Title: The Swear Jar 20/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

After spending most of the morning catching up on departmental paperwork, while being assaulted with jokes about how he sustained his latest injury, Raylan left to go to Minor Emergency to have his finger looked at and obtain a note for Art. He registered with his insurance card and was triaged and was then sent over to X-ray. Then, he was led to a room where he was to wait for a doctor. After about an hour, an older doctor eventually did come in and showed Raylan his X-ray films and where he had a small, hairline fracture near the upper interphalangeal joint, thus the reason for all the swelling, discoloration and discomfort.

"Well, shit," Raylan exclaimed upon hearing this. "Sorry, Doc," he apologized for the expletive.

The doctor then splinted the finger and wrapped his hand. After telling Raylan to come back in a month, Raylan began to freak out. He explained he was a U.S. Marshal and that he needed his finger to do his job. Without discussion, on a prescription pad, the doctor wrote a note explaining the injury and treatment plan, and then, an order for physical therapy that he explained might shave off a week or so off the healing time. Raylan was not happy, but then, he knew he did not have anyone to blame but himself.

After he left Minor Emergency, he returned to the Court House, where he found someone was waiting for him near the parking lot.

"Ava," he said, walking up to the front entrance with a look of stifled surprise on his face. Then, with no emotion whatsoever in his voice, he said, "I'm not your contact anymore with the Marshal Service."

"Well, then, there's no problem now, is there? Because I'm not here on any marshal business," she answered, taking a draw from her cigarette. Unlike the marshal, her tone was in no mood to play games. "And by the way, what did I ever do to you? That lately, you think you're too good to speak to me, anymore?"

"I don't think I'm too good to speak to you," he explained, continuing his level tone. "I asked Tim Gutterson to look out after you. He's a good man."

"I know," she said. "He and that woman marshal came out to Johnny's and introduced themselves." Then, she asked, "What did you do to your hand?"

"It's nothin'," he said. "Looks worse than it is."

Then, there was an awkward pause. Raylan knew Ava could be like a dog on a bone when she wanted something and that he'd best get this over with.

"I'm gettin' re-married," he finally broke the silence, "and we have another baby on the way."

"You don't sound too happy about that," she noted.

"No," he shook his head. "You'd be wrong. I'm very happy," he said in a defensive tone. It was because she was challenging him, and he wasn't in the mood.

"Are you sure?" Ava asked, taking another drag. "Sounds to me like somebody's got you trapped."

"What if I told you that I wanted Winona to trap me?" he asked her. "Because I did. I never wanted not to be married to her. So you see, it's not a bad thing. It's a good thing."

"That's not what you told me when you were screwin' me," she shot back, her eyes becoming small. "You were mad at her, even hated her at times."

Raylan let out a sigh from somewhere deep inside.

"It hurt me when Winona left me," he explained. "I couldn't deal with it then." Then, after a beat he said, "Look, Ava. I didn't mean to hurt you, either. I really liked you, a lot. But the truth is, I didn't know I still had feelin's for Winona until I saw her again."

"You mean until she wanted you back?" she asked, no doubt trying to sting him a little.

Shifting his weight, he continued to explain. "It had to be that way, her wantin' me back. Winona was right to want to leave me."

"Twice?" Ava would not let up.

"Well, I'm kinda stubborn," he continued. Then, under his breath, he quipped, "Just ask my boss."

After another pause, Raylan changed his tactic. "Can I ask you somethin'?"

Tossing the butt on the ground, she responded with, "That depends."

The cigarette butt glowed there on the pavement. It was obvious that Ava was being a little defiant and was not about to put it out, so Raylan extended his leg in her direction and put it out with the toe of his boot.

"What do you want with me, anyways?" he looked up. "You and Boyd have been together for quite some time now."

"Boyd's not here," she said. "You know that."

Raylan tipped his hat back. "And you thought you'd come back to me? After what I did to you?"

Ava arched her back like a cat. "It wasn't all that long ago that you laid a big ol' kiss on me, don't you remember, at the bar? Because I do. It was with your tongue and all. And don't you tell me you were drunk because you weren't."

"I was lonely," he hung his head. "And I really thought Winona was gone that time, for good."

There was a heavy pause.

"So, what you're sayin' is that I'll always come in second to her," she stated with fire in her eyes.

"You don't deserve to be second," he looked up into her eyes. "You should never settle for bein' second." After a beat, he continued, "In another life, in another time, I'd love to be with you. But in this life? No. Winona's my soul mate. I'm just so sorry you got caught up in our … confusion. You don't deserve it."

Ava was now the one who looked down. "So, we can't even be friends, anymore?"

Ever mindful of her proximity to criminal elements, Raylan let out a big sigh. "Not if you want to be more than friends." After a beat, he added, "And not if you're involved in breakin' the law."

Ava thought to herself, "If you only knew."

"Why did you get involved with Boyd, anyway?" he asked, in an effort to take the heat off himself.

"Well, unlike you, Boyd wanted me," she explained. "I mean he really wanted me."

"I always thought you got with him to piss me off," Raylan let out a little laugh.

"Did it work?" Ava smiled. "Did it piss you off?"

He nodded, looking up at her from underneath the brim of his Stetson. "You know it did."

"Well, if you don't care nothin' about me, then why do you care what I do or who I see?" she asked. "You're very confusin'."

Shifting his weight, he said, "I know. I am confusin'. But I do care about you. I grew up with you. You know my family. You're an old friend who also happens to be very attractive."

"You still think I'm pretty?" she smiled, looking like the girl next-door.

"That has never been in question," he said, thinking she still wasn't taking no for an answer. He then changed the subject again. "Now that Boyd's in prison, what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know," she answered, not liking the question. "I really don't know."

"You could do anything you wanted to do," Raylan offered, "if you think about it."

"Like what?" she asked, obviously not impressed with the present topic.

"You can't tell me Boyd didn't leave some money," he began. "And I don't want to know anything about his weed money," he tried to reassure her. "You could go back to school or … open your own shop and do hair again, but be your own boss. Heck, I'd even come in and let you cut my hair," he said with a quirky smile.

"You would?" she asked, frankly surprised.

"Yeah, as long as you understand we can only be friends, and you stay away from the criminal element," he reiterated.

Ava returned smiled. "You sure could use a cut. Hell, your hair is long. You look like a …"

"Don't say it," Raylan cut her off.

Ava instantly flashed back to the first time she met Winona, at the Court House, while she was there to meet her attorney when she was being investigated for shooting her husband. Winona told her that it was hard to stay mad at Raylan. After this conversation, she could tell exactly what Winona meant. It was much better to have Raylan as her friend than to have him ignore her, although she didn't recall she had agreed to his terms for retaining a friendship.

Not sure how she felt about things, she decided to have the last word and said with an angelic smile, "A shop of my own, huh? Well, you have given me some food for thought. I'll see you around, Raylan."

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

Later that night

A day in the office doing paperwork made the say seem twice as long to Raylan as being out in the field. He couldn't wait until the clock hit 5:00. He made a B-line out the door and to his car, thinking that even sitting in rush hour traffic was preferable to spending one more minute behind his desk.

He finally arrived home after 6:30, and Winona handed him his daughter as soon as he walked through the door.

"I need another set of hands," she said.

It was obvious she had been waiting for him.

"You take her, and I'll hand you a beer," she said, as she passed the baby over.

He took his baby girl and was greeted with a big gummy smile. Then, he asked Winona, "Would you please take my hat off my head, because I can't?"

It was then that she noticed the splint.

"What's that?" she was surprised.

She knew his finger was swollen, but nothing to warrant the wrapping around his hand … or so she thought.

"I have a hair line fracture, and I've been assigned to desk duty because it's my trigger finger," he said, in frustration and embarrassment.

Then, he looked at Cait, holding her in his left arm and pointing at her with his right, splinted finger. "This is all your doin'."

The baby smiled again.

"It's a good thing I like you," he grinned, "or I would have to haul you in for assaultin' a federal marshal."

Winona laughed. Then, she reached over and took his hat off his head and tousled his hair with her free hand.

"Caitlyn, if your Daddy hauls you in, your Momma knows the Judge," she smiled back at Raylan. "And you would plead for leniency because your Daddy was stupid enough to put his boozed up finger in your mouth?"

"Touché," Rayland conceded.

"I've got dinner ready," she said. "Why don't you have a seat with her while I dish it up?"

"You cooked?" he asked, quite seriously.

Winona didn't cook very often.

"Don't get too excited," she flashed him a look. "It's spaghetti with sauce from a jar."

She stood at the stove, filling two plates with the pasta and sauce. Then, she added some salad to the plates and brought them over to the table, followed by the cold bottle of beer she promised.

"I'm sorry you're assigned to desk duty," she said. "I know how much you hate it."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Speakin' of you knowin' the Judge, what would you think about us getting' married over at Art's place?" he asked, trying hard to make a Segway to the previous topic. "Faylene asked him to talk to us, if we didn't have plans. And we don't. Evidently, she's all about weddin's and babies."

"You're right," she said taking a seat beside him and then, reaching to take Cait back.

She placed the babe in her infant seat on top of the table next to her.

"We don't have plans, other than to do this soon," she went on.

After taking a pull on his beer, Raylan said, "We could get married at the Courthouse and have a small reception at their place. Or we could get married at their place, too. Whatever you want. Anyway, if we're interested, Faylene wants you to come over and see what you'd like. She has a couple of ideas from what Art said." Then, he stopped eating and looked her in the eye. "But if you want to do something else? That's okay, and they will understand."

"That is very nice of them," Winona was sincere, "to offer to do that for us. We want to do this soon, and I'm too busy with the baby to plan a wedding, with my quickly expanding waistline. I think it's a great idea."

"Yeah?" he asked, frankly relieved at her reaction.

Twirling her fork through her pasta, she answered, "Yes. Tell Art to tell Faylene yes. And thank them very much. And have him ask Faylene to call so we can get together. Okay?"

"Okay," he nodded, digging into his salad. "Sounds good. Let's get this show on the road.

Changing his tone, Raylan abruptly changed the subject. "When I came back to the office from the doctor, Ava Crowder was waitin' for me at my car," he began. "I had heard that she had been askin' for me ever since Boyd was put in prison. I've been avoidin' her and assigned Tim as her marshal contact to keep her at bay."

"What are you saying here?" Winona asked, feeling the hairs on her arms stood up.

Putting down his fork, Raylan talked with his hands. "What I'm sayin' is, Ava didn't know you and I were back together …"

"… and she wanted you back," she finished his sentence for him.

"Somethin' like that," he said. "But I made it emphatically clear to her that I'm not available nor am I interested."

"Did you tell her we were getting re-married?" she looked up at him.

"Yes, I did," he said and reached over and grabbed her hand. "And I told her that you are my soul mate, the only woman for me."

After a beat, he added, "And I apologized for draggin' her into my confusion. I told her I didn't mean to hurt her."

Winona squeezed his hand. "She really liked you. I could tell that night she stayed with me."

"Ava's always liked me more than I like her," he squeezed her hand back. "I didn't even know she liked me when we were young. And while I will admit that there was a time when that was flatterin', I could never reciprocate her feelin's. It would have never worked between us. You're the only one for me."

"Well, that's sweet you apologized, to her for hurting her," Winona said. "Even I feel bad about that. If I hadn't left you, none of this would have happened."

"I told her you were right to leave me," he squeezed her hand again. "I guess I had some growin' up to do."

"I did, too," she nodded. "I'm just glad we finally did."

Then, it was Winona who changed the subject. "Do you have any special requests for our wedding?"

Finishing the last of his pasta, Raylan said only, "Chocolate cake."

"Your Groom's Cake can be chocolate," she countered, "but the wedding cake will be white."

"Really?" Raylan asked. "Uh, you're not wearin' white … are you?"

She quickly reassured him, "Nooooo, I'm not wearing white." Knowing Raylan as well as she did, she know what his next question would be, so she beat him to the punch. "And I'm not telling you anything more about what I'm wearing. It's bad luck. You're going to have to wait and see."

Finished with his meal, Raylan stood up and took a final pull on his beer.

"I know whatever you wear, you will be a beautiful bride," he reassured her by giving her shoulder a squeeze.

Looking up at him with her big blue eyes, she said, "Not as beautiful as I was the first time."

Raylan cupped the side of her face and gazed into those blue eyes.

"That's not true," he said. "You are even more beautiful than you were the first time."

And he leaned down and gave her a kiss that led them where a kiss always seemed to lead them.

(To be continued …)