"Chris, it's been over six hours. I think someone may have fooled you," Mary said as she sat outside the jailhouse doors with Chris and Vin standing with her, and Buck and Billy played with the new rocks Billy found when he went on a hike with JD and Casey earlier.

          "Nobody fooled me, Mary. I know this man, and his brother. Just wait." Chris stated.

          "We've been waiting for the last-"

          Billy interrupted, "Six hours, ma, I know."

          Buck and Vin held in their laughter at the boy's mock.

          Mary shot her son a glance, but said nothing as she watched him put his attention back on his neat looking rock collection. "I'm starting to believe you've been had, Chris. By the Mackey brothers, by yourself....I have work to do. I don't have anymore time to just stand here and stargaze. I need to go home." Mary stepped off the jailhouse porch and into the dirty road. She looked up at Chris, standing high on his rock in front of her, his chest at ease, his glare on her not so much.

          "You're not going anywhere," Chris declared, his patience thinning. He stared at her, her eyes so blue, so fresh, so clear as she crossed those arms of hers across her chest again, and a hint of a smile on her soft, sweet tasting lips he remembered so clearly last night. In the most inappropriate time to be thinking about Mary intimately, knowing they had something to finish between them, and maybe something more, Chris erased the heated confrontation of last night and glared at Mary harder.

          "You are not going anywhere, Mary. Listen to me, Damnit...."

          "I am tired of listening to you, Chris. I'm going." Mary said, and uncrossed her arms to scoop her son in her arms. "Stay here with Chris and Buck, Billy, okay? Mama will come back for you when supper is ready." She gave Billy a strong hug then let him go so he could go back to play with his rocks. She crossed her gaze from Billy, to Buck, then back at Chris. "Will you watch over him while I get supper ready? You all are more than welcome to come eat with us if you'd like."

          Vin looked at Chris, then Buck. "I'd like that, Mary, but you can cook it at the hotel. I'm sure the chefs won't mind you help them out."

          Mary looked almost offended then shook her head. "My home is safe. I'm going home to my own kitchen and making something for dinner." With that, Mary turned around and headed for the Clarion, knowing Chris was burning a hole in the back of her head.

          Trevor cursed again when he had no luck finding Nicholas in the saloon. He figured he went to get himself something to eat, but nothing. Even that pretty bartender, Inez, said she hadn't seen a man that fit Nicholas description.

          The plan and reason they came to Four Corners could not wait. With or without Nicholas around, Trevor had a mission to complete and a promise to make his father. He would have enjoyed it better if his brother was around, but he couldn't think of Nicholas skipping town on him. He wouldn't leave him like that. No way. He knew his brother. He wouldn't leave.

          Several minutes later, Trevor was sitting in a rocking chair outside the saloon, just two buildings down from the Clarion with the matches locked in his hand. Any minute he would find the right time to go and light the explosive. The woman hadn't been in the building all day, and that made Trevor a little uneasy. He never had a clear shot when the perfect time would be.

          Then there it was. The beautiful blond woman walked away from Chris Larabee at the jailhouse, but she left her son with his men. He watched her leave, and she passed him on the way to the Clarion. It was only took seconds for her to disappear inside, and Trevor made his move.

          "You let her go back, Chris?" Nathan asked as he walked up the trio still hanging around the jailhouse.

          "Didn't have much choice. She just went on her own will." Chris said.

          "Aren't you going to follow her then?" Josiah asked. "She left Billy. That must mean she's still weary about the threat. She wouldn't want to put her son in danger."

          "Instead she put herself like the stubborn woman she is." Chris dared and stepped off the porch and headed toward the Clarion.

          Mary was getting tired of Chris's mixed feelings about her. He wanted to protect her, that was a given, but that's all he wanted to do. It was as if last night meant nothing to him today. She had waited a long time for Chris to care, and when he finally did last night, she didn't have enough time to take advantage of it. They were interrupted, and he never came back to her to finish what they started. However, he did say they will finish. He said those words. She had to believe him it was true. The man always kept her word.

          The cool air seeped through the cracked kitchen window. Mary looked up and out the window at the damage last night's scare did to the glass. She did her best this morning to get whatever was left from last night's cleanup, but it was no use. The dark blue icing would forever be painted on the kitchen window.

          Mary thought about the cool air again, and she smiled to herself as she chopped up red tomatoes for the pot of spaghetti she planned to make for tonight's dinner.          All she needed was the water to boil the noodles in. After she was done with the tomatoes, she lifted the round, metal pot from the cabinet above the stove and walked around the back of the house to retrieve the water.

          Then even if she wanted to see it, it would be too late. The spark came at her like a raging bull, and the pot was knocked from her arms, and she fell back in the mud. The fire caught the back of her house, and the curtains immediately caught the flame.

          Before she could see the man who set her house on fire, someone behind her grabbed her underneath the arms and yanked her hard around the side of the building to get away from the fire. Then suddenly a blast struck the man carrying her down and he covered his body over her to protect her.

          Protect her....

          "Chris!" she screamed, smelling his masculine scent, holding on his strong arms as they wrapped around her.

          "Stay down, Mary," Chris shouted and covered her head. He then looked up and saw Trevor Mackey's crazy smile as he lit another explosive close by them. He never saw Mary, Chris thought, and wondered how the hell that was. She was right there in the way of one of his explosives.

          In the way?

          Chris quickly looked over Mary's small figure and found that she was okay. She was hurt except for a few dirt smudges on her face, and mud all over her dress.

          The second explosive hit, and Chris jumped off Mary, and pulled her up with him just before the back of the Clarion blew apart to shreds.

          Mary screamed and ducked her head then she tripped, and Chris fell in the dirt with her. With pieces of wood flying everywhere, Chris discovered they were in front of the Clarion now, and he was on top of Mary, holding her tight.

          Trevor cursed. He cursed loud and clear for anyone bothering to listen. The woman wasn't in the building! She was not in the back of the building where he had expected her to be. Where he let off the first explosive, she was no where to be found. He planned it out so perfectly, but she was gone.

          Damn you, Chris Larabee!

          The gunslinger was too fast for him. But it wasn't over. Not it wasn't. He would get that woman and kill her in front of Chris with his own two hands if need be. He didn't need the explosions anymore. He needed a distraction instead. He saw Chris haul Mary around the side of the building, and Trevor played dumb to make Chris believe he didn't see them.

          Not as smart as you thought, Larabee.

          With all grunt and strength, Trevor lit off the last explosive and he escaped around the back alley leading to the livery and there he found his horse and rushed through the open doors just as the last explosive went off and everyone in town ducked to dive the flying shards.

          This isn't over, Larabee.

          Chris lay flat on top of Mary as he tried to protect her from the flying wood. Vin and the others ran up to the Clarion just as the last explosives hit that knocked them all on their belly.

          "Chris," Vin yelled as he gathered his strength and ran the rest of the way toward Chris and Mary on the ground. Then what Vin saw next caught the fear in his eyes.

          Mary took a deep breath, held her cries in, and felt the pressure of Chris's body against her. "Chris..." she cried, "Is it over?" It wasn't over. It was never over. It had just begun. Without time to really catch her breath, Mary was yanked by the arm so hard she thought her arm was ripped off. When she discovered it wasn't, and Chris had no time to reach for her, she was grabbed by the hair and a big arm reached around her midriff and pulled against his stiff chest.

          "Mary!" Chris shouted when he wasn't able to grab any piece of her as she was yanked so freely from his arms.

          "Chris!" Mary screamed as the man on the horse whipped around and galloped out of town with the woman he wanted to kill.

          "Let me go!" Mary kicked and screamed as Trevor tightened his grip around her waist. "Let me go, now!"

          Trevor couldn't take it anymore. She was hitting him so hard, biting his flesh, scratching her nails on his face, he had to stop the horse and knock her out cold. Where he was taking her, there could be no fighting. It was too dangerous to have an uncontrollable rider where his passenger was a maniac.

          As he neared the edge of the cliff, the gravel shifted in from the downfall to the single drop twenty feet high into wild rapids below. This would be end of Mary Travis for sure. He would dump her body here and ride off in the midnight sky and find Nicholas.

          It started to rain when Chris realized what had just happened. One second he was laying over Mary, shielding her from the explosion, the next she was pulled from his arms and a man ran away from her, wild on his black stallion like a bat out of hell.

          The rain came down now as a pour and Chris got to his feet and without waiting for the others, he ran toward the livery to retrieve Pony. He only heard Vin's voice in the backdrop as he disappeared behind the doors.

          Chris un-roped his horse and threw open the livery doors and galloped outside in the pouring rain as fast as the horse took him.

          "Chris, just wait a second," Vin yelled, but it was no use. The lone gunslinger dressed in black was beyond caring what to do next. All he could think about was the woman stripped from his arms, and she now in danger's way. Chris had to get Mary back. He couldn't let her die on his watch. He couldn't let her die period. He kicked Pony to make the ride faster as he lead in the direction Mary was taken.

          Nicholas saw the explosion from the distance. He watched steadily and close for Trevor to make it out alive, and he wished and hoped Larabee listened to him and made sure the woman and her son weren't in the building. He prayed to the heavens they weren't. They didn't deserve his brother's rage against one man. They had nothing to do with their past. They didn't need to die. He tried to explain that to Trevor millions of times but he didn't care. He wouldn't listen.

          So, now here Nicholas stood with his horse by his side. The quiet of the nightfall atmosphere, and the sudden change in reality that took him to the point of sanity when he saw his older brother, the man he looked up to and respected all his life, take the woman he wanted to kill as his hostage because he saw she wasn't in her home at the time of the explosions. He knew his brother would be thinking he had been tricked, and Chris Larabee had done it. How could he face his brother when he told him the truth. And he would tell him the truth.

          It wasn't until he saw his brother and the woman riding quickly away from town, and then it started to rain. He had to get to him and reason with Trevor. He had to tell him the woman wasn't part of this anymore. He had to let her go or he would be getting more than he had when the plan started.

          Nicholas stirred up on his horse and galloped away hard and fast as the rain stabbed him in the face as he rode.

          Mary was holding her head when she came to. Her head throbbed, and she felt a bump above her temple. She tried to open her eyes, but the hard rain spiking her face made it impossible to do.

          With her eyes closed she searched her body for any other wounds but found none. She said a quick pray then found the strength to move up on her elbows. When she did in this position she was able to open her eyes, but not well. The wind pushed the rain to a sideward pour. Mary tried to balance herself on her elbows, and when she did that she sat further up until she was sitting completely in the wet grass.

          There she was able to look around for her kidnapper, but he was nowhere to be found. Taking this as her only opportunity Mary sat all the way up, ignoring the ache in her head and wrestled to her feet to run as fast as she could. Only she didn't get too far. When he spoke and she heard the click of a gun being triggered, all her senses blanked and she locked her legs in position.

          "Not so fast, my sweet Mary." Trevor moaned.

          "I'm not your anything," Mary said, closing her throat from crying out. When she looked beyond where she stood, she saw she was close to the edge of a cliff, and where she heard rushing water just below.

          "Oh, but you are my hostage so that means you are mine."

          Mary heard him coming closer, his breath nearing the back of her neck, the scared shiver that sent down her spine. She was scared. Where was Chris? Where was her protector?

          "What do you want?" she asked through clenched teeth from the chilly wind.

          Trevor moved closer to Mary where his mouth reached the top of her head, the water dripping off the brim of his hat. "Revenge." He whispered so close to her, she about jumped out of her skin.

          "For what?" she had to ask so she could live longer. Keep the conversation up to stay alive and give enough time for someone to come for her rescue.

          "Not your business," Trevor snapped and hit Mary on the back of the neck with the butt of his pistol, and she fell hard in the grass. "You don't tell women nothing. They don't need to know nothing. They shouldn't know. All you women are meant for is to cook, clean, and make love to us men. That's all. You're not supposed to read, write, teach, be proud about your nation, or tell a man what to do. No way, lady."

          Mary scrambled to find her feet, but she came up empty. She dug in her once clean nails into the earth, and grasped the mud and grass. When she had a handful, she chugged it at Trevor and hit him right in the eyes. He yelled out, and Mary found this to be her ticket to get her hide out of there. She reached to her knees, then her feet, and when she thought she had a good running distance, she was grabbed from behind in a twirl like manner with Trevor's strong arm and he held her tight against him and he slowly backed up to the edge of the cliff, and Mary screamed.

          "Let her go!" someone yelled and Trevor took aim at the voice only to find it to be Nicholas.