Harvest Dreams

by Jacqueline Paige

  What could she possibly be doing that held this kind of force? He knew the answer as soon as he finished the thought. She was making some soul penance in exchange for Ricky’s health. A gust of anguish shoved against him as he forced his legs to keep going towards the bedroom.

  Stopping momentarily to try and take a deep breath as the air crushed against his lungs and threatened to overtake him. Nothing was stopping him from reaching Rachel. Nothing!

  He clenched his jaw and raised his hands against the swirling power. Picturing her inside needing him gave him more than enough strength to shove it back from him. A picture on the wall rocked with the force and crashed to the floor. He stepped over it and glared at the door that held her from his vision. “Rachel!”

  He knew she probably couldn’t hear him, knew because years before when the emotions of losing patients threatened to ruin him, he’d tried to make a bargain to keep someone from passing. The price was too high in the end and he’d stopped. Part of him knew she wouldn’t stop, she would succeed and he couldn’t live with that.

  Shoving his power towards the door, he managed to rock it. He didn’t know if he had enough strength to get through it. Fear swamped him and it held him there, unmoving for moments more than he should have let it. As he raised his head again and felt a rush of steady power flow over him and without turning knew Chris had arrived. Objects flew past him and the noise of the rushing wind howled around him. Chris was not only here, but he was pissing off the force Rachel brought there.

  “You have to do it!”

  Over the noise, he was barely able to hear Chris yelling only a few feet behind him. Steven hesitantly turned his head away from the door and looked over at Chris kneeling on the floor with his hand held out towards him. His hair was blowing as he held onto the railing with his other hand straining to hold his position at the top of the stairs.

  “It won’t let me any closer, Steven! You can get through it.” Each word Chris said sounded as if he were in pain.

  It took a few seconds for him to understand but he finally realized what Chris was saying. Because it was Rachel doing it, Steven was somehow protected, but it would eat Chris alive if he pushed any further. He nodded and looked back at the door. A resolve passed over him; he was not giving up Rachel.

  Raising both hands towards the door, he placed one foot behind to brace himself against the incredible force the energies had. Clenching his jaw, he allowed the fear and anger run through him, gathering strength he was going to need. He felt his hands shake with an energy that should have frightened him. Ignoring it, he focused on the doorknob and watched as it began to shake.

  Another rush of power hit him as he felt Chris trying to help him again. The doorknob snapped and dropped to the floor. Taking a deep breath he rushed forward and smashed his side against the door. It opened, pushing against him so he had to fight to move past it and enter the room. The forces from the spell being cast were suffocating him. He took shallow breaths trying to find enough oxygen.

  Moving from the door, it slammed shut, sending him flying against the wall. In the center of the room Rachel knelt, her eyes closed in concentration, her lips moving in a silent chant. She held her hands over a black dish on the floor; he gazed on her for a few more seconds and then looked at the items in front of her. He had been right, the symbols on the floor, the incense, and the other tools lying in there all pointed towards what he’d feared.

  She knelt there, oblivious to the danger around her as objects in the room swirled around her, closer than he was comfortable with.

  Gasping, he caught his breath once more and fought to think of a way to break what she had begun. A dark smoke swirled around her and he wasn’t going to stand there and see if it was getting closer as he suspected it was.

  “Rach...” A blast of wind hit him and knocked his breath out of him. Wind. He straightened slowly and scowled at the dark mist circling the woman he loved. He was not going to stand there and watch her bind her life force with something like that for anyone, himself included. Fighting to move closer he raised both hands away from his body and focused on the air in the room. He controlled air and wasn’t going to allow some lurking spirit tell him otherwise. Sweat soaked his brow as he stared at the objects moving around the room. They had slowed, but weren’t going to stop completely.

  “Rachel! This is not the answer.” he shouted over the racket.

  Her head popped up and she opened her eyes and gave him a shocked look. “I have to,” she growled.

  Grinding his teeth he took another step towards her. “You can’t! It won’t work. What’s meant will happen no matter what you sacrifice. You know this!”

  Rachel glared at him and raised her hands over the dish once more.

  Anger swamped him, flooding into every pore of his body then the wind that had been whipping against him stopped abruptly. Items clattered to the floor. The darkness hovered over her as if waiting to see if it should continue.

  Holding his breath he swatted a hand towards it and watched as it was shoved towards the ceiling before it dissipated and vanish completely.

  Rachel gasped and looked up at him again. “You had no right...”

  In three strides, he crossed to her and reached down to pull her to her feet. She scrambled up and stepped away from him. “I had every right,” he croaked with a tight throat.

  The door slammed open and smacked against the wall. Chris leaned against the doorframe looking like he had just run a marathon. His hair was all over the place and his shirt was ripped in several places. He panted, trying to catch his breath as he looked from one to the other. Sending Rachel an exasperated look, before he slowly turned back to Steven. “I’ll be downstairs.” Was what he said, but his expression told Steven Rachel was his problem to handle.

  Steven glanced behind him to see Cora and Kasey also standing there looking frightened. “I’ll be down shortly.”

  Chris nodded and turned away.

  Steven waited until he was sure he’d taken the women with him and then turned back to Rachel. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?”

  She huffed out a breath. “I don’t care!”

  He moved towards her. “I am not going to stand back while you do something that reckless...”

  A book hurled towards him from across the room. Ducking quickly he turned to watch it slam into the wall behind him and drop to the floor. He looked back and gapped at her. Two more books flew at him. He lifted his hand and batted them in the other direction with a slap of magic. “Stop it!”

  Taking a deep breath, he closed the distance between them again and grasped her arms so she couldn’t lift her hands and bounce something off his face. “Stop,” he whispered. She stood there, vibrating with emotion and stared up at him. His heart jerked in his chest to see the anguish in her eyes. “Nothing you can cast is going to change the outcome, Angel.” He cautiously released her arms and ran a shaking hand over her hair. “Sacrificing yourself isn’t going to win him a full recovery.”

  Rachel started shaking. “I can’t give him up, not without a fight.” He pulled her gently into his arms and held her.

  “You can’t win that way.” He lifted her chin so she would look up at him. “I’ve tried.”

  He stood there and waited for the questions, not knowing if he could give the explanations she’d want but her eyes just studied his for a long silent moment.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  He didn’t like hearing the sound of defeat in her voice, but couldn’t help the elation he felt knowing she wasn’t going to risk herself again. “I’m trying, Angel.”

  She inhaled sharply and shook her head. “I’m not blaming you.” She reached up and touched his face. “I know you’ll do everything possible, Steven. Don’t ever think anything else.”

  Steven searched her eyes briefly, seeing what he needed to see. She hadn’t lost faith in him. Lowering his head, he brushed his mouth over her quickly, knowing if he did anything oth
er than that, they’d be interrupted by the others that stood downstairs waiting to hug and reprimand her, probably not in that order though.

  When he lifted his head again she looked nervous. “How much trouble am I in?”

  He smirked at her.

  “Who all is down there?” She bit her lip.

  He glanced towards the door. “I have no idea, but you may get your bottom spanked for this stunt.”

  “It’s not too late to climb out the wind...”

  Grabbing her, he tossed her over his shoulder and turned towards the door. “Oh no, Angel. You’re going down there and face this head on.”

  Rachel squirmed to push herself off his shoulder. “Will you accept bribery?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “Damn,” she muttered.

  Chapter 14

  For the next four days Steven barely slept, rarely ate. He worked at what he did every day and every free moment he found himself in Ricky’s room.

  He’d sit with Rachel after work and take her home if she was too shaky to drive. Then he’d go back and sit there when he wasn’t needed somewhere else in the hospital.

  He smiled in his friendly doctor way whenever Ricky was awake, he’d persuade him to take a drink or a few bites when he had the time. When the child slept Steven found himself willing him to get mad, to fight.

  The treatment hadn’t been restarted. Chances of being started again decreased with each day. The transfused blood and platelets didn’t make enough difference to give Don or himself any hope.

  He’d briefly discussed with the other doctor of taking the boy to the park and knew the look the other doctor gave him said he was way too close to all of it for the good of his career. Steven didn’t care about his career. His patients were well cared for and he was always there when they needed him. He just needed things to go well this one time for him.

  Walking into Ricky’s room, he found the boy propped up on pillows and if it were possible looking smaller than he had the day before. He was awake but listless.

  “Hey, Buddy.” Steven stopped and grinned down at the boy. “I’ve come to make a deal with you.”

  “No pills,” the small voice said.

  Steven smiled. “No pills. I want you to sleep and rest as much as you can today and if... if you can eat as much of your lunch as possible, I think we’ll be able to sneak you to the park later on.”

  The eyes widened. “With Rach?”

  Steven nodded. “Yep with Rachel. Marie and Connie will be there as well as a few of my friends.”

  Ricky smiled. “Okay. I’ll eat it all, if I can.”

  “Excellent! I’ll come see you later to see how you did.”

  The child nodded and closed his eyes.

  *

  Rachel rushed to Steven’s car at the park and helped him get the chair out. She smiled as he picked Ricky up and placed him in the chair, then watched silently as he hung the IV bag on the short pole. “Ready to go Buddy?”

  Ricky nodded and grinned at her. “I ate and napped all day, Doc said I had to so I could come.”

  She bent down and fixed the cap on his head. “Well Marie is here and Connie, Kyle stayed at home with Haley, she’s grumpy.” She looked up as they walked through the gate with him. “And the doc invited all his big friends to play too.”

  “Wow they’re bigger than Doc,” he whispered with awe.

  Rachel laughed. “Yes they are.”

  Marie came over and grinned down at him. “What do you want to try first shrimp?”

  Ricky looked around slowly at everyone and then zeroed in on Dade. “You need to put Doc on that.” He pointed a small hand at the marry-go-round. “And make him dizzy.”

  Dade grinned. “I think you’re right.” He grinned over at Steven who was shaking his head.

  “Aw come on Ricky, I sprung you, we had a deal...” Rachel held her hand over her mouth to hide her grin as she watched Steven put on the best show he could avoiding Dade every time he got close to him. When Owen got in on it, it wasn’t a show.

  Steven stepped back from the swipe the larger man’s hands. “Guys, come on! Have a heart.” He ducked past Owen’s arm again and found himself face to face with a grinning Chris. “Chris, come on, you might hurt yourself...”

  Chris’s jaw dropped before he started laughing as he watched Steven being picked up from behind by the other two men.

  Steven glanced over at Ricky to see him laughing so hard he was holding his stomach. “Ricky, I’m gonna make you eat peas tomorrow!” The boy laughed harder. “Angel, help me!” Rachel was laughing as hard as Ricky and couldn’t even reply.

  Several minutes later Steven flopped down on the ground on his back and looked up at the boy. “I’ll get even.” He gasped holding his stomach.

  “Okay,” Ricky said and grinned wider.

  Dade squatted down in front of Rachel and Ricky. He was still out of breath from wrestling to keep Steven on the spinning merry-go-round. He looked at the IV for a moment and then to Ricky. “So you think you’d like to try that big slide over there?” He pointed.

  Ricky grinned and nodded. “I might get sick.”

  Dade shrugged and scooped the boy wrapped in a blanket up. He grabbed his IV with the other hand and walked towards the slide. “Just turn your head away Buddy if you feel that need coming on.”

  Steven looked at Rachel to see her smiling and watching Dade’s large body slide slowly down the slide making sure to hold the IV in the air. Ricky was grinning at him and laughing.

  She glanced down at him and mouthed ‘Thank you’ and then went to meet them at the bottom.

  *

  “You did it Doc,” Ricky whispered as he placed him back in his bed.

  Rachel stood to the side and watched him sigh and close his eyes to sleep, with a smile still on his face. She looked at Steven and pointed to the door. He nodded and followed her out.

  “You’re wonderful,” she said as they went into his office.

  He closed the door and leaned against it. “Haven’t been feeling very helpful the last few days, so I did what I could.”

  She stood a few feet from him and really looked at him. His eyes were tired with little worry lines forging around them. “Have you been home yet this week?”

  He shrugged. “A few times.”

  She walked over and hugged him. “You need to look after you, Steven.”

  He wrapped his arms around her. “Tell that to the babies that decide to be born when I lie down and close my eyes.”

  “I’ll try to schedule that in.”

  “I’ve missed holding you, Angel.” He whispered against her hair.

  Rachel didn’t say anything, just lifted her face to his. She searched his eyes as she slowly stretched up to brush her mouth against his. His hand captured the back of her head as he began kissing her with slow deep kisses.

  Kisses that told her he needed her right now as much as she needed him. Kisses that reminded her whole body how he made her feel. She wrapped her arms around his neck and slid her body up his kissing him back as quickly as he kissed her. “Does this door lock Doctor?”

  Moving his hand around behind his back, he flicked the lock in place as he moved his mouth down over her throat. Her hands were under his shirt pushing it up over his chest. He hissed out a breath when her hot lips touched his skin.

  Scooping her up against him he started to kneel on the carpet and then stopped and walked quickly over to the desk. He set her down and pulled her shirt up, lowering his head to swirl his tongue around a nipple. She gasped and reached for his pants.

  Lifting his head he pulled back from her and shook his head. “You first.” He grasped the front of her jeans and pulled the button open. She hurried to help him and had her jeans down around her ankles faster than he could have managed.

  Stepping from them and reached for his again. He grinned and grasped her by the shoulder and spun her around to face the desk. She gasped in surprise, but didn’t hesitant for more than a second
before she leaned over and placed her hands on the desk and spread her legs apart for him.

  Steven stood there looking down over her perfect ass, without pause he undid his pants and wrestled himself free from them. He leaned closer to her and ran his hand down over her ass far enough until his hand was between her legs. She was hot and slick with wanting him. As he inserted two fingers inside her, he grasped himself firmly in his hand and stroked a few times.

  He couldn’t wait any longer to be inside her. Leaning over her he slide himself between her legs and thrust inside of her. Rachel moaned and pushed back against him.

  Reaching under her he cupped her breasts in his hands and squeezed them as he thrust into her once more. She dropped her head down and gave a muffled moan. As he plucked one nipple between his fingers he reached down between her legs and rubbed his hand over her clit. She shoved back and impaled herself onto him as he thrust into her again.

  From the floor his pager went off.

  Rachel reached down quickly and held his hand against her. “Finish,” she ground out as she pushed the palm of his hand harder against her clit. He dropped his other hand to the desk and slammed inside her. When her hand took over rubbing, he moved both of his to her hips and increased the force their bodies slapped into one another’s. She groaned and began to clench around him.

  With violent thrusts he pounded into her until his own body was just on the edge of orgasm, as she cried out and vibrated around her he came inside her so abruptly his head started spinning.

  Gasping for air he dropped down to rest on top of her back. “Have I offended the gods somehow?” he asked with a shaking voice.

  She chuckled softly as she rested her face against the desk. “Maybe.”

  His pager went off again. “No,” Steven growled and looked down at it. “Don’t move!” He reached down and grabbed at the waist of his pants until he found it. Reaching over her he picked up the phone and punched in a few numbers. “O’Reily... when... I’ll be there shortly.” Hanging the phone up, he leaned down and dropped light kisses onto her shoulder.