Ella's thoughts were no longer upon Joey or his fate, she knew he was dead, had been dying since before he had even stepped foot in Ojinaga, it was over. But now the pain in her chest was beginning to grow, spreading through her entire being. Now the excitement of the moment was over, now her mind was back in control she fully regretted not listening to Doc, although only minutes had been lost, minutes sometimes meant a great deal between a situation going down a good path or an ill one…

She could hear Doc's harsh breaths as his pace quickened with each step he took and soon he had broken into a run as he sought the means to treat her, to get her to a place he could finally examine her wound and find out for sure how bad it actually was. Ella felt the bitter taste of remorse at the distress she was causing him but she had no time to allow herself to dwell on it fully.

She closed her eyes as she was harshly jostled in his arms by his rapid movements but she made no attempt to protest, not because she was being brave but because she felt exhausted, as though she hadn't the strength to even voice her discomfort and so she remained silent. But she inwardly prayed that they would soon reach their destination and it would be over. Finally a warm air surrounded her and the creaking of a door being closed behind them made her aware that they were now safety inside Maria's.

Ella opened her eyes and wished that her spirits would lift at the comforting sights and familiar smells but she felt nothing accept the slow, ever present, throbbing pain. Doc laid her carefully down upon a wooden pallet that had a lumpy, straw mattress on top of it. She gave a breathless cry as she was made to change her position and lie flat. To feel as though she could somehow combat it with sheer will she squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

"What has happened?" She heard Maria's voice coming from the bedroom and Teresa appeared at the curtain, her hand clutching a roll of bandages. Her wet clothing removed, she now wore a skirt and blouse of her mother's which were far too big for her slight frame. Doc looked up, only now registering there were other people in the house. Call was upon another pallet nearby, his face pale as he took in the devastation this young train bandit had brought down upon everyone that knew him.

"Ella's hurt" Doc said, not pausing in his task as he began to pull off Ella's blouse and Ella moaned in renewed pain.

"Don't" she protested in a daze, vainly trying to push him away with weak hands, not comprehending that he was trying to help her.

Maria quickly came to stand behind her daughter, her eyes wide and her shoulder bloody but clean and bandaged. For a moment it seemed she was lost for words, a sight that many had never seen before, but finally she found her voice. "How badly is she hurt? What happened?" She asked the two questions in quick succession as Teresa clutched at her mother's hand for comfort.

"I…" Doc closed his eyes, pausing in his task for a brief moment before he clenched his jaw in frustration, knowing he could not allow himself to think upon that matter, not yet, he had to stay focused and not break down. "It doesn't matter, she's been shot… I have to see how bad the wound is and get the damn bullet out." He wiped a hand across his sweat beaded brow, pushing his damp hair from his eyes.

Despite her painful injury Maria sprang into action. She pulled a large pot of steaming water off the fire and put it on a table beside Doc before sending Teresa to fetch more fresh bandages while she lit the only large lamp they had. She aided Doc, who had begun to cut through Ella's corset with his knife, and helped in quickly removing Ella's soaked clothing, knowing that this would only hinder their work and Ella's own comfort. Maria then wrapped Ella carefully in a soft, snug blanket and fetched her smallest, sharpest knife and a wooden bowl.

Doc rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands as best as he could stand in the hot water. He turned to Maria, his expression unsure, nervous. "I can't wait until we fetch a doctor… there ain't time" he whispered, his eye connecting with Maria's, his gaze relating his distress.

Maria gave a small nod and began to carefully and gently wipe at the wound upon Ella's chest. She narrowed her eyes at it, Maria had seen and dealt with many gunshot wounds in her life, many men were brought to her when Gordo the butcher was unavailable to deal with tending to them. Maria's heart sank with a sickening thud at the bullet wound's position. She looked back at Doc, her face grave. "It looks bad, her heart is safe, she is still alive but…" She hesitated, she didn't want to speak her thoughts… perhaps if she kept them to herself it would not be true, but then Maria had never shied from speaking up for fear of what may be and she inwardly shook herself.

"Her lungs… I think it may be a lung shot Doc." She saw Doc's face fall a little, losing some of the determination it had held moments before. "I have seen this before and… it seems as though they will be fine but the blood is already in their lungs…. They do not always recover."

Doc shook his head frantically. "No, it might not have gone into her lungs… it went through Joey first, it may not have gone that deep!" He stuck the knife in the hot water before holding it in the fire, allowing it to heat the blade.

Maria's eyes widened, her son had inevitably been upon her mind since she had been forced back to the house by Gordo who had convinced himself she was mortally wounded, Gordo had also helped Call back onto his bed, all but grudgingly. She had wanted to ask after Joey but when Doc and Ella had come in the questions had been wiped from her mind, Ella being hurt had engulfed her thoughts. Now he had been mentioned, bringing him once more to the forefront of her mind she had to ask…

"Is my son dead?"

Doc glanced at her, his brow furrowing in annoyance. A part of him understood why Maria had to ask but Doc hated the mention of him, and wanted to wipe away his very existence.

"Yes!" he said harshly, knowing he would regret his tone when the situation calmed. "I shot him, he was goin' t' hurt Ella!" He paused, his eyes narrowing. "He was goin' t' kill her, stab her in the gut!" He paused as if he didn't want to speak of anything further. "I had no choice, I had to fire… I had t' take the chance, hope that it'd just go into him and hit bone… I had t' hope!" He shook his head, seeming to all in the room to have lost his mind for a moment. "He'd have killed her, he'd have…"

Maria stilled his rambling buy placing a soft hand upon his shoulder. Doc looked up his gaze meeting her face and the strained smile she tried so hard to keep in place, the expression an attempt at comforting him. "Si, you had to do what had to be done. But now we must help her, she needs you."

Doc's eyes lost the wild gleam they had recently had, his calm, in control aura seeming to fall back over him like a snug blanket. He nodded. "Yeah, she does need us."

Maria's eyes were drawn to Ella with his words. Her eyes were closed tightly and her face had a slight sheen from the perspiration caused by the intense pain she was experiencing. Her lips moved, mumbling something under her breath before she finally pushed out a word.

"Maria" she whispered, and once again Maria's thoughts were wholly focused upon her friend, her son could wait, she would mourn him when the outcome of everything now was said and done. She reached out and took the young girl's hand in her own, squeezing reassuringly. "Joey… they… Gordo... I…" Ella tried but found that her thoughts were beginning to spin and she could not form her words into any kind of coherent sentence.

"Hush" Maria ordered gently. "You can tell me about Joey later." She brushed the damp hair from Ella's forehead and tried to smile.

Doc pulled the knife from the fire and bent over Ella examining the wound once more, his hand trembling slightly. He closed his eyes stilling himself for what had to be done. Maria placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder and tried to smile.

"I've taken out a few bullets in my time Scurlock, if Tessie and her Ma help me over maybe I can help" Call put in, his voice slightly shaky.

Doc turned to the old ranger and he gave a small nod in reply. "I'm gonna need all the help I can, I've done this kinda thing before… just never… like this…" His voice trailed off.

Maria and Teresa helped Call up and into a chair nearby Ella's pallet. He studied the wound, his eyes showing that his mind was working at a quick pace. "Wish I had my glasses with me…" He paused before looking at Doc. "You can go in… if it went through the boy; it might not be deep, just as you said." He looked at Doc, his look telling the young man before him he had no choice but to do what had to be done. "All we can do is try."

Doc nodded again but remained silent.

"But it might be bad." Call's slow drawl held a note of solace to it. "You best also be prepared for the worst."

The muscle in Doc's jaw twitched and he glanced about before looking at Maria.

"Whiskey" he stated bluntly. "You got any?"

Maria nodded. "Billy left some." She rushed to get it.

"Ella." He said her name softly but loud enough for her to hear and slowly open her eyes. She stared at Doc for a moment as if she wasn't sure who he was, her expression blank and then her eyes flashed with recognition and she tried to smile, but it was half hearted and lacked any luster. "I'm goin' to get that bullet out, I ain't gonna lie, it's gonna hurt like hell an' I'm gonna have to clean it too." He indicated to the bottle of whiskey Maria now held.

Ella gave a small nod of her head, her expression stating that she didn't really care what they did. She was so tired she just wanted to close her eyes and drift off into a restful sleep, but it was not to be as a jolt of pure pain struck like lightning through her body. Her eyes flew open, wide and terrified, as a roar of a scream burst through her lips and her eyes streamed with tears. She would have sat bolt upright in her pained surprise if Maria and Teresa had not been holding her down by her shoulders.

Ella gave an involuntary convulsion as the effects of the alcohol upon her open wound sent an aftershock of burning through her body. She was forced to lie flat once again; her vain struggles contained as Doc pulled the lamp closer and hovered the knife blade a few inches above Ella's skin.

"Don't hesitate" Call scolded roughly. "The cuts won't be clean if ya hesitate, don't think about it an' just do it."

Doc closed his eyes briefly before re-focusing his gaze and setting to work in earnest. He sliced thinly but deeply, opening up the small wound. The blood began to flow renewed from it, coating his hands so he had to keep wiping them on a clean cloth so he did not lose his grip upon the handle of his tool.

Ella gave a strangled screech as the metal pierced her skin. The pain was heated, like a fire burning through her flesh, unrelenting and consuming everything in its path. Her body again responded without any aid from her mind, squirming this way and that, but once more she was forcefully held down and kept still by unwanted hands. More screams echoed around the walls of the house until she felt she had no more to give and small whimpers were all she could manage in response to what was happening to her. White flashes began to flicker in her sight, stars bursting before her gaze and making her feel dizzy until finally her body seemed to go numb and dark. She wondered for a moment somewhere deep inside her mind if she had in fact passed out… it seemed as though she could still feel the cuts of the knife but it was distant and strange.

Her mind was free to wander, she would rather think of anything else but the pain, the knife and the blood. It seemed suddenly strange and foolish the path her life had taken over the years. At her mother's farm all she had ever wanted was to lead a quiet life, marry and have children running about her feet… her children. Instead she'd taken the wrong turn in the path over and over again. She couldn't help feeling a welling of deep and bitter resentment. Meeting Johnny Duke had been the start of it all… She'd been sly and callous, trying to be like Johnny so she could gain the seemingly thick skin he had but it had all backfired, leaving her wretched and yet still she hadn't learnt, taking up with another man she knew had a temper, had a bad side. Dave had hurt her and she'd taken it, being a coward, too afraid to live alone. She had always relied on others, used them even when she hadn't intended to, Doc, Maria even John Wesley Hardin… Perhaps she had even used Joey, seeing something in the young bandit that she so wanted, thirsted for… courage, confidence and self reliance. But none of that had equated to happiness for Joey so why had she really wanted to be with him. If she had her conscious wits about her she may have given a huff of annoyance at the strange question her own mind seemed to be pressing upon her in what was an inappropriate time for such ponderings.

Ella suddenly found her thoughts dwelling upon Joey, once again fueled by her mind's desire to dwell upon the past. His image came to her through the darkness, a memory of him smiling… truly smiling. It was a sight she had seen so seldom, the smiles he mostly bore were often no more than cruel, callous sneers that masked themselves thinly as a gentle expression. She realized in that moment that she had only really seen him truly smile twice. It was an occurrence that was so rare and yet she could remember each feature as if they were seared into her memory, almost as if it had been a daily event of their lives. When he smiled, honestly smiled, his cheeks dimpled slightly and his eyes creased, giving his deep blue irises a gleam that made him beautiful to her eyes. She tried hard for a moment to remember what had caused him to smile in such a way but found that her memory was lacking on that account. Her mind quickly changed what was before her as if she had no control over where it took her or what it made her see.

She saw Joey being pulled up, the heavy, dirty noose around his neck. She inwardly gasped, knowing that her body wasn't really reacting to anything, she wasn't awake. The image had surprised her with just how much it hurt to see him like that. Helpless, defenseless and hopeless. He was engrained in her like no other could be and now he was dead… he no longer drew breath or spoke cruel words, and he never would… she was finally free of him in a sense and yet she didn't feel free, she felt more bound to him than she ever had done. The thought sickened her, she'd tried so hard to get away from him, why were her memories making her dwell over things… and the pain was dully creeping back into her senses. He had needed her as much as she needed him and they had let each other down as brutally as was possible… Though they both knew they couldn't be with each other they still went back for more… They had never seen anything the same way, unable to step into the other's shoes and they had dragged each other further and further down until there was no way back out…

Ella gave a sudden shiver from within. She thought she heard his voice in her mind calling out to her, the words made no sense and it echoed like she was deep within that damned cave. No, she didn't want this, to dwell upon him, she wanted to see Doc, hear his voice and feel his comforting touch. It felt as if the voice that still called to her, softly, gently in her mind was death… death and Joey mingled into one frightening nightmare and she wanted to be free of it. She forced her mind to focus, willed her eyes to open, for a moment it seemed that she would not be able to fulfill her wish, her muscles did not want to obey her bidding but finally she opened her eyes to slits.

For a silent long moment she saw Doc's face swimming before her gaze, his look distraught as he grabbed onto Call's arm for support as if he couldn't keep upon his feet, tears poured down his face and Ella lifted a feeble hand out to him.