The next day the five men parted from Blackberry at two in the afternoon. They rode slow for the still injured ones and took breaks often.

When they reached Four Corners, JD was the first one to run up and greet them.

"You all were gone longer than I expected. I thought we should go and help you all, but Josiah said that we needed to stay here in case something happened. Geez, Ez and Chris sure look awful."

"And good afternoon to you too, Mister Dunne." Ezra said with a half-smile as he slid off of Chaucer's saddle slowly and patted his neck.

Chris took a little longer getting down, but once he was, he headed straight for his spot in the salon.

"Somethings never change." Buck smiled.

"Judge Travis is here too, was waiting until you all got back." JD said.

"Well I'll go talk to him." Buck sighed.

JD took him in the direction of where the Judge was at while the rest went into the salon after giving their horses to Yosemite.

Chris was at the table where the seven peacekeepers usually sat with a bottle of whiskey in front of him. It was partially drunken out of. The men took their seats around the table an ordered their drinks from Inez. JD and Buck came in ten minutes later while the rest were already on their second and third round. Buck flirted a little with her as she returned with their drinks, but other than that they kept to themselves. It was just a time to just relax before they had to start going back to work.

Everyone retired early, even Ezra didn't stay up late to play a game of poker. The judge was in town till tomorrow when the stagecoach came. He was to talk to Chris before going.

No one knew what he was planning on saying, but then again it could be about the job that Chris had did for him just before he was kidnapped.

The sound of birds chirping outside his room woke him up, and Chris got dressed silently in his rented room. He threw on his gray shirt and a pair of black pants before his socks and boots. The spurs were still missing, but he didn't really care.

Finishing up getting ready, he splashed water over his face and ran his hand through his hair before picking up his black hat and leaving his room.

He was in the restaurant ordering something to eat when he heard his name called. Turning around, Chris saw a smiling Mary behind him.

"I heard you got back yesterday with the others. I'm glad you're alright. Does your shoulder bother you much?" she asked, pointing to the arm that was still in a sling. He still hand most of that side tightly bandaged up.

"It's fine." he said softly.

"Well if you need anything then I'm always willing to help. I know that everyone else got a break but you, Buck and JD. Maybe you should take this opportunity to just take it easy."

Chris gave a pause so it wouldn't sound harsh when he finally said, "No. I prefer to keep on working to keep me busy."

He tipped the edge of his hat before gathering his food and walking to the exit.

The last thing he wanted was time off so he could think about everything that happened in the forest.

His fever was almost gone thanks to Nathan's medicine and plenty of fluids, sleep and food. The last thing he wanted was a mental relapse of his time being hunted like an animal.

Stirring his way to the livery, he sat outside Pony's stall and ate his food. He'd offer the horse some of his carrots and pat his nose.

"Everything's going to be okay." he told his horse, but mostly to himself.

Ezra was happily hobbling down the street, tipping his hat to everyone who had passed him. He had received lots of well wishes and food from the lady who ran the restaurant, warm rolls from Mrs. Potter with sweets for Chaucer, and the judge told him that he should take it easy until his leg was fully healed. That meant no patrols for him.

As long as no hooligan came in trying to cause trouble in town, he'd be able to relax for at least a week, probably more if he pretended it was still ailing him.

While he was making his way to the livery he saw Mary walking around with her newspapers. Ezra hadn't seen her since leaving to go find Chris. He also remembered that some people suspected a relationship possibility existed between them.

Mary spotted him and she walked over to him with a smile across her sympathetic face.

"I wanted to thank you for going to go and find Mr. Larabee. I'm so sorry it came with you getting hurt yourself."

"I assure you it was nothing. It is my job after all to be of assistance." he smiled.

"I just hope that you or one of the others can convince Chris that he should rest instead of trying to get back to work." she said before walking away.

Ezra watched her for a bit before continuing to go to the livery.

In different circumstances, Ezra thought that he and the rest would probably agree that that was better to rest. Chris however needed something to distract him, and the only thing he had was to throw himself back into work. It would probably slow down his shoulder and arm getting healed if he used them, but the man didn't have much to do.

He decided that he'd find something with Vin for their leader to do. Ezra even thought about asking Buck for some ideas since he knew Chris best.

Stepping into the livery, he saw a man's leg sticking out from a stall. It was cladded in black and Ezra began to panic. Shuffling faster, he passed Chaucer's stall to Pony's. Chaucer made an irritated noise, but he ignored it. Looking down, he saw Chris laying up against Pony who was laying down so that he was closer to his injured owner.

Chris looked up at Ezra when he saw him.

"Problem?" he asked.

"Just making sure you didn't die out here." Ezra said with a small smile. "How long have you been out here?"

"Maybe three or four hours. Heard JD come into get his horse to visit Casey. That was about an hour ago."

Ezra looked down at the black boots and noticed that they were missing the spurs. The blonde didn't seem to notice, or just didn't care.

Slowly Chris got up and moved pass the shorter man.

"Unless you want Chaucer to bite your fingers for supposedly giving Pony his treats, I think you should go see him."

Ezra turned to the retreating figure, "Mrs. Travis says you aren't going to be resting while you recover."

"Yeah."

"Why?" Ezra knew that was a stupid question, but it just came out.

Chris turned around a bit and gave a half-smile, "There ain't no rest for the wicked."

Chris sat at a table with Judge Travis. He had been stalling to meet the man, but thirty minutes before the coach was to pull out, he decided to appear from the livery.

"I know you probably won't listen to me when I tell you that you should rest. I don't think ordering you to would have an effect."

"Well sir, a man follows orders up to some degree, and I think this is just one I don't particularly want to listen to."

"What you went through, no man should ever have to experience. Pushing yourself to return to work isn't good for you."

"I think I know what I don't need and do." Chris said in a low voice.

Travis sighed, "As I said I can't force you."

Chris watched him leave and waited a couple more minutes before ordering some whiskey. He'd drink until his senses were dull, until he couldn't feel anything.

At night Nathan had made the excuse of checking Chris' stitches and bandages to see how the man was doing. The man had been hiding most of the day, not really talking to anyone.

The rest of the seven were at their table eating dinner and drinking when he came back after a couple of minutes.

"Not in his room?" asked Buck, seemingly not surprised.

"How long is he going to be doing this game of hide and seek?" Nathan sighed as he sat down.

Vin shrugged and Ezra kept silent. Chris was probably back with Pony again, enjoying his silent company. He'd been away from him for a week.

When the others retired, Ezra stayed up for a couple games of poker with some other patrons.

He was in the middle of his third game when he saw Chris ride by.

Ezra frowned. It was too late to be heading out anywhere.

Dealing himself out, he quickly ran to saddle Chaucer to follow.

Chris had set up camp by a tree with a good size fire already made. His bedroll was setup close by and he had his flask out drinking it when Ezra appeared from out of the dark.

Chris hadn't pulled his gun when he came up which made Ezra realize that the man wasn't even carrying it. Climbing off his saddle, he tied Chaucer's reins to a bush and took off the saddle.

"Shouldn't you be wearing your gun belt mister Larabee? It's more effective that way."

"I've killed too many people to trust myself that I don't shoot someone accidently." Chris said dryly.

"Well I'm glad you're thinking of my safety, but you should also think of yours." Ezra said as he sat down in the light of the fire. "Why are you out here?"

"Feels weird to be indoors." the blonde answered as he threw in another branch to his fire.

"But it's pretty lonely out here don't you think?"

"Safer for everyone else that I'm out here."

"I don't think that's true. I think a lot of people prefer you being around then not. Your name and presence alone can scare off some people."

"You should go back to town." Chris murmured and began to get ready for bed.

"Can't. Too dark to see where I'm going. Seems like you're stuck out here with me for the night." Ezra smiled.

Chris rolled his eyes.

"Well you better have your own bedroll cause I ain't sharing with you."