"This here's the Bath House," Vin stretched his arm in the general direction of the building, "But I'm more than sure tha' Chris would be more tha' happy let ya' bathe at his ranch," he added, turning to face Amy with a wicked smirk. She had been absent-mindedly gazing down the street, feigning that she wasn't paying attention to Vin, but as her head whipped round to face him he knew he'd caught her out.

"There is a perfectly good workin' bath in my hotel room thank you very much!"

She practically growled the words out at him, but secretly she was surprised by them. Vin had hardly mentioned Chris all day, and although Amy was intrigued by the black clad rider, she hadn't wanted to press Vin about him. Not since her earlier outburst. She doubted how much Vin had actually meant the words he had spoken, firstly on account of him not seeming to be the lewd type, she had encountered enough of them to know, but also due to the fact that she suspected he was only attempting to gain a rise from her.

"Well, unless you get a job round here, don' think you'll be stayin' in tha' hotel long after tha' arm of yours gets fixed," she was sure she saw his smile grow even more as he paused, "An' Chris' place is gonna be much less hassle for ya' then takin' a wash in here with the men folk in town…"

She was sure that he was testing her fuse now, but decided not to bait him. It may be more to her advantage to keep calm for the moment she reasoned with herself. Again he'd mentioned Chris, perhaps now was the opportune moment for her to ask some of the questions that had been plaguing her thoughts. She carefully inspected the man before her; Vin was babbling on about some new topic now, the cheeky grin gone, but his face still retained a friendly manner to it, even as he spoke about their surroundings. She couldn't place it exactly but something about this man intrigued her greatly, almost as much as Chris did. There was something about Vin that separated him from this six companions, made him unique. Probably his background, she thought to herself. Vin was now gesturing in the direction of a building a couple of doors down from the Bath House,

"I believe tha' you've met Mary Travis? She runs this here office for 'The Clarion' newspaper…"

He had taken a few steps forward towards the building before realising that Amy wasn't following him. Halting, he turned to see her stood with her hands folded across her chest, head cocked slightly to one side. Here we go again, he muttered in his head, as he started to walk back over towards Amy's still figure, but as he gained on her, he began to notice her expression. Instead of conveying some kind of bored or annoyed look that he had been expecting, an air of thoughtfulness hung over her pretty face. As he stood in front of her, Amy's eyes shot up to meet his, her eyebrows furrowing slightly,

"How did you meet Chris and the others?"

A perplexed look crossed over his face, as he wondered how he gone from guiding her around the town to her asking him about his past, although he had been expecting some kind of inquisition about their position in Four Corners. He squinted at her as he cleared his throat,

"Nathan didn' tell you about wha' we do here? How we were…"

"Yes, yes, he explained all about how you were all hired to look after the town," she rolled her eyes and flapped her hands in an uninterested motion as she spoke, stepping over towards the saloon steps, "but I wanted to know about how you all met, not what ya' do." She reached one of the wooden posts, leaned back on tiptoes and eased herself onto the beam. Vin scratched his head in contemplation for a moment, and she could practically see the cogs turning as he mused about whether to answer her question. Sensing his hesitation, she softened her tone,

"I understand if you don' wanna tell me, didn't mean to intrude."

Vin rested one of his heels on first step, and leaned forward on his raised leg,

"Na' it's okay, if I don' tell ya, figure it'll get back ta' ya anyway, one way or another."

A smile lit up on Amy's face, I'm wearing him down, she thought to herself. Vin screwed up his mouth, obviously struggling at which point to begin his explanation,

"We all met when we were asked ta' help protect a Seminole village nearby. I was workin' here in 'Watson's Hardware', remember I showed it ta' you earlier?"

Amy said nothing but nodded her head to show that she was paying attention, allowing Vin to continue,

" I'd been in town for 'bout a week before I met the others. I met Chris an' Nathan when we had ta' save a crowd from hangin' him," he paused with a slight chuckle at her horrified expression, "Nathan I mean, not Chris."

"Still, why the heck would they wanna hang Nathan?" she asked incredulously.

"One o' the patients he had been treatin' died. Mary stood up for Nathan, an' me and Chris stepped in ta' stop it. Then we slowly gathered the others one by one, some by knowin' them, some by reputation," he laughed again as he remembered JD, 'an' some by persistence. An', well then as ya' know, we were hired ta' protect this town after all tha', an' tha's how we met." He gave his knee a little slap and he leaned back , "C'mon, you hungry? Reckon y'all like the food in here," he pointed forwards to the saloon and went to remove his raised leg from the step, but Amy waved her hand around in frustration,

"That's really it?" one of her eyebrows raised suspiciously as she spoke.

Vin smiled as he figured out what she was trying to ask him, but after the pain she'd been all day he was going to make her work for answers, "Yep, tha's how we all met." He mirrored her raised eyebrow in a secretly mocking signal, "Ya' did ask how we met…right?"

"Suppose I did…." She was kicking her legs back and forth now, unconsciously fidgeting in impatience, "But you said you were only here for a week before you met…?"

Vin carried on acting dumb to Amy's obvious implied question, "Tha's right I did, guess you were listenin' after all," he smiled at her. Amy narrowed her eyes slightly at Vin, she had a good mind that he was doing this on purpose,

"Well how'd you get here?"

"Runnin." He waited for her to press him for more information but she said nothing, her eyes downcast. Suddenly his curiosity about the young woman before him increased,

"Tell you wha', Lets take it in turn ta' ask questions, you had one, so now it's ma' turn, deal?" He resisted the urge to grin at Amy's bewildered face as she looked up. She hesitated for a moment, weighing up her options, if she participated in Vin's idea, then he'd have to answer whatever she asked him, but this also applied to her regarding his questions. She let out a small sigh under her breath, she knew that her thirst for knowing the answers was one of her flaws,

"Fine, you have a deal. Am I right in thinkin' that you are closest to Chris in your little gang of seven?" she leaned forwards slightly as she asked, for a split second causing Vin to worry that she might overbalance and fall off the beam. He held up his hand, and formed it into a fist with only one finger left pointing upwards,

"Fraid you've already asked one question, tha' makes two," he lifted a second finger next to the first, "But," he added noticing the slight annoyance forming on Amy's face. "spose tha' I didn' make the deal until after ya'd asked." He dropped his hand, and placed both hands onto his hips, leaning his stance ever so slightly to the right, "Buck an' Chris have known each other the longest outta' the seven o' us."

"Jus' cause you've known someone a long time, don't mean they're your closest friend…" Amy prompted him to answer her more thoroughly. Vin gave his chin a little stroke before he answered,

"Yeah, outta the seven o' us then I'd say tha' Chris is the one I know best, an' same with him an' me," he narrowed his eyes at her in confusion, "Why'd tha' interest ya' Amy?"

"I just wondered why he'd leave you here, to baby-sit me. I'm assumin' that wherever he's gone off, it's got somethin' to do with that Ella woman…If it were me, I'd want my best friend to come with me…"

He took a sharp intake of breath, unsure as to how she would react to his next revelation, "I was framed for murderin' a man in Tascosa." Her eyes looked up to meet his, not in horror, or shock, but in sympathy, "If anythin' I'd be a holdin' him up…"

Vin's face hadn't changed his facial expression at all as he spoke, but she recognised sadness in his eyes, like a glassy veil over his memories.

"There no way that you can clear your name? I'll help if you like?" she offered, softly, but she was careful not to sound patronising or pitying.

Vin's mouth formed into a sad, wistful smile, "Fraid not Amy," she opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off, "The guy who did it is dead."

"I'm sorry Vin." The words came out sincere.

Vin smiled a thank you at Amy, and shrugged his shoulders,

"S'alright, ain't gonna change so jus' gotta deal with it," realising that although he'd been telling himself these words silently since Eli Joe had died, saying them aloud to another person made them finally feel real. Shaking off his feelings of self-pity, he turned his attention to his hidden agenda. He'd been waiting for an opportunity to ask Amy some questions, to find out more about this strange girl,

"How'd you wind up here in Four Corners?"

He watched intently with a slight grin as the most reluctant expression he'd ever seen formed on Amy's face, but she knew she had to play fair, and with a slight slump of her shoulders began to answer him,

"Alright, I was just passing through, on my way to Eagle Bend. Hadn' planned to stop here, except for a little rest," she paused for a moment, thinking how best to carry on. She figured that if she lied through her teeth to him, Vin might pick up on it, after all he wasn't one of the usual fools she encountered on her travels. But there was no was she was going to tell him the whole truth as well.

Vin let out a small laugh as he noticed Amy's nose crinkle as she paused,

"Tha's bout the momen' when Chris came an' cocked it all up for ya?"

She smiled in relief, Vin had assumed that her silence was due to her recalling the events in her head, maybe she could get away with this after all.

"That's right, and once I get rid of this damn thing," she attempted to raise her left arm, encased in it's sling, but failed, only managing to wiggle it slightly in annoyance, "I'll be back on my way." As she began to slide herself off the beam, Vin stood in front of her, blocking her way,

"Now hold on a second, think I deserve a lil' bit more information than tha'…" His eyes were boring down on her with a gentle questioning nature about them, making her feel uncomfortable. She was used to men staring at her, either leering in a disgusting and sometimes drunken manner, or staring in anger, with hostility blazing in their eyes, but she'd never had a man stare at her kindly before.

"Born in Kettleston," she began, hoping that if she gave him a little bit more information he'd stop staring at her like that. A contemplative look appeared on Vin's face at the name of the town, he was sure he'd heard of it from somewhere before, but he couldn't for the life of him remember where. He didn't say anything, waiting for Amy to continue with her story, and when she said no more, he could tell this was going to be a long and painful process for the both of them.

"How'd you end up so far away from home then?" he prayed that he was right in assuming there was a fair distance between the two towns. A disgruntled look formed on Amy's face,

"I was born there, don' mean that place is my home." She basically spat the words out, as Vin let out a slight cheer in his head that his gamble had paid off and she hadn't rumbled him on his guess, "the further I am from Kettleston, the better."

The anger was clear in her voice, but her eyes seemed to cloud over, in a distant way that led him to believe she was recalling bad memories. He decided not to push his luck any further, at least, not for the time being.

"Well, don' know bout you, but tha's enough chit-chat for me, lets get somethin' ta eat,"

Amy flashed a grateful smile at the tracker, but he noted that the wistful look was still present in her eyes,

"Vin, you read my mind."