Disclaimer: I do not own Bonanza, the characters or the songs in this story.

What a perfect day for a picnic with the family, Adam Cartwright thought as he gently tugged at the reins to slow the horses. He brought the wagon to a stop in front of a lush, green pasture sprinkled with little clusters of purple flowers. The open space surrounded by forests and a small trickling creek off to one side, was a common place for deer to rest in the sun. It was more than peaceful, it made life seem perfect.

"Daddy, Look!" The squeal came from his five year old daughter in the back of the wagon, who was now leaning over the edge of the wagon and pointing at a deer and her fawn. The deers head had shot up and now it was cautiously making its way into the woods, the fawn followed its mother to the safety of the trees.

"Katie, be careful." Sarah called back, Katie stepped back but continued to look, hoping to get another glimpse. Emily had grown bored and walked over to Adam, who was still sitting in the front, enjoying their reaction. When she had gotten to him, Adam reached over and put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer, he kissed her forehead.

"Daddy, why did the one have spots and the other didn't?" Katie questioned as she joined her family.

"Because baby deer are born with white spots, that fade as they get older." Adam answered as he climbed out of the wagon. He reached his hand up to his wife, helping her down, then lifted both of his girls out, keeping a wriggling Katie on his hip. "Don't go wandering off, I want you to stay where you can see us."

"Yes, Daddy. Can I go now, Pleeeaaasse?" She pleaded. He just smiled at her and set her down, as soon as her little feet touched the ground, she took off to explore. Adam chuckled, and walked to the back of the wagon. He pulled out the blue and white checkered quilt with yellow flowers on it and handed it to Sarah, he then took the picnic basket and they headed towards a flat spot on the ground. As they worked, Adam thought back to the first day he had met Sarah. Standing with her parents, wearing a blue dress that complemented her clear, sky blue eyes. Her auburn hair, with a tint of red when the sun hit it, gently fell around her shoulders. Her heart-shaped face and cute, rounded nose just added to her beauty, and her large smile could light up the room. Adam was not like his youngest brother, whose head was turned by any pretty girl, but something about that woman had stolen his heart, and he never got it back. After setting out the blanket, Sarah had started to prepare their lunch when two little hands covered her eyes.

"Guess who?" Emily giggled. Sarah knew her daughter's voice but was confused by the fact that one hand felt smaller than the other.

"Emily."

"Nope." Emily said, accompanied with more giggles, Adam was even chuckling now at the confused look on Sarah's face.

"Katie?" She questioned.

"Nope."

"Who? It has to be..." She pulled the hands off her eyes, to see Katie and Emily standing there.

"It was both of us, Mama." Katie smiled, happy they had tricked their mother. Sarah laughed, and pulled the girls into an embrace.

After lunch the girls had played until Katie was tuckered out, and had fallen asleep with her head on her mother's lap. Sarah gently brushed Katie's dark brown curls away from her face, and looked at Adam.

"I think it's about time to head home." She motioned towards the sleeping girl in her lap. Adam just nodded but was distracted by their eight year old daughter, who had picked up a purple flower, examined it and then headed their way.

"Daddy, What kind of flower is this?" Emily questioned as she sat on his lap.

"It's a Bergamot."

"That's a funny name. Why do they only grow here?" She gestured to the pasture.

"They don't, they grow all over Nevada, but they do best in pastures like this close to water, that is why we don't see them very often." He tried to explain, Emily was his curious one. She questioned everything, when she was five they had made a rule that she was only allowed one "Why?" question a day, so that she would not overwhelm her parents. Adam loved her curiosity, her questions sometimes even stumped him.

"They are my favorite flower," Sarah added, "they were the first flowers that your father ever gave me."

"Really?"

"He gave them to me at our first dance, that's when I fell in love with him." She smiled at him, remembering that night.

"You fell in love with him because he gave you flowers?" She questioned scrunching her nose, "Tommy gave me a flower once, but I don't love him, you sure had it easy." The last statement was directed at Adam. They both laughed at the child's confusion.

"I didn't love him because he brought me flowers, you see, they were my favorite flowers and I had never told him that, he cared enough to ask one of my friends. I fell in love with him because of his thoughtfulness." Sarah explained.

"Definitely not because he was funny." Emily laughed and quickly jumped out of her father's lap as he tried to tickle her. Emily and her uncle Joe loved to tease Adam about being too serious. Adam had gotten to his feet and pulled Emily into his arms tickling her. Sarah smiled, she loved the way Adam played with the girls, they were the only ones that could get him to "let his hair down", otherwise he really was very serious, but responsible and loving.

"Stop it, Daddy, your gonna crush my flower!" She said while fighting for freedom. Adam let her go and she quickly retreated to her mother's side. Sarah took the flower from her and tucked it behind her ear, her auburn hair that hung a little above her shoulders, had a hint of red in the sun, just as her own hair did. Actually the older Emily got the more she looked like her mother. She had her mother's soft features with a rounded nose, and large, round eyes. Her cheeks lightly freckled, small lips, and her mother's smile. She had her father's brown eyes along with his stubborn nature, she could be serious at times but was also somewhat carefree like Sarah.

"We better head back, come on pal, help me with this blanket." Adam said to Emily and they began to clean up, Sarah gently moved Katie off her lap and helped them clean up. The four of them were soon on their way, Katie lay in the back of the wagon on their blanket, while Sarah sat next to Adam who was helping Emily drive the wagon. By the time they pulled up to the their house, which looked like a smaller version of his father's house, Emily had fallen asleep as well. They both carried the girls up to their rooms, changed them into their nightgowns and laid them in bed. Sarah kissed her girls, took the flower out of Emily's hair and placed it in the middle of her favorite book, Rapunzel, for her to find later.

The next morning Adam sat in his armchair enjoying a cup of coffee and the peace and quiet of his home before the girls were up.

"I'm going upstairs to get the girls ready." Sarah said as she walked over to him, "Can you keep an eye on the bacon?"

"Just give them a few more minutes." Adam pulled his wife onto his lap and kissed her.

"Adam, you know Katie is as slow as molasses in the morning, I don't want to be late!" She pushed herself off his lap, but leaned in for one more kiss before heading upstairs.

"Don't let the bacon burn." She called from the top of the stairs, then entered her youngest daughter's room, to start the morning ritual of waking the girls.

"Good morning, sweetheart," She shook Katie, "it's time to get up."

"Mmmmm." Katie rolled back over.

"I'm going to wake up your sister, you'd better be sitting up when I come back." With that simple warning she headed to Emily's room. She gently knocked on the door, and walked in.

"Morning, Mama." Emily smiled, "Can you tie my dress for me?"

Emily was wearing a green cotton dress, with a light ribbon around the waist, it had a little white ruffle on the hem, and on the short puffed sleeves. The dress was her favorite, but came just to the middle of her knees.

"It's about time we get you a new Sunday dress, this one is to small and well worn." Sarah remarked as she tied a bow in the back of the dress.

"No, Mama, this is my favorite." She turned around and pleaded with her big brown eyes.

"You can't wear this dress forever, sweety, but you can keep it and put it in storage if you like." She could only hope that would appease her daughter without an argument.

"If I get a new dress can it be green too, Daddy, Grandpa, Uncle Hoss, and Uncle Joe all said that I look pretty in green." She still didn't want to part with her dress, but knew there was not much she could do to change her mother's mind, the dress was too short, so it was best to give in.

"We'll see if we can find one that is green, but I'm not promising, alright?" She had to make that clear with Emily or she would never hear the end of it if they came home with another color dress.

"Alright, can we look after church today?"

"If your it's alright with your Daddy." She said as she stood up, but became very dizzy and almost lost her balance, grabbing for anything to steady herself, she caught Emily's shoulder. Her eyes went dark for a second, then her vision came back though somewhat blurred for a moment.

"Mama, are you alright?" Emily had grabbed her arm and looked at her mother worried. This wasn't the first time her mother had done this. Sarah did not know that Emily had seen her have to stop often to steady herself, but the little girl had kept a close eye on her mother and knew something was not right.

"Yes, sweety, I am fine. Just stood up to fast is all." She smiled at Emily reassuringly but the nauseousness that followed still hadn't gone away. "I have to go get your sister. I am fine." She reiterated as she left the room. Emily watched her go, a sick feeling lingering in the pit of her stomach. God, please don't let anything be wrong with Mama, make her feel better. Emily had started saying a short little prayer for her mother, every time she had noticed her struggling. She glanced up to the ceiling one more time, as if pleading with God to hear her, and then went about her morning chores. But the worried feeling would not leave her as easily today, even though she tried not to think about it, it was happening more and more often.

About fifteen minutes later, Adam and Emily came in from their chores in the barn and joined the others at the table for breakfast. Adam thanked God for the food, and then began dishing up their plates. Emily was much quieter than usual, which made for an almost silent breakfast. Katie was not a morning person and even after the twenty minutes it took to get her out of bed and dressed, she was still grumpy and wouldn't talk. Emily would take this chance to talk about the day, and ask more questions, though she tried to rephrase them and save her "Why" question for later in the day. The only chatter this morning was between husband and wife. The ride to church was much the same, though Katie was more awake and had started to talk about seeing Mary. Since Katie was to young for school, she only got to see her friends on Sundays and sometimes other special trips to town.

In church, the Cartwright family (including Ben, Hoss, and little Joe) found two empty benches and took a seat. Katie had immediately found her way onto her grandfather's lap, but Emily had stayed next to Sarah. She would miss sitting between her two uncles but they were sitting in front of the others and Emily wanted to keep an eye on her mother. The message held Emily's attention that day as it was on trusting God with your needs, Katie fidgeted on her grandpa's lap, until he passed her off to Adam. All he had to do was whisper in the little girl's ear and she sat still the rest of the service, that was partly due to the fact that after about five minutes she had fallen asleep.

The service ended, and all the children went outside to play. Cecily went up to Emily and asked her to play, she glanced up at Sarah and then back to her friend. She wanted to say no, but then remembered the message, she closed her eyes long enough to pray, God I need my Mama, please take care of her, thanks. and then headed out of the church to join her friends. Adam was talking with Ben, when Sarah came up and whispered to him. "Adam, I have a headache do you think we could go home soon?"

"Of course, excuse us Pa, I better get my family home." Adam shook his father's hand, then took Sarah's arm and headed out of the church.

"Emily, Katie, it's time to go." Adam called to the girls, who sadly left their playmates and climbed into the back of the wagon.

"Are we gonna get a new dress?" Emily asked her parents, though it didn't bother her if they didn't feel like it.

"Not today, sweety." Sarah patted her daughter's hand, knowing she wouldn't be to disappointed. The two girls chatted the whole way home about the party at their grandpa's house that they had been invited too.

"I can make something for lunch and then maybe if I lay down it will help." Sarah said as she was helped out of the wagon.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of lunch, you just get some rest."Adam took her arm and gently led her to their room to make sure she would lay down and take an afternoon nap. He pushed her down onto the bed, kissed her forehead and left. She just shook her head know better than to argue, she went to sleep.

"Is Mama alright?" Katie questioned when her father came back down, her mother always made lunch for them on Sunday.

"Yes, Kates, your Mama just has a headache and needs some rest, so why don't we all pitch in and make ourselves something to eat. What sounds good?" Adam had scooped Katie up, and touched his nose to hers.

"Ice cream and pie!" Katie clapped her hands, hopefully.

"No, Katie, that's dessert. You can't eat dessert for lunch." Emily told her little sister, whose hopes were dashed. Adam smiled at both his girls, Katie pouted in his arms, she really had the perfect puppy dog eyes. Her Big, light blue eyes stared at him from underneath full, dark eyelashes, and her bottom lip stuck out, quivering. Katie was a little actress, she could make herself cry if she thought it would get her what she wanted.

"We are having pie and ice cream at your Grandpa's house tomorrow, now how about some sandwiches?" Adam said as he set her down. Her eyes filled up with tears and just as she started throw a tantrum, Adam swatted her backside. "It's either sandwiches or you can go take a nap without lunch." She reluctantly nodded and began to wipe away her tears. "Good, you know better than to throw a fit, young lady." Adam looked her in the eye.

"Yes, Daddy." She said quietly, both girls knew very well that if he called you "young lady", you had better straighten up fast. The three headed off to the kitchen for a sandwich making contest, it was something Sarah had come up with because Emily hated making sandwiches. They would get all the ingredients out, choose the person they were making the sandwich for, and then race to see who could make the best sandwich first. If the person you chose liked the sandwich than you won, every one wanted to get Katie, because she barely liked anything on her sandwich, so that person usually won. Emily had gotten Kates and was sure she was going to win, but half way through she dropped the sandwich on the floor and had to start over. Adam saw his chance to let Katie win and had slowed down, his sandwich was messy but tasted good, so Katie won. The game ended with congratulating Katie and laughing at the mess on the floor before they cleaned it up.

Sarah stayed in bed most of the day, when she woke up it was after dinner, and the sun was going down. She sat up, her head was still pounding, she could not remember a time her headaches had lasted this long. She gave up and laid back down, just as Adam walked in the room with a glass of water and some food. "How are you feeling?" He asked sitting on the bed next to her.

"Fine, just a little headache is all." She said trying to sit up again, he put some pillows behind her and helped her lean back.

"Sarah, I can't even remember the last time you stayed in bed all day. Your not fine." His brow furrowed, he could not stand it when she tried to play it off as no big deal. He admired her for her strength, but she did not have to be strong with him, he wanted to be there for her, and take care of her. "Here drink something it will help." He handed her the cup of water.

"Thank you, but I do feel much better." She managed a smile.

"Maybe so, but I think you should just stay in bed the rest of the evening." Adam said taking the glass away from her.

"You won't get any argument from me there." she sighed and laid back down.

"If you still have this headache tomorrow, I am taking you to the doctor." He stated firmly.

"Adam, don't be ridiculous, it's just a headache." Sarah argued.

"Even so, the doctor can give you something that will help, now get some rest." He kissed her and then took his leave.