A/N: Thanx so much to all my fabulous reviewers for the support - it helps a lot! :-) Cookies for anyone who finds all the 'special' references in this chapter... Browncoats will have a head start on everyone else!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter)
Chapter 9
Those in town prepared to fight at the side of Nerdsville's latest Sheriff were all assembled in the Gunslingers Arm, all except for Sheriff Carmichael himself, and the woman he already knew he was in love with; Sarah Walker.
"Before we go inside" she said, catching his arm as they ascended the steps towards the saloon doors, "You need to explain to me how you and that Indian Chief are connected? I thought you'd had some kind of fight before but..."
"Ah, yeah, about that" said Chuck, looking awkward as he glanced between her frowning face and the doors through which they needed to pass before too long, else risk the others coming out to find them, "Okay..." he said, taking Sarah's hand and sitting them both down on the steps, "Morgan... That's the Chief's real name, Morgan and me have been friends for a long time, 'cept I hadn't seen him for a while until a couple of days ago when the Indians attacked"
"Charles, I don't understand..." the expected interruption came from Sarah, since clearly it didn't sound good that Chuck was friends with the person who had led an attack on Nerdsville, even if he wasn't half so bad as the coming force of evil known as Marcus Ring.
"I know, it looked like we had a fight, and I kind of let everybody believe that" he winced, knowing he'd done wrong and hating to think Sarah would take this badly, "but how is anybody in this town going to understand that I'm friends with a Native American Chief?" he sighed, "And y'know they were never actually attacking us. Milbarge just made a whole big deal out of nothing" he told her.
Sarah stared at Chuck a long moment, considering all that he'd said to her. She would rather believe him than not, after all, she was pretty sure he already had her heart, which meant he ought to have her trust we well.
"I believe you, Charles" she smiled at last, her grin growing wider at the sight of his own and the sound of his sigh of apparent relief, "and I want to be by your side in this fight" she promised him, a little worried when she saw his smile waver.
"Yeah" he said, looking down at her hand still held in his, "There's something else I should really tell you, about me and guns"
"Charles, I've seen you shoot, I've heard your reputation" she chuckled, sure he was about to be far too modest about his abilities.
"I can shoot, that's not the problem" he tried to explain, checking over his shoulder before leaning in close to her and whispering his confession, "Sarah, I've never actually shot a man... y'know, to kill him" he admitted, swallowing hard after just saying those words.
"Oh, Charles" she said, reaching a hand to his face, "If it's possible, that only makes me love you more" she assured him, leaning in until her lips met his in a perfect kiss.
It gave Chuck a little more hope for this world he'd landed in than he'd ever had before, even when he and Sarah had ended up in her bed together just hours before. Having her love him and feel free to be with him and vice versa was a huge deal, but the fact she would stand by him no matter what meant so much more than anything else. He could deal with what was coming if he had her at his side, loving him as she said she did.
"Sarah, you have no idea how glad I am to have you with me in this fight" he told her when they parted from their kiss, "I don't know how I'd deal in this crazy place without you"
"You don't have to" she assured him, "I appreciate your gratitude, Charles, but..." she faltered, looking a little awkward as she dipped her eyes to the ground, "Do you think you could ever feel for me, what I feel for you?" she asked, as she glanced up to meet his gaze once again, "Could you love a woman like me, Charles?"
The Sheriff smiled a genuine smile, pushing a stray lock of blonde hair carefully from her face.
"Sarah, I already do" he promised her, "And I always will" he swore, sealing his words with a further kiss on her lips.
Together they could face anything.
Sarah Walker wasn't sure she'd eve been this scared in her whole life. All the situations she had found herself in over the years as a spy, times when she was sure she was staring death in the face, still she had never been this afraid. Losing her life didn't mean much to her, she had a survival instinct, of course she did, but she wasn't scared of death itself. What really worried her was losing someone she cared out so much.
Chuck meant the absolute world to her. Sarah had been sure her heart was broken when Bryce was (supposedly) killed, but the idea of losing the man they called the Intersect, right now she honestly didn't know how she would survive that.
Since Shaw knew there was nothing Sarah or Casey could do to help Chuck, he seemed happy enough to let them go about their business. Neither of them were happy making friends with the asshole that had poisoned their team-mate, and so Casey had decided he may as well go back to the BuyMore, whilst Sarah stepped inside the room where Chuck lay unconscious still.
Sat beside him now, tears came to the blonde's eyes as she thought too much about how awfully pale he looked, and what horrors he might be facing behind his eyes, what pain he might be suffering. She couldn't collapse into tears now, she had to be strong for Chuck and hope to God he could hear and feel her as she picked up his hand in hers and spoke softly near his ear.
"Hey, Chuck" she said, forcing a smile through her sadness, "Y'know, you told me you were supposed to be pale because you're a nerd, but this is going too far" she tried for a joke but it fell kind of flat given she could find no laughter in herself and he was unconscious and therefore incapable, "Please... please, just hold on" she urged him, pushing sweat-drenched curls from his forehead, "Chuck, if you can hear me, I need you to know that I'm here for you, me and Casey we're going to try to help you if we can" she promised, though she was pretty sire it would be impossible, "You just have to hold on. You have to try, Chuck. Be brave and fight, whatever comes at you, fight it" she said, squeezing his hand so tight she might have been hurting him, but then he wasn't able to tell her so it really didn't matter right now.
Beyond the glass doors, Shaw watched the scene before him and sighed. It was a shame to see a good agent go to waste, but he couldn't feel too badly. He was only doing his job.
It was getting late and all those gathered in the Gunslinger's Arms were feeling the need to call it a night. Of course, plans had to be finalised before that, they had to be ready for whenever Marcus Ring rolled on into town. Weapons were being stock-piled, anything anybody had to spare or could lay their hands on. Boxes of ammo were loaded up, guns cleaned and checked to ensure they'd run smooth.
Sheriff Carmicheal, Miss Walker, and Casey shared a table, discussing battle plans. Truth of it was that Chuck didn't really know what he was talking about and was tending just to initiate the relevant discussions and let Sarah and Casey make the big decisions here.
Big Mike had come up with maps of the town from way back, not exactly up to date but good enough for making plans with. They figured out all the routes Ring could take into town and the best place for look outs to be placed, then started to think about some kind of rotation for said look-outs.
"He'll probably ride in by daylight" said Casey thoughtfully, "but I figure a three point watch, say, four hour shifts, be on the safe side"
"Three-point, four-hour, should do it" Chuck nodded as if knowingly, when in reality the thought never would have occurred to him at all.
Casey growled in the back of his throat, having noticed by now that the Sheriff seemed to be little more than playing along here. Between that and his still bubbling anger and jealousy from earlier seeing the Doc cosying up to Ellie Faye, it was all starting to damage his calm.
"I need another drink" he said, getting up from the table and striding away.
"Just the same in every dimension" muttered Chuck as he watched him, causing Sarah to look at him strangely, "Er, y'know, I mean... there's a guy like him in every town, right?" he said, trying to cover for the ill-chosen words that had just spilled out of his mouth.
"Sure, yeah" she nodded after a moment, continuing to look at Chuck strangely even when his eyes returned to the map on the table, and he noticed even though he tried not to.
"So, we're gonna need Casey for the whole weapons thing" he said quickly, "From what he was saying he has the biggest armoury so... huh, where'd he go?" he asked, glancing up and looking towards the bar when the saloon owner was nowhere to be seen.
"I don't know" replied Sarah, shaking herself out of too much thought, "Out back maybe?" she suggested, as the Sheriff rose from his seat.
"I'll go check" he offered, scuttling away if only to put his nerves back in order.
He was so dumb, mentioning alternate dimensions in front of Sarah. She very nearly started asking a lot of awkward questions that he wasn't so sure he could or should answer. He told her he loved her, and he meant that, but right now throwing dimension jumping or possible hallucinations and such into the mix was only going to complicate matters.
"It's not like I can just say 'Hey, Sarah, remember that show Quantum Leap?'" he muttered to himself, stopping short of elaborating when he heard a familiar voice in the back room - it was Ellie.
"Devon just keeps asking and asking" she said, sounding sad and frustrated as Chuck listened at the door, "but I can't marry him" she lamented, "He'd be such a good match for me, I know that, but I just can't do it"
"It's not like you'll ever marry me either" came the reply and Chuck bit his lip as he realised it was Casey.
Honestly, he was just about to bolt, sure that if he didn't he was once again going to have to endure hearing (though thankfully not seeing) his sister and his handler/friend sucking face. Strangely, the man that looked like a Sheriff never shifted, but then the conversation was taking such an intriguing turn, he just couldn't help but continue listening.
"Marry you?" Eliie echoed, a slight giggle in her voice that might've been nerves or possibly incredularity, "John, you never asked me to marry you" she pointed out.
Chuck wasn't sure what was going on, since Ellie's statement was met with silence. Creeping up to the corner around which he was sure to find the couple he was listening in on, he craned his neck to try and see what was going on. Casey had his back to Ellie now, one hand removing his cowboy hat from his head, the other running over his face as he sighed.
"Never figured you'd want to marry a man like me" he said with a shake of his head as he turned to face her again, "All the sneaking around, Ellie. You don't want anyone to know we're together..."
"You know how things are for me" she told him, stepping in closer and putting a hand to his face, "My parents are gone, I only have the little money I can earn working for Devon and it doesn't go far" she explained what he ought to already have known, "Pretty much all I have in the world that's mine is the respect of the people in BuyMoria County. I can't be seen to be... getting close to a man out of wedlock" she explained as best she could.
"Thought you were just ashamed of me" said Casey, looking now like he felt kind of stupid for ever believing such a thing as his hands went to Ellie's waist and he pulled her closer.
"John! I could never be ashamed of you, or of what I feel for you!" she promised, perhaps a little mad that he would suggest such a thing but equally as understanding of why he might feel that way, "Now I'm just afraid that you'll go into this fight with Ring and... and I might lose you" she said tearfully, putting her arms up around his neck.
As strange as Chuck might usually have felt seeing these two in an embrace, he almost forgot who he was looking at. Dressed as they were like characters from a Western and apparently wanting to be so close to each other, they might be anybody, not really other-world copies of Casey and Ellie at all. This was what the would-be Sheriff was telling himself anyway, in spite of the fact he couldn't really believe it. They talked and behaved too much like the people he knew for him to doubt who they were, in every way apart from the kiss they fell into in that moment. His eyes closed fast, a natural reaction to the sight of his sister getting thoroughly kissed, but he was forced to open one eye and squint at the couple so as to know when it was over.
Ellie was breathless in the best way when John finally stopped kissing her. She had no doubts of his love for her, she had never doubted it. If she had, she wouldn't have risked all she had by sneaking around with him so long. If only things were different, if John could have courted her properly, got her Daddy's permission to woo her and all. As it was they were caught in a situation they couldn't get out of, forced to be together only in stolen moments and behind closed doors, unless of course he would consent to marry her. It certainly seemed he might now.
"Ellie, you know I love you" he assured her, one hand running through her hair, "I'm gonna go into this fight with Ring, but I am not gonna die" he promised, making her meet his eyes, "And after this is over..." he smiled, sinking to one knee, as Ellie covered her mouth with her hands showing how shocked she was by this turn of events, "Ellie-Faye, will you marry me?" he asked her.
"Oh, John" she breathed, a giddy smile on her face as she reached for him, "Yes, I will!" she told him excitedly as he got back to his feet, picking her up off hers with ease and swinging her around and around as he kissed her senseless.
Chuck wondered at the smile he found creeping into his own lips as he slipped away before they realised he'd been watching. That was possibly one of the weirdest things he'd ever seen or heard in his entire life, and yet it was also one of the sweetest.
"What the hell is this place doing to me?" he asked himself worriedly as he walked away, and Casey and Ellie continued to make out in the background.
To Be Continued...
