Part 1 of 2
A/N *Henderson-as far as I know-is simply a made up town.
Yes, I'm still working on Laurels only this two part story was talking loud enough to get me to take a break and write it down.
~oOo~
A/N *Henderson-as far as I know-is simply a made up town.
"Hurry it up!" Tom Lang, a brown haired, brown eyed forty year old farmer yelled above the wind as it blew fiercely across the wide ravine. The rain was coming down hard and the citizens of *Henderson were desperately pulling people out of a wide creek bed often used by travelers when the weather was good. However, the strangers had been caught off guard by the sudden storm which seemed to come out of nowhere, causing a flash flood. Some of them were simply drenched; others had broken arms or legs due to falling rocks or limbs. The farmer turned to his right and gasped in disbelief as Mrs. Dodge, the wife of Dr. Cornelius Dodge, waded through water waist deep yet again and struggled to get another victim of the storm out of the creek bed. There were enough men helping the travelers, why did she have to get it into her head to take such risks. He hurried to and ran to help her with the white haired, unconscious woman she'd just rescued.
"Are you crazy?!" He yelled above the wind as the two of them managed to get the stranger into a nearby wagon, one that already held two of her sons in it.
"Of course, I am!" Mrs. Dodge threw a smile his way as one of their neighbors yelled back asking what the fuss was all about as 'she's already helped pull most of the people to safety; what the fuss now'? "Now get these good folks back to the boarding house where the other victims have been taken!" She yelled as she ran back for a small child who was sitting on a rock unable to move for two reasons; he was frightened out of his mind, and his leg was broken. The only thing Mr. Lang could do was to follow Mrs. Doge's instructions, and continue to help in the efforts to transport each and every stranger to the huge boarding house that stood in the center of Henderson.
~oOo~
Victoria moaned and opened her eyes. It took a moment for her to remember that she, Jarrod, Nick, Heath and their families had been traveling with a dozen or so of their friends to ^Granite City to celebrate the town's twenty fifth Founder's Day when a storm hit them by surprise. The last thing she remembered was a small tree branch flying towards her. It made her glad Audra had listened to Carl and stayed home; he hadn't wanted her to travel being so close to the delivery date of their first child.
Victoria looked around and quickly realized she was lying on the floor in a huge room. There were many others lying on the floor or sitting against the wall. Slowly she sat up and looked around. She was more than relieved to see Heath and Jarrod among those sitting among those against the wall; their wives were sitting next to them and their children-a total of four between them, were next to Jarrod and Heath. However, she grew concerned when she saw Nick sitting against the wall cradling his unconscious wife in his arms and no sight of his four year old son, Theodore.
"It's good to see you awake." Tom Lang, who had been giving the town's unexpected guests drinks, stopped in front of the Barkleys and looked at Victoria, introducing himself as he did so. He then looked at Nick. "Mrs. Dodge has sent word to her husband; he'll be here as soon as possible."
"Where is he?" Nick did his best to control the level of his voice, as he knew how busy a doctor could get, but he failed as the question came out a bit sharper than he meant to. Though, he did apologize, explaining he was simply scared to death for the life of his wife. She meant the world to him, and he didn't want to lose her.
The gentleman in front of him gave him a sympathetic smile, compassionate smile and sighed. "Helping burying the last of his patients that Typhoid plague took. If this storm had happened a week ago, not only would you all have been fighting for your life in that storm, but you might have caught the sickness and had to fight it too. As it is, I know it's hard," he said as he looked at Nick's wife and then at the rest of the family, "but please be patience. The doctor and his wife have run themselves ragged trying to save who they could from the sickness, and," He shook his head, "Mrs. Dodge risked her life to get many of this group," he gestured around the room, "including your wife, this woman here," he pointed to Victoria, "and and that child," he pointed to Nick's two year old son who sat near his Uncle Heath, "out of the creek bed."
"That woman is my mother." Nick answered a bit quieter.
"I'd like to meet Mrs. Dodge and thank her." Victoria said. "When do you…" she stopped mid-sentence and her eyes widened as Mrs. Dodge stepped out of side room carrying Nick's four year old son in her arms.
"What is…" Nick and his brothers started to ask Victoria until they looked in the direction their mother was looking.
It was all Victoria and her sons could do to keep their jaws off the floor when they saw who was in the room and watched Mr. Lang hurry over to her and say, "Will you please take a break? Doc's going to have a fit if he knows I allowed his wife to continue to run herself into the ground."
"I'll be fine and I can handle my husband." Mrs. Dodge walked over and set the child down by Nick. Then, hiding how nervous she felt inside hidden, she smiled and looked at all the Barkleys. "Hello, it's been a long time."
^A/N Yes, I borrowed the name "Granite City" from the two part episode "Explosion". However, I'm definitely playing around with locality as it's not supposed to be anywhere close to Stockton in this AU.