Chapter Twelve

The Doctor and The Patient

Bill and Nathan drove the transport wagon to get the prisoners. By now the brothers had sobered up somewhat, enough to realize they had been captured by the law. "The lawmen" loaded them into the wagon and proceeded to take them to their awaiting jail cells at Hope Valley's Sheriff and Mountie office.

As Nathan and Cyrus walked them into the cells, the older brother and ringleader of the gang pleaded "Aw come on now Sheriff. We were just jostling with ya. We didn't mean ya no harm."

"That's right Sheriff. We didn't mean ya no harm. We's drunk. Will you just let us go just this time?", the youngest one pleaded.

Nathan looked stone faced, straight at him, then quickly and clearly replied, "No."

Once the prisoners were securely locked behind bars, Nathan headed to Elizabeth's house to pick up Allie. It had been a few hours since he had left with Bill to go help bring the prisoners back. It had to be close to midnight by now. With all the commotion from earlier, many people had not gone to bed yet so lights were still on including Elizabeth's.

He lightly tapped on her front door in hopes that Allie had fallen asleep. The front door flew open and Allie greeted him with a huge relieved smile.

"You're back! You're safe,", she exclaimed.

"Did you think otherwise?", Nathan said teasingly.

Allie blushed. "Of course not but...I will admit I was worried about you. Ready to go home?", she asked.

"0h yes but first I want to speak to Elizabeth...alone. Just wait for me outside. I will only be a minute."

Elizabeth walked slowly towards Nathan then stopped to face him. "Are you really alright Nathan?", she asked. She looked concerned and worn out.

"I'm alright Elizabeth...just a few busted ribs and a bit of a bruised ego I suppose. I just want to thank you for taking care of Allie during all this. It means a lot to me to have people I can count on so thank you."

"You are so welcome Nathan. Other than both of us being worried about you, I believe it was good for myself and Allie to spend some time together. I know it was for me and I certainly hope it was for her too."

Nathan looked down at her with intensity in his blue eyes, "I think it was good for her too. I think…", he started to say something but stopped himself before he finished his sentence.

"Nathan, I know you must be aware that Lucas and I decided to just be friends."

"Actually, no I did not know that Elizabeth," he interjected. "I had not heard anything of the sort."

"Well, I also want you to know...well, never mind. I'm sure you are very tired right now and would like to get home. Maybe be can talk later."

Nathan nodded in agreement. He was exhausted...too exhausted for any serious discussions. He gestured a goodbye, opened the door and stepped out. While still holding on to the door handle, he turned slowly, looked at Elizabeth's sad face and said "Let me know when you figure it out."

For Elizabeth, those words cut like a knife. She remembered saying those words to him hoping he would open up to her at the time but when he finally did, she ran a dagger through his unsuspecting, caring heart. Remorse did not even cover how she felt right now. Maybe "mortified" would be the word for it.

Back at the infirmary, Molly and Faith busied around the office while keeping an eye on Pete Spurlock. The two ladies had managed to get the man's jacket and boots off. They were going to stay up and keep an eye on him and Bill said he would stay too in case Pete woke up in a state of confusion.

Bill wound up falling asleep in the chair over in the corner. He started snoring like a freight train. Molly would occasionally tickle his cheek with a feather which would disrupt his snoring and provide them with a few minutes of entertainment and quiet time, short-lived as it was.

"Molly, why don't you try to catch a few winks of sleep too. We can take turns but I have this under control right now."

Molly agreed but stated she would only sleep for a short while stretching out in the chair beside Bill. Within a few minutes Molly and Bill seemed to unconsciously be attempting to harmonize with their snoring, heads resting together. To describe the sounds as harmony was actually a misnomer. It was bad to say the least. Faith thought they looked so cute together. She decided a take a quick picture of them with her new camera. She needed to finish that roll of film anyhow then get the pictures developed. Maybe she would get Rosemary to print a picture of the two in the Valley Voice newspaper. Faith silently chuckled to herself at the thought of seeing Bill and Molly's face if Rosemary printed the picture.

Faith quietly went over and sat by the patient's bedside. Periodically she applied a fresh cold cloth to his head to help keep any swelling down. Time would tell his outcome. So far so good. HIs vitals remained stable.

Faith had drifted to sleep while sitting by Mr. Spurlock's beside. Her head rested on the edge of his bed and her chair had scooted out. It was a wonder she didn't fall off her chair. She was quickly awakened shortly past 4 AM by movement in his bed. Faith quickly raised her head to see him gazing right at her. Startled and hair a jumbled mess, she jumped back a bit but she realized her hand was in his. She let out an audible gasp as she pulled her hand back. There was a slight twinkle in his eyes.

"Good morning", he said quietly.

"Good morning", Faith whispered so as not to wake Bill and Molly who were sleeping in the same position as was earlier.

"Did I startle you Miss?", he asked. "I'm so sorry if I did. I thought I had woke up in heaven and you were an angel…a sleeping angel", he whispered with a soft laugh. "What happened? Why am I here? Who are you and who are those snoring people over there?"

Faith was shocked at herself. She had been holding this man's hand when she woke up. She was also shocked at her thought about how ruggedly handsome he was. She needed to get a grip, she thought. Was she dreaming?

She knew that her and Carson had decided to go their own ways some time ago after trying to hang onto their relationship for too long. They parted with the utmost respect for each other. Unexpectedly and out of the blue, she felt herself being drawn to the recovering man in the infirmary bed. Where were these feelings coming from? She blushed at her thoughts.

Jerking herself into reality she said "Please don't get up", as he was making a feeble attempt at sitting up. "You sustained a significant head injury last night and you have a concussion. You need to lay still. I'm Dr. Carter, Dr. Faith Carter."

"Bill." Faith said loudly. No answer, just snoring. "BILL!", said Faith again louder and sharper this time.

"I will let Bill fill you in on what happened last night but for now please just lay still". Faith pulled her stethoscope from around her neck. "You're in good hands here.", she said as she started taking his temperature, pulse and blood pressure while his deep blue eyes seemed to pierce her soul causing her to blush.

"I want you to relax to keep your blood pressure down. Stay awake if you can.", she said.

Finally by that time Bill and Molly had awoken, looked at each other startled then jumped out of their chairs like they had gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar. They both grabbed their backs and groaned at the same time.

"What can I do? What can I do?", Molly implored of Faith while still trying to get her bearings.

Bill cleared his throat a few times. "Mr. Spurlock. I am Bill Avery, the town judge. You fell and hit your head last night after you helped free Sheriff Grant. You two captured the three bank robbers. We have them in custody over at the jail. Right now it is important that you follow Faith's instructions and as soon as you have rested more, we will fill you in. Are you hungry? I can go cook you something at the cafe."

"Thank you Bill. I'm really not hungry right now and Dr. Carter says I just need to lay here for a bit more since I do feel slightly woozy. I will take you up on that offer later though." He looked back at Faith who was diligently keeping her eyes on him. She was probably simply assessing his condition, he thought to himself but try as he may he could barely take his eyes off of her. He felt he knew her from somewhere but that was most likely just his imagination playing tricks on him.

He was getting clearer headed and remembered seeing the judge around town but had never met him face to face. Ahhh…things were coming back to him now.

Spurlock gave into exhaustion and drifted back to sleep. Faith and Molly quietly busied themselves around the infirmary while Bill went over to the jail to check on the prisoners.

Molly started a pot of coffee on the infirmary's backroom cookstove. The smell of fresh coffee filled the air. The coffee that Lee and Rosemary had given several of their friends was the best coffee they'd ever tasted. Lee promised there would be more to come from his supplier in South America.

By this time it was around 5:30 AM. They could hear distant roosters crowing. The daylight was becoming visible on the horizon. It was a peaceful time of the morning.