It was feeling like Arthur had gone back in time. Here he found himself once again, locked up in a goddamned cell after a bar fight. Hell, he half expected Hosea to waltz in, brandy bottle in hand as a peace offering, ready to charm the policeman into letting him go and scold him afterwards for being such an idiot.

But Hosea was never coming to bust him out again. He ain't got no one close enough to do that these days except Charlotte.

Arthur was a complete fool when it came to her. He wanted to protect her, but he knew she was stubborn, more than him sometimes. Why the hell had he thought growling and snapping at her would work? That showing his ugly side for a moment would frighten her off? It hadn't worked in the past and it didn't work this time neither.

He'd startled her, sure, but then a certain resolution had settled over her features and he ain't had the words to stop her after that.

Shit, he hoped she weren't out there getting herself into trouble over him. If she was wise, she'd gone straight back to saloon and stayed in the room 'til morning. But he knew her better than that. Charlotte loved him, didn't make sense why.

Goddammit. What the hell had he been thinking? He'd just sacrificed his quiet life with Charlotte to help out Karen, who hadn't seemed too grateful over it.

Karen...

Arthur sighed. She'd slipped his mind, not only these months, but in the time there'd still been a gang to go back to. He'd tried to help Karen at camp after Tilly's warning, but she'd been one person too many for him to keep track of once he got involved with all that shit in the end with Dutch.

He suspected she'd turned fully to drink because of Sean's passing and maybe...maybe she just couldn't get off it. Despite that reasoning, they'd all lost people, friends. Arthur understood her pain, but she had to get herself out of it first. After that, he didn't know.

The worst of it was, Karen still could be a lost cause and he'd thrown away his last chance of normality for good.

Arthur lifted his head as he heard a train whistle. The sound of it had his spirits plunging. He and Charlotte were supposed to have been on that train.

An hour later, as the sun's rays glared through the windows, Officer Pitts woke up from the bed across the room. He stretched, put on his boots and hat and made his way over to the desk.

Pitts glanced at the place where Arthur's poster had been hanging before Charlotte snatched it and frowned, likely realizing something was missing, but not knowing what.

Arthur sat up on the cot. "Hey, buddy, you wanna let me out now? I didn't kill no one." This time.

"I can't put my finger on it. I know you. I know I do." Pitts scratched chin and threw a question at him. "You ain't one of Ike Scalding's bounty hunters, are you?"

Them boys that planned on taking Sean in before he, Javier and Charles got involved. "Thought all of them was dead."

Pitts narrowed his eyes. "You weren't part of old O'Driscoll's gang, were you?"

"No." The accusation offended Arthur, but the bastard was getting warmer.

Pitts snapped his fingers. "I know!"

Arthur straightened, but tried not to react much more than that as Pitts opened a drawer in his desk and shuffled some papers around. When he turned around again, he was clutching another goddamn bounty poster.

It was an older notice than the one Charlotte had stolen. This one had been put out after he, Karen and Javier had held up the Bank of Arizona, in Tucson. Years before Blackwater. Damn. How had one reached so far east before he even got here? And how many of them posters were there in the world?

Officer Pitts declared, "You're one of Dutch's Boys."

The man weren't wrong, but Arthur scoffed at him. "That ain't me."

"Oh, really?" Pitts looked between him and a younger version of himself. "I reckon there's a likeness."

Luckily, not a good one no more. "I've just got an unfortunate face."

"Alright, pal, there's no way you can sit there and tell me—"

Suddenly, the door to the jailhouse flung open and a frantic woman burst in. "Monsieur! Monsieur, si'l vous plait, you must help me!"

Officer Pitts turned from the cell and addressed the woman. "What's the trouble, miss?"

"Oui, oui. Trouble."

It was Charlotte, her face painted in a way that made her lips larger and her eyes wider. Her straight, dark hair curled into ringlets that swept down to rest on...

Arthur's eyes widened. On her pushed up breasts nearly spilling over the edge of a corset that trimmed her figure. With the French accent, he hardly recognized her.

Arthur tensed, but tried not to react too much to knowing her, in case the cop noticed. What in the hell was she doing?

She clasped her hands together, expanding her already precarious bosom. "I need help."

"Sorry, ma'am. I can't leave my post until the sheriff returns or my partner gets in." Pitts worked at his collar, as if it was tightening on his neck.

"But you must!" She threw herself against the lawman in a way that had Arthur getting to his feet. Her eyes welled up with tears. "S'il vous plait, monsieur. You are the only one."

"I...uh.." Officer Pitts flushed, looked up and away.

Arthur's fists tightened. He didn't know where this was leading, but he didn't like it.

Pitts relented. "Maybe I can help. If it's quick."

"Oui, oui. My carriage. Broken."

"Couldn't your driver fix it?"

She drew the back of her hand to her forehead in a dramatic fashion. "Attacked. And, I, hardly able to escape."

"I'm sorry such a thing happened to you, ma'am."

Under her lashes, Charlotte cast a brief peek behind Pitts that thankfully the cop didn't notice because it would have drawn attention to Karen Jones poking her head in from the back door. She made a motion at Charlotte to hurry up.

What the hell had these two cooked up?

"Where's the carriage, ma'am?"

Charlotte's face went blank for a moment. Probably because the woman didn't know nothing about this area.

She made a vague motion behind him. "That way."

Pitts asked skeptically, "Over the train tracks?"

To make up for her mistake, she clutched at the cop's shirt. "I do not know. I am turned around." She dropped her head on his chest and began to weep.

"Alright, alright, miss. No need to get upset." He patted her back. "Let's go take a look."

She lifted her head. "Merci, merci, merci."

Charlotte pulled his hand and started towards the door when she stopped for some reason. She frowned and swayed in place.

Her accent dropped as she murmured, "Oh my..." before collapsing to the floor.

The drop itself looked too painful to be part of the act. Arthur pressed against the bars and called out, "Charlotte!"

Officer Pitts had knelt beside her, but he looked up at Arthur's yell. "Wait a minute. You know this lady?"

Fully in the room now, Karen muttered, "Shit. There goes the plan."

Pitts swung behind him, a confused frown forming. "Karen?"

She shrugged and pointed Charlotte's gun at him. "Sorry, Lou."

"What the hell's—"

"Get me out of here!" Arthur snarled, worried for Charlotte. He hadn't taken his eyes off her.

Karen bumped Pitts with her gun. "You heard him. Throw your keys."

"You've lost it this time, Karen."

"I ain't asking twice."

Pitts undid the keys from his belt and begrudging threw them at the cell. Arthur fumbled a bit, trying to get the key in without being able to see the hole. It was an eternity, but only a moment later when the lock clicked and Arthur pulled up the lever and pushed open the door.

Karen commented, "Her fainting wasn't part of the act."

"I guessed that much," he said harshly.

Arthur rushed to her side and gently lifted her. She was breathing softly. "Charlotte?" He cast worried eyes to Karen. "What the hell's wrong with her?"

"I don't know," Karen said. "Maybe the corset's too tight."

Arthur wanted to rip the damn thing off, but he didn't know where to start with it. With his luck, he'd tighten it and make it worse. He looked to Karen again, but pleadingly this time.

"Christ, Arthur, how'd you make it this far in life without knowing how to loosen those things?"

Charlotte's eyes fluttered open and she stirred awake. "Why am I on the floor?"

"You fainted."

She murmured, "I swear, I've never fainted for a moment before I met you."

He loosed a smile, but his heart was beating hard from fear. "Guess I forgot to tell you I got that affect on women." He rested a hand on her powdered cheek. "You okay?"

"Yes. Just felt dizzy for a moment." She gave a small smile. "A bit too much excitement for me, I think." She searched his eyes. "What about you?"

"Ain't the first time I've spent a night or two in a cell."

"Well, I hope it's the last."

"You ain't gonna get away with this," Pitts interrupted stubbornly.

While he'd been cradling Charlotte, Karen had been forcing Pitts to open up the locked gun case and taking the contents. Arthur helped Charlotte to her feet, slipping off his coat and dropping it on her naked shoulders.

"I can't believe you're consorting with an outlaw, Miss Jones."

Karen rolled her eyes. "Since you ain't guessed it yet, I am an outlaw, Lou."

"But..." He put his hands down, staring at her as if he didn't know her. "But you and I...we...you've been a criminal this whole time?"

"Yep. It ain't nothing personal."

Pitts shook his head dejectedly. "There ain't no way Sheriff Thomas makes me his deputy after this mess up."

Beside him, Charlotte murmured, "Well, I feel awful now."

"Here." Karen tossed Arthur his gun belt. He caught it and she commented, "By the way, nice beard, Arthur. You got birds nesting in there?"

"Shut up." Arthur belted his guns so they rested on his hip. "We need to get the hell outta here."

Karen tilted her head at Pitts. "What do we do with him?"

What should they do with him? The man knew who he was, heard him call Charlotte's name and was familiar with Karen. Deputy or not, if they kept him alive he could make their life trouble, no doubt about that.

Before he'd fully decided, gunshots and yipping sounded from outside.

Thinking Karen was behind it, he looked to her. "What the hell is that?"

"Don't sound good, whatever it is." She kept her gun trained on Pitts and dragged him to the window with her. Arthur and Charlotte went to the other together.

"Shit."

Arthur frowned. It looked like a damn army outside. At least two dozen of them, uniformed men, some on horses and all of them armed. "Raiders?"

"I knew there were too damn many of 'em hanging around last night." Karen shook her head. "Crazy sons of bitches are finally doing it."

"What do they want?" asked Charlotte.

"I can tell you one thing, they ain't here for us."

As if on cue, the leader of the army stepped forward and hollered, "If you don't wanna die in that jailhouse, Louis, come out with your guns holstered."

Pitts paled at the demand and Arthur grumbled, "They couldn't wait 'til we were long gone before they tried takin' back the south?"

"Them Raiders have been waiting for an opportunity to overrun this town since you killed all them Gray boys."

Arthur stiffened, not looking at Charlotte. "It weren't all me."

Karen continued, "Sheriff's out of town. It's the perfect opportunity to seize it."

The man from outside yelled, "Surrender quietly, Louis, and we won't kill you!"

"This ain't their town." Pitts straightened. "I'm gonna talk some sense into them."

"Talk?" Karen said in disgust as she lowered the gun.

"I am the law. They have to hear me out and realize they're making a mistake."

"Last warning, Louis. You got thirty seconds."

It went against every goddamn instinct he had, but Arthur stepped up to the cop and declared, "I'll go out there with him."

Karen crossed her arms. "This ain't gonna work."

Arthur gestured outside. "They got more men than we got bullets. I want to get outta here alive. Do you?"

She glared at him. "They ain't gonna listen."

"Probably not. You wanna keep watch from the window?"

"I guess I can do that."

Arthur moved to the door when Charlotte caught his arm. He turned, expecting to find her about to object and him with no time to put her at ease.

Instead, she told him softly, "Be careful, Arthur."

"I will." He squeezed her arm to reassure her. "Stay low. I don't see this goin' nowhere but wrong."

She reached up and kissed his cheek. Arthur faced Pitts and asked, "You ready for this?"

Pitts nodded and yelled to the Raiders, "I'm coming out. Don't shoot."

Arthur followed Pitts out onto the porch, both of them raising their hands. It was even worse than it looked from the inside. These Raiders got mean, battle-ready looks to them. None were pointing their guns yet, but they wanted to. Karen was right. There'd be no reasoning with any of these crazies.

"You-you..." Louis cleared his throat and tried to sound confident. "You boys need to clear out now before Officer Fink and Sheriff Thomas sees you and we have to arrest the lot of you."

"That ain't gonna happen, Louis."

Officer Fink made his way to stand next to the Raiders' leader.

Pitts looked taken back. "Ollie? What are you doing?"

"Looks like he ain't in the runnin' for deputy no more," Arthur muttered.

"I woulda been deputy if it weren't for you, Louis. For awhile, I was thinking I'd get some sway in what happens 'round here, but Sheriff Thomas remains too stiff-necked about my friends."

"You're supposed to uphold the law in Rhodes, Fink. Not play favorites."

"It's going farther than Rhodes, Louis. We'll get this country back running the way its supposed to. Today, Rhodes. Tomorrow, Saint Denis."

They were more delusional than he'd thought possible. Arthur tried to get his say in, "How abouts you fellers let me and the ladies leave? You can keep the goddamn town."

"'Fraid we can't do that, partner."

"Why the hell not? We don't care about none of this. "

"You punched my friend."

Christ. They really did play favorites.

Pitts said bravely, "I reckon, you all better head out before Sheriff Thomas sees you disgracing the badge like this."

"I've had enough of you, Louis." Fink brought up his cattleman revolver and shot his former colleague.

Soon as he raised that gun, Arthur saw everything slow. The shot cracked out and he had to make a split second choice then. Start shooting back or take cover. He grabbed Pitts' arm and pulled him back. Yet, he knew the shot hit when Pitts collapsed against him with a groan.

Lucky for Arthur, they weren't alone. As he dragged the officer by the armpits into the jailhouse, Karen held off what she could from the window. Arthur kicked the door shut and laid the officer out on the floor.

Charlotte crouched beside him, cloth in hand. Immediately, she pressed her hands to Pitts' shoulder wound. He moaned again in pain, writhing slightly.

Arthur coughed some, but managed to ask, "Is he dying?"

"No." Charlotte pushed up her sleeves and inspected the wound. "I don't think the bullet hit any major arteries."

"Good." Arthur stood and took a position on the opposite window of Karen. Bullets were smashing into the wood and cracking the windows so he kept low.

"You ready for this?" she asked him.

He glanced at Charlotte. She was paying him no mind, focusing all her attention on keeping Pitts breathing.

"Don't tell me you've gone soft, Arthur."

"No." These bastards weren't no lost lives in his opinion. But Charlotte had a higher regard for human life than he did.

Karen narrowed her eyes on him and said, "You want her judging you or you want her dead?"

"Goddamn it." She was right. None of it mattered if they were all killed. He'd rather beg forgiveness on taking these bastards lives than see another person he cared about gunned down.

Arthur asked her, "How's your shot these days?"

Karen grinned at him ruthlessly. "I guess we're about to find out."

While Arthur focused grimly on taking these Raiders down one by one, Karen seemed to relish in the job, like she ain't seen action in years and each killing was renewing her enjoyment of it. He shook his head. If they made it out of this alive, they got to have a serious talk.

For himself, Arthur tried going for the less fatal hit when he could, but he still ended up killing his fair share. These damn Raiders were relentless and Arthur couldn't take the time to spare their lives after awhile if he didn't want to end up dead himself.

It took ages, but once he and Karen felled over a dozen of them, they started clearing off. At least, that's what Arthur thought was going on until he saw the remaining Raiders making way for something much worse.

A wagon was pulling up and mounted to the back of it, a gatling gun.

"Shit."

With no regard for herself, Karen pushed open the door and started firing at the wagon. She missed a fatal shot on the gunner taking position. She wounded the man's leg and he clutched it, falling to the side of the wagon. That woulda been that, but another Raider jumped up to replace him. Karen took aim again, but she was holding too long.

Arthur hauled Karen back inside just as the gatling gun started up. The bullets pummeled the building, creating a wreckage it ain't likely seen before and deafening anyone near it.

"You tryin' to get yourself killed?" he hollered.

Arthur didn't know if Karen heard him, but he didn't like the reckless look to her eyes.

Splintered wood rained over both of them, glass from the window following. Arthur said, "We gotta get that gunner out of commission."

Proving she in fact could hear him over the gunfire, Karen scowled and answered, "You're the dead eye, Arthur. You're gonna have to do it."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. This was gonna take the best of his ability. One slip up and they were all dead.

He exhaled and told her, "Draw his fire a moment."

She grinned in a manner eerily reminiscent of Sadie's wildness, kicked open the door again and began shooting out in the open. The gunner at the gatling turned his aim in her direction. When it reached her, it would tear her to shreds in a second.

It would've been a lot easier with one of Arthur's own rifles, but once the gunner started his movement towards Karen, the shot was simple enough. Arthur's hand was steady, his aim true and his trigger finger quick.

And then it was over. Silence, smoke and dust filled the air and bodies scattered the ground.

With the gatling gun out of commission, Karen picked off the stragglers on her own. There weren't many left so Arthur went to check on Charlotte and her patient.

He told her, "I reckon we got them all."

She nodded solemnly as she wiped her hands. She tilted her head at Pitts. "He'll have a scar, but I don't anticipate any infection once it's properly bandaged."

To his credit, Pitts hadn't lost consciousness even though sweat beaded his brow and blood soaked his shoulder. He was sitting up with his back against the desk.

Arthur rested his hands on his belt and asked him, "You ready to renegotiate the terms of my imprisonment, officer?"

Pitts blanched. "My superior won't go for it."

Arthur glared at him. After all that trouble. "You might wanna reconsider your words if you don't want a matchin' wound on the other shoulder."

"Arthur." Charlotte placed a hand on his arm. He thought she might scold him for the threat. "I think Officer Pitts has had a significant amount of blood loss and is not thinking clearly."

Pitts scrambled to his feet, pointing an accusing finger. "Your friend here's an outlaw—"

Charlotte continued speaking to Arthur over the officer's words, "To think, without us here, Officer Pitts would have been overrun in seconds by his own partner."

"Maybe—"

"And without my own medical experience, he might have bled out. Dying alone as the town he was in charge of became overrun by a militia." Charlotte's hand covered her chest. "I do hope he doesn't mean to sound ungrateful after our efforts."

Pitts blinked, uncertain now. "I'm not, ma'am. But—"

"I think Ollie got away, the bastard. Didn't see him among the dead." Karen had returned, but from the back door with a bundle of clothing in her hands, commenting with irritation, "The cowards who lived took off with our stolen horses."

She handed Charlotte her coat and Arthur his hat and finally noticed the tension. "Why you three lookin' so sullen? We won."

Arthur growled, "Pitts wants to lock us up."

He said stubbornly, "The law's the law."

"What the hell you talking about, Lou?" Karen went after him now. "We saved your ass. You owe us."

"But—"

"Don't make me tell Thomas what you used to do in this jailhouse when he wasn't around."

"You can't, Karen." His face dropped and it had Arthur wondering what his relationship with the law had been before he decided he was married to it.

"I knew you'd see it my way." Karen turned to Arthur. "We should get moving, see if we can find any more horses."

"What, are you just gonna leave me?" Pitts sounded put out now, like it was a personal offense over a professional one.

"I never was one for sticking around." Karen patted his good shoulder. "Why don't you call on Nettie Mae after I'm gone?"

"Nettie Mae? Why?"

Karen rolled her eyes. "'Cause she likes you, you dumb ass."

"She does?"

Another voice, deep and angry, broke into the conversation. "What in tarnation is going on around here?"

"Jesus, now what?" Arthur muttered.

Framed in the doorway stood Sheriff Thomas, a white hat planted on his head and a large mustache covering his face, but it was the metal star over his heart that gave away his identity.

"We just survived an attack by the Lemoyne Raiders, sir." Pitts stood at attention. "Ollie was leading them."

Sheriff Thomas was eyeing each of them with suspicion, but his bushy eyebrows rose at the mention of his officer. "Fink? I knew the man had connections, but I didn't realize he was in that deep with them."

"He got away," Pitts supplied. Karen elbowed him and he offered reluctantly, "These passersby were gracious enough to assist me in defending the town."

"From the outside, it looks like it's barely standing." Sheriff Thomas nodded. "Thanks, folks, for saving my deputy."

"Deputy?" Pitts perked up excitedly.

"Don't let it go to your head, kid. Process of elimination at this point."

Maybe that was true, but Arthur thought Thomas had more sense than that.

The sheriff turned to them next and said, "I'm grateful for the help against these Raiders, but I'm gonna have to ask you to leave town and not come back."

"Excuse me?" Charlotte asked, appalled.

"I made a promise to the people of Rhodes to clean up this town of scoundrels and the like." Sheriff Thomas said, meeting Arthur's eye. "I don't need an outlaw, a harlot and a drunk hanging about and contradicting that vow."

Karen shrugged, unoffended, but Charlotte's mouth dropped open. "Harlot?"

Arthur stated, "Don't rightly know what you're talkin' about, Sheriff."

"Is that so, Mr. Callahan?" Sheriff Thomas crossed his arms. "Or shall I call you Mr. Morgan?"

Arthur shifted uncomfortably. This man knew too much.

"Or maybe you're using Fenton again nowadays?"

Shit. Way too damn much.

"Now, I need you out of my town, son. You understand?"

Arthur grunted. "Loud and clear."

"Train's come in and it's still sitting in the station."

"The second car," Charlotte exclaimed quietly. He wondered if she'd heard the early one too and been just as miserable about missing it as him.

The sheriff nodded. "I suggest you be on it if you don't want no trouble from me."

Charlotte's face twisted like she wanted to argue their case, but Arthur gripped her elbow and started leading her towards the door.

"And, Mr. Morgan?"

Arthur turned, quirking an eyebrow.

"Don't be coming back round these parts again." Sheriff Thomas' eyes drifted to Charlotte and Karen. "None of you."