"What the hell do you know" You think we didn't try' Villagers don't trust those they don't know. You make one slip, and you're out on your ass. When my Mama died, we asked them for help. You know what they told us" Ain't got the room, ain't got the supplies. Oh, they were willing to take Cody, sure enough. Take him away from his family and give him another. A new Mama to raise him like her own. But Pa said no. Said he'd rather fend for himself than split us up. No one stepped forward to help. No one stepped forward to do a thing, so we left, and we never went back." Eli's face was flushed from the telling of the story. He'd been barely a teenager then. Nate chose not to remember it, and Cody had been too young. "Split us up, that's what they wanted to do. Over my dead body, Pa said."

"I'm sorry they behaved that way, but you can't treat everyone as though they're exactly the same as the people who turned you away years ago!" Brona protested vehemently. "You really think you're the only ones in the world who have had it bad" At least you've had each other. There are plenty of people out there who don't have any family left - people, I might add, who I have personally seen welcomed into our community in Pax. Did you ever even try with us, or did you decide that because one village was filled with bastards, all villages are?"

"Don't have to try. I know what?ll happen," Eli replied, turning back to his dinner and tossing what was left of his bread onto the plate in disgust or revulsion. "Think we like living like this" What happens to my brothers if we go to Pax" Nate is ....You seen Nate. He's soft. He needs someone to look after him, and Cody' Cody's got all these ideas in his head about what?s right and what?s wrong. He's too smart for his own good, that boy. I'd lose 'em in the village. I'd lose 'em both. I made a promise to avenge Ma's death. How can I do that if I'm stuck in the village" What am I gonna do in the village" Ain't good for nothing but fighting. How can I keep my family together if I'm here and they're there" I don't even know how to live like that no more. Made a promise to Pa to keep us together. Ain't no point in living without my brothers. Ain't no point in nothing."

"Nate isn't soft. It's just not in his nature to be aggressive; that doesn't make him less of a man than you are. Cody's got a good head on his shoulders; don't you think he deserves the chance to find out whether there's more to life than killing" And what about you?" Brona laid her hands on her hips as she glared at him. "You act all tough and growly and grumpy, but you know what, mister" You are just like my brother. He's a strong, tough, aggressive man who spent the last fifteen years as a prisoner in that women only valley up there. He broke out, but you know what? He went back - not for revenge, not to kill everyone he could get his hands on, but to get the woman he loves out of there, too. He has a son, and he melts every time they're together. He'd do anything for his family, and I think you're the same way."

He shoved a hand through his hair before taking a lean against an elbow, looking weary and a little defeated. He heard everything she was telling him, but he wasn't quite sure what to say about it. She was right in a way, but wrong in another. "He's lucky," Eli said after a long moment of silence. He wasn't about to fool himself that he had even a ghost of a chance doing that. Nate and Cody were his family, and while he'd do anything to keep them safe, he wasn't sure he could bear the thought of letting them go. "Reckon I should make my rounds. Wouldn't want a pretty thing like you getting into any trouble," he said as he pushed to his feet.

"You're not going anywhere," she told him firmly, marching across the kitchen to push him back down into his seat. "Look ....it's obvious that you're incredibly loyal to the memory of your father and the promise he extracted from you. But you need to take a step back from that and really think about it. He took that promise from you when he was an angry man. Would the man he was before your mother died have asked you to give up your whole life, and the lives of your brothers, in a quest for revenge that will never be fulfilled?"

He glared up at her as she shoved him back into his seat, rage flaring briefly in his eyes, like a flame in a bonfire, but it died quickly as her words sunk in and she asked the question he'd been asking himself for years. "What am I supposed to do' Go begging for a place to stay and food to eat' I got my pride. I don't need no handouts. I can take care of myself." But what about his brothers" Where would Nate or Cole be without him' What if something happened to him' What would happen to them then" "Sometimes I think all I wanna do is go home, but how do you go home when you ain't got a home to go to?"

"You make a home," she told him, though the subject was beginning to hit a little too close to home for her now. She would be facing this same question in the not too distant future. "You could stay here, do the place up. It's close enough to Pax that you and Nate and Cody could find work there, either with the militia, or we have a little school; we have farms that always need helpers. You'd be far enough out not to feel crowded; close enough to be a part of our community. I'm sure Pax would help you, especially after what?s been going on. If they can open their arms to women from the valley, they can open their arms to you and your family. And I wouldn't be above blackmailing the council with intimate details about their personal health to get you that welcome, if it was necessary." A smile flickered on her face, daring him not to find the humor in an eighteen-year-old girl blackmailing men three times her age with what she knew about their trouser problems.

He arched a brow at her, a look of surprise on his face, not only at her offer but at the kindness that had prompted it. He'd almost forgotten what kindness was like, it had been so long since he'd encountered it. He even dared let his heart hope a little, but it had been so long since he'd felt such a feeling it scared him. Hopes shattered once too often were difficult to revive. "I don't know. We'll see when Cody is well again," he said, unable to make any promises just yet. It was still a big leap for a man who had insisted he'd never go near any village again.

"We will," Brona agreed, pleased that they seemed to have found some kind of civil middle way. "But you know what? There's no point getting him better if his brother is going to work himself into the ground and not be there when he needs him. So you need to sleep. Nate can take the first watch, or whatever it is. He's had a good six hours up there."

"I never thanked you for helping my brother, did I?" he asked suddenly, as if just remembering manners he'd been taught a long time ago. She hadn't really had a choice in the matter, and yet, he still felt he owed her some debt of gratitude for it. If not for her, he knew Cody would have died.

Rising to her feet, Brona offered him a hopeful smile. "Well ....you didn't shoot me," she pointed out. "I was pretty grateful for that at the time. C'mon, up. You need to sleep."

"I need to secure the house, set the traps," he protested, as he moved to his feet, refusing to admit how bone-weary he felt. If he dared rest now, it was likely he'd been unconscious for hours.

"Nate can do it," she insisted, shaking her head. "Seriously, don't you trust them to do anything without your supervision' They're grown men. You should start treating them that way - you'd probably get a better reaction." She eyed him thoughtfully. "Look, would you feel better if we promise to wake you up in a few hours' time?"

He snorted, a barely hidden smirk forming at his lips, a little reminiscent of her brother. "Pretty feisty for a kid, ain'tcha?" he asked, though from the looks of him, he couldn't have been more than ten years her senior, not even out of his twenties yet. It was the strain of responsibility that had made him grow up so quickly, old before his time. "Nate'll forget. He always forgets." Eli hadn't worked out yet whether it was on purpose or by accident, but the middle brother was always apologetic about it.

"Oh, I stopped being a kid five years ago when my mother died," she told him with a roll of her eyes, shaking her head. "You grow up fast when you're the only healer in town." Picking up the cups she had come down to refill in the first place, she gestured for him to make his way upstairs. "Even if Nate forgets, I won't. You'll wake up in a few hours."

He winced, realizing he and his brothers weren't the only ones who'd suffered. He'd known that already, but he had been wallowing so long in self-pity that he needed something to remind him of that fact. "Sorry, I didn't know," he told her, the closest thing she was going to get to an apology from him. "I'll take you home in the morning, if you want. Ain't safe to travel at night," he said, hesitating a moment before starting toward the stairs.

"That doesn't seem fair," he said with a frown. "Aren't there other healers in the village?" His gaze followed the tucking of hair behind her ear, before drifting back to her face, wondering if it was as soft as it looked, though he dared not ask.

"Not since my mother died," she told him gently. "She was the healer, and she trained me up. Shame neither one of us knew enough to keep her from being overwhelmed by the infection that took her away. So I became Pax's healer when I was thirteen, and I have been ever since." She shrugged once again, dismissing the concern that it was unfair. "Things are changing," she told him. "There's another woman in the village who knows as much about healing as me, now, and apparently if we get lucky, there'll be more people coming who can help with the burden. Hell, I might actually have to find something else to do with my time."

"How big is the village?" he asked, thinking if it was a small village, one healer might be enough, and yet, if anything were to happen to that one healer ....Cody frowned, his heart heavy with guilt. If anyone in the village needed her the last few days, it would be his fault she wasn't there. "I'm on the mend now. You should go home."

"There's about two hundred people in Pax itself, but I keep an eye on the homesteads and farms that are all around us as well," she told him with a faint smile. "Means I do a lot of walking if I can't get a lift." She noticed his frown, knowing what he was going to say even before he opened his mouth. "Okay, for one thing" You may be on the mend, but you're in a dangerous stretch of time. If you relapse now without someone here to bring the fever down again, you could die. For another thing, there is another healer in Pax now, and to be honest, it'll be good for her and for them to have to rely on her."

"And your family will be worried and looking for you," he pointed out, the guilty frown still on his face. Why had this only occurred to him now" Was he so selfish he'd only thought of himself and his own needs until now" Why hadn't it occurred to him that she had a family who'd be worried about her, people who needed her before now"

"I've only been gone a day and a half," she pointed out to him, sighing softly. "Look, they're gonna worry no matter what happens, okay' Uther and Han will freak out, but mostly because they'll be worried about what my brother will do to them if he gets back before I do. The only one I'm worried about is Aedan, and he's two. I have plenty of friends who will look after him, and people might well come looking for me. But you shouldn't worry about that. Worrying is a waste of your energy, Cody."

"Seems like that's all I do these days," he admitted with a sigh. He worried about Eli and Nate constantly, and now he was worried about a girl - no, a young woman - he'd only just met. Was he getting soft on her already? He knew that wouldn't go over too well if Eli ever found out. "Eli doesn't think I remember, but I remember. I remember what things were like before ....I remember our home and our parents. I remember everything."

"Give him a little time," she suggested softly. "He might come 'round, you never know. And you guys would be welcome in Pax - there's never enough hands to do what needs to be done, and there are plenty of different jobs to take on."

"I stopped getting my hopes up about settling down years ago, Brona. I go where Eli goes. I owe him that much. He saved my life more than once, and ....we're family. Eli and Nate are all I've got left." He sighed, closing his eyes a moment as he rested his head against the pillow, looking weary and just a little bit troubled.

"Oh, come on, you can't be that much older than me," she scoffed. "Way too young to just be giving up on what you want to do. And you know what? Eli's not that hard line. If you and Nate really want to stop this, he'll stop, too. His family means much more to him than this revenge kick you're all on."

"Revenge kick?" he echoed, both brows arching. "Is that what Eli told you?" he asked, eying her curiously. Just what had Eli told her, he wondered.

"No, it's not exactly what he told me," she admitted. "It's just the way it seems. I, uh ....I can't think of any other reason why your father might have raised you all like this, and made Eli promise to look after you guys, than that ....Well, I think your mom was killed by mutants, and your dad went a little off the rails in grief."

"You figured all that out on your own?" he asked, a little surprised by that. He wondered just how much she'd figured out about him, much less his brothers. He was just about to point out where she was right and where she was wrong when a shriek was heard from outside, quickly followed by a slam of the door, and then a shout from Nate up the stairs.

"Eli!" he shouted, as he thumped up the stairs. "Eli! Mutants! Dozens of them!" He paused only momentarily in Cody's doorway long enough to warn him and Brona. "Kill the light! They're coming!"

Brona was up and out of her seat before Nate reached the doorway, already moving to blow out the lamp that kept the room illuminated. "Which direction?" was all she asked, but the sudden tension in her voice and form was more than enough to share with both brothers that she was scared. She'd seen homesteads that had been attacked by mutants before; she didn't particularly want to be one of those victims.

"North! They're coming from the north!" Nate replied, hurrying down the hall to wake Eli, but the man was already up and killing the lights, relying on moonlight alone to find his way about the house, as the two brothers scrambled for weapons. Thankfully, Nate had already barricaded the door, but he knew it wouldn't keep them out for long, not when there were plenty of windows that could be broken.

"Get my rifle," Cody told Brona in a hushed whisper as he threw the blankets off.

It said something for the way of life in the lands that bordered the swamp that Brona didn't even try to argue with Cody, despite his weakness. When the mutants attacked, it was all hands on deck, whether you were fit or not. Nodding in the gloom, she turned to hurry from the room to find the others. "Cody needs his rifle," she told him. "I don't suppose you've got a spare."

Eli didn't even hesitate before handing her his own, already loaded, along with a pistol for herself. "Lock the door and don't come out until I tell you it's safe," he instructed before moving past her and on down the hall to the stairs, both he and Nate disappearing into the darkness.

Pocketing the ammunition they had to spare for both guns, she took the weapons with a tense nod. "All right," she agreed, turning toward the stairs before pausing to look back at them. "Be safe, okay?"

"We'll be fine, ma'am," Nate assured her. "You just worry about yourself and Cody." And then, he was gone, too, following his brother's lead.

When Brona got back to the room, Cody was already at the window. How he'd gotten there was unclear, but he must have dragged himself from bed and over to the window, no matter how much pain it had cost him. He was crouching low at the window and peering out into the yard, watching the shambling figures that were slowly approaching the house.

Once back upstairs, Brona did exactly as she was told, locking the door before heading over to hand Cody his rifle and the spare ammo from her pocket. "Are you okay to stay there without something to lean on?" she asked him worriedly, moving across to the other side of the window to peer out. It wasn't a huge attack, it seemed, but there were enough out there to make things deadly for the inhabitants of the house.

"Don't have much choice," he murmured, checking the rifle to make sure it was loaded before leveling it toward the window, which it seemed he'd somehow already managed to get open. His side was throbbing painfully, but if the mutants got into the house, he'd have a lot more to worry about. He said nothing more, but took careful aim. Whatever he'd said earlier about not wanting to kill mutants didn't seem to matter now. It was kill or be killed, and they all knew it. His was the first shot to ring out into the night, dropping the mutant closest the house. Thankfully, the moon was bright enough he was able to see or they'd all be goners.

"Yes, ma'am," Nate replied, getting to his feet to do her bidding, first with the lantern and then hurrying off to fetch a bowl of clean water and a cloth. Eli was nowhere to be heard or seen, most likely patrolling the surrounding area and securing the house a second time, making sure the mutants were gone.

As he scurried out, Brona smiled at Cody. "Thank you for not telling him that I beat a mutant with a chair," she murmured, using the water from her cup to wash her hands clean before rummaging in her basket. "He might not take that very well."

"Why not?" Cody asked, curiously. What did she think Nate would do if he knew Brona had defended not only herself but him' In fact, she had mostly defended him. She had put her own safety at risk to beat the mutant back. If it hadn't been for her quick thinking - or quick anger - he might very well have ended up dead, mostly due to what he judged to be his own clumsiness. "You could have just shot it, you know. It would have been easier."

"Yeah, I could," she conceded. "But there's something incredibly satisfying about beating the crap out of something that wants to kill you." She chuckled gently, pulling out a pot of something Ember had taught her how to make. Ethan had promised her that it was incredibly effective as well, since it had apparently been used on him while he was in the valley. "I was scared and angry, and to be honest, I'm a terrible shot. At least I couldn't miss with the chair, right?"

"You say that like it's from experience," he remarked, watching as she pulled the pot out of her pack and wondering what it was. She'd said it would help with the pain, and he trusted her enough to believe her, but that didn't mean he wasn't a little wary anyway. A few days ago, he'd been at death?s door, and he believed - no, he knew - the only reason he hadn't died was because of her.

She smiled, recognizing the look on his face as she opened the pot. "Here, try it out," she suggested, wiping a small dab on the back of his hand. She knew from experience that it took a matter of seconds for it to numb the skin. "I guess I do have experience, sort of. A while back we had a lot of problems with mutant attacks, and everyone had to learn how to fight, just in case. Anyway, once, they got right into Pax, and it got really hairy, and I kind of abandoned my gun and just flailed around with whatever I could lay my hands on. It really mellowed me out for weeks afterwards."

He lifted his hand to his nose to take a sniff of the stuff she'd smeared there and found it had a sort of medicinal smell to it. It reminded him of something his mother had smeared on his cuts and scrapes when he'd been a boy, but he quickly pushed that memory away, unwilling to linger on it for now. His gaze shifted back to her curiously a moment. "Sounds like Eli," he remarked, with a bit of a frown, finding himself wishing she had more in common with him than with either of his older brothers.

"Not really," she shrugged, using a piece of clean cloth to dip into the ointment and begin the process of smearing it liberally over the weeping wounds on his side. "It's more that ....I've been on my own for a long time, and no one wants to heal the healer. Everyone needs me, and no one wants to hear how much I need a little time to myself, or just to have one day when no one calls me out to take a look at whatever it is they're worrying about. And, you know, I'm still pretty angry about what happened with my parents. Getting some of that out with a little aggression is a good thing, I guess."

He flinched a little when she first touched the cloth to the wound, but forced himself to relax and endure her ministrations, which were admittedly not half as painful as the first time she'd administered to him. "Everyone needs time off now and then," he told her, though he and his brothers rarely had much time to relax and have fun. They were far too busy just trying to survive. "Maybe now that there's another healer, you two can work out some kind of schedule," he suggested. He paused a moment, as if to watch her work, but it was her face and her expression he was studying. "I'm sorry about your parents. Do you want to talk about it?"

She didn't take her eyes off what she was doing, but there was a gentle flicker of long-held grief in her expression as she sighed softly. "It's not that different to what happened to you," she admitted softly. "My brother was taken by the women in the valley when I was three years old. My father vowed that he would get him back, but he was so blinded by that obsession that he forgot what other dangers are out there. He was killed by mutants three years later, and my mom ....she just became a ghost. She was still my mother, she was still the healer, but there wasn't anything there. Her heart was completely ripped apart by losing first Mahon, and then our father, and there wasn't enough of her left for me. So when she got ill five years ago, she didn't even try to fight it. She just gave up, and left me in the care of two strangers." She shrugged, shaking her head as she finally looked up at him, her eyes just a little misty. "I mean, Uther and Han, they're good friends and they always will be, but they're not family. And when my brother gets back from the valley this time, he'll have his wife with him, and they'll take over looking after Aedan, and I'll be on my own again. What else do I have but being a healer?"

His heart ached for her and for himself, sensing the pain and the heartache in her, as well as a strong will to go on. He hadn't realized until now how similar their stories were, though their parents had died in different ways. Even their brothers were similar in personality, it seemed, except for Nate, but then, there was no one else quite like Nate, as far as Cody was concerned. But that wasn't what came to mind at the moment - at the moment, he was wondering if he dared point out that she had him. "Is there-is there ..." he started, stammering nervously. "I mean, do you have a ..." He trailed off again, searching for the right word, a little afraid to ask the question that had come to mind, but before she was able to answer or even sort out what he was asking her about, Nate burst into the room with a bowl of fresh water and some clean towels.

"Sorry I took so long," he apologized as he interrupted. Cody's face fell, but he tried to hide it by shifting his gaze to watch her poking at his stitches.

But somehow, even with Nate bursting in, Brona managed to answer the question Cody hadn't quite managed to ask. She met his eyes, her smile more than a little sad, and shook her head, taking a deep breath before forcibly brightening her expression as she looked up at Nate. "That's great, Nate, thank you," she smiled at the middle brother warmly. "Re-stitching is still gonna hurt, so are you okay to hang on here for a little bit and give Cody someone to hold onto while I'm doing it?"

It was obvious he had no one either - no one but his brothers, but what did she care about that' A beautiful girl like her could have anyone she wanted. There was no point in getting his hopes up about that. Once they arrived in Pax - if that was where Eli wanted to go - she'd likely go her way and he'd go his. "I don't need anyone to hold onto," Cody replied stubbornly and a little bitterly.

Nate exchanged glances with Brona, having noticed the head-shake and the awkward silence between the two. Eli might think him a simpleton, but he was a lot smarter than he seemed and he sensed something brewing between his brother and the healer, even if it was only one-sided. "I, uh ....I'm sorta in the middle of something. Think you can manage on your own?"

"Your choice," Brona conceded, allowing Cody the autonomy to suffer in silence if he had to, and nodded to Nate. "I can manage. Go find Eli, make sure he's okay." It seemed as though it was second nature for her to care for everyone but herself, something she'd had to do from a young age. The ointment was working its magic on Cody's wounds; within another minute or so, his flesh would be numb enough for her to start working without causing him too much pain.

Nate gave Brona a nod and left the bowl and clean towels on a rickety table, looking between them with a small frown before starting toward the door. "I'll let you know when supper is ready," he told them both before stepping back out and closing the door quietly behind him. As for Cody, he'd suddenly turned quiet, his thoughts his and his alone.

The silence stretched out for a long moment after Nate left. Brona didn't know what to say. She'd never really opened up about anything in her life before now, not entirely sure why she was doing it for Cody, and she didn't know what to say. Instead, she threw her concentration into working, gently guiding him to lie back to give her enough room to cut the remaining stitches free and start over again. "So that's my sad story," she said finally. "Never told anyone the whole thing before. I guess it's more pathetic out loud than in my head."

Snickering softly, Brona washed her hands once again, wiping them dry on a relatively clean swathe of her skirt. "It's not like I took advantage of you, is it?" she pointed out. "Besides, I stay here much longer, you're gonna get the same eyeful of me. I'm gonna have to wash pretty soon, or I'll start stinking to high heaven."

"Yeah, I could use a bath, too," he agreed, with a small frown, brushing his fingers against the growth - or overgrowth - of hair on his face. "A shave, too. I'm turning into a mutant!" he remarked with a bit of a chuckle that he instantly regretted as it made his side hurt, and which he followed up with a muttered, "Ouch."

"Well, we're gonna make a pretty sight in the morning, aren't we?" she laughed softly, buttoning his shirt for him before drawing her hands back. "Just as well Pax is used to seeing people the worse for wear." Of course, Eli hadn't said they were going to Pax, but it was the obvious choice. It was the closest settlement to their current position.

The thought of Pax both worried and excited Cody. He had long been an advocate for settling down somewhere; it was only Eli's stubbornness that was holding them back. "There's a bathtub," he reminded her, "but no running water." Personally, he preferred taking a dip in a lake or a river, but the water was like ice this time of year. He knew if anyone was stinking to high heaven, it was probably him. He hadn't really had a good washing up since he'd been injured a few days ago. "We can't stay here much longer," he admitted again, the thought of a hot bath, a hot meal, and a soft bed very tempting. He couldn't remember when the last time was that they'd had all three.

"I know," she nodded. "There's space at the farm for all of you. You'll probably be sharing a room, but there'll be beds and food, and no need to worry about attacks in the night." His offer of a bathtub made her bite her lip with a faint smile. "I can stink for a coupla days," she promised him. "At the farm, we have a bath house. My grandpa, he diverted some of the water from the hot springs near the swamp. You just turn a tap and fill up, and then when you're done, you pull the plug and it drains away. Much easier than a bath tub."

"The farm?" he echoed again, trying to find a comfortable position there on the floor with stitches in his side that didn't really hurt but ached in an odd sort of way that made moving difficult. "Sounds like heaven," he replied at the description of her family's bathhouse. "I'm not sure I remember what I look like under all this hair anymore."

"My family's farm," she told him. "Well, I guess it's my brother's farm now. He's away, but Uther and Han are still there, with Aedan, my nephew. There's room, I promise." She chuckled at his fidgeting, moving to help him up a little way. "C'mere ....you'd be better off in a chair."

"You want us to stay there?" he asked, seemingly surprised by that bit of information. He wasn't sure what he thought would happen, but he'd assumed once they got to Pax, they'd be on their own. "Is it big, the farmhouse?" he asked, winced a little as he struggled to his feet.

"It's big enough," she assured him, and once again that deceptive strength of hers made itself known as they got him onto his feet. Brona did most of the heavy lifting, but chances were Cody wouldn't even realize that until he was safely settled in the only chair now intact in the room. "We wouldn't be on top of each other or anything, and I trust you. I don't think any of you want to cause any harm to me and mine."

"We don't want any charity, Brona," he told her once he was settled in the chair, pleasantly surprised that it hadn't been too painful or difficult getting there, thanks to her. "We grew up on a farm and we're willing to do our fair share of the work."

Her brows rose as she straightened up, hands on her hips. "Damn straight you'll work for food and board," she informed him in a comical tone. "I don't do charity, and we need all the help we can get. Harvest's in, but there's still caring for the animals and gettin' the seed sown ready for over winter to do, and two men can't do it on their own. Five men, maybe."

He couldn't help but smirk at the stoic figure she made, as this tiny woman tried her best to look fierce. He knew she was a lot tougher than she looked, but he'd seen her softer side, too. "Yes, ma'am," he replied. "You're the boss," he added, unable to hide that smirk.

She snorted with laughter, rolling her eyes as her hands fell from her hips. "Well, until Mahon gets back," she conceded. "But I can shout louder than him, and if all else fails, I'll cry. Works every time." She winked at Cody, bending to tidy up after herself. "I wanna go and check on your brothers - you're all so manly, I don't trust them not to admit when they've been injured. You be okay up here?"

He tried hard to hide the frown of disappointment when she told him she was leaving him alone for awhile. He hadn't realized until that very moment how much he'd enjoyed her company. It was the first time he'd ever really enjoyed the company of a woman since his mother had died, but he wasn't thinking of her as a maternal figure. He wasn't quite sure how it was he was thinking of her. He knew he had no right to think of her as anything but a friend, if that. "Yeah, I'll be fine," he replied, no matter what his personal feelings might be. He was growing tired of lying in bed, anxious to do something besides watch the paint peel - literally.

She paused by the door, the bowl of now dirty water in her arms. "I will be back, you know," she pointed out. "Hell, Eli would probably hike me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes if I didn't do what he told me to tonight." She smiled gently over at him. "I won't be long."

"It's okay. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, Brona," he admonished her gently, before correcting himself, wondering if he was getting too personal. "Ma'am." He wasn't quite sure what she meant by the remark about Eli. Was she attracted to his older brother" He wouldn't have been surprised really - Eli was the eldest and it was no secret that he'd been with a few women.

"I got a name, it won't burn you to use it," she laughed softly. "Unless you want me calling you sir all the time." Pulling the door open, she eyed him for a moment. "I'm coming right back, Cody." Odd, that she felt torn between her need to make sure that no one else was hurt, and her wish to keep him company. It wasn't just because he was her patient, she was pretty sure. He was good company, and he didn't talk to her as though he needed something from her, or as though she was a child. It was an interesting experience with someone her own age.

Though it had only been a few days, he was getting tired of looking at the same old walls. He was pretty sure that wasn't the only reason he enjoyed her company, though he felt a little confused on that. "Do me a favor?" he asked, before she was gone. If he was going to be stuck in here, he needed something to help him wile away the time.

"Sure, what do you need?" She twisted, holding the door open on her thigh as she looked back at him, her hands occupied with cloth and water bowl. Even in this dim light, she looked exhausted, her hair hanging lank and limp where it had escaped her braid, but she was determined to stay bright. He seemed to need it, more than his brothers.

He thought she was a vision of loveliness, but then he hadn't had much experience with women. He frowned a little, seeing her with her hands full and worrying he was being a burden. He could have just as easily asked Eli or Nate for a favor, if either brother was anywhere to be found. "Could you bring me my books?" he asked reluctantly. "Nate will know where they are."

"I can do that," she nodded, her smile touched with just a little surprise that he'd managed to keep books, despite their nomadic lifestyle. "I won't be long. Try not to waste away without me." There was the teasing she'd shown him when he was delirious and a little out of it, proving that it was more a part of her personality than simply a healer's trick. Slipping from the room, she headed down the stairs, making her way to the kitchen in the hope that at least one of his brothers would still be there.

Eli was nowhere to be seen, out checking on the horses most likely, or prowling the area for mutants. No news was good news, so they say, and all seemed quiet for now, as though nothing had happened. Nate was right where he said he'd be - in the crude kitchen doing his best to put together some sort of soup or stew for dinner - or maybe for breakfast.

"Are you the self-appointed matchmaker of Pax?" he asked curiously, trying hard to hide the sinking feeling at the implied suggestion he meet someone else. Maybe she was one of those girls who wasn't interested in guys, or maybe she was just too busy for such things. He knew it had only been a few days, but maybe it was time he broached the subject and staked his claim before someone else did. "Brona, I ..." He trailed off, blushing a little. "I was wondering ....That is ..."

"Well, no one's ever gonna want to spend time on me when they can spend time on someone else with more time on their hands, so why shouldn't I make sure everyone I know and like has someone special in their lives?" she shrugged innocently, and abruptly blushed as she gave away her own rather dour outlook on what the rest of her life was going to be like. Cody's blush was no match for the red that burned her cheeks as he spoke. "What is it, Cody' Did I say something wrong?"

"No, I ..." he stammered again. "I was just wondering if, uh ....If you'd like to ....That is ....If you wouldn't mind ..." He let out an exasperated sigh. He wasn't quite sure how to go about this. He didn't want to ask her on a date exactly, but it was too soon to ask her to be his girl. "I was wondering if I could get to know you better ....When we get to Pax, I mean."

She stared at him for a long moment, her eyes wide with surprise and, yes, genuine pleasure at the question he hadn't quite managed to put into words. "You want to start courting" Me?" she asked, her voice a soft whisper of sound. In the quiet, she thought she could hear her name being called outside the window, dismissing the thought as a phantom of her own mind. "Are you sure" There are lots of girls that are ....prettier than me."

He thought he'd heard it, too - someone calling her name, and it didn't sound like Eli - and his attention was diverted to the window, which he had somehow managed to push closed before dragging himself to bed. He would, in fact, have explained himself better and argued the fact that he found her pretty, but he knew he hadn't imagined that voice, and if it wasn't Eli, who was it and where was his brother" "There's someone out there," he said, pushing his feet to the floor.

Disappointed frustration crossed her face as he diverted the conversation from what might have been an interesting answer toward the possibility of people out in the pre-dawn darkness. "Stay there, I'll look," she sighed, pushing herself up onto her feet to push open the window. She peered out into the darkness, seeing the light of several lanterns in the middle distance, and there, again, was the sound of her name on the cool air. "Brona!" She straightened, looking over her shoulder at Cody. "It's a search party from Pax."

His face fell at the news, looking as disappointed as she was. He'd had her practically all to himself for the last day or two, but all that was about to change. She would return to her village and her people and her way of life, and he and his brothers would either have to try and fit in or go on their way. It seemed Brona was pretty convinced they'd be welcome in Pax, but if the villagers knew she'd been taken here under duress, they might have something else to say about it. "What are you gonna tell them?" he asked, a worried look on his face.

She looked confused for a moment. "The truth," she told him. "That your brothers stopped me on the road and asked me to come and help you, and I did." The voices shouting her name sounded closer now, but the way was slow going through the undergrowth in the darkness. "What did you think I'd tell them?"

He hadn't been there when Eli and Nate had accosted Brona, and he wasn't sure what had really happened to bring her here. He'd been in and out of consciousness for a while and didn't remember much of what had happened before she'd arrived to help him. He wasn't stupid though, and he knew what Eli was capable of when he was feeling desperate. "I don't know," he replied, frowning over at her. "Brona ..." he started, needing to finish what he'd been saying before the search party arrived at the door, though it was likely Eli would intercept them before they got there. "Yes, I'm sure," he replied to her previous question, but there wasn't much time to add anything more as a few shouts were heard outside as Eli and Nate arrived to greet - or accost - the search party.

Brona hadn't expected him to actually answer her question. She'd thought he would use the distraction from outside to avoid giving her a straight answer. So when he did reply, there was no way to hide her reaction; no way to conceal the soft blush on her cheeks, or the shy cast to her smile as she looked at him. "I'd like that," she admitted quietly, jumping violently at the sound of a gun's retort. The voice that followed it, reprimanding the man who had fired, was very familiar, bringing a smile to her face as she rolled her eyes. "Uther," she identified the speaker for Cody. "I think we're moving on before morning."

Even Cody, who was at least somewhat accustomed to shots fired in the night and surprise attacks by mutants, jumped to his feet, startled by the sound of gunfire. The sudden movement cost him though, as he swayed and grabbed onto the wall for support. He hadn't been out of bed in a number of days and he needed a little time to regain his strength. "You should go, before someone gets hurt," he told her.

Brona leaned out through the window and raised her voice. "Put the guns away, I don't have the time or the energy to stitch all of you back together again!" she yelled down at the gathering below. "No fighting, or you can all sleep out there tonight!" Pulling herself back in through the window, she turned to tuck herself under Cody's arm. "You're coming down with me," she informed him in no uncertain terms. "I trust them, but boys will be boys."

He looked worried, not so much about himself as his brothers. He was pretty sure they weren't going to shoot an already wounded man, but he knew Eli could be stubborn and Nate might just get in the way trying to help. "I'm sorry about all this," he told her, apologizing again, as if it was somehow all his fault. He didn't bother to argue when she tucked herself under his arm, knowing he wouldn't make it down the stairs without her help. He wasn't sure how he was going to get to Pax if he couldn't even get down the stairs.

"None of this is your fault," she informed him sternly as they made their way out onto the landing and began the difficult process of getting down the stairs. "And the men from Pax aren't looking for a fight, I promise you. Whoever fired that shot won't be trusted with a weapon again for a good long while, not with Uther in charge of them." Despite the fact that she had grown to like him, to like his brothers, during her short time here, Brona couldn't help feeling deeply relieved that a search party had come out to find her. At least she knew she'd been missed, even if it was only for her healing skills.

At least, no one had gotten hurt - yet. No one but him, anyway. Cody hoped his heart wouldn't be broken in the process, but he wasn't going to worry about that yet. "I trust you," he told her, as she helped him down the stairs, and he meant it. If there was anyone he trusted, it was her - perhaps even more than his brothers. He was tired of drifting, and maybe it was time he stood up for himself and stopped following Eli and Nate around like a puppy. For the first time in his life, he was putting his trust in someone who wasn't family; he just hoped he didn't live to regret it. Outside, voices could be heard, but the shouting seemed to have diminished with Brona's greeting.