Chapter 3: Thank You

**WARNING** Graphic Surgery Scene

Bailey heaved a sigh as her papa paced in front of the four of them. She knew he was going to be very unhappy about bringing Chris, but she stood tall and waited for the slew of words that would rush out of his mouth. Poor Chris was being held up by her brothers from both arms given he couldn't put any weight on his leg. Her mother also stood off to the side, eying the wound and frowning to herself, probably mentally trying to figure out how to fix it given their limited supplies. Bruno had been locked away in the back room to stay out of the way.

"What were you thinking? We don't have the supplies to care for this boy!" Papa burst out, looking mainly to her brothers given they were the ones in charge.

"Papa, it was me. His friends were trying to kill him because of his injury. Blame me, not them. I couldn't let them do that. It wasn't right. And I don't want this world to be different . We still need to help people, papa!" she insisted.

"He's here now, pa. We may as well take care of him. If we cast him out, he will die directly from our doing. I don't think you'd want to kill someone," Alejandro pointed out.

Her papa sighed, shaking his head. "We have to worry about our own family!"

"You are. Because if you send him away, you'll be hurting me," she murmured, crossing her arms over her chest. "We can still try to be good people. Be better than the others in the world."

She saw her mama's resolve slip and she gestured for her brothers. "Bring him here, I will see what I can do."

Papa's face contorted into outrage and he turned to mama to speak, but she shook her head and put a hand up to silence him. He may have been the head of the household but mama was the one in control of him.

Alejandro and Samuel slowly brought Chris into the living room and set him down on the couch. Her mama went to the backroom to get some supplies and Bailey sat on the couch across from him, leaning on her knees.

"This is probably gonna hurt," Sam mentioned, looking down at the wound.

"I figured," Chris mumbled, sighing deeply, probably in an attempt to ready himself for the pain about to come.

A moment later, mama came back with bandages, a small bottle of antibiotics, sutures, and...fishing wire? Among other things, she had some pliers and rubbing alcohol. She had seen her mother do some things before, such as stitches and basic care, but never before had she seen her try and put a bone back into place.

"Do you know what you're doing, mama?" she asked, looking warily at the wire.

"In theory," she replied, setting everything down on one of the chairs. "Chris, can you move to the table?"

The boy sat up and with help from her brothers, he moved to the table, laying flat against it and taking in another deep breath. Her mama gestured for her to come over as well and she slowly peeled herself from the couch, grimacing a little as she sat down on the floor. Mama ripped the tear in his pants a little more to get better access to the wound.

"I need the three of you to hold him down. It's going to be painful and I don't have anything to put him under. Ale, can you hold his shoulders? Sam, his good leg. Bailey, his bad leg," she instructed, pulling on a pair of rubber gloves she didn't even notice she had before.

Bailey shifted, moving to hold the base of Chris's leg with her hands. Alejandro firmly planted his hands on his shoulders and Sam held his good leg in place.

Mama looked around for a minute before picking up a small piece of rolled up cloth. "Bite on this."

Chris took it in his mouth and tried not to stiffen, but his muscles visibly tightened and his breathing grew heavier.

Mama first took some of the rubbing alcohol and cleaned the affected area. Chris did squirm a bit, but it was only stinging and definitely not as painful as what he was just about to go through.

After the area was thoroughly cleaned, mama used the alcohol to clean the pliers and wire. "Alright. I'm going to manipulate the bone to get it back into your leg. It will hurt. Everyone keep him steady."

She braced herself, keeping his leg from the knee down steady with a firm grip. Mama didn't hesitate to get her hands on the bone sticking out of his leg and starting to push. Chris instantly thrashed and let out a groan of pain through the cloth in his mouth, but she did her best to keep him steady. The more she manipulated it and pushed the muscles around to get it back in, the more Chris thrashed and the louder his screams and cries became. It made her wince and by the time mama had gotten the bone halfway into his muscles again, her arms were on fire from keeping him still.

His cries and shouts brought her heart to a rapid pounding and she felt herself feeling a bit sick. She couldn't imagine ever being in so much pain that screaming like that was something that just happened.

Her hands grew sweaty and she struggled to keep a grip on him as he bucked against their hold. However, a moment later, he suddenly went limp and she instinctively jumped in shock, looking over to see that his head had fallen back against the table and his eyes rolled shut.

"He passed out. Easier to get this done. Stay ready in case he wakes," mama instructed, using all of her weight to push against the bone that was contracted in the wrong place because of tense muscles.

After a few more agonizing moments, she got the bone back in place and immediately began to thread the thick fishing wire around the break. Bailey peered over, trying not to feel sick as she watched her mama prod around the muscles.

"Honey, can you sop up some of the blood?" she asked, somehow seemingly calm as she used the pliers to tie some wire off before wrapping around some more.

"Uh..."

"Please."

Gingerly, she grabbed one of the bandages and gently prodded the slowly pooling blood in the cavity of his leg. The blood soaked up in the cloth and once it was full, she discarded it. Mama continued to fervently wrap the wire tightly around the bone several times to keep it in place.

"It's not as strong as a plate, but it's all we have. He cannot put any weight on it for several months," she said, putting the wire aside and then getting the sutures.

Bailey took in a deep breath and watched carefully as she quickly sterilized the needle and thread and began to sew. First the muscle layer, then the subcutaneous layer, and finally the skin. Afterwards, she wrapped it up with a bandage and then sat back on her heels.

"Can you move him to the couch? I need to find something in the shed to make a cast," she explained, pulling off the gloves and discarding them on the floor.

Her brothers went to that task and she sat back, looking down at her hands that contained a little bit of blood on them. A small shake ran through her body and she stood, looking over at Chris who was spread across the couch. A few dried tears stained his cheeks and she bit her lip, taking the blanket from the back of the couch and draping it over him. She remembered a few things her mama taught her about nursing, such as keeping a patient warm when they were unconscious because the body lowered its temperature.

"You okay, Bailey?" Sam asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah just...shaken up. That was..."

"Intense," Alejandro finished, crossing his arms over his chest,

"Yes," she agreed, shuddering.

"Get a drink and a book or something and relax. It's over for now," Sam suggested, pulling her in for a little side hug.

"Alright." She nodded, returning the hug and then heading for the kitchen.

She was definitely a bit shaken up, as that was the most intense "surgery" she had ever seen her mother perform. Not like she did much given she was only a nurse and usually assisted rather than conducted, but still...

She filled up a glass of water from the tap after washing the blood from her hands and then headed to the room she and her brothers shared to get a book. Once she collected it, she headed back to the living room where Chris was sleeping away. Her brothers had settled down on their own to play a game of chess on the floor and she took a seat on the chair in the corner and got comfortable.

The water helped to ease her nausea and she soon found herself enthralled in Allegiant. She had only started to read the very beginning of it because it seemed like she barely had any time to rest anymore, but she was grateful for the time to read. She had already gotten halfway through the book when her brothers got to their feet.

"Hey Bailey, it's getting late. We're gonna turn in. You coming?" Ale asked, picking up the chess board and putting it on the table.

"Nah, I'm gonna stay up for a bit," she decided. "Tell mama and papa they can sleep on my mattress if they want."

"You're not going to sleep out here are you?" Sam queried, his face becoming a bit more serious as he looked over at the sleeping form of their guest.

"If it worries you that much, I'll slip in with abuelo. He won't mind."

"Okay... Just be careful, okay?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes fine. Goodnight."

Sam patted her shoulder with a smile while Ale gave her a kiss on the forehead. She smiled at the two of them as they made their way to the bedroom and she started to read again where she left off. She only got a couple more chapters in before she heard rustling and she looked up.

Chris was slowly shifting, seemingly to awaken. Her eyes glanced over to the window to see how dark it had gotten and she sat up a little straighter. Finally, the boy came to, but much more abruptly than she was expecting. He shot straight up, his chest heaving as he spun to look around. She quickly tossed the book down and made her way over, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Shh hey it's okay. Relax. It's Bailey, remember? My mama did your surgery and you passed out," she explained, gently pushing him down a little so he didn't strain himself.

His puppy brown eyes locked with hers and he swallowed thickly. "Sorry... I didn't realize what happened..."

He relaxed a little, letting his back recline on the arm of the couch and he winced a little.

"You're probably hurting. Let me go get the painkillers."

She hurriedly made her way out of the room and to the bathroom, peeling open the medicine cabinet and getting a bottle of ibuprofen. After grabbing that, she went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and then came back to the living room, where Chris was examining his own stitched up leg.

"Here. Take a couple that should help a little bit with the pain. It's not the best for something like that but it's better than nothing," she said, handing him the water and the bottle.

"Thanks," he murmured, unscrewing the cap with shaky hands and plopping two pills in his mouth.

She sat back on her heels, watching him for a moment as he swallowed the pills with a gulp of water. "I'll see if one of my brothers can lend you some new clothes tomorrow. Are you hungry?"

He turned his gaze to her, something in his eyes making her a bit confused. It was almost like he was confused but also in awe. Maybe a bit of of a calculating look too? She was about to ask what was wrong, but he finally tore his gaze away and nodded.

"Yeah, a bit... Thank you. For this..." He gestured to himself.

"Anytime," she replied with a small smile. "Let me see what I can scrape up for you."

A small smile pressed on her lips and she got up, heading to the kitchen once more. Most of the food they had was either hunted or canned of some sort. They didn't have power to refrigerate anything, but they did have running water because of the well that collected rain water for the property.

She hadn't eaten yet either so she decided to scrape up a bit of jerky and canned vegetables for the both of them. It seemed like the rice and beans from earlier was gone.

Mixing up a plate for each of them, she skirted through the doorway back to the living area where Chris was still sitting, his eyes closed and head against the back of the couch. She moved with noisy footsteps so her sudden presence beside him would startle him and placed her plate on the table.

"Here. I think that the dinner everyone else ate was finished. My papa will go hunting in the morning for fresh meat," she explained, handing him the plate.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, taking the plate from her.

Bailey gave him a nod and sat with her back against the table, scooping up her plate from it and beginning to eat as well. The jerky was dry, but the cool green beans helped to offset the dryness of the processed meat. They both ate in silence until Chris started to cough and she jumped.

"Are you alright?" she asked, putting her plate down quickly and hovering over him.

"I-I t-thi...," he tried, his body continuing to be racked by deep coughs.

"Shh, hold on."

She reached over and got his glass of water, moving to sit down on the couch next to him. Gently, she pushed him down by his chest and tipped the glass to his lips. His hand instinctively wrapped around hers on the glass to help tip it in the right angle and he took deep gulps. After the water was drained from the glass, she shifted it away from his lips.

"Better?" she asked.

"Y-yes. Thanks," he murmured.

"Stop thanking me. Really, it's not a big deal."

He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it. She looked at him for a few seconds, trying to allow him to speak again if he felt comfortable, but he didn't. Since she didn't want to be staring at him for so long, she looked down, suddenly aware of how his warm hand was over hers as it clutched the glass. Her breath hitched and she gently pulled away from his grasp, standing and averting her eyes to the floor.

"I'll get you some water and then we can sleep. It's getting pretty late and...," she trailed, shuffling her feet a little. "Yeah..."

He didn't speak, merely nodded in agreement and she quickly shuffled away.

"Estás siendo raro, Bailey," she murmured to herself as she went to the kitchen.

If she knew that the boy understood her quiet Spanish, she would have kept her mouth shut. She made it to the kitchen just in time to miss his small smile.

After filling up the glass from the tap again, she headed back to the living room and put the glass on the table, moving it closer to him for better access. She then headed to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She took a glance to her abuelo's room, where Bruno had been staying for the majority of the night, and decided that she would just crash on the couch so she didn't wake him. It was against her brothers' wishes, but they could deal with it.

When she came back into the living room, she blew out the candles on each end of the room and fumbled to the other couch across from Chris. She settled down and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch. After a moment of silence and debate in her mind, she looked across the darkened room.

"Goodnight, Chris," she breathed.

Again, she was greeted with silence and her confidence sank. He probably did think she was weird... Ugh. Why couldn't she just be...normal? Act like a normal person would and not make situations weird? But as she turned her back to him and snuggled her face into the back of the couch, she heard his quiet words across the room.

"It is a big deal, Bailey. You could have left me. Or killed me. And you brought me here when I don't deserve it. So thank you."

If only he could see the smile stretching across her face just then.


A/N: I am absolutely floored with the support you guys have given me. I didn't think that I'd get this much support already! Really, thank you SO much for reading and taking the time to leave kind reviews! It's nice to hear that some of you agree with me on how Chris deserved better. I hope I didn't make the surgery too graphic, but as I have an interest of going into the medical field, I can get carried away without realizing since I find surgeries fascinating haha. Anyway, there was only a little bit of interaction in this chapter, but there will be much more in the next! Also as a note, I'm going to be away next week so I will not be able to update :( But I will get back to the regular weekly updates after that! I'm sure even while I'm supposed to be relaxing I'll be mapping out future chapters since I can't ever seem to stop writing or planning for my stories. I have too many ideas! Anyway, I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter and I thank you sooo much for the reviews and kind feedback from you all! You're really the best! :)