Things moved quickly after that, Chris and the boys had every thing ready and they had each found a place to take cover. Vin was atop the bank, Ezra at the saloon watching from a window. JD and Buck had settled near the bank, one in each ally beside the bank. Josiah and Nathan placed themselves one on each side of the door to Nathan's room. The three boys and Jake had placed themselves one on each roof of the buildings surrounding the bank. Sammy Jo was in the building across from the bank. Chris Larabee as always was standing in the middle of the street near the bank.

Josiah poked his head out to look across at the boy he had just found out was his son, the kid felt someone staring at him but refused to meet Josiah's eyes.

"I should have spoken to him Brother Nate, none of us knows what might happen doing this fight." Josiah told his friend.

"You'll have time to talk with him after the fight, I don't think God would let either of ya die just when ya'll found each other." Nathan said.

They didn't have long to wait, about an hour after everyone was in place they heard the sound of horses coming fast into town. Each of the seven waited until the gang got into the center of town. Chris stepped out into the street and with a deadly glare spoke to the outlaws.

"There ain't nothing here for ya boys, it would be best if'n yawl just left town."

"One man! one man thinks he'll stop us boys." Al Fisher laughed. "ya best go hide little man, or me and the boys will fill ya full of holds."

"It's your funeral Fisher." Chris said as he stepped back and his gun cleared leather.

Fisher and his men hadn't expected to have to deal with so many guns, And Chris and his men learned just how good Sammy and her little band were. Jake and each of the boys were firing and taking Fisher's men out so fast Chris was surprised. His shock allowed Fisher time to head for him. Chris fired at Fisher but the man kept coming.

Sammy Jo stepped out of the building and shot Fisher right between the eyes. Then turned her gun on the remaining outlaws. When the gang realized Fisher was dead and most of their companions as well they give up without much fight. Chris and the boys rounded them up and marched them to the jail.

"Buck, did ya see them kids shoot, I know that JJ must have shot 2 or more and that fella Jake, my gosh he was shooting faster then I ever saw Chris shoot." JD said in awe.

"They was something, weren't they?" Buck replied.

"I do believe gentlemen our Mr. Larabee owes his life to the fair Miss Park." Ezra pointed out with a smirk.

"I wouldn't go telling Chris that if'n I was you Ezra." Vin said in his soft way.

"Yep, he won't be too pleased about that. " Buck said with a cocky smile.

Jake and the boys joined Sammy near Nathan's room. Sammy looked at JJ and said.

"I think you owe someone an apology, you best be getting to it."

Josiah was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, so Jake took Mike and Larry and headed for the livery. Sammy waited to see if JJ or Josiah needed her.

The two of them just stared at each other for a long time, then Josiah spoke.

"I didn't know about you son, if I had I'd have been there for you and your Ma. I swear that to ya."

"Would ya? Why should I believe you, I don't know you. How could you? leave my ma alone and in the family way. Do you have any idea what she went through. Hell if'n it weren't for Uncle Joe and Jake, me and ma would most likely be dead now." Jake spoke heatedly.

"I know son. And I wish I could thank your uncle but he's dead and I can't say nothing to him, but I will thank Jake for looking out for ya and your ma." Josiah said.

"Why! why didn't ya know me. Grandpa said I look so much like ya did at my age he would have knew who my pa was without anyone telling him." JJ cried out.

"I reckon ya do at that." Josiah said as he looked closely at the young man standing in front of him. Same eyes, same hair, same build, Josiah saw it so plain now, he only wished he'd have seen it that first day. Then maybe the kid would have let them talk together and work things out.

"Son I wish I could say something to make ya feel better, hell something that would make me feel better but there just ain't nothing I can say. I'd like to get to know ya now, and maybe your ma will let ya come visit me sometime. That is if'n ya want to."

JJ looked at Josiah then at his ma. it seemed like he wasn't going to answer then Jake's voice was heard.

"A fair man always give another person a chance to make amends, and a boy should know his father."

JJ turned toward Jake and saw the man who for all his life had been there for him and he knew there was no way he would ever do anything that would make Jake angry with him.

"OK, maybe we could spend some time together and find out if'n we like each other." JJ finally told Josiah.

"Thank you son" Josiah said as he placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"But not right now, Josiah you need to go rest and JJ and the boys need to go to the hotel and get cleaned up. Jake you can walk with Josiah to his place then come back and join me at the hotel." Sammy Jo told the men standing with her.

Jake and Josiah walked to the church and as Josiah went inside Jake made as if to head toward the hotel.

"Jake, would ya mind letting me speak to ya for a spell?" Josiah asked. Jake entered the church and watched as Josiah sit down and leaned his head back with eyes closed.

"Sammy is right, you must rest before any of us speak. You are not well and none of us wish to see you suffer." Jake said.

"Not even you Jake? Josiah asked as he looked at the man before him. I got the feeling you don't like me much and maybe you and Sammy Jo are closer then just boss and Forman. None of my business I know, but Sammy Jo and I were friends for a long time and I would hate to see her put herself into a situation that might cause her more trouble and pain then she had already had to deal with."

"Sammy won't thank you for telling her that, I already tried to tell her what would happen if she keeps letting people see what we are to each other. But Sammy Jo Park is one tough woman and she says all those people can kiss where the sun don't shine, she ain't going to act like she is ashamed of what we have." Jake said.

"Sounds like Sammy has grown stronger in the last 17 years." Josiah chuckled.

"That she has. JJ is a good boy too, his ma and I taught him to respect folks and to care about his fellow man. I'm sorry he shot you, it's so unlike JJ to do something like that."

Jake wanted Josiah to know that JJ wasn't a bad person.

"Well maybe tomorrow him and I can try and make things better between us." Josiah told Jake.

"I do not think the two of you will ever be as close as you should be. Too much time and angry has been built up to allow that. but maybe you can learn to be friends." Jake said.

Josiah could tell Jake himself was angry and wanted to say more, but Perhaps Jake felt it wasn't his place to speak and Josiah for some Strange reason wanted Jake to say what was on his mind. Maybe Josiah felt he deserved some sort of punishment for his sin, what ever it was he figured he might as well let Jake give it to him.

"Jake, if'n you got something to say, come right out and say it. I know I did Sammy and JJ wrong and what ever you say I deserve." Josiah said.

Jake was silent for a long time, then he stood up and walked to the front of the church. Josiah watched as he paced back and forth in front of the alter. He figured Jake was thinking about what he wanted to say, and Josiah wouldn't be surprised if Jake didn't punch him in the jaw for his past sins.

Finally Jake turned and spoke. "In my head I know you planted the seed from which JJ grew, but it was my arms that held the new born child on the day of his birth. It was I who helped his mother care for him. I who worried and fussed over him for seventeen years. and I who taught him the things he needed to know to grow into a strong brave caring man. It was I who felt a father's pain for 17 years, but now he looks for another to call father. and it hurts me. You only knew the pleasure in making him, and in those 17 years have never felt a father's pain, why now should you be allow to take him from me."

"I don't want to take him from you, I just want to know him and let him know me. I don't got any right to expect him to treat me like a father and he probable never will. I can see he cares for you a great deal and I won't interfere in that. Just let me get to know him and maybe spend a little time with him. That's all I ask of you." Josiah assured Jake.

Neither man had noticed that JJ was standing just inside the door of the church, so both were shocked to hear him speak.

"Jake I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I just wanted to find out what the man who fathered me was like. I could never forget that you been a father to me all my life. And Mr. Sanchez, I'm sorry for shooting at you like I did, ma says I got a temper and she is right, I guess I let it rule me. Something Jake has always warned me not to let happen. All this trouble just because Grandpa Park wanted to hurt my ma. I should have seen that and not come running here to find you. I know I done hurt all three of you and there is nothing I can do to make everything right". . JJ looked so sad, Josiah wished there was some way he could make everything better for him. But he knew nothing he said would make the boy feel any better.

The three stood in silence for a long time, each thinking their own private thoughts. Then JJ finally realized he had come here for a reason.

"Jake, ma sent me to tell ya, she got you a room at the hotel and a bath is waitin' for ya." JJ said.

"One wonders how she performed this feat. I'm sure the hotel clerk will not be happy to have an Indian stayin' in his fine hotel." Jake said with a smile.

"Ya know ma, she told him if'n he didn't give you a room she might just get mad and shoot him. He saw how good she is with a gun and he give her what she wanted." JJ explained.

Jake and JJ left the church and Josiah was alone with his thoughts.

"Lord, show me how to make things right." he prayed

He went into the small room and lay down on the bed. But he could not sleep. He just kept seeing Sammy as she had been that night 17 years ago. Why hadn't he noticed Sammy needed him to stay? He had cared so much about her for all those years and when he had returned from the Cheyenne village and his father was so awful to him and to his sister he had gone to Sammy for comfort. He had never meant it to go as far as it had, and it seemed like once they had made love, neither one of them saw any reason not to do it again. But then he had decided to leave and hadn't even given it a thought that she might need him for any reason. Years had passed before he had returned to find his father dead and his sister in with the nuns. Even then he had not thought to ask anyone where Sammy Jo Park was. Josiah Sanchez realized he had committed more sins then he had ever thought he had. He could only pray that Sammy was the only lady he had left with a child. The thought that there might be other children of his out there was a real blow to his heart. But there really hadn't been that many ladies he had slept with who hadn't know how to prevent a child. He heard someone enter the church and then heard Nathan call out.

"Josiah, ya sleeping in there?"

"If I had been, I'd be awake now brother Nate." Josiah replied.

He walked out to find Nathan sitting supper out on the small table.

"I brung ya some supper and I'd like to check your head while I'm here." Nathan told him.

"It's fine Nathan, no need to fuss over me. How are those soldier boys? Doin'? Josiah asked.

"Couple of them loss a lot of blood, and a few have pretty bad wounds but I think they'll make it." Nathan answered. He then took the time to check the wound on Josiah's shoulder and his head wound. Nathan Pronounced them both as healing well, then sit down to share supper with Josiah. They ate in silence until Nathan got tired of watching Josiah pushed his food around on the plate.

"Are ya off your food cause of your wounds or is it your heart that is achin'?" Nathan asked his friend.

"Oh God Nathan, how could I do somethin' like that to someone I cared about. I just used her then walked away as if nothing happened." Josiah said with bitterness in his voice.

"Now Josiah, it ain't like ya planned it to happen that way. I know ya Josiah and there ain't no way you'd have left if'n ya had any ideas that Miz Park was a carrion' your child."

Nathan said hoping to ease some of the pain eating away at his friend.

"But I don't think about it Nathan and now I got to make up for it some how, not just to Sammy but to a boy I didn't know I had." Josiah said.

"Way I see it my friend, is that ya couldn't do nothin' bout what ya didn't know. Now ya got the chance to make things right if'n that's what ya want to do." Nathan said.

"How Nathan, I can't change things for the boy and his ma sure don't need me now." Josiah answered.

"Well maybe ya ought to let your god guide ya in what to do. Just let things ride for while." Nathan said.

He finished eating then patted his friend on the shoulder and told him to get some rest. "I'll stop by in the morning to check your head. Don't ya be fretting, about the boy and his mama all night." Nathan said as he walked out the door.

Vin Tanner rode out to greet the dawn like he always did every morning. He went to the hilltop east of town. He was surprised to find someone else already there His surprised faded when he realized it was Jake Ten Bears. Jake being apache it was likely he greeted each day the same as Vin did. He slowly made his way to where Jake was sitting and sat himself a few feet away to watch the sun rise. Neither spoke until the sun had rose well. above the horizon. Then it was Jake who spoke first.

"It is good to greet the dawn this way. I have done so for all my 40 years and JJ since he was 4, but this morning he did not join me and I found myself alone until I heard you arrive," Vin had no words of comfort to offer to the tall man beside him. So he only nodded his head.

"Mr. Tanner, while I waited for mother sun, something keep bothering me it was not till you joined me I figured out what it was. Yesterday we killed only 9 men the rest were taken and placed in jail. How many in jail?" Jake said

"Five men in jail. so what's been bothering ya?" Vin asked.

"I saw more then fourteen men attack the army and the boy told Larabee there were thirty men. So I wonder where are the others." Jake said.

Vin realized that Jake was right. Al Fisher had more then 30 men in his gang .Why would he only bring 14 with him to rob the gold shipment.

"I don't know, maybe we best go talk with Chris." Vin said.

The two of them rode into town together. As they reached the hotel they found young JJ sitting on the porch. he stepped down into the street as Jake and Vin rode up.

"Jake, ya didn't wait for me this morning. didn't ya want me to go with ya?" JJ said in a hurt voice.

Vin thinking the two might need some private time told Jake he'd find Chris then he'd meet Jake in the hotel for coffee along with Chris. Once Vin had rode on Jake turned to JJ. "I did not know if you wanted to greet the morning with me." Jake said.

"We been doing it together for 14 year, why would I not want to keep sharing our morning routine with ya." JJ spoke softly.

Jake realizing he had made a mistake that morning did the only thing he could think to do. He reached for the boy he had always thought of as his own and hugged him tight.

This was the sight that greeted Josiah as he made his way to the hotel for breakfast. The sight of the two together made Josiah realize that JJ would never truely think of any other man as his father. JJ was lucky to have found a father in Jake and Josiah realized that left no place in the boy's life for him. He was sad about that and for a few second dammed the fates for it. Then once again he realized that maybe it was for the best. He had no place for a child in his life .No home or wife and with what he and his friends did for a living could cause him to be shot and killed at any time. Jake had a home and from what Josiah saw the love of JJ's mother. He worked a ranch and was less likely to be killed while working at his job.

God did work in mysterious ways Josiah thought as he joined JJ and Jake in front of the hotel. Josiah greeted them both and then walked on into the hotel to find Sammy standing at the window watching Jake and her son.

"Jake Ten Bears seems a good man. "Josiah said.

"Yes, he is. Uncle Joe saw that, years ago. Guess that's why he took Jake in when he found him at the mission school. Uncle Joe must have told me the story of his and Jake's meeting a dozen times that first year I went to live with him. Joe had stopped at the mission school on the way home from delivering a head of cattle to a fort in New Mexico. He got there just in time to catch a small Indian boy of ten from running away from the good fathers there. They told him the boy was wild and would never be able to control or teach. . Well Uncle Joe being the man he was offered to take the boy off their hands. He said Jake didn't like being at the ranch any better then he did the mission school the first six months, but then Jake must have realized Joe Wright wouldn't force him to do anything he didn't want to do. Jake soon took to following Joe around learning everything he could about the ranch and how to take care of it. When he was twelve Uncle Joe hired a retired teacher and Jake learned to read and write. Uncle Joe used to laugh at how Jake had soon out learned his teacher. He said Jake was like a sponge and soaked up every drop of information he could from everywhere and everyone. And Jake learned other things too, how to use a gun, and how to fight with his fist. How to survive in a white mans world while being a red man. Joe said before Jake was 15 he could out shoot, out ride, out track and out run men twice his age. Uncle was right, Jake can do all those things plus he seemed to know what to do with a baby when I had JJ." Sammy explained to Josiah.

"When did you realize you loved him Sammy?" Josiah asked.

"Oh it took me a long time to figure that out. I knew I liked him and he treated me better then any one else every did, but it wasn't till ten years ago I realized if I didn't tell Jake how I felt the two of us would spend the rest of our lives as friends and nothing more." Sammy replied.

"I'm glad ya found him Sammy. " Josiah stated.

"Me too Joe." Sammy said.

Josiah laughed at the use of his childhood name. He knew Sammy called him that because no one else had and she always had to be different. Jake and JJ entered the hotel and joined Josiah and Sammy for breakfast. While eating Jake explained to Josiah and the others what he and Vin had talked about that morning.

Soon Chris, Buck, JD and Vin joined them. Once Vin explained to them his and Jake's thoughts, the others too begin to wonder where the other gang members were.

"Vn, ya think we could track em down?" Chris asked.

"Don't see why not, we'll go to the ambush spot and follow their trail from there." Vin said.

"JD, you go get Ezra and Nathan. The six of us will try and find those other outlaws while Josiah, Jake and the three boys protect the gold and the town". Chris ordered.

"Miz Park, I'm going to have to ask ya to watch over them wounded boys for Nathan until we get back. I'll ask Mary Travis to help with that." Sammy agreed and soon Chris and the others rode out of town,