Prue and Phoebe came running into the house. Prue reached the front porch first and flew onto it. She touched the door.

"Ha! You lose!"

"No fair, you got the head start!"

"How? We started at the same time!"

"You have a five-year advantage! I'm five years younger!"

"So? Your bones should be newer and faster, then."

Phoebe stuck her tongue out at Prue as the older sister went inside. She started to turn around to go back into the barn when Prue stuck her head out.

"Hey, Phoebe!"

"What?"

Prue motioned for Phoebe to come inside. Phoebe gave her sister a questionable look, but followed anyway. Prue led her up to Piper's door. They moved closer to the door and could hear soft sobs and sniffling.

Prue pushed the door open quietly. She and Phoebe could see Piper lying on the bed, a blanket covering her. The to sisters went into the room. Prue sat on the floor in front of Piper, and Phoebe laid behind her, resting her chin on Piper's shoulder so that she could somewhat see her face.

"It'll be okay, Piper," Prue said quietly.

"Yeah, I mean, we got the horses moved and all, so… that's done…" Phoebe agreed.

"We have no money," Piper pointed out without moving.

"We can ride out to see if anyone needs horses. We'll sell 'em to different towns. We can sell to the people instead of the groups, you know? And then we'll have enough money to get us through to the auction," Phoebe said.

"Yeah, right," Piper replied sarcastically.

"He's still out there, Piper, if you want to go ask him again."

"Who, Dan? I'm thinking maybe I'm done with him…"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'll ask him again, and if he doesn't tell…"

"Do what you want, Piper," Phoebe said.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

"We mean," Prue explained, "that whatever you do to him is fine by us, so long as you beat the living daylights out of him, and get the money back."

Piper laughed a little. "I sounds like it's all about the money…"

"No, you don't."

"I do. But it's much more than that. It's love… I… I was fooled by him. I was stupid to believe he was with me for the right reasons… I played the innocent girl."

"And you got burned."

"Whose side are you on, anyway?" Piper asked Prue.

"Yours. You know that. What I'm saying is you were hurt, and you need a little revenge. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Phoebe answered.

Piper nodded to agree.

(pretend this is some sort of time lapse. they won't let me put 2 parenthesis together now)

What the hell was going on here?

He rode his horse into the town, absolutely bewildered as to why this was happening. The road was stained with blood. No person was walking on the street. He road his horse slowly through the middle of the road, looking for a person--any person. He turned in the saddle and glanced behind him, wincing when he turned back. He looked down at his arm. He pulled the coat off of his right arm gently, revealing a blood stain on his upper arm. He didn't touch it.

"Damn it…" he grumbled.

He kept riding down the road until he saw a person outside. He sighed with relief and rode up next to the woman. She had dark blonde hair that was pulled up into a bun. Her light blue dress was worn, and she had a white apron tied around her waist, going down near her feet. She walked facing the outside of town, the same direction he was going.

"'Scuse me, Miss?" He rode up alongside her on the left side of the road and looked down at her.

She looked over at him, but kept up her pace walking. "You need somethin' from this town? It's safer to go to the next."

"Why's that?"

"You've been walking our streets. Look at the blood."

"I'm just lookin' for a doctor."

The woman looked up at him again. "It's outside town. I'm headed there myself. I'm his sister, Rose Barlow."

"I'll give you a ride if your brother will see me."

She stopped walking and he stopped his horse. "Fine." She took his left hand pulled herself up onto the horse behind him. There were canteens tied to his saddle, and a couple of things rolled up and tied to it, as well. She spotted a bag tied up, too. Her eye caught a shotgun sticking out of a sheath on the side of the saddle, but wasn't too worried. Everybody in her town had guns. "It's a couple minutes up the way," she told him.

He nodded.

"So where you from?"

"Not here."

"Yer probly' wonderin' why there's blood on our street…"

"No," he lied.

"There was a gun fight out here. Big one. 'Bout thirty or more people got in it over land… We're still dealin' with the aftershock…" She was silent for a few seconds. "Kinda stupid, huh? People dyin' for a few acres…"

He gave the horse a small kick and galloped instead of the fast trot they were going at. The sound of the horse's hooves on the ground made it harder to speak, but he didn't want to talk.

They got to the house and he tied his mare up to a hitching post outside the house. There was a little sign that read:

Doc. Barlow

He followed the woman inside. She called for her brother and turned back to him. He had a limp. It was slight, barely noticeable, but she knew an old injury when she saw one. "Ya gotta take yer coat off."

He pulled off his coat, being more gentle with the right arm. There was more blood stained on his arm.

"What happened?" she asked, taking a step forward.

"I met some people that didn't like me," he answered.

"Did they follow you?" Rose asked, afraid of more fighting in her town.

"No. They're goin' nowhere."

"Oh." She eyed him carefully. "Yer shirt, too."

He hesitated for a second before taking his shirt off, as well. On his right arm was a bandage, bleeding through. "Do you want me to take off my pants now?" he asked, though she knew he wasn't serious.

"No thank you, this'll do fine." Rose took another step forward and carefully unwrapped the bandage.

"It went straight through."

"I see that."

Rose's brother came down the stairs. "Yes?"

"This is my brother, David Barlow. He'll fix you up."

(pretend this is another time lapse. i'll try to think of something new that will work)

Dr. Barlow tried many times to get a story out of the stranger Rose brought in, with no success. He either answered with "yes", "no", or silence. There was definitely something or someone he was protecting. Something he didn't want others to know about him.

"So what are you, some kinda thief?"

"No."

"You lookin' a home here?"

"No."

"Well, good. You shouldn't."

"No?"

"There's nothing about this town that would make a man wanna settle."

"Who said I wanted to settle?"

"Well, you don't look married, and as far as I can see just about every man around just wants a family."

"Well, as far as I can see, you ain't done lookin' at people."

Dr. Barlow sighed. "So, Rose said you had a limp. What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Mind if I take a look?"

"Actually, I do."

"Fine."

"So what do I owe ya?"

"…Nothing. This one's on the house."

"Thanks," he said roughly, pulling on his coat. Rose led him outside to his horse. She was waiting patiently for him. He stroked the mare's mane a couple of times before climbing on her. He tipped his hat to Rose and rode away.

(another time lapse. i'm getting sick of them taking our little symbols)

That night, sitting with his horse beside a fire under a make-shift tent in the middle of nowhere, he considered the doctor's words. Settling down. He shuddered. Those were not good words. They held fear and pain and regret in them.

Family.

Another bad word.

Love.

What about that one? Nah, it wasn't a bad word… It was just… It had become an uncommon one lately. Love was something to put on the list. The list that every person with a thought for the future had. A list like 'start a business, plant a garden, find love'. It wasn't something for a list, though.

He knew plenty about love. It meant settling down. So why wasn't love a bad word? He couldn't understand that.

He looked at his horse and it hit him. Settling down meant a family. Love just meant something new that he wanted again. It didn't mean a family or a new life. And if it did, it sure wasn't as scary when he was in love.

"…Do you think we should go back?" he asked the horse.

She neighed.

"I don't want to…" he groaned. "But… There was just something about that town. There was somethin' I liked there."

The horse remained silent.

"That woman there…"

"She needs your help," the woman's voice came to him once more. He winced and closed his eyes.

"Just go," he pleaded.

"No. Not this time. Not yet." She knelt in front of him, her eyes searching his for something--anything. If there was any answer to any question, she knew she could find it in his eyes. But lately, whenever she was around him, he was even more enigmatic than usual. It frustrated her to no end. But she had a job to do. "You need to listen to me."

He looked into her eyes reluctantly and waited for her to continue.

"She needs your help. Very much so…" She sighed. "And you need hers."

"I don't need any help. I just need you to leave."

"You do need her help. As much as she needs yours… But first you need to help her. She will help you. Trust me, she will. But you need to help her first. It will be hard. It will be frustrating and confusing… You'll want to give up, but you can't. I can only pray that you won't. But I know you, and I know that you'll keep going."

"Going? Going at what?"

"Just let your heart lead you."

"Heart," he snorted. "I wouldn't trust that to lead me to my horse."

"That may be, but trust it to lead you down the right path. Trust me."

He stared into her eyes and nodded slightly. "So I have to go back…"

"Yes. You have to go back."

(last time lapse. we're back at Piper's place)

Jacob ran outside. He raced to the tree Dan was still tied up to. He was right. Piper had snapped. She was kneeling in front of Dan, the end of the barrel of her pistol against his head. She was threatening him, and Jacob knew that she would carry out her threats.

She'd hit a nerve. She was ready to do anything to get her money back. To get her dignity and pride back.

"This is the last time I will ask you this, Dan. Where is my money?"

Dan was tired. He was hungry, pissed, tired, and nearly ready to give in. But not yet. He glared at Piper and spat at her feet.

"That's not the answer I was looking for…"

"Let… me… go… Piper…" Dan said quietly, his voice threatening.

Piper knew his threats were nothing. He was tied up. "I'm tired of playing games." She cocked the pistol. "Where is it?"

Dan said nothing.

Piper sighed. She stood up and started to walk away. She looked up and saw Jacob watching from the side of the house. When she heard Dan kick his foot out in the dirt, she whirled around and fired.

A/N: Okay, if some of his thoughts were confusing, that's just my style of writing. Confusing. That's me! But it wasn't in italics because he was thinking it, but not word-for-word. And if that's even more confusing, then ignore me, because you're in for a rough road.

THEY TOOK MY PARENTHESIS!!!!!! ARRRRGH!!! I can put one parenthesis, writing, then another, but togehter, nooooooo! Next they're gonna take the letter "z", then "q", then, before you know it, we'll be writing with symbols. A grape vine will be "a", and a pencil will be "s"... We should protest to the website.

Okay, let me give you a clue of what happens in the next chapter... Clue: It's what you all wanted...kinda

Leo's in for some mood swings. I'm writing him as the reserved, quiet type who is actually very egotistic and out-there, bu if you catch him at the right moment, he's serious and brokenhearted.

That was confusing, too. Even for me. Okay, I'll just go now...