Title: The Swear Jar 19/X

Author: Romantique

Email: dolph1n

Classification: Raylan/Winona Family/General

Rating: T for language (but no worse than the show)

Summary: Raylan is a new dad. This one is a stand-alone, not a sequel to 'A Change of Scenery.'

Disclaimer: It's 'Justified' hiatus time, and I'm bored. This fic is based on nothing but my imagination and takes place sometime after the end of Season 3.

Legal: These characters do not belong to me. I'm just a fan and have not made a dime. Please email me to obtain permission to post.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A very short time later, Raylan opened his eyes and surmised that he and Winona had drifted off together in the afterglow of their lovemaking, as he was still holding her. It was at that same moment, he became very aware that his finger, the one the baby had bitten, had a throbbing pulse all its own. He winced in pain. How such a little injury could hurt that bad was a mystery to him, but it did.

A sleeping Winona was lying on the outstretched arm that was attached to the hand of his throbbing finger. Ever so gently, he rolled her over on her side and freed his arm, successful in that he did not wake her. He then, instinctively, brought his hand up and held it close to his heart.

"Shit," he let out the resigned expletive to himself. "That's my trigger finger."

He lay there for a moment, hoping that the restored circulation to his hand would make the throbbing subside, but that did not happen. Even in the dim light of the bedroom, he could tell his finger was swollen. He quietly left the bed, slipped on his boxers, and crept to the kitchen in bare feet.

He pulled out a bag of frozen corn from the freezer and wrapped it around his hand.

"Damn," he swore, under his breath.

Flipping on the light switch, Raylan then headed for a cabinet where Winona kept all their medications. He rummaged through the assortment of bottles and containers on the bottom shelf until he found the Extra Strength Excedrin he was looking for. He shook 3 caplets out of the bottle with his good hand and swallowed them down with a couple of swigs from his nearby bottle of bourbon.

He carried the bottle into the dark living room and stretched himself out on the sofa, propping his iced hand up on the back cushion.

"There's no point in keeping Winona up, just because I can't sleep," he thought to himself.

At least the painful throbbing was coming down a notch, to a dull roar. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he rewound the day in his mind, while he continued to sip on the bourbon. In particular, he was thinking about what the shrink had said and then, the conversation he had about it with Winona at dinner.

Then, his thoughts turned back to Dr. Freid. How could she know the answer to what made him tick, even if he didn't and refuse to share her thoughts with him? Their dynamic made him uncomfortable. The way she questioned him was similar to the way he interrogated suspects. He never asked them a question unless he already knew the answer. The problem Raylan had with the shrink was that he was not a suspected criminal, and further, he had nothing to hide. Remaining deep in thought and sipping his bourbon, he eventually nodded off, still holding onto the bottle.

"Raylan. Wake up."

Raylan was vaguely aware he was being shaken but could not open his eyes. Suddenly, he was aware that his nose and mouth were being covered and then, he heard a strange hissing sound.

"That's it. Breathe, damn it!"

The volume of the voice was muffled, but the tone was unmistakably sharp.

"Good. Take in another one."

Suddenly, Raylan began to cough and cough and cough. He then felt himself being helped up to a sitting position. As he continued to cough and breathe, his eyes fluttered opened. All he could see was darkness. There was a plastic mask on his face that covered his nose and mouth, and he reached up with hand to push it away.

"Leave the mask on and take a few more deep breaths."

Raylan did as he was told, and as he began to come to, he asked "Where, where am I?"

"Down in the mine shaft," the voice replied. "Where'd you think we were?"

This time, Raylan did push the oxygen mask away from his face and struggled to sit up a little taller. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness, and he could now see the face of the man who was helping him. Raylan was astonished to see it was Boyd Crowder, only he looked some 25 years younger with a full head of hair. The look on Raylan's face was one of total confusion.

"There was a cave in," Boyd explained, keeping his voice down. "What I wanna know is … what the hell were you thinkin'?"

"Thinkin'? About what?" Raylan muttered, his brain scrambled.

Raylan could feel that he was sitting on hard, cold ground. He was covered with fresh dirt and rocks.

Satisfied that his friend was going to be okay, Boyd lit into him as best he could while keeping his voice down, so as not to threaten any more earth movement. "You tripped the wire on the booby trap I set, you dumb shit, and it caused the wall to come in on us."

Raylan brought his hand up to steady his spinning head. "Wha?" he repeated, still not tracking well.

Annoyed, Boyd played along and asked him, "Who am I?"

"Boyd," Raylan answered, thinking the question was stupid.

"And how many fingers am I holdin' up?" Boyd asked, holding up four fingers.

"Four," Raylan immediately answered.

"And what are we doin' down here, Raylan?" Boyd asked, waiting for an answer.

Raylan again looked confused. "I dunno," he answered in all honesty.

"Well you should," Boyd said, "because you're the one who brought us down into this goddam' abandoned mine shaft."

Eyes wide in the dark, Raylan shook his head. Nothing Boyd said was registering.

Boyd shook his head in disbelief. "Hell, you musta hit your head harder than I thought," Boyd hissed. Then, he decide he'd better refresh his friend's memory. "We came down here to stash the cash you took from Arlo."

"Cash? What are you talkin' about?" Raylan continued to try and make sense of his predicament.

Boyd smiled a toothy grin. "Now, don't that beat all? I could get us outta here and come back for the cash and keep it all to myself. But I wouldn't do that to you because you're my friend, although I'm beginnin' to wonder if the tables were turned, if you'd do the same for me?"

"What are you talkin' about, Boyd?" Raylan responded through glassy eyes.

Boyd's smile turned into a sneer. "What I'm sayin' is, I'm beginnin' to have second thoughts about our arrangement. 'cause if you would steal from your own father, you could easily screw me. Maybe I should leave you down in this hole to rot with your money. I could come back and get it after you're long gone."

"Boyd, please," Raylan leaned back against the cool, vertical wall. "You know I don't like bein' underground. And I don't know what you're talkin' about … about any money. I just wanna get out of here and go home."

Raising a skeptical eyebrow, Boyd prodded a little more. "You want me to believe you don't remember anything about the money?"

Raylan reached up and held both sides of his head. "Look, my head is poundin'. I don't know anything about any money."

Suddenly feeling woozy, Raylan closed his eyes.

"Raylan, Raylan. Honey," Winona said, giving her man a firm shake.

"Just get me the hell outta here, Boyd!" he yelled in his sleep.

"Raylan! Wake up!" Winona shook him even harder. "You're having a bad dream."

By now, he was thrashing about in his sleep. "Wha?" Raylan's eyes flew open in a wild flash.

"You were having some kind of a dream," she repeated herself.

Not knowing where he was, Raylan tried to pull himself together. He looked shaken.

"You were yelling, 'Just get me the hell out of here, Boyd,'" she quoted him, verbatim. "Do you know what that means?" she asked with concern in her voice.

"A mine," he gave an extemporaneous answer. "We were trapped down in a mine shaft. It caved in," he went on. "There was a big cave in."

Now that he was still, Winona took a seat on the sofa next to him. She had her hand on his leg, almost in an effort to keep him calm.

"You never told me you were trapped in a mine," she responded to what he had just said.

In all the years she had known him, from all the stories he had told, this was the first time she ever heard about something like this. Sure, he had told her his 'fire in the hole' stories where he and Boyd would race out of a mine ahead of an explosion, many times. But he'd never talked about being trapped in a cave in.

Raylan literally shook the cobwebs out of his head. "It was a dream," he finally concluded. "We were trapped … in the dream."

"You and Boyd," she completed his thought.

"Yeah, Boyd was there," he continued, "in the dream."

Winona stroked his leg, offering comfort. "What do you think made you dream a dream like that?" she asked.

"I dunno," Raylan said, still trying to settle himself. "Maybe all this talk about me and Boyd the last day or so set it off. That'd be my guess."

A moment later, he glanced at his wrist watch. "Shit, I gotta get showered and over to the office."

Winona smiled. "Another dollar … for the Swear Jar, Cowboy. How about I get the coffee going and fix you something to eat … to go … while you're in the shower?"

"Sounds good," he said, and he began to stand.

"Hey," she stopped him in his tracks. "Please don't wake the baby. I just put her back down. I'd like to get some breakfast and a quick shower myself before I start my day."

Raylan put his arms around his lady love. "I'll hurry and stay here long enough so that you can get a shower before I leave. Sound good?"

Winona gave her man a squeeze around the middle. "Thank you," she said.

She appreciated his help, more than she could say.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Raylan made it to the office and to his desk before Art made it in. As his boss passed by his desk, Art couldn't help but make a remark.

"Good mornin', Sunshine," he quipped. "You look like hell. Couldn't you sleep last night?"

Under his breath, Raylan asked, "Could I talk to you for a minute?"

Art flashed him a look. "I tell you what. You bring me a cup of the shitty coffee we have, and I'll give you five minutes. Deal?"

"Deal," Raylan agreed.

A few minutes later, Raylan walked into Art's fishbowl of an office bearing gifts.

"Duncan Donut coffee? And a bear claw?" Art's eyebrows raised from behind his desk. "God bless you."

"No, God bless Tim," Raylan clarified. "He made the coffee run this mornin'."

Raylan then passed over the cup of coffee and pastry to his boss.

"What the hell did you do to your hand?" Art asked, noticing Raylan's discolored finger.

"You mean my trigger finger," he elaborated. "That's why I need to talk to you."

"Well, have a seat," Art motioned to a chair in front of his desk. "So again, what happened?"

Raylan grimaced. "I know I'm never gonna live this down, but the baby bit me."

Surprised by what he'd heard, Art said, "Your sweet little angel did that?"

"Yeah," Raylan confirmed. "She bit down … hard."

"Did you have it looked at?" Art asked, referring to a doctor.

"Naw," Raylan looked down at his black and blue digit. "I don't think it's broken. Just swollen. But I can't bend it. Now, I know you're gonna say I could go lefty, but I'd rather not."

Taking a bite of his bear claw and swallowing it down with a sip of his coffee, Art was thinking. "You could catch up with your paper work for the next couple days. But you will go get that seen about, alright?"

"Alright," Raylan agreed.

Raylan hated doing paperwork, almost more than anything. It was like torture to him, but he also knew he wouldn't be good backup with no trigger finger.

He then abruptly changed the subject. "I asked Winona to get married."

"I thought you two were already engaged," Art didn't understand.

"Well, yeah. We are, but we never set the date," he went on. "I told her I want us to be married … soon."

"Any thought of where you want to do it?" Art asked.

"Well, I know we've talked about wantin' somethin' small. You know we've done this before," he elaborated. "We really haven't talked any more about it than that."

Art leaned back in his office chair. "I'm just gonna put this out there. Faylene has been askin' me what you were gonna do about your ceremony and reception. She said we could offer our place if you'd like."

"You're kiddin? You'd do that for me?" Raylan was touched.

"Sure," Art said. "Faylene lives for this kinda thing. Weddin's and babies."

"Well, let me talk to Winona," he answered, "see what she says." Then, after a beat, Raylan added, "By the way … I wanted to ask you if you'd stand up there with me. You know, be my Best Man?"

Surprised, Art responded with, "I always figured you'd want Tim to throw your Bachelor Party."

Raylan smiled. "C'mon now. Don't you think I've had enough Bachelor Parties livin' at a college bar this past year? Because Winona sure does."

Art laughed. "You are the only man I've ever known who honestly does not need to have a Bachelor Party."

"I had my cake and ate it, too," Raylan quipped.

"You sure did," Art concurred. "Raylan, I'd be honored to stand up there with you, on your weddin' day."

"Thanks," Raylan said. "I would shake your hand, but …"

"No, no," Art shook his head. "I understand."

After an awkward pause, Raylan stood up from the chair, ready to make his exit but was stopped in his tracks.

"Did you meet with Dr. Freid yesterday afternoon?" Art slyly followed up.

"I did," Raylan turned around.

"And? How did it go?" Art asked, knowing it was none of his business, but he tried, anyway.

Raylan shifted his weight. "We got right down to business. I think we discovered this is gonna take a few sessions."

"Alright," Art gave up, knowing Raylan well enough to know he wasn't going to get any more out of him than what he had already said. "I guess you have some paperwork with your name on it?"

Raylan nodded, knowing he didn't give Art what he wanted. "I'm getting' right to it."

And he walked out the door thinking that this was going to be a long few days, weeks.

(To be continued …)