*Author's Note*

Thank you for all the follows, faves, and reviews.

What The Hell?...

Jessa POV:

It was after midnight and I was up feeding Silas whenever I heard Tolbert coming in the front door. I didn't think much of it since I knew he'd gone out to the saloon in Pikeville to spend New Year's Eve with his kin. I expected him to be out later, but I just figured that maybe he left early cause he didn't want to leave me home alone with the baby for too long. When the bedroom door creaked open and Tolbert dragged himself into the bedroom looking like his face got tenderized with a meat mallet, I was both upset and concerned. "What the hell happened?" I asked Tolbert as he began to unbutton his new shirt, that was ruined from being bled on.

"Got into a bar, got locked up in jail too." He told me with pain evident in his velvety timbre as he finished unbuttoning his shirt, shrugging it off.

"What? How did that happen, Tolbert? You were just supposed to be playing cards over a bottle of whiskey with your kin?" I bombarded him with questions as he toed out of his boots and took off his pants.

"That's what I was doin' til Shaw, Cap, an' Abel came." My husband told me, a bit edgily, as he peeled off his long-john shirt and tossed it to the floor.

"What? Why were they there for?" I asked, closing the top of my shift since Silas had pulled away and rested his head against my chest (his sign for being done nursing).

"T'cause trouble." Tolbert said, folding a corner of the quilt back, as I arranged Silas over my shoulder for his burping. While getting to bed next to me, he added in as an afterthought, "Least Shaw an' Cap were, but since Abel's seein' Nancy these days I reckon he just went cause the others wanted too."

As I gently patted by son's back, encouraging him to burp, my brow rose curiously. "Abel Freeland's seein' Nancy? As in your cousin Nancy?"

"Yea." My husband nodded, fluffing his pillow. Laying down and resting his redhaired covered head on his pillow, Tolbert told me, "He even yelled at us t'stop fightin', but Shaw an' Cap weren't havin' none of it."

"So, you got into a fight with both of them?"

"No, my fight was wit' Shaw an' Pharmer's wit' Cap." Tolbert mumbled into his pillow, clearly in pain and ready for sleep to overtake him.

"Oh…" I trailed off as Silas let out a tiny burp. I got up and put him back into his cradle, tucking his quilt tightly around him since it was the first of January. I let out a heavy, but silent, sigh as I made my way back to bed. As I gingerly got into bed, making sure not to move the mattress too much since my husband was trying to sleep, I couldn't help, but feel shell-shocked about the fact that Shaw sought out Tolbert at the saloon and got into a very bad fight with him. Oh my god, this is anything, but a Happy New Year's tonight.

Shaw POV:

"I can't believe the stunt you pulled, Shaw Hector." My dad berated as he followed me into my house. I didn't need him escorting me home, but apparently, he felt the need to lecture me.

"I didn't pull anything, Tolbert said fightin' words and we got into it." I told my dad, taking my hat and jacket off and hanging them up on the wall hooks near the door.

"Got into it? The sheriff told me you were choking him out." He told me, his voice rising incredulously, as I walked by him and into my living room.

"So." I simply shrugged, making my way towards my armchair.

"So?" Sully rhetorically asked, stepping into the main room as I sat down in my chair and turned on the oil lamp that was on the side table. "So, you can't do that." He ordered, quickly making his way to the open armchair perched on the opposite side of the sofa. "It's only going to make this feud worse and the family doesn't need anything else making the feud blow up."

Folding my arms over my chest and sinking back into my chair, I shook my head at my dad. "Sully, this feud's gonna blow up whether I get into a fight with Tolbert or not. You can't stop fate, the feud's supposed to be long and bloody."

"I'm not trying to stop it, just trying to make it a little bit easier for our family. Your run ins with Tolbert isn't doing that tho."

"Nothing you do can make this feud easier. My tension with Tolbert's just one facet of the feud, most likely a smaller one considerin' Johnse and Roseanna's gonna hook up in a few months."

"Your cousin's relationship won't be fueling the feud. I'll make sure of that." Sully vowed, his voice firm and full of conviction.

One of my brows rose into my hairline as I asked in a near scoff, "You really think you'll be able to convince Devil Anse to give his permission for Johnse and Roseanna to marry?"

"Broaching the subject, the right way, yes I do think I'll be able to convince him." Sully confidently said, causing me to just roll my eyes at me.

A chuckle escaped my lips as I told him, "Good luck, cause I don't think he'll budge. He hates Randall; wouldn't want any family ties to him."

"Son, you need to drop the attitude. I know you feel slighted, but you need to just write off the loss and move on."

"I think you can go home now, dad." I flatly said, tired of listening to his bullshit.

Sully stood up from his chair, but instead of walking over to the door he looked at me with a hard stare in his blue eyes and advised in his teacher's tone of voice, "You got a nice girl and are having a baby in a few months, don't throw your life away for would've, could've, should've."

Pointing to the front door, I ordered, "Go home, dad."

"Good night son; please think about what I said." My dad sighed before quickly making his way over to the front door. He walked out of my house and gently shut the door behind him, making sure not to wake my siblings or Olga since they were fast asleep.

Talk about Olga, I hope she doesn't wake up when I go to our room. I'm not in the mood to dealing with her clinginess right now. I don't want to cuddle, I just want to go to sleep. Hell, maybe I should have a few drinks before heading to bed? Yea, that's it, I'll have a few swigs of whiskey then call it a night.

Allie POV:

I was woken up by the sound of the front door slamming shut. Cap knew he couldn't be slamming doors cause of the baby, what the hell's gotten into him? I sat up and looked over at my son, who was starting to squirm in his cradle as he let out a piercing cry. I let out a silent sigh, got out of bed, and went over to pick my son up out of his cradle. After picking my son up and cradling him close to my chest, my bedroom door opened and in stormed my husband with angry and heavy bootsteps echoing against the wooden floor. "You slamming and storming into the house woke him up, Cap." I told my husband in a clipped tone, nodding my head towards the baby boy I was trying to soothe as I slowly paced the room.

"Sorry, but I'm just worked up right now." Cap told me, his deep wave-like timbre heavy with frustration, as he quickly unbuttoned his striped shirt.

"What happened?" I asked, my eyes noticing my husband's knuckles were swelled, cut, and bruised.

Flinging his shirt off, he sighed, "Shaw got us into a fight at the saloon in Pikeville." Tossing his shirt onto the floor he added, "We got arrested; Sully came to bail us out."

"What? Why were you even over there for when there's a bar in Mate Creek? Wait a minute, where was my brother when this was going down?" I asked, a bit frantically, while my husband finished stripping out of his clothes.

Going over to the bed and getting into it, Cap answered me with, "Abel ran off when a whore got the sheriff. Hell, bet he went after her to see if she'd give him a free go for calmin' her down."

"Whose bright idea was it to go to the Pikeville Saloon?" I asked, having the feeling that it was my honey-eyed cousin-in-law's bright idea.

"Shaw suggested it, said that Abel could grab himself one of the whores if he got too bored of playin' cards with us."

"Of course, he suggested it, he was looking an excuse to bump into Tolbert so he could run his mouth off to him."

"Actually, Tolbert ran his mouth first by callin' Shaw a shirker…" Cap let his sentence linger, let the impact of it hang in the air. We both knew how being called a shirker got under Shaw's skin at a level that was ungodly. Shaw's been pinning over Jessa and Silas for so long that he'd, no doubt, view being called a shirker by Tolbert as more than just an insult.

Shaking my head, I let out a long sigh of, "Dear lord…", as I placed my now sleeping son back into his cradle.

Jessa POV:

This morning when I woke up and saw Tolbert sleeping in bed next to me, his body slightly shaking with pain, and his face pummeled and swelled up, I felt so upset with Shaw. How could be beat Tolbert's face to the point that his eye swelled shut, that his face was covered in purple bruises that looked awful. How the hell did a fist fight escalate into beating him nearly to death?

As I sat on the bed, nursing Silas, Tolbert awoke with a painful moan. "Goddamnit, I can't open my left eye." He groaned as his right eye popped open while his left remained swelled shut. Pushing himself up on his elbow, he looked at me and sighed, "Yer gonna have t'go ov'r to the butcher's an' get me a steak t'put on my eye otherwise I'll be home outta work for the next few days."

"Okay, I'll go after I make breakfast." I nodded, watching my son nurse.

Flopping back onto the bed, Tolbert groaned, "Yer gonna have to take him wit' ya. I'm too hurt to tend after him by myself."

"Okay." I nodded, fixing my shift to cover myself up since Silas had just pulled away from my breast; stopped suckling his milk.

As I placed Silas over my shoulder for his burping, Tolbert told me in a pain filled grunt, "Only butcher's ov'r in Mate Creek, so be careful goin' there."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." I assured Tolbert, gently patting Silas on his back.

"Hell, my face is throbbin' wit' pain." My husband complained into his pillow. "Bring me a bottle o'shine 'fore ya get started on breakfast, will ya."

Of course, he needed the booze to take away the pain. Seeing Tolbert hurting and in pain was heartbreaking. "Yea, I'll get you a bottle." I simply told him as the baby boy perched over my shoulder let out a loud burp.

After buying the cheapest steak I could get (which still cost a hefty penny might I add) I decided to make a stop at Shaw's business to see if it was open so I could give that idiot a piece of my mind. His large livery building, named S.E.'s Livery, was the last building on the eastern part of downtown Mate Creek. In fact, it actually skirted town. As I pulled my wagon to a stop in front of the livery, I noticed that the open sign was hanging in the front window. Of course, it was, it'd kill Shaw to have a day off and spend time with his pregnant girlfriend at home.

Holding Silas tight against my chest, I climbed down from the wagon and rounded it to walk up the wooden sidewalk that was in front of the livery. My heeled boots clicked against the sidewalk as I made my way over to the door, determined to voice my mind at the man on the other side of it. I took a deep breath as I stopped at the door, knowing that once I open it and step inside there's no going back and I must do what I came to do (unleash my anger).

As soon as I opened the door, causing the chime on it to ring, and stepped inside Shaw's head popped up from the paperwork he was reading. "Jessa, you've finally come to your senses and decided to give us another shot?" He asked, setting his paperwork on his desk, as I walked over to the empty chair across from him.

"No, I'm here cause you nearly beat my husband to death last night and I want to know why the hell you did it." I told him, my voice a bit clipped, as I sat down in the chair in front of his desk. Settling Silas on my lap, I noticed that Shaw's knuckles were raised and swelled with red cuts and purple bruises on them.

"Goddamn, he's gotten so big since I last saw him." Shaw smirked, his honey eyes locking onto our son as he evaded my blunt question.

"Answer me, Shaw. Why did you go to the Pikeville Saloon and nearly beat my husband to death?" I demanded while he took his cigarette case out of his shirt pocket.

Flipping open the case and taking a cigarette from it, he told me, "Honey, stop callin' him your husband cause we both know that you ain't married to Tolbert." He snapped the case shut and shoved his smoke into his mouth while smirking, "Hell, I didn't go to the saloon to beat him to death." He took his matchbook out of his pocket, struck one, and lit up his cigarette. "I went intending to drink and play cards, but happened to get into a row with the crazy McCoy."

"You bastard." I seethed as he took the first drag off his smoke while waving the flame of his match out. I stared Shaw down with my indigo eyes as I gave him the livid lecture of, "You think Tolbert being hurt is some kind of joke, huh? Well, it's not. I had to buy a steak that I can't afford cause his eyes swelled shut. He can't work, that's how bad you beat him, Shaw."

"I'm sorry that money's tight for ya, but I'm not sorry that I beat him to a bloody pulp." Shaw told me, his voice level and his face a blank slate. "If you want, I can reimburse ya for the steak."

"I don't need you to reimburse me for the damn steak, I need you to stay the hell away from Tolbert. You can't be attacking him anymore, Shaw."

"Oh…." He let out with a long ring of smoke from his O-shaped lips. Tipping some ashes into the crystal tray on his desk, Shaw sighed, "Me and him get along 'bout as good as cats and dogs do so me not giving him a beat down when he says fightin' words is highly unlikely."

"Just because he says something you don't like-" I began to say only for Shaw to cut me off brashly with, "He called me a shirker, Jessa. He told me that I ran away from my responsibilities as a father when that's the farthest from the truth. That crazy McCoy kept throwing you and Silas in my face, acting like I ran away from ya'll and he did ya'll a fucking favor by taking our kid on as his."

"What?" I let out in a breathless whoosh, trying to rack my brain around what I'd just been told.

"I won't put up with him callin' me a shirker and acting like he's a martyr since he's raising my kid, cause that ain't the case. For whatever reason, only god knows, you felt the need to settle with him. I don't need him throwing it into my face when all I want to do is unwind, drink and play a few hands of cards on New Year's Eve."

"You beat him up pretty bad. He's laid up in bed."

"Too bad he ain't bein' laid to rest 6-feet under in the McCoy family plot."

Words that Sally old me a year ago rushed to my mind. A warning, an eerie one, that Shaw would kill Tolbert in order to gain access to his son. Oh god, at this point I'm afraid he'll do it. He'll kill him. I took a deep breath before stating, not asking, "You would've killed him if the sheriff didn't show up and haul you off to jail."

"Yes, I would've." Shaw nodded, taking a drag from his cigarette.

"Shaw, please, I'm asking you, just leave Tolbert alone." Tilting my head down at the golden-brown haired baby with honey eyes I added, "He's been accepting of Silas; he's a good poppy."

"Hmm." Shaw bit his lip, looking deep in thought. Suddenly, he looked me right in the eyes and told me in a deep, but soft tone, "If I leave him be, you'll have to do something for me."

"What?" Flew out of my mouth before I could comprehend whether I was asking what he wanted or whether I was letting out an unbelievable remark. Hmm, maybe it was a bit of both?

Pointing at Silas with his cigarette, Shaw told me, "Bring him here once a month to see me and I'll leave Tolbert alone." Taking a small puff off his smoke he shrugged, "If you don't, well I can't promise that next time I run into him and we get into a fight that he'll come home alive."

Oh my god…I feel like I have my husband's life in my hands, literally. I've seen what Shaw's capable of doing, hell Tolbert's face is swollen and bruised so bad that he's wallowing in pain in bed. Can I take the chance that Shaw will or won't go after Tolbert again; with the intent to possibly kill him? I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I don't really want Silas to see Shaw one a month, but I also don't want Tolbert getting hurt or killed by Shaw in a jealous fit of rage cause by my husband's remarks (like calling him a shirker or something). Sally's words of dire warning kept ringing in my ears as Shaw looked at me with an arched brow, waiting for my answer.

"Okay, I'll bring Silas to see you once a month as long as you swear to leave Tolbert be." I told Shaw with a heavy heart. Oh god, I was making a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to ensure my husband's safety. If seeing Silas would keep Shaw from attacking Tolbert then so be it. I didn't like it, but it seems I didn't have much of a choice. I had to keep my husband safe and alive.

"I swear, no harm'll come to your husband." Shaw vowed, his voice turning bitter as he spat out the word husband. Snubbing out his cigarette in the crystal ashtray, he suggested, "Let me see him for a bit before you head back to Kentucky." I didn't say a word, just nodded and got up from my chair. Feeling a bit melancholy, I walked over to Shaw. He had his arms stretched out, eagerly waiting for me to hand him over our son. With a tight lined smile, I passed Silas over to his birth father. "Hey, buddy." Shaw beamed, causing our son to smile at him. "It's daddy." He told Silas with a wide smile, causing my breath to hitch and my heart to drop into my stomach.

"Don't tell him that, Shaw. It'll only confuse him." I reprimanded, my indigo eyes slightly narrowed at Shaw as he made funny faces at the boy, who was his spitting image, in his lap.

"Honey, I'm his daddy and that ain't changing." Shaw abruptly told me before going on to add, "Remember, we made a deal so I can see him once a month and get to know him."

"But-" I began only to be cut off with Shaw's timbre brashly telling me, "As long as I'm spending time with him he's going to know I'm his daddy." A smirk crossed over his face as he bounced Silas up and down on his knee. "We'll figure out what cover to use when he starts talkin', but for now I'm gonna be daddy."

"Fine." I relented, shaking my head and feeling tricked. Hell, if it wasn't for Tolbert's safety, I wouldn't be letting Shaw have father son bonding time with Silas. Suddenly, what Tolbert told me about Nancy and Abel popped into the forefront of my mind. "Shaw, Nancy McCoy knows bout Silas and she's with Abel Freeland. You can't tell anybody about this deal we made."

"What? Abel's banging Nancy?" Shaw asked in disbelief with wide eyes. I just nodded, causing him to shake his head to clear it. His honey eyes were a mixture of anxiety, fear, and seriousness as he sternly told me, "You don't let that hateful bitter bitch anywhere near our son and I'll talk to my whore loving cousin-in-law; try to get him to end things with her."

"I won't." I simply said before quickly adding in, "I don't let her around him much anyways."

"I know you're not going to like this, but Silas' safety has to come before any soft spot you have for the McCoys. If at any time you suspect that Nancy's outed his paternity, Tolbert's drunk ass isn't being a good poppy anymore, or some other shit that's threatening to our son's safety you come straight here to me." I just nodded, not able to utter a word since I felt like the walls were closing in on me and everything was spiraling out of control. "You hear me?" Shaw rhetorically asked before pleading, "Promise me you'll do that. You'll come to me if Silas' safety's threatened in anyway."

"I promise." I vowed, my voice soft, but heavy and full of gravity.

AN:

Whoa, Shaw's a master manipulator, isn't he? Poor Jessa, she's just trying to keep Tolbert safe and has gotten herself in a bit over her head. Oh, so now a few more people know about Nancy and Abel. Do you think that news is going to reach Cap and Allie soon or not so soon? Talk about Cap and Allie, aren't they such a cute couple? And Sully's lecture went over Shaw's head, like always… Next chapter's going to be a small time jump to spring.