The strange tension that had sprung up between them hadn't dissipated over the past week. Sheldon tried to make sense of it as he loaded the bed of the pickup truck with fence posts, a coil of barbed wire, the post holer and some other tools. For the seventh time in the last hour, he checked his watch. It was nine o'clock on a Saturday morning, and Jeb still hadn't shown up. With every passing minute, the temperature was rising. He knew that Penny had wanted him to wait until her cousin arrived to start repairing the fence, but he felt she was underestimating him. After all, it was hardly a two-man job if one of the men was actually a skinny fourteen-year-old. He was in tune enough with the rhythm of the farm to know that it was unhealthy for the cows to be pent up in the barn for long periods of time. It also stressed the cows, which caused them to produce less milk. As much as he could tell, the farm was in too much of a financial mess to let even a little thing like this go unattended. Another motivating factor was that Penny's dad was finally coming home on Monday. For some reason, Sheldon felt the need to prove himself to Penny's dad, something which would not happen while the farm had a broken fence that let the cows wander into the neighbor's fields.
Shaking his head, he got behind the wheel. He couldn't imagine how Wyatt had ever kept things going as long as he had without help. It was certainly too much for him to handle on his own, and he was thirty years younger. He drove carefully down the rutted dirt lane. At least Wyatt was coming home soon. Penny's dad still had weeks of outpatient therapy ahead of him, but it would make both Connie and Penny much happier to see him home again. He also hoped that he could start to earn the man's trust so he could advise him about keeping or selling the farm. He had some ideas which might work if Wyatt was willing to think outside of the box a little.
Sheldon was already uncomfortably hot and sticky by the time he parked the truck near the damaged portion of the fence. He was glad to leave his long-sleeved shirt in the truck for now, although he would need it later to protect his arms from the barbed wire. Grabbing the shovel out of the truck bed, he set to work digging out the old fence posts. Then he piled the splintered posts to one side and filled in the old holes. The next step was the one he truly wished he could postpone: digging the new holes with the post holer. He plunged the tool's narrow blades into the compacted ground then pried the long handles apart at the top to remove the soil between the scoops. It took over an hour until the new holes were dug and the fresh posts had been tamped down.
The morning sun had long since burned off the haze hanging over the pastures, but it was still miserable hot and humid. Sheldon had long since drained both of the water bottles he had brought with him. He was starting to get a throbbing headache, but the job was almost done. He hopped up onto the back of the pickup to reach the coil of barbed wire and almost overbalanced and pitched forward. That would be excessively foolish if I were to repeat Leonard's mistake of injuring myself while trying to help, he thought crossly. Putting a hand on the gate to steady himself, he climbed down carefully, but the ground suddenly seemed to lurch under his feet. He dropped the spool of wire and took two more steps before the world seemed to tilt. The last thing he remembered was hearing a thud. He wasn't aware that it was the sound of his own body hitting the hard ground.
There was a loud, persistent beeping noise, and something cold was placed against his forehead. It was too much; he felt like he was going to be sick. He tried to push the cold thing away, but his arms felt like they were weighted down with lead. There was a sharp pain in the crook of his arm, and then everything went away. The next time Sheldon managed to open his eyes. He was feeling more lucid although still confused. He opened his eyes slowly to see a worried face with short dark hair hovering over him. There was an IV pole with a clear bag of fluids in his line of sight, along with a heart rate monitor. Sheldon wasn't thinking too clearly, but he appeared to be in a hospital. He opened his mouth, but only a rough moan came out.
"Oh good, you're awake," the boy said. "Penny would kill me if anything happened to you."
Sheldon frowned weakly, and then winced as it felt like someone had smashed his skull with twin mallets at either temple. "Jeb." He couldn't manage to say anything more.
Jeb nodded and grinned, then his face fell. "I'm sorry I was late," he said, his lower lip starting to quiver. "I just... I stopped by the pond to do a little fishing and I lost track of the time. And I hate putting up fences. I just thought... I mean, I didn't think. You got hurt trying to do it all yourself, and it's all my fault," he whimpered.
Sheldon winced. "S'okay," he managed. It wasn't really, but he could hardly blame the kid for not wanting to spend his Saturday morning doing manual labor. Plus, all he wanted to do was to close his eyes and rest, and Jeb was still trying to apologize. The sound of voices from somewhere beyond Sheldon's line of sight had the boy jumping up nervously.
"That's my Aunt Connie. I hafta go explain to her before Penny gets a hold of me," he said, and then dashed out of the room. There was a brief commotion out in the hallway, and then Penny entered. Just seeing her made him feel a little better, and he struggled to sit up from the slightly elevated angle of the hospital bed.
She rushed over to his side. "No, sweetie, don't try to get up; just rest," she said. Her face was very pale and there were shining tracks of moisture down both of her cheeks. She dragged the back of her hands across her face, smearing her makeup. She sank into a chair beside his bed.
"What were you thinking?" she wailed. "Do you have any idea what it did to me to have Jeb call and say he found you passed out in the field? Thank God he decided to call an ambulance. The doctors say you had heat stroke and that it could have been really bad. You could have died—or had brain damage. I don't know which would be worse. How could you do this to me? To be back here in this hospital... this same damn hospital..." Her voice broke and she looked away as fresh tears fell.
Sheldon was thinking it was monumentally unfair that he was getting yelled at (or at least scolded) while he was lying in a hospital bed, especially since the reason he was here was because he was trying to help her.
"Penny..." he began.
He was about to try to tell her that she had gotten all worked up over nothing, but it was too much of a lie for him to be comfortable saying it. Instead, he reached for her hand and held it, willing his presence to somehow comfort her. She gave him a watery smile as she held his hand up to her face and then kissed it gently. His breath caught in his throat, and that dratted monitor gave him away as it started beeping faster. She gave it a startled glance, then looked back at Sheldon. Her eyes were huge and dark. She leaned closer and laid her free hand alongside his face, caressing his cheek. Quickly, he closed his eyes, fighting his reaction to her touch. His eyes popped open again when he felt her hair brush his face, and he saw her face just inches from his. He was too nervous to do anything to either help or hinder her as she kissed him, her lips touching his in the lightest of caresses. His hand tightened on hers, and his pulse jumped as he strained to lean into her caress. Sweet... she was sweet like honey, and a wave of heat washed over him.
She pulled back, and there were two bright spots of color on her cheeks as she searched his face. He felt like cursing the weakness which prevented him from taking her in his arms as he wished. The best he could manage was to reach out and tug on her arm, pulling her down to his level. She was radiant with happiness as her lips found his once more.
Connie peeked into the hospital room. Her eyes widened as she saw her daughter kissing the young man who had done so much for their family, and then she smiled smugly. It was too bad that it took a near accident for Penny to come to her senses, she thought, but better late than never. She closed the door softly and backed up, motioning Jeb into one of the plastic chairs which lined the hallway.
"We'll just give them a few minutes," she said triumphantly.
She had been right about Sheldon all along, and she couldn't be more pleased about the way things had turned out. Although her husband had been anxious for his younger daughter to settle down with Leonard, Connie had always been less enthusiastic about the match. It was true that Leonard was a nice guy with a good-paying job, but Penny had never lit up from within when she mentioned his name. As far as Connie could tell, Penny had been reluctant to let him go but not really convinced he was "the one". Now any fool could see how happy Penny was, and after all, many of the deepest romances started on a foundation of friendship. Penny had said once that she and Leonard had been friends before they dated too. But it was obvious to Connie that the self-deprecating young man had been hanging around in what kids nowadays liked to call the "friend zone", always eager for whatever scraps of attention Penny might throw his way. A relationship based on such unequal footing was bound to fail.
Five minutes later, Connie peeked through the narrow window again to see her daughter sitting by Sheldon's bed, holding his hand. Her eyes were shining fever-bright, and he was looking at her as if she were an angel come down from heaven. Connie gave a discreet cough as she entered the room. Penny looked up, blushing like a middle-school girl with a crush. Her mother noted this with secret glee, but kept her face neutral.
"Hello, Sheldon. It looks like you're feeling a little better," Connie said. "How's your head?"
"It's fine… I mean, yes, I do feel better. Thank you," he replied, looking a little dazed.
"Jeb and I both feel so bad about what happened. You've got to promise me you won't be taking any more foolish risks with your health."
Sheldon frowned. "I find myself completely unable to regret this morning's events. In fact, given the outcome of said events, I believe I would choose to repeat them regardless of the incipient danger to my health."
Penny squeezed his hand. "Don't worry, Mom. I promise from now on he'll be more careful. I'll make sure of that," she said, smiling tenderly down Sheldon. She then glanced up briefly at her mother, and a look of understanding passed between them. Connie smiled and nodded ever so slightly.
"Well, I can see the two of you don't want an old woman like me hanging around. I'll be over in the other wing visiting your father. Ever since they told him he could go home, he's been chafing at the bit to get out of here. Jeb can come with me; he'll be a good distraction for Wyatt. I'll just give you a call when we're ready to leave." With a smug look at the two of them, she left the room.