Disclaimer: I do not own Big Valley or any of its characters nor am I making any money. This is just for fun.

A/N


If Tomorrow Never Comes

Chapter Seven


Heath was startled awake not really knowing what woke him he looked around the now dark room. Neither seeing or hearing anything Heath relaxed and pinched the bridge of his nose to help relieve the slight pounding behind his eyes. He scooted over to the bedside table and lit the lamb that was on it. He then felt around his pockets for his watch and was surprised to find that it was nearly ten PM. He had slept for more than eight hours.

"Heath!" Jarrod shouted from the other room. Heath instantly turned and sat up and immediately flipped back on his side as sharp burning pain shot through his hip and butt. He took a few deep breaths till the pain eased then very carefully stood up. He limped down the hall to Jarrod and Nick's room. He stopped just outside the door and gathered himself so he could walk in there without limping. Feeling he was ready he opened the door and was assaulted by the uniquely sour smell of vomit which almost made him gag.

Jarrod was trying to push Nick back on his bed. Nick had obviously leaned over the side of the bed to be sick in the bucket but then became too tired to pull himself back on the bed. Heath moved as fast as his injury would allow and settled Nick back in his bed. Heath stood and put an arm around Jarrod, who was pale and shaky and helped him to his bed. Jarrod had clearly been sick as well, as the chamber pot by his bed was full. Once Jarrod was in bed Heath opened all the windows to air out the room. The night air was refreshingly cool but not too cold so he wasn't concerned about it making his brothers worse.

Heath took the bucket and chamber pot and emptied and washed them. On his way back to the room he caught sight of his reflection in one of the windows in the kitchen. He was shocked to see how disheveled he looked. His hair stuck up at all angles, his face was smudged with dirt and god knows what else. He looked down at his clothes, his shirt was stained with dirt and sweat. And his pants were in no better shape, they were hardly even recognizable as his regular tan colored pants. As bad as he looked he had no doubt he smelled worse.

Heath put the bucket and chamber pot back to there former places then handed Jarrod a tin of crackers. Jarrod sent Heath a dubious look, refusing to take the tin. The poor man was fighting hard to keep what little he had left in his stomach down. "Here, these will help settle your stomach, just eat them slowly." Heath said as he placed the tin on Jarrod's lap. Not waiting to see if Jarrod would listen to him Heath moved to check on Nick. The dark-haired man's sleep was uneasy and Heath was dismayed to find that Nick's fever had spiked. Heath went back to the kitchen and washed his hands and face then set a pot of willow bark tea to brew. Then went out to the creek and filled a pitcher with the icy water. He hoped to get Nick's fever under control with just the tea and cold compresses he really didn't think he would be up to muscling his older brother into the tub.

For the next three hours, Heath alternated between giving Nick sips of tea and washing him down. Finally, Nick's fever began to loosen its grip on him. Heath pulled a light sheet over his brother he felt it was now safe to leave Nick to rest. If only he could get up. His whole body ached horribly from sitting so long. After about the second hour in that chair, Heath had seriously questioned whether he would be able to get up. At the end of three hours, he was sure that the burning pain from his knees to his ribs had welded him the chair.

But knowing he needed to get up and get himself cleaned up and check on Audra and Victoria he braced himself for his next move. Heath shot a look to Jarrod to make sure he was asleep before he tried to get up he didn't want to worry his bother with his injury. Finding that he was indeed asleep, Heath gritted his teeth and slowly levered himself out of the chair. Once he was standing a wave of pain blossomed in his lower back. He clenched his jaw and held his breath till the pain dissipated to a tolerable level.

He slowly made his way out of the room and looked in on the women. Once he was sure they were fine he began to fill the tub so he could take a quick bath. Heath relaxed as he soaked in the warm water, what was supposed to be a quick bath turned into an hour long soak. The warm water did wonders to loosen his sore muscles and ease the pain in his severely bruised hip and butt.

Heath reluctantly got out of the tub feeling better then he had in days he actually felt refreshed and a bit energized. Once he was dressed he took his dirty clothes and put them in the fresh wash water to soak. Heath slowly walked into Victoria and Audra's room this was the first time he had entered the room without knowing if the older lady was asleep or not since the incident. Seeing that Victoria was sleeping Heath relaxed a bit, her words still hurt him, but also he did not know how she would react to him. And he didn't want to scare her like she had been before. If she were still out of it and did not recognize him it would do neither of them any good and most likely terrify her and hurt him.

Heath rested his hand lightly on her forehead and smiled, finding she only had a slight fever. He hoped this meant that she was over the worst and on the mend. Heath started to pull his hand away and saw Victoria's eyes flutter open. He tensed and anxiously waited to see how she would react. Her eyes focused on him, "Heath, is that you?"

"Yes mo..., yes mother."

Victoria smiled at him warmly, "I'm so glad you're here, I didn't think you would be here so soon. Nick said you had to stay home for a few days to take care of something with the ranch."

"I'm glad too, you have been very sick. You had us all scared." Heath didn't feel the need to tell any more than that. He was just relieved she had not noticed his hesitation in calling her mother, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. She was not even aware that she had said anything hurtful to him in her delirium. And really he hoped she wouldn't ever remember it, it would only hurt her and she didn't deserve that.

She gave a weak nod and looked as if she was about to say something but fell asleep before she could get anything out. Heath tucked the blankets around her shoulders and stood back. Heath shot a look at the other bed and was surprised to see Audra was awake and looking at him. Victoria may have missed his hesitation but Audra obviously hadn't.

Audra watched as her brother walked over to her and knelt by the bed. She wanted so badly to take away that hurt and doubt she saw in his eyes. Heath smiled at her and kissed her forehead and rested his hand on her cheek. She knew Heath was telling her in his own way that he was fine, that he didn't want her to worry and for her to just let it go and forget it. She wasn't happy about the last part but decided that for now she would do that for him and nodded. "How are you feeling," Heath asked. "About the same as before just not as weak."

"Are you hungry? Would you like some dinner?"

"Yes, please."

Heath stood and could not help a pained hiss that escaped. Audra looked up at him concerned, "Heath?"

"It's nothing. I'm just a little sore," Heath assured as he walked out of the room. Audra was not completely convinced that was all there was to it but decided to let it go for the time being.

Heath prepared a light meal for Audra and himself and filled a cup of broth for Victoria if she should wake up. Heath pulled a chair next to his sister's bed and ate dinner with her. Audra kept up a light conversion throughout dinner clearly enjoying the little bit of normalcy having a meal with family gave her.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The rest of the night passed uneventfully and Heath had been able to go back to bed for a few hours. After Heath had made his rounds and made breakfast for everyone, he went out to check on the horses. Heath rounded up Coco, Jingo, and Charger and put them back in the paddock with Tike and Blue. Seeing that his family seemed to be doing a lot better he felt this would be as good a time as any to go for help. He knew taking the wagon would be easier on his backside but didn't feel it would be wise to push the already hurt horses. Tike's swollen leg though not of concern now it could easily become worse and cause the horse to go lame if used too much. And Blue could not pull the wagon by himself, so Heath would have to ride.

Heath saddled Charger and painfully mounted the horse. His pants tightened on his bruised hip and butt causing sharp burning pain to radiate throughout the injured area. Heath clenched his jaw and rode around the cabin determined to do what he had planned. After about ten minutes the pain had become unbearable and Heath had to get off Charger. Barely able to walk Heath unsaddled Charger and put him back in the paddock.

Heath leaned up ageist the paddock fence upset with his inability to get help for his family. But not being one to dwell on things he could not change when he needed to deal with the here and now. He pushed away his self-critical thoughts and decided that the best thing to do was just to wait two or three days for him to heal a bit and then if his family was still doing ok he would go for help then.


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