A/N: Sorry this took so long. Number five will hopefully be up within a couple weeks but I said that last time, too and look what happened. This one was prompted by another what if: what if Garrett hadn't gone to Mesilla? It gets a little angsty/dark. As always, entertainment only.

Tunstall's Ranch, New Mexico Territory, April 28, 1881

"Wait until Olinger takes the others across the street before you go inside. Give him the tobacco pouch and make sure you keep Bell's attention on you. I'm hoping he's not familiar enough with Billy's habits to realize he doesn't smoke." Jessie handed the pouch to Jane.

"Jessie, honey, I can keep any man focused on me for as long as you want."

"After you give him the pouch, get out, don't wait around outside, he'll know best when to make his move. Go to the hotel and watch from the window."

"You want me to come back and tell you I saw him ride out?"

"We can't risk anyone tailing you here and dragging Susan into this. After he rides out, pick a direction and don't look back."

"What if he doesn't escape?"

"It doesn't matter if he gets caught or just decides the moment isn't right, you still leave town. If Billy's still in that courthouse come the morning of May 13th, there's gonna be hell to pay."

"Mercy." Jane fanned herself. "They did mean what I was afraid they meant." Jessie gave her a hard look and plucked her freshly-oiled rifle off Susan's kitchen table.

"I'm not going to let him hang, no matter what I have to do to stop it."

"I pray it won't come to that, Jessie, honey." She held up the pouch and tucked it down the front of her dress. "Wish me luck."

"Be careful, Jane."

"I always am." She smiled and swept out the door, skirts rustling, and swung onto the horse tied to the hitch rail. A quick wave and she turned the horse and was gone. Jessie sat down, fingering her rifle and sighting down the barrel.

"What now?" Susan stood in the doorway.

"We wait."

"When are you going to Fort Sumner?"

"As soon as Billy rides out of Lincoln." She wanted to be close by in case something went wrong. Sumner was the only place that made sense, it's where they always went when the law got too close, the last place they had plenty of friends. If she timed it right, she ought to ride in tonight not long after Billy got there.

The morning passed in agonizing slowness. She couldn't take her eyes off the road up to the house, needing to see a cloud of dust approaching. She stood, then sat, then stood again. Paced the room like a caged wolf.

"You should eat," Susan said from the doorway later.

"I'm not hungry."

"And I'm not taking no for an answer." Heels clicked on the wood floor and Jessie swallowed hard. She couldn't stand to eat anything, not yet. A flicker of movement caught her eye and she rushed the window.

No.

Her blood ran cold at the sight of Jane galloping towards the house, skirt whipping around her in the wind. Jessie turned and scrambled down the hall, screaming for Susan at the top of her lungs. She stumbled outside and met Jane in the yard. "What happened?"

"Garrett didn't go to Mesilla." The redhead swiped at tears. "I'm sorry, Jessie, he wouldn't let me in. I put the gun in the outhouse anyway, but I don't know –" a sob escaped. "I'm so sorry."

Her blood ran cold, roaring in her ears, then she was on her knees in the dirt, falling forward, a scream ripping through the afternoon. Hands touched her back; dust swirled as Jane scrambled off the horse. Susan cradled her like a child, shushing her, as tears spilled over her lashes.

"Jessie, honey," the woman's voice was thick. "God, why can't anything go right for you?" She rubbed her back. "We'll find another way."

"I'll try again, Jessie, Garrett ain't stopping me." Jane dropped to her knees in the dirt and grabbed her arm. "We'll get him out." The redhead choked on another sob. "If I'd had a gun I would have shot him."

He'd never give them another chance now that he knew they were lying in wait. They'd come so close … she screamed her throat raw.

May 1, 1881

Twelve days. That's all she had left. All Billy had left. She didn't dare get any closer to Lincoln, they were lucky he hadn't shot Billy over Jane's attempt, and she knew he wouldn't refrain a second time. She'd have one chance to lay down her hand and if it failed … her eyes closed. If it failed she'd have to do the unthinkable.

Footsteps rang on the floor but she didn't turn. "Jessie, honey, you've been sitting here for two days."

"I can't do anything else right now," she said in a monotone. She picked up the glass of whiskey on the table next to her and downed half of it in one swallow. She had to think, had to plan, had to come up with the best way to do what had to be done and deal with the pain later.

Garrett wouldn't let any of them within a mile of that courthouse, not now. There was no way to tell Billy there was a gun in the outhouse. Maybe he'd check himself, just in case, since he had to know Jane had been denied a chance to see him. He had to know they'd tried something, and been stopped. But would it be enough?

"I thought you should know." The pain in Susan's voice brought her head around, heart beginning to pound. "I don't want to tell you, but you deserve to know. Garrett petitioned the judge to move the date of execution forward, citing the likelihood of another escape attempt." Blood roared in her ears and she couldn't think straight.

"When?" Her lips were numb. Susan looked sick.

"Three days." Jessie hurled the whiskey bottle at the wall, enjoying the crash and wishing it was Garrett's head. Tears burned and she let them fall.

"Damn it, it's not fair," she choked out.

"Oh, honey." Susan wrapped her arms around her and held on tight. "I know it's not fair. You tried to go straight but they wouldn't let you." The door flapped against the house and Jane approached.

"You just tell me what to do, Jessie, and I'll do it," she said through her own tears. "I can shoot and I don't care if they get me as long as I get Garrett first." Jessie drew in a shaky breath and wiped her face.

"Get a room at the hotel," she said in a voice that sounded dead. "Make sure it faces the courthouse with a line of sight to the gallows. I'll meet you there after midnight in two days."

"You got it." Jane left her alone with Susan and the older woman hurried around and crouched in front of her chair, hands framing her face.

"Jessie, honey, I know you think you can do this, but you can't. It'll kill you in the end, sure as a bullet. You can't live with that, child, no one could!" Tears trickled down her lined face. "Get out while you can and put this whole mess behind you. Remember him like he was –"

"I won't leave him!" Jessie shot to her feet and pushed Susan away. "He wouldn't have left me to face that."

"He knows you tried, child, he wouldn't blame you for Garrett's interference. He'd want you to run while you could, the same thing you'd want him to do if it was you in there."

"He wouldn't go."

"That's all he ever does!" Susan grabbed her arm. "Where was he when Dick was buried, or Steve and Alex? What about Charlie? Where was Billy when Tommy died?"

"The same place I was," Jessie said through her teeth. "Running for our lives from that bastard masquerading as a sheriff! We were outnumbered." Susan sighed heavily.

"You're outnumbered now."

"When has it ever been a fair fight?"

"You can't make it one, child. None of us can."

"Maybe not, but I can sure as hell kill Garrett."

Lincoln, New Mexico, May 3, 1881

She slipped through the darkened streets on foot as Susan led her horse away. One chance, that's all she'd have to figure out how to play this final hand. She knew Garrett and Billy, knew how they would react to her plans.

Poe was the problem, no matter how she thought it out. He had to die. As much as she'd like to pull the trigger herself, he would be Jane's responsibility. She had more important business at hand. Jessie's eyes burned with tears she refused to shed. If the worst happened, there'd be time enough then to cry.

The hotel lobby was deserted, the clerk snoring behind his desk. She tiptoed across the lobby and slunk up the stairs unseen by any except Jane, waiting in the upstairs hallway. Silently, the two women slipped into the room and Jane locked the door, then turned to hug Jessie. "You okay?"

"No."

"Didn't figure you would but guess it's polite to ask. I got my hands on a rifle, what do you want me to do?"

"Kill Poe." Jessie played with the end of her braid. "As soon as he's dead, run, you hear me? Run and don't look back."

"What about you?" She didn't say anything, just looked out the window at the jail looming in the shadows, then back slowly to Jane, and the redhead's face crumpled. "God … Jessie, no."

"I've got nothing left."

"You could leave the territory and –"

"Hide forever?" Jessie shook her head slowly. "This ends here, one way or another." Tears spilled down Jane's face as she shook her head in a silent no. Jessie ignored the tears and pulled a chair up to the window, staring out into the darkness, her rifle across her lap. Jane choked on a sob and sat down hard on the bed, swiping at her face with her sleeve.

Jessie focused on the thin beam of light in the window down at the far end of the building where she knew Billy was chained. She let her mind drift as the hours passed and the sky began to lighten.

"She's a spy, Dick, just like him!"

"You shoot me, you better make it good, cause you won't get another chance!"

" … we'll go out in the yard, you little rodent …"

"Regulators, skin out, now!"

"It's John Kinney!"

" … $1,000 to the man who drags that whore out …"

"How do we play it, Billy?"

"I want to ride with the Kid …"

"It ain't your gang, Dave."

"You've killed yourself, the both of you!"

"I will light candles for all of you …"

She drew in a shaky breath and a single tear slid down her cheek. She wiped it away and leaned forward to crack the window, sliding the rifle barrel into the narrow gap. It was almost daylight; they wouldn't wait much longer. What came next depended on two things.

By the time the sun was in the sky, a crowd had gathered in the square, most people rebelliously silent. Jane left the bed and gathered her own rifle, letting it slip into the gap next to hers. "Wait for my signal."

"Okay," the redhead choked. "I wish you'd try, Jessie."

The jail door creaked open and her heart skipped a beat. First out was Garrett, with Bell toting a rifle on his right. Poe and Olinger hauled Billy through the doorway, chains rattling with every step.

"Damn," she breathed. His hands he could work with, but with his feet shackled as well … her heart broke all over again. They'd never get him on a horse in time. "Damn whoever cut that chain down." Tears stung her eyes. He could barely walk, much less run. A breeze ruffled his hair and she choked on the lump in her throat. Billy was smiling like he didn't have a care in the world, like he wasn't being led to his death. "Bell's afraid of his own shadow, don't worry about him. Get Poe and run. I'll handle the rest." She sucked in a sharp breath and gave the order.

"Now."

The rifles barked as one and Billy's guards collapsed like puppets shorn of their strings, blood spraying across his face. He dove for the ground and scrambled for cover. Jane dropped her rifle and ran, pausing only long enough to give her shoulder a brief touch and then she was gone. Another rifle roared in the square and windows all across the second floor shattered as Bell sprayed the building. Jessie sighted down the gleaming barrel at Pat Garrett who had Billy lined up in his sights.

"I'll see you in Hell," she snarled as the rifle bucked in her hands, and Garrett staggered. Her window exploded and she flinched backwards. In the second it had taken her to regain position, Garrett was up on his side, drawing on Billy again. She pulled the trigger and he collapsed, blood drenching his shirt.

Her heart stopped and time froze. Billy clutched at his chest as blood trickled down his back. He hit the ground on his knees and time restarted.

Jessie flew down the stairs, shoving her way through the panicked crowd. She ran right into the middle of the square and slid through the dirt to land beside him. "Billy!"

"I knew you'd come," he said between gasps. His gaze landed on her shirt and his face fell. "Jess … I'm sorry."

"Deputy, stop them!" Chisum's shout rang across the square and they turned. Bell stared like he didn't know what to do, but the rancher sure did. He grabbed his Colt and Rynerson pulled out a tiny Derringer that made her want to laugh her head off. She struggled to get the rifle turned in time.

The blood on Billy's shirt and the tightness in her own chest said everything. They'd never get away, not now. The end for them would come right here, right now, and that was alright. Billy's shaking hand got her Colt out of the holster and, with one last look between them that said everything there wasn't time to say, he swung the muzzle up into firing position. Four guns roared as one.

Because the Regulators would live on.