Chapter one

The sound of low voices coming from outside let's me know that they finally made it as I grab a lamp,so we can go outside to help out in any way we can. We don't know too much,other than that he's hurt, Roy was with them,and got sent ahead,to let Faith know they were coming with him. He got here an hour ahead of them, let her know what was going on,then came and got me,brought me back to the infirmary. I helped her set up,get things ready for him,it's been the longest hour,filled with distractions,worry,and prayer,and now they're here,I'm sorta scared to see him,but I want to at the same time,see for myself that he's at least alright,that he'll at least live through this. When we get out there,Frank's helping him get off the horse,and it doesn't look good. He's shaking,and there's blood,dripping down his face,from a wound on his forehead,and the moment his feet hit the ground he can barely bear weight on his right leg,so we go over to him,to help support his weight. The moment I grab his hand he seems to come around a little bit,more aware of everything. "Elizabeth"he murmurs softly,blue eyes meeting mine for the first time. "Shh I'm here Jack,we're going to get you inside,get you warmed up and taken care of alright,what happened"I murmur realizing his hands are ice cold,he's freezing,which isn't good. "OK"he murmurs,letting me and Faith get on either side of him,and start to help him inside.

As we do so Frank explains what happened out there tonight, the horse got spooked,and bucked him off,into the river. He was knocked out by the time they got to him,but he started to come around after a few minutes,when they started to move him. He at least has a head injury,a concussion,he threw up when they got him upright,and something is wrong with his leg,but we don't really know what we're looking at otherwise. We manage to get him inside,and we set him down on the cot,and he automatically relaxes. In the pale light I can see the damage more clearly,the wound on his forehead is fairly deep,there's blood on his pants,and his shaking is becoming more pronounced. "I need to get you out of these wet clothes alright Jack,I'll try to preserve your dignity as much as I can"she murmurs taking his wrist in her hand,checking his pulse as I grab the quilt. "Ok,it hurts"he murmurs softly wincing in pain, "what hurts Jack"she murmurs softly rubbing his wrist with her fingers, "my back"he murmurs softly,relaxing again as the pain eases up. "OK,let's get you out of these clothes and I'll give you something for the pain,probably morphine,Elizabeth do you mind holding up the quilt for me"she asks gently,I know what she's getting at,she's trying to give him some semblance of privacy,so I do so,holding it in front of him so she can undress him.

She gets him undressed,it pains him alot,and it's hard to hear him in that much pain,but he get's through it,she get's him down to his underwear,then I place the quilt over him as she lays him down on his side. "You're doing great,I'm going to get a temperature on you then listen to your heart,then I promise I'll give you some pain medicine"she murmurs grabbing a thermometer. She places it in his mouth,and after a few minutes she takes it out,and looks at the reading. "That's what I was afraid of,your temperature is low,it's down to 90,we'll have to work on getting you warmed up,plenty of warm fluids and blankets,I'm going to listen to your heart and look you over"she murmurs softly gesturing me to come over and sit on the edge of the bed,to help keep him calm,help keep him still. "Ok"he murmurs too tired to say anything else at this point as I card a hand through his hair,he's so cold,and he's hurting. She places the stethoscope against his chest,listening to his heart,then she sets it on the table beside her.

She examines his head first,checking the wound,she cleans it up the best she can,it's finally stopped bleeding,thankfully. She then checks his neck,it's alright,not broken,he's very lucky,she checks his chest and that's when we run into trouble. He has some bruised ribs,and it's hurting him alot,and there's not much we can do,we can wrap his ribs and sorta hope for the best. "I know sweetheart,I know it hurts"I murmur softly soothing him as she grabs the stuff to wrap his ribs. "I'm going to sit you up alright Jack,I need to wrap your ribs,it'll help with the discomfort"she murmurs softly as he nods. He lets us sit him up,and he leans against me as she wraps his ribs,then we lay him back down. She then finishes examining him,he's overall OK,his back isn't broken,just bruised,she had to unbutton his underwear to get a better look at his back,and that's when we discover the urine,awkward for him,I know she's just looking at him clinically,and she's dealt with worse,we get him cleaned up then she checked his back. She checked his leg as well when she had his underwear undone,and it's alright,not broken,he just had a cut,she got that cleaned up as well. Then we redressed him,got him into some dry clothes,I went up to the jail and got him some clothes while we were waiting for them to come.

Now he's all settled,we wrapped him in some blankets,to bring his temperature up,and gave him some morphine,to help with the pain,had him drink some tea,and now he's out for the count. He'll be out for awhile,morphine makes him sleepy,which is ok,he needs to rest,give his body a chance to recover. I've wetted a cloth with warm water,and now I've placed it against his forehead mindful of his wound,hopefully this will help warm him up. It's going to be a long night,it's already been a long night if I'm kidding myself. But I'm just glad he's alive,that he's made it this far,that he's here to fight another day,he's strong,I know he'll make it through the night,he'll have to. Faith left us,to go put stuff away,she told me she'd be back in about an hour to check in on him,check on his temperature. I feel him stir a little bit at my touch,he's either dreaming or in pain,but I need to soothe him either way."Shh sweetheart,I'm right here,go back to sleep"I murmur softly stroking his cheek as I pull the blanket around him and he settles right into sleep. Once I'm sure he's asleep, I have my cup of tea,then I settle in the chair,pulling a quilt around me. I quickly fall asleep after this,knowing he's safe,and knowing that Faith will wake me if his condition changes ,or if he needs anything.