A Hold on a Cartwright's Heart

I do not own Bonanza or any of the characters, except for Amanda and Mason, they are mine. Adam is 32, Hoss is 27, and Joe is 20. No copyright infringement is intended this is just written for fun and pure enjoyment of the reader.

Chapter Twelve: Blast from the Past

Adam threw open the door to find another dead man sprawled on the floor behind the settee.

"Amanda!" Adam yelled frantically, running further into the house.

"Adam?" Mason's voice came from behind Adam by his father's desk. Adam whipped around and saw Amanda lying face down on the ground with Mason sitting beside her. Adam immediately gathered Mason up in his arms and gently shook Amanda.

"Amanda?" Adam said, "Wake up." Mason clung tightly to Adam, as he checked Amanda for injury, all he found was a bump on the back of the head. Adam sighed in relief to find she was still alive. He then turned to check Mason. He noticed that he had bruising around his neck. He cupped Mason's face with one hand and looked in his eyes.

"Mason, what happened?" Adam asked. Mason began crying and choked out.

"That man hurt Mama, and I shot that bad man." Mason buried his face into Adam and sobbed.

"Mason, I need you to do something very important for me," Adam said hugging him tightly. Mason pulled back and looked at him.

"Only a really brave boy can do it." Adam said.

"I'm brave." Mason said sniffling and straightening his back.

"I need you to ride into town as fast as you can and get Sheriff Coffee and the doctor," Adam said, "do you think you can do it." Mason nodded then looked at his mother.

"Don't worry I'll take care of here until you get back." Adam said, standing up with Mason still in his arms.

He walked back outside the open door and placed Mason up on Sport. He couldn't reach the stirrups, but Sport would move by clicks and yaws.

"Stay on the road, it goes all the way to Virginia City," Adam said, leading Sport behind the barn to the main road, "ride fast, son."

Mason reached down and hugged Adam's neck and Adam hugged him back.

"I will, daddy," Mason whispered, and then he yelled "yaw!" Adam had to whip a tear from his eye as he watched Mason gallop down the road.

Adam walked back into the house and picked up Amanda and put her on the settee.

As he was pulling the dead man from the house he was wondering who he was and noticed his father's gun underneath the man.

'What happened here?' Adam thought as he put the dead man out of sight and went to see about the two ranch hands.

Thirty minutes before Adam arrived.

Amanda and Mason were sitting on the porch, like they had been doing every night since the Cartwrights left, waiting for the stars to come out.

"Do you think we'll see a falling star, Mama?" Mason asked looking up into the sky.

"Maybe," Amanda said smiling, "if we see one what are you going to wish for?"

"I wish for Adam to be my daddy," Mason said turning to face his mother, "what would you wish for?" Amanda was a little surprised at Mason's answer, but it touched her deeply. Just then they heard hoof beats coming up the road.

"I wonder who that could be this late at night." Amanda said. She saw the two ranch hands come out of the bunk house, to check to see who the rider was.

When the man came around the corner of the barn, Amanda gasped and jumped up, it was her long ago kidnapper. The ranch hands had immediately pulled their guns when they heard Amanda gasp.

"Now wait a second, boys," the man said, his voice a deep growl, "you don't even know who I am."

The man got down from his horse and casually hitched his horse to the hitching post. Before any of them could react, the man drew his gun and shot both of the hands.

Amanda screamed, grabbed Mason, and ran into the house, with the man right behind her.

Amanda headed for Ben's desk; she knew there was a pistol in the drawer. Before she could reach the desk she felt pain in the back of her head, then darkness.

Mason was scared, and became more scared when his mother fell and he went flying out of her arms. Mason picked himself up and turned around and saw the man towering over him.

"So, you're the kid of mine," the man said, "too bad you don't look anything like me." Mason stepped back and felt the wall behind him, he was trapped.

"Now you stay there boy," the man said pointing a finger at him, "while I find some rope to tie you up with." The man turned around and lumbered off towards the kitchen.

Mason stood frozen for a second, and then he looked over at Ben's desk. He remembered seeing Ben put a gun in one of the drawers. He knew he didn't know how to use it, but he needed to do something to protect his mama.

Mason quickly ran over to the desk and pulled open the top drawer, there it was. He picked it up; it was almost too heavy for him.

He heard the man coming back and he ran out from behind the desk holding the gun out how he had seen Adam do it. The man froze and then smiled.

"Come on, boy," he said, "shoot me." When Mason didn't do anything, he took two steps and wrapped his hands around Mason's neck.

Mason struggled as the man squeezed his throat. He began to see black spots dance across his vision, he still had a hold of the gun, and he raised it and squeezed the trigger.

BANG! The gun went off and the man dropped Mason. Mason scooted back as the man fell to the ground dead, on top of the gun.

Mason scooted back until he felt his mother's feet in his back. He turned around and crawled to her side, and then sat down.

It seemed like it was only a couple minutes had past when he heard another horse. Mason's eyes got wide, 'not another bad man' he laid his head on his mother's back.

"Amanda!" It was Adam. He sat back up as the door flew open. "Amanda!" Adam yelled again. When Mason saw Adam, he said. "Adam?"