A/N

Song for this chapter for those that enjoy; I Don't Wanna Dance (Piano Version) by Celine Cairo.

/

Erin sat in the waiting room patiently, feeling dazed and so very tired, but satisfied from the Musketeer bar and coffee she'd had, her stomach full and warm. The presence of other people became even less as time passed by, but Erin had no idea of time in this windowless space, only the lack of hustle and bustle, until she was fully alone.

Her head had begun to loll to one side, her eyes drifting closed, before the doctors had finally come and called her name. They all shook weary heads, percents and chances, along with complicated medical terms were thrown at her. Her mind was a swarm of everything that was happening as she sat alone, shivering, in an empty hospital corridor outside his room. She wasn't allowed to be with Uncas at first as they carried out more tests, and more doctors came, with more jargon, and hope began to feel like a thin veil that was drifting away, mist upon a lake.

Erin felt in that moment that if he died, she would too.

When she'd been given a little time to see him it had only made her feel so much worse, she thought she had cried for a long time by his bedside, but she couldn't truly remember. The sight of Uncas' tall strong frame lying prone and helpless on a hospital bed was hard to fathom. Machines forcefully pumping air into his lungs, needles feeding strong medicine and hydration into his body. His eyes taped closed, as an induced sleep kept his body in the best condition for healing. It had made her feel like she may fall apart and he wasn't there to console her, or tell her everything would be fine. His body was there but Uncas wasn't, and there was nothing she could say or do to change any outcome. It was waiting, time, and more waiting. Hoping someone else could save him.

When she'd finished with her tears she sat beside him quietly, taking hold of his hand every so often. Feeling the warmth of his calloused fingers, tracing the line of veins across the thin skin of his forearms, the silken feel of their hair entwined at his wrist. Trying to convince herself that all would be well. The numbness had slowly crept across her, replacing sadness and despair as her mind seemed to semi-shut down and her body took over, doing what was necessary without much need for thought. Erin didn't know if it was physical or emotional exhaustion, or a potent mixture of both, but the sensation of sudden remoteness was a relief.

The doctors came back shortly after with talks of surgery, removing necrosis from the wound site, and she'd taken it all as if they were telling her the weather. She'd felt so calm and collected, so detached, as she nodded and talked, as if it was something afar and distant to her. Another person, another life.

A nurse had come to tell Erin they needed her to wait outside, and she'd been guided back into the empty corridor. She'd re-read the same newspaper for the umpteenth time, she could have read out the review of the latest big budget action movie off by heart,

"Exhilarating, jam-packed action, with a heart puller of a twist!" That sounded a little too close for comfort to her own adventures of late.

"Miss?"

The sound of an authoritative male voice jerked her right out of her moping and her heart dropped, there before her in the narrow corridor were two police officers. She didn't answer but stared at them with wide eyes.

"Miss Bruce?" he pushed, and Erin's eyes darted about as if searching for any escape, but slowly her mind became calm, she had been expecting this after all. She closed her eyes briefly and composed herself.

"Yes?"

"Miss Erin Bruce?" He already had a pad in his hand and was scribbling something down, while somehow keeping all his attention on her.

"Yes," Erin confirmed, her eyes flicking to the other officer who stood a few steps away. Even though he seemed intent on observing the many leaflets and posters upon the wall, Erin knew he was also taking everything silently in.

"We're officer Thompson and Burke. The hospital called us about a stabbing. Were you involved?" The officer with the notepad continued.

"I was there, yes," Erin replied, returning her full attention back to the man she deemed in charge, feeling like he was setting up little traps for her to fall into.

"Would you come with us please?"

"Where to? I won't leave the hospital until I know he's going to be okay!" Erin said, gripping the armrests of her chair as if the two men would try and physically drag her away.

The men passed a look between them and they both glanced into Uncas' room. "Just to the bigger waiting area. We only want to ask you some questions. Nothing more right now."

"Alright," Erin said, standing upon her tired shaky legs and following them back to the area with the vending machines. They sat upon the thinly padded chairs and the informal interview began.

"Miss Bruce, are you aware you've been missing for nearly two weeks?" the one with the pad said, as casually as if asking her what she'd had for breakfast.

Erin quirked a sceptical eyebrow at him, "I'm very aware of that."

"So, you didn't disappear on purpose?"

Erin shifted in her seat, disliking the insinuation that she was the type of person to put her family and loved ones through hell for kicks and giggles. "No," she said very tartly, "I did not 'disappear on purpose'."

"Well then, I guess we need to get to the bottom of what exactly happened."

"You don't say?!" Erin knew she was being combative and let out an exasperated sigh, bringing her head down into her cupped hands for a moment, rubbing gently at her brow and cheeks trying to force some logic back into her, and push away the need to fight back at every tiny comment she deemed 'unkind'. "Sorry, okay? It's been a hell of a day! I really thought he was going to die out there and... everything is still a bit of a blur. I'm dead on my feet, but I can't sleep not until I know he's not going to..." Erin paused and wet her lips with a nervous flick of her tongue, "until I know he's going to pull through this. He was stabbed protecting me!"

The officer sat opposite her glanced at his companion, a silent acknowledgment passing between them that Erin couldn't read. He breathed out his own sigh and seemed to let down some of his guard in the presence of someone he could clearly tell was struggling with the circumstances they had just endured.

"Okay, Miss Bruce, let's start again. I'm Officer Thompson and this is Officer Burke. We are here to help, but to do that, we are going to need yours."

"My what?" Erin's mind was lagging behind, still clinging to the assumption that everything could turn into a sudden attack.

"Your help."

"Oh, okay," Erin said, finally catching on. "So... I'm not in trouble?"

"Not as far as I know yet, although I guess you'll have to ask your parents that, when you next see them. They've been down at the station a fair few times since you were reported missing."

Erin felt those words like a gut punch and tears sprang painfully to her eyes, she wiped them away roughly. "They must have been going out of their minds," she breathed, and closed her eyes tightly before refocusing upon her new objective; getting her story straight and protecting Uncas. "Okay, so how can I help? I want to help."

"Do you know the identity of the man who was stabbed?"

"Yes, his name is Uncas."

"Last name?"

Erin shrugged. "I really don't know him that well. We met at the Big Circle re-enactment. We went off into the woods to test out our skills and... well, to have some time alone." Despite her exhaustion Erin forced the ease into her voice, her well rehearsed story so easy to say out loud, after repeating it in her mind hundreds of times already in the various waiting rooms. She was surprised how calm and composed she sounded, but she didn't really feel like she was in control of her own body, she was floating outside of herself, watching as an actress performed the whole play flawlessly.

"Do you know the identity of the man that attacked you?"

"No, I don't. He was a complete stranger. He didn't seem very well, the man that attacked us, I mean, like he didn't know what he was doing. It was so scary." Erin's voice quavered because there was so much truth in those words, the ordeal with Magua had been terrifying.

"So, you don't know why he attacked you?"

"No. One minute we, Uncas and I, were talking by the waterfall, and the next this guy comes running at us. I didn't realize he had a knife until he cut my arm, and then he hit me across the face." Erin turned her head for them to inspect the bruises and held out her freshly bandaged forearm. "Uncas tried to defend me, he hit the guy, tried to disarm him, but... he was stabbed."

"Not to sound dismissive, Miss Bruce, but those bruises look more than a few days old and that man in the hospital bed, his wound happened a while ago too. When did you say this attack took place?" Officer Burke put in.

"All this happened many days ago, I don't know how many, I think I must have lost track of time. It was the last night I saw Ada, my friend. We were only going for a walk, Uncas and I. I meant to go back later, it was only for a bit of fun. After that guy had stabbed Uncas, Uncas hit the guy, knocked the knife out of his grip and then we ran, we ran away into the trees. We didn't know what else to do. We were both so scared."

"Did the attacker follow you?" the officer asked, still taking down every word into his notepad.

"We thought he had, so we kept running and running, until we couldn't anymore. Until Uncas couldn't go any further, he was in so much pain. When we stopped it was already night and we were too scared to make a fire. I realized in all the craziness of the moment, I'd dropped my phone and Uncas didn't have one. We thought we could just find our way back in the daylight, if we just waited. By the morning we knew we were lost." Erin swallowed hard, trying to keep all her thoughts ordered.

"Uncas was too hurt to go much further then, but he was a serious historical re-enactor so he had some historical medical stuff, mainly for show and fun, you know, it was like his hobby, but it was still real, so he sewed up my arm and I sewed up his stab wound and we tried to find a way back. But, he needed to rest, a lot. He couldn't walk far. We had a few supplies on us, in Uncas' bag, candy bars, some beef jerky, and when that started to run out, I'd go find food, berries, mushrooms and fresh water and come back to him while he rested, so we didn't get far. We hoped someone would come and find us, and I heard if you are lost, you should stay put, so for a while we did. Until Uncas started getting sick and I knew we couldn't stay put any longer."

While Officer Burke looked a little sceptical of the entire story, Erin saw Thompson police was nodding in understanding. "That forest can be treacherous, we get a lot of missing people being reported. My cousin went missing there many years back, we never did find him. Most are never found again after that 48 hour window is gone, but you were, or rather, you found your way back."

"Yes," Erin said with a firm nod, "I don't know how we did it, but we made it back to the waterfall and I found my phone on the ground, I guess we crossed over the way we had ran."

"We tried tracking your phone, last signal was at the waterfall," Officer Burke added with a curt nod.

"I'd turned my phone off that night it all happened because I knew Ada would be annoyed I'd just gone off with a guy without telling her, it was stupid. Lucky I did turn it off or I guess it would have had no battery. That's how I called for help."

"Your friend Ada Sparling reported you as a missing person the day after you went missing. That whole area was searched, by the waterfall and into the forest." Burke said, tilting his head as if trying to see a different angle to the situation.

Erin's heart tugged in guilt at just how worried Ada must have been... and her parents too.

"There was no trace of you," he added eyes narrowing.

Erin glanced at Burke, trying to see exactly what his suspicions were, but Officer Thompson cut in.

"By the time we got out there, there'd been a thunderstorm pass by, which had washed away any tracks or evidence to give us any information on what had happened to you, and we had no idea about this guy with you." He gestured back towards Uncas' room. "No one else was reported missing, so I guess that means he was a solo traveller?"

"Uncas said, he did all the historical re-enacting alone, his friends are more into online gaming." The ad-libbing of her statement made her want to cringe, and she reminded herself to keep things to her decided script and make the 'facts' as simple as possible.

"Well, that's why no one came. Why we couldn't track you with the dogs. The thunderstorm, no one reported him missing, no phone signal. We couldn't find you out there. We were wandering blind in that forest, no idea what direction you could have gone in, no idea you'd been attacked."

Erin nodded in understanding. "Makes sense, I feel so stupid about it all." She rested her head in her hands, giving her brain and body a moment to catch up with all these stories.

"Miss Sparling didn't think you'd just up and leave but she did say you'd been through a tough time recently, fallen out with your parents. Your parents didn't think it was possible either, but they did say you'd gone no contact before without any word, in the past. Easy to just take off in the woods sometimes than go back and face things, we had to accept that could be an option."

"But, that isn't what happened!" Erin protested, "I would never... I would never do that!"

' Never do that, again,' her mind pushed back up unhelpfully and Erin gulped knowing this could easily have been what her loved ones had thought in the back of their minds, and they'd had to mention it to the police. She supposed in way, she should have been grateful as this explained why there hadn't been a full on manhunt after her.

"Can you give us a description of the man that attacked you?" Thompson continued.

"I can try." Erin let out a heavy breath, and when she looked up, she could see sympathy in the officer's eyes, she must have looked rather pitiful. "He had his face covered though. He was just an average looking guy, a bit unkempt. Average height I guess, kinda skinny, he was wearing a hat and a mask, so I didn't get a look at his face at all. He didn't look like one of the re-enactors, he was dressed normally, modern clothing."

"He didn't say anything at all to you, before or while he attacked you?" Burke asked, one eyebrow raised.

"No, nothing. Like he was in a trance or something."

Officer Thompson nodded and made another note into his paper pad. "We'll need you to come down to the station tomorrow, give a formal statement."

"We'll question him too," Burke added and gestured back in the direction of Uncas' room, "if he wakes up."

Officer Thompson made a tutting noise and gave Burke a decidedly annoyed look, Burke looked fully reprimanded and glanced away, hand rubbing the back of his neck in discomfort.

Thompson made to get up from his seat but paused and looked at her, that same sympathy in his expression. "Miss Bruce, for what it's worth, you and that man are the luckiest dang people I have ever met. It's easy to starve out in them wilds once you get lost, never mind you both being injured. You both were brave, and dang lucky."

Erin felt tears sting her eyes, unsure a moment why his words bubbled forth such a raw emotion from within her, and then realisation came. She had been through so much, as had Uncas, they had both been so lucky to still be standing after everything that had happened. She brushed at her face, only managing to wipe the wetness of tears half away. "I don't think I've properly processed it all yet," she said finally, a strained smile trying to form, but tears won out again and she hastily pushed her face into her skirts as she indulged a small moment of weeping.

Officer Thompson waited very patiently for Erin to regain herself and when she looked back at him, he had an understanding benevolent expression, his eyes soft and full of compassion. "Well, when you come on down tomorrow, I'm going to put you in touch with Lucy. She can get you some help, counselling, for what you've been through. I recommend you give it a go. It can just help you come to terms with everything, find ways to manage how you feel. It's normal to feel the way you do after such an ordeal."

Erin palmed more tears away. "Thank you," she sniffed, trying to gain full control of herself again.

"We'll offer the help it to Mr... erm, Uncas when he is awake too."

Erin appreciated his tactful use of 'when' and not 'if'.

"I hear he's going into surgery?"

"Yes," the word came out as a whisper.

"Keep your chin up, no use in worrying about things that might never happen," he gave a reassuring smile.

"I'm trying," Erin's own smile flickered, not quite alighting upon her face.

"Surgeons here are dang good, he's in the best hands." He gave her an understanding nod and Erin felt warmed by the act of simple kindness and the relief of being believed by at least one of them. "Maybe think of yourself for a little, while he sleeps. Get some rest, he'll need to see you when he wakes up." He paused, an awkward beat of silence hanging between them. "Well, I'd feel better to know you have someone with you through all this. Family, friends, you got someone coming to fetch you? We can call someone if you..."

"No, I think the hospital already called someone. They'll be on their way."

"Alright. If you can bring your ID to the station with you, that would be a great help in us getting this investigation moving forward, catching the guy that did this to you." He did stand then, and placed his hat upon his head, tugging the brim towards her. "See you tomorrow then, Miss Bruce."

"Yes." Erin stood too and waited for them to leave before she let out a sigh of relief.

/

A/N

Hello, welcome back to the story. I truly hope you are all enjoying. Please join me next time.

So, Erin finally had to confront the questions of where she had been. Did she do well with her story or is it still holey? I guess we'll have to see, and of course, will Uncas be okay. I think those questions will have answer next time.

Your thoughts and comments are very much appreciated, thank you for any time you decided to spend with me today.

Have a lovely weekend.