"No! Stop! Why? Just tell me why?"

Slim lay on his back and stared at the ceiling in their shared room. He sighed. Jess was having, no make that enduring, another night dream. This was the third one in as many nights! He was tempted to put his pillow over his head and let Jess ride it out alone. Wait, maybe -

"Why?" Jess moaned, louder this time.

Slim ran a hand over his head. If he didn't get sleep pretty soon, he was afraid of what he'd do. As it was, he was doing all the forge work alone, as every time Jess heard him hammer horse shoes, he disappeared. Jess wouldn't go to town alone; he wouldn't ride fence by himself; he wouldn't go anywhere by himself - like he was afraid to be alone.

"Slim!" Jess yelled suddenly.

Slim shot up, his heart racing. He opened his mouth as he turned towards Jess. But Jess was deep in his dream, his legs moving restlessly across the bed. As usual, his blankets were on the floor. Slim swung his legs over the bed, finding his boots automatically. As he slid them on, as noiselessly as possible, he remembered Dr. Sam's instructions, the first week they bought Jess home.

"He's apt to sleep most of the time, but when he wakes, he'll either be talkative or quiet. He'll be impatient and angry and fearful. He may say things to provoke you into a fight. He may have night dreams. Let him ride through them."

At the time, he nodded and accepted the fact that life wasn't going back to normal anytime soon. Jess had gone through a lot and needed time to recover. He understood that. He also knew that Jess had been in a Yankee prison at the end of the war. Halleck had told him about the symptoms of men who left those prisons. So far, Jess seemed to be going through the same things. The dreams though were another matter.

Early on, when he first came to them, Jess had two types of dreams - fever dreams and night dreams. Slim had learned alot about Jess, his family and the Bannisters long before Jess told him about them. He only had night dreams when he was worried about something. Slim had made one mistake in all those years. He had woken Jess during a night dream. When Jess found out, he felt so guilty that he slept in the barn the next night. Unfortunately, he got sick. The second time it happened, he slept in the unheated bunk house and developed lung fever. Slim never woke him again.

As Slim peered through the darkness and listened to his Pard's moans, he remembered the last thing Dr. Sam had said. "Slim, you know Jess better than anyone. You know how to handle this. I am a doctor. I can take bullets out of flesh, help birth a baby, set bones but I can't heal minds or hearts. You, Slim, are the doctor of Jess' heart. You know what to do."

Mind made up, Slim walked the three steps to his brother's bed. He sat down and leaned over Jess, placing one hand close to the restless movements of his Pard and placing the other hand on Jess's shoulder and speaking softly said, "Jess, you need to wake up."

It took several minutes, but Jess finally stirred awake. His blurry, confused eyes met Slim's worried ones. "Wha - at?"

"You called me, " Slim said softly, "what do you need?"

Jess blinked, trying to remember. He shook his head.

Slim smiled and slowly stood up. "Oh, well, it'll come to you. I'm gonna make some coffee. Want some?"

Jess nodded and Slim walked out to the kitchen, only to find the pot empty. Sighing, he grabbed his jacket and hat from their pegs by the door and went out to the well.

For once, Slim was glad that Daisy and Mike weren't home. Oh he missed them very much and was sure that Jess did too. Daisy had caught the signs earlier than he had.

"Jess is having a hard time adjusting to all of us," she had said one night before turning in. "He needs you and I think that Mike and I need to go away for a while so that both of you can recover."

He remembered trying to argue with her but as usual, Daisy's reasoning was sound. "We'll go visit my sister in Denver as soon as school lets out. That way you'll only have Jess to worry about and not the two of us also. I'll teach you how to make soup and some other meals he might like before I go."

It took Slim a bit longer to brew the coffee and as he watched the water begin to boil, he thought about something else Dr. Sam had said. "Stay close to him, Slim. If he feels useless, he may ride away." Slim rubbed his hand behind his neck. Upon reflection, he felt that Jess seemed to be withdrawing from him and was more grumpy than usual.

'Oh, Jess,' he thought to himself, 'how can I help you?' He knew his "tells", his secrets and his fears, his heart as well. As he reached for the cups on the shelf above him, he whispered to an unseen Jess " how do I give you back the confidence you lost? How do I erase the fear? I hold you in my hands. What if I make a mistake? "

As he poured the coffee into the cups, he knew somehow, that even if he made a mistake, Jess would forgive him. He added sugar to the brew Jess loved so much and suddenly knew exactly what he needed to do. He half expected Jess to be asleep when he returned to their room but he was still awake, propped up by pillows. Slim put their cups on the table between their beds.

"I'm sorry, Pard," Jess started to say but Slim stopped him with a look.

"Not your fault, Jess. You need time."

Slim watched Jess through the corner of his eye. He looked so miserable. Slim desperately wanted to comfort his Pard but he bit his tongue. Jess needed to feel his compassion and love. He wasn't sure if his remedy would work or if Dr. Sam would approve but he did know Jess.

"I've been thinking of how we can help you get back to, well, back to the way you were before."

"Yeah?"

"Well," Slim gathered his thoughts, cupped his hands together and began to "doctor" Jess.

"You know how you don't want to ride fence by yourself?"

Jess nodded, hanging his head in embarrassment.

"Suppose you start out before me then I'll make sure that the house is buttoned up, saddle up Alamo and then start out behind you. You won't be that far ahead of me so if you need me, all you have to do is look back. Then when we need to get the horses ready for the stage, you go out and I'll follow about twenty minutes later. Then in the morning you go out to collect the eggs and milk Molly and I'll join you about twenty minutes later. We'll leave the forge work for me until you get comfortable again. This way, you'll be on your own with me nearby if you need me."

There was silence and then Jess raised his head. "You'd do all that for me?"

Slim smiled and clasped his hands onto Jess's shoulders. "We're family, remember? This is what friends do; it's what Pards do too."