Disclaimer: I do not own The Young Riders.

Two months passed and Ike didn't hear a word from Polly. He saw her in town a few times, but she'd duck away if she caught a glance of him. Every time she vanished into a store or alleyway, Ike's heart sank. Whatever chance he'd had with her was gone.

Lansford Barnes had showed up early the next morning asking to talk to Ike. Begrudgingly, Ike had gone out to speak to the man. He stood on the porch, the brown and green bruise spreading away from his eye down to his cheek and up to his forehead, and looked down at Doc Jr for a second or two before taking the steps down to the yard.

"Ike, I wanted to come apologize for last night," Doc Jr folded his hands in front of him and looked Ike straight in the face. "I got a look at Polly and lost my head for a minute. She's very important to me. The thought of something happening to her… I overreacted and I'm dearly sorry."

Ike nodded and turned to leave, but Doc Jr caught his arm to stop him. Ike jerked his arm away and Doc Jr let go.

"Surely you understand, Ike. If something happened to your girl, don't you think you might react without thinking? I know you'd never hurt her."

"You're girl?" Ike asked. "She's her own girl, not yours. She doesn't belong to you. She's a person, not a horse."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," Doc Jr looked almost ashamed at his lack of ability to hear what Ike was saying. Ike wasn't used to that look, he was used to people laughing and turning away from him. He wasn't used to apologies. "I'm just trying to apologize, Ike. I'm ashamed of what I did. I 'spect it'd be a mite difficult to forgive me. I know I'd have a hard time of it."

Ike shook his head and looked down at his boots. When he looked back up, he waved a hand, telling Doc Jr to forget it. "It's okay."

Two months.

A lot changed in two months. Polly was with Doc Jr constantly. Just a few days ago, Ike was coming out of the dry goods store as church was letting out and he'd see Polly walking out on Doc Jr's arm and smiling up at the doctor like he hung the sun. Ike had spent the rest of the day chopping enough firewood to get the waystation through three winters. When Buck had come out to see him, Ike had shrugged away his friend and kept imagining Doc Jr's smiling face on every piece of wood he split.

Ike lay on his back by the water hole. He'd brought his journal, but he couldn't think of what to write. Emma and Sam had only been gone one day and Ike missed her like crazy already. Most of the town had come to see the two off and Ike had seen Polly give Emma a hug. The two spoke a minute before Polly disappeared into the crowd and Ike didn't see her again that afternoon.

Right now, he wasn't sure who he wanted to see more in that minute, Emma or Polly. He hated resenting Emma's happiness, but, watching her roll away with Sam, he felt abandoned. She'd cared for him, feed him, mothered him; she'd made him feel like he had a family again. And then she left. She left him, them, and went all the way to Omaha. Everyone hated seeing her leave. Noah had just come to them and even he disliked seeing Emma and Sam go. Ike hated it. The only mother-figure he had left, the only woman who cared what happened to him and she was gone eight hundred miles away. Ike would never see her again.

He wanted to talk to Polly. He wanted to go back two months and laugh with her at the dinner table; he wanted to go back and relive those moments of getting to know her and hearing about her life and family. He wanted to feel her soft in his arms and her lips against his. He wanted to talk to her and confide in her how much he missed Emma already. He knew, though, that Polly had picked better when picking Lansford. For all Teaspoon's talk about deserving and earning and trains, Polly, like any sensible woman, picked the man who could actually take care of her. Ike wasn't surprised at that. He was surprised at how much it stung.

Ike stretched and pulled his hat down over his head. If he wasn't going to write, maybe he could at least take a nap.

ooo ooo ooo ooo

Polly crouched, concealed in the bushes where she'd been hiding for nearly an hour now. She'd come to the waterhole to read and was just settling down with Ruth when she heard footsteps, panicked and dove into the bush tree for cover. She was afraid that, should someone spot her book, they'd take it away and tell Reverend Williams. So far, she'd managed to keep the books she knew he'd disapprove of from being found and she didn't want to take chances now.

A man had come into view and, for a second, Polly went cold at the thought that perhaps the man would want to go swimming and she would be stuck here while he did whatever he was going to do. It was the waterhole, after all. When the man turned and Polly saw it was Ike, her face went scarlet and she felt embarrassed heat rush to every bit of skin she had. Closing her eyes, she prayed he was not about to strip down to his long johns… or worse!

Polly nearly cried in relief when Ike sat down in the shade of a tree and took out a worn-looking handmade journal. He didn't write, though. He sat and stared at the water, stood and paced back and forth, lay flat on his back and stared at the tree branches. During all of this, Polly hid in the bush. She didn't know why she stayed hidden. She could have gone out to see him – she wanted to go out and see him, but she didn't.

She didn't want to get caught by him doing a second stupid thing. Every time she met him, she was in the middle of doing something foolish. She also didn't want to risk getting to close to him. She was back in Reverend Williams good graces and Lansford was so kind to her and Ike had 'danger' written all over him in letters bigger than the ones on the sign outside the saloon.

Finally, when it looked like he'd fallen asleep in the shade, Polly crept from the bush. She was out of the bush and hurrying towards the road when a stick cracked loudly beneath her feet. Ike jerked and pulled his hat away from his face, staring right at her. Polly let out a strangled squeak and ran, too spooked to realize she'd dropped her book in her flight.

A/N:

OH SHIT WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?

I just got home from work, that's what's happening now. And I'm going out to dinner with friends in a bit, so that's what's happening later. Right now I'm just resting my sore feetsies.

Hopefully, I'll finished Cracked Concrete tomorrow, so yay! If Derek and Sammie cooperate with me and Ike shuts the heck up long enough to write something besides him.

Okay, I'm gonna go get something to drink because I'm parched. Toodles!

Thanks so much for reading!

Love, Thalia

P.S. Jerk.