Broken Wings, by Tracy T

Part 10

See disclaimer in Part 1

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Sam reached Aggie first, and had to shoo a worried Francesca away to get to her. The other dogs were circling around looking scared and worried, too.

"Aggie," Sam knelt down and cupped her cheek. "Listen to me. Don't move right now, okay? What hurts?"

"My wrist. I tried to stop myself when I fell, and I felt it snap." Both Jack and Sam winced at the description. "I hit my head, too." Sam nodded. There was a trickle of blood on Aggie's forehead. "My side hurts some. Damned old porch. The sea air just eats into the wood until it crumbles. I haven't kept up the painting like Joe did. Guess this is mostly my fault."

Jack had his cell phone out and dialed 911, getting the ambulance on the way. "Aggie, can you tell me Abner's number?"

"Oh, don't tell Abner, he'll just scold me." Aggie tried to move, but Sam held her still.

"Aggie, Abner needs to know. What's his number?" Jack gave her his best Colonel look and Aggie caved, reciting the number.

Jack spoke with Abner, who wanted to come out to the house right now, but Jack told him to meet them at the hospital since the ambulance could be heard in the distance.

When the ambulance arrived, one of the medics grinned at Jack. "Not you this time, eh?" It was the same crew that had come when Jack had been hurt.

"Not this time," Jack agreed, gesturing to where Aggie lay.

The ambulance crew got Aggie stabilized then got her up on a gurney and loaded her into the ambulance.

Jack took Sam's arm and said softly, "Sam, why don't you go with Aggie, I'll follow in the Jeep."

"Jack, you can't drive with your knee like that. You go with Aggie. I'll meet you at the hospital." Jack wanted to object, but Sam's argument made more sense.

"Okay, see you there."

*************

Jack was sitting in the waiting room, staring at the floor, when a Styrofoam cup of coffee entered his field of vision. He looked up to find Sam as the bearer of gifts. He smiled and took his cup, while she settled next to him with hers. "Any news yet?"

Jack shook his head. "No. Abner went to see what he could find out, but he's not back yet."

Sam nodded and sipped her coffee. Aggie's nephews, Tyler and Josh were sitting with their parents, Abner's son Kevin and his wife Maggie. All of them were somber and quiet. They nodded civilly to Jack and Sam with a smile, but they weren't very talkative.

Jack was surprised when Sam leaned into him a bit. He wasn't objecting, this was nice, but it was also somewhat unexpected. He reacted by laying his arm across the back of the couch possessively. He gave her a small smile, which she returned silently.

Abner came bustling back into the room, and everyone stood. "Well, she's got a concussion, two broken ribs and a broken wrist. She'll be fine, but she's been admitted for a few days."

"Can we go see her?" Kevin asked.

Abner shook his head. "Not tonight, son, they have her sedated. We'll come back tomorrow and see her, okay?"

After some polite good-byes Kevin's family headed for home. Jack put an arm around Sam and started to shepherd her toward the door when Abner stopped him.

"Jack, Sam, thanks for all you did for Aggie. Who knows how long she would have laid there if you hadn't found her and called for help."

"Not a problem, Abner, just wish we'd found her sooner."

Abner nodded. "Uh, listen, could I ask you folks to take care of the dogs for a while? I can come during the day, but it's a problem for me at night. I don't see too well in the dark. It's hard for me to drive."

"We'd be happy to. We'll keep an eye on the house, too." Jack assured him

Abner smiled. "Thank you both." He fished around in his pocket. "Here's her house key." He handed it over.

"Well, thanks, Abner, but come to think of it, I don't think we had any time to lock the doors before we left."

Abner chuckled. "Not to worry. The dogs won't let any strangers in. Have you heard them when they all get to barking?"

Jack and Sam exchanged a look. Jack cleared his throat. "Oh, once or twice."

****************

Later that night Jack woke with Sam's head heavy on his shoulder. He carefully adjusted his position, then froze when he heard heavy snoring from the floor. Oh. Yeah. The dogs had whined so pitifully when they got home, so they took them all to the guest house with them. The dogs seemed to be comforted just having someone around, so Jack went and got their bowls and moved them into the guest house for the duration. Currently Chester, Kirby and Baxter were stretched out on the floor, snoring away, while Francesca took the only chair in the room. Jack liked being around dogs, and Sam seemed to like having them around, too. She was sleeping soundly, thank goodness. Come to think of it, he thought, she hadn't had and episode for about a week now. That was encouraging.

As if she could read his thoughts, Sam stirred and opened her eyes slightly. "That's not you snoring, is it?" Her voice was low and husky with sleep.

Jack snorted. "Not me. Talk to Chester."

Sam grinned. They found themselves nearly nose to nose. Jack started to lean in, then remembered their last encounter and stopped himself. "Sorry," He mumbled, releasing her.

"Jack," Sam put a hand on his arm. "You don't have to stop. I'm sorry for the way I reacted last time."

She looked so sad that he couldn't help reaching up to cup her face with his hands. "Sam, God, don't be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry about. I'm the one who should apologize. I hope you know, I would never do anything to hurt you, and I never meant to scare you like that."

Sam reached up and put her hand around his wrist. Without a word she leaned in and kissed him. He returned the kiss as gently as possible. He felt as if she might shatter if he handled her any more firmly. Sam made a sound of frustration and pulled back. "Jack, I won't break, you know." She kissed him again, passionately, and Jack reacted in kind. He moaned at the taste of her tongue tracing his lips, and kissed her back intimately.

Just then all four dogs jumped to their feet and began to bark loudly. Sam and Jack broke apart abruptly. "Gah!" Jack sat up. "Shut up, dogs!" A beam of light flashed across the French doors heralding the arrival of a car in the drive.

"Who's that, now?" Jack asked grumpily. He got up and grabbed his shorts out from under Francesca, pulling them on and grabbing a T-shirt from the closet. He padded out the doors to find a large tow truck idling in the driveway. A big guy with long, red hair and a Fu Manchu moustache was examining the remains of the porch railing. He had on a denim shirt with the sleeves cut off, showing some very muscular arms. He wore jeans and cowboy boots, and he was scowling down at the rubble. Professional wrestler? Jack wondered.

"Can I help you with something?" Jack approached the man slowly. The man looked up and frowned a bit more. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Jack O'Neill and I live here. Well, in the guest house. Who might you be?"

"I'm Ronny Smith, and my mom's the one in the hospital." With those words he burst into tears, sobbing loudly and covering his face with an arm.

Jack was at a loss. If the guy had wanted a fight, he'd know what to do. If he'd been angry and demanded an explanation, Jack would have been right there, but tears?

Jack was immobilized where he stood, but thankfully Sam appeared at his side, the dogs trailing after her, looking at the newcomer curiously, but thankfully not barking. "Uhm, Ronny? Hi, I'm Sam. Your mom's going to be just fine. We can take you to the hospital in the morning, if you like. They have her sedated tonight. In the meantime, why don't you stay in one of the rooms in the main house for the night. We can call your uncle Abner and have him come fist thing in the morning. How does that sound?" Sam had a hand on Ronny's arm now, and the other was patting his back.

Ronny snuffled loudly and wiped his nose with his bare arm. "Mom's all I got now. Well, there's my snooty sister, Susie, but she's lives all the way up in Oregon. I have an auto body shop in Santa Barbara, not too far from here. I haven't called her in a while. Maybe if I'd looked after her better none of this woulda happened, but with my business and all, I just never seem to have the time…" He let out another wail. Jack gave Sam a panicked look.

"I know, it's hard," Sam was slowly leading him toward the main house, and exchanged a comforting look with Jack. "You go get settled and we'll take care of your truck, okay? We'll come get you first thing in the morning, I promise."

Ronny nodded sadly and disappeared into the house. Sam and Jack stood looking at each other silently for a few moments. "Phew." Jack said. "Thanks for coming to my rescue. I had no idea what to do." He went over and shut the tow truck down, turning off the engine and the lights.

Sam snorted. "I think we should call Abner even if we have to wake him up."

"You got that right," Jack said softly, then as they started to walk away, he added loudly, "Come on, dogs!"

************

As they got back into bed, there was a moment of awkwardness. Sam gave him a nervous smile, and her eyes danced away from his. "Sam," Jack took her chin in his hand. "Listen, we can take this slowly. There's no rush. Let's get a good night's sleep and we'll take Ronny to see Aggie tomorrow."

Sam let out a sigh of relief. "I don't…I mean, It's not that I don't want it…you, it's just…"

"You need a little more time?" Jack spooned up against her.

"Yeah. Something like that." She squeezed the hand he had around her.

"Absolutely not a problem. We'll go as slow or fast as you like, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks." Sam sighed and closed her eyes.

Jack looked at the ceiling and prayed for willpower.

TBC