Chapter 2

The darkness began to recede. There was someone nearby. There was a hand on his forehead and he jerked away.

"Calm down, Tim. It's all right."

"Kate?"

"Who else were you expecting?" She sounded amused.

"What happened?"

"You lost an argument with a rock."

"A rock?" Tim repeated.

"Yes. You should know better than to try and fight with a rock, Tim. Your head may be hard but it's softer than a hunk of rock."

"Where am I?" Tim asked, trying to open his eyes.

"Shenandoah, of course. Where else would you be?"

Shenandoah. There was something in his mind about that, but he couldn't remember what it was, and his head was pounding so unpleasantly.

"I don't know," Tim said.

The hand on his head again.

"Just relax, Tim. Things will be better the next time you wake up."

"Will they?"

"Yes. I promise."

"Okay."

Tim drifted off again.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

He woke up again, and felt more lucid. He opened his eyes and sat up. His head spun more than a little, but it wasn't too bad. He looked around. It was a rather bland room. Nothing to indicate just what was going on here.

...but why did he think something was going on at all? The last couple of days had vanished as if they'd never happened.

"Feeling better, Tim?"

Tim looked toward the door. There she was. Kate.

...but why was it that he was surprised?

"You said something about a rock?" Tim asked.

Kate smiled. "Yeah. It was pretty unexpected. I wouldn't have thought you'd be here at all, let alone right now."

"Huh? I don't follow."

"Come on. If you feel up to it, we can get you on your feet."

Tim nodded and let Kate pull him upright. His head spun again, but with Kate supporting him, he wasn't going to fall over.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"Okay." Honesty made him go further. "But I'm confused."

"No surprise there. How's your balance?"

Tim barely heard the question. He kept looking at Kate, wondering why he felt like he shouldn't be seeing her at all, let alone be leaning on her. She looked like herself. She was the same beautiful, slightly-intimidating person he'd known. She felt solid and warm. Right now, she was smiling at him and her expression had just a bit of concern for how he was feeling.

"Tim?" she asked. "Maybe your head isn't as hard as I thought it was."

"What?"

"I asked how your balance was."

"Oh...uh, will you think I'm a wuss if I say I'd like to keep leaning on you?"

Kate laughed.

"Nope. Come on. The fresh air will do you good."

Kate helped him out of the room. He was momentarily surprised when they stepped out onto a wooden porch. That wasn't what he'd expected to see...until he started to wonder why that was. There were a few other people in the street, but he couldn't seem to focus on them. Kate waved and then helped Tim down the steps. He took a step and stumbled. Kate was there to catch him.

"One step at a time, Tim. Things are better that way."

"Sure, okay. Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"Okay. That's fine. I trust you."

Kate smiled. "Thanks, Tim. That's always nice to hear."

"My pleasure," Tim said gallantly. "Of course, it would be dangerous to do anything else when I think I'd fall over on my own."

Kate laughed. "You haven't changed, Tim. I'm glad."

"Changed? From when?"

Kate just smiled again and led him on. Tim looked around as they walked through the town. It seemed somehow both old and new...and timeless at the same time. There was a vaguely nineteenth-century look about the buildings and the overall layout of the town, but the people he saw walking around were dressed in modern clothing...and yet permeating it all was a kind of timeless quality in the air. Something that kept it from belonging to any particular era. And it all fit together.

"Shenandoah?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Where are we going now?"

"To talk to Jude."

"Who is Jude?" Tim asked, and then, in a fit of whimsy, he added, "Does he take a sad song and make it better?"

"Something like that," Kate said.

"Is he in charge, then?"

"More or less. Things are pretty fluid around here."

They headed to a building right in the center of town. Tim looked around. Trees everywhere and above it all, a feeling of peace, calm...but beyond that, Tim could feel a small sense of unease. He couldn't identify the source and Kate seemed completely unconcerned.

They walked up the stairs to the wooden wraparound porch and Kate opened the door without knocking.

"Jude," she called out. "I brought Tim."

The man who came into view had the same timeless quality that the entire town did. He was young, but the look in his eye was as old as time itself. ...maybe slightly younger.

"Tim, welcome to Shenandoah. Have a seat and we'll take a look at your head."

Kate lowered Tim to a chair and Jude walked over. He didn't probe at Tim's wound as Tim had thought he would. Instead, he looked intently in Tim's eyes until there was a flash of darkness and pain and noise. Chaos and voices. Then, with a jolt, he was back on the chair, Kate holding tightly to his hand. Jude said nothing Neither did Kate. Jude ran light fingers down the sides of Tim's head and he felt instantly calm.

"Not so hopeless as you thought, Kate," Jude said, finally. "In fact, it may not be hopeless at all, not for him. ...with a little help." He winked.

"I don't understand," Tim said.

"Of course you don't," Jude said. "You stumbled in here rather suddenly...and you aren't supposed to be here. Of course, ideally, no one should be here, but people are people and we understand frailties."

"What?"

"Do you remember that I'm dead, Tim?" Kate asked.

"Uh...but...you..." And then, without fanfare, it all came back to him. It had been seven years since Kate had died.

"'Tis seven years since last I saw you
And heard your rolling river..."

A voice, but it faded and the significance of Kate's question hit him. He looked at her and then at Jude with growing alarm.

"Does that mean that I'm dead? Did I get shot or...or...?"

"No, you got hit on the head," Jude said. "It was a hard hit, definitely, and no one has found you yet, and like some other people I know, you have an overinflated sense of responsibility. Basically, conditions had to be just right for you to end up here...and you did. Getting you back? That might take some doing. For now, just relax. I'm sure you two won't mind catching up."

"Not at all," Kate said. "Tim?"

Tim pushed himself upright, but wobbled. Jude steadied him until Kate supported him once more.

"Thanks," Tim said.

They headed out of the house and Tim looked around. The town looked different. The buildings weren't in the same places as they had been. The number of buildings had changed. The trees surrounding the town were the same, however.

"It's different," he said.

"It always is. You get used to it...although I hope you don't, Tim."

"My head is pounding. I want to talk, but..."

Kate smiled.

"That's all right. There's plenty of time, Tim. I'll help you back to bed. By morning, you'll feel much better."

"Okay."

They walked back to the house, and Tim noticed that it was the same, even if the other buildings were different.

Then, all he could think about was lying down and sleeping away this pounding headache. Kate said something to him, but he wasn't thinking clearly enough to respond to whatever it was. Instead, he lay down, closed his eyes and slept.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Kate smiled and then sighed softly as Tim fell asleep. It was a surprise to see him here. Part of her was glad to have the connection to her life, but at the same time, he wasn't supposed to be here. He was still alive. Watching him breathe was nice.

She sat beside him as the night passed.

After a while, Tim suddenly started to move around. The walls of the house faded to transparency. Kate looked around and saw the darkness. Moving bodies, lots of noise. She looked back at Tim. She could almost see a little boy kneeling by him...on the ground.

Tim's eyes opened slightly. He looked toward the transparent shape of the boy and reached out.

"It's...okay..." he whispered.

Then, his eyes closed again and the darkness vanished. The walls reappeared and the little boy disappeared.

Kate brushed her hand lightly over Tim's hair. He stirred but didn't awaken.

For not the first time, Kate wished that she could go back. It just wasn't fair. None of it was fair. She hadn't wanted to die. What was worse, there had been no reason for her death. She hadn't died while protecting anyone. She had died while standing and laughing at a joke. No fair.

She just couldn't accept that kind of pointless death.

That left her here, staring at someone who could go back, who had a life still. Part of her wished that she could take Tim's place and go back to her own life, but she would never be able to do that, even if the option were given to her. She couldn't inflict that on someone she cared about.

Kate sighed again and walked out of the house, into the ever-changing town of Shenandoah. She walked through the town until she reached a cliff that was completely out of place. It was always there when she wanted it to be, though. She sat down, her legs dangling over the edge so that she was looking down at the Shenandoah Valley...while being in the Shenandoah Valley.

"Sleeping, is he? I wondered why it was night."

Kate looked back over her shoulder.

"Yeah. He almost went back, but he didn't quite make it."

"Maybe he's here for a reason," Jude said as he settled down beside her.

"What reason would that be?"

"I don't know. I've never claimed to be omniscient, Kate. That's not my job. If I was able to tell you everything, that would be cheating God's plan."

Kate smiled. "I know." She looked around. "I hate this place."

"You can leave any time you like. Many have and many more will. Even you...eventually."

"Too stubborn."

"You call it whatever you want, Kate."

Kate looked at Jude.

"I can't decide if you're here just for me or if you're here because of some inside joke."

Jude put his hand on her back.

"I am here just for you. If you were the only person here, I would be here. But I'm not only here for you. I'm here for everyone who needs me...but when I'm needed, I'm here just for that person."

"Typical saintly double-talk."

Jude just chuckled and looked out over the valley.

"You realize, I hope, that you're creating a paradox here. You can't be in something and looking at it from above at the same time."

"This changes," Kate said. "The location of the town doesn't. I like the view."

They sat in silence for a period.

"It's not fair," Kate said.

"It's not supposed to be. You're supposed to learn, not get everything you want."

"I sound like a child, don't I."

"You are a child," Jude said. "As am I. I'm just a little bit older than you."

Kate smiled.

The sun began to brighten the sky.

"Tim is waking up. He'll need someone with him."

"I'm not ready for morning."

"That's all right...as you know."

"I know."

Kate got up. Jude did as well.

"You should bring him here, maybe take the time to talk about why you're here," Jude said.

"Tim has his own problems."

"...which will sort themselves out eventually. He has the time...and so do you. He's concerned about you, too, you know."

Kate could see that Jude was planning something. He usually was, though. She didn't want Tim wake up alone, and so she let Jude urge her away from her cliff-side retreat.

As Jude had said, there was always time.