Starts out as Ethan's POV and then turns to Emily's and others. If you don't like these POV chapter I am really, really sorry. They just seem to come to me that way so that is how I write them down. So far no one has complained though. Also because I forget (Naughty me) THANK YOU to OneTreeFan for coming up with the title to Chapter 20. I appreciates it so much!

Good Luck Runs Bad

We run my cows into my corrals and for one of the first times in my life I feel my chest swell with a sense of pride. I was so proud to see those cows milling around in the corrals that I built with my own two hands. Cows that I had picked out purchased and then brought home. Those cows were going to be my stake in life, and they were going to give Emily and me the start that we needed to begin our life together. After we left the cows in the corral, Slim, Dusty and I dismounted, and began to brush the trail dust from our clothes. I was barely dusted off when the most beautiful thing I had seen in three weeks came running out of the house. "Ethan!" she shouted and ran towards me.

I know I'm dirty but I open my arms to her anyway and catch her up in my arms and swing her around. I smell her hair and it smells so good, especially after two weeks of smelling sweaty horses and cows. "Hello darlin'."

"Hi." she says as I set her on feet again.

Wrapping my arm around her waist I turn towards the two men I consider my friends, "Boys, I would like you to meet Emily Munch."

Slim and Dusty both come forward after wiping off their hands. "It's nice to meet you Emily." Dusty says before moving to the horse trough and pump to wash.

"Well I'll be." Slim said. "I can see why you pined for so long there Ethan. Nice to meet you Miss Emily."

Emily stayed quite during the introductions and while we all washed at the pump she said, "Ethan, supper will be on the table when you come in." Then she walked back into the house.

"Alright darlin'."

We all pile into the house and Emily serves us a good super of stew and biscuits. I know that she'll stay out here with me again tonight so when we're finished eating I tell Slim and Dusty that they can bunk down in the barn. I again bunk down in the sitting room so that Emily can have my bed. After the boys leave the house and I take a bath, Emily and I have some alone time. "I missed you." I tell her.

"I missed you too, thank you for sending your father over here every day to check on me." Emily says looking down and twisting her engagement ring on her finger. She looks sad and I wonder what's wrong with her.

"What's wrong darlin'?" I ask.

"Nothing Ethan. I've been making plans." she says softly to me.

"Good." I say, wrapping my arms around her, tight.

"What are you going to do tomorrow?" she asks, lying against my chest.

"I'm going to sort the cows. I'm sure there are a few that need to be culled out and I need to get those bulls out of there." I say and kiss her hair. I inhale deeply and say, "You smell a lot better than those cows."

Emily laughs at that and says, "Good. I bathe more often than those cows." Then changing the subject again she says to me, "How do you feel about an early May wedding, Ethan?"

"I think that's fine." I tell her. Whatever she wants for this wedding she is going to get.

"Good. Your mother and I are working on all the details." Emily said.

The next morning I got Slim and Dusty to help me sort cows along with my father. That was when my luck changed for the worse again. It always seemed that when I thought things were going my way that something had to happen to destroy those dreams and plans for me. It happened while we were sorting the cows, a particularly cranky cow turned back on me and as I tried to get away to go up the fence, she tossed me. tossed me like one of Katie's rag dolls. The last thing I remember is hitting the ground and the feel of her head crushing into my back as I lay face down in the dirt.

(Elliot's POV)

I thought things had changed for my son that things were going to start going the way he wanted. He had asked Emily to marry him and she has been busy planning their wedding. He went to Dodge and bought his cattle and now he is working those cattle. I'm not sure what happened I just now that I am now standing over my son's lifeless looking body. I can see him breathing but I know that he is in pain too. He's unconscious from a nasty wound on the back of his head. I know that after the first cow got him down that several more stepped on him before we could stop them from making their way out the gate. He also has a bleeding cut on the back of his leg and I'm sure several bruises. We carefully pick him up and take him to the house. When Emily sees him she begins to cry and cries the whole time we are getting him settled. As soon as we have Ethan in bed I take the girl in my arms and just hold her. How many times is she going to have to see the man she loves lying unconscious in bed. Then I send the boy they call Slim into town to get the doc and the other boy, Dusty to my house to get my wife, Olivia.

Ethan has always been accident prone, when he was three he broke his arm, falling out of a tree, at twelve he broke his leg after getting bucked off a horse and the list goes on and on. I lead Emily in and let her just sit with Ethan while I begin to take care of his head and leg wounds. While I do that I have her remove his boots and then send her out long enough for me to pull his pants and shirt off. I smile to myself, almost as I remove my son's clothing; he had grown a lot since the last time I had to do this. When I finish I let her back in and she again pulls the chair up, tears running down her face as she holds her hand and strokes his face, the only part that has yet to show bruises.

I leave them be and step out on the porch to meet Olivia. When she gets there she runs into my arms and asks, "What happened Elliot? What happened to him now?"

"A cow got him down. He has a cut on the back of his head and he's knocked out. He also has a lot of bruising, lacerations and pretty nasty cut on the back of his leg, probably from a hoof." I tell her.

"Oh Elliot. I almost wish that he would give up on being a rancher and go do something safe." Olivia says as she leans against me. Using me as her rock of support.

When the doctor arrives he shoos us all out and does a thorough examination of Ethan. When he comes back out his face is grave but he tells us that Ethan will most likely pull through and that his most serious injury was the head wound. "Now, Mr. and Mrs. Stabler and Miss Munch, he needs to be watched and I believe that this injury has thrown him into a coma. He may not wake up for a week or a month or he may wake up in an hour or a day. I just can't say. Just watch for bleeding and swelling in his head. If that occurs send someone for me quickly."

(Emily)

I'm setting by Ethan's bedside, holding his hand, praying that he'll pull through again, just like he has before. I am worried about him though. The doctor said coma and that is a scary word to me. What if he never wakes up? What if he dies and I never get to be his wife. I lay my cheek on his hand and let my tears fall. "Oh Ethan, why does it always have to be you. Why do you always have to be the one that's in the wrong place at the wrong time?" I say to him. I hope that he can hear me talking to him. The doctor never said that he couldn't.

Later that evening, Olivia comes in and says to me, "Emily why don't you go and eat something. I'll sit with him for a while."

I don't want to but I do it anyway because I know that I have to stay strong in order to help Ethan get better. I go and nibble at a sandwich that Olivia has made in the kitchen and then as quickly as I finish, I go back to Ethan. When I step into the room Olivia says to me, "I know it's not proper but you are his intended bride and this is a different situation. He's been thrashing about, why don't you lay with him a while and see if that keeps him still. I don't want him to hurt himself worse."

I do as Olivia requests of me and lay my palm on his chest. He was moving a bit in the big bed but as soon as I lay my hand on him he stills and I feel better. I am having an effect on him anyhow. "Oh Ethan, I love you, you have to get better." I say in a low voice so no one else can hear.

I fall asleep like that and wake the next morning to find that Ethan hasn't woken up. I begin to cry all over again and finally get up again. I go to the kitchen and find Olivia, looking haggard, like she hadn't slept a wink the night before. I look at her and say, "Olivia, why don't you go and get some sleep. I'm sure he needs someone to lie down with him again, to keep him still."

Olivia takes my advice and goes into to lie down with her son. I look down at my beautiful ring and begin to cry all over again.

(Olivia)

Ethan is thrashing about again when I go into the room so I do just as Emily did the night before. I lay a hand on his chest and that seems to sooth him. I kiss his forehead and check for fever at the same time. Why do my boys have to be so accident prone? Wasn't it just last week that Caleb fell off the roof and broke his arm? I can't keep track of all these injuries. I wish Ethan would just be more careful and stop trying to take on the world. I hope he's ok. I just buried my grandfather I can't stand to bury my son too.

(Ethan)

I don't know what's wrong with me. I can hear the voices; I know what their saying but I can't seem to get out what I want to say to them. I can hear Emily crying and I want to lift my hand up and tell her that I'm ok, that I love her and its going to be ok, but I can't move and I can't seem to talk. The only time I seem to move is when my body is flailing about and I can't control it. It seems to stop when Emily comes in and touches me or my mother comes in and does the same. I felt Emily beside me all night long and that was comforting. All I know is that my body and head hurt like hell and I can't move or talk on my own accord. I think I've finally gone to hell.

(Emily)

I am so worried about Ethan. It's been three days since his accident and he still hasn't woken up. I know what the doctor said but I don't know how much more of this I can take. I hate waiting and I really hate waiting in a situation like this. Everyone is on pin and needles. Slim and Dusty have been kind enough to stay around and help do things for me. I seem to have taken over Ethan's home and I am setting the rules for the time being. I also seem to spend a lot of time looking down at my engagement ring and crying. I feel like it's all I do. Today Louise is here to sit with me and Ethan both so that Elliot and Olivia can go home and take care of their own chores too.

I'm crying again and Louise is trying to comfort me, "Emily." She finally says. "You are not helping Ethan by sitting around here, crying your eyes out. You have to be strong. Now, I want you to get your shawl and go outside for a while. Go walking along the creek. Jesse and I will stay here and take care of Ethan."

"But what if he wakes up and I'm not here!" I cry but do as she says.

I walk out the door and go down along the creek, totally unaware that I'm being followed by one the men that I have been praising as being so helpful. I walk to the tree with the carving in it first and rest my fingers on the heart with Ethan and I's initials in it. It makes me want to cry again but I keep my self under control.

I am quite a ways away from the house when I finally here him. His footsteps in the dead fall grass. I turn to see who's following me and stop. "Hello Dusty." I greet the younger of the two fellows who Ethan counts as a friend.

"Hello Emily." He says to me, moving closer until he is inches from my face. I begin to get scared as he moves closer to me as I continue to step backwards. Then I trip and he's on top of me like nothing else, ripping at my skirts and blouse. I fight like a wild cat and scratch him across the face with my finger nails. "Ouch! You bitch!" he screams into my face before he hits me, hard across the left cheek.

With him up off of my body I use the opportunity to push him back and get up and run. I lift my skirts and I run as if I've never run before in my life. I make it back to the house and run into the house, slamming the door shut behind me and pressing my back against it. My body is trembling and my cheek is stinging where he hit me. Louise comes into the room, Jesse on her hip. "Oh my god, Emily, what happened?" she ask me, setting Jesse into the high chair at the table and coming to my side.

My body shakes as I try to tell my friend what I just experienced. "E-Ethan's friend, Dusty, he followed me a-and he attacked me down by the creek. I fought him off though and he has the scratch and probably bruises to prove it."

Lou grabs my hands and pulls me to a chair before crouching down in front of me. "Emily, he didn't, he didn't, did he?" she asked. She couldn't say the words but I knew what she was asking and probably reliving her own terrible experience at the same time.

"N-no." I tell her.

She sighs a sigh of relief. "Thank God!" Then I see the realization cross her face, "I knew I had heard that voice before, Dusty was the man that attacked me too. He is Jesse's father."

We both break down then, and wait until Slim comes into the house. I can see the rage on his face when he hears what I have to say. He then goes out and ties up Dusty and hauls him into my father. He won't tell my father that he attacked me and Lou as well over a year ago but he concocted the story that he had tried to steal some of the cattle that Ethan had recently purchased. Then he came back and stood guard at the door until Oliver showed up after work.

When Oliver shows up Louise sends me to bed and I again go and lay down next to Ethan. My cheek is aching so badly now I can hardly stand it and I feel some relief as Louise comes in and places a cold cloth on it and another on Ethan's forehead. "Thank you." I say quietly.

I kiss Ethan's cheek and tell him good night before lying down with my cold cloth and finally letting exhaustion take my body into a deep sleep.

I know, I know another icky chapter but please let me know what you thought!