A/N: Hey folks, here is part two of what is now a three parter. Thanks for everybody who read and to my reviewers. Shout-out to Mhart (Thanks :) I was going for funny and the H/C at the end kind of snuck up on me. I'm glad you liked Inez and Buck, there is definitely chemistry there, only she'd likely kill him before they got anywhere even if he were ever ready to settle down. Honestly, I figure Buck was doing a lot more at sixteen then he'd ever dream of letting JD do, but it wouldn't occur to him not to let the kid drink occasionally) and Diggedydog (Thank you, there are little differences that I figure have to be there due to the age differences, the altered relationship with Travis, but they are still the same people so I appreciate hearing the characterizations are faithful :) I will add a hanky warning! Lol, only artists get to be happy when they've made someone cry, lol.)
While there is no cp in this part, there is discipline of a teenager by his big brother.
*.*
*.*.*.*.*.*
*.*
It was just a word. JD didn't know why he was so curious.
But he was.
He knew it was foul...but, Buck didn't say those kinds of things about women, didn't think a woman being, um...willing, maybe?, was a bad thing, so JD didn't think it had the usual foul meaning. Only, Buck really didn't like Mrs. Standish, (JD didn't much either, but she had told his fortune and helped him get rid of that curse), so maybe he would say something like that about her.
It was bad enough that Chris had smacked Buck for it. He was an adult! And not barely an adult like Nathan and Vin. Though, Josiah did say Buck acted younger than them half the time.
It was a mystery. A mystery that after first Inez's reaction(JD had no doubt she meant every word she'd said), and then Chris's outright threat of a tanning JD should probably leave well enough alone. Clearly it wasn't worth the trouble. Really, he had ever intention of doing so.
At first.
Then, well, he and Vin were riding the morning patrol, and Buck and Chris, and definitely Inez were nowhere near by, and he figured Vin had been a tracker and a buffalo hunter, lived with the Indians-technically, he'd even been an outlaw, an innocent one, but still an outlaw, running with a price on his head, for a while. JD cocked his head to the side. Was Vin still an outlaw? Yeah, everybody in Four Corners and even Judge Travis knew that Vin never could have murdered anyone, but there was still a price on his head.
Every time a new wanted poster came in JD used it as kindling in the little pot bellied stove that heated the jail. It felt kinda strange to burn a picture of Vin, but it was better than leaving them laying around.
Basically, he was thinking Vin wouldn't be bothered any by cussing, so why not ask him while they were all the way out here and no one could overhear? Even if Vin was bothered he'd just tell JD off himself, he wouldn't tell on him. Probably. He waited until they had stopped to let the horses drink from a stream, climbing off and stretching their legs. Vin went to refill his canteen a ways upstream from the horses and JD followed after, crouching down next to him. "Hey Vin, can I ask you something?"
"'Course."
JD asked him. Vin stared at him for a long time. It looked like one of the corners of his mouth wanted to twitch but he wasn't letting it. "Where'd ya hear that?"
"Buck."
Vin shook his head, muttering, "Somebody oughta smack him, teaching ya that."
"Chris did," JD said without thinking, pouting a bit, because Vin clearly thought he was a baby.
"Think ya coulda figured out ya shouldn't be sayin' it from that, JD."
"I'm not a little kid!"
Vin narrowed his eyes at him, "Not what I said is it? Ya ain't gonna win many friends of the sort ya want talkin' like that."
"If someone would just tell me what it means I wouldn't hafta keep saying it." JD huffed exasperatedly, crossing his arms. Vin just kept looking at him for a long moment, then, with a smirk, reached out and shoved JD over sideways into the stream. JD came up spluttering, splashing water back at Vin who just laughed, standing and putting the lid back on the now full canteens.
"I'se thinkin' on stoppin' by Miz Nettie's before we finish patrol, but since now I ain't too sure ya gonna be polite company for Miss Casey, I don' know." Vin was still smirking, but there was something serious in his eyes as he looked down at JD climbing out of the water, something that made JD feel his face heat.
"What? No, c'mon Vin, I'll be good, I swear. I haven't seen Casey all week, she hasn't been into town at all." He looked pleadingly up at the tracker, who gave in after a moment.
"Alright, but I'm holdin' ya to that. I hear any kinda talk like that outta ya I ain't gonna be happy, might jus' hand ya over to Miz Nettie and her spoon."
Feeling a little hurt, because of course he wouldn't say something like that to Casey, not even just to ask her, she was a half year younger than him and really still just a kid, she wouldn't know anyway, and besides, she was a girl, it wouldn't be right, JD nodded stiffly, "I wouldn't, not around Miz Nettie or Casey, promise."
"Good. Don't have to worry then, I know ya keep yer promises." Vin turned to gather up Peso, who had waded right into the stream at the deepest part and nearly crossed it by now, and JD beamed, surprised at the compliment, and was still beaming a minute later when he realized he'd lost his hat on his impromptu trip into the stream and had to run after it upstream.
*.*.*.*.*.*
JD knocked on the clinic door with his left hand, holding his right away from his body. He'd ignored the big sliver lodged in his thumb, received when he was helping Casey patch the hen house roof (he'd offered to just do it for her, but she'd looked at him like he was insane and climbed up first, making it look a bit easier than it was to boot), until he was halfway home and Vin, apparently tired of seeing him shift his grip every other minute, had asked what the heck he'd done to himself. He'd been kind of annoyed when JD showed him, didn't understand why he hadn't said anything before, said Nettie probably could have got it out with a needle, maybe, done something anyway, but JD hadn't wanted Casey to know he'd gotten hurt, not when she hadn't been, doing the same thing.
He'd told Vin that, and his brother had laughed at him, told him he should be glad Casey knew how to take care of a farm, and JD hadn't really gotten it, he was glad Casey could do that stuff. She had to be able to, her and Miz Nettie out there all alone.
Maybe, sometimes, it was a little embarrassing, when she could do some of it so much better then JD, but he could shoot a gun better, and do tricks on his horse Casey couldn't do, so he figured it all evened out.
Still though, he'd figured anyone should be able to nail on a few shingles without jamming a piece of wood in their hand, and he hadn't wanted her to know he couldn't. What would a girl like Casey think of a guy that couldn't even fix a chicken coop?
Besides, like he'd told Vin, it didn't really hurt, it was just annoying, not unless he banged his thumb on something. Or made a fist. Or bent it. It would probably work itself out on its own. Vin had told him that it was too big for that, and if he left it in it would get infected, but if he didn't want to go see Nathan, Vin could cut it out with his knife instead. Then he'd pulled out his hunting knife and JD had hightailed it to the clinic, knowing that was exactly what Vin, laughing from behind him, had intended all along.
Nathan pulled open the door to the clinic, and smiled with concern at him, "Hey JD, just visiting or not feeling good?"
Feeling ridiculously childish, JD held up his hand with a sheepish smile, "Got a sliver I can't get out."
Nathan stepped back and ushered him into the clinic, saying, "Sure, we'll get that out in a second," directing him over to a chair by the window, where he'd have plenty of light to see by, pulling his hand up a bit to examine it, "Oh, that's a big one, don't know if you can really call that a splinter, we're gonna need to clean that good." He patted JD's knee sympathetically, "Gotta hurt, huh?"
JD shook his head, "Nah, I'm okay." Nathan raised a skeptical eyebrow, but didn't argue, just going to gather the few supplies he'd need, and the extra chair for himself.
The two talked quietly while Nathan pulled out the sliver, first cleaning JD's thumb, then using tweezers and a needle that was way too big for JD's liking, JD first telling him how he'd got the sliver, then keeping up a running commentary on whatever came into his mind, with Nathan interjecting comments, only stopping to hiss as Nathan poured alcohol over the wound, then as he was wrapping it ("That hole is almost big enough to be a puncture wound, I'm putting a bandage on it, sit your butt down.") Nathan started telling him a funny and gross story about a ranch hand who had come into town with an infected toenail, Nathan's dark eyes shining with unusual mischief as he made him laugh. "I swear JD, next time he comes in I'm gonna wear a clothespin on my nose, and I don't care if Ol' Parker is offended by it."
"He really stinks that bad?" JD barely managed to get it out through his giggles.
Nathan nodded with pretended solemnity, "I had to wash his foot three times before I could find individual toes."
"That's disgusting!"
"You aren't the one who had to squeeze the puss out of his toe." Nathan's voice was dry and the face he pulled made JD laugh even harder. He sat back in his chair and let go of JD's hand, "Alright, you're done. Free to go unless you have any more wounds you're pretending don't hurt." Nathan arched an eyebrow at him and JD shook his head.
"No, I'm good, and it really didn't hurt much, Nathan."
"Sure it didn't." Nathan patted him on the knee again, stood up, stretched a bit, and walked back over to his desk and the set of medical tomes he'd gotten for his twenty fourth birthday the month before, JD frowning after him. JD had been in the church when Ezra had seen them in one of the mail order catalogs he got from Mrs. Potter and was always paging through, and the other boy had jumped right up, all excited, and run off to show them to Josiah, who had been equally excited, except for the fact that it had been during the hour of the day he'd decided Ezra and JD needed to spend doing lessons, and he'd wanted to know exactly how mail order catalogs counted as studying. Ezra had quickly talked all the other peacekeepers into going in on the books with him, though it had been lucky Nate's birthday had still been a month away or they might not have been able to scrape together enough in time.
Nathan had been really, really, happy when he'd opened the box, so happy he'd almost cried, and it had made JD feel almost the same just watching him. He spent all his time reading them now, and for the first few weeks it hadn't bugged JD, and it wasn't right that he was letting it bother him now. Nathan worked really hard, being a peacekeeper and the town's healer, plus taking care of all of them the way he did, he should be able to spend his spare time doing whatever he wanted, and the knowledge in the books was important for him to know anyway. JD knew that, he really did. But he never seemed to come to the saloon anymore, or sat out in front of the jail talking, or spent any time with JD at all. He kicked his boot toe lightly at the wooden floor with a scowl on his face, scuffing it. It was stupid of him, selfish, to let it bother him, but they'd just been having such a good time and a minute later Nathan's head was buried in his books and it was like he didn't even exist. He kind of wished he wished he was hurt somewhere else, so that Nathan would have to keep talking to him.
"JD? You okay?" JD looked up surprised, to see that yeah, Nathan's book was open, and his desk lamp turned on, but he was looking over at him, concerned. JD nodded, not sure how to feel at all, but tried to pull off a smile as he pushed himself to his feet.
"Yeah, just lost in thought for a second, bye Nathan."
He must have been successful because Nathan smiled back and said, "Bye JD," before turning back to his reading, and JD walked towards the door, a little angry that Nathan hadn't been able to see through his deception, for all he hadn't wanted him to when he was saying it. Halfway across the small room he suddenly realized he had the perfect way to get Nathan's undivided attention.
Ignoring the little voice inside his head that told him this was a Bad Idea, JD turned around, and said "Hey Nate, what's _ mean?" Tension seemed to rise in the room the second the words left his mouth and JD gulped as Nate first turned sideways in his chair to look at him, then stood up, face seeming to grow more upset the longer he looked at JD.
"JD Dunne, did you know that was a bad word?" JD squirmed where he stood, not wanting to answer his brother. "JD, I asked you a question and I expect you to answer me."
JD hung his head, "Yes...but I really don't know what it means!"
"Good, it ain't for you to know!" It was snapped more than shouted, but JD still flinched a little, and as he watched Nathan took one deep breath, and then another, calming himself down, "C'mere." Reluctantly, pretty sure he was about to get at least swatted, JD walked back over to Nathan, who took his arm and set him down in his chair. Confused now, JD watched the healer warily as he opened the desk drawer and pulled out a small paper packet, most of which JD knew contained herbs, and ripped open the top, reaching in and plucking out a large pinch of something dry and green, "Open your mouth and stick out your tongue." JD pushed his lips tighter together and shook his head. "Right now, JD." He shook his head again, a little more frantically, and Nathan gave an exasperated sigh, "It ain't gonna hurt you, just tastes bad." JD opened his mouth a fraction to tell Nathan that that was exactly what he had been expecting, and Nathan dove in, taking hold of his jaw and deftly placing the powdery dried plant in his mouth, the sharp, bitter, taste and weird texture making JD recoil. "Close your mouth, you're keeping that in there for two minutes." JD did as he was told, already defeated now, nose wrinkling as the smell and taste permeated his mouth, his saliva building up and moistening the plant, not only making the taste and smell spread, but turning the leaves slightly gooey, like it was melting into his mouth, and JD just knew the taste wasn't going to go away for ages. He glared down at the book laid open on the desktop, hard enough that it should probably have burst into flame. This was all its fault.
It wasn't as bad as the time his Mam had washed his mouth out for lying to her, there weren't any suds to make him gag anyway, but the smell seemed to rise up and feel his nose, and pretty soon his eyes were watering, and his mouth was filling up with saliva that he really didn't want to swallow, and actually JD decided you couldn't really compare one to the other. He looked up at Nathan, who was standing over him with his arms crossed, with a pleading face, but he just tapped the pocket watch that was dangling from one of his hands with a finger and said, "Thirty seconds." JD tried not to either swallow or gag for the next thirty seconds, glaring down at the stupid book again, and then Nathan was handing him a bowl to spit in and filling a glass with the pitcher of water he kept on his desk, handing it to JD, who spent the next minute or so alternating between scraping green gunk off his tongue and trying to rinse his mouth free of the taste. It wasn't working very well. When he was done Nathan was still looking down at him, and said sternly, "I don't want you talking like that, JD, you're too smart, too fine of a boy to be doing that, and I'm not gonna put up with it. I don't like having to punish you, but I will when I need to, you hear?"
"I know...M'sorry, Nathan." He swallowed thickly, yeah, Nathan was paying attention to him now, but he was mad at him, even after he'd punished him, and geez, JD could be so stupid sometimes, and he didn't even know why-
"Alright. We're good then, long as I don't hear something like that out of you again. Have you eaten lunch yet?" JD blinked in surprise, not having expected that question, then shook his head. "C'mon, I'm hungry, lets go see what Inez has today. Here, first finishing cleaning up your face." Nathan wet a cloth and handed it to him, waiting for JD to finish and climb to his feet, dropping his arm around his shoulders once he was up. "Feels like we haven't talked much lately." JD nodded, at first hesitantly, then again. He wasn't sure if Nathan had figured it out, he had been glaring at that book pretty hard, or if maybe he just missed talking to JD as much as JD missed talking to him, but either way JD felt a smile tugging at his lips again.
"Yeah, yeah, did I tell you about when me and Vin went hunting last week?" Nathan shook his head, and JD started talking, maybe a little too fast, but Nathan didn't seem to mind. "He's been teaching me how to set snares and at first mine weren't catching any, but then..." They started walking down the double flight of stairs to the clinic, JD keeping up a steady stream of commentary, when halfway down JD froze, "Um, Nathan, could we not say anything about what I said to Inez?"
Nathan looked at him like he was a little bit crazy, "I wasn't planning on it in the first place JD, why?"
"Um..."
