Author's Note: And so this one wraps up! This is a wee bit long, but it didn't make sense to split it up.
Note, this is set in the context of my other stories, but relatively unnecessary to read those for this to make sense – just be aware that in my context now, Wash and Taylor are married and have a little girl named Gracie, and the Sixers have come back to Terra Nova.
Disclaimer is as usual – no profit, not mine (except Gracie, of course), just borrowing.
Smile...tomorrow will be worse.- The Murphy Philosophy
"Wash? Wash, are you in there? Come on, Wash, you need to open your eyes." Someone is shaking her gently. She can hear a voice above her, but she can't make out whose it is. All she can tell for sure is that it's annoying, which leads her to a realization. She grits out, "Damn, Shannon, give me a minute."
She hears a snort next to her, and she guesses that is Carter. That's confirmed a moment later when, her hearing becoming clearer again as the fog lifts from her head, Carter asks in a concerned voice, "If you think you're OK to move, can you roll to your back, Wash?"
"Bet you say that to all the girls, Carter." Even as she smarts off to him, she tries to move. She shifts her legs and immediately stops moving, pain in her right knee blinding her momentarily.
Her sharp intake of breath clearly alerts them to a problem. "Wash?" Carter sounds even more concerned now.
"Ow." She takes some deep breaths, and the pain starts to ebb. She opens her eyes, looking up at Carter. He's on his knees in front of her, his left arm still unrestrained, hands hovering above her as if he wants to help but is afraid to hurt her. "I either broke my right leg or I blew out my knee. And you should be back in your sling."
He rolls his eyes at her before looking up at Jim. "Go get the large pack, Shannon. I need the first aid kit." He turns back to Alicia. "Can you finish turning over?"
She nods. "But I want to sit up, and I should probably be in a C-collar just in case."
Carter looks to the other side of her. "Shannon, see if there's a collar in the pack, and if not, check the rhino." Jim nods and opens the pack. "Reynolds, once she gets to her back, sit down behind her to help her sit up. You get to be her backrest."
"Yes, sir!"
Alicia chuckles lightly at Reynolds calling Carter "sir." She then starts to roll again, this time taking care to move her right leg as little as possible. Once she gets to her back, Mark gets behind her while Jim and Malcolm, who appear on either side of her, help her get to a sitting position. A moment later, she's reclined back against Mark. She can feel that he's a little anxious, and she sighs. "I know you want to hug me, Mark. Just get it over with."
The assembled group laughs, and Mark does just that, wrapping his arms around her from behind and hugging her tight to his chest. After about thirty seconds, she murmurs, "I'm hurting, but I'm OK, kid."
He releases the pressure on her, but he keeps an arm wrapped protectively around her waist. She is momentarily amused by how many overprotective men seem to follow her around. Her light smile fades as her knee begins to throb. "Someone needs to get my right shoe off and cut off the leg of my fatigues."
They all seem to cringe, but Carter nods. Jim hands him a C-collar from the rhino, which he gets around her neck. Then, he moves around her to get to her feet. He gently removes her climbing shoe, but even the minimal jostling makes her flinch. "Sorry, Wash." She shakes her head that it's OK. He holds out a hand to Malcolm, who has been rummaging through the first aid kit.
Malcolm hands him a pair of sharp looking scissors, and Alicia takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. One arm comes to rest on Mark's arm wrapped around her, and she joins their hands. "Mark, you tell me if I squeeze too hard, OK?"
He must understand what she means, because he replies softly, "Squeeze as hard as you need to, Wash. I can take it."
As she feels the first pull on her pant leg, she squeezes her eyes shut even tighter. Pain radiates out from her knee as he works, and by the time Carter is done, she guesses that she may have broken every little bone in Mark's hand. When Carter swears quietly, she opens her eyes.
Blinking back the tears of pain that have formed in them, she looks down at her leg, and she echoes Carter's curse. Her knee is already swollen to almost twice its normal size, and there is bruising and discoloration. She looks up at him. "Torn ACL."
He nods, giving her a rueful smile. "That's what it looks like. No wonder it hurts like a bitch."
"So, what do we do?" Mark's concerned voice comes from behind her, and she pats his arm.
"Do we have any cold packs?" She looks at Carter. "We need to ice it and wrap it. There's a compression bandage in there," she gestures to the pack, "That's what we need to use." He starts to dig in the pack, clearly favoring his left side. "And Carter?" He looks up. "You need to immobilize your arm again, and we both need a pain shot. Malcolm or Jim can wrap my knee."
He looks for a moment as if he wants to argue, but then he just nods. Malcolm takes the pack from him and digs out the things she asked for. Malcolm passes the pain meds and the hypodermics to Carter. The latter aren't fancy like what Elisabeth has in the infirmary. They're just old fashioned syringes, better for use in the field. Carter measures out a dose, and he injects himself in the muscle of his left arm, making Jim wince.
He gets another hypo and loads the dose. "Where do you want it, Wash?"
She thinks for a moment, and then she looks down at her exposed leg, her fatigues cut off at mid-thigh. "Quad." She indicates her quad muscle with her hand. It'll hurt, but she doesn't care. A moment later, she feels the cool touch of an alcohol wipe and then the sting of the needle. It hurts, but the relief is quick. Once the pain meds are on board, she nods to Jim and Malcolm, and they get her leg wrapped. Dunham stands by, gun at the ready, keeping an eye out for predators.
Her leg feeling pleasantly numb, they get her to her good foot. She tries to hop, but Mark isn't having it. He just lifts her into his arms, careful to keep her leg straight, and he carries her to the rhino and settles her in the back. Carter climbs in and sits behind her, acting, as Reynolds had, as her backrest. Jim and Dunham climb in behind them, and Malcolm and Reynolds get up front, Reynolds behind the wheel.
As they head back to the outpost, she's glad for the pain meds, as they help with her leg and with her pounding headache from the rock she hit. Alicia looks over at Jim, and for the first time, she realizes that he has blood on his cheek and he's favoring his side. "Shannon, are you OK?"
He grimaces a little. "I think so. I hit my head and side when that wind gust got me all twisted up in the rope, but it's just more uncomfortable than anything else."
She rolls her eyes. "Get over here and raise your shirt, Shannon."
It appears that he's going to argue, but she levels a look at him that tells him she's not in the mood for a fight. "It wasn't a request."
He comes over, sitting where she can reach him and raising his shirt. Carter whistles out loud and Alicia's eyes widen. "Shannon, this is just uncomfortable? You're one big bruise. And only some of them are new. Why didn't you say something about this when we asked you to carry the pack?" As she speaks, she gently feels along his ribs. At least two of them feel cracked.
When she stops feeling around, he lowers his shirt and looks at them both. "Who else was going to carry it? It was too heavy for you to carry for that long, Wash, and you know your back was killing you. And Carter obviously couldn't do it. I was just generally sore, but I was all right – I just did this to my side on the last rappel. So, am I going to live?"
Alicia lets out an exasperated sigh. "Probably. But you need to stay pretty still until your wife clears you. It feels like you might have cracked a couple of ribs. I'm assuming no lung puncture, seeing as you're able to talk and aren't coughing up blood."
"Gee, that's great to hear," he deadpans. Carter and Dunham both laugh at that.
"Glad to be of service." Suddenly, she realizes how tired she is. Since Carter has his right side to her, she leans further into him. "Hope you don't mind being a pillow, Carter."
Jim shifts to get next to them, his hand coming to rest on her good ankle. He looks up towards Dunham, but the young soldier is leaned forward, talking to Malcolm and Reynolds in the front. Turning back to Carter and Alicia, he says, his voice serious, "Thank you for getting me down." They both start to speak, but he waves a hand at them. "Don't tell me it's nothing. It's not nothing. I'd probably be dead without you two."
After a beat, Alicia says quietly, "You're welcome."
Carter pulls her a little tighter to him, moving to get them both more comfortable. "What Wash said. One bit of bad news, if either of you fall asleep and the ride back takes more than an hour, I have to wake you up. You both hit your head."
Alicia nods sleepily, and she sees Jim, his hand still resting on her ankle, do the same. Carter relaxes behind her, and not long after, she allows herself to drift off to sleep.
The feeling of the rhino lurching to a stop wakes Alicia, who tries to shake her head but is thwarted by her C-collar. She blinks, and she feels Carter move behind her. She mumbles, "Are we there yet?" That earns her snorts from both Carter and Shannon, who are both awake. She still feels groggy. "How long have I been out?"
Carter is the one to answer. "Almost ninety minutes. I was going to wake you up to check on you, but Reynolds promised me we were almost to the outpost. It appears the kid was on the up and up."
That's confirmed when the rhino door opens, and they see Reilly standing there. She's wearing a concerned look that prompts Jim to say, "Wow, we must look really bad. Reilly's eyeing us like she's wondering which one of us is the closest to death."
Reilly gets a sheepish look on her face at that. "Sorry. But you all do look pretty worse for wear. Alicia catches her eye, and Reilly adds, "Ma'am."
Reynolds comes around to the door, leaning in and lifting Alicia again before she can protest. "Kid, I can walk."
Jim emerges behind them, followed by Carter and then Dunham. Jim looks around. "Where's Elisabeth?"
Reilly motions towards the outpost. "Mr. Shannon, the doc is inside checking in with the colony. We just arrived."
Jim looks back at Alicia and Carter, and Alicia says, "Go on, Shannon. We're right behind you."
Reynolds follows Jim as he goes into the outpost, and, at Alicia's direction, he carries her to the communications room. Carter doesn't follow, just stops in the outpost common area, dropping onto a sofa.
When they get there, Jim, with Elisabeth hugging his waist, is talking to someone over the radio via a headset. "Yes, we're all relatively OK. Elisabeth needs to take a look at all of us, though." He looks up when Mark enters the small room with Alicia. Elisabeth releases Jim and, eyeing Alicia's wrapped knee, she gets two chairs positioned so that Mark can sit her in one with her foot and leg up on the other.
Once she's situated, Jim says, "Here she is, Taylor."
Jim hands Alicia the headset. As she slips it on, everyone leaves, Mark closing the door behind them. She hits the transmit switch. "Nathaniel?"
"Are you all right? Shannon said you got pretty banged up helping him." She can hear the near-panic in his voice.
"I'm OK, Nathaniel. Though we're going to be quite a pair, both of us hobbling around."
"What happened? And I mean the whole story, Alicia."
She sighs and starts to recount the last two days to him. At his sharp intake of breath when she confirms how close she came to dying, she just moves past it as quickly as she can. Mid-story, Elisabeth slips in with a small hand scanner and a bottle of water. While Alicia continues to talk, Elisabeth removes the C-collar and quickly scans Alicia's neck. When she stops, Alicia looks up at Elisabeth who gives her a nod and a thumbs up before slipping back out.
As she recounts the events of this morning, she can almost feel Nathaniel's tension over the radio. When she's done, finishing with Elisabeth clearing her neck, Nathaniel lets out a breath. "Alicia, once you're home, except when I absolutely know you're somewhere safe, I'm not letting you out of my sight for a while. You know that, right?"
She huffs out a laugh. "I know."
"How bad is your knee?"
"It's not good. Carter and I both think it looks like I blew my ACL. I pretty much have no doubt that Elisabeth is going to have to surgically repair it." She pauses. "How's Gracie, Nathaniel?"
"She's OK. You'll be mad, but I didn't make her go to school today. We haven't told her anything, but she's a bright kid, Alicia. She knew something was wrong when Elisabeth left with Reilly this morning, and judging by the death grip she had on her dinosaur, she was scared. I couldn't say no when she asked to stay with me." He sounds apologetic, but she doesn't mind.
"I'm not mad, Nathaniel. Is she close by?"
He chuckles softly. "Give me a minute."
After that, she hears some thumping around and a door opening. His voice calls, "Zoe?" and after that, it's just muffled voices and then more thumping.
Alicia goes warm all over a moment later. "Mama?"
For some reason, just hearing Gracie's voice makes her emotional. She swallows hard and blinks back tears. "Hi, little Bug. Are you having fun with Daddy today?"
"Yes! Me and Zoe help him work! We sort pwexes!"
She can't help but smile at that. "Really? I bet he's really happy to have you two there to help, Bug."
"Uh huh. Mama, you home soon? Tonight?"
Alicia's heart breaks a little at that, even though Gracie sounds all right. "Not tonight, my Bug, but tomorrow. But Mama may have to sleep at Aunt Elisabeth's infirmary tomorrow." She doesn't want to scare Gracie, but she wants to prepare her.
Gracie sounds alarmed. "Mama hurt? Mama sick?"
"I'm OK, Bug, I just fell down and hurt my leg. Aunt Elisabeth will need to fix it for me when we get home, and she'll probably want me to stay at the infirmary just to make sure it's getting better."
That seems to mollify Gracie. "'K, Mama. I bwing you dino to sleep with so you not be scared."
That brings the tears back to Alicia's eyes. "I'd love that, little Bug."
"Mama, you call back tonight and tell me a stowy?"
"Definitely, Bug. I love you."
"Love you too, Mama."
A moment later, she hears Nathaniel's voice again. "You OK?"
She sniffles, swiping at her eyes. "I almost never saw her again, Nathaniel. I didn't think about it that way until right now." Elisabeth comes back in, clearly anxious to get a look at her. She looks concerned at Alicia's tears, but Alicia just shakes her head.
He sighs. "I wish I knew what to say to make that better, but I don't."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry, Nathaniel. I'm just tired and over-emotional. Elisabeth is here, and I know she wants to look at my knee, so I should probably go." She hates feeling this vulnerable, and he knows it.
"Hey you, stop that." His voice is soft. "You're allowed to be upset now, Alicia, and you know you're safe doing that with me."
She sniffles again, and Elisabeth puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I know, Nathaniel. I just don't like to feel like this. I don't like to feel scared."
"I know, my Alicia. Do you have any idea how much I love you?"
She smiles at that. "Some. But you can show me when I get home."
"I'll hold you to that, Lieutenant."
"I look forward to it, sir." Falling back into their usual, flirty routine helps lift her spirits a little.
"We'll call you this evening, Alicia. Seven o'clock?"
"I'll be here, Nathaniel. I love you."
"Love you too, Alicia. Terra Nova out."
She pulls off the headset, and Elisabeth pulls up another chair and sits next to her. "Are you all right, Alicia?"
Alicia gives her a wry smile. "I'm fine. Just apparently needed to fall apart a little."
Elisabeth nods. "Jim told me he doesn't know how you kept it together after what happened. He said you were upset for a couple of minutes and then just snapped back to normal. I'd say you were due a breakdown."
"I didn't have a choice, Elisabeth. Carter was hurt, and Shannon isn't a climber."
"Just because you had to do it doesn't mean it was easy, Alicia," Elisabeth pauses, "And thank you for looking after him."
Alicia reaches out and takes Elisabeth's hand. "You're welcome, but hell, Elisabeth, if he hadn't reacted as quickly as he did, I wouldn't have been there to look after him."
Elisabeth flinches. "It was really that close? I thought maybe he was just exaggerating."
Alicia shakes her head. "He wasn't. I was falling, and it was a long way down."
Elisabeth is silent for a moment before blinking as if to clear her head. "Understood. Now, let me see your knee. And Jim and Carter said that you hit your head as well."
Alicia lets Elisabeth fuss over her, scanning her knee and examining the lump on her head. All Alicia wants to do is sleep all afternoon, talk to Gracie and Nathaniel again tonight, and then sleep some more.
Terra Nova, Twenty-Four Hours Later
As they pass under the gate, Alicia breathes a sigh of relief. The pain meds Elisabeth gave her before they left the outpost are helping, but she's still stiff and sore and ready to be home. Of course, per her conversation with Elisabeth and Nathaniel last night before she told a story to Gracie (with sound effects and commentary from Shannon and Carter), they are heading straight to the infirmary.
At first, Alicia balked at that, but when Elisabeth pointed out that she would either end up being carried or riding in a wheelchair from the gate to the infirmary, she relented. It's bad enough that she'll be on crutches for a while; she doesn't need people to see Reynolds carrying her through the colony.
At least the surgery needed on Alicia's knee is a relatively simple thing with the equipment Elisabeth has. She'll need some PT on it, but the repair itself is easy, and Alicia will be up on crutches tomorrow and just in a large brace by the end of next week. She know that will annoy Nathaniel who may still be on crutches when Alicia is cleared to stop using hers.
When they get to the infirmary, Reynolds barely gets the door open before a small raven-haired blur barrels through it. At the last moment, Elisabeth is able to steer Gracie in such a way that when she attaches herself to Alicia, she doesn't jar her leg. "Mama."
Alicia wraps her arms tight around Gracie. "Hi, baby Bug. I missed you."
Gracie's arms wind around Alicia's neck. "Missed Mama too."
Reynolds clears his throat, and Elisabeth says gently, "Gracie, we need to take your mama inside."
Gracie sniffles and tightens her grip on Alicia. Nathaniel, standing just outside the rhino, says, "Bug, you can hug mama again once we get her into the infirmary."
This time, Gracie actually whimpers. "Stay with Mama."
Alicia shoots a look at Reynolds, and he gives her a quick nod. Elisabeth gets out of his way, and he says, "Hang on tight, Bug." He then scoops Alicia up, Gracie attached to her, and carries them both through the door.
As he puts them down on a biobed, Alicia's injured leg stretched out in front of her, Alicia murmurs, "Thanks, Mark."
He just smiles. "Any time, Wash." He pats Gracie on the head, and with a quick nod to Nathaniel after his dismissal, he disappears out the door, likely in search of Maddy.
As Carter and Jim both enter and are directed to other biobeds for full scans, Nathaniel approaches Alicia's bed. He perches on the edge of the bed, leaning his crutches against it. Reaching out with his hand, he cups her cheek and leans forward to drop a kiss on her forehead. "Welcome home."
She pulls one arm from around Gracie and covers his hand on her cheek with her hand. Instead of replying, she just entwines their fingers and nuzzles her face into his palm. The profound relief she feels at being home actually surprises her with its intensity, so she just sits there quietly, not trusting her own voice.
They sit there like that for a while, Gracie snuggled into Alicia and Nathaniel gently stroking her cheek with his thumb. Eventually, Elisabeth approaches, looking reluctant. "Alicia, I need to take care of your knee."
Gracie whimpers again and clings tighter to Alicia. She leans down to Gracie's ear. "Bug, can you sit with Daddy for me? Mama's knee really hurts, and Aunt Elisabeth can make it feel better."
With a sniffle, Gracie looks up at Elisabeth. "You fix Mama?"
Alicia and Nathaniel both chuckle at that, but Elisabeth (barely) maintains a serious expression. "I will, Gracie Bug."
Gracie eyes Elisabeth critically for a moment, and then she nods. "'K." She hugs Alicia again and then holds her arms out to Nathaniel. He lifts her onto his hip, and she holds tight to him.
Nathaniel and Gracie watch as Elisabeth runs a scan of Alicia's knee, and then two nurses help Alicia down into a wheelchair to take her back to a curtained off area. She won't even have to be sedated for the surgery. They give her a local instead. As she gets wheeled off, Gracie waves to her, and Nathaniel just mouths, "I love you" silently, making her smile and nod.
After her surgery is done, Alicia is moved into one of the curtained off areas towards the back of the infirmary. Nathaniel has some business to attend to, so he goes to the command center. Elisabeth offers to let Gracie stay with her, so he heads off alone, promising to return with dinner for all of them, Carter, Jim, Elisabeth and Skye included, shortly.
Alicia fell asleep after the surgery, feeling somewhat groggy from the pain medication. She wakes up after an hour or so to find Gracie curled into her left side, sound asleep, dinosaur clutched in her hand. That's not much of a surprise. What does surprise her is looking up to see Carter, arm immobilized again, and Jim sitting there playing gin on a table next to Alicia's bed.
"Guys?" She lifts an eyebrow at them. "What's going on?"
They both look up, surprised and somewhat sheepish. They look at each other, and eventually, Jim says, "We kind of got used to the three of us being together. Skye had to go do something for her mom, and Elisabeth was seeing to a few other patients, and we, well, we missed you, OK?"
With an amused look, she turns to Carter. "What? He's right. It was boring when Skye left. And it was too quiet out there."
After a moment, she says, "What're you playing?"
They both grin, and Jim pushes the table towards her bed. They pick up the cards, and Jim shuffles, dealing her in. An hour later, they're still sitting there, Gracie awake and kibitzing from the side. Most of her advice centers around how pretty she thinks the cards are. Her favorite is the queen of diamonds, which makes Carter and Jim bemoan the fate of the "poor guy who falls for her."
That makes Gracie look at them quizzically and ask, "Why I make guy fall down? Will he need Auntie Wisabeth to fix them like she fix Mama's knee?"
Nathaniel returns to the infirmary, and Skye follows behind him. He'd hated to leave Alicia, but he had some work to finish before taking the next few days off to spend with Alicia and Gracie. Skye met up with him in the market to get dinner for all of them at the infirmary. As they come in, they notice that Jim and Carter's beds are both empty. Elisabeth approaches, grinning and shaking her head. "You need to see this." She beckons to them to follow her.
Nathaniel and Skye exchange a confused look, but they follow Elisabeth, Skye first and Nathaniel, slowed down by his crutches, behind her. As they get to the curtained off area where he'd left a sleeping Alicia earlier, he hears a burst of laughter and Gracie's little voice saying, "Unca Shannon cheats!"
He just hears Alicia laugh as Jim sputters in response, and Carter interjects, "She's right, Shannon. You've been trying to peek at my cards and at the kid's cards. What kind of man cheats a not-quite-three-year-old at cards, I ask?"
Jim speaks up as Nathaniel gets to the area where the voices are coming from. "It's not cheating if you hold your cards where I can see them!"
"Seriously, Shannon? That's your excuse for cheating off my baby?" Alicia's voice is incredulous, but as Nathaniel leans forward, he can see that she has a teasing glint in her eye. Just as Elisabeth and Skye do, he gets a stupid grin on his face at the sight before them.
The four of them, Alicia in her bed with her leg stretched out, Gracie on the edge of the bed and Jim and Carter both in chairs, are crowded around the small table. Each of them holds a handful of cards, Gracie doing her best to manage hers.
Nathaniel eyes the configuration of cards, and realizing the answer, he still calls out, "So, what are you playing?"
Gracie turns with a grin. "Go Fish, Daddy! Mama helping me. Carter good but Unca Shannon cheats!"
"It's not…" Jim begins to protest when he is apparently leveled by a stern glare from Gracie. He huffs out a breath. "Fine. Maybe it's cheating. But the kid keeps beating me!"
They all laugh, and Gracie climbs down off of Alicia's bed and goes to Jim. She holds up her arms for him to pick her up. Once he settles her on his hip, she says, "S'OK, Unca Shannon. You no have to cheat to win. Gwacie let you win next time." That leads to another round of laughter from everyone assembled, and even Jim has the good grace to laugh along with them.
A while later, Nathaniel, Alicia and Gracie are alone again. At Nathaniel's insistence, there's a cot set up next to Alicia's bed. Elisabeth had tried to convince him to take Gracie home to sleep, but Nathaniel was resolute.
They all got changed for bed, Alicia with some assistance from Elisabeth. Now Alicia is leaned back in her bed with Gracie, once again clutching her stuffed dinosaur, curled into her left side, tucked between Alicia and the wall of the infirmary.
Nathaniel, now dressed in light sweats and a t-shirt, is perched on the edge of her bed, running his hand through her hair. He glances over at Gracie to make sure she's asleep, and seeing that she is, he says, "So, can we declare a moratorium on your near-death experiences, Alicia?"
She swallows a laugh at that. "You know, I'm OK with that idea, Nathaniel."
He leans forward and presses a soft kiss to her lips, his hand still buried in her hair. After a few moments, he pulls back, removing his hand from her hair and joining it with hers, their fingers once again twining together. "You look tired, Nathaniel."
He gives her a wry smile. "Well, you may have heard about this – my wife was stuck up on a mountain with Shannon and Carter."
"Was she now?" She feigns surprise.
"She was." He leans in and kisses her again, this time deepening the kiss.
When he pulls back, she smiles at him, just slightly out of breath. "What was that for?"
He drops one more kiss on her forehead before slipping into the cot next to her bed, their hands still joined. "Remember, I promised I'd show you how much I love you."
She squeezes his hand, and then she brings their joined hands up and drops a kiss on the back of his hand. "So you did. But I think you love me more than that."
He laughs softly. "You're right, I do. And when we both are able to ditch the crutches, I'll demonstrate further."
"Promises, promises, Hopalong." She grins at him.
He snorts. "You just wait and see, Tripod."
Still grinning, she pulls Gracie tighter into her side, and she nestles down into her pillow. She squeezes Nathaniel's hand again. "Good night, Nathaniel."
He squeezes back and reaches up to extinguish the bedside lamp. "Good night, Alicia."