Chapter 4

The Director read the report a second time. Agent Cross had quite possibly found the missing pilot without even realizing it. Jessica Taylor and Kaylee Woodrow had been found near where the missing pilot's tracks had led down the side of the mountain. Neither of them had been carrying ID, but they explained the lack on just being out for a local hike and believing they didn't need any IDs with them. It was the descriptions of the two women that had caught the Director's attention.

Jessica Taylor was approximately six feet tall. The agent had been unable to be any more specific due to the unevenness of the ground they were standing on. She had long black hair, tucked back into a ponytail, and appeared quite muscular. She had blue eyes, lightly tanned skin, and was described as very attractive.

Kaylee Woodrow, on the other hand, was described as being not even five and a half feet tall, had long blonde hair, green-blue eyes, white skin, and a compact frame that appeared as muscled as her companion's.

The question now was, of course, did Jessica Taylor know who she was hiking with, and if so, what was she planning on doing about it?

"Have you found a friend, Kaylee?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kaylee woke from the nightmare, stifling a scream. As her eyes took in her surroundings, the fear ebbed away from her heart, and the strong muscle began to slow its marathon pace. She tried to reassemble the events in order, to somehow make sense of the pictures she had seen.

The images from the dream were still very clear in her mind. The entire crash played out before her. She felt the heat, as the ship descended through the atmosphere, causing the hull to catch fire. Then she saw the clear darkness, as her ship hurtled to the earth, the darkness broken only by glints of snow from the moonlight. Then the impact. The last hidden vestiges of long-dormant animal instincts guiding her towards self-preservation, igniting every fiber of her being, attempting to keep her body in one piece, healing each thread of each torn ligament as it was being torn, mending each crack in each of her bones as they were being shattered, each skin cell replacing itself as it was being burned to a crisp.

The pain had been intense, beyond anything imaginable. Her mind simply blanked when she tried to compare the pain with anything else. There was simply no describing dying every single second for several minutes by exploding from the inside and burning on the outside. The images continued in her mind.

She had raised herself from what had been the cockpit of her ship and had looked around, noticing the long trail of charred metal and debris that marked her skidding collision with the mountain. There were small fires everywhere. She had walked away from the crash, slowly and very unsteadily. Then, the single directive coming from those vestigial animal instincts: Run. Get away. And she had quickly obeyed.

Kaylee tried to reach further back to before the crash, but it was still a blank. Her memories started just before the ship hit the atmosphere, but by that point, she was already in crisis. One thing was for sure. She was not from Earth.

Kaylee got up and took a shower. She liked the feel of the hot water rolling over her skin. It made her tingle. There was only one other thing that came to mind that made her tingle, though it was most definitely in a different way. Every time she looked at Jess, she felt such intense emotion. The same emotion she had felt coming from Jess the night before. Jess had called it 'love.' Kaylee decided she needed to learn more about it. At the moment, though, she just finished her shower and went back to her room to get dressed.

Kaylee could smell the food cooking as she walked down the stairs. It smelled great even though she had no idea what it was. She walked into the kitchen and found Jess hovering around the stove and Jason sitting at the table.

"Good morning, Kaylee."

"Good morning, Jason."

"Morning," Jess muttered over her shoulder.

"Good morning. What are you cooking?"

"She's making bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits. She stole the idea from McDonald's."

"I didn't steal anything. Where do you think McDonald's got their recipe from?"

"Oh, right, Mom."

"Hey, at least mine taste better."

"You got a point."

"What's McDonald's?"

"You've never heard of McDonald's? How is that even possible? They're in every country in the world."

"Jason, leave her alone. Remember, she has amnesia."

"But still... McDonald's?"

"Jaaaase..."

"All right, all right. You know, if you'd hurry up with breakfast, my mouth would be full by now and I wouldn't be able to talk."

"Hold your horses."

"I don't have any. You haven't said yes, yet."

"If you don't stop bugging me, there will be no 'yet' at the end of that statement."

"You really don't play fair, but I'll shut up now." Jason added on the last part at the glaring look he received from his mother.

Kaylee listened to their interaction and tried to decipher it. On the surface, they seemed to be angry with one another and even actively trying to hurt each other, but Kaylee could feel the ebb and flow of strong mutual affection shared between the two. It was like, and yet unlike, the feeling Jess had labeled as love. Jess served up their breakfasts and Kaylee let her mind come back to the here and now.

They ate breakfast quickly. Jason was running late, as usual, and Jess tried to hurry him along as best she could. Within a few minutes, Jason was on his bus and Jess was back in the kitchen taking care of the dishes. Kaylee helped her.

"I remembered the crash. I had a nightmare of it this morning."

"The crash?"

"Yeah, I was piloting a spacecraft and I guess something went wrong. My ship crashed on the side of the mountain. I walked down to the road and that's when you found me."

"Do you remember anything else?"

"No, just the crash." Kaylee shivered.

"Was it bad?"

"Yeah. I don't think I can really describe it. I... I died many times and my body just kept repairing the damage as it happened."

"What do you mean?"

"The impact of the crash shattered my body, but before it could be destroyed, or maybe as it was being destroyed, my body healed itself. Each split second it repaired the bones that were trying to fly apart. Then everything was on fire and while I was being burned alive, my cells were replacing themselves. As each one was burned away, it was replaced by a new healthy one. It seemed to be happening at the atomic level."

"That's incredible. Well, it explains how you survived that walk down the mountain. But if your cells could replace themselves so easily and quickly, why were you covered in scratches when we found you?"

"I'm not sure. I think what happened to me was... It was special. I didn't have any control over it, it just happened. My body decided to survive. But then, once the crisis was passed, it became my responsibility again. I remember stopping several times while I was hiking down the mountain and concentrating on healing my feet and my skin. Then I would sort of be out of it again and then I made it to the road and I just didn't have any reserves left. Being able to sleep through the night allowed my body to heal more naturally."

"It's an amazing gift you have."

"No one here can do anything like that, can they?"

"Nope. There are some gurus who seem to be able to control their bodies amazingly well. And scientists have proven that we are capable of controlling our bodies with just our thoughts. They've hypnotized people into believing they've touched a hot stove, when they really haven't, and blisters form on the skin, even though there was no real heat source. It was all in the person's mind. Maybe, as our species evolves, we'll be able to attain something like what you've described, but not yet."

They finished with the dishes.

"Well, I need to get to work. Wanna help?"

Kaylee nodded.

"What do I do?"

They put on their jackets and Jess led the small blonde-haired woman outside. Then they got to work. When Jason came home hours later, Kaylee realized they'd worked through lunch. Jess seemed to realize the same thing, as Kaylee heard her stomach growl.

"Okay, time for food."

"Yes."

Kaylee followed the tall sweating woman back into the house and sat down at the table. Jason was already there working on his homework. He had a small book next to him that he flipped through every now and then as he wrote.

"What is that?"

"This? It's a dictionary."

"Can I look at it?"

"Sure."

Jason handed over the book and went back to his writing. Kaylee opened the small paperback and began reading. She'd picked up letters and numbers from the commercials on TV, and was even able to recognize a few words, but she hadn't tried to read any books yet. After going over the introduction, she began putting together what the symbols meant. She decided she would have to go over it later, when Jason asked for the book back so he could check the spelling of another word.

Lunch was ready not too much later and Jason set aside his work to concentrate on eating. He was done in no time flat and went back to his homework. He was finished by the time Jess and Kaylee were done with their meals. When Jason got up to go play Nintendo, since his homework was done, Jess stopped him.

"Hold up. You've got some chores to do."

"What? But I finished my homework and the trash doesn't go out 'til Wednesday. And my room is clean."

"Yes, but you need to feed and stable your horse for the evening."

Jess waited for the realization to sink in. She didn't have long to wait. Jason's eyes got big and he jumped up, letting out a loud whoop for joy.

"Yes! Mom, you are so cool. You're the best. Oh, this is so cool. I have to call Carson. He is going to freak. Oh, man...."

"You can call him after you've taken care of your horse. From now on, she comes first before everything else, except homework. Got it?"

"Got it. Double got it. Oh, man, this is too cool."

Jason grabbed his jacket and went out to the barn. Jess laughed once he'd closed the door behind him. Jason was so much fun when he was flabbergasted. He was just really neat to watch.

Jess picked up their plates and brought them to the sink and Kaylee followed her, helping her, as was becoming their ritual. When they were done, Jess went to her study to write up her notes on her livestock and update her inventory. Kaylee picked up Jason's forgotten dictionary and began to read.

An hour later, Jess came back downstairs. Kaylee was halfway through the C's when she saw Jess. She put the book back on top of Jason's homework pile and then suddenly felt a wave of terror and then nothingness wash over her. Her head snapped up and she raced out the back door, headed for the barn. Jess ran after her.

Kaylee tore the barn door open and saw Jason lying face down in the hay on the floor of the barn. She ran forward and skidded to her knees in the hay next to him. She could see the handle of a pitchfork running perpendicular to his body and realized the curved-up spikes of the fork end were most likely embedded in the boy's chest. She heard Jess at the door. She looked up to see the horrific expression of Jess's contorted features as Jess screamed. She ran forward, but Kaylee held out her hand to stop her. For some reason, the gesture held Jess in her tracks.

Kaylee slowly rolled the boy's limp body away from the handle of the pitchfork and felt the slight tug as the spikes removed themselves from his chest. She laid him down on his back. Jason's shirt was a bloody mess and when she lifted the sopping remnant, she could see the deep and ragged holes puncturing the soft flesh over the left side of his sternum and ribcage. She heard Jess's whimper and the thud of her knees hitting the ground.

Kaylee placed both of her hands over the five puncture wounds and concentrated. She willed the cells of the bones and muscles and skin to knit themselves together. She placed her right hand over his heart and sent the urge to 'pump' into the boy's lifeless body. After several seconds, she felt a light thump. Then another. And another. She pulled her right hand back to its original position over the puncture wounds and put her very essence into connecting the tissues that had been severed from each other. She felt her body talking to Jason's body, reminding it how happy it was when all was connected, when all was in harmony. She could feel his life's blood filling his left lung and dragged the blood through the tissue to be recycled for his healing body.

She sat there, holding his body in her lap, her hands pressed hard into his chest, and simply let the universe move around her. There was no time, no space, no life, no death, no love, no hate. Just Kaylee and Jason, two bodies connected by need and a will to survive.

Jess sat transfixed. She watched as Jason took a shallow breath, then another, each breath a little deeper than the one before, until he was breathing deeply and calmly. She couldn't be sure how long she'd sat there and watched her son come back to life, but her knees were freezing all of a sudden and she had to move them out from underneath her. She carefully rolled her body to the side, never taking her eyes off her son and the woman who had brought him back from certain death. She stretched out her legs and let her knees get accustomed to circulation again and then slowly crawled forward to sit beside Kaylee and her baby boy.

She stared at the bloody T-shirt. The blood was crusting and Jess realized they must have been in the barn for quite some time. She looked at Jason's bared chest and saw only deep bruising where the spikes had surely penetrated his body. Kaylee opened her eyes and looked down at the boy in her arms. Slowly, Jason's eyes opened and he looked first at Kaylee and then at his mother. He worked his mouth and tasted blood. His voice was a whispered croak.

"What happened?"

Jess's tears streamed down her cheeks at the sound of her child's voice.

"I don't know, baby. I think you fell from the loft."

"I saw... I saw the fork. I tried to twist away from it, but..."

"Shhh, it's okay, sweetie. You're going to be all right."

Jess looked at Kaylee for permission to carry her son inside and Kaylee helped push him up into her arms. Kaylee shut the barn door behind them and trailed behind mother and son as Jess carried the boy inside and up to his room. After a quick call to the doctor, Jess and Kaylee went about changing Jason out of his soiled clothes.

"Where did all that blood come from?" Jason asked, as he watched Kaylee take away his ruined shirt.

Jess washed his chest with a clean washrag.

"It's okay, you're fine, Jason. Doc's going to be over here soon to check you over."

"You're not answering my question, Mom. Where's all the blood from? Me?"

Jess nodded.

"But how? I'm just bruised a little."

"We'll talk about it later. Just try to relax, and when the doc gets here, let him do his work."

"You promise to explain later?"

"Yeah, I promise. Maybe not tonight, but I will explain."

"All right."

Jason seemed to calm down after that, and when Dr. Sheridan looked him over, he was pronounced healthy as a horse. A horse with bruised ribs, that is.

"Ice his ribs for about twenty minutes every hour or two and give him aspirin or ibuprofen for the pain." The doctor turned to the scowling boy. "And you, young man, need to promise me you'll take it easy for the next few days." Jason rolled his eyes. "I mean it. Promise."

"All right. No rough-housing, no riding, and no kickball. I promise."

"Good. Well, if anything else happens around here, you know who to call." Dr. Sheridan smiled and gathered up his things. "And hopefully I won't see any of you for a while. No offense." He chuckled.

"None taken. Thank you for coming over on such short notice." Jess escorted him to the front door. "He's really okay?"

"Yes, he's fine. Just make sure he keeps his promise. Bruised ribs aren't life-threatening, but if he pulls anything while he's still weak, it'll take him that much longer to heal."

"I'll keep him in the house tomorrow and make sure he doesn't do anything more strenuous than play Tetris."

"Sounds good. Well, goodnight."

"Night, Doc."

She closed the door behind him and went back up to her son's bedroom. Kaylee was sitting next to him, holding his hand. He was asleep. Jess bent over him and kissed him on the forehead, and then pulled the covers up around his neck. Kaylee rested his hand underneath the covers at his side, and then followed Jess downstairs to the den. Jess fell onto the couch and Kaylee sat in front of the fire, a spot that was fast becoming her favorite place in the entire house.

"I don't know how to thank you. You saved my son's life. There's nothing I can do to repay that kind of debt."

"I only did what I had to. Jason deserves a long and happy life."

"Thank you for his life."

"You're welcome."

Jess stood and then moved to kneel in front of Kaylee. She drew the small woman into her arms and hugged her tight for several long moments, then stood up and left the room.

Kaylee got up and turned off the lights and sat back down in front of the fire. She thought about what had almost happened. The tears streamed down her face, over her cheeks, to drip from her chin. She felt the drops on her knees where she hugged her legs to her chest. She grieved for a loss from a possible future that hadn't come to pass. She realized that the emotions she had felt coming from Jess and flowing to Jason, were mirrored by her own emotions for the boy. In every sense of the word, she felt Jason as a mother felt a son.