Chapter One

A/N In spite of what it sounds like, the circus is NOT in Stockton...yet.

"How could you!" Marcus Hansen, a middle aged and graying gentleman, stood inside the large circus tent looking at his youngest son, a red headed twenty-five year son. "I told you not to pull the rope as it were or this would happen!"

"I wasn't trying to pull anything!" Adam snapped back. "I was only stating the truth!"

The two men might have continued arguing only Marcus' wife of fifty years, a feisty woman born in Poland who had moved to America as a teenager, marched into the tent. The look in her eyes told them that their argument was loud enough for people on the outside to hear them.

"Stop it! You two are not helping anything or anyone!" Zuzanna then rattled a few sentences off in her native Polish, a habit that drove her son up a wall. "Excuse me," she looked at her husband and son. "We know you meant well, but out of all our family you should have known what to do or not to do in this case. People will start showing up in the next hour. They will be expecting a whole show, not just part. So, since-as your father says-you pulled the rope; you can go talk to Zelda and Peter. If not them, you can try Natasha and Ramone. Somebody needs to be up there." She paused and then, in an even firmer tone, told him it was up to him to find 'their stray'. "That one has a gift when up there," Zuzanna pointed up towards the tight ropes, "but one has to want to be up there, not forced. You need to go on a search after the show, apologize and explain. Hopefully, things will work out from there."

"And if it doesn't? I am just to sit by and let such talent go to waste?" Adam asked in disbelief.

"Son," Zuzanna shook her head. "I was holding the rope gently, not pulling it tight and trying to use force to get my way and for my own purposes. I was beginning to some hope. You saw it too, but you got impatient and pushed too hard. Now, you need to do as I have said."

Adam wanted to argue with mother, but he couldn't. He knew she was right. He had moved too fast. "I have no idea where to look." He looked at his parents, his eyes filled with a sincere apology.

Marcus turned up his hands. "We need to get ready for the show. Go talk to the other performers and then, later, do as your mother has said. All we can do is hope for the best." He then turned and walked away, leaving his wife and son to talk.

~oOo~

Dark, black clouds could be seen off the north side of the Stockton. Rumblings sounding through the sky could be heard every now and then. The citizens of the city were sure a storm would be rolling into town any time now and were keeping an eye out for the first rain drop, and that first drop fell just as Nicolas rode into town. He wasn't happy about having to travel to town under these conditions, and normally he wouldn't. Only problem was, Chad Tyler-Fred's temporary deputy, had shown up at the ranch and shocked everyone.

"Doc Merar needs Nick to go into Stockton. He said yesterday would have been better" had been the man's exact words. When Jarrod asked what was going on, the deputy had thrown even more shock waves towards the Barkleys when he said he didn't know, but that Dr. Merar didn't want to see anyone but Nick in his office.

The statement had aroused Nick's curiosity enough to make it so he hurried out of his house, saddled Coco and rode into town. By the time he reached Dr. Merar's office and stepped inside, the rain clouds might as well been pouring their moisture out of buckets.

Nick hurried to shut the door, and then took off his coat, along with his hat. He could see no one in the front of the doctor's office, but he could hear Dr. Merar's voice coming from the back room. His curiosity only rose when heard the good doctor say, "Well, you need someone who can push back just as hard as you do! And, as far as I can tell, the only one in Stockton that has ever been able to get you to listen to anything is Nick Barkley-even if the two of you in the same place is, for the most part, not a good idea! So, yes, whether or not you like it, I sent for him!"

Nick waited to hear whoever the doctor was talking to answer only to see the door open and one, very frustrated, doctor step out of the room. Upon laying his eyes on Nick, Dr. Merar threw up his hands and exclaimed loudly, "FINALLY!"-and then hurried up to the front of the office. "Maybe you can go back and talk some sense into my patient! She won't be able to leave that room-or at least a hotel room-for a few days. After that, she'll not be fit for traveling until that cast comes off!"

She? Cast? Nick frowned slightly. Who on earth was the doctor talking about, and what had happened? "Maybe, you best start from the beginning before I go back there." Nick looked past Dr. Merar and looked at the now closed door.

The good doctor might have done just that, only Fred stuck his head into the office just as the gentleman opened his mouth. "Sorry, doc, but we need your services at the general mercantile. Old man Pulson got it into his head he could still climb a ladder; his son thinks the gentleman's broken his hip!"

"Just go back there and talk to her!" Dr. Merar snapped as he hurried back into the room he'd just left and then reappeared with his bag. He was still shaking his head as he disappeared out the front door.

Nick hesitated only for a second and then made his way to the back room, the whole time wondering who on earth had found themselves a patient of Dr. Merar's…and why they wanted to leave Stockton before they were fit to do so.