The hospital room was blindingly white.
Max had spent a lot of time in this room. So had Lisa Atwood, Carole Hanson, Stevie Lake – and for that matter, Kristi Cavanaugh. But today Max was the lone visitor, sitting in a chair in the corner, watching Red's chest slowly rise and fall. Red looked so much younger when he slept.
Everything at Pine Hollow was going swimmingly. They'd held a little memorial for poor Angelfire. They'd gotten rid of the huge tree in the front of the barn. They were hard at work on reconstruction of the front half of the barn, and all the fences that had been knocked over in pastures had been mended. Max even had a few lessons going. Not today – Sunday – but the rest of the week, there was usually at least one lesson a day. Yes, everything was headed right back for normal.
The only thing that was weird about Pine Hollow was that Red wasn't there to help with the reconstruction. He wasn't there to check up on Bella and the colt – who those at Pine Hollow had decided to name Gale. He wasn't there to clean the stalls. He wasn't there to make smart comments as Veronica complained to Max. He wasn't there to feed the horses, or exercise them, or take care of them in general – it was now, in Red's absence, that Max realized just how much Pine Hollow really needed the stable hand.
Max shifted in the uncomfortably plastic chair. Something else had been bothering him. In all the times he'd been here, he had yet to see a family member of Red's. In fact, he had yet to see anyone from outside of Pine Hollow here. Max had even asked one of the nurses if any of the O'Malley family had stopped by, and to both his surprise and irritation, the nurse had said, no, nobody by that name, sir. Either Red had no family or his family really hated him.
He sighed. Over the past two weeks he had also realized that there was a lot he didn't know about his trusted stable hand. He didn't know if he was right-handed or left-handed, or if he'd suffered from broken bones in the past, or if he'd even grown up in Virginia. Max was finding that he knew next to nothing, and that was the most irritating thought of all.
Max was considering this, absently staring at the IV trailing from the back of Red's hand up to the bag of fluid beside the bed, when Red shifted. He murmured something. Max immediately rushed over and pressed the 'call' button, afterwards approaching the bed, straining to hear what Red was trying to say. "What are you saying, buddy?" Max asked quietly, leaning over to try and listen better.
The nurse bustled in. Max quickly explained that Red was waking up. The nurse looked expectantly at Red, and as she and Max both waited for Red to try and say something else, the expectancy slowly faded from the nurse's face. "You sure?" she asked skeptically – and then Red murmured something again. The nurse's face brightened considerably and she walked over to the other side of the bed. "Can you hear me?" she queried, carefully placing her hand on Red's shoulder. "Come on and open your eyes if you can hear me."
Max and the nurse stared at Red's face for a second. After what seemed to be a million years, Red slowly blinked open his remarkably blue eyes. He muttered something again, blinking ever so slowly, as if he was about to go back to sleep. Then, in a strange burst of energy, he looked directly at Max. "How…miracle?"
"What?" asked Max. "Can you repeat that a little louder for me, Red?"
"How…miracle?" Red asked again, more insistently. "How…colt?"
"Oh," said Max as it dawned on him. "The colt – he's doing great, he's great, Bella's been taking great care of him. You're a hero, Red."
Red kind of sleepily half-smiled. "Colt…miracle."
"Yeah, I know he is," said Max, nodding. During the entire exchange, the nurse rushed out of the room, presumably to get the doctor. Red shook his head slightly, groggily. "What is it?" asked Max, confused.
"Colt's name…Miracle…" After forcing this out, Red blinked sleepily again, shifting slightly to get more comfortable. The doctor and the nurse hurried back in. Max took a step back, unable to stop smiling at the sight of Red moving again. "Don't…leave…" Red mumbled.
"He'll be back soon," the doctor told Red. "We just need to run some tests first, okay?"
Red nodded, closing his eyes again. The doctor looked up, raising his eyebrows. Max understood and waved a little before leaving the room. Once he was out in the hallway, he realized that there was going to be a bit of a fight over what the colt's name really was – and they all still had to decide on the colt's full name as well.
Max stopped on his way out of the hospital as it came to him. He had the perfect full name for the colt.
Answered Prayers.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading this story, if you were! :) Hope ya'll enjoyed; I know I loved writing it!