A what if I got from "The Crucibles"…mostly, what if Ben, Hoss and Little Joe hadn't found Adam. What if someone else did? And What if Adam didn't just 'bounce back'? I've had this idea in my head for quite some time. I almost didn't do it as I could have sworn a similar idea had already been done. I looked, but couldn't find anything. Now that I think of it more, the idea itself may have been used somewhere, but the contents of the story haven't (not to my knowledge it hasn't anyway). I do NOT own Bonanza or any of the original Cartwright Characters. Only the "guest stars" per say are mine.

A/N Yes, I've gone back to doing things in scenes; well, at least for this story I have.

Long Road Back

Chapter One

Opening Scene

The sun was mercilessly hot as it spread over the barren dessert. Adam could drag the man no further; he fell to his knees convinced that he would die, and his family would never know what happened. They would never know of the hell he'd gone through by the hands of the man that lay on the gurney behind him.

Due to his condition, Adam did not see the woman riding towards him. Tara C Hansen saw the man and pushed her horse forward. When she drew close enough, she hopped off her horse, grabbed her canteen, and knelt down beside the stranger. Before she could say or do anything the man collapsed in her arms. She hurried to get what water she could down him. "Well, sir," she said as she looked at the man on the gurney and back to the man in her arms, "don't know what you were doing dragging a dead man behind you, but I guess it's a good thing I have a spare horse besides the pack mule I have with me. It looks like I've got company on this journey now."

Scene One

It was dark by the time Tara buried the dead man, found a place to camp for the night and tended to her unexpected patient. The process of fixing supper wasn't all that inviting either, considering she seemed to have to spoon feed her patient; he just stared off into space. "I can only imagine what you have been through," she said as she wiped his mouth off, "I just hope you're talking by morning. It would be nice to have your name." She stood up and went back to working around the camp.

"It's Adam," Adam found himself frustrated. He could hear him speaking in his head; why couldn't he get his mouth to move and speak the words? He watched as the dark hair woman cleaned up and started rolling out the blankets she had with her. "Who are you? What are you doing out here by yourself?" Again, he found himself upset; he could ask the questions silently, but he could not speak the words.

"Going to be a long ride," Tara talked to her patient as she rolled up a small blanket, turned it into a pillow, and then put it behind him. Taking a hold of his shoulders, she said, "you need to get some sleep. Here let me help you lay down." 'Yes, ma'am." Again, Adam could only think the words; still, he didn't fight her when she laid him down.

Tara smiled with sympathy down into the eyes that stared at nothing in particular. Once again, she couldn't help but wonder just what the man had been through. She picked up his hand and said, "I'm going to a ranch my father left to me before he passed away. Why he left it to me, I have no idea, but unless you start talking, you're going to be stuck with me on the ranch." She looked for any sign the man had heard her. He didn't, but he had heard her. When she laid his hand down and moved to her blankets; he turned his head, his eyes followed her.

He watched her lie there and fall asleep; he thought on his ordeal and sighed, inwardly. Was it the ordeal he'd been through that was, somehow, keeping him from talking? He didn't know, but he was glad someone had found him. Now, if only he could find his voice and tell his rescuer who he was. His father and brothers had to be worried sick.

While Tara tended to the camp and to the man she simply referred to as 'sir'; Ben and his sons were in a small hotel on their way home. Ben sat in the foyer of the hotel looking out at the darkened sky. His heart was heavier than it had been in years. 'Adam, oh Adam, I'm so sorry. If it was your destiny to die young, the least we could have done is found you and taken you home to bury you.' With the clerk having retired, and any of the other guests out of sight, Ben Cartwright let his tears fall.

Hoss and Little Joe stood, unnoticed, on the other side of the room. They had shed their own tears and were now standing as statues not knowing what to say or what to do. They knew they were all hurting, but what choice did they have to but to go on; Adam would have wanted it.

Scene Two

By the time Ben, Hoss and Little Joe arrived home, Hop Sing was fit to be tied. "You find number one son?" He hurried out of the kitchen and looked at the three Cartwrights and their faces, his own fell as he muttered, "No, no not good, number son one not here."

No one stopped their Chinese cook as he turned around and went muttering back into the kitchen. Ben's face looked as if someone was taking a knife and running it from the top of his head and to the bottom of his feet, stopping at his heart two times over. Both Hoss and Little Joe tried to speak, but no words came out. How could they? They didn't know what to say. Slowly, each one of them went up the stairs and disappeared into their separate rooms.

"I don't know where he's at Elizabeth," Ben choked on his words as he held the picture of his first wife, "we looked and looked; for two weeks we looked for Adam. He's gone." He held the picture close and let some more tears fall.

0000

Mile after mile Tara led the horse she had the stranger on. The sun beat down up on them, but thanks to a soft breeze the heat wasn't too bad. She was relieved to see the ranch house her father had purchased come into sight. She was tired as the man beside her had woke up more than once during the night screaming at the top of his lungs. She'd had to hold him and rock him for at least thirty minutes both times, singing softly as she did so. "Looks like we're home, sir." Tara said as she looked at the stranger, not that she expected him to answer her. She had given up on getting the stranger to talk. All he did was to stare into space, or follow her with his eyes. He spoke not a word, and the only time he moved was when she held onto his arm and coaxed him to follow her.

Dismounting her horse, Tara walked over to her unasked for guest and took a hold of his arm. "Come on, sir," she coaxed him, "We need to get inside." He moved slowly, but soon he was letting her lead him into the house.

There was a couch that sat against the west wall. After dusting it off, Tara nodded towards the piece of furniture, "You can sit there." She shook her head as the man remained standing. "Guess I should have known better," she said as she reached out and took a hold of his arm, "this way, sir." She led him to the couch and helped him sit down.

"What is wrong with me?" Adam watched as the young woman left and came back in more than once; she was bringing in the supplies she'd had on back of the mule. "Why can't I talk? Why can't I move on my own?" When she put a pillow on the couch and helped him lay down he found himself praying for some sleep with no dreams.