Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Hank leaped from his chair, forgetting the condition of his twisted ankle, to rush to his sister's side. The battered limb refused to hold his weight after its trudge through the snow following the avalanche, and he fell to the wood floor with a grunt, his shoulder breaking the fall. As he tried to catch his breath and shake off the stars flying through his vision, he vaguely saw Marco half kneeling at his side. "Cap? Don't move, stay right there. Did you hit your head at all?"
Trying to catch his breath, Hank waved Marco away. "Just- my ankle gave out, nothing serious -Ash, check on Ash!"
Marco patted his captain's shoulder and moved toward Ashley just as the front door slammed open and three men tumbled in. He looked up to see Dean, Raymond, and Roy standing there, their faces the same mix of emotions as his. Experienced rescue men, they were forced to quickly put aside their immediate relief to assess the situation in the cabin.
Raymond took unspoken charge as rescue commander, talking quickly into his radio to someone about helicopters, injuries, and longitude. Dean, although not skilled in assessing immediate medical treatment, could offer his moral support and a helping hand, and moved quickly to Hank's side. Roy shrugged off his backpack and yanked off his gloves, triaging the room with his searching blue eyes. There were no immediate calls for his attention so he moved to the unconscious person first.
"Cap, you okay?" He asked, kneeling beside Marco, who was shrugging off his coat then rolled it into a wad.
"I'll be fine, Roy, just help me sit up here, fellow." The captain held up a hand to Dean who immediately grasped it in his own right and supported the drooping, injured shoulder with his free hand to allow the fire chief to rise from his place on the floor. "Just jumped up too quick on a twisted ankle and it wouldn't hold. Shoulder broke my fall, but nothing feels broken, just sprained it a bit I think."
Roy nodded, glancing in relief at the stubborn grit in his Captain's face. That was good. Grit was what they needed.
Marco moved to put his coat beneath Ashley's head and Roy held up a hand. "What happened, Cap? One second, Marco."
Hank swayed a bit as he turned to look at Roy. "Roy, you guys are a sight for sore eyes. Concussion, think it developed from the car crash when she injured her head. The tumble in the avalanche didn't do any good, I am sure."
Roy nodded, unzipping his backpack and pulling out various instruments. His throat ached a little, as the thought came to him that Johnny should be beside him now, handing him things, talking on the biophone, making random chaos. He was on his own right now.
"How long has she been out, Cap? Be careful with her arm," Roy added, nodding for Marco to go ahead with the makeshift pillow. He quickly examined Ashley, while listening to his Captain's reiteration of the events leading up to the moment. At that moment, Ashley began stirring, opening confused eyes. Roy smiled in his gentle, friendly way. "Time to wake up sleeping beauty, the rescue party's here."
"For real?" she asked, her voice wobbly and slurred.
Roy chuckled, reaching over to shine his light in the blinking eyes again. "Sorry about this, kiddo, won't be but for a second. There, all done. Yeah, it's real, we trudged all the way here in the snow. You guys couldn't have picked a closer spot to hole up, could you? I mean, I've heard of remote, but this is a bit overdoing it."
Hank snorted, glancing toward Raymond who was pocketing his radio, a satisfied smile on his face. "Very funny Roy. But I know the feeling. This place felt like it was ten light-years away when we headed this way after we made it through the avalanche."
"I'm sure," Roy replied quietly, pausing for a moment to steady his uneasy head. The thin hard metal of the flashlight was clenched tightly in his fingers, leaving white indentations in the cold skin. He assessed the situation in his head. The floor was hard beneath his boots, a steady anchor for his nerves. The room was warm, fire crackling nearby, and the invisible feeling of companionship warmed the fearful chill in his heart. They would be okay. Somehow they would be, after all the hell of the last couple of days.
"Chopper on the way," Raymond spoke encouragingly, his deep voice loud in the little cabin. It was the refresher that they needed. All the stiff, nervous muscles in the room relaxed. They were finally going to get out of the little prison in the mountains.
"Stay where you are, Ashley, till the team gets here. That bump on your head is complaining a lot, and your worrying or moving about won't help a bit," Roy said helpfully, shrugging off his coat and laying it over her like a blanket. "Gonna take a good look at your brother over here, and see what nice things he's hiding from me."
He was rewarded for his facetiousness by a smile and Ashley poked her hand out from under the coat to give him a shaky thumbs-up. Patting her knee kindly, Roy moved to where Hank sat on the floor, rubbing his swollen ankle gingerly.
"Here, let me see that Cap," Roy swatted the big hand away, and palpated the swollen skin carefully. "That hurt?"
Hank nodded, wrapping his long fingers around Roy's wrist. The paramedic glanced up at his superior, and the lump returned to his throat at the raw, pained expression on the older man's face. The captain spoke quietly. "It's - it's good to see ya, Roy."
Roy smiled in his gently, bashful way and nodded once. "You too, Cap."
There was so much more said in the glance they shared than could be expressed by words alone. They took chances every single day that they were on duty, always knowing that the likelihood of personal tragedy was right around the corner. It had come way too close for comfort this time. They would all be saying a prayer of thanks tonight.
The next few days were a whirlwind of casts, splints, scans, and white hospital walls. Hank and Ashley spent the most time in observation and getting patched up, while Roy had to undergo another scan to ensure that his quest through the snow had not aggravated his concussion. He proclaimed that he was feeling better, but the little hospital had endured enough of Johnny's self-diagnosing to last them a lifetime. One look from Hank and they sent him for the scan anyway.
Raymond kindly saw them off at the airport, encouraging them to come back and visit, once the weather was nice again. He promised it was less dangerous in the summer. Dean had offered his good wishes, then returned to his quest to find the escaped convict still loose in the state, which had caused the chain of events that led to so many injuries.
The journey home was a bit more chaotic, with Roy's children so excited at the idea of a plane flight, that there was hardly room to have a heart-to-heart talk with anyone. Ashley watched them, grateful that she could disappear in the shadows for a while, and try to sort her thoughts. She knew she had made her peace with Hank. But Johnny still was owed the last half of the story, and Roy - he deserved a major thank you for risking his life to save them. He still cast her that concerned, fatherly glance now and then that made her feel as if he could see through her soul. She didn't know what he wanted from her and didn't dare to ask. So she leaned her head back against the plane seat and closed her eyes. Dreams of avalanches, guns, and falling cars rolled over and over and over in her mind's eye, in a never-ending cycle that did not relent until the dinging of the seat belt light brought her rapidly to consciousness. The first thing she saw was Roy's concerned blue eyes that were immediately distracted from her by Johnny's whoop at arriving home.
All thoughts of talking to anyone were scrambled as the mad rush to get off the plane began, and she let herself get lost in the forward jostling toward the exit. Once she nearly stumbled when someone grabbed their bag from the overhead shelf and she instinctively ducked. A steadying hand at her elbow caught her before she could fall, and once again, there was Roy.
Tentatively, she gave him a smile, and he laid a hand on her shoulder in a fatherly way, before turning away to help Joanne with the kids.
"Are we meeting at your house?" Johnny called down the aisle toward Roy.
Roy nodded, Chris in one arm and luggage in the other, moving down the aisle with the stream of travelers. "If that's alright with Cap, we can get takeout Chinese."
"Sounds good to me," Johnny grinned, following the swarm out the plane entrance. "Hey Cap, you up for finishing the night at Roy's?"
Hank nodded his agreement and moved away to call a taxi. Johnny was immediately occupied with Roy's children, especially Chris who kept asking him to tell them what happened. Johnny obliged with a mild version of the bad guy's advances, making it seem like nothing more than a wild west show. Roy nodded his grateful thanks and helped Joanne find a bench to sit down along with Susan and the luggage.
"You are worried about her."
Roy stacked the last of the luggage out of the way and paused, meeting his wife's kind gaze. "Yeah."
"Go talk to them, Roy."
Roy crouched down next to his wife, resting on his heels, and smiled crookedly up at her. "Gee, Jo, I've been so worried about everyone, I hardly even know what to say. I am worried about Ashley. I don't know what happened in that car once we got out of it, or even how Johnny truly is. They went flying over a cliff in a car, for goodness sake. I - I thought we had lost him there for a moment, and Cap. That avalanche -"
He could feel the anxiety creeping up again, and his head throbbed. Images of the last day's horrors flashed through his mind like a reel, and he swallowed hard. Joanne touched his cheek gently. "But that is why I love you, Roy Desoto. You care, so very much, about everyone. Ask if they are okay, and then take it at face value. They will all get better in time. It was a close call. But you all made it."
Roy patted her knee gratefully. "Thanks, Jo. See, this is why I need you. I can't imagine -"
"Then don't - " she laid a finger on his lips. "Then just don't."
"Anyone want a root beer?" Roy poured ice into a stainless steel bucket, as Johnny waved a glass bottle around the small circle. Cap gave an accepting nod as well as Marco, and Johnny acknowledged it by handing the bottle to Cap along with a bottle opener. "Now you two better learn to share," he commented, waggling a finger pointed at the two of them. Marco squared his shoulders in mock indignation and the group laughed before he could complain. Johnny reached into the bucket and tossed Marco another bottle. The man caught it, his eyebrows raised in surprise. "Johnny! Careful, it will explode!"
Johnny smirked at the man good-naturedly and moved away to check out the appetizers that Susan and Joanne had laid out for them.
In the living room, Ashley was keeping Chris and Olivia busy. Chris was explaining how to build a house of cards without it falling when Roy appeared at the doorway. He watched for a moment, watching the two little ones he loved the most smiling and playing. Olivia was too young to do much but smile, and Chris was a chatterbox as usual. Ashley was giving him her full attention, all while keeping Olivia from crawling away toward the busy kitchen with one hand, as her other arm was finally in a sling where it belonged.
"They are a mite of a handful," Roy spoke softly, moving to kneel on the carpet with Chris. Ashley nodded.
"They are being good," she replied. "I think I can build a house of cards in my sleep now."
Roy laughed softly. "Hey, bud, why don't you go grab your matchbox cars to show Ashley?"
"Alright!" The little boy scrambled to his feet and bolted out of the room, the small house of cards he had put together tumbling to the ground in his wake. "Be right back!"
"Ash," Roy asked, as soon as Chris was out of earshot. "How's the head?" He gestured to the bandages. "Any dizziness?"
She shook her head, reaching out to steer Olivia back to the carpet.
"Are you doing okay? With everything?"
Ashley removed a card from Olivia's tiny fist and glanced at the paramedic. "Yeah, I am okay, Roy."
As he studied the uncertain frown on Ashley's face, the gentle words of his wife faded back into his memory.
Ask if they are okay, and then take it at face value.
As a dad, he knew when his kids were not being completely honest and this was one of those times that Joanne's kindness and his father's intuition battled and he won.
"Ash. It's okay to not be okay."
She clasped her hands together in her lap, biting her lip nervously. "I - I guess I am as okay as I can be, Roy. I do appreciate the concern."
Roy sighed. While he had hoped he could express concern in a way that would show her that he could be a friend just like Johnny, he could tell that there was something about him that made her uncomfortable.
"Ash, I have two kids. I know when things aren't right, and when they don't want to talk to me. Usually, they eventually talk to their mom. Anyway, I - I know that you don't want to talk to me about everything but just know that if you ever need a listening ear, I will be there."
She bashfully glanced in his direction. "Maybe that's why..." she started to say but trailed off. Roy smiled.
"You don't want to talk because you know I will know if you aren't telling me everything and because you know you can't put anything over on me?" Roy chuckled.
He was rewarded with a genuine smile. "I guess. Roy, I truly appreciate you coming all that way to - save us - even though you were injured too. That was very brave. You are a true friend. The guys are lucky to have you."
Roy shrugged. "They'd have done the same for me. That's what family and friends are for. They have your back."
"I haven't had much experience with that," she replied softly.
"Hey, Roy, could you go pick up the Chinese?" Joanne called from the kitchen. "It's supposed to be ready by 5:30, and it's 5:15 now."
"Sure, sweetheart," Roy called amicably. He smiled at Ashley as he untangled his legs and headed for the kitchen. "Don't worry, Ash. Hang around this group long enough and you'll have all the friends and family you could want."
Johnny popped in as soon as Roy left, a glass of punch in his hand. "Hey, sport." He plopped onto the floor next to her and held out the punch. "Trade you this for the baby," he said in his best southern drawl.
Ashley laughed and took the glass appreciatively, allowing him to pick up Olivia and tickle her until she was chuckling in her cute baby voice. "You doing okay?" he asked glancing sideways at her. Olivia reached up for his bandaged head, and he moved her aside. This resulted in her flailing chubby arm hitting him in the eye instead. Ash took a drink of the orange punch, to disguise her amusement.
"All in one piece. How's your head?" she asked.
Johnny grinned his lopsided grin. "Hard as ever."
"Johnny!" Marco called from the kitchen. "Can you give me a hand with setting up the folding table? We are going to put the food on it when Roy gets back. Cap's no help, spraining his wrist and all that jazz."
"Sure," Johnny called back. "No sprained wrists here."
Ashley sipped her punch again. "Maybe a sprained head, but you don't need that to move a table," she commented facetiously.
Johnny pouted playfully. "Hey, guys, way to treat a man when he's injured. A man is more important than his muscles."
Marco appeared in the doorway. "Not right now you aren't. Roy should be back any moment, let's get moving. And bring that la Nina with you, Marco hasn't said hello yet."
The laughter swirled around the room, the familiar sounds of friends and family. Ashley found it touched something inside of her, stirred up something that had been missing, something that she had longed for so very long. This was what it was like to have a family.
This was what it was like to finally be home.
Far away in a snowy wilderness, a lone figure stirred the fire in a remote hunter's cabin. The flickering shadows played across his scarred face, and glinted off the Glock that lay at his feet.
Oh my goodness, this has been a journey! Thank you to all the lovely folks out there who have stayed for the whole journey! You are all amazing! I can't believe we are finally marking this epic as complete! As always, read and review!
If you are interested in a sequel, let me know. For now, the boys and their families are just glad to be home!
