A/N I know, I could have kept this all under one story only….the subject totally changed so….

Chapter Four

Joe sat on his horse overlooking the cattle when he spotted one that was down. He pushed Cochise forward and as shocked to find the down cow was not only down, but dead also. It looked as if it had been eaten on too. He looked around, shocked to see huge tracks off to the side, cougar tracks. He decided to follow. It wasn't long before he located another dead cow. He might have become more than upset only he heard a noise in the rocks above him and looked up. His eyes widened as he saw the hugest cougar he'd ever seen disappearing out of his sight. The realization of the damage the cat could do, had done, propelled Joe to turn and push Cochise as hard as he could towards home.

Mile and mile he pushed his horse. By the time he reached the house he was as anxious as he'd ever been to warn his father of the danger on their land. "Pa!" Joe yelled. He saw his father wave and then, to his horror, Cochise stepped in hold and stumbled. The last thought on his mind as he hit the ground was the danger to his family and the need to warn them. The first question when he'd been shocked to wake up to blurred vision was 'how can I help protect my family when I'm going blind?"

Eliza walked, or was it waddled, into the room she and Joe shared to see him tossing and turning wildly on his bed, one minute crying out warnings to his family members to the next minute yelling he was blind and asking how he could help protect his family. She hurried as fast as she could to his side and shook him. "Wake up, Joe, you're having a nightmare. Wake up!"

When his wife shook him, Joe woke up with a start. He went to apologize and to tell her what he'd been dreaming about only to receive the shock of his life….he could see his wife's face. Well, not clearly he couldn't only he could see it. He reached and touched Eliza's face, who gasped in astonishment as she could tell Joe was looking right at her, not in the general area. "Joe?" She asked cautiously, "Can you see me?"

Joe smiled wide and nodded, though he clarified that his eyesight was blurry. Tears sprang to her eyes and she embraced him. Fuzzy or night, just the fact that he could see anything made her heart leap for joy. Maybe, just maybe, he'd be seeing clearly by the time the baby was born. They might have said more to each other only Ben, having heard Joe's screaming, stepped into the room. Naturally, he was concerned when he saw Joe and Eliza holding each other and crying.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked as he stepped forward only to have his own emotions run wild when his youngest turned his head, looked right at him and said, "I never knew blurred vision would ever be a thing to be happy about."

~oOo~

Joe paced back and forth across the living room as Ben sat in his chair, Adam sat on the blue chair and Mary sat on the couch with Hank. Hoss and his wife were actually sitting out on the porch with baby Grace; the two had said they needed the fresh air.

"Sit down, Joe." Ben pointed to the unused portion of the couch. "That baby isn't going to get here any sooner that it wants to."

"Sorry, pa," Joe sid as he stopped pacing and leaned against the railing leading upstairs. "I just can't believe it, I'm actually going to be able to see the baby, really see it." His eyesight had remained blurry for a solid week and then, gradually, returned. Joe would never really know whether or not his optical nerve had been damaged and simply healed itself miraculously or if simply talking to Adam about the possibility that he was actually suffering from blindness caused by his subconscious mind, thus enabling him to actually deal with it, returned his eyesight. It didn't really matter to him nor to anyone else. The important fact remained…he would see his firstborn child.

Ben and Adam smiled. While neither one of them could understand it either, they were more than elated at the turn of events. However, before either one of them could say anything they heard a baby's cry and then Dr. Martin's helper, a young black haired woman by the name of Miss Caldwell, appeared at the top of the stairs and began making her way down to the main floor.

Joe practically flew to her side and asked, "How's my wife? How's the baby?"

Everyone chuckled at his reaction though they really started laughing when Miss Caldwell assured him that his wife and newborn son were doing all right….and he flew up the stairs before another word could be said. By the time he got to the room, Dr. Martin was shutting his black bad and Eliza was holding their son in the crook of her arm.

"Come and see your son, Joe." Eliza was simply beaming as Joe made his way to the side of the bed and sat down, reaching out to pick up his son's small hand in his larger one. The silliest grin he'd ever worn spread across his face only he didn't care. After all, he figured the best of men were made fools of when a baby was around.

"He's something else," Joe said as he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "As is his mother." He then said another prayer of thanksigivng. While he had learned much while living in darkness, Joe was more than grateful that life had led him back into the light.