Nathan pushed past him, glancing quickly at Vin and seeing readily which of the two needed immediate attention. He squatted next to the far bed, offering a quick nod to the woman who was about to become his nurse, before cautiously peeling the bandages back. He cursed quietly and quickly pressed the compresses back into place, tightening the binding tape.

"I've got to try to get that bullet out and stitch him up. Looks ripped up bad, and it's infected."

"What do you need?" Chris didn't waste time second guessing him.

A miracle, but Nathan kept that to himself. "Alcohol, hot water. Bandages – lots of them."

Chris turned and almost tripped over JD, who had been motionless from the moment he saw Ezra lying in the bed. "Dunne! Move! Get down to the saloon and get a couple of bottles of something."

"Never mind Larabee." Sherriff Taylor spoke up. "You stay with your men. I'll get what you need."

Chris nodded curtly. He was too tense to move any more than he had too. Every muscle felt locked in place as he gazed back at the bed. None of this made sense. How could Buck have let this happen? "Sheriff, can you send Wilmington over here."

"I will if he can still stand."

"He's that bad?" That made even less sense. The sheriff just nodded. "If he can't, tell him to crawl."

They watched in numb shock as Nathan worked steadily at Ezra's wound. There was no movement, no reaction at all from the injured man, and given the amount of poking, prodding and cursing Nathan was doing, that scared the shit out of them. Chris finally had the presence of mind to approach Vin, staying as far away from Nathan's work space as he could.

"How are you doing Vin?"

"I'll be fine Chris. Couple of scratches is all."

He didn't believe that at all, but this was not the time to get into a debate. "Do you know what happened?"

Vin nodded, his gaze drifting back over to Ezra.

"The two of us were sitting in front of the saloon, watching the bank without trying to look like we were watching it, if you know what I mean. Deputy was sitting right in front, making it look like he was the only man guarding anything. Buck – well we thought Buck was watching things from the far end."

"And he wasn't?"

Ignoring the question, the tracker went on with the narrative. "Was getting dark. Ezra had just turned down what had to be about the tenth invite to sit in on a poker game when I spotted some movement in the shadows. We stood up, casual like, and started walking toward the boarding house. I waved a signal to where Buck was and a couple of seconds later the shooting started. Deputy dove for cover, but there wasn't much to be seen. Ezra took to running across the way to give the guy a chance. That's when he got hit in the leg. Dropped where he was. Tried to drag himself over, shouting out to – shouting out. They shot him again. I ran to pull him clear and managed to get one of the bastards at the same time. Then I felt the graze hit me. Next thing I knew, Ezra had fired off a couple of shots. Then Johnson took the last one down."

"He was shouting for Buck?"

Vin didn't answer.

"Tanner, where the hell was he? Obviously not where he was supposed to be."

The mumbled response was completely incoherent, and Chris was rapidly losing what little patience he had left. "Ain't asking again."

"The brothel."

JD let out a soft gasp, while Nathan scowled, showing he had been paying attention to the account while he worked. Chris's stone-cold silence spoke louder than any of the others.

"He came running when he heard the shooting."

"Hell of a lot of good that did." They all turned to look at JD, surprised by the venom in his tone. "Stupid, selfish, polecat."

"You must be talking about me."

Buck stood in the doorway, forcing himself to stand straight. It wasn't easy to do since he could barely focus. He averted his eyes when his gaze landed on Vin. It was a relief to see him awake and moving, looking a lot better than when he had carried him out of the street the night before. He was wishing he'd stayed on that optimistic view when he saw Ezra, and the bloody mess that surrounded him. It was all he could do to keep from gagging and losing his dinner – which actually had been nothing more than a God-awful amount of whiskey. The fervour with which Nathan was working scared the crap out of him.

Chris turned slowly, burning with anger. "You proud of yourself?"

"Didn't mean for this to happen."

"No shit. Doesn't really change anything, does it?"

"How's he doing?" Buck asked quietly.

"What the hell do you care?"

Buck looked like he'd been punched. "Of course I care Chris. Just because I fucked up doesn't mean-"

"Shut up. I don't want to hear it."

"But..."

"Tomorrow. Come back here tomorrow morning."

Arguing with that tone was a sure way to get yourself busted up, and regardless of how low he felt, Buck knew that wouldn't help out any of them. He turned on his heel and started out. He made it only a couple of steps before his path was blocked.

It was hard to listen to Chris direct that much anger at him. Harder still to see the bandages on Vin and watch what Ezra was going through. But none of that came close to the gut-wrenching pain of seeing the look in JD's eyes. The kid didn't say a word. He didn't have to. The anger, disappointment, disillusionment and just plain hurt was clear on his face. In one stupid action, Buck had wiped out every bond the two men had built. He tried to speak, tried to find something to say that could somehow heal some of this. Not surprisingly, no words came. 'I'm sorry' wasn't going to cut it. Wasn't even going to come close. He sidestepped JD and left the building.

7-7-7-7-7-7-7

Even in the first light of morning, the saloon was dark and dingy, with no spirit or sense of fun. It suited Buck's mood perfectly. He held on to the bottle he hadn't opened yet. He'd bought it the night before the when the bartender had been kind enough to tell him they couldn't sell drinks before noon. No law against drinking what he already owned.

He looked around at the shabby establishment. Bullet holes dotted the walls. The mirror above the bar looked to be the largest remaining piece of a long-ago shattered glass. The floor needed to be swept, and likely washed down with several gallons of soap. The same could be said for the tables. It was nothing like the saloon the team called their own back in Four Corners. Warm, friendly, safe. A family place, strange as that sounded. He was going to miss it. He was going to miss a lot about that town. Mostly, he was going to miss the people. Not just the team, but everyone that made the place come alive every morning. Tiny, who knew more about horses than any man he'd ever met. Clive at the barber shop, who knew just how to trim his moustache and get him cleaned up for an evening of entertainment. Mrs. Potter, always with a smile on her face. Mary, Inez. More bright smiles on the gloomiest of days. The ladies at Belle's. His smile faded. The ladies. It always came back to that for him, didn't it? He'd always had a way of feeling comfortable around them. Guess it was just the way he was raised. Never gave a second thought to the fact he spent most all of his spare time in their company. For some folks, that fact was damning enough.

But now, he'd gone too far. Spending spare time was one thing. But Tuesday night hadn't been spare time. It was working time. He'd had a job to do, and he couldn't remember a single point in his life when screwing that up had been so fucking stupid. Had gone so fucking wrong.

He raised his hand to the top of the bottle, pulling out the stopper.

"You plan on drinking every meal from now on?"

He hadn't even heard the kid come in.

"Goes down easier than the food does around here. You want a shot? Oh, never mind. You likely won't want to be drinking with me."

"Chris wants to see you."

"I doubt that."

JD didn't argue. "OK then. Chris needs to talk to you – that better?"

If anyone had asked a couple of days ago, Buck would have assured them that JD Dunne was nicest fella they could hope to meet out west. Nothing but optimism and enthusiasm. He had a feeling that along with all physical suffering he was responsible for, he'd managed to whip down that trait in the kid as well.

"Ezra?"

"No real change, but Nathan figures every minute he stays alive is a good thing. He says nothing critical was hit bad, but lost a lot of blood, and is running a fever. Thinks – maybe just hopes, the tea and poultice is helping."

The boarding house was the last place Buck wanted to be, and the one place he needed to be. He forced himself to his feet, ignoring the pounding in his temples the movement created. He took the bottle to the bar and handed it to the fellow cleaning glasses. "Hold on to this for me – I'm gonna want it later."

JD turned toward the kitchen area when they got to the boarding house. He was guessing Nathan could likely use a cup of coffee. He knew he could. They'd all had a long night.

Buck moved forward, slowing a bit when he got to the back room. Chris was on his feet immediately on hearing him, blocking the entrance to the room. "Not until we talk." He shoved him, none to gently, back into the hallway. "You got a side to this story I should hear?"

Buck shook his head. "None that matters."

"You were at the brothel." Buck didn't deny it. "They were counting on you to be up the street, watching their backs, and you were at the brothel." Chris's eyes were cold and black. His voice, level and quiet. The lack of any modulation made him sound almost inhuman, and a lesser man would have been quaking in his boots. Buck was struggling to not be that man.

"That's the size of it."

JD kept back. He wasn't stupid enough to step into a hornet's nest.

"I am going to give you one chance to give me an explanation as to just what the hell you were thinking."

"I wasn't. I wasn't using my head."

"Yeah, you were – but the wrong one."

"What so you want me to say Chris. It was twins. I got distracted. I mean, there were two of them."

Chris took the few steps he needed to be face-to-face with the man, pointing back into the room. "These two were supposed to be more important – or don't you see it that way?" Buck tried to come up with a response but couldn't. "Never mind this shit. Get out of here. I can't even look at you right now."

Unable to challenge any of it, Buck turned to leave. He stopped in his tracks at the shouts from Nathan.

"NO! Damn it Ezra. You don't quit on me now. Ezra, wake up. Stay with me."

Chris bolted into the room. Vin was propping himself up awkwardly, watching Mrs. Chamberlain pass cloths to Nathan as quickly as she could. They were being packed against the wound, which had started bleeding heavily again. Nathan continued to yell at Ezra while treating him, so Vin was left to explain.

"He started coughing. Got real bad and suddenly he was just groaned loud."

"Ripped open the stitches I put in him. I've got to try again, but he's already so damn weak." The healer remained focused as he spoke. "I'm gonna do what I can, but I don't think it's gonna be enough Chris."

"Get outta here Buck. You don't want to be anywhere near me if he doesn't make it."

M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7

tbc