-PERCEPTION-

Jake rescues Sam and realizes a few things in the aftermath. Rather Jake-centric this chapter. Characters belong to Terry Farley. Will be Sam/Jake. Thank you for the reviews! They are greatly appreciated. Sorry if Jake seems a bit out of character, I'm not used to keeping my characters quiet.

There you are, wild and free

Reaching out like you needed me

A helping hand to make things right

I am holding you all through the night

Chapter 2:

Sam stirred, shifting slightly from where she lay in Jake's arms, cringing as the desert passed by outside the window of the truck. "What's going on?" she groaned, looking up, meeting Jake's 'mustang eyes' with her own.

"You're on the way to the hospital." Whether it was Jake or her dad she wasn't sure, but she only nodded, trying to sit up.

"No." Jake held her tighter. "Try not to move," he told her.

Any other time she would have argued with him, told him he was over-reacting, being too over-protective, but she didn't have the energy to do so. She sighed, resting her head against his chest, his arms keeping her in place, the constant beat of his heart acting as a lullaby.

"I dreamt I was flying…" she mumbled, sleepily. The pain from her wounds must have intensified, Jake noted, she was shaking.

Wyatt was silent, driving as fast as he could -without risking injury- to Darton, where he knew help awaited him daughter.

"Jake." His voice was solemn, his eyes never leaving the road as he addressed the younger man. "What happened?"

"I found her lying on the ground." Jake explained, leaving out the fact that it had been in the Phantom's hideaway, and that he'd used the Phantom to get her back to River Bend.

"Where?"

"Near Lost Canyon." Jake replied.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence; Sam's groans of plain the only sound.

Jake and Wyatt sat not-so-patiently in the waiting room at the hospital in Darton, awaiting news on Sam.

'How could I let this happen?' Jake asked himself silently. 'I swore I'd protect her…' His head rested in his hands, which he realized, still had her blood on them. He could see it all over again, he normally had no problem with blood, but this was her blood. He stood, walking toward the bathroom to get rid of it, and to give himself something, anything to do to keep him from scaring himself to death with all the things that could go wrong.

"Jake," Wyatt said, sticking his head into the men's room. "You can see Sam now."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Jake followed him, spotting the doctor who led them down several hallways.

"I'll go call Brynna," Wyatt shrugged; knowing Jake was protective of her and he wouldn't be calm enough to do anything until he knew she was okay. "Go ahead, Jake. I already went in once."

Jake nodded his thanks and stepped into Sam's room. "How ya holdin' up, Brat?" he asked, sitting in the chair beside her bed, glad to see that she was awake.

She sighed. "My shoulder hurts." She replied.

Without respond to her comment, Jake looked at her with serious eyes. "What were you thinking, going in there?" he asked.

"In where?" she asked, not knowing that he knew about the Phantom's hideout.

He sent her a 'don't play games with me' look and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm the one who found you, you know."

She felt a pang of guilt; that would make it the second time that he'd seen her injured like this, and she could see blood on his shirt, from the wound on her shoulder no doubt. "I'm sorry…" she whispered.

"Tell me what happened," he said. "Did the Phantom do this to you?"

Her head snapped up, which did not prove to be a good idea with the light bump to the head she'd received. "No! It wasn't him, Jake." She fell silent for a moment. "Ace spooked and I wasn't paying attention, it was my fault. I fell on the rocks and I don't remember anything until I woke up in the truck, except that I felt like I was flying.

Jake stood up to leave. "That's 'cause you were." He said, halfway to the door.

"No, Jake." Sam protested. "Can you stay until my dad comes back?"

He nodded, walking back to the chair.

"What did you mean? I was flying?" she asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck, she noticed, what he always did when he was uncomfortable with the situation. "The Phantom led me to you." He admitted. "I found you in there, bleeding, and Witch was already agitated and I knew she wouldn't cooperate with you on her, too. So I put you on the Phantom and he carried you back to River Bend."

"WHAT?" Sam gasped. "He let you near him?"

Jake nodded. "He… knew I was trying to help you. It was weird; he laid down so I could put you on his back." He said, thinking back over the past few hours.

She reached out and hugged him. "Thanks, Jake." She smiled. She knew how hard it must have been for him to go trough that again, having to decide whether to move her or leave her there, to go get help. And she was glad that he trusted the Phantom enough in this situation to trust him with her life. Realizing that she was still hugging him, she let go of him.

"I couldn't leave you behind again." He said quietly.

Wyatt knocked on the door. "Jake, we should let Sam get some rest." He said, sticking his head through the door.

Jake nodded. "I'm coming." He replied, stepping away from Sam. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He said softly, so only Sam could hear him.

She smiled her thanks and laid down on her side, drifting off to sleep.

Jake stepped out of her room, walking back towards the waiting room. He sat down in one of the neon-orange chairs, staring at the clock on the wall, watching time tick by.

As he watched the seconds turn to minutes he realized two things. One: He remembered why he absolutely despised hospitals. And two: If Sam hadn't been okay he didn't know what he would have done...

Okay, this took a little longer than I thought it would to type, seeing as its 4:30 in the morning and I have driver's ed. tonight and am not very likely to be conscious during it. So, please review this chapter while I get some sleep and I'll update again… probably…. Err…. Wednesday.