"Packing's soaked right through. I don't know what else we can do," Colleen delicately pulled the nightdress down over Michaela's legs, covering her with the quilt.
"Well, what would your Ma do?" Dorothy continued, being reminded on the similar predicament she'd been in several months ago.
"Dr Mike would use silver nitrate to stop internal bleeding like this, but I can't. Colleen checked Michaela's pulse, trying once again to rouse her.
Dorothy watched Colleen wringing out her hands, looking helplessly around the room.
"What sweetheart?" Dorothy asked, reaching forwards to squeeze her shoulder.
"I can barely feel her pulse," Colleen looked away helplessly, starting to sob.
"Colleen, think. What would ya Ma do?" Dorothy pressed.
Colleen shook her head, trying to think as she paced around the room. "Surgery, silver nitrate, blood transfusion," she paused. "I can do that; I've seen her do it!"
"Colleen?" Dorothy frowned.
"I can give her a blood transfusion," Colleen repeated.
"You mean, like, put someone else's blood in her?" Dorothy looked back to Michaela, doubtfully.
"Yeah, I saw her do it for Mr Bray last year." Colleen tightened her jaw, knowing she could do this.
"What do you need?" Dorothy raised her eyebrows.
"Someone to take the blood from," Colleen looked up immediately.
"I, I'll do it, of course I will," Dorothy offered, reaching for the button on her sleeve.
"No, Miss Dorothy, you're still too weak. It has to be from someone who's real healthy. Preferably another female about the same size," Colleen advised.
Colleen turned, alarmed at the sound of the door opening behind them.
"Just what? Olive? What are you doing here?" Dorothy was immediately defensive, however quickly realized it was Loren's sister, and lowered her voice slightly.
"I just got word. I thought, I mean, I was wondering if I could help?" Olive chose her words carefully; she and Dorothy had never seen eye to eye.
Olive was aware of how upset Loren had been when Dorothy had turned down his marriage proposal and was unable to completely forgive her. She had also heard the recent rumors regarding Dorothy's ex-husband and thought the red-haired woman particularly foolish to tolerate such treatment for so many years.
"Miss Olive, yes! Please!" Colleen reached forward to grasp her arm.
~.~
X.O.X
~.~
"Hey, you sure you know what you're doing there?" Jake had just placed the raised cot on the other side of the room next to the bed. He was moving back to the doorway about to leave, when he saw Colleen start preparing the needles and blood taking set.
"Leave her alone Jake, this is difficult enough as it is," Olive spoke sternly, as she rolled up her sleeves and sat on the edge of the cot. "Just you tell me what needs to be done, Colleen."
"Well, first I needa get the needle in," Colleen brought the tourniquet around Olive's arm and fastened it, beginning to look for an artery.
Carefully, she palpated Olive's forearm, making sure it looked right. She knew the veins were blue and the arteries were deeper.
Dorothy watched on, intrigued.
"Listen there, you gotta be careful," Jake stepped back into the room, genuinely concerned.
"Shut up, Jake. Colleen's got enough pressure on her right at the moment," Dorothy groused.
Olive looked across to Colleen as she continued locating the vein, "You just do it how Dr Mike showed ya darlin'. You'll do fine," she reassured.
Jake stayed in the doorway, out of nothing more than curiosity at that point.
Olive looked down with quiet confidence as Colleen found an artery and inserted the needle, quickly clamping the end of the tubing and removing the tourniquet once the blood had started flowing into the tube. "Good job," Olive nodded, laying back on the cot.
"Well done, Colleen," Dorothy contributed, trying to anticipate what help she could provide next.
"That's the easy part," Colleen double-checked everything was secure before turning around and carefully sitting on the edge of the bed reaching for Michaela's left arm and rolling up the sleeve of her nightdress.
"Okay, tourniquet," she repeated the procedure, glancing over to check on Olive. "Are you all right, Miss Olive?"
"Fine here," Olive replied immediately.
Dorothy and Jake remained in their places, watching silently as Colleen started palpating Michaela's arm for a vein.
Dorothy saw Colleen's lips purse in concern.
"What's wrong, Colleen?" Dorothy asked quietly.
"It ain't workin', the vein's not comin' up," Colleen drew a deeper breath, tightening the torniquet and trying again.
Jake took a step forward into the room, not particularly wanting to be any closer to Michaela than absolutely necessary, but also genuinely fascinated by the transfusion procedure.
Colleen squinted, narrowing her eyes to focus harder on the spot at Michaela's forearm.
"Nothing," she shook her head, trying hard not to be distracted by the multiple bruises, finger marks and scratches on Michaela's arm.
"Can I help Colleen?" Jake took another step forward.
"We're quite fine here Jake," Dorothy answered defensively.
"I been bleedin' people for years, pretty good at finding veins," Jake offered uncomfortably.
Colleen sighed, looking up, "Yes please. I think it's coz she's lost so much blood already."
"Right," Jake moved into the room, coming around to the side of the bed next to Colleen.
Dorothy and Olive exchanged worried glances.
Quickly redoing the tourniquet as tightly as possible around Michaela's upper arm, Jake started flicking the inside of her forearm.
"Yeah, it's comin' up, see? It's deep but you can just make it out." Jake looked back at Colleen to show her.
As he turned back to inspect the site further, Jake was distracted by the distinct outline of a handprint bruise on her upper arm.
"You're right," Colleen smiled, reaching forwards to attempt to insert the needle into the raised vein.
"Jake," Dorothy called his name quietly, realizing exactly what was bothering him.
She caught Jake's attention, and he blinked several times, averting his gaze.
"There," Colleen checked the position of the needle, before slowly securing the needle against her mother's arm and tentatively removing the clamp from the tubing.
Jake and Colleen watched intensely as the blood advanced in the rubber tubing.
"It's gonna be all right Colleen," Jake nodded, looking up at her encouragingly.
~.~
X.O.X
~.~
Brian grew worried when Colleen hadn't returned, however knew he shouldn't leave Sully, as he had been instructed to sit with him.
"Sully? Sully, please wake up," Brian grabbed his left hand again, watching his chest move slightly as he breathed.
"Sully, we gotta go fishin' again and huntin'. it ain't as fun with Matthew," Brian stopped, feeling Sully's hand move in his. Gripping his hand tighter in response, Brian moved from the chair, sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning over Sully's body hopefully.
"Sully, do it again. Come on, you can do it," Brian looked from their joined hands to Sully's face, gasping as he noticed Sully's eyelids twitch.
"That's it, wake up Sully. Please," Brian held his breath, watching as Sully slowly opened his eyes, looking around to determine where he was.
"Sully, it's me, Brian. I knew you'd wake up," the young boy smiled brightly, waiting as Sully oriented himself to his new surroundings.
"Brian?" Sully spoke hoarsely, his right hand going quickly to his chest in pain.
"Yeah, it's me, Sully. Are you all right?" Brian frowned, noticing the pained expression sweep across Sully's bruised face.
"I will be," Sully whispered, moving his hand to the bandage wrapped around his head.
"Dr Mike, where," Sully tried to sit up, however the pain in both his head and chest not allowing him to. He sank his head back against the pillow, turning to Brian.
"Ma's upstairs, Sully. She fixed your head last night." Brian stood from the bed, aware that he should tell Colleen that Sully was awake.
"She did?" Sully was confused, he knew time had passed, but he couldn't determine how much. He remembered climbing, then nothing.
"Yup, good as new." Brian nodded.
"Brian, what day is it?" Sully was trying to piece together the events flashing through his mind.
"It's Friday. They brought you back last night," Brian responded eagerly.
"Friday? Tuesday. Custer, Cloud Dancing!" Sully's mind was suddenly flooded with images of the army, Cloud Dancing and the dog soldiers.
"The army's gone, Sully. They left after Matthew and the others found Ma. They let the prisoners go, too." Brian reassured him, watching as Sully's face relaxed, taking several quick breaths to calm down.
"I'll go get Colleen, she can make sure your head's all right," Brian smiled, moving towards the door. Sully frowned slightly at Brian's choice of words, however, didn't have the strength to argue at that point. He let his eyes drop closed again as the young boy left the room.
~.~
X.O.X
~.~
Dorothy took several steps towards the end of the bed, also curious. "How you feeling, Olive?" she asked warmly.
"Perfectly fine," Olive shrugged, not understanding what all the fuss was about.
"There, look," Jake nodded, seeing the needle move ever so slightly as the blood passed through it.
"Wow," Colleen looked between Michaela's arm, back to Olive's and then back to Jake again.
"It worked," Jake muttered in disbelief.
"Well done, Colleen," Dorothy praised.
"So, the blood's just going from Olive's arm, right through," Jack shook his head incredulously.
"Uh-huh," Colleen smiled.
"How long you needa leave it goin' for?" Jake asked, looking across to Olive to check she was still comfortable.
Colleen reached forward to Michaela's neck to check her pulse.
Jake watched, waiting for her to answer, as he slowly noticed the thin, long scratch marks on the side of her neck.
He looked away quickly.
"Ten minutes or so, til her pulse gets stronger," Colleen answered.
"Thank-you for your help Jake," Dorothy spoke directly, quickly gaining his attention.
"Oh, oh, that's fine." He took a step back, straightening out his vest.
"Thanks, Mr Slicker," Collen smiled.
Dorothy watched as Jake left the room quietly.
"Hey, Mr Slicker!" Brian called from the corridor, skipping along towards the recovery room.
"Settle down, all right?" Jake reached his hand to Brian's shoulder, slowing the little boy's movements.
"Yeah, sorry, just wanted to tell Colleen that Sully's awake," Brian beamed.
"He is?" Jake frowned, crouching down to Brian's level.
"Sure is! His head's hurting a bit. Said I'd get Colleen to come look at him," Brian continued.
Jake patted the boy's shoulder several times, trying to decide how to reply.
"Listen, ya sister's busy," Jake saw the confused look on Brian's face. "How about I come down with you?" Jake offered.
"Sure," Brian smiled, reaching for Jake's hand.
"One minute," Jake squeezed Brian's hand again, taking a step back towards the doorway and uncomfortably poked his head back into the room.
"Colleen, Brian said Sully's awake," Jake stood awkwardly in the doorway.
"Heaven's, that's all we need." Dorothy turned worriedly to Colleen.
"I can't leave Dr Mike," Colleen shook her head.
Brian slipped between Jake and the doorframe, frowning as he tried to understand what was going on in the room.
"You stay with him Jake. Let him know Colleen'll be down when she can," Dorothy advised.
"And, uh, what do I say about," Jake tilted his head in Michaela's direction.
"Don't say anythin' Jake," Dorothy insisted.
"Right," Jake shrugged, lowering his eyes and noticing the little boy by his left hip. "Come on, Brian." Jake squeezed his shoulder and turned him back around to the hallway.
The room stayed silent for several moments, as they heard Jake's and Brian's footsteps down the stairs.
"How you feelin' Olive? Dorothy asked gently.
"Will you stop fussin' over me, said I'm fine, didn't I?" Olive dismissed Dorothy's concern.
All three sat quietly in the room for the next fifteen minutes, Colleen moving occasionally to check Michaela's pulse and the transfusion equipment.
~.~
X.O.X
~.~
Both Dorothy and Olive watched quietly as Colleen packed up the transfusion equipment.
"Thank-you, Miss Olive. Her pulse is stronger and her color seems better," Colleen offered.
"Don't have to thank me sweetheart," Olive rolled down her sleeve and buttoned the cuff.
"You should rest, Colleen. You look exhausted," Dorothy observed.
"Miss Dorothy, I really should check on Sully, and you've hardly had any sleep. Maybe Miss Olive could stay with Ma for a while, give you a chance to rest?" Colleen suggested, noticing how worn-out Dorothy appeared.
"I'm quite all right," she again replied sharply, reclaiming her place next to Michaela's bedside.
"Well, what if I sat with Sully? Colleen dear, you really should rest. You must be tired." Olive rubbed the young girl's shoulder.
"I suppose a few hours' sleep would be nice, but wake me if you need to, all right?" Colleen checked on Michaela once again, before leaving the room, the two women glancing at each other awkwardly.
"Haven't seen you for awhile, Olive," Dorothy broke the ice, a tinge of criticism in her voice.
"Haven't had much call to venture into town. Been busy," Olive looked from Michaela back up to Dorothy.
"So why you here now, then?" Dorothy raised an eyebrow.
"I heard about what happened. Dr Mike and I are friends. Thought the children might need someone to look out for 'em also." Olive carefully justified herself.
"Save your breath, you just want those children for yourself. I know you feel bitter about it, Michaela told me." Dorothy clasped her hands in front of her, her voice crisp.
"That's not true. I'm too old to be raisin' children anyway. I think we should put our differences aside, for everyone's good." Olive saw the anger in Dorothy's eyes, making an effort to calm the waters.
"Fine by me. I guess you won't need to be stayin' that long anyway, doctor'll be here in a few hours." Dorothy saw no reason for Olive to interfere.
"I'll stay as long as I feel is necessary, you don't tell me what to do," Olive glared, not about to let Dorothy push her around.
"I'm the closest friend Michaela has. I'll decide what's in her best interests." Dorothy knew that the argument they were having had very little to do with Michaela, she was fully aware of what Olive thought of her.
"You will not. She was my friend first, anyway." Olive rested her hands confrontationally on her hips, looking Dorothy up and down.
"You two aren't friends, you tried to take the children away, what kind of friend does that?" Dorothy raised her voice slightly, stepping closer to Olive.
"Oh, that was before I knew her properly. Besides, you wouldn't have met her at all if that pig of a man you married hadn't used you as a punching bag one too many times. 'Course it's your own fault, thinking Loren weren't ever gonna be anything special, and you deserved all the excitement. Hope you've learned your lesson." Olive snapped back just as quickly, her voice increasing in pitch slightly to compete with Dorothy's.
"That ain't none of your business. Get out of here!" Dorothy fumed, gesturing to the door.
"Fine. Best go check on Sully anyway. Downstairs is he?" Olive reached for the doorknob.
Dorothy returned to her seat as she heard the woman's footsteps on the corridor.
~.~
X.O.X
~.~
"Oh, Brian, careful!" Colleen almost ran into the little boy as she moved along the corridor towards the corner room Sully was occupying.
"Sorry. He's awake again Colleen! Come see!" Brian tugged on her arm lightly, dragging her into the room.
Olive looked from Sully back to Colleen, sitting back down on the chair beside the bed.
Colleen smiled as she approached him, brushing Sully's arm lightly.
"Sully, how are you feeling? We didn't know if you were gonna pull through or not," Colleen beamed, checking his pulse and pupils.
"My head," Sully gasped, relenting, and laying back against the pillow.
"Well, you're awake so that's a good sign, I can get you something for the pain. We'll know more when Dr Cassidy checks on you. He should be here soon," Colleen reassured.
She moved his head carefully to check for any excessive bleeding. "Sorry," Colleen apologized.
"Dr Cassidy? I don't understand, Brian said Dr Mike's upstairs," Sully's bright blue eyes darted between Olive and each of the children suspiciously.
"She is," Brian stopped quickly, receiving a glare from Colleen.
"She's, she's asleep." Colleen nodded quickly, hoping Sully wouldn't press the matter. Sully, however, had gotten to know these children quite well over the last year or so, and knew when they were hiding something.
He was about to reply when he remembered something: a cliff. Sully remembered running. He could hear gunshots and dog soldiers' war cries around him. Michaela was next to him. Suddenly he felt a weight pressing down on him, he was in a struggle, he was fighting. He felt the rocks underneath him as he was rolling towards the cliff edge. Then he was falling, the wind rushing around his body. Sully realized he'd fallen from the cliff.
Brian had said that the men had brought Michaela back into town, but he'd not been rescued until the night before. Had they been separated?
"Colleen, when did Dr Mike get back to town?" He felt his blood run cold, his voice low.
"Wednesday mornin'," she trailed off, lowering her head, not wanting to be the one to tell him.
"Why's Dr Cassidy coming? What's happened?" Sully didn't blink, waiting for Colleen to respond.
"Sully," Colleen drew a breath, feeling tears collecting in her eyes.
Colleen covered her mouth with her hand, as he moved to the edge of the bed, fighting the pain in his chest and head.
"Now listen here, just get back in that bed or you'll be no use to anyone," Olive ordered, moving in between Sully and Colleen.
"Michaela!" Sully pushed himself up from the bed.
Olive rested her hand firmly on his shoulder.
"Sully, please, stay in bed. I don't want you to get sick, too," Brian pleaded, running to cling against Colleen.
"I have to see her," he stood his ground, seeing the worried look in Olive's eyes.
"There's nothing you can do, Sully. She needs you to be strong. You need to rest." Olive saw the determination in his eyes, however her resolve was just as stubborn.
"Colleen, Brian, go get Matthew or Loren. I'm going to need some help keeping Sully downstairs. Hurry," she ordered, the two children running quickly from the room.
"Olive, I need to know." Sully felt his body weaken underneath him.
"She's unconscious, Sully," Olive spoke plainly, her hands resting on his shoulders.
"What happened?" his voice was low, yet forceful. His eyes cold and sharp with worry.
Not receiving a response, Sully pushed against Olive's restraining arms. Olive wasted no time in grasping his upper arms and pushing him back down to the bed.
"She was hurt," Olive spoke quietly, the several moments feeling like hours as she waited for his reaction.
Sully only heard one word. His mind repeated it over and over again, trying to tell himself it wasn't so. No. Not her. It couldn't be true.
Feeling the air escape his lungs, Sully let his eyes close, he knew what that word meant. It was the same word he'd used days before, after rescuing Michaela from One Eye. He'd prepared himself for the worst that evening in the cave, from her tattered clothes and face he'd expected her to respond affirmatively, however when she'd assured him otherwise, he'd not given it another thought.
"Hurt?" He felt the breath pass through his mouth.
Meeting Olive's eyes, they confirmed his utterance, and Sully suddenly realized he was momentarily frozen, unable to move, or even draw a breath.
"Sully, please just rest. Please," Olive softened her voice, seeing his eyes glaze over.
"Michaela! Michaela!" Sully suddenly felt air rush back into him, strength going to his legs and arms, giving him the energy he needed to make it to his feet.
"Sully!" Matthew bellowed from the doorway that led into the examination room behind him. Running quickly to his side, Robert E. following behind him, they each grabbed one of Sully's arms, pulling him back down into the bed.
"No, I have to go to her! Let me go!" He struggled, quickly weakening from the immense physical effort and mental agony.
"There's nothing you can do. Rest, or you'll be no good to anyone!" Olive responded, watching as Robert E. and Matthew managed to get the injured man under control.
"Michaela." He was light-headed, his eyes dropping closed as he felt the soft bed underneath him.
Matthew, Robert E. and Olive exchanged glances as Sully slipped back to sleep.
"It's for the best," Olive whispered, Robert E. and Matthew settling in to keep guard over him.
"You told him?" Matthew questioned, his voice rich with disapproval.
"What choice did I have?" Olive set her jaw firmly, folding her arms.
"Do you know what this'll do to him?" Matthew continued, shaking his head.
"Calm down, Matthew. It was only a matter of time," Robert E. rested his arm on the young man's shoulders, aware of the responsibility Matthew felt over his family.
They all moved towards the door as they heard movement in the corridor. Olive was the first to identify the sound, reacting with surprise.
"Get that thing outa here," she protested, as Wolf, hearing his master's cries, padded into the room, approaching the bed.
"No, leave him be. They've been separated long enough," Robert E. responded, watching as the wolf settled himself alongside the bed, sniffing in Sully's direction with a concerned whimper.