Thanks for all the reviews. Milie - thanks for the kind message you sent. I appreciate everyone reviews and concerns - Lara, I agree Clint is harder on Chris and I need to focus on fixing that with a proper reason of why. Their relationship needs to be mended. Hope you like this chapter and as always - not beta read at your own risk.


Clint had walked Travis out to his car and after another twenty minutes outside talking more, Travis finally pulled away from the Larabee home. The other boys were ready to go to Nellie's farm for some volunteer work but Ezra had sat tense, dreading every minute the Judge was within the home and cursed his mother silently in putting him in this situation.

Clint walked into the wreck room where Ezra sat watching a history channel, one of the only channels they were allowed to watch while being grounded. Secretly, he enjoyed the show about the old west and about the good guys and the bad guys and those that fell in-between. Ezra could see Clint from the corner of his eyes; the man had stopped short of the archway and stared for a moment. After speaking with the judge, Ezra was sure a million things were going through Clint's mind and none of them good for him. He had been on this road before though, he never unpacked and he still had most of the money from the pool game in the jacket Buck had given him.

He wasn't too far off either. Clint had stopped and he had stared but his mind wasn't in the exact location as Ezra's train of thought. Clint imagined JD plucked out of his home to live the life Ezra had at that same age and it tore at him from deep inside. Silently, he too cursed Maude for not letting him know about Ezra sooner, when he could have protected him from his unwarranted past life.

"Ez?" Clint called out, breaking the silence between them. "Can you come into the office?"

Ezra fought back the dreaded feeling and put on a false pleasant smile, "Is this about the farm work? The others already filled me in on it. I never had been on a farm so I'm not sure what to do to help."

"Come on in," Clint walked across the entrance room of the house to open his office door. Ezra slowly raised unsure of what to expect from Clint. His father pointed one chair while arranging another so they could sit across from each other. "Just leave the door open and sit down." He wanted Ezra to feel comfortable and not threatened.

Ezra raised his brows unexpectedly but did as he was asked, sitting on the large chair across from Clint, who sat leaning slightly forwards with his elbows on his knees. Ezra watched in slight amusement as his father tried to look confident but clearly was out of his element and in way that sent caution flags into mind so he kept his posture ready to bolt through the door if needed.

"That was Judge Travis that was here moments ago," Clint started off, looking more at his clasped hands than at Ezra.

"He had introduced himself as such earlier," Ezra reminded him.

Clint nodded his head ever so slightly at the obvious, "Let me say that the cards are all on the table, Ezra. I know about your history run-ins with the law and I don't agree with it. I'm a lawman after all. But I've dealt with a few runaways in my time as an officer, not so much in this small town. There are kids that feel that their parents are being unfair but there are kids that feel there is no other choice because of imminent danger they are living in. The life on the street is hard to imagine and I get sometimes the lines are crossed for survival." Clint glanced up at Ezra but the boy held his poker face.

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The plan was to change out of their church clothes and into something more reasonable for their 'volunteer' work. Vin didn't really mind, he had always liked the older Wells lady and often thought of her as another grandmother. She made cookies and told them stories of her childhood, hard times. She was always good at giving advice. He wasn't one to shy away from hard work either.

After changing clothes, all were to assemble downstairs so Clint could haul their 'bad asses' to their work zone and sure how Clint made it sound was as if they were doing some hard core time but the boys knew their way around a ranch and helped mend things for Nellie in the past so a couple of hours and they figured it all would be done.

The boys had done as told and stood in the entrance stairs, waiting for Clint. The door was open however and like a magnet pull, the boys stood near but out of sight of the open door to Clint's office, hearing everything.

"Huh. How about that," Vin turned to his brothers. "No wonder Buck and Ezra get along so well."

"What are you talking about?" Buck gave him a puzzled look.

"You always find trouble and there he is," Vin nodded in the direction of Clint's room. "Sitting in dad's office."

"Think you funny, do you?" Buck swatted the back of his head.

"Shut-up," Chris warned them, putting his finger to his lip so he could hear more of the private conversation.

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"This is a new start for you Ezra. I promise you different lifestyle and hopefully a better future if you allow yourself to be part of this family. I'm not going to punish or judge you for the past but I honestly can say that I will not give you any justification to fall back on past survival strategies. So the slate is clean, a new start for you. However," Clint now made eye contact with his son. "I will not tolerate future problems such as retail thief, auto thief or any kind of thief from strangers, friends are within this family. You will abide by the law. Is that understood?"

Ezra nodded his head that he understood. After all understanding and promising were two different things.

"Our DNA test came back and I think it's no surprise to either of us that you're stuck with me," Clint said lightly. "For the rest of your life because you are mine now. I get to keep you."

"Um….well, so far it's been a joy," Ezra now found himself loss of words, wishing he could fast forward or have some spontaneous interruption happen that would release himself from this father and son moment. "But Mother may…"

"I haven't been able to reach your mother, Ezra." Clint hurried to cut him off. "The number she gave me has been disconnected for some time. I'm sorry. I don't believe she was going to come back for you this time. I have been told that this isn't the first time she had dropped you off onto someone else. I won't pretend that I understand her reasons. I cannot for the life of me understand at all. If your mother feels the need to reappear in your life, she can visit you but you should know that I won't allow you go to with her. I feel I can offer you a better home environment and I would be that the courts would see it my way as well."

"She's my mother…" Ezra wanted Clint to understand that she was all he had.

"And I'm your father," Clint words were gentle. "Maude had fifteen years of your childhood. It's fair I get the remaining. But let's just do this one day at a time, okay? I think you'll come to see that I'm right. Can we agree to that?"

"Sure," Ezra shrugged indifference. To his thinking, he could leave anytime. He's done it before and he will do it again if needed and if he can find the map and what it led to, he'd be gone for good. His mother or his new father will be in his history and the future of his own.

"That's out of the way and now you know that I know a bit more about you. I've asked the Judge, who agrees to be your god-father is anything should happen to me, to give a warrant on any hospital records that are under Standish or other names your mother had used in the past and was caught with. If you could tell me which places might have a history of your medical, it would be helpful and save a lot of time. It would benefit you in case of an emergency."

"My god-father is a judge?" Ezra paled, that wasn't what he would call relief.

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"Hi," Casey gave a little wave as the boys jumped out of the back of their father's pick up and Chris out of the cab. "Gram is in the house," Casey pointed to a small ranch style home. She glanced around the truck with a slight pout, "Where's JD?"

"Hey Casey," Clint smiled at the little girl who was so eager to have a play mate around the place even if it was just for the afternoon. "Sorry, sweetheart. JD isn't allowed to leave the house this weekend. I'm sure he can tell you all about it at school tomorrow."

"What am I supposed to do now?" Casey flung her arms in the air in an over reactive distressed.

"You know what, Casey?" Chris smiled as he walked up to Ezra, patting him on the back. "Ez here…have you met Ezra yet?"

Casey slowly shook her head as she eyed the bigger boys. "But JD said he's his new brother."

"That's right, he's our new brother." Chris knelt down so he could be nearly the same eye level as Casey. "Ezra never had to work on a farm even a small one like this so why don't you show him what to do?"

"Like a boss?" Casey brightens up at the idea of bossing around an older person, especially a kid as old as a teenager.

"Yeah," Chris stood up with a large smile. "Just like his boss. You make sure you show him around."

"That's a good idea," Clint nodded towards Casey. "Ez, just go with her for a bit. I need Buck and Chris to help with patching the roof. Josiah said he would be over after doing something extra at the church."

Casey grabbed Ezra's hand and he allowed her to pull him along with her. "We can gather eggs and feed the chickens and the goats."

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JD played with the left over dough his mother had rolled out. "How comes I couldn't go?"

"You don't remember?" Mary looked over at her youngest with a knowing look in her eye.

"Is it because of when me and Vin were fighting?" JD frowning as his mother nodded her head. "I have to stay home but Vin gets to go out. That isn't fair!"

"Each of you boys are different, JD. Someone's punishment is another's freedom." Mary explained. "You know how I send you to the reading room?"

"Yeah!" JD wrinkled his nose just thinking about being stuck in the room. "I don't like it."

"No but it wouldn't be a punishment if you did," Mary smiled. "But if Josiah got into trouble…"

"He never gets into trouble," JD lifted a palm up in the air in explanation.

"He does just not as often as you or your other brothers. Now if he did," Mary tried to get back on track. "Do you think he would feel that being sent to the reading room would be a punishment?"

"Noooo!" JD shook his head repeatedly. "He goes there all the time and he isn't even told to!"

"He likes to read," Mary smiled at the moments of quietness she had shared with her older son in that room, discussing their latest reading material.

"I don't think we should be punished at all," JD voiced, pulling apart the dough into pieces and flattening them like pancakes. "You should just say 'don't do that' and we won't."

Mary placed her hand on her hips and looked down at her son with amusement, "Remember when I told you not to put your wet towels on the floor?"

"Uh, yeah…I forgot you told me not to do it," JD explained.

"How about when I tell you not to give Ranger your peas off your plate?" Mary asked.

"Well you say peas are good for us and he probably needs them more than I do cause he's really, really old," JD reasoned.

"And how about when I tell you not to forget to flush the toilet?" Mary asked. "That's something no one in the house wants to see."

"I keep forgetting!" JD explained and decided that changing the subject was probably in his best interest. "What are we making?" He pointed to the dough his mother rolled out again.

"Chicken and Dumplings," Mary explained. She too was told of the results of Ezra's parenting and the reality was that the test only confirmed what they all knew. Mary had mixed feelings as well. She had strong nourishing mother skills and a part of her wanted to protect Ezra from cruelty of the world. Then again, he was a reminder that Clint put a wedge between their marriage. Though they were putting a good front for the kids, there was a lot of mending that needed to be repaired behind closed doors.

Yet, Clint and Travis both shared their concerns about the possibility of Ezra hardship while in the care of his mother only made Mary determined to make a better home for Ezra. "Your father and Ezra's favourite, I thought it would be nice to have tonight. Make it a special night."

"I like it too," JD told her as she cut the dough into slices.

"What should we have for desert?" Mary asked as she scrapped the last of the dough into a pot.

"Ice cream!" JD smiled brightly.

"Ice cream?" Mary twitched her nose slightly. "I don't know, sweetie. It's not much of a desert for a special night of Dumplings."

JD tapped his chin with his index, "How about….pudding pie! I like that!"

"Cream pies," Mary nodded approval. "Sounds like a plan. Why don't I get you to…" Mary set out some of the pie pans when the buzzer for the dryer went off. She put a bowl and a hand of bananas. "I need to switch loads, sweetie. We are going to make that chocolate pudding pie you like and I think banana cream pies too? I just need you to peel the bananas while I get the laundry."

"Oookkkay," JD bounced his head up and down while reaching out for a banana to peel.

Mary went to the laundry room with an empty basket balanced on her hip. She dug the dry clothes out of dyer, putting them into the basket and then took the clothes out of the washer to put into the now empty dryer. After turning that on, she started to put a pile of jeans to be cleaned into the wash, making sure she checked the pockets. Vin's pocket knife, he had mentioned he couldn't find it. Chris had a pack of gum and breath mints with a few coins. Mary smiled as she pulled out a few handwritten phone numbers with girls' names from Buck's. Ezra had nothing in his and Clint left his spare keys in his jeans. JD had crayons and a matchbox and even Mary found her watch she had taken off earlier in her jeans. She couldn't wash all the jeans at once so she would have to do another load of them. She started the wash and closed the lid when she spotted the pack of cigarettes on the floor. They weren't hers and she doubted Clint picked up smoking again.

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Casey frowned at the broken egg on the ground. She had broken a few time to time and her Grandmother wasn't at all angry with her for the accident. Ezra had managed to break seven. Seven in one day was a lot of broken eggs.

"Ops," Ezra bit his lower lip in a mock of sincerity. "Guess I'm a bit too clumsy for egg hunting, huh."

"Yeah," Casey looked at the nesting hens and back to the eggs. They had already fed the hens, Ezra dumping almost a whole sack in one spot. He had 'accidently' let the goats out of their pens and they had to get Vin help in rounding them out of the undeveloped vegetable garden. He claimed a fear of heights so he didn't have to help with the roof. There wasn't much left for him to do that Casey could show him. "We could pick wild flowers?" Casey thought about the small range with fresh wild flowers in the rooms.

"Hay fever," Ezra said quickly, not wanting to be seen picking flowers with a little girl.

Casey had left him to his own device as she went to do her regular chores. Mrs Wells watched as Ezra jumped in the cab of the truck to wait out the work. "That boy is useless here."

Clint had climbed down the ladder to get some water and to wash the sweat and dirt off, "He isn't use to this kind of work."

"He isn't even trying, Clint." Nettie told her neighbour. "At first I thought he was rather clumsy but now, even I can see he's intentionally causing problems in order to get out of working and I can't see as good as I use too."

Clint rubbed the wash cloth over his face, "He's had a hard life and…"

"So you're going to cuddly him? Is that your plan? Let him get away with doing wrong?" Nettie raised her chin, "You think that will help him? He's fifteen, Clint. He's a boy that needs limitations and if you don't provide that then what kind of man will he become?" Nettie put a shovel in Clint's hands, "He and Vin could clean out the barn. Vin won't let him get away for doing less then what he does and that young man does a lot. All they need to do is move manure from one place to another."

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He hurt. He had blisters on his hands and he could hardly raise his arms. He wasn't meant to this kind of work, he wasn't bred to do it. He had thought that the only good things that happen today was that he had drawn the smallest stick and won to be the first to shower and he made sure he used all the hot water. Ezra sighed as he put on clean clothes and felt human once more. Mary had rushed them all to get cleaned up for dinner and even he could pick up the smell of his favourite dish, which surprised him when Mary had pointed that out.

He was going to enjoy the meal but he knew people and knew them well enough to know that no one did anything without a hidden agenda. Ezra was sure Mary was just buttering him up to ask him for something, probably to leave and never come back. He walked down the stairs into the kitchen where JD sat at the table ready for the meal that he had 'help' prepared.

"Ezra," Mary walked towards him with a box of bandages. "Josiah had said you've gotten some blisters." She wiggled the box in the air. "These blister Band-Aids are great and I can put a little ointment on them."

Ezra didn't say anything as she set to work with JD standing on the chair to see the blisters. He wrinkled his little nose and watched to see if Ezra would cry but he didn't not even a wince and to JD, that was very brave because he would had cried.

"JD, sweetie why don't you go let Ranger out for a bit while the other boys get their showers?" Mary told her youngest. "Keep an eye on him, I just bathed him and I don't want him around the pound tonight."

"Why can't Vin?" JD pouted.

"Because he needs to shower now go," Mary pointed towards the door of the kitchen and both she and Ezra watched as JD slowly dragged his feet out the door. Mary walked over to the sink, scrubbing at the last of the pans she had used earlier. "Ezra, I wanted to ask you something."

Ezra smirked, he had been expecting something.

"I hadn't spoken to Clint yet," Mary rinsed a pan off and put it aside to dry. She wiped her hands on a dish towel before pulling a box out of the drawer. Mary walked over to the table, putting it in the middle between the two bowls of Dumplings. "Do you smoke?"

Ezra looked down at the cigarettes that were Vin's. "There not mine." Ezra said truthfully but he had been in situations before where he played the scapegoat of a cousin a few times and of course, giving his and his mother's background no one ever believed him so he wasn't sure what good the truth would do him.

"You sure? You are telling me the truth?" Mary raised her brows at Ezra who still looked at the box of cigarettes. "We don't allow smoking from our boys and it wouldn't be right if the wrong person got the blame for them."

Ezra didn't say anything, already feeling the blame was being cast in his direction.

"I didn't want to put you on the spot," Mary reached out to smooth his wet hair but Ezra jerked away from her reach. "I believe you. I do. I'm just going to leave the box there and I'm sure before dinner is over, the owner will give himself away. You would think by now, your brothers would be tired of getting grounded." Mary joked as she went back to the task of getting the table set for dinner.

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It was the first thing everyone saw when they sat down for dinner and each of them knew that someone at the table was squirming in their seats. Mary went on as if nothing was amidst, asking how the day went and if they were enjoying their dinner and the desert pies that she and JD had made together. But the cigarette box was unsettling and each brother tried to catch the other's stare, secretly asking if it was theirs. Chris had raised his brows at Buck, who slowly shook his head no.

Buck gave Josiah a quick glance and the eldest son, shook his head. Chris, Josiah and Buck all turned to look at Ezra who frowned in returned and shook his head. Chris titled his slightly as to say, 'truthfully'. Ezra rolled his eyes but refused to look over at Vin, not to give him away.

Josiah turned to his father, gave a quick nod to the cigarettes and his father shrugged, having no idea who they belonged too. All the while Mary talked about how great it was for the boys to help Nellie out, even if it was for a punishment and they should volunteer more often.

"There mine," Vin gave in and Mary smiled in trumpet. Vin glared at his parents and gave Ezra a quick glance, who shrugged as to say, 'Wasn't me'.

"I found them among the jeans when I was washing," Mary revealed.

"Vin," Clint sighed.

"You keep this up and you will forget what it feels like not to be grounded, little brother!" Buck tried to smooth the tension.

"Why on earth would you start smoking?" Mary asked him. "You know how hard it was for your father to quite."

"You quite?" Ezra looked over at Clint with a mischievous smile. "That must have been Travis' cigar in the astray this morn…wait, no. That was before his visit. Hmmm," Ezra pulled a piece of chicken off his fork with his mouth. "I wonder who's it was."

Mary turned to glare at Clint, "You started smoking again?"

"It was a cigar, honey." Clint admitted. "Just once in awhile I…."

"You promised you would quite so the boys wouldn't pick up that nasty habit!" Mary took Clint's plate from him.

"Hey I wasn't done…" Clint made a grab for it but Mary scraped the plate into the trash.

"What other secrets are you keeping from me Clint?" Mary asked.

"Once in a while I indulged in a cigar but I never done to in front of the boys," Clint gave Ezra a glare for getting him in trouble and to his disapproval, Ezra smirked back. Clint tossed his napkin where his plate was a moment ago and walked over to Mary to talk reason with her.

"Hey Dad," Buck leaned back into his chair so he could see past Josiah. "Guess you'll be sleeping in your office tonight seeing as there is no more spare beds anymore."

"Mind your own affairs," Clint called back.

"When I deal with your father," Mary looked over at Vin. "You'll be next!"

Vin slouched down in his chair, hiding from the world.

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Once more, Vin found his weekend joy rides revoked at this rate he was sure he would forget how to even ride. For the whole month he had to help with supper and clean after everyone ate. He had to do his chores after school and homework right after he cleaned himself up.

"Buck!" Vin pounded on the door to the bathroom. "Hurry up! Other people have to use the bathroom too!"

"Go use Moms!" Buck shouted from the shower.

"Why do you lock the door? I could use the toilet while you're in the shower!" Vin hit his fist against the door again. "JD and Chris are in Mom's bathroom! Besides my tooth brush is in there!"

"Don't forget to get Ezra up!" Clint called from downstairs.

"We didn't!" Vin looked down the banister. "He just won't get up! Says education is the leading reason why people are corrupted that and greed but stupid people don't know what greed is, only the smart ones."

"Tell Josiah to get him up!" Clint yelled.

"Josiah!" Vin yelled looking at Josiah's closed door. "Dad says you're to get Ezra up!"

Josiah poked his head out of his room looking groggily about. "Our young brother isn't up yet?"

"Of course he is Josiah," Vin said sweetly. "I made it all up and Dad is just screaming because he thinks its funny."

"Don't be a smart ass, smokey," Josiah growled as he slowly walked into Buck and Ezra's room.

"Ha, he called you smokey!" JD teased. "Hey you owe the swear jar money, Josiah!"

"I'm going to feed you to the squids at the lake," Vin replied giving JD a slight push.

"I'm telling Mom! MOM!" JD wailed, running down the stairs.

"Haven't you been in enough trouble," Chris warned Vin.

"It isn't my fault there is just too many of us," Vin scowled but hurried into the parent's bathroom which was finally free.

"What's with all the yelling?" Buck game out of the bathroom freshly showered. "You'd think that we never had Monday mornings before."

"Every Monday feels like a new one, brother." Josiah mentioned as he walked by with Ezra tightly wrapped in a blanket and over his shoulder.

"Er….whatcha going to…." Buck watch Josiah put Ezra, blanket and all, into the shower and run the cold water.

"I'm getting a brother up," Josiah replied, leaving the bathroom and shutting the door behind him while Ezra cursed about all that is wrong with the world starting with a cold shower.

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Ezra waited in the principal's office while the other students scurried around to get to class before the last warning bell rang, marking them as tardy. Ezra hated that their lives at school were marked by the sound of a bell. It rings and like obedient monotonous androids the kids went on with their schedules.

School never held an interest to Ezra and he found that the real education not in the classroom but in the world itself. Of course education always came easy for him and he would usually finish his assignments without struggle as some kids. And because of that, he would often find himself at the principal office because the teachers would not find his way of entertaining himself amusing.

This morning however, he was waiting for his classroom scheduling. He would be placed in most of the classes that Buck was in, no doubt. The fake documents would place him as such, marking him average. The courses would be easy and most he probably already studied or learned on his own. It was only for a few weeks, only till he found the map and the treasure it possessed.

"Hello, Ezra." A man of middle age walked into the office, sitting down in the chair behind the desk. "As you can read," The man pointed to his name plate. "My name is Mark Harding. The principle."

"Nice to meet you, Sir." Ezra greeted and watched as the principle skimmed through his paper work.

"Ezra, it's been brought to my attention that you had spent a few years out of school," Mark put the paper work aside and folded his hands on the desk. "And that these documents, though look real, are possible fraud."

"Sir, I can assure you that," Ezra stopped talking when Mark held up a hand to silent him.

"I'm not going to argue if they are or if they aren't. What we are going to do is test you today and tomorrow we can get an understanding of your education experience and see what we can do to help you get caught up. The school term is nearly over so we'll have you placed in a special class for the remaining year and decide where we go from there."