Author's Notes: I want to thank everyone for the positive reviews. I appreciate the feedback. It's very encouraging. Thanks! This story is finished, but I only have a hard copy, so I'm re-typing it. I'm about halfway finished.

The approaching night felt cooler than usual, and even her fairly brisk walking pace didn't seem to warm her. She knew it would take almost an hour to reach the mountain, but she immediately began calling Chakotay's name every few minutes. She would strain to hear a reply, but the only sound that came back to her was the evening chorus of the birds.

She pressed on, trying to walk faster, but finding that she was out of practice, and her breathing was soon labored; she actually had to force herself to slow down. Minutes passed, a quarter of an hour, half an hour. Still no response to her hails. She began to worry that he'd changed his mind. That he hadn't gone to the mountain. That he'd chosen to go down along the river, another favorite place to look for fruit.

And then she heard it. A faint sound carried on the breeze.

"Chakotay?" she yelled, her voice dry and cracking.

And there it was again. Too far to be a word or a name. But a noise.

Despite her exhaustion, she began to run in its direction. "Chakotay?"

And this time, she could make out the meaning behind the sound.

"Kathryn?"

"Chakotay?"

She scrabbled up a small rise and around an outcropping of rocks. In front of her was a stand of apple trees, and at the base of one, crumpled on the ground, was Chakotay.

"Chakotay?" She rushed over and knelt beside him.

He was lying in an awkward position, his back stretched over a large, gnarled tree root. His right leg was twisted beneath him and his forehead was bruised and bleeding. There was more blood coming from his nose.

Kathryn drew in a deep breath, and felt herself beginning to tremble. But her emergency training took over, and she opened the medical kit and took out the tricorder.

"I…" Chakotay swallowed and blinked up at her, tears slipping from the corners of his eyes. "I… fell," he breathed painfully.

Kathryn nodded, studying the tricorder. "How long ago?"

He drew in a ragged breath and coughed. "About… about an hour… maybe… more." He swallowed again. "Tried… tried to move. It… hurts." He gritted his teeth together.

"I know." Kathryn ran a hand over his cheek. "And I'm afraid it's going to hurt some more before we're able to get you back to the house."

He gave her a forced smile. "I figured… it would."

She put the tricorder back in the medical kit and took out a piece of gauze, used it to wipe the blood from the edges of the cut on his forehead and away from his nose. Then she pulled out a hypospray. "Your right leg is broken and you have a concussion," she explained as she adjusted the instrument. "It's a miracle that you haven't gone into shock." She pressed the hypo to his neck, adjusted it again, and repeated her action. "The first injection should take care of any shock symptoms, and the second will help deaden the pain, but it won't be able to suppress it completely. Where else are you hurting?" She rested her hand tenderly on his chest.

He squinted up at her. "Head… hurts. Leg… Thirsty…"

"I can let you have a little water." She slipped the hypospray in her pocket and took a water bottle from the kit; she gently lifted his head.

He sipped greedily at the bottle.

"Easy there, not too much." She pulled it away and returned it to the kit. And then she moved closer to the leg that was folded beneath him. "Chakotay, I'm going to have to reposition this leg and set it before I can use the bone synthesizer. You're still going to feel some pain."

He nodded. "Go ahead." He released a heavy breath and his eyes drifted away from her, staring up at the darkening sky above them.

Kathryn placed one hand under his hip and lifted him slightly. She used her other hand to grasp his ankle and straighten the twisted leg. The tricorder had told her that the break was just below the knee, but even if it hadn't, she would have been able to tell. It was bent in an unnatural position.

Thanks to the pain suppressant she'd given him, Chakotay only gasped as she laid his leg out on the ground, his next breaths shallow and rapid. But she knew that the next movement she made would be even more painful. Still, it had to be done. She positioned both of her hands around his ankle, braced herself, and pulled back sharply on the leg.

Chakotay cried out, and she watched his face go grey with pain, creases etching across his forehead, and around his eyes and mouth. She could actually feel the bone snapping back into place, and despite the pain it had caused him, that snap was a good feeling.

"It worked," she breathed, reaching back up to the medical kit for the bone synthesizer.

Chakotay was taking deep breaths now, trying to calm to fast beating of his heart. He opened tightly closed eyes and stared at her as she began to run the synthesizer over his leg. Despite the pain, he'd noticed the tone of relief in her voice.

"First time… to set a leg?" he asked, a touch of humor lighting his eyes.

Kathryn looked up, realizing her admission. "First? Oh, no. There have been hundreds. Dozens." She knew he wasn't buying it. "All right. One. Academy holodeck training."

"I thought so." His eyes closed. "Good work, Cadet."

And as Kathryn repaired the bone in his leg, he rested, drifting into a state of semi-consciousness. Until he heard her voice calling him.

"Wake up, Chakotay." He felt her hand on his arm, patting him awake.

"I'm up," he murmured, eyes fluttering open, a guilty expression on his face, as if he were late for bridge duty.

She smiled down at him. "Well, you're not up. But you're awake."

"Am I gonna make it, Doc?"

She brushed her hand over his hair. "I think so. Your leg is set and the bone is knitted. It's going to be a while before you have full use of it, but, if I find something for you to use as crutches or a cane, we might be able to walk out of here by tomorrow afternoon."

He shook his head, wincing at the motion. "Tomorrow? Kathryn, you can't stay out here all night."

She realized he wasn't exactly thinking straight, letting his natural concern for her cloud his reasoning, but she simply reassured him. "I'll be fine. And so will you. The medical kit has a thermal blanket, and we can make a fire. And I'll bet that I can bake some of those apples you managed to get before your little accident."

He smiled. "Little accident?"

She shrugged. "I had to call it something. Now, I've cleaned the wound on your head, and treated your concussion, but I'm still going to have to wake you up every few hours. I'm afraid we have to rely on some old-fashioned medicine when we're not in a well-equipped Sickbay."

"It's all right."

She kissed his forehead. "You rest some more while I see about that fire and those apples."

~vVv~

An hour later, Chakotay was propped beside a blazing fire, leaning against Kathryn's shoulder; they were both covered by the thermal blanket. Although he wasn't terribly hungry, Kathryn had managed to get him to eat a few bites of a baked apple, and he'd drunk some more water.

"It was… a stupid move," he sighed, explaining how he'd fallen out of the tree. "I was trying to throw some more apples into the basket and I leaned out a little too far… And lost my balance."

"I'm so sorry." Kathryn rubbed her hand along his chin. She knew that his pride was just as hurt as his leg and head.

"Some Nature Boy I am," he groaned, shifting his position and wincing at the discomfort.

"We'll just have to train George to pick apples," Kathryn suggested, lowering her shoulder a bit so that his head could rest against it.

"That's… a good idea." Chakotay yawned and closed his eyes.

She held her hand to his cheek. "You sleep. I'll wake you in a little while."

~vVv~

They made it through the night, holding each other close for the warmth and security. She woke him several times so that he wouldn't drift into too deep of a sleep. And sometime after midnight, with her help, he'd managed to get to his feet and walk a few steps away from their small campsite in order to relieve himself. Even in the dim light, she could see the look of relief that crossed his face, and she'd almost laughed.

When morning came, he was ready to get going.

"Chakotay, I'm not dragging you back to the house." She was sitting next to the fire, mashing up bits of apples and berries in a cup. "We're going to eat our breakfast, and then I'm going to find something that you can use as a cane or a crutch. And if we stop to rest along the way, we should make it home in about an hour and a half."

"All right," he agreed, rubbing a hand over the bandage on his forehead.

Kathryn could tell that his head was hurting. She set down the cup of fruit, reached into her pocket, and took out the hypospray. She got up and stepped over to him.

"Here, this'll help."

He tried to push her hand away, but she managed to press the instrument to his neck.

"Kathryn… I don't need that," he complained, hating to admit to any signs of weakness or pain.

She sat back down with a sigh. "No. But your head did." She took the cup of fruit and handed it to him. "Now, eat some of this. Pretend it's…" she shrugged, "eggs and ketchup?"

He laughed softly. "Sorry, my imagination's a little bit… dented this morning." But he reached his fingers into the cup and took some of the fruit anyway.

While he ate, Kathryn scouted around the area and returned with a sturdy limb. Within fifteen minutes, Chakotay had used the phaser to transform the piece of wood into a cane.

For the next half hour, he practiced with the cane, alternately using it and leaning on Kathryn. She could tell he was in pain, but he never said a word. She drew in a deep breath as he walked away from her, his right let stiff, his gait uneven. He was her warrior. And pain was just another battle to be fought.

~vVv~

It was the longest hour and a half of her life. They walked slowly, stopping every five or ten minutes for Chakotay to rest. He would often not want to stop, and she would have to make him, almost forcing him to sit down or lean against a tree. He was feverish and she knew that he was experiencing some dizziness, but still he pressed on, determined to get them home. After a while, the cane wasn't enough, and he grudgingly looped his arm over her shoulder, allowing her to help support him. She hadn't been planning on "dragging him home," but in some ways, she was. Sheer force of will kept them going.

When she felt that neither of them could go any further, they rounded the last few trees and their small house came into view. Ten minutes later, she had Chakotay in his pajamas and tucked into bed. They both managed to drink a cup of soup, and then she insisted that he take a nap.

"You should be resting, too," he complained, as she sat beside him, changing the bandage on his head.

"I will in a few minutes." She taped another bandage in place. "This is coming along just fine. The cut should be completely healed by this evening."

"And the concussion?" He blinked up at her, his eyes tired.

"If that's your way of asking whether you can sleep longer than an hour at a time, the answer is yes."

He smiled. "Good. But I'm not sleeping until you put on your pajamas and get in bed."

She sighed. "Chakotay. I've got a few things to take care of. I'll take a nap in a little while." She started to get up from the edge of the bed, but his hand reached out and grasped her wrist.

"Kathryn… I mean it. If you won't think of yourself, think of the baby."

She swallowed. He was right. She was tired. And she needed to rest. And so did the baby.

"All right."

She undressed and slipped into her nightgown. Chakotay held up the blankets and she crawled underneath them, curling close to him. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank you," he murmured, hip lips kissing her ear.

"For what?" She sighed; his slight fever made his embrace warmer.

"You rescued me."

She smiled. "I did, didn't I?"

"Um-um."

She turned over in his arms, careful not to bump his injured leg. Her head was resting next to his on the pillow, and she gazed into his dark eyes. "Poor Tom," she whispered. "He'll never know."

His expression creased with confusion.

And she gently rubbed her fingers along his jawline, touched the dimple in his chin. "Your life no longer belongs to him. It's mine now, Nature Boy."

He grinned and kissed the fingers that brushed over his lips. "It's been yours for a long time. Tom just never knew."

~vVv~