Hi guys!

Big nice long chapter here for you all! Just over 5k words!

I don't have much else to say except that I was going to do a Christmas story for Heartland but then there would be HUGE spoilers in that that would reveal storylines of this story so sorry folks, no Christmas fanfic from me this year... I will definitely be doing one for next Christmas (I hope) maybe Christmas in July even depending on where my story is at that time... It doesn't have to be Christmas to read Christmas stories does it?

A HUGE GIANT THANK YOU to all who have reviewed, I can't thank you enough! Your support and feedback is much appreciated!

Anyway, enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Chapter 21

Jessie smiled with satisfaction as she looked at the drawing she had finished. Warrior was poised on the page with a front leg up, looking intently into the distant mountain ranges. She'd drawn it from memory when she had taken him with Robert into the ranges near their cabin. Warrior had loved it. They had ridden through the mountain wilderness, swam in crystal clear rivers. It had been a trip to remember. Their last trip.

Putting the drawing aside, she glanced over at Jack out of the corner of her eye. In some ways he reminded her of Robert, but all she really wanted him to do was leave so she could go check on Cougar. She looked at the clock, it was almost three in the afternoon. She sighed. He wasn't going anywhere.

'How's that picture coming?' Jack looked over at her from where he was making some fly fishing lures on the kitchen table. 'You've been working on it for hours.'

'Its finished.' She held it up so he could see it. 'It's not my best work. I could have been better if I worked on it more.'

'That's pretty good just the way it is.' He complimented her, then heard his phone ring and got up. 'I better get that.'

Jessie listened closely to his conversation, then smiled. He had to leave. She would be alone and finally able to get to see Cougar. She quickly wiped the smirk off his face as he walked back into the room. 'I hope that wasn't about me. You sounded pretty cranky.'

'Tim was reminding me about the cattle on his bosses place.' He glanced at the clock. 'I've got to go and get them back over here before he rings me again. He's been trying all day apparently. Are you okay by yourself for a little bit? Amy and Malloy will be back in ten.'

'Yeh, sure.' YES! She yelled inwardly. 'I'll be fine.'

'Okay. I'll be back soon.'

Jessie watched as he grabbed his coat and hat, then went out to the truck parked outside and drove off. Smiling, she put the picture and book down on the ground then pushed back the blankets. Carefully she swung her legs over the side of the stretcher and got to her feet. Her leg and ankle hurt, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. With a quick glance at the clock, she hurried out the back door near the kitchen.

She spotted the bin and headed over to it. Quickly she began to dig through it for anything edible for Cougar. A few slices of stale bread, a couple of chops that had started to go bad. She grabbed enough to give the mountain lion a decent meal then turned and headed for a stump in the yard.

Putting her fingers to her lips, she blew a shrill high whistle. It was Cougars whistle, the whistle she used to call her to come since she was a kitten. She waited, looking around then out of the shadows from behind the house stalked Cougar. 'Hey girl!' She cooed as the puma bounded over to her, licking her face. 'You miss me? Hey? Did you miss me?' She tickled her under her chin as the big cat purred. 'You did miss me, didn't ya?'

The greeting over, Cougar pulled back and laid down to eat. Jessie watched her, smiling widely as the cat purred with contentment. She was okay. She was fine.

'Jessie, what on earth are you thinking?' Mallory called to the girl as she walked out of the house around the side, then stopped and gasped. 'Is that-'

'A mountain lion.' Jessie finished the sentence as she spun around. She wasn't happy that Cougar had been seen. Mallory wasn't supposed to be back so soon. 'Promise me you wont tell anyone.'

'I better-'

'Promise!' She yelled, Cougar vanishing off into the trees. 'Promise.'

'I promise.' Mallory replied timidly, for once in her life. There was something in the girls eyes that said don't mess with her or question her. She was angry, and it wasn't pretty. 'What is going on?'

Jessie sighed. 'Fine. I'll tell you but you better not breathe a word of it to anyone.'

'Cross my heart and hope to die.'

'Cougar is my pet.'

'You have a mountain lion as a pet?'

'Yes.' She whistled softly and clicked her fingers. 'You can't tell anyone about her. No one can know.' Cougar slunk back over to them, looking at the other girl cautiously as she sat down beside her master. Jessie patted her head gently, the lion purring happily as she rubbed against her. 'Cougar has been my constant companion for nearly three years now. I found her as a day old kitten not long after Lillian had died. It was like Lillian had sent her to me.' Cougar nudged her hand as she stopped patting her, asking for more and she resumed rubbing her head. 'Her mom had been killed by a hunter, I was lucky to have found her when I did. Robert let me take care of her, and she's been with me ever since.'

'Can, can I pat her?' She asked cautiously, sitting down beside her. 'She's really a majestic creature.'

'Yes, she is. She loves being scratched behind her ears, like this.' She showed Mallory where to scratch the Cougar, and she purred loudly, showing her fangs as she smiled. 'She smiles like this when she's happy. I think she likes you.'

'I think she does too.' Mallory laughed as Cougar rubbed up hard against her. 'But what are you going to do with her? How on earth are you going to take care of her? She must eat a lot. Your not in the mountains anymore, what happens if she starts killing livestock? The ranchers around her will shoot her.'

'Cougar stays with me because she can't hunt anything bigger than a rabbit. I taught her how to gather rabbits and mice but she can't bring down a deer or something like that.' She sighed. 'I don't know what to do with her. Cougar means everything to me. I don't know what to do.' Cougar purred again as she rubbed against her legs. 'No one else can know about her, so I can't tell them she's my pet.'

'Why can't you tell them?'

'They'd place her in a zoo or something. She doesn't belong in a cage.' Jessie looked up around her at the scenery, the trees, the mountains. 'She belongs out here. In the wild.' She fondled the lions ears as tears began to come to her eyes. 'I'd put her down first rather then let someone use her as an amusement in a circus or lock her behind a fence.'

'No, no you can't do that. I'll look after her.' Mallory looked at Jessie. 'I'll take care of her. I promise.'

'You would?' She wiped a tear off her cheek as she rubbed Cougar's chin. 'Thanks Mallory. It would mean the world to me knowing that your looking out for her. Your not so bad.'

'Thanks.' She laughed, then glanced behind her. 'We better get you back inside before Amy comes in from the barn. If she sees you out here, she's going to be asking questions.'

'Alright.' The girl giggled as Cougar placed her head on her legs, nudging her stomach with her nose. 'I'll see you later Missie, this kind girl is going to watch you so I know you'll be okay. You be a good girl, okay?' Cougar purred, closing her eyes. 'Off you go now, you've got to go hide. Go on.'

Mallory helped Jessie stand up as the mountain lion took off again into the trees, letting her lean on her to get up the stairs. 'How did you manage to get out here in the first place?'

'On my own two feet.' She opened the door, her leg feeling a bit numb from sitting on it for so long. 'I've been in worse shape then this before.'

'And your not supposed to be up, so you can go sit back on that stretcher right now.'

'Yes, yes.' Jessie chuckled, crawling back onto the makeshift bed. 'Have you seen Warrior?'

'Yeh, I saw him when I walked past the corral. He seems in a good mood. He ate everything and his water bucket was half empty.'

'That's good. I was worried he mightn't have handled yesterday too well. You know horses can catch onto emotions. They're pretty intelligent.'

'What did happen yesterday?' Mallory jumped onto the couch across from her. 'No one is telling me what happened.'

'Nothing pretty.' She glanced down and picked up her drawing. 'I don't want to talk about it, okay. It's nothing that you need to know about.'

'But-'

'Don't bother arguing with me. You won't win.' She passed her drawing to her. 'What do you think?'

'Did you draw that?'

'Yep.'

'It's pretty impressive. You should show it to Amy. I think she'd like it.'

'Yeh, I will when she comes in.' Jessie glanced over at the clock. It was just after three thirty. 'Could you grab me something to eat? I'm starting to get hungry. Just an apple or something.'

'Sure.'

Jessie glanced down at the picture again as Mallory headed into the kitchen and sighed with boredom. She wasn't used to not doing anything, and it was starting to get on her nerves just sitting there doing nothing. She'd already had more than enough of that back in the hospital. 'Hey, Mallory, do you have any plans for this afternoon?'

'No really.' She walked back in, tosing her an apple as she sat down. 'I was going to go for a ride on Copper maybe, but other then that, nothing.'

'Could you help me out to Warrior?'

'Your supposed to be resting.'

'Yes, I know but I'm sick and tired of lying here!' She blurted out, her tone slightly harsh. 'Sorry Mallory. I shouldn't have snapped. I'm just bored of sitting here with nothing to do. I hate not doing something.'

'Fair enough.' Glancing out the window over at the corral, she sighed as she gave in. 'Fine, I'll take you out but if Jack or Lisa show up, just tell them it was your idea and not mine.'

'Deal. Thanks Mallory.'

'I'll go grab you a coat and some shoes. It's getting cold outside.'

'Okay.' She nodded as Mallory disappeared down the hallway and swung her legs down over the side of the stretcher. Her leg was still sore, and she knew better then to push it too much. The other day, running that distance was a bit out of her scope in her current condition and she knew that she wouldn't be doing that again in a hurry.

'Try these on.' Malloy handed her a pair of her spare boots. 'These should fit.'

'Thanks.' Jessie bit her lip as she slipped them on, the boots slightly tight around her toes but they fit nonetheless. Standing up, she put the coat on and smiled. 'Okay, ready.'

'We'll go slow.' She put the girls arm around her shoulders as they walked to the door and out to the corral, keeping an eye on her as they walked over to the fence. The girls face was pale with pain, but she kept going until they stopped near some hay bales on the other side of the fence. 'Alright, you can sit down there.'

'Hey boy.' Jessie called as she sat down heavily, glad that the short trip was over. She didn't know how she had managed the other night to get away from the hospital and get all the way here when she could barely walk from the house to the corral. Warrior snorted and shook his head as he trotted over to her, pushing his head through the gap in the rails. 'Hey, I'm not going anywhere.'

'You and that horse have a pretty special bond.' Mallory commented as she took a seat beside her on the hay. 'Just like Amy and Spartan.'

'Yeh, we're pretty well inseparable.' She looked at the gate, then at the hay. 'If I keep Warrior here, could you take a bale inside so I can sit down? I've got some tricks I can show you with him.'

'Sure.'

Jessie rubbed Warrior's forehead as Mallory unlatched the gate and carried in a bale, placing it in the center of the corral. The stallion snorted happily as he pressed harder against her, then watched as she got up and walked into the pen. Sitting down on the bale, Mallory locked the gate again and she whistled for him to come. Warrior shook his head playfully as he bucked and trotted over to her. 'Good boy.'

'Hey, what are you doing up and about?' Amy asked as she lead Spartan out of the barn, noticing the girl with the stallion in the corral. 'Your supposed to be inside resting. How did you get Grandpa to let you come out?'

'He doesn't know I'm out. Tim called and he left nearly an hour ago. Something about cows.' She motioned with her hand for Warrior to back up and the stallion did, then she sent him to go round to her left at a canter. 'I'm just so bored of being cooped up inside. I feel fine and Warrior needs the exercise.'

'Besides.' Mallory added as Amy joined her on the corral fence. 'Jessie said she was going to show me some of Warriors tricks.'

'Oh, alright.' Amy gave in, seeing that Jessie wasn't about to let her boss her around. 'What can he do?'

'Come boy.' Jessie whistled, calling him into the center as she stretched out both her arms and ducked her head. 'Over.' Warrior snorted as he turned in, bucking once as he cantered up to her then daintly picked up his feet and sailed inches over her head.

'Woah!' Malory exclaimed in amazement as the stallion slowed and turned back to Jessie, trotting over to get his pat. 'Your crazy.'

'I've never seen anyone do that before.' Amy clapped a couple times, smiling in surprise. 'You and he have such a trust bond that can't compare to anything I've ever seen.'

'Well, when he's saved your life on more then one occasion, you get pretty attached to each other.' She rubbed his forehead as she kissed his muzzle. 'Isn't that right boy?' Warrior nickered softly as he nudged her back, tossing his head proudly. 'Do you want to see another trick?

'You bet.'

'Okay Warri, back up.' She flicked her wrist at the stallion, sending him back towards the fence. Once he was far enough back, she lifted both her hands up and gave him his verbal cue to rear. 'Up boy, up!' Warrior lifted his forelegs off the ground, pawing out at the air as he reared up, then shook his head as he came back down again. Jessie threw her hands up again, then cued him to walk forward as he reared on his hindlegs. Warrior sorted as he reared again, then walked towards her as he pawed at the air. She let him walk closer to her, then cued him to go down. 'Good boy, good boy.'

'I don't think my horse would be able to do that.' Mallory commented as Warrior walked back to Jessie, shaking his head playfully. 'Copper prefers his oats to doing anything like that.'

'It takes a special horse, that's for sure.' Jessie smiled as Warrior nudged her, then she clicked her fingers as she sent him back a few steps. 'Sit boy.'

Amy laughed as Warrior sat down like a dog, looking at Jessie obediently and she grabbed out her phone. 'This I have to get a photo of.'

'Yeh, the first time I got him to do this he wasn't so happy about it but he trusts me. Watch this.' She stuck her tongue out at him, and Warrior stuck his out back. 'This was the first trick we did together.'

'That makes a perfect photo.' Amy laughed again as she looked at the picture she had snapped. 'You guys could do a show together with the tricks Warrior can do.'

'I don't think so.' She snapped her fingers as Warrior stood up, watching to see what she wanted him to do next. 'Warrior and I do this for fun and to strengthen our bond. It's never been for show. I just like testing what the two of us can do together, reaching our limits then making them higher again. Once I can ride again, I'll show you what else he can do.'

'Like jump a six foot fence without any tack?'

Jessie chuckled as she cued Warrior to lie down beside her. 'Sorry to disappoint you Mallory but that's not something I do on a regular basis or plan to do on a regular basis. I can however pick up a handkerchief off the ground from his back at a full gallop and vault on and off without any tack.'

'I'd like to see that sometime. Sounds pretty impressive.'

'Well, normally it's rabbits instead of handkerchiefs' She explained as Warrior laid down next to her, hen she slipped off the bale onto his back and gave him a hug. 'I ran out of ammunition a few months back and I didnt have anyway of hunting anything to eat, so I go the idea of chasing rabbits and I soon learnt to get them while he was running. Warrior is pretty good at catching them on his own too, he'll chase them down then knock them over so I can get them. I've had enough rabbit stew to last me a lifetime, trust me.'

'I'd hate to be a rabbit if you two were around.' Amy looked back over at Spartan, tied up to the hitching rail. 'Well, I should probably get going if I'm going to go for a ride. It might be a good idea for you to go inside soon Jessie, you don't want to over do it.'

'Your concern is duly noted.' She patted Warriors shoulder and the stallion stood up, standing still as she sat on his back. She saw the look on Amy's face and patted Warriors neck again as she nudged him closer to the fence. 'Don't worry, I won't go jumping any fences. I'm just sitting here, nothing spectacular, nothing strenuous.'

'Well, make sure that's all you do. Grandpa and Lisa would kill me if they knew you were out here. Mallory, you watch her and make sure she doesn't do anything crazy.'

'Yes, boss.' Mallory rolled her eyes as Amy walked over to Spartan and mounted, taking off at a canter down the drive. 'Sometimes she does worry too much.'

'Yes, but I do think they would get upset if something did happen while I'm riding when I'm not supposed too.' She lent down over his neck and hugged him again as he walked over to Mallory. 'I'll just take him around at a walk a couple of times, then I'll go in before they get back. They'll never know.'

'I think it's too late for that.' She replied, looking down the drive as she heard a car coming up. 'Lisa's back.'

'Busted.' Jessie moaned as Lisa stopped the car on the driveway and rolled down the window. She smiled widely, like the cat that caught the canary. 'Hi Lisa.'

'What are you doing out here missy? And why are you on your horse? Your supposed to be resting.'

'That's the third time I've heard that in as many hours.' She rolled her eyes. 'I'll go back to bed.'

'You just wait there, I'll come take you back to the house.'

'Okay.' She rolled her eyes again as Lisa went to park her car at the fence, then saw Mallory's 'I told you so' face. 'Don't say it Mallory.'

'Hmmm.' Mallory giggled. 'I won't say 'I told you so' if you don't want to hear it.'

'Mallory.' She glared at her, the girl laughing. Pressing her heel into Warriors side, she nudged him forward into a walk. Might as well get a quick ride in while Lisa came over to the corral since she was already in trouble anyway. It felt good to be out of the house, doing something other then nothing. 'Good boy Warri.'

'Jessie's been showing me a couple of tricks Warrior can do.' Malory commented to Lisa as the woman stopped beside her. 'Warrior is one heck of a horse.'

'Yes, I can agree with that but she should be resting.' Lisa pointed the last of her reply to Jessie as she looked at her. 'Come on, it's time to go inside.'

'Okay, okay.' She pulled Warrior to a stop next to the gate, then cued him to bow so she could get off. Sliding off his back, she stood shackingly for a moment then regained her feet as she held onto his withers. 'I'll see you later boy. The hospital warden has arrived.' She joked as she rubbed his neck. 'Be good. I'm watching you.'

Lisa opened the gate and slipped in, closing it behind her as she walked over to the girl. 'Come on, I'll carry you back. You shouldn't have walked out here in the first place.'

'Fine.' She hated the fact that she wasn't allowed to do anything for herself, but then again she knew that she shouldn't be walking. Sighing, she allowed Lisa to pick her up, placing her arm around her neck for balance. Warrior snorted warningly. 'Its okay boy, she's not going to hurt me. I trust her, and you can too. She's just looking after me i'll I get better and can look after myself.' Warrior snorted again as he blocked the path to the gate with his body, looking at Lisa cautiously. 'Its okay boy. She's not taking me far. Just to the house.' She placed her hand on his nose and pushed him back. Back boy, back.'

'He doesn't like me much does he?' Lisa remarked as Jessie tried to push the horse away from the gate. Warrior snorted again at her voice. 'Easy boy.'

'Get back.' Warrior put his ears back at the tone Jessie used and backed up. He knew not to mess with that tone, but he shook his head as they went out of the yard then pawed the ground. 'He's just being protective.'

'I can see that.' She replied as they headed back to the house with Mallory tagging along behind. 'Why are you out here in the first place? Where's Jack?'

'Tim called and Jack had to leave. I got bored, so Mallory helped me out to see Warri. Don't get mad at her though, it was my idea. I'm just not used to being cooped up inside. I needed to get out.'

Lisa sighed as they walked back into the house, placing the girl down on the stretcher. 'Jessie, Jessie, Jessie, what are we going to do with you?'

Jessie smiled mischievously. 'Let me be annoying. I needed to get out for a little bit.'

'We aren't going to be able to stop you from doing that are we?'

'Nope.' She smiled again, then turned serious as Lisa sat down beside her. 'I'm sorry Lisa. I needed to get out. I just fell, like trapped or something. I'm used to being outside twenty-four-seven, so being stuck inside the hospital and here feels like I'm locked up. I know it sounds stupid, but since I've lived in the wilderness more then a house, I'm just more at home outside.'

'No, Jessie, I understand. It must be a hard adjustment for you.' She saw Mallory get her school bag from the door and sit down at the table to begin her homework. 'I understand it's hard for you with,' She paused for a moment, wondering what to say. 'everything. It just takes time.'

'Thanks Lisa. I won't go outside again though without your permission. I know I overstepped the boundary.'

'I'll take you out as much as you like when I'm here, okay?' She smiled as she rubbed the girl's shoulder. 'It's only until you heal up and your stronger, and it won't take long.'

'If I survive till then.'

Lisa chuckled at Jessie's statement. 'Oh Jessie, I can see patience isn't one of your strong points.'

'Your right there.' She picked up her picture and handed it to Lisa. 'I drew this today. What do you think?'

'Is gorgeous Jessie. You have a real talent for drawing.'

'You think so?'

'Yes, definitely.' She looked back down at the picture, amazed at how much detail she had put into the sketch. 'You did a really good job on it.'

Jessie blushed slightly. She wasn't used to receiving compliments. 'I want you to have it Lisa.'

'Why me?' Lisa looked at her in surprise. 'You should keep it Jessie, you've put a lot of work into that.'

'And that's why I wanted you to have it Lisa.' She pushed her hand back to her. 'Lisa, last night, for the first time in a very long time I felt safe. I felt wanted. I just wanted you to have this to you to thank you for what you did, and have done for me. You might not think so, but you helped me a lot last night by just being here for me.'

'Well then, thank you Jessie.' She looked down at the picture again, surprised that Jessie would put so much time and effort into something so beautiful for a person she had just met. 'I'll treasure it for years to come.'

'I'm glad you like it.'

'I love it Jessie.' She looked back at the girl. 'I'm going to frame it and put it on my wall in my room back home'

'As long as you're happy to look at Warrior before you go to sleep each night.' She chuckled. 'He was my model for the sketch.'

'I kinda gathered that.' Lisa placed the drawing aside, a smile on her face. It was really a gorgeous drawing. Jessie had a lot of talent. A small tinge of sadness passed over her as she remembered Jack saying that the girl had already been found a home but she was here for the moment and she was going to enjoy it while she was here. The girl deserved some happiness in her life, deserved some good memories. 'Jessie, how are you feeling?' She turned the subject of the conversation away from the drawing, turning her attention to tending to the girl. 'How's the pain?'

'Its not too bad, but I could probably do with something.' She gently pulled the boot off her injured ankle, then placed it down on the floor with the other. 'It's mainly my back.'

'Okay, the doctor left you some some stuff to take. I'll go grab it for you.'

'Thanks Lisa.' Jessie smiled as the woman got up and went into the kitchen, then looked over at Mallory as the girl threw down her pencil. 'What's wrong?'

'Ugh. Math.' Mallory complained, rubbing her head. 'I hate math. It's so boring.'

'Its not too bad.' She laughed, then motioned for her to come over. 'Here, what are you working on?'

'Geometry.' Grabbing her workbook, she walked over and flopped on the ground beside Jessie's stretcher. 'Can you make any sense of this at all?'

'Ah, geometry isn't that bad.'

'I still don't like it.'

'Your working on this problem?' She pointed to a half completed answer involving finding the volume of a triangular prism and Mallory nodded. 'Okay, well for a start you've forgotten your formula for finding the volume of a rectangular prism.' She picked up the pencil and began to do the math, writing down the answers as she figured out the problem. 'See here, you forgot to add these two numbers together. To get the volume, we're going to treat this as a rectangular prism, so length times base times height.' She wrote down the answer to the first part of the problem. 'Then we divide by two and there you go.'

'Why couldn't my teacher explain it like that?' Mallory wondered as she took the workbook back, amazed at how easy and quick it actually was. 'Thanks Jessie.'

'No problem. Geometry can actually be fun.' She heard Lisa walking back in and grabbed the cup and the medication she handed her. 'Thanks Lisa.'

'Your welcome.' She saw Mallory working in her math book beside her. 'Has Mallory roped you into helping her with her homework?'

'I offered to help.'

'Yeh, she made it sound a lot easier then my teacher did.'

'You probably weren't paying attention in class, were you?'

Mallory rolled her eyes. 'Never mind the minor details.'

'It does help to listen.' Jessie chuckled. 'You wouldn't need help if you did.'

'Haha, thanks for helping anyway. I'll get out of here before you two scrutinize me anymore.'

Lisa laughed as Mallory took off back to her spot at the kitchen table, then turned back to Jessie. 'You really should probably change out of those clothes before we look after your wounds. You're covered in horse hair.'

'Yeh, I probably should but I don't have anything else to wear.'

'That's why I brought you over some extra things.' She dragged a plastic bag over. 'I'm sure we can find something to fit you in here. Mallory, can we use your room?'

'Sure.' Mallory looked up from her homework. 'I don't mind, as long as you don't mind the mess. I haven't cleaned it up yet.'

'Thanks Mallory. Okay Jessie, you hold onto these and we'll go to her room.'

'Right.' Jessie took the bag as Lisa picked her up, yawning as she carried her down the hallway. 'I think I'm going to take a nap after this.'

'Well, dinner will still be a couple of hours anyway, you can have one then.' She put her down on the bed, then helped her take off her shirt. The girls back was a patchwork of scars criss-crossing her skinny body. She couldn't help but trace one of them with her finger as if she were in a daze. How could anyone do this to a child? Jessie, these scars-'

'My father.' Jessie cut her off, looking up at her. Her eyes pled with her as she took the woman's hand off her back and held it gently. 'Please, don't tell anyone about them. I know they look terrible, but they don't hurt. I don't want anyone seeing them. I hate them. They look hideous. They make me look ugly.'

'Your not ugly Jessie, I know you've been through a lot but don't talk down to yourself honey. It's not worth it, and in the end your the only one who gets hurt by it.' She took her hand back and gently pulled the dressings off the gunshot wounds and began to clean and re-dress them. 'They will fade.'

'They haven't in eight years, they won't be doing any now.' She gingerly took off the pants she was wearing so Lisa could check the wounds on her leg. The scars on her legs were the only ones she could see, she couldn't see the patchwork of scars her father had left on her back but she could guess what it looked like. 'I've just accepted that I'll always be stuck with these lovely reminders of him.' She scoffed. 'He took great pleasure in giving me these, the sick man. I'll be happy if I never see another stockwhip in my entire life.'

A stockwhip? So that's what he hit her with. Lisa winced as she thought of the girls abuse. Getting hit by a stockwhip when you were trying to crack one was bad enough, but for the amount of scars she was covered in he must have been beating her for a very long time. The girl sniffled as she looked away from her, and she placed her hand on the girls bony shoulder. 'Are you okay?'

Jessie nodded as she wiped her nose on her hand. 'Yeh, I'm fine. It's just something I'd rather forget.' She looked down at the bandage on her thigh, undoing the safety pin so Lisa could take it off. 'How's my back looking?'

'Well, they're healing up okay. The doc should be happy.' She grabbed a long-sleeved shirt from the bag that looked like it would fit her and helped her into it, then tended to her leg. 'How's your arm?'

'Oh, that's fine now. It looked worse then it really was.'

'You know, you gave Jack and me quite a fright that night when you came off Warrior in the alleyway. Especially when I found that blood on the ground. We were worried you had been really hurt.'

'Sorry about that.' She teased with a small smile. 'No, Warrior's hoof just grazed my arm when I came off. I won't be doing that trick again in a hurry though I might add.'

'I hope not. We thought you were plum out crazy.'

'No, I was just scared.' Jessie admitted. 'I was worried I was going to be in trouble, or that you guys were working with my father to find me. I just couldn't risk it, that's why I did what I did. I was terrified, and when I get like that I do crazy things.'

'I think we all do.' Lisa finished bandaging the girls ankle up, having already taken care of her thigh and patted her leg as she helped her put some trousers on. 'All done now.'

'Thanks for doing this Lisa, I really didn't want to go back to the hospital.'

'Your welcome Jessie.' She picked the girl up again and headed back out into the living room. 'Hospitals aren't my favorite place on earth either, so I definitely can understand why you don't like them.'

'Yeh.' She quietly agreed as she sat back down on her stretcher, then laid down as Lisa pulled the blankets onto her. 'I think I'm going to catch some sleep.'

'Okay, you have a good nap.' Lisa sat down as the girl closed her eyes, then quietly snuck out of the room once Jessie was fast asleep