Doyle shivered, sighed, turned on his side and started to wriggle toward the large warm body next to him.

"Hmmpf, Doyle, you're crowding me, I can't sleep like that, move over," Murphy grumbled in the dark.

Doyle sighed again and started to move the other way; there were more warm bodies around. Feeling carefully he encountered warm feet.

"Bloody hell, Doyle!" Anson shot upright. "Your feet are freezing, gerroff!"

Doyle inched away again and moved to lie on his stomach. He tried to pull the blanket up higher, but now his arms were still freezing. Turning over on his back he pulled the blanket over his ears.

"Doyle, will you stop moving about, we're trying to sleep here!" Macklin sounded very annoyed.

"Yeah, well if it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't be here freezing my bollocks off!" Doyle was getting fed up with all these warm sleeping people. He hated sleeping in his clothes so he was naked except for his briefs (he wouldn't want anyone to feel embarrassed, or inadequate for that matter) but being bare-chested and having bare feet didn't improve his circulation.

Macklin grinned. "You know, Doyle, I don't know me own strength. Breaking that key in the lock wasn't something I planned. My plan for tonight was something quite different than lying here listening to you moving about like a Mexican jumping bean."

Several snickers were heard in the dark.

Doyle tried again to get warm and snuggled in the very thin mattress that smelled like everything else in the gym - musty.

"Ray...oi, Ray..." a voice in the dark sounded a bit uncertain.

"Yeah, what is it?" Doyle whispered back.

"Get over here, I can't sleep." Bodie sounded like a little boy lost.

"Bodie, I'm just starting to get warm here, what do you want?"

"Doyle, get over here, I can't sleep." Bodie's voice got that tone that Doyle usually obeyed. Grumbling, he got up, threw the blanket over his shoulder and took the mattress in his other hand. He stepped over Murphy and dragged the mattress behind him over Murphy's head, Murphy bolted upright.

"Wha...where...?"

"Nothin', Murph, go back to sleep."

Murphy lay back down, closed his eyes and started snoring almost immediately.

Hopping over a few other agents, whose reaction was more or less as bewildered as Murphy's, Doyle arrived next to Bodie's mattress. Putting his own mattress on the floor he sat down. "Now what is your problem, Bodie?" he asked, irritated because he was cold all over again.

"Can't sleep." Bodie mumbled.

"Yeah, you said, what's wrong?"

"I'm feeling lonely." Bodie sounded a bit strange.

"So?" Doyle didn't understand.

Bodie grabbed him. "Get down here, Doyle."

Doyle complied and moved onto his side, face turned towards Bodie. "Okay, I'm here, you're no longer alone, can I get warm now and go to sleep?" Doyle had never felt more awake than at that moment.

"Not like that, turn over." Bodie started manhandling Doyle over onto his other side.

"What's the matter with you, Bodie, get off!" Doyle tried to pull free of Bodie's octopus-like hands.

Several heads came up all over the gym.

"Doyle, will you turn over!" Bodie hissed. "I can't sleep, I'm lonely and I'm missing Rupert."

Doyle lay utterly still.

More heads were lifted and turned their way.

"Bodie... who the hell is Rupert?" Doyle hardly dared to ask. He was pulled back against Bodie's chest and Bodie's arms came around him and started ruffling Doyle's chest hair.

"My teddy bear and you feel just like him," Bodie grunted and then Doyle heard a soft snoring starting in his left ear.

He was absolutely speechless. All around him hysterical laughter was rippling through the gym. He closed his eyes and pressed against Bodie. He sighed. He did start to feel drowsy and more important, he was finally warm!

-- THE END --

March 2005