Title: Aftershock
Author: April
Fandom: McLeod's Daughters (Claire/Alex, Tess/Nick)
Feedback: Yes, please
Disclaimer: All usual applies. I own no one.
Summary: A different twist on Claire's accident.

Nick Ryan looked at his watch again, his brother's ring in his pocket. Alex Ryan approached him and Nick signaled that he had found it, not wanting to take the chance of anyone else knowing and accidentally letting it slip. He sensed the trouble and turmoil in his brother without even glancing at his face. "If you're having second thoughts, you're a bloody idiot."

"I'm not." Alex paused. "I wish it was that simple." He took a breath and blew it out. "I keep hearing Charlotte cry. I know it's crazy. She's not within miles. Claire's got her. They're fine."

"They're late," Nick said, looking at his brother. "Over an hour, by my calculations."

Alex nodded. "I know. But you know Claire. She knows everyone in the area as well as you or I. She could have gotten stopped by anyone, couldn't get away fast enough." Nick nodded. "So why don't either of us think that's what happened?" Alex asked.

"If Dad was in town, saw Charlotte, it could take hours before he and Claire stop talking and he lets his only grandchild leave." Nick smiled at that, glad things had worked out as well as they had for Harry with both Alex and Charlotte.

Alex looked at Nick. "I know I'm going to feel like a prize fool when we see they're okay, but...will you drive me?"

Nick nodded, a little worried about Tess as well. It had been a hard month for her, breaking up with Dave, being so scared that she would end up like her mum. He knew she was exhausted, stressed, not her usual bubbly self. It was more than that though. Before Charlotte's birth, she'd told him that she felt something was wrong, even though she couldn't put her finger on what it was. He'd never experienced that before, until this moment. Something was wrong and he knew it was with Tess. He just didn't know what it was.

They hadn't driven far when they heard the screams: both easily identified, but neither Claire's. Alex felt like a knife was twisting inside him as he heard his daughter cry, but he always felt like that until he could figure out what she wanted and give it to her. Claire teased him about spoiling her, but all he knew was that there'd always been something in him that had to make sure Charlotte had everything her heart desired and then some. He couldn't stand seeing his girls cry.

Nick threw his ute in park and ran to Tess and Charlotte McLeod, checking them over quickly before holding them. "Are you both okay?" Nick asked Tess, but she didn't seem to hear him. She didn't respond to him at all.

Alex saw the cliff and was torn between comforting Charlotte and going to Claire.

"Go," Nick instructed him. "I've got Charlotte. Just be careful." He wanted to help Alex, but his arms were full of Charlotte and Tess.

Alex used the radio in Nick's ute to call Terry for help before tying a good strong rope around himself to the back of the ute, starting down. He didn't want to wait, couldn't. If Claire was still alive, if he let her time run out with him just waiting, he'd never live with himself. Even if there was nothing he could do, he had to be with her. He just had to take it one step at a time. Patience was never a strong suit with him, one of the things that had hindered his courtship of Claire over the past year. He wanted to skip all this until he had his girls safe in his arms again. He could still hear Charlotte crying and wondered if Claire could as well.

Tess' head was bloody, but that wasn't what scared Nick the most. "Tess. Tess, sweetheart, shh. Shh. You've got to stop screaming. Alex is going to check on her. He's going to get her out." He whispered, rubbing her back, whispering to her like Claire would to a spooked horse. "I know you're scared. I know it's Claire. He's going to get her out."

Terry Dodge arrived with Meg and Jodi Fountain. "I rang Kilarney as well. He's on his way." Terry said as Meg reached for Charlotte.

Tess held Charlotte closer, tighter, the baby's cheek against Tess' curls. It was the first time Nick knew Tess could understand some of what was going on around her. He looked at Meg and then back at Tess. "It's Meg, sweetheart. You know Charlotte's safe with her. We'll stay right here where you can see her, but we need to get you both checked out." Nick would prefer that Charlotte go home, knowing Claire wouldn't want her there. He also knew that he had to take it slowly with Tess; she seemed to be afraid to let Charlotte out of her arms, out of her sight, not that he blamed her.

Tess nodded, slowly letting Meg take the screaming baby. She even let Jodi look at her head, but she wouldn't let Jodi touch her. She stopped screaming, although the sobs racked her body, wetting Nick's shirt in an instant. She couldn't let go of him or permit him to let go of her.

"She's in shock," Jodi whispered, holding the kit.

Nick nodded. "Leave it there. I'll see what I can do in a bit. When Alex gets Claire up here, Claire will need help until the others arrive." Jodi nodded. "Can you check on Charlotte? I don't know if she's crying because of what happened or if something hurts her." Jodi nodded, going back to Meg and the baby.

"I'll see what I can do to help Alex," Terry promised Nick, already trying to figure out if there was another way to get Claire back up without causing more pain and destruction to her. The ute, or what was left of it, could be pulled up with a chain at some point, but to do that to Claire would put more stress on her body.

As Alex neared the bottom, Harry Ryan pulled up alone. In an instant, without speaking, he took in his crying granddaughter, Nick holding Tess, and looked towards the ravine. He held his breath as much as all the others when Alex finally reached Claire.

The door to the ute was open and Alex could touch Claire. The first thing he did was check her pulse, weak, thready. She was pale, clammy, and he knew instinctively it was so much worse than what she'd been through after the horse fell on her. He thought she was dead at first until she moaned.

"It's okay, Claire. I'm here. I'm here. BOM's up there with Tess. They're safe." He knew instinctively what she'd done, what she'd had to do. "You did good, sweetheart. You saved them. Only fight, okay? Don't give up. Don't you dare give up. They still need you. I need you." All their lives they had pushed each other competitively, but this was life and death. He couldn't let her go.

He was scared to move her, scared to touch her, scared to make it worse. He surveyed the external damage quickly, smelling the faint odor, knowing he had to move her soon. "Can you wrap your arms around my neck? I'll carry you up. I'll carry you home." His heart broke when she couldn't even do that. He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her, and longed to feel her arms around him as they had been so many times before.

Jodi came down on a rope with a board. It was a crude gurney, but it would have to work. Jodi searched Alex's eyes,. "We can put her on the board. Harry and Terry will pull her up on the rope. Then we'll go up after her."

Alex nodded. "Did you hear that, Claire? You'll go up to Tess and BOM and I'll be right behind you." He took off his coat to make a pillow for her head as he gently, lovingly, lay her on the board as he would have their bed. He kissed her forehead and gave one of the ropes a pull. "I love you. I'm right behind you." He watched her slowly start being raised up.

"How bad is it?" Jodi asked, no longer the medic, but a kid just as scared as the others.

"Not good. Her leg's in bad shape, she lost some blood, the impacts couldn't have been good. She moaned. I never thought I'd be grateful for a moan. That's about all the response I got, but..."

Jodi nodded. "It's a response." Like most of the others, she'd feared Claire dead.

Meg stifled a scream as the ute exploded, burying her head, trying not to scare Charlotte or Tess further, but her daughter had been down there. It would hurt to lose Claire, so much like a daughter to her, but it would kill her to lose Jodi.

Tess buried her head into Nick's chest, refusing to look up, even when he whispered that Claire had finally made it to the top.

Nick wanted to go check on his brother and friends, but knew there was nothing he could do for Alex that Harry wasn't, nor for Jodi what Terry wasn't. All he could do was take care of Tess like Claire couldn't. He took Charlotte so Meg could sit with Claire until the others climbed up or until help finally arrived.