I had done it. i had accepted life next an outlaw. A convict. i was one of them now. A part of their gang. I looked back at the dust we had kicked up as we passed over the valley, and found it was settling quite calmly... no wind. And no clouds. I suddenly realized how quiet it was... no wind or crickets. Hardly a sound from the creak of the saddles of the horses hooves. I pulled to a stop, something settling in my stomach. Home flooded my mind. I was an outlaw now... could i ever go home? The confidence and certainty i had only hours ago suddenly left me. I was brave back there when i threw the dynamite, excited as we all took off, and confident in our getaway. But it all abandoned me now. Now i realized I was riding next to a bunch of killers... outlaws, by myself with now way back to Lou or the job i had set up. No way to find the life i had set up here until I could find a way home. ANd for the first time since I arrived, I wondered in if I was doing the right thing. The time warp had given me the spunk and bravery when i needed it. It gave me that spark in my eye Billy talked about... it gave me the brain to get through the impossible situations in such an unfamiliar time... it probably even gave me better aim. But why? and why abandon me now that I had accepted what it had been pushing me towards? Had I lost my game in sharp shooting and riding as well?

"Lish..." i looked up and found Billy had pulled his horse over to me, "You alright?" I looked up, meeting his sharp blue eyes... they were softer. Friendlier. When he met mine, he saw the look in my eye.

"Everything alright?" Jesse called from up front. Billy waved them off.

"We'll catch up." Billy siad. They hesitated, but Jesse took the signal.

"Alright..." Jesse started off, cuing the others to follow. Doc hesitated, looking from me to BIlly. He seemed to ponder on leaving us alone, but then followed Jim. Billy turned back to me.

"Thanks for clearing us out of that canyon." Billy siad, "You really have a knack for this."

"Do I?" I siad quietly... "Do i really?"

"A natural." Billy tried to lighten the mood... but i didn't smile.

"I can't go back..." I siad, not really sure if I meant to Lou;s... or my true home.

"Back where?" Billy asked. I closed my eyes, and choked by the tears. What was this? Wasn't I burning to get in front of a posse a few hours ago? Now I was crying? Maybe I had just been in the moment... and made the wrong move. It felt like the boost the time warp had given me was leaving me... and the only reason I could think of was because I was doing something wrong... straying from the path i needed to be on... to get back home.

"We'll find your home." Billy siad, "We'll get you back. We'll think of someting so the law won't follow you..." I shook my head, and gave him a smile.

"You can't get me home Billy." I said, "Nobody can."

"You haven't even given me a chance." Billy said.

"Billy, you don't understand…" I sighed, feeling the familiarity of the conversation. He had gotten angry that I didn't explain.

"You'd be surprised." Billy said, "Lish… look at me." For a teenage kid he sure had a lot of authority in his voice. I looked up, "Going home… is that what you really want?"

"Of course." I said, "I miss my family."

I closed my eyes, trying again not to cry.

And then I felt something warm on my lips… and opened my eyes. Billy had pushed himself over to my saddle one hand holding his reigns the other balancing himself on my saddle… and kissed me. He pulled back, and I starred wide eyed at him, every thought I could possibly think suddenly gone leaving my mind blank, and speechless.

"I've never met anyone like you Elisha Young. You can shoot, and ride better then any man I've seen, and you've got as much fire in you as the woman who raised me. I've had a lot of woman in my life but none of them like you… none of them pawned an entire posse and none of them sure as hell wouldn't jump off no cliff. I like you Lisha, and if you want to go home, then I'll sure as hell make it happen. You have my word." His eyes shone and I knew without a doubt he meant it. He would try hard to get me back home… but it hurt to know that he couldn't… hurt to know he would only fail and disappoint himself. But for the life of me I couldn't tell him to take his word back. Because there was a part of me that wanted it to be true.

"We'd better meet up with the others before they send a search party." He said, and booted his horse forward. I watched him leave, my eyes still wide. Did he just… naw… I must of imagined it… then why were my lips tingling? Did Billy the Kid… William H. Bonney, the infamous outlaw at the youngest age just... I shook my head. Suddenly I realized Billy was laughing.

"You'll stare straight down the barrel of a gun with a gleam in your eye but you freeze up now? Lish…" I looked up at him… wondering if I should ask him if I imagined it. I could have. He was acting like nothing happened… sort of.

We met up with the gang in a nearby canyon. Somewhere where the light of our fire wouldn't be spotted. The James Younger gang said their goodbyes and split, heading back to Missori to fight their fight. When it got dark enough to hide the smoke against the night sky, we started our fire, and SHavez disappeared, showing up again an hour later with a rabbit. He cooked it and we ate, everyone exchanging a word or two now and then. I stayed quiet. Something didn't sit right with me. Something was making my stomach queasy, and I felt uncomfortable. I starred at the fire, and couldn't help but think something was going to happen. Something terrible, or terrific, or both. I didn't know. But I couldn't sit still and kept shifting. My chest felt tight and I could only swallow one or two bites of food before I set my tin plate down.

"Not hungry?" Doc asked.

"I'm full." I lied.

"I'll take you're plate…" Steve said. I handed it over and Steve scafed it down, ignoring the dirty looks from the others.

"You alright chicka?" Shavez asked. I nodded.

"I think I'm just tired." I said, "I'm gonna turn in early." I pull my makeshift bed away from the fire, suddenly feeling very hot and tried to sleep. But it never came. I wasn't expecting it to. Something just wasn't right.

"She wants to go home." I heard Doc say, "I can see it in her eyes. It a severe case of homesickness. She can't stay with us Billy."

"I know." I heard Billy answer, "I know."

"We can take her home." Steve said, spitting into the fire, "If she'd tell us where home was."

"We can't just go escorting people Steve…." Doc said, "The Sante Fe Ring is pissed and Murphy's men are still on our tail… we would have been dead in that canyon if she didn't show up."

"So what do you want to do?" Billy asked, "We can ride round the Barrow's River, down east…"

"That would take us back to Lincoln."

"That's where she said she lived when I first met her."

"Then why didn't she stay there… we found her in Albuquerque." Steve said.

"She's not telling us something Billy." Shavez said.

"I know that." Billy answered.

"Then why ain't you pushing it? She could be causing us all this trouble and we wouldn't even know it. Murphy's men may still think they got laws but you saw what they did to Alex's wife. If a lady disrespects the law, they ain't much different than a man in their eyes." Doc said, "I say we give her a horse and send her back to Albuquerque… she had friends there."

"But she wasn't home." Billy said, "No… no I think we should take her home."

"We don't even know where that is!" Doc hissed, "If we even stop to piss Murphy's men will have us strong up before we can even pull our pants up. They ain't messing around. Neither should we."

"He's right…" SHavez said, "We're on a death trail. We shouldn't drag her into this."

"Isn't she already in? Blowing lead at the posse and all?" Steve asked. There was a silence.

"Look. You guys head down to the boarder. Meet up with Johnson. I meet you there. Stick around the flats until I show up and we'll cross the border."

"What are you gonna do Billy?" Doc asked.

"Take her home."

"How?" Doc said.

"I'll figure something out." He said, "Trust me."