Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bonanza nor any of the original Cartwright characters.

Only thing I can lay claim to is the characters "Mariah", "Jacob" and the old man "Jim"...along with the storyline.

For Jacob's Sake

Chapter Twelve

Scene Twenty One

Hoss slowly backed away from the window; then about had heart failure as he bumped into Mariah. "Where''s Little Joe?" she mouthed as she did not dare raise her voice.

Hoss nodded to the other side of the shack, Through the buckets of rain that was falling she was still able to see Little Joe standing on the other side. "Is Mister Jones in there?" Mariah once again mouthed and pointed towards the window.

Hoss nodded. He was tired of being drenched with water; as were Little Joe and Mariah. Without warning he started running for the door; Mariah and Little Joe quickly followed suit.

If a band of wild elephants had run through the small shack Mr. Jones would have been shocked less than he was. As it was he jumped for his gun only to find Hoss knocking it off the table with one hand while he sent the man flying with his other.

All the anger he had towards the man came out as he went after him. Mr. Jones scrambled to his feet and managed to avoid Hoss's clutches only to find Little Joe slamming him up against a wall.

Dazed but 'still with it', Mr. Jones worked feverishly to get away from him and he did...only to find himself once again darting away from Hoss. He'd have been better off letting Hoss get a hold of him. As it was when he whirled around he came up short as he literally found his face within inches of Mariah's. The woman grabbed his right arm with her right hand and, before he knew it, she'd had actually tossed him to the floor.

Shaking his head he started to rise only to find the three Cartwrights standing over him glaring at him with looks that were sharper than any of his daddy's hunting knives had ever thought of being.

"If it was not for the fact I could not face my husband if I took the law into my own hands," Mariah's words were bit off and thrown at him like daggers, "I would kill ya right here and now! Now up on your feet!"

"Ya heard her!" Hoss bellowed as he grabbed the man's upper left arm. Soon the man was on his feet with Hoss holding both his arms behind his back. Mariah kept her gun on the man while Little Joe searched for something to secure the man's arms with. After all, Hoss couldn't do it all the way to the sheriff's office. Soon the man had his arms tied behind him with his own rope.

"Rain's still comin' down perty hard," Hoss looked out the window, "Guess yer gonna be sittin' right here," he pushed the man down onto a chair next to the table, "and yer company ain't goin' anywhere neither." He grinned and winked at Mr. Jones. That only made the man scowl in disgust.

Scene Twenty-Two

Adam stood by the bedroom window watching as the rain continued falling. 'This is NOT your fault! Stop beatin' yourself up! Pa would not like you doin' this to yourself and ya know it!' Those had been Little Joe's words as their paths crossed on his way in.

"Pa," Little Jacob walked into the room, "Look what I made for grandpa." He held up a wooden carving.

It never ceased to amaze Adam how talented his young son was. Okay, when it came to carving the talent still needed work only one could see it there. Come to think about it, the lad amazed a lot of people. He took the carving from Little Jacob and let out a low whistle, "This piece of art had to have taken you hours, son. I am sure yer grandpa will like it very much."

"Hop Sing said it did not look like a dove. Is he right?" Little Jacob looked up earnestly at his father.

Adam had to bite his lip. He had been able to tell the figurine was supposed to be a bird but a dove? Guess if he used his imagination..."Not everyone is going to be able to see your art the way you see it son. Do not let it bother you. You did good on it." he handed it back to his son who hurried to put it on the stand next to his grandfather.

"See you later. Aunt Melinda is supposed to be here soon and I promised to help watch Eric." Little Jacob ran out of the bedroom door.

Adam turned back to the window for a few minutes before turning around and walking to the side of the bed. He knelt down by his father. His head knew his little brother was right; so why was his heart having such a struggle? He began speaking, "Everyone keeps tellin' me this is not my fault," he couldn't help but chuckle as he remembered Hoss's words from earlier in the day, "to quote Hoss 'Ya were only doin' yer best to protect Little Jacob. Pa did what he had to do to protect you. Ain't nobody in this family at fault. It is that darnblasted Jones' feller that is messed up. He is the one who is responsible fer this here mess'. Reckon I should listen only," he broke down, "it was for me you took that bullet and it is killin' me!" he folded his arms on the side of the bed and laid his head down. For the first time in years he felt like it was he who was the scared nine year old boy.

Ben could hear Adam talking. He understood every word but he found himself unable to answer the son he so desperately wanted to comfort. He felt as if he was surrounded by some sort of barrier that made it impossible for him to speak. There had to be a way to get through to Adam. To let him know that his pa didn't blame him and neither should he.

When Adam laid his head down Ben struggled to move his hand. At first he failed. It too felt as if something was holding it firmly in place. He tried again; only this time he used every ounce of energy he had. When he succeeded in getting his hand to slide up onto Adam's wrist his son's head shot up. While he was disappointed to see his father's eyes still closed the gesture did as Ben hoped it would. The instant Ben's hand made contact Adam somehow knew what his father was trying to tell him.

"Everything is going to be all right," Adam relaxed as he stood up and sat on the chair that had been waiting for him the whole time, "No matter what comes, it is all right.".

CLOSING SCENE

Ben rested on a rocking chair Little Joe had brought out onto the porch and watched as Hoss, Little Joe, Rosa (who had started to become more and more a part of their lives) and Little Jacob played horseshoes. While he did not quite have his full strength back Ben was grateful to be alive and able to enjoy his family.

Eric Jr. sat on the ground playing with one of his toys and his mother, who could no longer hide the fact that she was indeed expecting another child, sat in a rocking chair knitting.

Mariah and Adam walked up and stood, one on each side of Ben. Mariah's hand rested on her husband's shoulder.

"I am glad this whole mess is over with," Adam smiled down at his father, "it is amazing though. The lengths we will go to protect our children."

Ben grinned and chuckled as a smile a mile long came upon his face, "I could have told ya that a long time ago. Oh, what even got you to looking into good ole' Aunt Jane's past anyway?" It was in doing that his son had discovered everything about the Jones' and what Mr. Jone's motivation had to have been.

Adam grinned, "Carolyn's stories about a woman her father used to know. The description she gave was almost the same as the one Jim gave us while he was talkin'. I got to thinkin' and wonderin' if they were the same person. I started there and things just sort of fell into place."

Ben smiled as he once again looked around at his family; mostly Little Jacob. 'At least by the time that man gets out of prison you will be an adult."