A/N: Read and Review!

Long Lost Lover

Chapter Three

"Carlos, the bullet went right through. Now, she lost a lot of blood, but if she wakes up and starts eating, Hop Sing seems to think she'll be fine." Ben's words made Adam and Hoss smile, but Carlos had hung on to the negative.

"If she wakes up?"

Ben sighed again. "There is a slight chance she won't wake up, but Hop Sing is very hopeful, and he believes she will."

Carlos almost went weak in the knees with relief. Hop Sing had been right before. He'd saved Isabella, as well as Margaret Greene, Eli Orowitz, and Ben from Cholera.

"May I see her?" He asked, just as Hop Sing stepped out of the bedroom. Ben looked at the China man for an answer.

"Yes, but don't try to wake her. She need rest. She will wake up when she ready." He nodded and moved aside as Carlos reached for the door.

Ben sat down and leaned back in the chair. With his eyes closed he spoke to the boys. "Did you get out of him how he knew the girl?"

"Yeah, Pa, she was the soon-to-be Mrs. Rivera De Vega." Hoss replied.

Ben leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, eyes wide with surprise. "Really? I never knew…why didn't he mention her before?"

"Because he thought she was dead." Adam said, watching Little Joe as he opened his eyes and glanced around, then looked at Ben. "What happened?"

Ben smiled. "Hop Sing fixed her up. She should be fine." He looked back at Adam. "Why did he think she was dead?"

"There was a fire at her ranch, and they thought no one had survived. Everyone surmised that it was a lamp that set the place in flames." Adam nodded at the look on Ben's face. "Even Carlos said it was a lot like the fire at his aunt and uncle's place."

Ben nodded as well. "And you say she was his fiancé?"

"Well, not quite, Pa." Little Joe said. "Carlos was gonna ask her the day he found out about the fire."

"Oh," Ben immediately thought of Marie. "That's terrible."

Adam nodded and watched as Hop Sing began working on breakfast. "What do you think happened to her, pa?"

"Yeah, how'd she wind up shot?" Hoss asked.

Ben shook his head, catching sight of Hop Sing. "Hop Sing, you don't need to do that."

Hop Sing carried a pot and a ladle over to the fireplace. "No, Mr. Cartwright. It not a problem. I just as hungry as the rest of you."

Ben smiled slightly, then looked back at his boys. "I don't have the slightest idea of how she got shot. She should just be happy that it wasn't with a shotgun."

"Do you know what it was with?" Adam asked as he leaned forward.

"Hop Sing can't tell because the bullet went straight through. But if it had been a shotgun, she'd be dead."

PONDEROSA

Carlos quietly shut the door behind him, staring at the still form on the bed.

It had been so long since he'd seen her…so long since he'd thought her to be alive. He was so confused. How could she have survived a fire like that, if her entire family did not?

He got to his knees beside the bed and looked at her.

Whatever she'd been up to the last several years had changed her. She looked older in the face, not so young and innocent. Her cheeks were slightly hollow, as though she hadn't eaten right in awhile.

She looks so pale. Carlos slid his hand under the blanket and found her hand. Raquelita, I've missed you. If you were alive, why didn't you come to me? You hurt me, Raquel. I do not understand why you didn't come back.

He held her right hand with his right, and gently stroked her hair with his left. Tears pricked his eyes at the limpness of her hand.

Please, Raquelita, wake up for me. Talk to me. I have missed you every day for so many years. You can't come back to me only to leave me again.

PONDEROSA

Think, Raquel, think. What last happened? Where were you? That cannot be as important as where you are now.

Something is touching me. But, it's so comfortable here. What am I lying on? It feels like a bed…but that is impossible.

I remember something. That man, the lawman, he shot me. Yes, that's right.

Am I alive? I must be. I can't be in Heaven. This is not how I imagined Hell. Something really is touching me.

It moved! Oh, no, I have been captured. I think I am still wearing my boots…yes, I am. And, good, my gun is still there. If I could just reach down there…but what if whoever has me notices? They will kill me for sure if I try that.

Perhaps, if I reach down and pull that gun out quickly, I could get the drop on this person. Perhaps…if I'm quick enough…

PONDEROSA

Carlos had bowed his head, half thinking, half praying. He still held Raquel's hand, but now he held it with both of his hands.

Suddenly, Raquel's entire body lurched forward; she pulled something from under the blankets and turned to face him.

There was a handgun, cocked and aimed at his face.

His blood turned cold from the speed of the moment, as well as from the shock of seeing someone half-dead spring up like that.

"Raquel, what are you doing?!"

Her brown and black eyes blazed with fire. Her voice burned with both anger, and pain from her side. "How do you know my name? Who are you and what do you want?"

"Raquel, you must recognize me."

There was a moment of silence as she stared at him. Her eyes suddenly filled with tears as she un-cocked the gun and lowered it. "Carlos," she whispered.

The sound of her voice brought back a million memories as Carlos stepped forward and embraced her as he sat beside her. She cried in his arms for a moment before taking a deep breath and just resting with her head on his shoulder. It had been so long since he'd held her like this…

Finally, Carlos broke the silence. "Raquelita, what happened?"

She pulled back slightly to look at him. "With the fire, you mean?" it wasn't really a question.

He nodded.

Raquel let out a shaky breath. "I snuck out, just after dark. I was so angry with my father; I just could not stay under his roof that night. We had argued again…you know how we could never agree. I ran to the lake and sat by the water's edge, staring at the stars. It felt good to be alone.

"I fell asleep there. When I finally awoke, it was morning, and the anger from the night before was gone. I wanted to talk to papa and tell him I was sorry." Once again, tears filled her eyes.

Carlos pulled her to him again, holding her gently.

Raquel took another breath and whispered into his neck. "When I got home, there was nothing but smoldering ruins left. I could not breathe from the shock of it all. I wanted to tell mi papa that I hadn't meant what I said. And mama, that I loved her. And, Carlos, my brothers; I never said goodbye." She sobbed into his shoulder.

He closed his eyes and just held her. After awhile her crying quieted, and he asked the question that had been in his mind since she'd come through the door. "Raquelita, why did you not come to me?"

Raquel was silent for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was bolder. "Carlos, I was so angry. So upset, so sad. I just had to get away from there. I couldn't look back. All I could think of was all I had lost. What I still had was the farthest from my mind."

"But then why did you take so long to return?"

"A few years after that, I did return. I asked for you until I found you had gone to war. Carlos, when I heard that, I thought for certain you would be killed. So many lost their lives in those battles…and when we lost, gringos would murder Mexican soldiers who were coming home." She sighed. "I waited for awhile. Then, I heard that a Carlos Rivera De Vega had been wounded in battle. That is when I left. I felt certain in my heart that you were gone."

Carlos pulled her chin up so he could look at her. "Mi Raquelita, I am alive, as are you. We have been given a second chance." He leaned forward, closing his eyes, and kissed her.

A/N: Okay, that was so sappy that I feel sick to my stomach…I know, sappier things have been written, but that is almost as sappy as it gets for me. REVIEW!