Molly woke to the smell of brewing coffee. She quickly washed her face and dressed. Her father was at the table reading a copy of Mrs. Travis's newspaper. He smiled at her.

"Judge Travis was here early this morning," Bryan said to her. "He wants to speak to you about what happened. I didn't have the heart to wake you but I did tell him I'd send you over to speak with him this morning." Molly nodded.

"Would you like breakfast?" she asked, changing the subject. Bryan stood and walked over to her.

"You don't need to go."

"Yes, I do. I was there, I know what happened." Bryan sighed.

"I'm proud of you," he said to her. "I know I don't tell you that enough. Colum's right, you're not my little girl anymore. You're a young woman."

"I know that you want to protect me but you can't, not from everything," Molly said. "This isn't how I pictured my life. But I get to teach and that's all I care about. And no matter what happens here or where I go, I'll always need my Da," she said kissing him.

"Off with you then," he said chuckling at her as she walked out the door.

Molly stepped out into the crisp morning and began to walk up the street. The sun was shining with the promise of a warm end-of-summer day. Molly noticed the woman from the store across the street. "Good morning, Miss Gallagher," a woman's voice came from behind her. Molly turned to see the bank owner's wife standing behind her.

"Good morning," Molly replied.

"How are you fairing with everything?" Mrs. Parsons asked her.

"Very well, thank you," Molly answered. She wouldn't allow herself to be fuel for anymore gossip.

"It doesn't appear as though she's leaving town anytime soon," Mrs. Parsons said with a nod toward the woman across the street. "She calls herself AJ Cinders. No one knows anything about her but she can't be anything but trouble. Mrs. Potter heard that she is supposed to be part of a vigilante group. Can you imagine? I was hoping this town had seen the last of her kind when that Cheyenne left." Molly fought to bite her tongue for her father's sake.

"My father always told me to believe none of what you read and even less of what you hear," Molly said to her. "Good day," she said. Without waiting for a reply she walked away. Though she didn't need to, Molly crossed the street near where the woman was standing near a horse. She noticed that most people that walked passed her didn't acknowledge she was there.

Drawing in a breath Molly smiled, nodded and said, "Good morning, Ms. Cinders." as she walked past the woman. AJ didn't have time to even respond to the girl she'd seen around the town as she greeted her and walked past. Molly allowed the smile to remain on her face knowing Mrs. Parsons saw the exchange. 'Let her gossip about that,' Molly thought to herself.

Arriving at the grain exchange building Molly walked inside the large room that was used for bringing in the harvest and as the courtroom when needed. Judge Travis was sitting at a table reading from a book. Molly smoothed down her dress before lightly clearing her throat to announce her presents.

The Judge looked up, "Come in and sit down, Miss Gallagher," he said to her standing as she walked further into the room. Molly sat at the chair he gestured to in front of the table. "I trust your father informed you that I would like to speak with you about the incident at the jail?"

"Yes, he did," Molly answered him.

"I need for you to tell me as much as you remember about what happened that night."

"I brought the meal there around 6:00 as Mrs. Travis had asked me to. I walked inside and was setting a tray on a table near the cell. A letter I was carrying with me fell from the tray. One of the men bent down and picked it up and handed it to me through the bars. I reached out and he grabbed me and pulled me against the cell. He put his arm around my neck?" Molly's voice cut off as she put a hand up to her throat at the memory.

She cleared her throat once again to compose herself. "Mr. Tanner turned around, he had his gun aimed at the man. He told Mr. Tanner that if he didn't put his gun down and unlock the door that he would kill me. So he did, Mr. Tanner unlocked the door and the two men came out. One of them knocked Mr. Tanner unconscious and then they began to argue over who would take me with them." She closed her eyes at the memory of being pulled between the two men and the desperate feeling she'd only ever felt one other time in her life.

"Miss Gallagher, Molly," the judge's voice shook her from her daydream.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's alright," he said. "Then what happened?"

"Casey came out of the cell. She told them. . . "Molly's voice cut off catching the horrible mistake that she'd just made. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm a little upset and I'm not getting my words straight. . . " The judge cut her off, knowing it wasn't a mistake.

"Molly, it's alright. I already know." Molly looked up at the judge in disbelief but for Casey's sake was going to take this as far as she could.

"Know what?" Molly asked.

"You are far too much of an intelligent young woman to play dumb. I know about Ms. Jensen's masquerade." Molly simply nodded in defeat.

"How?"

"Mr. Larabee informed me last night. Apparently he found out from Mrs. Patterson." Molly didn't have a chance to question him further about it.

"What happened after Casey came out of the cell?"

"She told them I was going with her. She pushed me behind her and told them to leave. As soon as they were out the door she fired her gun out it before she shut the door. She told me to untie Mr. Tanner and I did. She told him to aim his gun at her. Then Mr. Standish came along with Mr. Jackson and Mr. Sanchez."

"Is that all that happened?" he asked her.

"Yes," Molly said, knowing it wasn't the entire truth. She'd stopped short of mentioning that KC too had held a gun to her head, that she'd threatened her about a secret Molly'd told twice now with out meaning to and that the entire incident was her fault. If she hadn't taken that letter from that man, none of this would have happened. Molly looked up at the judge and decided to take a chance. "Judge Travis, may I say something?" she asked. He looked up from what he was writing and nodded at her. "Casey didn't allow those two to escape. She didn't have a choice. If they would have left with me, I can't even allow myself to imagine whatmight have happened. She saved my life and Mr. Tanner's life."

"It doesn't excuse what happened," he answered her. "That will be all for now," he said to her, dismissing her. Molly stood and turned to walk away before turning back around.

"Mary was supposed to be there," she said to him. He removed his spectacles and looked up at the girl. "She asked me that morning if I could take her turn. If it had been Mary that was there, her life that was being threatened wouldn't you have wanted someone to do the same thing Casey did?"

The judge didn't answer her but he didn't need to. Molly simply turned and walked out the door. More people were out in the street, doing their various morning tasks. Molly walked toward the direction of the church where the school was to be temporarily held until another location could be found. Looking ahead of her she saw JD walking in her direction. She'd yet to speak to him since the dance.

Part of the conversation she'd had with Lily rang in her ears, "So, JD kissed you did he," Lily asked Molly as she went about making a pot of tea. Molly didn't respond but a slight blush crept into her face. "Certainly you've been kissed before, haven't you, cher?" Molly looked up at her.

"Yes," was all she said. Lily sighed. This was becoming more difficult then she thought.

"Are you sure that all JD did was just kiss you?" Molly blushed even further at the implication but she nodded. Lily sat next to Molly and tilted her chin up to face her with her finger. "Make me a promise, cher. Promise me that you won't go too far with anyone until you are ready. Never let anyone do anything you don't want. Will you promise me that?" Molly nodded but there were tears in her eyes. She'd broken Lily's promise before she'd even made it. "Cher what is it, what's wrong?"

"Molly," JD's voice brought Molly back to the present. "Can we talk?" he asked her.

"Walk with me a little way," Molly said to him. She couldn't avoid him forever. They walked slowly up the street side by side, JD wanted to reach for her hand but thought better of it, Buck's warning about going slow ringing in his ears. He still didn't understand it, all he'd done was kiss her good night.

"Care to explain what I did?" he asked her.

"My father is always telling me there's a logical explanation for everything," she started out. "But I'm not sure I can come up with one for this instance," she said. JD stopped and turned to face her.

"Will you just tell me what I did," he blurted out. Molly shook her head at him.

"No, JD, no you didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't you it was me."

"Buck once told me that was the oldest line in the book," he said to her.

"It's the truth."

"Is there someone else?" he asked her, thinking of the only other possibility his mind could come up with for her actions.

"What?"

"Someone on that island of yours, back home?" Molly looked up at him and the look in her eyes answered his question. "There is, isn't there."

"There was once, but not anymore. He's a dear friend but that's all."

"What's his name?"

"Ryan."

"Ryan?"

"Ryan Blythe, we grew up together. But, JD I promise you, we are only friends. There's nothing more of it," Molly was desperate now. JD looked the way she felt, as though he was about to cry and she couldn't stand seeing him like that.

"That's supposed to be the second oldest line," his voice was colder now. He looked at her one more time before turning and walking away. Molly took a couple of steps after him

"JD, please don't walk away," she called to him but he didn't stop. She closed her eyes and took in a breath. She wouldn't start to cry in the middle of the street. Wrapping her arms around herself she turned and walked toward the church.

Vin Tanner saw the entire exchange between JD and Molly from his post across the street. He couldn't hear what was being said but the changing expressions on their faces told him that the conversation that seemed to start out amicably turned quickly into an argument that left both young people upset. He watched as JD stalked off toward the jail probably to relive Buck and Molly as she slowly made her way toward the church.

Pushing himself off the post he was leaning on he started up the street after Molly. He knew she'd been to see the judge and wanted to see how it all went - at least that was the excuse he was using to justify following her. Walking up the stairs and into the church. Molly was in a corner in front of several boxes that she appeared to be sorting. Her back was to him but he could tell that her mood had turned from sadness to anger.

"Molly," he said to her. She gasped and turned around nearly upsetting the books that were in her hands. "I'm sorry," he said holding his hands out toward her. "I wasn't trying to scare ya."

"It's alright," she said to him. "If you're looking for Mr. Sanchez, he's not here."

"I wasn't look'n for Josiah," he said to her. "I heard that you spoke with the judge about what happened. Everything go alright?" he asked her. Molly placed the books that she'd been holding on one of the pews.

"Everything was fine. I'm sorry Mr. Tanner I'm afraid I'm not very good company right now," she said, doing her best not to snap at the tracker in spite of herself.

"You don't seem fine," he said to her. This time Molly did snap and the Irish temper that she normally kept under control came to the surface.

"What exactly would you like me to tell you? What I already told the judge, that the entire incident was my fault. That someone else is being blamed for what I caused? That the reason two murders escaped his town's jail is because of me? I already tried that and it did no good."

"Whoa, hold on just a minute there. What do you mean your fault? I was there, you didn't do anything wrong, Molly," he said stepping toward her.

"I should never have taken that letter from that man when he handed it to me. He never would have had an opportunity to grab a hold of me," she said the anger cracking her voice. "You never would have been hurt and they never would have escaped if it weren't for me. You must despise me, JD despises me and I despise myself," she said moving toward the box again.

"I don't despise you," Vin said to her. "No one does. Nothing that happened was your fault." Molly stopped what she was doing and turned to face him.

"They are blaming Casey for something I did when he saved our lives. No matter what I seemed to tell the judge he just didn't seem to understand that," she said.

"Why does it matter so much to you?" he asked her. Molly just shut her eyes. She couldn't tell him that she felt indebted to Casey in a way he wouldn't understand. A secret she was entrusted with was let out not once but twice. She didn't think there was anyone in this world that was as lost and scared as she was when she first arrived in Four Corners until the night she watched over Casey for Lily. The difference was that Molly had her father and uncle, this woman had no one.

"Mr. Tanner, I'm sorry for acting the way I did. I really have a lot of work to do if I'm ever to open this school," she said to him. Vin nodded, touched his hat to her and turned to walk away but he couldn't bring himself to leave her there.

He turned back around and saw her standing, her back to him paging absentmindedly through a book. Her dark hair was hanging down her back part of it pulled up in a bun. The sun was hitting it making the auburn in it come out and creating a halo effect around this girl who had grabbed at his heart for reasons he couldn't explain or even understand.

"Most scared I think I've ever been was when I saw you against that cell, that man's arm around your neck," Vin said out loud. Molly didn't turn around but had stopped paging though the book so he knew she was listening.

"You light up this town, Molly." his voice had dropped low almost to a whisper causing Molly to turn around to face him. "You are always are nice to everyone, and those kids, you don't see the way they look at you when you're not looking." He said walking back toward her.

"I ain't ever seen JD more proud than when he was standn' with you when the judge said you were gonna be the teacher here. He's young and he just don't see what he's got right in front of him." He walked up to her and put a hand on her face and wiped a tear that had fallen with his thumb. Molly felt her heart begin to beat faster but it wasn't out of fear, she wasn't sure what it was as she looked up into his kind, clear blue eyes.

"You're eyes are always dancin', do you know that?" he said to her, placing his hand on the other side of her face. In spite of herself Molly found herself putting her hands on his arms to steady her balance. "Like an angel's." Vin leaned in to her and Molly shut her eyes. Just as his lips were touching her's the sound of Nathan's voice brought the pair out of the trance they'd seemed to be in.

"Vin, we got. . . " the couple both jumped, Molly turned around feeling her face turn crimson. Nathan cut off his greeting as he walked in the church. Vin had his hands on Molly's face and was leaning into the girl whose hands were on his arms. The couple broke apart so fast at the sound of his entrance Nathan wasn't entirely sure what he'd seen was what he'd thought he'd seen. "Everything all right?" he asked. Vin turned around.

"Why wouldn't it be?" he snapped. Molly turned back around but wouldn't look directly at either man. "Molly's got work to do," Vin said, walking past Nathan and outside. Nathan waited a moment, looking at Molly before turning and walking out the door.

"What the hell was that?" Nathan asked him once they were outside.

"Wasn't nothin'," Vin answered him.

"Didn't look that way," Nathan replied.

"You got somethin' to say, Nathan, then say it. Otherwise it ain't none of your business," Vin yelled.

"It ain't right, Vin, and you know it," Nathan said, echoing the same thing Vin had told himself a hundred times. Chris's appearance put a sudden stop to the argument that was brewing.

"What's goin' on?" he asked. Neither man answered Chris's question. Molly appeared in the doorway of the church and caught Chris's eye. He wondered if what he'd just walked into had to do with the girl. He caught a glance up to her that Vin gave and the shifting in Molly's posture that was the result of it.

She turned and walked back into the church leaving the three men in the street below. She sat in one of the back pews wondering why her entire body seemed to be shaking and not from fear. It was the same feeling that came over her when Ryan first kissed her. Why hadn't she felt this way with JD but she did with Vin and he hadn't even kissed her? Sighing, Molly pushed herself up to finish her task of sorting school books wishing the feeling she felt wouldn't go away.