As Jed Curry stirred sleepily, he turned slowly onto his side, to draw his wife close, he was surprised when his arms found only emptiness and a cold bed. He came awake more fully and squinted at the pocket watch laying on the small table by their bed. The watch confirmed that it was as early as he'd thought it was. As they usually attended church services in the afternoon, and with their son staying at Billy Markham's for his friend's birthday, there was no need for her to be awake, let alone up yet.

He'd hoped that they'd have spent some of the morning putting into practice, what they'd talked about in the last week or two.

Maggie becoming pregnant so soon after they'd married, had thrown them both for a loop, though neither had real cause to regret their son's arrival. But it'd led them to being careful to avoid a repeat, because Kid and Heyes had still needed to get their business onto a sound footing. But now as Tommy was turning four in just a couple of weeks, and with the saloon doing well, and turning a healthy profit, it had felt the right time to add another baby to their family.

He tried to listen for his wife in their home, but heard nothing and there was no smell of coffee or food. A tendril of worry became to sneak into his dozy mind. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and his eyes fell on the mirror attached to the far wall. There was a note on it. He strode over and grabbed the note, reading with growing horror, trying to make sense of what he was reading.

Jed.

I realised when we started talking seriously about me having another baby, that it's time for me to leave with our son, and find a new life for us. I wish it could be different, but which ever way I thought about it, this seemed to be the only decision I was left with.

Someone is going to make sure me and Tommy make it safe to where we're going.

I won't tell you who, as there's no need for you to know. They're only doing it because they care, and they don't need Kid Curry harassing them because of what they've done for me out of kindness.

The words stabbed through his heart, did his wife think so little of him? Re-reading the words, he thought he was fairly sure who she'd asked for help, but it hardly mattered, because she was still gone, taking their son and most of his heart with her, along with the future he'd hoped for. Taking a deep steadying breath, he continued to read even as words began to blur slightly, though he refused to acknowledge the threatening tears.

Don't try and find us, because unless you're going to drag me back at gunpoint, I won't come with you, and you'll only scare our son by trying to persuade me.

Kid swallowed hard, she had him there, and whatever people might secretly think about him, he had never been that kind of man, even as an outlaw, and he wasn't going to start now, with that life behind him.

My Pa ,God Rest him, was right, I probably should never have married you. When he was so sick. He asked me to think about what he'd said back then.

Sometimes I wonder, if I ever loved you at all, or if I was just caught up in the romance of marrying Kid Curry. But there is no romance. Just learning to cope with whispered insults behind hands, about you, me and our son, not to mention living with the fear of my son's father dying in a hail of gunfire. Tommy has also started asking questions that I've no good answers for, and I've realised it's not a life I want anymore, for me or for him.

Jed stared at the letter in dumb shock for a moment, the angry words, taking on the strength of stinging slaps to his face. He kicked the dresser hard, before angrily crumpling the note, blind sided by what he'd read. He played the last few weeks over in his head and still couldn't think of a single thing that should have caused him any alarm even after what had gone down a couple of months ago. He'd been called out, the first occasion he'd faced that for some time ,but of course this time Maggie had seen it happen. The Kid rubbing his right arm in a reflexive gesture, thought back to the day, which was burned into his memory for more than one reason.

As he'd exited the saloon that he and Heyes owned, tired after a long night , made even longer by a couple of idiots he'd had to throw out, he'd been confronted by an arrogant young man, all swagger and no brains, with an expensive looking gun fastened round his waist.

Patience already worn thin by the the night's events, eager for a good long soak in a warm bath and a strong drink, he was in no mood for dealing with anymore idiots.

And with Heyes coming over later to discuss their ideas for expanding the business, once he'd got the finalised plans from their builder, he wouldn't have much time to relax, so he was wanting to get home as quickly as possible.

"Ain't you Kid Curry?"

"Maybe I am, maybe I ain't . Either way it's best you get outta my way." His voice had been sharp and his manner disparaging, which had of course only riled the walk-off even more, but the Kid had been too irritated to care.

"You fit his description and you're sure full enough of yourself to be him. I also heard that you and your partner was settled here and own some fancy saloon, just like the one you walked out of. So I'm figuring I'm right about who you are." The young man was glaring at him, cheeks flushed from anger at being so easily dismissed.

The Kid had sighed and folded his arms across his chest, wanting to just get this over with as quickly as possible and had said his voice sharp. "What's it to ya if I am?"

"I'm figuring I can beat ya and then my name is gonna be known far and wide!"

The Kid remembered easily the annoyance he'd felt at the young fool. But becoming aware of curious eyes and suddenly reluctant to give his neighbours anymore reason to talk about him, he'd sighed, reigning in his temper best he could and said quietly, "Son, you don't wanna do this!"

"You're just worried I'm faster than you!"

They'd ended up facing each other across the dusty square.

He recalled the slight sinking feeling he'd got, when glancing round the gathered crowd, he'd seen Maggie watching, her face pale and mouth open in a wide ''O' of fear.

He also remembered being annoyed that it was today of all days, that she'd chosen to come into town to meet him. But he'd had to push the feeling down, knowing he didn't have the time to deal with it right now. It'd have to wait until this ass was out of his hair. Just as he'd successfully managed to refocus, into his line of vision he'd seen Elliot Farley, one of Tom's schoolmates creeping closer to get a better view, right into the line of fire.

As he'd dived to protect the boy, he'd heard the click of his opponents weapon and had managed to get a shot off , and it'd buried itself in the fool man's shoulder, but his own distraction had left him with a bullet graze, which while doing no permanent damage, hurt like hell at the time, leaving him ill equipped to cope with his slightly hysterical wife.

Heyes hearing the commotion had come running out and with his always silver tongue, had somehow managed to calm Mrs Farley, who was torn between anger at the gunfight in her town and gratitude at the Kid's actions. In fact he'd even made her laugh and elicited an offer from her to bake them a pie.

As the Kid had been tended by the Doc, Heyes had also spoken quietly to Maggie. They'd both thought any major problem had been successfully averted, as she had been much calmer by the time they was ready to go and had simply hugged him gently. Once they'd got home, she'd drawn him a bath and had even washed his back and despite the slight throb in his arm, one thing had led to another and it taken them a little time to mop up the water after.

After she had briefly explained what had happened to Tommy, she'd said nothing more about the incident, despite Kid trying to talk to her about it, at least three times in the following two weeks, so he had figured the matter closed.

With a frustrated sigh, he realised he'd obviously been terribly wrong. As a wave of hurt anger swept over him, Kid threw the note, now twisted into crumpled ball, on the floor, but as he stared at the paper, a faint hope gripped him. Maybe Maggie just meant to scare him, and was simply hiding, waiting for him to look for her. With a deep breath, deciding that if that was what had she'd done, he'd attempt to be understanding, in an effort to save what was left of their marriage. So with another steadying breath, he began a slightly frantic search through the rooms, calling for his wife as he did so.

The frail hope quickly faded as he realised with a flash of pain, that everything which had been important to her was gone, and also that he could see nothing of Tommy's either. As he ran in and out of the rooms, the house's cold silence seemed to taunt him

Finally, he ended up back in their bedroom, breathless, and began rooting through the draws. When he found her simple gold wedding band discarded, but her Mother's jewellery and Father's watch missing, he knew she was really gone. He sat down heavily on the unmade bed and wondered just what he was supposed to do now.

He sat cross legged on the kitchen floor, with the carefully straightened note in front of him and a full bottle of whiskey in his right hand. He fully intended that it to be empty by the time he had finished drinking. Maggie had been right, what could he do except drag them back at the point of his gun? And she'd only run again as soon as she could. He also feared what kind of husband he'd become if she did return. He wouldn't beg, men didn't do that, though a large part of his head and all of his heart was disagreeing, and indeed it almost felt as if they were screaming at him to go after them and do just that. But with bitter resolution, he decided the only sensible thing to do, was to drink enough to drown the yelling out.

The bottle was nearly empty, and he was comfortably numb, when his heard the front door open, and soon after his partner's voice fill the small space. "Kid, Maggie! You missed church! I hope you're decent! Tom was wondering where you'd got to, took some persuading for him not to come and see what kept ya."

Kid lifted his head, something about what his partner had just said didn't make sense, but his brain was too foggy to work out what it was.

"Whatcha doing down there Kid?" He looked up blearily into the questioning gaze of his puzzled friend and could find nothing to say, so only pushed the note shakily towards him.

Heyes read in silence for a few moments then huffed in surprise. "I don't understand Kid, Tom was in church with the Markham's today. " He paused and Kid knew he was looking round him as he soon added. "You sure she's gone?"

The Kid snorted bitterly. "Well, she ain't here Heyes! And she didn't leave nothing behind, so I'm figurin' she's gone for good." He almost shouted, though his head was throbbing and it was an effort to make himself coherent and he quickly trailed off.

Heyes huffed, then patted his shoulder, before sitting down next to him. "Well, maybe she's just trying to scare you, Kid., hiding out at one of her friend's. Women can be awful strange when they're hurting."

Kid chose to ignore that, having already dismissed that idea, and dragged a question out of his brain, as he squinted at Heyes and slurred. "You sure 'bout Tommy?"

"Kid of course I'm sure, there ain't nothing wrong with my eyesight or my brain."

The world suddenly span round Kid as his stomach lurched and he barely managed to turn his head before he brought up a good deal of the whisky. It tasted far worse coming up then it had going down. Gasping as he wiped his mouth, he said softly. "I don't understand, Heyes..."

"Well, we ain't gonna find out nothing sat here."

The Kid nodded and tried to get to his feet. He swayed then sat down again with a thud as an exasperated Heyes watched him, hands on his hips. "C'mon Kid, I'm surprised at you! Thought you'd have gone after her, instead of trying to drown yourself in alcohol."

Stubborn pride being about the only think that was keeping him from breaking down completely, the Kid said as firmly as he could. "Ain't a man's place to be chasing his wife, if she don't want him no more."

Kid heard Heyes sigh heavily before he felt himself pulled gently to his feet as a steadying arm was placed round his shoulders. "C'mon, Kid, lets get you cleaned up some, pour some coffee down ya, then maybe we can talk sensibly."

Kid let Heyes lead him outside and remove his shirt. He barely winced, though his skin came out in goosebumps, when he found himself sprayed with freezing water from the pump by the house.

"God you're heavy, Kid..." Heyes grunted as he leaned against him and in an awful moment, Kid just knew that Heyes was going to add something about Maggie's cooking, just as he did most every time he got a chance, and felt his eyes burn. He was glad then, when after taking a deep breath, he instead simply dried him roughly, helped him back on with the shirt, before steering him back inside.

Fortified by several cups of Heyes' bitter brew, Kid faced his friend across the kitchen table, ignoring the thumping in his head and the strange emptiness assailing him as his partner asked. "So, you have some kinda fight?"

He shook his head carefully and shrugged, "Nothin' like that Heyes, was even really good, these last weeks." That had been why he'd raised the idea of trying for another baby. But that thought was soon joined by another as he was hit by the reality of what he'd said. "Course it was eh Heyes? She could agree to anythin' as she knew she was leavin'." He stopped and looked up into Heyes' concerned gaze. "But why didn't she take Tommy? You saw the note, she was planning on it and his stuff is gone too."

Heyes broke into the foggy confusion of his thoughts, his voice musing. "Mrs Markham caught up with me as we was leaving church. Told me that Tom and Billy found some apple cider and got drunk as skunks, so they were pretty sick after the party. She was planning on coming round later, to ask whether she should punish them, or if she should leave it up to you." He paused then added musingly. "Maybe it was that, which stopped her taking him."

Kid was then hit by a new horror and he said with a low groan. "Oh God Heyes, what am I gonna tell him? How do I explain this to him. How could she do this to us?" He trailed off and as he felt the first glimmerings of anger beginning to form in his mind, he clung to them fiercely, welcoming the stirrings of something other than numb shock.

XXX

Heyes sighed to himself as he watched his friend slowly pull his battered emotions back into some kind of order before he faced his son. He'd liked Maggie, but he'd had some serious reservations when they'd married, because the woman his partner had chosen to be his wife had seemed ill-equipped to deal with what would come with marrying Kid Curry. But his fears had begun to recede as the years past and as they'd approached their fifth year together, he'd truly started to accept that he'd been wrong, especially with Kid's recent enthusiasm about the possibility of a second child. So this turn of events had left him as confused as his partner.

"What do you mean Ma's gone? You're lying"

"I'm sorry Tom, but it's the truth." Heyes answered as Kid had seemed unable to. Tom whimpered, but before his father could reach him, he glared,then stomped out of the room, leaving an uncomfortable silence behind him.

Mrs Markham glanced between them and awkwardly cleared her throat. "Maggie came round asking to see him early this morning, but he was sleeping, and I didn't want to disturb him or my Billy. She seemed real upset that I wasn't going to let her see him, muttered something under her breath, then thrust a bag at me. I didn't think much of it, as she always was a bit high strung. Her Pa indulged her too much if you ask me." Then with a apologetic smile she trailed off into silence and studied her hands.

Heyes glanced over at Kid who had gone pale, and as his eyes followed the path up the stairs his son had taken, he said softly, with a weak smile. "Better try and explain it to him."

XXX

"Thomas William Curry, you get back here, right now!"

His young son turned on him, with such hatred in his face that Kid actually reared back in shock. "I hate you Pa, it ain't no wonder Ma left you! You're just mean and don't never listen! Wish she'd taken me with her, just like she wanted to and left you alone, because that's what you deserve!"

Kid started to barrel after him, but his partner watching the confrontation from a safe distance away, caught up with him and hauled him back, causing him to stumble and glare. "Leave me alone, Heyes! He can't get away with talkin' to me like that. I got called to school today, he's bin fightin' again and I'm just plain sick of it. Boys already got a mountain to climb bein' my son, don't need him makin' it worse by bein' stupid."

Heyes looked at him, his face creased into a frown, though his voice was calm as he said. "I know, Kid, but you're both so mad, ain't nothin' good gonna come out of you catching up with him. until you've calmed down some."

"Don't matter how long it is till I catch him, I'm still gonna whop his ass."

XXX

"Mr Curry, I needed to tell you,your son was so brave! Some of the older boys were trying to hurt my Ellie and he just stepped right in and stopped them all by himself. When he tried to explain, none of the teachers would listen to him and I just needed you to know what really happened. My girl ain't stopped talking 'bout him since. I think we've misjudged you both. I am sorry Mr Curry, your boy is more than welcome to my girl's party next week."

Ellie Golding's Ma cornered him in the General Store, and as she spoke, Kid thought about his son,crying and begging him to listen as he yelled and sent him to his room, threatening him with a whupping, and guilt ate at him. He could see Heyes shaking his head at him as the memory of every time he'd got himself into a fistfight over a pretty girl, drifted across his mind. Forcing a smile on his face, he said evenly. "Thank you Ma'am, I'll be sure and tell him."

"Those teachers have got it all wrong, just because you was an outlaw and his Ma left, it don't make him a bad boy. I think he does you credit."

With that she bustled out of the shop and Kid staring at the counter, wondered just how he was going to apologise to his son, then simply added some sweets to his purchases and decided to ignore it.

XXX

"I'm seeing Rosie tonight, so try and lay off any crisis till at least tomorrow, all right Kid?"

Kid shrugged. "Tommy is staying with with the Markham's till Tuesday, so I think we oughta be safe till then." He paused and then added. "Catherine Markham said, now that her older boys have left, they got room for Tommy. Told me she'd be more than happy to take him."

Heyes turned from fiddling with his tie to meet his eyes, his face worried. "That what you want, Kid?"

"Hell no Heyes, he's my son. But it don't seem like I can reach him none."

"Then try and work things out between you, Kid. He's a good boy and most of the time I think the problem is, you're just expecting too much of you both."

XXX

"He's gone, Heyes, I went to get him up this morning and he's just gone. I gotta find him!"

"Heyes was practically yelling at him as he said with feeling. "So you can shout at him again or send him to his room or maybe even the woodshed?" Heyes paused, took a steadying breath, and added more calmly."You ever figure why Tom keeps getting into fights? You know why for one of them. But you ever ask him 'bout the rest? I thought you was going to try and listen to him more." He took a breath and added fiercely. "I mean, Kid, you all of people should understand that he ain't ever going to find it easy to give in. He might look just like his Ma,but he's definitely your son by nature." Heyes stopped, swallowed hard, then looked him in the eyes, a sad smile on his face as he said quietly. "He's told me more than once, that he's sure you blame him for his Ma leaving. I always tell him he's wrong, but you sure don't help matters by riding him so hard."

The Kid felt his world tilt at his friend's words and said softly. "I ain't never blamed him! I know there's probably only one person mostly at fault for that and I see him the mirror every day."

Heyes squeezed his shoulder gently as he said kindly "I know that, Kid, but ain't sure Tom does."

The Kid sighed unable to meet his partner's gaze as he said. "Maybe, I shoulda let him go live with Billy and his family,when they asked." He paused and finally met Heyes' sympathetic look before adding "Mr Markham done told me at church last week that they're still happy to look after him. So I'm thinkin' when I find him, I'll ask him if that's what he wants. Better he's safe and happy with someone else, then lonely and miserable, stuck with me."

Heyes swallowed hard and the Kid was grateful for the reluctance in his tone as he said softly. "Maybe you oughta think 'bout it Kid, because it seems like things ain't getting much better for either of you."

The Kid shrugged, suddenly desperate to get his son home, and face whatever he had to, so long as Tom was safe. "Well first, we gotta find him, and then when he's home, he can make whatever choice he wants."

XXX

"Damn it , Heyes, he's tryin' to cross that river! He'll drown afore he gets halfway across!"

Before Heyes could say a word, the Kid had quickly dismounted, handed him the reins of his horse and stripping as ran, had soon dived into the swollen, fast flowing river. Heyes swallowed hard as he too ran to the edge, ready to dive in if needed.

Heyes watched breathlessly as Kid grabbed hold of the terrified child and swam against the current, until he was close enough to safely hand him over to his eager partner,

Heyes grabbed the boy and gently laid him on the bank, relieved to see he was conscious, unhurt albeit scared stiff. He patted his shoulder briefly, then turned back to reach for Kid. But instead he was forced to watch in horror as his partner was swept away by the turbulent mass of water.

Heyes didn't hesitate, simply dove into the river and dunking his head into the freezing water, saw a flash of blue and grabbed at it. Once he'd got a firm hold of what he realised was his friend's shirt collar, he swam backwards, dragging his partner with him as he did so.

Once safely on the bank, Heyes realised his friend wasn't breathing, so he turned him onto his side and pounded his back, and practically whooped, when he coughed, opened his eyes and then brought up a large amount of water and stared at him blearily.

They panted in breathless exhaustion for a few moments, before the Kid pushed Heyes away, crawled over to his son, who was watching them wide eyed. He pulled the boy to him into a tight hug as he said brokenly. "I'm sorry, Tommy, I'm sorry, just sorry for everything. Love you, son. Love you." He repeated the words over and over, and Heyes felt his own eyes prick with tears at the desperate emotion in his friend's voice.

Hours later, with both Tom and the Kid in bed, Heyes who had moved in with them a couple of weeks after Maggie had left, paced the house, with a glass in his hand, too tightly wound to sleep himself, despite being tired and uncomfortable from his own dip in the river.

His restless walking, took him to the door of Tom's room and he couldn't resist a peek through the door. His stomach flipped when he saw the empty bed, not quite believing the boy had run again.

Dreading the expression on his partner's face when he woke him to tell him, he nonetheless, half ran half walked down the hallway to his friend's room, finishing his drink in a single gulp, in a vain attempt to calm himself.

But when he opened the door to the Kid's bedroom, trying to think of the best way to break the news, he stopped and a huge smile broke across his face. The Kid was fast asleep on his side, with his arms firmly around his son, who also lay sleeping peacefully, his face buried in his father's chest, with his arms tightly wound round his waist. Heyes quietly closed the door, and went to get himself another drink, hopeful that things were looking up for them all.