Something cold pressing against his forehead brought Ian back to the real world, and he came to with a start.

"Easy…"

A hand against his chest held him down, and he opened his eyes, to find himself on his back with a crowd of people looking down at him, varying degrees of concern in their faces, and tears in many of the eyes of the little ones.

"Stay still for a minute," the same voice told him, and Ian turned his gaze on the speaker. A woman in her mid thirties, maybe, who was watching him with a look that automatically made him think of Janet Fraiser. "I want to have a look at that bump."

"I'm fine."

"See? I told you he wasn't dead…"

Ian turned to the sound of River's voice and saw that the Californian was talking to one of the little girls, whose cheeks were smeared with moisture and her eyes were bright with tears.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" The woman asked, bringing Ian's attention back to her.

He scowled around the ache in his head – which was a serious pounding.

"Eight."

She frowned.

"Ian…" Shawn said, warningly from somewhere in the same area as River.

Ian sighed, and cooperated.

"Two."

"Do you know where you are?"

"Yes."

She frowned, again, looking into his eyes, and Ian knew she was looking at his pupils to make sure they were normal.

"Is he okay?" Ian heard Gary Hines ask.

"It looks like it," the woman said. "Just a knock on the head. We'll keep it iced for a while." She smiled at Ian, pressing the ice pack – for that was what he'd felt against his forehead – a little firmer against his head. "I'd say your softball career is at a standstill, though. At least for the day."

Then it was worth the headache as far as Ian was concerned. He sat up, looking around, and felt his head swimming at the sudden motion. He must have paled, as well, because the woman – who Ian was certain now was the Camp Nurse – gave him a worried look.

"I'm okay," he told her, before she could suggest some continued treatment. "My head hurts, that's all."

"Well… I'll give you some aspirin for the pain – with the ice pack helping to numb the outside, that should take care of most of the ache."

Hopefully.

"Are you okay, Ian?" Sammy asked, coming over and squatting down beside him now that he was in a sitting position. The boy's eyes were wide and afraid – and when Ian glanced at the others, he saw they still looked afraid, too. Dumb little Oompaloompas.

"I'm fine, Sammy."

"He's tough," Shawn said, reaching down and ruffling the boy's hair. "He survived being attacked by a bear, remember? What's a softball compared to that?"

Ian extended his hand to River, who took it and carefully pulled him to his feet. Again Ian felt a rush of lightheadedness, but he shook it off and allowed the nurse to guide him over to the side of the ball field while Gary called the kids and the rest of the counselors back to the game.

"You were attacked by a bear?" The nurse asked him as she gestured for him to sit down and then reached into a pouch she was wearing around her waist. A portable first aid kit was Ian's first guess, which proved correct when she pulled out a bottle of water and a packet of aspirin.

"Yeah."

He took the aspirin from her gratefully and downed them, washing them down with a generous drink of water.

"A real bear?"

He nodded, and turned his attention to the game – where he saw that Ann was now pitching – figuring that if he appeared to be watching the game, then the nurse wouldn't ask him about the bear attack. Luckily, she was more concerned about him keeping his ice pack in place.

OOOOOOOOOO

"You sure you're okay?"

"Jesus, Hayden, stop pestering me. I already told you I was fine."

The game had lasted another five fun innings before it had ended and the kids had all been set loose for free time until the bell rang for lunch. River and Ian were heading down to the main building to get a table, while Shawn had taken the boys down to the waterfront to look at the ski boat, and maybe check out other possible activities.

"I hit you pretty hard…"

"You didn't hit me. The ball did."

"I hit the ball."

"It's not like I was trying to strike you out, so try not to break your arm patting yourself on the back…"

River grinned, glad that Ian was feeling good enough to be grumpy. The bump above his right eye was about the size of a chicken egg, and it was already a deep purple around the edges. He was lucky, whether he cared or not.

"You couldn't strike a match…" River told him as they headed down the hill, and now there were campers running around them, so Ian would have to watch his language once more. Which he realized immediately, and forced him to bite back his favorite curse.

"Screw you, Hayden…" It wasn't quite the same, but it got the message across.

"Wow, what happened to you?"

Hank had been walking up the hill to meet them, several of his boys walking with him, and they all stopped to stare at the bump on Ian's head.

"I hit him with a softball," River said, grinning when Ian glanced over at him with a look of disgusted annoyance. "Dropped him like a stone."

"He got lucky."

Hank smiled, deciding that it couldn't be all that serious if they could joke about it.

"Did you see the nurse?"

"Yeah."

"Once he woke up." River added. Now that he was sure Ian wasn't going to fall down dead, River was more than willing to have his fun at Ian's expense. "I knocked him out."

"Really?"

Ian sighed, and headed towards the door. He should have just stayed in bed that morning.