Ch.21

By the time they had ridden for several hours, the niggle of doubt and fear had grown significantly. Michaela was pretty sure she could be in labor, as the pains were coming at regular intervals of time. She pushed the thoughts and worries down, because every time she did try to think about it, she could feel herself start to hyperventilate. Right now, she was just trying to think of getting to Sully and making sure he was okay. She would deal with everything else later. Stream Jumping interrupted her thoughts.

"Sully is over this hill." Michaela kicked her horse into a faster gait. When she crested the hill she saw him lying on his stomach by a small campfire. She could see a large red stain on the back of his shirt. He didn't appear to be moving. Michaela's heart began to beat fast, and she started to breathe in quick gasps. She kicked her horse into a canter. Hearing a horse approaching, Sully used his good arm to lift himself from the ground. He stood up and turned around. Relief shot through Michaela. She rode up to him and queued her horse to stop. She swung her leg over the back of the horse, and Sully helped her down with his good arm. He set her softly of the ground. She started to sob into his shoulder. "I was so scared when I saw you laying on the ground!" she cried. Stream Jumping came up to them.

"Follow Cloud Dancing," Sully said, using his head to indicate which direction Cloud Dancing had gone. The brave nodded, turned his horse and cantered away. "'Chaela. I'm fine! I'm not hurt too bad."

Michaela released Sully and wiped her eyes. She took a deep breath. "I'll be the judge of that."

"Look, I just got barely grazed by a bullet on my thigh, and I have a knife gash on my shoulder. Nothin' fatal." Michaela turned around and untied her medical bag. She grabbed Sully's hand and led him to a tree. He obediently followed after her.

"On your belly," she ordered. After he sprawled out of the ground, his face towards her, Michaela knelt down beside him and started to examine his injuries. She pulled some supplies out of her bag and began to clean them up. A contraction seized her, but not wanting to worry Sully, she didn't say anything, she just tensed up and pursed her lips together. The graze on his thigh was not a big deal. It didn't even require stitches. She just cleaned and disinfected it. The knife gash on his shoulder, on the other hand, was pretty serious. It was about six inches long and spread from the tip of his left shoulder, all the way down to about two inches below his shoulder blade. Dried blood caked the edges of the nasty wound, as well as a large portion of his back. Fresh, new blood, brought on by his movements, oozed and dripped on top of the dried blood. Although it was long, it wasn't deep. Many tedious stitches were required for this injury, and by the time she was finished, her back was killing her. As she was finishing up the last stitch, another contraction one came sooner after the other one than any of the others, and it caught Michaela by surprise. She sucked in a quick breath, and winced, then tensed up.

"Michaela, are you okay?" Sully asked, concerned. "I've seen you do that several times."

"I'm fine." Michaela gasped out. This was the longest and most painful contraction she had had so far. All of her doubts about being in labor were immediately cast aside. This was a true labor pain and she knew that indeed she was in labor and that there was no stopping it. Seeing that Michaela was obviously not fine, Sully jumped up from the ground and pulled his shirt over his head. He placed a hand on Michaela's shoulder and used his other hand to tip up her chin.

"Michaela, you are not fine." The contraction eased, and Michaela could breathe again. She wanted to deny what Sully had said, but she knew it was time to come clean.

"Sully…there's a chance I could be in labor." Michaela ducked her head, ashamed.

"You could be what!" Sully exploded, throwing his uninjured hand up in the air. "Since when! I knew going on this trip was a terrible idea! This cannot happen again, Michaela! Not me, and not in the wilderness again like I delivered Katie, and not even in our bedroom like Brooke's birth!"

"I've only had a few contractions, Sully. They weren't even that bad! It could just be false labor after all the stress of the past twelve hours!" Michaela said defensively, although deep down she knew he was right.

"Michaela, I warned you to take it easy. Instead, you jump on a horse and come galloping out here to get me! This is not how it is supposed to happen! This birth was supposed to be the normal one. We should be at the clinic, with Andrew and Colleen, so they can deliver this baby! Not me!" Yelled Sully.

"First of all, I didn't gallop, I didn't even break a walk until I saw you lying on the ground. What was I supposed to do?! Leave you out here all alone, bleeding to death! Besides, we'll have plenty of time to get back to the village…" Michaela started to say, but then her water broke and gushed everywhere. Michaela and Sully just stood there, shocked. Finally, Sully said something.

"Well, that obviously won't happen," he said quietly. The reality of her situation came to Michaela and she started to panic. Sully stepped forward, his anger gone, and wrapped Michaela in his arms. "It is all gonna work out." he whispered, "We're gonna do this together... just like last time and the time before." Michaela took a few minutes to collect herself. Sully stood, with his arms wrapped around Michaela, thinking. He looked up. Dark clouds were starting to gather. "We need to get to higher ground," he said. "Can you walk?" Michaela let go of Sully and sniffled.

"Yes, I can walk. I won't enter active labor for a while… I hope. Let's see how close we can get to the village." Sully bent down and grabbed Michaela's medical bag. He tied it up and turned to Michaela.

"Do you want to ride?" he asked.

"No, there is too much pressure in my pelvis, besides, walking will do me good." Then they left, walking hand-in-hand.