Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, wish I did.
Follows The Patrol.
Many thanks to my wonderful Beta readers, Sar and Cat. Thank you very much for all your help and suggestions.
This story is dedicated to Kathye. She has been my faithful beta reader since my very first fanfic but was unable to beta this story since she's on vacation in England. In fact, if it wasn't for her, you wouldn't be reading this story now, since it was her dare that got me writing.
"...so then Buck notices that none of us are saying anything and he turns around to find Mrs. Travis and Chris standing right behind him. They'd heard every word he'd said." JD grinned at the memory of Buck's expression before continuing. "Buck took one look at Chris's face and suddenly remembered he had an appointment."Ezra laughed before asking, "So what happened next?"
"Well Chris turned to...." the young man's voice trailed off as he caught a glint of something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped, his dark head turning to look at it. All he could see was a large copse of trees off in the distance to the right.
"JD? What is it?" Ezra looked past the younger man to see what had captured his attention but didn't see anything unusual.
JD stared out at the distance for a few more minutes before shaking his head. "Don't know. Coulda sworn I saw something, but it's gone now."
"Are you sure?" Ezra asked. He hadn't seen anything, but something had distracted the younger man.
"No." JD frowned in concentration as he tried to figure out what it was that he'd seen. He shifted in his saddle in indecision before turning to the man watching him closely. "Do you mind if we go check it out? It's going to bug me for the rest of the day if we don't."
Ezra grinned wickedly before replying, "Well, we certainly don't want that. I have something special in mind for tonight and you being distracted by anything other than me is not in the cards."
JD flushed with heat. He couldn't come up with anything to say, so he just nodded mutely before turning his mare in the direction of the grove of trees.
Ezra found himself once again in the enviable position of being able to watch his soon-to-be-lover to his heart's content. For a moment, he allowed himself to dream of a world where he and JD wouldn't have to hide their feelings for each other. He knew that eventually the others would find out and Ezra hoped for his lover's sake that they would at least accept them even if they didn't understand.
As they drew closer to the small grove of trees they started to hear something.
"JD? Are you hearing the same thing I am?"
"Yeah. I think we've found Mr. Norton's missing cattle."
"I was not aware that Mr. Norton was missing cattle." The gambler wrinkled his nose at the smell before pulling out a handkerchief and pressing it to his nostrils.
JD turned to grin at him before remarking, "You wouldn't, he didn't want anybody to know."
"Dare I ask, how it was that you came to find out this information?"
"Don't worry." JD said. "I just happened to be nearby when he caught up with some of his hired hands in town the other day and told them to get out and start looking for these missing head of cattle."
Ezra looked down to hide his relief. He swallowed hard before looking up into understanding hazel eyes. "Well, it appears that they were unsuccessful in their search."
"Yeah. We should probably make sure they're all there."
Ezra sighed. "Indeed. Why don't you go around to the right and I'll go to the left." At JD's questioning look, he added, "Just in case these missing bovine have some human companions."
Before JD could take off, Ezra grabbed him by the arm and whispered hoarsely, "Be careful."
JD took hold of the hand on his arm, brought it up to his lips, kissing it briefly before whispering back, "I will." The two of them veered off to approach the grove of trees from two different directions.
His dark eyes scanning the small clearing for trouble, the sheriff entered the camp first. He didn't see anyone around, but signs that someone had been were everywhere. The remains of a campfire were off to one side, while the cattle were roped off in a makeshift corral. JD did a quick count and realized that more than Mr. Norton's cattle were there.
The young lawman glanced over in the direction he expected Ezra to come from and was relieved when he saw him coming into the camp. Something was wrong, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Ez would know what it was.
"Is it just me or does this seem a little too convenient?" JD waved his arm to indicate the empty camp.
The gambler tried to quell his rising feeling of unease before responding, "It does indeed. Perhaps we should go back to town for reinforcements instead of waiting here for the residents of this camp to return?" He looked around the camp trying to place what was making him so edgy.
JD looked over at Ezra and winked before leaning down from his saddle to pull one of the ropes holding the cattle penned. He never saw the boy, almost his own age, who came around from behind the cattle where he'd been taking a nap.
JD had almost gotten the rope undone when he heard the crack and felt a searing heat blaze across his chest. The impact of the bullet pushed him back over and off his horse. He hit the ground with a whoosh and his world went black.
"JD!" Ezra screamed in horror as he watched the boy come from behind the cattle and fire a rifle at the sheriff. He pulled his gun and the boy was dead before JD's body hit the ground.
This couldn't be happening. This was all a horrible nightmare, Ezra kept telling himself as he leapt off his horse and ran over to JD.
"JD...love..." He fell to his knees. "It's going to be okay." The gambler pushed aside the brown jacket so he could see how bad the wound was. "Damnit...damnit," he cursed his fumbling fingers as he unbuttoned JD's vest before losing patience and ripping open the shirt that lay beneath.
Oh. God.
There was so much blood. Frantically he tried to wipe away the blood to see how bad his love had been shot when a thought raced through his mind. The younger man hadn't made a sound.
Red-rimmed eyes looked up from what he was doing to stare in horror at JD's face. That beautiful face was gray and his head lay at an awkward angle.
No.
Ezra shook his head to clear it before bending down to place his ear above those lips he had kissed earlier that day.
"No!" He couldn't feel anything. "No. You said we had time." Ezra yelled as he grabbed JD by the shoulders and pulled him to him. He started rocking back and forth chanting softly, his lips pressed close to JD's, "You said we had time...you said we had time."
Ezra almost dropped him when he heard the sudden intake of breath followed by a low moan of pain. He watched with increasing hope as his darling's eyelids fluttered briefly before opening to tiny slits.
Ezra didn't think he could ever imagine seeing a more beautiful sight. He wasn't even aware of the tears that streamed down his face until a hand slowly reached up to brush them away. Ezra caught that hand on his cheek and turned his face to press a kiss into the palm before laying it back down.
With a shuddering breath, he whispered, "Oh god, I thought I'd lost you, my darling." It took all his willpower to lay JD back down on the ground so he could finish checking his wound.
"What..." JD managed to croak out.
"Shhh, darlin', you've been shot." Ezra looked around for something to use to try and stop the bleeding, but couldn't see anything. Without a second thought, he stripped off his prized red jacket and pressed it down on the younger man's chest.
"Ezra..." JD gasped in pain, breathing heavily, before he continued, "We can't stay here." At Ezra's blank look he tried again, "...rest...of those...cattle...rustlers ...coming back..." He paused to catch his breath, staring into green eyes trying to convince his lover that they had no choice. They had to go and they had to go now.
Ezra closed his eyes, swallowed hard and nodded quickly. He puckered his lips to whistle, but nothing happened. He wet his lips and tried again. He was rewarded by a sharp shrill note and his horse trotting over to him.
He pulled JD to his feet and, with JD helping as much as he could, got him onto the back of his horse. Ezra had to take a moment to settle the animal when it smelled the blood before mounting to sit behind him. Reaching around, he grabbed hold of the reins and with the other arm wrapped tenderly around JD's waist he rode out of the camp, pausing only to grab the reins of the injured man's horse.
As they made their way back to town, Ezra continued a stream of comforting words while JD rested comfortably against the gambler's chest breathing shallowly.
fin
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Continues in Into Town