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'Don't you go down there,' Elizabeth warned. 'I'll not have you getting sick again, and definitely
not
today.'

Maude put her hands on Elizabeth's shoulders reassuringly. 'I won't. Go. I'll be fine.' Mitch had already started the engine and Elizabeth quickly went over and climbed into the passenger seat. She worked hard to clip her seat belt in place as he reversed and swung the car around in a 180-degree manoeuvre which would have impressed the most qualified rally driver.

'What's his status?'

'Not sure. At this stage, it's just a report. Pierre reported the fall and has already mobilised the MRS into action.'

'How are you holding up?' He glanced at her and she melted at his concern.

'I'm trying to stay focused. If I don't, I'll be no good to him.' She paused. 'You?'

'The same. We both need to stay focused.' He shook his head. 'What was he doing out at a mine?'

'Looking for Pierre Knowles.'

'Why?'

'Pierre's a witness in a case my father and Marcus are working on,' she explained.

'So he's come to convince Pierre to give evidence and thought he'd take the opportunity to convince you to weasel out of your contract, eh?'

'Now is
not
the time, Mitch.'

He exhaled harshly. 'You're right.' He indicated and pulled off the road. 'It's just up here.' Mitch slowed the ute down when he saw Grozer in his MRS uniform just finishing marking the way. 'Everyone's here,' Grozer reported. 'Pierre's taken charge and they're getting the winch ready now.'

'Thanks.' Mitch drove on a bit further and then parked the ute. Elizabeth felt much more confident this time now that she knew the protocol. Mitch grabbed his medical bag from the tray of the ute and headed to where the light beacons were set up. The sun was almost down now and soon they'd be working' in darkness.

'Has anyone gone down yet?' Mitch asked Pierre.

'No. Get yourself into a harness, Doc, and get ready to go down.' Pierre glanced across at Elizabeth. 'There are some overalls in the truck. Get some on and get ready.'

Elizabeth did as she was told, glad that this time she was wearing jeans and could just pull the overalls on top. Much easier. She watched as Mitch secured the harness around himself and was hooked up to the winch, the mining helmet on his head shining its bright light around.

'Is the phone line down?' he asked Pierre.

'Going down now.'

'Right.' He nodded to Pierre and Elizabeth quickly crossed to his side. She put her hand on Mitch's arm and he turned to look at her. 'Keep your focus,' she said softly.

Mitch glared at her for a moment, annoyed that she was questioning his ability, but the look of concern in her gaze made him realise she wasn't trying to be difficult. She was concerned with what he might find when he reached the bottom. It had nothing to do with his skill as a miner or rescuer, and everything to do with the fact that Marcus was his family. 'I'll try.'

'Good.' Elizabeth looked at him, her heart pounding fiercely against her ribs. She had the sudden urge to grab him, kiss him and never let him go. It was a strange sensation and one she'd never experienced so strongly before. His gaze met hers and for a brief moment they were lost in time. Only the two of them existed and they seemed be having a completely different conversation without any words.

Mitch reached out and caressed her cheek. Elizabeth leaned into that soft, sweet touch. 'I will,' he replied to her unspoken plea that he be careful. He turned away, yanked on his gloves and gave Pierre the thumbs-up sign, indicating he was ready.

Mitch went down into the darkness, trying to keep his mind clear and professional. Now was not the time to get emotional about what might or might not have happened to his younger brother. Although they had never really been friends, although they hadn't seen each since they were children, he still didn't want anything to happen to him. 'Marcus?' he called, but received no response. 'You hang in there, little brother,' he said softly as the whirring of the winch sounded around him.

The shaft was about the same depth as the one at his and Maude's mine but somehow this one seemed a lot deeper. Perhaps it was simply his impatience making it feel that way. 'You've got the best team coming to your rescue, bro', so hang in there.'

Finally...
finally...
he felt the ground beneath his feet. 'I'm down,' he reported, and unhooked himself from the winch. Even though he knew it was important to move away from the bottom of the shaft, Mitch stood where he was. Marcus had fallen straight down so he couldn't be too far from the opening.

He pulled a torch from his jeans pocket and shone it around. 'There you are.' Combined with the light from his helmet, Mitch spotted him not too far from the opening of the shaft. 'There you are.' With two fingers pressed to Marcus's neck, Mitch slowly let out the breath he'd been holding. The pulse was there but it wasn't too strong.

'I've found him,' Mitch called up, and there was a whoop of delight from the crew involved.

Elizabeth sighed with utter relief and it was only then she realised she'd been more anxious for Mitch than she had been for Marcus, who was lying unconscious with heaven only knew what kind of injuries. She covered her face with her hands, unable to believe she was such a horrible person for feeling this way. She couldn't help it. Of course she would be concerned for Mitch—she
loved
him.

Elizabeth gasped and looked up and around her as she realised the truth of her thoughts. She expected everyone to be looking at her, as though it was obvious to the entire world that she was in love with Mitchell O'Neill, but they weren't. They were all focused on the task at hand—just as she should be. She shook her head, pushing all thoughts except those of the rescue in progress from her mind. Later...much later...there would be time.

'Status?' Pierre asked.

'Just giving him the once-over, mate. Send Lizzie down and the medical kit.'

'OK.' Pierre nodded to Elizabeth. 'Looks like you're on, Doc.'

'There's a compound fracture to his right femur,' Mitch announced. 'Lizzie, his BP's probably low so bring a bag of saline down.'

'Is there one in the kit?' she asked as she was clipped to the winch, helmet on her head. Someone checked.

'Yes.'

'Good. Let's go.'

'Not nervous this time, Doc?' Pierre asked.

'Always nervous,' she told him. 'Just not scared.'

Pierre laughed. 'Good to hear, Doc.'

Elizabeth stepped out over the shaft, keeping her eyes open and concentrating hard. The winch gave a jolt as it started and both she and the medical kit went down together. At the bottom she unclipped herself and stepped away from the opening.

'Over here, Lizzie.'

'Is he conscious?'

'No. He has a few bumps on his head.'

'How's his leg?' Elizabeth opened the medical kit and swapped her gloves over. She reached for the medical torch and checked Marcus's pupils. 'Equal and reacting to light'

'Good.' Mitch wound the BP cuff around his brother's arm. 'It's not as good as I'd like it to be. That femur feels pretty bad. Check it out.'

Elizabeth looked. 'I've seen worse but you're right. It's not good. He has extensive tissue damage with heavy blood loss. Get the saline set up, I'll start on this leg.' Elizabeth reached into the medical kit and grabbed a pair of scissors. She cut away the blood-soaked trousers, knowing Marcus wouldn't be pleased at the state of his expensive suit, but it couldn't be helped. She applied pressure to the wound while she also tried to clean the area as best she could. She needed to see more clearly what was going on and, while these weren't the most hygienic circumstances to be working in, she needed to control the bleeding before Marcus went into hypovolemic shock.

'Give him some midazolam in case he regains consciousness while I'm digging around in his thigh,' she said once the drip had been set up.

'Right.' They discussed the dosage required to give a man of Marcus's height and weight and Mitch administered it. 'How are you doing, Lizzie?'

She looked up at him and smiled. 'Good. You?'

'Good.'

She nodded and returned her attention to her work. When the drug was working, she waited for Mitch to get into position.

'So? What can I get for you?' he asked.

She smiled at him. 'Retractor.'

'Uh...don't have a retractor.'

"Then use your fingers and pass me a clamp,' she said. 'You're the outback doctor here. I would have thought you'd be used to improvising by now.'

His rich chuckle washed over her and it took away the tension that had surrounded her entire day. She concentrated on her work and found the bleeding area. 'Gauze. I can't see properly.' Mitch assisted her and finally she had it clamped. 'Suture. I'll put them in for now and when we get him back to the hospital, I'll fix it properly.'

Once that was done, they applied a padded bandage to the femur and Mitch called for Pierre to send down the paraguard stretcher.

'You go up with him,' Mitch said. 'I'll stay down and get things packed up.'

Elizabeth looked across at him, their gazes meeting. 'All right. You'll need to strap him into that stretcher. I definitely think I'll need training on that at a later date.'

'You can count on it.'

It was difficult to get Marcus onto the stretcher as he was unconscious but eventually everything was in place and Elizabeth's harness was clipped to the winch.

'See you up top.' She smiled warmly at the man she
loved
,
her heart turning over with joy. Did he see it in her eyes? Could he see that he meant the world to her?

'Keep your focus,' he said as the winch started to pull herself and Marcus up. It was a timely reminder. Romantic notions would be dealt with later but now she had a job to do. When she finally reached the top, it was to find Ryan there with the ambulance ready and waiting.

They had Marcus settled in the ambulance by the time Mitch came up, and he rushed over and climbed in. 'Let's get going,' he said to Ryan.

'BP still isn't good,' Elizabeth reported as she set up a bag of plasma. 'He's going to need a transfusion.'

'Cross-type and match as soon as we get in.' Mitch stared at his brother's white face for a moment before turning to look at Elizabeth.

'Well, there's no way I can operate on him. He's my brother! Are you going to be OK to operate on him, Lizzie? You know, because he's your boyfriend.'

'Thank goodness you didn't say fiancé. And, actually, he's
not
my boyfriend any more.'

'He's not?'

Mitch
looked at Elizabeth in surprise as the ambulance stopped and the rear doors were opened by Imogen and Teena. Mitch pigeonholed the questions he wanted to ask and set about getting things organised for his brother.

'Lizzie, do the cross-type and match, stat. Then he'll go to X-ray while we wait for the blood results. If you need me, let me know.'

'As you say, Doctor.' She went ahead of the stretcher and got the instruments ready for the blood test. Once she was done, they took Marcus off to the tiny X-ray room where ten minutes later Elizabeth received word that he'd finally regained consciousness. She finished what she was doing and headed to see how things were getting on.

'Hi,' she whispered as she handed Mitch the results. 'How's he doing?'

'See for yourself.' He smiled. 'I've given him some analgesics but he's quite a fighter.'

'Good.' She returned Mitch's smile.

'I'll let you talk to him.' He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly before walking out. Elizabeth watched him go and then headed over to Marcus.

'Hello, there, stranger.' She reached up and smoothed his hair back from his face. He didn't like it when his hair was messy and out of place. 'How are you feeling?'

'I can hardly move,' he mumbled.

'You're wearing a neck brace, which generally makes it hard to talk. You won't have to wear it too much longer, just until the X-rays of your spine have been processed.'

'What happened, Elizabeth?'

'You don't remember?' He gave her a blank look. 'Do you know where you are?'

'Well, if you're looking down at me like that, I'm obviously in hospital.'

'You're in Australia—in Coober Pedy. Remember?'

'Pierre Knowles,' he whispered, and she watched as his eyes glazed over as he remembered. 'I went out to the mining place where he works and I couldn't find anyone. The place seemed deserted. I slipped and...and...Elizabeth! I can't remember.'

'That's common, Marcus. Just relax. You fell down a mine-shaft but you're out now and you're going to be fine.' Imogen had been setting up the radiographic film to X-ray Marcus's leg while Elizabeth had kept their patient occupied. Now both women needed to move out of the room so they could take the X-ray.

'All done,' Imogen announced a moment or two later. 'Let me do your obs before we move you anywhere else.'

Elizabeth stood beside him and when Marcus held out his hand to her, she took it and squeezed it. 'You're going to be fine. I promise.'

'How do you know?'

'Because I'll be taking you to Theatre soon and making good on my promise.'

'You're going to operate on me?' he squeaked.

'Don't you trust me?' Even though her words had been spoken lightly and in jest, Elizabeth also realised this was the crux of their failed relationship. Marcus had never had much faith in her—had never urged her to better herself, to strengthen her weaknesses, to stand on her own two feet. Mitch had...and she knew that was one of the reasons why she loved him. She smiled down at Marcus, feeling sorry for him. The next few days, weeks even, weren't going to be easy for him.

'Uh...well...it's not that, Elizabeth. It's just that... What about that other fellow?'

'Shh.' She squeezed his hand once more before letting go. 'Everything will be fine.'