A/N: Again this took longer than I planned. Up next, our wandering trio finally reaches San Francisco but will they find the answers they need? Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and/or followed. It's kind of a short one today, but a lot of the next few chapters will be. As always, I own nothing but my OC and original plots.

Dorcas Ranch, outside San Francisco, April 2, 1871

"It's pretty big," Griff said in awe as they peered over the ridge at the Dorcas Ranch in the valley below.

"Not as big as the Ponderosa," Candy said under his breath. "But he sure acts like it is." Annie snorted.

"I'd lay odds Sam has knocked him down a few rungs." She focused the field glasses on the ranch house. "I'm not seeing a lot of hands wandering around." Candy took the glasses and studied the valley himself.

"We'll still wait for dark."

"You think he'll throw us out?" she asked softly. Candy sighed and lowered the glasses to the ground.

"Hard to say. He's not really a Cartwright."

"But Sam is."

"Who's Sam?" Griff asked, and they turned to him, identical grins spreading across their faces.

"Just you wait and see," they replied in unison.

Night

Candy knocked softly at the front door, back stiff with tension. Annie scanned the yard for danger, on edge. One person. That's all it would take, and they'd … no. She couldn't think like that. If they'd made it this far, they could make it home. He knocked again and footsteps sounded inside the house, then the door opened and lamp light spilled into the yard.

"What in tarnation?" Calvin Dorcas blinked at them in amazement, the rifle hanging over his arm drooping towards the floor as his grip loosened. "You ain't got the sense God gave a goose," he continued. "And where the hell is Anne?" She stepped into the light and he about swallowed his tongue. "Lord, girl, what have you done to yourself?" His fingers twitched, like he might reach out to confirm that yes, her hair really was that short, but he stopped himself. "Alright, what is it? You didn't hide this long just to stop by for tea." He waved them inside and shut the door. "Should I ask who your friend is or shall we just call him John Smith?"

"My name is Griff." Dorcas hummed acknowledgment and led the way into the kitchen. Martha stood frozen next to the stove, her mouth open in shock.

"I don't believe it." She set the coffee pot down sharply and darted across the room, engulfing first Annie then Candy into tight hugs. "We've been so worried!" She pulled back and shook her head. "Just the other day, there was a story –"

"They didn't ride all this way to listen to stories out of the paper, Martha." Dorcas poured coffee for everyone and eyed Candy over the rim of his cup. "They're after his double."

"What – how do you know that?" Annie almost dropped her cup. Candy froze. It couldn't be this easy …

"This one might be a mimic when he wants to be, but last I checked he isn't Southern. And," Dorcas continued in an arched tone. "From what I saw at your brother's wedding, miss, he isn't going to be strolling around San Francisco with an equally Southern blue-eyed blond." He took another drink. "Especially when he's on the run with the woman who took into her head to break him out of jail in a damned fool escapade that could have gotten the both of you killed."

"I –"

"And it still might," he broke in. "Then what do you propose I tell Samantha?"

"When did you see him," they demanded in unison.

"You mean when did Samantha see him. She was quite upset at first, wanted to storm over and kick you in the shins. I can't blame her, the resemblance is astonishing, but as soon as they spoke, I knew it wasn't you. I told her she couldn't reveal who you were, or else the law would be after you like a duck on a June bug, and she accepted it." His eyes twinkled momentarily. "But now you have to explain to her why you were out with a woman who isn't Aunt Annie." He sighed. "I figured that was safer than telling her there was another you running around. Lord, she'd have been out trying to track him down herself and God only knows the trouble she'd end up in."

"When did you see them?" Annie couldn't keep from raising her voice. Dorcas frowned, but she was beyond caring about manners, of all things.

"Lord, if she turns out anything like you, I'm in more trouble than I want to think about." He grabbed his coffee cup and downed the rest of it. "I hadn't seen him before, but the woman works at a dress shop in town according to Martha. She lost her brother recently and wrote his friend back East to come help her out."

"His name is Beauregard Legare," Annie said shortly as she turned a chair around and straddled it. "And he left a wife sitting back there in Charleston while he came west to play outlaw with his old girlfriend."

"Charleston, you say?" Dorcas rubbed his chin. "Martha, heat up some leftovers, they can eat while we set to piecing this puzzle together."

"Uncle Candy!" A small blond streak flew into the room and attached herself to Candy. "How could you leave Aunt Annie and walk around with that woman? And after all she did to save your life!" A frown wrinkled her brow. "You hugged her first, and you danced with her, too!"

A snort became a cough and Annie wasn't sure if it was Dorcas or Martha. A laugh bubbled in her throat and she snorted herself. Sam's head whipped around and her face lit up as she scrambled into Annie's lap.

"Aunt Annie!"

"Troublemaker." She hugged her cousin, then froze, as the feel of a child in her arms brought a flash of the tiny bundle that would never be able to do the same. Blood roared in her ears, drowning out whatever else it was that Sam was chattering about. She didn't know who it was that removed the girl, but she could have kissed them for it.

"Give them space, Sam," Dorcas chided. There was a question in his eyes that she knew he'd never ask. Was it that obvious? Candy's hand on her arm was soothing. He caught her hand and held on tight.

"Sam, I can't explain everything, but I'll never step out on Annie. I love her. And … we're married." Sam's eyes widened, her gaze darting between them, and she looked like she was going to launch herself again before Martha put a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"I told you! I told you Aunt Annie and you said I was wrong!"

"Yes, you did." Sam's face fell.

"Why can't you have a big party like Uncle Hoss?" Her chin quivered. "And why did those mean people want to hurt Uncle Candy? Grandpa said he was gonna die!" Tears spilled over her lashes and she buried her face in her mother's skirt. Candy hurried over and picked her up.

"Hey, I'm alright."

"But you could still die," she wailed into his shoulder. Annie swallowed the lump in her throat and got up to join them. Poor Griff looked as unsure of himself as most men when confronted with a crying woman, even if she was only half-sized. Martha handed him a fresh cup of coffee and motioned for him to follow her to the parlor, leaving them alone in the kitchen. Dorcas made a noise under his breath, his own eyes slightly misty.

"We could die," Candy admitted. "But it won't be easy, Sam, I promise you that. If that were to happen, we'd go down fighting."

"But I don't want it to happen!"

"Neither do we, sweetheart," Annie said, hesitantly placing her hand on the rumpled blond head. "But pretending it can't does no one any good."

"Why did all those mean people tell lies about Uncle Candy?" Sobs choked her. "Don't they know lies are bad?"

"They should," Candy muttered. Annie sighed.

"Honey, some of them may not have realized they were lying." Sam's head came up and she rushed to explain. "There's another man who looks like Candy, and those people in Carson City saw him and thought they knew who it was."

"Can you find him and make him tell the truth?" Sam asked with a hiccup. "I saw him, it had to be him. I could –"

"It was him, but don't you worry about it, okay? We're gonna track him down and take him back to Carson City, then everyone will know they were wrong and Candy will be safe."

"You promise?" They eyed each other over her head. Annie swallowed hard.

"I promise we'll try, sweetheart," Candy said for both of them.

"No, you have to promise for real!"

"Samantha, there ain't no guarantees in life, you know that," Dorcas said hoarsely. "They can't promise nothing but what they already have." He set his cup down and moved to take her from Candy. "It's past your bedtime."

"But Grandpa –"

"They'll still be here in the morning. The adults need to talk." She squeezed Candy's neck tighter before letting go, and Dorcas carried her from the room. Annie sat down hard; Candy pulled a chair up next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"I guess it was too much to hope that she wouldn't hear us," Martha said softly as she returned from the parlor, Griff in tow. "Griff mentioned you have more friends joining you."

"Yeah, a deputy marshal and an ex-Union colonel."

"A marshal believes you?" Her face lit up.

"It's Wade McPhail," Annie said. "You might remember him, I think he was in town while Samantha stayed with us."

"Yes, I got a letter from his wife just the other day. If you ever need a safe passage for information, just tell me."

"We need all the help we can get." Annie laid her head on her husband's shoulder and closed her eyes. "It's been almost a year and all we've managed to do is find out who he is."

"And you survived," Dorcas commented as he returned. "That alone is something considering how many bounty hunters are out there after that reward money. And it's only gonna get worse."

"Tell us something we don't know," she snapped. "Like where he is."

"Don't get short with me, miss. He's been in town for a few months from what I could figure out, goes by the name Jake Stoddard, and is mighty friendly with that pretty little blond."

"Jake Stoddard?" Candy exclaimed at the same time Annie muttered a cuss word.

"That son of a bitch is playing games again." If he ever really stopped. It was enough to make her blood boil. He was taunting them, probably trying to goad them into a dangerous mistake.

"And we know what he wants," Griff added.

"You mean who," she corrected. That damned Cartwright knack for finding trouble … "His outlaw friend died at McPhail's hands and he's out for revenge. He just picked the wrong damn town." She slammed her fist against the table. "If he'd picked Virginia City everyone would have seen them both, and Candy never would have been accused." Her voice broke and Candy squeezed her hand.

"Hey," he said softly. "We've made it this far, sweetheart, I'm not giving up now."

"How do we catch him?" Griff asked just as softly.

"I don't know yet," Candy said after a moment of silence. "McPhail has to do it, and whatever lawman we turn him into has to see both of us or it'll never work. And then we have to get that kid sheriff there to see it, too."

"What if he doesn't believe his own eyes?" Martha whispered.

"We'll have to fight our way out," Annie said in a monotone. "And pray we don't kill anyone doing it." Her words hung in the air, bringing hard swallows and darting eyes. "And then we'll have to bury ourselves somewhere and spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders."

"Is he still in town?" Candy finally broke the uncomfortable silence that had descended. Dorcas made a noise in his throat and reached for what must now be ice cold coffee. He set it down without drinking and shook his head.

"No. I put my best man to watching him – Carter rode with the likes of Quantrill, ain't nobody gonna see him if he doesn't want 'em to – and he says the weasel left town a couple weeks ago. The girl is still here, though, and she might know something. I was going to have Martha see what she could dig up."

"Be careful." Candy worked his hands. Martha arched a brow.

"You forget, Mr. Canaday. I worked in a saloon for quite a while."

"Legare's not your average drunk."

"I know he's not, Candy, and I will be careful. No one in San Francisco knows I'm a Cartwright." She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You have friends, and we'll help you make it home." She brushed hair off his face. "Ben is worried about the both of you, not just Annie." Candy flinched. "Every letter that arrives, it's written between every line. He'll do everything he can to help."

"If there's anything he can do." Martha opened her mouth to reply, but Dorcas cleared his throat.

"That's a discussion for another day. I'll wake Carter, have him put the horses away, and explain what's going on. And before you say anything, I trust the man with Samantha's life. Upstairs all three of you, you look like you're about to fall over where you stand. We'll figure out our next move once the rest of your friends get here."