AN: A very short chapter this time, but it was the right place to stop. Going further would seriously make the next break more difficult.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the reviewers. The two guest reviewers I can't send a PM, so thank you so much for leaving those lovely words about my story! I can't even put into words how happy those made me. For now, this is one short story, but I'm finding this fandom fun to write in, so there might be a follow up story. Just looking for ideas at the moment. This one had been bugging me for ages, so I finally wrote it down.

Chapter 4

Jumping to Conclusions

"I can explain, Adam," it wasn't even his, but Evan felt his throat constrict.

"I doubt it, Evan. How on earth can you explain this? Still….I wanna know. How on earth did this get into Diablo's stall?" Adam was seething. "I have a mind to sell him."

Tears appeared in Evan's eyes, "No, Adam! You can't!"

"I can and I will. Unless you have a perfectly reasonable explanation for having drugs in your possession, not to mention smoking in the barn of all places!"

"It's not mine."

"Hmm so someone else went into Diablo's stall and left this there. Maybe some hobo came by and figured it was a good place to sleep between a colt's hoofs. Hmm? You think so? You actually think I'm buying that?"

"No, but Adam…I'm not lying. It's not mine." Tears were spilling over. He'd known that Adam would be mad for hiding this, but never in his life did Evan think his brother would simply expect him to use drugs. He was only 13. Where on earth would he even get drugs? He didn't know.

"Then whose is it?"

"I…I can't tell you…"

"You will tell me or Diablo goes. Even if we'll keep him, you won't be working with him anymore."

"Adam…I promise. It's not mine…please.."

"He's not lying, Adam," Ford appeared behind Evan.

Adam's eyes grew wide and then he got a look at his face the boys had seldom seen. "I can't believe you two! Evan, you have one more chance to tell me…"

It wasn't fair. Adam just wasn't being fair. Evan was stuck. He didn't want to rat his brother out, but to lose his colt was simply too much. On top of the realisation that his brother wouldn't even give him the benefit of the doubt. It wasn't fair. And Evan wasn't weak. But Diablo was his one weak spot and Adam knew it. He'd used it a few times already, successfully. "You gotta promise not to get mad," Evan pleaded.

"I'm not making any promises, boy," Adam took a step in Evan's direction. "Now I want names. Who gave this to you?"

"No one actually gave it to me." Before Adam could explode again Evan raised his hands and continued, "I found it. On the floor. In the kitchen."

Adam paused for a moment, took a second to collect his thoughts. "When?"

"Last night after supper, when we were doing the dishes. Ford and I found it."

"Where exactly?"

Damn, why did Adam have to go on and on like that? It wasn't like Evan was 100% sure it was Brian's. Just about 99%. And he knew Adam would think the same.

"Where exactly?" Adam repeated in a threatening voice.

"It was under Brian's chair!" Ford almost yelled the words. "Stop being mean to Evan, he didn't do nothing."

"Ford's right. It was between Brian's and Guthrie's chairs." The words had come out in a whimper and Evan broke down crying. Although Adam's anger now had a new target, he did immediately feel bad for having accused Evan and he pulled the boy close in a hug.

"I'm sorry, buddy, I just…well, I found it there and…you know how scared I get for you boys. I'm always afraid something will happen to you. I only got mad because I love you so much."

But Evan had a hard time stopping the tears. He'd betrayed Brian. That's what it felt like. "You're gonna fight with Brian. And it's all my fault."

Adam had tried to pull Ford into a hug as well, but the boy resisted. Adam pushed through though and got hold of both of them. "It's not your fault. But you have to remember something very important. Both of you. I don't expect you to rat out one of your brothers over some mischief. I never have and never will. But remember when Guthrie kept going off to the creek when he was just little and you two came to warn me? That wasn't tattling. That was making sure your brother was safe. Because he couldn't swim and could have easily fallen in and drown. So you kept him safe. You were upset a bit that he got a few swats to his behind, but you knew it was more important that he was safe. Sometimes you have to tell me things. When you know one of your brothers is in real danger, you have to tell me. I can't help him if I don't know what's going on. You understand? This is one of those times when you can't hide it from me. It's not safe to hide things like this."

It was Ford's turn to cry now. "But we didn't want you two to fight."

"I don't want to fight Brian either, but I have to talk to him about this. I can't ignore it, buddy. And I think you know it. You're just going to have to trust me to know to do the right thing."

Evan swallowed hard, "I'm sorry, Adam, for not telling you. I just got so scared and didn't know what to do. And then you started yelling…"

"Yes, I know I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that. But, like you, I got scared. And I don't do scared very well."

Evan smiled through his tears. "I know. That's when you lose your head, Crane always says."

"Hmm maybe I should have a word with Crane."

"Are we in trouble, Adam, for not telling you?" Ford's voice was very small now.

"No, I think you two know when to come to me from now on. And me yelling unfairly just now was bad enough." The boys nodded emphatically. "Why don't you two go and do your chores and I'll go and find Brian and find out what on earth he thinks he's doing with this."

As he watched his two younger brothers run off to get to their chores Adam leaned against the barn and closed his eyes for a moment. Despite his calmer words to Evan and Ford just now, he felt an anger inside that just wouldn't simmer down. He knew he should take the mature approach and talk to Brian about the reason for this. He should ask Brian if something was wrong. He should try to help his brother. But what he really wanted to do was go and strangle him. He was seething. He tried taking deep breaths to calm down. After all, he'd just jumped down Evan's throat unfairly, it wouldn't do to just run to the next guy yelling at him. It's not like they had actually seen Brian smoke that joint. It had been on the floor. Still, the position of the thing was clear. It had to have been Brian. Who else could it have been? Guthrie? Adam snorted. How could Brian do this? How could he do it to himself? To Adam? To his younger brothers who looked up to him? Going into town night after night, sleeping around, drinking, it was all bad enough. But this was different.

"Adam, you need to calm down!" He told himself out loud and headed to the house. He knew Brian was still asleep on the sofa in the living room. Apparently, he'd been so drunk that he'd just let himself fall down without even putting on pajama's, or pulling out the sofa bed, or even getting his blanket out. And if he'd fallen asleep like that, he was still there now.

The sounds coming from the kitchen proved him wrong, though. Brian was in there, cooking breakfast as well as preparing Thanksgiving dinner. As soon as he heard the door open the second-oldest McFadden called out, "Breakfast will be ready in about 15 minutes. Felt like making pancakes since it's a holiday and Crane's home."

When there was no answer from the doorway, Brian looked around, somewhat surprised. "What? No cheers? I thought you loved my chocolate chip pancakes." Finally the look on Adam's face caused him to lose his cheery tone. "Something wrong? You look like you just lost your best friend."

"Maybe because I feel like I have."

"Huh? Sorry, you're not making any sense."

Adam held out his hand, the joint between his fingers. "Does this make sense?"

"Oh." Suddenly, everything became clear to the second McFadden. Well, mostly. Because he had no idea how it got in Adam's possession. Subconsciously he reached into his pocket, to find it empty.

"You dropped it." Adam's tone was a mix of contained fury and deep disappointment. Despite not wanting to jump to conclusions, Brian's reaction was proof of his guilt. At least, to the older brother.

"Must have."

"You're not even trying to deny it."

"Why would I? Clearly, you already know."

"Brian! I don't know anything. I can't understand why you'd even smoke this. I can't understand why you'd bring it home. I don't understand a thing anymore. Did you know that Evan and Ford found it? Under your chair after dinner."

"Ah." That explained part of it. "And they needed your advice on how to cure the addict?"

"Damn it, Brian. They tried to hide it from me. They're afraid you're in trouble. They're afraid of losing you." He couldn't say that he was just as afraid. But he was. As angry as he was, he was also just as scared.

Brian shook his head, "Stupid kids."

"You're one to talk. Why, Brian? Why? I need to understand."

"Doubt I can help you."

Taking Brian's tone for indifference or even insolence Adam lost his temper. It took only two steps for him to grab Brian by the arms and shove him against the kitchen counter. "You're gonna have to do better than that to explain why you brought drugs into this house!"

"What's going on in here?"

Brian didn't take his eyes off Adam as he answered his other brother, "Don't worry about it, Crane. It's just Adam losing his head again."

"Looks like a bit more than losing his head. Adam?" Crane persisted.

"Look, Crane, I appreciate you wanting to help, but this is between Brian and me."

"When two McFaddens fight, it affects the entire family. That's what Mom always said. And right now, when you two fight, it definitely affects all of us."

"Stop quoting mom and stop trying to outsmart me, Crane."

"Don't mean to, Adam, but you're about to do something you'll regret."

"Crane," Brian looked at his younger brother now, intently, "why don't you go out and help with the chores. And I'll make sure Adam doesn't do anything that anyone will regret."

Adam gave Brian a good shake, "Have you completely lost your mind, Brian? You're acting like everything's fine when you brought drugs into this home. How could you? Drugs?! After everything we've gone through, all our talks to the boys? And not just use it, but take it home? Did you think it was too much of a waste of a good joint to throw it out half-smoked? So you just stuffed it in your pocket to enjoy later? Maybe while you were looking after Guthrie huh? Or maybe driving him to school?"

Crane's face had lost all color. His quick mind was adding up the available information and he could only come to one conclusion. He'd completely forgotten about the joint he'd put in his back pocket when Daniel had found it. He'd put the jeans in the laundry when he'd gotten ready for bed that night and never looked at them again. And he knew he hadn't taken it out. Now he knew. "Adam?" He cleared his throat to make more sound, "Adam!"

"You stay out of this, Crane."

"Crane," Brian warned, "just go and leave this be."

And right then and there, Crane knew what Brian was doing. And he could cry. "No. I can't." Brian and he had their differences. They were completely different people and didn't always get along well. Brian was too loud and volatile for the sensitive young man. But that didn't mean they weren't brothers. They'd do anything for each other. They would always stand up for each other. "I was gonna tell anyway."

Adam had stopped shaking Brian and now looked at Crane. It was like watching that proverbial light bulb switch on above his head. But in slow motion. "Crane?" Maybe he simply didn't want to believe it.

"It's mine. Brian found my joint in my laundry. And he must have lost it. It's mine. Not his." Crane's voice was much calmer than he felt inside.