Perseverance (The Resident FF) by Frances51163

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE: Regrets

Swimming quickly to the shore the surprised men looked around for the source of the screams which had diminished somewhat but were still loud enough to be heard. Shrugging on jeans the pair headed for the source and soon found the problem.

A twenty something young brown haired woman was on her knees trying to console a distraught teenage boy whose lower leg was impaled by a sturdy tree limb. A large boulder was stationed behind the woman and the pair assumed the young man mistimed a jump. Sharing a look with Conrad Jude took care of quick introductions as Conrad assessed the injury urging the teen, Jamie, to stay still. The teens' sister, Jenny, was overjoyed to find they had some assistance and in fact after a short while it became obvious she was enamoured with the Surgeon, much to the consternation of the injured party.

"Why don't you go up on higher ground ," Jude suggested to his admirer, avoiding his friends' look of amusement, "see if you can get a signal. We could drive him out but a helicopter evac would be easier on him."
"I get to go in a helicopter?" Jamie momentarily forgot his pain.
"If we can reach someone," Conrad grinned as he rose to his feet, looking around for some suitable splints, "while Jenna is making the call Jude will help me make something to stabilise your leg."
"Something wrong?" Jude asked the woman who hadn't made a move.
"What?"
"We need you to ring 911. Now!" Conrad finally decided some stern words might lead to some common sense on the womans' part.
"Yes, yes of course," Jenna looked down at her younger sibling worriedly, "I'll be as quick as I can."

Two and a half hours later the two men sat nursing coffees in front of their tents sharing smiles.

"You're a trouble magnet," the older man decided.
"Me! Nothing to do with me. Besides that girl only had eyes for you."
"Can't help if my good looks attract the ladies."
"Well at least until a helicopter Pilot turns up," the younger man pointed out shaking his head as he recalled the Pilot trying to ignore the attention sent his way.
"Wait till Jim hears this! We weren't even here an hour and we found work."
"Let's hope that's the last bit of excitement for a while," Conrad tossed the remains of his coffee onto the fire to quench it as Jude followed suit.
"Looking forward to some peace and quiet," Jude put in hopefully as they turned in for the night.

The following morning found a reflective Conrad up as the first rays of dawn chased away the dark shadows. Although he had slept for a few hours a nightmare had robbed the young man of a proper nights' sleep and he had opted for a seat by the cold campfire to view the starry night overhead, hoping natures' beauty would banish the coldness which invaded his body as the remnants of the nightmare lingered. It was a couple of hours later before Jude woke up and came out of the tent with a wide yawn.

"You been up long?"
"A small while," Conrad decided the truth would only give the older man cause for concern and he was sick and tired of being worried over by his well meaning friend.
"Are you up for some hiking after breakfast? Jim mentioned some good trails we could check out."
"Sure," Conrad nodded as he rose and retrieved the small frying pan they had brought, "you get the fire going and I'll do some eggs. Jim was right when he advised us to bring plenty of food. Never was into fishing."
"Well I don't mind it but you're right, we'd be in trouble if we had to feed ourselves!" Jude concurred with a wry smirk.

The day was spent in a relative comfortable silence as the two men journeyed inland on a well worn path for a hike. On Conrads' part the solitude had plunged his thoughts inward and his companion had seen he was not in the mood for much conversation and respectly left him to his inner thoughts until they returned from their hike.

"You willing to share?" Jude asked softly as he began preparing their evening meal from their food supplies.
"Share?" Conrad looked across at his companion from the log he had just sat down on.
"You've been in a world of your own all day.  Just wondered what you were thinking about."
"Sorry," the fair haired man blushed as he shifted uncomfortably on his rudimentary seat, he hadn't intended to shut the other man out but obviously he had.
"No need to apologise," the Surgeon made short work of plating the salad sandwiches, "is it personal?"
"Not really I guess," Conrad accepted the offered tin plate, "was thinking back to the choices I've made over the years. Maybe things would have been different if I had made other choices."
"Heck everyone can say that. Our whole lives we make decisions, big and small. Each becomes a step further down the road.  Don't think there's a man or woman alive who hasn't played the what if game at some point in their lives."
"I know we've spoken about this before but sometimes it's hard not to wish for a different situation."
"You're talking about your father?"
"Yeah, " Conrad sighed heavily, he knew it was seeing his old friend and his two sons which had rekindled such useless thoughts.
"None of your decisions caused your old man to hurt you Conrad! You have to accept that. He made his choices and they were his alone."
"Seems easy doesn't it?" Conrad scoffed, frustrated with himself.
"Nothing easy about it. He hurt you and that will be with you for the rest of your life. Accepting his decisions were out of your control may seem easy logically but we both know the heart rarely deals in logic."
"Now you're getting maudlin!"
"Never," Jude objected with a wink before becoming serious again, "but letting go of useless regrets might help you in the long run."
"Wish it was that simple," Conrad muttered before standing up with his plate, "think I'm going to have an early night.
"Sure just think about what I said."

Conrad didn't respond as he tossed the remains of his sandwich into the bag purposefully set aside for that purpose. He knew his friends' words made sense but the head and heart were two different entities and what the heart felt was not subject to logical thought. Maybe the morning would find him less caught up in such pointless ruminations, he sure hoped so ...

tbc

Authors' Note

Firstly thanks to those who have waited for me to publish this. My health problems are not resolved yet and will take some time to be dealt with so I will not be able to update as regularly as I used to. I will however write as much as I can and hope ye will bear with me. As I feared when I took a break writers' block struck me in respect of this story and it has taken a while to come up with something so sincere apologies. Will update as much as I can.