"Jed, concentrate!" He accompanied the words with a firm cuff to the head which drew his companion's attention and he turned to glare at him, rubbing the spot where the hand had landed.

"I wish you'd stop doing that! It gets old real quick!"

Archie responded evenly, easily ignoring the boy's irritation. "Not as old as you being so easily distracted by every pretty little gal in a dress gets, trust me. I've spoken to you three times and you ain't heard me once!"

Jed had the grace to look a little embarrassed and mumbled. "Sorry, Sir. I'll pay more attention."

The old man laughed then, aware of just how little that promise really meant, despite Jed's best intentions. "You say that every time, but it don't seem to make much difference." He paused before adding. "I think sometimes your brain's anywhere but your head, son."

Jed opened his mouth to disagree then shrugged and said with a small slightly sad smile. "Heyes was always saying that too."

Archie looked at him and his face softened some at the wistful tone in his young charge's voice and said briskly. "Well, the sun's been up for more than hour, you've ate enough to feed a small army, so I'm figuring it's time we got to shooting. "

Jed's face lit up at the thought and he said eagerly. "I practised real hard while you was," Jed paused as he groped for a word and Archie grinned when found it. "Busy yesterday." The boy's inherent politeness and occasional lack of worldliness both amused and charmed him. Ellie had certainly kept him good and busy for quite some time.

XXX

Archie stood behind Jed and gently corrected his stance and moved the gun in his hand a tad to the left. He also carefully adjusted the boy's grip, before standing back to watch the results of his correction. "You weren't far off, but I think you'll find this is even better for you." Jed nodded, took a breath and then fired off five quick shots. Every single one of them hit their targets dead centre, when the last couple of times, two of them had landed slightly off to the right.

Archie was impressed with the kid's progress, he'd known that first time, just how good the boy would become with a bit of direction, but even he'd been surprised at how easy he was to teach. He soaked up every instruction on how to improve like a sponge, rarely needing telling anything twice. Even more surprisingly, Archie was also finding that aside from the times that the boy's stubbornness made itself known too strongly, he was also very easy company.

Archie felt his lips twitch, when the lad turned to look at him, his manner resembling an excited pup, but keeping his face straight with an effort, he only said. "Not too shabby son." He looked at the sun and then back to Jed, catching him rubbing his right shoulder and wrist. Archie taking a moment to study him, noticed the signs of sunburn on his forehead and neck. Adding that to the obvious muscle strain that Jed was experiencing, he thought it was time for them to head back to the hotel. "I think we oughta call it a day."

"No, I'm just getting it right and we got hours till sundown."

Archie sighed, yes the boy could be as stubborn as they come, but he tried a final time. "Look, son, you overdo it, you're gonna regret it in the morning." So will I he thought ruefully, he'd learnt pretty quickly that rousting Jed out of bed was never fun, even on a good day.

"You sayin' I ain't got the stamina? I ain't ready to call it a day yet!" Jed was bristling now, all defiant pride and headstrong determination.

Archie wondered if he'd ever been this young and stupid. Then a memory of his Pa's frustration spread across his mind- yep he'd been every bit as bad. Only thing to do was let the boy learn his limits the hard way- then hopefully the lesson might stick better. "I ain't sayin' nothing, 'cept that I'm done for the day. You suit yourself. But don't expect me to go easy on you tomorrow, just cos you're sore."

Jed ignored him as he set up some more bottles and Archie shrugged, watching him as he adjusted his stance just as he'd been shown and again hit each bottle dead centre. The boy had the potential to be even better than he'd been in his prime, unless the idiot child killed himself first of course. Just before he walked away, he spoke to the boy's back. " I've plans for tonight, so unless you want to sleep in the lobby, you'd better be back before I leave."

XXX

It was just after sundown when Jed finally arrived back at the hotel. Archie was shaving in preparation to visit the saloon when the boy entered. Eyeing him carefully through the mirror, Archie hid a wince, feeling a little sympathy for the stubborn idiot. His face and neck were both beetroot red and he was favouring his right side. He grunted when he noticed Archie's gaze, but said nothing else as he unstrapped his gun, placing it on the bedpost. He removed his boots, before half collapsing face down on to the bed still fully dressed.

Archie finished getting ready and glanced down at Jed. Once he was sure he wasn't just feigning sleep, he leant down and gently ruffled his hair before exiting, locking the door behind him.

XXX

Jed came awake suddenly as a pillow hit the back of his head. He instinctively reached for the gun hung by his bed, wincing at the pain coming from his wrist and shoulder as he did so. His neck and face were still hot and his head was pounding so hard, he could swear there was a drum in there. He'd woken frequently through the night, his body far too warm with the sunburn and every time he'd moved he'd become uncomfortably aware of discomfort down his right side. He had eventually managed to fall more deeply asleep, but it hadn't felt long before he'd been dragged awake as Archie returned, humming tunelessly and far too loudly to himself. After that, Jed had mostly just dozed for the rest of the night. The last time he'd felt this lousy was that first morning after Heyes had ridden out of Greeley and he hadn't even drunk a thing this time. "Rise and shine! Day's a wasting." Beckman's irritatingly cheerful tone dragged him out of his grumpy musings.

Refusing to lift his head from the pillow, Jed mumbled into it "I hate you!"

His tormentor laughed unsympathetically before saying. "Not yet you don't son, but by the end of the day I'm betting you might. I tried to tell ya,but you knew better, leastwise now you can learn from it. You gotta be able to shoot well, no matter if you're hungover, sick or just exhausted and sunburnt from being a dumb ass. But before you do anything you're gonna clean your gun while I go eat breakfast."

Jed rolled carefully over and sat on the edge of the bed and briefly considered arguing. But as he met Archie's impassive gaze, he instead simply reached back for his weapon with his left arm with a muttered. "Yes, sir."

Jed began to clean his gun, and after a few minutes started to feel a little embarrassed. Heyes had always complained he didn't never listen. He'd always figured it was only because his friend was just two years older and trying too hard to be the boss, but now he wasn't so sure. He'd finished returning his colt to the pristine condition that Beckman insisted on, just as the door flung open and the man himself returned. Jed handed over the gun when The Bullet held out his right hand with his brow still creased in some disapproval. He looked it over with a critical eye, his expression clearing as he sniffed in a way that Jed had come to recognise as reluctant approval.

The sound brought a smile to Jed's lips, but he said nothing, merely watching carefully as Archie opened and shut the chamber a couple of times, checking for the smoothness of movement that he demanded. Finally satisfied, he passed Jed both it and a brown paper bag, which was warm and smelt delicious. "Breakfast. Figure you ain't gonna learn much with your stomach grumbling."

XXX

Archie woke late one night or more accurately early one morning, disturbed by the absence of a sound he'd become used to. His eyes flicked over to the other bed in the room and he was unsurprised, but a little concerned to find it empty. Clambering out of his own bed, he walked over to the door and lit the small lamp on the table, he blinked as the small room was flooded with light. It was with some relief that he saw that Jed's coat and saddlebags were still laid on the chair and only his clothes from today, boots and gun were gone. He'd probably not ventured far then, but Archie knew that the boy could find trouble just about anywhere, when he had a mind to.

As Archie dressed he mused on the last two days, and acknowledged that perhaps he should have said something before now. Jed had been a different kind of quiet than was his normal, not in the least bit sulky, which had been a relief, because he had little patience with such things: But he'd been distant as if miles away and tonight he'd just picked at his supper before pleading tiredness and turning in early. The gunfighter now feeling slightly alarmed, finished strapping on his weapon, grabbed his coat and quickly went in search of the kid. He was relieved to find Jed just outside the hotel sitting on the steps leading down to the street. He didn't appear to have heard him approach, but as Archie came up behind him, he looked back and said firmly before turning his head back round to stare at the ground. "I'm fine."

Jed sounded anything but fine and in the flickering light from the lamps hanging on the hotel porch behind them, Archie could easily see that he looked miserable. Sitting down next to him he said mildly. "Well, it's a strange kinda fine that brings you out here in the middle of the night."

Jed shrugged, "Ain't nothing." His voice was almost flat, but held a small tremor, that told it's own story.

Beckman snorted, hoping to get some reaction other than the distant silence of the last couple of days. "Boy, you're a terrible liar!"

Jed however didn't rise to the comment and showed no sign of saying anything else either. Archie sighed, he wasn't good at this, and besides that, it was too early and he was tired. If the boy didn't want to tell him what was bothering him, that was his own lookout; he wasn't going to push. Despite his mood over the last days, he'd been as attentive to his lessons as usual. Beckman attempted to convince himself that was all that mattered, despite the twinge he felt at the boy's melancholy.

Beckman stood, determined to leave the boy to his thoughts, but when Jed spoke he stilled, oddly pleased. "It's Heyes' birthday today. He's eighteen. First birthday since I was born that either of us have had, when we ain't been together for some part of it." Jed let out a heavy breath and said softly. "You know I can't even remember what we argued about."

"Knowing you, it was probably over a missed meal."

Jed laughed shortly, not disagreeing with the assumption it'd been his fault."We was arguing over just about everything some days, so it could easily have been that."

Archie leant down and patted him awkwardly on the shoulder. The silence stretched until Beckman cleared his throat as he came to a decision. He was never happy talking about anything personal with anyone, very aware of the trouble that the wrong person knowing too much could bring. But in the current situation he felt like it was the right thing to do. "You know Jed when I was about your friend's age, me and my big brother fell out over a girl. I dunno why, 'cos he loved her and I sure didn't. But anyways, we had a big fight and I left home in a huff. I never went back till our Pa died over ten years later. Jack had married the girl by then and they had a passel of kids. It was kinda awkward at first, 'specially as I had me a rep by then, and weren't exactly considered polite company, but we sorted it out and by the time I left we were a family again. If you're wanting to go find this Heyes of yours, you ain't gonna get no objection from me."

Jed shook his head firmly, still studying the ground. "I ain't ready yet, but maybe I will be in a little while."

Archie understood what he was saying, recognising his own stubborn pride at the time in the boy, but hoping it'd not take the kid as long as it had taken him to realise that carefully nursing a damaged ego was no real substitute for being around kin. He patted his back again and squeezed his shoulder, and as he looked down at boy's still bowed head, he thought his posture appeared a little less unhappy. He waited a couple more minutes before rubbing his hands together and saying firmly. "Well, this old man needs his sleep. You coming?"

When the lad looked up at him, he offered a hand, which Jed took, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet, before letting go. After a final glance up at the sky, he sighed heavily and started to walk back towards the hotel door.

Archie knew and was more than happy in the knowledge that his own glory days were definitely long past. He was in fact looking forward to spending his final years with Jack and his family in glorious obscurity. Age and too much experience had given him a hankering for the quiet life. But as he followed Jed up the steps, he made a vow to himself: Before he headed home, he'd finish teaching the boy to be the fastest, most accurate and least deadly gun in the west, then make sure he was safely reunited with his cousin. He had a feeling that Jed and Heyes would have their own glory days. He hoped he'd be around to read about them.

XXX

Heyes stared out of his hotel window in Laramie as the town clock struck midnight, with a drink in his hand. He finished it in a large gulp as the street began to fill with drunken men throwing punches. The saloon brawl he'd seen brewing and had dodged by leaving twenty minutes earlier, was spilling noisily out onto road. He watched for a while, shaking his head in bemusement, when even as the sheriff and two deputies came to break it up with several well-placed shots over the men's head, a few of the biggest idiots still continued their fighting. Only when the excitement was over and the street restored to calm did he turn away to flop heavily onto the bed.

He stared at the empty glass in his hand for a moment, before addressing it seriously. "Well, whatcha think? I heard a whisper that someone called Plummer is recruiting. Lost some of his people in the gang's last bank job, so he's kinda short-handed for the next one."

With a heavy sigh, Heyes shook his head and twisted to refill his glass from the bottle sat on the side-table by the bed. He took a sip and then simply gazed into the amber liquid for a couple of minutes before saying. "You know it's my birthday today." He snorted at himself and added ruefully. "I'm in a real bad way, talking to a glass of rye and expecting it to give me some answers." He didn't however pull his gaze away from the glass, only tapped it gently with his finger as he said."I blame my stubborn mule of a partner. If he'd come after me in Greeley, like he was supposed to, I could be arguing with him instead of talking to you."

One hand gently drifted to his left cheek at the memory of the bruise Jed had put there the last time they'd been together. Heyes had decided that they should leave town before breakfast. But Jed had been equally as insistent that he needed to eat and wanted a bath before they went anywhere. Of course months down the line, Heyes knew it hadn't really been about that. Jed had just wanted Heyes to listen to him, which was how most of their arguments had started. Heyes couldn't even remember why he'd been dead-set on leaving so early either. Probably just as determined to make a point as his friend had been. It now seemed such a silly way to end such a long term friendship that had survived so much. And perhaps soon, he'd attempt to find his cousin and see what they could salvage, but it wouldn't be this month. The bitter, angry words that Jed had flung at him still stung too much for that and he doubted he'd be easily forgiven for what he'd said either.

Coming to a decision, he finished his drink and placed the glass next to the bottle and blew out the lamp. Later today, he'd go find to Plummer and ask to join up, because securing a future for himself seemed a good way to start his nineteenth year.