Cheyenne finished saddling her horse and led him out of the livery. She needed to get out of town for a while. Gabe LaRouch's arrival in Four Corners had unsettled her. He had brought with him too many memories. Memories from her past that she had long since left behind. Memories of a time before the nightmares, when she was young, and a joyful innocence filled her world. A time she chose not to think back on, for the hurt that it caused was to much for her to bare, and with it, the anger and rage of knowing it was gone forever.

She swung up in the saddle and gave Black Wind a nudge with her heals as she rode out of town on a gallop.

Gabe LaRouch was standing out side the saloon leaning against a post watching Cheyenne as she led her horse from the livery. Seeing that she was preparing to ride out and not wanting to miss another chance to talk with her, he started to walk towards her and called out her name, but before he could reach her she had mounted her steed and rode off. He broke into a run for the livery and quickly saddled his own horse. Within minutes he was racing out of town after her.

Lily frowned irritably at the ledger in front of her. It wasn't the numbers that were bothering her it was something untouchable. She knew she'd been irritable the last few days and couldn't put her finger on why. Everything was going fine but there was a strange feeling in the air.

"How is the fairest flower on the prairie today?" Buck Wilmington sunk into the chair across from her and flashed a smile. Lily found she couldn't help but return the smile.

"So much the better now that you're here, cher." She gave him a sly wink.

"Careful, many more compliments like that and I'll have to fight Chris for your company."

"I sincerely doubt that Mr. Larabee would put up much of a fight." Buck watched a cloud darken her soft eyes.

"I ain't so sure about that. The thing with Chris is--," Buck's words were cut off by the slamming of a door from above. Terrance stomped down the stairs carrying a small satchel.

"Damn heat! Why the hell did we ever leave San Francisco?"

"You should watch your language, there's a lady present." Buck tried at every chance he got to rile Terrance's feathers.

"Hmpf . . . lady present. It isn't like she hasn't heard worse. Hell, I've heard her say worse." Buck shot Lily a bemused look of shock. She responded with a wink.

"So are you leaving us Mr. Sullivan?" Buck tried to keep the hope out of his voice.

"For a few weeks. Business interests require me to go back to San Francisco. At least I will get some relief from this intolerable heat." Terrance moved close to the table and fixed Buck with a hard stare. "I do trust, Mr. Wilmington, that I can count on you and your . . . friends to keep an eye on things." He'd said the words ‘friends' like it left a bad taste in his mouth. All three knew who his distaste was meant for.

"Well, personally I don't think Lily needs anyone looking after her. But don't worry, she won't be lonesome for company." Terrance spun and stalked away in anger.

"Stop trying to aggravate him. You just make him all the harder to be around." Lily gave Buck a playful punch.

"I'm sorry but he just makes it so darn easy." Lily tried to suppress a giggle as she went to tell Terrance goodbye.

Molly ventured outside after dressing for the day in the coolest dress she owned, with her hair piled loosely on her head. The heat and humidity of the early day seemed nearly unbearable and she knew it would only get worse as the day went on. Her dress was one she'd worn to many a "clamming party" and bonfire on the island. It was linen and a light shade of yellow with short sleeves. It was a dress that was out of place in the prairies of the American west but comfort and not appearances was more important to her this day. She was to go with her father and uncle to see the new house that was nearly finished. Nearly finished in that the four walls were up. Her father was in front of the house hitching Nicholas to the wagon they would take out to the new land.

"Good morning, Mollybon," he said smiling and looking up as his daughter stepped onto the porch. Molly smiled back and stepped off the porch to kiss her father. "Aren't you the picture of an island day," he said taking note of her dress.

"If only it was that," she said. "Since Colum's not here yet I was going to the post office and see if anything came in for us yesterday." She had sent a letter to Bryn after hearing that she'd arrived in Denver and was getting settled with her friend, Tamara and was now hoping for a response.

"Colum's at the livery this morning taking care of some business. We'll stop by there on our way out," Bryan said, not wanting his daughter in the livery alone after what had happened to her their first week in town.

"I'll see you there then," she said walking down the street to the post office.

The clerk smiled as Molly walked in the door. Either her or her father came in nearly everyday to send mail or to pick letters up. He knew she received letters regularly from her home in Canada and every once in a while from Ireland and was now starting to receive letters from Denver from Bryn Callaghan. He hated having to tell the girl when there was nothing for her. She seemed sad enough even though she often hid it with a smile, he hated adding to that sadness. "Good morning," she said, smiling as she always did. "Did anything arrive for us yesterday?" she asked, hopefully.

"I'm sorry Miss. Nothing came yesterday. But don't fret, something may come later this week," he told her sounding as chipper as he could in spite of the heat. Her smile went away, but only for a moment.

"It's alright," she said. "Good day to you." She stepped back out into the street and made her way toward the livery. The town was busy this morning with people wanting to get their errands run before the day became any hotter. She noticed that several of the town's protectors were also out including JD Dunne. He looked up the street at where she was standing after coming out of the post office and smiled while touching his hat to her. She smiled back and began walking toward the livery, trying to convince herself that the fluttering in her stomach was about going to see the new house and not from JD's smile.

There didn't appear to be anyone at the livery when Molly arrived there. 'Colum might be inside,' she thought to herself. She hesitated for a moment before opening the door and taking a step inside. "Colum," she called out. "Colum are you here?" Thinking she heard someone, she walked completely inside.

In her mind she heard the sound of the shotgun being fired from all those days before. "Stop it," she scolded herself out loud. Clenching her fists at her sides she walked all the way inside the barn toward the back. No one appeared to be there. The far wall appeared to have been patched up, there being no evidence of the night she'd gone to check on Lucky when KC was hurt.

She remembered how just a couple of days later she'd found him in his room doubled over by the bed. She had offered help and he had grabbed her to keep her from getting him help. A horse's wine caused Molly to jump out of her thoughts and whirl around. Placing her hand to her chest she identified the horse it came from as being the very one she was just thinking about, Lucky.

"Honestly, you scared half the life out of me. Where's your mistress this morning?" she spoke out loud slowly advancing toward the large animal and realized what she'd just spoken. Mistress. At outward appearance KC appeared to be a young man and Molly knew the real truth. She didn't even allow herself to think what KC would do if he ever knew that Molly knew his secret.

"Molly Katherine, you in here?" her uncle's deep brogue sounded from just outside the doors.

"Yes, I'm here," she called back and walked toward the door without a backward glance at Lucky not realizing she was not as alone in the livery as she thought she was.

"Mistress," Frank mused quietly as he watched the young woman leave the livery. Stepping from out of the shadows Frank approached the stallion's stall, "What's KC been hidin' from us boys," he asked the horse but more in muse to his own questions.

Leaving the stable, Frank checked the area around him before finding his way to where Jesse stood with the stranger. Frank made no advances to interrupt what they were talking about but waited a little ways off trying to act nonchalant about the whole thing.

KC stood at the saloon door nursing a glass of whiskey watching Frank and Jesse from a distance and scowling at Terrance as he talked to Jesse. The two parted and Frank walked up to Jesse with a slight spring in his step that just reeked of a kid who got away with stealing some rope candy from the general store. Finishing his drink he turned around, slamming into the finely dressed southern's chest. "Scuse me, sir," KC said suddenly forgetting who and where he was.

Ezra grinned and gave a soft laugh, "That's quite alright," cocking an eyebrow, "Casey. You didn't spill any of that liquid gold onto my apparel."

Setting the glass on a nearby table, KC started for the door, "Do you have affiliations with those two," Ezra asked motioning over to Frank and Jesse. KC nodded, and headed for the door again, Ezra put his mind on overload trying to figure out KC's relation to the two men, and how to ask her but coming up with nothing. He followed him out of the saloon and stood on the boardwalk unsure of what to say or do next as KC traversed to the livery.

Molly hadn't felt this at ease in a long time. Her father and uncle were acting as though nothing had occurred to keep them at odds with each other. They were laughing and joking and had begun to sing as they made their way out to the new home. Colum was on horseback while Molly and her father rode in the wagon. She'd forgotten how wonderful her father's voice was. There used to be music all the time in their home with her father playing his violin and her mother singing. The singing began to remind her of Bryn but Molly refused to think sad thoughts this day. Her father was so happy and she was reminded of just how long it had been since they both had truly laughed. Suddenly her father stopped singing in mid-verse and brought the wagon to a halt.

"There it is, my Mollybon," he said to her pointing ahead of them. In a clearing not far off the road they were on was the frame of a house. It was two-stories and had the beginnings of a porch going all the way around it.

"It's beautiful," Molly said and she meant it. From this vantage point she could see that it overlooked a clearing.

"There's another suprize for you yet," her uncle said. And with that they began again to arrive in front of the house. Her father helped her off the wagon and led her to the door. She stepped inside. It still needed work but the house would indeed be grand, Molly thought. The familiar ache of homesickness began to well up inside her as she realized truly now that going home to the Island was further and further away.

"It will be so wonderful," she forced herself to say turning to face her father.

"That's no' the best part," her uncle said from behind him. He stepped inside and took her hand to lead her back outside and around the back of the house. On the porch was a swing. "Come, my girl, and try it for us," he said, leading her to it. She sat on it and looked at the view it provided over the valley they were near. "This is my ocean," Colum whispered to her. Molly smiled up at him, understanding what he meant, that this place was his source of solitude and he wanted to share that with her.

"It's absolutely beautiful," she said to him.

"We need to get to work," her father said from behind her. He put his arms around her shoulders and kissed the top of his head. "Will you stay here?" She shook her head.

"I promised both Emily and Bryn to give them absolute compete detail about this place. I think I'll go exploring."

"I don't want you going off alone, not when you're not familiar with the area yet," Bryan began but Colum cut him off.

"She can come with me. I was going to get more wood from that clearing down there," Colum said, indicating the valley they were above. Bryan hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

"Alright, but watch out for each other and don't be gone too long in this heat." He watched them go off arm in arm and tried to ignore the feeling that something was about to happen.

Outside the sound of distant thunder could be heard, as KC rubbed down Lucky. "I've gotta git out a here boy," she confided to the stallion who no matter what she did still hadn't retained his former self. The stallion shifted uneasily his body tense and his nostrils flared as he drank in the scent of the air.

"Storm's comin in. It's alri't. Easy boy, easy," KC spoke softly to the beast.

"Talkin' all nice to the nag," Frank drawled out slyly as if there was more on his mind that he wasn't ready to spill out with just yet. Turning to look KC wasn't surprised to find Jesse not far behind him. They were like yin and yang, riff and raff you couldn't break the two of them up. Well at least not when they had something up their sleeves, KC mused.

Exiting the stall, "What'r ya up ta?"

"Findin' ou' some preddy in'restin' news," Jesse spoke up for the first time, a quizzical look on his face that confused KC.

"Yeah, and what that be," KC fished for the answers.

The heat had become unrelenting but Molly didn't allow that to stop her from wandering near where her uncle was working at cutting down several young trees and chopping pieces of wood off them. She had started to gather several types of flowers that were growing wild around the valley. She would dry some to send to Emily and Bryn and the rest she'd make a wreath for the door of the new house out of. She also decided she'd make a wreath for Lily for being so kind to her these past few weeks. Wishing she'd brought a basket Molly stood up and stretched from her gathering to look out over the landscape. In the distance she noticed a small house that couldn't have been much larger than one room.

"Colum," she called. "Do you know who lives there?" she asked him. Colum also chose to take a break from his work to walk over near where Molly was.

"Chris Larabee I think," he replied. "He'd started working on a house not long ago somewhere's near here."

"Oh," was all the response Molly could manage. At least she knew now where Lily went to see him and made a point of staying as far from his property as she could. Colum looked skyward behind him.

"I should get to the ranch. Storm's coming."

"There's not a cloud in the sky," Molly replied.

"There will be soon enough," Colum said to her pointing in the distance where it was starting to gray slightly. "A bad one too. Feel how still it's become? I want you to come with me," he said taking her arm.

"Da is just up the hill," Molly said. "I'll be fine. I'll go back in a few minutes and we'll head back to town." Colum hesitated for a minute before smiling at his niece and kissing her forehead. "Ya know that the Gallagher brothers were famous all across Ireland for their exaggerations. But you hear me girl and don't dawdle. The storms out here ain't anything to mess with."

"I hear and obey," Molly teased with a mock curtsey. "Go take care of your ranch. Da and I will be just fine." Colum mounted his horse and waved at his niece. He was relieved that she seemed to like the home but knew she still longed for her island.

Molly watched her uncle ride off in the direction of his ranch. She looked skyward for some new sign of the impending storm he spoke of and found none. Satisfied that her uncle was most likely over-exaggerating, Molly continued to wander the area gathering flowers. She was so engrossed in what she was doing that the clap of thunder that sounded caused her to jump. The sky had gotten darker and seemed to be getting darker still. The air had remained still and Molly realized that the birds that she'd heard before were no longer making a sound. It was as though she were the only thing left on Earth. Thunder sounded again this time accompanied by lighting cutting across the sky. She turned around to head back, hoping to reach shelter before it began to rain.

Bryan heard the sounds of thunder and stepped outside the house where he was looking to check out the condition of the sky. A storm was coming in and although his experience was limited to storms coming off the ocean, he could tell this was one better waited out in town. Stepping into the yard he saw that Molly and Colum hadn't returned yet and weren't in sight. He cupped his hands to his mouth and called out

"Molly, Colum." There was no answer, no sound of anything moving. He did it again. 'He's taken her to the ranch with him,' Bryan told himself. 'He'd want to be there to wait out the storm with the stock and the other men. She's safe with him.' Although not pleased that his brother had taken his young daughter to the ranch with all the men, he knew Colum would watch out for her and knew that the men knew better than to cross him especially when it came to his niece. Unhitching Nicholas from the wagon and saddling him quickly Bryan looked around the landscape one more time before riding back into town. 'She's safe,' was the thought that played over and over as he rode into town.

Josiah sat alone at a table in the corner of the saloon, a bottle of whiskey in front of him. He reached over taking the bottle and refilled his glass for the third time. Setting the bottle back down he then took another sip from the glass then rested his hand on the table in front of him staring thoughtfully into the glass still in his hand.

His mind flashed back to a time before the living hell. A time when Cheyenne used to smile and laugh. He remembered how it had made him feel as if not even the sun could out shine her wonderous smile and sparkling eyes. He also remembered the jealousy that burned within him when he had first met Gabe LaRouch on one of his frequent visits to Cheyenne and her father's cabin.

It was evident even then that the boy, only a couple of years older than she was and, like Cheyenne, was half-Indian and half French Canadian, had designs on her.

He remembered the anger that over came him when he had over heard Gabe's father telling Cheyenne's father, Jacques, that it was time he found a husband for his daughter and nodded suggestively toward his son Gabe. Josiah had been overjoyed when Cheyenne's father had told the other man that Cheyenne would choose her own husband.

Josiah had then hoped to win Cheyenne's love for himself. Some months later he thought he had succeeded in winning that love. Until the devil came and destroyed, not only Cheyenne's world, but also his dreams as well.

Josiah lifted the glass once more to his lips and gulped a hefty mouthful as the memory of that fateful day crashed in on him. Slamming the now empty glass back on the table Josiah stood up abruptly, this was not how he wanted to spend his day, reliving the pain and anguish of the past. He had long since pushed those memories and feeling's back into his subconscious and with all his might he willed them back there again. He had work to do at the church it was way past time he got to it.

Buck watched the dark clouds swirling and moving quickly over head. He shook his head. There was a storm coming, a bad storm. He'd seen more than one tornado and recognized when one was coming. He spotted the large figure of Josiah leaving the saloon.

"Josiah. . . hey, wait up." Josiah turned toward Buck. "Storm's comin' in."

"I noticed. And its coming fast." The wind had picked up and swirled the dust around them. "I'm going to go board up the windows at the church."

"Better do it quick. I'm going to go make sure Lily's okay." The two men nodded at one another and then went in their separate directions.

The saloon was deserted. Buck moved across the floor to the bar. He knew that there was a small box of tools somewhere behind it. He quickly scooted bottles and glasses around searching for it.

"Buck, what are you doing?" Lily set down the two bottles she'd just carried out from the back room.

"Gettin' these." He held up a hammer and a handful of nails. "A storm's coming."

"Well I gathered something must be going on for this place to be empty in the middle of the day. But its not like these people have never seen a storm before."

"It ain't just a storm. There's a twister coming."

"Twister?" Lily was puzzled. She'd never heard the word before.

"Yeah, a tornado." Buck grabbed an empty crate and began breaking it apart. "I'm gonna board up the windows best I can."

Cheyenne didn't know how long she had been riding. She hadn't even noticed the clouds beginning to form over head or the unnatural stillness surrounding her, until her horse began to whinny as if trying to warn her of something. Looking up towards the sky she saw the dark clouds and knew instinctively a storm was coming, a bad storm, and knew that she should probably head back to town.

Black Wind whinnied again and pranced his front hooves. Cheyenne knew this was a reaction he often showed when another horse was near. She drew her gun and turned to see a rider coming up behind her. When she recognized the rider as Gabe she holstered her pistol.

"Saw you ride out." Gabe said as he rode up beside her. "Thought maybe you'd want some company."

"If I wanted company I would have asked." Cheyenne said flatly keeping her eyes on the path in front of her.

"I remember a time when you enjoyed my company," Gabe said flirtatiously flashing a grin.

She rewarded him with a cold glare.

"In fact," he went on ignoring her stone glare, "I remember you use to smile a lot more at me too. Especially when you put the molasses in my moccasins while I was at the creek taking a bath." He kept his eyes straight ahead while he waited to see what kind of a reaction that recollection would bring.

"That girl died a long time ago." Cheyenne spat.

Gabe shook his head and looked at her. "Not dead Cheyenne, only afraid to show herself I think." He said seriously.

Cheyenne snapped her head around and glared daggers at him without a word.

"Ten years is a long time Cheyenne, is it not time to stop being afraid?" His eyes showed the seriousness of his words.

"You Bastard!" Cheyenne swore angrily and without warning spurred her horse into a run.

Gabe wasted no time in urging his own mount into a run and racing after her. Suddenly Black Wind stumbled and Cheyenne fell to the ground with a thud.

When Gabe reached her he jumped from his horse before it had completely stopped and ran over to where Cheyenne lay face down not moving. He was in a panic as he carefully turned her over. Blood trickled from the gash that ran from her right temple to the middle of her forehead.

Vin, who'd been staying out of town as much as possible, not trusting Cheyenne's bounty hunter friend to keep his word and not take him in, had been watching from a distance. When he saw Cheyenne fall from her horse and not move he kicked his horse into an immediate run, his concern more for her well being than his own. It was not like Cheyenne to fall off her horse, she was too good of a rider for that and he wondered if LaRouch had done something to her.

Snatching his gun from his holster he aimed it at LaRouch and jumped from his mount as soon as he reached them shoving LaRouch out of the way.

"Get away from her," he snapped, keeping his eye on him as he bent down next to Cheyenne.

"She fell," Gabe started to say, shocked that the man had a gun pointed at him.

"Cheyenne don't fall off her horse." Vin growled. "Whad you do to 'er?"

"Nuthin! I swear, she fell." Gabe told him, his voice becoming agitated.

"Then what the hell happened?" Vin barked angrily and began to examine her wound while still keeping a watchful eye on Gabe.

"Her horse," Gabe began to explain nervously, his worry for Cheyenne clearly visible. "He stumbled and she fell and must a hit her head, I swear, I would never hurt her."

Vin lowered his gun, Gabe's concern for Cheyenne shown in his face. For the moment Vin would have to trust him. He looked up at the sky as a wind began to blow and rain started to fall.

Gabe moved closer again and looked at Cheyenne then looked up at Vin worriedly

"She needs a doctor." He said with fear in his tone.

Vin looked up again towards the sky. The dark clouds were moving in fast over the already shaded sky and the wind was beginning to whip over them even harder.

"No time," he shouted over the wind. "Look," he motioned his head toward the darker clouds.

Gabe looked up in the direction Vin had motioned.

"Storms comin in fast, we best find some shelter 'n quick." Vin warned.

Gabe nodded his agreement his face became masked with concern as he stated more to himself than Vin "Bad storm. The Black Wind."

"C'mon." Vin urged as he gathered the unconscious Cheyenne in his arms. "I know a place we can go, it ain't far."

Gabe hurried to his feet and ran for his horse swinging up into the saddle. Vin handed Cheyenne up to him then quickly mounted his own horse.

Vin reached down to grab the reins of Cheyenne's horse intent on leading him with them, taking notice Black Wind was favoring his left front leg. Then his eyes grew wide in horror seeing the dark clouds behind them starting to form a funnel. He let the reins drop.

"What about her horse?" Gabe shouted above the howling wind.

"Too late!" Vin shook his head. "He's hurt, he won't keep up, we gotta move!" He shouted back in a panic as he spurred his horse into a run and yelled out "RIDE!"

Gabe glanced behind him and saw the funnel. With out hesitation he kicked his horse into a run and raced after Vin.

Lily tried to help Buck where she could, holding up a board while he nailed or finding an extra board or two. The wind howled outside making Lily shiver with fear. It reminded her of a hungry animal waiting to devour them.

"I think we're out of time. Come on." Buck grabbed Lily's arm and yanked her away from a window. Both ignored the tearing sound of fabric as the bodice of her dress caught on a loose nail. He pulled her across the room to an alcove under the stairs.

The building seemed shake and rattle as the strongest gusts struck. Lily cried out and buried her face into Buck's chest. ‘Oh God, let Chris be alright' she prayed silently. Through the howling they could hear boards being ripped from their places. A window exploded on the front of the saloon.

Almost as quickly as the storm had started it had paced and silence enveloped them. Buck looked down at the woman clutching him. She always seemed so capable, but now he could see that she could be just as easily frightened. He stroked her hair to comfort her.

"It's okay now. The tornado's passed." It took a moment for his words to sink in before Lily started to pull away from him. Tears streaked her pale face.

"It's over?" Lily's voice was shaky. She was still holding on to Buck's arm afraid to let go.

"Let's hope so."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if we're lucky that'll be the only one. I've been around a couple of these when they didn't travel alone. Every once in a while two or three of ‘em will hit in the same place."

"I don't think I can go through that again."

"Well if it happens, at least you won't be going through it alone." Buck laid an arm around her shoulder. Lily raised her head and gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek. He suddenly became very aware of the soft body next to his. He glanced down and saw where the fabric had ripped on her dress. The tear cut across the front of dress exposing the silk and lace of her undergarments as well as the top of her breasts. He watched a trickle of sweat run down disappearing between her breasts. He sighed and forced himself to look away.

"Um, maybe you outta go change your dress." Lily looked down and noticed just how badly that nail had ripped her dress.

"Come now, Buck, it's not like I have anything you haven't seen before." She found it amusing that of all people to be worried about modesty it was him.

"Well, now, I don't doubt that. But Chris is liable to shoot me for seeing what you got." Lily looked away from his comment. Buck could see a hint of disbelief in her eyes. "He cares about you. You know that right?"

Lily remained silent, her eyes focused on some imaginary point on the wall in front of them. "I mean, when you disappeared that night, I thought Chris was going to come out of his skin. He didn't want to stop looking till he found you. And when Casey came ridin' in with you . . . for a second I think he thought you were dead. The look on his face, hell, reminded me of when he found Sarah after the fire."

"Sarah?" Lily turned back to Buck.

"Yeah, you know, his wife. You did know he'd been married, didn't you?" Buck was hoping he hadn't let something slip that Chris didn't want her to know.

"Yes, I did. I heard something about it from someone. He won't talk to me about it, about her. Tell me about her."

"I don't know if I should . . ." Buck's voice was hesitant.

"Please Buck. I want to know about her. I need to know about her." There was a pain in her voice that Buck couldn't deny. He took a minute to collect his thoughts before launching into the story. He told her everything he could think of about Sarah. She'd laughed at the story of Sarah's father chasing Chris with a pitchfork when he was courting her. She'd begun to cry when he talked about the fire that had claimed Sarah and Adam.

"If I'd known. . ." Lily's voice trailed off. Buck looked at her questioningly. "The night before my accident at the cliff, Chris and I had a terrible argument. I don't remember exactly what was said, but I never would have said any of it if I'd known."

"Chris ain't likely to be holdin' a grudge about anything you might've said." This explained a lot to Buck. Chris had been acting strangely since Lily's accident and now he knew why. He'd have to have a talk with his old buddy when this was over.

The stillness suddenly gave way to wind and the thunder was constant as Molly tried to make her way as quickly as she could back to the house. Nothing seemed familiar to her from earlier in the day. She'd been so caught up in her flower gathering that she'd failed to pay attention to where she was going. She stopped and tried to get her bearings. Everything looked the same and none of it was familiar. She'd abandoned her flowers at the start of her journey back and now had her hands clenched in fists at her sides. Thunder clapped again, this time so close the entire ground seemed to shake. Molly let out a small scream then closed her eyes briefly, 'Jesus, Mary and Joseph help me find Da.' she prayed. She opened her eyes to a figure standing several yards from her.

It was a man's figure dressed head to foot in black. His duster was waving around him wildly in the wind. She couldn't make out a face and suddenly was reminded of the stories her father used to tell her on stormy nights about the banshee. The figure started toward her and Molly turned and ran the other way down the hill. She could hear him in pursuit behind her he was calling her name, telling her to stop. 'Run, run, run,' her mind screamed at her. The small house she'd seen before was in the distance and she headed for it. A hand grabbed her arm from behind and brought her to a stop before whirling her around. She screamed and went to hit at her attacker but he restrained her other arm as well.

"Molly it's me Chris. What the hell are you doing out here?" he yelled at her above the wind. It took her a moment to recognize him.

"There. . . there was someone in the path, chasing me," she said out of breath her chest burning.

"That was me, why did you run and what are you doing out here alone?" he asked her again releasing her arms. Molly was now angry, they were in the middle of a storm and he wanted to chastise her again.

"Why were you chasing me?" she spat back. "My uncle went back to his ranch and my father's at the house," she said pointing up the hill toward where the house was. From this point you couldn't see it but Molly knew it was there. It had to be, Colum told her the small house she'd seen was Mr. Larabee's and the house near her looked like it.

"You're staying with me until the storm passes," he said grabbing for her arm to lead her to the house. She pulled away.

"Da's just up the hill, I can make it," she said backing away. He grabbed her again.

"I wasn't makin' it an option. There's a twister comin' and I'm not in the mood to argue with you," he said to her. She pulled away from him, trying to get out of his grip.

"I'll be alright," she shouted at him, fear coming full force. Why was he so adamant that she go with him? "Please let go of me, please," she cried. Chris abruptly let go of her arm. 'What was wrong with this girl?' he wondered. She turned to run from him again and he grabbed for her resorting to knocking her to the ground. She screamed and he heard a crushing sound as his large body connected with hers and then the ground. He hadn't meant to knock her down so hard. She was still for a few moments stunned but not unconscious. In the distance he could see it, the tail of the twister starting to emerge from dark angry clouds like the finger of God coming down.

"Molly, Molly come on, get up," he said reaching down for her. The brown eyes that looked up at him held fear, confusion and pain. He helped her stand, they were closer to the small barn on his property than they were the house. He pulled her into the stall pulling her down to the ground just as it hit. She instinctively covered her head with her arms and he placed his body over her's to shield her from the debris that was flying all around them in the unrelenting wind. He realized that the noise he heard under him was her crying.

Then as suddenly as it appeared, the air was still again. He unwrapped his body from Molly's and knelt next to her. She remained crouched in a tight ball he reached down and put his hands on her shoulders to force the upper half of her body to sit up. Her face was completely white and she was bleeding from a cut on the side of her forehead.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She only nodded. He stood up amazed that the building was still around them although damage was done. The doors had gotten torn off and boards were missing from the outside walls. It would take time, but it could be repaired. He walked outside and saw that the small house was in much the same shape. Windows had been blown out and debris was scattered across the yard.

Chris turned around to see Molly standing with the back of one of her hands up to her face. Her other arm was wrapped across her chest. She tears rolled down her face. It had started to rain lightly but Chris new it wouldn't be long before it started pouring. "Let's go to the house," he said walking toward her with his hand out stretched. She shook her head and backed away.

"Da's still at the house, I have to get to him," she said.

"Storm's still not done, I'll go check the house in the morning, get you back to your father," he said.

"Molly," he said moving slowly toward her, his hand still out. "You're hurt and it's raining. Your father wouldn't like it if I didn't keep you out of this storm. It's best if we all wait it out before looking for each other." The cut on her forehead was still bleeding and she was still holding her arm over her chest like her ribs were injured. "Come on," he said, now standing in front of her. She nodded and allowed him to lead her to the house.

Molly couldn't ever remember hurting this bad. Her head was throbbing and every breath she took was like a thousand needles pressing into her chest. She allowed Mr. Larabee to lead her into his house, which was miraculously still standing even after the violent tornado tried to tear it down. The entire house was barely the size of one room. He walked inside and took his duster off, draping it over one of two chairs that he righted around a small table. There was glass from windows that had been blown out all over the floor.

"Watch yourself," he said, indicating the glass. From a cabinet he produced a bowl and a cloth. He filled the bowl with water. Molly stood just inside the doorway watching him. Thunder clapped nearly on top of them and she jumped gasping at both the sudden noise and the pain that shot through her as she jumped. Chris glanced up at her as if just remembering she was there. "Sit down," he said to her indicating one of the chairs with his head.

She took a few steps and sat down grimacing as she did so. Chris watched her face as she sat. She looked up at him and something he saw in her eyes reminded him of the last conversation he'd had with Lily. She had just finished talking to Molly about Bryn. Molly had overheard some town gossip about what had happened to Bryn at the hands of her captor. Lily confided in Chris that she thought something may have happened to Molly. She was looking for Chris to tell her that she was mistaken in some way but he hadn't. When Lily had suggested Molly'd been assaulted in some way it made sense to him about how she acted around nearly all the men of the town but her father and uncle. And how protective both men were to the girl. Looking at this girl now, he was almost sure of it. Someone had done something to her.

"What," she whispered. Bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Nothin'," he said to her, moving to kneel near her. "Need to clean that up," he said indicating her head. He took the rag and brought it to her face. She wouldn't look at him and she'd begun shaking. Whether from fear or pain Chris didn't know which but he could guess it was probably both. He cleaned the cut on her head, which had stopped bleeding but the area around it was turning an ugly purple, forming a bruise. He placed the bowl on the table and reached for the arm that hadn't moved from around her chest. She pulled away. "I think you might'a hurt your ribs. You need to let me see," he said to her. She shook her head.

"I'm alright," she said. He reached for her again and her voice stopped him. "Please, I promise you I'm fine." He stood up abruptly, towering over her. He was trying to keep his growing annoyance with this girl in check and she wasn't making it easy. He brought the bowl over to the sink. He turned back to her.

"Will you at least lie down?" he asked her. She nodded and stood. He walked over to the bed and pulled the blanket from the foot of it. She waited for him to move and then lay down. He placed the blanket over her. "It'll be alright," he said awkwardly trying to offer her some comfort.

"Thank you," she said to him. She shut her eyes and in minutes was asleep.

"Buck? You in here?" Josiah's voice carried over the hard pelting of the rain outside. Lily stirred against Buck, she'd fallen asleep a short while before.

"Josiah? We're back here." Buck helped Lily to stand. Her legs were stiff from sitting on the cold wooden floor. In the dim light given off by the lantern he was carrying they watched Josiah cross to the back of the saloon. Lily gave a gasp when he got close enough for them to see his face.

"Oh, cher, what happened?" Lily reached out and tried to brush the now dried blood from his face.

"Damn window burst in on me. Nothin' too bad. You two alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine. You seen anyone else?"

"No, I just now left the church. Its getting worse out there. I think another's one going to hit." Both men saw a brief look of fear flash across Lily's face.

"We have to get you cleaned up, cher." Lily stepped behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. The two men took a seat at a nearby table. The sound of ripping fabric drew their attention back to Lily. She came out from behind the bar carrying the bottle and several strips of fabric that matched her dress.

"What did you do?" Josiah looked at the missing sections from the bottom of her dress.

"Well I needed something to clean your cuts with and the dress was already ruined." Lily motioned to the tear across the bodice of the dress. Josiah shot Buck a questioning look.

"I had nothing to do with that one." Both men chuckled as Lily drew a chair close to Josiah and began to clean his face with the whiskey.

"Seems like an awful waste of a bottle of whiskey."

"Don't worry, its not the good stuff." Lily winked at Josiah in the dim light.

Gabe began gathering what wood he could find inside the abandoned mine Vin had led them to so that he could start a warm fire. While Vin retrieved an extra shirt from inside his saddlebags and ripped a section from it, then using the water in his canteen wet it down. He crouched at Cheyenne's side and dabbed the damp cloth at her wound. While Gabe started a fire near them.

They had gone as far back into the mine as they could to escape from the tornado that twisted its deathly destruction outside.

"She gonna be ok?" Gabe asked as he stirred the flames of the camp fire, then walked over and crouched next to Vin watching as Vin tore another piece from his shirt and made a bandage to dress the wound on Cheyenne's head.

"I think so." Vin answered as he tied the makeshift bandage securely. "But I'd feel a whole lot better if she'd wake up."

Gabe reached over and ran the back of his hand gently across Cheyenne's cheek, the black and blue shades of a bruise beginning to show. "She ain't gonna be happy when she does."

Vin looked at him curiously. "What makes ya think that?"

"That horse a hers is about the only thing she cares about, him and that damn preacher." Gabe answered as he pulled his hand back slowly. He stood and went over to the other side of the fire sitting down a few feet from it he leaned up against the dirt wall of the mine and propped one foot up.

The sounds of the storm were still roaring and thundering outside the mine. Vin flashed an up words glance toward the ceiling, thankful they were inside and not out in the destructive wake of the twisting winds that could be heard wreaking havoc outside.

"You got somethin' against Josiah?" Vin asked standing as he picked up his canteen then walked over and offered Gabe a drink.

Gabe smirked accepting the canteen. "Stupid preacher don't know what he's got is all." he said before he took a drink and handed the canteen back to Vin.

Vin, not one to pry, but wondering now if this man could be a threat to Josiah, he had noticed the menacing underlying tone in Gabe's voice when he had mentioned the preacher, so he probed a bit further.

"You known Cheyenne and Josiah a long time have ya?" he asked quenching his own thirst from the canteen and leaning against the wall next to Gabe.

"Long enough," Gabe answered. "Me and Cheyenne knew each other long before the preacher came along, since we was kids. Our fathers some times trapped together." He smiled and seemed to enjoy reminiscing about his past as he continued. "Cheyenne was shyer 'n church mouse. She wasn't nuthin' like she is now. She was meek n mild. Her smile could light up a room in the middle a the night. I had plans on winnin' that girl's heart if it killed me. Then that damned preacher showed up. I seen it right off she had eyes for him."

Vin's eyes widen in shock. "Cheyenne and Josiah?" he questioned. He'd known Cheyenne to show a jealous streak now and then, especially when Ezra's mother was in town. But he'd never paid much attention to it. After all Josiah was a good ten-eleven years older than she was. Of course now come to think of it, she had acted funny when that song girl, Emma some body, was in town too.

"Don't look so surprised," Gabe told him defensively. "She wasn't always like she is now. And the preacher was too stupid to notice anyway. Me, I wasn't about to give up, the next year we went back to the cabin, I had plans on lettin' her know just how I felt. But when we got there we found the cabin empty and Jacques' grave next to it. Didn't find out till a few months later when we went to the reservation tradin furs, what had happened."

Vin looked at him with concern. "What happened?"

Gabe stared at the ground as he picked up a hand full of dirt and closed his fingers around it making an angry fist, as he finished his story.

"Some men from town all liquored up and lookin' for trouble came to their cabin. They killed Jacques and stole his furs." His tone hardened even more as he told Vin the rest. "Then they took their turn with her." He nodded to the still unconscious Cheyenne. "Beat the hell out of her and left her for dead."

Vin closed his eyes disgusted and saddened by what he had just heard. Now he was beginning to understand why Cheyenne was so hard and distrustful. "What happened to the men that did it?" he asked hoping that Gabe would tell him they had been caught and hung.

"Guess the preacher did one thing right," Gabe admitted. "Strong Wolf told me Josiah found them bastards and made 'em pay. See, he's the one that found Cheyenne. She's been with him ever since."

Cheyenne stirred, a low moan escaping from her lips as she began to regain conciseness. Vin and Gabe rushed over to where she lay, both crouching on each side next her.

"She's comin' to." Vin announced.

Cheyenne's eyes fluttered open. Not recognizing her surroundings she immediately tried to sit up. Her head pounded.

Gabe reached over putting his hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving. "Whoa girl, you hit your head pretty hard. You stay put."

Cheyenne knocked his arm away from her and bit out her words as she asked, "Where am I?"

"Old mine shaft I found." Vin answered. "Didn't have time to get you back to town, storm came up to fast." He grabbed his canteen and offered her a drink from it. She took it and carefully sat up with Vin's help, then swallowed a small sip as she looked over her surroundings. Noticing Gabe and Vin's horses a few feet away she scanned the area for her own.

"Where is Black Wind?" she asked handing Vin back his canteen.

Both Vin and Gabe looked at each other before Vin answered.

"Had to leave him behind." he tried to choose his words carefully. "Tornado blew in too fast, he was lame, couldn't keep up."

Cheyenne's solemn expression turned to anger. "He was hurt, and you left him!" she yelled ignoring the pounding pain in her head. "Damn YOU!" she screamed as she tried to stand intent on going out to look for her horse.

Gabe grabbed her and held her down. "Take it easy Cheyenne." He said trying to calm her. "He'll be ok. You named him after the Black Winds didn't ya, that's good medicine. He'll be ok."

Cheyenne struggled to get to her feet.

"Calm down." Vin ordered. "You ain't gonna do him no good runnin' out in that storm and gettin' your self killed. We'll find him when it's over. Now simmer down."

Cheyenne glared at him. "You had better pray he is alive Tanner," she warned.

The wind howled against the livery silencing all that happened in it's doors, a dark figure fought his way to the large barn as the wind made him struggle for every step and breath that he took. He almost rolled into the building when he finally reached the windbreak of the large wooden building, the planks banged loudly against the walls. Frank started to walk out of the place a bemused smile on his face. The dark figure stopped him, "You seen a small blonde boy come in here?"

"I ain't ta'kin' to no darkie," Frank spat out before leaving, his smile gone.

Nathan looked as if he were about to say something and then thought better of trying to talk to deaf ears. Nathan searched the livery stable, climbing the ladder to the loft he found KC sitting her feet handing out of the loft doors. Facing into the wind. Slowly Nathan made his way to her.

"You ok," he yelled to be heard over the howling wind.

KC only nodded her eyes on a dark funnel cloud that was forming in the distance. As if in a dream over the horizon, a few horses appeared running full out for the town. Just as quickly it turned into a nightmare as the few turned into a herd. They reached the edge of town as though it were nothing of a distance to cover. Without understanding Nathan watched as KC grabbed onto the rope that hung from the pulley system outside the hayloft and swung down to the ground, before sprinting as if her life depended on it toward the herd that was heading through the town.

The rain that once wasn't there now poured down in torrents, as if the sky had opened up its flood gates to relieve the pressure on its system. Each step was an agonizing battle as KC tried to fight the current of the downstream draft of wind.

The last foot KC flung herself at the shadow of a figure and rolled it out of the path of the oncoming horses. Out of breath she held the small child close to her under the boardwalk.

The storm out side subsided, Vin, Gabe and Cheyenne walked carefully out of the mine removing fallen tree limbs, bushes and dirt from in front of the mine opening before they could exit. The destruction the twister had left was awesome. Trees and debris littered the ground. Cheyenne called out for her horse and looked about hoping she could see him nearby. But to her dismay he was no where to be found. Sadness over came her and she camouflaged the emotion with anger glaring at the two men.

Darkness was beginning to fall, the three of them also noticed the clouds still hovering overhead. They feared the storm was not yet over, this was only a lull in what could be something worse to come. Knowing they could not chance returning to town they went back into the mine and made ready to spend the night.

Wrapped in bedrolls they slept uneasily upon the ground surrounding the crackling fire. Their slumber was interrupted some time later. A thunderous explosion caused them all to spring from their resting spots. Dirt and rocks fell from the ceiling of the mine. Panic swarmed threw them.

"Get out!" Vin yelled over the noise of the falling debris fearing the ceiling would collapse and they would be trapped. The horses panicked and fled out of the mine ahead of them.

Gabe looked up just in time to see a weakened beam overhead starting to fall directly above Cheyenne. He shouted out her name and ran over to her, shoving her away as the beam fell. Cheyenne fell to the ground. A cloud of dirt flew up obstructing their view as Vin rushed over to help Cheyenne to her feet.

When the dust cleared Gabe lay still beneath the beam and covered with dirt and rock, only his upper body could be seen.

Vin and Cheyenne hurried over to him, as the roaring overhead started to lessen.

"Gabe!" Cheyenne yelled as she and Vin worked franticly to remove the debris off of him. Cheyenne kept calling his name. Vin quickly listened for a heartbeat stopping for a moment from his digging. "He's alive!" he exclaimed as he continued to help Cheyenne free the bounty hunter from the fallen rubble.

Vin tried desperately with Cheyenne's help to lift the fallen beam from Gabe's body, but it's weight proved to heavy for them alone to lift. Vin scanned the area looking for something he could use as leverage. Seeing another smaller beam near by he rushed to retrieve it and brought it over, centering it under the heavier one that held Gabe trapped he pushed it under as far as he could then leaned on the other end as hard as he could throwing all his weight on to it.

"Pull him out!" He shouted as he felt the beam lift slightly.

Cheyenne pulled. But it was no use. Gabe was still trapped. Vin let the beam back down carefully and went back over next to her.

"Dig under him," he told her.

She did so with out question knowing if they could dig a hole underneath of Gabe then lift the beam again she might be able to pull him free. Once feeling the hole was sufficient Vin went back to try and lift the beam again. This time it worked. Vin used all his strength and felt the beam lift, Cheyenne pulled Gabe quickly from under it. Once Vin saw Gabe was free he let the beam fall back down.

"He's hurt bad." Cheyenne said looking at Vin as he knelt beside her, the deep concern for her childhood friend eminent in her dark eyes. Vin nodded in agreement.

"Best see if we can rig a stretcher, soon as this storm lets up we'll head back to Four Corners."

Vin stood and made his way to the entrance of the mine to see how far the storm had subsided. "DAMN!" he swore when he saw the entrance was now blocked by fallen wood, and rocks.

"Stop, please," Molly'd been crying in her sleep for the past few minutes. Chris stood by the stove where he'd been preparing something to eat for both of them. She started turning her head from side to side and tears were falling down her face. "Professor Hartman, please don't," she said. Then her eyes flew open. Chris walked up to her and sat on the edge of the bed. He put his hand on her face. She tried pulling away but pain didn't allow her to move much.

"You've been dreamin'," he said to her. "Wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"No," she said. "It was dreams. It wasn't real it was only dreams." Chris looked at her quizzically. 'Who was she trying to convince more of that,' he thought. 'Herself or me?'

"Who's Professor Hartman?" he asked. Molly's face froze and paled. "You were calling out his name. Telling him to stop doing something," he explained to her.

"I can't know why," she said. "Professor Hartman was my history professor at the university," she explained. "He was my tutor when my mother got ill and I couldn't go to classes." He waited for something more from her but she said nothing else. "Are you cooking?" she asked. He stood up from the bed and walked back over to the stove. It was still storming out. Molly pulled herself into a sitting position. Her chest still hurt but not as bad as before.

"I thought you'd be hungry when you woke up," Chris said to her.

"It smells wonderful," Molly said. "How long have I been asleep?" she asked.

"A couple of hours," Chris answered her. There was silence between them again. Molly could hear the sounds of the storm outside. Normally, storms didn't bother her but the violence of this one had caught her off guard.

"It's still storming," Molly said awkwardly. Chris only nodded absent mindedly. Molly stood up, unsteady at first and the stretching of her upper body caused a new wave of pain to wash over her. She shut her eyes for a moment allowing it to pass.

"You okay?" Chris asked her. She nodded and walked slowly to the table.

"Can I help?" she asked. He shook his head. He noticed her face held pain again and he pulled one of the chairs out from the table.

"Here, sit down," he said. "Nathan's gonna need to look at you when we get back to town."

"I'm alright," she said again. "Who taught you to make this?" she asked, noticing there were dumplings boiling on the stove. The look that came over Chris's face suddenly startled Molly. It was sadness and anger mixed together.

"Sarah did," he said softly.

"Who's Sarah?" Molly asked. He looked down at her and didn't answer. The awkward silence was back between them and Molly was sorry she'd said anything. She'd gotten Chris Larabee upset with her once before and didn't ever want to have it happen again. And now here she was not any more than three days later and she'd managed to incur his wrath once again. A plate appeared in front of her along with a fork.

"Thank you," she said softly. He sat at the table across from her and began to eat. She did the same. The look on his face was expressionless and it scared Molly. "She must have been a good teacher," Molly said. "This is very good." He just looked up at her. 'Oh Lord in heaven just say something to me. Anything even if you're yelling,' Molly begged silently.

"She was my wife," Chris spoke out loud. "Her and my son, Adam, were killed three years ago." He said the words so calmly that Molly thought she'd misunderstood him. This man sitting across from her, a man she'd been afraid of since the day she'd met him had once had a family. A wife and a son who were dead now. Molly couldn't imagine a pain of lose hurting worse than when she'd lost her mother. This man had lost his entire family and Molly knew that if that type of pain existed, he'd felt it. The thought nearly broke her heart.

"I am so sorry, Mr. Larabee," she said, knowing her words wouldn't mean much to him. "I think that maybe my mother's with them now," she offered him a tear filled smile. "Fussing over them, she did that?" she couldn't finish and would not allow herself to cry. She took in a shaky breath. Then he did the strangest thing. He looked across at her and half-smiled at her. He remembered how she was with the town's children, especially the little girl whose hair ribbon she'd re-tied before he'd confronted her about watching him and Lily.

"Must have passed it to her daughter," he said to her. "Adam would'a liked you," he said to her.

"I'm sure I would have liked him, too," she said. The rest of the meal continued with Molly talking about her mother and the island and Chris talking about Sarah and Adam. Molly had started to relax a bit more and when they were finished eating she gathered up their plates. Forgetting she was hurt Molly stood suddenly and was hit with a wave of pain. She set the plates on the table and gripped the edge of it. She blew out a shaky breath.

"Let me do that," Chris said to her. "You go back and lie down." She shook her head.

"I'm alright," she said to him.

"Molly, you're shaking so bad you can hardly stand now go and lie down," he said to her forcefully. He brought the plates to the sink and turned around to watch her lay back on the bed. If she had broken ribs they'd need to be bound before she was hurt even worse. She'd hardly let him touch her but Chris was at the point where he was going to give her a choice. If he had to force her to let him help her he would. A noise much like thunder caused them both to jump.

"What was that?" Molly asked. Chris went to the door to look out. A form much like a dark wall was shadowing the night sky and it took Chris a second to realize this was another twister, a much larger twister.

"Molly, come here," he said to her. She started to stand but she was moving too slowly. He took two quick steps and grabbed her around the shoulders.

"What's happening?" she asked. His answer was to shove her under the table. She screamed out in pain. He threw his body over her and it hit. The house seemed to have been picked up. Wood, glass and debris was all flying. The table tipped on them and Chris shoved them into the wall, praying it wouldn't give way. Then it stopped and the world was silent again except for a sobbing sound Chris realized was Molly under him. He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him.

"Are you alright?" The answer she gave he wasn't prepared for.

"I'm not alright," she cried. "This is not alright. What if my father's out in this, what if he's hurt. We need to look for him, please we need to go look?"

"It's alright," he said to her. "We can't go now. It's too dark. Molly, I'm sure he's fine."

"What if he's not? What if something happened to him and I'm alone?" she cried. He took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him.

"Molly right now I need to take care of you. We need to stay here and first thing in the morning we're going into town. If he's not there, we'll go look for him. It's going to be alright," he said. In a futile effort to comfort her he put an arm around her shoulders. To his surprise she leaned into him, put her face in his chest and cried. He put his other hand on the side of her head and began rocking back and forth like he used to do with Adam when he was hurt or frightened. "Shh," he said in her hair. 'Sarah, why aren't you here?' he asked himself. His answer was the rain that had begun to fall again.

Josiah had been right. Another tornado had ripped through in the night. Lily had felt safer this time though. The three of them had huddled under the stairs and she'd been holding tight to both of them. The wind had calmed down after but the rain was still falling heavily outside.

Buck had stretched out his lanky frame along the floor and fallen asleep with his head in Lily's lap. Her head rested upon Josiah's shoulder. Josiah's was humming softly to himself.

"What are you humming Josiah?" The tune was familiar to Lily but she couldn't place it.

"An old lullaby my mother sang to me once upon a time. Too bad Vin isn't here, he could keep up entertained with his harmonica. At least that would drown out him." Josiah nodded toward Buck who had started to snore lightly.

"I don't mind the snoring. Reminds me a little of my husband, Peter. He would snore sometimes." Lily voice trailed off as her mind drifted away.

"You miss him?"

"Yes, sometimes, at night." Josiah nodded his head in understanding. "Not the way you're thinking."

"I don't understand." Josiah shifted slightly so that he could look at Lily's face.

"Peter and I used to sit in front of the fire in our parlour and he would read to me. He had this wonderously melodic voice and words would roll off his tongue and wrap around me."

"You must have loved him dearly."

"If it hadn't been for him I don't know where I would be today. He saved me. So ironic. . ."

"What?"

"He saved me and I killed him." Lily saw the confusion in Josiah's face. "Four years ago Peter became very sick. We saw all the best doctors in San Francisco and they all said that he was dying. After a few months he became bedridden. He was in horrible pain. James and I finally had to do something to ease his suffering."

"James?"

"James was Peter's . . . companion." Lily tried to find a way to convey the situation delicately. The look in Josiah's eyes told her that he understood. "My marriage with Peter was more for society purposes than for anything else. Not that I doubted that he loved me, just not in that way. We were quite happy together."

"What did you and James do?"

"James knew of an opium parlour in Chinatown. We went there one night and a man made us a mixture of different herbs which we mixed with some tea for Peter. It put an end to his suffering." Lily's voice cracked from the tears she was holding back.

Josiah reached out and stroked her hair, like a father consoling a child. "You must loved him very much to make such a hard decision, one that obviously still haunts you. You have to learn to let that guilt go. He'd want you to move on."

It seemed an eternity before KC found himself in the clinic Mary Travis quietly holding her shivering boy trying to warm him from the cold rain and heavy winds that had torn down parts of the town. Mary looked over at the boy that had saved her son's life, slowly the man drew a glass of whiskey to his lips and downed the bit of amber liquid, seeming to have forgotten the fact that he had almost lost his life out there. . . to save Billy from the wild horses.

Carrying the now sleeping child Mary approached KC and placed a light hand on the boys shoulder, "Thank you," she whispered before carrying Billy outside of the small clinic.

KC watched as the woman left not sure of what he should do. When Frank entered the clinic a smile touched the corner of his lips as he wandered over to KC.

"Miss me much," Frank let the words drip from his mouth like acid. Lunging for the man KC hit Frank center of his chest knocking him to the ground. Landing on the man he threw a right hook at Frank's face shattering the small man's nose before standing up as if nothing had happened and walking out of the clinic.

Ezra leaning back in his chair chuckled. "What are you laughing about," Nathan asked as he finished off his glass.

"Just considering the plausability of the word weaker," Ezra coughed out the word sex before sitting the chair on all fours and exiting.

It took he and Cheyenne the rest of the night to dig and opening big enough for them to crawl threw. Using what materials they could find they fashioned a make shift stretcher for Gabe and pulled him out of the mine with them as the sun began to rise over the mountains.

Vin found his horse a few hours later. Attaching the travois to the saddle he and Cheyenne began to make their way back to town.

The sound of people moving around outside had roused the trio from where they slept on the floor. All three stretched and moaned to one another about the way their body ached from sleeping on the floor. The sky overhead was gray but the rain had stopped and the sun threatened to peak out from beyond the far edge of the clouds.

People milled about in the middle of the street greeting one another happy to see that nothing was seriously damaged. Broken wood and glass was strewn about but all the buildings were still standing. The tornadoes had come close but neither had hit directly in town. Lily hugged both men and thanked them for taking care of her during the night. She also told them that they were each entitled to some of her ‘good' whiskey.

"I'm going to go round up the others. Make sure everyone came through this alright." Buck touched the edge of his hat and headed toward the other end of town.

"Josiah," Lily touched him arm gently, "thank you."

Cheyenne waited for Vin to dismount then jumped down after him. Both of them stood shocked as the looked around Four Corners. Luckily neither of the tornado's had not hit here directly. But the devastation was still astounding. Windows were broken and a few of the smaller buildings were left in rubble. Cheyenne's eye's darted to the church searching for Josiah and sudden panic hit her when she saw several of the windows broken out, the front door was gone and the roof of the building torn half way off. Her eyes roamed threw the crowds of people that were standing out side, looking for him.

"I'll see if I can round up Nathan," Vin told her after he'd pulled himself from the shock at seeing Four Corners in such a shambles.

Cheyenne nodded absently still searching for Josiah. Then she saw him standing very closely, next to the saloon owner, Lily. A low painful moan from Gabe stole her attention and she rushed to the travois. Gabe's breathing was raspy and it frightened her. She was afraid he would die. "Nathan!" she screamed out quickly scanning the area for him. Her thoughts now centering on her friend and forgetting about Josiah for the moment.

Vin returned with Nathan on his heals. Quickly Nathan examined Gabe and instructed them to take him to building they had set up for a sort of emergency hospital.

Cheyenne began to follow Nathan and Vin as the led the travois toward the building when Josiah came running up to her.

"Ani!," he grabbed her shoulders and spun her around to face him. "I was worried about you." His joyous expression at seeing her changed to one of concern. "You're hurt," he exclaimed seeing the bruise on her cheek and reaching up to remove the bandage on her head and get a look at her wound.

Cheyenne's eyes softened for a moment as she looked at him and noticed the cuts on his face. She pulled away from his touch telling him, "It is nothing." Her expression as she looked at the gashes on his face was one of compassion, the tone of her voice as she spoke showing the same.

"You, are alright?" She asked

Josiah smiled. "I'm fine, just a few cuts from some flying glass. Miss Lily was kind enough to tend to me, sacrificing her dress I'm afraid to do so." He held up a piece of the cloth still in his hand. She recognized it as being from the dress the saloon owner was still wearing.

Cheyenne's compassionate expression suddenly turned cold. Holding back the different and disagreeable emotions churning inside her she suddenly stepped away from Josiah.

"I, must go to Gabe, he is hurt badly," she said then turned on her heals and headed the direction Vin and Nathan had taken Gabe.

Josiah stood watching her walk away. His own emotions a jumbled mass of confusion.