Forest wasn’t resistant, allowing Lex to do for him in that moment. He’d exhausted himself enough trying that he didn’t care and all the strength he had left needed to be carefully spent. He calmed down in the time it took for Lex to leave and return. The worst of it was getting used to being back on his feet again but the tall young man was there with him, patient and helpful. It was like his muscles didn’t understand, going weak and elastic. They made it, carefully, and Forest paused in the kitchen to lean against the counter, drinking some of the water, recovering from the effort of the staircase.<br/><br/>Forest thought about what he wanted to do. There were too many things he wanted to check and he was trying to think on how to prioritize.<br/><br/>“I want to just check to make sure everything is alright. Well last.” Forest stank, smelling not just of sweat but of sickness as he fought the fever through the night. It turned his stomach, a smell he’d learned to associate with loss and suffering. “Need’ta clean this smell off. Can’t stand it.” He slapped some water on his face and carried on. After a little bit of movement, his muscles did remember some of their function but things were slow. He surveyed the fenceline. Up. More than that, repaired and some of the trees had been trimmed back. Ladder put back where Wallis and Mason must have found it. The barn was clean, the animals out grazing and he didn’t bother even checking the garden. He figured nothing could have gone too wrong there in a matter of days. Once outside he kept a steady pace, knowing the more he stopped the harder it would be to start back up.<br/><br/>“They did just fine,” Forest said, a little in relief. He knew that they said it had all gone well enough but a man like him didn’t believe it until he’d seen it with his own two eyes. Bruce had run up, greeting him in his own distant way, before heading on back to the sheep to lay out in the sun. Nothing out of the ordinary aside from Forest’s short absence.