Adam McFadden was afraid - not the same fear he had felt on that day when he'd looked up to see Jacobs with his hands around Hannah's neck. This was a different kind of fear, but just as real. He stood three feet from his wife, who rose and put one hand on her hip and gave him an icy stare.

Hannah was not mild-mannered. She wasn't the type of girl to sit and fold her hands, and simply agree. He learned fairly quickly that she was not afraid to speak her mind - even if he disagreed with her. It drove him crazy and drew him to her all the more.

"Look," He began. "I shouldn't have . . ."

"You're damn right you shouldn't have!" She cut him off angrily. "What? I'm some helpless maiden who needs a brave knight to rescue her? I'm supposed to sit at home and wait for you to bring me his head on a platter?"

"Hannah, it wasn't like I was . . ."

"And you! You're supposed to be Mr. Responsible! You just fly out of here - cursing a blue streak! Oh, yeah, they told me about that! You fly out of here leaving your brothers all alone! What would happen to them if you end up in prison?"

"I wasn't going to prison. Calm down!" As his frustration grew so did his temper.

"Calm down? Listen, Mister, I don't need some cowboy telling me how I ought to feel. And you sure as hell were going to prison! You are a man of your word Adam McFadden. If you say you're gonna kill him, I know that sure as the sun comes up tomorrow, you mean it. Killing him doesn't change one damn thing about it! You know that, Adam. You know that better than anyone!" She pointed a long finger at him as she spoke.

"Hannah, I can't just . . . you are . . ." He ran a hand through his hair. "Ah! What the hell I am supposed to do? Huh? You are lying on the floor crying and I'm . . . Jesus, baby, I'm pissed! How could I let that happen? How could I be two feet from you and not hear it? How could I not feel it in my bones?" He spun away from her. "I've never felt so useless!"

"Adam," Her tone softened. "I know you are angry. I know. I am too!" He turned to face her again. Her hands were at her sides now. "I don't like feeling so . . ." She sighed. "Helpless. And you running off and acting crazy only makes me feel more helpless. What would I do without you here? You can't just leave me alone with all these boys! I'm not . . .I'm couldn't manage that."

"You'd manage just fine, darlin'." He said softly. He sighed. "And I am sorry. I just . . .I wasn't thinking - not of anything but your face."

"You weren't really thinking of me at all, Adam." She said gently, but her soft words felt like a blow.

She was right, of course, and this brutal truth was one of the things he loved most about her. She never put up with any of his crap - could somehow move past all the barriers he had built around himself - and see right down into the core of him.

"I know. I was thinking of how I felt. You are right. I had to do something for me." He stepped closer to her, and reached out to put his hands on her arms, hoping she wouldn't push him away. "But honey, it was for you, too."

"I know that." She said softly, her face down. "I understand you need to feel like you were doing something. Staying here with me, and letting the court take care of things is hard - especially for a man like you." She looked up at him. "You need to do something because you are a knight in shining armor. I get that Adam, I do. But I'm not a helpless, little girl."

"Yeah, I got that." He said with a wry grin. "I know you can hold your own, but you shouldn't have to, and I don't want you to - not any more."

She smiled at him and then shaking her head turned from him, and sat down on a bale of hay. "I'm embarrassed about falling apart like that, too. Why did it have to be after school? I scared the boys, and just when Guthrie and Ford were starting to settle down over it all." She shook her head. "I don't know why I reacted like that."

"It's the shock of him attacking you. The doctor said there might be some long-term effects." He said flatly, moving closer. "Remember?"

"Yeah." She put her head down, and he waited for a minute, unsure if her anger were about to return. But she just looked up at him with saucer big eyes and said confessionally. "It wasn't the first time, Adam. I fell apart at the Mercantile, too."

"I know." He said kneeling in front of her. "Mr. Gunn called me, honey."

She swallowed hard, and shook her head, brushing tears out of her eyes, "This town." She sighed. "They are always watching me."

"Always watching out for their McFaddens." He corrected. "You are one of us now, baby. And they are pretty protective. You see that stack of cards we got in the mail? They were for you, honey - people want you to know they are thinking of you. I'm not the only one contemplating risking prison time over this."

"No one ever knew who I was." She said quietly. "We moved from town to town. They most they ever said was, 'Who's the new girl?'" She looked up at him. "Here, I'm That Girl who married Our Boy."

"No. Not anymore." He said moving to sit beside her. "You are that Crazy McFadden Lady who Won't Put Up with Any Crap - not even from the McFadden brothers."

They sat shoulder to shoulder in silence. He had learned that sometimes waiting for her to talk was his best option. He was much less likely to put his foot in his mouth if he just waited and kept quiet.

"How is Ford?" She asked him after awhile. "I should go in and check on him."

"Brian's got him." He said finally brave enough to put his arm around her shoulders. She was cold, and he realized she'd been sitting out in the barn in just her shirt sleeves. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.

"He was so sweet sitting out here with me. I don't know how he's gonna recover from all this, Adam. He feels so responsible!"

"I know. He'll get through it." He squeezed her shoulder and planted a kiss on her forehead. "We'll help him."

"Yeah," She agreed. "Okay. But Adam can I ask a favor?"

"Sure, girl. Anything you want." He turned to smile at her relieved that there was a peace between them again.

"Next time you head into town to kick his ass, would you take me with you?" She blinked at him with bright eyes. "I wanna crack at him, too."

He laughed out loud at that and pulled her tight against his chest. "You can count on it, baby!"

***7***

Brian looked up from where he sat at the table bent over a math book with Guthrie, as Adam and Hannah came inside. Adam had his arm around Hannah's shoulders, so he knew that World War III had come to a peaceful conclusion.

"Where's everyone?" Adam asked.

"Hiding out, mostly." Guthrie said to his older brother.

Adam laughed at this and gave Hannah a kiss on the cheek before stepping away from her to call out loudly, "Family meeting, now."

It didn't take long for his brothers to gather in the front room. It seemed they'd all been waiting with one ear listening for the sound of their voices. They scrambled into the room and arranged themselves on the couches and chairs.

Reaching back for Hannah's hand, Adam stood in the center of them all.

"Alright, I want to apologize for my lack of judgement earlier." He said sheepishly, blushing. "I was acting crazy and shouldn't have cursed at everyone like I did."

"Curse?" Evan said in mock seriousness. "Is that what that was? We've never heard any of those words before."

"Sometimes I think you've got a death wish, Evan." Daniel said shaking his head at him. "Don't be stupid, man. Be quiet and listen."

"Well, I'm really sorry for corrupting your innocent, virgin ears, there brother." Adam said rolling his eyes at his younger brother who blushed crimson at the word "virgin". "And I wanna say thanks for Daniel and Crane hunting me down and dragging me out of there. I just kind of lost it."

"It ain't like you don't have good reason." Brian commented. He leaned back in his seat.

"Yeah, but you and I know we can't settle this thing ourselves - no matter how much we all want to."

"And we all want to, Hannah." Crane said looking at his sister-in-law who stood quietly beside Adam.

"I know that." She said softly. "And I should apologize, too."

"No." Daniel said rising. "Don't apologize, Hannah. It's just the stress of everything - its a wonder you are as calm as you are. It just makes us angry to see you upset like that."

"I know, but I don't like upsetting you boys. And I should apologize to Brian." She turned to face him.

"Don't." He said quickly. "I told you that earlier, but you weren't listening."

'I know and you were only trying to help. I'm so sorry. I hope you put some ice on it."

Adam blinked at this surprised. He turned to Hannah. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Brian said trying to cut her off.

"I did not react well when he told me you'd gone after Jacobs." She said clearly embarrassed by the memory of her earlier behavior. "I wanted to go after you, and wasn't very . . . um . . . cooperative when he told me no."

Adam's eyes grew wide with shock. "You told her no?" He turned to Brian. "You are one brave man!"

"Well," Brian said shrugging. "She weighs maybe 100 lbs. I figured I could take her, but uh, that's not a mistake I'll make twice."

"Did you hit him, Hannah?" Guthrie asked her excitedly. "Man! I knew we should've gone downstairs! Evan! We missed it!"

"I didn't hit him." She said quickly and then added blushing, "but I did kick him in the shins a couple of times."

"Oh!" Evan crowed. "Brian got his ass kicked by a girl!" The brothers all reacted to this, until Hannah raised a hand.

"Hold on! Hold on! First of all, I didn't kick his ass - if you remember I never made it into to town to chase down Adam, so clearly he stopped me. Secondly, he didn't fight back at all because unlike Ford's chemistry instructor, he's a gentleman. And lastly," She stood with hands on hips, clearly in preaching mode now, "Who says that it is worse to get your ass kicked by a girl anyway? Woman are plenty strong, and you don't need to act like a bunch of sexist yahoos. Girls are plenty tough!"

"Amen to that Little Sister." Brian said rubbing his shin and laughing.

"Hannah McFadden!" Adam said turning to her. "You were reading me the riot act not ten minutes ago about violence, and you beat up my little brother!"

"Easy on the 'little'." Brian said clearly offended.

"Well, that was violence against a stranger - family is whole different thing, Adam. Besides, I wouldn't have kicked Brian, if you had stayed calm and stayed home."

His brothers laughed at this, while Adam put his head in hands, clearly flummoxed by his wife's logic.

"Ha! She's got you there, Adam." Crane said with a grin and a wink at Hannah.

"Just like a woman," Daniel said laughing. "She turned it around on ya there, Dad."

"Don't call me Dad, Danny." Adam said angrily.

What do you mean just like a woman! Daniel Robert!" Hannah said irritated. "Honestly!"

"Alright, alright, settle down everybody." Adam said raising his hand until his brothers quieted. "So, just to recap. The McFadden Vigilante Team is shutting down. NONE of us, are going after that bas -, jerk. We got the hearing coming up next week. We can deal with him there. Until then, let's ALL try and keep the violence level to a minimum." He gave Hannah a look. "And try and keep things calm, okay?"

"You're lecturing us?" Evan asked laughing. "We aren't the ones who stormed out of here."

"Did that stable get mucked out?" Adam asked. "Because I don't remember seeing you do it this afternoon."

"No, I was . . ." Evan recognized his error too late. "I'll go do it now." He said with a sigh and he rose and went to the door.

"Ha! I warned you, little brother!" Daniel said laughing. "You never learn!"

"Wait, Evan." Hannah said. They all turned to her. "I just want to say how much I appreciate all of you." She blushed. "I've never . . . well, it is nice to know I've got backup when trouble comes my way. And I promise to try and keep a better grip on things." She glanced around at them.

"Oh, well," Brian said rising and crossing to her. "You're a McFadden through and through, Sis, and we aren't known for keeping a tight grip on anything - except each other." He smiled at her and kissed her cheek. "Come on, Evan. I'll lend you a hand." He continued past Adam, giving his brother a conspiratorial wink, as he limped out the door trying to explain to Evan, once again, why you should never, ever poke a bear.