Part 14

"Ezra Standish was a no-account cheat and coward. He failed his friends and himself. His death is a blessing to all of us..."

Ezra's eyes widened. He looked up from the bottom of a hole. This wasn't right. He had been rescued. He listened to the words. He couldn't make out who was speaking, but he understood the words and they cut his very soul.

"The world will be better off with one less conman." These words were followed by the sudden appearance of Larabee's grinning visage, looking down at him. "Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust," Larabee maliciously exclaimed. Laughter erupted from above and the faces of the five other gunslingers materialized, grinning down at him as shovel fulls of dirt began to rain down. Ezra screamed.

"Ezra! you have to calm down," Vin shouted over the conman's rants. Chris, Vin, and Nathan laid their bodies across the struggling gambler.

"Damnit, Ez you're going to hurt yourself," Chris growled.

"It's only a dream, Ez," Nathan quietly whispered into Ezra's ear. "It's only a dream."

Ezra's struggles ceased, and the three lawmen eased themselves up. Nathan grabbed a wet rag and mopped the gambler's brow allowing him a chance to get his bearings. Confused green eyes blinked and stared up at the three men.

Nathan smiled down at his friend. "Good to see you awake. Think you can drink a little something for me?"

Ezra slowly nodded his head and Nathan reached for a cup of medicine. Vin lifted the shaky conman up and Nate coaxed the tea down his throat.

"How you feelin'?" Nathan asked. It had been two days, with Ezra barely hanging onto life, and Nathan and the others fighting to keep him among them.

Ezra licked his lips. "Tired."

Nathan began to gently probe Ezra's stomach. "Any sharp pain?"

"No."

Nathan smiled and Ezra felt and heard the relief that spread through the men as his eyes slowly closed.

M7M7M7

"How did you find me?" Ezra asked as he stared at several new decks of cards piled on the table next to him. He had awoken to a room filled with people he didn't think cared.

Chris glanced over at Vin. "Asa Lunder had a change of heart and told us," he explained.

"He did?" Ezra said, not hiding his astonishment. "Mr. Lunder didn't seem the humanitarian type."

"Yeah, well, Vin had a little talk with him," Chris added, smiling at the southerner's quizzical expression.

Ezra shifted his gaze to the influential tracker. "I'm grateful for your persuasive abilities, Mr. Tanner."

"It got you back, all that matters," Vin stiffly replied.

Ezra frowned at the look in the tracker's eyes.

Chris knew that Vin was going through a hard time in dealing with what he had done to Lunder. No one talked about what had happened. The others had accepted it as a necessary evil, one that kept them whole. Chris had told the judge that Lunder had had a run-in with a mountain cat and threatened Asa with Vin's return if he didn't go along. Chris knew the judge only bought the story because of the circumstances and knew he was now in the judge's debt.

"Ezra, we all owe you an apology for how we treated you," Chris abruptly said.

"Mr. Larabee, I'm just grateful you found me." A small shudder raced up Ezra's spine at the memory of the impromptu grave.

Chris glanced at each of the other men. He knew they would all have to find a way to convince the gambler that he was still a trusted and valuable friend.

"Ez," JD nervously said as he approached the bed, unsure how he would be accepted. "I didn't mean those things I said. I'm so sorry."

"I know, Mr. Dunne, your worry for Mr. Wilmington justified your outburst," Ezra replied, trying to ease the young man's conscious.

"No, it didn't," Nathan sternly interjected, ignoring the blatant looks of astonishment from the others. He couldn't stand the gambler's complacent attitude. He had been greatly wronged. "None of us had the right to blame you, even if it was because of your cards you are not responsible for someone else's actions."

Josiah smiled at his friend, the others stood open mouth. Nathan was the last person anyone expected to come to the gambler's defense. "Now, we're apologizing, don't go trying to defend our stupidity."

Ezra stared up at the healer like the man had suddenly gone mad right before his eyes. "Mr. Jackson, I accept yours and the others apology." The tension of the past week seemed to rise up and float away.

"You're going to stay, aren't you, Ez?" JD asked.

Ezra looked over at Chris remembering his words and his face fell. "I will not give up my cards."

"No one's askin' you to," Chris firmly stated. He glanced over at Buck. "You couldn't give up your cards any more than Buck could give up women."

"Hey, I could give up women if I had a mind too," Buck retorted to the laughter of the other lawmen.

M7M7M7M7

"So Ez, I ah...jeez, I don't even know how to begin. I'm sorry about everything. I'll give up women..."

"Mr. Wilmington, please, I could never ask you of all people to give up female companionship I just ask that you be a little more discreet."

Buck chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, Chris sorta told me the same thing."

"How is Miss Claire?" Ezra asked.

"Oh, she decided to go and live with her sister in Tucson."

"So, your little affair is over?"

"Yeah, Claire decided she enjoyed her freedom as much as I do," Buck answered, actually he had urged Clair to leave. He had almost lost a friend due to his indiscretion and Claire would always remind him of that.

"Now any ideas on how to amuse ourselves during our convalescence?" Ezra asked, reaching over and grabbing one of his new decks.

The door to the clinic inched opened and JD peered in. "Great, you're both awake." JD rushed in and pulled up a chair in-between the two injured men. "I just got a new book, Outlaws of the West."

Ezra and Buck groaned and pulled their blankets up over their faces.

THE END