Michaela screams Sully's name as the Dog Soldiers brutally pull her away from him. Throwing her over their horse, they prepared to leave. "Sully!" 'I will find you Michaela!" But then she finds herself at the reservation witnessing the destruction that the Indians and soldiers had caused, realizing that her husband was indeed apart of the catastrophe. Yet, the pain overwhelms her and she clutches her stomach while trying to find purchase on the bed. The pool of blood on the bed only confirms her worst fear, that she lost Sully's baby. Sully…where are you?

Gasping for breath, Michaela opens her eyes attempting to sit up only to find that her body was racked with pain. Realizing that she needed to move gingerly, Michaela allowed the doctor within her take over. She individually assessed the damage of each limb. Aside from some major bruising along her hip and stomach, she was fortunate to escape with what seemed like just a broken leg. Despite this reassurance, she was still unable to fully sit up on her own. The pain in her abdomen made her gasp and brought tears of pain to her eyes.

In the distance, Michaela became aware of the fact that Katie is crying out. "My fall probably scared her," Michaela thought to herself. Not knowing what to do or how she could help her baby girl, panic began to creep into every fiber of her being. Ignoring the white hot flash of pain that coursed through her body, Michaela dragged herself up towards the stairs. Taking each one slowly, she tries to bring herself to the top so that she could offer words of comfort to Katie.

Halfway to the top, breathing heavily and sweating profusely, all the energy drained out of her. Michaela looked up at the top step, which now seemed so incredibly far away, trying to fight the blackness that was attempting to overtake her vision. Finally, unable to stop it, Michaela submitted to the unconscious world, releasing her grip on the step and falling lifelessly to the ground again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Whistling to himself, Brian hopped up onto the porch of the homestead. He swung his pile of fish over his shoulder, pleased that he had such a lucky day at the river. Throwing the door wide open, he looked around for his mom, expecting to see her playing with Katie or reading a medical journal. Instead, what he saw scareed him more than anything ever did in his life. His mother was lying unconscious on her back at the base of the stairs. Vivid bruises had already started to form all along her head and arms, and her leg was in an unnatural position. Shaking, Brian stood up and prepared to ride into town in order to find help.

As he pulled his horse out of the barn, Brian is relieved to hear the clamber of an incoming wagon. Relief flooded Brian, he ran as fast as he could toward the wagon yelling for help, not knowing who it was or caring for as long as they could help his mother he would be eternally grateful.

Colleen and Andrew immediately pulled the wagon to a stop, terrified after seeing Brian frantically waving his arms for help.

"Brian! What on earth is wrong?" Colleen said, climbing down from the wagon with the help of her husband.

"Ma, it's ma. She…I don't know…she's hurt..inside. I was fishin' and she's not speaking. It looks bad…" Brian responded, out of breath from fear and exertion.

Without hesitating, Colleen and Andrew rushed inside. Seeing her ma in that condition brought tears to Colleen's eyes. Andrew, being the calm and collected doctor that he was, immediately took stock of the situation, lightly running his hands down Michaela's limbs in order to determine the severity of the situation.

On a moan, Michaela opens her eyes in even more pain. Andrew realizes that it is likely that she has several broken ribs probably causing her breathing to be painful. After a few moments, Andrew determines that they can move her, especially since she was awake albeit groggy and uncomfortable.

Colleen went outside to pad the wagon with as many blankets and pillows as she could find while Andrew and Brian carried her slowly outside. Colleen climbed up with Katie in her lap while Andrew takes the reigns.

"Brian, go get Matthew. Tell him what happened. Someone should probably find Sully." Colleen said.

"No!" Michaela yelled as forcefully as her weakened body would allow.

"Ma?" Brian asked.

"Don't get Sully. No need to disturb him. He'll be back soon…I'll be fine." She responded softly.

Brian shrugged his shoulders and quickly saddled his horse. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the current situation. Competently he rode off towards his brother's homestead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

While Andrew and Colleen got Michaela settled in the clinic with the help of Jake and Hank, Brian arrived at Matthews. Nearing the end of his rope, Brian explained the situation to his older brother.

"I don't understand, Matthew. Why doesn't she want Sully to be here? She's in an awful lot of pain," Brian asked, worried about his ma.

Understanding a bit more of the situation than his younger brother, Matthew absorbed what he had just learned. "Well, little brother, Sully is only a days ride ahead of me. I'm going to go out and see if I can catch up with him. If I can't, then I will simply come back and we'll wait for Sully to either contact us or come home. Brian, if ma asks, tell her that I had to go to Denver for a new trial."

"Ok. I can do that. Thanks Matthew," Brian said, relieved that someone was taking control of this horrible situation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxx

At the clinic, Colleen gave her Ma some chloroform in order for Andrew to properly set her leg. As worried as she was about her mother's injuries, Colleen understood that her mother was incredibly lucky not to be needing surgery. Andrew quickly goes through the procedure of setting the bone and wrapping the leg in order for it to heal properly. Studying his mother in law, he takes in her appearance. Bruising, some quite nasty, and some broken ribs appeared to be the bulk of the problems now that the leg was taken care of. However, he still wanted to give Michaela a complete exam once she woke up. Finished with the task at hand, Andrew turns to his wife. Upon seeing her pale face and shaking hands, Andrew put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Everything is going to be ok, Colleen. She's just a little banged up. Your ma is strong. She won't let this get in the way of anything."

"I know but how did this happen? It's not like ma to have accidents like this."

Andrew squeezes her shoulder but hides the concern in his own eyes. He is also worried and hopes that he will gain some more answers once he can talk to Michaela and exam her fully.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxx

Later, as the sun was setting, Michaela opened her eyes slowly. She was startled as she saw the objects of her recovering come into focus once again this week. Slowly though the events of the morning came crashing back causing her to choke back a sob. At the noise, Colleen turned from the window she was staring out of and rushed to her side.

"It's ok ma. I'm here." Colleen said, placing a soft hand to her mother's brow.

"What happened? Katie?"

"Katie's fine. She's with Grace right now. It seems that you fell down the stairs, ma. Brian found you earlier this morning. Do you remember what happened?"

Michaela shook her head, clearly in pain. "I don't know…I don't know."

Colleen rose from the bed so that she could alert Andrew of the changes, while also hoping that maybe he could find the answers that Michaela clearly didn't want to share. Before she could even leave the room, she heard footsteps. Colleen looked up to see her husband, who had a smile on his face on seeing that Michaela was wide awake.

"Micheala? How are you feeling?" Andrew asked, while pulling out his stethoscope to listen to her heart.

"Mmm…sore. Everything hurts," Michaela whispered.

"I can get you some more morphine to help control that. While you're awake though, I'd like to conduct a full exam."

Michaela nodded knowing that there was no way that she could fight that one considering her present condition. Gathering his supplies, Andrew exams her pupils, the bruises, her head, and pulse. While doing this, he asked Michaela if she remembers anything.

"I was cleaning…trying to keep busy. I reached down to pick up Katie's toy when I felt dizzy. I couldn't find anything to hold onto and I…I…lost my balance. The next thing I remember is waking up here." Michaela answers, struggling to remember the details.

Andrew's forehead creases, clearly he is going to have to deal with Michaela's injuries plus the underlying cause, most likely related to the illness that kept her in bed the day before.

Andrew's hand came down to her abdomen and he gently pushes to determine any internal injuries. Just as he pressed, Michaela screams out in agony.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Michaela moaned weakly.

Quickly, Colleen rushes to her side, bring a pan with her. She places some cooling cloths on Michaela's feverish brow.

At this reaction, Andrew lifts of Michaela's blouse so that he can visually determine the damage to her abdomen. Clearly several of her ribs were broken; perhaps they were pushing on one of her organs. Yet, as he continued to press lower, the pain increased leaving him to realize that the broken ribs were not the source of this current problem. With a brief glance at Colleen, Andrew rearranged the blankets so that he could do a full exam. Michaela tried to protest but realized that it was like talking to a brick wall. Andrew prepared himself but was shocked and worried when his hand met blood.