A/N: This is the second in a series of stories inspired by Dustin Lynch's song, Cowboys and Angels. It takes place during Till Death Do Us Part, Part One.
Twilight was the most perfect time of day in Noah Dixon's opinion. For him it fostered reflection and contemplation like no other time of day. Today he was taking full advantage of it. He had a lot on his mind. War was coming. Somehow that knowledge made it difficult to focus on the happiness he was supposed to feel. Attending a wedding and wishing his friends well was what he was supposed to be thinking about, but thoughts of war and fighting penetrated his ruminations instead. Noah turned from looking at the horses in the corral, leaned against the fence, and surveyed the Pony Express Station. The cool night breeze seemed to only affect him as he fought off a shiver. Perhaps, if he focused on the positive, the breeze would be welcoming instead of foreboding. Sometimes, he wished he could be more like his fence companion, Buck, who seemed to be able to take the night's beauty and put aside the tension of the town. The man just looked at the horses and saw peace. Cody, on the other hand was shining a pair of brand new boots on the bunkhouse porch. His look was more conflicted and defiant. Noah made one more attempt to shift his focus and decided to think of Lou.
Noah's fondest memories of Lou were often mixed with some of his most sobering moments. He remembered the time he found out she was a woman. He was angrily going through Sally's things when Lou walked in. No sooner had he grabbed her in frustration than he was staring down the barrel of Kid's pistol. Kid let the cat out of the bag when he yelled, 'Let her go!' Noah felt so much grief in that moment. He wasn't one to manhandle a woman and if he had known Lou was a girl, he wouldn't have touched her. He felt like he started off on the wrong foot there. It would take a while before he would feel like he truly belonged with this group of people.
The day Noah truly felt like a member of the Express family was another day drenched in heartache and resentment. Sally once told him that he had never felt chains around his ankles, but until that day in Kansas he never fully understood what she meant. Being chained by the neck and beaten like a slave was worse than he could have possibly imagined and when it was over, he came back to the station to find that Lou had helped Rachel get his daddy's silver saddle back for him. The smile on her face went all the way to her eyes and he had never seen a woman look at him like that before. It was all the more astonishing to him because his color didn't seem to matter to her at all. It didn't matter to any of them, but somehow the only smile Noah remembered from that day was Lou's.
That smile was the same one she wore just a day ago when she finished her last ride for the Express. He, Buck, and Jesse had drawn straws to decide who would give her what gift. Noah was almost ashamed to admit it, but he had cheated so he could be the one to give her the bouquet of flowers. The look in her eyes as he presented her with the nosegay of posies was worth deceiving his companions. Her smile almost convinced him that he should jump on a horse and go find Cassie. Maybe it wasn't too late for him to find love. War was coming, so his journey to love would have to wait a little longer. First, he was going to see his friends get married and until then he would just think of Lou's smile.
A/N: I promise I really am writing my in progress stories too, plus another accidentally long one. Thanks to Gert for her help with this one.