Chapter 11
Sam and Rachelle had spent the weekend cleaning up the cabin, dusting, sweeping and making sure everything was put to rights. Sam chopped wood, hauled in enough for each fireplace and stove to keep Red well supplied for some time. It was getting warmer with each passing week but the nights were still cold. Erica in turn had spent multiple evenings after school preparing meals that could be frozen and reheated easily. She packaged and labeled them and the day before Red was due home, she sent them to the cabin with her mother on the final trip with supplies they'd purchased at the store.
Spring had come roaring in and the weather was still touchy even being this late in April. There was still some snow up on the mountain tops but the valleys were showing the new green of the season and the migrating birds had begun to fly back in to settle for the summer. Today was the day Red would be flown in via military chopper from Edwards, the last favor his father had pulled to make the transition from hospital to home as smooth as possible.
Sam had stayed up at the cabin over night getting things in order, waiting for Red to return. He worked to get a stack of wood built up on the deck near the door. It was a way of taking the edge off of his nerves at seeing Red again. The doctors had advised MacGyver that it was going to take many intense hours of physical therapy to get her back up to her former strength and endurance. Sam knew he wouldn't care what had happened to her or what it would take to get her back to her old self again. He vowed to be there for the duration, through the good and the bad. If it was one thing he knew about Red, it was that she was a proud person and hadn't ever wanted to be pitied or simpered over. But she was stubborn as well, sometimes not willing to ask for help when she needed it the most.
MacGyver had convinced Rachelle and Erica that it was probably best for the first few days home that Red be allowed peace and quiet to work out some things with Sam but to have some time to come to terms with everything that had happened since the crash six months ago.
The day had started out cloudy with a sharp wind from the north. By the time the sound of the heavy rotors of a military chopper could be heard coming into the valley, the rain had been falling for several hours, the wind picking up to blow a little harder as evening set in. Sam pulled on his coat on and flipped the lights on the dock to full capacity to mark the landing spot. He headed outside and down to the dock, arriving just as the Huey set down.
Sam shielded his eyes from the wind and stinging rain that the blades kicked up as he waited for Red to be off loaded. The door slid open finally and Sam stepped forward a few more steps, instinctively ducking to keep the whirling blades a little farther from his head. He saw a form in a military raincoat and a cane step from the back of the Huey. He moved forward and the Lieutenant in the back, handed out a heavy duty duffle bag. Sam took it with a nod and slung it over his shoulder.
He turned to the figure with a cane who stepped away from the Huey and saluted those inside. After being saluted in return, she turned to face Sam. He offered an arm which she hesitantly took as the door to the chopper was slid shut. Sam caught a quick look at the woman's face under the jacket hood and saw that Red looked thin and worn. He let her set the pace and when they'd cleared the area, the Huey took off and headed back towards the coast. The wind continued to moan through the trees as it brought in another round of thunderstorms.
Finally they reached the porch and Red stopped for a moment, rain hitting her face as she looked upward. Sam caught the look on her face that told him she wasn't sure if she should believe it to be real or not. Finally, with a little help from Sam, she made her way up the stairs and through the front door. Sam followed quickly behind her and shut the door, the damp cold having seeped in as the wind pulled some of the heat out. He locked the door behind him and drew the shade over the window.
It was silent in the cabin except for the pop of the wood in the fireplace, the rain hitting the windows and the low whispering sound of the pines around the cabin. There was a soft sigh from Red as she shoved back her hood. Sam was more shocked by her short hair than by the pink scar that ran from the back of her neck to disappear under her shirt collar. He hesitantly reached up and touched the ponytail holder that had held what was left of her long hair together. "They cut your hair," he said gently.
There was a slight hint of a blush to her sunken cheeks. "They had to apparently," she said as she stepped forward to be enveloped a bit more by the warmth of the fire. "Is this…real, Sam? Or am I dreaming?" she asked as she slowly unzipped the raincoat. Sam was there to help her out of it; more like a gentleman would be than someone wanting to be of help. She was dressed in jeans and a sweater but they looked to be a size or two too big for her. It was shocking to see her so thin.
"It's not a dream Red. It's real," he commented as he hung up her coat on the peg next to the door. She shifted the cane a little and walked over to a chair nearest to the fireplace. She slowly let herself down into it and sat there staring at the fire for the longest time, letting the warmth seep back into her. Sam watched her for a moment and then went to pour her a cup of hot water and brought her several different types of tea.
"Erica's been working her tail off to make you some great food. She's packed the freezer with precooked things she knows you like. I can heat something up for you if you're hungry," he offered, noticing that she didn't flinch from him as he brought her the makings of tea.
She looked up at him and took the cup of hot water, her hands shaking slightly and then after setting the cup down on the edge of the fireplace, she picked up a tea bag at random, opening the paper and putting the bag in the cup of hot water. Her hands were slow to manipulate the paper to get the tea bag out, slow to grip things and shook when she held onto the cup. "I…I really don't have much of an appetite right now. The chopper ride shook me up pretty hard with the turbulence," she said quietly, her eyes drifting over to look at the fire.
Sam nodded as he got up to put things back in the kitchen. He came back to sit at the fireplace, poking at one of the logs in the fire. He looked over at her, seeing the far away look in her eyes as she was thinking of other things. He remained quiet for most of the evening, picking up a book he'd started the night before. He had moved to sit on the couch where he could watch her from time to time. She slowly sipped at her cup of tea but the distant gaze of her eyes seemed to remain as she sat there.
Finally after an hour, he noticed that she was beginning to doze off. He closed his book and stood, causing her to jerk a little in surprise. It was a fight or flight reaction that had triggered though she was in no condition to do either. She looked up at him a bit spooked, but she seemed to remember where she was and relaxed some. He held out a hand, "Come on. Let's get you to bed. Sleeping in that chair isn't the best for anyone. I should know. I got a kink in my neck the last time I fell asleep in it," he said with a slight smirk.
She looked at the hand, then waved it away a little, taking up the cane and using it to lever herself out of the chair, wincing a little at the sudden shift in muscles and bones. She knew Sam wanted to help but he backed off when she'd waved him away, respecting her desire to be independent of help. But she took comfort to know that he wasn't far if she needed it.
As she stood there for a minute, letting her muscles adjust, she looked up at Sam for a long moment. He could feel her eyes on him, assessing him as he went to the fireplace to bank the coals for the night. By the time he'd turned around, she had begun to move off towards the stairs. Sam went about the cabin turning off lights and checking the weather outside.
When she had finally made her way slowly up the stairs, she found the fireplace had been stoked earlier and there was a warm bed of coals keeping the loft warm as the wind drove the rain harder against the windows. She found her bed turned back and a set of night clothes laid out on the pillow. She could hear Sam moving about downstairs in the kitchen so she changed into the sweatpants and long sleeved night shirt. She took a moment to smell the fresh air they had been dried with and the familiarity of them about her skin.
She slowly crawled into the bed, setting the cane on the floor. By the time Sam came up to check on her, he found her sound asleep. He pulled the covers around her and made sure she was comfortable. He watched her in the light the bed of coals gave off in the dark. She seemed much older than the last time he saw her, even when she was sound asleep. He gently reached forward and pushed the hair off her forehead, a gentle hand resting there to make sure she wasn't running a temperature or cold and clammy.
Sam got up and banked the fire, adding a few small pieces of wood and letting the coals burn through the night. He headed back downstairs to the spare bedroom where he'd put his things to stay for as long as she wanted him to. He stretched out the knots in his back, thinking back over the evening. It apparently was an improvement that she hadn't shied away from him. But she didn't show any partiality either, not that he expected her to having just gotten out of the hospital. He sighed softly but slid between the covers for the night, dozing off after some time of tossing and turning.
