Out of sorts didn't even justify how Molly was feeling at this moment. She didn't remember the ride back in her father's wagon to the house in town. She knew the silence was broken occasionally with her father asking for the thousandth time if she was all right and mumbling that he should never have left her alone in the first place. They reached town and the house and her father broke the silence again.

"If they are in trouble and did nothing for it as Josiah says then we must help them," he said. Molly said nothing in reply. Her father stopped the wagon and helped her down. "What is it?" he asked. She'd said nothing to him about the ordeal she'd endured before he arrived to the new house. The images kept flashing over in her mind: AJ Cinders being shot, the angry voices of Cheyenne and Gabe speaking French, Gabe on top of her as she tried to run away. "Molly?" he asked again. The last image stayed with her and she could still feel his hands on her body, his breath on her face as she struggled to get away just as it had been another time before. She turned to her father.

"I'm not entirely sure they're as innocent as we think," she said. "I think they may have done something in that town, something bad."

"We don't know anything yet," he said to her. "You've been through a lot that much is certain and don't think I don't know it." Molly opened her mouth to protest but he wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise. "Don't try to tell me different because I know you. Inside with you then, I'll make you some tea and you can clean up." Molly didn't try to argue. The thought of being taken care of was comforting and she'd allow it this once. She kissed her father on the cheek and went inside.

Father and daughter shared the tea and Bryan tried to find out what he could from Molly about what had happened at the house and what she knew of Cheyenne and Gabe's predicament. He'd promised to help Josiah however he could and he would but he'd like more information on why he was doing it. The information Molly was offering wasn't any more than she'd said at the house and on the way back into town. Bryan knew she was holding something back but felt she would never truly keep anything important from him. What ever she wasn't being forthright about couldn't be that important but he couldn't help but to think back on what she'd said after they arrived back into town. He had never heard his daughter declare any ill will toward anyone before. Something must have taken place for her to start now and with someone she'd tried to desperately to befriend. Molly stood to clear the table of the tea things. She had changed dresses, washed up and pulled her hair back into a loose braid. "I believe that I would like to take a walk into town," she declared.

"What, now?" her father asked.

"Now's as good a time as any," she answered. She took her shawl, the same one that AJ had returned to her and wrapped it around her shoulders. "I won't be gone but a few minutes. I think the evening air would do me some good."

"Just be careful and don't be gone long," her father said. Molly blew him a kiss before walking out the door and up the main street of town. There were a few people about most of whom smiled and nodded at her before turning to companions in hushed whispers. Molly knew what they were whispering about. She was sure by now that news via the gossips at Potter's store had spread through town about the ordeal at the Gallagher homestead involving the town's new teacher and one Cheyenne Beaujuex.

Molly was starting to think that her evening walk wasn't such a good idea when she caught sight of JD standing outside the hotel. She hadn't spoken to him in a few days. The sight of his smile always caused flutters in the girl and she knew talking with him would lift her spirits right up. Resolved, she made her way to the hotel. He saw her approaching and walked toward her. He had heard from Buck what had happened at the homestead and he wanted little more than to throw his arms around her and hold her tight but he knew better. He reached out for her hands instead and was relieved that she took them almost immediately.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, I'm fine," she answered. "Are you working now?" she asked him.

"We're all taking a shift, watching the jail for that sheriff," he answered her. "I'm sure I could take a break and walk ya home if ya'd like," he said to her. Men's angry voices up the street drew the pair's attention away from each other. Chris Larabee had immerged from the saloon pushing the sheriff of Coyote Springs out a head of him along with another man in front of them. JD took a protective step in front of Molly his hand slowly going to rest on his gun.

"You'll regret this, Larabee," the sheriff's voice came down.

"Touch her again and I'll kill you," Chris threatened, the tone in his voice more frightening to Molly than the sheriff everyone was so afraid of. Chris caught sight of the pair the look in his eyes causing Molly to take a step toward JD. He made a motion to JD that caused him to take his hand off his gun and turn back to Molly.

"What was that about?" she asked, wondering if the 'her' that Mr. Larabee spoke of was Lily.

"I should get you home," JD said watching the sheriff and his man retreating up the street.

"I don't understand what's happening," Molly voiced her frustration for the first time.

"We just gotta prove to Judge Travis that it was in self defense and then she'll be off the hook," JD said to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What was self defense?" Molly asked, more confused than ever.

"You didn't know?" he asked her. Molly answered him with a confused look. "I guess I just thought you were told, at the house I mean."

"Told what? JD I have no idea what's going on." JD looked like he'd just opened his mouth when he shouldn't have, something he'd done with great talent in the past. "What have they done?" she asked, her voice demanding an answer. JD knew how badly Molly had wanted a friendship with Cheyenne and he knew what he was going to tell her was going to break her heart.

"Cheyenne's supposed to have killed a man," he answered her.

"What do you mean 'supposed?'" she asked him.

"I don't know a lot about what happened," he answered her. "I just know what Josiah said."

"I see," Molly replied. She looked down the street toward the direction of the jail. "Information from the source is more trustworthy," her mother used to always tell her. She'd simply ask Cheyenne herself what she was running from. She'd find out once and for all if the roomers and gossip were true. "I really do think that I should be getting back," Molly said to him. JD nodded in agreement feeling that she was up to something. She took his arm and the pair walked back to the house where Bryan was sitting on the front stoop waiting for the return of his daughter. He stood as the young couple approached.

"Thanks for seeing her home," Bryan said to JD.

"Actually I'm not quite 'home' yet," Molly said. "I was wondering JD if you'd wait a moment and walk with me to the jail?"

"The jail?" both men said nearly in unison.

"What it the world do you want to go there for?" her father asked as though she'd gone mad.

"I think it would be nice to take some food to the men guarding the jail and also to Cheyenne and Gabe," Molly rushed her explanation. Both men shared a look knowing they couldn't stop her once her mind was made up if they tried. "I'll be just a minute," she said going into the house. She grabbed her market basket and quickly filled it with bread, some salted pork and other things. It wasn't much but it would do. She emerged from the house a few minutes later, once again taking JD's arm and the pair walked the way they'd come toward the jail. The pair walked inside where Vin Tanner was on guard. He stood as they entered.

"Molly's brought some food," JD announced to him. Vin tipped his hat in appreciation to her.

"Well, it's not much, but it should suffice," she said to him, setting the basket on the desk. Cheyenne and Gabe could be seen sitting in separate cells. Cheyenne caught Molly's eyes and held her gaze for a second. It brought to Molly the real reason for her wanting to be there. She turned to the two men,

"May I have a moment?" she asked.

"Are you sure?" Vin asked her. She knew what he was thinking. She offered him a smile.

"I'll not stray from this spot," she promised. "Just a moment, please?" she asked again. Vin seemed to understand what Molly wanted to do and led JD out. He stopped just short of shutting the door.

"We'll be right here," he said to her. The door shutting made Molly realize there was no turning back. She turned toward the cells trying hard not to fidget with her hands as she did so often when she was nervous. She wasn't quite sure how to begin with what she wanted to say.

"I'm not quite sure how to ask what I've come to ask you Cheyenne so I suppose the best way is just to simply ask. I've come to ask what it is you've done." Gabe jumped up from his seat in the cell.

"It's none of your damn business," he shouted at the girl acting as though he wanted to jump through the bars at her. Molly jumped back herself trying hard to ignore the man who'd had her pined to the ground just hours before. Cheyenne jumped from her own seat and shouted at Gabe in their French sounding language. Molly struggled to keep her composure. She'd come this far.

"The women in town, they say you murdered a man," Molly said her voice nearly a whisper. "Is that true?"

"Yes," Cheyenne answered simply. Molly felt shattered, as though all the air had been sucked from her body.

"It's true?" she asked in disbelief. "Everything they've said is true?"

"Do not always believe what those old crows say. They believe only what their eyes see and in truth know nothing. I killed a man that did not deserve to walk this earth," Cheyenne answered her.

"I don't understand," Molly said.

"Things are not always as they appear. The man I killed did not deserve to live. He killed my father and he ruined what small chance of life I had." Molly felt betrayed. The silence that fell in the small jail was nearly deafening.

"I only ever wanted to be your friend," she nearly whispered. "And I can't know why." With that said and being nearly on the verge of tears Molly turned and walked out the door. JD and Vin were both waiting for her. "She really did it," Molly said to JD before breaking down. JD wrapped his arms around her. "She killed a man and she's not one bit sorry for it," she cried into his shoulder. After a minute she stopped embarrassed at her outburst. Vin had resumed his position in the jail leaving the couple to a moment of privacy.

"I'll take ya home," JD said to her.

"No, not just yet," she said "I'd like to stop and see Lily just for a minute," she said, wiping her eyes with the handkerchief that JD had given her. The pair walked to the saloon. Molly turned to JD. "I know you need to get back to your post," she said to him. "I'll just be a few minutes."

"You get someone to walk you home," JD said to her.

"I will, I promise," she said to him. He waited while she walked inside the saloon before turning to walk back to his post at the hotel.

Molly caught sight of Ezra Standish behind the bar. She didn't see Lily in the saloon at all but knew he could tell her where she was. She walked to him. He smiled as she approached.

"Good evening, Mr. Standish," she addressed him.

"Well, hello," he said to her. "Out for an evening stroll I see. And where is our young Mr. Dunne?" he asked her.

"He needed to get back to his duties," she said to him. "I was looking for Lily, is she here?" she asked him.

"I'm afraid she's not feeling to well this evening. She's in her room resting," Ezra answered her.

"I hope that nothing's wrong," Molly said. "I'll stop by in the morning to see her," Molly said before turning to walk away. There was something in her voice and in her expression that caused Ezra to stop her from leaving.

"Is everything alright?" he asked her. Molly looked at him, tears threatening to break again. "Molly, what is it?" he said coming closer to her.

"I read a book not long ago about a girl who walks through the mirror in her family's parlor. When she comes out the other side, everything looks as it should be but it's actually the opposite of what it's supposed to be. I feel as though I've stepped through a looking glass only I don't know when it happened or how to get back out again," she said to him.

"Maybe it's the rest of us who've gone through the glass," he offered to her with a gentle smile. "Let me take you home," he said to her, wiping his hands on a towel and walking to the other side of the bar. Dejected, Molly nodded and allowed him to lead her out of the saloon and up the street. They reached her house and she noticed her father had gone inside. "Will you be alright?" Ezra asked her.

She nodded, "My father's just inside," she said to him. "I'm sorry to have put you out."

"You didn't put me out," he said to her. Molly smiled at the gambler before walking inside. Molly said good night to her father and went to her room to change into her nightgown. It had been a long day to be sure. Sitting at her table and brushing her hair out she heard a sound outside her window - almost like someone crying. Going to the window, she looked out it to see a cat sitting just outside her window. She opened it and the cat jumped on the windowsill and made itself comfortable.

"Where in the world did you come from?" she asked. "You're not going to turn into a gargoyle one me like what happened to Alice are you?" The cat answered her with a purr. Molly sat on the stool near the window and stroked the cat deciding it was the most peaceful thing she'd done in a while.