Saturday came around as it always did and the day dawned bright, sunny and warm. Jimmy was up before Lou, and had made the coffee, he handed her a cup as they walked onto the bunkhouse porch.

"Good morning and thank you Jimmy" Lou said stretching like a cat in the sun. "Gonna be a beautiful day. How are you feeling?"

"Yes it is and I feel better than I have felt in a month" Jimmy said smiling, watching Lou stretch, but trying not to get caught at it. "So I guess I need to catch up on some chores around here and for that I am in need of a good breakfast" he glanced at Lou, raised his eyebrows and put on his best 'puppy dog face'. Lou sighed "Porridge it is" she said.

"Try not to burn it, please" Jimmy said. Lou stuck out her tongue and walk back into the bunkhouse to get dressed.

Jimmy tilted his head a little to the left as he watched her walk away wearing just her long johns. 'I wonder if she even knows how good that looks and how often all the boys try to sneak peeks when she aint looking.' Jimmy took a deep breath and let it out slow. 'It's gonna be a long two days' …

"Lou" Jimmy hollered as he walked away from the bunk house "let me know when breakfast is ready, I'm gonna get started chopping wood."

Lunch was a simple affair of cheese sandwiches, cool water and warm coffee. "Pretty good coffee Lou" Jimmy said taking another sip. "Coffee ain't hard Jimmy" Lou smiled.

"You feeling ok Jimmy you worked pretty hard all morning"

"Yea I'm feeling pretty good, might take a nap though, dream about a steak dinner, with potatoes and pie for dessert" Jimmy laughed. "Guess it will have to wait till Rachel gets back"

"Jimmy you could cook if you wanted to" Lou looked at him a little sideways.

"Now Lou you promised to look after me while the others were gone, I heard you tell Rachel you would take real good care of me" Jimmy smirked.

"Oh go take your nap Jimmy!" Lou said grabbing her hat "I am going into to town, got ta pick up a few things, Oh and don't you even think of telling anyone about what happens here today."

Jimmy frowned, with a puzzled look on his face he watched as Lou walk into the barn 'Wonder what the hell that means? What am I 'not' supposed to tell anyone?

"I cain't tell what I don't know Lou" Jimmy yells as she and Lightning ride towards town.

Jimmy woke up and stretched out on his bunk wondering how long he had been asleep, the shadows were getting long as the sun dipped lower in the sky; he must have been pretty tired to have slept so long. Lou! Jimmy remembered Lou was going into to town. That was hours ago. Jimmy sat up grabbed his boots, gun belt and headed to the barn. Sitting on a hay bale putting on his boots Jimmy looked at Lightening, comfy in his stall, looking for all the world like he had been there for a while. "So where is Lou?" he asked Lightning as he walked out of the barn.

Lou was having fun; mind you this was not what she wanted to do it all the time but it was?...…hummmm, what was that word Teaspoon used, Creative, it was cre- a- tive. She liked that word. Teaspoon used that word last week, every day, all day, 'bout drove 'em all crazy with it. But right now it seemed to fit. This was cre-a-tive. Humming to herself she didn't hear the door open or the footsteps that crept up behind her.

Jimmy walked out of the barn toward the corral, he knew Lou wasn't there and she wasn't in the bunkhouse, the outhouse maybe?….well he weren't going to look there. He figured he would just wait a bit when he noticed there were lights coming from Rachel's house. Jimmy walked up on the porch, the door was opened a bit and he swore he could hear humming….someone was humming and he noticed his mouth was beginning to water 'cause some wonderful smells were coming out of Rachel's kitchen 'Was she back?' Jimmy thought, 'Couldn't be. Hell she and Noah were probably just getting to Fort Laramie. Then who was humming and cooking in her kitchen.' Jimmy drew his gun, and slowly, quietly entered the house.

Jimmy lowered his gun as he walked into the kitchen with a stunned look on his face. He was dreaming, laying in his bunk, still napping, had to be there could be no other explanation of why Lou was standing in Rachael's kitchen, cooking and looking like she liked it, hell it was her that was humming and the food looked really good and smelled even better. He had to be dreaming…

"Lou, what the hell?" Jimmy called out.

Lou screamed, reached for her gun, spun around and drew on Jimmy who was so stunned by the sight of Lou… in a kitchen... and likin' it that she got the drop on him.

"Lou!" Jimmy shouted "Damnit women it's me, put the gun down."

"Good Lord Jimmy I could a' shot ya'!" Lou yelled back "You didn't even get your gun drawn. What's wrong with you?"

"Me!" Jimmy looked around "What's wrong with me, you're in a kitchen Lou, and it looks like that food you're cooking, it might actually be edible" Jimmy paused and thought about that…."The food you are cooking" Jimmy said very slowly. "Lou …..You can cook" Jimmy stated, every bit as surprised as Teaspoon was when he found out Lou was a 'she'. Jimmy's eyes narrowed and darkened as he holstered the gun.

"Yes Jimmy I can" she said, she holstered her weapon as well. "It was supposed to be a surprise but I guess you woke up early" Lou was watching Jimmy walk slowly towards her with only the kitchen table between them, "Now Jimmy, you get the look off your face" that 'mad as hell' look that only James Butler Hickok could get. Jimmy continued walking slowly towards her, stalking was more like it. "Louise McCloud you can cook" Jimmy said in a low dark voice as he began to walk around the table. Lou started backing away from him, "Well yes" Lou said slowly, knowing what Jimmy was thinking "but Jimmy there's a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why I never let anyone know" she kept moving slowly around the kitchen making sure the table was between them.

"Lou you can cook" Jimmy said again. They were circling the table now, slowly.

"I know that Jimmy" Lou said a little annoyed "and stop saying it like it was a bad thing."

But Jimmy was still talking, to no one in particular. "Lou can cook! And she never told anyone." Jimmy was still walking around the table. "LOU let us eat Teaspoons burnt biscuits, and Cody's god awful slop, LOU lets us damn near starve after Emma left!" Jimmy's voice was getting louder. "YOU" Jimmy shouted pointing at Lou "YOU LET ME WEAR AN APRON" then his voiced got real quiet; Lou felt better when he was yelling.

"I'll be damned, Louise McCloud can cook" And then Jimmy faked a run towards the right around the table knowing she would go left and he quickly caught her as he jumped to the left. Holding her by the arms Jimmy pulled Lou close "You lied to us."

"But Jimmy…." Lou started to explain and trying to break his grip on her arms.

"Lou you made us all suffer through everyone's cooking; and come to think of it you never took a turn did ya, 'cause you knew we'd find out. You let us suffer. Oh wait till the boys' find out, they will want to horse whip you and then make you do all their chores" Jimmy said looking into those big brown eyes.

"Jimmy you can't tell!" Now Lou was worried and she stopped struggling.

"Maybe not horse whipped" Jimmy thought out loud "but spanked for lying, yes you should be spanked." Jimmy back up towards a kitchen chair still holding Lou's arms.

"Jimmy Hickok you wouldn't dare!" More of a statement than a question. Sitting down Jimmy drew her to stand between his knees, now holding her wrists. "I had to eat the god awful food too ya know, well most of the time anyway." Lou cringed, thinking she probably should have left that last part go.

"Most of the time?" Jimmy enquired holding her wrists a bit tighter "When did you eat better than us? Oh wait a minute you cooked for Kid didn't you?"

"Hell NO! I did not"' Lou sternly replied, trying to pull away. "I had enough trouble with Kid wanting me to be something I ain't, what do you think would have happen if he knew I could be .. be .. this domesticated?"

Jimmy bust out laughing, "No I guess you couldn't let him know" Jimmy relaxed his grip on her wrists but didn't let Lou go. He was beginning to like having her here, this close. Looking at her beautiful face soften as she smiled. "I am sorry Jimmy I just couldn't let everyone know, what do you think would happen if you all knew I could cook?" Lou waited for an answer "hummm?"

Jimmy thought about it for a minute, "I guess we would have expected it of you all the time, probably wouldn't have been fair about it either."

"Exactly" Lou said Looking into Jimmy eyes. "Look Jimmy I ain't kidding you can't tell no one. I trust you, please don't tell."

"I don't know Lou, I reckon that depends on how good the food is" Jimmy smiled and released Lou's wrists.

Lou put her hands on Jimmy's shoulders, still standing dangerously close. Lou relaxed as she slipped her left arm around Jimmy's shoulders and perched lightly on his right knee, making Jimmy's heart beat a little faster.

"Jimmy let's just put all this behind us and have a nice quiet dinner" Lou put her face next to Jimmy's and looked forward "Listen Jimmy, what do you hear?"

Jimmy, who was trying to keep his heart from beating outta his chest, looked at her out of the corner of his eye like she'd lost her mind and said "I don't hear nothin' Lou."

Lou turned her face towards his, so close she could feel his breath on her face, she liked it, maybe too much and she slowly stood up to face him. "That..that's right," Lou stammered a bit "nothing, just silence, no fighting, no one snoring, no one telling us what to do and no one dogging us, ain't it great?" Jimmy nodded his agreement, afraid that if he tried to talk he would fail. Lou caught her bottom lip softly between her teeth as she stood up, tried to catch her breath and went back to cooking "Jimmy, dinner ain't gonna be for a while and the soaking tubs' all set up in the mud room, I took a bath while you were sleeping, so why don't you get cleaned up." Jimmy stood up and thought to himself that a cold bath might be just the thing but said out loud "Sounds like a good idea Lou,… uhhh Lou?"

"Yea Jimmy"

"I won't tell" Lou smile at him as he headed to the bunk house for clean clothes.