Well, we know Nathan's secret now. We have four episodes left of the season.
Whew.
Gabe Kinslow is the Mountie from When Hope Calls. If you haven't seen his scenes with Nathan yet, I encourage you to check them out. I like their dynamic and wanted to see more of it, so I added him.

There was always something going on in Hope Valley these days. The town had only grown since Elizabeth's arrival eight years ago, and it had continued to do so little by little every day. Everywhere Elizabeth looked there was activity to be found. People stopped on the boardwalk to chat, and the new bell on the door to the mercantile kept jingling every few seconds as people came and went; horses and a few cars moved up and down Main street.

So much life in her little frontier town, yet there was an undercurrent of emptiness that Elizabeth could not help but to feel.

Of all the doors that opened and closed, there was one noticeable one that did not; in all the colorful clothing that moved up and down the sidewalks, there was one color missing.

Two and a half years ago, Elizabeth Thornton had had no idea that Nathan and Allie Grant existed. Now, she could feel their absence like it was a physical thing. A small change, really, but it sat so heavily in her heart. She couldn't help feeling like something was missing, or casting her eyes in the direction of every set of hoofbeats that made its way into or through town. She had seen Opal and Anna and Emily several times already, and each time she found herself expecting to see Allie's face among them before remembering that Allie wasn't there either.

"Have you heard anything?" Elizabeth asked Bill one afternoon while they sat down for lunch together.

"No, but that's not surprising. It's barely been a week, Elizabeth. Those Olsen boys are smart."

"But you said Nathan was the best tracker the Mounties had."

"He is, but tracking is hard work and those troublemakers won't make it any easier."

"But you'll let me know if you do hear anything?"

Bill gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll let you know if I hear anything."

When she left the café a little while later, great gray clouds had gathered in the sky for as far as she could see. Late summer storms weren't unexpected, but it had been so clear when Elizabeth left home that she hadn't even thought twice about an umbrella. Now, she wondered if she'd be able to make it all the way home before it actually started to rain. She could send Laura home with her umbrella.

Elizabeth had barely finished the thought when the clouds let loose a downpour. Caught in the middle of the street, Elizabeth hunched her shoulders and hurried across the street and up the few short stairs that would bring her under the cover of the boardwalk. She glanced down the street to see everyone else following suit, and then she turned her attention back to the boardwalk and found herself staring through the window of an empty Mountie office.

Was it raining where Nathan was? Elizabeth hoped not. She was no tracker, but she doubted that the rain would make an easier job of things, and she doubted that Nathan would stop just because it was raining. She'd seen him do his rounds in a downpour, in the dark. Raining or not, he'd still be doing his job.

Elizabeth hoped that it was dry wherever he was, and that whatever elements he was facing were cooperating.

"Elizabeth," a voice said in greeting.

She turned to find Lucas a few steps away. He smiled and inclined his head politely in greeting. "Hi," she answered.

"I was just leaving Henry's and thought you might appreciate the use of my umbrella."

Elizabeth hesitated. "You wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not. The saloon isn't much farther and the walk is mostly covered. You can bring it back to me whenever you have a moment."

"Thank you, that's very kind of you."

Things had been a little awkward between them for a few days after they'd agreed to end their courtship. Elizabeth had been ready to explain as best she could, but it had turned out that Lucas was ready for her when she'd approached him about it. Nathan had only been gone two or three days when Elizabeth had gone to find Lucas in his office at the saloon. She'd barely had a chance to begin before Lucas had held up a gentle hand and let her off the hook.

He'd told her that he knew what she was going to say, and that while he was sorry to lose her, it was clear that her heart was not with him. "I've known for a while, I think, though I didn't want to accept it."

Lucas hadn't said anything more. Their interactions had been a little awkward since, but Lucas had fallen back on his gentlemanly ways, and their interactions were getting better.

It was Rosemary that had told Elizabeth what she thought Lucas might have wanted to say.

"You keep looking for him," Rosemary had told her just yesterday. "Every time a door opens or you hear hoofbeats you look up like you expect to see him."

"Oh, Rosemary," Elizabeth had lamented.

Because she couldn't help but look for him, and she did expect to see him, and it didn't make it easier that she was disappointed every time it turned out to be someone else. Nathan's arrival in Hope Valley had stirred up a lot of emotions in Elizabeth, and now so had his departure. Even if it was temporary.

So, Elizabeth accepted the offer of Lucas's umbrella, and she did her best not to think of Nathan as she walked home.

Elizabeth and little Jack had dinner that evening with Lee and Rosemary. Elizabeth had offered to make them dinner; she opted for shepherd's pie, and she made them laugh with stories of her first attempts at cooking the dish and how she'd had to be firm with Charlotte Thornton about the appropriate amount of lard. It was an enjoyable evening full of laughter and camaraderie.

Rosemary had made dessert, so after dinner they all retired to the living room to eat their slices of fresh strawberry bread and watch little Jack play with his toys. The house was warm and smelled like a savory mixture of bread and dinner; night had fallen outside and the lamplight inside cast everything in a rutilant glow. Elizabeth was warm, and full, and safe, and so was her family.

It made her think again of Nathan. It had still been raining when Lee and Rosemary appeared on her doorstep, and Elizabeth wondered once more if it was raining where he was. Was he sleeping out in the elements somewhere? Was he warm, and dry, and safe, like she was? Or - and she thought this was the more likely scenario - was he out there in the rain with only Newton for company?

"Elizabeth?" Rosemary called gently.

With a start, Elizabeth trained her attention back on her friends. "Sorry, what?"

"Are you alright?"

"Fine," she assured them.

Elizabeth managed to keep her thoughts firmly in the here and now for the rest of the evening. She laughed with her friends, and played with her son, and by the time she went to bed that night she felt hopeful that tomorrow would be another good day. Opal's mom, Sarah, had told Elizabeth that Allie would be home soon, and Elizabeth had resolved to do everything in her power to bridge the gap that had sprung up between them. Tomorrow was a day closer to Elizabeth finally being able to act on that plan.

Tomorrow was a day closer to Nathan being home, so that she could begin to work on their relationship as well.

Rivulets of water coursed down the window in senseless patterns. It was dark outside, but every few seconds a bolt of lightning would light up the sky just enough to see out.

"Anything?" Gabe Kinslow whispered from somewhere down the wall.

"Nothing," Nathan answered.

He had been both surprised and delighted to find Gabe standing in the Mountie office in Benson Hills when he'd arrived there several weeks ago. Nathan had thought it was just a coincidence until Superintendent Perkins had informed Nathan that Gabe would be his counterpart for the duration of the mission. They were scheduled to meet up with two more Mounties outside Union City in a few days, which would officially bring their number to four. Nathan had requested additional eyes after the first six days had been spent chasing their tails. Nathan was a good tracker, but these Olsen brothers were wily, and Nathan was humble enough to know when he needed help.

Mostly.

"Maybe Hastings didn't know what he was talking about," Gabe whispered. Hastings was one of their new counterparts who had supposedly come across some information that the Olsen gang was planning another heist.

"Maybe you're just impatient," Nathan retorted.

Privately, Nathan didn't blame Gabe. He had told Allie that he would try to make it back in a week or two, and here he was approaching three weeks on this assignment without much to show for it. He and Gabe had caught up with the gang three days ago in the woods outside Union City, but they'd been at a tactical disadvantage and outnumbered. As the ranking Mountie, Nathan had made the command decision that they'd simply follow the gang and try to rendezvous with Hastings and Dupre at their predetermined time.

Which should have been this evening, but Hastings and Dupre had never shown. That was worrying enough on its own, because Hastings had a family waiting for him at home and Dupre wasn't much older than Gabe. Nathan did not want to think about why they might not have shown.

Gabe seemed to think that maybe Hastings had gotten his information mixed up and they were in the wrong place. There was nothing to be done for it now, however. Nathan's instincts told him that they were in the right place - all of the signs had pointed them right here to the bank in a growing town that was much the same size as Hope Valley - and wasn't far from it, either. Nathan could only wait, now, and hope that the coded message he'd left for Hastings and Dupre had not been found by the wrong people (and that it would have been unintelligible if it had).

The alternative was that Nathan had outright told the Olsen gang how to find him and Gabe, and that they were about to be ambushed. That didn't bear thinking about.

"Hey," Gabe whispered. When Nathan didn't respond, he tried again. "Nathan."

"What?" Nathan hissed.

"You ever gonna finish telling me about that school teacher?"

Forget the Olsen gang, Nathan was going to turn around right now and smack that boy in the back of the head. "Are you serious?" Nathan whisper-yelled. "You're really asking me about this right now?"

There was a pause. Another bolt of lightning lit the night sky and Nathan quickly scanned the surroundings, but there was nothing to see.

"I told you about Lillian."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Kinslow, if you don't shut up I'm going to -."

The flash of the muzzle lit the darkness of the bank office almost at the same instant that the explosive percussion of a bullet being fired rang out. Nathan threw himself toward the ground and in Gabe's direction simultaneously. The flash had momentarily ruined Nathan's vision and he wasn't sure how close he was to the shooter or to Gabe, but the sudden commotion made up for his lack of sight.

"Nathan!" Gabe yelled.

"Left!" Another voice hollered. Nathan thought it sounded a lot like Dupre.

Nathan lunged up onto one knee and fired off a shot to his left and prayed that Dupre was right, and that Nathan had understood him correctly. A grunt and a thud told him that he had hit someone.

"Gabe?"

No answer. Nathan could just make out what he thought was a lamp - probably on a desk - a few feet ahead of him. He needed light, he needed to be able to see what he was doing and who he was shooting at before he hit the wrong person. He'd hardly entertained the thought, however, when the solid weight of a body smashed into him. The surprise of it stunned him just long enough for his attacker to get a large hand around his throat, and then Nathan wasn't thinking about anything but survival.

He'd never been much of a brawler. Nathan had always been tall and gangly as a youth, and while that gave him the advantages of reach and height, it didn't do him any favors in the brute strength category. He had considerable upper body strength, but he would never win against someone who was twice his width and weight. And it certainly felt like the man sitting on his chest and trying to choke the life out of him was both of those things.

Nathan did have long arms, though, and he swung as hard as he could in the direction he thought the man's face should be. His knuckles connected with what felt like a nose, and Nathan pressed the advantage of shock by twisting at the hips and unseating his attacker. For several long moments Nathan knew nothing but the adrenaline of a fist fight to what quite possibly could have been the death, or at least unconsciousness.

"Nathan!" Gabe yelled. "It's Dupre!"

A lamp was lit somewhere in the corner of the room, and all at once Nathan could see. His eyes found his attacker first: the shaggy blond hair was dirty and unkempt, and one of the blue eyes was already swollen shut, but it was undoubtedly the oldest Olsen brother.

"Where's Dupre?" Nathan called as he bodily shoved the other man onto his stomach and pinned his arms behind his back.

"I have him," Gabe said. "He's not looking good. We need to get him to a doctor."

"Where are the others?"

"One down, in the doorway. I don't know about the others."

Nathan heard a cough and halting words and thought that Dupre was probably trying to say something. Nathan couldn't focus on that right now, though. He had to find a way to bind Sam Olsen before he could do anything else.

"Gabe, you still got your cuffs?"

"Yeah."

"Bring 'em to me."

When Nathan had cuffed Sam Olsen to the radiator that ran along one wall he went to assess the scene. Dupre had indeed been shot in the leg, but Gabe had set to administering first aid. The body in the doorway turned out to be the younger Olsen brother. Judging by where he was and Nathan's memory of where he and Gabe had started out, Nathan surmised that the younger brother had been the one he'd shot when Dupre gave away his position.

"Any -." The rest of Nathan's sentence was cut off by a shout.

"Grant!"

Nathan snatched his gun off the floor and took off at a run. The hallway was still mostly dark, but it was a short hall and there was a light coming from what Nathan thought would end up being the public area at the front of the building.

"Hastings?"

"Here. He's gone."

Nathan found Simon Hastings in the middle of the floor with a piece of iron stuck through his leg. He looked like he'd been dragged through the mud all the way here, and he was too dirty and there wasn't enough light for Nathan to determine if he had sustained other injuries.

"You look terrible, Hastings."

The older man chuckled dryly. "I preferred it when you didn't speak, Grant."

Nathan bent down to check what he could. There was definitely no way anyone but a doctor could remove the foreign object in his leg. "Where else?" Nathan asked.

"No idea. Can't tell if the pain is just from my leg, or somewhere else. Might be starting to lose feeling."

Nathan tried not to grimace. Losing feeling was not a good sign. Where had the piece of iron come from in the first place, and how long had Hastings been laying here with it sticking out of him? This was not a good situation. Dupre was in the other room possibly bleeding out, Hastings might have a foreign object piercing an artery, he had no idea if Gabe was okay, and Nathan's whole body was just awash in pain.

"I have to go for help," Nathan said. "You stay awake, Hastings. Hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah," Hastings grunted. "Hurry up."

Nathan had every intention of doing just that. He needed the doctor, and he needed to move the living Olsen brother somewhere that he had less chances of escaping, and ...

He'd managed to make it outside. The weather had not let up at all, and the sustained rainfall had turned everything to standing puddles and circles of mud. The commotion had drawn the attention of the townspeople, however, and pinpoints of light had started to stream out of houses and buildings as people came out to see what the commotion was.

Unexpectedly, Nathan's mind offered him an image of Elizabeth and Allie as if he might find their faces among the people that were now running toward him - and then Nathan knew nothing but oblivion.