She made it to the hospital. They met the ambulance at the bottom of the mountain and quickly transferred her into the more medically prepared vehicle. Noah begged to accompany her in the ambulance, but there was no way Elliot was going to agree with that. Still, Noah didn't want her to be alone, so Dickie ended up riding with her to the hospital.

The rest of them trailed behind the ambulance, arriving at the hospital a couple minutes behind the emergency vehicle. Noah unblocked his seatbelt the moment Elliot put the truck in park, but before he could sprint into the emergency room, Elliot intercepted him.

"Hey buddy," he kept his voice low. "The paramedics have her now, and we need to take a minute to slow down."

Noah seemed to be buzzing with energy, and Elliot realized the kid's fight or flight response was still in control. He needed to find a way to bring him back down. He needed to make Noah feel safe.

Elliot held Noah firmly despite his attempts to squirm out of his grasp. "Elliot!" He snapped. "We need to get in there! We can just stand here!"

Elliot's grip remained firm but not bruising. "We can, Noah. We gotta slow down. I need you to look at me, please?"

Noah resisted for a moment longer before finally meeting Elliot's gaze. If the situation didn't suck so bad, Elliot would laugh. The defiance in Noah's eyes felt very familiar, and he had been on the receiving end of that stare many times.

"We've done what we can do. I need you to take a breath for me." Elliot half expected Noah to tell him off, but instead his eyes welled with tears.

"What if things go bad? What if she's just like Clem and, and, she doesn't make it?"

Elliot palmed the back of Noah's skull and pulled him into a hug. "We will cross that bridge if we have to, Noh. But you did good. If you hadn't found her, she wouldn't have survived. Whether she makes it or not, you have her a chance."

Noah's tears wet Elliot's shirt as he sobbed. Elliot pulled the boy tighter, silently hating himself for inadvertently putting Noah through something like this again.

Elliot glanced up to see Eli lingering on the periphery, his hands tucked deep in his pockets. This situation was probably wrecking him too, but he managed to maintain a more stoic exterior. Elliot reminded himself to check in with Eli later. He didn't want his son to feel like his emotions didn't matter, but for now the younger child's emotions took precedence. He hated that it had to be that way, but parenting multiple children was a screwed up sort of triage.

Eventually, Noah's sobs receded into smaller sniffles. Elliot loosened his hold, and Noah pulled back. "I, I think I'm okay now. I mean okay as I can be." His eyes seemed bluer when glistening with tears. "Can we go in now?"

Elliot nodded. "Yeah, let's go. We need to track down Dickie and see if we can get an update."

Elliot mentally added calling the forest service to his list. If this wasn't foul play, then the child had a family that may be in danger too. They needed to search the area.

He also needed to call Olivia, and he knew that call was not going to go well.

The emergency room doors slid open, and Elliot scanned the room for Dickie. He spotted him tucked in the back corner of the room. The area sat largely abandoned since the other emergent cases tended to huddle near the reception desk. Elliot assumed the other patients hoped to ensure their spot in line and make sure nurses remembered they were still there.

The abandoned corner suited him just fine, and he led the boys toward the near silent corner. Dickie stood when they approached. "Hey," he greeted while stuffing his hands nervously in his pockets.

Noah didn't waste any time seeking out an update. "Is she okay?" His hope-filled heart made Elliot's heart clench in his chest.

Dickie rocked from his heels to the balls of his feet nervously. "I don't know really. She stayed unconscious the whole way here, but they got her body temperature up."

"That's good," Elliot murmured.

"Yeah. They said there's lots of blood in her belly. They told me things will be touch and go until they find the source."

Noah nodded silently, and Elliot ushered him toward the chairs. "Well, we might as well sit. We might be here a while."

They all found seats, but Elliot remained standing. He needed to make some calls. He needed to get the local PD filled in, and the forest and wildlife guys needed to start looking as soon as possible for this girl's family.

And he needed to call Olivia.

The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could focus on the boys.

"You guys stay here." He met Dickies gaze. "Keep track of them. Find me immediately if you get any updates, okay?"

"Yeah, I got it." Dickie said with a nod.

"I'm going to step outside and call the people who need called, and then I'll be back." He pulled his wallet from his pocket and pulled out some bills. "If anyone gets hungry, there's probably a cafeteria or vending machines or something." None of them had eaten anything since last night, not that anyone had an appetite right now.

"We will probably just stay right here, but one of us can figure out food if we have to," Dickie said while reaching for the cash. He stuffed it in his pocket before his eyes drifted to Noah, who appeared to be hanging on by a thread. "Hurry, Dad," he urged him quietly.

"I'll be right back," he breathed out. This day had already been exhausting, and it was nowhere close to being over.

Twinner Winner chat

D: Well… That was the camping trip from hell…

L: Come on. You're a grown man; you'd think you could get along with your kid brother for one weekend.

D: I'm not gonna lie. Eli texted his girlfriend at every opportunity, and it annoyed the hell out of me, but that's not the problem.

L: What then?

D: Noah found a body in the woods this morning. A girl. She's alive. Barely.

L: Oh my god!

D: Yeah, so, much worse than Eli being sulky.

L: Is Noah okay? Shit. Liv is going to lose it. Like bad. Has anyone called her?

D: Not sure anyone is brave enough for that.

L: Are you serious!? One of you needs to call her NOW!

D: Relax, okay. Dad's calling the forest service guys, and based on the look of utter dread on his face, he plans to call Liv after that.

L: She's gonna kill him.

D: She's more rational than that.

L: Uh, wasn't it you that traumatized me by showing me that YouTube video of what happened to the guy who got between the mama bear and her cubs?

D: Point taken.

D: But it's not like it was Dad's fault.

L: It's not going to matter. She's going to be pissed you all put Noah in a traumatic situation.

D: Oh man. This is gonna suck more than it already does.

L: Yep.

L: Call me in a bit, yeah? Once you know what's going on?

D: You just want to know how bad Liv rips into Dad.

L: Yes. But I also want that girl to make it. I'm not a monster. Let me know how it goes, and tell Noah to call me if he needs to talk to someone for a little bit.

D: I will.

-000-

Dickie locked his phone and shoved it in his pocket. He glanced over to check on the others. Eli was annoyingly texting someone, probably his girlfriend, and Noah's head had dropped into his hands while he stared at the floor.

He leaned in and lightly bumped Noah's shoulder with his. "Doin' okay, Noh?"

Noah took a shaky breath before lifting his head to meet Dickie's eyes. "Yeah. I just hate sitting here. I want to know what's going on."

Dickie noted how puffy and red Noah's eyes appeared. He wasn't sure he had ever seen the normally even-tempered kid so distraught. "Yeah, it sucks," he said lamely. "When Dad gets back, I'll check in with someone."

Noah nodded silently and returned his focus to the linoleum floor.

Dickie felt like he should keep the conversation, if for no other reason but to pass the time, but he struggled to come up with anything appropriate to talk about. "How's school been?"

Noah shrugged. "Good. I've got a friend in all my classes, so that's cool."

"That makes the classes better."

"Yeah," he replied flatly.

He was killing it at this conversation. "Liz says to call her if you need to talk to someone."

That made him perk up a little. "You talked to Lizzie?"

"Yeah, I mean, I was just texting her. She's worried about you. She wants you to be okay." He bumped Noah's shoulder again. "We all kind of love you, kid."

"I know," he admitted. "I'm not the one to worry about right now." He sighed. "Has anyone called my mom?"

"Uh," Dickie hesitated, "Dad was going to after he got things squared away with the forest guys."

Noah's fingers dug into his hair. "She's going to completely lose it."

"Probably," Dickie said matter-of-factly.

"I don't want her to blame Elliot." He leaned back in his chair and dropped his hands onto his thighs.

"Yeah, you don't have control over that. Sorry dude." There was no way they would make it out of this mess without Liv being totally pissed at his dad. No way.

Noah sighed. "I know. I just. I don't want them to fight because of me. I like having you guys around and Elliot. I don't want that to change."

"Why would that change anything?"

Noah shrugged but didn't answer. Too bad Dickie wasn't going to let him stew in silence. "No, seriously, why do you think any of this changes anything?"

Noah stared at his fingers as he picked a stray burr out of his jeans. "I don't know. I guess, I mean, my mom is kinda used to being on her own. I'm always scared she's going to find a reason to push Elliot away, and then I won't be with you guys anymore."

Dickie closed his eyes as he thought out a response. This was one of those times he desperately wanted to say the right thing, but usually he didn't.

"Look at me, Noh" Noah complied reluctantly. "First, my dad has loved your mom for as long as I can remember. Okay?" He waited until Noah nodded, so he knew he had driven that first point. "The next thing is, your mom and my dad have been partners for... forever really. They have had some pretty crappy fights, but they always find a way to work out."

Noah leveled a heavy gut punch. "Yeah, but Elliot left. For a long freaking time, and I know he's promised he's not leaving, but what if he does? I mean, I love my mom, but she is really good at pushing people away. What if she pushes too hard? What if he leaves because of me? Because I wanted to go on this fishing trip, or because I was stupid and went out by myself? What if I'm the excuse she needs to push all of you away?"

Damn. That was heavy, and Dickie felt ill-equipped to answer any of Noah's concerns. Hell, he still didn't have a firm grasp on his father's reasons for taking off the first time. Still, he knew his father, and he knew that he would fight for Olivia—for Noah—until the day he died.

"I think you need to talk to my dad about a lot of this, but I can tell you what I know, okay?"

"Okay," Noah answered softly.

"I don't know all the reasons why my dad left back then, but I'm pretty sure those reasons don't exist anymore." Dickie smirked. "Your mom might be good at pushing people away, but my dad is good at stubbornly holding onto people. I don't think your mom could shake him off at this point, and I'm not sure she would actually try. Adults fight, and sometimes they have big blow ups. It doesn't mean anyone is leaving."

Noah bit his lip, and Dickie knew the kid was trying to keep his emotions under control. He didn't want Noah to think he needed to have that stiff upper lip; it hadn't done Dickie any good in his life, and he didn't want Noah to think he had to be tough for Dickie to love him.

He wrapped his arm around Noah's shoulders and pulled him into a hug. "I don't think our parents are gonna split...ever, but if it ever did happen, it wouldn't change anything with us kids. There's no way out now, you're one of us. You're always gonna be our baby brother."

-000-