A short, dark-haired woman stood in the doorway, holding the baby.

Despite himself, Bart sighed with relief to see that the baby—and her mother—were all right.

The baby's father looked at Bart, noting his reaction. He looked at his wife with a frown. "Who is he, Anna?"

The woman looked at Bart before looking back at her husband with genuine surprise. "I've never seen him before in my life!"

Jim turned and took a menacing step towards her with his hand raised, and she stepped back with an exclamation of fear, half-turning to shield the baby.

Bart was shocked at the show of violence to the woman. "Hey!" he exclaimed, struggling against the ropes. "She's telling the truth!"

Jim turned to look at him.

"Who are you people, anyway?" Bart asked, trying to stall.

"I'm Blazing Jim," said the husband.

"Blazing Jim," Bart echoed. No wonder she hid her daughter from him, Bart thought. 'Blazing Jim' was wanted in several states for everything from stealing horses to murder. He was very strong, and always left injured people in his wake—including himself, Bart realized. His nickname came from how he blazed in and out of towns so fast without ever being caught. "Well, Blazing Jim, your wife is telling you the truth. She did not give me the baby, I found her."

"I told you she was hidden!" Anna exclaimed.

Blazing Jim had found that hard to believe when they'd gone to the supposed hiding spot and found nothing. "I don't believe you. You obviously planned that story together." He looked at Bart, before roughly grabbing his jacket and yanking his wallet out. He looked through it, finding a lot of money. "You're going to regret crossing Blazing Jim, Mr. Maverick," he said, reading the name on the wallet.

Bart sighed. "I already have."

Blazing Jim looked at his men. "Get rid of him," he said, gesturing at Bart.

Bart's eyes grew wide at the implications of that statement, just as the two men grabbed the back of the chair that he was tied to and started dragging it away.

"Hey, wait a minute!" said Bart, fighting to get loose.

He was ignored, and his chair was dragged into the bedroom that the woman had come out from. The men turned and left the room, and Bart was relieved, sucking in a deep breath and hanging his pounding head. He drifted off into a half-aware state until he suddenly felt a hand touch the bandage. He opened his eyes and looked up, wincing when he made himself dizzy again.

Anna came around from behind him. "You need a new bandage, there's blood on that one."

Bart blinked at the sight of the baby lying on the bed a few feet away. He hadn't heard Anna come in. "Where are the others?"

"Gone for a while," she answered.

"Gone?" said Bart. "Untie me!"

Anna sighed. "I can't," she said, sitting on the bed.

Bart blinked. "What do you mean you can't? They plan to kill me!"

Anna sighed again. "Jim said that if I let you go, he'll make sure I never see Rosie again."

"Rosie?" said Bart. "That's her name?"

Anna nodded.

Bart smiled. "I was wondering what it was." He watched the baby for a few seconds, as she lay on the bed sucking on her fist. He was so relieved to see that she was safe. "Would you…do you mind…could you bring her over here?"

Anna smiled and picked Rosie up, taking the few steps over to his chair and holding the baby near his chest.

Bart smiled down at the baby as she looked up at him.

Anna was silent for a minute, watching this man—this stranger—show how much he cared. "You found her, like you told Jim?"

"That's right," said Bart. "I rode past and heard her crying. I thought I'd lost my mind when I spotted her in that tree. I looked everywhere to make sure her mother wasn't nearby, and then took her with me to town. I did my best to take care of her and pretended that she was mine, in case someone was out to get her." He sighed. "I failed in the end."

Anna frowned and shook her head, moving back to sit on the bed. "You didn't fail! They attacked you." She placed the baby back on the bed when she remembered that she'd wanted to change Bart's bandage. "And then, despite your injury, you came after her. You're a hero, Mr. Maverick, and I don't know how I can ever thank you."

Bart looked up at her as she passed him. "A hero who isn't going to live much longer."

Anna heard him and stopped, before turning around and moving to stand in front of him again. "But what can I do?" she wailed. "He's a very dangerous man, and I fear for my life and my daughter's!"

Bart didn't blame her, and said nothing.

Anna left the room again and came back a minute later with some bandages. They were both quiet as she removed the old one, and Bart couldn't stop himself from flinching when she dabbed at the wound with a wet cloth.

"I'm sorry that they did this to you," she said, trying to be gentle. "You didn't deserve it."

Bart sighed. "I don't deserve to die even more. Listen, why don't the three of us head towards town. The sheriff knows about the situation, and for all I know, he's heading this way with a posse."

Anna thought about it for a minute. "Really?" That changed things; if the sheriff was heading in their direction, he might encounter Blazing Jim and would likely recognize him from the wanted posters. For all they knew, the sheriff might have already caught him!

"Really," said Bart.

Anna said nothing more, giving up on trying to clean the wound as the blood dried, and wrapping a new bandage around his head. She then left, came back with a kitchen knife, and started cutting the ropes.

Bart was taken by surprise, having not really expecting her to let him go. He quickly stood up before she could change her mind, but the room spun. He stumbled forward towards the bed and placed his hands on the mattress, and after blinking everything back into focus, found the baby staring up at him. She gurgled and smiled, and Bart suddenly realized that a pair of arms were trying very hard to hold him up; not only to prevent further injury coming to him, but also to stop him from falling onto the baby. He quickly shifted to sit on the bed.

Anna was relieved. "Can you walk?" she asked.

Bart let out a breath. "Yeah. Stood up too fast," he said.

Anna wasn't sure whether to believe him. She picked the baby up in one arm and tugged on Bart with her other hand. "We have to hurry," she said.

Bart knew that she was right, and the urgency provided his body with a spike of adrenaline, enabling him to make his way through the house and out the door. He looked around to ensure that no one was around, before they hurried to the stable.

Once there, Bart was taken by surprise when the baby was suddenly placed into his arms.

"Sit down," Anna said. "I'll do it."

Bart opened his mouth to protest, before noticing that his horse was still saddled; the men hadn't removed it. Deciding that Anna was capable of saddling her own horse, he obeyed rather than waste time arguing about it. Once she finished and mounted, Bart handed her the baby and mounted himself.

"We can't gallop," Anna told them as they rode out of the stable.

That was certainly true; the baby was too fragile to endure a wild, bumpy ride…and at the moment, so was Bart.

"I know," he said.

With that, they left.

TBC