Chapter 4

Two hours later, Heidi and Lachie could hear Vince, Lara, Dean and Chase approaching. "Heidi! Lachie!" Vince called. Dusk was settling in, but they were determined to get everyone out of the bush regardless. It was raining and the winds were biting, but they were determined to bring these boys to safety.

Heidi stood and walked to tent's opening and stepped outside. "Vince! Over here!" Heidi waved them over.

Dean and Chase reached Heidi first. "How are the patients?"

Heidi smiled. "They were doing fine a moment ago. Lachie is checking them again now."

Chase looked her over. Her uniform was covered in dirt and multiple tears. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I'll be good for a holiday though."Heidi smiled. "So, how are we getting these guys out of here?"

"Too windy for a chopper, so we are going to have to carry them out."

Heidi nodded. Fatigue has started to seep into her bones, despite the little nap she had taken with her head on Lachie's shoulder. She would have to rely on her adrenaline to get her through the walk.

Dean and Chase took one of the stretchers, and Lachie and Vince took the other. Lara and Heidi began taking down the tents and packing the gear. Heidi and Lara were going to catch up to them after packing everything.

Heidi watched the two stretchers disappear and then turned back to her task. Shouldering the pack, she winced, but put it on her back anyhow.

Lara watched Heidi, knowing that she was probably in a lot of pain. "You okay Heidi?"

"Yeah, I'll make it Lara." Heidi pushed off, limping. "It's been a long day. I haven't been this accident prone in a while."

Lara laughed. "I know what you mean. I can be an absolute klutz sometimes."

Heidi laughed with her, but her smile died quickly. "Jordan called me last night."

Lara looked at her, concerned. "What did he want?"

"He wanted me back. I told him to get lost." Heidi shook her head. "Something must be up. Jordan was drunk and was still insisting that he had made a mistake. I just can't help but wonder what it is that he really wanted."

Lara shook her head. "I don't know. It's just weird that he called now, no?"

"Yeah, it was." Heidi sighed. "Oh well. No harm no foul."

They walked in companionable silence until they caught up to the guys.

Heidi kept pushing through the pain and fatigue, both increasing with every step. She knew that she was pushing herself, but she wasn't going to admit that it was a problem. It was nothing that a good bath wouldn't cure.

Finally, they came through the opening at the park entrance. The media came rushing forward, but the parents of the two missing teens were the first to run forward.

The two teens were immediately transferred to two waiting stretchers and were about to be loaded in the ambulance. Richard's father came up to the Rescue team and looked at them with tear-filled eyes. "Thank you. Thank you for finding my son. Thank you for finding his friend."

Vince shook his hand. "Our pleasure." The father nodded and ran off to his waiting son.

Heidi watched all of this transpire with heavy-lidded eyes. She gripped Lara's arm to hold herself up.

Lara turned to face Heidi. "Heidi, are you okay?"

Heidi shook her head. "Exhausted. Just need a bath and a rest."

"Vince, I think Heidi needs to go and get checked out." Lara said, alerting the entire team. They all turned towards Heidi, who suddenly felt like she was under the microscope.

Vince stepped towards Heidi and he looked her over for the first time since they had begun carrying out the two teens. "Heidi-ho, what's wrong?"

"I'm just exhausted, Vince. I need a bath and a rest." She shifted, wincing as she moved on her foot.

"Lachie, what really happened out there?" Vince asked, turning to face the middle Gallagher brother.

"Uhhh…." Lachie looked at Heidi whose eyes were pleading with him to not say a word, but he knew that he couldn't. "When she fell, she got her foot wedged. She is the one who climbed down to get the boys, and on the way up, she slipped and banged into the rock face. Of course, the two hours of walking through the bush in the pouring rain probably didn't help."

"You let her continue?" Vince asked, obviously angry.

"I didn't give him a choice, Vince." Heidi said. The last thing she wanted was to get Lachie in trouble. "Look, I will go to the hospital, but I am sure I just need some rest." Heidi limped her way over to one of the patrols.

Chase stepped forward. "Dean and I can take her, Vince. No need to make the media go crazy with one of ours getting into an ambulance."

"Good, thanks Chase."

Chase and Dean took off towards the patrol where Heidi was stowing her gear.

"I'm going with them, Vince. I will be in to complete my reports tomorrow morning."

Vince nodded, still too angry to say anything.

Lara put her hand on Vince's arm. "She'll be okay, Vince. You know that Lachie can't make her do anything that she doesn't want to do. She was focused on finding those teens, and it was a good thing that she was, because she and Lachie found them."

"Yeah." Vince's one word answer showed his displeasure.

"Let's go back to HQ, fill in Michelle on everything, and then go home." Lara led Vince to the other waiting patrol.

Hospital

Heidi hobbled her way down the hall on crutches. As soon as the doctor had taken her boot off, her foot and ankle had swollen up. It wasn't broken, but it was a bad sprain. She would be riding a desk for a few weeks. The rest of her injuries were bumps, bruises and scrapes. All she really wanted to do now was have a shower and go to sleep. Vince was not going to be happy when he found out about this.

Chase, Dean and Lachie stood when they saw her making her way towards them. "Heidi!" Chase gasped, not having realized how bad the injury had been.

"Are you okay, Heidi?" Dean asked as she came to a stop in front of them.

"It's a bad sprain. I'll be okay in a few weeks." Heidi shrugged. "What counts is that those kids were found."

Lachie was about to say something but then shut his mouth. He was kicking himself, he knew that Heidi should have turned back, and should not have been walking on that foot. "I'm sorry Ace. I shouldn't have let you continue."

Heidi laughed tiredly. "Lachie, you couldn't have stopped me." She looked at the Gallagher trio. "Can one of you drive me home? My car is at HQ, but I don't think I am fit to drive right now. I need to sleep."

"Of course! We'll got to HQ and pick up your car." Chase answered before Dean and Lachie had a chance to speak.

Heidi nodded. She sighed and started to make her way down the hall. She couldn't wait to get home.

Dean drove as usual, Chase took the passenger seat, leaving Lachie and Heidi in the back. Lachie instructed Heidi to turn sideways to put her sprained foot over his legs to keep it somewhat elevated. Heidi leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Within seconds she was asleep.

Chase already had her car keys in his hands. Dean pulled up to Rescue and they dropped Chase off so that he could bring Heidi's car home for her.

"Lachie, do you want to sit in front?"

"Nah Dean. Heidi is asleep and I don't want to disturb her. Just keep driving."

Dean hid his face from his brother. He knew what his brother was thinking, and he would talk to him about it later. "Whatever."

Dean drove the small distance to Heidi's place and shook his head. Her apartment was on a third floor of the building. "She is going to have a hard time getting around."

Lachie shrugged. "Yeah, I know. But what can we do? She is independent to a fault." Lachie said as Dean parked the patrol, waiting for Chase to pull into Heidi's assigned parking.

Lachie undid his seatbelt and slowly moved Heidi's legs off his. He slowly got out of the car and walked around to her side of the patrol and opened her door. Placing his arms underneath her, he scooped her up. Heidi didn't even stir.

Chase pulled in and parked the car. He jogged over to his brothers. "Is she okay?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, she'll be fine. She just needs to sleep."

Dean grabbed Heidi's crutches and the brothers made their way to Heidi's apartment. Chase unlocked the door and held it open for Lachie. Lachie walked to Heidi's room and gently placed her on the bed. He put a pillow under her bandaged foot, and a blanket over her. She still hadn't stirred. Lachie looked over his shoulder and saw his brothers in the doorway. He looked at Heidi one more time and walked over to his brothers.

"Do you think we should leave her a note?" Chase asked. "She might wake up and wonder what happened."

"Good idea Chasie. Go look for paper and a pen and write her a quick note, okay?" Dean asked. He was becoming the leader, as usual.

Chase grabbed a paper, scribbled a note and brought it back to the bedroom. "I'm going to get her a glass of water to put by the bed, with a pain pill and then we can go."Chase said, going back to Heidi's kitchen. Bringing a glass of water, he settled Heidi in.

"We need to be able to lock the door behind us," Dean mentioned. "Does she have a spare here somewhere?"

"Yeah, she does, " said Chase. "I'll get it on our way out."

The guys finished up and left Heidi's apartment. Climbing into the patrol, Dean dropped Lachie and Chase off, promising to pick them up in the morning for their shift.