Adam's been great through all of the near death happenings of late. Here we get a little look-see at the stalwart eldest Cartwright brother's thoughts on the matter.

Adam wasn't sure why it was, but for the most part, many times throughout his life, when tragedy struck or emergencies reared their ugly heads, he managed to keep a level head and generally be of more use than he might've expected.

Similarly, this newest incident had left him shaken, but not too terribly stirred, in the midst of a flurry of circumstances he wouldn't have expected to stay calm for.
But Hoss had been there and Adam had seen his hands shaking with nerves, and Candy had needed someone to keep him grounded while Joe was in trouble. The kind of trouble Candy must have realized he couldn't just pull the kid out of. A trouble Joe had put himself right in the path of in order to ensure his friend's safety. Candy's safety.

A move Adam, in all honesty, couldn't blame his baby brother for. Considering he'd have done the exact same thing if it were to keep a member of his family safe. In fact, he'd settle for straight across trading places with Joe, if that were even remotely an option.

Adam also mused, looking across their rented hotel room at a haunted, red shirted figure, hunched upon the edge of the bed across from the one on which he sat, that had the roles been reversed, Candy would be the one spending the night in the Doctor's office. Prognosis uncertain though not so serious as to necessitate sending for their pa.
As it was, they'd merely sent a courier with a quickly penned missive detailing, in brief, what had happened and why they wouldn't be back until sometime the next day.

At Hoss's quick thinking, Adam had also jotted down concerns voiced by Doc Rosebaum. Such as whether there wasn't a room on the first floor of their home Joe could spend the most crucial days of his recuperation.
No doubt by the time they rolled up to the house, Pa and Hop Sing would have the guest room refitted as a convalescent ward. A look of pained worry affixed to their faces no matter Joe's obvious condition at time of arrival.

Giving one last, solid ponder as to the conundrum of his own present calmness, Adam looked across to the silhouette of his middle brother seated on the room's window sill and opened his mouth for the first time in what felt like too long for a group of three to have stayed silent.
"Dinner? I've been assured the room service is top notch."

Two throats cleared themselves in the ensuing second. At the end of which, Hoss was the next of the room's occupants to speak. "That sounds fine, Adam, but, uh, nothin' fer me. I'm not all that hungry... at present."

Two heads twitched a double take at the backlit rancher at the admission. Then they looked towards each other, where they shared a moment of decidedly concerned eye contact.
Hoss never said no to the offer of a hot meal. Most who worked as hard as the guy with the ten gallon hat couldn't afford to. Never knowing when the next offer might come their way.

"Alright then. Steak good for you, Candy?" Adam asked. Pretending nothing at all was amiss. Nothing aside from the fact that one of their group wouldn't be joining them for dinner.
Or two. If he let himself think like that.

"Yeah. Steak'd be great. Thanks, Adam." Wondering whether he'd picked it up from Joe, Adam had to applaud Candy's ability to sound both excited and terribly sad at the same time. Then with as casual an exit as he could manage, Adam chanced leaving the two without adult supervision long enough to place an order for three steak dinners.
Hoss wouldn't blame him for ordering for all three of them, regardless of his having declined dinner. After all, Adam was understandably distracted, and under normal circumstances, that would have been their order.
Besides that: Hoss wasn't the kind to let good food go to waste.

So Adam smirked to himself as he took the stairs back to their room and was pleased to find nothing childish had happened while he'd been away.

"It'll be up soon," he said as he retook his seat. Realizing within seconds that he could not think of a single thing more to say. Nothing to lighten the mood nor lift the oppressive silence that enveloped them as if they were some sort of mourning party at someone dear's wake-

Adam took a steadying breath through his nose.
There was no call for such morbid thinking. Joe was going to be fine and all four of them would head home tomorrow and resume life just as it had been.
He needed to believe that. For Hoss and Candy if not for himself.

Adam grinned into his last bite of steak as he watched an amused Candy hand over the left overs of his meal to the biggest guy in the room. The one who'd said he wasn't hungry.
The remainder of the younger, smaller ranchero's dinner going to good use filling in the corners of Hoss's poor stomach, which hadn't seen a scrap of food since breakfast early that morning. Adam and Hoss having been about to put some lunch in themselves when a commotion had broken out in town; shouts of someone having been run over by a madman on a brute of a horse having called the two of them to action.

Remembering unbidden the shock that had taken him when he'd burst through the growing group of gawking townspeople and caught sight of Candy cradling his brother to the ground, Adam busied himself with clearing the empty plates from the furniture. Setting them on the floor outside the door in plain view for the waitstaff, then going back for the cups and now empty wine bottle the maîtra d' had so thoughtfully sent along for their meal.
The Californian vineyard red Sauvignon had complimented the meal perfectly and Adam had had a laugh watching Candy try, try, and try again to enjoy, or in the very least appreciate, the supplied spirits. Ultimately though, the poor fellow had relinquished his cup, along with the leftover portion of his sizable meal, to the other person in the room who'd ever tasted such a drink before.

Adam had also had himself a chuckle watching Hoss use the robust wine as a liquid chaser to his meal as opposed to a flavor enhancer. Smacking his lips with a relieved sigh when the deep colored remnants of his glass helped the final swallow go down easy.
Setting the bottle and glasses out by the plates, Adam wondered how it could possibly have happened that their pa's appreciation for a good wine had been lost on the two youngest Cartwrights. Considering it was served often enough and they'd watched Ben and then Adam doing it the right way for the majority of their upbringings.

Adam mused that it must take a certain kind of person with a certain sort of temperament to grow properly fond of the grape derived selections of alcoholic beverages.
Shutting their room door for the night, Adam wondered whether Julius Caesar had enjoyed wine in a fashion more similar to his brothers, or perhaps in a way befitting a Roman of such high standing. He supposed were it the former, the fact wouldn't have made it into the history books anyway.

With his belly full of good food, and no more dishes in danger of being accidentally dropped and broken, Adam walked back to where he'd been using a bed as a seat and retook his perch with a contented sigh.
Starting to feel his helping of the complimentary bottle of wine swimming comfortably somewhere up in his brain, Adam reclined and stretched his body out, finding himself surprised by the quality of the mattress. Then, with a satisfied expression at the pleasant discovery, Adam decided there was no reason he shouldn't and laid his head on the pillow on the far side of the bed.

He ended up spending quite a few minutes doing absolutely nothing but staring at the ceiling. Marinating in the silence of a once again, or perhaps still, taught atmosphere and eventually found himself wishing it was instead filled with the annoying, childish, joviality his baby brother exuded effortlessly.

After all, if Joe were there, Adam thought, with a quick glance at the room's other occupants, he'd know what to say- know exactly what to do to bring Hoss and Candy out of their worried stupor. Help them to relax and agree to get themselves some sleep.
If Joe were here- if... if only.

At last, Adam found himself wondering if he wasn't a little less okay with... everything than he'd initially thought. Especially so when his face grew uncomfortably warm and the ceiling took on a bleary sheen.

Not wanting to draw attention to himself, nor alarm either of his roommates, Adam turned away from the room and onto his side, hoping the wall and its patterned wallpaper as a change of scenery would help him center his fluxing emotions.
He soon found himself rather disappointed when all it did was grant him a privacy which served to bolster the downward swing of his suddenly stormy psyche.

Joe was hurt. His youngest brother was laid up in a doctor's office, only comfortable enough for sleep with the help of an opium derived medication, and all Adam could do about it was lay on his side and cry.

Oh. Shoot. Those were tears. He thought he'd been exaggerating, but a nonchalant hand rubbed across his eyes proved that there were indeed tears pooling in their corners. Threatening to-
Never mind. There were two fat little tears crawling sideways down his face, one over the ridge of his nose. Both promising more to come as they nuzzled themselves into the pillow where it cupped the dry side of Adam's head.

At least he had had the presence of mind to hide his face beforehand. Otherwise, who knows how the others would have reacted. Anywhere between derision at the sight of water escaping a mature adult's eyes and possibly nose, to joining him when they realized the stoic one of them had been putting up a brave front the whole time.

Great. His nose was starting to leak, Adam realized with a muted sort of horror as his inquiring hand came away this time with a thicker sort of water on it.
Distracted as he searched for an acceptable place to wipe the slime, Adam realized too late that his nose had demanded of him one of the most incriminating things it possibly could have: A sniffle.

At the sound of a throat clearing somewhere behind him, Adam realized that there really was no such thing as privacy in a room as small as the one they'd taken for the night.
He closed his eyes in mortification as he heard Candy switch his seat from Hoss's bed to the one they were sharing for the night. On account of the room only having two and Hoss being big enough to take up a whole bed on his own. Followed closely by Hoss relinquishing his place at the window for a seat on his own bed. No doubt taking the vacancy as an excuse to come closer.

"Uh, I been meanin' to thank ya, Adam," Adam heard Candy start. Sounding just as sad as earlier, but with a touch of concern as opposed to excitement mixed in this time. Prompting the older man to open his eyes back up in curiosity. "Fer helpin' me out while- uh- when, well... you know." Adam couldn't help but crack a small smile at the wall at the halting, embarrassed sentiment.
"What I mean to say is," he heard Candy start again. "Thanks fer helpin' me keep it together. It was tough for a while there."

"Yeah, Adam." Started Hoss from his no longer quite so far off perch. "Don't think there's a soul around could've handled it better'n you did. Talkin' with the doc an' all. No one else knows the kinda stuff 'bout doctorin' you do. 'Cept the doctor, 'course," Hoss ended with what sounded like a sad smile.

Hm. Not quite what Adam had expected as a reaction from the glorified cow hands who'd spent the last several hours mostly stunned by the horrid tragedy that'd destroyed the easy feel to their day. In fact, he was touched by it and pleased to feel his unwanted, dark thoughts pushed farther from his mind with every kind word they shared.
Knowing he'd need to say something, Adam cleared his throat, making it sound as incidental a noise as possible, a relative feat given how thick it felt, and nodded at the wall before making to speak. But before he could, he heard Hoss stand and so chanced a peek over his shoulder to see what for.

"Thanks fer bein' here, Adam. Fer comin' back. I don't know what we'd do without you," Hoss said. Passing it off as a joking compliment as he turned out the room's wall lantern and made his way back over to his bed.

Comforted by the sudden darkness of the room, Adam wiped at his face a final time, pleased when he didn't feel any more tears ready to spill over, and relaxed his bid for privacy; moving to stare at the blank expanse of ceiling once again before speaking.
"I'm glad to hear the two of you couldn't get along without me." He let a couple of chuckles die out before saying more. "You're welcome, Hoss. Candy." He swallowed when his throat felt thick again. "I'm glad to be back. Don't know what I'd do without you."

"Oh, shucks,"

"Shucks, Adam," came the twin embarrassed replies. At which, Adam couldn't help but smile. Out loud.

Morbid mood disturbed at long last, the three glorified Ponderosa cow punches decided it was well enough time for some well deserved shut eye and got themselves ready for a nice lay down.
None of them had any extra clothes to speak of, so they took off incidental pieces that'd get in the way of sleeping and, at least Candy and Adam anyway, didn't bother with pulling back the covers. Perfectly comfortable in their day clothes without need of an extra layer.

They'd only taken the hotel room for want of a roof over their heads, some walls to stave off the chill, and something soft to lay on until morning rolled around. Once the town came alive they'd be checking out and the Cartwright family would be homeward bound with one even worse for wear Joe for Pa and Hop Sing to fret over.
Things were not going to be dull around the house. Not with Joe confined to bed rest and anyone older than him making sure he got it. Especially with everyone being older than him.

With a careful sigh, grateful when it didn't catch in his throat, Adam adjusted his head against his pillow, and tried not to feel weird about it when he glanced next to himself and a ripple of gratefulness hit him at the knowledge that at least Candy hadn't been injured as well.

A small smile tugging his lips as he thought about how happy that'd make his baby brother, Adam let his eyes close and allowed the soft sounds of his roommates' breathing lull him to a decent night's sleep.

Aw! I always knew Adam was sensitive, but the poor guy's also a worrier? At least he had family around to cheer him up!
Hope everyone's weekends are lovely!