Changes

She sighed tiredly as she rode at the head of her herd, leading several riderless, saddled horses which in turn each had a pair of loaded packhorses tied to their saddles. The many guard, herder and hunting dogs kept the loose horses moving, following her. She scanned the trail ahead hopefully, she knew she was close. It had been a long trail, spanning several months and a good portion of the country, but she could sense them just ahead and one of them was very, very close.

"Nice, Gage. You were right about hearing a lot of horses, but I think they've already got an owner." Came the sarcastic tones of a familiar, but not particularly well-liked voice.

She stopped the horses and turned her head to look toward the voice she'd heard, answering with equal sarcasm, "Wonderful, just great: I finally catch up with Johnny and what's the first thing I hear? The whining prattle of an ungrateful little twit I actually included a good saddle horse for! I should make Chet Kelly keep walking on his own feet, I won't, cuz it'll slow us down, but I should." She grinned uphill at her Johnny. "Guess I'll just have to unnaturally forge a different method of taking it outta his hide...later. Again." She enjoyed John Gage's joyful laughter and Chet's swearing.

Then, she turned her horse so that both men up there could see how carefully supported her right leg was. It wasn't wrapped, just supported because of the kind of swelling her knee was in the middle of; she'd not been able to get the right reach or angles to do that: She wasn't about to tell John that, though. If she knew John at all...yep. He was coming now. He'd not like the reasons for how well secured she was to the saddle, but with her knee so badly swollen that she couldn't use the stirrup...or even bend it past a certain point, he'd understand at a glance. She dreaded his reaction to that pumpkin-ish color it was, though.

Still, all she really wanted was for John Gage to wrap those strong arms around her and just hold on until she either lost it or stopped shaking. She knew she needed a better reason for him than that, though.

"John, I know that look. It can wait a bit: It's waited this long cuz I couldn't reach it to do it right, but...I'm not bleeding, ain't got inta chems or poisons, nothin's broke and I'm breathin' fine. I need a hug an' I know you can't that right now, cuz I'll lose it if you touch me. So, get on Barkin', get Chet on Nettie, cuz she's gentle and she won't lose him or let him fall or get too far behind or get lost...and take me an' the string to Roy, right now. My dogs'll bring the herds." She was pointing at a particular mare on one of the leads when she said 'Nettie' and to a young stallion for 'Barkin''. And her eyes were filling with tears as she looked at him. "I missed you, both of you, so much."

"Okay, sweetheart." He answered quietly. Yeah, you're not holding it together by much, are you? He mused in his mind, eyes scanning many changes, several of them not at all kind, that time had done. He liked that knee less the longer he looked at it. She watched his familiar grace as he took control of the string, noted the full packs and mounted the only other stallion, several years younger than the one she rode. He was the calmest stallion John had ever seen...next to the one Jane was on.

Chet was still in shock but he mounted the indicated mare, much better to let the horse walk instead of doing it himself.

"All set, Kelly?" He asked, his own seat easy and comfortable. His mount was wide enough to be comfortable, but he knew he'd feel it later: Barking was packing a lot of dense muscle.

"Yeah, anything's better than more walking." Chester B paused. "How does she always find you?"

"No clue, but she does. Same way we can always find her, I guess. Nothing any of us can explain, though. It just is. It's been years this time though...and from the look of it, they've been rough ones for her." He looked at the young woman. "You told me what it isn't, so now tell me what it is. I seriously do not like the way that looks."

"Tendinitis, hamstrings behind the knee and above and below it in front, then down the back of my calf into the foot, both the arch and the tops and sides. Along with a wee bit of active gout. Pretty sure some of the sinews were feeling left out and decided to join the tendons. I'm just glad it's all soft tissue instead of the joints, but, it's just a flare up, I had a lot of work to do and I was alone. Does make riding smarter than walking attempts...those don't do so good when it's like this. But it's okay, I'm used to working around it, my stud lays down when I need to mount or dismount, he's a service animal and trained to compensate. His name is Wuffles and he's eight."

He sighed, "The nastiest flare up I've ever seen, but yeah, it can wait, not for long, mind. Good thing we're close."

"Your horse is Barking Nuts, seriously, that's his name. He's just ending his fourth year and thinks he's hot stuff. Needs a competent hand on the reins, he's only been ridden for about two months or so, not often, just on my good days. Shows off when you're not paying attention, which is why I warned you. Likes to do the whole 'Look what I can do!' thing. He's fun to watch in pasture though, when he plays, he can be a little crazy. Wuffles is his sire. I named him Wuffles cuz he likes to snuffle through your hair and he makes a wuffling noise when he does that."

He sighed. "Wuffles and Barking Nuts. Right, I know it's a dumb question, but...what're you doing out here?"

"Following you. Could feel Roy too, but you felt stronger, so I knew you were much closer. I was comin' home, for good, y'know. Found you lot in the middle of a mess, so, I stole your Morgans back, already had my Vanners cuz I wanted to show you what a wonderful breed they are, plus I had the hunting, guard and herder dogs and saddled a few loose Gyps...put packsaddles on more, filled the panniers...from my walker or hanging onto the horses...and went to find you. The Morgans are in the combined weanling and yearling herd, just because your Morgans are all geldings and make good nannies cuz they like youngsters and are experienced. The vanners are cold bloods though, nice and calm...except the Barking, weanlings and yearlings. Figured your Morgans could keep up with them though."

"Knew it was a dumb question." Gage grinned. He tried not to let her mention of a walker bother him. She was rather young for needing one but with that knee...he really didn't like the look of it. She had it supported well and didn't need him to mess with it right now, though. He knew her like he knew the drug box and she wasn't letting him see most of it right now. Not until she was off the horse and Roy was with her too...figured she'd lose it then. He wasn't so sure he wouldn't as well, because if there was one thing John Gage was sure of, besides of just how much she loved him, it was how much he and Roy loved her back.

Besides, she only got that look on her face when she had something going on that he wasn't going to want her doing something she was doing because of. And the only thing she was doing was riding a horse. Which meant she had some sort of issue, other than her knee, that would make him nervous if he knew about it...something Wuffles was probably used to 'compensating' for: That alone made him nervous.

"Hey, Johnny?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not underage anymore...and I haven't changed my mind."

He looked at her for a long moment. "Okay, that's good. Neither have we. But you're not telling me something, aren't you?"

"Um. Ahhh. Well...yeah. That can wait too."

He eyeballed her for a moment before he sighed. "You have something potentially serious going on and are trying not to scare me." Really, really aware. And it helped that both he and Roy loved her too.

She just looked at him guiltily and nodded...but she still didn't say anything.

For once, Chet kept his mouth shut. He knew this girl too and knew she wouldn't hesitate to backhand him across the mouth; she had before. Popping off within arm's reach was just plan stupid. From the way Gage's lips quirked, he knew why Chet remained silent.

"Rest of the guys are going to be surprised, well, probably not Roy, but the other three, anyway." Chet commented, following the others as John headed his horse for their camp, Jane followed Gage and the rest of the livestock were brought along by a huge number of various breeds of dog.

"The rest...the whole shift got sent off?" She sounded outraged. "With those under-loaded daypacks I heard about, I suppose?"

"Yep."

"Well, I know how to load for a lot of people for an extended period, so I've got enough packed for up to two hundred people for up to five years. All we need now is a location." She grinned at John. "The only packhorses on leads are green ones quite new to this task, the experienced ones are in the herd. The green ones are carrying day use stuff, poles, lures, tents, bags, that sort of stuff. And I snuck into town and raided the contents, especially the important items, from eight different squads, plus our's, plus the hospital. And several pharmacies while I was there: Red-tarped packs have all the county medical stuff, one squad's worth per pack...drug boxes are about a foot down and well buffered from jostling, right on top of the defibrillator/radio combination and I made sure all of those have a full charge. Got a lot of really well trained four to six-horse teams pulling big, well-loaded wagons with just the dogs to show them where to go, too."

"Good girl." Johnny said quietly. "And now it's our turn, so, just as soon as we get to the cavern, you can let the engine crew handle the supplies, let me handle the livestock and let Roy handle you and that leg. Between your Wuffles and your walker, he'll see everything he needs to know way before he gets close enough to recognize you."

"But, Johnny...I wanted..."

"Oh hush, I'll hold you as tight and for as long as you want me to. Should know that by now. Don't you worry about that. But he's going to go mother hen on you pretty quick and when he does, you're gonna lose it. That's going to happen anyway and soon. I can see you shaking from here." She was starting to relax and let him see what was going on with her; that was good: but he suddenly realized with a pang that she still seemed to need his approval. Once he'd proven to be alright with her raids, she'd calmed right down. "I'd prefer that happen on the ground, not in the saddle. Yeah, you're strapped in, but...still."

"Yeah, okay." She'd stayed focused for weeks by this time, she was tired...and it was okay to have her breakdown now. "Just as well, tired of sleepin' in the saddle, even if it is a modified McClellan. He'll knock me out."

He wasn't wrong though and she knew it, so as soon as she got Wuffles close enough to see the last leg of their tripod standing in the cave mouth, she signaled him to let her off and called Bessie with her light pack and more importantly, her walker to her. The mare stayed close until Wuffles was down, then moved in enough to let her mistress unhook her equipment, kiss her on the nose and unfold her mobility aid.

She got a safe distance off and told her stallion to get up, watching has he did so. She moved in, loosened the saddle and pulled it off, then removed her horse's bridle replacing it with a halter that had a lead already on it, which she held out to Gage. John took the tack and handed it to Marc to put in the cave, then took the line. She knew about how far from her Roy would be by this time and didn't jump when he touched her arm gently.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, repositioned her walker and moved closer, edging into the circle of his arms and leaned in so she could wrap her arms around his waist and squeezed him ever so hard. He adjusted himself to take most of her weight on her good side and get it off that leg.

"Missed you, missed you so much." She told him in a half-choked voice. "But I don't care what John said, I'm too old to be losing it like I did when I was small. I've learned better control than that."

"No, you're not." And his hand threaded his fingers through her hair, chipping away at her self control just a little more. "You don't need to be that tough, yeah, having you capable is nice, but...we rather like looking after you. Speaking of which, what's up with that knee?"

"I'm not, um...I'm not underage and I'm not going to keep my hands to myself, with either of you. Not even gonna try past a certain point, so you might want to decide if you want me going there or not. Both of you."

"Did you tell Gage that?"

"Yes, right in front of Chet, too. Who wisely kept his trap shut, probably to avoid being knocked right out of Nettie's saddle." She looked up at his face. "Johnny didn't run away screaming or anything..."

"Okay. If you think this can work?"

"Nothing new but the herds and a new set of activities, really: Everything else should fall into place in a few days."

"Hmm, activities...never heard it put like that before, but it's still a good point. Now, let's get you off that leg...which you still haven't explained."

Right on cue, John caught him up and when he had, she added, "I've been in the saddle more than out of it for about fifteen weeks, so I need the walk. Need to see if it's going to behave or not. Or rather, you do. I know what to expect, after all. It's just tendinitis, Roy, with just a teensy little side helping of gout at infrequent intervals. I've had the gout flare just twice in ten years. Both times I was informed it's a holdover from that wishbone scar. So, something I keep in mind as a possibility and know the onset signals of, but..."

Johnny swore, but ran his hand down her back. "You let Roy settle you, okay? I'll be in later and give you a proper cuddle...need to tend the livestock first."

"Johnny..."

"I'll be back in a bit, won't take me long."

"Fine." They could both see her disappointment though.

"Don't really expect to see. Got it. From the nerve damage." Roy spoke before it deteriorated further as John led Wuffles, Bess and Barking away.

"That's not the one that needs monitoring, no."

"Monitoring. Not sure I care for your use of that term, given you tend to use our definition."

"Been having silent migraines for yeeeeears. Worst ones result in both tunnel vision and a complete disconnection of my speech center. Fun, huh? Had that happen twice. Mostly I just have vision issues. And my hands, both of them, sometimes go numb. Sometimes it's just the fingertips, sometimes it's all the way to the wrist. Most of the time, I just take four over-the-counter Ibuprofen and a nap...sleep until I wake and it's gone by then."

Roy sighed, hugged her again and opened his mouth to ask, "And John isn't having a hissy because...?"

"John doesn't know yet, not something he needed to be told, given that I don't actually have one right now, with me still in the saddle. No need to scare him; so I just told him the immediate stuff. He was a bit focused on my knee after all. Oh, yeah, Wuffles has my Book, in the left saddlebag. Got it when I raided several squads, our's first, to make sure you have some decent medical supplies along with what I already had in the packs. Heard about those half-filled daypacks." She scuffed the toe of her bad leg in the dirt, "I just wanted a hug, but not if he doesn't want to. Besides, if he really wanted to know, he'd still be here. Told him I was keepin' something back. I guess he's mad."

"Hey, he didn't mean it that way and you know that." Roy sighed then blew out his breath and pulled her into his arms a bit more firmly. "Okay, something to be aware of, certainly." He kissed her on her head. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not that long, I've have a custom McClellan for Wuffles. Sleep just fine in his saddle. Would like to stretch out though. Gettin' a bit tired of sleepin' sittin' up, just wasn't sure I could get back in if I got out, so I stayed in."

"Not sure that even counts." He started leading her toward the cavern system they'd settled into as a new home, hard to find, harder to get to and a pain in the ass to see from the air. Nobody overflew this remote area anyway. "Let's get you cleaned up and laid down. I want a better look at that leg and then maybe soak it. This place has a bunch of hot mineral springs we use for bathtubs."

"I want to cuddle before you do. You're gonna knock me out."

"I don't think you need..."

"Not that. If it was hurtin' that much I'd've told John straight off, especially since I'd just given him the horse which had the packhorses which were loaded with your stuff. He has the drug boxes from eight squads, including your's. If it was giving me that much trouble, I'd've told him. No, as long as I don't try to move it in certain directions it's fine. When I've been super-tense, you just do, you both do it. You know it. I'll relax too much and then BOOM. I won't even make it to the bedroll. Right saddlebag has a one piece swimsuit, let me get that on, at least. I've been super tense for three months, it's gonna happen. Hell, it's already starting."

He chuckled at the disgruntled sounding whine, "Oh, yeah. That. Forgot that bit. But you won't need the suit, John and I claimed a somewhat larger cave-let with it's own decent sized spring by finding it first and moving in. I'll close the screen John made to use as a door from woven cattail leaves over the opening and it'll be fine."

She huffed, then nodded. "Which way?"

"Where's she at?" John wanted to know.

"She KOed ten minutes into a bath." Roy grinned. "She's asleep, but she's not going to be happy if she wakes up alone, though. She's way underweight, John. She hasn't been that light since before she was a teen."

"She predicted you were going to knock her out. I'll go, she wanted a hug and didn't get one."

"And she was really disappointed, wanted a hug from you, to go with the ones from me. I gave her quite a few, bet on that, but she's going to be hurt if one of us isn't in there when she wakes up. Thinks you're angry with her."

"She's safe and knows it, so she relaxed." Mike Stoker put in. "She's got a crap ton of supplies, including food, with long shelf lives."

"Well, she said she had sufficient for two hundred people for five years." Kelly said, passing by with crate of glass mason jars filled with homemade cherry jam. "Most of it is dried, canned or preserves. Does have a lot of veg seeds, goats, chickens, milk cows, lots of steers...unbranded big ones, a lot of whole grain stuff and flour of various kinds, some big mortars too, for grinding grain I guess."

Marc grinned. "Half her horses are in harness, four to six at a go, hauling loaded wagons, too. The dogs guarded and guided them since they had no drivers. We got them parked and unharnessed them, fed the dogs from their bags of kibble and turned them out with all the livestock, everything, including a couple hundred chickens, are loose in that field with the natural stone walls you said would make good pasture. Plenty of roosters mixed in."

"Good enough, that's where I turned out the loose ones and the personal saddle horses. Glad she grabbed mine, though. Missed them." But he left them then and went into the cavelet where she was tossing and turning, snuffling into empty bedding that smelled like them and looked like she was starting to panic in her sleep. He shook his head and stripped down to his boxers fast before he got into bed and pulled her close before she hurt herself more, flailing around like that. Roy had splinted her leg as a temporary measure. Once they unpacked the medical supplies, they'd wrap it properly.

She stilled, sniffed at him, poked him with a finger a couple of times, then sighed and quieted, her nose stuck in his armpit where his scent was the strongest, breathing in deeply for a few minutes. He couldn't help the huge grin that spread across his face as she moved nearer to plaster herself against his side, repositioned her head into the hollow of his shoulder and slid her right arm across and around his bare belly. He pulled her against his side just a little tighter and barely heard her whisper his name before she zonked out.

Roy came in a good bit later with several of the many pillows and comforters she'd brought, also stripping down and got a cover from the pile for them before slipping into bed on her other side, scrunching in close to her and placing one sturdy hand on her hip. "Capt said they'd come get one of us when they found the wagon with our supplies."

"Good, I want to get her leg in a support bandage in the worst way. So, what did she spill that she clearly wasn't telling me?" John asked. He knew she was out for the count, as soon as she'd felt Roy join them, every bit of remaining tension had vanished and she'd gone utterly limp. "I can tell when she's trying not to scare me...and when I called her on it, she admitted it and still wouldn't tell me."

Roy told him about the chronic silent migraines, running his fingers through her still damp hair. "She's right about the tendinitis, too, she's actually got a hospital's paperwork to prove it this time. It is a flare up, but an aggravated one she could have avoided."

"Migraines. No riding for a while, I think. No wonder she didn't want to tell me."

"Yeah. Of course, foraging just took a back seat for a while, it'll take ages just to find enough storage for all of it."

"True. Man, she brought a lot of stuff." Gage told him. "They were still bringing in the piles unloaded from the packs and wagons when I came in. Mike poked his head in a little bit ago and said she had a couple extra people with her. Three actually."

"I know, two of them just said hello...the third one is pre-verbal." Roy snorted quietly. "Good additions, too: We won't have to make decisions above our training grade now, it's Morton, Early and a baby she left in their care. Joe says the boy is six months old, tops. Jane told them the mother was going to abandon the kid and asked her to just give him over. She did. Came across Joe and Mike two days ago, on our back-trail, handed Mike the baby as soon as he was mounted. Told them the little she knew of the kid and which packhorse had the formula assortment and the bottled water, bottles, various types of baby foods and assorted general baby stuff...told them they were expected to raise the child themselves and then left them to it."

"Better Morton than Joe...Mike can ride and carry the baby at the same time." Johnny chuckled. "Joe can stay in the saddle as long as he doesn't try anything fancy and keeps one hand on the reins and the other on the saddlehorn, but that's about all."

"Yeah, that's what Dr. Morton said. Joe just shrugged and said Morton knew what he was doing with babies and that he'd decided he'd rather wait to play pediatrician until he'd got the ground under his feet. They told me that their new baby is fine, healthy, starting to crawl."

John snorted. "At least it's not just us now, though. Don't suppose the others..."

"No. No sign of Dix or Brackett. Jane can't do everything, even if she apparently gave a very good shot at trying to do just that. She's clearly been doing a lot more than she should have. Both Doctors are very unhappy with her, putting way too much stress on her leg."

"She had a lot to do and they couldn't really help with most of it."

"True, they admitted that, but Joe is still her doctor so I'm calling bed rest and he'll back me on it." Roy said firmly. "Mike tried to claim dibs since she's not a kid anymore, but I told him she wasn't likely to go for it. Not since she full well knows about all the adults Joe treated in the E.R.."

"True. Ah. Oh. Uhn."

"John? You okay?"

"Wow. Let's make sure she's awake before she starts that." John said cryptically, moving to check. "Nope, didn't think so. Sleep sucking."

Roy looked over at him and noted a nice, wet, clearly sucked on hard nipple. He grinned. "Gotcha did she? Told me she had no intentions of keeping her hands to herself...wasn't even going to try: With either of us."

"Yeah, made that clear to me, as well. And I made it clear we are looking forward to it."

Hank had stuck his head in earlier to get Roy for something, so when John woke up in intense pleasure it startled him. Wet heat, suction and humming...around his...oh.

He looked down and groaned as she sucked him into her mouth again, then swallowed him, but at least this time she was awake. Roy was back, naked and watching, his right hand between her legs from the rear, clearly diddling her from the way her hips were moving. His other lover's penis was wet and trying to recover, so apparently she'd already nailed Roy.

True, her bum leg was properly wrapped now...clearly Roy'd insisted, but it wasn't slowing her down any. Then again, not being able to bend that knee was something she was probably used to.

Johnny didn't let it go too far, though, finally moving her to her back and taking one side of his girl while Roy took the other, both men parting her thigh and DeSoto put his fingers right back into her vagina. And as John's mouth took her's in a deep kiss, one hand plucking at both nipples by turns, Roy slid down her body to cover her mound with his own.

"Roy's good at this. Loves going down on people. Just us now, though. Reserved for just you and me. Let him eat you up."

"Mmmmm." She moaned, spreading herself further as hands she knew, touches she'd missed and men she loved made themselves felt, she felt one of her lovers' tongue unfurl in her snatch, firmly lapping at her clit, fingers finding and filling her hole, sucking on the other's tongue eagerly and both hands trying to pull John closer.

They took their time with her, made her wait for it. It became quickly clear she'd never had a real orgasm, just one caused by her own touch. Their eyes met more than once, worried and concerned. But when Roy finally came up and over her, when he sank into her, she shouted like it was her first time...surely not? She came for him like a freight train and later, when Johnny pounded into her she came unglued.

What floored both of them, when it was over...for now at least, was her happy eyes and the thing she said. "So glad I waited for you."

"Jane." Roy's tone was stunned.

"The right hands. The right touch. The right presence." She was half asleep, but she whispered it like it should have been obvious. And then they heard a soft snore.

John blew out his breath as soon as she drifted off, "Should've known. She never tolerated anyone but us. Not in the field, not at the station, my house or your's. Not in the Hospital unless we were there and treating instead of the nurses. She didn't trust anyone else. Never has. Took her from that monster...made her safe. Make sure she knew we cared. She never let anyone else get close."

"Still hasn't, apparently." Roy's hand slid down along her back and butt, earning a sigh and causing a wiggle.

"No, no she hasn't. She loves us, though. So much."

"Yeah, yeah she does. Can't say as I mind."

"No. She's our's, she's going to stay our's."

"True."

Hank stared at his paramedics for a moment when they came out to get some breakfast for the three of them the next morning. "Bit loud, there."

"She waited. All this time, all by herself, because the only people in the world she has ever trusted not to hurt her, trusted to touch her, weren't there. She waited for us. Found that out after, said so as she was nodding off." John snapped quietly, "She can be as loud as she wants."

"I don't think she has any idea how much damage that kind of isolation likely did to her. She cut herself off from people. We're her's, we've always been her's." Roy's voice was intense. "Get this through your head, Capt., when she needed us the most, we weren't there."

Bright tears shone in Johnny's eyes. "She just wanted me to give her a hug and instead I passed her to Roy last night. By the time I got to her she was asleep. So, that's twice. I hurt her because I was in such a hurry to put the horses away that I couldn't take a moment for her...and that hurts more than enough already."

Roy nodded, voice rough. "She doesn't think anything of it, just does what needs doing without so much as a nod to it. But it's in her body language if you watch. Sometimes in the way she talks about herself, too."

John confirmed, "And it's in her behavior."

His captain swore quietly when he met DeSoto's upset blue eyes and saw him nodding. Both Mikes, Marc and even Kelly were doing some low swearing of their own...as did Joe when he came in and Morton caught him up.

"So, she hasn't changed much, has she? She's an adult and capable with everyone else, but as far as your dynamics go..."

"Not much, no." Roy confirmed. "She told me our dynamics boiled down to added livestock and a new set of 'activities' was how she put it." This earned an amused snort from his partner.

"It's a little scary watching her go from a strong, competent person that was impatient to just get on with it, to someone who apparently can't wait to be allowed to take a step back and follow someone else instead." Joe told Roy later. "It was a relief when she told us that yes, she had a destination."

"Confused us when she also said it was a moving target cuz John hadn't picked a place yet. When he stops, that's our destination. Until then, we just follow him." Mike Morton added ruefully. "That's when I realized she wasn't being careless with the baby, she knew exactly who and more to the point, what, she was handing that child to: Doctors she knew. She already knew I was competent on a horse and that the actual pediatrician was not, so she handed the baby to me. I didn't realize who she was until right then, either. She always knows where you two are, in which direction and how far. Joe knew, though."

"Had to be, nobody else would manage to find me both a baby and a sitter to look after him, in the wilderness."

"She's always said she can always hold on until either you get to her or she gets to you." Hank reminded DeSoto. "And she always has."

"Yeah, but, she shouldn't have to, should she?"

"It is what it is." John told him with a shrug.

"Where is she?"

"Waiting for us to come back...with Joe. We told her we're insisting on bed rest, so, Dr. Early, would you like to have a look at her leg and confirm that for us? Roy wrapped it, but we can redo that when you're done."

"Sure." He answered, handing the child to Mike Morton.

"We decided to name the baby Marshal Forrest Morton-Early, by the way: Joe decided he needed a grandson to spoil, so I suppose I'm his daddy now: Beats being just the 'sitter' and we can't just keep calling him 'baby'."

"True." Hank laughed.

Roy led the way, but poked his head in to make sure the girl was decent first. He grinned at her pout while John took hi turn gettin' her leg wrapped up when Joe was done, but he and John got their way, mostly: Early did allow her to move about on her walker, but forbade riding for at least a month.

"Mind you, if you didn't have the walker already, you'd be going exactly nowhere." Early told her, shaking a finger at her.

"Care to bet on that, Joe? I weigh about what I did when I was twelve. Or haven't you found the scales I lifted from the E.R.? Roy put me on them on the way in last night. He wasn't really all that happy. But, it means that Johnny would pick me up without even thinking about it."

"True, I would. We both would after lifting her in and out of the bath-spring with way too much ease. She's underweight by a good measure."

"Thought those nicks and marks on that thing looked familiar." He muttered. "Which pharmacy did you raid, anyway? Had to, you got us a good range of stuff, with expiration dates that are several years out."

"You mean besides Rampart? I got most of the mattresses off the beds and gurneys, and a lot of hardware while I was there. Poles and stuff, even lifted the best portable from radiology. The CVS on Fourth, first. Got most of what they had in the store, actually. The whole store, not just the pharmacy."

"Jane! You stripped out the ER and the CVS?" Johnny was laughing though, so she just grinned at him.

"What? The whole area is abandoned, it was unused, unwanted and, most importantly, unlocked. Lights were literally on with nobody home. Even the automatic doors worked...I brought in and loaded twenty horses with empty packs right inside, in both places, even filled a couple mid-sized wagons from the E.R., no problem. Just as well I had plenty of tarps and a forklift, since it was raining."

"First?" Roy nailed the important word.

"Well, there's a mid-sized town that was abandoned in this whole crap and it has an unlocked, unused, fully stocked, Walmart Supercenter...plus there's a Lowe's next door and a Home Depot across the street, also unused and unlocked, so, yeah. Best bit is, it's about four hour's ride from here...which means we can go back with more people and fetch lumber in the wagons."

"Explains the ton of camping gear, clothes, footwear, socks, commercially sold dried and canned, or pre-packaged foods, games, electronics, full cans of gas, lots of extension cords and let's not forget the generators...and now I know why that knee is so swollen. Those things are heavy!" Joe scolded once his paramedics had finished getting her wrapped up again, as he opened the screen and followed her out as she exited leaning heavily on her walker. "You pushed yourself way too hard. How long did it take you?"

"As long as it took. Besides, I moved most of it with the forklift. You don't send my Roy and John out ill-supplied and expect me to just let you do it, you know. They'll need stuff since they'll be picking up strays all the time." She told him without a single shred of guilt and absolutely no give at all. "I had the wagons, the horsepower, the tools I needed and I got the job done. I was not raised to stand around, wring my hands and wail like some gormless twit from Monty Python...or one of your sillier patients."

"She's got you there, guys." Marc chuckled. "We all taught her, by example, to be responsible, so we don't get to complain about it when she does what needs doing. Even when it means taking on more pain, just like she's seen us all do so many, many times, to get everything we could possibly need to bring with her...and locate what she couldn't bring."

"However, I saw that wobble." John said, "Time for a nap." He did exactly what she'd predicted and just picked her up and took her back to bed, leaving the walker where it was on purpose. She couldn't go roam around without it, so for now...

"Johnny!" She was laughing though so that was fine.

They also heard John yelp a moment later, then groan "Naughty!" and Roy hastily excused himself, grinning.

Hank Stanley sighed once his paramedics had her worn out, finally asleep and had returned. "Well, the department did let her participate in all those post disaster simulations as a 'working dependent', she stunned them when she picked it up so fast, though. They taught her beginner levels of planning, supplyline, supplyline methods and tactics and when she got to the bit where she had to pick a support group from an outside, federal agency...she stunned them with her choice."

"She asked for and got Marines." Roy's smile was broad. "Marines which were asked to train her, however long it took, in those and related disciplines. The department meant the six months of the simulation..."

"But the Marines followed their orders instead and taught a small child what they were asked to teach her...and they took as long as it took, which was years." Hank sighed. "Bringing you and John in when it became clear she refused to obey anybody else...and the rest of the shift when you told them why and it was clear you needed the support of the team you were used to."

"Yeah. So, we all got the same lessons she got, only the adult version. Which now has turned out to be just as well. Knew this place looked familiar. It's the training cavern we were in for months on end." Stoker muttered. "Boy, they were pissed when you told them why, though."

"They were. And that asshole of a sire of her's vanished shortly afterward, with the Major suggesting they'd dealt with him properly and we, being corpsmen, shouldn't ask." Gage muttered. "They got very, very gentle after that though and I'm pretty sure they taught her well beyond what they were asked to."

"Yeah." Roy nodded. "Though, their expressions when they first met their 'trainee' were pretty priceless. She was only seven, after all. And wearing her 'gotcha' dress. Pale pink, white lace, white lacey ankle socks and white Mary Jane shoes. Little white gloves with lace at the wrist and her hair was just damp enough to send it into curls at the tips. She...startled them. They had to watch their language and their manners...especially the language."

"That one captain, Johannasen, I think it was, learned that bit the hard way, when she asked him, in public, in the E.R, that one time when a run interrupted one of Jane's lessons and they ended up helping 51 on a rescue that needed more men than we had free at the time, what some of those words meant. And then she listed them, ticking them off on her fingers one of those endless lists they'd got her into the habit of making...she'd laid it on Dixie's counter...because she thought that they were some technical part of one of her lessons." John recalled. "Dixie's expression when she realized that...oh she was mad!"

Morton laughed at the memory of the red-faced, highly embarrassed man's reaction to those questions. "It was during the first four months and the simulation was based at Rampart, remember, Joe? The Marine's CO and his family were there too, since that was worked into the department's by then joint simulation with the Marines."

"I remember. I also remember everyone, including me, getting a good look at the expression on his CO's wife's face, backing up and staying well clear of the result." He turned to look at his friends, the baby on his hip again by then. "His CO wasn't happy, but his wife was enraged. I've never seen a woman that angry before or since. She was scarier than Dixie. She lectured and scolded him non-stop for three hours, one hand on her hip and the other waving her finger under his nose. I seriously doubt he ever swore in the hearing of a child again in his life."

"Officers' wives can be scary: That one certainly was. Didn't stop Jane from kicking 'the scary lady' in her shins, both of them when she judged she'd gotten to close to me and John. Kicked her hard, too." Roy nodded. "Wonder if any of them will show up here? Most will have been discharged by now, but they should realize where we'd have gone."

"It's possible, even likely." Chet answered soberly. "I don't think I'd mind, though."

Four Months Later

"That's the last of the lumber," Marco Lopez commented to John as he drove his team up with a full wagon load of 2"x4"s, leading several packhorses with the wagon carrying screws, construction and roofing nails, roofing paper, tin caps and more tools. Other wagons had loads of either lumber or roofing shingles...well, his group's did. Jane's was still emptying that Walmart. True, what foods hadn't already perished had been taken first, but the dry goods were still being removed, everything from textiles to furniture was being brought home, in the order of Needed First, Wise to have and then after all that, Wanted. The cavern system was pretty comfortable, really. "Where'd all the new people come from?" He looked around a bit startled.

"Chet actually called it, we've got a hundred and twenty-five Marines, their wives, kids and other dependents." He paused to call a couple over, pointed at the rest of the thirty-odd arriving wagons and they headed over, calling behind them to several more. He stopped a Sargent and said, "Let's get a good look at what is on the wagons, figure out what to unload first in a way where common sense meets reality, then sort as we stack, so we know what we have. Someone needs to keep a list, but just one person so we don't have a dozen copies of the same list. We'll figure out what we need to use and how, later."

"Makes sense to me. I'm glad this group has some smarter people in it that most of the groups we've found."

"Oh you should know that already. We're not strangers. We're all firefighters from the same station and shift except for Joe Early, Mike Morton and ten-month-old Marshal, both of those men are fully licensed medical doctors, Joe's a pediatrician, Mike's Emergency Medicine. Jane and Roy and I are a permanent tripod. She's the seven year old you introduced to some odd training some few years back. Roy and I are what you used to call corpsmen, we call ourselves paramedics."

"Gage?"

"Yup."

"So, she never learned or wanted to learn to abide anyone else. Natural for her to wait to grow up, surprised you waited for her but...I'm glad for her. She needs you."

"Yeah, she does. But we need her too, more than we even knew. Know it now, though. Most of the horses and all of the dogs, cats...those are new but when rodents went after the grain stores, she went out and set live traps where she knew there were some pregnant females, so we have cats now too...and livestock are her's, all the supplies we started with, the stuff we showed you first, she arrived here with."

"Put her training to good use, then."

"She did."

And as they turned to start accessing which wagons to unload first, John told him the rest of it, including her blasted knee issues. "She just sucked it up, found out a couple weeks later that she'd eaten ibuprofen like it was candy and did what needed doing, though. All by herself, her knee was the size of a very large cantaloupe melon by the time she caught up with us and a nasty shade of orangutan-orange." He finished. "Between Marine influence and our's, though...yeah. She got the job done and then let us deal with the fallout. She was on bed rest and kept out of a saddle for nearly two months after that, which was just four months ago. She'd slept on Wuffles for fifteen weeks straight, without dismounting, because she was pretty sure she'd never be able to get back on the horse if she got off. She's got a custom McClellan saddle: Calvary style saddle, those, intended to be slept in."

The Marine looked at him, a sort of sad pride in his eyes. "There's worse things than to teach strength to a child badly in need of it...especially one that picks up what you teach as fast as that child did...and at that age. I've taught recruits by the thousands that didn't learn as well or as fast as she did at seven years old."

"She wanted nothing more than to make me and Roy proud of her. That's all. That's all it ever took, though."

"She's something else, alright. I'll let the others know. Marines lost a helluva woman when that bastard ruined her for the rest of the human race, though: She'd be a general by now."

"Well, comes down to it, she's pretty much in charge here, cross her at your own risk. Just ask Chet. Where do you think he got that pink and purple hair? And remember, we raised her in the station so he knows better. Did you attend that year's Fire Department's Annual Picnic? We had Practical Joke Awards for the best documented pranks each shift pulls off during the year before...and she's the official mascot for Station 51. She's a member, so she could...and did...participate. Chet was, is and I suspect always will be, her favorite target." He grinned at the man's bellow of laughter.

"Ow. Boot camp didn't hurt this much at the end of the day. I don't think I'm up for another ride."

"You're the one who wanted a mustang instead of a Vanner, you got a good one. Not my fault you can't stay in the saddle or that the horse is smarter than you are. Gonna name him Pot Shot, I think." Jane laughed at Cpl. Franklin James as he groaned before gettin' to his feet. "Let John and Marc train the wild ones...they don't dump them, after all and let me put you on a good youngster who is used to a saddle and ready for a permanent rider. I think your backside is tired of hitting the ground that hard. I have a dozen four year old mares and any of them will suit a 'stable rider' better."

The corporal sighed, "Yeah, okay."

"Training wild horses needs training to do. Training you don't have." She chuckled. "Ask Marc to teach you, if you're that hell bent on a dream of having mustangs, then try it next year."

An hour later he was up on a pretty buckskin mare with a smokey double mane, dark legs, dark feathers and a tail in several shades of brown and black that dragged the ground behind her...until she turned her head into a strong wind, which picked up the excessive hair and blew it like watered silk. Her feathers were thick and long, she was sweet-natured, friendly and made it quite clear that she liked Frank a great deal.

"Oh, yeah." He said quietly, putting her through paces that were as smooth as high quality glass. "I'm in love."

"Looks like a good pairing, yes, I would say you've found your horse. She's all your's now. Take good care of your new baby. Not bad for her very first rider, huh?"

"First? Absolute first?" He winced at the memory of the several times he'd been bucked off that gray mustang that morning...the difference could not be more clear.

"Kept telling you, Vanners are special." She grinned up at him fiendishly. "Well, now that your brain is back inside your skull where it belongs, so you don't do yourself an injury because you're actually thinking now...instead of wandering around in a romantic pipe dream of a mustang magically deciding it just absolutely must to be your best bud, I have work to do. Best get to it. Gonna have to mention this to Captain Walters, though. Marines are supposed to be smarter than that. Think you need some personally tailored 'problem solving' exercises. I'll see if he can arrange them for you."

As she headed toward the caves, she carefully made sure he didn't see her grinning when she heard his embarrassed groan.

Walters didn't know whether to laugh or swear when he heard about Franklin's morning and what came after. He'd seen that mare and she was a doll. "Why the hell would he want a fresh caught mustang, with her waiting for him?"

"The way I put it to him...because of how it looked, mind you, was 'Well, now that your brain is back inside your skull where it belongs, so you don't do yourself an injury because you're actually thinking now...instead of wandering around in a romantic pipe dream of a mustang magically deciding it just absolutely must be your best bud, I have work to do.'"

"Ouch."

"Then I told him I intended to tell on him, to you...with the suggestion you might want to come up with some 'tailored' problem solving exercises for him. Marines aren't supposed to be dumb. So, fix him, please, before he gets himself or someone else hurt. If he wants to work with mustangs, Marc or John can teach it, but Marc doesn't have a student right now and John has three. So, I told him to ask Lopez instead of John."

"Got it. Yeah, he does need...well, I'll talk to his lieutenant and my major first, but yes, we'll come up with something for him. Can't be left like that."

"It was embarrassing to watch. The horse was smarter than he was and has a really really good aim. His rear hit the ground in the exact same place four times in a row, arms and legs in the air, just his butt as the point of contact so there's actually a hole the same size as his butt there...only much deeper, now. Because of that I've named the horse Pot Shot...given he quite effectively used your corporal as his ammo. Pot Shot is reserved for Johnny, though. After gettin' that kind of...reassurance of his dominance over mere humans, it has to be John."

She and the Captain heard John's howl of laughter at that comment. "Yeah, no more leaving the smart ones with alpha personalities to greenhorns."

"Good thing he ain't made it past corporal yet. Please, belay that until he's learned common sense? The last thing anyone needs is any grade of Marine Sargent that's...um...well...he's not bone-stupid, so it's gotta be..." She paused, thought about it and settled for twirling her index finger around her ear in the universally understood symbol of insanity. "To commemorate this event, though, I just lined it with cement, to make a birdbath for him...used colorful rocks to put his name, rank, date and the phrase 'Pot Shot Attempt' on it. For most Marines, the word 'attempt' implies..."

"Ow, epic, cascading failure." Walters groaned. "Yeah, trust me on this, the Marines will do something...constructive...with him. The phrasing, which will be taken way out of context by most people, who don't and can't know the full story, implies that he can't shoot straight."

"Thought you'd catch that." Grinning at his muttered a not quite quiet enough foul word when he realized she'd done that on purpose. "Consider it 'encouragement'."

She woke up woozy and disoriented, reaching blindly for the warm bodies that lay next to her, both rousing rapidly as they sensed something off with her.

"Sweetheart?" Roy rumbled, catching her up and pulling her close, hands moving over her, gently calming. "What's wrong?"

"Dreamed about that greyhound bus wreck: The Flip'em Us one. Why would that surface after so long?"

"I dunno. It just happens, sometimes." John's lower tones rippled over her as one hand moved through her lengthening hair. It had been cut down to a few ragged inches when she'd found them, but two years in, it was gettin' long enough to play with.

"It does." Roy agreed, kissing her forehead. "All of us have bad memories that surface sometimes as dreams."

"Here, sit up. Let me brush your hair, that always calms you." John moved so his legs surrounded her hips and started running the bristles through it. "I like that your hair is getting longer."

It took him a little while but he eventually got her to lay back down and go back to sleep.

"What the...oh, man...I've been attacked by the rugrats."

Every head in the common area of the main cavern turned at the revolted tone in Chet's voice and chuckles broke out all over. His hair was covered in small hand-prints of every color imaginable, except his burnt umber eyebrows and his mustache which was a bright red on one side, fuchsia on the other and white in the middle, his eyelids were orange, his lips were purple, he had two big splotches of bright yellow color on his cheeks and...there were five or six toddlers with finger-paints surrounding his location on a couch. One was poking him to wake him up, another was holding up a mirror for him so he could see how 'pretty' he was, for himself.

"So, he still sleeps through that sort of thing, does he? Thought for sure he'd wake up before they got that far when I gave them the paint and sent them over. Never occurred to me they'd have time to get done and have to wake him up themselves." Jane mused, Roy snorted, he could see her inner hamster starting to run.

"Apparently. Thought he got over that with you." Johnny said with a heartless grin at his hapless friend's state.

"Well, looks like he'll have to get over it again." Roy snickered. "She's in the planning stage and her hamster is movin'."

John looked at Jane and laughed loudly. "Yep, like it's got a brand new wheel."

"With a fresh coat WD-40 on the axle of it, too." She confirmed. "Got some ideas, yes I do. Gotta do something with the nifty cameras and screens we got from Walmart. Besides, I got their whole session on disc...including the bit where I gave them the paints. First one's mine this year and it's only July 5th!"

Behind her, Stoker bellowed in laughter. "You're in for it now, Kelly!"

TBC