And a happy Monday to you all! So, yes, Wednesday is my normal update day, but I'm going out of town tomorrow night and I know I won't get around to posting while I'm on vacation, so here it is early.

Regarding this story, I have come to the conclusion that if Jack invested in one of those kid leashes for Crutchie, he'd solve about 85% of the problems going on... Just keeping that kid within arm's reach would solve basically everything. Of course, then we wouldn't have a story and this fic would be really boring. And I'm so not into boring fics.

Oh, and there is an important announcement at the bottom of this chapter, so do read that!

Crutchie stirred, his eyes leaden. He didn't remember feeling this tired in a long time. Not since he had gotten back from New York, anyway. Generally, Crutchie felt like he was able to get a full night's sleep in the Holloway's home, didn't have to wake up too terribly early and there had only been a few nights—only one night that Jack knew about—when he had been interrupted by vicious nightmares. So, honestly, Crutchie should have no excuse to be tired. And, yet, every part of his body ached and his head was pounding uncomfortably and Crutchie just wanted to slip back into the heavy darkness of slumber.

With a groan, Crutchie turned on his side, his arm raising up to pull the pillow over his eyes, but there was no pillow within reach. Confused, Crutchie pried his eyes open, trying to make sense of where he was. He stared up at the night sky, bewildered by the stars above him. He couldn't possibly be back on the rooftop with Jack. He was supposed to be in—

"Oh. You're up."

Crutchie turned on his side, coming face to face with Jessie. "What's—" he began, before stopping. His jaw ached and he pressed his hand against the upper back part of his cheek, gingerly working the stiffness from his jaw. "What's going on?" Crutchie tried again, now that speaking hurt less. His jaw still felt strange as he spoke, but the pain wasn't suffocating. In fact, it was more familiar than anything else. The dull ache that arose each time he opened his mouth stirred up memories of the days spent in the Refuge, shortly after he had been beat mercilessly by the Delancey brothers and Snyder. They were memories that Crutchie did not look forward to evoking, but his jaw—Crutchie shook the tendrils of fear and hopelessness that always accompanied those moments, focusing back on Jessie.

Jessie stared at Crutchie for a long moment. "You don't remember. Figures," she muttered.

"How did we get outside?" Crutchie asked, watching as the firelight flickered across Jessie's face. Wait. Firelight. Fire. Crutchie turned even further on his side, noting the fire that cracked and hissed about five feet from him. Beside the fire, Gabriel and two men that Crutchie didn't recognize were speaking rapid Spanish. It all came back in a crash of memories: the carpetbag Jessie had been clutching, the pistol Crutchie had stared at, his crutch connecting with Gabriel's ribs. Blackness. With a groan, Crutchie turned away. "Wish you'd've just left me at home," he muttered, forcing the smile that threatened to break at the word "home" to stay off his face. He had just finally found a place to call home, a family that loved him, and now he was going to be murdered by some love-struck Mexican. Just his luck.

"We couldn't," Jessie pointed out. "You would have told my pa."

"And for good reason," Crutchie said, levering himself up on his elbow. "You shouldn't just be running off with Gabriel."

"You don't understand," Jessie hissed. "We love each other."

Crutchie rolled his eyes. "I get that, I do. But, did you ever stop to think that if you felt you needed to elope it might not be the best relationship?"

"Pa wouldn't have allowed us to get married if we wanted to go a more traditional route."

"Perhaps he has a reason for that," Crutchie suggested.

"He just doesn't understand true love," Jessie shot back. "He's just some blind, old man that has never bothered to understand me and what I need."

Crutchie had bit his tongue to keep from arguing even more with her. To be perfectly honest, he didn't know why Claude didn't like Gabriel, but he trusted the older man enough to believe that there was some reasoning behind the disapproval. However, Jessie's closing comment immediately loosened his tongue. "Don't talk about Claude like that," he hissed.

"Why do you care?" Jessie challenged. "He's my father, not yours."

And there was the rub to the whole situation. Claude wasn't his father. He didn't have a father, not anymore. Not after— Crutchie shook his head, "Maybe not by blood, but Claude is the only adult who ever took the time to get to know me. He took me in, like a son." The words were spoken with a sense of reverence because it had been so long since Crutchie had had a genuine family.

"Or he just pitied you," Jessie pointed out, the words a sharp slap.

Crutchie hadn't thought… What if he had been so hopeful, had yearned for a family so badly that he had misread everything that had happened? His mind flew back to that first breakfast he and Jack had had with the Holloways. They really had only taken him in because they needed Jack's help on the ranch. It had been pity the entire time and Crutchie had just been too blind, too hopeful to see it. He had let his guard down and now it was all catching up to him.

As if she hadn't noticed the way Crutchie's face had dropped and his right hand had slipped to his crippled thigh, rubbing self-consciously at the twisted limb, Jessie continued, "I mean, who wouldn't pity you? A crip with a bum leg and only one friend who gives a damn about what happens to you. If it weren't for my pa, you would have starved out here in Santa Fe, wouldn't have made it a week. Don't fool yourself," she spat. "It was only ever just pity."

"Hey!" Gabriel shouted, Jessie's sharp words drawing his attention from across the flickering fire. "Are you bothering her?" he demanded. When Crutchie didn't answer immediately—the fears he had fought off so long ago attacking once more, now stronger and practiced—Gabriel backhanded the crippled boy in the face.

"I'm sorry," Crutchie muttered, his eyes lowering instantly. He didn't know what to do beyond go along with whatever Gabriel wanted in some effort to stay alive.

"I don't want you talking to her," Gabriel commanded, his brown eyes hard.

"Okay," Crutchie said nodding softly. If he was able to get out of this kidnapping alive… Crutchie's thoughts paused. He didn't know what he would do, where he would go, if he survived. Crutchie didn't think he wanted to return to the Holloways, not if they just pitied him and kept him around because they needed Jack to stay. In fact, that was probably why Claude and JT had joined Jack when he had traveled back to New York to bring Crutchie home. Except, not home. Simply back to Santa Fe. There was still New York. Race had said that Crutchie could live with him if he ever needed a place to return to and it was starting to look like Crutchie may have to take the older boy up on that offer. That is, if he managed to survive this whole mess.

Jessie grinned at Crutchie triumphantly, before turning to Gabriel. "So what's the plan for tomorrow?" she asked. "Are we just heading out to Tucson to get that ranch?"

"I need to get some money from a bank before we actually get there. The guy knows me, yes, and he did promise the ranch to me, but it isn't free. Once we have the money, it'll just be straight to Arizona." He gently kissed Jessie. "It'll be a place of our own," he whispered.

"Okay," she whispered back.

"Get some sleep," he suggested. "We'll be getting up plenty early tomorrow morning so we can get to the bank, get the money, and be on our way."

Crutchie watched Jessie situate her carpetbag beneath her head and curl up towards the fire for warmth. He tried to get comfortable, pillowing his head atop his hands. It was still plenty uncomfortable and Crutchie wasn't entirely sure that he'd be able to fall asleep. Instead, he stared up at the stars, wishing that he, at least, had Jack by his side. Although, earlier that day, he had chafed under Jack's protective habits, he wished Jack would show up to fight off the other men and drag Crutchie to safety. And Crutchie would pretend to be upset, pretend his pride was injured. And Jack would hug him because Crutchie had had a gun pointed at his face and, if Crutchie were completely honest, it still terrified him a little bit. And Crutchie would hug him back because they were both still alive, because they were both safe.

But, Crutchie wasn't a fool.

Crutchie wasn't sure how he had managed to fall asleep, but he woke up to a swift kick in the ribs. "Ugh," Crutchie grunted, curling in on himself and opening his eyes just in time to catch a quick glimpse of the boot before it connected with the side of his head.

"Hey, stop." Jessie's voice. Crutchie was slightly surprised to hear her sticking up for him against Gabriel. Not that anything she said or did would stop him in the end.

"I'm trying to wake him up." Gabriel's voice. Crutchie recalled the first time he had met the Mexican that Jessie was infatuated with. He remembered the way that Gabriel had seemed so calm and courteous on the outside; he remembered how he had sensed a hardened interior, a coldness that he wouldn't show to the Holloways. And it looked like Crutchie would become well-acquainted with that other side of Gabriel before this whole awful situation was over.

"And you thought kicking would help."

"He wasn't moving," Gabriel defended.

Crutchie could practically see Jessie roll her eyes. "Get up, crip. We've got to get going."

Finally, Crutchie opened his eyes and levered himself up to a sitting position. His side protested the movement and he barely avoided wincing. There was no use in appearing weak to them. It would probably only convince Gabriel to kill him sooner rather than later. "Where're we going?" Crutchie asked, ignoring the low growl of his stomach. He didn't expect them to feed him and that was fine. He had gone on loads less before. But, that had been when he had been used to small meals that could tide him over for an entire day; now Crutchie had grown accustomed to plentiful meals twice a day, with a small lunch in between. His stomach was rioting against the lack of food, protesting the shrinking, starving it would have to experience.

Either Jessie and Gabriel didn't hear Crutchie's stomach or they just ignored the noise. "The bank," Gabriel said. "And we've got to get going before whatever men Claude has sent after us catch our trail."

Crutchie pulled himself to his feet, situating his crutch under his arm. He was thankful for that, he supposed. Crutchie had worried that Gabriel might have left the crutch at the Holloway's house after knocking the kid unconscious, but apparently he hadn't been that heartless. It was one thing to be dragged around by an eloping couple as some awkward third wheel—although, Gabriel did have two friends that were traveling West with them—but Crutchie knew it would be even more humiliating to be unable to stand on his own, let alone walk with his own volition.

He followed Gabriel and Jessie to where three palominos were tethered near the fire Gabriel's friends were putting out. "You'll be with Manuel," Gabriel informed Crutchie, before motioning to the shorter of the two friends.

"On the horse?" Crutchie asked, swallowing thickly.

"Yeah, on the horse."

Crutchie immediately balked at the idea. "N-no, I can't. I can't ride a horse. Last time—I just can't," Crutchie said. The last time he had tried to go riding, it had ended with him on the ground, his wrist broken, and unconscious for an entire week. Crutchie did not look forward to testing his luck on a horse ever again.

"You did just fine last night when you were unconscious," Gabriel muttered. "So, I'd recommend getting on that horse now, or finding your life ending sooner than you probably anticipated."

"I—I don't know how," Crutchie admitted.

"Inutil, indigno…" Gabriel muttered, grabbing Crutchie and swinging him atop a bareback palomino. Before Crutchie could slip off the horse, the small Mexican man, Manuel, hoisted himself onto the horse behind Crutchie, holding the crippled boy in place. "Bueno?" Gabriel asked.

Manuel nodded, before spurring the horse into motion. Crutchie clung to the mane of the horse, the familiar jouncing of the beast bringing up familiarly uncomfortable memories. To the right of him, Gabriel and Jessie rode the second palomino, with the third Mexican that Crutchie didn't know the name of yet galloping directly behind them.

They rode for nearly an hour before they reached the town with the bank. Gabriel had his men hitch the horses outside of the bank, before passing pieces of cloth to everyone. "What's this for?" Jessie asked, voicing the confusion that Crutchie was similarly feeling.

"We've got to get the money for the ranch," Gabriel said, shrugging. Beside him, Manuel was tying the black bandana around his head, obscuring the lower half of his face beneath the dark fabric.

"Wait, you aren't—you can't—" Jessie stuttered. "I thought you said you had the money for the ranch," she hissed.

"I said I'd get the money for the ranch," Gabriel hissed back. "Now put on that bandana. Both of you. It will only take a second." Gabriel fixed the red bandana over his own face and a shard of memory fell into place.

"You're…" Crutchie breathed, his chest hitching as he recalled that awful day that he had thought Jack was going to die, that awful day when Claude had been shot. "You're the bank robber."

"I don't know what you're talking about, kid, but I'd shut up real quick if I was you," Gabriel threatened.

"You shot Claude," Crutchie said, the shock morphing into a black anger. "You're the one who shot Claude in the bank." It all fit. The bandana. Those familiar dark eyes that looked cold and calculating. The gun in his holster, the gun that had been held against Jack's head. The gun that had been pointed at Crutchie just the night before. Everything had clicked together and Crutchie was beyond angry. "You shot Claude," he growled.

"Shut up, crip. It's not like anyone here believes your story."

Jessie's voice quickly interrupted. "Did—did you shoot my father, Gabriel?" Her voice was tinged with a nervousness that hadn't been present up to this point whenever she spoke with her fiancé.

"Look, Jessie," Gabriel began, reaching his hand out to brush Jessie's red hair out of her face, but Jessie would have none of that and stepped out of his reach.

"Did you or did you not shoot my father?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Gabriel sighed before answering, "Yes, I did. But it was an accident. I meant to hit the crip."

"He could have died!" Jessie exclaimed.

"But he didn't," Gabriel countered. "And since when did you care about your father? He's the one who refused to let me marry you. He's the one who never thought I was good enough for his only daughter." Gabriel shook his head, resituating the bandana. "Let's just get this over with and get to Tucson. Everything will be better there." He helped Jessie tie the bandana around her face, while Manuel and the third Mexican quickly tied the bandana around Crutchie's head.

Crutchie's heart pounded as they entered the bank, Gabriel grabbing at some kid that had been skipping around the bank's lobby and pointing the gun at the child's hair. It was like some horrible déjà vu for Crutchie, and he felt as if he were frozen in the spot, staring into Jack's fear-widened eyes. The bank teller, pale and trembling, led Manuel and the third man into the back, where the money was kept. A young woman, presumably the mother of the child in Gabriel's grasp, wept, her half-stifled sobs ear-wrenchingly loud in the silence. Jessie and Crutchie stood to the side of the room, observing the bank robbery as it unfolded before their eyes.

It didn't take long for Manuel and his partner to come back with full bags of money. "Let's get going," Gabriel told them and Jessie and Crutchie started to make their way out of the door, thankful that it was all over with. "Don't move or I'll shoot the kid!" Gabriel shouted, the gun pressing harder into the young boy's head. The kid, probably five, started crying even harder, but Gabriel ignored the boy's tears. "We're going to exit and I'll just leave the kid on the front steps of the bank, but if any of you follow us outside, I will kill the kid. Don't test me," he warned.

Once everyone was outside and Crutchie had been, embarrassingly, hefted onto Manuel's horse. Gabriel shoved the kid to the ground, before leaping on the horse with Jessie. He wheeled the palomino around and the trio of horses began galloping out of town, high-tailing it West. They rode as hard as the horses could go for an hour and a half, before Gabriel pulled his horse to a stop, the animal rearing its head back in ignorance. "We get enough money?" he asked. "Or do we need to stop somewhere else?"

Manuel shook his head. "We got enough. Alejandro counted."

Gabriel nodded. "Good. We've got to be in Tucson before the week is out, or else he'll sell the ranch to someone else."

The rest of the day passed like that, with the trio of horses pounding at a harsh gallop as long as they could go, before taking a short break and trotting at an easier pace until the horses had caught their breath again. Then Gabriel would whip the horses back up into a gallop and they would start the cycle all over again.

Eventually, they settled for the night, though Gabriel would not allow a fire to be built, much to Jessie's dismay. "We'll freeze!" she complained. "It's mid-November and—"

Gabriel tossed her an extra blanket. "We won't freeze. But, we can't risk being caught, not until we've bought that ranch. A fire's out of the question. I'm sorry." After he had made sure that Jessie was warm enough, Gabriel sat near Manuel and Alejandro. Crutchie assumed they were discussing what to do next, but he couldn't understand the Spanish they spoke.

"You warm enough?" Jessie asked, sitting down next to Crutchie.

"I'm fine," he lied. Gabriel hadn't thought to provide a blanket for Crutchie. Or, he had thought, but refused to divulge any of the blankets to the "stupid crip," as he was called by everyone. "I've been in worse." Which was true. Except, that he had always had a thick winter coat and was never too far away from the Lodging House, where there were blankets and laughter to warm him.

Jessie sat there in silence, before shrugging one of her blankets off from around her shoulders. "Here, you can have this," she offered.

"Thank you," Crutchie said, quickly wrapping himself in the thick fabric and warding off the immediate chill.

There was silence for a moment longer, before Jessie remarked. "I didn't think he'd rob the bank. I had thought…"

"I didn't think he would rob a bank, either," Crutchie said. "But, that doesn't cancel out the fact that he did. He would have shot the kid, too, if he had had to."

"He loves me," Jessie whispered hoarsely. "And I love him back."

"I know," Crutchie said softly. "But maybe that isn't the only important thing about a relationship. It is really important that you both love each other, but you also have to be good for each other. Jessie, can you honestly say that he is good for you?"

"I—" Jessie began, but was interrupted when Gabriel stood up and quickly crossed over to where they were sitting.

"Hey, crip," Gabriel growled. "I thought I told you not to speak with her ever again."

"I know, but—" Crutchie began, but was caught off when Gabriel kicked him in the stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs in a sharp wheeze. One of his large, booted feet came down on Crutchie's right hand, eliciting a cry hoarse from lack of air.

"Stop!" Jessie shouted. "I'm the one who talked to him first. It's my fault."

Gabriel glared at her a moment, before his eyes softened. "Okay, fine. Fine. Just don't talk to him anymore. He's just some stupid crip. Come over with Manuel, Alejandro, and I," he suggested.

"Okay, just don't hurt him anymore. He wasn't doing anything wrong," Jessie said, standing to join the Mexicans across the small camp they had set up.

Staring at Crutchie for a moment, Gabriel softly said, "Next town we get to, we're leaving that crip on the edge. He's too much work. You hear that, crip?" Gabriel said loudly, addressing Crutchie. "We drop you off tomorrow."

Crutchie's stomach tightened and his heart shuddered. This was it. This was the end. Tomorrow, he would be dead.

Did you see the part coming where it was revealed that Gabriel was the bank robber from Chapter 13? I tried to drop hints, but I wasn't sure how successful I was. And now you understand why Chapter 13 is the most important chapter of this whole fic...

So, here's what's up. I've decided it would be fun for me and you if I did, basically, birthday fics. It works just as you'd expect it would. Leave me a review or PM me with a prompt-as vague or as specific as you'd like-your birthday (or when you'd like me to post the fic for you) and, if you're a guest, a username or some sort of name that I can connect with the fic. This is your moment to get the type of fic you've wanted to be written for however long. And this is open to everyone! I know there are at least fifty people who read this story each week. I will do something for all of you, if you wish. I would like to get most prompts in by January, so I have a game plan of what I'll be writing next year. However, if you don't have it in by January, please have it in at least a month before your actual birthday; that'll give me time to write the fic. So, if you'd like to participate review any of my stories or send me a PM! You're welcome to be as creative as you'd like; it's an exercise for me to stretch as a writer and for you to get a birthday present!