Young Katherine Sully

Disclaimer I do not own the characters from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. The rights to those characters and to the show belong to the creators of the show, to CBS, The Sullivan Company and to A&E.

Katie was eleven years old, and she had been accompanying her Pa out into the woods since she could remember. They had a special bond that only fathers and daughters have.

Sully had had a dream answered the morning that he had cut the cord that had secured her to her mother. It had been a defining moment; one that he had thought would never happen again after he had already lost one child. He had watched while those more fortunate had not appreciated such a gift as a child wanting to rid themselves of the burden. "If I am lucky enough to bring another child into this life I would die before I would give it up," he had once told a cowboy.

Katie was a miracle and he continually thanked the Great Spirit for granting him the opportunity of being a Pa again. He had been saddened at not being there for six months of her life and had determined never to allow that to happen again. He'd missed the first time she had said Pa, her first tooth. He never forgot his heart ache when that had occurred.

Katie had managed to get over the ordeal of being kidnapped by that gringo and his Mexican wife. She had eventually been able to sleep without the night mares of being taken again as her Pa assured her he would never allow that to happen again. He had made a promise, and her Pa always kept his promises. Brian had told her that when she had been very young. When she did have those night mares she snuck into her Ma and Pa's bed and they would let her sleep there for the night holding her, telling her how much they loved her.

So Katie had been with her Pa on most of his expeditions when ever school recess had permitted. Ma had insisted that she did schooling and learning from books. Her older brothers and sister had laughed when she had protested on her first day at school and her younger brother Joe was allowed to stay at home and monopolise her Pa's time. Even Brian had said that Pa had told him that learning from books was real important. He was now the editor of the local paper, the Gazette. Brian had spent the hours out with her Pa before she was born and he also told her of the stories Pa and Cloud Dancing had told him.

Her God parents were Miss Grace and Robert E, and they had been Ma and Pa's friends for forever. They had been there for a long time and her folks had decided if anything were to happen to them that these kind people would be the best people to take care of her and Joe. They had a couple of children as well Olive and Bob after Robert their other older boy Anthony had died. They were a bit younger but they all played well and had a lot of fun. Brian had said there was a real bad time way back when they wanted to buy their lovely home but eventually the town came to its senses. Katie wished she understood why the town would lose its senses hoping maybe one day she'd would.

Cloud Dancing was her Cheyenne father. She had been teased at school when she had mentioned this fact and she had been given detention on a number of occasions for fighting with the boys when they had said "a good injun' was a dead injun'."Of course Pa and Cloud Dancing had said that really wasn't the proper way to behave but Matthew had laughed when she had told them saying, "way to go little sis'." Brian and he had just grinned at each other then.

Colleen and Andrew lived far away with her cousins and she saw them rarely. Matthew and Brian though lived in Colorado Springs as she did so she saw these cousins all the time. Matthew had studied Law and was an extremely good lawyer Pa said; he had defended a number of people and won his cases. Her Pa had told her that Matthew had begun by defending him and Ma at different times. Matthew said that someone in this family needed to have some understanding of the law when it came to their family then he would laugh and they all joined in. Katie and Joe wished they understood what they really meant. Matthew had promised he would fill them in when they were old enough to understand. Well, Katie thought they were and it made her mad when she felt as if she was treated like a baby.

She had grown up leaning about the Red Rocks and the plains and had discovered everything she could with her Pa about Pikes Peak. Pa told her about the time Ma had climbed up there, and Ma told her about a friend who had died up there. Her name was Sam but and she was a lady.

The whole area had been her play ground since she was able to sit up on the front of the saddle with Pa. He was in charge of looking after the environment so he would travel out checking if people did the right thing. Katie thought on many occasions she was going to grow up just like her Pa. Joe had rather taken to book learning and he wanted to be like Ma. He loved the chicken fat and all the other things Ma did.

Her Pa would say he was lucky they had two more children as there was one for each of them, then he laughed at her Ma and kissed her cheek. Katie loved it when he did that as her Ma would go all red and flick him with the tea towel.

One day Brian had asked their Pa if he had shown her the old cave he had spent time in and Pa had said yes Katie informed Brain they still found no treasure. Brian just laughed, saying they hadn't either and he doubted there was any more left there.

Katie had learnt all about the constellations in the heavens when she was out with her Pa. While they would lie back against a log near the camp fire gazing up at the black blanket above them with silver dots as if someone had sewn a pattern into it and you only saw the holes. They spent many nights out in the wilderness and her Pa was the best guide in the territory. He made the best *billy tea and *damper.

Wolf hadn't come too often as he liked to sleep by the fire at home. Then he was gone and everyone was sad. He had been buried under the big old oak tree at the side of the house; Pa had said it was like losing part of the family. Everyone shared their memories of him that day. Katie wished she had known him when he was younger as Brian said he tracked by scent really well. Wolf had found him when he'd run off. Katie wondered why he had run away Brian use to say this was another story and he'd explain when she got older. Wolf had also helped Pa find Ma when she was lost as well and was trapped by a mighty *big bear*. There had been another occasion but they didn't talk about that much. Matthew said it was a truly scary time but they all knew Pa would rescue Ma. Wolf had also found Colleen when she got real bad frost bites and Ma had to save her hands so she could be the good Doctor she was now. Andrew came to Colorado Springs when she, Katie, was born. He liked the town so much so he ended up staying and courting Colleen and then they got married. The family had another dog now but it's not the same as Wolf.

Joe didn't like outdoor creepy crawlies, instead he liked being in the clinic with Ma looking down the microscope seeing things only recognized under the magnification. He was developing a passion for medicine that was fast becoming a family trait. He spent hours looking through the journals and asking a milliard of questions never seeming to be satisfied. Ma said he was like sponge absorbing water and joked that maybe his head would explode.

These things didn't interest Katie; she liked the real live animals that were becoming rare like wolf and the buffalo. Together with Cloud Dancing they wandered the hills and valleys around the area. Cloud Dancing was getting older now and he and Miss Dorothy were married. Seeing her Cheyenne Father sitting on Mother Earth and telling stories of his lost family was so sad. Pa would go up to him and they would hug and hold onto each other, but they never told the whole story to why he was sad, Pa just promised he would one day.

Pa and Cloud Dancing ride bare back and say that it's the traditional way of the Cheyenne. Her Ma had an old saddle that she said Pa gave her a long time ago. Pa was going to make Joe and her one once they have stopped growing.

One day they came to huge cliff and Katie saw her Pa shiver. He told her that he fell over it. Looking over at the rocks below it Katie wondered how he'd survived, and he explained that her Ma had found him dying but her love and his for her was what saved him. Katie hoped she would be so lucky loving someone so much as well. Pa did tell of another time he and Ma jumped off a cliff but it appeared that this part of the story she'd be told in the future WHEN! she grew up.

She was so lucky to have the family she had and knew that to be loved was truly the best gift that can be given. She would be like her Pa when she grew up as like him she loved to be outdoors, saving the earth and it would be what she could do to carry on with what her two Pa's had commenced.

The End

*Billy Tea...(billy a tin can or enamelled container with lid and wire handle used as an outdoor cooking pot, boiling water) billy tea...tea brewed in a billy. (Australian Oxford Dictionary)

*Damper...a simple kind of bush bread; traditionally unleavened baked in the ashes of an outdoor fire. (AOD)