When Jesse's sense of trouble hadn't gone away – had, in fact, only gotten worse – he had finally given in and turned on the ham radio set that was their main means of communication on the mountain. From that point, it was only a few minutes before he took the next step and tuned in the frequency the Rangers usually used, just in time to hear Izzy radio in that they had reached the crash site. The fact that no one was using names on the radio didn't make a difference – he knew who the victims were. By the time he arrived at the hospital, Robin Kelly and Frank Avila were both waiting for him outside the emergency room, and his sons were nowhere to be seen. Avila spotted him as he came through the door, and both Rangers were on their feet when he reached them.

Uncharacteristically, he said the first thing that came to mind. "How bad is it?"

"It's not too bad, Mr. Hawkes," Robin answered reassuringly. "Matt's got a broken leg and Cody's probably got a concussion – and he's pretty worn out – but considering what the Blazer looks like, they're in pretty good shape."

"The nurse wanted us to point you towards the desk over there," Avila added, indicating the admissions area. "I guess they've got some papers. And the doctor should be out in a few minutes."

With a deep sigh, Jesse released some of the nervous tension that had been with him most of the day and made his way over to the admissions desk. He used the bureaucracy of parental consent forms to fill the next few minutes, finishing just as a bespectacled woman in a white lab coat appeared in the waiting area. Jesse recognized her, from his years as a Ranger and from Matt's occasional on-the-job injuries, as one of the emergency specialists, but he couldn't remember her name. She apparently recognized him as well, and made straight for him.

"Mr. Hawkes," she greeted, extending her right hand. "I'm Dr. McGinnis, and I've been seeing to Matt."

Returning her handshake, he let her lead the way to a less busy area of the room, aware of Robin and Avila trailing in his wake.

"Okay," Dr. McGinnis began, "I'm not one to beat around the bush, so here's what we've got. Matt's got a compound fracture of the lower right leg, but the bleeding seems to have been stopped fairly quickly, and our orthopedic surgeon feels that there shouldn't be a problem getting it set correctly. They're taking him up to prep for surgery now.

"Cody has a mild concussion, and he's pretty well exhausted as well. Ordinarily, we'd send a concussion victim home with instructions for his parents on what complications to watch for. But Cody was barely able to stay awake for the exam, and the Rangers indicated that he may have blacked out on them once or twice. I also understand that getting home is quite a journey for you. So we're going to keep him tonight for observation – if nothing else, he'll get a night's rest before heading home." She smiled reassuringly at Jesse. "I realize they've probably scared you half to death, but they're going to be just fine."

Jesse blinked slowly, slightly surprised. He could feel Robin and Avila behind him, relaxing as Robin's field diagnoses were confirmed. He'd imagined all manner of disasters, as he'd ridden down to the Ranger Station. This was much better than he'd expected. But still …

"When can I see them?"

"Matt's going to be a few hours, but we should have Cody in a room shortly. I'll send someone down to get you when he's settled."

As the doctor excused herself and started off, Avila reached to clap Jesse on the shoulder. "Those two can get into and out of anything," he said with a relieved grin, then glanced at Robin. "I'm going to go call Cutler and tell him he's about to have some company on desk duty."

XXX

A half hour later, Jesse was on his way up to Cody's room, escorted by a rather talkative young nurse.

"Now, Cody's going to be pretty groggy, Mr. Hawkes," she was saying as the elevator ascended. "I don't even know that he'll be awake before morning – he was pretty out of it when we brought him up."

As the doors opened on a brightly painted hallway, she glanced at him in time to catch his grimace. "He's going to hate being in Pediatrics," Jesse explained.

"Actually, he just missed it," she laughed, as she guided him down the hall to their left. "Technically, since he's sixteen, hospital policy makes him a Pede case. But there's been a bad flu outbreak in the schools, and we're full up. He's just the other side of Pediatrics, in a regular room."

As they passed from the cheerful colors of the children's ward into the more sedate décor of the hall beyond, she added, "Dr. McGinnis said she'd have your other son moved in here when he's out of recovery. And the bonus of being a Pede patient is that a parent can stay with him practically all the time."

Stopping in front of a closed door, she said, "Here we are. Just call the nurse's station if you need anything."

Thanking her, Jesse pushed the door open carefully and stepped inside.

XXX

The last hour had been a confused blur for Cody. They had made him get on a stretcher as soon as he got out of the helicopter, even though he'd insisted a wheelchair would be fine; and then watching the ceiling lights shoot by as they wheeled him to Emergency made him nauseous all over again. He had no idea where Matt was, and although Robin had been with him at first, he had eventually lost track of her as well. He also had a vague impression that his dad should be here somewhere, but he didn't think he'd seen him yet.

Now he seemed to have been settled into a room for the night, although no one had actually said so. He had the feeling that he had been nodding off at regular intervals, even though he was trying hard to stay awake until he could get someone to tell him what was going on. Dragging his eyes open again, he glanced slowly to the right in time to see Jesse slip through the door.

"Dad?" he squeaked; anything louder made his head hurt, and he wasn't entirely sure he was really awake.

"Hi, son," the potentially dream-Dad said softly, crossing to stand by the bed and resting a hand on the top of Cody's head.

Cody blinked at the contact. "Am I still asleep?"

Jesse grinned. "No, but you should be. You remember why you're here?"

"Wrecked the Blazer," Cody replied slowly. "Matt's gonna need a new one. Where's Matt?"

"He'll be here in a little bit. Why don't you just close your eyes for a little while?"

Cody complied for a moment or two; then he thought of something else and forced himself to open his eyes once more, tracking slowly to Jesse's face.

"Dad?"

"Right here, Cody."

Cody closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. "The other guy was dead."

Jesse paused before answering. No one had told him what had happened to the other driver, and he had been too distracted to ask. "It sounded like it was a pretty bad accident, son."

"Matt sent me to check on him, but it was too late." The boy drew another breath and let it out slowly. "Guess we got lucky."

"Guess so. Go to sleep, son. I'll wake you when Matt gets here."

"'Kay."

Cody's breathing evened out almost immediately, and after a moment, Jesse pulled up a nearby chair and settled in, breathing his own sigh of relief. Guess we did get lucky, didn't we?