We have finally reached the point you've been waiting for, but Joe isn't going to make things simple. Does he ever? Thank you as always for your thoughts and reviews. It's always lovely to hear what you think.

Chapter Ten

"Joe?"

It had been at least two hours since either boy had spoken. Both had been lost in a combination of weariness, worry and doubts. The miles slipped away behind them under the gloomy moonlight until the first rays of dawn found them on the outskirts of a small town. It wasn't until they sighted the first buildings of Riversbend that Derek found the courage to speak his thoughts.

"Joe … I don't want to leave Matthew."

Joe shifted in the saddle and knew he'd have to fight this battle a little harder. It wasn't ideal, but it was the best plan he could come up with.

"I know you don't … and you won't be, not really. We just gotta be smart about this. If anybody from Virginia City wired anywhere they woulda said there was three of us, right?"

Derek nodded in agreement.

"Okay, so the law'll be looking for three of us won't they? That's why we agreed that we've gotta get Matthew to a doctor, but if we keep you outta the way, there's only two of us. Maybe nobody'll put things together and notice. Then when Matthew's better, we can all head for Reno together and still get you on that stage."

"But Joe … why can't I just go with Matthew and you stay outta sight?"

Joe could hear the hitch in Derek's voice as he struggled to hold his emotions in check.

"You know why. You ain't a good enough rider to hold onto Matthew and keep the horse going where you want her to. And Matthew can't sit a horse by himself no more."

It was the justification he'd given the younger boy for his decision, but it wasn't the whole reason. Joe felt responsible for the way his plan had played out and the last thing he wanted to do was cause any more grief for either of the boys. He also figured he was the better liar and while he wasn't proud of that thought, he knew he needed to be if they were going to make it to Reno. Derek's silence was enough to show he'd won the round and he pulled his horse to a stop.

"We need to find you a safe place to wait for us. Somewhere with water nearby, that's outta sight."

It was over an hour later that Joe plodded into town and searched the signs along the main street, desperately hoping for a doctor's shingle. Matthew was slumped back against his chest and if it wasn't for his hand wrapped over the boy's chest, Joe would have questioned if he were still breathing. By the time he found the doctor's name nailed beside a door that was well past needing a new coat of paint, he found himself with an unexpected dilemma. Without Derek to help him, he could not get down from the saddle without dropping Matthew into the dirt. He looked around for anyone to help, but the streets were quiet in the early hours of the morning. He eventually simply resorted to calling out loudly.

"Doc! Is there anybody in there? I need your help!"

Matthew fidgeted against him and Joe patted at his face. "It's okay. The doc's gonna help you."

"What's the matter, boy?"

The voice from behind him startled him and Joe swung around to see who it was. The glint of a sheriff's star almost made him drive his heels into the horse's flanks, but he barely managed to keep his head.

"I … uh, my brother needs the doctor. He's real sick."

The sheriff noted the blotches on the child's face and he knew immediately what he was looking at. Measles was nothing to trifle with and he needed to get the two boys into the doctor's office and away from any of the townsfolk as quickly as possible.

"Let me help you, son." Without waiting for approval, he reached up and easily pulled Matthew from the saddle. He held the child in his arms and waited for the older boy to climb down and hitch his horse before heading for the doctor's door. "The doc isn't here right now, but I'll send someone for him. You get on in here and we'll get your brother comfortable."

Joe followed as he was directed, trying to keep his wits about him and not give anything away. He watched as the sheriff whistled to a passing rider and issued instructions for the rider to head over to the Murphys' home and bring the doctor back as quickly as possible. The sheriff continued on into the doctor's outer office and simply strode into an examination room and laid Matthew out on the bed. He pointed to a bowl and nodded towards the door.

"Get me some cold water from the pump out the side of the building. We need to cool this kid down."

Joe bolted for the door with the bowl and when he returned, trying not to slosh water everywhere, he was shocked to see Matthew stripped to his drawers. Without discussion, the sheriff began to wipe him down with a cooling cloth and the child moaned in response. Joe shifted closer, unable to take his eyes off the angry red rash that covered the boy from head to toe. He reached for the child's hand and squeezed it, but got no response.

"How long's your brother been sick?"

"A few days."

"A few days? This rash would have been showing. Why didn't you or your folks bring him in sooner?"

Joe licked at his upper lip as he considered the question. "We thought … I thought he'd get better. I didn't figure on him getting so sick."

As the sheriff continued his ministrations, he studied the boy standing beside him. His face was a mottled mask of bruising and his eyes watered with ready-to-spill tears.

"Are you sick, boy? You got any of these spots?"

Joe shook his head without speaking.

"What happened to your face?"

Joe decided to stick with his earlier story. "Fell off my horse. I think I broke my nose."

'Well that was clumsy of you."

Joe looked up to see the man smiling at him, but he could not muster a smile in return. Matthew groaned again and tried to shift away from the chill of the washcloth. Joe stared at his face as it contorted into a grimace and he found the tears he had kept so long at bay, finally escaped.

"Is he going to die?"

The sheriff looked down at the boy under his hand and debated how to answer. There was no doubting the child was extremely ill. He was saved from having to answer by the sound of footsteps in the entry and he grinned as the doctor appeared in the doorway.

"Cavalry's here, kid!"

Joe had seen Doc Martin in doctoring mode too many times and he saw something familiar in the stocky older man who immediately went to work. He found himself being pushed back out into the outer foyer and as much as he wanted to object, he didn't want to give the sheriff any cause to bother with him either.

"Why don't you sit down over there while the doc does his thing and I'll see if I can't rustle up something for you to eat."

Joe slowly nodded as he tried to recall the last decent meal he'd eaten. As the sheriff made his way out the door, his body betrayed him. Exhaustion crept up on him like a wolf and his eyes slowly slid closed of their own accord.

Ben spotted the sheriff walking along the boardwalk as they rode into the small town and he pulled his horse across the street. Adam and Hoss quickly followed suit as their father dropped down from his horse and called out to the man.

"Sheriff!"

"Can I help you?"

"I sure hope so, Sheriff. My name's Ben Cartwright and I'm looking for my son. It's a long story, but I got a wire saying that he and two young brothers were on their way to Riversbend. One of the brothers has the measles so I'm hoping you have a doctor in town."

"Measles?"

"Yes, one of the two boys is apparently sick. My son has already been exposed when he was young so he won't be sick. Have you seen them anywhere?"

The sheriff scratched at his chin as he considered the three men in front of him.

"Well, there's two brothers down at the doc's office and one of them has the measles alright."

Ben felt his gut lurch. "Just two of them? You sure there aren't three boys?"

"Sorry. There's just two of them, far as I know. They rode in only a while ago."

Ben tried to swallow down his fear as he spoke. "Could you please show me where the boys are? They might know where my son is."

"Pa … you don't s'pose that Little Joe …" Hoss couldn't bring himself to finish the thought. It was clear by his father's face just exactly what he thought. If Joe really had been shot as they suspected, he could have succumbed to his injury anywhere between Virginia City and Riversbend.

The sheriff looked between the men and couldn't decide what had them all so alarmed, but he pointed back down the way he'd come.

"Doc's office is just down that way."

Adam moved in alongside his father, only too aware of the man's fear as they walked the interminable length of the boardwalk. Hoss was worrying at his neckerchief as they walked, trying to keep his own fears in check.

When the sheriff finally ushered them through the door of the doctor's office, Ben thought his heart may just beat its way out of his chest. Curled up on a bench seat, sound asleep, was the son he'd been so desperately searching for. He stepped forward quickly as he noted the deep bruising that he could see across his son's cheek and nose. A man that he presumed was the doctor walked through the internal door as they crossed the room.

"Joseph."

Most nights along the trail, Joe had dreamed of his father and brothers. The dreams shifted between condemnation and outright disaster. The nights he woke up in a cold sweat were the worst ones. The image of a noose tightening around his father's neck haunted his days as well as his nights and he could not shake the fear that dogged him. As his father called to him in his dream, something was different. The condemnation was gone and he heard the love that he had relied on his whole life.

Ben shifted closer and the sheriff moved in behind him, suddenly very curious to hear the full story behind the strange travelers.

"Joseph, wake up, Son."

As Joe blinked his eyes open, the sight that greeted him was straight out his nightmare. The sheriff leaned over his father and he knew the law had caught up with them at last.

Ben was startled as Joe bolted upright on the chair before pushing himself to his feet. Raw fear drove him forward and before his father could speak, Joe was literally grasping at the sheriff's vest.

"Don't arrest him! He didn't know anything about any of it! Honest. It's my fault, not his!"

The sheriff gripped at Joe's hand as he pulled back. "I'm not here to arrest anybody, kid."

"Joe!" Ben pushed his way forward, frowning at the fear on his son's face.

Joe floundered as he stared at the faces in front of him, completely misreading his father's sharp tone and frown as the memory of his father's last words arose to taunt him.

My son is a thief.

I don't want to take him home.

"Pa … don't hate me … I'm sorry … Pa, I'm sorry!" The words tumbled out in a wild rush and Ben gripped at his son's shoulders to steady him.

"Son, I could never hate you!"

"But … but he's dead and he wouldn't be if I … if I hadn't …" Joe's knees buckled beneath him and Ben grasped at him to hold him upright. The memory of Roy Coffee being gunned down while babysitting his youngest ever prisoner choked the breath out of his lungs. His father's condemnation was written all over his face and suddenly nothing else mattered as the walls seemed to cave in around him.

"I think you need to bring that boy through here so I can take a look at him too." The doctor's voice cut across the room as Ben scooped his son up into his arms. The boy was babbling into his shirtfront as he moved and he could feel his son shaking against him. He had no idea who was dead, but guessed it must be one of the brothers Joe had run away with. As they walked into the doctor's examination area, he noted the smaller of the two boys laid out with a sheet draped across his chest and a cooling cloth across his forehead. Ben sucked in a sharp breath as he guessed the older boy must have already succumbed to the measles. If his son had been forced to deal with the death of a friend, while on the trail somewhere, there was no telling how it had affected him. Had his son been forced to bury a child somewhere? As he considered that awful thought, he realised that perhaps Joe's bizarre outburst made some sense after all.

As he tried to lay Joe on the bed, his son turned his face to the wall and shrugged his father's hand off his shoulder. As he went to try again, Ben's hand hovered over Joe's arm without making contact. His son thought he hated him! As he stared at the back of Joe's head, taking in the dirty state of his hair, he felt like a knife was driving into his chest. Given that he had left his son locked up in a jail cell when a murderous escaped convict had attacked that same jail, it was no wonder his son didn't want to even look at him. Ben reluctantly allowed himself to be moved aside as the doctor began his examination. He walked across the room to where his two other sons waited with the sheriff and he tried to make eye contact with them.

"He thinks I hate him. Can't say I really blame him when I left him in that jail!"

The sheriff's face was remarkably impassive as he looked at the trio. The story was growing stranger by the minute.

Ever the one to try to bring peace into a conflict, Hoss reached for his father's shoulder. "Pa, you was just tryin' to knock some sense into Little Joe's head. You had no way o' knowin' that Johnston fella would show up in Virginia City that night and start shooting up the jail."

"Johnston? You mean the con that escaped from the Territorial Prison?"

"Yes, Sheriff. I left my son in harm's way." The self-recrimination was obvious to all of them.

Adam knew that his youngest brother rode on his emotions and he had had far too much time in the saddle to contemplate his brother's thoughts on their father's actions. Joe's belief that his father hated him wasn't entirely irrational when he used the kind of logic that Joe usually applied to situations. He just wished that his brother would start using some actual logic. He barely contained a sigh as he considered how much damage had been done already. On both sides of the equation.

"Pa, somewhere in there, Joe knows that you love him. He's angry and he's scared and he's just a kid. Once we get through to him that he's safe and you aren't really angry at him, he'll come around. He always does. He blows like a firecracker, but he fizzles out just as fast too."

Ben nodded in agreement, but held up a hand to forestall anything further when the doctor made his way across the room.

"I think we need to speak outside, gentlemen."

All three of them were reluctant to leave Joe behind, but the doctor left no room to argue as he ushered them all through the door.

"Am I right in thinking you are the two boys' father?"

"The older one you just examined is my son, Joseph. The other boy is a friend of his. His name is Matthew. Doctor have you seen a third boy, in between them in age? His name is Derek and he should be with them."

"Nope, sorry. Can't say that I have. Nick? You know anything about another boy?"

The sheriff shook his head. "Sorry, but I've only seen these two so far. Your boy, Joe, he rode in with the younger boy and the kid was barely conscious. We waited for the doc and tried to cool him down. That boy's clearly been sick for days."

Ben huffed out a sharp breath as he considered the facts. "I hate to say it, but I think Derek could be dead. If he had the measles too and he got as sick as his brother, it's certainly possible he died on the trail."

"I don't mean to pry into a family's business, but just why on earth would three young'uns be on the trail at all?"

"It's a long story, Sheriff. But before I fill you in, Doctor, how are the boys?"

"Well your son is exhausted. He needs to rest. I don't know what happened to his face, but his nose seems to have set straight and should be fine given time to heal. The younger boy … well let's just say he's a very sick little boy. I examined him and he's malnourished which doesn't help him fight off an infection this aggressive."

"Is he gonna die?"

The words floated across the room from the open doorway and all of them turned to see a dirty child staring at them.

"Derek!" Ben rushed towards the boy and suddenly pulled himself up as he realised he was scaring the child. "I thought … never mind what I thought."

"Mister Cartwright … is my brother gonna die?"

"Not if I can help it, young man." The doctor was already appraising his next potential patient from across the room and he crouched down to check things closer. "Have you been sick at all? Any spots? Itching?"

"No. I had the measles already."

"Well that's a good thing. But you look like you could use a meal to me."

"I want to see my brother! And Joe." The boy cast anxious looks around the room at the group of adults that could decide their fates. He pointed towards the sheriff.

"You can't blame Joe for any of this. He was just tryin' to help us! You can't lock him up again!"

The sheriff raised his hands in surrender. "What is it with everybody assuming I'm going to arrest people this morning? I don't generally put kids in my jail!"

Ben winced at the comment before straightening his face. He deserved whatever came his way on that front. He reached out a hand towards the frightened boy and grasped his shoulder.

"Nobody is in trouble. You can trust me on that, Derek. Now, Doc, is it alright if this young man gets to see his brother?"

As Ben and the doctor took Derek through to see Matthew, Adam and Hoss headed for their little brother. The sight of him, curled on his side, reminded Adam of all the times Joe used to crawl into his bed during the night. He would wake up to find his brother curled up with his thumb in his mouth, sound asleep. There was nothing of that baby left as he looked down at the young man who had fought so hard to save two friends. He reached out a tentative hand to stroke at his brother's dirty curls and noted again the intense bruising across his face.

"I'm sorry, Joe. I should have listened better."