Disclaimer: I'm still not making any money off any of this, or any writing ever come to that. I don't own The Lone Ranger or any of the characters in it. The kid is mine. If you would like to have her in a work of yours, you are welcome to ask me nicely.

A Little Bear

Chapter 1 – Aunt Becca to the Rescue

Danny Reid saw the two men on horseback – one white and one Indian – while they were still up on the ridge. He ran from the river, crowing for his mother, his dog chasing loyally behind him. The family mule flapped his big ears and hawed at the two as they passed. Rebecca looked up from the shirts in the basket, absently fixing another one up on the line. Rita, the Mexican lady she had hired on to help out, looked up at the sound of the boy's voice as well. Little boots carried him as fast as they could and he skidded to a halt before he got dust on the nice, clean laundry. His mother set down the next shirt in her hands and tilted her head at him, squinting against the bright Texas sun.

"Slow down, Dan," she admonished him amiably by way of greeting. "Now what's this all about?"

The boy practically danced in glee.

"Come on, Mama!" he exclaimed, nearly tripping over the dog. "You gotta come see!"

Knowing as a mother knew that she wasn't getting any further useful information from the boy verbally, Rebecca looked over her shoulder and asked Rita to continue with the shirts. Surely, they would be right back, she thought. She followed her son round the back of the house, stopped to pat the mule on the nose, and stood by the well with Danny, shielding her eyes as they both looked up. Then her hand came back down and she blinked real hard… She couldn't be seeing what she could swear she was seeing, could she? She set that same hand on Dan's shoulder and addressed him without looking.

"Danny, run inside and fetch me the medicine bottle," she said quietly.

Danny tilted his head – Mama didn't normally need her medicine unless she was sick, and she seemed fine to him!

"What for, Mama?" he asked, scrunching up his face against the sun and remembering he'd left his hat on a rock by the river. "You sick?"

Rebecca shook her head at the boy, still squinting up at the ridge and the two horsemen.

"I must be sick if I'm seein' things," she told him. "I could swear I just saw your Uncle John and that Comanche, Tonto, comin' over that hill with a baby!"

Forgetting momentarily about the hat, Dan reached down to scratch his dog's ears as he followed his mother's gaze up the ridge.

"Mama, that IS Uncle John and Tonto comin' over the hill with a baby!" he yelled much louder than necessary. Then he paused, now scratching the back of his head with the same hand he had used on the dog. "Wait, why are Uncle John and Tonto comin' here with a baby?"

His mother didn't answer right away, nor did she look at him when she did.

"Dan, you know how your daddy always said that the Lord above moves in mysterious ways?" she asked him, her tone mildly disconcerting in its flatness.

The boy tilted his head for a moment, and then he nodded that yes, he did remember – Dad said that kind of thing a lot. Nobody ever asked him, but Danny had started to figure that was just his father's way of saying "I don't know" without getting collared on the subject. Looking back and forth from the ridge to his mother once more, he collected his thoughts. This seemed to be one of those "careful what you say before you get your butt smacked" situations.

"Is that what this is like?" he inquired in his careful-est voice.

His mother paused.

"… Not remotely."

While Danny puzzled over what that might mean, Silver and Scout's hoofbeats drew closer and he could see the riders more clearly. In another few moments, the boy covered his ears at the terrible sound coming from Uncle John's direction. Tonto, Scout, and Silver all seemed to be staring at the infamous Lone Ranger with equal looks of pity and pain. Uncle John, for his part, did an admirable job of continuing to ride forward and not get blown back out of his saddle by sheer force of sound. Both Rebecca and Danny wanted to rush forward, but knew better than to run at a pair of horses. Instead, they together shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, waiting for the two to get closer. Sure enough, with the same rhythmic clopping, John and Tonto reined up in front of the house. Rita, drawn by the noise, had mercifully abandoned the shirts and come to investigate as well.

"Ay Dios mio!" exclaimed the Mexican matron. "A baby – why do you two have a baby?"

Rebecca now stood rooted to her spot on the ground.

"You know, I'd like to know that myself," she announced without much difference of intonation.

Danny approached the horses, carefully taking Scout's bridle as Tonto dismounted.

"Where'd it come from, Uncle John?" he asked, walking slowly alongside both horses.

The masked man looked down at his nephew, smiling, and pulled Silver to a halt. Rita came forward to take the baby as Tonto took the white horse's bridle in hand. As soon as the little one felt herself in Rita's secure hold, the infernal screaming ceased. Uncle John's expression soured for a moment, but he dismounted without saying anything. Smiling again, he clapped one large hand onto Danny's shoulder.

"Well, fella, I think you might be a bit young for your mama to tell you that story," he told the boy, choosing his words carefully at Rebecca's poisonous stare. "But, tell you what – you run and get some water for Silver and Scout and I'll tell everybody about it over lunch. How about that?"

Dan scowled at his Uncle John, disgruntled at never being able to get a straight answer out of anybody about anything ever, but he trotted off to do as the Ranger asked. With the horses seen about, he ran to retrieve his hat and hopefully get back before anything important got said. Rebecca watched him go and then turned her attention fully to John and Tonto and the small bundle in Rita's arms. She folded her arms across her chest and raised one eyebrow at the scene before her. Of course, she had known the Reid brothers for basically forever, but the world always found ways to surprise her! Never did she think she'd be looking at John Reid and that crazy Injun with a foundling baby! Shaking her head and making a sniffing noise, she approached to get a look at the little one.

"Well, aren't you just the prettiest little princess?" she greeted the baby, carefully taking her from Rita to a collection of rather goofy smiles. Turning round, she stared hard at John, still trying to make sense of the whole situation. "John Reid… What in the world?"

The man in the mask scratched the back of his head and cracked his neck, finding himself reduced to the bumbling schoolboy he had been when he left nearly ten years ago. He shuffled from foot to foot and tried to find some words to explain what had happened. Tonto offered no explanation, merely looking off into the desert in the distance – in his own world once more. One hand offered bread to the bird. Rebecca shook her head and bounced the baby a little bit, earning a delighted giggling coo. The two men looked at each other, then at Rita, and then at Rebecca. Nobody seemed to know what to say until Danny and his dog came back up from the river, the boy toting his hat in one hand.

"Danny, put your hat back on before you get a sun-burn," his mother said automatically, shifting the little blanket-bundle. She tilted her head at John and Tonto, still waiting for an explanation. "Well… gentlemen?"

Tonto fed his bird again, blinking and not saying a word.

"Becca, normally I wouldn't invite myself so," John started, jumping in almost-surprise and whipping his hat off his head. "But… could we possibly step inside?"

Scrunching her nose at his use of her "private" name in such a context, Rebecca tilted her head but nodded and indicated the door. John reached out to pull Danny's hat off before the boy stepped into the house, following Rebecca, Rita, and Tonto after. Danny turned around to grin at his Uncle John. No matter the circumstances, he was always glad to see his uncle! Rita bustled on into the kitchen to get a drink for everyone and rustle up some bread and cheese. Tonto crouched beside a chair, feeding his bird again. Rebecca settled into the same chair, looking down at the baby and inviting John to have a seat as well. He set his hat on his knee and started into an explanation.

"Well, it's like this," he began, reaching out to pull the blankets back from the little face. "I heard a noise this morning, asked Tonto to go see about it. When he went out, he found her. She came with this…"

He pulled the dirty bit of paper out of his jacket pocket – Rebecca took it and squinted at it.

"Is this… writin'?" she asked, turning the paper over and over in her hands. "Looks like an ink stain."

John took it from her carefully and turned it over – the words were on the other side, but really, who could tell? Rebecca read the note. Her brow furrowed, and then she read it again. Her blue eyes narrowed, she looked down at the baby, and then they softened once more. The little one began to fuss, so a little shift corrected the problem. Danny inched closer, trying to get a good look at the baby. Uncle John looked really concerned – was something wrong with the baby? He leaned over and finally managed to see the little girl's face. She looked all right to him, as babies went, he decided. Two eyes – bright green and wide open, a little bitty nose, and a tiny pink mouth. Yeah, that's what a baby's supposed to look like, he thought. Grownups always had something to dither about when it came to babies, he guessed.

"She's half-Injun?" Rebecca asked to confirm – John nodded. Though she still looked troubled, Rebecca smiled. "She's still beautiful…"

Danny scrunched up his nose as Uncle John got this soppy look on his face.

"Isn't she, though?" he stated more than asked. "I just… I have no idea what to do about a baby, Becca. Could she stay here?"

For a moment, Rebecca looked ready to cry. John leaned back, in case the floodgates opened suddenly – he never knew what to do when women cried! The next moment, her face split into the widest smile he had ever seen from her! It took him a moment to actually take a deep breath and focus on something other than how much he loved to see her smile… She held the child very, very close for several long moments before pulling back to just look at her face. John reached out to touch the top of the tiny head carefully. The child burped and grumbled, the little mouth scrunching up in something sort of like a pout. Before Rebecca could say another word, though, Tonto rose from the floor and indicated that John should follow him with a head-tilt before stepping out the door. Confused, the masked man excused himself and went after his associate.

"Child cannot stay here, Kemo-sabe," the Comanche announced as soon as they were out of earshot of the door. "Not safe."

John bristled, glaring at Tonto from behind his mask.

"What are you sayin'?" he demanded, keeping his hands at his sides so as not to gesture angrily. "Becca's already done this – Danny's turned out to be a fine boy. She knows what she's doin' a lot better than we do!"

Tonto shook his head again and, infuriatingly, fed his bird.

"Baby half-breed," he said, as if it weren't the most obvious thing on God's green earth. Then he repeated, "Not safe."

John looked quite uncomfortable for a moment.

"Couldn't we take her to… someone else, then?" he asked, his voice becoming soft and desperate. "Would the…"

Tonto's further head-shaking cut him off.

"No," he told John firmly. In a rare gesture of solidarity, the Comanche reached out and took both of the Ranger's shoulders in hand. "Listen, Kemo-sabe. White man does not want half-breed child – they will harm her. Indian does not want half-breed either – father is white man. Bad memory."

The Ranger shook his head, trying to shake the words away even knowing the truth of them – Tonto was just being crazy again, right?

"Godsakes, man!" he yelled finally. "She's just a little baby – what does she know about all that?"

Tonto shook his head again – it looked like the bird flapped in irritation as well.

"Child knows nothing now." He looked off into the distant hills again. "But… she will."

In the house, the child began to wail again – for some reason, this appeared to brighten the Indian's mood somewhat.

"Child knows one thing, Kemo-sabe!" he told John in an oddly happy tone.

John looked rattled – he never could figure this Injun out!

"And what's that?" he asked testily, scrubbing one hand over his face.

Tonto smiled brilliantly.

"She is wet!" he announced. Then he turned to head for the door. "Come, Kemo-sabe – much to learn!"

Now just this side of totally lost, John could only stumble after Tonto and follow him back into the house.

"Learn what!" he called as the Indian got to the door first.

The door swung back and John had to catch it before it hit him in the face.

"Make change!" Tonto's voice answered.

At first, John drew breath to ask "Change what?" but that question died in his mouth and he made a sour face. Well, it had to be done, he reckoned. He felt a bit like an interloper as he hovered near the pack of people by the kitchen table. Rebecca had fished some of Danny's old things up out of a chest and Rita coached Tonto through his very first diaper-change. The Comanche looked pleased with his work, holding the tiny girl up so that John could get a look at a properly-placed diaper. Unsure of how to react, the Ranger nodded with an odd smile on his face. The baby blinked those big green eyes at him and, shock of shocks, began to scream again.

"Okay, I don't get it!" John finally exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "I just don't get it! Everybody here's held her but me…"

He didn't get a chance to finish that before Danny piped up that no, in fact he hadn't got a chance to hold her yet! Immediately, the two ladies began to fuss, helping the boy get situated just right in a close-by chair and showing him how to hold the baby. The boy's already-giant eyes widened to what looked like twice their normal size as he looked down at the tiny girl. She grabbed his offered finger, gurgled, and began to gum it like she had done John's. Danny laughed and announced that it tickled – she didn't have any teeth! He hadn't been that close to a real, live baby before that he could remember. The little feet kicked happily and the baby continued to gum his finger. Before too long, her eyes closed and she went to sleep in the boy's arms. Danny looked to his mother for advice.

"Looks like you're gonna be there for a minute!" laughed Becca, ruffling his hair while he didn't have a free hand to bat her away. "Let her sleep – she's had a busy day."

The little boy looked round at everybody, wishing he could get out of the proverbial spotlight at the moment – he didn't like how everybody stared. Tonto obligingly looked out of the window at the horses. Rita clucked something in Spanish and ruffled his hair as well. Ugh, he hated having his hair ruffled! His mother had the same soppy look on her face and it made him want to barf. He got that the baby was important and all, but really? Couldn't somebody else hold her now? He'd just wanted to for a minute, honestly. Finally, he caught an eye behind a mask.

"Do you want to hold her, Uncle John?" he asked shyly, shifting the baby as carefully as he could. Then he looked a bit sheepish. "My arms are gettin' kinda tired…"

John smiled, bending down on his knee beside the chair. Of course he could come to the rescue – what were Lone Rangers for, after all? He stretched out his arms and Danny, as carefully as he would be handling one of his mother's china roses – a gift from Dad – handed him the baby. All went quiet for approximately three and a half seconds. Then the little sort-of-brown cheeks went tomato-red, the green eyes squinched shut, and the mouth opened wide. Everyone flinched as the tiny girl began to howl just as loud as her little lungs would let her. Besides drawing back as far as he dared to protect his hearing, John just looked lost.

"See?" he hollered over the crying baby. "Everybody else has held her and she only does this to me! What's this about?"

Danny plugged his ears, Rita made the sign of the cross, and Rebecca shrugged her shoulders before checking to see if any pins had come awry. Tonto – still looking out the window – just scrunched up the side of his face closest to the screaming baby and fed his bird. Someone up there must really have it in for him, thought John, and he bet it was his brother! He shook his head to make his ears stop ringing and held the baby closer, trying to settle her down. Next, he tried bouncing her, the way he'd seen Becca do. That didn't work either. For a long moment, the mighty Lone Ranger just looked incredibly lost.

"Oh, come on!" he begged the child, really hoping that might work. He looked around at everyone else in the room. "Why is she doing this?"

Rebecca stepped forward and took the baby from him – he totally expected the little one to stop her fussing, but this time she didn't.

"I think she's probably hungry, Dad," she informed him, putting extra emphasis on that last word just to watch his ears turn red. Then she turned to her son. "Danny, can you go see if Myra's willing to spare some milk? If she's not, try Baby Rose."

At the strange looks from John and Tonto, Becca shrugged and informed them that those were the names of their cow and goat, respectively. Danny told his mother a quick "Yes'm!" and hopped up to sprint out the door. They all heard him clattering round with the nearest bucket before heading off towards the lean-to barn. John grumped and sank back into a chair – the little one just didn't like him, he decided in his head. Feeling very childish, he very much wanted to stick his tongue out at her. Wait a second! That might help – make her laugh, if nothing else! He looked over and did exactly that. For a split half-second, the little girl smiled toothlessly. Then the sound of Danny banging the door open scared her and the banshee noise started up again. Rebecca rolled her eyes, took the bucket from her son, and sent him to fetch one of Daddy's hankies out of the old dresser. The boy set off at a run and made it back in record time, three hankies dangling from one grubby hand.

"I don't have… anything else to feed her with," Rebecca told the curious faces, her voice catching just a little – she always had wanted a girl too, her face said silently. "But I saw this work once for a lady down the way."

With that, she took one of the hankies from Danny and let one corner down in the milk, still warm from being that fresh. Delighted, the green eyes lit up and the baby sucked on the cotton corner, mercifully ceasing her shrieks. Everyone in the room stared. Rita smiled and carefully stroked the shock of dark hair. Tonto fed his bird, also smiling at the hungry one. Danny just looked bug-eyed – he'd never seen anything like this before! John, for his part, felt like he'd just been smacked about the head. One, how did Becca think so quickly to do that? Two, he had the oddest tingle going up his back at watching that baby eat – he could feel his face going hot and cold at the same time. All of a sudden, he felt like the biggest idiot on God's green Earth and wondered how the hell was he going to take care of her?