AN: For those wondering where in the Deadwood timeline this fits it comes after the series, so as I don't know the history so well I can play around.
I looked at the family tree for the Gutterson name and picked out a name that came from the time that Deadwood was set. As for Wallace Hunt this name comes from the fact that Walton Goggins always seems to play the man that has fallen off the path. So this name is a mix of the character he plays in Cowboys & Aliens (Hunt) and the character he plays in Shanghai Noon (Wallace) both of these characters are outlaws and both are distinct parts of Boyd's character.
Raylan had been in to many of the smaller offices of the marshal's service over the years and hell the Kentucky office he was in now was pretty damn small in comparison to Miami, but he had never thought he would see something like this. It seemed that Seth was not lying the jail was an addition to the postal and freight office at the far end of the thoroughfare. Inside the small wooden shack that was filled with boxes and mail were two small cells made of barred iron and a desk that was covered in papers for the incarceration of the men that were precariously jammed in to the cells.
That however was not what Raylan paid the most attention to as he walked in through the doorway to the cells. Sat at the desk was someone that Raylan recognised instantly and the fact that he was here was as comforting as it was scary.
"Tim?" he called out to the blonde head at the desk. He saw Seth raise his eyebrows at him which he knew was more bemused than it was questioning, but the person at the desk didn't turn he didn't even flinch. He and Seth walked in to the office step for step and when they reached the desk Seth began to speak to the new Deputy he had.
"Josiah have any of the men woken up yet?" At that the Deputy's head turned and Raylan had to bite the inside of his cheek so he wouldn't gasp at the shock, the man in the chair was Tim from the blonde hair that seemed unruly even when it was tidy to the blue eyes that you knew that even with the lazy look in them were the eyes of a sharp shooter who never missed a beat. It was Tim, his Tim from his time so this had to be a dream if he was here in Deadwood with him. Tim's thin and snarky lips turned up in a smile as he spoke in the drawl that Raylan knew so well,
"Well that unruly one from last night you know Wallace Hunt, he woke up and he started mouthing off about how I was going against his human rights or some such shit and well Boss it seems that after saying it he ran head first in to the bars and knocked himself unconscious." He shrugged his shoulders the smirk still on his face.
"Next time I'd be more careful Deputy Gutterson, since we are part of Dakota now we have to be a little more..."
"Delicate?" Raylan offered and Seth turned to him smiling softly even though his dark eyes held a spark of fear.
"It's as the man says." Seth finished with a nod, "We have to handle things with kid gloves on always, so as to not shame the state." Josiah scoffed and turned back to his paperwork.
"Not to sound ungrateful boss, but he was still drunk the likelihood that he will remember what transpired here is very unlikely."
"We can't take that risk." Seth said in the placating tone that Raylan only ever used with Art or fugitives because less face it both parties were as tenacious as bull dogs.
"Fine." Josiah replied with a shrug of his shoulder.
"Josiah." Seth said in a tone that Raylan had never had to use, but he assumed that was because he had never been a father, the tone was what Raylan assumed a paternal tone to sound like. The nearest he had to that was Art and Dan and that's only because he was a pretty lawless marshal. Or he was as Art put it a good law man but a God awful marshal he couldn't disagree with that. It was better to shoot first and ask questions later, shoot them before they shoot you. Raylan had always thought that was a good school of thought to live by and by the looks of Seth's operation he may be right at home.
"Mister Givens if you want to take the other chair across from Josiah I will explain what we need you to put in the files."
"Okay." Raylan replied and Josiah turned around again and that was when his shock set in.
"Boss, I don't mean to alarm you, but that man looks just like you." Raylan and Seth smiled in the same knowing way and Josiah looked like he had seen a ghost. He scrambled back on his chair, but in a way Raylan knew well. He calmed himself down again quickly to analyse the situation. "Are you somehow related?" Josiah asked, looking for the simplest explanation.
"Why yes we are;" Seth said lying to his subordinate with an ease that not even Raylan could manage and he respected the Sheriff for it. "This here is my cousin from..."
"Kentucky." Raylan said helping with a two handed shrug.
"Kentucky eh?" Josiah asked, "Where in Kentucky? I have kin there." Seth looked at Raylan with shrewd eyes that he knew he had used on others; Boyd mainly and he knew that it was a look that meant don't you fucking dare screw me over. Although since meeting Al, Raylan assumed that the language would most likely be more colourful than that.
"Harlan County." Raylan replied with his southern drawl barely covering his contempt of the place as he spoke.
"I assume it's out in the sticks," Josiah said as he thumped a stamp on some paper in an overzealous manner. Raylan nodded and took the chair he was offered. "My kin are in Lexington." Josiah offered and Raylan responded by removing his hat and smoothing his hair only to be spooked when Seth did the same thing; move for move in perfect time in a totally unconscious manner. Which in retrospect had Raylan more than spooked; because why would a character in his dream that looked like him act perfectly like him as if a carbon copy? Something wasn't right about this. Eventually he looked away from Seth and saw that Joshiah was watching him expectantly in a way he'd seen Tim do once when he had wanted him to tell all about what had happened with Gary.
"I know Lexington well. I'm a Marshal there."
"Look more like a cowboy to me." Josiah replied in the lazy drawl that Tim used and Raylan knew this was a test and he had only one chance to pass it.
"Long ride, I prefer denim." Josiah nodded once swiftly and returned to work.
"Where is Harry?" Seth asked as he paced in front of the cells.
"I supposed you mean Sheriff Manning?" Josiah asked only to have Seth glare at him in a way that suggested that he had killed men he liked more for much less of an insult. Josiah just shrugged as his superior ground his teeth. "The 'head' Sheriff is doing fire safety inspection at The Gem he seems to think that the establishment is some sort of fire trap. You must have passed him, he only just left." Seth nodded softly clearly evaluating the information he was receiving.
"Well in all fairness it is." Raylan said as he picked up a form and read the faint typed lettering. Josiah scoffed and Seth turned to his mirror image and smirked.
"Don't let Charlie hear you say that." Josiah chuckled. "He tried to make it better, but Al just wouldn't listen."
"He does seem like a hard man to talk to." Seth made a sound in his throat and both Raylan and Josiah looked up at the other man.
"Mister Givens you might want to take back any ill meant words about Mister Swearengen; he and Mister Bullock have an uneasy understanding... it doesn't bode well for you if you make enemies this quickly." Raylan raised his eyes to Seth's and saw the burning passion of a man trying to protect his friend. He'd only seen that once recently in Boyd's eyes out at the cabin and it scared him as much now as it did then.
"I'm sorry if I caused offence that wasn't what I was meaning." Raylan soothed with his soft, velvet southern voice that could melt the coldest heart and repair the most hurtful of wounds. Seth watched his double as the lines on his face stood out as he smiled in an offer of peace and was struck again by the similarity between them; fewer scars and more laughter lines, but deep down Seth knew they were the same person. He knew they had the same soul, even if it wasn't possible.
Seth nodded to Raylan and sat down as a moan roused all three of them and they looked at the cells behind them and watched as a head of unruly black hair moved up from the floor.
"My, oh my." The Harlan County drawl said as the possessor of the voice stood up. "Lordy, that was one for the books." He rubbed his head and turned to face the three law men. "But how did I get this here bump on my head. I remember you and the young one rounding us up and hauling us in here, but I don't remember anything else." He rubbed his eyes and then stared straight at Raylan. "Lo and behold what do I see here? Can it really be Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens? I thought your boss told you not to chase me and my boys across state lines."
"Hold your tongue Wallace." Josiah bit out, Raylan could feel himself begin to grind his molars and looking to Seth he could see he was doing the same. Finally he could see that the other man was fighting the urge to haul Raylan outside and beat him in to the dirt. He watched as the Sheriff reached for his gun that was slung low on his hip, but he didn't take it out of its holster he just rested his hand on the sandalwood butt.
"Well I might hold my tongue." Wallace said eyeing Josiah, "If you'll shackle the good Marshal in here with us as he is going against his orders from the top." He put a hand through his hair and stared at Raylan with his brown eyes that were alight with mischief. When he looked at the man that was called Wallace Hunt; he knew he was losing his mind. This man was Boyd Crowder from the tips of his always unruly hair to the bottom point of his scuffed spurs. There was no denying it.
"I thought you weren't in Deadwood on Marshal business." Seth said shortly with eyes as thin as slits.
"I'm not," Raylan said glaring at Wallace who just smiled oddly back at him.
"Well lookey here," Wallace slurred in a way Boyd never did. "It seems the honourable Sheriff has a rouge Marshal on his hands. How does it feel to have one of your own defying orders? Sir." Seth looked at Raylan and Raylan knew this was it. He had no idea that one could feel so terrified in a dream, but as he sat watching Seth remove his gun from his holster fingers of ice cold fear threaded down his spine.
"You better start talking." Seth said a hard edge to his voice as he levelled the muzzle of the gun at him, one Raylan knew well. It was the edge he reserved for Gary and homicidal maniacs like Tommy Bucks. This encounter was not going to end well.
"As I told you at The Gem I don't know how I got here. I woke up near the cemetery with no knowledge of how I came to be here, or that I had even left Lexington." Raylan said his normally smooth voice a little hitched. Wallace cackled from the cell.
"Of course you don't." He said with a wide grin that showed to perfection the insanity that ran in Boyd's veins as well. "I had Jacky boy here..." He pointed to one of the other incarcerated men in the cell, "I had him pistol whip you 'round the back of the head." He cackled again clapping his hands together like a little kid. "Then... this is the best bit, by the good Lord it is, I brought you up here with us... drugged o'course and then we left you at the front of town. We weren't expecting to run in to your righteous cousin here and get clapped up in here." He rubbed his face calming down a little as he did it. "I was wanting one of these fair ole' Law men to find you and then report you to Lexington and then I was hoping that if my plan worked you would lose your badge and then I would never have to see your ugly face again!" As soon as Wallace had finished the sound of a shot rang out across the freight office and Raylan watched as spotted sunlight filtered in from the hole in the roof.
"You will hold your tongue." Seth enunciated slowly so even the stupidest of people would be able to follow it. "You abducted a law man that is a far worse offence than public urination or disturbing the peace."
"Come on now Sheriff." Wallace said as if cajoling a small child. "That doesn't seem fair, you wouldn't even know about Mister Givens trip if the imbecile hadn't wandered in to town." He pleaded at the Sheriff with wide open and seemingly innocent brown eyes.
"It would still be an offence if I knew it or not." Seth said his voice hard again and his gun levelled at Wallace now not Raylan. "But since you admitted to this crime, I'm afraid that I am going to have to take you and your men to Yankton for trial." Wallace's face lost all pretence and Raylan could see he was scared. He didn't like that look on Boyd's face. The man he knew was never scared; insane... yes, positively annoying... without a doubt, stupid... yes and brave even in the face of danger? Above and beyond any decent sort of human behaviour; scared however was not a look that was good on a face like Boyd's because it wasn't just fear it was desperation.
Raylan stepped in front of Seth's gun his hands raised at both Wallace and Seth. He began to wonder if he should just stand like that in Deadwood, because he had spent most of his time in the city with his arms raised in surrender.
"Sheriff Bullock." Raylan said addressing his double who was fingering his trigger in the way Raylan knew well; he wanted to take a shot at someone, not something. "I have some leave to take, my friend vanished recently and my boss back in Lexington is worried that I might do something..." he stood thinking of the best word to choose, what had Art said when Raylan was playing with fire with Winona? "Stupid." He decided was the best way to put it. "Why don't we say that I took a trip and ended in the same place as Mister Hunt and that he only disturbed the peace of lovely Deadwood." Raylan raised his eyebrows so high that if he had been wearing his hat they would have been lost under the brim. Seth considered what was being said and Raylan knew every thought that he was thinking from the flashes of emotion that crossed the other man's face.
"I can live with that." Seth conceded holstering his gun again before he sat down and pulled forms towards him. "However if Mister Hunt causes any more trouble I will take him to Yankton for trial." He looked up to the brown eyes that were evaluating him through the cell bars. "Do you understand?" Seth asked and Raylan watched as Wallace nodded. "Good, I'll let you and your men out at sunset and I don't want to see you in Deadwood again. Ya here me?" Wallace nodded again and sat down on the floor of his cell.
Raylan sat at the desk again and picked up some of the forms and he realised that Josiah had filled in all the names of the outlaws and that the three of them only had to fill in the rest of the form stating the reason for the arrest and holding of the criminals. As always the paperwork was more than dull. However unlike back with Art he didn't feel as if the paperwork was useless. When the three of them had finished the forms Seth put them in an envelope to send to Yankton. Raylan could only guess that it was being sent to the main office of the court for filing purposes because when they had finished Josiah saddled up a horse and left without a word and Seth only nodded. As if he had done exactly as he was supposed to.
"He should make it back from Yankton by dawn tomorrow." Seth said after a period of silence. Raylan nodded and fought the urge to put his feet up on the desk.
"Hey." Wallace exclaimed, "Will you let us out now?" he asked pointing out of the cell at the sky, "You said you'd let me and my boys out at sundown and well..." he left the rest of the sentence hanging in the air as the doppelgänger looked to the sky and Seth sighed rubbing his eyes in a way Raylan did at the end of a long tiring case. He stood up from his chair almost resignedly and walked over to the cells. He opened the cell with a large screeching of metal on metal and let Wallace and his men out. Wallace smiled the smile of a maniac and made his way out of the office with the swagger of a man with delusions of grandeur, not much different to Boyd, Raylan thought. As he reached the thoroughfare Wallace turned on his heels his hands raised to the heavens a look of rapture on his features.
"Thank the Lord for this fortuitous meeting, thank you Raylan Givens for your forgiving nature and thank you Seth Bullock for your righteous and easy acquiescence of the situation that was laid at your feet. Very fortuitous indeed." He then turned to his men and laughed, "Come on boys let us beat feet and leave this little town for pastures new."
"Good riddance." Seth muttered under his breath as Wallace and his crew turned towards the hostelry to find their horses. "Why is it that the lawless are always attracted to out of the way towns?" He asked turning to Raylan. Raylan shrugged in the nonchalant way he did everything else and replied with,
"Where I grew up everyone was pretty lawless. Being lawless was the way to be. In backwards towns being lawless stops boredom and to some extent insanity. Well that's my take on it anyhow." Seth rubbed his jaw and smiled.
"You may be right." He replied simply. "I know you probably have plans, but I was wondering if you would take dinner with me and my wife?" Raylan was stunned and for the longest time didn't know how to respond. He had never been good with other couples; damn he'd been pretty bad at being in a relationship period, but there was something earnest in Seth's eyes that made it hard for Raylan to say no out of hand. He picked up his hat and ran his hand around the rim while he thought and he watched as Seth stared at him oddly watching the motion of his hands.
"It'd be my pleasure to accompany you and your wife as long as it wouldn't be too much of an imposition." He tacked on the end with the diplomacy that he had cultured since arriving back in Harlan County. Seth shook his head smiling in the way that was hidden by his moustache.
"It won't be an imposition at all; we usually have Sol around for dinner, but tonight is..." he rubbed his chin in an almost embarrassed manner as he tried to search for a word. "The evening that he spends in Trixie's company... alone." He finished allusively, however his meaning was apparent. "So Martha will be happy at a change of company. I must warn you we had a small disagreement." He said with a distinct roll of his eyes, "Over my propriety when outlaws come to town, I don't think it should be a problem, but if my wife seems a little short with me that would be the reason of it." Raylan looked at Seth shocked and yet still admiring of his candour. For all his words Raylan knew he couldn't be that open to his friends never mind a complete stranger. "Shall we go?" Seth inquired placing his hat on his head in the way that Raylan did fingers on the top pushing the brim to the tips of his ears. It was more than a little disconcerting seeing a man mirror your movements, even more so since the man looked like your mirror image, but younger. Raylan nodded to Seth and put his hat on and watched Seth's eyes widen slightly in surprise. Raylan knew that look and knew that he had much the same one when Seth had put on his hat. No wonder everyone stared at the pair of them because they were essentially the same person even Raylan knew that. Which made the whole experience a hell of a lot more scary. Not that Raylan Givens ever admitted to fear.