Jackson got very little sleep over the next few days. Sam's condition worsened. She went from fever to chills again and again. He spent hours by her bedside, sponging her down to cool her off. He continued to give her antibiotics and Tylenol, and tried to keep liquids down her. He held her when the coughing began and she cried out because of her ribs. She didn't seem to be getting any better. He was beginning to doubt the decision of keeping her here instead of taking her to a hospital. He could not, would not lose her again.

He had kept an eye on the weather. The first night they had received 10 inches of snow. Watching the news, he saw that this would not be melting anytime soon as they were in for a cold snap, with more snow on the way. He also watched the local news awaiting any reports of a missing person. After a week he had begun to wonder why no one had reported her gone. Maybe the snow had kept everyone from noticing she was missing. He looked through her backpack again. Yes, she was assigned locally to Cheyenne Mountain. Surely someone had missed her by now?

A sound from the bed caught his attention. Looking up, he looked into amazingly blue eyes.

"Hey," he said softly. "How're you feeling?"

I'm not sure," she replied. She started to sit up, but felt an excruciating pain in her chest and dizziness that made her lie back down. Her chest felt like it was on fire, nausea roiled in her stomach and her leg ached,

"What happened?" She asked.

"Don't know. Thought maybe you could tell me," he said with a smile.

She closed her eyes in thought. She couldn't place what had occurred ...in fact she couldn't remember anything.

"I can't...I don't know. Where am I?" She asked.

You mean you don't remember?

"I vaguely remember waking up and seeing you earlier, but other than that, nothing,"

"Well, you have broken your right leg, and have a hell of a concussion, and several fractured ribs," he replied. "I found you outside in the snow. You were cold and wet when I brought you in, but I got you warmed up. You've had a bout with pneumonia. I've set and splinted your leg and wrapped your ribs to make movement a little easier. I need for you to eat something for me. I haven't been able to get much down you while you were so sick. Just lie here and I'll get some soup."

She nodded and closed her eyes.

He returned in just a few minutes with soup and juice. He helped her into a somewhat sitting position. She gasped as her ribs and head protested.

"Easy. You've been out of it for over a week. We'll just take it slowly," he said with a grin and fed her the first spoonful of soup. She was so weak that she couldn't hold the spoon, so he continued to feed her. She managed to eat half the bowl before her eyes grew heavy with exhaustion.

Jackson helped her lie back down and then moved to the bathroom. Rummaging through Karen's medicines he found what he was looking for.

He came back into the room. "Before you go back to sleep, let's get these pills into you. I know you're in pain and you will sleep better if we can ease that. This is just something for pain to make you more comfortable. I wouldn't give it to you until you woke up and I could check on the concussion. Go ahead, take it and I'll be right here when you wake up."

He put the capsules in her mouth and helped her sit enough to sip some juice. She settled back against the pillows and closed her eyes as sleep came to claim her. Just before nodding off, she roused and looked at him.

"What's my name?" She asked groggily.

Jackson was stunned. She didn't know who she was? Maybe the concussion was worse than he'd thought. He realized what this meant.

Your name is Karen Thomason and you're my wife," he smiled at her as he placed a kiss on her forehead. "Now, sleep."

"That's nice." She smiled as she closed her eyes and snuggled down into the blankets.

He watched her for a few minutes. "You sleep well, Karen and I'll be right here with you. Forever."