I'm back with chapter five, and I apologize for the delay. From here on out, the Young Guns II canon is going to be pretty much wrecked as Billy (after Garrett finally turns) is free to alter anything he likes without it affecting Garrett becoming sheriff of Lincoln County. Any thoughts or suggestions? As always, I own nothing but my OC and my ideas.

In the desert outside Lincoln, New Mexico Territory, summer 1880

"Billy!" Jessie was at his side the second he shakily dismounted. His side burned, but at least it wasn't worse.

"It's just a graze, I'll be fine." He knew he was lucky. Firestone had the look of a man who didn't often miss unless he wanted to. Or he was firing on a moving target in the pitch dark. "You're the one taking risks, Jess." Fear made him snap at her, and her eyes flashed fire.

"You've stirred up worse messes, remember Henry Hill?" Shame washed over him; he knew she was right, but even now he couldn't bring himself to regret how he'd handled it.

"We did what we had to do," he said wearily, hand clutching his side as he looked around. They'd all made it out unscathed – except him, for once – but now they had to move. If he didn't give Garrett his chance to betray them … Billy shuddered and looked at Jessie, imagining her broken and lifeless. "Come on, let's get those chains off."

Doc turned, the breeze blowing his hair, his arms folded across his chest. "You knew something was going to happen," he accused in a dead tone. "Why else would you have Jessie tell us to get our wives out of Fort Sumner?"

"Doc," Pat drawled. "In case you hadn't noticed, you're all wanted."

"We were given amnesty."

"You're riding with someone who wasn't." Doc's eyes narrowed.

"So are you, Garrett."

"I –"

"All right, all right. Enough." Billy shoved his way into the middle, ignoring the pain in his side. He couldn't stand to listen to Garrett proclaim how much of a friend he was when Billy now knew otherwise. Maybe it really had been an accident, that night at Sumner, maybe it had haunted Garrett. But he wasn't counting on that. "We're going back to Fort Sumner, get Yen and Susie, then we're getting out."

"Out?" Jessie blinked. "But –"

"I'm not sure where, yet," he interrupted. He didn't want to say, actually, not with Garrett listening. And the less said about those pardons the better. Billy turned, found Chavez watching him with a quiet stillness that didn't bode well.

He knew it was stupid to think they wouldn't notice he was different, even trying to keep his changes to a minimum until Garrett turned, but he wasn't ready to explain anything. Hell, they wouldn't believe him anyway.

"All right." Jessie touched his shoulder and he wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and hold her forever. When he'd seen Firestone drawing down on her … he could have lost it all again in a split second.

But she wouldn't welcome him, not now. Billy contented himself with squeezing her arm and turned to face the rest of them. "We're going back to Sumner." His gaze ranged far off into the distance, drifting past his friends and into the past, watching decisions he couldn't change. "I don't know where we'll go after that, but there's no room for us here anymore." He tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "No room for me," he said quietly.

"You mean we're giving up?" Dave moved to prop his hands on his hips, the chain pulled tight, and he ended up waving his bound hands around like a worked up preacher. "Billy the Kid, slinking away with his tail between his legs? Maybe I don't want you in my gang anymore."

"It ain't your gang, Dave," Billy and Jessie snarled in perfect unison, a chill scraping down his spine as two lifetimes merged into one yet again. It scared him how often the little incidents were repeating themselves. What chance did he really have?

"If you want out," Jessie continued, her stance resembling a rattler poised to strike, "Go on, we're not stopping you." Dave shifted his weight, giving his chained hands a pointed glance that Jessie ignored. "We'll always be the Lincoln County Regulators," she said into the deafening silence, her voice diamond hard. "No matter where we are." Billy nodded, his throat tight. The ass in the suit was right, he'd never deserved her. "So you might want to remember just who you're talking to."

"Come on, Doc, let's get them chains off so we can get moving." They needed to return to Sumner so Garrett could make his play, after that, they'd be free.

"Deluvina." Billy cocked his head and their honorary mother followed him to the far corner of Beaver's cantina, leaving the rest of the regulators gathered at a table, supposedly waiting on his new men. He was glad he'd let her tend to his wound, a graze it might be, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell. He'd need everything he had for what was coming.

As far as he was concerned, if Hendry wanted to come along, he could, but Tommy … no. The kid couldn't come, he'd be better off here.

Or would he?

How could he know everything that had happened, know what he had to fix, and still not be able to do it because he didn't know what was best?

"Bilito?" Deluvina touched his arm and he forced a smile he couldn't feel.

"Could you get me a book, please? You know, a journal?" He almost asked her to find out what she could about Firestone, but the bounty hunter should cease to be a problem soon enough. After seventy years, he'd finally learned a few things, one being that knowledge was power. Another being whoever told their story first was generally believed despite later evidence to the contrary.

"Of course." She kissed his cheek and bustled away before he could tell her thank you. Billy turned, studying Garrett where he sat beside the bar, oiling his rifle. This time around, old Pat wasn't going to be the only one with a tale to tell.

He was going to write out everything that had happened in Lincoln County from the day Tunstall was murdered up to the very end, whenever and however it found them. The pardons were a good start, but only helpful if Lincoln County would honor them – which they wouldn't if Rynerson was any indication.

He needed more, They needed the weight of public opinion on their side, the influence of men who could give them a voice in Santa Fe. Writing letters to the paper had worked for Jesse James, why couldn't something similar work for them?

Deluvina returned with a small book that she handed to him with a smile and another kiss on the cheek. Billy cracked it open and flipped through the creamy white pages, a tiny smile touching his lips. In the world before, Garrett had only been famous because he was linked to Billy and Jessie, without them, he was nothing. A tide of regret washed over him. How might history have viewed them – viewed her – if he'd given her story to a newspaper in Texas liked they'd initially planned? No one would have believed Garrett, not with Jessica Dolan's handwritten version of events thrown into their lap. If only …

Strange how a couple of books had decided their fate. He snapped the journal closed and tucked it under his arm as he rejoined his friends at the table, barely suppressing a cackle.

If presented with a second book to rival Garrett's, who would the country believe: old Pat, or the Bandit King and Queen of the Southwest?

"So, what now, Billy?" Dave leaned forward, his fingers wrapped around a shot glass. Billy glanced over and found Jessie sliding the rings on her necklace back and forth, a telling habit she'd picked up not long after the McSween fire. The necklace and rings had shown up about the same time, but where they'd come from – though he'd always had his suspicions – was none of his business.

Her head came up and their eyes met. He forced a carefree grin as the door opened and the local man led Hendry inside. He pushed the journal across the table to Jessie and stood. He had to make this believable. "Who's this?" The lanky, dark-haired man stepped out from behind the Mexican and shifted his weight nervously.

"My name is Hendry William French."

"And you want to ride with us?"

"Yeah."

"Have you ever shot anybody, Hendry William French?" Dave taunted. Hendry shook his head and Billy noticed Jessie's eyes widen slightly, her fingers clasped around the emerald ring that had frozen mid-slide on the chain.

"You ever shoot at anything?" Chavez asked quietly.

"Prairie chicken." Jessie dropped the ring and traded astonished looks with the rest of the regulators. Billy couldn't focus on their reactions, though. The moment had finally come, and within minutes, Jessie would be proven right. He drew in a deep breath and turned away, bracing himself against the closest table, hoping he looked as upset as he felt, though it had nothing to do with Hendry. A part of him, deep down, hoped his old friend wouldn't betray them, that maybe the little changes he'd already made would be enough to keep his pal from turning, but his head said otherwise.

Jessie had never been wrong before.

"So, why do you want to join my gang?" Hendry cleared his throat.

"I'm a farmer. Well, I was. Lost my wife to the pox. Then my farm –" Billy wheeled around and snatched the shotgun, breaking it open and staring down the barrel, his heart pounding. Come on, Pat. "My farm to the drought," he finished. Billy straightened and carried the gun to Garrett.

"Hey, Big Casino, how about you saw a foot off of that in case we run into trouble on the way?" His old friend took the weapon, looking decidedly uncomfortable, and Billy knew.

"Actually … I don't think I'm gonna make this one, Kid." Silence fell and Billy forced himself to laugh when all he wanted to do was cry.

"Why? You gonna stay here and scrub pots for Beaver?" How could someone he considered a friend, someone who'd ridden with them for over a year, who knew the truth was as far from the stories in the paper as the desert from the sea, how could he betray them just to make himself famous?

"I may have Beaver scrub them for me. I'm buying this place, gonna turn it into an eating house. I need to get out and make my name while I can."

"You've been riding with known men, Patsie." Billy's tongue caught on the nickname, bringing Jessie's head up a fraction, but he managed to contain his emotions. "Ain't no different than us."

"I'm settling down, Billy." Garrett headed for the door and anger flared. How dare he?

"Come on, Pat." He took a few steps towards the door. "You're one of us, you've always been one of us." Garrett halted and turned around slowly, his eyes clouded with sorrow. For them, or what he was about to do?

"I always will be, Billy." He walked out and Billy exploded.

"Go on then! We don't need you anyhow!" He wheeled away, arms crossing over his chest, and slumped against the wall, eyes stinging. He blinked furiously. How could he do it?

As much as Billy didn't want him to, Garrett knew about the pardons. He had to realize that no matter what offer Lincoln County had made him, they couldn't be tried in any court, not just in the territory, but in the country. How could he hope to make his name by capturing two "outlaws" who would be turned loose almost as fast as he brought them in – if he could even manage to accomplish that much.

"One of these days, he's gonna stop thinking and start doing." A chill ran down his spine and Billy shivered. He was at that, no doubt about it. But now that Garrett had made his move, Billy could make his, and it would be the biggest change of all.

"Gotcha!" He whirled around in time to see Beaver haul Tommy our from under a table and drag him over to the spittoon. "Go on, eat out of my ashcans!" Billy moved before anyone could do more than blink. He crouched behind Beaver, cocking his gun in the older man's ear. A nervous pair of eyes met his and he forced back the memory of the man promising he would weep for Jessie as she was laid to rest under Billy's name. A hard swallow caught in his throat and he forced levity into his tone.

"Howdy, Beaver." He untangled the kid and led Tommy to the table. Dave eyed him like he'd lost his mind, but Billy didn't care. With what he had in mind, why shouldn't he let Tommy join them? They'd be safe, forever, as long as they kept their heads down.

"What's this?"

"This," Billy clapped his hand on Tommy's shoulder, "is the Prince of Pennsylvania." Dave rolled his eyes and Jessie looked like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. But of course she'd react like that, when she thought they were headed out to tackle a fight for their lives. His new choice should please her immensely. "Doc, as soon as Yen and Susie are ready we're leaving." A ring of faces stared at him, most confused, but one so very hopeful that he couldn't help but smile. "Saddle up, boys – and ladies – we're going to Mexico."

And this time, he meant it. Just as soon as they stopped and picked up some cattle to sell.