It seemed like they had just fallen asleep when the bedroom door creaked opened and Emma stuck her head in the room, lamp in hand.

"Alright ladies, it's time to get up, we've got chores that need doing." Emma called out.

Lou and Kristy both groaned and tried to pull the covers over their heads, but Emma wasn't having any of that. She marched into the room and yanked the cover off the bed, exposing them to the cool morning air.

"Up and at em' missies." Emma said playfully.

"It's too early Emma; the sun ain't even out yet." Lou grumbled.

"The cows don't wait for the sun to come up before they need milking, nor do the eggs for breakfast gather themselves." Emma stated.

"Alright Ms. Shannon, we're getting up." Kristy said rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"It's Emma, Kristy. We don't hold to formalities around here." Emma said with a smile. "Ya'll got five minutes." Emma stated before waltzing out of the room to go fix the coffee.

Exactly five minutes later to sleepy looking girls wondered into the kitchen. Emma handed them both a cup of coffee and made them sit at the table.

"I thought we had cows to milk?" Lou asked after yawning.

"I was only teasing about that part, Mr. Spoon does the milking. The eggs however do need gathering and the chickens need to be fed." Emma said.

Once the girls had finished drinking their coffee, Emma handed them a basket and sent them to the chicken coop. Kristy made Lou gather the eggs, the chickens scared her by pecking at her hands every time she tried to reach under them to see if there were any eggs. After all the eggs were gathered and chickens fed, they returned to the kitchen where Emma was pulling out the ingredients for biscuits.

"Here Loulabelle, you make the biscuits. Kristy you can go into the pantry and get me some of that smoked ham in there." Emma said waving Lou over.

"But Emma I don't know how to make biscuits or anything else for that matter." Lou whined.

"Nonsense Loulabelle, you just follow the recipe." Emma stated waving off Lou's concerns.

When breakfast was on the table in the bunkhouse Emma realized she should have taken Lou's concerns seriously. Lou's biscuits were as hard as rocks on the outside and gooey on the inside.

Cody picked up a biscuit and knocked it against the table. He grinned before tossing it to Jimmy, "here Hickok, You can use this as target practice."

The boys all laughed. "Don't know if my bullet would be able to go through this thing Cody. It'd be like shooting a rock." Jimmy chuckled.

"Hey maybe we can use them to throw at bad guys the next time we run out of bullets." Kid added in.

The bunkhouse was filled with the sound of the men's laughter and Emma scolding them. The boys who were only teasing their former fellow rider completely missed the look on her face. Her chin started quivering, her eyes felt prickly.

She shot up to her feet, hands slamming on the table. "Ya'll are a bunch of low down, thick headed pigs!" She screeched at them before rushing from the bunkhouse crying.

"Damn it!" Buck shouted jumping to his feet, "You had to pick on her didn't you." He said to the boys before rushing after his wife.

It wasn't hard to find Lou; he just followed the sounds of her sobs right up to the hayloft. He was going to have to talk to her about climbing up there; she probably shouldn't be doing that now. If she fell, she could hurt the baby.

Buck crouched down next to Lou's side, reaching out he stroked her hair that she had tried to pull back into a low pony tail, there was just enough to do it but it did not suit Lou at all. Buck pulled the hair tie out and ran his fingers through her short hair.

"Honey the boys were just teasing. They didn't mean to hurt your feelings. The biscuits weren't that bad." Buck said the last bit was a huge lie but he felt it necessary to sooth her wounded pride.

Lou snorted a laugh, "Buck Cross you ain't a very good liar. Those biscuits were horrible. I told Emma I couldn't cook, she said all I had to do was follow the recipe, I did but they still didn't turn out right. I'm afraid I'm hopeless in the kitchen always have been, probably always will be."

"Ok they were pretty bad honey but I've never known you to let the guys teasing get to you like that. What's wrong?" Buck asked after she looked up at him wiping the tears from her eyes.

She laughed, 'I don't know Buck. It seems silly now to have gotten so upset. They were only teasing; if it had been one of them that made them biscuits I would've teased them too."

"Well you are growing a baby in there, which has to cause havoc to your body and emotions. It's a lot of work." Buck said.

"I guess you're right. Now come on and help me up, I'm hungry." Lou said holding her hands out for Buck to grasp.

As Buck pulled her to her feet he asked, "You want a biscuit."

He jumped out of the way of the punch she threw at him with a laugh, "Now that is more like you."

When they walked back into the bunkhouse all the boys looked at Lou and quickly apologized for their insensitivity.

"It's alright fella's, I'm just a little emotional. I know them biscuits ain't any good. But the next one of you that makes a comment about my cooking again better sleep with one eye open and do remember that from now on, I will have my hand in preparing the food, I'd hate for something to accidently get put into your food." Lou stated an evil smile gracing her face.

"Now Loulabelle, you should know better than that." Emma scolded.

Lou dropped her head down. "You should never warn them, they'll only be looking through their food to make sure ain't nothing in it if you do that." Emma continued earning a huge smile from Lou and very worried looks from the boys.

After breakfast was over and the boys had cleared the table, Kristy offered to teach Lou a secret she knew for making biscuits that were soft and flaky.

"I think I'll just leave the biscuit making to you Kristy." Lou said as she ran her hand across her forehead wiping the sweat that was gathered there from the heat.

"Alright, I'll handle the biscuits if you take care of the chickens." Kristy said with a shudder at the thought of the beady eye birds.

"Deal." Lou said.

That evening after a long day of back breaking chores Lou was ready to crawl into bed and die. She had no idea the amount of work Emma did around the station. There were the chickens to feed, eggs to gather, and clothes to wash and hang out, clothes to iron and fold, dishes to wash, food to cook, a lot of food to cook. A garden to weed and water, fruits and veggies to can, dry, or put away somehow, and then there was the cleaning that had to be done. Lou thought it was pretty pointless to dust seeing how more dust just came in every time a rider rushed into the station passing the pouch. Lou had no idea how she was going to do this once Emma left, she was never more grateful for Kristy than she was at that moment.

Teaspoon had thought it be a good idea for the girls to learn to milk the cows if for some reason neither he nor the boys were there at milking time. Kristy had volunteered to learn how to do the milking tonight letting Lou take a break. She'd take her turn tomorrow; right now all she wanted to do was soak in a large hot bath. And she planned on doing just that as soon as the water on the stove heated up. She had already had Buck drag the big tub into the kitchen for her and fill it with cold water. He was now rubbing her back while they waited for the water to heat.

Buck leaned down and kissed her neck. "You know if Emma wasn't just upstairs, I think I'd join you in that bath." He whispered in her ear.

"Hmmm maybe we should sneak off to the pond tomorrow." Lou whispered back.

"Shouldn't have to sneak off anymore, no need to hide our relationship anymore … but we probably don't want to advertise the fact that you are going to wet and naked in front of the guys, they might come spying and then I would have to scalp them."

Lou snickered, "I don't think you'd do any such thing Buck. Besides if they come sneaking, I'll just lob one of them biscuits at their heads."

Buck broke out into a hearty laugh at that thought, before going to check on the water. A few minutes later he walked back into the room Lou was currently sharing with Kristy. "Water is ready." He said softly.

When Lou didn't respond he walked over to the bed to find her softly snoring. He didn't want to wake her but knew that she really wanted a bath. So he gently rolled her over onto her back before scooping her up into his arms. Buck carried Lou into the kitchen where he had set up the privacy screen and bath. He sat her down onto a nearby chair, since she had woken up when he had picked her up. Buck knelt in front of her and began to undo the laces of her boots, pulling them from her feet.

When she was barefooted, Buck pulled her to her feet and unbuttoned her pants before pushing them down her slender hips. Lou stepped out of her pants, her eyes never leaving Buck's face as he began to unbutton her shirt. Buck's eyes widened when he pushed the shirt from her shoulders. Instead of the long johns he was accustomed to seeing Lou wear, he saw that she was wearing a thin camisole. He made the decision then and there that he was going to be buying Lou some feminine clothes, or at least the cloth for Emma to make Lou some before she left.

Lou's eyes sparkled at the look on Buck's face over the camisole. She knew he didn't mind seeing her in the long johns but now that she was a married woman, it was time she started dressing like one. Unfortunately, she didn't have any feminine clothes. The dress she wore to get married in had been Emma's and it was a little too big, Emma had a few more curves than Lou did. The camisole was the only thing Lou owned that was feminine. And judging by the look on Buck's face, he appreciated the lone feminine garment. She'd really needed to get some new clothes or attempt to make some … maybe she should have Emma help her.

Buck swallowed hard before lifting Lou off her feet and settling her into the tub. He grabbed the soap that Emma had given Lou, it smelled of lilacs, and lathered up the wash cloth. Buck proceeded to wash Lou in a way that was more sensual than anything else. As much as he wanted to claim Lou then and there, now wasn't the time, so he just took care of her needs. The top need being the need to be clean and have a nice soak in the hot water. His hands messaged her shoulders and lower back in the water.

"Do you want your hair washed?" Buck asked his voice husky.

"Ummm not tonight Buck, I think I'm just ready to go to bed." Lou replied sleepily.

After rinsing the last of the soap from Lou's body, he helped her to her feet before wrapping a fluffy towel around her and lifting her from the tub. Buck carried Lou back into the bedroom and sat her down on her feet.

"You know I can walk Buck." Lou stated trying to glare at him but unable to pull it off.

"I know you can, I just can't help but want to hold you against me when you're naked." Buck said as he pulled the towel off of her and pulled her against his body.

The sound of footsteps on the porch forced Buck to step away and help Lou into her nightshift. The garment had just settled around her body when the bedroom door opened and Kristy walked in. her face flaming when she saw the two occupants.

"Sorry ... I didn't mean to interrupt anything." She said trying to back out.

"You didn't, I was just saying goodnight." Buck said quickly to ease her embarrassment.

After getting a quick kiss from Lou, he moved towards the door. He stopped in front of Kristy and reached out pulling a piece of hay from her hair and holding it out to her. Kristy flushed brightly as she snatched the hay from Buck. Buck laughed and continued into the kitchen where he got rid of the bath.

He was going to go have a word with Cody.