PRAYERS FOR THE HEART OF HOPE VALLEY - CHAPTER 1
A/N: Hi! Thanks for moving over to my new profile. I am scc1fan from a looooong time ago, and have not been able to resurrect my old publishing account. So here I am! Going to try a few new fandoms and see how it goes.
A/N 2: This is how I think the Season 3 finale, Prayers from the Heart, should have gone. I love Jack whump – sorry in advance. Also, I play with the timeline just a bit, because I need Carson there for all the stress I'm about to put Jack through. So Carson and Faith are already practicing together in Hope Valley in this slightly AU version of the episode. The story picks up right as Maggie is brought into town without Jack and then goes from there. Please review if you like it! I'm shooting for a new chapter every week - possibly more if I get in a writing mood. I don't let chapters sit unpublished, so if it's written - I'll post it.
Lee's POV:
Elizabeth, Frank, Bill, and I, along with the rest of the men from Hope Valley were searching the woods—looking desperately for a glimpse of our Mountie, Jack Thornton. Elizabeth was beside herself, and the rest of us weren't much better. "This would be a lot easier if he was wearing his red serge," I thought to myself, as the cries rang through the area—a dozen voices calling out Jack's name over and over again. Instead, Jack was in brown and black, like the rest of us, and any color to his clothing whatsoever had been covered in mud and grime from the mudslide rescue up the mountain. Like the rest of us, Jack hadn't had a chance to clean up or even rest; we'd come straight from the mining community to the settlement to try to evacuate the ladies and children from the camp. I doggedly avoided the thought of the two miners who had perished in the slide. Would we be burying a third before this long night was over? I swallowed hard at the thought and pushed it aside. No. We would find him. We had to. I couldn't imagine Hope Valley without Jack. I couldn't imagine my life without Jack. And then, suddenly, I heard Elizabeth's voice change as she caught sight of him. With Frank right behind me, we slid down the muddy hill to Elizabeth, Frank and Jack at Elizabeth's cry, "We found him! He's down here!"
Right as I got to the group, I heard Frank say that Jack had a pulse and was alive. "Barely," I heard the pastor whisper. And then the whole group from town hurried to get Jack out of the shallow water and up on the banks. Bill flew to his horse and wheeled around, heading back to town to direct the buckboard to us. Meanwhile, Frank and I began assessing Jack's condition. Maggie had told me and Elizabeth that "the water took him away," and I thought I knew what that would mean. But I was not prepared for the sight of the still form of my best friend. Jack was freezing and his skin was so pale it looked almost translucent. He wasn't even shivering anymore and his chest barely rose and fell with a wheeze every few seconds. His lips were blue and a large head wound on the left side of his head was clotting and still seeping blood, even now—a few hours after his fall. "Did Sargent throw him?" The thought flitted through my head at the same time I wondered where Jack's mount was. Jack would ask for him when he woke and I made a mental note to see if the horse had shown up in town while we were searching. Jack would be broken hearted if something had happened to Sargent. And then, I was brought back to the present as Elizabeth collapsed beside me on the ground, holding Jack's cold hand, rubbing it between hers in an effort to force some warmth into the too-still form.
Frank looked up at me with pursed lips and a slight shake of his head. "We have to get him out of here, Lee. And we have to get him warm," the pastor said. "I'm not sure he can afford to wait for the buckboard." I concurred. If possible, Jack's condition seemed to have worsened in the few minutes since we'd gotten him out of the water. Maybe it was because we were closer to him, but it seemed like his breathing had already slowed and gotten more labored. "But should we move him?" I asked. "His ribs are clearly broken and I can't tell how bad his head wound is from here." Elizabeth didn't offer an opinion or even look like she'd heard us, so I turned back to Frank desperately. "What do we do?"
Decision made, Frank got up and called for our horses. "You're lighter," he said firmly. "You take him. Elizabeth and I will follow you at your pace and the others will go ahead and make sure the infirmary is ready for him." I nodded and mounted my horse, which Jessie was holding still for me. Wordlessly, though gently, Frank untangled Elizabeth's hands from Jack and lifted him up to me. I tried not to flinch when Jack's limp body presented as dead weight as he was lifted up and carefully placed in front of me, but I was not successful. I immediately wrapped my left arm around his front and clasped his right wrist, making note of the too-slow staccato of Jack's pulse. To my horror, I felt more than one of his broken ribs shift beneath my forearm. "Dear God," I prayed, as I steadied my hand, leaned Jack's head back against my chest, and moved his body into what I hoped was a semi-comfortable position, "please don't let me hurt him."