Hi, so here is another chapter and we only have three more left! Thank you all so much for continuing to read this story and if you can please let me know what you think.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.

And in terms of events here, I like Wade, I like the character of him, I like the relationship that he had with John-Boy both in Season 3 and in Season 4. I liked the friendship and I wish that he could have stayed on throughout the series especially as so many of the other characters did eventually leave. Vera...well...Vera I really did not like simply because she came across as cold and unlikable, unwilling to change and frankly reckless as hell about her and her unborn baby's life. She acted very rude and entitled in both episodes that she was in and her willingness to blame John-Boy for giving her husband a bit of hope while all she seemed to do was drag him down and then blame him reminded me very much of gaslighting. Not sure if that was the intention but I like to think she disappeared or died or Wade grew some balls and divorced her and he found someone who made him happy in the end. That probably didn't happen but it's a nice thought anyway.

Anyway, rant over, please enjoy the chapter and thanks for indulging me.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

Please Read and Review and let me know what you think.

Guardians And Gladiators

Chapter 11-Infants Of The Spring

John-Boy awakens properly and tries to ease things over with the family and their kin and it works…kind of. And then Wade arrives.

John-Boy woke up the next morning.

Jason who had been watching his brother in and out of the night felt his smile come to his face and gently at his brother's raised eyebrow (his whole demeanour better than when he had woken up the night before) stood up feeling the muscles in his back pop and crack a little and gently went round to shake his father awake.

For a second his Daddy looked at him and then his eyes slid to John-Boy.

"I'm gonna go and call Ike" Jason said softly. "Let the family know. I'll come back in as soon as I'm done and I'll get the Doctor while I'm there and bring him back as well"

It was said partly because of truth and partly said because he knew that his parents needed some time with their eldest son, his own nerves were stretched to the brink and close to snapping so God only knows (said reverently) what his mother and father must have gone through. Everyone had gone home but it was morning, dawn breaking out through the glass windows and creating patterns on the floor as Jason shut the door on his parents and John-Boy and he leaned against the white washed wood and closed his eyes and just simply breathed in and out.

When he was sure that he could speak without bursting into tears he opened his eyes again and wiped them and then with a purpose he had clung to so many times before in his life he went down the corridor to the little phone and told the operator (not Miss Fanny, thankfully because he was not in the mood for this piece of gossip to be passed around the county) and he asked for a call to be placed for Ike Godsey's General Merchandise Store.

Ike picked up after three rings.

"Ike?"

"Ike it's Jason"

"Jason?"

"He's awake, he's alive…he's going to be okay I think"

There was a long pregnant pause and then when Ike spoke his voice was filled with some kind of emotion that Jason didn't understand. He didn't understand that Ike had been suffering with them too. That he had been with their parents in these last few days where the world had dimmed to a hospital corridor, a chapel and then a hospital bed. He didn't understand that then. Later, years later when he was in uniform and John-Boy was back in a hospital bed he would but then again…that was a future that he didn't know was awaiting him yet.

Jason was always going to side with peace. He was a war baby. There was no way he wasn't going to side with the idea of peace.

"Thank God" was all Ike said. "Thank God. Listen I'll get out there and let your grandparents know"

"Thanks Ike"

"Listen I should let you know. Wade's on his way up"

"Wade?"

"He stopped by this morning at the crack of dawn. Woke me up. He's…he's alright he just wanted some coffee. I got the impression he'd hit the moonshine and he gave me some of Boon's sour mash but…but he said he wanted to be there. He wanted to apologise"

"Apologise?"

"Yeah and listen I know your Mamma and your Daddy are pissed Jason and rightly so but he looked…I don't know how to describe it but he certainly seemed gutted. He was spaced out and talking…I don't know but I got the impression the shooting had triggered him. Took him back to the Navy. I don't think he would start anything but you might want to mention it to your Daddy. I think he wants to speak to John-Boy. And my two cents? I think you should let him. I'm not sure Martha Corrine and Boon are going to apologise. He might"

Jason scrubbed a hand over his face and wondered briefly if it was too much if he scrubbed his eyes out so he didn't have to decode what Ike had said.

Wade was on his way.

And Ike was right. With Wade it might be the closest thing to an apology that they got. Wade was unpredictable but he was the same age as John-Boy almost and he had formed a bond. They had formed a bond, both of them looking at the other and seeing how life could have been if things had been different.

More than kin and less than kind he thought and then he smiled in spite of himself. He really needed to get some sleep.

"Thanks Ike. How's the moonshine?"

"Oh it's good. Not Judge Baldwin good but not terrible. I might have to save it for those special occasions. One glass was enough for me"

Jason laughed.

"Thanks Ike"

"No worries and Jason…Jason I am so, so happy for you all. I'll tell the Sherriff and the Baldwin sister's as well. And Yancy and Miss Hunter and the Reverend. Everyone's been…well…everyone's been so, so worried"

And then he was gone before Jason could point out that he might get another couple of jars of moonshine and that it was oddly emotional to think that so many people had been in their corner on the longest night of their lives.

"Jason"

"Jesus!"

It was Wade.

Speak of the devil.

"Wade"

"Jason"

"He's awake"

Wade blew out a breath. He looked as tired as Jason felt and he shoved his hands into pockets curled into fists.

"Good" he said finally. "Jason I…I didn't want any of this to happen. I like John-Boy. I like him very much. He's the closest thing to a friend I've had in a long time and I like him and this was not what I wanted."

"I know" Jason said because Wade would not be here if he didn't mean all that he had said. And looking at him in his shabby overalls and the two day shadow and the red rimmed eyes and the heartbreak over everything that had happened (not to mention the strong whiff of moonshine that was coming off him) and it was enough to make Jason's heart bleed a little.

Maybe Ben was right, maybe he was too soft for this world.

"I know" and then because he was desperate for something to say he said…

"How's Vera?"

Wade rolled his eyes.

"Not good. She thinks we should have stayed there and fought. I mean the stubbornness is one of the reasons why I love her believe me but sometimes it drives me to distraction. I don't think she gets how close we came to total annihilation up there and it eggs Boon on"

"And Martha Corrine"

"Sad, sour and sick. She knows she's lost, she knows she has to give it all up. She's started packing and it's dwarfed her. I know she's a hard woman and I know she's made things complicated for herself but if you could see her now Jason with all her pride at her feet and all her dreams destroyed you'd feel sorry for her. I think even Blake feels sorry for her now. Doesn't stop him from parking his truck at the bottom of her road as if he's waiting for her to change her mind but at least the blasting has stopped"

Jason sighed.

"I am sorry" he said finally. "I know things were said"

"I heard your Grandma punched Boon clean out"

"Yeah"

Wade cracked a smile.

"Please tell me it was good?"

Jason shouldn't have indulged him but…

"He fell back into a chair"

Wade crammed a hand into his mouth his eyes dancing with mirth.

"No?"

"Yeah. And before that my sister started on him, used the kind of language that you only hear in the Navy I suppose. Shocked him too. I don't think he's used to being told what to do"

"It aint that" Wade said grinning. "It's more to do with strong woman. Boon's been living under his Momma's thumb for a long time. Too long if you ask me. His wife didn't raise so much as an eyebrow to him and Vera just shrugs and says that she knows her place. Your lot turning up and voicing opinions just as clearly as the men did threw him."

"It's a brave new world out there" Jason said solemnly.

"Aye" said a voice behind them "That it is"

They both turned.

It was Daddy leaning against the wall.

"Look" Wade said suddenly. "I aint here for a fight but I can give you one. I just…I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. This was not what I wanted."

Jason thought that his Daddy was going to be harsh, certainly he had expected him too be but his Daddy instead eyed Wade for a second longer and then nodded.

"I know that son"

"I know that Martha Corrine has done nothing to earn your help but…but she needs someone up there with her. She's broken Mr Walton and…"

"I am not going up to those mountains ever again" his father said flatly. "But I don't speak for my wife and I don't speak for my son and I don't speak for my parents."

Wade eyed him for a second and then nodded.

"That's fair" was all he said finally.

"John-Boy has backed up your story that it was an accident" his Daddy said quietly. "One of the first things he said after he had heard what had happened. I don't know yet Wade if it changes things for me. Do you understand?"

Wade's jaw clenched a little but he nodded.

"Yes Sir"

For a second his father looked almost amused by something but then he shook his head.

"No you don't son. You won't until you hold that baby in your arms for the first time. When you do, then you will understand"

His Daddy said it with such finality that there was nothing else to be said and Wade watched him as if he wanted to ask a thousand and one questions. Jason thought about being that old and yet being so young and being a father and thought that Wade and his Daddy were the same age when they had both been handed babies. There was so much to know and yet so much unknown.

God the lack of sleep was getting to him.

Wade chewed his bottom lip for a second and then stuck his hand out. His Daddy took it. Jason breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't realised he was holding in.

"John-Boy could do with seeing you" his Daddy said finally. "Don't try and upset him. My wife is in the chapel. You've got ten minutes"

Wade looked almost pathetically grateful and then he was gone with a short nod.

"That was nice of you" Jason said finally watching Wade slip through the door.

"Yeah well…I'm a swell kind of guy"

Jason didn't know how to respond to that.

"Did he drive here?"

"He didn't say"

"Probably did" his Daddy said eyes on the door. "If he did when he goes you go with him. You look dead on your feet son, you need to sleep"

"No arguments here" Jason said, his entire body was craving the softness of his bed and the warmth of his covers and the mind numbing safety that was sleep.

"When do you sleep?" he asked finally. His Daddy smiled.

"When John-Boy is back home" he said and Jason didn't know what to say to that. He wasn't a parent he didn't…he didn't know. He didn't want to know. He never wanted to relive a week like this one again.

"Jason" his Daddy said finally. "I am so proud of you son"

"Don't be" Jason said shaking his head. "I didn't do anything"

"Yes" his Daddy said finally. "You did so, so much son"

And then his Daddy was opening his arms and Jason was stepping into them and they were hugging and Jason tried to pour a lot into this hug. He tried to say everything that suddenly he was too emotional to say. He didn't know if his Daddy understood.

He liked to think he did.

"You know" his Daddy said into his hair. "You know I blinked and you grew up, you, John-Boy, Mary-Ellen, Ben, Erin. You all grew up and I don't know where and when it happened but somehow…"

Jason didn't know what to say to that. He just knew that he was safe, he just knew that here in his Daddy's arms he was safe from the outside world with it's highways and it's shoot outs and it's kin and kith going to war on the dirt roads like it was the beginnings of this country and not the 1930s.

Eventually thought they pulled back and Jason rubbed hand over his face.

"Jason…would you mind…" his Daddy got this pensive look over his face when he was speaking then and Jason wondered if he was thinking off what to say the way John-Boy did when he came upon a complicated storyline that he couldn't complete.

"Daddy?"

"Could you ask if your Grandpa would come to the hospital? I think…I think…hatred is such a wasted emotion son. You have no idea…" he shook his head and then with an effort that Jason had never seen before he pulled himself out of his thoughts and turned his attention back to Jason.

"Could you ask him son"

"Yeah Daddy, course I will"

"Good, good."

Jason looked at him and thought for the first time that age had crept up on the strong man in front of him the same way age had crept up on him.

"Daddy?"

"Hmm…"

"You know everything's gonna be okay now don't you?"

His Daddy gave a long slow smile and it filled Jason with a warmth that he desperately needed.

"Yeah son. Yeah I know it's gonna be okay now. Now I'm gonna go grab some coffee. Let your Mamma know what the plan is won't you and get some sleep"

Jason nodded.

For the first time since Ike had arrived he felt lighter.

For the first time since he had gotten to the hospital he felt like things were looking up for them, the Walton family.

Please God let things stay that way.

Please God.

And there you go, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-John and Zeb finally come full circle about John-Boy's shooting. Mary-Ellen gains a new perspective on things.