A/N: I do not own Young Guns or Young Guns 2. I decided I wasn't going to make you wait another day for the last chapter, so here it is.
Billy ran out the door, heart pounding in dread, gun drawn. People screamed, grabbed their kids, and ran inside their houses. "Jessie?" He searched the last of the crowd. "Jessie!" He ran for the livery stable and burst through the door. Horses spooked, watching him with white-rimmed eyes. His heart lodged in his throat. He turned back around and crashed into Beaver, a cigar clamped in the man's teeth.
"Kid!" The cigar fell to the ground and Beaver lunged for him. "Get your ass out of sight!" He grabbed his arm and hauled him to the door, peeked out, then pulled him into the street.
"Beaver, what's wrong? What happened? Where's Jessie?" Billy tried to pull his arm free, but Beaver wasn't letting go, towing him through the back alleys of Fort Sumner like he was a sack of grain. "Dammit, answer me!"
But he wouldn't. They reached Beaver's little house behind the cantina and the older man threw him inside and bolted the door, then picked up a rifle leaning against the wall. "All I know, Kid, is someone got shot over to Maxwell's."
"Who, Beaver?" Billy couldn't breathe. "Dammit, man, tell me!" He dropped his gun and clutched at Beaver's shirt. Their eyes locked and Beaver swallowed hard.
"Garret's claiming it was you." Billy's hands went numb; he stumbled back and landed on his ass in the floor.
"No." He raised shaking hands to his face. "No." Footsteps thumped on the dirt, someone pounded on the door. Beaver worked the lever on the rifle.
"Who is it?"
"Deluvina." Beaver swore and unbolted the door. Deluvina rushed inside, saw Billy, and froze, tears running down her cheeks. She crouched in front of him, cradling his face in her hands. "My poor boy." Tears burned his eyes.
"He shot her, didn't he?" He could barely get the words out his voice shook so bad. Deluvina cradled him like the child he hadn't been in years, rocking him against her shoulder. Her body shook with a sob as she nodded. "How could he –" He couldn't finish for the lump in his throat. He hadn't cried for any of them, not even the father he'd thought he'd found in John, or the little brother in Tommy. "Jessie, Jessie, please no …" He clung to Deluvina as the tears fell like rain, sobbing for the best friend he'd ever had, and for everything they could have had.
"How's the son of a bitch think he's gonna pass her off as Billy?" Beaver plucked a fresh cigar from his box and gnawed on the end. "Why even bother, she's worth more than he is."
"I do not know." Deluvina's voice ran thick with tears. Her arms tightened around Billy. He closed his eyes, wishing he could somehow turn back time. Why had he let her go? They could have gotten Beaver to do it or someone, anyone. "I hear the gunfire and run down the hall. Garrett is in Senor Maxwell's room and my little girl is …" Billy felt her throat work, and was glad she didn't spell it out. He could picture it all too easily. "He look at me and say he has killed Billy the Kid. I ignore him and go to her, but she is gone." Billy flinched and cried harder.
All the times she'd saved his hide and where had he been when she needed him? Maybe he couldn't have saved her, but at least she wouldn't have been shot down like a dog in the street …
"My poor babies." Deluvina smoothed his hair. "I agreed that it was you he killed because all I could do for her now was see that you escaped as she would have wanted."
"Anyone who sees that body is gonna know it ain't him."
"He has already sent men to build a coffin and dig the grave. I am the only one allowed in to clean her up." She swallowed hard. "He cut her hair and wouldn't let Senor Maxwell close enough to see who it really was."
"But why?" Billy asked through his tears. "Why would he do it?" Anger flared. "If he wanted me, all he had to do was come get me!"
"Maybe he was expecting you and she surprised him." Beaver spit on the floor.
"I do not think so." Deluvina rubbed his back, still rocking slowly. "There is a bullet hole in Senor Maxwell's washstand and another in the wall."
"So?"
"Garrett could not have fired those shots, Jessie did." Billy's head came up.
"He didn't shoot her down without a chance? She fired?" He didn't why that was so important right now, but he had to know.
"I check her guns while Garrett is pacing like a desperate man." The ghost of a smile touched her lips. "She did not go down without a fight." Billy swiped at his face, his eyes burning and throat tight. "One of these days, he's gonna stop thinking and start doing." Her warning drifted out of the past, sending a shaft of pain lancing through his chest. Why hadn't he listened?
"You gotta run, Kid. I'll bring your horse to the alley." Beaver clamped his cigar in his teeth and turned.
"No." He whipped back around.
"Kid, if that bastard's dumb enough to claim he got you, let him. You can't help her now, Billy, you know that. She'd put a bullet in your ass if you hung around and got caught after everything she did to get you both out."
"I have to say good bye," he breathed, pain crippling him until he could only think of that one thing. "I never told her …"
"You go anywhere near that house and it's over, Kid. If Garrett don't get you, one of those other jackasses will." Billy untangled himself from Deluvina's arms and scrambled unsteadily to his feet, retrieving his fallen pistol and pointing it at Beaver's face.
"I don't think you heard me, Beaver. I'm gonna say good bye and see her laid to rest before I ride out." He thumbed back the hammer. Beaver swore and flung his cigar on the ground.
"No wonder everyone wants to shoot you."
"Billito, I can try to get you in there, but you must not stay for the burial, it would be too dangerous."
"I can't leaver her alone like that, don't you see? Everyone will be crying for me, not her."
"I will cry for you both." She wiped his face with her apron hem. "And I will light a candle for her every day of my life."
"I'll be there, Kid, and anyone who saw you out tonight after the shots will know the truth. They'll mourn her, too. Garrett ain't gonna be welcome around here after this and I dare say he knows it."
"I wish he'd got me instead." They looked at each other, but said nothing.
"Disguise yourself and we'll slip in the back door. I'll find some way to distract Garrett and give you a few minutes, but it will not be for long." She turned to go and he touched her arm.
"Thanks." She laid her hand over his and squeezed his fingers, then went out into the night.
Twenty minutes later, he stood at the back door of Pete Maxwell's house, an oversize hat on his head, dressed like a Mexican sheepherder. Beaver had rubbed dirt all over his face to give the impression of scruff. Billy hoped in the low light it would be enough.
Deluvina opened the door and waved him inside. "The others are outside on the porch, Garrett told them to be on watch in case the town rose against them for killing you. He is in Senor Maxwell's room with her. I drugged his coffee and he will sleep for a while, but you must not linger. The others will surely check on him before too long." Throat too tight to make a sound, Billy pressed a kiss to her cheek and hurried down the hall.
He hesitated at the door to Pete's room, his heart thumping uncontrollably. Until he saw her, he could tell himself it was a mistake. Billy drew in a shaky breath and crept through the door.
Pat lay sprawled on Pete's bed, an empty coffee cup on the end table. Billy glanced at the window; it was closed. He swallowed hard and looked down at Jessie, eyes stinging. "Jess," he breathed on a pained whisper.
From the looks of the bloodstains, she still lay where she'd fallen, sprawled face-down on the striped rug, one gun near her left hand, the other pinned underneath her. His throat closed, threatening to choke him. He crept to her side and crouched, reaching out a trembling hand to stroke her short hair. Not even an hour ago, it had flowed through his fingers like dark silk.
"You tried," he whispered, and reached down to hold her hand, the lifeless touch a grim reminder of all he'd lost, just when he'd finally found it. Billy raised his head, eyes fixed on Garrett, oblivious and completely vulnerable. He could shoot him and run, no one would ever know what happened, and Jessie would be avenged. His hand touched his pistol, but even now he couldn't do it like this. "We ever meet again, Pat, and you'll get yours," he choked out.
For five minutes, he sat on the floor, holding her hand and stroking her cheek. "I'm sorry." He swallowed hard. "I should have listened, God, why didn't I listen?" He looked out the window, nothing visible in the pitch dark, but he knew they were out there. He couldn't stay much longer, though his heart wanted nothing more.
Billy wiped his face and reached under her shirt for the chain she always wore. He pulled it out and undid the clasp, fastening it around his own neck, the delicate weight unfamiliar, yet comforting.
He carefully worked her right hand pistol out from under her and tucked it in his waistband, fingers lingering on the pearl grips, the last thing she'd touched in this life. Then he took the other one. None of those arrogant asses would lay one dirty finger on her guns, much less parade them around as some kind of trophy.
He held her hand for one minute longer, then bent down and pressed a kiss to her cheek, his throat so tight he could barely breathe. "I'll always be yours, Jess," he choked out, tears spilling over his nose. He choked again and forced himself to stand; if he didn't leave now, he never would. He made it to the doorway before he had to turn for one last look. "I love you, Jessie Dolan." He stumbled through the door and made his way down the hall, not even stopping when Deluvina met him at the back door. "Take care of her, please," he gasped out, and fled into the night.
Beaver met him in the alley behind the cantina, a saddled horse standing in the shadows. The moon broke through the clouds, illuminating the animal and he stopped dead in his tracks. "I figured you'd want hers. Anyone sees it in the stable and they might wonder." He handed over the reins to Jessie's chestnut mare. "There's food in the saddlebags, plus whatever she had in them to begin with. I crammed your stuff in there, too, what there was of it."
"Thanks, Beaver." Billy laid a hand on the man's shoulder. "Don't let anyone forget her, please."
"I doubt anyone could, Kid." He swallowed hard and swung into the saddle, then rode off without a backward glance. Billy rode until the sun inched above the horizon, painting the sky a glorious burst of pink and yellow. He turned in the saddle, watching the sunrise as tears spilled down his face. A river of memories crashed over him until he could almost see her riding beside him, feel the touch of her hand, hear the click of her gun.
For one moment, he could have sworn she rode towards him across the desert on the rays of the rising sun, then he blinked and it was gone, lost in what could have been.
He turned and spurred the mare into a dead run for the border.
Patricio, New Mexico, 1950
"You're saying my sister is buried in your grave at Fort Sumner?" Anna Maria sat back in her chair. Billy nodded, his eyes stinging with unshed tears; he pulled out a ratty handkerchief and wiped his face. Even after seventy years it got to him. He drew in a shaky breath and lowered his gaze to the picture clutched in his veined hands.
"I don't know how he got away with it, but he did. Didn't run for sheriff again, though, I found that out later. I like to think the ghosts got to be too much for him."
"Or the guilt." He nodded and drew in a deep breath.
"I spent years turning to my right, expecting her take on the situation, only to remember she wasn't there no more. Until you brought this picture, I hadn't seen her face real clear in at least thirty years. All I had was memories and they've faded."
"Because she lives in your heart, Billy, not your head." She touched his knee and he looked up, their eyes locking. For one heart-stopping moment, it was like Jessie stared back at him from her sister's face.
"It should have been me."
"It shouldn't have been either of you, not going by the story I just listened to."
"Doesn't matter now, it won't bring her back." His voice lowered to a whisper. "Ain't nothing gonna do that."
"Billy." It was the first time Virginia had spoken in hours. "How do you know some of that, like what she was thinking and all, I mean? Did she tell you … um …" Her face flushed. "That … um, that night?" Billy shook his head, a grin tugging at his mouth. Some people just couldn't discuss certain things without turning red as a sunburn.
"Beaver put her story in the saddlebags when he gathered everything up. I didn't find it until I was down in Mexico. I spent many nights reliving those days." He wiped his eyes. "Small comfort, but when I read it, I could feel her right there beside the campfire, like she wasn't really gone. I guess that's why I never gave it to a newspaper like we were going to, I just couldn't let go of it." He got to his feet and shuffled into his bedroom. He stopped in front of an old, brass-bound trunk and carted it back into the front room.
The scent of age filled his nose when the lid came open. Billy reached inside and pulled out a thick stack of brittle papers, yellowed with age. "I stopped reading'em about twenty years ago, afraid I'd tear them. Didn't need to read anyhow, I got every word memorized." The ghost of a smile touched his lips. "Our story, from the day she joined the Regulators to the moment I startled her in Beaver's place that day." A half-hearted chuckle escaped. "There's a big old squiggle right across the last page from where she threw herself across the floor." He sighed. "I've always loved that memory." And others that night, but those were his alone to cherish.
He reached back into the trunk and withdrew a brace of pearl-handled Colts. "These, old woman, are your sister's guns." He handed Anna Maria one of the guns and her granddaughter the other. "They ain't loaded, now, but I used those for years."
"You felt closer to her." Anna Maria gave him one of those sharp eyed stares that unnerved him it was so like Jessie.
"I learned a lot from reading what she wrote. I didn't recall those sights being filed off, and I was right, she done it up at Sumner." He deflated. "For all the good it done her."
"She tried, Billy."
"I finally figured the only way he could have done it, he must have already had his gun out when she drew. But, if that was how it went, how did she have time to get that far into the room, if he drew first when she surprised him in the dark?"
"Maybe it didn't happen as fast as history would have us believe." Anna Maria laid the pistol on the table. "Everything you've said tells me she would have killed him in a fair fight, but what if he wanted to talk, try and get someone to understand why he was doing what he did? Would she have gone for him?"
"I'm not sure how long she was gone before the shots rang out. I guess he could have tried to talk her down, he had to know she was gonna kill him if he gave her half a chance, it was no secret what she thought of him." Billy sighed. "And that man did love to hear himself talk."
"I wonder what she told him," Virginia said.
"I'd bet an earful, none of it good." Billy reached back into the trunk and pulled out a faded tintype of himself and a chestnut mare. "That's the horse Alex gave her in '78, that was taken about 1891 over in Texas. I rode her till she got too old, that horse I keep out there is her many generations later descendant."
"You really loved her, didn't you?"
"I didn't know how much until it was too late. Garrett might have given me my life for whatever reason he did, but it wasn't worth nothing. I've spent seventy years alone." He swallowed hard. "And I'd trade every minute just to have one more day." He looked down at the picture again. "Those three years might have been hell, but they were the best years of my life." He brushed his thumb over her face. "Back when I had my pals."
"You knew Doc and Chavez got out," Virginia began, "why not – oh." Billy nodded.
"I'd have had to tell them how I come to be alive and where she was. I couldn't face it, especially then. As it was, I stayed down in Mexico for almost three years before I come back across."
"How long have you been back in New Mexico?"
"It was after Garrett got killed, but before the Great War." Billy shook his head. "I always wondered if the Ring had finally had enough of loose ends and got rid of him. No one really seemed to care about him by that point."
"Did you?"
"We were like brothers once, it takes a lot to erase something like that. Even after he took her, there was a part of me that loved the son of a bitch, in spite of it all. I wish … I wish we could have all sat down and talked it out somewhere out of sight, you know? We could have come up with a solution." He chuckled; a single tear slid down his cheek. "I've always wondered if she met Chisum with a rifle and made him shit his pants." Anna Maria laughed; Virginia flushed.
"Do you want her ring back?" He shook his head.
"She gave that to your ma fair and square. I've got a few things besides them guns and her papers. Besides, I don't reckon it'll be too long now before I see them again." He looked down to the picture again and drew in a breath.
"Would you like to keep that picture?"
"Could I?" Anna Maria laid her hand on top of his and squeezed his fingers.
"You need it more than I do, Billy."
"What I need, I'll never have again," he whispered, a tear sliding down his nose, plopping onto his pant leg. "Garrett took everything that night, and the worst part is, I'll never know if he meant to do it, or if his finger just twitched at the wrong moment." Billy swallowed hard. "I'll just never know." Anna Maria nodded to her granddaughter and the younger woman carefully collected Billy's mementos and tucked them back into the old trunk.
"I'm glad I found you, old man, you made my sister live like it was 1881 again. I can still see them, you know, just as young and alive as they were the March day they rode out of Patricio." She sighed. "I wish we'd told her who I was, but Mama was afraid of her reaction."
"She'd have loved you, maybe deep down, she even suspected something. It's in her papers that they all thought something was familiar about you but they couldn't place it and then bigger problems took over."
"If photography had been more widespread in those days she'd have figured it out." Billy nodded and turned his attention out the window to the setting sun.
"Are you ladies hungry? I've been talking for so long I'm surprised you didn't shrivel up and blow away like a tumbleweed."
"No, thank you, Billy. I had best be getting back to town before my daughter makes her evening phone call. She'll worry if I don't answer by the second ring." Anna Maria stood. "I imagine you'd like some time alone as well. All you've done today is rekindle memories, some best left forgotten."
"Some deserve to be shared," he replied. "Talking about her, it was like she was right here." He patted the couch beside him. "Come back whenever you want, old woman."
"I'll do that, Billy, thank you." She reached out and clasped his hand, the sapphire ring glimmering in the sun through the window, bringing back memories of Stinking Springs, when it had tumbled loose from her shirt after she'd gone after Doc. Billy swallowed hard.
"Take care, Anna Maria." He walked the women to the door and watched until the car backed out of the yard and disappeared from sight. He sighed and went back to the sofa, picking up the picture she'd left him. He ran his finger over her face.
"I still miss you something fierce, Jess. It ain't fair we lost it all just when we could finally admit what we'd been staring at for years." He choked on the lump rising in his throat. "Wait for me, Jess," he whispered. "I won't be much longer." Billy closed his eyes and let his mind drift back seventy years, hearing again that familiar call to arms.
"Regulators!"
A/N: And my first fan fiction is officially complete! A big thank you to everyone who has read this story all the way through. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I do. After I make some more progress with my Bonanza fan fic, I intend to come back and post a series of one shots set between the two movies, a little glimpse at how the relationship evolved over those two years to bring them from snapping at each other's throats to the united team I presented at the beginning of the second movie.
And yes, I admit, I made myself cry a little writing these last two chapters, but I had to do it. Leave me a review, please, even if you hate how I ended it.
Until next time!