He couldn't let that happen. Sully *wouldn't* let that happen. This was Brian. The little boy he had helped bring into this world, the little boy he'd traveled through that terrible blizzard with Abagail for on his second birthday.
Little Brian. Those thoughts rushed through his mind as they tumbled over and over together.
He couldn't breathe. Could Brian? Gripping the boys shirt with one hand, he let go with the other, and flailed out, trying to grab onto anything.
Something sharp stung his hand, but he kept groping. Finally, he grabbed onto something rough. It felt brittle, but for the moment it held. He surfaced, gasping for air, and thrust the little boy out of the water for air as well.
Brian rose out of the water, choking. He gasped for air as well, sputtering out water.
"Brian?!" Sully yelled. "You okay?"
Brian was dazed, confused at the turn of events. He knew this man from somewhere, where?
"Sully?" he blinked.
"Yes, son, yes, it's me." Sully told him breathlessly. He felt the branch begin to break. "Brian, you're gonna haf ta trust me on this."
Brian didn't ask what. He merely nodded.
As he felt the thin branch give way, Sully pushed up with all his strength, giving a tremendous yell as he threw.
The branch snapped in half as Brian flew through the air.
He landed on dry ground with a thump, unhurt. "Sully!!!" he reached out for the man as the distance between them grew.
Sully couldn't reach him. He traveled downstream, his arm out reached as well.
"I love you Brian!" he cried.
He felt bones crunch as the world went to
BLACKNESS.
Nothing.
"Sully!" Brian screeched. Unhurt, he got up, and ran over to the still body, flinging himself upon it. "C'mon Sully, wake up," the little boy pleaded.
The townspeople finally arrived on the scene. Brian got up and began walking to them.
Charlotte raced to her son. "Brian! Are you alright?!" Does anything hurt?!" She hurriedly checked him over. Her heart was in her throat.
"Yes Ma, I'm fine," he said, wriggling to get out of her grasp. "It's Sully, Ma, it's Sully!"
Charlotte hadn't noticed the split second interaction of Sully against the wave of water. "What are you talking about, Brian?" she asked as she continued examining him.
"It's Sully, Ma! Come look!" He finally got free from her and ran back to the man. The townspeople followed.
Charlotte gasped when she saw him. It was Sully alright, but...!
He was splayed on a rock on the side of the creek, heavy bruises starting to form, and one arm jutted unnaturally to the side through his ripped and tattered clothes. The women of CS gasped in unison.
"That's not Sully," Jake said defiantly, not even checking the man.
"Yes it is," Brian piped up. "He tol' me he was. Quick, ya gotta help him!"
"What in tarnation is he wearin'?" Loren Bray asked in wonderment.
In truth, even without his injuries, Byron Sully looked like a completely different man than the one Colorado Springers knew a year previously. Those buckskins...those moccasins...
"Is he dead?" Hank asked, looking almost concerned.
Jake waded into the water up to his knees and checked for a pulse.
Oh G/d, Sully! Charlotte thought. She bent over him.
"Nah, he's still alive," Jake answered. "Better get him to my shop."
Hank lifted Sully's good arm up and put him over his shoulders. Sully, though unconscious, groaned out in pain.
The room was blurry. Sully tried to open his eyes wider, but they wouldn't budge. He remembered what had happened, and suddenly sat straight up in Jake's barber chair.
"BRIAN!!!!" he shouted. He moaned, and his good arm flew to cradle the broken one.
Jake, Hank, Loren, and Charlotte started towards him. Charlotte reached him first and held onto his hand. "Shh, Sully," she soothed. "Brian's okay. You're going to be okay."
He tried again, opening his eyes, and gradually things came into focus. "Charlotte," he said quietly.
She nodded, tears brimming in her eyes.
He turned his head slowly. "Ya sure he's alright?"
The door creaked open and a little figure ran inside. "Sully!" Brian called. He ran to the chair and flung his arms around Sully's neck.
"Brian!" Charlotte scolded. "Be gentle."
Sully looked at the little boy and scooped him up in his good arm, sitting him on his lap.
Jake coughed. "Well, your arm's broken," he interrupted gruffly. "I set it - don't know why though," he muttered.
Charlotte turned on him. "Jake! That's not nice!" she scolded. She turned back to Sully. "Is there anything else that feels wrong to you? Anything at all? You're lucky to be alive!"
Sully slowly shook his head.
"Well, I got customers waitin'," said Jake contemptibly. "So you need to go - now."
"Jake -" Charlotte started again.
" 'S'alright," Sully held up his good hand. "I'm fine." He started to get up. Overcome with dizziness, he slumped back down.
"You are not fine," said Charlotte authoritatively. "Matthew!"
The door opened and her older son came in. "Yes Ma?" he asked.
"Bring the wagon out front, will ya? We're taking Sully home."
Matthew nodded and started at once. Jake and Loren gasped and Hank gave a laugh, enjoying their shock.
"You not taking *him* home, Charlotte?!" Loren asked pointedly. "Why, why, he's an ABSQUATULATOR!!"
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talkin' 'bout, *Mr.* Bray," Charlotte said. She bent down and helped Sully up. "Let's go." Slowly they made their way to the door, Brian following.
Loren and Jake tagged along as well. "Look at 'im," said Jake. "He don't look no better than an Injun!" He began laughing. Hank joined in once again. Charlotte glared at them as she shut the door in their face.
The wagon wheels ground deep tracks into the freshly made mud. Sully's eyes followed them as they came to a stop in front of the barber shop. He shuddered. "I'll be fine Charlotte," he said quietly as they neared the end of the porch.
She answered him by stepping slightly away from him. He groped for her, almost losing his balance. She grabbed back onto him. "I thought so...into the wagon Sully," she ordered him. Matthew jumped out and helped Sully into the back, then lifted Brian who clambered next to Sully.
Charlotte climbed into the wagon while Matthew helped his sister in as well, then took his place in the front seat.
The ride to the Cooper homestead was silent, save for Brian constantly asking questions. "Where ya been, Sully?" he queried. "Do you miss Miss Ab-"
"Hush Brian!" Charlotte said harshly. Brian frowned but kept his mouth shut.
At the Cooper homestead Sully hesitated before allowing Matthew to help him out of the wagon. "Is Ethan here?" he asked.
"Doubt it," Charlotte said lightly, not missing a beat.
They entered the house. "We'll put you in Matthew's bed," she told him.
"My bed!" Matthew exclaimed.
"It's alright," Sully said. "I'll take the floor."
"Not with your injuries," Charlotte protested. "It's warm out in the barn, Matthew doesn't mind at all."
Sully looked at Matthew hard before answering. "I'd *rather* have the floor."
Charlotte glared at Matthew, who turned and walked out of the homestead. "Brian, will you bring me some blankets?" she asked her youngest son. "Colleen, a cup of tea please?"
She settled him on the floor in front of the fire. "Don't you two have chores?" she asked her two youngest. Brian and Colleen looked at each other, and without a word, exited the house.
"How are you feeling?" Charlotte asked Sully softly.
"Not too bad," he answered her.
"She looked down at her hands. "Sully - I - if you hadn'ta been there -"
"Shh," he told her. "I *was* there, and I'm glad of it. It all turned out for the best."
"I'm sorry about your arm," she added.
"Don't be," he said. "I was glad to do it, and I'd do it again without a second thought."
He grabbed hold of her hand. "Before all this happened today, Charlotte, I was coming to see you anyway."
Charlotte was breathless. "You were?"
He struggled to sit up, groaning slightly. Charlotte started to help him, but he held up his hand. "No, I'm okay."
He continued. "I just left you behind, Charlotte, and I didn't care what happened to anyone else - I just needed to get outta there. And I'm sorry for not telling you...really I am."
"Where have you been?" Charlotte wondered.
He shook his head. "Nowhere...everywhere. Don't really matter. Since October I've been stayin' with the Cheyenne-" he looked down at himself. "Guess ya can tell.
"I only recently started thinkin', just after that incident with Colleen, about what I'd done to you and the children - and when I met up with you and you asked me to come back - I wanted to ...but I couldn't.
"I was a coward, Charlotte," he told her. "I still am. I was afraid to face those people: Loren, Jake, Hank; I know what the town thinks of me."
"So what changed your mind?" Charlotte asked. "What made you come in today?"
Sully took a deep breath. "I made promises to people. Promises I didn't keep. And that's not the kind of man I want to be. This was ta be a...first step towards being the kind of man I wanna be."
The front door of the homestead swung open and an imposing figure stood in the doorway, staring at the man and woman holding hands by the fire.
"Ethan!" Charlotte gasped.
Ethan stood stock still against the night sky. In an instant, Charlotte and Sully dropped their hands.
"Charlotte-" Ethan began warningly.
"It ain't whatcha think, Ethan," Sully began.
Ethan stormed over and grabbed ahold of Charlotte, dragging her upwards from her kneeling position.
"Get away from him," he told her.
Sully struggled to get up.
Charlotte squirmed, trying to get free of Ethan's grasp. "Ow - Ethan, let go of me. You're hurting me, Ethan!"
Anger clouded Sully's eyes. "Let go of her Ethan," he warned.
The door flew open again and the Cooper children entered the house. Ethan released Charlotte.
"Pa!" Brian called. Ethan swung the boy up into his arms. "Look, Pa! Sully came back!"
"I see," Ethan said, gazing squarely at his nemesis. "Let's see what's for dinner, Brian."
Situation diffused. For the moment.
A week passed and Sully's bumps and bruises healed nicely. Except for his arm he was just about as good as new. And he couldn't stand being waited on as an invalid any longer. He longed to get back outdoors where he belonged.
The week that had passed had not necessarily been pleasant. Matthew was sullen, never speaking a word to Sully unless practically ordered to by Charlotte. Ethan's absence was obvious, although Charlotte continued to brush it off as of she didn't care.
"You don't have to go, Sully," Charlotte followed him as he folded the blankets and placed them on a chair. "You're welcome to stay as long as you want."
"C'mon Sully," piped up Brian. "Puhlease? Don't leave us again."
Sully bent down on his knees and looked his "namesake" squarely in the eyes.
"I'm not leaving for good, Brian," he told him. "I'm going back to *my* home."
"Where's your home?" Brian asked. "Do ya live in your old homestead?"
Sully coughed. "Uh, no Brian, I don't live there no more."
"*ANY* more," Charlotte quickly corrected.
Sully looked at her questioningly, then continued. "*ANY*more."
"Sully lives with the Cheyenne," Charlotte interrupted.
Again, Sully looked at her in surprise.
"You live with the Indians?" Brian asked, incredulous. "Cool!"
"Well, not exactly," Sully began to explain, but Brian wasn't paying attention.
"Say, Sully, can I be an Indian like you?" He started patting his mouth and running around the house, giving a depiction of an Indian war whoop.
Sully gave Charlotte a look that plainly said - See what you've done? Charlotte only shrugged.
She followed him to the door of the homestead. "So where are you *really* staying?"
"In my old camp," he told her. "But I spend most of my time on the reservation." He gave her a quick hug. "I'll be by to see you soon."
Summer melted into Fall, and soon 1864 was close to an end. Sully kept his promise and visited Charlotte and the Cooper children occasionally, although to Charlotte it seemed not so often as he once had. He was learning to be more wary of Ethan and did his best to stay out of his way, she assumed.
Ethan was furious that Sully was back, but for the most part bottled it up inside. He remembered the last time the two had fought and for that felt somewhat put in his place. He had hoped the man had left CS for good, heck, if he'd a died, all the better, but now Sully was back. Still, Ethan thought, the fact that Sully frequented the Cooper homestead less than before made him happy that in at least one respect, Sully felt put in his place as well.
Unbeknownst to Charlotte, Ethan, or any of the kids, Sully's visits were really more often than any of them thought. The confrontation between him and Ethan the first night he had spent at the Cooper homestead played itself over and over in his mind - he couldn't shake it.
To tell the truth, he was worried. He was concerned about Charlotte and the children's safety, so much so in fact, that he made those secret visits to watch over them.
Fall finally disappeared and the holidays were just around the corner. Charlotte invited Sully to spend them with the family, but he politely declined.
"Cloud Dancin' and I are goin' huntin'" he told her, hoping she wouldn't catch him in the lie. She didn't push it, for in truth, was afraid of what her husband would say.
CHRISTMAS 1864
It was still dark when Sully came to town, holding in his hand a sprig of mistletoe. Colorado Springs at that time of night was perfectly silent, snow blanketing the ground, and the moon glowed over everything, pure and bright.
Sully came into the graveyard and kneeled by his family's graves. He lay the mistletoe on the snow by Abagail's cross.
"Merry Christmas," he told her. He reached into his pocket and drew out a carved wooden duck, placing it over Hannah's grave.
He choked. His Hannah...would've been ..about a year and a half by now...
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Merry Christmas girls," he said. "I love you..."