Josiah paced the length of the town again, watching for any sign of riders in the distance at either end. He had arrived back in town from his own patrol just moments after the others had left. Tiny filled him in on the details as Josiah took over brushing down Lady. After amply rewarding the mare with appreciation and treats, he headed up to the clinic and gathered everything he thought might be needed to take care of Ezra, taking all the supplies to the gambler's room. He had no doubt that this was one time the comfort of his own bed would be more than appreciated – it would be a medical necessity.

Then, the pacing started. He travelled back and forth along the main street, waiting impatiently for anyone to return. His demeanour, and the fact word of what had happened had already spread through town, kept any town people from approaching. He paused in front of the church, debating briefly about going in again, but decided his prayers could be heard just as easily from where he stood. He turned and nearly went limp with relief on seeing two riders galloping toward town in the distance. Good. At least that meant Nathan would be here when the others arrived. After this much time, he had no idea if there going to be anything for him to do, but knowing the medic would be ready helped. He knew Ezra would take comfort in having all of his friends here with him. If, God forbid, they were too late to do anything more than be there for him, at least they would all be there together. He had to believe Ezra would find some solace in that.

"Supplies are up in his room for you." He didn't bother with any other greeting. None was needed.

Nathan nodded, recognizing the merits of the location in this situation. "I'll go check it over and make ready. Bring him up as soon as they get in." He hadn't needed to add that.

Chris figured that either 15 minutes or an eternity passed before the dust of riders moving fast appeared to the southwest of town. He fought back the urge to saddle up and meet them, heading instead to stand under the window of Ezra's room and shouting up. "They're coming." The shout alerted the town as well, and it looked like damn near everyone stopped what they were doing to anxiously watch the arrival.

It seemed to take forever before the coach finally pulled to a stop. Nothing was said as Josiah moved quickly to carry Ezra up the stairs. The others moved to follow before Chris blocked the path.

"Give Nathan a few minutes to figure out what's going on. JD, Henry. You two both need some patching up as well. Vin take them to Mary. She's been waiting to help out." Arguments died on their lips as they saw the determined set of Chris's jaw. They all shuffled off, with Buck guiding the coach to the livery to see to it the horses were cared for, along with checking in on Lady. He made a mental note to head out in the morning to retrieve Chaucer and Milagro. The town slowly settled back into a variation of it's routine as the residents added soft spoken prayers and watchful gazes to their evening's activities.

7-7-7-7-7-7-7

"Is it the venom or the exhaustion keeping him out of it?" Chris was getting tired of waiting for Ezra to wake up, and even more tired of Nathan's inability to explain why. It was over two days since they'd all arrived back, and Ezra hadn't opened his eyes once in that time.

"Likely both Chris. He was damn sick, and from what Buck says, hadn't had a lot of sleep or rest for a couple days before all of this happened."

"How much longer?"

Nathan sighed, answering the question for what felt like the 100th time. "I can't say. Could be two minutes from now, two hours or two days."

"Or never?" Chris asked quietly.

"He should wake up. He should be awake now. The fever broke, and almost all sign of infection has cleared up. He's just – well he's just kind of done in right now."

"But if he doesn't wake up soon…"

Nathan shrugged. "It's not good. He needs to wake up and start eating and drinking to get his strength back. Longer he sleeps, yeah, the harder it gets. And before you ask, I have tried waking him up a few times. Doesn't seem to take."

"I could try."

Buck spoke up at that idea. "We want to wake him up, not scare him to death Chris."

Nathan nodded without realizing he was endorsing Buck's comment. "Leave him be a few more hours. If his hasn't come around by after supper tonight, I'll let you talk to him. Talk – not yell and not threaten."

Chris looked mildly offended, with a bit of guilt underlying that. "What – I can be civilized."

Josiah grinned. "We are all looking forward to seeing that."

7-7-7-7-7-7-7

The chair scraped across the floor as Nathan dragged it back close to the bed. He was getting close to taking Chris up on his offer to try to get Ezra to wake up. There was no reason he should still be out. Granted, there was still a trace of the fever, but no where close to dangerous level. His breathing was better, as was his heartrate. And, encouragingly, the pain lines on his face had faded considerably. To any observer, he was merely asleep. And normally, the idea that Ezra Standish would take any opportunity to sleep for as long as possible in the comfort of his room would be no surprise. The difference, and is was significant, was that normally he would rouse when someone entered. His self-preservation instincts had honed that skill. But now, even the sound of the chair being dragged hadn't resulted in so much as a twitch. It wasn't natural.

"Ez, you are starting to get me seriously worried here. The fellas have even hinted about consulting a real doctor, although they won't come right out and say if for fear of hurting my feelings. Like that would matter to me if your life depended on it. Somehow though, I doubt it would make a difference. Still, sent a telegraph to a friend of Judge Travis. See if he can offer any idea. Would really help if you could just wake up."

"No change?" Vin spoke quietly from the door.

"Nope. Not even moving." Vin moved closer, handing a cup of coffee to the healer while looking down in concern at the bed.

The tracker swallowed hard before speaking again. "Nathan, you don't think – I mean, when I cut him and put the poultices –"

"You saved his life. Doubt he would have survived the ordeal otherwise. No Vin, whatever this is, it's not your fault. Or Buck's or JD's or mine for that matter. It could just be that it was too much for him."

"That doesn't make sense. He's a lot tougher than he looks."

Nathan nodded. "But he still has his limits. We all do. And you have to admit, Ezra has a tendency to find himself in harm's way a little more often than the rest of us."

"Wonder why?"

"I'd venture to guess it because he's never learned to take care of himself." Josiah suggested as he entered the room, followed closely by Chris. Nathan was about to turn them away, when he decided the company just might help matters. And with JD and Buck on patrol, at least no one else would show up.

"I don't know Josiah. I think he'd tell you he was always best at looking out for himself." Chris countered. "He'd be lying, but he's say it anyway." He made his way to the foot of the bed, looking down with a trace of anger crossing his face. "If he was the selfish bastard he pretends to be he wouldn't be stretched out here now. Hell, he wouldn't even be in Four Corners any more."

Nathan could see where that train of thought was headed. "No you don't Chris. If I'm not letting Vin or the others take on blame for it, you can't either. He's a grown man who makes his own decisions. He could have left town anytime, and he knows that."

"JD said he told him that he wasn't allowed to run out on us. We keep playing that card on him."

"Ezra has more than a few cards of his own he can play. He's here because he wants to be. Maybe even needs to be." Josiah had no doubt in his mind that was now the case. The other Ezra, the one Chris was talking about, was long since history.

"That right Ezra?" Chris wondered, looking down at the bed. "You sticking around now out of something more than obligation? You want to be here?"

"Not when it interferes with my ability and God given right to enjoy the peace and quiet of my own room." The voice was raspy but welcomed nevertheless.

"It's about damned time." Chris's words came nowhere close to reflecting the relief in his voice.

Josiah was beaming. "Well, you are sounding in good form there, son."

Ezra opened his eyes slowly, squinting slightly at the brightness. Vin reached over and shifted the curtain to block some of the sunlight and was rewarded with a weak smile of gratitude for the effort. Ezra didn't make any effort to sit but did move enough to look around the room. Even as pale as he still was, they could see colour drain from his face.

"Dear Lord. JD? Buck? Were they…" he couldn't bring himself to finish the thought.

"Steady Ezra. They're fine. Both out on patrol in fact." Chris reassured him. "I take it that means you remember what happened."

"The youngsters - the newlyweds?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Sherman are both just fine. Been looking in on you regularly. And, it seems they like Four Corners quite a bit." Josiah informed him. "Thinking of settling down here. Mrs. Sherman is quite the seamstress. Wait till you see the repairs she made to your jacket."

Ezra relaxed noticeably. "And the miscreants?"

"They won't be causing any more troubles for the stage. For anyone." Vin answered. He waited a moment to see if there were any more concerns. As expected, there weren't, so he asked his own question. "You wondering about the health of anybody else?"

"Should I be?"

Nathan just shook his head, not surprised by the response. "You're gonna be fine too Ezra. Took some time for the venom to work itself out. Would have helped if you'd been taking better care. Buck says you hardly ate in Riverton."

"That was an effort to maintain my health, not damage it. Had you seen the fare that was offered, you also would have had the presence of mind to avoid its consumption."

"Didn't bother Buck or JD none." Chris noted.

"Ah, but JD benefits from the vigorous energy of youth with the restorative gifts that come naturally to him, and Buck is blessed with the constitution of pack mule. I possess a more refined palate, and appropriately matched refined digestive system."

Nathan grinned. "OK, that settles it. He's gonna be fine."

"There was doubt?" Chris was about to give him the appropriate glare when he realized Ezra wasn't kidding them.

"Yeah, there was doubt. Serious doubt Ezra. To be honest, you scared the hell out of us."

Vin read the look on the gambler's face. "Don't even think about apologizing. Not your fault – you were doing you job, and you done good. But next time you dive head first into a bush, try to find one that isn't home to a nest, OK?"

"I believe I shall elect to avoid repeating any and every part of that experience."

Chris chuckled lightly. "We'd sure appreciate that." Josiah words still echoed in his thoughts. "Ezra, is it possible to get a straight forward answer from you on something?"

"I can only promise that you will have little to lose in making the effort."

That would have to do. "You sticking around town because you want to, or because you feel you have to? Cause if it's the second one, that was settled out a long time ago."

Ezra had thought about that himself, any number of times, and had reached his own conclusions. He closed his eyes for a moment, not certain he could answer if he had to watch their reactions.

"I am aware that you no longer hold me to that commitment. However, I still do. The time I have spent since that moment when I was mercifully given a second chance has shown me one clear and present truth. One does not, for any reason, abandon one's friends. One's family. Because of that fundamental reality, the commitment binds me here, in the best of all possible ways. Does that answer your concerns?"

When there was no response, Ezra forced himself to open his eyes. He saw four faces smiling back at him.

"Damn straight."

M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7

The end

Note: This is one of those rare times when I radically changed direction from my starting point. The title Snake in the Grass was going to refer not just to the vile serpent that attacked our boy, but to Jeremy and Emily, as the plan was to have them being 'inside operatives' with the thieves. The problem was, I started liking them. Wondering what it would be like to move them into town, and maybe have them pop up again from time to time. So, the snake in the grass was literal, not figurative in this case, and you can watch for the Sherman's to possibly make another appearance in future Four Corners functions.