"Ava? Are you okay?" Given the late hour, a call from Ava Crowder automatically ignites panic in Deputy US Marshall Raylan Givens.
"I'm fine, Raylan" Ava sounds tired and annoyed, but okay. Not like she did the night he shot Boyd.
"And how can I help you at this late hour, Mrs. Crowder?" Raylan asks as he kicks off the sheets.
"It's Boyd"
"Did he hurt you?" Raylan feels the panic surge again and he stands and nearly trips over a empty bottle discarded next to his bed.
"No! Of course not, Raylan," Ava scolds, "He's drugged up or something"
"I thought he was past that life" Raylan says, relieved that Ava isn't in any immediate danger.
"Stop that. I think someone drugged him. I need your help. He's acting all crazy and I need to get some sleep, I gotta work at the salon tomorrow and I ain't getting any sleep with him singing and dancing and carrying on" Ava says, clearly sounding exasperated.
"I thought you liked dancin' with him, Ava" Raylan says as he tries not to laugh at her predicament.
"Not at three am on my kitchen table!" Ava squeals.
"How is this my problem, Ava?"
"Because I don't know who else to call, Raylan. Please help me out here" Ava pleads in a voice so sweet and needy it makes the Marshall's heart bleed.
"I need my sleep, Ava" Raylan says, already knowing that he'll cave.
"You know, I have ice cream..."
Ava meets him on the front porch looking exhausted.
"He's still in the kitchen" Ava crosses her arms, waiting expectantly for Raylan to take charge.
"You gonna tell me exactly what's going on?"
"I already told you, he's acting crazy and I need to sleep" Ava says.
"If he's on drugs, I can arrest him, but I can't do nothin' about him acting crazy" Raylan says as he follows Ava into the kitchen.
Raylan had seen a lot of strange things in his life but he had never bothered to rank them. If he ever did make such a list, a disheveled Boyd Crowder, dancing barefoot, without any music, on Ava's kitchen table, would have to be near the top.
"Boyd, what in the hell are you doin'?" Raylan asks as he walks into the kitchen.
"Why, Raylan Givens! My old pal! Have you come to dance with me?" Boyd asks, smiling stupidly.
"What'd ya take, Boyd?"
"I'll show you how to clog, Marshall!" Boyd says as he continues clogging on the table.
"Raylan, get him down from there!" Ava insists.
"Come on, Boyd. Tables weren't made for dancin'" Raylan says as he tries to grab hold of his wrist. He misses and Boyd nearly slips off the table.
"Can't I just shoot him?" Raylan asks. Ava's only response is a glare.
Raylan manages to grab Boyd's belt and yanks him down. Boyd throws his hands out and catches himself before his face smacks table. He tries to pull away from Raylan, but the Marshall still has a tight grip on his belt. Raylan spins the shorter man around and grips him by the shoulders.
"What did you take?" Raylan asks with a shake.
"I don't know what you're talkin' bout" Boyd smiles stupidly at him.
"I told you I think someone drugged him. He don't do drugs" Ava insists.
"Ava, Boyd ain't as stupid as he looks. He knows better than to let someone slip 'em something"
Ava is looking at Boyd with her arms crossed, wanting to believe him, but she knows there's truth to what Raylan is saying.
"Tell me what you took Boyd or I'm fixing to show you another used for this table here" Raylan spins Boyd back around and pushes him down over the table. Boyd tries to squirm away but Raylan's got his hands pinned to his back.
"And what would that be, Raylan?" In response, Raylan uses his free hand to land a heavy smack to Boyd's backside.
"Raylan!" Ava squeaks, shocked.
"What? You said I couldn't shoot him. How else am I supposed to make him cooperate?" Ava studies his face for a moment, then throws her hands up.
"I'm taking a shower. Just get him to bed please" Ava retreats to the upstairs, tired of Boyd's antics and guessing at what happened. She doesn't think Raylan will actually kill Boyd, in spite of the weird relationship between the two men, or maybe because of it.
"Ava! Don't leave me here with him!" Boyd calls out to Ava's retreating form.
"Now this can go two ways, Boyd. You tell me what you ingested or snorted or shot up and be a good boy and do as I tell you, and I let you up. Or you can refuse, I beat your ass, and you end up doing what I say regardless" Raylan explained.
Boyd didn't like his options. "Screw you, Raylan" Boyd says as he tries to stand. Raylan doesn't let up and instead brings his hand down again.
"You sure this is the way you want this to go?" Raylan says as smacks Boyd's backside again.
"You can't just go around spankin' people, Marshall" the shorter man spat out.
"I ain't spankin' people, I'm spankin' you" Raylan says and the amusement in his voice angers Boyd.
"You ain't got no right to do this!" Boyd yells as he continues to struggled against Raylan.
"And you ain't got no right to be keepin' Ava awake at this late hour or keepin' me from my beauty rest" Raylan says as he continues to land smacks on Boyd's backside.
"The hours me and Ava keep is between me and Ava!" Boyd yells. The pain in his backside isn't as bad as the embarrassment being overpowered by Raylan is causing.
"Cut it out, Raylan!" Boyd yells again.
"I ain't stopping until you give me some answers, Boyd" Raylan says as he continues swatting. Boyd focus all his energy on fighting the taller man, but the pain of every swat is making his whole body jerk.
Boyd is mortified when he feels tears in his eyes. He won't give Raylan the satisfaction of breaking him.
Raylan stops smacking Boyd to shake out the stinging in his hand. He hears Boyd sniff and decides to give Boyd another chance to come clean. He hauls Boyd off the table and sits him roughly on a chair before heading to the fridge.
Boyd is wiping at his eyes when he thinks Raylan isn't looking.
"You're gonna eat ice cream?" Boyd asks, incredulous, as Raylan pulls out a carton or Rocky Road.
"I like ice cream" Raylan says matterofactly. Boyd wants to tell him he sounds like Forest Gump but his aching backside makes him think better of it.
"I worked up an appetite tannin' your hide and if we're going to continue, I need more energy. Unless you have something to tell me" Raylan inquired as he dug a spoon into the carton. Boyd is glaring at Raylan from across the kitchen and shooting glances at the back door. He doesn't think he'll be able to make it outside before Raylan hauls him back over the table and he doesn't doubt that the Marshall will follow through on his threat.
Boyd sighs,"I took some of Ava's pills and I had a few drinks, okay? Tell Ava if you want" he finishes quietly.
"Now was that so hard?" Raylan asks around a spoonful of ice cream. Ava had been taking Xanax since all the drama surrounding killing her husband. Taking Xanax and drinking isn't the healthiest thing to do, but Raylan doesn't think that Boyd's in any mortal danger.
Boyd doesn't respond. He looks down, and then to Raylan's surprise, covers his face and starts crying.
"Aw, Boyd, what now?" Raylan asks as he sets down the ice cream. He's trying not to think about why Boyd thought he needed Xanax. It was easier to think of him as a emotionless criminal.
"How could you do that do me Raylan? You know my Daddy beat on me growin' up just like your Daddy beat on you"
Raylan doesn't know what do say. He really didn't think of that. Boyd told him once that there weren't that different and as much as he held to his belief that they were completely different, he knew that they held many common scars. Including their abusive childhoods. He remembered on many occasions when he was mining with Boyd that the other man would show up with bruises, all too eager to cover them up with coal dust. He knew that even at 19 Boyd's father was still beating him. Raylan felt a pang of guilt. As much as he thought that Boyd deserved to punished for all of the bad he had done in his life, he understood how spanking him had drudged up old memories.
And despite everything he hated about Boyd, they dug coal together. Something Raylan could never escape tethered him to the other man.
Raylan walked to the table and pulled an unresisting Boyd off the chair.
"I told you what you wanted to hear Raylan. You don't keep your promises anymore?" Boyd said miserably, thinking that Raylan was going to spank him again.
"Shut up, Boyd. I'm not spankin' you anymore" Raylan wished that Boyd would go back to his smart ass self. This was just too pitiful.
He pulled Boyd to his chest and wrapped his arms around the smaller frame. Boyd had killed people. He was a criminal. But Raylan couldn't ignore the fact that they had once been friends. Their relationship was more complicated that he would ever understand.
"I didn't beat you. I spanked you. There is a difference, you know. And you had it coming" Raylan said softly.
Boyd clings to the taller man and Raylan can feel his chest rise and fall. He closes his eyes tightly and tries to block out the memories that are flooding back. It isn't the first time he's had Boyd in his arms. It isn't the first time he's been close enough to the other man to smell the mix of soap and sweat on his skin and the whiskey on his breath. It isn't the first time that Boyd's cheek pressed against his neck sends shivers down his spine and it isn't the first time he has to suck in a deep breath and bite his lip to keep himself from crushing his lips against Boyd's.
"Boyd..." Raylan says as he gently pushes the other man away. He can't let himself give in to their past and complicated the present even more.
Boyd lets out a small whimper and reluctantly lets go of Raylan.
"Why don't you lie down on the couch?" Raylan suggests. Boyd nods and follows Raylan into the living room. He settles himself on the couch and accepts a blanket and half smile from Raylan.
"Be good, for Ava. Okay?" Raylan asks. Boyd nods, but they both know that it might not be a promise he can keep.
Raylan waits until Boyd is asleep before quietly slipping out the door.
The next morning, Boyd is his old self, charming Ava by cooking breakfast. Ava smiles and tries to convince herself that he is okay, but she can't ignore the melted pint of ice cream sitting on the counter.