And so after all the unpleasentness of the last chapter a bit of tlc for the Sully's

Chapter 3

Michaela rushed from her seat as the train pulled into Colorado Springs, it had taken them 10 days to reach home. A train workers strike in the East meaning they had been forced to take a stage to Denver, which had meant an interminably long and uncomfortable journey. Made all the worse by the knowledge that her little girl was hurt and she hadn't been there to help her. Sully had tried to quash her guilt but she was having none of, all she wanted now was her little girl.

Sully followed his wife with an expression of concern on his face. Michaela looked exhausted, which meant she was probably feeling abominable. The journey had taken them so long, and he knew she had barely slept. For almost a month now his wife had been living in a heightened level of stress, first with the near death of Brian's young family and then with the word of Katie's accident. He hated to see her beautiful face etched with her fear and concern but there was nothing he could do to remove it. Michaela was disembarking as the train jerked to a stop, causing her to stumble. Sully rushed to help her before she fell and did herself an injury, but thankfully Horace was there to catch her hand and help her safely to the platform. The post master having the canny foresight to stand by the steps as the train pulled in.

Michaela barely seemed to register Horace's gesture, but Sully nodded his thanks to the older man as he scrambled down the wooden steps after his wife.

"I'll get your bags sent to the hospital" Horace offered returning Sully's grateful smile with a nod.

Michaela rushed along the street as fast as she could in her bulky winter dress. She was walking so fast she appeared to be skating across the icy ground. Quickly she pushed her way onto the porch of the store, nearly knocking two customers into the fruit display with her haste.

"Katie!" Michaela called for her daughter as she burst into the mercantile.

"Michaela!" Dorothy called happily, rushing to meet her friend. Michaela half heartedly accepted Dorothy's warm hug "Katie's been missing you so much"

"Where is she?"Michaela asked anxiously scanning the shop for any sign of Katie.

"She's upstairs" Dorothy held her arm out guiding Michaela to the steps to the second floor.

"Why?"

"She hasn't been sleeping all that well, the pain in her shoulder" Dorothy soothed the worried mother "She's been taking naps on occasion when she needs to"

Dorothy led Michaela to the room that housed Katie, and smiled "She's doing Ok. Michaela, I'm so sorry"

Michaela looked up at her friend with surprise, before wiping the look of concern from her face with a beautiful smile "It wasn't your fault Dorothy, it was an accident. Besides would you expect anything less of a child of Sully and mine? Our little girl has always been independent, this would have happened regardless."

Michaela reached for the handle but before she could push open the door Dorothy caught her hand, "Michaela, there's something else" the older woman smiled "Your little girl is not a little girl anymore"

"What?" Michaela pulled her hand back alarmed

Dorothy placed a reassuring arm around Michaela's shoulders and pushed open the bedroom door for the other woman to see her daughter "While you were away, Katie started her monthlies, she's a little woman now"

Michaela stared at her friend speechless before turning her head to focus on her slumbering daughter. Slowly she made her way into the small room; Katie was lying awkwardly, no doubt trying to protect her damaged shoulder from causing her more pain. Michaela studied Katie's face, the bruises caused by the blow to the head were yellowing and mostly gone, but she still looked damaged. It was too much, Michaela's eyes flooded with tears and she sank to her knees beside the bed, shaking, she let out an audible sob. Katie's eyes fluttered open.

"Ma?"

"Oh Katie" Michaela whispered moving forward to embrace her daughter.

"Ma!" Katie sat up straight so she could be taken into her mother's arms. "Ma you're home, you're home!"

Sully slowly the wagon to a gentle halt and turned to look at his sleeping girls. For the first time in a very long while Michaela had sat in the back of the wagon, the need to be with her daughter after such a long separation too great, and to his relief the gentle rocking of the wagon and the feeling of having her daughter in her arms again had lulled Michaela into a restful sleep, her face serene. He stared at the two females nestled together under a blanket and his heart over flowed with love for them. He wished he would not have to wake them, and could leave them to their sleep but he could not, the December weather was far too cold for that. Carefully he rubbed his wife's arm, rousing her.

"We're home" he told her gently.

She smiled broadly at him, her eyes still hazy with sleep and stared up at the darkened homestead "So we are" Michaela unwrapped her right arm from around Katie and reached up to touch his face, gently stroking the shadow of stubble that was growing on his rugged chin. "I think you need a shave" she smiled sweetly at him.

"I think I need my bed" Sully leant forward and kissed his wife gently. "So do you"

Michaela stifled a yawn "I believe you're right," she turned her attention back to the house that had been her home for almost 14 years. "I didn't know it was possible to miss as place so much"

Sully smiled and leapt down from the seat "Don't reckon it's the building, more like the memories. Here" he opened the tail of the wagon "I'll carry her," Michaela helped Sully to take Katie into his arms, carefully positioning their daughter in the way that he had used to carry her as a small child, her head nestled into his neck. "Do you need a hand?"

Michaela shook her head and carefully slithered almost elegantly from the wagon. "I'll put the horse in the barn" she whispered gently kissing Sully and then Katie,

"By yourself?" Sully teased her gently. Michaela smiled at him, her nose wrinkling as she pulled an amused face at him. "Oh yeah I forgot. You're not a helpless Bostonian lady anymore"

Michaela giggled, her face losing the last vestiges of tension and stress that had been etched on it for too many weeks "Get Katie inside before she catches cold, I'll be in a few minutes" She turned and began leading the horse toward the barn. The sound of the front door creaking open made her look back at the house and she let out a sigh, for the first time in a month feeling at peace.

Katie pulled herself out of bed, and crept towards her door, it was dark, too dark, but she knew her way and navigated her way around the room with ease. Quickly she made her way down the hallway to her parents' room and snuck inside.

Their room was lit by the soft glow of the dying fire; she smiled, and moved to her mother's rocking chair near the fire. She was so pleased that her parents were home, not least because they had brought news of her niece's recovery but just for the fact that they were here, they were with her. For the first time since her accident she did not feel sleepy, she felt as though she would never need sleep again. She watched her parents taking in everything she could of them, although it was stupid she had felt as if her memories of what they looked like had been fading. They had changed, in the month they had been away; her father's hair had grown longer, nowhere near as long as it had been when she was a child, but long enough to single him out from Boston society which was why she was sure he had let it grow. However it was her mother who had changed the most. She had lost weight, taking her to smaller than what she had been before her mid life, she almost looked frail, especially as she lay curled up next to the strong solid form of her husband. As well as that her hair had lost its shine, no doubt from the stress and poor eating habits that she would have adopted in Boston. Katie leant forward in the chair to take a closer look at her mother, the runner scraping across the floor board as she did. She grimaced as she saw her father stir.

"Katie?" he looked up at her with concern. "You alright?"

"I wanted to see you"

Slowly Sully disentangled himself from Michaela, careful not to wake her and padded across the floor to his daughter. "You missed us huh?" he whispered to Katie gently, crouching so he held the same eye level as his daughter. Katie nodded her head with force and then winced. "Easy, does it still hurt a lot?"

"Sometimes" Katie admitted "I feel really stupid; I don't even remember what happened. I can't believe I didn't see a branch"

"These things happen" Sully smiled "So you want to fill me in on what's been happening here, other than your dramatic fall that is"

Katie grinned at her father "Dr Fischer hired a porter for the hospital, he fixed the pipe in the nurses' room, he's real strong, moved Mr Adams all by himself"

Sully pouted "Do you think he's stronger than me?"

"No one's stronger than you, you're the strongest and the kindest man, no one beats you"

"What about your Ma?" Sully stared across to Michaela "What's she best at?"

"She's the brightest and the loveliest"

"Sounds right, though I reckon she might have competition on that last one" Sully leant forward and gave Katie a gentle kiss on the forehead.

"Byron Sully" Sully and Katie turned to the bed, Michaela smiled at them playfully through her sleepy eyes "Am I losing you to a younger woman?"

Sully smiled and crawled over to the bed "Not a chance" he kissed Michaela on the lips "Though I do need to make a request regarding said younger woman"

"Oh"

Sully looked at Michaela shyly, his eyes dancing with love and humour "How would you feel if she shared our bed for the night?"

"I think I can make an exception" Michaela leant her head forward to brush her lips against Sully's.

Sully grinned and pivoted in his crouched position to hold his hand out to Katie "That is, if she would like to join us?"

"You really mean it?" Katie asked eagerly. Gaining positive nods from both her parents she scampered from the chair, moving faster then she had in the last two weeks and crossed to the beautiful carved bed. Carefully she climbed over her mother, and nestled herself beneath the covers.

Sully returned to his side of the bed and placed his strong arms over his daughter and around Michaela pulling the family in tight together into each other's comforting embrace. Quickly they fell asleep sharing each other's warmth, a family once more.