A/N: Next up our wandering trio finally reaches Bozeman where a surprise awaits …

As always, I own nothing but my OC.

Bozeman, Montana, November, 1870

"I didn't see any sign of him when I rode in and no one said anything when I asked at the store." Griff reined his horse up next to Annie, his coat collar turned up against the blowing snow. "With the storm I didn't want to take too long and make you wait."

"It's fine," Candy said, his own collar tugged high on his neck. "Where's the livery?"

"Down a side street behind the hotel."

"Convenient," Annie remarked as they made their way down the street, keeping to the middle of the road where the snow was mostly cleared away by wagons and other horses. She rubbed her pinto's neck, glad he'd be dry tonight.

Candy had been right when he said the two they were on were the best of that bunch. The animals had proved it on the ride down to Arizona and again ever day since … how had it already been seven months? And they were no closer to finding Troy Whitaker than they'd been in St. Louis. She was beginning to wonder if he hadn't turned around somewhere and headed south again. A sideways glance at Candy's face confirmed her decision not to voice that fear aloud. He was holding together for her, she knew he was, and projecting that aura of confidence he'd always had, but she knew it for the lie it was.

If they couldn't find his double, she wasn't sure who would be hurt more. For some insane reason, she'd stupidly believed they'd somehow find this man almost instantly and everything would be normal again. After so many years of living through trouble, how could she have thought that?

They stopped at the hitch rail in front of the livery just as a gust of wind drove snow into their faces. Annie ducked her head, then swept her hair out of her face when the wind finally stopped. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she turned, her mouth falling open in shock.

He stood at the end of the hotel's hitch rail next to a solid bay gelding, snowflakes dusting his hat and coat, and a smirk on his face as he watched them. She drew in a sharp breath and Candy turned, his brow furrowing when he noticed the look on her face. He whipped around in the saddle and his jaw dropped. Griff turned and his eyes widened. "Damn," he said slowly. She forgave him the cuss word because she was thinking the same thing.

She'd known in her head that they would look alike, they'd have to in order to fool all those people who knew Candy, but she'd never expected them to be as good as identical twins. The same black hair paired with startling blue eyes … the same shape to the chin … the nose … even the same cocky set to the shoulders. "Damn," she said softly.

When she'd imagined this moment in her head, she'd pictured the double's eyes going wide, panic taking over as he realized who they must be. Imagined him galloping away and them giving chase until they ran him to ground and hauled him in to face justice. Alive or dead, she'd hadn't cared; all they needed was his face to show Carson City.

But she'd certainly never expected this.

That smirk grew, and he mounted up unhurried, then turned his horse and ambled down the street towards them, cloaked in dancing snowflakes. Her hand went to her Colt. Candy grabbed her wrist and squeezed. Amusement danced in the stranger's eyes and he stopped his horse a scant three feet away.

"You're too pretty a woman for the hate filling your eyes." The second he spoke it was obvious who was who, that molasses drawl marked him born in the southeast, not the southwest. If she had to guess she'd say the Carolinas or Georgia, but Annie wasn't in the mood for games. "Now that you've found your dear brother, what's next, hm?" He leaned back in the saddle, one hand on his horse's rump. "Shoot me down like a dog and take me back to Nevada draped over my saddle?"

"If we have to," she spit through her teeth, and he laughed.

"All that would do is earn you a hangman's noose, darling, and what good was running then?"

"That's my wife, mister," Candy hissed in a warning tone.

"Apologies," he said smoothly, and reached up to adjust his hat. "Did you really think I'd never hear that you were looking for me? I'm not a Cartwright, but I do have a handful of friends." He looked them up and down. "Which looks to be more than I can say for ya'll."

"We manage," Griff said shortly, then his eyes widened. "Cartwright? Isn't that –" Candy shushed him with a raised hand and his mouth snapped shut. The stranger snorted.

"You wouldn't be hiding in the wilds of Montana if you were."

"So what does that say about you?" Annie's fingers itched to draw and shoot, to deflate that cool confidence and wipe that smirk off his face.

"I'm not hiding," he retorted. "But that was a nice attempt, ma'am."

"We're not either," Candy interjected. "And we just caught what we're after." His hand went to his gun and the double grinned as he swatted snowflakes off his shoulders.

"I don't see the sheriff anywhere. And just how do you hope to prove it was me in Carson City?"

"Like you said, Cartwrights have friends," she said in a diamond hard voice.

"You might have pulled it off if that old dragon hadn't lied." The bay shifted its weight and the double patted its neck. "Don't get me wrong, I admire you for what you did, ma'am. Ain't none of them delicate little flowers I was raised with would risk everything like that, not even for a man she claimed to love." Something flickered in his eyes and he gave a harsh laugh. "But I'm not making it easy on you, no sir. You want to kill me? Go right ahead and try, but if you shoot me now, all three of you will be dancing on air." He backed his horse a step and tipped his hat. "This promises to be more interesting than poker." He turned the animal, then stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "Oh, if you should happen to run across your marshal friend, I believe his name was McPhail? Tell him Troy Whitaker sends his regards." He nudged his horse up to a trot and disappeared around the corner.

Candy grabbed her bridle, halting the pinto's leap forward. "Don't," he said through gritted teeth. "Damn, but he's a cocky son of a bitch."

"But Candy –"

"We do that and we're dead. Use that cool head of yours, sweetheart." He stared at the corner where Whitaker had vanished. "If it wasn't my life or his, I could almost like him."

"He's a killer."

"Tell me something I don't know." Candy sidestepped his horse until he could slip his arm around her shoulders. His lips brushed her hair and he sighed. "God only knows why he's playing games, but it gives us a fighting chance."

"We need to find McPhail."

"We will." He glanced at the sky. "After this storm lets up."

"You mean we're not going after him?" Griff shifted his weight. "But he'll get away and we'll never find him again!"

"No, kid." Candy squeezed her arm, then released her and dismounted. "He'll make sure we find him."

"You're really a Cartwright?" Griff sat on the other bed, fingers working the brim of his battered hat. Annie let the lacy curtain slip through her fingers, swishing back over the dingy glass, not quite blocking the view of the swirling snow outside the hotel.

"I am," she answered in a dead voice and his breath caught in his throat.

"Then … that fella's friend – he's your pa?" Only then did she remember Griff hadn't been present when Masters/Andrews was talking about his friend. She'd wondered at the time why he hadn't commented about it being the same person they'd told him to go to if he ever decided to escape his stepfather.

"Yes." Her heart ached and she blinked back the threat of tears even though Griff couldn't possibly see them.

"Didn't … didn't he believe Candy was innocent? Would he have turned you in?" The kid's voice was rough and she couldn't blame him for the misconception.

"All the friends we had couldn't save Candy from the gallows, not even the governor who owed us the seat he sits in today. I know Pa, and he would have gotten a stay of execution, but Carson City wouldn't have listened to it. It would have been difficult enough without that creature's lies, but with them …" Her throat closed. "She handed that jury an easy way out and they took it."

"But you own the Ponderosa, and you've got more money than –"

"Money couldn't buy his life," she said hoarsely. "Only I could do that, and I'd do it again in a heart beat."

"But you turned your back on everything …"

"It'll still be there after we've caught Whitaker." She finally turned from the window. " Griff, there are some things in life worth any sacrifice. This just happened to be mine."

"He doesn't think he is," the kid said almost too soft to hear. "He told me he was a drifter and an Army brat, just a wandering cowhand who got lucky when he ran into you and your family." Griff played with his hat band and stared at the blankets on the bed. "He's afraid you'll wake up one day and realize there's someone better out there, and resent him for dragging you into this mess."

"Aside from the fact it was the other way around, there will never be anyone else. Not for me." She leaned back against the wall, fingers playing with the edge of the curtain. "I think I started to fall that first night … he was so sure of himself, so … alive and … free. Right from the start he never cared that I came from money, never saw the keys to an empire when he looked at me …."

"He told me you're his best friend."

"She is." Annie jerked upright and stared at the door swinging shut behind Candy. He laid a bag of supplies on the bed beside Griff, his eyes never leaving her face as he started across the room. "She can be as stubborn as a Georgia mule and God help you if you make her mad, but if she counts you a friend, she'd ride into Hell itself to defend you." He pulled her into a hug, his chin resting on her head. "I'll never know why you picked me."

"Because I love you." Griff made a noise in his throat and Candy chuckled, his heart thumping evenly under her ear. "You'll understand when you find a woman someday, kid."

"Give me a good horse and I'll be fine." He began to dig through the fresh supplies. "There's enough warning between you two and my ma to last me a lifetime." He pulled out a can and held it up. "Peaches?"

"If there's any to be found, Candy'll find them." She closed her eyes, focusing on his heartbeat that came so close to being silenced forever. She couldn't sleep at night unless she could hear that as she fell asleep. "And I thought I was a mare," she said in an attempt to lighten the mood. Candy laughed and kissed her hair.

"You're whatever you want to be, Annie." Their eyes met and lightning sizzled through her veins.

"I'm gonna go check on the horses." Griff jumped off the bed and grabbed his coat, then darted out the door.

"He's got good instincts, I'll give him that," Candy said softly, his hands caressing her back. "I'm glad we finally made Bozeman for more than one reason."

"We registered as brother and sister," she reminded him. His breath kissed her ear and she shivered.

"This place is built like that other hotel … and we know how to be quiet about it." Her blood heated and she touched his cheek as she whispered in his ear.

"Then what are we waiting for, cowboy?" His eyes danced and he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.

"So what's the plan?" Griff had returned a few hours after his abrupt departure, studiously ignoring the rumpled sheets on the second bed. Annie worked her hair back into a neat braid, humming as she wove the strands into place. Candy pushed off the wall, scraping the last remnants of peach juice out of the can with his knife.

"Nothing's changed. I'd rather he cooperate so they can hear him as well as see him, but I'll take him back dead if that's the only option he gives us."

"You think there's gonna be a shootout?"

"With our luck? Yes." He set the empty can on the table and crossed the room to peer out the window. "He doesn't know who he chose to play games with or he'd have shot us all down there."

"But he does know. You two at least," Griff protested. "He called you by name."

"Knowing who someone is doesn't necessarily mean you know them as a person. He couldn't have gone anywhere near home, so he must have got whatever he knows from the papers. I think it's time we made our way back to Los Robles, see if Padre Javier has any news."

"We need McPhail." Annie stood up. "He could arrest Whitaker for being you and take him back for us, then we show up at the right time and everyone will see there's two of you and the nightmare is over."

"There's your cool head." Candy grinned. "I was beginning to wonder how long it would take."

"I can think and get mad at the same time." She tied off her braid and dug through the bag of supplies. "Did you get any coffee?"

"I did." Candy turned a chair around and straddled it backwards. "I'm just not sure how to go about it."

"What do you mean?"

"We've still got December through at least late March, early April before the weather starts to turn. I don't want to be stuck out there on the plains in the middle of a blizzard, but …"

"But?"

"If we stay in Montana, we run the risk of his stepfather catching up. Not that I'm worried about anything he could do," he hastened to add. "But it would be an inconvenience if we had to explain shooting him. Because he does have the law on his side, at least until Griff here is twenty-one."

"Forget about him, we finally found Whitaker, we need to stay on his trail," Griff protested. "He might be playing games, but who's to say he does leave us crumbs to follow? He could have no intentions of ever letting you two get within a dozen miles of him ever again."

"We need McPhail," she insisted. "Have Griff write to Emily and she can tell Wade where to meet us and when." A tiny smile touched Candy's mouth.

"You have been thinking," he said with pride. "That part would work no problem, the hard part is getting Whitaker where we want him and making sure he doesn't get away before McPhail can arrest him."

"We're not going after him today?" Griff pushed off the bed and began to pace. "We have to." He tossed his hat on the bed and slouched against the wall. "The sooner we catch him, the sooner you … you can go home." His throat worked, and she wondered how much that had cost him. Did he really think they'd leave him behind?

"You're coming with us, kid," Candy said softly. "There's plenty of room on that ranch for one more." Griff's head came up and he stared at them.

"You … you really mean that?" They nodded and he swallowed hard. "Why me? I'm … I'm nobody."

"Why not you?" Annie said. Candy rubbed his hands together, his eyes misty.

"I'm not anybody special and they gave me a home." He gave a small laugh. "You'll fit right in."

"Thanks." The kid's voice was rough as he scraped a hand over his face and blinked at the window. Annie looked away and pulled her knees to her chest on the bed. She flicked a glance at Candy and he forced a smile. "I'll never let you down."

"Just do your best." Her husband stood, her heart skipped a beat, and she wished Griff had stayed away just a little longer …. "So … we stay the night then we'll figure out where to go once the storm subsides. I do think we need to start working our way back to Los Robles. Even if Whitaker himself figures to be our best guide, I'll take any help we can scrounge up."

"You think that's his real name, Candy?"

"It's as good a name as any I suppose, kid." He fingered his Colt. "In the end, I don't care what they put on his tombstone as long as we're all alive to see it. Good a time as any to say this, so listen up, Griff. If one of us tells you to run, you run and don't look back. I know you can shoot, it's not that. All I'm saying is if they catch us, we're as good as dead and I'd rather you not join us. Annie and I divided what money is left so there's some in each saddlebag. If we get caught, you ride straight to the Ponderosa and tell Mr. Cartwright what happened and who you are."

"But I could –"

"Bust us out?" Annie finished and shook her head. "I've seen men hang before and I decided the day they railroaded him that wasn't going to happen to either one of us." Candy sat beside her, took her hand in his, and rubbed the back of her fingers with his thumb. "If they catch us, there won't be anyone to bust out of jail because we won't be taken alive." Griff closed his mouth and stared down at his boots. He drew in a breath and raised his head.

"I don't like it, but I'll do it."

"That's all we ask, kid." Candy held her hand a moment longer then pulled a map out of his vest. "First thing, we need a route out of Montana. We'll follow Whitaker's trail as best we can, but if I'm right we won't need it, he'll give us all the leads we can handle."

"He knows we've been looking for him, and with Griff not hearing a word about him being in town, he told them not to say anything. You're right, Candy, he's playing with us."

"His mistake."

"And our advantage." Their eyes met.

"Our advantage," Candy repeated. "Because we're not playing."