The campfire was cold and no one was around. But this was where Chris was, Vin remembered that much. This was where Chris said he'd protect Vin. If he wasn't here now, he'd be back. So Vin sat down to wait. Chris would come back and protect him.

M7*M7*M7

Chris went to the saloon first to look, then he planned to check the livery. Ezra was in the midst of a promising hand against three cowboys at one of the tables, but when he saw Chris - and the look on his face - he folded immediately and went to him.

"What is it?" Chris should be with Vin ,and if he wasn't - something was wrong.

"Vin - he's gone. I was hopin' he came here."

"I haven't seen him since yesterday. He's not so ill that he's become delirious, is he?"

"I didn't think so. But he didn't take his coat or his gun..."

"Is he in pain?" Ezra asked. Chris thought it was an odd question.

"Guess so - his throat hurt him." But it was a questioning tone.

Ezra wasn't talking about just physical pain.

"Oftentimes, when a person is in the grip of overwhelming pain, they will seek out the last place they weren't in pain..." He saw that Chris was following his line of thought. "I will alert the others and search the town. I suggest you search the last place you think Vin didn't feel this pain."

M7*M7*M7

So Chris headed down to the creek, where they'd been camping only yesterday. It was growing daylight and he was about a quarter mile away from the spot when he saw Will O'Brien, waving him down by the side of the road.

"Hey Mister!" Will recognized him, but didn't know his name. "You lookin' for your brother? He's through here, down by a cold campfire."

"He's not my brother." Chris said immediately, and immediately wondered why he did. What the hell difference did it make? Will gave him a puzzled look.

"Well...anyway...he's through there. Didn't wake him, didn't want t'spook him. Just comin' into town to find y'all."

"Is he okay?" Chris asked.

Will shrugged. "Looks okay. Sittin' up, sittin' under the tree. Looked t'be sleepin'."

M7*M7*M7

Chris dismounted when he came in sight of Vin and tied his horse to a tree. Vin did seem to be sleeping, sitting up, cross-legged in front of the cold campfire. Chris approached him quietly, crouched down in front of him and lightly shook him, hoping he wouldn't "spook" him. But Vin came awake slowly, calmly. His eyes focused on Chris.

"I'se lookin' for you." He said. His voice was raspy, and more raw than it had been the night before.

"Well, I guess you found me." Chris told him. He wanted to ask Vin why he'd come near two miles looking for him, when he'd been in the very same room with him all night. But there'd be time to ask that once Vin was safe back in town. "You 'bout ready to head back?"

"No." Vin said strongly. Chris was surprised at his vehemence. "He's there. I heard him. He was there, last night, in the dark. I came here lookin' for you. Y'said you wouldn't let him - - y'said he wouldn't - -" But Vin couldn't remember exactly what Chris had said, only that it meant Vin would be safe.

"Who was there Vin? Your grandfather?" Chris still didn't believe in ghosts, but the way Vin was talking about it gave him the heebee jeebees.

"He was there Chris. I heard him breathin'. He was there with me when I'se sleepin'. I had t'get away or he woulda hurt me...I tried to find you...only I couldn't remember where you were..."

Chris decided not to try to convince Vin at the moment that he'd been the one in the room last night, not Vin's grandfather..

"I'm sorry Vin. I shoulda stayed closer to you. You c'mon back now and you'll be safe. I promise." Vin was shivering and Chris was sorry now that he'd exchanged his own warm blanket for Vin's sieve yesterday. He took his jacket off and put it over Vin's shoulders. "You c'mon back and we'll get you warmed up."

"I found these..." Vin said, suddenly rational again. He held up Buck's gloves. "...must've left 'em here yesterday, we pulled out so fast..." He looked up at Chris, so tired and frustrated "...I know he's dead n'he can't hurt me. Just seems so real sometimes..."

"I know dreams can seem real." Chris set himself on the ground in front of Vin. "Ask Buck - ask him how many nights he trailed me to nowhere, just 'cause I didn't want to go to sleep..." This didn't seem possible to Vin.

"You? Scared to sleep?"

Chris nodded. "Used to be...still kinda hard, sometimes..." It was still very early morning, and in the speckling sunlight, Vin had the look of a young boy, tired and confused. Chris knew - just because you survived something didn't mean you understood it. "...sometimes the things that hurt us stay with us longer than the things that don't. Dreams can just be old fear you ain't got rid of yet, or they can be like spring cleaning. Just your mind's way of burning away what it don't need no more." He watched Vin's eyes to see if this was making sense to him.

"Throat hurts real bad now." Was all Vin said. "Goes to my ears when I swallow." It hurt Chris just to listen to Vin's raspy voice. "Reckon bein' out here ain't helped any."

"C'mon, I'll take you back." Chris stood and held his hand out to help Vin up. Vin looked at him a second or two, like he was considering whether or not to take the help. Finally, he took Chris' hand and got to his feet slowly. His hands were ice.

"You put them gloves on since y'got 'em." Chris told Vin. "I'll get the horse." Vin put his arms through the sleeves of the jacket and pulled the gloves on, and trailed Chris to his horse.

"Swing up behind me and I'll get you back to town." Chris said as he prepared to mount his horse.

But Vin balked. "No."

"What?"

"I ain't gonna ride - I can walk."

"It's two miles."

"I can walk." Vin insisted again.

"You can't walk and I ain't about to." Chris told him. "You swing up behind me and I'll take you back to town."

Vin was pissin' Chris off and he knew it. He wasn't doing it on purpose. He just didn't want to ride with Chris back into town.

"Can I have some water?"

That eased off some of Chris' anger. "Sure." He walked the few steps to hand Vin the canteen, and watched him squeeze his eyes shut in pain with swallowing. "Hurts bad?"

"Getting worse somethin' regular. Hurts bad just to swallow my own spit." Vin took another mouthful of water and handed the canteen back. "Guess Nathan ain't gonna be happy, hunh?" And the way he said it made Chris wonder if he was really scared of what Nathan would say.

"I won't let Nathan nag at you Vin. C'mon, let's get home." Vin nodded and after Chris mounted up, he swung up behind him. He was hot and cold, tired and in pain. Chris worried that Vin wouldn't make it to town, even on horseback. "Holdin' on?"

"Yeah..."

Chris felt him put his arms around him, he was still shivering. "Won't take long Vin. I'll get you to Nathan's."

"...'kay..."

A few minutes into the ride back to town, Chris felt Vin rest his head against his shoulder and the way his body relaxed, Chris knew he was asleep.

M7*M7*M7

Nathan came out to the five men waiting on the balcony of his clinic. "When's Nettie comin' back to town?" He asked no one in particular.

"End of next week." JD said.

"Might want to get word to her..." and Nathan went back to his patient.

tbc