Chapter 22

Matthew managed to catch Atlantis before she hit the floor with her head. He barely noticed the pain that shot through his wounds. Carefully he sat down on the floor, leaning against the counter and placing Atlantis' head gently on his lap. The world around him vanished as his fingertips ran alongside Atlantis' cheeks. He swallowed hard and tried to gently hit her cheeks to wake her up.

"Should I get Dr. Mike?" Horace kneeled down beside him. Matthew merely nodded.

Horace ran fast out of the telegraph office and Matthew could hear him calling Dr. Mike through the fog of his thoughts. He bent down and kissed Atlantis' forehead, whispering barely audible, "Wake up, Atlantis, I'm here, don't be afraid."

He gently hit her cheeks again, swallowing tears, "Wake up, sweetheart."

"Matthew!" Dr. Mike ran inside the telegraph office, followed by Sully. Her heart broke as she saw her oldest son's face; she could read every flicker of pain and desperation on it. Quickly, she changed into doctor's mode. "What happened?" she asked as she kneeled down, checking Atlantis' pulse.

"She fainted," Matthew silently replied, watching his mother working.

"Did she hit the floor with her head?" asked Michaela as she checked Atlantis' head for any bumps.

"No, I caught her before she hit it," whispered Matthew and it was only then that Michaela noticed his shirt and gasped; there was some blood on it. "Matthew, you're bleeding, we should get you to the Clinic and change…" she started to talk, but he interrupted her. "I'm fine, Ma. Just help Atlantis, please."

The look of desperation in Matthew's blue eyes broke Michaela's heart all over again, and she blinked a few tears away, trying to act fast and stay calm. She searched through her medical bag and finding a small bottle, she put it under Atlantis' nostrils. In next minute, the young woman's eyes flew wide open and she gasped.

"Easy, easy, Atlantis," advised Dr. Mike quietly, the speed of Atlantis' fast breathing causing her forehead to crease in concern. Matthew saw it and asked, "What's wrong, Dr. Mike?"

Michaela took out her stethoscope. "She's obviously suffered a shock or some stress that caused her breathing to quicken. I got to get her to the clinic, check her blood pressure."

"He's gonna find me. He always does because she tells him," Atlantis mumbled silently, tears choking her. She coughed, barely aware of what is she was saying. Michaela looked confused at Matthew, but he didn't catch her eyes as he bent down, ignoring the pain that was growing stronger inside of his wounds. "No, he won't. I won't allow them to hurt you anymore, Atlantis, do you hear me?" he took her palm and she held onto it for dear life. "Calm down, darling," he whispered and as Atlantis' eyes met Matthew's, Michaela could feel the young woman's heart slowing down to a regular pace. She looked up and called, "Sully, Horace, help me get them to the clinic."

Sully gently picked Atlantis up in his arms as Dr. Mike and Horace helped Matthew to get up, and they slowly left the telegraph office.

~*~

Sully looked up from the floor as Michaela closed the door of the recovery room.

"How are they?" he asked, going toward his wife.

"A few stitches on Matthew's wounds broke, that's what caused the bleeding. But I fixed it, he should be all right," Michaela silently replied.

"What about Atlantis?" asked Sully.

"She'll be fine, she just had a lot of stress; that's what caused her to faint," she replied, somehow distant though.

Noticing that, Sully asked "You all right?"

Michaela took in a deep breath, "I'm just wondering… is this the right thing for Matthew?"

She looked up into her husband's eyes. "He's been through so many bad things, Sully, I don't know whether he can handle this."

"You're still trying to be his Ma and take care of him, and Matthew still refuses that and tries to be grown up," commented Sully.

"Yes, like in the beginning. Guess some things never change," Michaela let out frustrated breath.

"You're wrong. Something DID change."

As Michaela looked up at him questioningly, Sully simply said, "Matthew IS a grown man now, Michaela."

Michaela watched Sully for few seconds and then rubbed the nape of her neck tiredly. "I know, I just… I hate to see him hurt, Sully. And this whole thing with Atlantis has done nothing but hurt him."

"Maybe physically," was Sully's short reply.

"What does that suppose to mean?" Michaela shot back.

Softly smiling at his wife, Sully replied, "As a doctor, you only see physical wounds, Michaela. What you're missing to see is the emotional healing. She's given him something he didn't have for years." He looked deep into his wife's eyes and gently caressed her back. "Something you gave to me as well."

Michaela was lost for words; she knew that Sully was right, and she had to smile softly at his last comment. "You really think it will work between them?"

Sully nodded, "It already does. You're just worrying too much to see it, Mother Hen."

At these words, Michaela playfully slapped him on his shoulder. Sully chuckled and hugging his wife, he said, "Come on, you need to rest."

~*~

"You're feeling better?" asked Matthew, gently caressing Atlantis' hair.

She nodded, looking up at him. "I am sorry, Matthew," she whispered.

"For what?" He watched her confused.

"You've hurt yourself again because of me," Atlantis silently mumbled, her eyes stopping on his wounds. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey, hey, hey," Matthew's soft voice reached Atlantis' ears and she felt his index finger gently lifting her chin. "Look at me."

Fighting tears, Atlantis looked up at the face of the man she loved with her whole heart and immediately got lost in the love for her she saw in them. "I'm fine. Really." As his hand moved along her cheek and caressed it, he added, "More than fine. Thanks to you."

"To me?" she whispered, confused. Matthew nodded, smiling softly.

"I thought that I'll never be happy again. But you changed that. And all the difficulties and problems that cross our path, we'll beat them together, Atlantis, don't you worry about that."

His hands moved up and down her shoulders and upper arms as he carefully mentioned the painful subject, "I know that this shocked you, that you feel betrayed beyond words because of what Heart did."

As Atlantis' eyelashes glittered with tears, Matthew gently kissed each of her eyelids, taking away the teardrops with his lips, causing her to let out a breath and to hug him, careful not to hurt him.

"But, I promise you, Atlantis, this part of your life is over. I'll make sure that they never hurt you and your son again. They'll stay in prison for everything they did to you and they will never hurt you again. I know it hurts you what you found out today, but we will use this as an evidence and Horace as a witness."

"I can't believe that she would do that, Matthew," Atlantis whispered. "She's my mother. How could she?"

He felt her sobs against his chest and held her closer to him. "Let it all out," he whispered. He knew all too well how she felt, remembering every tear he shed as a kid because of Ethan.

"You're so lucky, Matthew, you have a wonderful family, your parents would die for you, they would never try to hurt you," he heard her silent voice.

"You're wrong, darling. Dr. Mike and Sully aren't my parents."

That caught Atlantis' attention and she slightly pulled away to look up into Matthew's eyes. "What?" she whispered.

Matthew nodded, "It's true"

As she watched him confused, he took in a deep breath and said, "Come on, let's sit down and I'll tell you everything."

Atlantis nodded and slowly walked toward the bed, helping Matthew to go with her, careful of each step he made. "You should lie down, rest those wounds," she insisted and helped him to lie down and lean against the pillows. "That comfortable?" she asked concerned.

Matthew softly smiled, "Almost. There's only one thing missing."

"You want another pillow?" she asked, looking around the room.

Matthew shook his head and caught her arm. As she looked at him, he said, "You." Smiling he added, "Come over here."

He patted the spot beside him and Atlantis smiled, laying down and snuggled up to him. With one hand around her shoulders and the other hand resting in her hand, Matthew started to talk.

"My biological father Ethan Cooper abandoned my mother when I was just a kid. Brian was still a baby, Colleen was seven years old. It all started back on our farm in Topeka. I heard them fighting every day and night. Ethan wanted to sell the farm and go for an adventure, but my mom was against it; she didn't want to put us through it. And one day he just showed up, all excited and said that we're gonna go mining for gold. My mom was desperate; he'd sold everything we had and put us on a horse wagon, setting out into the hills. I tried to help my mom to take care of Colleen and Brian. Colleen got cold not long after we started to travel and it took mom and me quite some fighting with Ethan to force him to stop in a town nearby to get a doctor's help."

It didn't go by unnoticed to Atlantis that Matthew never used the word "dad" or "father" for Ethan, and she caressed his palm, listening carefully, her heart breaking for him.

"One day, I woke up before dawn to find my ma just standing outside the tent, her palm on her mouth as she tried hard not to sob and wake us up. I went toward her, asking what's wrong. The mine exploded, all the possible gold was lost and Ethan just took all the money and disappeared."

"He just left you all without anything?!" gasped Atlantis. As Matthew nodded, she sat closer to him, leaning onto the wall and putting both her hands around Matthew's shoulders. She didn't have a clue that his life was such a mess.

"For few days, we managed to survive in the wilderness. I learned how to hunt and got us some food sometimes, but it wasn't enough. We tried to find some place to stay, our ma tried to get a job somewhere for some shelter and food, but nobody wanted to take in a single mother with three kids. It was a burden to everyone. That was when I remembered mom's old friend, Miss Olive, and suggested that we go to ask her for help. So, that's how we came to Colorado Springs. With Miss Olive's help, mom started a boarding house, renting out the rooms and cooking for the guests."

"How old were you back then?" whispered Atlantis.

"Thirteen, fourteen, I don't know," shrugged Matthew, and Atlantis realized that he grew older back then, skipping the years that should have been the happiest in his life in order to take care of his family. He stopped being a child.

"I did some jobs for Miss Olive too while I was finishing school. Chopped some wood, fed animals at her place, and helped her out in the store. It wasn't much, but it helped. I couldn't allow mom to take care of everything, she also needed to rest and I didn't want that Brian and Colleen miss anything."

"What happened to your mom?" Atlantis gently asked.

There was dead silence in the room for several minutes before she heard Matthew's reply, "She died of a rattle snake bite a few years ago. On her deathbed she asked Dr. Mike to take care of us."

"And Ethan?"Atlantis tentatively asked. She felt Matthew tensing up in her arms and heard him silently saying, "Didn't come back then. He came back long after, twice actually, but not because he cared for us, but because he wanted some money. First time he stole it from the church and the second time he tried to take Colleen and Brian so that he could inherit his new wife's money as she couldn't have children."

Atlantis felt Matthew swallowing hard several times and she looked down at him. His face was like made of stone.

"Matthew?' she softly called him. As he avoided looking at her, staying silent, Atlantis tightened her hold on him and kissed his dark blonde hair. She soothingly said, "It's all right, Matthew. You don't have to swallow your tears anymore. Let them all out, darling."

As she kissed his hair one more time, she felt a breath stopping inside of his lungs – only to explode as bitter tears seconds later. Atlantis pulled Matthew closer to her as he sobbed, his face buried in her chest, and she knew: This was the first time Matthew allowed himself to break down because of his lost childhood.