Hi, so here we go again. I love this fandom I love Adam. S1-6 are hand downs the best.

This story and all stories coming from it exist S1-6.

I do plan to write series of this story so if that's something your interested in let me know.

I do have an Fanfiction account under a different name, this story will be posted there as well in case you come across it.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine,

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And I swear in my works. If you don't like don't read.

This is part of a series, this isn't episode related. Neither is this series. Assume everything is S1-S6

Any inaccuracies please let me know.

I might add to this...I'll leave it up to you.

Please be aware...some triggers.

Deliver Us From Evil

Chapter 4-Death Becomes Them

Adam has to tell his Pa the bad news. Ben tries to keep it together, and then Ivy gets sick.

He knew…

That was the great annoyance of the whole thing.

He knew.

Ben knew what was coming, because this was trouble and whenever shit went down in Carson City, or Virginia City or whatever rat hole they found themselves in, whenever his sons were trouble followed and whenever trouble was his sons were sure to follow.

It was the law of nature, the law of man and for some reason God's personal test to Ben who had been (he hoped) nothing but a loyal servant to his God despite everything.

Maybe it was punishment for falling in love three times. But then when one considered that thought he had lost all three of his wives so surely there were issues with that?

Ah…maybe he would never know.

The point was that he knew what was happening before it happened this time, he knew deep down in his gut that something was wrong when he got home before Adam did, knew it even though he didn't let on to Joe. Ivy had been asleep when he had gotten home, tired out…from what he didn't know and the truth was that he had to go out the next day and try and track down another distrusting Indian tribe and try to convince them to trust him on word alone and not on a hundred years of history backing against him.

He tapped his nails against his desk and sighed.

He was taking Hoss with him again and he didn't much like the idea but he reckoned one more tribe and then he was done. One more and then he was done…he would be able to come home with his three sons and his granddaughter and he would be able to wait out the storm of this quarantine alone. He might not know what was causing typhoid to rip through this town with little to no warning but he could make sure that what came in through his house was carefully controlled. Ben had buried three wives and a sort of daughter in law if you were to believe Adam's story and he was not about to bury three sons or a granddaughter either.

He sighed and then stood up when Little Joe came into the room clutching a hunk of bread.

"I don't know how good it is but It's warm and it's the only thing that is edible since Hop Sing has gone"

Ben looked at it and tried very hard not to wince. He knew that his son was trying and his heart melted at the though of it but the truth was that Joe was too much his mother's son and love Marie as he did (and he did with his whole heart) the truth was that she was…not what one would call a good cook. An eclectic cook maybe…an experimental cook absolutely…a good cook…well…that was no longer a guarantee.

"No thank you son, where's Ivy?"

"Bed. Are you alright I told you that five minutes ago?"

"I'm fine I'm just…I am just tired, I want to go to bed myself and I can't do that if Adam is not home"

"Pa—"

"Joseph"

That was the truth, he didn't go to bed until all his boys were home and many a night had been here trapped between sleep and waking in his chair letting his back go to rack and ruin because he had been waiting for one of them to stumble in sometimes from the Saloon and sometimes from girls. Adam was a bugger for that last one in particular and Joseph for the first and Hoss usually found a middle ground but all of his boys had a taste for adventure, romance and trouble and that was a heady combination when mixed with the beer that flowed from the saloon as free and clear as any man could pay.

Little Joe shrugged and then parked his behind on the bottom of the stairs still eating the bread. The Indians up by the creek had been kind enough to offer them something that Ben was sure was chicken and it was enough for him to be full for the rest of the day if not totally sure that he had ate something good for him. He had told the Doc that he would go out and tell the other tribes scattered around here about the outbreak. The Paiutes might not set one foot near town but they knew enough about what they called the white man's disease to know that typhoid was dangerous. And he knew the others would too it was just the other two tribes dotted around were not what one would call the most trusting even of Ben who had always made it a point to get to know as many people as he could.

Even Ivy…who played with whoever she came across and didn't care that they were the Native American children. The truth was that she was didn't care and they didn't care. There was something to the power of children and their innocence that Ben hoped would never be taken out of this world.

There was the sound of hoof prints, of a horse coming into the yard and he sighed. Ten PM. Adam better have a lot of game with him or a very good explanation as to why he was this late otherwise Ben was going to kill him he really was. Honestly never mind the grey in his hair, with his three boys he was lucky that he wasn't going bald with the worry and stress that they caused him on an almost daily basis.

He sighed getting to his feet and throwing his newspaper to the side. Joe was still staring at his bread and then he too put that down to the side shaking awake Hoss who had fallen asleep on the couch before he could start snoring and wake the whole house up and he stepped out into the courtyard. Adam had stopped a long way away and then he looked at Ben and the worry that he had been feeling compounded ten fold in his gut.

There was an age to Adam's look as he took off his hat, a terrible weight that came with seeing terrible things. Ben had seen terrible things in his time on this Earth, he had buried three wives, more friends than he wanted to count and was struggling to raise three sons all of whom had caused him worry and a granddaughter who had amplified that by ten fold. And now he felt that same thundering of worry when he looked at Adam's face.

"What happened—" but the door was open and Joe slipped out.

"What did you get—" he asked moving closer.

"STOP"

There was no shout in Adam's voice but his tone was strong and Joe froze in the process of coming forwards. Ben reached out and put his hand on his son's shoulder both for his own strength and in case he had to throw Joe back. Adam seemed to struggle with the words for a second and with a sigh lost to the wind he began to tell his story. Ben listening to it knew that it was not going to be a good one.

"I came across the Donchomps boys at the lake. The two eldest ones, both of them half gone…I took em in to the Doc took him three seconds…it's typhus"

It took a concentrated effort not to make Ben's knees go week.

"Oh God" he uttered unable to stop himself. He had known…deep down he had known but to hear it confirmed was something else.

Adam looked at him with that same even glance that he had gotten off his mother and suddenly Ben knew why his son was here.

"I got exposed to it Pa. Didn't know and to be honest it wouldn't have stopped me but that means I can't come home for a while. I can't bring it into this house to Ivy I don't…I am gonna stay in town and help the Doc, were gonna make a makeshift hospital outside of the church and try and contain this thing. I need you to break down to Ivy just where I've gone and keep her in the house Pa, I don't…we don't know how this is spreading and it's frightening. I went up to the house before I came here and ended up taking the four of those seven children back. Mother's dead, father's decomposing, grandparents never made it past the first night and the holes are there because that kid drove himself out of bed and he's…two youngest are gone and the third daughter didn't make it into town…I don't know how to tell those boys what happened to their folks and to be honest I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able too because both of them are dying now. The whole thing is a mess and that's before I start looking around the smaller farms."

There was a pause as Ben took all of that in and then he nodded. He would pray for those kids tonight he was sure and he was not going to think about the girl the same age as Elizabeth Donchamps upstairs in bed asleep. Christ how many more kids her age was Ivy going to lose? How much more could the Lord take before He gave them something.

"You'll be careful" he managed to force out. Adam nodded though there was a small twist to his lips there that Ben wasn't entirely sure he liked all that much. The truth was that Adam was way to much his mother's son to play it totally careful, Elizabeth had never played it totally careful. Case in point when she had met Ben.

"You be careful Adam" he said again trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. "I mean it you be safe…you come home. You do not leave that girl upstairs an orphan"

"I wont"

"And you come and see us every night if you can. You come by you stand here and you talk to me. I don't care if you have buried half of the town I want to see that you are still standing otherwise I will ride into town myself and check."

Adam stared at him for a long second and then.

"Alright Pa" he said finally but his tone was too even for Ben to totally take it on face value. "Can you…can you tell Ivy that I love her and explain what has happened. I don't know how you can explain it but…but if you can find a way to do so then please do"

"Adam stop sounding like that" Joe said suddenly and his voice was feral in the darkness.

"Like what?"

"Like your writing your epitaph"

Adam sighed and rolled his eyes and then.

"Fine"

Ben breathed out a sigh of relief. In truth he too had been concerned that that was what Adam was doing. Sometimes his boy could be so funnily informal that it was almost dangerous.

"Be safe" he said again and Adam nodded.

"I will do" he said and then he hoped on his horse and turned around and rode off into the darkness. He had not asked for Ivy. Maybe he had assumed she was asleep or maybe he'd not be able to go through with it if he hadn't.

Ben sighed and turned around. "Joe give me a moment"

Joe nodded and went into the house and Ben stared at the sky and then just as he was sure that he was going to be fine—or at least pretend that he was fine—there was a shout that came up.

"Pa!"

It was Hoss and Ben stepped into the house to find Hoss coming down the stairs.

"What?"

"Ivy is hot…"

For a second Ben didn't get it.

"Pa she's really hot"

And then he got it.

It could be nothing. It really could be nothing.

But then…when with his family had it ever been nothing?

And there you go,

Next Chapter-Ivy is sick but he is not the only one, with Ben and Hoss forced to go and save as many Native Americans as they can it's up to Little Joe to babysit Ivy...at least...until he gets sick himself.