Wolfblood

Strike Gold

Author's Note: Set during Season 2 Episode 10. I just had so many questions about what could have happened between when Maddy and Liam were rescued and when we see everyone packing up. So I decided to answer them. Please remember to review. I'd love to know what you think.

"Rhydian...!" Maddy's desperate scream was the first thing he heard. As he looked over, he noticed her hand sticking up from beneath the earth. He and Jana ran over and grabbed her, pulling her gently but firmly from the dirt pile that the underground cavern now lay in. Rhydian hugged her close, his heart missing a beat when she returned the gesture. He could hear Liam's voice and Jeffries' stern telling off for leaving the path, but he didn't care. All that mattered was that she was in his arms and safe. He wasn't letting her go for anything.

"Have you two been listening?" Jana snapped her fingers in Rhydian's face.

"What?" Rhydian couldn't hide his confusion.

"We're heading back to camp!" Jana turned and stormed off.

"What's with her?" Maddy muttered before letting out a dry cough.

"That's not important." Rhydian shook off Jana's attitude, dismissing it as her being afraid Maddy and Liam would die and that she was just coming down from the resulting adrenaline rush. "Are you okay?" Ahead of him, Rhydian could see Jefferies wrapping Liam's arm over his neck so he could help him back to camp.

"My ankle hurts." Maddy replied as she quickly checked herself over. "I think I twisted it on the way out. It should heal by the time we get back to the camp."

"If it isn't, we'll have Shannon take a look." Rhydian rested his head gently on top of hers. "Come on." Rhydian leaned forward and helped Maddy climb on his back.

"You can't be serious." Rhydian heard Jana mutter as he passed her while carrying Maddy.

"What?" Rhydian tried not to snap at her. He was getting frustrated at this subtle messaging that he was somehow supposed to use to work out the problem.

"Rhydian, if I were injured, would you do that for me?" Jana asked. Rhydian didn't miss Maddy's grip tightening slightly on his shoulders.

"I tried once, remember?" Rhydian rolled his eyes. "You were too heavy. You fell down the ditch and came out with your clothes stained black as the ace of spades." Maddy burst out laughing at the mental image, almost falling off Rhydian's back. Rhydian put his hand round to support her, accidentally grabbing her backside. He went to move it only for Maddy to stop him.

"Leave it there. I don't mind." Maddy whispered. Jana turned almost as red as her hair.

"Jana, I don't know what your problem is, but it stops now." Rhydian growled as he started walking, noticing that Liam and Jefferies were quite a way ahead by now. "I really don't know what's going on with you. If you were worried about Maddy and Liam and you're trying to cover it up, then don't bother. I was terrified and I'm not afraid to admit it. She just saved him from a really horrific death. Do you think you could do us all a favour and just calm it down for one day?"

"Rhydian, why did you never mention Maddy when we were out in the wild?" Jana asked. Rhydian was on his last nerve now.

"Her parents had just thrown me from their pack!" Rhydian snapped. "I thought I'd never see her again, so I tried to let go. In the end, I just ended up having to come back because someone wanted to see the human world. I don't regret what we did though. Getting chased back to Stoneybridge let Maddy and I get back together and I've mended fences with Emma and Dan. You should really open a matchmaking service." With that, Rhydian walked off, not giving Jana a chance to reply. Maddy buried her head into his shoulder as she breathed in his familiar scent. She loved how it was able to slow her heart rate when she was stressed.

"I'm still glad I came back." Rhydian said as they neared Liam and Jefferies.

"Not half as glad as I am." Maddy replied with a grin on her face.

"Why were you even near the mine shaft anyway?" they heard Jefferies ask.

"I was gold hunting, sir." Liam replied drily as he tucked the pocket journal into his back pocket. Oblivious to Liam's sarcastic reply, Jefferies started to rant about how stupid Liam had been.

"Liam, you can't just go and mine for gold in an unstable structure!" Jefferies rolled his eyes. "Most mines start with good infrastructure and a well thought out management plan. That wreck has neither. Besides, even if you could find gold in there you'd have to extract it, process it, purify it and pay the mining tax."

"Surely you pay the tax with the money made from the gold you find?" Liam was trying to put the pieces together in his head, grateful that Jefferies wasn't asking questions.

"You'd have to find a lot of gold to do that and you'd never find any in there." Jefferies told him.

"But if we did, sir..."

"You'd still never find enough." Jefferies laughed. "Besides, you'd still have to extract it and so on. You can't do that by hand." Liam was about to reply when the pathway opened out into a clearing. Everyone was looking over at him, making him feel uncomfortable. They'd instantly singled him out as the one who'd caused a problem and he could tell a lot of them intended to let him know it.

Rhydian and Maddy pushed past where Jefferies and Liam were standing and walked towards the tent that Maddy, Shannon and Jana were sharing. The others were all starting to pack their tents away, but Shannon had been too worried to make a start.

"How's your ankle?" Rhydian asked Maddy.

"It's getting there but slower than just a regular twist." Maddy replied.

"Shannon, can you give us a hand please?" Rhydian asked as he helped Maddy off his back, his skin instantly turning cold in protest to the loss of Maddy's body heat.

"What is it?" Shannon looked ready to vomit from worry. Maddy instantly felt guilty for scaring her.

"Maddy's hurt her ankle and we don't know if it's just twisted or if she's sprained it." Rhydian explained.

"Okay, help me get her inside." Shannon held the tent flap open and helped lower Maddy onto the pile of sleeping bags.

"What can I do?" Rhydian asked.

"You can go and start dismantling the boys' tent so that no one thinks there's anything going on." Shannon replied.

"Would you kick me out of her funeral as quick?" Rhydian quipped drily. Shannon reached up and smacked him full-force across the face.

"Don't you dare make jokes like that after today, Rhydian Morris!" Shannon snapped. "Get out before I really lose my patience!" Once Rhydian had pulled his head out from the tent, Shannon turned to Maddy only to see her eyes glowing yellow. "What are you doing? Someone could walk in at any moment!" Shannon whispered frantically.

"Did you just slap the boy who just saved my life?" Maddy growled before bursting out laughing and powering down. "I'm only joking, Shan. I can tell you were scared." Shannon reached forward and hugged Maddy.

"You have no idea how terrified I was!" Shannon held on for grim death for a few seconds before pulling back. Outside, they could hear Rhydian swearing as a tent pole sprang out of place and smacked him across the same cheek Shannon just had.

"Why do I get the feeling he didn't put the tent up?" Maddy laughed.

"Which ankle is it?" Shannon decided to crack on with it before someone walked in.

"It's my right." Maddy pulled up her trouser leg and tried to get her shoe off. With Shannon's help, she managed it. Her ankle had clearly swollen. Her sock wouldn't come off. It felt like a snake wrapping around Maddy's ankle and constricting her foot.

"I'm going to have to get Miss Parrish." Shannon sighed in frustration.

"This is bullcrap!" Maddy snapped. Liam was the one doing stupid stuff! Why did I have to get hurt?"

"Just because he fell didn't mean you had to find a way to follow him." Shannon said in a tone that reminded Maddy of her mother.

"You sound like my parents." Maddy deadpanned.

"At least I don't smell like them." Shannon fired back. Maddy cringed as she remembered that day. "I'll be back in a second." Shannon smirked as she ducked out of the tent. A few moments later, she reappeared with Miss Parrish.

"I hear you've been a bit silly." Miss Parrish said in a tone that sounded like she was talking to someone in first school. It made Maddy feel stupid. Miss Parrish gently held Maddy's ankle and took a look as best she could. "Okay, well it's definitely not broken and I think it's only lightly sprained. I'll get the gel pack and you can hold it there for an hour."

"Thanks miss." Maddy nodded. Miss Parrish ducked back out and reappeared a few seconds later with what looked like a Kevlar sleeve.

"Okay, just hold that over the swelling and it should go down shortly. Are you two going to be okay in here?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine." Maddy replied.

"Thanks for the help, miss." Shannon went to sit by Maddy as Miss Parrish left the tent.

"Shan, can you do us a favour and go get Rhydian please?" Maddy asked.

"What am I getting him for?" Shannon cast Maddy a suspicious look.

"I just want to say thank you to him for pulling me out of the hole." Maddy replied. Shannon deepened her suspicious look and then got up and left. A few seconds later, Rhydian ducked back into the tent. The welt where Shannon had smacked him was clearly visible.

"So, what's the news?" Rhydian looked at Maddy's foot with the gel pack resting over her ankle.

"It's just badly twisted." Maddy replied, leaning into him and cuddling up. "I just wanted to get the chance to properly say thank you. If you hadn't been there to pull me out..."

"I'm sure Jana would have." Rhydian gently reached over and stroked her hair.

"I don't know so much." Maddy looked uncertain.

"Well then I know Jefferies would have a legal obligation to." Rhydian pulled her closer and rested his head on top of hers.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Maddy shrugged. Without warning, she craned her neck upwards to plant a kiss on the side of his cheek. He turned at the wrong moment and her lips made impact with his. Instantly, her heart went into overdrive.

'What the hell just happened?' she thought to herself. 'Will I have just scared him off? Will he think that's too much too fast? I know I like him, but does he like me back? He's always tried his best to stay distant, but...' Maddy's thoughts were cut off by Rhydian's lips on hers again. It took everything she had to pull away for fear of being discovered. You can't do anything privately in a tent. But they were packing up to go home because of the incident with Liam, and that worked fine for her.

"We should probably keep this private until we're ready." Rhydian said.

"I agree." Maddy nodded. "We'll pack up the tent and then head home. Who knows? If I can get my parents out of the house, you might even manage to strike gold."

End!

Author's Note: This is a random oneshot that I came up with out of the blue. I just wondered what excuses Liam would have used to get his actions past Jefferies without him asking too many questions. I also wondered what Maddian moments could have potentially come between Maddy being dragged out of the ground by Rhydian and them getting back to camp. This is my answer to those questions. I hope you enjoyed reading this.