These Different Times (Nick Clark FF)

49.

I stayed up until Nick came back, which was way into the night and when he did, the first thing I noticed was that he was covered in dirt, had a bruise forming on his cheek, dried blood under his nose and leaves in his hair. 

Quietly, so I didn't wake Maddie, Alicia or Luciana, who had finally been released from the infirmary tent, I got out of our bunk, wordlessly crossing the room to him. 

"God, Nick. What happened?" 

He looked at his family before taking my hand and leading me out towards the bathrooms which were to the back of the cabin. 

"What happened?" I repeated, inspecting his knuckles. 

"I got into a fight." he said simply and I sighed. 

"With Troy?" 

"Yeah." he mumbled, smiling when I kissed just above his injury and then started wiping his knuckles with a damp rag. 

"I hope he looks worse." I smirked, finishing up the cleaning, "There."

"Thank you," he mumbled, flexing his hand before looking down at me, "You were asleep?" 

"No," I whispered, tossing the rag into the sink, "I was waiting for you to come back." 

"Then let's go back and get some sleep, yeah?" he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder to lead me back to the bunkhouse. 

"Hey," I whispered as he pushed the door open, wincing at the loud squeak it made, "That bruise looks good on you."

He smirked and held the door open for me, "Get in there and get to sleep." 

**

"Fire!" 

"It's on fire!"

"Fire on the ranch!" 

It was as if we hadn't put our heads down for more than ten minutes before we were woken again; this time by flashlights and such as they made their way past our cabin and Madison was peering out of the window. 

"What's going on?" I mumbled, looking at Nick as he climbed over me, "Maddie?" 

"I'm gonna go see," Nick said, quickly tugging on some pants before he grabbed a cardigan.

"Wait, Nick. We're coming with you." his mom called as he ran out the door and when I couldn't find my sweater, I just grabbed the thin blanket that was on the bottom of the bed so I could follow. 

Up on the hill, where Nick and I were standing a mere few hours ago, the small house was up in flames and I picked up the pace so I could get there to help. 

Nick was already there, throwing buckets of water in through the broken windows along with Troy and Jake, who were instructing the ranch residents to get more water. 

A little girl was standing by Maddie, Luciana and I and she turned to her mom who was crying, "Martha and Russell are dead, aren't they?" 

Jeremiah weaved his way through the crowd of people, staring up at the burning building before he was holding his hand up, halting both his son's efforts, "Leave it, save the water. They're gone. Let it burn." 

As if they couldn't quite believe what he was saying, both Jake and Troy hesitated but with one firm nod from their father, they threw their buckets down in defeat. 

The people of the ranch, they all stared up at the large flames as it took over the building, most of them in shock and disbelief. 

Nick came back to where Luciana and I were huddled under our blankets, shaking his head as he did so. "They were dancing," he murmured, "They were...you don't think there'd be any chance..."