Disclaimer- I do not own these characters. They belong to Beth Sullivan and CBS.
This story occurs right after "The Prisoner" in the 1st season.
The sun hung high in the sky over Colorado Springs doing little to warm the cold breeze that seemed to dance through town. It was nearing the end of January and the earth had once again prepared to bed down for a nice winter's rest. The townsfolk of Colorado Springs, however, had not such intentions of slowing down as the coldness settled around them, and so they continued to busy around, involved with their everyday lives and the ordinary chores that made such stability possible.
The wooden door of Michaela Quinn's medical clinic swung open, and the sound of female laughter flooded into the street. Stepping through the door, Michaela smiled as she bounced a little baby on her hip.
"Thanks again Dr. Mike. It sure is good to know that little Henry is growin' all normal."
"Everything is just fine, Emily. He's gaining the proper amount of weight and is perceptive to different sights and sounds. He's doing such a good job pulling up that I imagine he will be walking soon." Emily laughed the way any mother does when she feels like her child is getting too big too fast.
"Oh, well I hope we still have a bit more time. I don't know if I'm ready to go chasen' after this one every time I turn around." The mother reached out and stroked the side of her son's cheek before reaching out and taking him from Michaela.
"I imagine you will still have a bit more time. And you," she said turning her attention to the little baby, "be good for your mother, no more bumping your head on the floor." Michaela ran her hand over the child's smooth head. Looking up at her with big brown eyes, baby Henry cooed as if to agree. Both of the women laughed.
"Thanks again Dr. Mike." Smiling, Michaela nodded to her patient and watched as they stepped off the porch onto the street. She took a deep breath. It was turning out to be a beautiful day, actually, a good day to get some chores done. Somehow, chores didn't seem to be as much of a burden when the sun was shining and the birds were chirping. Today happened to be one of those days, and lucky for her, Emily and Henry had been her last patient.
"Good Evening Dr. Mike." Michaela turned her head to see and elderly woman walking up the street.
"Good Evening Mrs. Dillon. How is your shoulder today?"
"Much better thank you." Smiling to herself, Michaela stepped back up on the boardwalk. She had been in Colorado Springs nearly six months now, but somehow she couldn't imagine herself anywhere else. It felt as if she had always lived in this little town, in her little house with her family. True, in beginning she had had such a difficult time. She had been alone, lonely really, with no one to confide in, to give her strength except herself. There had been days that she had wondered if she were crazy, if she had just been kidding herself to think that she could find acceptance anywhere. However, somewhere along the way these feelings were replaced with the feeling of being loved and acknowledged. Waving to Myra from across the street, she turned to see Sully walking toward her. Sully. He was one of the people that had been behind her from the beginning. Of course, she hadn't known that at the time. Sully was an eccentric individual and it had taken her a long time to understand him and his ways, and she was still learning, but they had come so far in the past six months. She now stood near the door of her clinic, watching as his wide stride shortened the distance between them.
"Dr. Mike." He acknowledged her with a small nod of his head.
"Sully, what brings you here this afternoon?" Her voice was cheerful and had a light airy quality to it. He took note of the way her eyes seemed to shine in the bright sunlight.
"I thought I'd come by an' see what you needed fixin."
"Oh yes, please come in. It's my exam table. I believe that one of the legs is loose. Horace came in the other day and sat down. I was afraid that it was going to fall apart right there!" Sully's laugh came in the form of a light sigh as the very edges of his lips curled. He knelt next to the table to determine what the problem is. His crystal eyes roamed over the smooth wood, calculating angles and support. He ran his large hands lightly over the leg of the table, gracefully lifting the table and trying to wiggle the leg. She was right; it was very loose.
Michaela stood back and watched her friend examine her table. She silently observed his face and the look in his eyes as he took in all the information to determine what was wrong with the structure in front of him and how to fix it. Eventually she broke the silence.
"Were you out at the reservation today?" Sully glanced at her and merely nodded gravely. "How is everyone? I had hoped to get out there last week, but I'm afraid that I didn't get a chance to." Taking a deep breath, Sully stood up.
"Apparently, few cattle went missin' from Terry Olrich's ranch the other night."
"Well, they couldn't possibly think that the Cheyenne had anything to do with that." However, the look on Sully's face told her she was wrong.
"They sure do. 'Specially since the Dog Soldiers have been around lately." This was news to Michaela. Somehow, she knew that if this was the case, there seemed to be a good chance that the missing cattle could be blamed on the Indians. That wasn't good at all.
"Did they take the cows?" She asked, straightening some of the loose papers on her desk.
"I don't know, but I do know that the meat stock seemed to last almost twice as long as normal." He looked up at Michaela and their eyes meet in silent communication. Michaela could see the pain in Sully's eyes, and she too understood that this would only make things harder on their friends. On the other hand, she also understood that on many nights the dietary needs of most of the members of the tribe were simply not met. She had treated many of the children herself for malnourishment, and had seen scurvy as a common problem among the some of the older men.
"I'm sorry to hear that. What can we do?" Her inquiry made Sully's heart swell. That was Dr. Mike; always wanting to do everything she could to help people out. He could see the concern etched in her face, but there just wasn't anything to be done. He shook his head.
"There ain't nothin' 'cept to wait and hope nothin' too big comes of it." Michaela frowned, but before she could say anything, the door swung open.
"Hey ma," Brain exclaimed out of breath as he entered through doorway. "Hey Sully."
"Hey, Brian. How was your day?" Sully backed away from Michaela's desk and made to lean against the wobbly exam table.
"It was pretty good. Me and Colin went down to the creek and skipped rocks. I found this really big one and it skipped four whole times before it sank!" Michaela look up from her papers and smiled at her son's eagerness. Sully too smiled at his excitement.
"That's good, Brian."
"Yea, but we had to come back 'cause Ma said we're goin' home early today." Sully looked at Michaela.
"My last appointment was at 3 o'clock. I was hoping to get home and do a few chores before I had to start dinner." She explained.
"Hey, Ma, you know what'd be good with supper? Some of Miss Grace's cherry pie."
"Didn't we get a pie from her last week?" She asked, laying a book over into her basket to carry home with her.
"Yea, but it was so good!"
"Well what happens if I was going to attempt to make a pie for dinner?"
"Then we were gonna need a back up anyway. Hey Ma, Sully." Colleen answered coming through the doorway. Michaela blushed at her daughter's teasing, but laughed nonetheless.
"I suppose your right." She eventually conceded, taking her coin purse out of her desk and handing Brian two bits. Turning her attention to Colleen, she smiled. "How is Becky?"
"She's good. We found a new pattern for a dress at Mr. Bray's. We're hoping to have our dresses finished before the Valentines Dance."
"Oh, I bet it'll be beautiful. Do you have any idea what kind of material you would like?"
"We were going to wait until the new shipment arrives and decide then." Colleen smiled at her mother.
"Well, I'm sure that it's going to be a stunning dress once you two are done. Would you take these out and put them in the wagon for me?" She handed her basket over to her daughter before standing up and making her way to Sully who had gone back to look at the table.
"So is it anything difficult to fix," she asked, peering her head over his shoulder. It was no use. No matter how she tried, she had no idea what she was looking at.
"Not at all. You just got a few screws loose, and the support beam is cracked. It could use to be replaced. It won't take me long. I'll try to get it done sometime this week?" He looked up at her for confirmation.
"Of course, thank you for all of your trouble."
"It's no trouble at all. Glad ya mentioned it. Don't look like it would hold too much longer." She smiled at her friend. There had once been a time when she had balked at asking for help on something like this. She had always struggled with the feeling that she had to put up a strong, confident front, as if she knew how to do everything she needed. This, she had learned, was the key to not having people second guess your abilities. Never give them the chance to know that you're not sure of yourself. However, over the past few months she had learned that she could ask Sully for help, and he wouldn't think any less of her. What was it he had told her? "There's no shame in askin' people to help ya," yes, that was it.
"Well I'll best be on my way." He was making his way to the door before Michaela had gathered all of her things.
"Oh, Sully." He turned from his place at the door. "I meant to ask you to come to dinner tonight. You were gone for quite awhile on your last hunting trip and I know Brian would like the chance to catch up." She thought about it for a moment before adding, "We all would." He smiled at her as he crossed the room and took the books out of her arms.
"I'd like that."
The sun was just beginning to set in the western sky as Michaela finished sweeping around the front porch. She had left the door open so she could keep a close eye on dinner, and Brian had been instructed by Colleen to make sure 'nothin' smells funny'. Dinner would be done soon, but Michaela wanted to put the finishing touches on the work that she had done today. Humming softly to herself, she seemed slightly pleased with all she had accomplished.
"Lorena?" The low tenor seeped through the darkening sky and seemed to come from right behind her. Startled, Michaela jumped and quickly turned in the direction of the voice.
"Sully…" She started, pressing a hand to her chest as she willed her heart to calm. Sully, having realized that he scared her, immediately shot an arm out to steady her.
"I'm sorry, didn't mean to frighten' ya."
"Oh, no your fine, I just wasn't expecting you. Dinner's almost ready. I was just finishing up some sweeping."
"And some singin'." He added noting the way she blushed. "Don't be embarrassed it sounded good."
"You recognized the tune?"
"Lorena? Yea, it's was a favorite among the minin' camp when I first moved out here." Michaela smiled. It was a rare occasion when Sully mentioned something about his past. She had learned not to say anything about these individual revelations, for fear that he would stop. The truth was she enjoyed hearing about his past, the things that seemed just hidden under the surface but somehow united to make him who he was. Michaela made note of even the smallest of things and tucked them away in her memory.
"Would you like to come in Sully? I'm finished out here, and I'm sure Brian is done with his arithmetic by now. Following her into the homestead, Sully was greeted with the wide toothed grin of his young friend.
"Hey Sully."
"Hey Brian." They started a conversation about Brian and Colin's adventures at the creek this afternoon. Michaela wandered over to the stove and said a silent prayer before lifting the lid on the pot. Smiling to herself, she stirred the stew, rather pleased that nothing had burned. Remembering that the stew was only half of the meal she then proceeded to remove the cornbread that was rising in the oven. Sully, who had been watching her movement from across the table, rose from his seat.
"How'd it turn out?" He nodded to the iron skillet she had in her hand. When she turned to him, she seemed to be beaming. The grin on her face was from ear to ear as she tilted the skillet toward him. Although the edge of the bread was tinged with a black crust, the center seemed to hold an almost perfect golden color. It almost looked edible. Sully closed the distance between them. "Looks good. I think you're gettin' the hang of it." He returned her smile, happy to see how excited she was over something as little as a successful batch of cornbread.
Michaela's stomach fluttered the way it always did when Sully gave her a compliment. For some reason Sully's opinion always mattered to her. Of course, her world didn't revolve around his opinion of her, and it certainly wouldn't end if they didn't see eye to eye, but nothing beat the feeling she got when he looked at her with those beautiful eyes and told her that she had done good. Suddenly, the side door opened and in came Colleen carrying a pitcher of fresh milk. She was followed by Matthew.
"Well, I think everyone is here now, Brian would you set the table please?" Michaela sat a stack of plates and utensils on the counter.
"Hey Sully, how was the huntin' trip?" Matthew asked taking his seat next to Brian.
"It went good, Matthew. Gotta buck. He's a pretty good size. " Colleen set a glass of milk in front of her and Brian before pouring tea for Sully, Matthew and her mother. Michaela sat the stew out and cut the cornbread.
"Oh, Ma that looks good. It only got burnt around the crust." Colleen said as she pulled a piece out of the skillet. Sully looked up, sharing a smile with Michaela from across the table before turning his attention to Brian who was speaking to him now.
"Does that mean you're gonna show me how to me how to make an arrowhead with the antlers?"
"Sure will, if ya like."
"Dr. Mike," Matthew took the time to turn his attention to his mother. "I found a nice piece of land today. I have enough money saved up and I was hopin' to buy it for me and Ingrid. I was
wonderin' if you'd like to see it 'fore I get it." Michaela smiled. Matthew's engagement had been a source of contention between her and her son, but now things were better. She had learned to let go, and Matthew in return had learned that patience was needed if he was going to be able to provide for his future wife.
"I'd love to see it Matthew."
"Where's it set?" Sully asked taking a bit of cornbread.
"It's up around Cutler's pass. It's a little far from town, but it's nice and quiet, and I'll be able to get more land for my cattle when I get the money." The conversation continued from there. Between Matthew's land, Sully's hunting trip, and Colleen's dress, there was a variety of topics discussed around the dinner table. Brian, turning to his ma, smiled.
"I'm ready for pie." He announced, and a quick glance around the table, told Michaela that most everyone else was also. Getting up from her seat, she retrieved the pie from the warmer over the stove. When she turned back to her family, she stopped, suddenly overcome with a powerful feeling of belonging. The four most important people in her life were sitting in one room, laughing and sharing stories about their day and plans for tomorrow. Love and acceptance surrounded that little table in a cloth of protection, and there, standing empty in front of her was a chair. It was waiting for her.
"Ma?" Brian's inquisitive voice jarred her out of her thoughts. Smiling she sat the pie down on the table.
"Who would like to serve?"
The telegraph officer was getting ready to shut his doors for the night when a tall gentleman stepped through the front door.
"I'm sorry sir, I'm closing."
"That's alright I'll be quick. I just need to book a ticket on tomorrow's stage heading to Colorado Springs." Sighing, the ticket master walked back behind the counter.
"Just one?" He asked scribbling something down on a sheet of paper. The tall man nodded. "Here you go, Stage leaves at 8; should be in Colorado Springs by 2 tomorrow afternoon." Taking the slip of paper from the stranger's hand, the tall man nodded and placed a dollar on the counter.
"Thank you." He turned and left the building, letting the door shut firmly behind him.
Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think!