She awoke with a start, covered in sweat and panting forcefully. Sully was at her side instantly, reassuringly rubbing her back and telling her that she was safe. The relief of knowing that it had been a dream, was so great that she burst into tears.

Sully lifted her in his arms as if she was a baby and sat down with her in his lap. 'Tell me what happened,' he requested gently. Still sobbing occasionally she told him. She told him about how she thought the person who knocked was Dorothy, about falling backwards, about the knife and his rough hands.

When she was done, she looked at his face and was surprised to see tears running down his cheeks. She tenderly wiped them away and he did the same with her own tears.

'Michaela, I'm going after him,' he told her after he'd composed himself. When she opened her mouth to protest, he suddenly lifted her and laid her back on the bed. Then he began to speak again and this time she didn't interrupt him.

'That man took something from you, something that meant a lot to you, I know it did. And I promised myself long ago that I'd protect you, that I wouldn't let anything like that happen to you. It did happen and I wasn't able to prevent it, for which I'll blame myself the rest of my life. There is one thing that I can do: make that monster pay for what he did to the person I love more than anything. If you don't want me to go, I won't.' He paused to take a deep breath. 'Will you let me go?'

After his heartfelt admission, all she could do was nod. She didn't want him to leave her, but she knew how much this meant to him. He bent down to kiss her forehead and cheek and to cradle her head in his hand.

They both allowed their unshed tears to come and they cried together for a few minutes. She held on to his back, not willing to let him go. When his hand slid across her shoulder, she couldn't help but wince as pain shot through her.

He pulled back from their embrace. 'I'm sorry, did I hurt you?' 'It's just a little sore,' she answered dismissively. His hand reached out in order to pull the fabric of her nightgown down her shoulder to see the damage. 'No!' She clung to her gown and her eyes grew wide with fear. 'Shh,' he gently soothed her, 'you don't have to show me.'

He covered her with the blanket and stroked her hair. 'Try to get some sleep, okay?' 'You'll leave right now, won't you?' She already knew the answer before he nodded.

'Can you tell me what he looks like?' She bit her lip, not wanting to remember the horrible moments, but not able to think about anything else. Her voice trembled when she answered: 'He was tall and heavy, with dark hair and eyes. About forty years old.' Sully gave her a small nod, stroked her hair and face once more and then rose from the bed. 'I'll get Dorothy to sit with you.' With that, he exited her room and left.

When she woke up in the morning, she could see the first sunbeams shining in her room and was surprised that she had been able to sleep this much after the dramatic events of the past evening. She then saw that the chair next to her bed was empty, and hearing the voices outside of the room explained why.

'You can't come in here right now,' Dorothy explained in a gentle voice. 'Why not?' Brian asked innocently. Before Dorothy could respond to the little boy's question, she spoke up: 'Come in, children. I'm awake!'

Immediately, Matthew, Colleen and Brian walked in. She held out her hands, ignoring the pain in her shoulder, feeling the need to touch them and make sure that they were alright.

'Ma…' Brian's voice sounded so frightened that it brought tears in her eyes. Not wanting him to see them, she pulled him in her arms. 'I'm okay, Brian. Everything is going to be okay.'

'What happened?' Matthew asked, a frown of concern between his brows, while Colleen's eyes confirmed that she had the same question. She knew that she should tell Matthew and Colleen, but she didn't want Brian to know the details of what she had allowed that monster to do.

Carefully phrasing her answer, she told them: 'A man knocked on the door last night and when I opened it, he hit me and… hurt me. But Sully found me and he's gone after him.'

She could see Matthew's eyes widen when realization dawned upon him and the way Colleen grasped her hand told her that she understood as well. 'Come along now, children. Your ma needs rest.' Michaela was glad for the interruption, because she couldn't prevent her tears from rolling down her cheeks any longer.

Sully was on his way back to town. After about three hours of searching, he'd found the man. He obviously didn't have any knowledge about the woods, because he'd chosen a place to sleep where people could see him from all sides. He was also snoring loudly, so people could hear him from all sides as well.

Before he'd found him, Sully hadn't yet decided whether he should kill him or lock him up, but upon seeing him, the decision was easily made. He saw the hands that had touched his heartsong and the body that had been on top of her and knew that he had to kill him.

The man awoke that moment and reached for his gun, but with one well-aimed throw with his tomahawk against the man's hand he prevented him from succeeding. The fight that had followed, was easily won by Sully and the strikes in which he'd let out his anger, had been that monster's cause of death. He'd buried him, knowing that even this creature didn't deserve to be eaten by wild animals and raptors.

After managing to stop crying and drink a few sips of the tea that Grace had brought her as a part of her breakfast, she couldn't stop worrying about Sully. Would he kill the man if he would find him? She didn't know if she wanted him to. It would be the safest; he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone again, but…

The sound of familiar footsteps in the hallway broke her train of thoughts. She lifted her head from the pillow and relief flowed through her when she saw his face. In a few steps, he was at her side and took her hand in one of his. 'I killed him,' he almost whispered and his voice told her that they were both having the same battle. She held out her arm, wanting to feel him closer and he did as she wordlessly asked. His cheek pressed against hers, their hands still entwined, it almost seemed that everything was alright, but they both knew it wasn't and never would be.

School has started again, so I think I will continue updating once a week.

Thanks again for your reviews, I appreciate them!