TOMMY
I wake up, feeling like something's wrong. There's a loud crash of thunder, making me aware that the storm has picked up again. Frowning, I get up and slip on my boxers. A quick tour of the cabin shows me nothing is immediately wrong, but the feeling intensifies nevertheless. There's a low rumble that's not thunder, but I don't know what it is. Not really expecting to be able to see anything, I peek out the front window.
There's a brief break in the storm and my blood freezes at what I can see. There's a huge mudslide coming down from one of the hills at the base of the nearby mountain. It's going to miss most of the village, but it's definitely going to hit the cabin and possibly Sam's house. I quickly close the curtains, knowing that it's not going to stop the oncoming doom but hoping against hope that when the window shatters, it'll keep the flying glass to a minimum. "Zedd!"
I dive for the bedroom, reaching the doorway in time to see my mate sit up swiftly, alarmed by my own panic. "What's wrong?"
"Mudslide. We have to-" Before I can say anymore, the wall of earth strikes the building hard, knocking us off the foundation. The impact throws me off my feet and the last thing I see is Zedd reaching for me before my head hits the nightstand. I hear Zedd call my name even as I slide into darkness.
SOMETIME LATER
Oh god, my head hurts. What the hell happened? Someone is stroking my hair lightly, begging me to wake up, but who? Slowly, memory returns and I connect a name with the voice. I draw a breath. "Zedd."
"Thank the powers! I thought I'd lost you, love." I can hear the distress in his voice. It almost sounds like he's been crying. "Open your eyes, Thomas, please."
"How bright is it? With the headache I already have, I don't need to make it worse."
"It's pretty bright. The storm cleared up just in time for sunset and it's coming right in the window."
I gather my thoughts. "We need to see how bad the damage is, see if we can get out or if we have to wait to be dug out."
"Stay put and I'll check things out."
Remembering how we fell asleep, I remark, "Put some pants on at least. I don't need everyone else drooling over you any more than they already do."
"Because, you know, modesty is so very important in a life or death situation." Ah, the sarcasm.
"Zedd, please, if you won't do it for the sake of modesty, then do it for the simple fact that getting glass in your more sensitive areas will be highly unpleasant and result in us not mating until you heal."
"Cheap shot."
"Maybe so, but it's only because I care." I hear him grumbling a bit as he - hopefully - does what I asked. He leaves the room and, in spite of his admonition, I sit up slowly and carefully, leaning against the nightstand. My head pounds all the more, but it's still tolerable.
In a few minutes, he's back, scolding me lightly for not staying still as he'd told me to do. "Thomas, I'm not certain how badly you've been injured. You should have stayed still."
I wave this away. "I'm fine - except for the headache and probable concussion. How badly are we trapped?"
"From what little I could see, it's not all that bad. Depending how stable the cabin is right now, they could probably have us out in a few hours."
Somehow I feel like he's exaggerating things a bit so as not to worry me. Not in the mood to fight right now, I let that go. "Are you okay?" I ask, reaching toward the sound of his voice.
He takes my hand and squeezes it lightly. "I'm fine, Thomas, although those horn things that were mounted over the fireplace came free from the impact and are now lodged in the doorway. If the door were six inches over, they'd certainly have struck me."
I struggle to get my fear under control. Depending how they hit him, I could have lost him. He's fine, he's here. Breathe, Tommy. Abruptly, I realize I'm the only one who got hurt. This - this was a warning from the powers or whatever. My thoughts are interrupted by voices. "Tommy! Zedd! Are you all right?" David.
"Be right back, love." Zedd moves away from me and in a minute I hear him answering. "We're alive, but Thomas has struck his head. I'm not sure how badly he's hurt."
"Is he conscious?"
"Yes."
"Keep him awake and we'll get to you as soon as we can. The cabin seems stable enough but the door and most of the windows are blocked. If it's going to take too long to clear, we'll just take off part of the roof and lift you guys out."
Zedd calls back a confirmation before returning to my side. "Hang on, love." He pulls me into his arms and lightly runs his fingers through my hair. It's soothing and eases my headache slightly. I'm almost asleep when he shakes me slightly, bringing my headache roaring back. "Don't go to sleep, Thomas."
"I'm tired and I hurt, Zedd. I just need a little nap."
"I know, but you have to stay awake, love. Once we're out and someone looks at you, then you can rest, I promise. Talk to me. I don't care what you talk about, just something."
I sigh. "And here I thought that you'd like a break from my 'constantly talking mouth'."
Apparently, my tone wasn't as teasing as I'd intended. "Thomas, love, first of all, that was in character. Second, you did talk a lot when you were the White Ranger. If anything, I'd say you don't talk enough these days. You keep far too much to yourself."
"I was kidding, Zedd."
"Oh. Sorry, love. I'm just so worried about you, I didn't realize."
"Bad timing, I guess. Why don't you help me get dressed and get our things together so that we're ready when they are?"
"All right, Thomas, but only if you stay still this time, agreed?"
"Agreed."
He releases me and I hear him moving around the room. "So I had an idea that I'd like you to think about."
Subject change, okay, good. "What?"
I'm not pleased at what he changes it to. "So I know you said that you were worried about me doing this vision quest thing because you don't know how I'd react to the herbs and the rest."
"Uh huh." I'm certain he can tell by my tone of voice that I'm not thrilled that it's come up again. "I already said that you're not doing it."
I hear him stop what he's doing for the moment. "If my reaction to the herbs is the only problem, we could find out what's used and have Scorpina look into it."
"No, Zedd, it's not the only concern." I change the subject myself. "Don't forget to repack Sam's things in the box."
I can feel that he's not happy with the subject change so I'm not surprised when he tries again. "Okay, but-"
He stops when I struggle to my feet in spite of the pounding in my head, keeping hold of the bed and nightstand. "Zedd. I'm not saying no just for the fun of it. This will not happen and it's not up for debate."
I sense when he's beside me. "Easy, Thomas. Sit down."
"No. Not until you promise me that you'll do as I ask."
Silence. "I want to understand why you don't want me to do this, love. I'm not trying to argue with you about it. I just don't get it." Before I can say anything more, he says, "I trust you and, if you insist, I will promise, but I'd still like to understand especially since you of all people know that simply telling me no without a reason will very likely result in problems."
My head hurts so much between the injury and the stress, I just want to be sick. Desperation controls my mouth. "Zedd, I…I'll explain later, just please, promise me. I'll let you do whatever you want to me for a whole week without complaining or arguing if you'll just promise!"
Stunned silence falls. "I'll promise, Thomas, but not for that. I'm not going to hold you to that."
I sag in relief. "One week, Zedd. Whenever you want, whatever you want. I swear." Even as he protests again, I hear our rescuers breaking through the roof. "I still need clothes, Zedd. They'll be ready for us soon."
"We will talk about this later." Wanna bet?
It's really not all that long before there's an opening large enough for us to be lifted out. If I wasn't hurt, Zedd could probably boost me out and then be right behind me. Instead, there's a rope involved and I can hear Zedd calling out instructions to David and reassurances to me that he'll be right behind me. Once I'm out and the rope is untied, David hands me off to Sam, who leads me to where the reservation medical staff is waiting. He seems to be aware of my nervousness. "Don't worry, Falcon, I won't leave your side until Zedd can join us."
"Thanks, Sam."
"This is Running Deer. He's one of our doctors. You can just call him Running Deer. This is Tommy, my grandson."
I'd guess the voice belongs to someone about my own age, which is a little reassuring. "Hello, Tommy. I'm going to have one of the nurses check your blood pressure while I check your head, okay?"
"I guess." I'm more than a little nervous and I can't wait for Zedd to get here.
"Can you open your eyes for me?"
