Yes, I will continue to update this fic, as well as my others. I attempt to do them in order for the most part, but there are always other things that pop up and turn my attention elsewhere. Since I can only recall ever "abandoning" one fanfic in my long years of writing (and I still do intend to go back and finish that one at some point, perhaps when I figure out what to do with it), it's not all that likely I'll abandon any of these. ;) Besides, I really like Adam and what I've done with him, so you can bet I'll have fun with this.
A Little Hope (and a lot of trouble): Chapter Two
by Ami-chan
"Come on, kid. Let's go see Beau." Buck steered Adam out of the saloon before Chris broke down completely. He saw the signs and knew his friend needed a moment. Hell, the boy did, too – another second or two and his spine would have snapped from all the tension. Not exactly the best "welcome home" imagined.
Adam visibly relaxed once Chris was out of sight, though he was obviously still wary about his new surroundings and his new situation. In the bright sun Buck was able to really give Adam a thorough once over; he looked good, healthy, but there was a hardness and chill to him that hadn't been there before. Buck sighed mentally. The boy had taken after his father a bit too well, even if he didn't realize it.
Immediately upon entering the stable two horses lifted their heads, the horses being nearest to the door in the designated "visitors" spots. The more private stalls in the back were reversed for the "regular" horses where Beau, Pony, Quinn, Dancer, and Seeker were currently idly waiting. The horses that reacted to Adam's presence were a small bay mare and a dun-colored gelding, both of whom Adam greeted with a pat as they passed.
"Hey Beau." The gelding's grey ears flickered wildly for a moment before Beau stretched out his long neck to get a good look at the boy who apparently smelled very familiar to him. While he lavished attention onto the gentle grey, the black gelding across from him was snorting and pawing at the floor, though Adam seemed to be ignoring him pointedly.
Buck nudged Adam lightly. "Aren't you gonna say hello to Pony?" Pony, naturally, had been Adam's favorite horse because he was his father's horse. The ridiculous name "Pony" had, in fact, been bestowed upon the black gelding by a three year old Adam who, when asked what the horse should be named, had declared, "Pony! Pony, Pony, Pony!"
Piercing blue eyes gazed up at Buck, melting him more efficiently than anything else could have. What had happened to that happy little kid he knew, that lively spirit that was nearly unstoppable in his enthusiasm and innocent optimism? Had that part of him been devoured in that fire, like it had for Chris? Then Adam turned and crossed over to lightly stroke the gelding's black head, his fingers dancing over the small white mark on the horse's forehead. "Pony," he acknowledged, as if it were a sort of death sentence. And Buck understood; admitting that Pony was here was admitting that his father was, too.
Pony's head jerked up and he neighed loudly, his head turning toward the stable entrance where Chris had appeared, a slightly haunted look on his face. No, he hadn't dreamed it. There was Adam, right there with Pony and Buck.
Adam backed away from the gelding and right into Buck, forcing him to stop his retreat, if indeed he had been retreating. The boy's head tilted up as Chris approached slowly but steadily; he barely flinched when Chris's hand touched his face just to make sure he was really there. "Adam." He pulled the boy into a hug that Adam neither responded to nor pulled away from. Chris was only just getting over his shock, while Adam appeared to be just going into it.
Selfishly, Buck was glad that his friend hadn't noticed the lost expression on Adam's face, knowing it would only upset him more. And an upset Chris was a pain in the ass to deal with.
It was the sound of someone clearing their throat that finally brought Chris back to reality, releasing Adam from his hold. The boy was only too happy to escape. Ezra stood with Chaucer, waiting for them to move so that he could put his horse into his usual stall, his eyes focused with absent curiosity at the boy. "Ezra." Chris's voice was suspiciously thick with emotion. "This is, uh, my son, Adam."
Ezra's eyebrows rose. He had, of course, heard the name. "Your son. Adam." Then politeness took hold and Ezra was striding forward and offering his hand. "I'm Ezra Standish, pleased to meet you."
The boy shook his hand, his eyes carefully taking in this new stranger. When Ezra stepped back to introduce his horse, Adam smiled widely, deciding in that instant that he liked the man. He would have liked to stay, but Adam found himself being steered away from the horses, Ezra, and the stable, even Buck abandoned him after a pat on the arm. As if that made it all better.
Chris was talking softly, telling him about the town and the people in it, but Adam only partially paid attention. Potter's, store, two daughters. Mary, newspaper, son Billy. Nettie, her niece Casey. Inez, saloon. JD, Josiah, Nathan, Vin – he'd met Ezra, knew Buck.
Then, a high piercing voice disrupted the calm that had settled around them. "Chris, Chris, Chris!"
Adam's eyes focused on the annoyance and glared. Shocked by his venomous look, the small child froze in his tracks and stared. He looked from Adam to Chris and back again, but was thankfully quiet. A woman was following along behind him, watching the scene to see what was happening.
"Hey there Billy." Chris was smiling at the boy, but Billy was looking at Adam again. "Mary," he said, acknowledging the woman who stepped up behind the child. At her polite response and glance toward his son, Chris placed his arm around Adam and explained, "This is Adam Larabee, my son."
Mary's eyes widened. Billy continued to stare, then quickly lowered his eyes when Adam's glare turned threatening. "Your son! Well, Billy and I were about to ask if you wanted to join us for lunch, so instead I'll ask if you a-and Adam would join us?"
Immediately Adam found himself disliking her, her and her squeaky son. Perhaps it was the way she looked at Chris, or the sound of her voice, or the way she carried herself, or maybe it was just some innate personality clash that made him wish she would vanish into thin air. Then, just as Chris was accepting her offer, Tom appeared from one of the buildings in Adam's direct line of sight. Tom didn't even glance their way as he crossed to the opposite side of the street. A nudge brought Adam back to reality and he walked unhappily toward the hotel where they would apparently be eating.
Adam was studying Mary. Her eyes kept darting toward him and then back to Chris; she was both surprised that Adam was there and that Chris was talking quite a bit. Why that was, Adam couldn't say, but it was clearly written on her face that this was "unusual" behavior for Chris. He probably would have thought nothing of it had the woman who had taken their order not looked as equally shocked and the shocked look remained even after she had brought them their food some time later. No one seemed to have noticed that Adam hadn't said a single word.
The little boy, Billy, stared at Adam at every opportunity, but glanced away whenever Adam glared in his direction. Finally, as if he couldn't contain it anymore, Billy asked in a loud whisper, "Are you really Chris's son?"
Adam nodded reluctantly.
"You're supposed to be dead!"
Adam winced at the piercing voice and leveled another glare at the boy. "How do you know I'm not?" He had the satisfaction of seeing Billy's eyes nearly double in shock. Chris hadn't noticed, but Mary clearly disapproved of his response, not that he cared what she thought.
"Never you mind that, Billy. You can see that Adam is not dead, otherwise he wouldn't be sitting here and eating with us." Billy didn't look all that reassured, not with the cold, glassy way in which Adam was watching him. "Isn't that right, Chris?" Mary prompted, turning back to the blond man who seemed to be staring off into thin air, lost in some thought or memory.
"Yeah, right," Chris responded, but not all that assuredly since he had no idea what he was agreeing to.
Mary gave him a disapproving look before she turned back to Adam. "So where have you been all this time? You're pa's thought the worse these past years, you know." She was saying it more to show Billy that Adam had, in fact, not died more than out of any real interest.
"Trauma does not exactly lead to coherency, as I'm sure you've observed. I was fine where I was and that's really all you need to know." Though Adam spoke without malice he was clearly being rude and knew it. Chris, however, smiled indulgently and Adam wondered if he'd heard anything he had said and then figured that he had when he spoke again.
"Adam's back, that's all that matters."
When they were finished eating, Chris stood, paid their bill, and bid Mary goodbye. Adam would have trailed behind had his father not been purposely keeping one step behind him as if to ensure that Adam was never out of his direct line of sight. Fairly soon he realized they were once again headed toward the saloon. Where else would they have gone in such a small town? Before they could reach the batwing doors, however, a woman imposed herself in front of them, her arms folded across her chest.
Chris slid to a stop, one hand reaching out and settling on Adam's shoulder, as if to stop him, too. Except that Adam had already stopped. "Forget something, Mary?"
"You can't take a child in there!" She said, pointed angrily at the saloon.
Chris's lips curled up into what might have been a smile. "Wasn't going to take a child in there. Just Adam." His arm draped over his son's shoulder as he pushed past the offended woman. Adam made it a point to cast a look in her direction, just to see how furious she looked. Somehow he got the impression that Chris enjoyed making her angry just as much as Adam had enjoyed watching it.
Adam was nudged toward the same table Chris had been at earlier; Buck was there now with Ezra and another man Adam had not yet met. All three of them quieted down a bit as they approached and the stranger at the table called out, "You must be Adam. I'm Josiah Sanchez. I look forward to getting to know you better."
After Adam had dropped into the first available seat, Chris sat down, as well. It wasn't hard to see the changes in the generally foul-tempered blond. There was an entirely different quality about the energy surrounding him, a lighter, happier glow to his face that didn't seem at all dark despite the shadows cast over him by the brim of his hat. It was as if a terrble weight had been lifted off of him and been thrown aside to be forgotten.
Then, on the other hand, there was Adam. They mostly talked around him which appeared to be fine by him. A dark, brooding air clung to Adam that was a direct contrast to Chris, as if this miniature Chris had taken on all of Chris's dark aura. The boy had a lot of heartache, anyone who cared to look could see that.
It wasn't that much later that Nathan joined them. Buck noted his arrival first, but only because Adam suddenly perked up before quickly deflating once more when it became apparent that Nathan was not Tom. "I've been hearing some crazy talk out there! You won't believe what - " Nathan stopped suddenly, studying the boy whose cool blue eyes seemed to take it every detail of him in just a glance. "You Adam?"
Adam nodded. Nathan muttered something that sounded like, "I'll be damned," as he dropped into an obviously familiar chair around the table. "Guess gossip ain't always false."
It wasn't until two more men entered that Adam suddenly realized that Chris had been waiting on purpose. Not so much for the shorter man in the odd hat, but for the taller, lanky man with the buffalo coat and slouch hat. Why this man Adam had no idea, only that it was somehow important, even more so when he saw his father and the man exchange glances. Except that they weren't just glances, it was more like an entire conversation in under a few seconds.
"Vin, JD, I want you both to meet Adam Larabee." There was a foolish grin on Buck's face at the complete and utter shock on the smaller man's - JD's - face. Vin, on the other hand, gave Adam a long, appraising look that was impossible to read, but Adam easily met his gaze all the same.
"So it's true? You really are Chris's son?"
Adam looked away from Vin long enough to give JD a look void of any emotion as he replied, "If I'm not I've been having a very long and strange dream all of my life."
"I do believe our young friend elucidated any ambiguity about that matter so we can all be assured that he is indeed Adam Larabee," Ezra put in without missing a beat.
"Wasn't that already indubitable? Other than the inital confoundment, I wasn't aware that it had been in question at all."
The silence was immediate, seven sets of eyes fastening onto Adam, who frowned back at them in confusion. It was JD that asked, "You understood what Ezra said?" Then it became clear that, had he asked another question, it would have been, "Where the hell did you learn those fancy words?"
Adam's eyebrows rose. "He was speaking English, which I believe everyone here knows." It occurred to Adam that, just perhaps, his father hadn't understood what he had said to Mary earlier. Or, at least the first part of what he had said.
A slow smirk appeared on Ezra's face and once again Adam couldn't help but like him. "It seems as if someone else of culture and intelligence has finally entered our humble little town. I'd nearly given up hope of anything as extraordinary as that ever happening here."
"I don't know about 'cultured', but I think everyone likes to think of themselves as being intelligent." Adam was smiling brightly, more animated that he had appeared all day and though Adam missed it no one else was able to ignore the flash of annoyance tinged jealousy that appeared on Chris's usually stoic face. Because Adam had yet to smile at him like that.
-to be continued-