*Disclaimer: I do not own the song "Blue Christmas" and make no profit by mentioning it in this story.

Chapter 10: The Nightmare Begins

On a cold December night just two weeks before Christmas, Magua sat in a chair in his livingroom and looked through a photo album while listening to the radio. Every year a local station played a marathon of holiday songs from Thanksgiving to New Years Day, which in the past had always put him in a festive mood. That is until his wife left him. Now the songs just seemed to rip the empty hole inside of him even bigger than it already was and made the aching loneliness he felt unbearable.

Turning the pages in the album, he smiled as he looked at photo after photo of his ex-wife and his kids, laughing every so often as he recalled the happy family moment captured in the picture. Turning another page, he reached out to the end table next to his chair and picked up a glass, drinking down the remainder of the amber liquid inside before setting it down next to a bottle of whisky. Noticing the bottle was half empty, his hazy mind thought it odd since it had been full when he sat down earlier that evening. Returning his attention to the photo album, he looked at a picture of his ex, Peggy, and he tenderly ran his finger over her face while tears filled his already blurry eyes.

"I miss you, Sweetheart. God, I miss you so much." he whispered to the face smiling up at him from the photo.

As the radio began playing the song 'Blue Christmas', he put down the album and picked up a handmade Christmas card he'd received in the mail that day and began to read it for the fourth time. When he'd removed the envelope containing the card from his mailbox that afternoon, he'd immediately recognized the handwriting of the child who'd addressed it. It was from his ten year old daughter who lived in Albany with her mother and on the card she told of how much she loved her daddy and missed him.

Refilling his glass with more whiskey, he gulped down half of the contents before trying to set the glass back down, missing the table completely and dropping it onto the floor instead. Staring at the words 'I love you Daddy", he swallowed the lump in his throat and clumsily dropped the card as well as he tried to stand up while the singer on the radio still crooned away about how blue Christmas will be without their loved one. Hit by a wave of dizziness, he fell back down into the chair. Unsteadily, he succeeded in standing up the second time, then staggered over to the door as he grabbed the keys to his pickup truck before heading outside.

"I'm c-coming...home, baby girl. Daddy's coming home ta see you." he slurred as he stumbled out the door.

Driving along the dark and winding mountain road, Magua had a hard time keeping his truck in the right lane, a task made all the more difficult by the fact that the center line kept moving on him. Weaving back and forth along the road, he narrowly missed hitting several vehicles coming the other way, yelling at the drivers when they honked their horns at him. Blinking his eyes in an attempt to get them to focus, he narrowly missed hitting the guard rail on the opposite side of the road, oblivious to the fact that on the other side of the guard rail was a sheer drop off down the side of the mountain.

Still zig zagging all over the road, Magua came around a blind turn in a wide swerve that put him squarely in the opposite lane. As he cleared the turn he panicked when he saw two pairs of headlights directly in front of him. In a split second, he attempted to aim for the middle of the double set of lights, intending to drive in between the two vehicles coming at him, he realized at the very last second that there was only one vehicle just as he crashed into it head on.

"Unit two-two-four, please respond to mile marker 17 on route 57. A two vehicle head on collision with fatalities."

"Copy that. Unit two-two-four responding." Duncan replied to the dispatcher as he turned on the emergency lights and siren of his patrol unit and made his way to the accident. Arriving at the scene, he climbed out of his state police SUV just as a wrecking crew pulled a white pickup truck back onto the road from where it had rolled over the guard rail and went off the cliff on the side of the mountain. Making his way around the various emergency medical personnel, he noticed a medivac helicopter with its rotors spinning waiting on the road just up ahead, ready to leave at a moments notice for the trauma center if necessary. Approaching the pickup as the wrecking crew unfastened the cable from the truck, he leaned over and looked inside.

"Aw God, Magua!" he said, fighting back a wave of nausea as he turned away from the sight inside the vehicle.

Moving aside as a paramedic team rushed over, he covered his mouth with his hand and choked back the bile rising in his throat as one of the men immediately pronounced Magua dead at the scene. Walking away from the truck, Duncan headed over to the second vehicle involved in the crash, a black SUV. As he drew closer, something about the smashed remains of the vehicle struck him as familiar and he broke into a run the rest of the way over to it. Reaching the SUV, he craned his neck as he looked over the shoulders of the medical team and firefighters working to remove the victim from the wreckage. When he saw who the driver was, he let out an anguished cry.

"Oh dear God, no!" he said, unable to pull his eyes away from the victim's face. Jumping at the feel of a hand on his shoulder, he turned to find his commanding officer, Captain Jack Winthrop standing beside him.

"I'm sorry, Duncan. I'm told you knew both victims." he said, pausing for a moment as they both watched the emergency crew remove the driver of the black SUV from the wreck.

"Yes." was Duncan's brief, barely audible reply.

"The family needs to be notified." said Jack with a nod toward the victim.

"I'll do it." he whispered grimly.

Sitting at the kitchen table trying to focus on her studies, Alice looked up once again from her laptop to the clock hanging on the wall, worry clearly etched on her face. Deciding to give up on doing any homework, she shut down the laptop and had just closed it when she heard a vehicle pull into the compound. With a big smile and a sigh of relief, she jumped up from the table and ran to the back door, flinging it open. But her joy was short lived and her smile quickly faded when she saw her father and Cora getting out of the car that had just pulled in.

"That's a fine welcome we just received." joked Ed as they entered the kitchen. Setting down the box containing some of Alice's favorite Christmas decorations, he immediately became serious when he saw the worried look on his youngest daughter's face. "What's the matter, girl?"

Before she could answer, Chingachgook stepped into the room.

"Did I hear a car? Oh…hello Ed, Cora." he said, sounding disappointed and also appearing visibly concerned.

"Is he back yet?" asked Nathaniel as he too hurried into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" asked Cora who was now beginning to feel unsettled herself.

"Uncas went out this afternoon to release one of the animals in the mountains. He said he'd be home in plenty of time for dinner which was almost two hours ago and he still hasn't come back yet." said Alice as she unconsciously rubbed the sides of her arms.

"Maybe he just got delayed. Have you tried calling him?" asked Ed in an attempt to be optimistic.

"Yes, I have. Numerous times. Here, listen." said Alice. Placing her cell on speaker phone, she called Uncas and held the phone up for the others to hear. A three note tone was heard before a voice recording came on.

"We're sorry. The number you have reached is temporarily out of service. Please try your call again later."

"Every time I call him I get this message." Alice explained as Cora put her arm around her sister's shoulder. Just then another vehicle was heard pulling into the compound as its headlights flashed through the window on the back door.

"Uncas!" Alice cried, breaking free of Cora and running toward the door. At the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs onto the deck, they saw Alice's back stiffen as she froze in the doorway before slowly backing into the kitchen as a grim faced Duncan followed her into the house.

"Hello everyone." he said in a somber voice.

"Duncan? Can I get you some coffee?" asked Chingachgook, trying to delay the bad news he suddenly knew was coming.

"No, thank you. I'm afraid this isn't a social call." replied Duncan as he looked around the room at the faces before him, dreading to break the news to them.

"What is it Duncan?" asked Nathaniel in a flat tone, his jaw clenched as he stared directly at the officer.

"There's been an accident. I'm afraid it's Uncas."

"What happened?" asked Chingachgook, gripping the counter top to steady himself.

"He was involved in a head on collision on Promontory Point. A pickup truck crossed into his lane at that sharp turn where it levels out at the peak and plowed right into him."

"Oh my God!" said Cora who, along with her father, put a hand on Alice's shoulder when she sagged into a kitchen chair.

"Uncas?" whispered a trembling Alice, her breath coming in short gasps.

"How bad is it?" asked Nathaniel, trying to fight back the fear that knotted his stomach at the thought of what Duncan's answer might be.

"It's bad. They airlifted him by medivac transport to the trauma center. He was barely hanging on when they left."

"We'll take my truck!" said Chingachgook, instantly springing forward to grab his keys and coat from the pegs on the wall before heading toward the door.

"We'll follow you!" said Ed.

No! Let me take you there." said Duncan firmly as he grabbed Chingachgook to stop him. "None of you are in any state to be driving. Its bad enough Uncas was in an accident. I'll be damned if I'm going to risk that happening to any of you as well. There's plenty of room for everyone in my unit. Get whatever you need and let's go."

Within minutes they were speeding out of the sanctuary with lights flashing and siren blasting.

"We're here to see Uncas McKinnon!" Cora breathlessly stated to a woman sitting behind the counter at the nurses' station in the E.R.

"Are you his family?" the nurse asked as she appraised the group standing before her before turning her attention to the computer monitor to look up the patient's status and location.

"Yes. I'm his father." said Chingachgook, his voice shaking as much as his hands as he placed them on the counter.

"He's still in surgery. They rushed him straight to the O.R. as soon as he arrived. Take the elevator up to the fourth floor. There'll be a waiting area straight ahead as soon as you get off. The doctor will come speak to you there as soon as he can." said the nurse.

"I know where it is. Thank you." Cora said to the nurse, who nodded in reply.

Upon exiting the elevator, Cora led the others over to the large seating area located just outside of the double doors that led into the I.C.U. Sitting down between her father and Cora, Alice fidgeted in her seat.

"How long before the doctor comes to talk to us?" she asked, her hands clamped tightly together in her lap as she tried not to shake.

"I'm going to see if I can find anything out." said Cora. Just as she was about to stand up, the double doors opened. "Alex!" Cora cried out.

"The nurse down in the E.R. called and said you were all on your way up." said Alex, who looked visibly upset herself as she came over and sat down with them, gingerly placing the large black plastic bag she was holding on her lap.

"What's going on Alex, have you heard anything?" asked Nathaniel.

"Yes, I have. As soon as the medivac helicopter arrived they rushed Uncas into surgery with severe internal bleeding, but that's about all I'm allowed to tell you. You'll have to wait until the doctor comes to speak to you. He'll be able to give you more detailed information about his condition and answer your questions." she said.

"She's right. As hard as it is, we'll just have to wait." agreed Cora. "Alex, who's the doctor in charge of Uncas?"

"Dr. Norman Phelps has been assigned to his case. He's the top trauma surgeon in the state, possibly the entire Northeastern seaboard. Uncas is lucky to have him."

"Have you seen Uncas?" asked Alice, desperate for more news.

"No, I haven't. I won't see him until they move him over here from the O.R." replied Alex.

"How soon will we get to see him?" Alice asked next.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to see him, Alice. Only his family will be allowed to go in. That means only Dr. McKinnon and Hawk will be able to see him."

"But I am his family!" Alice cried.

"A girlfriend doesn't count as family, Alice. I'm sorry." said Alex as she leaned forward from her seat and put a sympathetic hand on Alice's knee. Alice looked around at the faces of everyone surrounding her as she shook her head from side to side.

"You don't understand! None of you do!"Alice cried out as she burst into tears.

"I'm his wife!"

For a moment it was so quiet in the waiting area that a pin could have been heard dropping on the floor as everyone sat in stunned silence after Alice's statement.

"Alice, what are you talking about? What do you mean you're his wife?" asked Chingachgook as he also leaned forward in his chair.

"Alice…honey?" said Ed, putting his arm around his daughter's shoulder. After taking a moment to get hold of herself and get her voice back, she answered them.

"Uncas and I were married last month. We eloped." said Alice as she pulled the chain around her neck out from under her collar and showed them their wedding rings. Looking at their rings and fingering Uncas's wedding band, she fought back more tears before she was able to speak again.

"We were going to tell all of you during Thanksgiving, but after Papa and Dr. McKinnon both said they were glad we were finally taking our time in our relationship, we were afraid to say anything and we decided to wait until Christmas. That's when we were going to pretend to announce our engagement so that you wouldn't all think we were rushing into anything too quickly. That way all of you could enjoy our wedding, but we really would have only been renewing our vows."

"Oh God, Alice!" said Ed, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"I can't believe this!" Cora said as she stared at her sister.

"I can. That's my brother." said Nathaniel with a slight smile that rapidly began to contort out of shape as he swallowed hard and fought back the tears that threatened to break loose at any moment.

"So can I." said Chingachgook, his voice hoarse with grief. "My son loves you very much, Alice. And I think he made the decision to share his life with you the moment he first met you. Nothing would have stopped him from being with you."

"So I guess that makes all of you his family now." said Duncan.

"Yes, it does." agreed Chingachgook.

"Well….I was going to give this to Dr. McKinnon, but since you're Uncas's wife…..I need to give it to you." said Alex as she gently placed the black plastic bag on Alice's lap.

"What is it?" she asked. Alex paused a moment before answering.

"It's Uncas's personal belongings."

Holding the bag on her lap, Alice tried to muster up the strength to open it. Taking a deep breath, she tried to steady her hands as she unfastened the top closure and looked inside at its contents. Recognizing the first item lying on top, she let out a cry as she removed the green calico dance shirt he had been wearing that day. Knowing how much Alice liked the way he looked in that shirt, he'd put it on for her that morning. Now torn and splattered with his blood, she hugged the shirt tightly and buried her face into it, crying uncontrollably as she rocked back and forth, letting the bag slid off of her lap.

While Cora and Ed tried to console her, a stricken Chingachgook watched as Nathaniel solemnly picked the bag up off the floor and removed the rest of the items. A pair of blue jeans, a sherpa lined denim jacket, and undergarments, all of which had obviously been cut off of him by the medical team. Hiking boots, a wallet, a broken wrist watch and a smashed cell phone made up the remainder of the bag's contents. Stuffing the items back into the bag, he looked up at the ceiling while struggling to maintain his composure as several tears escaped and ran down his cheeks.

Everyone sat quietly for the next few minutes until Duncan received a call on his cell phone. Excusing himself, he stepped away from the group to take the call just as a nurse exited the double doors and approached them, introducing herself as the head nurse in charge of the I.C.U.

"How's everyone holding up?" she asked them.

"As well as can be expected. Is there any news yet?" Cora asked.

"Uncas was just brought over here from the O.R. As soon as we get him settled in Dr. Phelps will come and speak to all of you. It will be just a little bit longer. Cora, Alex tells me Uncas is a close friend of your family. Your sister's boyfriend I believe?"

"Actually he's my brother-in-law. He and Alice were married recently." said Cora, surprised at how saying those words for the first time instantly changed the way she felt about Uncas. No longer was he simply Alice's boyfriend. He was now a member of the family and someone she suddenly realized she'd come to be very fond of.

"I see." said the nurse. "Well, I was going to ask you how you felt about working in the I.C.U with him in there as a patient, but under the circumstances I think it would be better if you take some time off. I'll schedule you for emergency family leave. Take all the time you need." she said as she patted Cora's arm and excused herself.

"I better get back in there myself." said Alex, rising from her seat to follow the other woman. As Alex and the head nurse left the waiting area, Duncan returned and sat down looking even grimmer if that were possible.

"Are you alright?" Ed asked him.

"I think it's going to be a long time before I'm alright again." he replied.

"Duncan, you said my son was involved in a collision with another car. I never asked you about the other driver?" asked Chingachgook.

"He died in the crash. His truck went over the guard rail and down the cliff. He was pronounced dead at the scene. There's um…..there's something I need to tell you about that as well." said Duncan, hesitating a moment before telling them who the other driver was.

"The man who hit Uncas….was Magua." he said, receiving a stunned reaction from the others.

"What?" Chingachgook said as he rose up out of his chair, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"That was my captain who called just now. He said the medical examiner did a preliminary test at the scene and found Magua's blood alcohol level to be well above the legal limit. When they went to his house they found the front door wide open and a half empty bottle of whiskey in the livingroom along with a Christmas card from his daughter and a photo album of family pictures. He must have been drinking and missing his family and decided to drive to Albany and see them."

Chingachgook slowly shook his head and closed his eyes while squeezing the bridge of his nose, then lowered himself back down into his chair.

"At least there's some small comfort in the fact that he had no way of knowing who he hit. It would have killed him to know what he did to Uncas. He loved him like a son."

"Isn't it ironic?" said Nathaniel. "Every year at the reenactment of the massacre, he would pretend to kill Uncas in that fight scene, which supposedly took place up on Promontory Point. This year, though, Magua had no idea he was actually going to end up…."

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" screamed Alice as she leaped out of her chair and ran over to Nathaniel, pounding on him with her fists until he was able to grab her hands and stop her. "He's not going to die! He's NOT! He can't! He just can't…."

Crying uncontrollably as she sagged to the floor, Nathaniel and Duncan brought her to her feet and set her down in the chair Nathaniel had just vacated. Ed rushed over to his daughter's side and held her in his arms to comfort her.

"It'll be alright, girl. It'll be alright." he said, praying his words would come true.

Just then the double doors swung open and a tall, middle aged man dressed in green surgical scrubs entered the waiting area.

"Are you the McKinnon family?" he asked.

"I'm Dr. Norman Phelps. Why don't we all go in here, shall we?" he said, indicating a private room off of the main waiting area. After everyone had moved inside and was seated, he closed the door and took a seat of his own across from them, then ascertained everyone's relationship to his patient.

"How is he?" asked Chingachgook.

"Uncas is in extremely critical condition. The collision crushed the front of his vehicle, pushing the engine and dashboard backward and he took a severe blow to the chest from the steering column. Thank God he had airbags in that truck to cushion some of the impact or else we'd be having a very different conversation right now. As a result, he has eight broken ribs and bruising to his kidneys along with multiple abrasions, lacerations and contusions. Those are the minor injuries. Now for the more serious ones. When Uncas arrived here, he was hemorrhaging internally from a ruptured spleen. We rushed him directly into surgery and managed to stop most of the bleeding but not all of it."

"Why not?" asked Cora.

"We had to stop the surgery when his condition became too unstable to continue. During the crash one of his broken ribs punctured his left lung and the resulting pressure caused both lungs to collapse. The medical team at the scene immediately inserted a chest tube and released the pressure, allowing the lungs to re-expand, however while we were operating he went into respiratory arrest."

"What does that mean?" asked Alice, not understanding the medical terminology.

"It means he stopped breathing." said Dr. Phelps. "Our attempts to restore respiration were unsuccessful so we put Uncas on a ventilator which will do the breathing for him until he is able to do so on his own. These injuries combined with the heavy loss of blood and the severe trauma from the impact has put his body into shock. His vital signs are unstable and he's extremely weak. He also has a severe concussion and is in a coma."

"Oh my God." whispered Alice, clamping a hand over her mouth and hugging the green shirt tightly to her chest.

"There's one more injury I need to tell you about. His right leg was pinned underneath the dashboard and part of the engine block, resulting in a dislocated knee and numerous fractures to the Tibia, which is the large bone in the lower leg. We've temporarily set the fractures and repositioned the knee but he's going to need extensive surgery to repair the damage. But that will have to come later. Right now he's in no condition for that, so we'll keep the leg immobilized in a splint."

"You said he's still bleeding internally?" asked Ed.

"Yes, he is. The remainder of the bleeding is minimal and should stop on its own. We repaired the majority of the damage to his spleen before we had to stop and, hopefully, the rest will repair itself. We're monitoring him closely to see how it goes."

"What are my son's chances, Doctor?" asked Chingachgook, who up until now had remained silent. As a doctor himself, he knew the graveness of the situation and he tried to brace himself for the answer. Dr. Phelps took a deep breath and slowly let it out before answering the question.

"They're not good. As it stands now, it's not likely that he'll make it through the night."

Passing through the double doors, Alice felt like she was living in a nightmare she couldn't wake up from. Ahead of her was a long corridor leading to the main area of the I.C.U. On the left side of the hallway was a wall peppered with doors that led to supply rooms, offices, a conference room and, in the main area up ahead, the nurses' station. On the right were the glass fronted patient rooms, with a series of small monitoring stations set up outside at regular intervals, allowing the nurses assigned to each station to monitor the patients in two rooms at a time. Curving around the main area of the unit, the patient rooms continued around the other side. As they walked through the corridor of the I.C.U., Dr. Phelps filled the family in on what they could expect to see when they went into Uncas's room.

"It's not going to be easy for any of you when you see Uncas. He's hooked up to a lot of equipment and monitors, so there's going to be various tubes and wires attached to him. He also has a trach tube down his throat which is hooked up to the ventilator. Occasionally you may hear the ventilator beep and see a green light flash on it. Don't be alarmed if that happens, it's a good thing. It means that he took a breath on his own." said Dr. Phelps as he placed a hand on Alice's arm.

"He wants to breathe, Mrs. McKinnon, and he's trying to. He just can't right now. Because of the tube down his throat, we have a neck brace on him to keep his head and neck immobilized. And, as I said earlier, he has a lot of cuts and bruises on his face and body."

Stopping in the middle of the hallway, Dr. Phelps turned to the group and cautioned them about one more thing.

"Now, there's something I need to tell you before you go in there. Even though Uncas is in a coma, it's entirely possible that he can hear what is going on around him, so be very careful what you say in his presence. I know it's hard, but try to be upbeat and positive, ok? The last thing we want is for him to get stressed out because of anything he might have heard you say, especially if he can hear by your voices that you're upset."

"We understand." said Nathaniel.

"Mrs. McKinnon? Are you ready to see your husband?" asked Dr. Phelps, concerned for the visibly terrified young wife of his patient.

Still clutching his green shirt and with her eyes wide like saucers, Alice rapidly nodded her head.

"Yes." she whispered.

"Alright. I'll allow three of you to go in. The rest of you will have to wait outside his room. He's right in there." said Dr. Phelps gently as he indicated a room up ahead, directly across from the main nurses' station.

Approaching the room with Chingachgook and Nathaniel, Alice felt like she was walking to her execution. As much as she wanted to see Uncas, she dreaded it at the same time. As they neared his room, she looked in the large window and froze in her tracks. Clinging to Chingachgook, whose arms she felt tighten around her, her breathe caught in her throat.

The sight of Uncas lying in the hospital bed was even more frightening than what the doctor had described. With the head of the bed slightly elevated, he was lying on his back with a sheet covering him up to his waist and was surrounded by various machines and monitors. Four round white patches were attached to his chest with wires leading from them over to a black screened monitor with multiple green lines blipping across the screen, some going very slow, others very fast.

Several IV bags, one of which contained blood, were draining into tubes which were connected to a central catheter inserted into the back of his left hand. A neck brace held his head straight and in his mouth was another large tube, secured in place by tape and leading to the ventilator that itself was hooked up to connections in the wall behind the bed. On the front of the ventilator, an accordion-shaped tube rose and fell in sync with the rising and falling of Uncas' chest, while the machine itself emitted the sound of the air being forced into his lungs at measured intervals.

Guided by Chingachgook, Alice entered the room behind Nathaniel and stood beside them on the left side of the bed. Looking down at the love of her life lying motionless, she thought it strange that were it not for the medical equipment and his injuries, he looked like he was simply asleep. Holding his limp right hand, she began to take note of every cut and bruise that was visible on his body. Two large dark bruises were on his forehead above his right eye and under the right side of his nose was a large scraped area which, at first sight, gave the appearance that his nose was bleeding. Numerous cuts were on his arms and left shoulder and his chest had a large pale bruise in the center of it resembling the shape of the steering wheel. She also noticed a square adhesive bandage across the center of his lower chest, just under the ribcage.

"What is the bandage for?" Alice numbly asked the doctor, who had just joined them.

"It's covering the incision from the surgery." Dr. Phelps replied. "I know all of you want to stay with Uncas, but I'm afraid you'll have to leave now. We're still working to try and stabilize his condition and there are also a lot of test we need to run on him."

"I'm not leaving him!" Alice stated firmly to the doctor as she gently rubbed the side of the hand she was holding.

"I'm afraid you'll have to. This is not an option, Mrs. McKinnon. We're trying to save your husband's life. Each of you take a moment to say what you want to say to him and then you all have to go."

Chingachgook placed his hand on Uncas's arm and let out a long, shaky breath before speaking softly, his voice cracked with emotion.

"Be strong my son. Stay with us. Please stay with us. We need you….I need you." Leaning forward, he placed a kiss on his son's forehead. "I love you, son."

Next to speak was Nathaniel. Moving closer toward his brother's head, he put his hand on Uncas's shoulder and tried to smile.

"Hey, bro! Don't think you're getting out of cleaning that supply shed this easy. You're the one who lost the coin toss, remember?" Clamping his lips together, he swallowed hard before being able to continue speaking.

"Say, who did your hair for you?" he asked, noticing Uncas's long hair had been loosely braided into a ponytail. "I'll bet Alex did that so it doesn't get tangled up on you while you're laying around taking it easy." Bending over, he placed his forehead against Uncas's and closed his eyes as he held his brother's face with his hand. "You hang in there, brother. You hear? You're strong! You survive! You stay alive, no matter what occurs. I know you can do it!"

After Nathaniel stepped back to join his father near the doorway, Alice and Dr. Phelps were the only ones remaining at the bedside. Taking the hand she was holding and gently placing it down on the bed at his side, she moved closer to Uncas's head. With one hand on his shoulder, she gently caressed the side of his face.

"I have to go now, baby. It's late and you need your rest. But I'll be just down the hall if you need me, ok?...Please don't leave me. Please! You're my brave warrior….fight! And you need to breathe, baby. I know it's hard and it probably hurts, but breathe! Please? Do it for me, ok? Just try to breathe." Seeing the doctor hold out his hand to her, indicating it was time for her to go, she turned back toward Uncas once more.

"I have to go now. Get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow morning. I love you, Uncas!" she said as she kissed his cheek.

Joining the rest of the family out in the corridor, Alice took one more look at Uncas before she turned and walked away. None of them heard the beep from the ventilator nor saw the green light flash.

"I knew you'd all want to spend the night here so I arranged for some cots to be brought in. Between them and the two sofas, you should all be more comfortable. And Alex put together a bag of personal care products for you. Soap, washcloths, toothpaste, toothbrushes, that sort of thing." said Dr. Phelps after he escorted the family back to the private room next to the waiting area.

"As I said earlier, we're going to continue to work on getting Uncas stabilized and closely monitor his condition. Should anything happen tonight, I'll send someone down to get you immediately, but I have to say that every hour he's survived so far is a step in the right direction. He's young, he's strong and he is clearly not giving up and neither are we."

"Thank you Dr. Phelps. We're grateful for everything you're doing for Uncas." said Chingachgook.

"Yes, we are." said Cora.

"Indebted to you." added Ed.

"You're welcome. I'm glad I can help." said the doctor. "Oh, there's one more thing. Should Uncas survive this ordeal, he's going to have a difficult recovery ahead of him and will be looking at a lot of painful physical therapy to get the use of that leg back. I'm afraid that young man will be facing a long road home." Seeing that Alice was barely keeping it together, he sat down beside her and, although he addressed everyone, he looked at Alice while he spoke.

"Try to get some sleep tonight. I know that sounds easier said than done, but you have to keep your strength up. Uncas needs you; he needs all of you more than he's ever needed you before in his life. Get some rest and be sure to eat. If not for yourselves, do it for him. Now….try to get some sleep. Good night."

After the doctor left, Duncan informed Chingachgook and Nathaniel of some news he'd been given by Alex while they were visiting Uncas.

"While Cora and I were waiting outside, Alex stopped by. She was on her way to see to another patient but she asked me to tell you not to worry about the sanctuary. She called John and told him what happened. Needless to say he was pretty devastated. She said John then got in contact with Ongewasgone and the two of them, along with some other people from the veterinary hospital you used to work at are going to look after the animals so that you both can stay here and be with Uncas."

"I've been so worried about my son, I'd forgotten all about the sanctuary. I'll have to thank all of them properly for their help." said Chingachgook who was clearly beginning to show the strain of the evening.

"Since I'm close to both of the victims, my commander has put me on personal leave as well, so if you'd like, I can drive out there at any time and check on things or get you anything you might need while you're here."

"Thanks Duncan. We appreciate it. It means a lot." said Nathaniel.

"Don't mention it. I uh…I was wondering if you would mind if I camped out here tonight with all of you. I mean, I know I'm not family but…."

"Please, stay with us. I'd arm wrestle you to see which one of us gets a cot and who gets the couch but under the circumstan…excuse me!" said Nathaniel, who's voice broke as he suddenly ran out of the room, unable to hold back his grief any longer.

"I'll go." said Cora as she followed him out of the room. Standing out in the waiting area, she looked around and found him leaning against the wall near the men's room, his shoulders shaking as he finally let go of the tears. Upon reaching his side, she held open her arms and he practically fell into them. Comforting him as he released all of the emotion and fears he'd been holding in all evening, they were unaware of Duncan watching them from the waiting area.

Lying in the darkness on her cot, Alice still clung to Uncas's green shirt, afraid that if she let go of it for even a second she'd be letting go of him. Listening to the even breathing of the others as they slept, she also listened to every sound coming from outside of the door. Every ding of the elevator, every voice, every footstep, every page for a doctor over the speaker had her full attention. But the sound that she listened to the closest, the one that made her jump every time she heard it was the sound of the double doors to the I.C.U being opened and each time she heard it, she waited for the knock on the door to come. Lovingly stroking the shirt as though he were inside of it, she buried her face into it and breathed in deep, taking in his earthy scent of wood smoke and sage which still lingered in the fabric. Closing her eyes, she whispered a little prayer before finally drifting off to sleep.

"Dear Lord, Please watch over Uncas tonight and keep him safe. I've only just become his wife. Please don't let me be his widow come the morning."

Author's Note: Of all the chapters that I have written for fanfiction, this was the most difficult one for me to write. I know things look pretty grim right now, but trust me. We are only at the half way point of this story and there is still much more to this tale to come, plus I peppered this chapter with some hints of what lies ahead.

This chapter contained a lot of medical references and although I based this information on reliable sources I researched on the Internet, as well as the personal accounts of a former co-worker who's granddaughter was involved in a head on collision (with injuries identical to Uncas's), I make no claims to medical accuracy, although I did do my best to be as accurate as possible.

This weekend I will be attending a Native American art show and I will not have time to write for the next few days, so the next chapter might take a little longer than usual for me to finish. I apologize for keeping you waiting. Believe me, I don't want to keep things hanging like this either.

My thanks to all who are following this story and to all of you who take the time to write reviews. You are very much appreciated. The next chapter will be posted as soon as I can complete it.