Author's Note: Thank all of you so much for your reviews and support! I am really enjoying writing this and I hope you all are still enjoying reading it! So sorry for the delay, life happened is all I can say. Hopefully I can update a bit more regularly, and quickly, now. On with the story!

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Adam surveyed the four men in front of him. There were two tall men, one a few inches taller than Adam with a prominent scar and a clean-shaven man with a hard face. There was a young man, no older than Joe, Adam guessed, who looked as if he would rather be anywhere but there. And…somehow, he was not surprised Fredricks was with them. The smallest man laughed nervously. "Well, it's Mr. Cartwright! Fancy seeing you here! I hope you are not ill."

"Save it, Den. The kid knows us." The same low voice came out of the unscarred tall man, clearly the leader. He glanced at the youngest member of the group. "See? I told you."

Adam repressed the urge to just shoot the man and smiled, all of his teeth showing sharply like a wolf.

"You must be Bill." Adam said it in the same tone of disgust he would use describing a deadly disease.

The tall man quirked his lips slightly. "You've heard of me, have you?"

"Word gets around." Adam shot back, standing straight and narrowing his eyes. He seriously doubted the men would get threatening with the Cartwrights in a doctor's office; he just had to keep the situation from boiling over.

Bill glanced at Joe. "How are ya, kid? Back healing well? My friend isn't healing too nicely. He's got an infection. Doc thinks he might lose his leg."

"Sorry to hear that." Joe's voice was angry and strangled at the same time, as if holding himself back from lunging or running. Adam tried to get the man's attention back to him, leaving Joe out of it.

"You might want to be careful, mister. You're incriminating yourself every time you speak." He said, hand casually resting on his gun.

Bill glanced at him in annoyance. "It's your word against ours, pal. And I doubt our friend here wants to go up against us, do you, boy?"

The last bit was directed at Joe with a forceful directness. Joe didn't answer, his fists clenched so tightly Adam saw a thin trickle of blood coming from where his nails pierced his palm. Something shook inside Adam, a thin crack in his mask started. The scarred man took a step forward.

"You should answer us, kid." He was saying, raising his hand.

For many years Adam had prayed for Joe to grow out of his hotheadedness, to mature to the point he would argue with his mind and tongue, not his fists. Every time his youngest brother came home with a blackened eye and dusty clothes, Adam had ground his teeth, waiting for the day Joe would master his temper, to learn to listen to reason. But in spite of all of that, nothing was a better sight to him then Joe springing at the larger man. Whatever they had done, these men hadn't broken Joe's spirit, as Adam had feared. Adam did nothing to hold his impetuous brother back as Joe grabbed the large man by the throat and had forced him against the wall. "You want an answer? Huh? You want an answer? This a good enough one for you?"

The two were struggling, each trying to get their hands around the other's neck. Joe was winning, clearly, despite his smaller size and wounded shoulder. Bill and Fredricks looked like they were about to join the struggle when the youngest man spoke sharply.

"Can we please not do this here?" He glanced pointedly at closed door. "My brother's in there, in case you have forgotten."

Bill shot a look at him. "Pines, let the kid go." The scarred man grudgingly let go of Joe, although the Cartwright boy showed no interest in letting go of him. Adam finally spoke.

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"Joe, let him go." The youngest Cartwright heard as he doubled one fist to swing at the man he had pinned down.

"Adam!" The word of protest ripped from his throat instantly. Surely Adam wouldn't expect him to stand down? After everything?

"Please, Joe." Adam was quiet, reasonable. "This is not the proper time or the place."

Joe reluctantly backed away from the scarred man and stood beside his brother. Bill was grinning.

"I look forward to the time and the proper place, kid." He eyed Joe. "We need to finish what we started. And let me tell you something; any Sheriffs or deputies come tapping on our door, we are going to know who sent them, and we aren't going to be happy. And we're going to come knocking."

"Let me tell you something." Adam cut in before Joe could respond. "If any one of you even looks at my brother crossways I will slit his throat and let his body rot where it falls."

Joe stared openly at his brother. 'Still waters run deep' was a phrase Joe heard all the time in school. Ever his Pa had said it a few times. Joe had never understood it clearly until then; the moment he heard the rage and fury so carefully masked leak through in his brother's voice. The three henchmen shifted slightly, Fredricks actually sweating as Bill and Adam locked into a staring contest.

Joe wasn't sure whether to feel relief or offence when Bill finally jerked his at his men and they filed out the door, sending poisonous looks over their shoulders. He had had things in hand; he had been winning the fight, even. Why had Adam stopped him? Why had Adam cut him off when Bill threatened him? He could have responded himself.

And then something occurred to him. The anger Adam had shown, however briefly, was raw and more powerful then Joe had ever seen before. Realization hit Joe like a thunderclap.

He blames himself. Joe thought numbly. He thinks this is his fault.

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Adam was having a hard time keeping himself calm. How dare those men walk about so carefree, with innocence on their faces and lies in their mouths? How dare they act like they did nothing wrong? How dare they threaten Joe, in front of him, no less? And how dare he, the one that was supposed to protect his family, allow them to hurt Joe? He should have been on that trail with him…he should have cautioned Pa against letting Joe go alone…he should have known…he should have done something! And here he was, still allowing those men to play with his brother's mind. How could he allow that?

"Mr. Cartwright?" Dr. Bronson had come out of the closed room, face concerned. "I heard some of what happened-"

"Doctor, will all due respect; please stay out of it." Joe was saying, something flittering across his face. Adam was still having trouble focusing on anything except the sharp anger pulsing through his head. Anger at Bill and his gang, anger at Joe for not telling him sooner, anger at himself. He barely noticed Joe giving the doctor some pasty, flimsy excuse for what had happened, then steer his older brother out of the office.

"What do we do now?" Joe was asking as Adam got himself back under control.

"We get some supplies and get home as fast as we can." Adam said without thinking. Joe nodded.

"That sounds like the best idea you've had for some time." Joe answered jokingly, and Adam forced his face into a tight smile. "But I have a better one."

"Oh?" Adam felt a coil of anxiety thread into his stomach. Would Joe go looking for the four men and finish the fight?

"We go to the Sheriff and explain everything that has happened, then we get some supplies and go home."

Adam frowned; he hadn't expected Joe to change his mind about that. "Why do you suddenly want to go to the Sheriff?"

"Maybe your moral lessons of civic duty finally took root. Or maybe they just made me really mad. Either way, you won." Joe grinned, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. Adam knew there was something else prompting his brother's actions, but he acquiesced without complaint. As the two fell in step, Adam felt the neck of his neck tickle with the strangest sensation he was being watched; and he knew exactly by whom.

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"What is the plan, Harvess?" Pines said as they watched the brothers cross the street. Bill's horse shifted under him, his excitement feeding off of his rider's.

"We wait until they get out of town, then we follow them."

"But they are going to the Sheriff!" Fredricks said in a nervous voice. "They could start investigating us."

Bill looked sideways at his henchman. "There won't be much of an investigation when their only witnesses are dead."

Fredricks nodded slowly, understanding filling his eyes. "I like this plan."

Bill smiled slowly, a cruel smirk crossing his face. "It never fails."