Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. The rights to those characters and to the show belong to the creators of the show, to CBS, The Sullivan Company and to A&E.

A Sense of Belonging

Chapter Nineteen

Laying in the dark of Sully's bedroom, Michaela felt him blow against her shoulder producing goose bumps that he then kissed away. Michaela lay on her back, one hand tucked under her head, the other resting on Sully's hip. Sully lay on his side, watching Michaela breath, his hand stroking the skin just beneath her breasts. Turning slightly, Michaela looked at the clock, the red numbers glowing in the darkened room. "I have to go to sleep," she whispered. "Only five hours until I have to be at work."

Sully laughed. "It wasn't me this last time. I was attacked."

Shaking her head, she cut her eyes over at him. "No but it wasn't like you tried to stop it either." She ran her hand around to his backside giving it a playful slap.

"Hey, don't start that. I don't think I got anything left in me," he teased. "You've drained me."

"Sully," she chastised, feeling the warmth in her cheeks. "I'm going to sleep now."

"But you never told me how you got away from the shower."

"Oh," Michaela uttered biting on her bottom lip as she felt a wave of fresh guilt wash over her. "I faked my beeper going off and then pretended to call the hospital."

"They think you're at the hospital?"

"Umm- hmm," she replied nodding her head up and down. "I couldn't think of another reason to leave. What did you tell the guys?"

"That I was stepping outside to call you," he laughed. "Which was also a lie because I left my phone at home this morning or well.. yesterday morning."

Michaela giggled and then turned her back towards him to fit her body into his. Sully pulled her close as their forms spooned together perfectly. He kissed her shoulder again, nuzzling the back of her neck as he finished. "Oh you never told me your solution."

With her eyes already closed, Michaela talked through a yawn. "Montessori."

"What?"

"Montessori school. There's one about three miles from the hospital. They don't believe in grades and tests as such. I don't know what their high school curriculum is like but for preschool and elementary, they encourage the child to be as independent as possible exploring the things that interest them. There is a strong emphasis on being outside. I went to one for preschool – we had our own vegetable garden on the playground and a litter box trained bunny that ran loose in our class."

Sully nodded. "Sounds promising. Maybe we could visit together." He kissed her shoulder again. "I knew we would find a solution. I really am sorry about last night."

"Me too," Michaela agreed. With her turned away from him, Sully never noticed how her face relaxed, her body slipping slowly into slumber.

"I've been thinking about where we could go for a couple of days on our mini-honeymoon."

"You have." Michaela's voice was sleep filled and Sully knew he didn't have long.

"We could fill a couple of backpacks, head into the foothills out near Sunrise Ranch. That lands all protected by them. It be just the two of us in the great outdoors. No beepers or cell phones. What do you think?"

Silence met his question and he raised up slightly to see her. "Michaela?" he whispered. Her eyes were shut fast, her breathing deep and even. Sully chuckled low and reached down to pull up the sheet. With one last kiss to her cheek, he fit his form back to hers and closed his eyes finally giving into his own weariness.

Thursday passed in a blur of medical charts for Michaela. She was trying hard to get everything as tidy as possible because after four pm Friday she wouldn't be back at the hospital until Tuesday. She let her sisters and mother believe that she spent the night at the hospital, knowing she had several changes of clothes in her office. Michaela felt slightly guilty about the deception but not wanting to open a can of worms and tell them where she really was. Staying a little later than normal, Michaela didn't check her cell phone until she was on her way to her car, surprised to see four messages in her voice mail.

The first was from Grace, asking her to stop by and approve the wedding cake. The second from Rebecca, asking when she would be home, as they wanted to shower her the bridesmaid's dresses. The third from her mother, asking again when she'd be home. The last one was her favorite though; it was from Sully simply saying he loved her. Michaela dialed Grace back first and happened to hit the jackpot. Everyone it seemed was at her apartment, trying on the bridesmaid dresses. She'd even brought some cake samples with her.

Going a little bit faster than she normally did, Michaela stepped on the gas knowing that the evening was quickly ticking by. When she stopped in front of her apartment door with key in hand, she could hear the excited conversations inside and she found herself becoming a little emotional. She had no idea what they were in reality talking about because if she had the reaction would have been completely different. Quickly, she wiped at her eyes before opening the door.

Silence settled over the room as if they'd all been talking about something she couldn't hear. "Hello," Michaela offered a strange look on her face.

"Finally the bride arrives," Dorothy announced nervously standing at the far side of the room. To fill up the moment, she took a step forward and spun around in the dress she was wearing. "So what do you think?"

"I think it's beautiful but the real question is whether or not you like it. The whole point was to pick out something you might be able to wear again."

"Oh I think it's adorable." She cast a nervous glance over at Marjorie and it was only then that Michaela realized they were all looking at her strangely.

"Umm- is something wrong?"

"Probably not," Marjorie began placing her hand on her sister's forearm. "Have you spoken to Sully today?"

"Not in person. He left me a message on my cell phone." She looked even more perplexed now, her eyes darting from one to the other.

"There's no easy way to say this," Dorothy began. "So I guess I might as well just put it out there. I talked to Jake this morning after the bachelor party for Sully." She stopped here looking around once more only to be met by encouraging looks to continue. "Hank saw Sully leave the bar with someone last night, Michaela."

Instantly all eyes turned to her as her mind searched for the best path to take. She decided to play dumb at first. "What do you mean – leaving with someone?"

Dorothy swallowed hard. "A woman – he had a woman in the front seat of this truck."

Michaela turned and walked over to the couch, sighing lightly as she plopped down. "Is mother here?" she asked rather abruptly.

"No," Rebecca replied. "But she'll be back soon. She and Sully went to pick up dinner."

"Well I don't believe Sully would cheat on me," Michaela said firmly, picking up her mail which lay on the coffee table. "Whatever Hank saw he must have been mistaken."

"Michaela," Marjorie spoke tenderly taking a seat on her left side. "I think you need to ask him about this. I didn't want to believe Everett was cheating either. Once a cheater always a cheater," she whispered her own vulnerability shining through for a moment.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Michaela tried to distract herself and ignore their words but she knew it wasn't going to simply drop. "Sully wasn't cheating on me last night," she repeated not giving any further explanation for the moment.

"How do you know?" Marjorie continued to press. "How can you be sure?"

The accusations were too much suddenly and she felt herself giving way. "I know he wasn't cheating because Hank saw me in his truck last night."

"But you were at the hospital," Grace protested.

"No.. I wasn't. I lied. We fought and I only wanted to make up with him. I was trying to find him when I stumbled into my bridal shower. I meant to come back but…" Her cheeks darkened as she continued. "One thing led to another."

She looked up to see four open mouths, neither one having counted on this being the explanation. "I'm sorry," she offered giving a shake of her head. "I'm sorry I lied and missed most of the shower."

Grace was the first to smile, followed soon after by Rebecca. "Don't worry about that," she laughed. "Who wants to be at a bridal shower when make up sex is a possibility?" The color of Michaela's cheeks darkened again, as the others laughed, giving Michaela knowing glances. Michaela breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the pillows of the couch. Her eyes settled on the still unopened presents on either side of the television. She felt a little guilty but then let it go, it would be more fun to open them with Sully anyway.