Save the Next Dance

Eleanor sensed rather than heard the door to her room opening. She rolled over and squinted into the bright light being squeezed out by the now closing door.

"Pa?" she slowly began to sit up in bed, everything ached especially her back. The door reopened to reveal Louise.

"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you" she apologized "How are you feeling?"

"As though I've been used as a cannon ball and shot from a cannon," moaned Eleanor.

Lou laughed "Yeah you look a little like you have been too!"

"What's the time?"

"Well after lunch sleepy head."

"You're kidding!" Ellie attempted to stand up then remembered her back "Ow" she winced and sat back down. "My back is killing me. Now I know why Ma always said not to sit on the ground for too long! Help me up ."

"Doctor said you have to stay in bed as long as possible. Remember?" Lou reminded her.

"This is as long as possible!" complained Ellie.

"You've hardly been there more than 12 hours.".

"Louise, I was stuck in one place all of yesterday and I'll be darned if I'm being stuck in another place all of today! Now I've already missed half of the day and I am getting up with or without your help" Ellie gave a defiant nod and began to stand again with her hands supporting her back.

Louise reluctantly leaned over and grabbed her arm to help "Cody was right you are a head strong cuss!" she muttered quietly.

"What?" Eleanor eyed her.

"Nothing."

"I heard what you said Louise Mcloud and I want to know what else he had to say about things!" she demanded.

Lou shrugged flippantly "You'll have to ask him. I'm too much of a lady to repeat it."

Eleanor began to bend to grab a pillow to throw at her then thought the better of it when her back began to scream silently so she resorted to poking her tongue out instead. At that moment Jack Cicely entered the room and shook his head in mock dismay at his daughter.

"Well you are obviously feeling better" he stated.

"I'm fine and I'm dying of starvation. What's to eat?" she asked.

"I'll bring some breakfast, or should that be lunch, in to you. Get back into bed and rest" he ordered her.

"I'll come and get it thanks."

"The doctor said that you have to....." Jack began.

"...stay in bed and rest. Yeah I know what the doctor said but I'm fine!" she insisted again.

"Ellie.."

Louise rolled her eyes "Good luck! I've already tried to tell her that."

"Hmm. Well if you insist on getting up..."

"Which I do" Ellie interjected, she was beginning to get thoroughly sick of both of them and her back still hurt and her head wasn't much better, not that she intended admitting to that.

"...then you can sit on the swing seat in the porch" her father finished.

Ellie threw back her head in irritation but conceded that at least the swing seat was better than being stuck in bed.

Once up and sitting quietly in the swing seat, after a few final half hearted attempts by the bad tempered patient to broaden her boundaries as far as the Doctor's to see Teddy, Louise filled her in on what had happened leading up to the rescue.

"How's Teddy?" Ellie asked when Louise had finished.

"He's going to be fine. He's a little worse than you but the doctor expects him to recover faster than you".

"That's good" Ellie nodded "How come he'll get better so fast?"

Louise looked away and grinned "Because he's still in bed resting."

Eleanor burst out laughing "Honestly! You just don't let go do you? Ow that hurts, don't make me laugh!"

"Well, I gotta go. I have a run later" she stood up and turned towards Ellie "Be good!"

"I'll try. To tell you the truth I don't think I could actually make it much further than this porch anyway so it looks like I'll have to be good!" she grinned sheepishly.

"Lou! How is she?" Cody ran over to her as she walked towards the Bunkhouse.

"Who?" she replied innocently "Oh if you mean Eleanor she's as much of a head strong cuss as she always was."

"Huh?"

"Cody," she placed her hands on his shoulders and looked straight at him "with the exception of you she is the worst patient I have ever encountered! Why don't you go and see her, I expect she'll still be on the seat on her porch."

"I thought she was meant to stay in bed"

"Uh huh! She is but try telling her that!"

Cody frowned and shook his head "Poor Jack! What about Teddy? Did Jack mention him?"

"Nope but Teaspoon said he's a bit bruised and sore but he'll be ok. Go and see her Cody, she'll be glad of the company."

"Possibly" he shrugged and turned back towards the barn. Louise sighed and went inside, she'd hoped that after the rescue the two of them would come to their senses but so far the signs weren't good.

Cody stood up from the breakfast table the next morning "Teaspoon do you mind if I leave the chores until this afternoon? There's something I need to do first."

"No, just make sure you finish them before you go on your run."

"Thanks Teaspoon" Cody grabbed his gun belt and left. The moment he was out of sight Rachel and Teaspoon exchanged knowing glances, Buck caught them but he wasn't so sure that Cody was going where they thought he was.

Cody rode his horse to the Doctor's, it was only a short walk but so long as the others thought he was going to the Cicely's he figured he may as well maintain the deception.

He swung open the door "Morning Doctor. Is he awake?"

The Doctor gave him a smile but Cody knew he was concerned about his patient's safety. "Yes he is but he is still pretty weak".

"It's ok Doc. I'm not going to shoot him, as much as I'd like to! I just want to ask him a few things. Is he up to that?"

"I guess so" the Doctor nodded and Cody began to enter the small room "William...go easy on him he's quite upset about his sister being involved".

"Hmm" grunted Cody.

The room was dark even though the curtains had been pulled back. Teddy's eyes were less swollen than when he had seen him in the cave but his face was a patchwork of blues, purples and blacks with a few cuts that were beginning to heal. Suddenly Cody's mind leapt back to a time a few years ago when Teddy had seemed like the strongest and bravest person in the world. He remembered how he had admired him and longed to be like him. He looked at the figure before him, lying in the bed with a look of fear in his eyes. This was no strong, brave man, this was an insecure and weak person who relied on others for strength and false courage. A man who was either too stupid or selfish to consider consequences. Cody realised that Teddy was afraid of him but he couldn't tell whether it was because he thought Cody would hurt him or whether he realised that Cody knew the truth of his character. Either way Cody knew that it was pointless telling Teddy exactly what he thought of him, Teddy already knew.

"I'm sorry I got Eleanor and everyone involved. I guess I just didn't think about what might happen" Teddy began as though reading Cody's mind.

"Yep" Cody sighed wondering how to approach him now.

"Cody you have to help me get out of here. There are others and they will soon come here if they know I'm here."

"You're not in any condition to go anywhere" stated Cody matter-of-factly.

"I can make it. I know I can. I just need your help" Teddy's eyes begged Cody.

"Damn you Cicelys, it must be a family thing!" Cody shook his head.

"What?" Teddy looked puzzled.

"Your sister has been giving Jack a hard time about staying in bed too".

Teddy managed a smile "Sounds like Ellie! How is she?"

"Better than you!"

Teddy nodded "Thank goodness", he covered his face with his hands "What was I thinking of?"

"I'd sure like to know when you figure that one out!" Cody replied.

"Billy?"

"Yep?"

"If you won't help me leave here then I want you to give me to them when they come. Promise me!" he reached out to grab Billy's arm.

"If they come!" Cody corrected him.

Teddy shook his head "They'll come."

"Believe me Teddy, I seriously considered it a few days back! I can't promise you that though. I won't do it. You are one of my oldest friends, scum or not, besides Ellie would be devastated if anything happened to you. I suspect Jack would be too."

"I don't want to risk their lives in all this"

"What exactly is 'all this' anyway?" asked Cody walking to the window and watching a cart clatter down the street.

Teddy hesitated "I ran into some trouble" he looked away from Cody who had turned around to face him.

Cody raised one eyebrow "You don't say!" he replied sarcastically "What kind of trouble?"

"I don't want you to get involved. You are better off not knowing the details."

"Damit Teddy! They kidnapped your sister, I sat all day in the baking sun watching her, Lou had to ride across the countryside in the middle of the night for help and then again the next day, Buck tracked her in dust, and we all risked our necks getting Ellie to safety and you don't want us involved!" Cody stomped around the room then leaned over him "I'd say we were already involved wouldn't you?"

Teddy's head drooped "I guess" he conceded.

"Well?" Cody pressured him.

He took a deep breath "We hit a bank in Cedar Springs. Things went wrong and I got caught. The Marshal agreed to let me go if I told him where they were planning to hit next."

"So you did?"

"Uh huh, but Gaston figured out what had happened and changed plans and ambushed the Marshal instead. Killed him and two deputies."

Cody nodded "I remember seeing the Wanted Posters. Were those four Teaspoon caught important?"

"Not really, just some new recruits doing the messy work."

"And you figure that Gaston and his men will be out to get you as pay back for telling the Marshal," concluded Cody.

"Partly" admitted Teddy.

"Partly?" Cody asked suspiciously "What's the other part?"

"While they were ambushing the Marshal I went to get my share of the payment from the bank job. I sort of took their part too."

"Merciful God!" swore Cody, then stopped amazed by the way Teaspoon's voice had seemed to come from his mouth. "You sort of took their part? No wonder they're after you!"

"I wanted to buy a house and settle down" Teddy explained with embarrassment.

"So where's the money now? Lou said that you asked Ellie for money."

"I bought a little cottage, never got the chance to live in it though. I heard Gaston was getting near so I left. I figured I'd go back when this is over"

"Where is this cottage?" asked Cody somewhat curious by now.

"Virginia."

"Virginia! Teddy have you stopped to read a paper lately? There's a war coming and Virginia is likely to be in the middle of it!" Cody near exploded.

"At least I won't get bored living there then!" Teddy grinned.

Cody shook his head "At the rate you're going you won't live long enough to get bored anywhere!"

"Who's bored?" Ellie asked entering the room "Hi Billy" she smiled at her old friend then went towards her brother and hugged him.

Teddy groaned a little in pain and hugged her back "My guess is you are since you are down here instead of in bed" he commented.

"Yeah well I can't stay in one place for long, though it looks like you're managing" she replied.

Cody half snorted "Yeah the thought of moving never even seems to cross his mind," he said glancing at Teddy who shot him a warning look to keep his mouth shut. "I'll leave you two to it" he started towards the door then stopped and turned to look back "It's good to see you up and about Eleanor".

"Eleanor?" Teddy pulled a face when Cody was gone "My we are grown up!"

Eleanor flopped on the bed "Mmm" she replied reluctant to tell Teddy about all the things that happened after he left.

"Uh oh, I remember that face. Did you and Billy have a fight?"

"You seem to have recovered quickly" Eleanor stated, regretting that she was so transparent.

"Yes I have. Now tell me everything that happened after I left, especially the bits about Billy."

"We just haven't seen each other for a few years so we are getting to know each other again" she attempted to lie.

"Horse dung! You two were as thick as thieves now you are politely distant and I suspect that only came about in recent days!"

"What do you mean?" Eleanor was tempted to walk out but also was pleased that Teddy was just as she remembered him.

"You two obviously had a major scrap at some point and he only realised how important you were after he nearly lost you and you are feeling indebted to him for saving your neck".

"My neck that you kindly endangered for me!" pointed out Ellie then sighed "Alright we had a ...um..."

"Scrap?" he suggested.

She glared at him "... misunderstanding" she completed.

Teddy nodded thoughtfully "A misunderstanding eh? That means you were the one in the wrong".

"I never said that. Stop trying to read stuff into it!" she replied somewhat flustered.

"Ellie you are about as see-through as a pane of freshly cleaned glass. Just tell me what happened will you!"

"You're impossible!" she complained and relented to tell him the sorry details of it all.

"So now what do you intend to do about it?" he asked when Ellie had finished.

She shrugged "Nothing I guess. At least he is talking to me now".

"Talking? 'How are you Eleanor' is talking?"

Eleanor pulled at a split nail with deep concentration.

"I can't stand this. He addresses you formally like a distant acquaintance and yet rides miles and waits hours to rescue you while you pretend you are happy with the way things are" Teddy argued.

"Perhaps I am" Eleanor was still engrossed in her nail.

"I'm going to talk to him about it next time!"

"No you are not!" Eleanor renewed her focus towards her brother. "This is between us and you have nothing to do with it so leave it alone! Besides I'm handling things just fine by myself" she warned.

Teddy sighed and relaxed against his pillow "Fine". He was in no mood for an argument with her as he was feeling quite drained after his talk with Billy and she now had that fixed jaw look that she got when she was going to be utterly stubborn regardless of whether she was in the right or not. Nope, he decided, the only way he'd win this argument was...actually, he admitted to himself, there was no way humanly possible to win an argument when she got that look!

"Teaspoon!" Cody almost fell from his horse in desperation to tell the Marshal the news.

"What is it?" Teaspoon hurried towards the breathless rider.

"There's a group of men camped about half a days ride from here. I think they might be Gaston's Army" he gasped.

"Why do you think that?" Teaspoon asked.

"Well they weren't regular army but there were too many to be travelers and they're camped miles from the nearest town. Normal folks try to get as close to town as possible when they set camp, I just figure that the only reason they'd be out there is if they don't want to be seen."

"So what makes you think they are Gaston's Army?" Teaspoon wasn't convinced.

"Come on Teaspoon. How many armies are likely to be that close to Rock Creek?"

"Hard to say. There's an awful lot of folks forming armies for all sorts of reasons today."

"Aw Teaspoon. You know they are going to come for Teddy. He's been here a week now so I figure its about time".

Teaspoon sighed "Well, what do you suggest we do?"

Cody was irked by the sense that Teaspoon was humoring him "Might be nice to warn Jack!"

"Cody, a lot of strange things are happening now, what with the states in the mess that they are and all. I don't mean to say you're wrong about this but I don't want people to panic unnecessarily either. If they are half a day away then there is no way to say which direction they are heading in" Teaspoon pointed out logically.

"I know that Teaspoon but if we don't get prepared then people could get killed. Don't you think that a little panic is worth it if it saves lives?" reasoned Cody.

Teaspoon sighed and wondered what happened over the last year to make his boys so wise all of a sudden. It seemed as though everyday one of them was questioning him and putting forward sensible arguments against his. He looked at his most recent example and nodded "Do you want to tell Jack?" he asked.

"Not really" Cody admitted.

Teaspoon laughed to himself, well, Cody wasn't all grown up yet, at least not when young ladies were involved.

"Is he sure?" asked Jack.

"Nope but the way I see it...er...as Cody said...there's not a lot of sense in waiting to find out. If he's wrong about it being Gaston then it won't matter much but if he's right then we're going to wish we'd done something when we had the chance." explained Teaspoon.

"How far are they?" Jack and Teaspoon turned towards the door that Teddy had just entered.

"About half a day, maybe less by now" Teaspoon informed Teddy.

Teddy nodded and leaned against the door frame.

"That should give us enough time to get you all out of Rock Creek. I have a friend that lives a few hours East of here. You'll be safe there".

"Thanks Teaspoon, that would be great" Jack smiled in relief at his friend. "Go tell Ellie and get some things packed for yourself too" he directed at Teddy.

"I'm not going" Teddy stated bluntly.

"Don't be a fool, of course you are. If you stay here they'll kill you!" Jack stared at his son.

"This is my mess and the only way I can finish this is if they get what they want. Don't you see that if they don't find me here they will just keep on looking until they do. You and Ellie will never be safe until they find me" he explained.

"There is another way" Ellie spoke softly as she appeared behind her brother. All eyes fell on her "We could all fight them and if we beat them then there will be no-one left to hunt Teddy".

Silence filled the room momentarily "No!" broke in Teddy "I won't let you".

"I don't care whether you let me or not Edward Cicely. I am not leaving here without you. I thought I had lost you once and I'll be damned if I am going to risk losing you again. I only have one brother and he means the world to me and nobody is going to take that away from me without a fight!" She spoke calmly but her insides were anything but calm, she looked directly at her father unsure of how he would react.

Jack looked at his daughter and realised for the first time how grown up she had become, she was almost the same age her mother had been when they married. Then towards his son who had caused so much pain and heartache for those around him. His son who had never faced consequences or thought of how his actions would affect others during his life, was now offering to pay the ultimate price for his actions in order to protect his family. Yes, Teddy was finally showing signs of growing up too, he even had bought a house to start afresh in, Jack reasoned with himself that his son deserved the chance to start over. Besides, he didn't like his chances of changing either of his children's minds.

"We're staying Teaspoon, but I appreciate your offer" he finally said.

Ellie beamed at her Father while Teddy remained expressionless realizing that arguing would be futile.

Teaspoon was not completely surprised by the happenings, in the past few weeks he had gained a pretty clear insight into the strength of the bond within this family. "Well" he said "won't you at least accept the help of my boys to even the odds?"

"I think we can manage to accept that one as a family" Jack smiled as Ellie nodded.

The afternoon was a blur of activity. The Cicelys' house was fortified as well as possible, animals were moved as far from the house st cloud could be seen clearly from the upstairs window. Teaspoon estimated that they still had about 20 minutes before Gaston and his thugs arrived, that was about enough time to go over the plan, simple as it was - aim well and keep your head down! He allocated windows to everyone, Noah and Buck were downstairs guarding the entry on either side but, all going well, no-one was going to get close enough to the doors to cause much problem for those two. The rest were positioned upstairs.

Teddy insisted on having a window at the front of the house so Teaspoon placed him by the window in Ellie's bedroom, next to the door that lead to the balcony. Like Cody, Teddy's weapon of choice was a rifle, so was Ellie's but she settled for the colt that she was given.

The riders drew closer, Ellie stood up to count them but was firmly told by about six people to get back to her window on the side of the house and get down.

Cody's rifle cracked bringing down a rider in the distance but it served as the signal to Gaston's Army to reply and they opened fire with consecutive bangs, none getting near enough to the house to cause concern. Gaston was explaining that he was ready for a fight and demonstrating the strength of his fire power by sheer numbers of guns. He had no way of knowing that he was approaching a house filled with experienced gun-fighters.

The army let off another barrage, this time close enough to split some wood on the house and shatter a shingle above. The occupants of the house each took aim and emptied their weapons among the oncoming band, some hitting their mark while others missed. The army sheered off to the right to regroup and plan their next onslaught, those inside the house used the chance to reload and assess the situation so far.

"Everyone alright?" asked Teaspoon. Various voices answered yes around the house. "Buck, Noah, how 'bout you"

"We're fine Teaspoon, but there's a bit of a chink in your dining table Jack" Noah replied.

Jack laughed "That's no problem boys, you can fix it tomorrow".

"They're on their way back" Jimmy alerted everyone "Looks like they're going to sweep from right to left".

"Probably going to pass from both front and back of the house" suggested Kid.

"You could be right" Teaspoon agreed "Get ready folks, here we go again"

A cry of pain came from downstairs "What happened?" yelled Teaspoon over the blasts.

"I'm alright Teaspoon, just got my leg but its only a nick" Buck explained.

"Do you want someone else down there with you?" Teaspoon asked.

"No, we're alright".

Kid was right, they had passed on either side. Ellie fired furiously from the left side of the house at the backs of the passing riders as they headed out towards the left in preparation of a left to right sweep this time. She watched in shock as one of her bullets found its mark and sent the rider plummeting to the ground with a shriek. She froze for a moment realizing that she had just shot a person then recalled that the person had been here to try and shoot her brother and with the realization, she took aim once again.

In the short silence that followed, she helped her father bandage his shoulder while watching Kid fussing over Lou's position which he felt was too dangerous. Ellie smiled when she realised that Kid was going to lose this battle, Lou wasn't budging.

Too quickly the pounding of guns and horse hooves were back. A piece of wood nearby shattered. This time the riders swerved out in front of the house as though ready for an ambush. The guns rang out as the remaining riders drew closer to the front door.

"Everyone on this side" ordered Teaspoon.

Ellie shoved two more bullets into her gun to fill the empty chambers and raced over to the gap near Teddy behind the balcony door. She readied her gun to take aim.

Cody glanced over at her and an image flashed through his mind causing the color to drain from his face. Within a second he was flying across the room and pushing her away from the door with such force that she blacked out when her head hit the floor. At the same instant a crack sounded as a bullet flew through wood.

With Ellie safe, Cody turned to see what he already knew he would find, a bullet hole at Ellie's chest height when kneeling, in the door leading out to the balcony. He buried his face in her hair and wept in relief and fear of what had almost happened. The dream, that cursed dream, had saved her life. It was exactly the same although Cody hadn't recognized the door until he saw Ellie behind it and this time he'd known what was coming next and had been able to save her. It was then he realised that she wasn't moving, he rolled her over and looked at her still body lying there with eyes closed.

"NO!" he screamed in a panic and tried to shake her but Jack released his hands from her.

"William! She's alright, she's just knocked out from the fall" he comforted the distraught figure "Look, she's still breathing".

Cody watched her chest rise and fall with the regularity of slumber, mesmerized by it until a loud cheer snapped him back to reality. Confused he looked at Jimmy then Teaspoon then slowly stood to look out the window in time to see three lone figures riding into the almost-set sun. He scanned the surrounding ground, the number of bodies confirmed the meaning of it all. It was over.

Cody looked at Teddy who had his head in his hands, then at Jack who was trying to bring Ellie around. He waited long enough to see her open her eyes groggily then went outside. He needed fresh air, he needed to stretch his legs, he needed to be alone, but most of all, he needed to figure out what to do next.

To be continued...Chapter 9:The Conclusion

Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author

The Way Station
Campfire Tales

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