Damnant quod non intellegunt

" They condemn what they do not understand"

The bright Arizona sun pierced through the middle of the hotel room curtain, coming to rest on the bed farthest against the wall. Nola felt its rays on her face, and she immediately went to roll over, only to find her path was blocked.

Angry now that the sun was ruining her sleep, she tried again, and again, failed. She growled loudly, figuring it was a pile of blankets and sat up, eyes closed; hands outstretched so to push the obstruction off. But when her hands met flesh instead of blankets, her eyes shot open.

The scream woke Ringo out of his slumber and he was shocked to see Nola, sitting on the floor, frantically pulling a sheet around herself.

"What are you doing here!" she screamed, still struggling to cover herself with the sheet.

Ringo rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes with his hands. "Let me refresh your memory. You got drunk, were almost raped by this guy, I saved you, you forced me to drink, I got drunk, you brought me here and we had sex. Any other questions?"

Nola was speechless. "W-w-what was that last part?"

"You brought me here?"

"After that."

"We had sex?"

"Yes!" she cried, standing up and beginning to pace, her head down and her hands putting a death grip on her covering.

He shrugged and rolled back over, burying his head into the pillow.

He knew something was wrong when he stopped hearing her footsteps on the floor. Slowly he adjusted his eyes and found her glaring once more in his direction.

"How can you act like this is nothing?"

"Because it's not."

Nola pressed her hand into her head, a sharp pain radiating through her skull. She must have drunk more than she thought she did last night.

"Hangover I take it?" he said calmly.

She nodded slowly, fearing any rapid movement would cause her head to burst.

"You should lie down."

She sent him an unbelieving look. "Beside you?"

Slightly hurt by the comment, Ringo scowled. "You didn't have any qualms about it last night."

She sighed, still upset about the fact that she had slept with Ringo, even though from what she could remember, it wasn't that bad...

She growled at herself for thinking that and slowly made her way over to the bed, making sure her whole body was covered, and lay down at the very edge.

Ringo gave her a questioning look before she slowly scooted farther onto the bed, her body rigid.

He shook his head. "I'm not going to bite you for God's sake."

"That's not what I'm worried about." she growled back, putting her hand over her eyes, finding that the sun wasn't being her friend today.

Ringo, seeing her obvious discomfort, got out of bed and pulled the curtain shut the rest of the way, blocking any bit of light from the room. Nola put her hands on her face, praying that Ringo wouldn't notice the blush that was rapidly appearing on her cheeks. He was, after all, without any clothing.

With effort he slipped back under the covers and put his hands behind his head. Nola watched him curiously out of the corner of her eye.

"From what I've heard you're not the kind of man who closes drapes for poor women with hangovers."

Ringo smiled at the statement. "How can you judge someone you don't know?"

"I just go with what I'm told. And I'm told you're a deadly gunfighter."

Johnny nodded in agreement, turning his head so he could look at her.

"That's true, but that doesn't mean I'm ignorant."

She mulled the thought over before giving up, seeing as the added stress to her cranium was more than she could handle.

"Mommy, I'm scared!" the little girl cried, pushing herself back farther into the corner of the closet.

Her mother, who had her ear pressed to the door, immediately put her hand over her daughter's mouth and gave her the "shhh" sign.

The little girl hugged her knees into her chest, tears swimming down her cheeks. She jumped when she felt a small pair of arms wrap around her.

Her sister had crawled behind their mother and was holding onto her shaking sibling, doing her best to keep her whimpers down.

The small group in the closet jumped as they heard glass shattering on the floor below them and a muffled yell. The girls began shake even harder while their mother sunk back from the door, face drawn with horror.

The young girls felt their hearts stop when they heard it.

Footsteps.

Slow, heavy, footsteps climbing up the stairs. The girls listened as they reached the top, and proceeded down the hallway, in their direction. They bit their fingers, trying desperately not to cry out.

Then they stopped.

The girls sat up and breathed out slowly, hoping the man would turn back around and they could flee from the confines of the coat closet.

Their mother turned towards them, her hand resting on the older one's shoulder, her face calming. The girls sighed, louder than they'd wished.

And then the door handle began to rattle loudly...

Nola screamed and sat straight up in the bed, sweating badly. She bit her lip, remembering how vivid the dream was. Why did she keep having these flashbacks? Why did they suddenly decide to haunt her?

And that's when she noticed.

Ringo was gone.

She crawled out of bed and looked around the room. No, he was gone all right.

And in a way she was glad. She never wanted anyone to see her while she was having a nightmare and woke up in pieces...

Ringo sat silently at the table with Curly Bill, who at the moment was devouring a plate of eggs and sausage. Johnny himself had a cup of coffee, which he hadn't even bothered to drink.

He'd left Nola after she had dozed off. He always did that.

Brocious noticed Ringo's silence and dropped his fork onto the table. "Now Johnny, what's got your tongue?"

Ringo shrugged, tilting his head slightly to the right. He could never tell Brocious about Nola.

"Where'd you go last night? I thought you wanted to play poker with me an' the boys?"

Ringo shrugged once again, taking a large swig of his coffee. "I got tired, went to bed."

Well, he was only lying about half of it there...

"Well, good morning Princess!" Ringo turned around when he saw whom Curly Bill was addressing.

Nola.

"Come, have a seat." he beckoned, smiling broadly. She complied, and took the chair between Brocious and Ringo, her features calm and smooth.

"Good morning, Curly Bill, Ringo." she replied, pronouncing Johnny's name a bit harsher.

Curly Bill looked between the two and laughed.

"What's wrong? Loose a bet to her, Johnny?"

Ringo smirked, while Nola smiled, turning brightly to Curly Bill.

"Why would you say that, Mr. Brocious?"

He shrugged and continued with his meal, a content smile on his face, while Nola sent Ringo an odd look. He replied by winking in her direction.

After Brocious had left, the two sat at the table, Nola scanning the area quickly before leaning towards Ringo.

"Don't ever look at me like that again." she said under her breath.

Johnny's scowl intensified.

"Now you look here, woman, I can look at you however I want." he snapped. Nola's mouth dropped open for a second before pursing itself into a thin line.

"You don't own me."

Johnny glared even harder. "I never said I did, I just said you can't tell me what to do."

"And why not?" she countered. "You told me what to do."

"It's different."

"How so, please, enlighten me."

"First of all, how was I looking at you?"

Nola stopped for a second. "What?"

"You told me to never look at you like that again, like what?"

"Like you've seen me naked." she whispered harshly.

Johnny laughed. "Oh, but I have."

Nola stood up quickly, throwing her chair out from under her.

"I hate you."

"Feeling's mutual."

With quick strides she flew out of the restaurant, leaving a smiling Ringo.

Oh, he'd won that battle all right.

Now he just had a whole war to conquer.

"Hey! Nola!" The woman stopped her walking to see Sherman, trotting to catch up with her. She couldn't help but smile when she saw him.

"Hello, Sherman."

He smiled before falling into place with Nola as she continued down the street, her mind seemingly displaced.

"Now what in the hell were you doing last night?" he asked out of the blue. Nola stopped walking and her head shot up to meet his eyes. Mischief glinted back at her.

"What do you mean?" she said quickly, beginning to walk again, only faster.

"Well, we are only one room apart. And I'm not deaf."

She grimaced. What was she going to tell him?

"So…who?"

"Some…guy."

"Really?"

She nodded quickly, too quickly.

"Was his name 'Guy' or did he go by another name?"

"I…I didn't catch it."

Sherman's eyebrows did a push up, and he smiled even wider. "You wouldn't do that."

She growled and turned her head away from him.

"Not gonna tell me?"

She shook her head 'no' abruptly and held it a bit higher.

"Suit yourself, but I'll figure it out."

She tried to bore holes in the back of his head as he walked away. Oh, if only he wasn't right...

For the rest of her uneventful day, Nola lounged around her room or started a conversation with Newt. Everything seemed quiet…too quiet.

She almost thought that for one day, no drama would occur, and that she could actually relax.

But of course not...

"Nola! Wake up!"

Nola, who had been reading the newspaper that Newt had lent her, shot out of bed at the sound of the pounding on her door. She rushed to open it, and was greeted by a flustered McMasters.

"What's going on?" she asked as he grabbed her wrist and the two ran down the stairs.

"Curly Bill shot Fred White, and the Earps are all over him."

"Who in the hell is Fred White?" she cried, struggling to keep up with him and not get her arm wrenched from its socket.

"The town Marshal." he replied.

The two stopped immediately at the sight. Wyatt Earp stood, holding Curly Bill by the earlobe and holding his pistol inches away from Ike's head, while his brothers began pushing the crowd of angered Cowboys backwards. Nola felt her heart stop when she saw Billy, who now was looking down the barrels of two pistols.

She felt Sherman grab her shoulder and pull her backwards as the other cowboys stalked slowly away. She watched as Wyatt pushed Ike back and proceeded to take Curly Bill to the jail. Billy sent a death glare to the obviously drunk man who moments before had threatened to kill him if he moved.

That's when she saw him. An older man lay on the street, dead, while Mayor Clum tried to cover the wound using a handkerchief. He had to be the Marshal.

"I'll see you soon!" Ike yelled after the retreating Earp, as he roughly pushed past the crowd of Cowboys. Billy saw Nola and immediately went to her.

"What happened?" she asked, staring at him, waiting for his answer.

"I don't know. Last time I saw him he was goin' into one of them Chinese opium tents, and the next thing I know he's being slammed over the head with the butt of Earp's pistol." his voice was wrung with anger and his face reddened by the minute.

"Where's Ringo?"

Nola, Sherman, and Billy all met the gaze of Ike Clanton, who was standing behind them, face crinkled in distaste.

"How should we know?" Sherman replied, glancing over at Nola, who had suddenly gotten quiet.

"I ain't askin' you McMasters! I was askin' her."

Nola took a step backwards, only to find Billy blocking her path.

"How in the hell would she know? She was here." he said, eyeing his brother suspiciously.

Ike smirked and lifted his head, a glint coming into his eyes.

"Well, I saw her and Johnny goin' into that hotel over there, and I don't think they was playing no card games."

Nola breathed in quickly, while Sherman and Billy both stared at her in disbelief.

"Him?" McMaster's couldn't help but blurt out.

Billy's once stunned expression turned sour as he pushed past Nola, stopping when he was beside Ike.

"I guess you're right, Ike." he began, looking over his shoulder to meet her still shocked gaze, "You can't trust whores."

Ike smirked.

Thanks to all my awesome reviewers! I love you all! Hope ya like it, any reviews are really appreciated :) thank u beth :) And I totally agree, Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) is smexy! And Ike, I have this feeling if I would have lived back then I would have hated his guts ;)