Chapter 3: All Roads Lead to Nowhere

Settling in for the night after a long but good day of hunting, Uncas laid down on the bed he'd just finished making for himself. Taking advantage of the soft floor of the forest, he had loosened the top layer of soil and spread a thick layer of leaves on top of it, then laid his blanket on top of that, creating a bed that was so soft it was like lying on one made of feathers. With his brother, Nathaniel, lying beside him and his father, Chingachgook, taking his customary first turn at keeping the night watch, Uncas closed his eyes and immediately relaxed with a slight smile on his face as a feeling of contentment filled him.

Wanting to get even more comfortable as he began to doze off, he shifted positions and started to turn onto his right side, but the movement caused a sharp searing pain to shoot through his entire body and made him cry out. Coming fully awake as a result of that pain, he realized he'd been dreaming after his eyes shot open and he saw with disappointment that he was still in the hospital room and not in the forest as he had thought. With the incessant beeping sound stirring a hazy recollection of the two previous times he'd woken up in this same room, Uncas rolled onto his back again and immediately squinted his eyes shut while groaning through clenched teeth as the pain intensified from the additional movement.

"Uncas?"

Waking from a nightmare in which she was reliving the events on the cliff, Alice sat bolt upright in her bed and called out Uncas' name after hearing him cry out as the blade of Magua's knife plunged deep into his side. Disoriented by the instant transition from wilderness to hospital room, she stared at the wall across from her bed as recognition came back to her and she remembered where she was. Hearing a second groan, she spun to her right and saw Uncas lying in the bed next to hers, moving around with his face contorted in a grimace of pain. Unable to get up the usual way due to the side rails being raised, she slid down to the bottom of the bed and scooted over the footboard. Limping over to him as fast as the brace on her lower right leg would allow, she took his hand in hers and rubbed his forehead and hair with her other hand.

"Uncas? Uncas, can you hear me? Oh god, something's wrong….something's wrong! Uncas?" she frantically cried as she worked herself into a panic.

Hearing her voice, a voice that was like music to his ears, Uncas opened his eyes once more and looked up at the woman he thought he would never see again. Breathing in short, rapid breathes as the pain gradually subsided, a pleasantly surprised expression came over his face.

"Alice?" he asked in a voice that was hoarse and weak.

"Uncas! Are you alright? Is something wrong, do…do you need the doctor? Something is wrong, isn't it! I'm going to get him. I'm going to get the doc….."

"No, no…I…I'm alright." he stammered in amazement as he grabbed her arm to keep her from leaving while a smile lit up his face. "I'm fine….really, I….I just moved…and it hurt, I…..Alice, how did you get here?"

"I don't know. I remember being up on the cliff, watching you fight Magua. I saw what he did to you….and I saw him push you off the edge." Alice told him as tears began to run down her cheeks. Pausing for a moment after her voice began to break, she began to caress his cheek.

"I thought you were dead…..so I jumped."

"Wha..? Y...you jumped?" he asked, stunned by her revelation and noticing her bruises and the wrist brace for the first time.

"Alice, why?"

"Because I couldn't bear the thought of a life without you."

"This isn't what I thought the great council fire of my ancestors would look like. Are we dead?" he asked.

"No. We are still very much alive." she replied with smile as she continued to run her fingers over his hair.

"Then if we're not dead….where are we?" Uncas asked as he took a closer look at his surroundings.

"It's a hospital of some sort, at least that's what they told me. Only I've never seen any place like this before."

"How did we get here?" he asked, wincing as he shifted his position slightly.

"I don't know." she replied while trying to help him get comfortable. "I remember falling…and everything going black when I landed beside to you. The next thing I remember is waking up in another room just like this one. There were people there, two men and a woman. They told me you were alive and they took me to see you. They let me stay with you for a while until the two men said I had to go back to my own room. I didn't want to leave you, Uncas, and I refused to go but they insisted. That's when the woman took the men aside and talked to them. I couldn't hear what was being said, but when they came back they said I could stay here with you."

"I remember waking up a couple of times and each time I saw an older man with light brown hair that was turning grey. Was he one of the two men that you saw?"

"Yes, that's Dr. Harris. He's the one taking care of you. The other man, Dr. Spencer, is looking after me. The woman is called Dr. Van Houten, but I don't know if she's your doctor or mine. Whoever she is, she seems to have some influence over both of our doctors because they seem to do what she tells them to. What do you remember?" she asked.

"Just like you, I remember the fight…and falling…and everything going dark. Then I remember hearing voices and when I opened my eyes, the one you called Dr. Harris was standing beside me asking me how I was doing. There was another man there, and a woman, but they were a lot younger than he was and where doing whatever he told them to."

"I don't know who they were. There are a lot of people here. I've seen them out in the hallway." said Alice. "Dr. Van Houten and Dr. Spencer look to be about the same age as Dr. Harris."

"What's blowing in my nose?"

"The doctor said it's something to help you breathe. Does it help?"

"Yeah, it does. When I woke up before, I had all these strange vines attached to me and….." Stopping in mid sentence as he raised his left hand to touch the nasal cannula, Uncas' eyes grew wide when he saw the IV in his hand.

"They're still on me!" he said, becoming even more afraid when he saw the electrodes on his chest were still there as well.

"It's alright, Uncas. This is how they are giving you medicine." Alice explained, indicating the IV. "I had one in my hand too when I first woke up. It's gone now. They must have removed it when I was asleep."

"Are these for medicine too?" he asked, indicating the electrodes. "And what's that noise? I wish it would stop."

"Don't say that!" cried Alice. "Don't ever say that! If the noise stops it'll mean you're dead!"

"What are you talking about?"

"These patches on your chest are somehow sending the sound of your heartbeat over to that box, which then makes that noise you hear. And that bouncing green line on the top? That's what your heartbeat looks like. Dr. Harris said this is a way for him to make sure you're alright." said Alice.

"It's doing what? No…no, I gotta get these things off of me…I'm not gonna let them do this to…."

"Uncas, stop!" cried Alice as she grabbed his hand to prevent him from removing the electrodes. "You have to leave these on you. We don't know how this…this thing works. If you take them off, you might die! You almost did already. I saw how badly you were bleeding before you fell….Dr. Harris said the blood loss you suffered should have killed you. I'll admit I've never seen doctors do anything like this before, but if this is what it takes to make you well again, then I want you to let them do everything they can for you…no matter how strange it may be." she said, tenderly brushing his cheek with her hand as he relaxed his own and rested it on the bed.

"And you believe them? You really believe they're trying to help us?"

"Yes, I do. I love you, Uncas! Don't you see? I love you and I want you to get well again. I don't want to lose you. I nearly did already, I don't want that to happen again." she confessed as tears began to spill down her face and dripped onto his left shoulder.

"You're not going to lose me, Alice, and I do see. I love you too. I fell in love with you when I saw how pretty you looked standing by the falls in the river that first day on the trail to the fort. Now stop crying…..you're getting me wet!" he said with a little grin as he looked down at the small puddle of tears that was beginning to accumulate on his shoulder.

Crying and laughing at the same time, Alice wiped the wetness off his shoulder with her hand, then looked into his dark eyes which were warm with the love he had just spoken of. Turning her attention to the bed railing, she ran her hands over the outside of the bottom railing until she located the mechanism to lower it. Pressing on it as she had seen one of the medical staff do the previous night, she lowered the railing and pressed one of the buttons on the upper side rail, which raised the head of the bed. Startled, Uncas furrowed his brow as he watched the bed raise him to a semi-reclined sitting position.

"The bed's moving….what's making it do that?"

"It happens when you press these buttons. This one raises the bed and this one lowers it. And these buttons here do the same to the bottom of the bed. Dr. Spencer showed me how to do this last night so that I could make myself comfortable. I played with it a bit while they were getting me settled in. I must admit, it was rather fun!" Alice said with a tiny giggle as she climbed onto the bed and snuggled up next to Uncas. Laying her head on his left shoulder, she rested her hand on his chest, being careful not to touch his wounds or the electrodes.

Unable to move his right arm above his elbow due to the shoulder wound, Uncas could not hug her like he wanted to, so he put his good arm around Alice and pulled her closer to him. Once her face was near his, he captured her lips with his own and the two shared a long awaited and much needed kiss. Backing away ever so slightly, she rubbed her nose against his before sharing another longer and deeper kiss with him.

"Ahem!"

Startled, they immediately stopped kissing and stared at the man who was standing just inside the room with his arms folded across his chest.

"Well, I came in here to see how my patient was doing this morning and I guess I got my answer!" said a grinning Dr. Harris. "It also explains why the heart monitor was speeding up a bit!" he added as he walked over to the bed.

With a smile and a nod, Norman bid good morning to Alice, who cautiously returned the greeting while giving him an uncertain look, afraid that he was going to banish her from the room because of what he caught them doing. Noticing her apprehension and also the protective way that Uncas drew her to him with an unmistakably hostile look in his eyes, he knew he needed to proceed carefully so as not to provoke his patient.

"You were pretty out of it yesterday, so I'm not sure if you remember me. I'm Dr. Norman Harris."

"I remember you." was Uncas' blunt response.

"I'm glad to see you're awake. How do you feel?"

"I feel fine." Uncas replied, not trusting the man enough to tell him he felt tired, weak and was in a fair amount of pain. Until he knew more about where they were and as to whether these people were friend or foe, he was not about to tell anyone any more than he had to, lest he reveal his weaknesses to them. If it came to a fight, Alice's life and his own would depend on his being able to get the upper hand on them.

"How bad is the pain?" asked Norman.

"I'm not in any pain."

"Look…Uncas. I've got a pretty good idea of how you must be feeling right now, but I need to hear it from you. I know that you were viciously attacked and the last thing you remember is fighting with that person, but I'm not your enemy, ok? I'm a doctor and I'm trying to help you, but you need to work with me in order for me to be able to do that. If I'd wanted to hurt you…or kill you, I could have done so at any time while you were unconscious, but I didn't…did I?"

"No." Uncas replied with some hesitance while casting a dubious look at the IV and the electrodes.

"And we didn't hurt Alice either, did we? She's right here and she's fine. In fact we even broke a whole bunch of rules, just so she could stay in this room with you instead of staying in her own like she was supposed to. Now that has to tell you something, doesn't it?"

"Maybe."

Lowering both railings on the other side of the bed, Norman sat down beside Uncas and rubbed his eyes, then studied his patient for a moment.

"Look…I know all of this must seem pretty strange to you, maybe even scary to some degree. But I need for you to trust me. You were very badly wounded and for a while there, I didn't know if I'd be able to save your life. But you fought hard to survive and I didn't give up on you, so between the two of us we pulled it off. I want you to have a full recovery, but in order for that to happen, you have to be honest with me about how you feel so that I know what you need in order for you to get back on your feet again. Ok?" said Norman.

"O...k? What does that mean?" Uncas asked as he tried to understand the strange word.

"It's another way of saying 'alright'." explained Norman, who noted the quizzical looks that passed between the young couple when they heard the slang term used. "So…will you work with me and tell me the truth about how you're feeling?"

"Please, Uncas. I think we should trust him. I can't explain why, but I do." Alice whispered.

Seeing the scared and worried look on her face and knowing it was because of him and not because of this place they were in, Uncas took a deep breath and let it out with a groan as his broken ribs rebelled because of the movement. Seeing genuine concern on Norman's face when he saw he was in pain, he decided to lower his guard a bit and answer the doctor's questions truthfully since the man obviously knew what condition he was in anyway and seemed sincere in wanting to help him. And he didn't want Alice to worry or be afraid for him anymore.

"Alright….I'll be honest with you."

"Good! Now, let's try again. How are you feeling?" asked Norman, who was happy to have established the beginnings of trust between him and Uncas.

"Tired...and weak."

"You lost a lot of blood, so it's no wonder you feel that way. It's going to take a while for you to get your strength back while those wounds heal. And that sedative we gave you yesterday is probably contributing to your feeling tired, but that should wear off as the day goes on." said Norman.

"Seda-tive? What's that?"

"It's a medicine that puts people to sleep. When you first woke up, you were very confused and you became combative….you started fighting us." Norman explained in response to Uncas' puzzled look at the word 'combative'. "I was afraid you were going to reopen your wounds and start bleeding again, so I had no choice but to calm you down by putting you to sleep."

Recalling the hazy memory of waking up that first time, Uncas remembered the young woman sticking something into his arm while the rest of the people in the room held him down.

"That girl….the one with hair like a horse's tail….is that what she stuck into me? A...seda-tive?"

"Girl with hair like a horse's tail? Oh, you mean Holly! Yes, that was a sedative she gave you. And I think she'd prefer you call her hairstyle a ponytail instead of hair like a horse's tail. Women can be sensitive about their looks!" Norman replied with a wink at Alice. "Now, back to how you're feeling. How much pain are you in?"

"A bit."

"Ok, well, that's kinda vague. Let's try this. On a scale of one to ten, with one being 'I hardly feel anything' to ten being 'oh my god, I can't stand it anymore', what number between one and ten describes how bad your pain is?"

"About six, maybe seven." replied Uncas.

"Hmm, that is a bit, isn't it? I had a feeling you'd be hurting, so I brought some medication with me just in case. This will make the pain go away." said Norman, who noticed Uncas knew how to count.

"I can handle the pain." replied Uncas, who suspiciously eyed the syringe the doctor removed from the pocket of his white lab coat.

"I'm sure you can….but you shouldn't have to. Relieving your pain will make it easier for you to focus on getting well again instead of how uncomfortable you feel." said Norman as he took hold of Uncas' right arm, which was resting on his abdomen.

"You're not gonna put me to sleep!" Uncas shouted as he pulled his arm away, causing him to wince from the sudden movement.

"This isn't a sedative, Uncas. You might feel a little relaxed after I give it to you, but it's not going to put you to sleep."

Glaring at Norman with a look that clearly said he'd better not be lying, Uncas reluctantly let the doctor take his arm and watched without so much as a flinch as he was given the injection. Seeing Uncas relax from the immediate effects of the pain medication, Norman decided to explore his remembering how to count a bit further, thinking that it might lead to discovering his patient's true identity and enable them to locate his family.

"So, Uncas…where did you go to school?" he casually asked.

"I went to Reverend Wheelock's school with my brother, Nathaniel." Uncas replied as he took hold of Alice's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze to reassure her he was ok after receiving the injection.

"Ah, Reverend Wheelock's school! I hear it's a good place! I forget where it's located, though."

"It's in a settlement called Lebanon in Connecticut colony. Why do you want to know where it is?" asked Uncas, whose suspicions were constantly being renewed as fast as he could set them aside.

"Oh, my brother is looking for a good school to send his kids to and I told him I'd ask around." Norman replied, again trying to sound casual.

"Kids?" asked Uncas.

"It means children. Kids is another name for that."

"Like ok is another name for alright."

"Exactly! Well now, I think I hear the breakfast cart coming down the hallway. Do you feel up to eating something, Uncas?"

"Maybe a little something."

"Good! I'll have Holly come in to help you get set up. Just eat what you can, you don't need to finish everything. The last thing I want is for you to upset your stomach and get sick, so take your time and go easy, ok?"

"Ok." replied Uncas, who decided to use the slang word the doctor seemed to prefer using.

"And you, young lady, need to get back into your own bed. Dr. Spencer will have my hide if he finds out I let you lay here with your boyfriend all this time. Even though you only suffered minor injuries, you still had a nasty fall and you should be resting."

"Please, can't I sit next to Uncas and eat? That way I'll be close by if he needs help, since he can only use one hand. I'm not tired and I feel fine. And I promise I'll lie down afterward. Please, Dr. Harris?" Alice pleaded.

"Why do I get the feeling that if I say no, you'll only pop right out of bed and sit with him anyway? Alright Alice, you can eat your breakfast next to him. But I want you to lie down as soon as you're finished….in your own bed! Let me move that chair and bed table over here for you. You know, I hope you both realize that if I keep breaking the rules for you two, I'm going to have people lining up outside to shoot me!" Norman replied with a grin as he set her up to eat beside Uncas' bed.

"Now, enjoy your breakfast you two. I'll come back in a little while to see how you're both doing.

"How's our two patients doing?"

Pouring himself a cup of coffee, Norman joined Cora and Richard at one of the tables in the ICU staff break room. Taking a sip, he raised his eyebrows and shook his head before answering Richard's question.

Well, both of them are awake. Alice looks good and Uncas is alert and doing incredibly well considering the shape he was in yesterday. He's still extremely weak and it's going to take a while before he's fully recovered, but from what I could see, he's definitely on his way."

"That's great!" said Richard. "I really had my doubts that he was going to pull through. I've never been so glad to be wrong in my life."

"When you walked into the room, did you happen to hear anything they might have been saying?" asked Cora.

"Umm, heh…they weren't talking when I walked in." Norman replied somewhat sheepishly.

"What were they doing?" she asked.

"They, uh…they were kissing. Alice was lying in bed with him and as weak as he is, Uncas had her in quite a lip lock."

"They were in bed together? I knew it was a bad idea to put the two of them in the same room!" exclaimed Richard.

"I disagree." replied Norman. "From what I saw just now, I think we need to keep them together."

"What did you see, Norman?" Cora asked, hoping to gain some insight that would help her in treating her patients.

"I saw a lot! When they first realized I was standing there, Uncas immediately became very protective of Alice and clearly would have fought me if I had tried to separate them. And she was clinging to him for that protection. He doesn't trust us or the medical treatment he's receiving and I don't think Alice does either, although she seems willing to if it means it will help him to recover. Here's a good example. When I first started asking him how he felt, he was unwilling to tell me anything and despite everything I said to reassure him, it was only because Alice suggested they trust us that he began to open up to me and be honest about how he was feeling. We need to go easy with Uncas because he'll shut down on us fast if we push him the wrong way and he won't hesitate to get hostile. He didn't want me to give him an injection of pain medication and even in his weakened condition, he still had quite a bit of strength when he yanked his arm away from me. He's a fighter, almost like he's a….a..."

"A warrior?" suggested Cora.

"Yeah….a warrior." said Norman, who paused to take another sip of coffee. "I'll tell you one thing I know for certain. Those two aren't casual acquaintances. They know each other and they care a great deal for one another."

"Do you think they're lovers?" Cora asked.

"Yeah, I think they are."

"Well, to a point anyway." Richard interjected. "During my initial examination of Alice when she first arrived here, I checked her for any evidence of sexual assault, given that she was the victim of a violent crime. Not only did I find nothing to indicate she'd had any sexual contact of any kind, I also discovered that she's still a virgin. So they're not lovers to the degree that they've been intimate yet."

"Well from what I saw, I got a feeling it won't be long before they are. In any case, they definitely are not casual acquaintances. There's a strong bond between them and if we separate them, not only will we have our hands full, I think it will do them more harm than good. They're each a calming and reassuring presence to each other. And here's another thing. They don't appear to recognize anything about the environment they are in. Not the medical equipment, not medications…not even slang terms. I had to explain to Uncas what the words ok and kids meant. He genuinely did not know the meaning of them."

"Jeez. How can both of them be blocking out their memory so completely in addition to assuming the identities of these two related historical figures?" asked an astounded Richard.

"That's what I plan to find out." said Cora.

"I have to ask you something, Norman." said Richard. "Several times now you've mentioned Uncas either fighting you or wanting to fight you. From what you've observed of his behavior both yesterday and today, do you think he's dangerous? For the safety of my patient, the staff and ourselves, we need to know."

"No, I don't believe he's dangerous at all. I think he's a very frightened young man who has no idea where he is or what's going on. He doesn't recognize anything that's around him or that is being done to him. If I were in his place, I'd be scared to death! And you don't need to worry about Alice's safety, either. He would never hurt her. In fact, I have no doubt he'd be willing to die in order to protect her." Norman replied as Richard nodded his satisfaction with the answer.

"I think that's probably what happened up on the Promontory." said Cora. "The attacker went after her and he tried to save her."

"Judging from Uncas' wounds, it must have been one hell of a fight." Norman added. "I can only imagine what condition the attacker must be in. I'm surprised they didn't bring him here for treatment."

"Well, Detectives D'Angelo and Porter will be here later today to get statements from Alice and Uncas." said Cora. "We can ask them for more details about the man they arrested then. I'm going to sit in when they do talk to our mystery couple so that I can observe their behavior and reactions to the questions, and hear firsthand what their answers are. Hopefully they'll inadvertently reveal something that will help us identify them. We really need to find their families. Uncas and Alice need them right now."

"I might have a clue that can help us with that." replied Norman. "Uncas was a bit vague when I asked him how much pain he was in, so I had him tell me on a scale of one to ten how bad it was. Now this is a guy who thinks he's an 18th century Mohican warrior, yet he told me with no hesitation that his pain was between six and seven. Since an Indian from the year 1757 wouldn't know how to count, I casually asked him where he went to school and he told me he and his brother attended a school run by a Reverend Wheelock in Lebanon, Connecticut."

"Norman, that's great! It's our first solid lead!" replied Richard, who was happy they may have found a way to identify the young couple.

"Yeah! I plan to give this information to the detectives when they get here. They'll be able to locate that school and find out when he was a student there. Maybe this Reverend Wheelock, or a teacher, or somebody in the administration office will be able to identify him. Somebody's bound to remember him or maybe they'll find a yearbook photo…what's the matter, Cora?" Norman asked when he saw her lean back in her chair while shaking her head.

"Forget it, Norman. You don't need to bother the detectives about Reverend Wheelock's school because they're not going to find it."

"Why not?"

"Because Reverend Wheelock died in 1779 and the real Uncas, along with his brother Nathaniel, attended the reverend's school while they were children."

"You're kidding me?" Norman said in dismay as he saw his clue go out the window.

"Unbelievable!" groaned Richard.

"You know, now that I think about it, all may not be lost. If I remember right, Reverend Wheelock was the founder of a major college in Connecticut. Our Uncas could be a student there and, in associating himself with the real Uncas, he could be referring to the college by its original name instead of the one it's known by now. Let's go ahead and tell the detectives about this. Uncas looks to be in his early twenties, I'd guess somewhere between twenty and twenty two, and Alice looks to be about eighteen, maybe nineteen at best. If we can get them to tell us how old they are, the detectives can see if either of them are students there…or in Uncas' case, a possible alumni if I'm right about his age." suggested Cora.

"And I'm going to take that bandage and the clothing the both of them were wearing to that antique dealer to see if any of it is antique or just extremely well made reproductions. I should be back long before the detectives get here." said Norman, who then sighed.

"One way or another, we're going to find out who these two really are so we can get them home where they belong."

"Mmm, this food is quite good!"

Sitting beside Uncas as they ate their breakfast together, Alice was thoroughly enjoying her meal.

"What did they give you?" asked Uncas.

"Well, according to this menu that's on my tray, I have something called pancakes and syrup….that must be these flat round cakes….and I have bacon, a blueberry muffin and these are peaches. Oh Uncas, they're so good! Then I have hot tea and cranberry juice. How is your food?"

"Some of it looks strange, but so far everything tastes good." said Uncas.

"So far?"

"I've tried everything except these moving red blocks of…..whatever it is." he replied with a questionable look on his face as he poked it with his spoon. "I don't want to eat anything that won't hold still."

"What do you suppose it is?" she asked as she peered up at the plastic bowl on his tray.

"I dunno. I've never seen anything like it before. And this other bowl is full of some kind of soft, brown….something. It looks disgusting. I'm not going to eat that either."

"Well, what does your menu say? If we eliminate the food you recognize, maybe we can figure out what they are." she suggested as he picked up the slip from his tray. Holding out her hand for the menu, she was surprised when he didn't give it to her.

"I can read it." he told her with a little smile. "I went to school, remember?"

"Oh, that's right! I forgot." she replied as she proudly watched him glance at the menu.

"Let's see, it says I got beef broth…that was good….and oatmeal…that was good too. Then there's the hot tea and the apple juice…which was alright, but I think I like pressed cider better. That leaves something called strawberry gel-atin and choc-o-late pudding."

"That doesn't sound bad, why don't you try them?" Alice suggested as he gave her the same look he might have given his mother when he was a little boy and didn't want to eat something. Giggling, she stood up and looked at the two questionable items.

"Here, let me taste them." she offered. "I had a hot drink called cocoa once, which was made from chocolate and I really liked it, although I must confess I've never seen the likes of this before." Dipping her spoon into the pudding as Uncas cringed, she took a small taste and immediately broke into a huge smile as her eyes lit up.

"Oh Uncas, it's absolutely delicious! You must try it!"

"I'll take your word for it."

"Oh please, just try a little taste. You know I wouldn't ask you to if it tasted bad. Just a little bit." she coaxed as she held a small spoonful up to his lips. Glaring at the offensive looking substance on the spoon, he reluctantly opened his mouth and tasted it.

"Your right, it is good!" he said as a smile lit up his face as well. "Chocolate pudding….I like it! But what about this….strawberry gel-atin. I don't see any strawberries in it….and why does it keep dancing around in the bowl?"

"I don't know." replied Alice as she spooned up one of the gelatin cubes and sniffed it. "It smells a bit like strawberries, but in an odd way." she added before taking a bite out of it. Looking at the wall opposite her, she tilted her head as she considered the unusual food.

"Well?" he asked.

"It turns to liquid in your mouth and it tastes somewhat like strawberries…but it's good. In fact, it's very good. I like it!"

"I suppose you want me to try it now." said Uncas, who watched as Alice finished off the rest of the gelatin on the spoon. Taking the utensil from her, he picked up another cube and gave it the same glare that he gave to the pudding. Quickly placing the whole cube in his mouth in order to get it over with, another pleasantly surprised look came over his face.

"This is the strangest thing I've ever eaten. I wish Nathaniel was here to try this. He likes things that are sweet." commented Uncas.

"He has a sweet tooth then." said Alice.

"I dunno….he has a lot of teeth. One of them might be." replied a puzzled Uncas as Alice began to giggle.

"You Yengeese sure talk funny."

Having finished his breakfast, Uncas leaned back against the pillow and sipped his tea while he considered the situation he and Alice were in. After surveying their room and the equipment in it, he redirected his attention to the window that looked out to the hallway of the ICU and viewed what little of it he could see from his position. Nowhere had he ever seen a place such as this and he knew of no doctors who practiced medicine this way in the settlements. Taking another sip of tea, he then held the plastic mug in front of him. Studying it closely, he ran his fingertips over the side of it and tapped it with his nail before admitting to himself he had no idea what kind of material it was made from. With a deep sigh, followed by a low moan from the pain his ribs repaid him with, he put his head back on the pillow and lowered the mug to his lap.

"Are you alright?" Alice asked from her chair after hearing him moan.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he reassured her. "Sometimes my ribs hurt if I breathe too deep or move the wrong way."

"Do you need more medicine for the pain?"

"No. No, I'm alright. Alice, something's not right about all this. Are you sure you've never seen any place like this before? Not even in London?"

"No, not even there. We had hospitals, but they weren't anything like this, nor have I ever seen clothing like the people here are wearing. And this….medical equipment as they call it…..I've never seen anything like it before, either. They don't even have candles here, Uncas! Instead, they touch something on the wall or pull a cord and it makes the room get either brighter or darker. And although it's fun to make the bed move, I do not understand how something like that is possible."

"What I don't understand are these vines that are attached to me. I don't like them….especially these." he said, indicating the electrodes on his chest. "I want to take them off."

"No Uncas, please! You must not! We don't know what they are or how they are attached to you, and because of what they are doing, it frightens me to think of what might happen to you if you remove them. Please leave them on until the doctor says you don't need them anymore." she begged him, still innocently thinking he would die if he removed them.

"Alright, but I'm only leaving them on because you want me to." he replied before looking up at the plastic IV bag hanging on the stand beside him and then following the plastic tubing down to his hand. "Why can't they give me the medicine I need with a spoon, or let me drink it from a cup? Why do they have to give it to me this way, and give me other kinds of medicine by sticking needles in me? Do the Yengeese doctors you know of give medicine this way?"

"No, they don't. Uncas, I'm scared. I wish we could leave this place. Please hurry and get well again so that we can go!" Alice said with a look on her face that made him wish he had the strength to take her away this very moment.

"Come here." he said softy.

Reaching out his good arm, he took hold of her hand as she sat next to him on the bed.

"I'll get us out of here…soon. I promise. I just need some time to get some of my strength back. In a few days I should be strong enough and we'll sneak out of here. I just wish I knew where here was!"

"You know this land, Uncas. Can you think of anywhere a place such as this might be?" she asked.

"No. Nowhere. What about those doctors? Did they say anything to you about how we got here?"

"They said we were brought here after we fell and that if the hikers hadn't found us, we would have died."

"Hikers? What are hikers?" he asked.

"I don't know. I never heard of the word before. They use a lot of words I've never heard before."

"Well, I know I must have been in pretty bad shape and from the way you said I was bleeding, whoever found us would have taken us to someplace that was close by, but that doesn't make sense. Except for the Huron village Magua took you from, there's nothing but wilderness out here." reasoned Uncas.

"Maybe this is Fort Edward?"

"No, it's too far. The cliff we fell from is at least three days away from Fort Edward. And besides, I've been to Fort Edward and it looks very much like Fort William Henry." replied Uncas, who then gave a big yawn.

"Well wherever we are, I know you'll get us out of here. Perhaps then we can find our families. Do you think they are still near? Surely they must be looking for us…..Uncas?"

Thinking he had just closed his eyes to rest for a moment while she was speaking, she realized when he didn't answer her that he had fallen asleep. Gently removing the mug of tea from his hand, she placed it on the bed table which she then pushed out of the way and picked up the top of the sheet and blankets that were gathered around his waist with the intention of covering him. Before she did however, she took a close look at the bandages covering his wounds and noticed for the first time that they were unlike any she had ever seen before.

Accustomed to seeing bandages in the form of long pieces of cloth that were wrapped around the body or limb, these bandages varied in size, were rectangular in shape and were not much bigger than the wound itself. What's more, they appeared to somehow be attached directly to the surrounding skin. Hesitantly touching the bandage on his shoulder, she discovered that not only was it different in appearance, it was also made of a material unlike any she had seen before. Studying the IV in his hand, her attention settled next on the heart monitor and she followed the leads back to the electrodes on his chest.

"You are right, Uncas, there is something wrong about all of this." she whispered to him as she stroked his hair. "We don't belong here. I wish there was a way I could take you away from this place, but even if I could, you are too weak to be moved."

Pulling the blankets up and tucking them around his shoulders, Alice leaned forward and placed a light kiss on his lips before returning to her own bed. After raising the back of the bed to a comfortable reclining position, she reached over to the bed table she had rolled over with her and began to nibble on the rest of her blueberry muffin.

As she chewed, she remembered her father mentioning how much he liked blueberries in one of the many letters he sent his daughters from the colonies and she began to cry for the father she had lost. She knew he was dead. She hadn't seen him die, but she had seen his fallen horse surrounded by painted warriors and his booted foot sticking up, lying limp and motionless in the stirrup on the animal's side. He was dead and she grieved for him, for although he was a strict military officer who his men respected and sometimes feared, he was also a tender, gentle and loving father who thought his daughters had hung the moon and the stars.

Hearing Uncas moan softly as he shifted positions in his sleep, she looked over and watched him for several moments to assure herself he was alright, then returned her thoughts to her father. How would he have reacted to his youngest daughter being in love with a Mohican warrior? Not well. No doubt he would not have approved of their relationship one bit and had he lived, she felt sure he would have gone to any means necessary to keep them apart. Perhaps even going so far as to sending her back to England or having Uncas physically punished or imprisoned or all of those things if they had tried to defy him and remain together.

Thinking of what her father might have done to Uncas made her shiver and she wondered how his father would react to the news of his only blood son being in love with a white woman. Undoubtedly Chingachgook would expect Uncas to marry an Indian woman. Will he accept their relationship? Will Nathaniel? Will Cora? Will anyone? Well, some do anyway. As strange as the doctors were in this place, they at least seemed to have no problem with her and Uncas being together. In fact, they had referred to Uncas as being her boy-friend on more than one occasion, although she did think it odd they would refer to him as being a boy when he was clearly a man.

Thoughts of their families made her wonder why Chingachgook and Nathaniel had not found her and Uncas yet. They would never just abandon them….not even if they believed the both of them to be dead. Nothing would have stopped Chingachgook and Nathaniel from going to where Uncas fell, and Cora would not have left her lying at the base of that cliff either. And if she and Uncas had already been taken away by the time they got down there, his father and brother would have easily tracked them to this location. So where were they? What was keeping them?

Finishing off the last of her muffin, Alice brushed the crumbs from her hands over the table and glanced at the menu which was still lying on the food tray. Picking it up, she leaned back against the pillow and read the entire listing of food and beverage choices, including the ones that had been selected for her and she frowned upon reading the names of several food items she'd never heard of before. Turning the menu over, she saw what she assumed was a sketch of the exterior of the hospital, along with the name and address of its location printed on the back.

"North Hudson Regional Medical Center, 182 Forest Drive, Glens Falls, New York." she softly read out loud to herself. Lowering her hands to her lap, she directed her gaze to the doorway and hall window and stared in bewilderment at a nurse walking by.

"Where the bloody hell are we?" she whispered.

"Hold that door!"

Sprinting over to the elevator in the hospital lobby, Detectives Frank D'Angelo and Chris Porter jumped inside after a hand caught the door as it started to close. Turning towards the control panel, Det. D'Angelo was just about to press the button for the floor he and his partner were heading to when he recognized the man they were sharing the elevator with.

"Thanks for holding the el….oh hey, you're just the man we were coming to see! Dr. Harris, right?"

"That would be me, Detective. I assume you gentlemen are heading to the ICU to meet with Dr. Van Houten, Dr. Spencer and myself?"

"Yeah, we are. We were hoping afterwards to get statements from the girl and the fella. Think either of them will be able to talk to us?" D'Angelo asked.

"I don't see why not. Alice regained full consciousness the evening after the attack and Uncas came around yesterday, but he's still very weak and receiving a strong dose of pain medication, so he may be sleeping and if he is, I do not want him disturbed."

"Understood." D'Angelo replied. "I spoke to Dr. Van Houten on the phone and she filled me in on the mental state of the victims. She said they're suffering from some form of amnesia and that they've assumed the identities of a couple of people who lived back in 1757?"

"That's right. In fact, that's where they think they still are….in 1757. They don't recognize anything that's from this century and as a result, the two of them are very scared and very confused. Since each of them is the only thing the other does recognize, they refuse to be separated, so we're allowing them to share the same room. One other thing. Uncas is extremely protective of Alice, so I must caution you both to proceed very carefully in your interview with her. If you upset her, you're going to upset him, and as his doctor I will not allow that to happen! His body has been through a severe trauma and I do not want him becoming stressed." Norman firmly stated as the three men exited the elevator and entered the ICU.

"He's also very reluctant to trust us, so whatever you do, don't give him a reason not to."

"Sorry we couldn't make it over here yesterday like we had planned." Det. D'Angelo apologized. "Things have really taken off on this case."

Sitting in the small ICU conference room with the two detectives along with Norman and Richard, Cora was as eager as the other two doctors to hear what progress the police had made in the case involving the attack on their patients.

"How is the investigation progressing so far?" she asked.

"It's pretty much solved, with the exception of a few loose ends that still need to be tied up. The suspect's name is Henry Smith, thirty one years of age, blond hair, blue eyes. He looks like the kinda guy you'd want your daughter to bring home…till you get to know him that is. He's got an arrest record a mile long, most of which is for assault and battery and robbery. He escaped from a medium security facility downstate two weeks before the attacks began. Turns out he grew up in this area and was very familiar with Promontory State Park, which is why he went there and was able to hide from authorities for so long. All of the other victims identified him in a line up and the evidence we collected in that cave he was living in ties him in nice and neat to the crimes." said D'Angelo.

"We've got enough evidence to put him away for life. All that's left is getting statements from Alice and Uncas and seeing if they can positively identify the suspect from the mug shots we brought with us so that we can add two counts of attempted murder to the charges already pending against him."

"Still no luck in identifying either of them?" Richard asked.

"No." replied Det. Porter. "We took the fingerprints our lab tech got while the two of them were still unconscious and the photos you managed to snap of them and ran them through several national databases, but there were no matches. Then we took those same photos and broadcast them on local and national new stations, but so far nobody's come forward to identify them."

"I thought sure people would recognize them, especially Uncas." said Cora. "He's a strikingly handsome young man and when Richard emailed those photos to you, I expected your phone lines would ring off the hook with women calling to say they knew him. Take it from a woman, he's the kind of guy women will notice anywhere, even when he's pushing a shopping cart in a supermarket."

"That's what a female detective in our unit said! By the way Dr. Spencer, how did you manage to get those photos when the two of them are so leery about the modern world?" asked D'Angelo.

"Ahh, it was a classic example of teamwork!" Richard explained with a smug grin. "While Dr. Van Houten and Dr. Harris casually chatted with the two of them about their lunch yesterday, I stood back and discreetly took their pictures with my smartphone, making sure that the flash was off so as not to attract their attention. Alice paid me no mind, but Uncas did. He has eyes like a hawk and notices everything. When he asked me what I was holding, I said it was a special tobacco case my wife gave me for a gift that morning and that I was holding it up in order to try and figure out how to open it. That seemed to satisfy him and he even suggested that I hold it flat so that if I accidently opened it, the tobacco wouldn't fall out."

"I'm starting to like this Uncas and I haven't even met him yet!" D'Angelo replied with a chuckle.

"Detective Porter and I would like to thank you both for you willingness to talk to us."

Sitting in chairs that were positioned between Uncas and Alice's beds, Det. D'Angelo and Porter began their interview with the couple. Joining them in order to observe and help with mediating any difficulties the two policemen might encounter, Cora sat on the bed with a somewhat nervous Alice and reassuringly held her hand. Not wanting their patients to feel they were being ganged up on, it was agreed that Norman would also be present while Richard waited outside at the nurse's station.

"I know it will be difficult for you to relive what happened out there and that you just want to forget about the whole incident, but as law enforcement officers, we need this information in order to make sure the man we arrested is put away in prison where he belongs so that he can never do anything like this to anyone again." D'Angelo continued.

"We appreciate everything you're doing gentlemen to help Uncas and Alice." said Norman, who gave a wary Uncas a friendly pat on the arm.

"We're glad we can help. And I promise that we'll make this as easy as possible for both of you." Porter said gently as he gave a brotherly smile to Alice, who reminded him of his baby sister.

Having been asked to tell what happened to them the day they were attacked, Alice and a surprisingly cooperative Uncas told of the military column being attacked by a large war party of Huron, Abenaki and Ottawa and of the escape they made afterward across the lake, taking shelter in the cavern behind the waterfall. They then told of how Magua and his men found them and took Alice, her sister and their friend, Major Heyward, hostage while Uncas told of jumping through the falls with his father and brother and of how they ran all night to pick up the captive's trail and followed it to the Huron village. Uncas went on to tell of how he went after Magua by himself after seeing the warrior leaving the village with Alice, of how he ambushed them up on the Promontory and of his subsequent fight with Magua, culminating with his being pushed off the cliff.

"So clearly this….Magua...had no problem with killing you. Why do you think he didn't cut your throat like he intended to? The wound on your neck is hardly more than a scratch." asked D'Angelo.

"I think he was distracted." Alice said in a voice so soft, it was just above a whisper. "When I saw him raise the knife to Uncas' throat, I heard a man scream from somewhere down the mountain trail. It sounded like the voice of Uncas' father, Chingachgook. The whole time Uncas was fighting, I kept waiting and hoping that his father and brother would come and save him before it was too late….but they never came."

"Alice? Why did you jump?" Porter asked with a tenderness in his voice that was uncharacteristic of the hardened detective.

"Because I thought Uncas was dead. I love him…and I could not bear the thought of living in a world that he was no longer a part of." she said as she and Uncas shared a look that was full of the love they felt for each other.

Clearing his throat, D'Angelo opened a folder and removed a handful of mug shots from it. Spreading them out on one of the bed tables, he rolled it over to Uncas.

"Have you ever seen a portrait that had been painted of someone, Uncas?" he asked

"Yeah."

"Well, I have six portraits here that were painted by an artist who's so good, the paintings look real. I want you to look at these paintings and tell me if you see the man you fought with, ok?"

With a nod of his head, Uncas looked at the photos and was amazed at how realistic the men in them looked. Watching him closely as he calmly glanced at the photos, the doctors and the detectives noticed that not even a hint of emotion crossed his features.

"These men are all Yengeese. Magua is Huron. None of these portraits are of him."

"Ok." said D'Angelo. "How about you, Alice? Do you feel up to looking at these men to see if you recognize anyone?"

"Yes. He killed my father and he almost killed Uncas. I want Magua to be punished for what he's done." she said. Looking at the photos, Alice was also surprised by how real the men in them looked. With disappointment on her face, she shook her head as she looked at D'Angelo.

"It is as Uncas said. None of these men are him."

"I've got an idea. I used to sketch portraits and sell them while I was in college. Why don't the two of you describe Magua to me and I'll draw a picture of him." suggested Porter as he opened up his briefcase and removed a sketch pad that he always brought with him for situations like this. Working together, Uncas and Alice described Magua to the detective and when they were finished and verified the sketched portrait was accurate, Porter let out a low whistle.

"This is one scary-ass looking son of a bitch!" he exclaimed. "I certainly wouldn't want to meet him when he's having a bad day."

Thanking the couple again for their assistance, the detectives left the room and waited for Norman and Cora to join them by the nurse's station with Richard.

"I hope you don't mind, Richard, but I allowed Alice to stay with Uncas in his bed for a little while." said Cora when she and Norman joined the other men. "Even though she held up like a trooper, I could tell that reliving the events of that day shook her up a bit and it really looked like she needed a hug. Besides, she probably would have gone to him on her own anyway and at least this way, Norman and I were able to help her do it."

"We're all gonna get shot if the hospital director finds out about this." Richard moaned while covering his eyes.

"So what do you think, detectives?" asked Norman.

"I don't know what to think. When Dr. Van Houten told me about her ancestor's diary, I bought a copy and read it last night. Uncas and Alice described everything that happened after the English evacuated Fort William Henry in complete detail. The only stuff that was original was what happened after they left the Huron village. Since the only thing Cora witnessed was her sister falling off the cliff, that's the only part the diary contained." said D'Angelo.

"Did the diary say what happened after that?" asked Richard, who had not read the book yet.

"No." replied Cora. "Somehow the rest of the original diary got wet and caused the ink to run, so that's where it ends. My theory is they both read that diary themselves to study for the roles they'd been cast to play in some production and the original parts they spoke of were what really happened to them when they were attacked."

"Based on his wounds, I believe Uncas' description of the fight he had with his attacker." Norman stated. "He has a number of minor scratches and bruises on his body that are consistent with what he described. Did the suspect you arrested have any injuries on him?"

"No, there wasn't a mark on him. If Uncas did fight him the way he said he did, Smith managed to dodge every blow." said Porter. "Smith also denies the whole incident, says he heard a guy yell and went to check it out, but that nobody was on the cliff when he got there. He said he peeked over the side and when he saw a man and a woman lying at the base of the cliff, he got the hell out of there. We've caught him in several lies already on other cases so I think he's just trying to avoid a couple of attempted murder charges."

"I was sure we'd get a reaction out of the two of them when they looked at the mug shots. Especially Alice. But I didn't see so much as a glimmer of recognition out of either of them." said Norman.

"That's because they've completely shut themselves off from reality." said Cora.

"You've really got your job cut out for you, Doc." said Porter. "And I guess we can eliminate this last attack from the charges against Smith. A judge will throw the case out based on the mental condition of the victims and even if we did manage to get Uncas and Alice's case to court, the defense attorneys would have a field day with it and them, and it would hurt the cases of the other seven victims. I'm afraid we're going to have to let this one go."

"But we're still gonna keep trying to find out who those two kids really are." D'Angelo offered. "I gotta tell ya, though...we're not having any luck so far. We've checked out a number of universities and colleges, especially that one you thought Uncas might have attended; we've checked out theater groups, historical reenactment groups….you name it, we've looked into it and so far….nada!" he said. Pausing, the detective shook his head before continuing.

"It's like all roads lead to nowhere!"

Author's Note: This chapter became a real struggle to write. After getting off to a smooth start, I ran into some rough road about halfway through it and I lost count of how many times I rewrote several sections until I finally got everything to come out the way I wanted it. I knew what I wanted to have happen, I just couldn't make it happen! Hopefully everything will be easier from here on out. I will tell you however, that things are going to get interesting for Uncas and Alice in the next chapter, but that's the only hint you get.

I would like to thank everyone who is reading this story and especially those of you who have taken the extra time to write reviews. It means so much to me to know what you think of this story. The next chapter is on its way and hopefully this time it won't take so long in coming. Thank you again everyone! MohawkWoman :)