Daniel Mangan awoke to the sights and sounds of a sterile hospital room. It seemed that only a moment had passed since he had dozed off in the middle of a sentence, his hand being gently covered over with a larger one; a rough, calloused and freckled hand. But, the morning light streaming in through the window indicated that more than a mere moment had, indeed, passed. And Daniel was now alone.

Yet, he did not feel alone.

He had been told the truth about his relation to Bill Regan. He had been loved through the hurt and gently brought through the shock to the other side. To the place where security waited for him. He was not afraid. He knew who he really was now and how much he was cherished.

But, he still had many questions.

His thoughts were interrupted by a motherly, middle-aged nurse who quietly slipped into the room and smiled brightly at the teenage boy in the bed. "Good Morning, Mr. Regan," she said warmly. "Are you feeling up to some breakfast?"

Daniel smiled at the mistake in the name, but he did not feel the need to correct her. Regan was his mother's last name. His uncle's name. He really didn't mind being called this, because in his heart he knew he was both a Regan and a Mangan. "Yes, thank you. Breakfast sounds like a great idea." He wanted to be polite to those who had been taking such good care of him. As he pulled himself up in the bed, he was immediately surprised at how dizzy he felt.

"Take it nice and easy, " the older woman said as she quickly set the tray on a bedside table and stepped closely enough to steady the boy if needed. "You lost an awful lot of blood, and you will be weak for some time, now."

"I guess I thought the blood transfusion would take care of everything," Daniel's voice was soft and a bit shaky.

"Certainly." The nurse responded comfortingly. She did not want the boy to lose heart. He had seemed so relaxed when she first entered the room. She gave a dismissive wave of her hand and busied herself with pulling the bedside table tray over Daniel's legs, all the while opening his apple juice for him. "The transfusion was a complete success and you will be up and running around in – " She stopped short, remembering why he was there, and she stumbled over her words while giving a quick glance down at the boy's leg. "I- I – mean – not – running – but – "

Daniel chuckled softly at the kind woman's discomfort. He was sure she must know how close he had come to losing the lower portion of his left leg. Knowing that he was no longer in danger of this tragic possibility, as well as knowing he had a lot of support from family and friends to help him one day recover the use of his leg, Daniel was feeling more comfortable about his current situation. "It's okay. Really," he said to the nurse. "The whole leg thing doesn't bother me too much."

"You are a very brave young man." She replied smiling. She moved closer and tilted her head quizzically. "If you don't mind my asking, dear, how did you – um – you know – get caught in that awful trap, anyway?"

Daniel swallowed the scrambled eggs he was chewing and tried to smile. "I help patrol a game preserve every day after school. I'm usually very careful about watching for poacher's traps, but this time, I was chasing after my horse. He got spooked by a snake in the path and tried to run off; and, well, I guess I was watching him instead of where I was stepping."

Daniel was suddenly too nervous to tell her any more about the incident. She did not need to know about him lying in the forest for three hours and praying for his life as the steel trap around his lower leg caused him to slowly bleed out. He did not want the fear he had felt to resurface and make this nice lady change her opinion of him. She had called him brave. If she had seen him there, thrashing around on the ground and begging God to spare him, she might not have thought him to be so strong. Daniel began to remember how embarrassed he was when Mart and Bobby Belden had discovered him there. His tear stained face was caked with mud and he was clawing the ground desperately like a madman.

The helpful nurse sensed the change in his demeanor and gently patted his shoulder as she checked the I.V. drip by his bed. "I'm sure it was quite a terrifying experience. I could understand if you never wanted to go out in the woods ever again."

"I couldn't!" A male voice responded from the doorway. It was Capelton Belden. From the way he was dressed, it would be obvious to anyone that Cap was an outdoors man. His shoulder-length brown hair had a leather band braided into a strand of it, and his leather jacket sported fringe on the sleeves. He stepped into the room with a broad smile and winked at the dark haired youth in the bed.

"Cap!" Daniel was surprised and happy to see him. "I thought you guys weren't going to be able to get on a flight until tomorrow." He felt relieved that the "Idaho Beldens" had made their way to Sleepyside.

"You know, that whole buddy pass thing is a real pain, but when you tell them it's kind of a medical emergency, they do what they can to get you in the air." Cap started to pull something out of his jacket pocket, but stopped when he glanced up at the nurse.

The older woman, seemingly pleased with Daniel's progress in relation to both his health and his appetite, expertly recognized the need for her departure. She began moving away from the bedside and towards the door.

"Looks like you are still working on that tray, so you just go ahead and take your time, Daniel." She said warmly. "I'll be back with some more pain medicine a little later on."

"Thank you so much, Ms. – uh"

"Just call me Gladys, dear. I'll be here all day, and you can push that call button any time you need me." Her kindness made Daniel's heart momentarily ache and he wished he had his own mother by his side. Gladys stepped out with a nod to Cap and a smile to Daniel as he thanked her again.

Cap sat down in the chair beside the bed and pulled out the item he had brought for Daniel. "I had a really hard time sneaking this one by my sister," he laughed and placed a package of beef jerky on the breakfast tray in front of Daniel. "She would find something wrong with it, I'm sure. But, hey, I know for a fact that the meat Tank and I used to cure in his cold room had tons more salt than this stuff."

Daniel's heart flipped at the thought of Cap's sister flashing her blackberry colored eyes angrily toward her brother. She'd take on anyone for Daniel, and it made him smile to consider how much she could love him. He had an urgent need to have her near, but he wasn't about to start more trouble between the two siblings by asking for her now.

"Is this where the bionic man lives?" A voice called from the door. Martin Belden stepped into the room with a smile bravely painted on his face. Daniel could see worry in the blue eyes, and noticed that the blond hesitated before moving closer. "You know, Daniel, with all the pins in rods in your leg, you might consider avoiding metal detectors for a while." The joke was classic Mart, but the language did not contain the customary elevated vocabulary or the confident sarcasm by which he was known.

Thinking about the last time he saw Mart, Daniel knew exactly why he wasn't acting like himself, now. His own mouth went dry as he wondered what Mart must have been feeling when he and his younger brother had found him, bloody and wild with pain. It must have been horrifying to have to send the obviously shocked Bobby for help, to have to find a way to pry open the trap, to use his own shirt to wrap what was left of Daniel's mutilated leg, and to have to carry him out of the woods toward help. He was Daniel's hero, but today he looked scared. And then, another thought occurred to Daniel: Is this scene all too familiar for him? A different time; a different friend lying in a hospital bed. Daniel wanted to do anything he could to make Mart feel better.

"Oh, I'm sure all this titanium wouldn't get me stopped at the airport," he said while tapping his leg jokingly. "But that beef jerky might!" He pointed to Cap's contraband on the tray and Mart relaxed enough to join in the teasing.

"Uh oh! Is that some of your own doing, Cap?" Mart came forward and clapped his cousin's shoulder with one hand while reaching around and shaking Cap's hand warmly with the other. "The last batch you sent me gave me so much heartburn…..yeah, you might set off some alarms with that package; I'd be careful."

As all three of them considered this, their laughter eased away tensions and fears. Cap, who did not always appear to be as brilliant as his cousin Mart, was still smart enough to pick up on the rapidly shifting moods in the room and somehow knew that Mart needed to be alone with Daniel.

"Well, it's store-bought jerky, " he said rising to his feet, "but it's still pretty good. Hide it from Hallie so she won't holler at me and say I'm trying to mess up your blood pressure with sodium and red meat. She's such a hippie with all her vegetable talk!"

"Thanks, Cap… I.."

"Later" Cap was out of the room before Dan could finish his sentiment. He wasn't much for emotional chit chat. Daniel was grateful.

"So, you feeling pretty strong, now?" Mart had taken over Cap's previous position, and seemed a bit more relaxed.

"I'm getting there." Daniel reassured him. "So much has happened in such a short amount of time that I…I guess I'm a bit off balance…you know… in more than just the physical way… do..do you know what I mean?" He didn't mean to sound so uncertain. But it all made Mart feel even more at ease.

"Sure, Daniel. I think maybe we'd all be a bit more worried about you if you didn't feel confused right now. But, if there's anything I can do, just let me know."

"You saved my life. I couldn't dare ask for anything more than that." Daniel gave him an appreciative look. Yet, he couldn't stop himself from wanting some information he knew Mart could give him. He wondered if it was asking too much under the circumstances. He wondered what Regan would say if he knew what Daniel was about to do.

"Mart, there is something I want to ask you, actually." Daniel said tentatively.

"Shoot."

"Um…I know you were close to him and..I … I mean" Maybe this is not the time or place to bring up the past. Daniel's thoughts caused him to falter. He took a deep breath.

"Mart, I'm kind of glad Uncle Cap left us because… I mean…could you… will you please tell me about my father?