Tom Jenkins sat wanly at the breakfast table, his seedy mood heightened by the smell of sizzling bacon that Lou was cooking with deliberate gusto. As pans clanked loudly against the grate and plates were scraped noisily with a knife, the pained expression on his hung-over face increased. Eventually he was forced to make a dash for the back door when she ceremoniously placed before him a huge plate full of fried eggs, rashers of glistening bacon, and hot-buttered biscuits.

Lou smiled with grim satisfaction as she heard him empty his already empty stomach into the back garden and handed the food over to a far more grateful Teaspoon. The old marshal had slept through the night's entertainment, but he had not been surprised by Lou's report early that morning. The way Jimmy had been acting Teaspoon had seen it coming. He was afraid the young man had a tough time ahead if that was how he resolved his problems, and problems he had in abundance, that much was obvious.

Jimmy surfaced not long after but appeared to be none the worse for wear. At least Lou knew Tom would think twice before he ever tried that sort of thing again, but for Jimmy it had become a way of life. He guzzled down several cups of steaming black coffee before he turned his attention to the biscuits, saying little but seemingly unaware of the troubled stares of the other occupants of the kitchen.

"Good breakfast, Lou," he commented, as he pushed his empty plate away. "Guess you finally learnt how to cook."

Though he had not really meant it unkindly, Jimmy knew that was how it sounded. Nothing was going right ever since the day before in the parlor… and it was as frustrating as hell. For her part, Lou ignored the remark and was just glad that Kid had had some early business in town and was not there to take offence. Cholo made up for him though, and with barely disguised disgust he pushed his chair away from the table and stomped out into the yard. It was all he could do not to confront the cocky young man who, in just one afternoon, had destroyed the peace he was used to at the Sweetwater ranch.

Lou sighed and wanted to explain to her faithful foreman that Jimmy wasn't really like this, that he was just upset over something and they would have to sort it out. Then he would see what a good man Jimmy really was. Lou wanted Cholo to know this, to know that he didn't need to protect her. The old Mexican doted on her as if she were his own daughter, the one he had lost so young. She hated him worrying for her when she was sure that all Jimmy needed to do was talk to someone. Luckily Teaspoon had the same thing in mind. When Lou asked as casually as she could what Jimmy wanted to do that day, he did not even have a chance to respond.

"Thought we'd go fishin' down at the creek," Teaspoon stated resoundingly.

Hickok opened his mouth in surprise but before he could utter a sound he caught the look in the older man's eyes and there was no mistaking that the suggestion was really an order. Wisely he offered no protest.

"Fishin'? Can we come too?" Jamie asked eagerly and his brother joined in. They loved nothing more than spending the morning at the waterhole with Teaspoon, listening to his colorful tales of the 'old days' when he was a boy in Texas.

"Not today, son," he said with gruff kindness. "Me an' your Uncle Jimmy'll go today and then we can go together tomorrow."

"Pwomise?" Adam looked at him warily.

"I promise. Now scoot, the pair o' you…" Teaspoon waited as the boys bustled out of the room to play. "Jimmy?"

Teaspoon headed for the door and waited for him to get to his feet. Jimmy glanced hastily at Lou as if she was his last chance at salvation before he would have to face being alone with the sternly disapproving Teaspoon. It was going to be a long morning.

The two men sat by the creek bed but surprisingly Teaspoon had not said a word, except to comment on the way the fish were biting. Jimmy was not sure if this wasn't worse than an interrogation—at least then he would know where he stood with his old friend and mentor. But after more than an hour, Teaspoon stubbornly refused to broach the one subject that was the reason he had dragged Jimmy out here.

"Alright, you ain't gonna say it?" Jimmy finally cracked, tossing his fishing pole on the ground. "You ain't gonna start yellin' about how I been actin' since I came? How I shouldn't have treated Kid and Lou like that after not seein' then so long, how I ain't got no right showin' up like I did causin' trouble… "

"What's the point, son? You already know," replied Teaspoon, lazily tugging at his line. "I just figured you'd wanna talk about why you did."

"Well, you thought wrong," Jimmy snorted angrily and stared unseeing at the rippling water before him. Teaspoon said nothing and just waited.

"Thing is, I don't know why," Hickok piped up after a couple of minutes. "I ain't been thinkin' straight."

"Why's that then?"

"Don't ask me. Last week everythin' was just fine and now I don't know if I'm comin' or goin'. I don't know what's wrong with me, Teaspoon."

The old man seemed to ponder this a while, scratching his unshaven chin thoughtfully. "Maybe you do at that, you just don't wanna admit it."

"What d'you mean?"

"Why'd you come back to Sweetwater after all this time? Why ain't you a lawman in some town, doin' somethin' worthwhile? Why're wastin' your life drinkin' and playin' cards? What are you doin' back here, son?"

"Well, Lou sent me a letter, I wanted to see her… and Kid." The pause was hastily covered up, but not lost on Teaspoon. He raised an eyebrow at him.

"And now that you're here?"

"Now I don't know. I just don't know."

"Well, son, I think you'd better work it out. You gotta face up to the real reason you came back, no matter how hard it is, no matter what happens."

Jimmy's brow darkened at the words. That was what he was afraid of.