Heroes and Legends: McCloud

by ShadowDrake

Secrets of Lou's past come back to haunt her and puts Emma and Sam's lives in great danger. This is an AU - maining that very little of this story will follow any of the show canon. New Part Added!

1. Part One

HEROES AND LEGENDS: McCLOUD

By: M.L. Tankesly

Disclaimer:

The Young Riders don't belong to me, they belong to others; no copyright infringement is intended. This is all meant in fun and is used without permission. I promise to return them to their proper places when I'm done. No one was harmed in the process of creating this little monster, except possible history, which was probably butchered.

Language/Violence Warning:

Yes, there are both in this story. I tried to keep it clean, honest! Unfortunately, certain situations in this story just called for the appropriate response to be rather graphic and/or violent in nature. {Saying "oh icky poo," just didn't seem to work.}

Additional Notes:

We all know that "Lou" is short for "Louise", however, the general populace of Sweetwater doesn't know this little fact. Naturally, these people will refer to Lou as a "he", I realize that it may become a bit confusing at times, but I will try not to complicate things anymore than they may already be. Also this story is set in an alternate universe; so don't worry if the story doesn't follow along with the series much. So without further ado, and if anyone is still with me, here's a little tale of the Old West not found in any history book. {Probably with really good reason! *g*} Questions, comments, and suggestions can be directed to Shadowlander1@gmx.net.

Prologue:

Sweetwater, Kansas Territory

Midsummer. 1860

The last thing Lou McCloud remembered was getting out of the buckboard to remove a fallen tree limb, that was blocking the road, and thinking that the path to the Widow Todd's place had the be the worst in the territory, not to mention being home to half the gophers in the mid west. With a silent curse to the gophers, and the thunderstorm that had obviously knocked the tree limb down, Lou gets to work removing the obstruction.

"Do you need any help?" Emma Shannon called out from the buckboard, where she was holding the reigns. Since the Widow Todd had invited her and Lou out to the remote farm, Emma could shake the uneasy feeling that seemed to settle in her gut. Something about the Todd woman unnerved Emma, she couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe it was the way the widow had treated the young Express Riders, entrusted into Emma's care, the few times the widow had been out to the Express Way station. Maybe it was the way the widow watched Lou during those visits that left both Emma and Lou with the willies.

"Ahh, no, I got it." Lou had replied absently, her attention focused on the tree and problem it presented. Reaching down to get a handful of tree branch, Lou never saw the figure step out form behind the tree or hear Emma's cry of warning, before her world exploded in pain and then there was nothing.

As Lou slowly regained consciousness, sometime later, she first became aware of a pounding headache and a sense of growing dread. Pushing herself to her feet she ignores the nausea threatening to over take her and looks around for her companion. "Emma!" She calls out, wincing from the painful sound of her own voice, finding no sign of the other woman or the buckboard the two were traveling in. Out of the corner of her eye she catches a reflection on the ground not far from her. Reaching for her gun, she finds is missing from its holster. 'Funny, I don't remember drawing," she says to herself as she walks over to pick up her gun lying in the grass along the side of the lonely little dirt road. 'Funnier still, how did it get over here.' She wondered, 'I didn't need it to move a fallen tree limb.'

Reholstering the gun, she takes a longer look around the areas, looking for something she may have missed before. A few moments later, she finds it, crouching down she examines several sets of tracks, one belonging to the missing buckboard. "Damn," she growls, the action sending thunderbolts of pain through her pounding head, after studying the tracks for several minutes. Closing her brown eyes for a moment she comes to a decision, rising, somewhat unsteadily to her feet, she turns around and heads in the opposite direction. Whoever kidnapped Emma wasn't even trying to hide the fact, either these were the stupidest bandits that Lou had ever come across or Emma was in big trouble. Either way, there were too many of them for Lou to try to take on alone, she needed help and she needed it fast. The best place to find that help would be in Sweetwater, it was closer than the way station and she was pretty sure that most of the boys would be there as well, goofing off as usual. Taking one last look behind her, she mutters another curse and starts off walking again, pausing to pick up her discarded hat on the way.

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Chapter One:

{Several hours later}

Lou had never been so glad to see Thomkins store in all her life, after walking for the better part of three hours, she would have been happy to see the old geezer dressed in a bright red saloon dress, dancing on a table. Trying not to cringe at THAT mental image, and the fact that it really didn't seem to bother her that she was even having those mental images, Lou kept up her trek to the Marshal's office, unsure if she would ever be able to close her eyes again and not see Thomkins in that dress. Shacking her head to clear it of the unwanted image, she tries to gather her wondering thoughts as she approaches her destination.

"Lou!" A voice called out as she passed the saloon. Ignoring the voice she continued walking, the marshal's office within sight, even if it seemed to be moving about in front of her somewhat blurred vision. The pounding in her head had increased and it was getting hard to think straight, if the little image of Thomkins meant anything. However, none of that mattered, Emma was in trouble and needed help, that was the only thing that was important. She had to get Emma back and then she could give into the endless pounding in her head and that little voice that kept whispering *just let go* in the back of her head.

"Lou!" James Hickok called again from much closer this time. He had been on his way out of the saloon when he saw Lou walk by. Something was terribly wrong for Lou to be in town, instead of with Emma at the Todd place, and just where was Emma and the buckboard the two had left in earlier? "Lou?!" He questioned, grabbing hold of Lou's arm to restrain her, she was acting like she hadn't heard him. As she turned toward him, he got a good look at her face and tried not to cringe at the sight of the multicoloured bruise that had formed over her left eye and seemed to disappear into short dark brown hair. "What happened?," he asked slowly, seeing the slight unfocused look in the brown eyes before him, a knot forming in his gut as all sorts of possibilities for the bruise and Emma's absence raced through his mind.

"Have to find Sam, Emma's been taken," she replied jerking her arm free and starting off for the Marshal's office once more. She didn't have time for such silly questions; she had to get Sam.

"Taken?! By Who?" Hickok questioned, hurrying to catch up with Lou. By the time he did, she was at the steps of the Marshal's office, where she had paused to catch her breath near the water troth.

'When did they put the Marshal's office up a mountain?,' She absently wondered, dunking her head in the troth to remove some of the dirt and grim she had collected in her trek through the countryside. Taking a moment to gather her thought and concentrate on not passing out just yet, 'Not 'til Emma's safe,' she forcefully told herself.

"Taken? Who's been taken?," another voice demanded as Lou raised her head out of the troth, trying to remain up right and not fall flat on her face. "Lou?? Why aren't you at the Widow Todd's Place?" Teaspoon Hunter asked as he gave the youth a quick once over. The littlest, if not the youngest, of the Express Riders stationed just outside of Sweetwater, Lou had the appearance of a young man barely old enough to carry a gun, and as far as Teaspoon knew, Lou didn't even shave and if he did it was probably once every couple of weeks, if that. Although, Lou may have been the "runt" of the Sweetwater team, he was probably the meanest. In Teaspoon's vast experience, it was the little ones what you had to look out for and he was thankful that Lou seemed to be able to control his temper. Teaspoon was too old to be looking after both Hickok and Lou, otherwise, he thought noting the young man's haggard appearance. Lou looked like he had been ridden hard and put up wet. His clothes were sweat soaked from the long walk and he was covered in dirt and grim from the road. The bruise just above his left eye looked painful, 'rifle butt' Teaspoon noted automatically, having seen enough of them in his lifetime.

"We never made it. There was a tree limb in the road, I got out to move it...and, I..I'm not sure what happened, everything went black. I woke up a couple of hours ago and came back here." Lou reported trying not to dwell on the fact that Teaspoon and the man beside him seemed to have gained twins somehow.

"Lou, you better sit down," Sam Cain finally spoke from Hunter's side. "Cody, get the Doc and bring 'em back here." This said to the group that had gathered behind Lou. Like Teaspoon , he had noted Lou's somewhat rocky condition and wasn't sure how the boy could still be standing after the blow he took, however, Cain was thankful nevertheless.

Once inside the Marshal's office, Lou was seated in the chair Teaspoon had vacated when the boy first arrived and was surrounded by his fellow Riders. Kid seemed the most concerned, almost hovering over the young man in the chair. Cain has strike once again at the soft-spoken Kid's protectiveness toward Lou and had written off as "big brotherly" affection. Being the littlest, Cain assumed the other Riders at the station naturally thought of Lou as their "little brother" and looked out for him accordingly. Cain even found himself wanting to take the boy under his wing and be the father he obviously didn't have. "Now Lou tell us again what happened?," Cain asked leaning against his desk, trying to hide his fear for Emma. the boy had been with her and it didn't strike Sam that Lou was the type to leave her out on the road if she was in trouble or something.

Before Lou could reply the Doctor entered the room, aided by a not-so-gentle push by Cody. While the Doctor worked, "We were stopped on the road by a downed tree limb. I got out to move it, and....I don't know, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned around and the next think I know I'm waking up with a splitting headache and Emma's gone. I looked around and found some tracks, a lot of'em. Figured there were too many of'em, so I came to get you." Lou explained absently wondering why the Marshal insisted on yelling, 'at least, there's not two of him anymore,' she thought taking slow even breathes, it seemed to help the pounding in her head some. 'But if this guy doesn't quit poking me, I'm going to horse whip him.' She mentally added, giving the doctor a dirty look.

Letting the Doc continue his examination, Cain pulled Teaspoon outside to talk. "It doesn't make any sense? Why kidnap Emma and just leave Lou lying out there?" Cain wondered running a hand through his dirty blonde hair in frustration. "Maybe it's a trap."

Before Teaspoon could reply the Doctor stepped out of the building followed closely by Cody and Hickok. "How is he, Doc?" Sam asked shoving his hat back on.

Taking a deep breath, trying to ignore the two grim faced young men standing beside him. "The boy has a mild concussion. However, he seems to be alert and his reflexes are okay. Given bed rest he should be all right in a couple of days." The Doctor reported, wondering for the one hundredth time why he ever came to Sweetwater in the first place, when he could have had a nice quite practice back east, anywhere away from the rowdy Express Riders. "I'd also take that gun from him, if I were you." He added before departing.

"What was that all about?" Teaspoon commented turning his attention to Cody and Hickok, who were fighting laughter, and losing, at the Doctor's obvious discomfort.

"Lou threatened to shoot him, if he was confided to bed rest," Cody replied with an evil grin. "Said something about turning him into a gelding if he didn't leave him alone, he had to find Emma. Buck and Kid are trying to talk some sense into him now." He continued, glad that he was outside and not in there, trying to reason with a determined Lou McCloud. No Cody wasn't stupid, a bit slow at times, but not stupid. About that time Lou came shoving her way out of the Marshal's office, Buck and Kid close behind her still trying to talk her into taking it easy for a while, and right past Cain and Hunter.

'Hmmmm, still has the gun.' Teaspoon noted, 'going to be a long day, I just know it.'

"Okay boys mount up, Buck go get a horse for Lou." Hunter spoke up, realizing that getting Lou to stay behind would be about the same odds of him yelling a thunderstorm into submission, although, the thunderstorm would probably be easier to reason with.

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Chapter Two:

Lou McCloud slowly climbed into Katie's saddle, at the Kid's insistence, trying not to pass out or throw up at the sudden change in altitude. She was well aware of the concerned eyes of her fellow Riders watching her every move, ready to assist her at a moment's notice, if she should lose her battle with either unconsciousness or nausea.

"You sure you're going to make it?" Teaspoon Hunter asked pulling up beside her voicing the question that everyone wanted to, unsure if allowing Lou to go tracing off through the countryside was such a good idea. 'Sometimes this boy can be too stubborn,' Teaspoon thought watching Lou right herself in the saddle and give him a weak smile. 'Stubborn mule, too gutsy to know any better,' Teaspoon added recalling that he once saw Lou make a run with a raging fever and a nagging cough that only recently left the boy.

"Yeah, I'll make it," Lou replied in a weak voice, before spurring Katie into motion. Shaking his head at the retreating form of the young Express Rider, Teaspoon could only hope that they could get to the bottom of Emma's disappearance and Lou's attack before the young man fell flat on his face.

"All right boys let's get a move on!" Hunter called out with one last thought of Lou McCloud and the boy's stubborn nature. 'Maybe his pa was part billy goat?'

The departure of the little rescue party, along with a few other volunteers, was observed by most of the town folks on the streets including a figure secluded on the second floor of the hotel. "So it begins." Peter Nicholaas said watching the last rider leave town to unknowingly meet their destiny.

"Not much you can do about that, Peter." The room's other occupant commented from his post beside the door. "It's going to happen with or without your approval."

"Do you ever get tried of your job, Drago? Watching them go about their daily lives unaware of us?" Peter asked turning to face the young man standing in the shadows by the door. As long as Peter Nicholaas had known Drago, the youth had always preferred to stand in the shadows, calling as little attention to himself as possible. 'Most be a cultural thing with his people,' Peter thought for the thousandth times. He knew that when Drago did step out of the shadows, he was considered by many women to be rather handsome with his dark features and piercing gray eyes that seemed to glow from within.

"Someone has to keep an eye on our young cousins. They do have this tendency to get into rather unfortunate trouble when left to their own devices. That and Pax did give me this assignment," came the reply.

"And you wouldn't want to get on Pax's bad side." Peter finished with a knowing smile. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait for the gates of hell to brake open and then we close them again." Drago replied soberly.

"I was afraid that was the plan."

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Chapter Three:

A few hours later the group pulled to a stop where Lou had been jumped. Getting off his horse, Buck Cross crouched down beside the numerous tracks made in the dirt trail leading toward the Widow Todd's place. "I count seven of them, they lead the buckboard that way," Buck reported pointing down the trail.

"Something's funny about this, Teaspoon. They ain't even trying to hide the tracks." Hickok commented, having gotten off his horse to do his own inspection of the area.

Teaspoon only nodded at the news, most of his attention focused on Lou, who was slightly hunched over in the saddle, trying not to pass out. 'The boy looks bad,' he thought, but knew without a doubt what Lou's reaction would be to any suggestion to going back to Sweetwater. 'No, its best to keep Lou with me, so I know where he's at and don't have to worry about what he's up to.'

"All right boys, we follow the tracks. Buck, you and Jennings scout ahead, I don't need any surprises. The rest of you stay loose, we may be riding into a trap." Cain spoke up a sense of unspeakable dread forming in his gut. 'This ain't good.'

A mile or so down the road Buck called the group to a stop. "The tracks split up here. Looks like three of them headed east, while the rest of them continued on."

"All right, Jennings take a handful with you and see if you can pick up those three that turned off. The rest come with me, we're going to follow the buckboard tracks." Cain ordered. "Looks like they're headed for the Widow's place."

{The Widow Todd's Place}

Approaching the homestead slowly, the group carefully makes their way to the main house, watchful for any unpleasant surprises. "The buckboards over by the barn." Cody whispered to the Kid, with a nod of his head. "Doesn't look like anyone's been here in a while."

"Listen up, stay sharp everyone. Cody, you and the Kid check out the barn. Buck and Hickok check out the bunkhouse and the field behind it. Teaspoon, you Gillian and O'Rourke keep watch out here. Lou you're with me, we're checking out the house." Cain ordered in a low voice, bring his horse to a stop outside of where the barn, bunkhouse and main house formed an inner courtyard of sorts.

Giving Cain a brief nod, Lou slid off of Katie, the pounding in her head having eased a bit on the ride out allowing her to focus her thoughts a little more. At least, she wasn't seeing double anymore and everybody had stopped yelling at the top of their lungs. 'Can't sneak up on anyone with these clowns.'

Approaching the two-story farmhouse, Sam and Lou both felt the hairs on the back of their necks stand up. "I'll go right and you go left. We'll take the top floor together, nice and slow." Cain said without moving his lips, suddenly wishing that he had brought one of the others with him. He had meant to keep Lou with him, his fatherly instincts kicking in toward the boy, so he'd know just where the youth was if all hell broke loose.

Entering the dimly lit house, the two immediately break off to conduct their search of the small somewhat unkempt house. 'Odd, doesn't look like anyone has really taken care of anything in a while,' Sam thought to his self noting the state of disarray the house was in. 'Emma would go crazy in this place.'

A few minutes later, Sam was standing in the parlor looking around, his hand on his gun. The two had just checked the upstairs and found nothing, literally. No furniture, no clothes, nothing. This whole thing was getting more and more confusing by the second. When they had come back down stairs, Lou thought he had heard something and went to check it out. Personally, Cain thought the boy had imagined it, the house was empty. Still the boy looked like he could use the "busy work", to get his mind off of Emma, so Sam let him check it out.

For her part, Lou McCloud felt like growling in frustration, she was positive she had heard something moving around downstairs while they had been on the second floor. Finding nothing, she headed back to the parlor where Sam was waiting. "Better get this over with and go help the others search the rest of the farm.'

Sam Cain was still puzzling over what the two had found or didn't find, in their search when Lou walked back into the room. Glancing up to knowledge the young man, he was surprised to see a look of pure hatred come over the boy's face and than Lou was raising his gun, aiming for him?! Instinct took over as Cain automatically drew his own weapon. No thinking, just gut reaction, it had kept him alive several times in the past. As the gun cleared its holster and Sam took aim, two things happened at once. First Sam caught a reflection in the mirror that has behind Lou on the wall and second he heard a gun shot. However, both events where too late for him to change his reflexive action, he had already fired his gun when a blinding pain tore though his back sending him into unconsciousness.

Cain and Lou's guns were fired simultaneously, their shots sounding like one gun going off. Cain's bullet had caught Lou in the upper shoulder, tearing through the fleshy part and causing a bloody trail to start running down her arm. As for Lou's bullet, it had missed its intended target, burying itself into an old picture frame. She never got off another shot as her target took off out the back way, Lou not far behind. However, she lost the figure when he bailed out the back door. 'No matter, the others will catch him.' She thought going back to check on Sam.

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Chapter Four:

Outside, Teaspoon Hunter and Liam O'Rourke had their own suspicions about the whole setup, something about the Widow's homestead was bothering the two men. Neither man had ever made it a habit of ignoring their own instincts, one just didn't do such things and expect to live very long in the west.

"This isna, right." O'Rourke commented, in a slight Irish blur moving over to Hunter's position. "No one has lived here in awhile. Widow or no, this isna a kept place."

"Just what I was thinking," Teaspoon replied, wondering what was taking Cain and Lou so long in the house. "Call in the boys, we......" Teaspoon was cut off by the sound of gunshots coming from the house. Without further word, both men broke for the front door, determined to get to the bottom of this little mystery that seemed to had taken hold around Lou McCloud. Taking the two steps up to the house in one leap, Teaspoon cleared the tiny pouch in a split second, slamming through the front door with O'Rourke close behind. Guns drawn, they entered the dimly lit house, eyes searching for the source of the gunshots. They find it in the parlor, just off the main hall, however, the sight that greets them is one they were never suspecting.

Lou had come back into the parlor and was kneeling over Sam Cain's body when Teaspoon and O'Rourke came crashing into the house. Unsure of who they are at first, she raises her gun, to defend the prone Cain, only to have her head explored in pain for the second time that day.

"What did ya do that for??!!" O'Rourke demanded, holstering his weapon and dropping down to tend to two figures littering the floor.

"I....I...thought the boy was drawing on ya," Charlie Gillian stammered, trying to cover his mistake. 'The damn runt, almost killed the boss.'

"Aye, well dona be thinking anymore," O'Rourke growled back checking for a pulse on Lou. "The laddie is still with us, Cain too. But we'll be needing to get them both back ta town." He reported absently, his mind turning over the events of the past few moments. Something about what just happened, didn't make any sense to him. The foremost in his mind being Gillian's sudden appearance behind Lou, 'wasna he suppose to be keeping watch wit me an' Teaspoon?,' he wondering, remembering that the other man had disappeared right before the shots were heard.

Teaspoon also had questions, however, he didn't have anytime to wonder about them as the rest of their party showed up. Cody was the first to arrive in the room followed closely by the Kid and Hickok, who had the misfortune of slipping in a small trail of blood by the parlor's doorway. "Lou!" The Kid yelled his instincts getting the better of him.

"Easy lad, your friend is still with us." O'Rourke calmly replied, putting up a restraining arm toward the Kid. "We'll be needing the wagon, Ah think Ah saw one by the barn when we rode in. Go and get it, take Gillian wit ya." He ordered, taking charge of the situation. "Now laddie." He gently urged then it looked like the Kid was going to stay put in the room.

"Go on Kid, you too Charlie." Teaspoon ordered with a jerk of his head. Watching the two leave, he turned his attention back to O'Rourke, who was in the process of rolling Lou off of Cain's body with Cody's help.

"Hickok, find out where that blood goes to," Teaspoon said noting the bloodstain that was growing on Lou's upper right arm.

"Strange, how the boyo can be shot in the arm and Cain in the back when it's just the two of'em in here?" O'Rourke commented applying pressure to Sam's back wound. "It doesna look to bad, Ah dona think it got anything important." He added more to himself then anyone else. Liam O'Rourke was a man with a shady past, one part police officer, one part thief, he owed his alliances to very few people. It just happened that one of those people had taking an interest in Lou McCloud and the knockabout lad from Dublin had found himself in the American wild west trying to keep an eye on the young Express Rider. 'Who are you Lou McCloud? An' why have ya such powerful friends?' He silently asked himself for the hundredth time since arriving in Sweetwater several months ago.

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Chapter Five:

Sweetwater

Nightfall

Liam O'Rourke stepped out of the Doctor's office and into the clear Kansas night with a tired sigh.  According to the Doc, Cain would live.  While the bullet had entered the man's back, it hadn't done any real damage, missing his vital organs by mere inches.  Cain's main problem had been the blood loss, if he didn't develop an infection he should make a full recovery.  What bothered Liam the most was the attack itself; it didn't make any sense.  Unless someone else was in the house with Lou and Cain, but if that was true then where were they hiding?  According to Cody and Hickok the upstairs was deserted, no one else had been in the house. 

'Bloody 'ell, none of this makes ina sense,' he thought ruefully rubbing his eyes, the making of a first rate headache forming behind them. 

"Liam," Teaspoon Hunter said stepping into the porch with a nod of his head.  "I got Buck and Jennings watching Lou over at the jail.  The boy still hasn't woken up, I think that Gillian hit him too hard."

Grunting slightly, Liam briefly closes his eyes feeling his headache intensifying.  "Doon bother asking the Doctor to be looking at the lad.  He's already said that he canna leave Cain unattended."  Liam commented his distaste for the Doctor and his lack of ethics clear in his voice. Since coming to Sweetwater, O'Rourke and the town Doctor rarely seem eye to eye on anything.  Something about the kindly country doctor really got on Liam's nerves and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was about the man that annoyed him so much.  'Face it O'Rourke the git reminds ya of your uncle and Lord knows ya canna stand HIM' Liam thought with disgust shaking his head to clear it of the stray thoughts.

Teaspoon merely nodded at the report, his thoughts elsewhere trying to solve the mystery that seemed to center around Lou McCloud.  Nothing about the entire day made much sense, and Teaspoon had a nagging feeling that things were only going to get worse before all was said and done.  Things tended to work that way around one of his boys, the whole lot of them seemed to be able to find trouble in the most unlikely of places.  Hell there was a reason Teaspoon didn't let Lou make the Bear Creek run anymore, at least not without Ike there to make sure the little guy stayed out of Ms. Emily's establishment.  Out of all the Riders, Hunter would never have thought Lou would be arrested for starting a brawl at a bordello, much less forcing a man to walk out of the place without a stitch of clothing on.  'That boy sure does have a mean streak in him,' he thought with a small grin, wishing for the millionth time he had been in Bear Creek to witness the whole sorted affair.

According to Cody, who had been with Lou at the time, it was a sight to behold.  Lou standing where shirt miss buttoned, gun firmly in hand, telling the town bully, who was completely smashed not to mention naked as the day he was born, that he was leaving right then and there.  Teaspoon never did find out what had set the boy off, only that Lou was defending the honour of one of Emily's girls.   Cody wouldn't say anymore about it, only that Lou and the girl seemed to know one another.  Which in a way eased Hunter's mind a bit, for a while their Teaspoon had begun to think that Lou didn't like women.  Obviously he had been wrong, Lou has always been really protective of those he let close to his heart.  Maybe one of these days Teaspoon would get to meet the young woman that could trigger Lou's somewhat unpredictable temper and yet keep him from making a terrible mistake the boy would have to live with for the rest of his life. 'Lou needs someone like that in his life,' Teaspoon thought, wondering yet again about the youths past 'the boy has too many demons running around inside of him.'

Meanwhile, over at the jail

Peter Nicholaas stepped into the dimly lit office, absently noting the play of shadows on the walls created by the flickering lamps located through out the small room.  "Can I help you?" Jennings asked looking up from the checkerboard sitting between him and Buck. 

"I just wanted to check on my young friend there," Peter replied with faint German accent, pointing to the cell and its sole occupant lying on the narrow bunk within. 

"The Doctor is a bit busy with Marshal Cain right now, I thought it would be best if I took a look at Lou."

"You know Lou?"  Buck asked turning his attention from the board game to the man standing near the door.  Something about the newcomer bothered him, whenever the man came near him, Buck always got the impression that Peter was more then he seemed. 

"Yes, we meet a many years ago, just after his mother died.  He is like a son to me in many ways."  Peter replied honestly, well almost.  It was true that Lou did hold a special place in his heart but as a daughter, not as a son.  Of course, Peter couldn't very well go around saying THAT, now could he?  "I try to look in on him whenever I can, he tends to get into the most unusual trouble when he's left alone too long."  He added with a conspiring twinkle in his eyes to both men.

"Yeah, I know that feeling," Jennings replied with a small grin of his own.  He didn't know Peter all that well; the other man tended to keep to himself the few times he saw him around town.  On one of the few occasions the man did interact with others was over at the saloon, when Peter broke up a fight before it could escalate into a free for all.  For that small act, Jennings was forever grateful, the young deputy really didn't feel up too stopping a brawl that night, especially since the Marshal had been out of town that night and none of Teaspoon's boys had been around to help out like they usually do in such situations.  "I'm not too sure what you can do for Lou, though, but you're welcome to set with him if you want."  He offered, knowing that if it were his son lying unconscious in a jail cell, he'd want to be there too.  Besides it wasn't like Lou was going anywhere and if Peter tried anything he'd have to get past both him and Buck, who Jennings knew for a fact would watch his back. 

Reaching for the key ring lying on the desk, Buck handed it over to Jennings without word, puzzling over what Peter had said.  As long as he had known Lou, never once did Lou mention knowing a Peter Nicholaas, at least to him anyway. Granted Lou didn't always talk about his past, not many of the others did, still Lou was one of the few that had been more open then anyone else.  'Maybe Lou said something to Ike?'  Buck concluded wishing that Ike would get back from his run so he could ask him.  Lou and Ike were close, something that Buck at first resented, Ike had always been his friend, but over time Buck came to realize that Lou didn't want to replace him as Ike's best friend.  The two just had more in common then any of the other Riders; for starters they really didn't have too much trouble excepting Buck for who he is half Kyowa.  They never throw that little fact up in his face, and usually tolerated him when he got into his brooding moods about being a "half-breed".  Although the two of them did throw him into a river once when his brooding got on their nerves during a ride back from a rather uneventful run.  He never did figure out just how they had gotten behind him that day without him noticing and toss him in.  Resolving to keep an eye on Peter Nicholaas until either Lou woke up or Ike got back so he could ask them, Buck settled back to continue the board game silently watching the pair in the cell when not beating Jennings at checkers.

Peter could feel Buck's eyes on him as Jennings opened the cell door, but chose to ignore it at the moment.  It pleased him to know that Lou had such friends that would go out of their way to protect him, Lou was going to need those friends in the coming troubles ahead of them.  Pushing aside the thoughts, Peter focused his attention on the still form on the narrow buck before him,  'Louise what have you gotten yourself into?' he silently wondered. 

End Chapters Prologue thru Five.