Hey babes. Welcome to chapter sixteen! I forgot to give you a fun Time Lord fact last chapter, so I'll give you two of them in this one.
Timelords have an extra lobe in their brain that increase their mental abilities (memory, thought processing, telepathy, etc). The Doctor keeps his shut off so he can be on a closer level to humans.
Timelords have more ribs than humans do.
Thank you "All the usernames are taken 33" for following.
Marion had never been more thankful that she'd done choir instead of graphic design in high school. She wasn't the best singer in the world, sure but she was good enough to avoid getting Steven, Dodo, or herself shot and at the end of the day, that's really all that mattered right? Besides, the song was pretty fun to sing.
That being said, she'd be lying if she said that she WANTED to sing it over and over again.
Steven seemed to agree with her seeing as he'd stopped in the middle of the verse to complain. Marion admired his courage in doing that. Marion ware fairly sure that the men weren't going to shoot them and on the slimmest of chances that they did shot her, and she did get shot, well she didn't see a reason why a cathedral floor, a homicidal robot, or a laser shot to the spine would be any less deadly than a bullet. She had walked those off just fine. Steven on the other hand, as far as Marion was aware, had neither the foreknowledge nor the estranged relationship with his own mortality that Marion possessed.
"Come on, please. I've sung this song four times already!"
"Well then, sing it again!"
"I said sing it!"
"Look, couldn't we try a different song?"
Even if his complaining didn't do much more than get a gun shoved in his face, Marion was still impressed.
Steven grit his teeth and continued to sing, he jumped into the right point seeing as Dodo hadn't stopped playing for even a moment.
"...Is the Last Chance Saloon"
Marion continued to sing along with him although she did her best to maintain a tone that listening to, you might never guess she was being held at gunpoint to sing.
"It's your last chance of givin',"
"It's your last chance of rye,"
"It's your last chance of livin-"
Before Marion could sing "and your last chance to die," a voice yelled into the bar.
"Now what's going on here? Okay now, boys, put them guns away," Marion let out a sigh of relief.
Through the saloon doors, walked Miss Kate. Marion couldn't help but stare at the woman with her long wavy blonde hair, extra half a foot on Marion, and the fact she had been just able to walk in and tell the men at the bar to shut up and chill out. Marion hoped that it wasn't obvious that she was staring.
"Now, Charlie," Kate leaned against the bar, "got yerself a couple a new singers maybe? You fixin' to replace me with that girl over there?"
"Why, why no, Kate, it's just that these gentleman-"
"Now Charlie, am I singin' here or ain't I?"
"Why surely are, Kate,"
"Then, get that guy away from my piana' before we need a new barkeep real sudden," Kate pointed a finger at Steven which made him flinch back.
"You heard what she said, I reckon you'd better," Steven grabbed Dodo from the piano and hesitated for a moment before grabbing Marion by the arm as well.
"Now go on, Dodo. Get upstairs and lock your door. Marion, make sure that she does,"
"If you're sure Steven," Marion said.
"Oh, but I was enjoying playing," complained Dodo.
"Don't argue, kid. Vamoose,"
"Oh well, if that's the way you feel," Marion followed behind Dodo as the girl marched to the stairs in the way that teenagers do to let you know that, while they are going to do what you ask, they Do Not like it and what to make sure that you know that,
"Are you coming Steven?" the girl asked.
Steven took a quick survey of his surroundings, and quickly said, "Yes" and moved to follow the two of them to the upper level. Unfortunately for him, the folks at the bar had differing ideas. One of them moved so that he was in between Steven and the stairwell. While neither she nor Dodo could see it, Marion knew that Kate was pointing her gun at Steven.
"Now hold on. Stay right there, Mister. This time you play piana',"
"Me?" Steven mimed playing, "But-"
"Yeah. Let's take it from the top again, double tempo,"
"Well, thank you and goodnight!" Dodo stomped up the stairs.
"Dodo!" Steven moved to follow her but was stopped. He signed, "Marion, make sure that she's alright,"
"Sure," Marion followed after Dodo.
"Well, now, perhaps we can get a little action around here," said Kate to the excitement of the crowd.
Marion made sure that Dodo did in fact go to her room, but she didn't go into her room herself.
She wanted to watch for the Doctor. If she was positioned in a way where she could see Kate then she'd also be able to see the door. Also, the Doctor was going to come into the saloon about when Kate finished her song so it'd be a good idea to pay attention to Kate dancing so she'd known about when the old man was going to enter. That was definitely the only reason that she had an elbow on the banister on the upper level and her chin in her hand. Anyone who said otherwise was wrong and should not be listened to.
Kate got through a verse or two of the song before movement near the saloon doors caught Marion's eye. The Doctor was waltzing in not realizing the amount of trouble that he was walking into. Or maybe he did realize it and didn't care. Either way, when he walked in clapping and congratulating Steven on his playing and Kate on her singing and dancing, Marion stood straight up and vigilant.
"Well, if it ain't the great Doc!" said one of me stepping really, really close to the Doctor. Marion felt a twinge in her stomach.
"Oh, you flatter me, young man," the Doctor said, clapping the man on the shoulder "Yes, reasonably accomplished I would say, but not great,".
"You can say that again,"
"Oh, really? Why?," Marion hoped that the Doctor would connect the dots to figure out that they thought that he was a man who did them wrong and who he wanted to take out. Then again, he hadn't realized until it was too late in the show and Marion didn't think ant version of her future self would be able to change that man's moments of obliviousness.
"Oh, yes, of course. We met a little while ago down at the dentist. Yes, and you so very kindly invited me to join you and your friends for a drink!"
"And a little talk, Doc," the man reminded him.
"Yes, quite so, quite so. Well, I'm afraid I don't touch alcohol, but a little glass of milk and I should be only too delighted. Won't you, er, introduce me?"
'Now, I know that the Doctor is sometimes in the habit of pretending to be dense as a neutron star. But, is he pretending right now, or does he legitimately not see what's going on,'
The men crowded around the Doctor.
"Yeah, yeah, give me a pleasure. Doc, I would like you to meet the Clanton brothers,"
"The Clanton brothers," the Doctor paused for a moment, and his voice fell, likely realizing whom it was that he was in the company of, "Oh dear," he recovered quickly, "I mean, er, how d'you do?"
"Recognise the name, Doc?"
"Oh yes I do, indeed, yes. Steven, don't you think it's time we were going?" the men surrounding the Doctor took out their guns. The Doctor continued to hold onto that smile that reminded Marion of that one image of a cat that a landlord was willing to allow on their property on the grounds that it looked polite.
Marion continued to feel that low sense of dread in her stomach. She hoped that it would go away soon. Lately, her anxiety constantly led to dizziness which led to nausea and Marion didn't want to deal with that right now. Or ever. They still hadn't noticed her yet and Marion took special care to observe but avoided catching anyone's eyes or looking at them too hard on the off chance that they might "feel" that someone was looking at them.
"Not just yet, Doc. We haven't had our little talk about brother Reuben," he emphasized, 'The late brother Reuben,"
"Oh yes, I know. Yes, sometimes after a bereavement it's very difficult to find exactly the right kind of words,"
"The right words?"
Marion didn't know the names of any of the Clanton brothers except for the fact that the dead one was named Reuben. If they had been said in the episode, Marion couldn't be bothered to remember them. It's not like anyone had said, 'Oh by the way. Make sure to take notes! You will be tested on your knowledge in real life,'. Marion was an American sure, and she was big into history. But like, she had thought that the OK Corral, Holliday, Earp, and all that had been fictionalized stories. They hadn't had a Wild West unit in USH! Maybe she might've learned it if she'd taken AP US History, but US History had been a freshman only class and her high school hadn't offered AP Options for those kinds of classes and she felt she deserved some forgiveness for not knowing very much about the Wild West other than a few facts useful only in trivia pursuit.
The point here is that Marion had no idea what the name of the Clanton brother who had responded to the Doctor's attempt at de-escalation attempt by saying that they didn't want words, they wanted action! He did have stripes on his vest though, so she started mentally calling him "Stripes"
"Oh indeed," the Doctor responded, "Yes, yes, yes. Well, if you take my advice, I would leave it in the hands of the right people,"
"And the right people happen to be your friend Wyatt Earp?"
"Er, he's not my friend, no. I would rather call him a casual traveling acquaintance,"
"Well that ain't the way I heard it,"
"Nor me,"
Marion didn't know the name of the first man who spoke, but she could tell him from the rest of the men because he wore a tan hat rather than a black one. Marion figured that now was the time to go down to the bar and intervene. She stopped when she saw the figure on the stairs.
Marion considered the pros and cons of just loudly screaming, "God Fucking Dammit,"
Pros: It was appropriate for the time. It'd make her feel better. She'd had a rough 48 hours between the cathedral incident, the giant spiders, getting stabbed in the spine, and getting eaten and thrown up by a whale, and honestly felt that she was entitled to at least one, loud, frustrated scream at the sky.
Cons: The reasons that she was frustrated (Doc Holliday) had not noticed her and there was a non-zero chance she'd be able to sneak down past him if she DIDN'T start screaming.
Holliday seemed to be focused on the people below, so she was pretty confident that she could sneak past in as long as she stayed by the wall and didn't make much noise. She stopped listening to what the Doctor and the Clanton brothers were talking about and focused more on going down the stairs.
The art of sneaking past a person without them realizing that you were in fact sneaking past them was one that Marion had learned in high school. She only had three classes where she couldn't just go out the door. In two of them, the teacher actually bothered to lock the door. And the other one only had eight students, too few for her absence to go unnoticed. Those three were the only classes where she actually bothered to raise her hand to ask for the hall pass. But for her other classes, especially during the first and last 15 minutes of class, silently getting up and leaving the room was quicker, simpler, and easier.
The hard part was security guards and the cops or, as the school insisted that they be called, "Student Resource Officers". Walking around the school without a green slip of paper either signed with her name and dated or taped to a clipboard or a block of wood, or a brick, or cardboard or whatever the teacher had on hand was an easy way to have to spend the rest of the day in ISS, get detention, and ruin her reputation as a good and trustworthy child whom any teacher she asked should be instantly willing to give her a letter of recommendation. Sneaking around them was simple enough. She'd seen people get caught looking around each corner before going, while she just walked like she belonged there and occasionally waved to the security guards as she walked past. The trick was to not sneak at all.
You obviously didn't want to be loud and brash otherwise, you'd call attention to yourself and be found. But, if you were too sneaky and silent you paradoxically, would stand out like a sore thumb to someone who's actually being vigilant. The weirdo yelling and shouting and the weirdo looking this way and that was shiftily as they moved from shadow to shadow and looked around each corner. Those were outliers. They stood out. But the person just vibin' and walking past you and down the stairs? No reason why you'd notice them. Especially if you were focused on something else at the time.
Using that principle was how Marion was able to silently creep past Holliday and make it to the ground floor of the saloon. Marion let out a sigh of relief.
'I really thought he was going to grab my shoulder or something as I went past. This went way better than I had hoped. Good think the stairs didn't creak any!'
When Marion got to the ground floor, the Doctor had just realized that he was in the dangerous position of being confused by the Clanton brothers as John "Doc" Holliday and was trying to reason his way out of it,
"But I am not the Doc. The man you're looking for is the local dentist," he pointed outside, "Yes! He has a little shop here, along the street,"
"It seems to me that's where I found you,"
"Yes, well, I can explain that. You see-"
"Doctor Caligari!" Marion said loudly, "you're back from the dentist. Is your tooth feeling better now Doc?"
One of the men pointed a gun at her, but Marion calmly put her hands up and continued to speak.
"The last town we were at, he bit into something he really shouldn't have bitten into. Chipped his tooth, something fierce!" Did people say "something fierce" in 1881? Not important. She sounded like she was from the east coast so if it wasn't said nationwide, with any luck they'd assume that it was common slang back east. Hopefully. "We were on our way to St. David and were just passing through here and realized that you had dentistry down the way. Steven, Dodo, and I convinced the Doc to go on it to get his tooth pulled while we got rooms. Holliday was the man working at the dentistry sure, and I don't doubt that y'all saw Doctor Cal on the chair, but he ain't Holliday,"
"Is that so?" said Stripes.
She thought that her explanation sounded pretty solid, especially seeing as she had referred to the Doctor as "Doc Caligari" previously. On the other hand, the way the man said, "Is that so?" concerned Marion deeply.
"Yes?" Marion said. It came out sounding like a question.
"If he's not Holliday. Then why's his gun got his brand on it,"
'His WHAT!' Loudly screaming would not help matters. But Marion couldn't lie, it'd definitely feel nice.
'I didn't say anything cryptic. I straight up said, "Don't take the gun!". And what does he do? Take the gun. The Associate was right. I can't let this man out of my sight!'
The Doctor sheepishly retrieved the gun from where he kept it. He looked at Marion in the eye for a moment, before looking away from her. Good! The Doctor began to try to stutter out an explanation.
"Er, well, yes, as a matter of fact, he lent it to me because er, because er-"
"Because what, Doc?" the brother with a red scarf tied around his neck asked rhetorically.
"Er, well, just until I leave the town, as it were,"
"You ain't leavin' Doc,"
"Live, that is,"
The men crowded around the Doctor. Marion, knowing that it's not like he was going to be able to kill her, but still wasn't interested in being caught in the crossfire, glanced up at where Holliday was on the banister, and moved away from the Doctor and the Clantons and closer to Kate and Steven.
"Excuse me, gentlemen, gentlemen, you must have made a horrible mistake," the Doctor held up a hand and moved to walk towards Steven, "Steven, my boy,"
The Tan Hat pushed the Doctor back towards the rest of the group and walked towards Steven and Marion, "One word out of your friends Regret and Bluebird here and they get theirs,".
Marion sighed.
"Aw for Pete's sake, Doc, tell 'em you're Holliday! You can take on all four of 'em any time,"
Marion let out an even deeper sigh.
"Yes, I'm sorry, gentleman, but this is Holliday's young girlfriend, and she's only lying to protect him," the Doctor took the gun out of wherever he was keeping it and waved it about as he spoke, "Now, as I've already told you about this gun,"
BANG
The sound of a gunshot made Marion flinch as it rang throughout the saloon as Holliday shot the gun out of Stripe's hand. She hoped that Charlie hadn't spent too much time or money on that "No shooting Sign". She hadn't been here for much more than an hour it'd already been ignored half a dozen times. Stripes grabbed clutched his wrist in pain and staggered away. The men once again crowded around the Doctor. Marion moved closer while Kate hip-checked Stripes as he walked past and took out a gun; pointing it at the Clantons.
"Okay, don't try it, fellas," Kate said. "Nice shooting, Doc, but ya should have got him between the eyes,"
"Between the who?"
"The eyes,"
"Oh, my dear young lady," the Doctor started stuttering, "I, I, I, I,"
Kate rushed forward again. She pushed the Doctor behind her. The feeling in Marion's stomach faded.
"Kill the next one that moves," said Kate!
"Yes, yes, quite so, quite so. Very good idea. Excellent. Well, you heard. Steven, Marion, get their guns!"
Marion had heard somewhere that frequent sighing was a sign of an anxiety disorder and she wondered if this was something that she should be concerned about moving forward.
She sighed.
"Got it Doc,"
Steven took the guns from the man with the tan-colored hat while Marion took the guns from the tallest of the brothers. The one with the white scarf. They placed them down on a table near the piano.
"How do we proceed?" asked the Doctor.
"Line 'em up against the piana'," Kate punctuated her sentence by flicking her gun in the correct direction.
"Yes, excellent idea. Well, gentlemen, you will move over in an orderly fashion. You too," that last bit was directed to someone standing further off to the side.
Steven, not wanting to be the only person not using a gun to point to things, pointed towards the piano and accidentally fired at the ceiling and jumped in surprise.
Marion held out her hand, "Oh give me that!" She took the gun from his hand and, after examining it for a second, turned the safety on. She considered putting the gun in her bag before remembering the incident at summer camp. If her aiming skills with a gun were anything like her aiming skills with a bow and arrow. She blanched. Probably not the best idea to carry this on her. She handed it back to Steven.
"Be more careful!" she said through gritted teeth.
"You won't get away with this, Holliday!" said the tallest brother.
"I keep telling you I'm not Holliday. Well, what do we do now?". The Doctor was looking at Marion for some reason. Not Kate.
"I don't know Doctor. Why don't you ask her," Marion nodded her head towards Kate, "You seem to be a little more willing to listen when she tells you things doncha?"
No Marion wasn't annoyed that the Doctor brought the gun with him even after Marion specifically told him not to. What gave you that idea?
The Doctor looked at Kate who said:
"Well, Doc, I reckon that's up to you now," she sashayed away, probably going upstairs to talk to the real Holliday.
"You should have killed me when you had the chance, Doc, because you're gonna pay for this," said Stripes.
"Indeed, indeed. And may I point out that I still have the chance, sir?"
"Well, I don't have no gun,"
"Exactly! That's the whole point, isn't it? Hm?"
"Am I hearing right?"
"If you ain't the lowest, meanest sidewinder-"
The doors to the saloon banged open and Wyatt and "Bat" rushed in.
"Howdy, sinners! Happen you're holding a prayer meeting?" Wyatt said in an almost mocking tone, "Why, I'd be proud to join you,"
The Doctor clapped a hand on Wyatt's shoulder.
"My dear Marshall, I'm so glad to see you. You know, I was trying to explain to them-"
"Looks like you was explaining? Hand over yer gun," said Bat
"Well,"
Bat snatched the gun from the Doctor, grabbed him by the shoulder, and pushed him backward and into Marion, who nearly fell over.
"Oi!" Marion hissed.
"Wyatt and I handle that kind of explaining around here. Just easy down, everybody. You too, Kate,"
"Now who did what?"
Everyone in the hotel started speaking at once.
"We was just having ourselves a friendly discussion,"
"Before we could say a word he had us lined up here like a row,"
"Yeah, he shot us all down in c-cold blood,"
Steven moved to defend the Doctor.
"Don't you listen to 'em, Marshall. I saw the whole thing, and it was these guys-". Wyatt pushed Steven back and laughed him off like he was a drunk acting ridiculous.
"Oh sure, sure, boy. Sure, it must of been quite a sight. Now, Doc," he patted the Doctor's shoulder.
"Now wait a minute, Wyatt, this guy ain't," said Bat, confused, "Have you gone mad? Doc Holliday's-"
"Oh, be quiet, Bat," he interrupted, "I reckon I can figure clear enough what must have happened. I'm sorry, friend, I'm gonna have to take you in. You're under arrest, pop,"
"Under arrest?," the Doctor said in outrage, "And don't you call me pop. You know very well who I am, sir!"
"I surely do, old friend,"
Marion noticed Kate sneaking upstairs and, after thinking for a bit, decided that it might be a neat idea to follow after her. There were a lot of people in between her and the stairs so she moved slowly.
"I want to see my solicitor," the Doctor demanded.
He was laughed off, "A what? Huh. A night in the Jailhouse is just about what you need,"
"Oh, very well, but I promise you, you will regret this, sir,"
Bat said something that Marion was too far away to notice. Marion turned slightly and remembered the table covered in guns. She glanced upstairs, changed her mind, and chose to move towards it slowly instead. The plan was to grab them and move them somewhere before the brothers could pick them up.
Was this a good or smart plan?
In theory? Yes.
In practice?
Well, instead of allowing her to safely sneak upstairs, her actions caused a bunch of outlaws to notice her going for their guns. Said outlaws rushed to the guns before she could get to them. Tan Hat pointed his gun at her while the rest of the brothers cornered Steven before he could leave.
In other words? No! No, it wasn't.
Convincing someone of a lie when they thought you were honest?
The hardest part was that you'd feel bad.
Convincing someone of a lie when they had no reason to trust or distrust you?
As long as you had your story straight, some confidence, and a sheet of magic paper that could back up almost any lie that you told? Simple!
Convincing someone of the truth when they were convinced that you were a liar?
Nothing that you could flash on the old psychic paper to back yourself up?
Good luck. You were going to need it.
That you see, is why when Steven said:
"Now I don't care what Wyatt Earp said. That man's not Doc Holliday,"
And Marion said: "Earp's covering up for Holliday. That man's not him!"
It didn't work.
"Well he sure enough shoots like Doc Holliday," said Stripes.
Marion slapped a hand to her forehead. This was worse than talking to a brick wall. At least brick walls didn't have the capacity to want to shoot her or anyone else for that matter.
"He never fired that shot," Steven insisted. "They've got no right to arrest him. He's done nothing wrong,"
"I'm telling you!" Marion insisted, "Maybe Holliday was the one who fired the gun and shot at you, but the old man that Earp hauled away wasn't him. You saw the way he was holding that gun! If he'd shot it while holding it that way, his wrist would've shattered even if he was able to aim right! He's innocent,"
"You planning to get him out of jail?" the gang laughed.
"What's so funny about that?" exclaimed Steven, "We gotta get him out,"
"All you gotta do is gun down Earp and Bat Masterson. You all set to try that?" Tan hat could hardly finish his sentence before he and his brothers started laughing again.
"No, of course not, but-," Steven put his hat back on his head
"But, he ain't Holliday," Marion expressed, "Earp knows he ain't Holliday and if you keep it up mate, then an innocent man'll be jailed and if you kill him, then Holliday'll get off scot-free,"
"I know if we can get him out of jail we can prove who he really is,"
"Now wouldn't that be somethin'. Boys, what d'ya say we give Mister Regret and Miss Bluebird here a hand?"
He grabbed ahold of his side holster and held out his gun to Steven.
"So this is the way we'll play it, Regret. You and Bluebird take this gun over to the jailhouse and slip it through the cell window to Holliday,"
"He's not Holliday," said Marion, "but continue,"
"And he says, 'open the door or I'll shoot',"
"And while we're off doing that. What'll y'all be doing?"
"While Regret give him the gun, we wait outside the jailhouse in case anything goes wrong,"
"Yeah,"
'Sure. THAT'S what you'll be doing,'
"Yeah, so's we can prevent a mis-C-C-," his brother slapped him on the back, "Miscarriage of justice,"
"To welcome him back to society,"
"Oh," Steven said sarcastically, "Not to gun him down?"
"Why would we do a thing like that? You say he ain't Holliday. Okay, he's got nothin' to fear. What do ya say?"
"I say that we can say whatever we want. Be honest, y'all still think that the man in jail's Holliday and are going to try to gun 'im down the second you see him ain't that right?"
"Oh come now," said Stripes, "Surely you don't think that low of us Miss Bluebird can you?"
"Well you can't fault a woman for having a bit of caution can you?" Marion said, crossing her arms.
"What happens after I give him this?" Steven asked, holding up the gun.
"We take over,"
"Yeah,"
"Yeah, I got the picture. Okay, I'll see ya in twenty minutes,"
Steven and Marion left the saloon. Even if Marion didn't have the knowledge she had, the Clantons didn't exactly use inside voices when talking about their real plans.
"Hey Steven," Marion said. They weren't far away from the jailhouse now.
"Yes, Marion? What is it?"
"Well, first off, don't react visibly to what I'm about to say but…?"
"But?"
"Take a deep breath,"
Steven exaggeratedly inhaled and exhaled.
"Okay, now, I when give the signal, I want you to make yourself laugh like I just told the funniest joke you ever heard,"
"Marion, what's this about?"
"Steven, do it,"
After a moment, Marion clicked her fingers into finger guns and smiled sharply like she had just told the world's worst pun. Steven realizing that that must be the "signal", started to laugh. It didn't sound completely real, but it hopefully looked alright from far away and that was all that really mattered.
"One of the Clanton brothers is following us,"
Steven turned to look behind them and Marion grabbed his shoulder.
"I literally just said not to react visibly!" Marion hissed.
Marion let go of his shoulder and they kept walking.
"You promise not to react to what I tell you, because if you can't promise that then I'm just going to have to drag you around without explaining things and hope that the Associate's done enough for you to trust me,"
"What do you mean?"
Marion sighed, "When we return back to the Saloon, they're going to threaten to hang us if the Doctor doesn't give himself up," Marion said through clenched teeth.
"What!"
"Quiet Down!" Marion scrunched her nose, "they're definitely going to threaten to hang you. I don't know if something in their code of ethics would prevent them from hanging a-," she paused, "No. Nevermind, not important. Yeah, they at best believe that we believe that he's not Holliday, but they definitely think the Doctor is Doc Holliday. They're going to threaten to hang you and possibly me in front of the jail if "Holliday" doesn't give himself up,"
"So, what's the plan? Do we make a break for it after we give the gun to the Doctor,"
"I'd say yes, but the Clanton following us would just drag us back up to the saloon. I think when we give the gun to the Doctor, we explain to Earp what the situation is and just chill out in the jail,"
Steven looked like he was going to say something, but decided not to. He was quiet as they walked. At first, Marion thought that it was nice how Steven just took what she said at face value. She said "This Is What What's Up And What Needs To Be Done,"
Then again, between Katarina and Sara, Steven had either seen what happens when people didn't listen to Marion's warnings (they died) and when they did listen (they lived (hopefully)).
Marion stopped for a second. Something occurred to her. Was Steven silent because...
"Steven, you know what the Omega timeline is right?" Marion asked quickly,
Steven nodded.
"You didn't die in it. If you're worried about that. I'm not fighting an uphill battle to keep you alive," Marion blanched, "Actually, that came out wrong I-"
"I get what you're saying," he sounded relieved.
"Even if my plan doesn't work, and we can't hide in the jailhouse, you're going to be fine I swear! Now come on, we've got to get to the jail and talk to the Doctor before the Clantons start to think that anything is up,"
The man who portrayed Steven Taylor in the universe where none of this was real and was all just entertainment is named Peter Purves. Purves is 6'1" feet tall (or 185 centimeters). Steven was just tall enough to be able to look straight into the Doctor's cell.
Marion, on the other hand, had to stand on her tiptoes otherwise she'd be unable to be even eye level to it, and even then it was easier to just stand under and shout up to the window.
This annoyed Marion.
"Steven, you talk to the Doctor and I'll keep watch. Once we're done speaking to the Doctor we've got about oh...doesn't matter. The point is, I'll make sure that Tan Hat doesn't get too close,"
"Tan Hat?"
Marion shrugged, "Don't tell me that you know their names! He's the only one who didn't have a Black Hat other than you and me. Therefore, he's Tan Hat. Simple as that!" Marion clapped her hands together, reached up, and slammed her hand against the bars of the cell.
"Doctor!" she whisper yelled.
The Doctor didn't seem to notice that Marion had called his name, so Steven tried himself. This time, the Doctor answered.
"Oh, Steven, my boy. Good gracious. I've been so worried about you. How's Dodo? Where's Marion?"
"She's fine. She's locked in her hotel room quite safe. And Marion's right here," Marion waved a hand up so that it could be seen through the window.
"Look, I've brought you this," Steven slid a gun through the window.
"Oh! My dear boy, I can't take that. Earlier, Marion pulled me aside and told me not to take the gun,"
"I was talking about the gun from Holliday," Marion said through gritted teeth, "Not the one that Steven's giving you. Take it,"
"What on Earth for?"
"The Clantons told us to give it to you to use it to bluff your way out," Steven gripped a hand on the bar, "The Clanton gang still think that you're Doc Holliday. Marion says that they're going to try to hold us hostage to get you to step out. So we're going to sneak around into the jail and let Earp know what's going on,"
"Give the gun to Earp so that the Clantons have one less gun to work with,"
"Yes, yes but my dear I-,"
"Look, there's not time to argue, Doctor. We've only got ten minutes or less before the Clantons notice that we're gone,"
As Steven was talking, Marion pushed away from the wall and looked up and down the way. She could see Tan Hat, but he was far enough away that she was confident that unless she or Steven managed to trip over a rock or something, they'd make it. When he was done talking, Marion grabbed his arm and after some quick guesswork, ran around to the other side of the jailhouse into the entrance. Marion all but swung Steven into the room and followed close after him.
She caught the tail end of the Doctor and Earp's conversation.
"Oh er, those young friends of mine, you know, Steven and Marion. They told me to give this to you. He said they'd be there soon. Oh, there they are,"
"Hello again Mr. Earp," Marion moved away from the door and pulled Steven along with her.
"You best have a good explanation for all this then!"
"Oh, I do, I do I promise," Marion said, holding out her hands in a placating manner.
Marion explained to Earp the situation except she replaced all mentions of "her knowing" with claims of her having rather sensitive ears and hearing them talk about their plans when she and Steven had left the saloon.
"So that's the situation, Earp,"
"So, what're they doin' now that you and Regret ain't goin' back to the saloon?"
"Honestly," said Marion, "I haven't the foggiest. But if they do do something, it'll be in the next 10 minutes or so. Shorter maybe since Tan Hat saw us walk in here and knows we likely have no intention of leaving,"
"Tan Hat?"
"I don't know his name. He's the only one of the brothers wearing a tan hat so...Tan Hat,"
"Are you talkin' about him," Earp pointed to a figure retreating from the jail and heading towards the direction of the Last Chance Saloon.
"Yeah," Marion said, "That's Tan Hat,"
"Phineas Clanton?"
"Maybe," Marion shrugged.
About 10 minutes later (according to the band hidden on Marion's shoulder which, by the way, cheerfully reminded Marion that she was going to need to conk out in a few hours time) there was a commotion outside of the jail.
Marion, who had been sitting on the floor near the door to the jailhouse with her back to the wall, pushed herself up and got to her feet and looked outside.
'Well, they've got the chair...which means Holliday will show himself at the bar enough for Charlie to come in and let them know what's up,'
Marion stood near the open doorway with her hands in her pockets and her feet squared.
The Clanton brothers had managed to bring together a mob of folks ready and willing to drag "Holliday" out, and hang him. One of them was definitely carrying with him a length of rope and the other was leading a horse, but without anyone on that horse to threaten (something Marion was especially relieved about considering that them marching up the stairs to snatch up Dodo did, in fact, cross her mind), they really couldn't do much more than stand out there shouting, and looking menacing. Which to be fair, they were rather good at.
"Well, looks like they got tired of looking for us," she said stretching.
"Better come over here Wyatt," Bat turned to the Doctor, "When was you supposed to break outta jail?"
"Right about now actually," Marion responded.
The Doctor pushed open the jail cell door.
"Well, lookie here, friend. Somebody's fixin' up a reception for ya,"
The Doctor looked out where Marion was looking "Goodness gracious,"
"Yeah," Marion said, "I mean, they don't have a hostage though so unless they decide to rush in here or like, burn the jailhouse down, not much they can do,"
"Sorry we took a detour boys," Marion called out, "In our defense, we overheard you plotting. Next time, wait 'till the folks you're talking about are fully out the door,"
"Holliday, you still in there?" one of the men called. He was too far away for Marion to know who he was.
"Get out of the street, Clanton. Holliday's my prisoner," Wyatt called back.
"Well that's too bad, 'cause we've got all night and we ain't leavin' until Holliday's swinging,"
"Guess we'll have to stay in here then huh," Marion said back.
'Charlie best get here soon,' said Marion internally, 'I'm not sure what they're going to do if he doesn't and I don't know how to plan for it.'
(Next Chapter: Listen for God's Sake!)
Marion, sneaking past Holliday to get down to the main floor: Don't be suspicious, don't be suspicious.
The real Wild West is rarely like what you see on TV. Most of what we claim to know about the "Wild West" is based on the Buffalo Bill show. The reason I say rarely is that, apparently, the story of the OK Corral and the situation behind it, is pretty accurate. I actually wouldn't be surprised if the fact that the Clanton brother's gang is called "the Cowboys" is the reason the Cowboys have the rugged outlaw reputation when "Cowboys" were just what they sounded like. They were animal herders. Also, a good portion of them were Black and Hispanic. You know the phrase "Buckeroo"? It comes from the Spanish word Vaquero
Anyway, drop a review and/or follow me on tumblr. If you've got a question you want to ask about Marion or anything else, drop me an ask on my tumblr! As long as it isn't spoilery I'll answer it. There's plenty of stuff that I WANT to say, but haven't found the right time to do so.
See You Next Week