Sorry if I've confused anyone by replacing the chapter. This one is essentially the same as the one posted yesterday – I just made a few grammatical corrections (once a perfectionist, always a perfectionist). Thank you for reading!

In her mind, in the stony depths of her imagination, Daisy was upon a ship, sailing across a great expanse of water, wider and deeper than any river she had ever known. The sky was pewter, the water black, and she was the only person aboard the vessel, swaying with the gentle rock of the sea. All at once, phantom hands were upon her; hands of the crew; hands of strangers. The boat began to turn and pitch with the increasingly fervent tide, and her knees buckled beneath her. She was pressed down against the wooden planks, with the weight of a dozen invisible men sitting atop her, grabbing her, pulling her, yanking at the frail shreds of her dress. She began to scream and kick against the unbearable weight, until the gray of the sky parted, and the fading blue of reality returned.

Daisy woke from her stupor with Thornton still upon her, still attacking her. It was as if no time had passed; as if the world were waiting for her to come to her senses. She was meant to be free. Shaking the persistent ringing from her ears, Daisy acted. With what little might she had left in her depleted body, she pressed her palms against Thornton's heaving chest, building inches between the two struggling forms. Thornton was momentarily stunned by Daisy's new consciousness, and made the fatal mistake of looking down upon his victim, the blood lust still apparent in his eyes. In that still and quiet moment, Daisy drove her knee up and into Thornton's exposed manhood. He yelped like a wounded hound, his face closing with the pain, and crumbled upon Daisy in a heap. As Thornton's hands found a new mission, a desperate need to comfort his wounded self, Daisy seized the opportunity to push him up and off of her. She scrambled to her feet, the leaves shuffling against her backwards retreat, until she stood a good distance away from the danger. She breathed heavily, watching Thornton writhe on the ground.

"Thornton…" Daisy did not currently possess the good sense to calculate the severity of her personal damage. In her kind and honest heart, she still worried for the man she had believed herself to love. She saw him lying there in the forest debris, whimpering like a child, and thought that maybe alcohol had a stronger hold on men than she could ever fathom. Slowly, gingerly, she approached Thornton.

"Thornton…" she implored, reaching out a hand towards his shoulder. His head snapped up towards the sound, his mouth foaming, his eyes red. He lunged towards Daisy, meaning to wrap his arms around her legs and send her sprawling once more.

CRACK.

There was the sound of lightning over a meadow, of stone falling upon stone, and Thornton's face emptied and fell. He toppled to the ground like a demolished tower, his head smacking the earth just an inch shy of Daisy's feet. Her eyes grew big and unbelieving as she studied the lifeless body before her, incredulous of the small bit of red that began to well and pool on the back of Thornton's head. She was certain that he had been shot, but when she looked up, she saw Cap Hatfield standing there in the clearing, brandishing a large rock. He did not smile or boast; his face was grim, calculating. His one good eye danced back and forth between Daisy and the still form of Thornton.

"You alright?" he finally asked, slowly, quietly. He dropped the rock and it fell to the ground with a dull thud.

"Yes," Daisy whispered in response, her wet eyes traveling from Cap's concerned face down to the blood on Thornton's head that had, for the moment, stopped spilling. "Did you kill him?" she wondered aloud, and a breath escaped Cap, as if he were amused by the question.

"Shit, no," he replied, vigorously shaking his head. A smile began to play upon his lips, but when he saw the tears building higher in Daisy's green eyes, the amusement vanished. "I just pitched a rock his way, is all. I was ready to do it again if he didn't fall the first time." At this he swept a hand in the direction of the fallen stone, and Daisy nodded dumbly.

There was silence for a moment, the familiar sounds of the forest coming back to life around Daisy. She watched the unchanging body of Thornton, unable to properly wrap her head around the occurrences of what felt to be the very second before. She gave him one more glance, and then turned her face towards Cap, who watched her from a few feet away. His navy coat was buttoned, his collar turned up, reminding Daisy of the cold she should have felt.

"Will he be OK?" she asked, her voice a little stronger. She bravely met Cap's gaze, her head high, her shoulders thrown back, challenging his judgment of her. He looked back at her with the same frankness that she had seen in the courthouse, one eye a deep shade of green or blue that Daisy could not discern from where she stood. It reminded her of the bottom a pond, caught in the dazzling rays of the sun, something strange and beautiful.

"He'll be fine," Cap said with a sigh. "He'll just have one helluva headache when he comes to." He turned his head to one side and appraised Daisy's condition. "Will you be OK?" At that, the tears began to fall harder, and Daisy thought of her family, of her mother, of her father, of what they would say about all of this.

"I don't know," the words cracked and fell away, Daisy's sad gaze never leaving Cap's as he took first one step and then another towards her. He stood before her, towering over her short frame, curving his body towards hers as if in protection. Cap dropped his eyes to examine the blood that dripped from Daisy's nose. Delicately, reverentially, he raised his hands, cupping Daisy's cheeks with his cold palms, and gently turned her head to the side so that he may better see the damage caused by Thornton. His jaw tensed, his teeth gritted; his visage darkened.

"I oughta kill him," Cap said quietly, and Daisy felt the weight of the words, of the ring in their steadfast promise.

"You did enough," she said, and again their eyes locked, Cap's hands still holding Daisy's face. "You saved me from…" The words evaporated in the air, and Cap nodded once, smally, to acknowledge the things that Daisy had left unsaid. She wanted to shower him with gratitude, to tell him that he had saved both her body and her soul. But all she could do is gaze into his face, her big eyes now glittering with wonder instead of shame.

"You know, most people don't look me in the eye," Cap said absently, like the thought had escaped his lips before he could catch it. He smiled a bashful smile, and this time Daisy smiled back, a soft and sad smile that seemed to recognize the pain in his words. Cap looked upon Daisy, his face inches from hers, his expression distant, dreamy, like the viewer of a great work of art seen up close for the first time.

Without warning, he dropped his hands, and his face turned tense and alert.

"Evenin', Calvin," Cap called without looking away. Daisy turned towards the path, where her brother stood with a gun trained on Cap's head.