Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.
The day had really started out quite lovely. It was a crisp fall day, the perfect day to go for a trail ride in Sarah's opinion. Everyone else was busy still finishing their chores, but Sarah had had a relatively light amount of chores today so she had already finished much sooner than everyone else. Because of this fact, she had been waiting around for quite awhile and could no longer take the boredom of sitting by herself watching the others finish their chores. Molly and Alma had promised to catch up with her on the trail as soon as they finished with their work and they would see if Bailey and Will would also like to join them when they had finished, so with this promise Sarah rode off toward the trail with only herself and Scarlett there to enjoy the ride.
"It's such a lovely day out. Don't you agree, Scarlett? This really is the perfect day to go riding. I wish everyday could be just as great as this one." Sarah remarked on her way to the meadow.
However, all her feelings changed as a small rabbit ran out of the brush of the woods right in Scarlett's path causing her to rear back, unfortunately throwing Sarah off of her back in the process. Everything happened so quickly Sarah barely had time to think before her head hit hard upon. Sarah saw Scarlett coming over to her before everything went black.
"Wheh, I really hate doing all these chores, but I am glad that we are almost done, so that we can go and join Sarah on that trail ride. It really is a lovely day." Molly remarked to Alma as they were finishing their chores for the day. They were both very eager to meet up with Sarah out on the trail leading to the meadow.
"Si, chica, it is a lovely day and we have been working hard all day and deserve a nice trail ride. I'm betting Button is just itching to get out of her stall and go for a ride." Alma commented as she finished what she had been doing.
"Yeah, I bet Calypso will be excited too." Molly said as she saw Will walking over to talk with them.
"Hey, girls, looks like you are almost finished with everything over here." Will stated looking around the arena.
"Yep, we were getting ready to go meet Sarah on a trail ride; she finished her work a while ago and went ahead toward the trail. Alma and I were going to go find you and Bailey to see if you wanted to come with us." Molly told Will as Alma came over to the two of them.
"So, how about it, amigo, you feel like coming on a ride with Sarah, Molly and I, now that we have finished all the chores for today?" Alma asked.
"Sure, guys that would be…," but he never finished his sentence, because at that moment Will saw Scarlett returning from where the trail lead off to, which would normally be fine but Will didn't see Sarah anywhere in sight and his growing concern was beginning to show in his face.
"Hey, Will, what is it?" Molly asked seeing the look on Will's face.
"Yeah, what's going on behind us?" Alma remarked turning around to see the reason Will looked so concerned. "Where's Sarah?" Alma asked to no one in particular as she too noticed that Scarlett was rider less.
"I don't know, but I know that it is never good when a horse returns without their rider." Will told the girls. "Molly you run to the house and have Bailey or his parents call an ambulance, just in case Sarah is hurt."
"Oh my, she could be hurt, Will?" Alma said with concern in her voice for her friend.
"We don't know yet, Alma," Will told her trying to be as comforting as the situation would allow, but he himself didn't really know why Scarlett was back without Sarah. Surely, Scarlett would not return without Sarah unless absolutely necessary, which unfortunately may mean that Sarah was in fact injured, he hoped not but he knew it was more than likely a reality. "I'm going to ride out onto the trail with Jimber and see if I can find her. I'll take Scarlett too hopefully she can lead me to where she left Sarah in the woods. Alma I want you to stay here, just in case Sarah is fine and she and Scarlett were just separated by some mishap. I'll take first aid kit with the cell phone to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. Call me if she comes back."
She didn't know how long she had been lying there, but as Sarah began it regain consciousness she opened her eyes to a hazy view. She could feel the pain in her head competing with the pain in her arm for which would hurt her more and right now the pain in her arm was winning. She tried to stand up but forgot about her arm for a split second and ended up back on the ground do to the pain in her arm after using it to try to stand up. Looking around Sarah didn't see Scarlett anywhere and hoped that maybe she had returned to Horseland and would bring someone to help, because right now all she could felt she could do was lie there and wait.
Will knew he had to hurry, who knows what could have happened to Sarah out on the trail. She could be lost, hurt, or worse. He just hopped Scarlett knew where Sarah was because something told him that she was not fine.
"Come on Scarlett, show us where you left Sarah, and hurry." Will pleaded with Scarlett he wanted to find Sarah with every fiber of his being just to know that she was safe with someone instead of out there by herself.
"Oh, Sarah, where are you? You should know better than to go off riding by yourself. Why did you do that?" Will thought as he followed Scarlett to the spot where the rabbit had run out of the brush and startled her. He noticed Scarlett stopping and looked around for Sarah, but not seeing her at first glance, he decided to call out her name. "Sarah…Sarah."
"Uhh…" Sarah groaned as she heard someone calling her name.
"Sarah!" Will called again as he heard someone groaning hoping that it was indeed Sarah.
"Will?" Sarah asked as she tried to look around to see him to make sure she wasn't hearing thing, but she couldn't look very far because every part of her body still screamed out in pain especially her arm.
Will's face brightened as he heard Sarah's voice calling his name as he turned to look down to the right where he saw Sarah lying on the ground clutching her left arm with her right. His face saddened as he noticed her position, realizing that his worst fear was quite true Sarah was hurt.
He jumped down off Jimber so that he could look at Sarah more closely and hopefully with the little knowledge of first aid he would be able to access how injured she really was.
"Sarah, do you know what happened to you?" Will asked as he bent down to sit right next to Sarah.
"The last thing I remember is Scarlett rearing up all of a sudden. I was so startled that I lost my grip on the reins and went flying out of the saddle. I must have hit my head pretty hard because the next thing I knew everything went black." Sarah explained all that she knew. "I did wake up before you got here, but I didn't really know what had happened and since everything hurt when I tried to move I just stopped trying hoping that Scarlett would go and find someone to help."
"Well, she did. Scarlett came galloping back to Horseland and when we didn't see you anywhere near, we became concerned. I took Scarlett with me and Jimber and here we are." Will said. "It looks like your arm might be broken but I'm not a doctor so I can't really say for certain. Since you hit your head we should be careful moving you just in case you have a concussion." Will stated somewhat assessing her injuries.
"Do you think it is okay for me to move or do you think I need to wait for the EMTs here?" Sarah asked wondering how long exactly she would be stuck here.
"No, I think you are well enough to move, we just need to take it slowly to be safe." Will said helping her sit up very slowly and carefully. "It definitely is not safe enough to have you ride back to Horseland especially with your arm hurting you as much as it seems to be. We will just have to take it slow and easy walking, good thing we are not all that far from Horseland"
"Here why don't you lean on me while we walk back," Will said sweetly as he put his right arm around Sarah giving her some support since she still looked weak from the fall. In his other hand, he grabbed the reins to both Scarlett and Jimber and started on their way back to Horseland.
Alma couldn't help but be worried for her friend. Sarah had ridden off earlier in the day by herself and her horse had returned without her, what other feeling was there but worry. Thankfully, her worries were relieved as she saw Will and Sarah walking back towards the arena. They looked so cute together Alma thought, with Will's arm around Sarah, if it wasn't for the fact that Sarah was cradling what looked like a broken arm you would have thought they had just come back from a romantic ride. Part of her almost didn't want to disturb them at all, however, that thought was quickly lost as she remembered that Sarah probably was injured and should have someone look at her soon.
Running up to them, Alma called out "Sarah, I'm glad to see that you are alright relatively speaking. Here let me take Jimber and Scarlett for you guys. I'll take them back to their stall and you, Will, can take Sarah to the house to get her arm looked at."
"Thanks Alma that would be a big help." Will said glad now that he didn't have to worry about the horses and could solely focus on Sarah, which was a pleasing thought to his mind. "Come on Sarah let's get you back to the house, hopefully Bailey called an ambulance so someone with medical training can take a look at you and see how injured you actually are."
"Okay, Will let's go and thank you for all of the help you are giving me, you really didn't need to." Sarah said as they headed on their way to the house.
"Of course I did, Sarah, you were hurt and needed help. I wasn't about to just leave you out there by yourself. You are important to me. Will said bringing her a little closer to him.
"Wow, Will, I don't know what to say. You are important to me too." Sarah answered back while reaching up and giving him a kiss on the cheek causing a blush on both their cheeks. "I know you would never let anything bad happen to me."
They returned to the house where the EMTs looked Sarah over assessing the damaged that the fall had done, determining that her arm was indeed broken. However, the extent of the injury to her head could only be definitively determined by test at the hospital, though they did feel confident that since she had managed to walk back here without any problems that the only real damage done was to her arm, but they still wanted to check to be sure.
"I'm a little nervous about going to the hospital by myself." Sarah confided in Will as the EMTs were preparing to take her to be looked at. "I know my parents will meet me there when I arrive, but I'm still slightly scared. I have never had to be in the emergency area of the hospital before."
"Don't worry, Sarah I'll go with you, if they let me. We wouldn't let any of our riders go anywhere they felt uncomfortable by themselves if we could help it." Will said as he placed a comforting arm around Sarah shoulder, it seem to fit very well there today, Will thought and something in him told him Sarah felt the same way as her head dropped down to rest on Will's shoulder.
"Come on, little lady, we need to get you to the hospital to get that arm set and casted properly. Your boyfriend can ride along too, if you would like a comforting face with you." One of the EMT told Sarah, as they were finally ready to leave.
"Oh he's not…we're not…" Sarah stuttered.
"Yeah, I mean we're just…" Will stuttered as well while nervously scratching the back of his head, trying to figure out what he really meant to say.
"Okay, it doesn't matter what he is, just whether you want him to ride along with you. We really need to get going." The EMT stated with some mirth in his voice, as he helped both of the blushing kids onto the ambulance.
With the her arm all set in a cast and the clear from the doctor that Sarah didn't have a concussion or any kind of head trauma, she was now simply waiting with Will while her parents signed her out of the hospital.
"Thanks so much for keeping me company, here at the hospital. I really didn't mean to inconvenience you so much toady. I'm sure you had more important things to do than spend your entire day taking care of me." Sarah told Will feeling slightly guilty for taking up so much of his time, yet secretly loving it at the same time.
"I already told you that it is no problem at all. This whole thing wasn't your fault, and I'm glad that I could make sure that you are safe. I mean I'm really glad that you are safe, I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you." Will said pulling her into a hug while contemplating telling her the rest of his thought.
"That's really sweet, Will." Sarah said as she hugged him back.
"Actually, Sarah, there is something else I feel that I should tell you. I was really worried today when I saw Scarlett returning without you, I mean really worried, and I think that I might know the reason that I was so worried." Will stated trying to find a way to put what he was feeling in words.
"Yeah, Will what…" but he couldn't hear the end of her sentence because at that moment Will placed his lips on Sarah's in a soft gentle kiss.
"Wow, I...I...I don't know what to say. That was…" Sarah stuttered unable to finish a sentence.
"Umm, yeah, it's okay if you don't feel the same…" Will said trying to cover up what he thought might have just been his biggest mistake ever.
"No, I… what I was going to say, if you let me finish my sentence, was that that was amazing." Said Sarah trying to make Will feel better about the move he just made.
"So, does this mean that you maybe feel the same way about me?" Will asked nervously.
"Yes, I…um…pretty sure that I like you too." Sarah said coming closer to Will while smiling.
"I guess maybe we should go find that EMT and tell him he was right all along." Will said as he wrapped an arm around her pulling her close as he lead her over to where her parents were waiting.
"Yeah," laughed Sarah, "I guess he was."