SULLY'S SAGWA
By Linda Ellen
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (but those people aren't using them anyway!)
January 2012 Forum Short Story Picture Challenge – I won, omgosh
1st pic: Daniel, Dorothy, Matthew, Cloud Dancing, Brian, Colleen and Katie are all standing just inside the homestead's front door, looking concerned. Dorothy is looking at Daniel quite alarmed.
2nd pic: Sully and Michaela in the woods, Sully glancing at M with a quizzical expression, she's looking down and smiling secretively, wearing her brown hat.
...
Cloud Dancing slipped inside the front door of his brother's home and shut the door, joining the worried family.
"I can't imagine where they could be!" Dorothy fretted, glancing up at Daniel as Matthew opened his mouth to grill his stepfather's brother.
"Me neither," Brian contributed. "They're not at the clinic or anywhere in town, and both of their horses are gone."
"No one's seen them!" Colleen fretted, worriedly holding her little sister as she gazed at Daniel, their sheriff and Sully's best friend.
"I am sure nothing has happened. I do not feel they were the victims of foul play," Cloud Dancing offered, catching Daniel's eye.
Daniel looked around at the assembled group, in the act of slipping his hands in his back pockets. "Alright everybody, just calm down. I don't see any cause to go runnin' off searchin' everywhere – if there's ever been two people who could take care of themselves, it's Sully and Dr. Mike," he reminded the concerned group.
Each one nodded to the truthfulness of that statement.
OOOOOOO
"You gonna tell me what's goin' on?" Sully asked his wife for the third time, glancing to his left, incredulous over the smile that claimed her face once again.
"I told you, I need you to help me with a patient," his secretive wife replied as she had the last two times he had probed.
What the heck is she up to? I ain't ever seen her act this way before...maybe she's been out in the sun too long, got a touch of sun stroke or somethin'. Heck, I don't know, Sully groused silently, turning his face straight ahead as they rode on down the tree lined road miles from their home.
Several minutes later, Michaela suddenly reached over and grabbed the reins of her husband's horse, guiding him into a hidden and overgrown lane. Knowing it would do no good to ask, he remained silent, merely riding. Does she want me along for safety or somethin'? But if she's scared...why's she smilin'?
Moments later, Michaela reined Flash up to what looked like a deserted cabin, dropping Sully's reins as she climbed down from her horse.
He remained seated, glancing around at their surroundings. It was obviously abandoned. Thinking he may be right about the sunstroke, he glanced at her face, which was unreadable under the brown hat she still wore.
"Chaela..."
"Climb down, Sully. Come on inside," she instructed as she made her way to the door.
Sighing, he did as she requested, sliding effortlessly off his horse's bare back and landing light-footed on the ground, following his wife to the door.
Smiling mysteriously up at her husband, Michaela reached for the latch and pulled it, swinging the door wide open. Sully turned from trying to read her face and gasped at what he saw inside.
The interior of the one room cabin had been cleaned and readied for occupancy. As Sully stepped through the door, his eyes took in the table in the center, which held a large picnic basket. Turning his head, he saw a supply of freshly chopped wood stacked by the readied fireplace, fresh linens on the bed in the corner, colorful rugs on the floor, and candles in glass candle holders - already lit. As he watched, Michaela picked up a lit candle and walked to the fireplace, touching the flame to the fire set and watching it instantly ignite.
"What the heck..." Sully murmured in shock.
"Surprise," Michaela whispered, spinning her husband around and taking him in her arms for a very sensuous kiss. Taken by surprise, he didn't react at first, but quickly warmed up to her ministrations.
Pulling back moments later, he gazed down at his very satisfied looking wife, a sly grin on her lips.
"You've been kidnapped, Mr. Sully."
OOOOOOO
"I'm gonna go look for 'em!" the young boy burst out, turning to try and brush past the stoic Cheyenne still stationed by the door.
Cloud Dancing brought his hands up and gently gripped Brian's arms, forcing him to stop and listen. "No, Brian. It will be dark soon, impossible to follow a trail – and we do not even know where to begin. We will go out at first light. Do not worry."
"Cloud Dancin's right. Nothin' we can do tonight. I suggest we all just bed down and try ta get some sleep. If they ain't back by mornin', we'll ride out first thing," Daniel encouraged as the others glanced at each other uncomfortably. Finally shrugging in defeat, the group made to try and do as the sheriff advised.
OOOOOOO
"You call this kidnappin'?" Sully chuckled, reaching up to remove his wife's hat and smooth her hair from her face, his eyes caressing her features lovingly.
"Well, yes...I couldn't very well grab you and haul you up in front of me on my saddle...so this was the only way I could think of to get you alone," she replied, flashing him a flirty smile.
He leaned down and brushed her lips with his, whispering, "All ya had to do was ask."
Grinning up at him playfully, her eyes twinkling with mischief and exhilaration about her plans for the evening ahead, she quipped, "I wanted to surprise you."
He chuckled at that, his eyes searching hers as he snaked his arms under her coat and wrapped them tightly around her tiny waist. "That you did." Glancing around again, he asked, "You did this all yourself?"
She pursed her lips and lifted her shoulders in a tiny shrug. "Well, no. Actually Grace, Daniel, and Cloud Dancing helped me," she admitted softly, watching his every expression.
"They're in on it, huh?" he stated more than asked, shaking his head and snickering.
"Very much so," she admitted with a twinkle.
Then his brow furrowed a little and he pursed his lips for a moment, deciding to give her a hard time. "Hey...you lied ta me. There ain't no 'patient'."
Still grinning, Michaela cocked her head and gave him her most alluring glance, the kind that always set his heart pumping and his skin tingling with anticipation. His eyes flared with the beginnings of passion and he unconsciously gripped her a little tighter.
"I didn't lie," she purred, raising a hand to trace circles in the hair on his chest, peeking out of the open neck of his cream colored shirt. "I'm the patient. Since you've been in hiding these past six months, I've hardly seen you at all...then on the way home from the Tongue River Valley, we didn't have any time alone...and we haven't been able to since we've been home."
Wrapping her arms around his back, she molded herself to his body, continuing, "I became ill, but there was nothing I could do to heal myself." At his look, she continued, "I've ached for you...I've worried myself sick about you...lost weight because I couldn't eat, not knowing your whereabouts...I've lost sleep pining for you, missing your arms around me in bed...longing for your loving," she added softly.
"Mmm, so I'm the cure-all, huh? Bottle me up and sell me as patent medicine?" he teased, pleased to see her eyes spark in reaction. "Doc Sully's Cheyenne Indian Sagwa, garnteed ta fix the problems of any...lonely wife," he drawled in a perfect imitation of the Medicine Show's proprietor, vivid blue eyes twinkling naughtily.
Michaela shook her head slowly, her eyes never leaving his. "Mmm mm, not any wife...just this one. Any other woman touches your...Sagwa...I'll scratch her eyes out," she murmured.
He laughed delightedly, enjoying their risqué banter. Releasing her, he stepped back and shucked out of his buckskin jacket. Glancing at the table and then the bed, he turned his blue gaze back to hers and asked, "So...Mrs. Kidnapper...what's your orders? Should we...eat supper? Should I...put more logs on the fire?"
Tilting her head back and fixing him with a potent stare, she reached up and grasped the edges of her leather duster, allowing it to drop to the floor of the cabin.
"I'm in your hands...Doc Sully...and I'm more than ready for a dose of your Sagwa."
Grinning at her answer, he took her in his arms again, leaning in for a kiss that left no doubt of what his first treatment would be.
Finally breaking the kiss several minutes later, he whispered teasingly against her cheek, "Think one dose'll cure ya?"
Reaching up, she placed her hands on his head, turning his face to reach his mouth again as she murmured, "I may need the whole bottle."
Teasing, he held back, his expression serious. "The whole bottle...you may overdose..." he warned ominously.
"I'll risk it," she dismissed with rising passion, trapping his lips for another round of kissing.
"...Or become addicted," he added breathlessly.
"Too late...I've been hooked since our honeymoon train," she whispered passionately.
Growling softly, Sully reached down and swept her off her feet, carrying her to the bed in the corner, all thoughts of food or firewood totally forgotten.
...
The End...of the story, that is. ;)
