The Other Face

by dcat

Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program "The Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.

The single rifle shot echoed throughout the canyon. One brother heard it off in the distance and one brother heard it too late, it had struck him down.

Nick and Heath had gotten up early on this particular winter morning. There had been a rash of killings and robberies on neighboring ranches and the last straw had been when the Sheriff had gotten shot too.

The two of them had decided to head up into the foothills on the north end of the ranch, to have a look around, since the two latest occurrences had taken place up around that same area. It was a cold morning, on this late, blustery, January day. They wouldn’t have much daylight to search in, but they both knew the killing needed to stop, so they were prepared to help the young deputy sheriff undertake the search. He and another man would scout out another section of the Barkley ranch.

A steady, brisk and chilling wind blew through both of the brothers as they made their way north of the ranch house. Even bundled up in heavy jackets and gloves, the cold still cut through both of them.

“Why can’t these criminals pick a better time of year to do this sort of thing?” Nick asked Heath as they rode along. He turned up his collar even more, to keep the wind from biting at the back of his neck.

“I don’t think it’s something they schedule Nick,” Heath said.

“Even so, they’re probably holed up right now in some warm shack or cave, while we’re out here wasting time tracking ’em, does that seem right to you?” Nick carried on.

By now, Heath knew that Nick didn’t really want these questions answered, he just needed to express himself vocally, so he didn’t even comment.

“I’ll tell ya, if I get my hands on ‘em today, I’m just liable to start shooting first and worry about everything else later.”

“Ain’t that what you usually do anyway?” Heath drawled.

Nick glared over at him and quickly went back to talking about the weather. “I swear it’s getting colder by the minute, and that wind, you think it’d blow itself out by now.”

Heath was wishing Nick’s mouth would blow itself out by now. There were some days that Nick’s rambling’s would start to grate on him and today’s monologue about the weather wasn’t helping warm things up. It was just making him colder too.

“Did your mouth freeze up?” Nick asked him.

Now it was Heath’s turn to glare at him. “No, but I wish yours would.” He paused. “It’s cold and miserable enough out here without you and a running commentary about it. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Ok, fine, how do we want to do this?”

“Well, if we split up and scout the hills, we’ll cover more ground, we could meet up at Dory’s Point,” Heath suggested.

“Yeah, but we don’t know who they are, or how many of them there might be, maybe we should stick together?” Nick offered.

“I think we’re on a wild goose chase up here anyway, I think they’re hitting the ranches they want to, and moving on. I don’t think they’re staying in one place too long,” Heath explained.

“Why do you think that?”

“They’ve been all over, there’s no real pattern to who they’re targeting. Just cuz the last two were up here don’t mean anything, the one before that was west of us and the one before that was clear on the other side of Stockton. I just don’t think they have a hideout. I think they know exactly what they’re doing and they’re real good at blending in.”

“Is that so, huh?”

“That’s what I think, ‘sides, I just want to get this searching over with.”

“I can’t argue with you there,” Nick said, deciding to give in to his younger brother, “Ok, let’s split up and we’ll each circle around and meet up at Dory’s Point on the other side.”

“Finally, something we can agree upon today,” Heath said, with a grin.

So the two of them split up and rode off searching for any signs or clues as to the whereabouts of the gang.

It was about twenty minutes later when the rifle shot rang out. In an instant, it had tore through Heath’s side and knocked him unconscious from Charger’s saddle.

Nick heard the echo of the shot from where he was. They hadn’t said anything about firing off a warning shot, so he knew that something wasn’t right, he high tailed it back to the area where they had split off and tried to follow Heath’s tracks.

Given the fact that it was only one shot and that stones and boulders lined the foothills they were riding through, it was next to impossible to put an exact fix on where the shot had come from. What he heard could have come from just about anywhere up there, thanks to the echo factor. The worry showed in his face, Nick rode hard.

He tried following the tracks but the brisk wind and the rocky terrain made it futile. He was pretty much on his own. Now he had to find Heath and keep a sharp look out for anything or anyone suspicious. He got back to the starting point in just under ten minutes and had about three choices that Heath might have taken. He thought about it for a minute and opted to try the higher trail first, thinking he could keep his eyes out below for anyone or anything.

Heath started to awaken. Just opening his eyes at first, he realized he was lying on the cold ground, with gray sky above him. His eyelids fluttered open and close, while he tried to take a deep breath. He tried to remember what happened, but he drew a blank. Then a tearing pain ripped through him, starting on his left side. And his head began to throb too. He still couldn’t remember what happened or how he ended up where he was. He tried but he drifted back into an unconscious state.

Nick was getting nowhere fast. He wanted to call out to Heath, but the implications of shouting, not only would give away where he was, it might cause his brother some problem too. He just needed to spot him along this trail. As he rode he listened for any kind of noise and watched for any unusual movement.

Heath came to again, and saw that he was still in the same place that he had been. He was freezing and all the same aches and pains still engulfed him. He forced himself to try to move. Wait, he had to think first, the burning pain in his side, what did that mean? He thought about it and realized he’d been shot. Little by little some of the questions in his head were being answered. He remembered hearing the shot. His head was still fuzzy. Who had shot him and what was he doing out in the middle of nowhere?

He tried to look around as best he could without moving his head. If someone shot him on purpose, they could still be around and he didn’t want to chance moving and getting shot again. He saw Charger standing off to the side. He could tell that his breathing was becoming irregular and he felt himself slipping back into the darkness. He’d try to hold out, but unconsciousness overtook him again.

Nick was over halfway to Dory’s Point now and he still hadn’t seen any sign of Heath. Where in the devil could he be, he thought. Nick chastised himself for letting Heath talk him into splitting up. He knew something like this could happen.

Heath woke up startled the next time. His lungs coughed and it threw his whole body into a pain-racked tremor. He prayed that the gunman wasn’t around any longer, otherwise he’d be dead in no time. As he curled onto his side, the bile rose in his throat and he let out a sickening heave. His body was in too much pain for him to even try to think. He passed out again.

Nick scanned the foothills from the perch he had stopped on. He squinted, looking for any sign he could and then, there, off to the west of where he was, he spotted Charger. He let out a sigh of relief. “Hang on boy, I’m coming,” he whispered as he kicked his horse to move.

When Nick arrived on the scene, he saw Heath laying in a crumpled, rolled up ball, next to his own vomit. The sight nearly sickened him too, but he vaulted off his horse to his brother’s side.

Pulling him into his arms, carefully and gently, he saw the mass of blood loss pouring out of Heath’s left side, staining his green coat a deep crimson color. “Oh God,” he breathlessly prayed.

Heath’s eyes were still closed and Nick did a quick scan of the immediate area and it looked clear, the gunman must have cleared out. Hopefully he’d galloped off to warn the rest of the gang and was now nowhere to be seen. Nick knew he needed to get his brother medical attention in a hurry.

When Nick looked back to Heath, he was now conscious and staring right at Nick.

“Hi there, boy, you’re gonna be all right,” Nick said, trying to remain positive. He gave Heath a smile.

Heath didn’t respond, in fact he was rather expressionless.

“Heath?” Nick questioned, “you hear me boy, you’re gonna be fine.”

Nick watched him closely and Heath’s face went from expressionless to a look of questioning. His breathing was fast and shallow and he studied every inch of Nick’s face.

His lips started to form some words, but Nick couldn’t make it out. “What is it Heath?”

He blinked his eyes several times, attempting to clear up whatever he thought he was seeing. And finally, quietly, but understandable to Nick, he said what he’d been trying to say.

“Pa? Father?”

Now it was Nick’s turn to be puzzled. Did he just hear him right? Heath had just called him Pa or Father. He was stunned himself and didn’t quite know how to respond.

“You just rest easy, boy, I’m gonna get you home right away,” Nick said, trying to comfort him while thinking of a way to get him home without causing too much more damage. From what he could tell from the blood loss, the bullet wound was bad and had done a lot of damage.

Heath lifted up his arm and grabbed the lapel of Nick’s coat. “I, I don’t know what to call you Pa, is that ok?”

“Heath, it’s me, Nick, listen to me, it’s your brother Nick.” Nick took hold of his hand and gave it a squeeze of reassurance.

It must have worked because Heath lazily looked him in the eye and called out his name, “Nick,” he paused, “what happened?”

“I’d say a stinger got ya.”

“How bad is it?”

“You’ll live,” Nick said. “I just gotta get you back home, do you think you can ride?”

“Home?” Heath asked, “Strawberry? You’re taking me to Strawberry Pa?” He was drifting in and out of some weird sort of reality.

“It’s Nick and I’m taking you back to the ranch.” Nick still didn’t quite understand what was happening to Heath. He decided to take off his hat and he carefully checked his head for any type of wound. There on the back, he felt a lump the size of a grapefruit. “I’ll tell you what Heath, we’re gonna ride together ok?”

“Ok Pa,” he said as his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell back into Nick’s strong arms.

Nick shook his head in disbelief and looked up to the sky for some sort of sign from up above. None came. He cautiously set Heath back onto the ground while he went to his horse and grabbed a blanket. He stopped for a second and looked back up towards the heavens and said. “Listen Father, I’m not exactly sure what’s wrong with this little brother of mine, besides what I can see, but he seems to think I’m you or you’re me. I don’t know. Just help me get him home safe and sound and I’ll figure it all out later.” With that he grabbed the bedroll and went back over to Heath, who now was conscious again. He knelt down beside him and put the bedroll under his head.

“Nick, don’t understand what’s going on. Is Father here?”

Again, Nick stopped dead in his tracks. “It’s just you and me Heath.” Nick explained.

Heath put his right hand toward the bleeding wound. “It’s bad Nick, lost a lot of blood.”

There, he sounded better, it just must be from the blood loss and the bump on the head, Nick thought. Nick wanted to reassure him that he’d be fine even though he knew his brother was in serious shape. “It’s just a scratch, Doc Merar will have you fixed up in no time.”

Heath shook his head in opposition. “Pa says it’s bad, says he’s taking me home.”

Nick didn’t know what to say. He took off his own hat and even though it was cold out, he wiped a line of sweat that had formed on his brow. He’d seen men delirious before, but nothing quite like this. He didn’t know what to do or what to believe. Was his father really there somehow talking with Heath? He was frozen, what should he tell his brother, they were two very different homes that he’d have to choose to go to.

Nick stood up slowly and looked down at his brother, still breathing heavy. Heath’s gaze was focused on Nick and then suddenly, he gazed up toward the sky above.

* * * * * * * *

Nick followed his brother’s line of sight and to him, there was nothing there. He dropped to his knees along side of his brother and said, “Listen Heath, you’re not going there with him, I don’t care what Father is telling you. This is Nick talking now, and you’re coming home with me, you understand?”

All he saw when he looked at Heath was a faraway look in his eyes and his breathing was almost non-existent. His face was gray and ashen.

“HEATH,” he nearly yelled at him.

And then, just as sudden, Heath turned his head a little bit and focused on Nick. “I’m cold, Nick,” he whispered.

“I’ll get another blanket,” Nick said, squeezing his shoulder and hopping up to his feet. He grabbed the bedroll off of Charger and sped back over to Heath, who shivered, as he spread it over him. “Is that better?” he asked him.

Heath gave him a slight nod.

“Listen, I gotta get you home, do you think you can ride double?” Nick asked.

“You gotta take the bullet out,” Heath said.

“What? We’ll get it out at home, don’t worry about that now.”

“The bullet, it’s gotta come out now, Pa says,” Heath answered again, mustering up all the strength he could. “Please Nick, take it out now.”

“I can’t take it out here, ‘sides, it looks to be in pretty deep,” Nick explained. “You need a doctor to get it outta there and I’m not a doctor.”

“I won’t make the ride unless you get it out before we leave here,” Heath said.

Nick noticed that he’d look off into space, like he was hearing or seeing someone else talking to him.

“Now you just listen to me Heath Barkley,” Nick started, “I’m not a doctor, but I gotta get you to one.”

“No, won’t make it,” he coughed and turned his head to the side. “Gonna be sick again,” he added. Nick helped roll him to his side and watched helplessly. He looked around the rocks and the nearby surroundings and wondered what on earth was going on. Deep down he wished if his father were indeed around, he’d give him some sort of sign as well. The longer they stayed, the worse off Heath was going to get. Nick should have packed him up and been on his way long before this.

Finally, Heath stopped being sick. He coughed a few more times and turned back to Nick. “Did you hear him?”

“Hear who?”

“Our father, he’s telling us exactly what to do,” Heath explained.

“I can’t hear him Heath, I can only hear you, you’re gonna have to tell me what he’s saying.”

“Take out the bullet,” Heath started, “then home.”

Nick took a deep breath, closed his eyes and scrunched up his face. He certainly wasn’t a surgeon, though he’d taken a plug or two out of some of the ranch hands before. Once, he’d even removed a bullet from his own forearm. None of those slugs were in deep, but this was different. This was his brother and he had a very serious wound. He didn’t think he was up to digging around in his side, he was liable to cause more damage. This whole thing was strange. Heath was hurt very badly, probably had some sort of head wound and was delirious from the loss of so much blood, and yet, Nick felt like he had to believe him when he was talking about their father. One thing he knew for sure, he didn’t have time to waste thinking. He had to make a decision and make it soon or Heath would die for sure.

“Nick,” Heath began, showing a bit of a smile, “it’s ok, it’ll be alright, but you have to take it out. Trust our pa. He says he never let you down yet.”

“But, I could kill you Heath,” Nick said bluntly, “one wrong move in there and,” Nick couldn’t even finish his thought.

“You won’t, Father’s right here with us, he said you have to do it, or the ride will kill me.”

“Heath, do you know what you’re saying?” Are you sure you want me to do this?”

“Please Nick, no time to waste,” he said, grabbing hold of Nick’s jacket sleeve, “hurry, want to go home.” And with that, Heath passed out again.

It was decision time for Nick. He couldn’t procrastinate any longer. He stood up and took another look around the cold and desolate surroundings. He felt entirely alone. He took a deep breath and shook his head. Just then, an unusual blast of warmer air blew through him, nearly knocking him over and he glanced around again. He looked skyward and said. “Alright, I’m not sure exactly why I’m gonna do this and I don’t understand any of this. I just hope that you’re watching out over both of us, cuz we’re both sure gonna need it.”

He quickly gathered up enough wood to start a small fire, so that he could sterilize the pocket knives that both he and Heath carried. Heath remained unconscious and Nick could tell that his breathing had sort of regulated itself, he was thankful for both of those things.

Carefully and slowly he pulled back the blanket first and then opened up Heath’s jacket and shirt. The wound was horrendous. The rifle shot had left an ugly hole on his brother’s left side, the only good thing about it was that from looking at it, Nick could actually see the bullet and it wasn’t in that deep after all.

He had removed his own jacket, so that he had better mobility and after taking one more deep breath and saying a silent prayer, he cautiously and warily began to go after the errant bullet. Even though it was only about 45 degrees, Nick could feel the sweat building on his face. He thought he’d gone in far enough, but he still hadn’t reached the bullet, so down a little deeper he went. That caused Heath to stir and moan and Nick immediately stopped moving. “I’m sorry Heath, I don’t mean to hurt you.” After a moment of rest, Nick continued to search for it. “Where is it, come on,” he said to no one in particular. He couldn’t locate it. “Oh for crying out loud, Father if you are around, give me some help here, don’t let me kill my own brother. Please Pa,” he begged. And at that instant he felt the tip of the bullet between his thumb and forefinger and carefully he pulled it out.

“I got it, I got it Heath,” Nick said excitedly. He quickly packed the open wound with part of his shirt. It still was leaking some blood, but now that the bullet had been removed, he felt relieved. “I think you’re gonna be alright boy,” he said, forcing himself to take several deep breaths, and he sat down and relaxed for a minute or two along side his sleeping brother.

He allowed himself about twenty minutes of rest and to see if the wound would stop bleeding. It had, so the next order of business was to get the two of them back to the ranch.

He brought the two horses over closer and was just about to try to roust awake Heath and get him up in the saddle, when he went over to him and saw his eyes wide open, again, looking off in some distant direction.

“Heath?” he said quietly, crouching down beside him.

“Nick?” Heath answered, “you did it, Pa says you did it.”

“Yeah, I got the bullet out, are you ready to go home now?”

“It’s so beautiful here,” he said. Nick noticed his eyes seemed to scan the sky.

“We can’t stay here, I need to get you home, and in bed,” Nick answered.

“Want to stay here with Father, never had father before,” he said almost happily. Now Nick was confused all over again, but before he could say anything, Heath continued to talk, “but I want to stay with you, so nice here. You are my Father, now I know for certain, please let me stay,” his voice almost pleading. And then he started to cry, clutching his side in obvious pain, “Nick,” he called out loudly to his brother.

Nick instinctively gathered him up in his arms and held him close. “It’s ok Heath, you’ll see him again, I promise, right now it’s time for you and I to go home.”

His body shuddered with pain as Nick sat and quietly held him. “Promise I will Nick?”

“Yeah, absolutely, he’ll be there waiting for you when the time is right. But right now is not the time. Just listen to your old brother Nick ok?”

“He said that too, listen to Nick,” Heath repeated. “Take me home Nick, please?”

“Yeah, that’s where we’re going.”

* * * * * * * *

Packing up Heath on the horse was going to be a trick in itself. He was still fading in and out of consciousness, which meant he’d be of almost no help to Nick, who somehow had to lift him up and onto the horse and keep him on, while he tried to get on behind him.

“Heath,” Nick said, softly, “I gotta get you up into the saddle, it might hurt pretty bad, do you wanna try?”

“’sok, go ahead Nick, it’ll be ok. The danger’s gone now,” Heath said shakily, already trying to get himself from a prone position to a sitting position. “Time to git home.”

Nick reached down under his arms and started to pick him up and Heath let out an agonizing groan of pain. “I’m sorry little brother, I don’t know how else to do this,” Nick stopped for a minute until the pain seemed to subside. “Maybe we should wait?”

“I’ll try ‘ta help,” Heath managed to say.

“I think it’s best if you let me do all the work,” Nick said, knowing that he shorter brother was pound for pound equally as strong and tough as he was, but after getting wounded, he wasn’t a hundred percent.

“Always say, two’s better than one,” Heath added.

“In most cases, yeah, but I don’t want you bleeding all over me right now, so let me figure this out,” Nick chastised him in a teasing manner.

“Won’t bleed on ya,” Heath nearly smiled, “won’t die on ya either.”

Now it was Nick’s turn to smile, “I’m glad to hear that. Alright then, let’s try this again.” He managed to get Heath to his feet, albeit unsteadily. “Put your arm around me and lean on me.” Heath was glad to oblige, leaning heavily on Nick. Heath again, let out a deep moan of intense pain and clutched his side. “I’m trying to be gentle boy, I just don’t think there’s an easy way to do this, you sure you want to continue? Maybe I can build a travois, you can just rest until I get it ready.” Seeing Heath like this was nearly killing Nick.

“I can ride, just gotta get up in saddle,” Heath said, struggling to stay upright.

Another miracle was about to occur. The young deputy from Stockton rode up and greeted Nick.

“What the devil are you doing over here? I thought you and Tad were scouting out west of here,” Nick said, as he held up Heath.

The deputy jumped down off his mount and went and had a closer look at Heath, whose head bobbed up and down. “What happened Nick?”

“What does it look like happened?” he said sarcastically. “He got shot.”

“Well, how bad is he?”

“Bad enough, I got the bullet out myself. It’s a good thing you rode up, you can help me get him up in the saddle with me, and then ride into town and send out Dr. Merar. What brought you out here anyway?”

“Tad and I checked just about everywhere and it being so cold today, we decided they weren’t out that way. There were no tracks or any signs anywhere over there, and the funny thing was, I was gonna head back to town, but I just got a strange sensation, like a gust of summertime air, you might say, to come and give you two a hand. I can’t describe it, but something told me to head over this way.”

“There seems to be a lot of that happening today,” Nick said offhandedly, looking at his brother and thinking of his father.

Heath offered up a smile and kind of an ‘I told you so look’ at Nick.

The two of them carefully lifted Heath up and got him into the saddle and then, while the deputy held onto him, Nick climbed on back. Heath howled out in agony, but insisted they continue and they got him settled as best they could.

Nick was ready to ride, with one arm securely around Heath, and the other on the reigns. “Get that doctor out to the ranch right quick. He’s lost a lot of blood and I’m not sure what else may be wrong with him.”

“I’m on my way Nick.”

And all of them rode off.

Nick took it slow and easy with his fragile cargo. Working their way down off the rocky terrain was going to be a bit treacherous, but he kept an eye on the path and the other on his wounded brother.

“Still cold Nick,” Heath started.

“Give it a few minutes and maybe the ride will start to warm you up.”

“Or you could just keep talking at me, you got a lot of hot air,” Heath managed to joke.

“Now I know you’re gonna be alright, when you start making cracks like that,” Nick started, “what a day this turned out to be.”

“A good day,” Heath said softly.

“You got shot, nearly die and you call it a good day? I think you got some brain damage when you fell.”

“Good day, cuz I got to see Pa,” Heath said. Nick couldn’t see the smile that beamed on Heath’s face.

Nick was unsure of how to respond. He knew that Heath had been hurt very badly. Was what he saw just in his mind or had some sort of miraculous intervention occurred? He’d heard of these types of things, but he’d always just brushed it off as something that would never happen to him. Now, he began to question that. Had his father really ‘been’ there?

“Wish you could have seen him too Nick,” Heath continued.

Nick still didn’t respond.

Heath could sense his brother’s disbelief. “You don’t believe that I saw him, do ya Nick?”

“Only you know what you saw,” Nick answered abruptly. “If you believe it, that’s all that matters.” Nick could tell that Heath disagreed. He shook his head a little from side to side.

“Want ya ‘ta believe too Nick, he was there, if it weren’t for him,” he paused and added, “and you, I’d have died.”

“You don’t know that,” Nick answered in a doubting voice.

“I know that, he told me,” Heath said surely.

“What do you mean he told you?” Nick figured it was ok to ask, since Heath seemed to want to talk about it.

And then, Heath changed the subject in a way. “You look like him Nick,” he started. “And your voice is the same.”

“Heath, are you telling me that you actually saw him?”

“Yeah Nick, I saw him. What can I say to convince you? He talked to me, called me his son,” Heath said with another smile.

Nick even showed the hint of a smile, he knew that by now, during these last four years how important family was to Heath. “Well, what else would he call ya? That’s what you are, right?” Nick wanted to believe.

“I know you still don’t believe me Nick, but I ain’t lying to ya. It was him. He’s still around right now, he said he’d see me home.”

That comment sent Nick to scanning the countryside, but he didn’t see anything, he started wishing he’d get a glimpse of his father one more time too. “What’d he look like Heath?” Nick asked, and as he did he realized his weary brother had succumbed to unconsciousness again. He could feel the rise and fall of Heath’s chest, so he felt a little relieved. Nick looked skyward and said, “I sure hope you meant to see him to our home, and not yours father.” After he said it, that rush of warm air passed over him again.

Heath remained unconscious for the rest of the ride back to the ranch and as Nick rode up with Heath in tow, he called out to several of the hands to help get his brother into the house. They quickly dashed over and helped carry Heath inside. About ten minutes later Dr. Merar showed up.

“I had to dig the bullet out of him out on the trail Doc,” Nick said, as Doc Merar got out his instruments from his nearby black bag.

“That’s taking a pretty big risk Nick, what made you do that?”

Nick didn’t want to tell him the real reason so he said, “well he was bleeding pretty bad doc, I just figured that by taking it out, maybe it would stop. That way I could get him home on a horse.”

“You brought him in riding a horse?” Doc Merar asked.

Nick nodded, “there was no other way.”

Doc Merar was already busy looking over the wound and noticed that there was an organ that had a deep bruise across it with a tiny scrap of an opening. “Looks like I’ll have to sew that up first,” he said to Nick. “Must have been where the bullet came to rest, good thing you did take it out, see this tear?” He asked Nick, showing him the spot.

“Yeah,” Nick said, looking in.

“If that bullet would have bounced around on that and gone in any deeper, he would have died instantly.” Doc explained. “See it’s already started healing itself, and I’ll just put a stitch in it and he’ll be good as new. The human body is an amazing thing. I must say I’m a bit surprised you had the good sense to get it out before riding though.”

Nick stood up straight and took a stunned step back. There was no way Heath could have known about that. Nick was quickly becoming a convert to the idea that some sort of intervention had taken place.

Doctor Merar kept stitching up the open wound and Nick watched him carefully. “He’s got a bad bump on the back of his head too, Doc. I think he got it from getting shot off his horse. He must have hit the ground hard.”

“Let’s finish up one thing at a time. He’s going to need a lot of rest. From the looks of his clothes, he lost a great deal of blood,” Doc said.

Nick nodded. “Would that make him ‘see’ things doc?”

“What do you mean, ‘see’ things?”

“Well, you know, things that aren’t there,” Nick tried to skirt the issue.

Doc Merar felt Heath’s forehead. “He’s pretty warm, probably a bit of infection already. You saying he was delirious too?”

“Yeah, that’s probably it,” Nick said, giving up on trying to explain it to him.

Doc Merar checked on the bump on the back of his head. “You’re right, that is a nasty bump on his head. Put some cold compresses on that. He’ll probably have a good headache for a few days,” Doc continued. “Has he been lucid or conscious at all?”

“Yeah, he knew what happened, he’s been talking,” Nick replied. “Not making a lot of sense, but some.”

“I’ll leave you some medicine. Keep him quiet and make sure he gets plenty of rest. That’s about all you can do now, the rest is up to him, but he’s young and strong, it’ll take some time, but he should be fine.”

“Thanks Doc,” Nick said, staying focused on his younger brother.

Doc Merar noticed that and asked, “Did anything happen to you Nick? You’re acting a little peculiar too?”

Nick shook his head, “Nah, I’m fine, just concerned about Heath. I never had to dig out a bullet like that before. I guess it shook me up a bit.”

“Maybe you should think about medical school, that was a fine bit of surgery you performed.”

“I think I had a little help from up above doc,” Nick offered.

“All us doctors do,” Doc Merar said with a grin. “Most people don’t realize that.”

With that, Nick walked him out. “If you need me to come out, just send for me, otherwise I’ll stop back out in a few days.”

“Thanks Doc.”

Nick went back into the room by Heath and went over and poured himself a whiskey and quickly drank it down.

Heath had awoken and watched him out of the corner of his eye. “Wish I could have me one of those,” he drawled.

Nick spun around and gave him a smile and walked over and sat beside him, “I think its best if you just tried to rest, and skip the whiskey for now. Doc was just here,” he said, “you’re gonna be just fine, good as new in no time.”

“What else did he say?” Heath tried to sit up, but Nick quickly nixed that.

“He said to stay in bed, so lay down there, we’ll get you upstairs soon enough. You got nowhere to go and nothing to do for right now.”

“What about the bullet Nick?”

“What about it? I got it out remember?” Nick answered avoiding the topic again.

Heath didn’t appreciate that Nick was playing games with him, he wanted to know what Dr. Merar had said about the wound. “Nick, tell me what he said?”

Nick averted his eyes from Heath’s and took in a deep breath.

“Nick?”

“You were right! Ok, is that what you want to hear. Doc said, if I hadn’t taken out the bullet out there, that,” Nick couldn’t go on.

“That what Nick?”

“You would have probably died instantly from the ride. It was in a bad spot. It had to come out when it did.”

“Father was right,” Heath said softly. Nick could see him relax on the sati.

“The thing is, is that you’re gonna be just fine now, that’s what matters,” Nick still couldn’t admit to anything.

“Thanks to you and Pa,” Heath said.

Nick shook his head. Something just kept him from believing. He stood up and walked over to the fireplace and stared into the leaping flames. Heath watched him and wished there was something he could say to make Nick believe, or at the least to offer him some comfort. As he watched Nick’s back, he realized that he had something in his right hand. He opened up his palm and saw what he had been grasping. It was a shiny pink colored, smooth pebble. It was some sort of crystal that had been polished smooth.

Nick turned around and said, “Listen Heath, I want to believe you, really I do, I just don’t understand. It’s hard for me to accept.” He noticed that Heath was fascinated by something he held in his hand, so he took the few steps and walked back and sat down beside him. “Did you hear me?”

Distracted, Heath finally glanced at him, but continued to roll the smooth rock in his palm. “I don’t know what more I can say Nick, he was there. It’s that simple to me, and I’m not delirious now.”

“What have you got there?” Nick asked, seeing Heath’s hand close around the pebble.

“Don’t rightly know, must have been some rock I picked up while I was on the ground,” Heath said holding it out for Nick to see. “It’s kinda pretty, you might say.”

Nick sat still and frozen as could be and Heath noticed the distant look was now in Nick’s eyes.

“Nick, what is it?” Heath wondered.

Nick snapped back to reality and stared directly at Heath. “Where did you get this?” he asked, reaching over and taking it out of his hand and holding it in his own. His tone was a bit demanding.

Heath was bewildered, “I don’t know Nick, it just was in my hand. Maybe I got it where we were at this morning, I must have picked it up off the ground.”

Nick shook his head no, “there’s no way.”

“Whatta ya mean? Nick what is it, have you seen it before?” Now Heath was concerned about Nick. “Nick, tell me?”

Nick got the distant look in his eyes again, but he started to talk, “I was about twelve. We were up at the lodge, all of us, on our annual spring trip,” he smiled. “I was out exploring and I found this huge boulder, made of this pink crystal. It was beautiful. I broke off a piece and brought it back to the lodge and showed it to father. He showed me how to polish it, to make it smooth, just like this.” He held it up for both of them to see.

“So Father left another one, as a sign,” Heath paused, “for you,” he added, “to believe.”

Nick shook his head again. “It’s not another one, it’s THE same stone.”

“I don’t understand Nick.”

“It took me years to polish it, I’d work it at for ten minutes one night before bed, or an hour or two while I rode fence, working at it, rubbing it down, just to get it right.” Nick continued to tell his story. “When father died, I put it in his pocket, in his grave.”

“So then,” Heath paused, trying to understand.

Now Nick nodded the affirmative. “Now I believe.”

Heath gave him a smile, which Nick returned.

“Tell you what?” Nick started, “let’s just keep this between the two of us, I don’t think anyone else will understand.”

“Sure thing Nick,” Heath replied, his eyes getting drowsy from the whole ordeal.

“The doctor said you need quiet and rest, why don’t you try to get some sleep. I’ll be right here.”

“Thanks Nick,” Heath said quietly.

Nick watched him continue to drift in and out of sleep, replaying everything that had occurred over and over in his own head. It didn’t make much sense, but every time he’d get to wondering, he opened up his hand and took a close look at the shiny pebble. He sat quietly rubbing it in his hand, watching Heath sleep peacefully.

About a half hour later, Victoria came in with Sheriff Bodine.

“Heath, what happened?” She called out. Her voice jolted a groggy Heath awake.

“I’m ok, just lost a little blood,” he said, first looking up to her and then over to Nick. He gave him a wink.”

“Doc Merar was just here, he said he needed rest and quiet,” Nick said.

(Author’s note: And you all know the rest of the episode…..)