Re: Say the Words - ch.27 -- The Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman Fan Exchange

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Date Posted: 06:50:01 03/26/03 Wed
Author: dqfan
Subject: Re: Say the Words - ch.27
In reply to: dqfan 's message, "Say the Words - ch.26" on 06:46:41 03/26/03 Wed

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Ezra had waited patiently by the bench beneath the old oak tree for more than an hour, pretending to look busy with various minor tasks in order to pass the time. Truthfully, his heart just wasn't in his work today. The argument he'd overheard between Peter and Alexander had left him shaken. Even more disturbing was the fact that Daisy would be arriving at Oakhaven soon and there was still no sign of the mysterious older couple.

Shrugging off his disappointment, Ezra turned to give that stodgy curmudgeon, Mr. Farnsworth, his medication. When Ezra turned back a few minutes later, the elusive older woman was sitting once again beneath the tree, watching intently as the medical staff performed their duties. But this time, Ezra noted strangely, she appeared to be alone.

Before Ezra could make his way over to her, he felt an unexpected tap on his shoulder. Decidedly on edge, Ezra jumped with nervous anticipation...

"Daisy!" he gasped, collecting himself. "Must you do that?"

"I must�" she teased harmlessly, surveying the grounds of the nursing home. "So, what'd I miss?" she wondered curiously.

"She just materialized�alone�" Ezra whispered under his breath, pointing toward Michaela.

"Alone�" Daisy repeated, absorbing the implications. "Intriguing�"

"Well, fools rush in�" Daisy chimed, bounding cheerfully toward the bench, before Ezra could object.

"Daise�wait�I haven't told you about Sophie�" Ezra tried to stop her but Daisy was too far ahead and too focused on her mission.

"Hi�remember me�" Daisy greeted Michaela breezily with a smile.

"Daisy�of course�how nice to see you again�" Michaela welcomed warmly as Ezra quickly assumed his place beside her, "and Ezra, hello dear."

"I've been wandering the facility watching you and the staff attend to your duties," Michaela continued speaking.

"The advances of medical science are truly amazing!" she enthused.

"Do you know, I've just seen a heart re-started using some sort of paddle?" Michaela found it difficult to contain her excitement.

"Electricity in the paddles shocks the heart back into a normal rhythm," Ezra explained simply.

"And then the doctor consulted some sort of reading on a machine?" Michaela pressed for details.

"An EKG," Ezra explained patiently, by now fully aware of the old woman's inordinate interest in medicine. "It stands for electrocardiogram."

"There's a machine for just about everything," Ezra continued informatively. "An EKG tells how the heart is beating�an x-ray lets you look inside the body�a CAT scan sees inside the brain�"

"You use a cat to see inside the brain?!" Michaela exclaimed.

"Not a real cat," Ezra laughed seeing the horrified look on Michaela's face.

"CAT's just an abbreviation for the machine they use," Ezra reassured her. "Everybody speaks in abbreviations around here�"

Relieved, Michaela nodded, studiously making mental note of Ezra's lesson for the day, appreciating the knowledge he so willingly shared with her.

"And here I was impressed by the sight of a sphygmomanometer," Michaela chuckled.

"The spigo-what?" Ezra asked baffled.

"The sphygmomanometer�" Michaela repeated, pointing to the nurse now taking Mr. Farnsworth's blood pressure.

"Oh, you mean the blood pressure cuff," Ezra clarified, never having heard it referred to by another name.

"Ahh, yes�the blood pressure cuff�exactly," Michaela mimicked, recovering nicely.

"So, where's your husband today?" Daisy inquired nonchalantly, though she was secretly dying to know.

"He had�an appointment," Michaela hedged.

"You mean a doctor's appointment?" Daisy pressed further. "Is he feeling okay?"

"Oh yes, thank you, he's fine�" Michaela replied cordially. "It's more of a�consultation, really," she added enigmatically, her brow furrowed with ill-concealed worry.

"Well, I hope everything will be all right. You two seem inseparable," Daisy complimented, sensing her concern.

"Oh, we're together in our hearts even when we're apart physically," Michaela reassured her. "I venture that's true with most couples�"

"Even if you're apart for years?" Ezra blurted, still troubled by Sophie's disappearance.

"Years?" Daisy and Michaela repeated in unison, eyeing him quizzically.

"I didn't get a chance to tell you," Ezra grumbled to Daisy. "Sophie's taken off again. Peter thinks she's gone for good�"

"And you tell me this now?" Daisy muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

"Couples often have misunderstandings," Michaela commented casually, though her interest in this discussion was far from casual.

"But perhaps�Sophie," Michaela said the names tentatively as if she were hearing them for the first time, "isn't as far away as�Peter�thinks she is."

"Perhaps her heart is his already?" Michaela smiled hesitantly, hoping she'd made her point.

"So you would suggest we do what�exactly," Daisy leaned in closer, noticing for the first time that the old woman possessed one green eye and one brown.

"I would suggest you do as you have been," Michaela smiled endearingly at the two young people so eager to help. "Be there for them, support them, let them know you care�"

"I think they're very lucky to have the two of you as friends," Michaela took Daisy and Ezra's hands in hers.

"I hope you consider me a friend as well," she asked, looking deeply into their eyes. "Please come again and let me know how it all turns out."

"Sure� yes�" Ezra agreed somewhat awkwardly.

"Of course," Daisy nodded, full of confidence.

Ezra may not have been entirely persuaded as to their course of action, but Daisy was. The moment their hands had touched, Daisy felt such a powerful connection with Michaela that it caused a shiver to run down her spine. It was as if a door had opened, guiding Daisy toward cosmic truisms more powerful than tea leaves, seances, or, even, her trusty tarot cards.

So, as she and Ezra said their goodbyes, Daisy felt no apprehension, only comfort - in the one truth she knew for certain.

She would see the old woman again soon�.

^^^^^^^^^

"You look awful," Sully noted succinctly, sitting down on the couch beside a fitfully dozing Peter.

Instantly, Peter's eyes fluttered open and his hand went to his pounding head. Somehow, he'd managed to fall asleep sitting up, his body twisted into a ball, his arm resting against the back of the couch. His head was crooked into the corner of his elbow and a throw pillow had buried itself uncomfortably beneath his hip.

"So I've heard�" Peter snapped at Sully as he stretched his neck tentatively in circles and rubbed the kinks from his shoulders.

Frustrated by his body's relentless aches and pains, Peter pulled the pillow out from under him and, with a raging growl, threw it carelessly across the room.

Want some coffee�" Sully asked solicitously, ignoring Peter's foul mood.

"No, I don't want any coffee! That's all I've had in the past day and a half is coffee�" Peter snarled.

"Okay�no coffee," Sully nodded indulgently.

"How 'bout we just talk?" Sully offered quietly.

"Why? So you can tell me I screwed up? Believe me, I know that�" Peter's anger and self-pity were a volatile mix.

"Good, then we can start fixin' things�" Sully countered, catching Peter off-guard.

"Sophie's gone�I can't fix that," Peter saw little hope in the situation - unless�maybe�

"Can you?" Peter wondered, his voice pleading desperately for Sully's help.

"Sophie's got a mind o' her own," Sully shook his head with a smile. "But it seems t'me she's more hurt than angry."

"Same thing happened t'me and Michaela once�" Sully remembered softly.

"Palmer Creek, I know," Peter saw no reason to rehash Sully's mistakes when he could so easily rehash his own colossal blunders of the past month.

"No, not Palmer Creek." Sully's reply surprised Peter, gaining his attention anew.

"When Michaela found out about Palmer Creek she was just plain mad." Sully winced, recalling the anger in his wife's voice when they met again for the first time in the woods after the uprising.

"We were married. I shoulda told her. She was right," he acknowledged matter-of-factly.

"But�when we was courtin'�" Sully began hesitantly.

"Even though I didn't mean to�I hurt her," he revealed sadly. "Took her a long time t'be able t'trust me again."

"What did you do?" In spite of himself, Peter felt drawn into Sully's story, unable to resist the lure of the past.

"I�kissed another woman� Well, it was more like she kissed me... It's�kind o' a long story�" Sully fumbled, deciding not to subject Peter to a comparison of kissin' and fishin'�

Peter was shocked. Sully and Michaela's letters spoke of such undying love. He'd never even considered the possibility, however natural, that others might have tempted them along the way.

"But a day or so later, Michaela found out�" Sully whispered quietly.

"Thought she'd be mad but it was more'n that�she was so hurt," Sully's voice cracked as he recalled the devastated look on Michaela's face.

"Don't even think she knew she was cryin'� Made me wanna cry, too, just lookin' at her. Never seen her so vulnerable," he revealed with a sigh.

"Then she told me she couldn't be with me right now�" Sully remembered it all as if it were yesterday.

"But she never said she didn't love me�" Sully emphasized as Peter listened engrossed by the story. "I mighta lost her trust fer a while, but I knew deep down the love wasn't gone�"

"Sophie's gone�" Peter seemed able to say little else. They were the only two words that kept echoing in his brain, over and over again.

"Maybe not as far as ya think�" Sully hinted mysteriously. "So ya gotta decide how yer gonna win her back�"

"Win her back?" Sully's words were making Peter's head spin. How could he win Sophie back when he hadn't even found her yet?

"Court her�" Sully nudged playfully. "Make her forgive ya�"

"How did you convince Michaela to forgive you?" Peter asked curiously.

"I was patient�real patient. Made sure I was there when she needed me. Let her learn t'trust me again�" Sully thought back to those bleak nights alone in his lean-to wondering if he'd ever succeed in regaining Michaela's trust.

"She wanted t'love me� I just had t'give her a reason�" Sully recalled as he stood to leave.

"So, you're telling me to just wait for Sophie to come back? Be patient�" Peter found such a simple suggestion utterly aggravating.

"Yup�" Sully grinned, slapping Peter encouragingly on the back.

"And then�" Sully's deep blue eyes twinkled mischievously as he issued his last bit of advice. "Give her a reason�"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Penny for your thoughts�" Sully slipped quietly onto the bench beside Michaela as she sat overlooking the magnificent vistas of the Canadian Rockies.

Placing his arm tightly around her shoulder, Sully brought Michaela close into his embrace and snuggled contentedly under the breathtaking full moon.

"I was thinking about you actually," Michaela confided with a smile. "Your 'consultation' took longer than I expected."

"Getting' those two back together ain't gonna be easy," Sully chuckled as he nuzzled playfully at Michaela's ear.

Michaela's mind was elsewhere, though, as she let out a melancholy sigh. "I've been sitting here wondering why we're even trying, Sully. I mean if in the end�"

Instantly, Sully cut her off. "We don't know the future fer sure, Michaela. Folks got a mind of their own."

Hoping for the best, Sully had nevertheless braced himself for the tragedy they both anticipated; but, with each passing day, he couldn't help but witness the growing toll this visit was taking on his wife.

"We don't gotta do this, Michaela," he whispered, lifting her chin with his finger and staring deeply into her eyes. "We can leave if ya want. If it's too hard fer you t'watch."

"Sully�" she answered softly. "I'm a doctor� I've seen death a thousand times�"

"And it ain't never the same as when�" Sully's sentence was left unfinished as, this time, Michaela was the one to cut her husband's words short.

"I want to stay, Sully, please? Whatever happens�I want to be here. I want to help�" Michaela pleaded for his understanding.

Sully's expression was full of love and admiration for his incredible wife. "Figured that's what you'd say," he winked, trying to lighten the mood.

Michaela wished desperately that she "could" help. But her days at Oakhaven had proven to her just how antiquated her medical knowledge had become.

"Oh, Sully�" she sighed, grabbing his arms and pulling them close about her waist. "I've seen such amazing medical advances while we've been here. Every day I learn something new�"

"Here I thought you was missin' me�" Sully teased, placing a soft kiss on her temple.

Flustered, Michaela attempted to explain. "I was missing you�It's just that Ezra was here earlier, telling me about the most fascinating machines, Sully.
Machines that can see inside the body�inside the brain�" she enthused.

"I could have done so much good with equipment like that," Michaela's voice was tinged with regret.

"You were a good doctor, Michaela. You still are. And ya don't need any fancy machines ta tell ya that," Sully complimented from the bottom of his heart.

Michaela cuddled up against Sully's chest, soaking up the warmth of his body and the warmth of his words.

"I guess I just have an insatiable interest in medicine," she smiled lovingly as she brushed his cheek lightly with her lips.

Sully chuckled low in his throat and captured her lips with his own. "That ain't the only insatiable interest you got�" he whispered, enjoying the blush that quickly infused Michaela's complexion.

As they began to lose themselves in loving caresses, Michaela and Sully gathered even closer, clutched even tighter - knowing, together, they would have the strength to face whatever might lie ahead�.

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