Alone At Last

They reached the door and forced it open. No one said anything. Jimmy just instinctively grabbed Lou and held her for a long time. Finally, the sheriff left them to check on Grady.

"Are you all right?" Jimmy asked finally letting her out of the bear hug he'd had her in.

Lou could only nod and try not to start crying.

"What happened to your neck?" Jimmy asked as soon as he got a look at her.

"You got shot!" Lou exclaimed ignoring his question when she saw the wound on his arm.

"Grady gave it to me. But what happened to you?" Jimmy asked lightly touching her neck

"You need to get that bandaged," Lou said moving away, tearing part of the sheet off the bed. She began to wrap it and ignored Jimmy's continued questions about what had happened to her.

"Looks like Grady'll make it. He took it in the shoulder." the sheriff said when he returned to the room. "I'll be taking him into the jail as soon as I bandage him up."

"Thank you." Lou said softly, first to the sheriff and then to Jimmy.

Jimmy gave up pressing Lou for answers about what had gone on. He didn't want to make her do anything she didn't want to right then. He'd get answers when she told the sheriff everything in town. The town doctor fixed up Jimmy's arm in the back of the sheriff's office once they were back. Lou sat down and explained everything that happened to her from the time she left the church. Once that part of the ordeal was over Lou and Jimmy went back to the hotel not really sure what they should do once they got there.

"We make quite a pair don't we?" Lou said as they sat in silence on her bed back at the hotel.

"How's that?" "Look at us. You're shot, I've got a huge bruise on my neck and I'm covered in cuts and blood," Lou said sighing.

That was first time Jimmy had even noticed the blood that had soaked Lou's dress and face. He thought that it had been from when he hugged her earlier, from his arm. Now he noticed that most of the blood had dried overnight and stained the dress. "What happened to you?"

Lou explained that when Grady had put her in the wagon bed there was already some pieces of barbed wire in there. Every time the wagon bounced she got another cut. "You were with the doctor getting your arm fixed when I was telling the sheriff about that."

"Lou, I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner. I should have gone after you right away. I should never have left you alone." Jimmy said feeling the guilt that had welled up in him the night before return.

"Jimmy, you couldn't have known about this. There was nothing you could have done." Lou told him her voice shaking at the memory of the last night's events.

That statement was only met with silence. The look on Jimmy's face said more than enough. He blamed himself for her ordeal and there was nothing to stop him from feeling like that. Instead of trying to reason with him that it could have happened if he'd been with her and they could have been hurt even worse, Lou simply stood up and walked over to the dresser. She poured some water into the basin, picked up a cloth and walked back over to Jimmy.

"Take off your shirt." Lou commanded standing in front of him.

"What?"

"Take off your shirt. The doctor said for you to clean out the wound when you got back here. That's what I'm going to do. He told you it would get infected if you didn't take care of it. I don't think you want that, do you?"

Jimmy didn't make any move to unbutton his shirt. "Are you embarrassed to take your shirt off in front of me?" Lou asked trying not to laugh at the thought of 'Wild Bill' Hicock not wanting to take his shirt off in front of her. She definitely needed the cheering up even if it was at Jimmy's expense. " 'Cause you could try to clean it yourself, but since you're right handed, it might be pretty difficult."

"I'm not embarrassed, just a little surprised at you telling me to do it."

"Jimmy, you got shot for me and after the night the two of us had, I'm not exactly dying to argue with you. I need to clean your arm and that's that." Lou said sensibly. "If you say so." Jimmy said moving stiffly to try to undo his shirt. "I think I could use some help."

Lou silently unbuttoned his shirt and helped him pull it off. She kneeled on the bed beside him undoing the dressing already on his arm. "I don't believe this! You told me it went clean through!" Lou gasped getting her first look at the damage that been done by the bullet.

"It did. It just took the long way through." Jimmy told her looking down at his arm.

"I'm glad to see you can make jokes about this." Lou told him as she started to clean the blood off his arm.

"Hey! That hurts!" Jimmy yelped as she touched the wound.

"Sorry! It's still bleeding. This is such a mess. I thought the doctor took care of it."

"He did. I guess it's worse than he told me, though I didn't think it this bad before."

"I guess so." Lou sighed. A few minutes later she had thoroughly cleaned Jimmy's arm and bandaged it again.

"OK, your turn." Jimmy said smiling at Lou.

"I'm sorry?" Lou asked surprised.

"You're the one with cuts all over her body. You need to take care of those too," Jimmy said seriously. "I don't want to bring you home with those cuts and have to explain why they were never taken care of. You're not embarrassed are you?" Jimmy asked turning her words on her.

"You taking you shirt off and me taking my dress off are two entirely different things." Lou said as she stood up.

"All right, then put something else on. You brought something to sleep in didn't you?"

"Yeah." Lou said heading back to the dresser, with Jimmy watching her the whole time. "You mind turning around?"

"If you say so," Jimmy said turning to face the wall.

"OK, you can turn around now." Lou said a minute later.

If Lou hadn't been covered in dried blood and had a large bruise on her neck, she would have looked incredibly beautiful. To Jimmy at that moment though, she looked just as wonderful as she had the night before. It was quite a sight for him to see Lou standing there in a white nightgown. He had never seen her in anything like that before, for obvious reasons, and it was quite distracting to him. "Is it that bad?" Lou asked looking down at the cuts that covered her arms and chest.

"No, no." Jimmy said quickly. "I've just never seen you in anything like that before."

"There's a reason for that."

"I know. Come here and let me see what I can do about those cuts." Jimmy said motioning for her to sit on the bed.

"Ow." Lou whispered once in a while, with Jimmy immediately apologizing afterward. Only a few of the cuts were very deep so it didn't take too long for Jimmy to make sure they were all clean. Lou was amazed though at how carefully Jimmy took care of her. She never thought he would have been so gentle with her, but he was. He treated her almost as though she'd break if he pressed too hard.

"I think we could both use some rest. I didn't get too much sleep last night." Jimmy said once he was finished cleaning her cuts. He stood up and headed toward the door.

"Jimmy!" Lou said quickly, when she saw him get close to the door. "Don't leave me alone here, please."

"I'm not going anywhere. It's OK." Jimmy said gently when he saw the look on her face. "I was just going to put my stuff on the chair over here." He immediately went back over to her and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "You have every right to be scared, you know. I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me to."

"Don't leave." Lou whispered, her eyes filled with tears at the thought of staying alone in a hotel room with Jimmy so far away from her again.

"I won't." he said hugging her tightly.

Once Lou got herself under control again, she got the nerve to ask Jimmy something she had been worried about asking before. "Jimmy, would you mind sleeping next to me for a little while? Until I'm asleep?"

"No, I don't mind at all." he told her softly.

Lou got under the quilt and blanket on the bed. Once she was settled Jimmy made sure she was covered up before he got into the other side of the bed. He kept his distance at first, but as soon as she was asleep Lou had rolled onto her side, moving closer to him. Rather than try to get out of the bed to let her sleep alone, Jimmy stayed put. What could he accomplish by potentially waking her up? Anyway, he was too tired to fight sleep much longer and trying to rest in a stiff chair did not appeal to him at the moment. Both slept soundly for the entire afternoon. At some point Jimmy had moved just as close to Lou as she had to him. By the time they woke up Lou's head ended up resting on Jimmy's chest and his arm was around her shoulders.

"There are certainly worse ways to wake up." Jimmy decided when he finally opened his eyes early that evening noticing the configuration they had ended up in. "Only problem is, what do I do know?" If he moved, he'd wake up Lou, but if he didn't stretch his arm soon it would be so stiff it wouldn't be any good to him for days. Before he finished the thought, he got his answer. Lou had woken up, or at least was starting to. She was starting to reposition herself on his chest to get more comfortable. Finally, she opened her eyes and propped herself up to see if Jimmy was awake.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Jimmy asked her.

"I'm all right. How about you?"

"I think I'll be good as new in a couple of days. Are you going to be OK if I go out for a while? I want to go over to the sheriff's office and see what's going on."

"Yeah. I'll be fine. I want to know what they're doing too."

"I'll be back as soon I can." Jimmy said getting and walking over to where he left his shirt earlier. Lou was already asleep again when he'd finished putting on his shirt and strapped on his guns. He tucked her in and kissed her gently on the forehead, praying that she'd still be there when he got back.

"We're going to put him on trial in about a week. Though I have to tell you, I'm not what'll come of it." the sheriff told Jimmy when he entered the office.

"What do you mean? He kidnapped her and tried to kill her! You saw the bruise on her neck!"

"Jimmy, you've got to understand. He's never done anything like this before. There's no reason for us to think that he would have hurt her any worse than he had initially. For all we know, she could have come back here on her own without any problem."

"I don't believe I'm really hearing this. He's going to go on trial for what he did, personal feelings or not!"

"I know that. I'm just trying to tell you what might happen. People around here like him. He's normally a very gentle man. I'm going to keep him locked up here until the trial though."

"You better. If you let him out I ain't gonna be responsible for what I do to him."

"I understand."

A little while later Jimmy stopped off in town to get a couple of things before going back to the hotel. He got the answers he was looking for, though they weren't the ones he wanted. They couldn't stay in Willow Springs for another week to testify at the trial. They had to leave the next day with the dispatches. Jimmy knew there was little that could be done to Grady if they didn't testify, but as long as Lou was healing and wanted to put it behind her, there was no point in torturing themselves. He didn't know exactly what to tell her, but he'd figure it out when he got back. He was surprised to see that Lou was still sleeping when he let himself into the room.

"And they all make fun of me for sleeping late." Jimmy thought as he pulled the chair closer to the bed. He watched her breathing for a long time. Somehow not being that close to her scared him now. He needed to see her there and know that she wasn't going anywhere without him to go with her.

"Am I really that interesting when I'm asleep?" Lou's voice came suddenly, scaring him so much he nearly fell out of the chair.

"Well, I was afraid to let you out of my sight. I thought you might disappear on me again." Jimmy said joking with her, snapping quickly back to reality.

"Thanks, but I've got no plans to go anywhere. What did the sheriff say?" Lou asked pushing up on one elbow to get a better look at Jimmy's face.

"He said they'd keep Grady in jail until he went on trial next week."

"Good. I don't suppose much will happen unless we stay here and testify though." Lou said feeling depressed.

"Yup." Jimmy said, not bothering to mention that he had been thinking the same thing. "I don't think we'd be able to get away with that. Teaspoon would start to think we'd quit on him."

"I know. What time is it?" Lou asked, for the first time noticing that it had gotten dark out.

"It's about seven."

"Oh."

"I'm going to go get something to eat. You hungry?"

"No, I don't really feel like eating right now." Lou said, letting all the news he'd brought back with him sink in.

"I'll be back soon then." Jimmy said standing up and suddenly kissing her on the cheek. "I promise."

He left Lou sitting in the bed, in a state of shock. He got out of the room as fast as he could so she wouldn't see his face turn bright red. Why had he done it? He guessed that it was because he felt so close to her now. After all they'd gone through together not only in the last day, but before then too, it was easy to understand that feeling. Their relationship had moved beyond friendship, it now had a cemented bond between them. It felt like they had been alone in Willow Springs for weeks and the rest of the world no longer existed. He felt like it was his responsibility to reassure her that he'd be coming back to her. When he couldn't find the words fast enough he'd kissed her.

"How do I explain it to her?" Jimmy wondered as he ate his food slowly. "It's not like I planned it, it just happened."

Lou on the other hand, just sat in the bed thinking over and over again about what Jimmy had done minutes before. There were certainly ways to explain his motives behind it. There was no way to deny that there had been some flirting between the two of them when the Kid and she were broken up. It was something that had always gone on, but neither had taken it too seriously. What had gone on that morning changed things between them though. Now, they had something different, but Lou couldn't put her finger on it. It was what would explain the kiss he had just given her. However, explaining it was one thing, trying to understand why she still felt it and wanted to feel it again was more difficult. Her thoughts were interrupted when Jimmy came through the door.

"Hey." Jimmy said quietly.

"Hey."

Neither said anything for a short time. He just sat in the chair where he'd left it and she sat on the bed staring at the blanket. Jimmy figured that he should break the silence and bring up what he'd done. "Lou, about what happened when I left earlier..." Jimmy let his voice trail off, hoping she'd finish the sentence he began.

"I know. I've been thinking about it too." Lou said not looking up from the blanket.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I think I understand why you did it, but I should tell you, I didn't mind it." Lou admitted looking in Jimmy's general direction, but not at his face.

"I just, I guess, I..." Jimmy couldn't find the words to tell her what he wanted to say, "I did it without thinking." Lou looked hurt at that, but Jimmy quickly redeemed himself. "I mean, I wasn't thinking about doing it beforehand, but I did want to do it when it happened. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"Yeah. I understand." Lou said finally looking into his eyes.

"You know, if this goes anywhere, we should probably talk about a few things first." Jimmy said, making the jump that neither had really expected to. "I mean, when we get back to Sweetwater, we're going to have to face the Kid eventually, and the rest of them aren't going to make things too easy on us, and I don't know if either one of us is ready for another relationship right now. Are we?"

Lou looked at him without replying. She took a minute to think over her response, she needed to find the right way to put it. She finally stood up.

"Stand up." she told Jimmy once she was standing in front of him, once he was up she said something he never would have expected. "Kiss me."

"What?" Jimmy said stunned, things had definitely changed that day.

"Kiss me and then I'll tell you if I want to go through with this." Lou said looking him in the eye.

"You're really serious?"

"Yes."

"All right." Jimmy said, cupping her face in his hands. He leaned over and kissed her on the lips. This time he didn't suddenly stop. Instead he kept kissing her and she was certainly kissing him back. When they finally stopped a few minutes later, the decision had been made.

"It's worth it." Lou said a few seconds later after she steadied her breathing.

"How can you tell just by that?" Jimmy asked.

"I can tell." Lou told him simply.

"Then it looks like we're going to have some explaining to do when we get home." Jimmy said keeping his hands firmly around her waist.

"Not necessarily. I mean, we don't have to tell them anything about what went on here. I know I don't want to have to tell them about what happened with Grady. Nobody would ever let me out of their sight again, and I think you're doing a pretty good job of that already." Lou told him smiling.

"That's the idea. I don't want anything like that to happen again. It scared me too much when I found out you were gone." Jimmy told her softly brushing some hair away from her cheek.

"That's all right. I'm back now and I won't let something like that happen again. I've got you to make sure of it." Lou said slipping her arms around him tightly.

"You sure do." Jimmy said kissing her forehead, happy to know that she didn't resent his protecting her. He knew how she hated it when the Kid would watch her every move and worry like mad when she was gone on long runs. He figured the circumstances were different this time. He had a good reason for worrying and she knew it.

They talked for a long time that night. About what things would be like when they got home. How it would all be different and what could happen if the Kid found out. Even though there were plenty of things they could worry over, they decided not to until they were home. For that night at least, they were going to get some time together and no one would wonder why. When it came time for them to get some sleep for the night, there was no real question about the sleeping arrangements. Jimmy would stay with her again, relationship or not he wasn't about to leave her alone for a night not knowing if she'd be there in the morning. Both knew that Grady was locked up, but the chance that he might get out or someone else might come after her was enough reason for Jimmy to stay there that night.

This time sleep came much easier. Jimmy made sure he kept to one side of the bed, just in case Lou thought he might try something. She knew he wouldn't, but certainly appreciated the consideration. They did wake up much the same way as they had the afternoon before, but this time both knew they had to get up and head to the express office.

"I guess we should get going, huh?" Lou asked a few minutes after they were both awake.

"Yeah, I think the dispatches will be in today."

"Too bad. I kind of liked being away from Sweetwater, at least that was until we ran into Grady."

"Look at it this way, I still you owe you a dance. We've got that to look forward to when we get home." Jimmy said as he finally got out of bed.

"Good point. I'll let you know when I'm ready to call it in."

"I'm going to go down to my room and get the stuff I left in there. You should probably get dressed now." Jimmy said nudging her shoulder as a hint to get out of bed. "All right. I'll get up."

They were both so happy to have finally admitted their feelings that neither thought much about what was waiting for them in Sweetwater. Reality. They couldn't tell then if the relationship would work out or not, but they weren't thinking about that either. For the time being they had found someone who they could share things with and feel totally at ease with. It didn't matter to them at that moment though. They had survived the days they spent in Willow Springs without knowing how much they would come to depend on each other. It certainly wasn't the result Teaspoon had planned on, but then, no one had planned on this.

Maybe Lou and the Kid would eventually get back together as they had before. Maybe she and Jimmy would find peace. At that moment, they were only grateful to be going home together.

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