Dr. Quinn

Chapter 8: Recovery

Michaela began to wake up. Everything was blurry and seemed to move in slow motion. Voices faded in and out as she entered in and out of consciousness.

She tried her best to speak, but only a cracked whisper came out. "Sully."

"'Chaela?!" Sully immediately went to her side.

"I...what..," she was too weak to finish.

"Don't try to speak, just relax. You're safe now."

Sully could see her eyes tear up.

"Colle...Bri...bab-,"

"The children are sleeping in the other room and the baby is fine."

Michaela felt the throbbing pain of her injury, "ahhhm."

"You hurting? I can get Andrew to-,"

She stopped him, "No, it's not that bad." She tried her best to give him a smile. "It's better for the baby if I don't."

Both of them sat in silence for a minute before Sully spoke up.

His voice was low and shaky, "I should have been there, I'm sorry."

"No Sully, it's like what you told me. You did your best. You got here when you could. Thank you."

"I could've protected you. What if you got hit somewhere other than your leg. What if we lost our baby and what if I lost you. I couldn't live through that again. I can't lose you Michaela."

Suddenly it all made sense to her; why he was so hesitant about having a baby.

"Oh Sully.. I should have realized."

Sully tried to hold back his tears in front of Michaela. His heart still hurt after losing Abigail.

"Nothing is going to happen to me."

"You can't promise that Michaela."

They were interrupted by a little voice in the doorway.

"Ma?" It was Brian.

She did her best to put on a brave face. "Hi."

He rubbed his eyes and walked over to her.

"We didn't mean to wake you Brian."

"You and Pa were arguing?"

Michaela rested her hand on his face, "No, we were just talking."

She moved her aching body as best she could to make room for him on the bed. He snuggled up to Michaela and she held him close. Michaela and Sully exchanged concerned looks.

"Everything is alright now. Ain't nothing to be afraid of no more," Sully said as he rubbed Brian's back.

Brian quietly sobbed on Michaela's chest until he fell asleep next to her.
____________________________________
The next morning, Andrew let Michaela go home, but she was given strict orders to stay in bed for the next two weeks. It was great to be back in her own bed for once. She still couldn't walk very well and was extremely weak, so Sully had to carry her inside from the wagon.

"Ya still okay? Need me to get you anything?" Sully asked as he helped her sit down on their bed.

"Yes Sully, how many times do I have to say I'm fine to get you to stop asking."

Sully smirked, "don't matter how many times ya tell me, I'll still ask."

"I promise to tell you if I need anything, but for now I just want to rest for a while."

He leaned down to kissed her forehead and left without another word.

Matthew offered to stay at the homestead while Dr. Mike recovered. Colleen and Brian enjoyed Matthew staying, it was almost like he never left. Sully did have to admit, having the extra help from Matthew kept him from stressing too hard.

"Matthew, Brian, Colleen."

The three turned their heads to Sully.

"Can I talk to y'all for a moment?"

The three looked at each other and Matthew nodded his head, "sure."

They all sat at the table engaged in what Sully would say.

"The other day.. the attack on the town. I wanted to thank you all for how brave you three were, especially you Colleen. You helped save lots of folks including your Ma." Sully paused to gather his thoughts. "I want to apologize for keeping the baby thing a secret from ya."

"Sully you ain't gotta apologize to us," Matthew replied. "We understand."

"Still, Michaela and I both hate keeping things from you. You're always going to be our children and I don't want you three to get the wrong idea that we don't love you as much because we ain't ya real biological parents."

Colleen spoke up with a grin across her face, "Sully we know how much you both love us. You tell us almost everyday."

Matthew added to what Colleen said, "Yeah, you and Dr. Mike ain't done nothing but love and support us."

Sully let out a small laugh and smiled, "Thank you. All of you."

Brian stood up and hugged Sully's leg, he wasn't quite tall enough to reach him.

"Now your Ma got hurt pretty bad. And with the baby coming... It would mean a lot if you were all on your best behavior. We're gonna have to help out your Ma and around the house more."

"Sully," Michaela called out from upstairs.

He ran as fast as he could to see her. "What's wrong?!"

His eyes were wide and his face was sweaty.

"Nothing is wrong. I just need help to the bathroom," she giggled at his enthusiasm.