A/N: I didn't mean to be gone so long from this story, but it gave me issues with the writing of it, and my head has been all in other fandoms lately, as some of you may have noticed. Anyway, back now! This is Chapter 9 in the original ending to this story. I then had an alternate ending in mind, and that will be posted at AO3 (Archive Of Our Own). It's just the end of this chapter that's different, but Chapter 10 and the Epilogue will be completey changed.

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 9A. Last Man Standing

Parker learnt to be handy around her own house. Fixing things wasn't that hard, and she seemed to have a knack for it, but every so often the skills she needed were not enough. As much strength as she had, sometimes a second pair of hands and a little more arm strength was required. That was when she allowed Alec to assist her. He was the one man she didn't feel strange about letting into her home, taking over a little of the role that should have been Eliot's own. Will helped a lot but even now as a man, Parker couldn't help but see her little boy sometimes. He already worked so hard in his duties as a Ranger, and spent increasing amounts of time with 'Uncle Jonah'. It was easier to let Alec, who was finding McRory had less and less work for him, to assist around the Spencer house.

This was how it came to be that Alec was on the roof, patching up a hole, whilst Parker stood below watching. She had her hand up to shield her eyes as she pointed out to the man she called her brother where the damage must be, for it had been leaking in the rain a few days before. It was hard to think the weather had ever been so wet now. Everything was dry as a bone and the sun beat hard against Parker's back. It was only the sudden absence of heat, caused by a shadow coming over her, that even told her anyone was there. Quinn always had been a sneaky one, but that just made him a better Ranger.

"Parker," he said as she turned to face him.

He looked pale and strange somehow. Usually there was a smile on his handsome face, no matter the circumstances. The only time she remembered seeing him so serious before was that fateful night when Eliot had breathed his last.

"Is it Will?" she asked immediately, so afraid the worst had happened and she had lost the only other man in her life she could love as much as Eliot.

Quinn shook his head, looking up at Hardison as he came down from the roof to join them.

"We got word from back East," he explained to them both. "Moreau has a new posse and a new plan of attack. He robbed a bank in Chicago, another in Little Rock, and last night a third in Jericho. Folks are sayin' he's headed for the border."

"And one thing standin' 'tween him and Mexico is this town," said Alec, a darkness coming over his face the like of which Parker had never seen there before.

She knew very well what this meant. It was her one chance and she wondered if she had the gall to take it. Alec always told her Eliot would never want her or Will or anyone to trade their soul for the life of Moreau. Still, her hand drifted to the pocket of her apron where the revolver always resided, just in case she needed protection.

"Where's Will?" she asked then, meeting Quinn's eyes. "Jonah, tell me!" she demanded when he wavered.

"I don't know," he admitted then. "We got the news about Moreau maybe heading this way, and he rode off like a crazy person. I couldn't stop him."

The words were barely out of his mouth and Parker was already in motion. She headed for the stable and started to get out her horse. Blue had long since passed his prime, not getting half so much excercise as he used to, but he was a good boy and Parker loved him dearly. He would get her where she needed to go, and he wouldn't flinch when the bullets flew. It seemed inevitable now.

"Parker, no!" Alec told her, rushing to grab the reins even as she swung herself atop the horse. "You can't just go ridin' on out there..."

"My son is out there, Alec!" she said firmly, setting herself onto Blue's saddle and dragging the reins into her own hands. "I'm not losing him too."

"I'll ride with you," Quinn told her, going to grab his own mount.

Parker nodded once in agreement and then set her eyes to the horizon. She barely noticed Quinn appear alongside her on the back of Starbuck until he spoke.

"You think Will is out looking for revenge?" he asked, sure he already knew the answer.

"Yeah," Parker nodded, as she kicked the horse into action. "And he's not the only one."

Alec Hardison sat on the front porch of the Spencer house, knees bouncing, hands tapping. He couldn't bear this sitting and waiting, wondering what was going to happen. Parker wanted him to stay here and wait in case Will came home. They both knew he wasn't going to, not with Moreau close by. Sure, the young man might think to come and defend his Momma, but more than that, he wanted revenge. They all knew it, though they tried not to make a big deal. Tell that boy not to do something he was just as likely to turn around and do it all the more. He got that from both his parents in their own way. William Spencer was the independent type, but he was also the loving type. Nothing meant as much to him as his folks, and avenging his Daddy's death had been on his mind since he was a boy.

It occurred to Alec to grab himself a horse and go after Will and Parker. He honestly didn't trust either of them not to do the ultimate stupid thing. He couldn't blame them, not really. He knew the yearning to avenge his brother's death existed inside him too, but every time it threatened to overtake, he remembered old Father Nathan's words. Eliot wouldn't want it that way, he just wouldn't, and so Alec did the only thing he could think to do - he prayed. He asked God to take care of those he loved. He prayed for a miracle, because that was all that would help right now.

On the outskirts of town, Parker hadn't a prayer in her right now. She was hell-bent on finding her son, and perhaps even more so on taking down Moreau. Parker wasn't sure whether she would be happier if she found the nerve to pull the trigger, or the good sense not to. One thing she knew for sure, she needed to look the old devil they called Damien Moreau right in the eyes, just once, even if that moment was his last or her own.

"Are we really out here looking for Will?" asked Quinn, not even glancing at her, as the horses fell to a walk beside each other.

"If we do find him, he's not going to come home willingly anyway," she replied, wiping her arm across her forehead that ran with sweat beneath her hat. "You know that, Jonah. Know it better than anyone."

She was right, Quinn did know that and he wished he didn't. He understood what fuelled Will to avenge Eliot's death. He had a mind to do the same thing, but then Quinn didn't have to worry about the consequences. More than one man had died at his hand, more than a dozen even. Moreau would put him at gun's end and Quinn's taking him down would be perfectly acceptable to the town, the county, the world. For Will or even Parker, it would be so different. They might be a hero to everyone else, but inside their hearts they would be no better than the monster they shot down. It would destroy good folks like them to be that person. That was what Jonah Quinn feared for his old friend's family.

"Parker," he said, getting her attention as they came to a halt on the ridge. "I won't tell you not to get your revenge, but you ought to think about the consequences," he told her plainly. "When you kill a man, he's not the only one that dies. A little piece of you, it breaks away, it... You can't ever be the same again, sweetheart," he said, sounding just a little too much like Eliot in that moment - Parker visibly flinched at the endearment.

"Moreau killed my husband," she said coldly. "Why should he live?"

Quinn had no real answer to that, and was saved from having to find one when the sound of approaching hooves made both him and Parker turn sharply on their mounts. Patrick Bonnano, a fellow Texas Ranger, approached at a heck of a speed, pulling up with precision in front of the two.

"Quinn, you need to take your position," he said breathlessly. "Moreau's posse have been spotted a couple of miles out, eight of them total" he explained. "If we're gonna go for a successful ambush, we need all the hands we got."

Quinn looked towards Parker with a frown. He had a duty to the men, to the town, but this was Eliot's widow. He already let her down once, the day her husband died, the night he couldn't manage to bring the body of his brother in arms home.

"Go," she said simply, turning her horse away. "I'm fine alone. I'm used to it," she admitted sadly, before she rode off at an impressive pace.

Bonnano and Quinn both watched her go with sadness and regret. People said William Spencer was his father's son and in many ways they were right. Still, there was no denying his mother made a big impression on his character too. There was just no stopping either of them when they got an idea in their head.

Parker was out on the edge of town when she heard the uproar. Horses hooves and shots could have meant anyone, good or bad, but somehow she knew it was them. The whooping and hollering was her son, Will's voice was unmistakable, and behind him came the galloping mass of Moreau and his posse. Like all true villains, Moreau rode a horse as black as night and it streaked across the prairie like a bat out of hell. Parker didn't even have time to breathe, just kicked her own horse into action and rode for all she was worth. She knew what Will was doing now, forcing Moreau into town where he knew every inch of the streets and could use it to his advantage. Out in the open was too dangerous, as Eliot had found to his peril, no matter how well a man knew the land. Town would be complicated for Moreau, easy as pie for Will, or so the boy thought. At eighteen, he looked like a man but Parker knew that inside he was still the twelve year old that stood on the porch step and heard Uncle Jonah tell him his Daddy was gone forever. Will was out for revenge, and Parker knew she couldn't let it happen. Will would not be allowed to destroy himself as he took down Moreau. If she learnt one thing about parenthood over the years, it was that she must be a better mother than she ever had herself, she must protect Will to the end.

Blue was fit to drop when Parker reached the edge of town, she swung down from his back before he hardly stopped moving, patting his side as she land in the dust. The town was eerily quiet, like a ghost town, as men, women, and children scrambled for cover. They knew what was coming, they'd already heard that Moreau was nearby and then they heard the stamping hooves and hollering coming closer - they all ran and hid.

Parker approached downwind, watching the scene unfold. There in the centre of main street, Damien Moreau stood. More handsome than the wanted posters made him look, she knew, but twice as mean as his reputation. She couldn't see Will at first. The boy was smart enough to use his skills and knowledge to the full, not to just stand where he could be gunned down by Damien or one of his posse of four. She swore Bonnaon said seven men at his back before. So far, so good.

Gun in hand, Parker tried to force herself still, but every nerve ending jangled, every digit shook with panic. It wouldn't stop her from following through on her promise, but it made it that much harder to hold her nerve. Down the back alley, her feet made no sound in the dirt, she made sure of it. Circling round, she came back down between the tanners and the grocery store. The bank was on the other side of the street. If that was what Moreau had really come here for, one last heist before he hit the border, then he was unlikely to ever look Parker's way. A bullet to the back of the head was all it'd take, and her aim would be true.

"You're a dead man, Moreau!"

The yell went up and Parker shuddered at the sound. Eliot's voice came from her own son's lips, as it so often did. he couldn't know how very much like his father he was, but Moreau did.

"Well, this must be young William Spencer" the old devil smiled. "You picked a heck of a time to choose to be a man, son."

"Don't you dare call me that!" Will shot back at him, even as Parker noticed the other Rangers shifting into secreted positions like her own. "You're not even fit to speak my father's name! He was ten times the man you'll ever be!"

Moreau laughed at that, a deadly hollow sound. He turned his head a little as if he thought he heard something, then reacted with the most minor of flinches when two of his men fell behind him. Will was taking point, but his fellow Rangers were right there. Only two of Moreau's posse left, and they began firing wildly to bring down their attackers. There was a shout a ways off that Parker didn't quite recognise. One of the Rangers was hit - she hoped to God not fatally.

"You can't win, Moreau," said Will then, hand hovering above the holster at his hip, whilst his enemy held a similar stance. "You're not getting away this time."

"That what you really think, boy?" he challenged with a smirk. "Y'know you really are just like the Spencer I used to know. Just as handsome and strong. Just as pig-headed and dumb," he sneered.

Will held onto his temper by a thread. It was planned for this to happen, for Moreau to be distracted until the other Rangers had taken out his men, then it was five against one and Damien wouldn't stand a chance. As it was Will was fighting a losing battle with his anger and hate. Moreau moved a step closer, Will did the same. From this range, a shot to the heart ought to be easy enough, but Moreau had been a gunslinger since long before Will was born. Even the young Spencer knew he could die just as easy as Moreau in this battle, and he just couldn't do that to his Momma.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue now, Willy?" asked Damien, moving to take one more step.

In a second, the last two of his men fell down dead, leaving him alone. Will drew his gun before Moreau could make it to his own, and the devil quirked an eyebrow and let a serpentine smile spread across his lips.

"Is this what Daddy taught you, junior?" he asked Will, raising his hands a little higher. "Shoot a man without a gun in his hand?"

Will swallowed hard and tried not to react. He had this monster at gun's end and he could shoot him now, he could. Still, this would be the first time he ever shot a man down in cold blood. Even though he knew Moreau deserved death to come to him, it was a whole other deal making it happen. He could hardly breathe as Moreau slid forward another step.

Parker watched from her hiding place and forced herself to breathe. She didn't want Will to take this shot, even if he could. She feared for his life, but more than that, she feared for his soul. It was now or never, and just as she thought it, Moreau said the self same words. It was like fate or destiny, now was her moment. Parker took her aim at the back of Moreau's head, held the gun firm, started to squeeze the trigger...

Like slow motion, the bullet travelled, gently arcing through the air. It met the back of Moreau's skull with audible crack, and he fell. Dead.

A shower of gunfire came after. Those on the ground that had once seemed dead were reanimated in a second. Rangers flew from their hiding places, the streets were a blur of hooves, boots, and bullets. Parker never heard a thing.

Sliding down the side of the building, she left a trail of red in her wake. They were so stupid to think Moreau only had the men they could see on his side. There were others, and the very second their leader went down they appeared. One of them must have seen her, even secreted away as she was, and he was determined his boss' killer would not live. She fell out into the street a moment after the smoke cleared and the battle ended. It was Quinn who spotted her first, rushing to her side, screaming for Will who followed in a second.

"Momma?" he whispered over her broken, bleeding body.

She had to be in agony from the wound so near her heart and yet she was smiling, because she knew the worst was over.

To Be Continued...