Joe and Candy's stroll came to an end when they found themselves about back where they'd originally started. Across the street from the livery stable. Both aware it was just about time to collect that grain seed they'd been promised.

"I'll let Jody know we're bringin' the wagon 'round," Joe said, ready to continue on toward the mercantile and the only chore they'd been given for the day.

"She'll be pleased as pie at the extra work!" Were Candy's parting words as he turned to take the steps down to street level.

Beginning his crossing of the wide dirt road, Candy's ears perked upon hearing a horse transitioning into a gallop. Figuring it must be a courier with an important package trying to make a deadline they'd forgotten about, he hurried to clear the outbound side of the street. Brow furrowing when the thunder of hooves hitting hard packed dirt got jumbled as they echoed off the surrounding buildings, making it sound almost as if the horse was changing course. Maybe even angling straight for-

"Candy!"

At the call of his name, the vaquero in the very center of the street glanced up and had a split second to take in the sight of a horse and rider tearing straight for him, before he was knocked clean off his feet and into the dust. But not by the oncoming, mad dashing horse. No, whatever'd hit him had come from a completely different side and was smaller, softer, and far less dangerous. Something that flashed green in the corner of his eye right as it took his place in the path of the oncoming-
Wait. Green?

"Joe?!" He felt himself yell as the horrid sound of an almost faltering lope grew distant and he shoved himself out of the dirt with a desperation he wanted no part of. A desperation which did anything but abate when he span around and took in the sight of his best friend sprawled in the road. A set of hoof tracks to his either side.

"Joe?!" Candy repeated. Already racing heart beating even faster when he realized the horse and rider could always swing around for another pass. At the sound of a whimper though, all other concerns fled as he realized Joe wasn't getting up on his own.

Frustrated when his first step was more of a stumble, Candy gave his head a shake, ignoring the trembling he could feel in his extremities, and got himself over there fast as he could.

"Joe, why'd you go and do a fool thing like that?" Candy demanded, pulling Joe to his feet, up and out of the dirt. "It's pure folly; you know I can hop out the way with the best of 'em," he said, just to fill the air while directing the both of them as close to the side of the lane as he could.
All the while feeling desperate fingers gripping his red shirted arms, quickly cutting off the circulation to his hands, as he strained to keep his unsteady friend upright.

"E'en the best of 'em trip up event'lly." Joe managed as they finally made it even somewhat 'out of the road'. Locking eyes with Candy before trying for more. "My only folly... was fallin' for you," Joe whispered. Before what felt like his entire weight slumped face first into Candy's shoulder.

"Joe? Joe?!" Candy stopped himself from shaking the limp body, only still upright for the support of his arms, when he realized how slurred Joe's speech had been. Somehow knowing that that was a bad sign.

"Joseph?! Joe?!"

Candy looked up at the harried shouts to see a black streak bolting toward them from the middle of a crowd forming on the nearest boardwalk.
Considering it sounded worried more than aggressive, Candy turned his attention back to the whitening friend he was doing his best to continue supporting as he lowered him to the ground. Then, feeling the color going out of his own face, he put a hand below Joe's nose and held it there. Wishing he could ignore the frantic staccato his own heartbeat had become.
"Thank God," he let out at the feeling of warm air against his palm.
Joe hadn't stopped breathing.

"Canaday, what happened?" And now Adam Cartwright was kneeling in the dirt on Joe's other side. Right across from him.
"Hoss is getting a doctor. Meantime, I need you to tell me what happened," Candy heard through the rushing in his ears.

"He- he pushed me. A horse- Someone was trying to run me over and Joe..." he trailed off and just watched as Adam pulled his littlest brother's jacket front completely open and put an ear right down on his chest. Resting there only a scant few seconds before sitting to a hunch and pulling one, then the other of Joe's eyelids open, giving a nod after each.
Then, face grim but not quite dire, Adam looked up and Candy didn't have the energy to squirm as the older brother gave him a quick study.

"You're hurt?"

"What?"

"Your hand. It's bleeding," came the flat statement that prompted Candy to think of his own health for the first time since he'd been shoved.

The ex army brat looked at his palms, laying face up in his kneeling lap, and balked at the sight of blood. Smeared across one hand.
But, he couldn't remember catching it on anything sharp enough to cause such damage. No, the only thing he'd really touched had been-
"Joe?" He asked, reaching for where he'd cradled the unconscious head to the ground. Fingers coming away wet with more slick, red-

"Blood. He must've gotten himself kicked," Adam bit off, more to himself than to the guy sitting an arms length away, unable to tear his gaze from his own trembling-
"Candy." His eyes snapped up at the use of his name. "Calm down. I know this looks bad- I know just how bad this feels, but the best thing we can do for Joe right this second is keep a level head. So match your breathing to mine," Adam said, in a voice that compelled Candy to comply, "and we'll help Joe get through this together. Alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, alright," Candy managed. Wetting his lips and hoping the feeling came back to his limbs soon. Unable to focus on anything aside from the fact that Joe hadn't moved an inch since making like the world's most life like rag doll.
That is, until two figures came around the curious crowd and Candy was forced to turn his head in order to see them proper.

"Joe?!" Asked a disbelieving Hoss upon laying eyes on the three down in the dirt. Nearly dropping his end of the stretcher he was helping maneuver alongside his injured brother. Face a strange shade of shocked.

"Alright, first responders, let's get him on the stretcher," said the person directing through her own actions for Hoss to allow the contraption to lay flat on the ground. Then she cradled Joe's head as his older brothers moved him onto the waiting stretch of cloth. Then, soon as Adam and Hoss had Joe in the stretcher, off the ground and ready to go, the lady turned on Candy. Who'd stood up out of the dirt at some point without his knowing so.
"Clear a path for us. Office is past that throng and other side of the general store," said with authority of a level that rivaled any drill sergeant Candy'd grown up avoiding.

Without his say so, his wooden legs marched him off and his voice preceded his arms in clearing the curious masses from the boardwalk. Empty promises of their being 'nothing to see here' successful in running off all but the most dedicated busybodies.

Figuring the door with the words, Rosebaum, M.D. in gold letters couldn't be the wrong one, Candy flung it open and held it there for the coming procession.

"Go get my husband," the lady with the dark braid running down her back said to Hoss, soon as Joe, stretcher and all, had been deposited on an examination table along one wall. "He's working on the tailor's roof, one street over."

"Yes'm," said Hoss's after image as the behemoth himself fled out the door Candy was still holding open.

"What's his name? What happened? Any pre-existing conditions?" The lady asked of Adam as she turned to a near desk and extracted a stethoscope.

"Joseph; he was bowled over by a rider and horse, maybe took a hoof to the head; and none to speak of. Also, pupil response seemed alright." At the last sentence, the only one in the room wearing a dress looked up from where she was busy listening to Joe's heart with what appeared to be surprise.

"You are a physician?" She asked, plucking the stethoscope from her ears and putting it back whence it had come.

"No. Just been around enough of them to pick up a few things." Adam offered. No pretension.

"That kind of skill can come in handy."

"It has more than once. Fair share of minor injuries on a ranch," Adam said by way of explanation.

"Hm. I'll bet," she said, leaning to get a good look in Joe's manually opened eyes. Just as Candy'd seen Adam do out on the street. Also nodding after each.

"Oh, Lord," said a blanching man stopped right inside the office door which Candy realized he was still holding open. Hand glued fast and showing no sign of letting go anytime soon.
The thought almost worried him.
"What happened to that poor man?"

"My sweet," the lady greeted, bending to examine the 'suspected impact sight' Adam was pointing out in a barely necessary gesture, considering the slow trickle of blood beginning to show on the stretcher's already splotchy fabric. "Could you please bring out the stitching supplies, dear?" She asked. Cool as a cucumber even with her nose only inches from an oozing... 'impact sight'.

"Y-yes, right away!" The new guy said before nearly stumbling to the back of the room and riffling through a cabinet Candy hadn't bothered noticing before then.
Behind 'my sweet dear', Hoss entered the office and gave Candy a nod, wiping a hand across his sweated brow. Understandably out of breath. Like Candy himself.

A small sound drew every eye to the table against the wall. Another drew every body closer, save the doorman who's brain wouldn't loosen his fingers from 'round the stupid doorknob.

"Joseph? Can you hear me?" Braid asked, leaning to be in line with the pale face on the table.

"Wha?" The confused syllable that followed a brown set of eyes opening, just out of sync.

"Joseph, can you hear me?"

"Whoor you?"

"I'm Doctor Rosebaum. Do you know what day it is, Joseph?" Prompted the —Candy doubletook as her words registered— doctor.

"Grain day... at the gen'ral store." Rosebaum glanced at Adam, who confirmed the slurred statement with a nod.

"Good. Do you remember what happened, Joseph?"

"A horse..." Joe's eyes went wide and Adam glanced up, straight at the statue by the office's entrance. "Candy- He was comin' fer Candy!"

"Shh, lie still; you bumped your head." The doctor said, putting a hand on her patient's chest and motioning for her husband to set up a tiny table top with long fold out legs at her side.
"Now-"

"Is 'e okay? Where-"

"Don't worry, Joe. He's right here and there's not a scratch on him," Adam informed, making a 'come here' motion in the direction of the door.

"Adam?" Joe asked, more confused than ever.

"Yes. Me and Hoss also had business in town to-"

"Hoss's here?" Joe asked. Not sounding any less slurred.

"Yep," Hoss supplied. Poking his head into his little brother's line of sight.

"Huh," came the bewildered response. A moment before worry returned to Joe's face. "And Candy?"

"I'm here, Joe," Candy said. Finally finding his voice and with it, the power of will to pry his hand from the doorknob and walk across the office to the table and the semicircle of folks standing around it. Stiff legs stopping him just shy of bumping the table.
Joe directed his gaze to the newcomer and when Candy saw the open eyes of his friend soften as they met his, a knot of something he hadn't been able to identify until then loosened in his chest.
The feeling of horrid dread wasn't quite so sharp after that.

"Joseph," said the Doctor, bringing everyone back to business. "We're going to give you a little something to help you rest now. Drink this and relax. Your friends will be near," she said, doling a helping of something from a brown bottle out into the bowl of a small spoon.

At the nods and words of reassurance from his older brothers, Joe slurped down the medication and was dozing soundly in no time flat.

"Alright," Doc Rosebaum started, uncovering the tray her husband had lain out for her. Revealing the well appointed stitching kit. "Adam, is it?"

"Uh, yes- Silly of me. I'm Adam, this is Hoss, he's Candy, and we're family," informed the oldest present Cartwright, indicating at once the whole room of them. To which Candy's eyes went just a little wide. Until he remembered that everybody must've been shaken up and Adam could easily have misspoken.
After all; the stern guy couldn't possibly have meant to indicate Candy was family too. That just... wouldn't make sense.

"Alright," said the doc. "Anyone squeamish can turn around, leave the office, or plain close their eyes." When a survey of the room revealed no takers, the doc leaned in close to Adam and whispered near his ear.

Adam must've agreed with something she whispered, because he nodded and stepped away from the table. Catching Candy's shoulder as he did and motioning for him to follow him outside, into the open air of a pleasant afternoon. Closing the door behind them.

"Where we goin'?" Candy asked, anxious to get back.

"Oh, right about here, I reckon," said the man in black. Taking a seat on the boardwalk, right in front of the office and next to the stairs leading to it. Legs dangling over the edge.

Confused but feeling compelled to follow his boss's example, Candy parked himself on the next plank over, mirroring Adam's posture.

After a while of watching folks bustling here and there, families out buying groceries for the week; life in the city continuing around them as if nothing harrowing had just happened, Adam spoke from under his hat brim. Not bothering to look over as he did.
"Doc said you were lookin' a little green around the gills in there." Then he looked at him. Right in the face. "Color's better out here. Just needed some fresh air."

"I didn't notice. I'm not usually squeamish," Candy said, realizing even as he did that being outside was agreeing with him.

"Yeah, well, neither am I. But... it's different when it's someone you care about. Worst when it's someone you love."

"You got that ri-" Candy felt his voice catch when his mind caught up with what Adam'd said.
Fist family and now love? What was this Cartwright getting at?!

"It's alright; I've known for a while now. Encouraged it even," Adam said, giving the back of his own neck a scratch. Acting as if what he was saying made even a lick of sense.

After a pause in which Candy felt his spine growing rather taught, the man in red wetted his lips and took his best guess. "You mean the picnic?"

"Yep."

"So you knew-"

"That Joe reserves picnics for dates?" Adam asked. A smile threatening to break up his understandably solemn carriage. "'Course. And I 'knew' he'd enjoy it. He is my brother, after all."

"But-"

"And if I remember correctly: The only thing you had against the idea, was you thinking Joe wouldn't like it. Even though you treat exclusively dates to such as well."

"How could you know such a thing about me? I'm not your brother," Candy asked, feeling an ounce of frustration slip through with the question.
Thankfully, Adam just smirked harder.

"Maybe not, but you're my brother's friend. And I keep tabs on that capricious kid brother of mine," he said, inclining his head at a bonneted one that'd turned their direction from the opposite boardwalk. Manners not forgotten even in a time of stress.

"Is that what you and Hoss were doin' in town? You followed us?!" Another thing to add to the list of things Candy was having trouble believing he was hearing.

"Ha! You should be so lucky!" Adam said, really laughing for perhaps the first time Candy'd ever heard from him.
"Not those kind of tabs; we were in town on a supply run of our own. Old man gave us the heavy lifting."

"But if all of us were headed into town, why didn't we leave at the same time? Keep each other comp'ny?" Candy asked with a kink to his brow.

"Eh, Hoss mentioned four being a crowd and said he wanted to re-grease the wheels before taking off. Couldn't argue with that logic." Adam waved an off handed greeting at someone he must've known who was popping his head out the door of the hotel. Across the way and down a few spaces.

"Hoss is in on... all this? You trying to-"

"Oh, we're not 'trying to' anything. You and Joe were doing just fine on your own. Just," he started with a smirk, "needed a little push."

Both men sitting on the boardwalk blinked at the... unfortunate choice of verb. Reminding all too well of their reason for enduring the wooden perch in the first place.

Candy worried his lip, trying not to think about the blood he could feel drying on the hand he hadn't thought to wash off while he'd been in the doctor's office.
Hm. Maybe the red streak had been why the walkway had cleared so readily when he came near. Hadn't needed to touch a soul because they didn't want to clean blood out of their Sunday best. Or Friday best, or whichever day it happened to be's best.

Candy sighed and admitted to himself that he couldn't keep the question inside a moment longer. "Why'd he do it? I could've jumped out the way on my own. He knows I-"

A hand on his shoulder stopped Candy, and he was shocked to find it imparted not any sort of disappointment nor blame, but a camaraderie he'd never felt from the man in black.

"I've always known Joe was special. Just didn't know how special... until now," he said, turning his head in a pointed look right at Candy. "And if someone that special will jump in front of a horse for you, I'd say that makes you pretty special too."

Candy sat there, silent and just plain staring back, unable to understand how Joe's brother could be both so stoic and yet so... compassionate? Insightful he'd known, but, for the eldest heir to an empire like the Ponderosa to accept a saddle tramp like him as a 'special friend' for his baby brother?
He must've trusted Joe's judgment a lot more than it seemed.
And, if Adam could swallow his worry over what'd just happened well enough to comfort him-

"Welcome to the family. Candy Canaday," Adam said, but a moment before pulling the guy sitting next to him into as full on a hug as could be managed. One Candy realized the guy had no intention of letting him out of until he hugged back. So as soon as his arms would listen, he pulled them up and wrapped them around the solid, comforting presence of his best friend's oldest brother. Feeling as if, maybe this was what having an older sibling must've felt like.

In that brief moment, Candy understood what it was Joe saw in his pa's number one son. And in that same moment, he came to realize that something he'd once thought of as a distant possibility had indeed come to pass: He and Adam Cartwright had become friends.

At the sound of the door behind them opening, Adam disentangled himself, stood from his seat on the boardwalk planks and dusted himself off.
Candy followed suit but couldn't help feeling self conscious when he had to finish with a good rub to the eyes. Which everyone politely ignored.

"The stitches are in and your brother assisted me in assessing Joseph for additional injuries. We found several bruises which look as if they'll be a bother but nothing more and all seemed stable when I palpated Joseph's ribs," came exactly the update they'd been waiting for.

"That sounds promising," Adam said, sharing a hopeful glance with Candy.

The doctor pursed her lips through a nod. "Indeed. 'Hoss' also explained to me Joseph's most recent previous injury, which I examined and believe was re-injured in today's... incident." She paused a moment to allow her audience space to process.
"Was the wrist seen to by a doctor?"

"Uh, no; nothing seemed broken so we wrapped it and put it in a sling," Candy found himself saying.

"Hm. He kept it in the sling?"

"Oh yes'm. Our pa was strict on that one: dern near locked him indoors for three days," Hoss offered.

"And after that?"

"Kept it in the sling and let it alone for a few more days. Still wearin' it 'bout half the time now," Candy supplied. Since he'd spent arguably more time with Joe those following days than the other Cartwrights had.
By design, as it just so happened.

"Hm. That sounds promising," said the doc, brow furrowed. "I'll give it another look, but it's feeling unstable enough at this point that I'll want it splinted at least two weeks. And in a sling until further notice."

"We can handle that. Anything else we should know, Dr.?" Adam asked.

The lady with the braid gave the oldest among them a look that quirked at the end and nodded. "I'd like to keep him for observation, the entire night, as I both think we should be sure he's stable before moving him, and I want to be sure the head wound closes and stays that way for good."

"Absolutely," Adam agreed with a firm nod.

"Very well then. If you'd like to see him before you're off?" The doc asked, motioning toward her door.

So, all with a unanimous look of 'yes, please' about them, the party walked back in the office to whisper their slumbering member a jumble of well wishes. Candy doing his best not to become lost in thought as he felt himself outright stare at the slumbering reminder of what had nearly happened to him, and had happened to his best friend.
Then the three of them bid Dr. Rosebaum and Mr. Rosebaum a good day as Adam began herding them toward the door and then across the street where they acquired lodgings for what was promising to be a long, uncomfortable night of 'observation'.

Wow. Poor everyone. Good thing Adam's as level headed as he is! And that Hoss has a lot of experience helping out with injuries! Even if those're probably more with animals than humans!
Hopefully everything is looking up from here for the Ponderosa boys!