Beth was doing her best Beth. Instead of waiting and listening to the doctors, asking what was going on, Beth was doing what she did best, screaming at them and refusing to listen.

"I think we need popcorn," said Coralee, "She's giving one of her best performances. Do you think she's going to calm down?"

"She wouldn't be Beth if she did," answered Suzie, "If she'd calm down, she'd find out what's going on. How long do you think it will take them to throw her out of Uncle's room?"

At that moment the doctors and the orderlies managed to strongarm Beth out of her father's hospital room and shut the door. She looked up and saw the sisters and realized they'd been watching.

"What do you bitches think you're doing? Laughing at my expense? Do you think this is funny? He woke up and now they're putting him under again." The fury in her voice was unmistakable.

"Would you like to hear it from a nurse, or do you want to nurture your tantrum?" Suzie asked, she locked eyes with Beth, daring her to respond.

"Fuck you," said Beth and stormed out.

"It'll be a little bit more peaceful now," Coralee said, glad to see her cousin leave, "Was she right to be upset?"

"Hey," said Suzie, "Do you know how many years doctors spend in medical school? I went to nursing school for four years, plus I had to do all these continuing ed classes. He'll wake up tomorrow, maybe he won't feel too good, but he'll get better. Knowing Uncle John he'll leave AMA, but that's what I'm for. I know all the bullshit the insurance company will require, and it'll be up to me to make it bearable for him. The best thing is he'll listen to me. The hardest part will be getting him to take it easy, we're Duttons, we don't know how to do that.

"Tell me about it," Coralee laughed, "I'm going to call my husband and tell him the good news." She walked out of the ward and went to the little courtyard to sit in the sun while she talked to Travis.

"That's good news," said Travis, "So when will you be coming home?"

"As soon as Uncle is out of the hospital. Suzie is going to take care of him, he won't have to put up with a pissy little agency nurse. I know my uncle, he'll try to get up and walk before he should, he'll be riding before he's supposed to, and he'll be lucky if he doesn't reopen his wounds. That's Uncle John, though."

"You Duttons are stubborn, and you do things your way whether you should or not," Travis laughed, "I've learned that being married to you. You know what, I think I'm going to come up there, I've got some extra time and I miss you. I'll bring some horses to show John, that ought to cheer him up." For Travis, horses were a cure-all for everything.

"That's a good idea, I think you should. Suzie said he'll be awake tomorrow for sure, and he'll be out of the hospital as soon as he can get on his feet. I can leave knowing that Suzie will be taking care of him. I'm sorry I left the way I did, but I'd do it again, I think I did the right thing. What if no one had come until it was too late? That's what I keep asking myself, what if my being there set things in motion and I was able to help save his life?"

"Maybe you did, Coralee, but I wish you hadn't left the way you did. I know you did what you thought you had to do, but you did it the wrong way. Next time, and I hope there won't be one, you tell me what you're doing. I love you," he said and hung up.

She went back to her uncle's hospital room, knowing that he thought himself capable of a miraculous recovery. That wasn't happening but he was progressing enough that he was itching to get out of the hospital and go back to the ranch.

He hated the hospital, hated being confined to bed, hated the nurses, and bore a grudge against the doctors who insisted on his remaining. He also hated watching Coralee and Beth glare at each other across his bed all day. It only stopped when one or both left and began again early the next day when they arrived.

It was Suzie who set his release in motion. It rankled Beth to have her cousin take charge but Suzie worked with Jamie and the insurance company to get things set up so her uncle could finally go home. She wasn't a home nurse, but she had her practitioner's license and knew how to use her authority to get things done.

She knew John Dutton wouldn't go along with having a copy of the hospital room set up in his house, but she knew how to circumvent it. She'd have the bed set up in his favorite spot in the living room so he could watch the activities of the ranch from his window.

She knew she'd have a battle on her hands until he capitulated, he'd fight her every inch of the way, which was fine with her. She could be as deviously stubborn as he was, which he knew. Her job was to get him better the best she knew how. She hadn't chosen nursing for nothing; this was something she was good at.

The battle started with the ride home in the ambulance. She went with him, essentially to hold his hand. He complained about the flashing lights, and she didn't blame him. They hadn't been necessary, and she'd like to kill whoever turned them on.

She lost her temper when she found out they'd set up his bed in an upstairs bedroom. She had specified not only where the bed should be, but that it should be positioned so that John could see out the windows.

The techs started to carry John upstairs and Suzie lost it. "What the fuck are you doing?" She could be loud if the occasion called for it, "I don't want him to have to deal with the stairs, whose idiot idea was it to put the bed and equipment upstairs when I specified it should be here. Now stop tormenting him and put him on the couch, I'll deal with all this shit later."

The techs were feeling helpless. Suzie was five-eleven and did not have an ounce of fat on her. She'd grown up working on a farm and had a body that could easily compete with a female bodybuilder. They looked at each other, then deposited John carefully on the sofa. They got out of there as quickly as they could, not wanting to deal further with the wrath of the Amazon who was facing them down.

"Shit," she said, "Why are so many people allowed to have children when all they produce is idiots?"

Coralee chose that moment to walk in. She looked at her sister's face, then Uncle John, and knew something had happened. "What, no hospital bed?" she asked, all innocence.

John and Suzie started laughing. "Go upstairs and grab a bunch of pillows, would you?" said Suzie, "Let's try and make him comfortable."

A girl walked out of the kitchen wearing scrubs and latex gloves. "Hi, Mr. Dutton, I'm Mandy, I'm here to take care of you."

"Oh no you're not," said Suzie, the poor girl couldn't have chosen a worse moment. "I'm his niece, I told the insurance company I'd take care of my uncle. I'm a nurse practitioner and that trumps whatever certificate you have. We'll pay you for today but get your ass out of here before I kick it out."

John looked at Coralee and winked and though she tried to suppress it, she burst into laughter. The poor girl looked thoroughly confused but gathered her stuff and hurried out of the lodge as fast as she could.

"I thought the bed was supposed to be down here," said Coralee, "What happened."

"Probably the insurance company," replied Suzie, "Any idiot could tell that going up and down stairs would prove a hazard. And I'm not going to hook you up to all those machines, Uncle John, I can check your heart rate and blood pressure myself. The reason I wanted that bed was to make it easier for you to get up and down, you can lower the bed to make it easier to get in or out. The bed does the work for you."

"This couch is comfortable, and it's easy for me to get up. Let's forgo the hospital bed, I've had enough of them. In the meantime, will someone check and see what Gator has cooking? I'm sick of hospital food, I'd like to eat something that resembles food."

"I'll check," said Coralee, "After all of this, I'm hungry too. Oh, Uncle John, Travis is coming, he's bringing you some horses to look at, I think that's his version of a get-well card." She bent over and kissed his cheek, "Sure am glad to have you back home."

"It's good to be home, honey, I'm glad you and your sister are here to take care of me. Now, be a good girl and go get me something to eat."

Despite the shaky beginning, the rest of the day seemed to go smoothly. Their uncle could see the barn and the bunkhouse through the wide picture window. The day was sunny, the sky was clear, and John Dutton seemed to relax on his couch.

He'd doze on and off, taking the pain meds only when he needed them. Suzie would periodically check his pulse and blood pressure, seeming to be satisfied with the results. Their uncle was clearly tired after his ordeal and was content to rest, but both girls knew it might be different tomorrow.

"I wish they'd put the bed where I told them to, I don't like that he's spending the night on the couch. I don't want him on the stairs, not yet, I don't want him to fall." Suzie rested her head in her hands, clearly not happy.

"Well, he's happy where he is and he's not fighting you. Best of all, Beth's not home yet. Just don't argue with him, Suze, try and reason with him. The pain is probably slowing him down, it may keep him off his feet for a while. Remember, you volunteered for this, no one drafted you."

"Yeah, well, I'm drafting you to help me. If he falls while walking in the pasture, I am going to need help getting him up. Hopefully, he won't try to ride anytime soon. I'm starting to wonder what I got myself into!"

"Cheer up, it's only going to get worse!" Coralee repeated their mother's favorite saying, "He's going to get better under your care than that little idiot the agency sent."

Suzie's worst fears came true the next morning when her uncle stood up and started going up the staircase.

"Uncle John, what are you doing? Not the stairs, not yet. What do you need, I can get it for you." Please, Uncle John, don't, she thought.

"I need some clothes, I want to get dressed." He looked at her and she knew there was no arguing with him.

"Okay, sit and I'll bring you something to put on." She pushed him gently on his shoulders, "Just stay here, okay, please?" She'd plead if pleading would work.

She went up to his room and pulled out the softest pair of jeans she could find. She added underwear and socks, then picked out a shirt and the vests he preferred to jackets. She grabbed a pair of boots and carried the armful of clothes and set it on the sofa next to him.

"You can get dressed in the bathroom, just yell if you need help. Remember, I'm a nurse, I've seen lots of naked men."

"I didn't need to hear that, honey," he said and shuffled off to the bathroom.