rubs one of Trotts blue-red fingers and Trott sort of pulls his hand away.
"Ah, Sorry." Ben says softly, shifting and sitting in the chair beside the bed. “I’ll stay with you till Alex and Ross wake in the morning.” Ben gives a gentle smile. “You’ll be okay.”
Trott takes a moment to search Ben's face, before relaxing.
Ben is not a threat. He is a caring friend. Trott reminds himself, lowering his gaze.
"It's okay." Trott murmurs, gently lifting his hand and offering back to Ben. “That felt nice.”
Ben tilts his head and takes Trott's hand again, shifting into a more comfortable position before he begins to gently massage his palm, digits, and wrist.
“This is good for your circulation, it’ll also help distract you from the actual pain as feeling comes back. I’ll switch to your other hand in a bit.”
Trott nods, eyes closing as he feels the last of the tension in his body melt away from both the growing warmth of the room, the comfort of Ben’s presence and touch, and his body feeling safe enough to doze off.