Josiah looked down and the dead figure of Eli Joe in the wagon and sighed. "All right. Take him
away," he instructed. He looked to Nathan, who appeared just as unsettled as he was.
And then there was Vin.
Josiah shook his head sadly as he saw the loss of hope on the young tracker's face. He motioned
for Nathan to follow him to the Saloon, knowing that Vin would seek his or any of the other
men's ears when and if he needed it.
Chris stood next to Vin and watched as the wagon pulled away and said, "I know you wanted him
alive."
Vin nodded slightly. "You did what you had to. I can't clear my name if I'm dead," he said
unhappily.
Chris reached up and placed a comforting hand on Vin's shoulder and squeezed lightly. He
nodded slightly and walked off. To where, he didn't really know, but he had a pretty good idea.
He let his feet take him to where he knew they would always go. The Saloon.
So it surprised him when he found himself in front of the Clarion, reaching out and opening the
door and letting himself in.
Mary stood from her desk immediately and he noted the worry in her eyes as she came forward to
talk to him.
"How -- " she began but the look on his face prompted her to hold her tongue.
Chris shook his head. "He's dead," he said simply. "I had no choice but to shoot Eli Joe," the
gunslinger explained. He watched as Mary nodded in comprehension. "Nathan thinks the fall is
what did him in," he added for clarification.
"I see," said Mary. "And Vin?" she asked.
"I reckon' he's pretty upset," Chris said.
"With you?" Mary asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Maybe," Chris responded as he shook his head. "I wouldn't blame him."
"But you did what you had to do," said Mary.
"Did I?" Chris asked back incredulously. "Why didn't I just wing'em or something, why'd I shoot
to kill? I'm a much better shot than that."
"He fell Chris," Mary pointed out.
He looked at her as if she was crazy. She was defending him, his reasoning, and his actions. She
was defending the 'bad element.' He noticed that she must have realized what she just said, what
she was doing, because she suddenly shook her head and smiled ruefully back at him.
"It's not me who you should be talking to, is it?" she suddenly asked with a sigh.
Chris had to smile a little at that. He looked at her and studied her face, her smile fading into an
expression of concern. "No, I guess not," he answered back, letting his own smile slip away into a
somber frown.
"What will you do then? What will Vin do?" Mary asked as Chris made a move to go.
He stopped as he reached for the door and looked back at her. "I don't know," he answered, "I
just hope he understands."
Mary nodded as she watched him leave. She moved towards the door and watched his dark form
move away and towards the Saloon. "I hope so too," she said softly.
+ + + + + + +
Ezra sighed lightly as he watched his mother walk down the street to the afternoon stage. "Yes
indeed. An amazing woman," he said as he propped his arm up on the batwing doors.
"Uh Ezra?" Inez asked, drawing Ezra from his introspection, some seconds later. The gambler
turned to face her.
Inez smiled slightly and placed her hands on her hips once more. "Are you gonna wipe those
glasses?" she asked, nodding towards the bar.
"As much as I'd like to help a lady, such as you Inez, I've decided that I'm not quite ready yet to
alter my current vocation," he said.
Inez arched a brow. "Well which is worse Ezra? Working for me? Or your mother?" she asked
with a wicked smile.
Ezra snorted. "Inez! You do make it hard to be diplomatic," he said chuckling. "I will refrain from
answering that my dear," he said with a smile, "as I have no doubt that you possess the
capabilities worthy of handling this establishment."
The beautiful Mexican woman shrugged her bare tanned shoulders and retreated to the back
room.
A moment later, as Ezra found himself a seat at a table in the empty Saloon, JD, Josiah and
Nathan entered.
"Well," began Ezra, looking down to his cards and shuffling them. "If it isn't Judas, Benedict and
Brutus?" he asked.
JD and Nathan smirked lightly and pulled seats up to where Ezra sat, while Josiah leaned against
the bar, deep in thought.
Ezra watched his friends and by a simple gesture of the cards began a game of poker with JD and
Nathan. "I must say, your betrayal gentleman is most reprehensible."
"Your mother's a cunning woman Ezra, how would we not have succumbed to her charms?"
Josiah asked from the bar.
"By remaining loyal to me," Ezra explained slowly.
JD snorted.
"Young man, this situation is by no means humorous," Ezra reprimanded, wagging a finger at JD
for emphasis.
"Oh please Ezra, you're about as loyal as Maude was to her customers," JD said.
A flicker of hurt passed across Ezra's face. "I resent that JD," he replied defensively. "We were to
be potential business partners!" the gambler exclaimed.
The other three men remained silent at his outburst. Ezra collected himself and the cards and
shuffled them once more. He turned his attention to JD again and studied the youth. "Tell me JD,
despite having lost all your money to my mother, how can you possibly defend yourself?"
JD replied with a smirk and roll of his eyes. "I'm sorry Ezra," he finally said sighing heavily.
Ezra nodded with a satisfied smile. He looked at the other two men. "Now, while I understand
JD's defection, obviously due to his naivete," he paused just long enough for JD to protest and
shook his head when the younger man didn't. He sighed and said, "I expected more from the both
of you," looking to Josiah first and then Nathan.
Josiah rolled his eyes and walked over to sit down with them. "Maude is a beautiful woman Ezra,"
Josiah reasoned.
"And? Because of that you'd forsake all reasoning and cater to her whims? I suspect you even
paid for supper at the hotel restaurant," Ezra said.
"I did indeed," replied Josiah thoughtfully. Then he grinned, his blue-gray eyes sparkling and said,
"it was worth it."
Ezra looked at the older man. "Huh," he snorted. "Please Josiah, she is my mother."
The ex-preacher's grin faded from his tanned face. "I apologize Ezra," Josiah said solemnly.
Ezra nodded slightly before turning to Nathan. "Now these two," Ezra gestured to JD and Josiah,
"I understand what motivated them. You however, Nathan I don't."
Nathan paused a bit, studying Ezra before picking up the cards in front of him. It was obvious that
Ezra was fishing for an apology from him too. "I can understand why you're mad Ezra," he said
looking at his cards. "But she said she needed some help. So I helped her," he added.
"By impersonating a 'physician'?" Ezra nearly shrieked, if it were at all possible for the refined
southern gentleman to do so.
Nathan set his cards down, pulled off his hat and after settling it on his lap, he arched a brow.
"You know I ain't like that. I say it straight out most of the time that I ain't a doctor. I just do my
best with what I know. I always tell people that when I can, when it makes sense to."
Ezra's eyes never wavered from the black healer's as he spoke. His look softened a little before he
paid heed to the cards in his hand once more. Three Jacks, a King and an Ace of Spades. He
pulled the King and Ace and threw them down on the table.
"But when I got to the clinic," Nathan continued. "With the set-up she had and people there
needing help and not fightin' or questionin' me cause of who I was, made me realize what it meant
to be in a respectable type of clinic or sorts," Nathan explained. "Sorta felt obligated after a
while," he added.
"So why didn't you stay then Nathan?" asked Ezra softly, not looking up from his cards. He felt
all three pairs of eyes on him.
"Didn't want you all mad at me like that first time you caught me there," Nathan explained. "And
like I said, I ain't a doctor. I felt bad about that. Besides, Maude decided to close it down when
she sold. Gave me the instruments to use," the black healer said with a smile and slight nod.
Ezra pulled two cards from the deck and was inwardly shocked. Another Jack and a Queen of
Diamonds. He raised his green eyes to his three friends. "So it seems, Nathan, that you benefited
the most," said Ezra as he watched Nathan shake his head. "Don't be so humble about it Nathan.
If anyone managed to end up in Maude's good graces, it shouldn't have been anyone but you," he
said a little sadly. He managed a slight nod.
"What about you?" asked Nathan.
The gambler chuckled and threw down his cards. "My mother, in her quintessential way,
surreptitiously purchased the Saloon out from under me," he explained.
The three men around him exhaled heavily. Josiah and Nathan couldn't help but shake their heads
in wonder while JD tipped his chair back onto its two back legs. The young man's expression was
clearly one of shock.
Ezra smiled tightly as he watched them. "Well," he said, suddenly brightening. "How about a
drink gentleman?" he asked rising from the table. Not affording any of them the chance to decline,
he moved in behind the bar to get glasses.
+ + + + + + +
Vin pulled his horse to a stop on the rise overlooking Four Corners. He sighed heavily as the
words rang through his head once again.
"I got too wrapped up in this town, in these people..."
Vin shook his head slightly. It wasn't a bad thing he realized as he watched the sun dip down
behind the mountains to the West of the town. It wasn't a bad thing at all. He hadn't known what
it was like to have roots, a family for such a long time. The men in town, Josiah, Nathan, Buck,
Ezra, JD and Chris had become that family to him. Even Mary, Billy and the Judge. So why had
he been so angry at first? Why had he blamed the town?
He pulled at the reins in his hands, playing with them as he looked down at the town once again.
Vin blamed them he realized, because he didn't want to leave. He liked where he was, what his life
was like. He liked Four Corners. Yates' posing as a Marshall and dragging him in brought his past
reality crashing down on him. And the nightmare of Eli Joe haunted him once again.
He reached down to pat his horse's neck and thought of the events earlier in the day. When he'd
finally gotten the chance to confront Eli Joe, to drag him back to Tuscosa, it had been a relief to
think that he was so close to his freedom. But that hadn't happened. Not when Chris had to shoot
Eli Joe to save his life. And then the bastard escaped the only way he knew how, leaving Vin to
pay for his misdeeds. The tracker shook his head and worked his jaw, feeling the tension in him
dissipate. His riding, often involving a trip or two around the perimeter of the town, always
helped to ease the restlessness he felt when things got strained. Today he had needed it, even if it
was only for a couple of hours.
He sighed heavily and spurred his horse in the direction of town, wondering at his choices. Death
or having a bounty over his head. Months ago it would have been easy to decide. But now with
Eli Joe dead, looking at the town in the fading sunlight and realizing what it meant to be a part of
it, to be a part of the men who had also in a way become his family, his choice seemed a bit
harder. Especially because there really was no choice.
+ + + + + + +
Buck smiled a little as he burst suddenly from the doors of the Saloon. Finding Chris sitting alone
as he'd expected he decided to join him and moved to grab a seat next to his old friend. His
cheerful expression faded quickly when he began to think of the day's events that led to the death
of Eli Joe.
"He back yet?" Buck asked Chris, knowing that the older gunslinger was thinking of their tracker
friend.
Chris turned to look at Buck and nodded his head. "Just got in to the Livery," he explained.
"Was thinkin' Vin was so het up, he'd be gone for at least the night," Buck said.
Chris smirked. "Me too."
"Hell Chris," Buck said, his voice slightly rising. "You ain't thinkin' it was your fault are ya?" He
asked.
Chris turned to look Buck.
"Oh for -- he woulda' killed Vin!" Buck explained, flailing his arms and hands about in dramatic
gesture. "That's worse ain't it? Than saving that bastard's behind?" he asked. Buck watched as
Chris nodded silently in agreement. Reaching up to rub at his mustache, the taller gunslinger
nodded back. "Sides, I thought you was pretty fond of Vin," Buck suddenly said, smiling.
Chris let loose a soft laugh and shook his head. "Buck," he said softly. "Don't make me shoot
you."
Buck grinned and stood as he saw Vin approach. "Aw, you wouldn't," he said teasingly. He
looked at the younger man as he walked up to them, "Vin," he greeted with a tug of his hat before
disappearing through the Saloon doors.
The bounty hunter ambled up the steps before nodding and stopping to lean against a post. He
looked back to where Buck had gone in and then turned to eye Chris curiously. There was no
doubt that Chris was in a surly mood and he could feel the tension radiating off of him in waves.
Vin shook his head, knowing exactly what was bothering his friend. "You ain't gonna save the
world Larabee, least of all me," he said in his soft Texas drawl. "So quit blamin' yourself."
Chris watched the younger man a bit before answering. He relaxed somewhat at Vin's obvious
belief that he was not responsible for killing Eli Joe. "I'm not blamin' myself," he said contrary to
what he really felt.
"No?" Vin questioned. At Chris's shake of his head he smiled a little. "You thinkin' what a yellow
bastard Eli Joe was for taking the dive?" Vin asked.
"Yep," replied Chris.
"Yeah, I sorta figured. He knew what I would do to him if I caught him. So he took the easiest
way out," Vin said scanning the dark empty street before them.
They sat for sometime in companionable silence before Chris spoke again. "Vin," Chris said
drawing the younger man's eyes to him. "I'm just sorry is all. That it had to be this way."
"Aw shut-up Chris," Vin said snorting softly and rolling his eyes. "You get any softer on me an'
I'll use what I learned from the Kiowas and Comanches bout' toughening up boys," he said with a
grin.
Chris laughed.
"So come on Cowboy," Vin said straightening and moving towards the Saloon doors. "I could use
a drink after the day I'd had," he said gesturing with a nod of his head.
The black-clad gunslinger smirked a little and followed him in.
The End
