There was no thought at all when Jimmy took off down the boardwalk toward the woman who had just climbed out of the stagecoach. He saw her and ran to her, his heart beating nearly out of his chest. It had been so long and yet there she was and who would have thought that she'd be there of all places. He ran and caught up with her and began to speak.

"I never thought I'd see you her-"

The words died on his tongue as the young lady turned to face him and it was not her.

"Beg your pardon, ma'am," he choked out as he took the two steps back to connect with the wall next to the doorway of the barber shop. "I thought you was someone else. My apologies."

He leaned back and watched as the complete stranger went along her way with scarcely a nod to him. He felt like he had been punched in the gut—weak in the knees and about to lose his breakfast. It wasn't that it hadn't been her that upset him and it wasn't even that he thought it had been. It was the remembering that it couldn't possibly be her—not today and not ever.

Feeling the tears stabbing at his eyes he stormed back down the boardwalk and swung himself into his saddle and took off like he was chased by demons. Maybe he was at that. And if not demons then ghosts for sure.

He rode until he couldn't see to direct the horse anymore. Too much dust had gotten in his eyes, he told himself. He slowed Sundance—why did he torture himself with that?—and dismounted. There was a tree a few yards off but he thought it might have been miles with how rapidly the strength was leaving his legs. Somehow he made it though and found himself leaning against the tree, grasping it as if for his very life. Jimmy could feel tears burning trenches down his cheeks and it infuriated him to still be so weak to the memories. He drew his arm back and punched the tree's trunk as hard as he could. It hurt but it felt better than the visions invading his mind—the smells, the sights, the sounds that overtook him. Jimmy fell to his knees at the base of the tree and shut his eyes tight knowing that wouldn't stop what was already in his head. His head that filled with so many things he never wanted to see again and yet he couldn't control it. Jimmy raised his head and let it drop against the tree and then threw his head against the tree as hard as he could. He banged his head against the trunk hoping that maybe he could dislodge and rid himself of the horrible things that overtook all of his senses.

Kid had been standing outside Tompkins' store when Jimmy took off after the lady from the stage. He watched the whole thing in puzzlement and then concern as Jimmy ran to Sundance and near to flew out of town. He knew that Jimmy wouldn't want company but also knew that sometimes what a man wants and what he needs are two different things. So he pulled himself astride Katy and took off after his friend.

Kid didn't necessarily want to interfere with whatever Jimmy needed to do but he was worried. He rode at an easy pace following Sundance's trail and hoping he'd find his friend merely in quiet reflection. Had that been the case he would have just turned and gone on home. But it was not the case at all.

What he found was Jimmy on his knees next to a tree about half the way to beating himself unconscious against the trunk. He hadn't wanted to approach at all. In fact, Kid's whole plan had been to ascertain his friend's safety and wait for him at home. They could talk later and it would be better. But he could not allow Jimmy to bludgeon himself to death with a tree. He ran to the tree and grabbed both of Jimmy's arms and pulled the man forcibly away from the tree. Once Jimmy was far enough away to not hurt himself, Kid released him and was rewarded for his efforts with a punch to the jaw.

"What the hell, Jimmy?" he hollered.

Jimmy just stood over Kid as if he didn't recognize this man who'd been near to a brother to him and maybe he didn't. Maybe he wasn't seeing him at all. Or maybe he was seeing something else. Kid could do nothing but look into Jimmy's glare. He watched as a small trail of blood worked its way from above his hairline and down his cheek toward his clenched jaw.

Kid wasn't sure if he should speak or not. For all of Jimmy's unpredictability and violent hot-headedness, Kid had never feared the man before. The man standing over Kid right now only mildly resembled his friend and was more fearsome than nearly any man he had encountered before. There was a wild eyed rage radiating off of him. His nostrils flared and his chest heaved with his breathing. His eyes were dark and seemed to see in all directions at once. It was possible that speaking right then would reach whatever part of Jimmy, his friend and brother, there was lurking beneath the surface but then perhaps it might just make those hands, curling repeatedly into fists at his side, go for his guns. Kid knew he might be able to take Jimmy in a gunfight—not that he wanted to—but he also knew he wouldn't come out unscathed."

The two stared at each other for what felt to Kid like an eternity but then he saw a change. Something registered within Jimmy. He was still angry and looked every bit the 'wild' in 'Wild Bill' but Kid no longer feared him for Jimmy had returned. Kid knew that he was safe from finding out just how evenly matched he and his friend were at gunplay. He still stayed silent, waiting for Jimmy's next move.

"What the hell you doing here, Kid?" Jimmy growled, "You damn near got yourself shot."

"Not if I shot you first," Kid said, "I's just seeing you were okay. The way you tore out of town made me worry. I guess I was right to. You should be thanking me. Even a head as hard as yours wouldn't take being beat with a tree forever."

Jimmy just glared at Kid.

"Don't need no nursemaid hovering over me."

"I ain't no nursemaid, Jimmy. I'm your friend and from where I'm standing you really need one of those," Kid defended himself.

"Then stand somewhere else," was Jimmy's snarled reply.

"Who was that girl in town?" Kid asked.

"I don't know," Jimmy said tightly, "I ain't never laid eyes on her before in my life."

"Then who did you think she was?"

"None of your business."

"You got to talk to someone," Kid protested.

"I don't got to do nothing," Jimmy snapped, "You are just all about everybody talking about everything except for yourself. Maybe I got the right to some secrets. Maybe I get to keep some things to myself. Maybe I especially don't need to pour my heart out to a man won't even tell me his damned name!"

"Jimmy, you're bleeding," Kid noted, "At least come on back and let Rachel take a look at your head."

Reaching up Jimmy winced as his fingers made contact with the small cut on his head and he studied the blood on his fingers when he pulled them away.

"I'm fine," Jimmy said, "Go on home, Kid. I'd rather be alone."

"What do you want me to tell the others?"

"Don't much care," Jimmy said barely concealing the anger in his voice. "Seems a man ought to be able to get off by himself a while and think without it being everyone else's business."

Kid hated the thought of leaving Jimmy after the scene he had come upon.

"I still think you should let someone look at that head."

"Ain't nothing in it to hurt," Jimmy said almost too soft to hear, "I'll clean it in a bit."

"You'll be back for supper?"

"Not sure," Jimmy answered, "Don't wait up for me."

Kid really did not feel good about this.

"Jimmy, it's going to get cold tonight," he argued, "You can't stay out here all night."

"Good old Kid," Jimmy laughed bitterly as he shook his head, "You just know what's best for everyone, don't you?" he had been pacing away from Kid but then he whirled on his friend. "You don't get to tell me what I can or can't do."

"Will you let me bring you a bedroll and some supper if you're not back before dark? I promise I won't stay."

"If it'll make you happy, Kid."

Reluctantly Kid sighed and walked back to Katy and hoped he wasn't making a huge mistake by leaving Jimmy alone. He understood and respected a need to be alone to think or remember or whatever it was Jimmy had to do but he frankly didn't trust Jimmy not to hurt himself again. If he came back out later to find that Jimmy had succeeded in beating his brains in, forgiving himself would be the least of his worries.

Watching Kid climb onto Katy's back and ride away, Jimmy slumped to the ground. He was exhausted and his head was starting to throb. And the memories were still there as clear as day. They came back and overtook him and slowly everything around him fell away to be replaced by ghosts and visions of another time.

Jimmy stood in the only place his thirteen year old self ever wanted to be, doing the only thing he wanted to do most days. Chores were finished and his time until supper was his own. So he'd headed to the clearing in the woods and set to practicing shooting. He was doing well too. Someday perhaps he would not be so easy to overlook or brush aside. He had just finished reloading his gun when he heard the snap of a branch behind him. Jimmy spun around, gun drawn and at the ready.

The girl sitting sidesaddle on the beautiful palomino looked startled and possibly frightened for only a moment before collecting herself. She smiled and began speaking in a drawl that dripped with honey.

"My, my, it does seem the stories of this 'wild west' are not exaggerations. I assure you, sir, that I am unarmed."

"I'm sorry," Jimmy said as he lowered the gun, "You surprised me."

"I dare to say I'm lucky I did too," she told him, "You see we've only just moved here and I seem to have gotten myself turned around. I was becoming ever so frightened until I espied a brave knight who might just lead me to safety. You could do that for me, couldn't you?"

"I, uh, yeah, I think so anyway," he stammered. She talked so pretty and flowery that he wasn't even entirely sure what she was saying all the time and he kept finding himself distracted by how soft her hair looked. He hadn't ever thought of such a thing before but there she sat with her coal black hair dropping in ringlets from under her hat and all he could think about was finding out if that hair was as soft as it looked. "Where do you need me to lead you?"

She smiled at him again and he felt his stomach flip over inside him. She couldn't be much older than he was and yet she was so self-assured while he was anything but. He watched her gracefully hop down from her horse and willed himself to keep his mouth from hanging open. She came toward him and it was all he could do to not back away from her approach.

"First of all I believe I would like to sit and rest a short while," she began, "I have been in that saddle what feels like hours."

She paused and cocked her head before speaking again.

"Now where are my manners?" she wondered aloud, "What on earth would Mammy say?"

Somehow Jimmy knew the questions weren't for him so he just kept staring at her. Really even if she had asked him something he probably couldn't have answered. But then she stuck her hand toward him.

"I am Cordelia Bell and might I know the name of my hero?"

Jimmy looked around awkwardly before taking her hand and shaking it lightly.

"Uh, J-James Hickok," he said as if unsure that it really was his name, "Most folks call me Jimmy though."

"I am most pleased to make your acquaintance, Jimmy," she smiled brightly at him and for maybe the first time since he had met Miss Cordelia Bell he felt that she was being completely genuine with him. "My friends call me Delia."

Jimmy could only offer a small, hesitant smile as he led her to a fallen tree that served admirably as a bench of sorts. He sat next to her but not too close to her. Surely not as close as he wanted to sit to her. He wanted to be right next to her, close enough to smell her hair. He'd absolutely never felt like this before but then he wasn't around girls all that often except for his sisters and they didn't really count. He thought perhaps they did but now he suddenly realized not all girls were created equal. He would have loved to have spoken to her, asked her where she had moved from, anything to get her talking but he was terrified. Aside from the fact that he'd rarely spoken to young ladies before, his voice was beginning to change and would embarrassingly crack at the worst times. He feared that it would right then too.

"Have you lived here all your life, Jimmy?" her question broke the silence. He merely nodded but didn't miss the sigh that escaped her. Could it be she really wanted to have a conversation with him? She looked like a younger version of the fine ladies in town and spoke like no one he had ever met and she wanted to talk to him. He was still dirty from his chores and knew his hair was wild as it poked out from under his hat.

"How long is all your life exactly?" she asked and when he furrowed his brow at her she clarified, "How old are you?"

"Thirteen," he answered and then felt emboldened by her relieved smile at him speaking, "Thirteen just last week."

"I'll be fourteen in a month," she said, "Fancy meeting a handsome stranger on my first day out and exploring and then finding he is my age as well. I doubt I could have hoped for as much when Sundance and I set out earlier."

"Sundance?"

"My horse," she explained, "Doesn't your trusty steed have a name?"

He almost laughed at the description of the animal as a trusty steed. Jimmy wasn't even sure exactly what that meant but it sounded far too grand a description for the poor old mare. She was still a fine horse and had good legs under her. But she was hardly what she had been in her prime and that wasn't even anything all that special.

"Dusty," he said simply.

"Why that's just a lovely name," Delia assured him, "Fitting for such a pretty girl too."

Jimmy took another look at poor old Dusty and suddenly saw her differently. She wasn't that old really and he supposed her chestnut coat was sort of pretty after all. Still she hardly compared to the beautiful palomino that Delia had been riding and he said as much.

"Sundance is a magnificent animal," she agreed, "But then I find all horses have their own dignity much like people. Don't you agree?"

He hadn't really thought much about it but then he supposed that was what his pa was always going on and on about at Vigilance Committee meetings, the dignity of all people. He guessed he had never really thought to apply that to anything else. But then he nodded and then he went on to think that it was a strange thought to come from someone like her. But then he really didn't know a single thing about her.

After a while Cordelia announced that she was sufficiently rested. She did not, however, feel like riding anymore, declaring that it seemed she had been in the saddle what felt like forever already. So the two of them walked leisurely and led their respective horses along.

Delia was walking incredibly close to Jimmy's side and he wondered if she knew how her scent made him lightheaded. He thought he might just fall over dead when her arm brushed his and he was made even dizzier when her fingers lightly wound around his elbow.

The silence closed around him and all Jimmy wanted to do right then was hear her lilting, musical voice. He wasn't sure if he could speak without his voice cracking but he just had to chance it.

"So Delia," he began, delighting in the way her name rolled off his tongue. "Where did you move from?"

"South Carolina," she answered, "Charleston. I hope you don't take offense but I was furious when Daddy said we had to move here. I was sure he was dragging me to some desolate barren wasteland."

"It must have been hard to leave your friends and where you're used to," Jimmy told her, "And it's not much for excitement around here either."

"Oh yes it was hard indeed," she agreed and then met his eyes with a wide smile across her face. "But now that I'm here I think I'm going to like it a whole awful lot."

Jimmy wasn't sure what she meant by that but his spirit soared when she gave his arm a squeeze to emphasize her point. By that time they were emerging from the woods and found themselves staring straight at the small farm he called home.

"Uh, this is where I live," he said sounding nearly ashamed of his family's simple existence.

"So this is where I should look for you if you're not shooting holes in innocent trees?" she asked sweetly.

He said nothing as he led her past the farm and toward town.

"Do you have brothers or sisters, Jimmy?" she inquired of him and he somehow felt she was trying to shift the topic away from his home. He was grateful.

"Yeah, got three older brothers," he replied, "They've left home now. And I got two bratty little sisters. How 'bout you?"

"My older sister, Elizabeth, is married and just gave birth to my darling niece three months ago," she told him, "Mother was simply devastated to have to leave her first grandchild. My brother Ephraim is studying to be a lawyer. I am the baby of the family. How old are your sisters?"

"Celinda's eleven and Lydia's eight."

"I just bet they are darling," she said.

"Maybe if you don't have to live with 'em."

"I am sure Ephraim has said the same about me many times."

They walked a while more and when they were nearly on the outskirts of town, Delia spoke again.

"I can see our house now," she said and Jimmy wondered if he imagined the sadness in her voice and if he had not imagined it then wondered what it could mean. The house was very nice and he didn't think living there should make someone sad. "Thank you very much for coming to my rescue. I have enjoyed spending time with you, Jimmy."

"Uh, yeah, me too," Jimmy replied and felt instantly stupid. Surely she must think he was and he knew compared to her he sounded like an idiot.

"Is it too forward of me to ask if I can see you again?"

"I don't know about forward but I'd sure like to—see you again, that is," he answered.

Cordelia looked at him for a few moments as if expecting him to speak but he had no idea what he was supposed to say. Finally she sighed.

"I am sure I don't have a thing to do tomorrow," she said blinking her large eyes at him, "Perhaps in the morning?"

"I have chores in the morning," Jimmy told her, feeling once again embarrassed by a life that was clearly so different from hers.

"I could maybe keep you company while you work, unless you aren't allowed visitors then…or maybe you'd rather I not come at all."

She looked suddenly sad and Jimmy couldn't stand that at all.

"I just figured you'd be bored was all," he nearly stammered and his voice cracked. He wanted right then to fall in a hole and die. Delia seemed to not even notice the nearly feminine squeak that had escaped him.

"I somehow doubt I could ever be bored around you, Jimmy Hickok," Delia said, her sadness evaporating before his eyes, "I believe Sundance and I will have to ride on over after breakfast."

She laid her hand gently on his cheek before turning and leading the beautiful horse toward her home.

Yes another story...I should be ashamed of myself...in fairness I thought this would be a fun little one shot...I merely asked Jimmy how his horse got such a fanciful name as Sundance...should have known it wasn't a simple or even all that fun of a story. But now that I am writing it I feel compelled to finish. The good thing is that I pretty much know what happens so that is good.
For those following my other stories, I will finish them too but I really needed to let Jimmy get this off his (well-muscled) chest. And isn't 13 yr old Jimmy kind of cute?-J