Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bonanza nor any of the orignial Cartwright characters. Only thing I can lay claim to is the story line and the 'extra characters'

I also want to thank my online friend for all the help she's given me when it comes to Australia.

To Dance Again

Chapter Ten

Scene Nineteen

William Martian. It wasn't just Mr. Kelly that the name drew concern (or downright fear) from. Everyone in town was talking about the man's return. Dylan Lee had gone so far as to make it extremely clear the man was not welcome near him.

"You just wait and see," Dylan had told everyone, "no good will come from that man's return; not even a little bit."

William stood in front of the old home. Once young and full of energy he now felt as old as the hills; and he was only forty. His brown hair was starting to show a bit of gray and it was thinning out. Slowly he started up the stairs to the place that he had once called home-and hoped to be able to again.

One inside he looked around. The house was small; two bedroom, a kitchen and a small front room. He ran his finger across the hearth and a layer of dust too thick to measure came off. He sighed, "Going to be quite a job cleaning you up." As he started cleaning his mind wandered back to a simpler time. A time when his parents, brothers and sisters were still all living.

He'd been fine then. Well liked and helpful to everyone. Then his father died in a freak accident and he had to go to work to help his brother support the family. That would have been okay but then his mother died from illness as did one of his sisters. The other sister; probably out of grief, starting moving from one place to another. He and his brother had never heard from her again. In fact, they'd been clueless to as where she'd went until the day they'd received a telegram saying she'd been killed in a stagecoach accident.

He and his brother? They'd had a huge fight and William had walked away. It was after that the voices started coming, the dreams then the hallucinations-only problem was? He thought they were real. The 'people' he saw were his new family. They 'welcomed' him with open arms. His new 'brothers' taught him tricks and assured him they were not bad and they weren't-at first. By the time he landed behind bars he knew something was dreadfully wrong but he didn't know what to do about it.

Now he was back in Broken Arrow wanting a fresh start. While he had not been all over town he had still heard some of the things being said. "Maybe I should have tried starting over somewhere else." The thought crossed his mind but he pushed it out. No, he was sane enough; if he wasn't he wouldn't have been let out of the asylum. What he didn't know was while he was checking the house out two men were going at it back at the asylum.

"Are you crazy!" A gray haired old man was yelling at the asylum's newest employee, "That man is NOT better! Yes, he's polite enough and, no, he doesn't mean any harm but he is not well enough to be walking around on the outside world! And who gave you the authority to do it too anyway? Who knows where he went and what will happen now! I'm telling you upfront if it ever comes to my attention that anyone has died as a result of any actions on his part; directly or indirectly, you will be out of a job!"

0000

Adam, Carolyn, Jim and Justin walked down the streets of Broken Arrow. They'd been to see their good friends the Smiths. Adam looked over at Justin, "You really need a new supply of fake friends. I think those snakes are getting a tad bit old." He was grinning and the others laughing as they remember Mrs. Smith's reaction to 'latest addition' to her kitchen cabinet.

"I know," Justin shrugged his shoulders, "but they're easier to catch than live frogs." he winked as he answered. That did not serve to quiet down their laughter. When they came to the store Jim took a hold of Justin's arm and nodded towards the building, "We need to go in and get some supplies for father. I'm sure Adam and sis can find their way to the school."

"See you two later." Carolyn grinned as she and Adam walked hand in hand towards the school.

Once they were out of sight, Jim practically pushed Justin into the alley between the store and the storage shed the owner owned. "Hey, What's up? I thought..." He quit talking when Jim himself stood with his back to the building and slowly looked around the corner.

"What is it?" Justin lowered his voice.

"That n.." Jim bit his tongue, he'd promised his father he'd not call Mr. Martian any bad names, "William Martian. He was following us for a moment; I wanted to see if he still was."

"What does that nut want from us?" Justin was surprised when his oldest brother starting laughing softly, pointed his finger at him and said, "Amen! But I didn't say that." He had no clue to what Jim meant but guess it didn't matter as long as Mr. Martian was not near them. "Is he still out there?"

Again Jim looked around the corner. He could see Mr. Martian but the man was walking the other way. He waited until he was out of sight. "No, he headed out of town the other way. Pa's going to hit the roof when we tell him about this." Jim looked back at Justin and was surprised him to shaking his head.

"I'm not saying a word. If he was following us he'd still be heading this way and he didn't. I will however, keep my eyes and ears wide open from now on." Justin said as he walked out of the alley, climbed the stairs to the store and went inside. Jim followed.

SCENE TWENTY

Adam walked up to where Justin was standing watching Jim work on breaking a horse. The young man had been doing it for three years now and looked like quite the pro.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked as he leaned against the fence and looked at Justin.

The question caught Justin off guard. He hadn't expected it and forced himself to smile, "What do you mean,? Nothing's wrong."

Adam's eyebrow raised as he looked at the youngest Kelly still living on the ranch, "You didn't have seconds for supper and you're standing out here instead of reading in the den. I ask again, what's wrong?"

Justin didn't like how well Adam had gotten to know him. He disliked it even more when he found himself unable to lie to the man. Slowly he confessed what had happened in town.

Adam sighed, "I thought someone was keeping an eye on us for awhile. You may not like it but your father needs to know about this and," he looked as Jim was thrown from the horse. He grinned as the young man only stood up, brushed off his pants and went back to work, "I don't think it's a bad idea to travel in pairs of two for awhile." The last thing they needed to do was to give the man a chance to catch one of them alone.

"Father's going to be furious." Justin stated without emotion.

Adam smiled, "Probably only, do yourself a favor? Remind yourself he only cares about his family.

000000

Justin was right. As soon as his father heard what had happened he hit the roof!

"No one! Absolutely no one in this family travels alone from now on! Do you understand?" he looked from Jim to Justin with a look that would scare any ghost back into its grave.

"Yes, father." Both knew better than to argue with the man.

"Adam," Mr. Kelly looked at the man he knew stood a very good chance of becoming his son in law someday, "I know why you moved up to the mine and I respect you for that. Now, I'm asking; do you think lines could be kept straight if you lived under our roof temporarily? With Dylan Lee's grandson hiring on at the mine the two of you could travel back and forth with each other."

Adam looked at Carolyn who quickly looked down at her plate. If it was only his safety he had to think about he would have turned the man down but he had to do his best to keep her safe, "I'll keep the lines straight." 'May not be easy but I'll do it'.

00000

Justin and Jim sat on the porch talking. "I wonder if we are just making a mountain out of a molehill," Jim talked as he whittle on a piece of wood, "maybe the man wasn't following us. Maybe the man is sane now." He wanted it to be that way. He didn't like having to 'be on guard' like this.

Justin remained silent for a moment and waited. Slowly the same feeling he'd had when talking to his sister came back to him. No, the man may mean well enough but he was not right in the head. Something bad was going to happen. "I think we best do as father has asked." He sat back and began reading his book; after all, work was done and it was time to relax if they could.

Ooo

Mr. Lee was furious. He'd opened the door to go to work and there were frogs jumping all over the place. There were only two people who would pull such a stunt. If it was Justin Kelly getting back at him for helping Jim pull a prank on him fine but if it was Mr. Martian? The man better start running!

He was to busy catching frogs or shooing them out to listen to the faint far off eerie laughter. Those who did hear it shivered and wondered what was coming.