~Summer of 1870~
It was hot. Not just hot, but 'hotter than two rats making love in a wool sock' hot. Whoever thought the desert was a good place to build anything obviously had a death wish or was a masochist. Maria Hill had been riding her poor grey mare as easy as possible for the past week and a half. Odd jobs didn't make enough money for replacing worn out horses. The odd jobs made enough money to support her drinking problem, but not enough to settle anywhere for long.
Maria had been a captain in the Union army during the war that would be called Civil but was anything but. She had disguised herself well enough as Jack Hill. There were more women than most would have realized that had done the same. Even now Marisa still dressed in mens clothes and kept her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail at the base of her neck.
Since the end of the war, she had been wandering. She felt those 5 years acutely with the ache of her body in the saddle. She needed to find an inn and a bottle to silence the demons.
The next town didn't come quite soon enough. Two days later her poor grey mare couldn't carry Maria any further. It was late so she stayed with the mare through the night and in the morning the mare could stumble along but still couldn't carry Maria. She was patient with the horse, muttering an "It's okay, girl." or an "Easy does it.". She would sooth the tired horse with a pet occasionally. She walked for another day and a half slowly with the horse and she saw a town in the distance. They should be there by evening fall. They entered the outskirts right before the sun set and she found a place to board the mare and the stable keeper directed the illustrious Jack Hill to the closest inn. Maria was glad the nearest inn also appeared to be a saloon. She was tired and dirty from her latest trek but with the ache in her body, whiskey was the only way she was going to be able to sleep.
She headed over and the noise from inside told her it was a busy establishment. Maria's brow furrowed. She looked down at herself, her duster coat was worn but it didn't look too dirty and her waistcoat had seen better days but was still presentable, same with her trousers. She could stop for a bottle before heading up to a room.
She pushed the door open and surveyed the room quickly. It was nicer than she expected, a lot of things drenched in luxuriant red tones of fabric, and she felt abashedly under dressed. She reached up to take her officers slouch hat from her dusty head to tuck it underneath her arm and made her way over to the bar. Her eyes settled on a young woman with long curly red hair standing behind the bar wearing a red corset and ample black skirts. She had a bored expression until she noticed Maria coming up to order.
"May I have a bottle of whiskey and a room, if you've one available, please." She smiled politely at the bartender.
The young woman quirked a well sculpted eyebrow at her. "My, my, manners?" She lifted the back of her hand to her forehead and mocked a swoon. "Out here in fuck all nowhere? I'm shocked." She laughed breathily, her red curls bouncing. "Of course, handsome." The bartender gave a quick wink and turned to grab a new bottle of whiskey and a key from the wall.
Most of the patrons hadn't even looked up from their card games or drinks but a couple of men, one scraggly and one scruffy, in the corner saw Maria when she walked in and pointed at her hat under her arm. They drunkenly got up and began to make their way over.
"So stranger, anything else I can help you with? I have a nice selection of companions if you're feeling lonely as well." She seemed to purr. Maria was about to decline the 'companion' offer and ask about a bath house when she saw the bartender's eyes darken.
"You think…" A voice hiccuped behind her and a chair was knocked over. "You can bring your…" The voice hiccuped again. "...Ugly mug here, yankee?" The hiccuping voice finished. Maria placed her hat on the counter and turned to face the owner of the voice.
"I'm not here for trouble." She said plainly and low. She had a gun on her belt, hidden by her coat, but she preferred not to use it.
"You got trouble the moment you stepped in here.." The scraggly man sneered. "...Captain." He spit on her boots.
Maria looked around and everyone was looking up at the commotion now. Her eyes focused back on the two drunk men in front of her. "One more time, then. I'm not here for trouble." She warned, keeping her voice low. "Go back to your drinks. The war is over." She spoke carefully, keeping her emotions even. The last thing she needed to do was end up in another bar fight or spend the night in a jail cell.
The scraggly man squared up to Maria. "I bet you was one of those officers that hid behind his men. Sittin' pretty while they bled and died." The man's chest heaved in anger.
Well so much for not getting angry. That was something Maria never put up with. She wouldn't allow anyone to slander how much she had cared for the soldiers under her command. She rolled her shoulder and steadied her breathing. She wouldn't let that drunkard know he got to her. "One last time boys…" She turned as if to go back to speaking with the bartender. "Go on back to your table and sit your asses down before someone gets hurt."
That was all the scraggly man needed and he took a wild swing at Maria. She easily leaned out of the way of the shot and he yowled as his fist collided with the sturdy bar top. The scruffy man tried to jump in behind his friend as he was greeted with Maria's elbow connecting with the bridge of his nose, instantly a steady stream of blood dripped over the front of him. His hands immediately shot up to hold his busted nose and he whimpered, cowering back and away. The scraggly man growled as he tried to swing wildly at Maria again. She leaned again as his fist swooshed past. She stepped easily backwards towards the door, daring him to follow. As she passed the scruffy man, she grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him with her out the door. The saloon didn't need her to half destroy it teaching the drunks a lesson.
Maria dropped the scruffy man's shirt and let him lie whimpering on the ground. The scraggly man took the bait and bull rushed out of the bar at full speed, thinking his size would win him the day. She sidestepped and his face contorted in rage as he toppled over when he tried to redirect at the last moment. Before he could even think of what to do next, Maria was upon him. She brought back her arm, ready to pound the scraggly man into the ground but she restrained herself from making a bloody mess of his head. She hooked her fist as she came down and connected with his temple. He stopped moving as he was cleanly knocked out. The only movement from him was his ragged breathing anyone close by could hear.
Maria looked up from her quick handiwork. She wasn't proud of herself, but she kept it from escalating further. It could have been much worse. She cursed herself. Every town she had been to, things had gone about the same way; some drunks get mad and she kicks their asses, or sometimes she gets a good kicking too, but still manages to come out on top. But it ends the same. She has to leave, most of the time, not by choice.
Maria turned back towards the saloon and the bartender was standing there looking rather smug. "Well, you certainly know how to make an impression." She clapped her hands. "Come on back in cowboy." The redhead winked at Maria before she turned to a woman who must have been one of the 'companions' she had alluded to a little while prior. "Go get the old sheriff. If he can manage to hobble over, he'll want to lock these boys up for the night." The woman nodded and ran off.
She whirled around and addressed the crowd that had trickled out to see the fight. "Tweedledee and Tweedledumb here are banned and if I see you within 100 feet of my business…" The redhead didn't say anything more towards the two drunks, she just smiled and her eyes gleamed in the dim light with something Maria hadn't seen in a long time and she couldn't quite place at that moment. "Now, go back to your drinks, card games, and other activities." She waved her hand to dismiss the crowd.
The redhead turned back to Maria and looked her over once. She waited until her patrons had returned inside to say anything more. "So who do I have to thank for keeping my bar intact?" She said moving closer to Maria.
Maria cleared her throat, edging away from the redhead a little. She hesitated. "Jack Hill." She replied after a moment. She felt the rough skin of her own hand and offered it to be shaken.
The redhead laughed breathily again. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Jack." Her tone alluded to something Maria couldn't pinpoint. "Natalie." Her name sounded like velvet. "Natalie Rushman; owner and operator of this fine establishment behind us, the Vermilion Rose." Natalie took Maria's hand and gave a gentle shake. Her hands were incredibly soft and gentle against Maria's own rough and worn.
She smiled at Maria a smile that made the taller woman want to squirm under the gaze, but she remained outwardly impassive. Maria's jaw clenched and she removed her hand from Natalie's soft grip. Natalie looked like she was about to say something else when the girl she sent to fetch the sheriff returned, an old shuffling man in tow.
He shuffled over to the men on the ground and gave them a look over. Maria couldn't believe this was the town's sheriff. He looked old enough to be someone's great grandfather. "Well Miss Rushman, you certainly keep me on my toes." He chuckled lightheartedly. "A night in a cell should sober 'em pretty good." Natalie smiled at him warmly, but in a different manner than how she had smiled at Maria.
He looked back down at them and seemed to ponder how to get them both to the jail down the street. Maria cleared her throat again and the man startled up at her. "I'll help you, sir." She didn't wait for the old man to respond. She bent over to take the scraggly man and managed to pull him up over her shoulders. "Where to?" The old man seemed shocked but he recovered quickly and pointed to a building halfway up the street with a light glowing in the window. She nodded and carried the man to where she had been directed.
Inside the building there were three closed cells and one with an open door with a key in the lock. She took the initiative and tossed the man unceremoniously onto the floor in the cell. Maria closed the door and locked the cell so there was no chance he could escape if he happened to wake. She set the key on the old dusty desk and went to retrieve the scruffy man with the broken nose. She met the old man shuffling back with the scruffy man in cuffs. She was able to get a good look at his now disfigured nose. She had crushed the bridge of his nose, leaving a mass of bloodied tissue where a nose had been, a shadow of the large bruise was forming around and under his eyes. Maria felt a little satisfaction at seeing this. She was still sharp in her skills. She had always preferred hand-to-hand combat over guns. That wasn't to say she wasn't a good shot, but she liked being underestimated.
Even disguised as a man, she wasn't a large 'man'. Captain Jack Hill was a lean muscled guy with a squared jaw and a baby face that still couldn't grow any facial hair. It earned him the nickname "Babyface Jack" but he always took the teasing well. He wasn't a very tall man coming up a bit under 6', but he wasn't the shortest either.
Maria followed the old sheriff and the scruffy man back to the jail and retrieved the key she had set on the desk. She opened the cell for the old man and watched carefully as the man was led in and the old man released him from the cuffs. Before the old man locked the cell she stopped him and motioned the man over. He cowered a little but it he did as he was told.
"This will hurt, but you'll likely appreciate it later on." Before the man could respond she had reached up and set his nose as best as could be expected. He howled again in pain and fell to his knees. When she turned back to the old man after the cell was locked, he was smiling at her.
"Mighty fine work you did there. Law keepers have to get their hands dirty every now and again and I'm too old to do much of it anymore." He patted her shoulder after he spoke. "Your name is Jack, right? Miss Rushman told me while you were bringing the big fella back here." Maria nodded and the old man mimicked it back at her. "Jack, if you would come see me tomorrow when you have a free minute, I would much appreciate it. It's getting too late for all that now." The old sheriff shook her hand and she left him to his work. Maria headed back towards the saloon.
A few minutes later she was pushing the through the front door again. She chuckled to herself when she looked across to the bar to see Natalie wearing her captains slouch hat. For a moment she thought that she liked how it looked on her but she scoffed at herself and walked back over to the bar. Her brain had to be fried from the sun. Natalie looked up from her dish washing to see Maria and a mischievous smirk smeared across her lips.
"Good of you to join us, Captain." She gave a little salute with that familiar gleam in her eye as she set the bottle and a key on the countertop, sliding them over to Maria.
The taller woman's brow furrowed. "Just Jack." She said plain and low. She reached into her pocket and pulled out all of the money to her name and looked at Natalie. "How much do I owe you, ma'am?"
"Ma'am? Oh, handsome Jack, I'm no ma'am." She laughed. "Madame, perhaps." She quirked her lips into an amused smirk and she leaned against the countertop on her elbows, pressing her breasts together in her corset. "You may have been the unwitting object of their ire, but you kept those goons from causing a lot more damage and that would have cost far more than a bottle of whiskey. It's yours and the room is yours to use as long as you'd like it." Natalie's lips parted slightly as she looked at Maria with those green eyes that any man could get lost in, but of course, Maria wasn't any man.
Maria smiled tightly at Natalie and looked at the key on the counter. A golden '6' was scrawled on a red tag attached to the pewter skeleton key. She made a grab for the key and Natalie caught her hand. "Are you sure I can't find you some company for tonight?" She asked, still looking into Maria's blue eyes without breaking the contact. The redheads thumb rubbed lightly over Maria's knuckle.
Her mouth went dry. It felt like Maria's heart was beating in her throat and she couldn't swallow it away. She had always made it a point that any woman never had any sway over her. But Natalie wasn't any woman. She pulled her hand back with the key and pocketed it. She immediately missed the feel of Natalie's skin on hers. "I'm sure, thank you." She half-croaked past the cotton in her mouth.
Natalie's expression dropped almost imperceptibly but it was quickly replaced with an impassive look and she nodded her understanding. She took the hat from her head and plopped it down on Maria's quickly. "Your room is through that door.." She pointed to a door near the other end of the bar top. "...up the stairs and to the right. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, handsome." The redhead spoke only loud enough for Maria to hear her. The brunette nodded and she took the bottle of whiskey and retreated to the door that was pointed out to her.