A/N: This is one of two Heartland stories I'm working on. This was my first orignal idea (outside of my continuing one-shot, that is), and I hope you all enjoy this. I currently have three chapters written, and hope to keep myself ahead so that I can stick to the promise of 1 chapter a week. Enjoy! As always, please drop me a review to let me know if you like this.

Fear and terror spread through Amy's body as she heard Lou's blood curdling scream. Her body felt frozen to her bed, as Lou continued to call out her name. Just a few moments ago, Amy had been lost in her thoughts. Thoughts of Ty and Caleb, and the kiss she had just shared with the latter. She didn't understand why she had kissed Caleb. Logically, it made no sense, not when she had obvious feelings for Ty. Feelings that were not easily dealt with. Maybe that was the reason why. Because kissing Caleb had been easy, but dealing with her feelings for Ty was hard. Which was probably because she wasn't even entirely sure how she felt about Ty.

Her sister's continued cries brought her back to the present and she was fearful of what she might find. It had been long ago that her father had risked his own life to save hers, and now ... this. Whatever it might be. Despite the fact that she didn't want to know what had Lou so upset, Amy yanked her covers back and fled her room quickly. She ignored the fact that she was clad only in her pajamas's, and was currently shoeless. None of that mattered. All that mattered right now was finding out what was wrong, and figuring out how to fix it.

As soon as the screen door flew open, Amy felt like the life had been drained from her. Her knees buckled as tears flooded her eyes. From her current angle she couldn't tell how bad it was, but with the way that Lou was reacting it most definitely wasn't good.

Ty lay in a lifeless heap at Lou's feet. One of the horses stamped it's hooves into the dirt. She couldn't be sure what exactly had happened, though she was pretty sure that he hadn't been thrown from the horse. Amy hadn't ever seen injuries this severe just from being thrown. It was almost as if he had thrown harshly against the wooden poles that served as the training pen. Paying no mind to the rocks digging into her bare feet, Amy ran forward and slid down to her knees. Tears clouding her vision, as she lay a hand against Ty's forehead. A small cut on the side of his head was oozing blood at an almost alarming rate, but it was the way his body was laying that disturbed Amy the most. His hips were turned to the left, while his upper body was turned to the right. It took everything in Amy to not immediately think the worst. Instead, she turned her attention to Lou, whose hand was now covering her mouth.

"What happened?" Amy managed to squeak out, her voice hoarse from the overwhelming amount of emotions.

"I don't know." Lou cried out, tears staining her cheeks. "Ty said he was going to work one of the horses. The next thing I knew, the horse was making a lot of noise and I couldn't see Ty." Lou paused as she choked back another sob. "Not until the horse moved."

Amy swiped the back of her hand against her cheeks. "Did you call for an ambulance?"

Lou nodded, "Grandpa did. He's waiting for them at the front of the drive. He said to make sure to keep Ty still."

Amy nodded, but didn't respond. Though she had never seen these types of injuries up close, Amy knew the precautions to take for any suspected neck or back injuries.

"He's going to be okay, Amy."

"You don't know that. Don't say things that you don't know. Things that you don't even believe yourself."

Lou hung her head, as she reached out her hand and clasped Amy's shoulder. "What I know, Amy, is that Ty is a fighter. He won't give up easily." Lou swallowed against the lump that formed in her throat. "He would never leave you that easily. Not by choice."

Tears rolled down Amy's cheeks as she took her eyes off of Ty for the first time since she came outside. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Lou gave a exasperated chuckle, "It's obvious that he's in love with you, Amy."

Amy's brow wrinkled, "No. You're wrong. He's dating Kit."

"That might be, but it doesn't mean he doesn't love you. That boy has been in love with you for a long time now. I don't understand how you could miss that."

In the distance a siren could be heard. Amy let Lou's statement drift to the back of her mind for the moment, her only priority was to ensure that Ty was going to be okay. That was all that mattered.

Amy decided after the first hour of waiting, that hospital waiting rooms sucked. All that happens in those hours was sitting … waiting … hoping … and praying. After hours of thinking the worse it's hard to keep hoping that maybe, just maybe the person that you cared about would pull whatever trauma that had brought them to the emergency room in the first place.

"He'll be fine." Jack finally mumbles out.

It had only been fifteen minutes since the ER doctor came out to inform them that they needed to rush Ty into the operating room. Amy's knees had buckled under her, and the only thing that kept her from falling was Jack's arms around her waist.

"Don't say that." She whispered softly. Tears still in her eyes. "You don't know that."

Jack nodded softly, before grabbing hold of her hand. "That might be true, Amy, but you have to have faith that Ty will fight to stay with us." The words were said with a strict confidence, something that Jack wasn't even sure he had inside of him. Especially not after he had seen Ty. The gash on the side of his head seemed to be the least of his worries after seeing the way that Ty's body was laying.

"That doesn't mean that he'll be okay, grandpa. You saw him. There is no way that he is walking away from that. Not without some kind of injury. I just, I feel like it's all my fault." Amy finally said, as she swallowed thickly around the new lump that had formed in her throat.

Jack sighed. He was exhausted. Hospital waiting rooms had a way of draining the energy … the life right out of a person. Frankly, Jack had spent far too much time inside of this hospital's waiting room to last him a lifetime. He had seen too many people disappear behind those doors and never come back out the other side. He didn't want to believe that Ty could fall victim to the same fate.

"Don't say that, Amy. You didn't do anything." Lou spoke, patting her sister's knee.

Amy laughed self-deprecatingly, as she shook her head. "But I did, didn't I? I've been so stubborn. Unable to forgive him for leaving, and now … I may never get the chance. It just hurts, Lou."

Lou choked back a sob, as she pulled Amy into her side. "Ty will be okay. He will come out of this. We will nurse him back to health if we have to, but he will be fine."

Amy's mouth made a move to open when a young nurse started to walk toward them.

"Family of Ty Borden?"

The three of them stood up and locked their arms around each other. The waiting for the nurse to come closer was killing them, but it was the exhausted look on her face that was the most disconcerting.

"How is he?" Jack found his voice first, and asked the same question that all of them had.

She sighed, "I'm not going to lie to you. It's not good. Aside from the mild abrasions that Mr. Borden has, all the rest of his injuries are fairly serious. He suffered a head injury that has caused some swelling and fluid build up, which is putting pressure on his brain. A little pressure is okay, the brain is able to absorb small amounts of pressure without too much damage, and since the swelling and fluid isn't severe, the doctor feels that it might be best to leave it be for the moment and see if it doesn't correct itself."

They all nodded, and waited patiently as the nurse gathered her thoughts.

"He also had some mild internal bleeding that the doctor had to go in and repair. So fair, that has been taken care of. It's Mr. Borden's spinal injury that has the doctor the most concerned. Right now there is too much swelling around his spinal cord for Doctor Cartwright to get an appropriate view of Mr. Borden's spine. Without that view, he can't say for certain how serious the injury to the spinal cord might be."

Jack patted Amy's shoulder before taking a small step forward. "What does that mean?" He asked, almost fearful for the nurse's answer.

"Depending on the amount of damage to Mr. Borden's spine, it could mean any number of things. It could be a mild injury in which he will recover from quickly or it could be more serious."

Amy swallowed thickly, tears in her eyes as she spoke, "You mean, he might be paralyzed?"

The nurse sighed. She knew that Doctor Cartwright wouldn't be happy if she speculated anything like that, but she knew that it was at least a possibility. "I won't lie. It's a possibility. There are different levels, from temporary to full body paralysis. As I said, we won't know more until the swelling on his spinal cord goes down. Do to the extensiveness of his injuries, Doctor Cartwright has decided that it's best to place Mr. Borden in a medically induced coma to allow his body the chance to heal."

A small sob broke loose from Amy's mouth, as she turned towards Lou, pulling her sister as close as she could.

"How long would he have to be in this coma?" Jack asked softly.

"Hard to tell. The doctor will have more information for you. Once they have Mr. Borden settled into a room, Doctor Cartwright will come down and speak with you further. He'll be able to answer any further questions that you have. I'm sorry I don't have better news."

With that, the nurse turned around and left the three of them broken in the middle of the waiting room.

Amy edged her way into the small hospital room. Her family was sitting out in the ICU's waiting room, while she sees with her own two eyes that Ty is indeed alive. The doctor's words still ringing in her ears. Specific sentences standing out more than others. Medically induced coma until swelling and fluid go down. Worse case scenario is that he's paralyzed. Ready yourselves for the worse. Could make a full recovery.

She wasn't entirely sure what to think about all the information thrown at her, and all that information fell away as soon as she stepped into the room and saw him. Ty lay in the middle of the bed, looking almost too small in too big of a bed. His skin was so pale that he was almost as white as the blanket covering him. It wasn't right. Ty was always so tan, and vibrant. Always smiling and telling jokes with only the attempt to make her laugh.

Seeing him look so fragile. So broken. It tore at her already too fragile heart. The feelings that swelled up within her took her by surprise. She wasn't naïve. She knew that she had feelings for Ty … that she could possibly be in love with him, but she was so confused at the moment. She didn't understand how she could feel so strongly for Ty, and have kissed Caleb. Though it wasn't the same as the few kisses she had shared with Ty, there was some spark when she kissed Caleb. Could it be possible to have feelings for two guys at the same time?

With an exasperated sigh, Amy sat down in the chair by Ty's bedside. Either way, no matter whatever feelings she may or may not have for Caleb, Ty had her full and undivided attention. She was going to be by his side through-out his recovery. She was going to be there for him. No matter what might have happened in the past, no matter the fact that Ty was technically dating Kit, none of that mattered to Amy anymore. The only thing that mattered was Ty. He was her first and only priority right now.

With that thought settled in her mind, Amy reached forward and grabbed hold of his hand. "Ty … I don't know if you can hear me. The doctor said that you can … I just, I need you to be okay. We all need you to be okay. We need you to wake up. We need you. So, if you could just get better so that the doctor will let you wake up. Please. I just … I don't know what to do without having you near me. Knowing that you're there. That I can talk to you and that you'll listen and not judge me. God! I know I've taken advantage of you, Ty. I know that I've taken advantage of the fact that you're there. I guess I never thought something like this could happen. I am so sorry. For some reason I feel like this is my fault. That maybe I could have stopped it. I just … I want you to know that we're all here for you. We're all waiting for you to wake up and come back to us. We're all going to be here no matter what. We will make sure that you're taken care of, because we all love you so much, Ty. You're as much apart of this family as I am. Blood related or not, it doesn't matter. So, wake up, come back to us. We need you." Amy swiped her hand against her newly wet cheeks, before pressing a kiss to both Ty's hand and cheek, before leaning toward his ear. "I need you."