At least he had bested Kid in this round for Lou's love. Trouble was he didn't know how many more rounds it was going to take before a winner was decided. Knowing that Kid had an advantage over him where Lou was concerned, only made Jimmy more determined to come out the victor in the game they were playing. He knew that he had his work cut out for him, but he was certain that he could live up to the challenge. He wasn't about to give up the fight for Lou, until he knew for certain that he would lose. He had to make sure that that never happened.
After he had cleaned himself up, Jimmy had walked to Teaspoon's office. Even though he had known that Teaspoon wasn't going to be pleased with him over his recent altercation with Kid, he also knew that he didn't want to be at the waystation when Kid woke up. If there was one thing he knew about the Kid, he was very determined. There was no way that he wanted to tussle with Kid again today. It had taken all the fight out of him, just to be able to knock Kid out long enough to get away.
As he had figured, the moment he walked into Teaspoon's office, Teaspoon was on his feet. The older man came around the corner of his desk and stopped a few inches from Jimmy. " I thought Rachel made it clear to you boys that she didn't want anymore fighting going on between you and the Kid over Lou?" he said, his voice deep with barely controlled anger.
"She did. Rachel shouldn't have made us make a promise she knew we couldn't keep." Jimmy responded, sarcastically.
Teaspoon's eyes studied Jimmy's face carefully. He knew that Jimmy was right. He had known that there was no way that Kid or Jimmy weren't going to be able to live up to the promise they had made for Rachel's sake. He had also made a promise to Lou, even if it was only in his heart. He was determined to see to it that Jimmy and Kid didn't do anything else to make Lou upset.
"Jimmy the next time you decide to let Kid goad you into an argument or vice versa, I hope you consider your options carefully." Teaspoon said.
"What options?" Jimmy asked, not liking how Teaspoon had empathized the words 'consider' and 'options'. He had a feeling that he wasn't going to like what Teaspoon told him next.
"The option of how much you enjoy being a Pony Express rider and living in Rock Creek." Teaspoon told him.
Anger boiled up inside of Jimmy. "Are you saying that if I get in another fight with Kid, you're going to fire me? Is that what you are telling me Teaspoon?" he demanded angrily.
"Hold on now, Jimmy. I ain't trying to rile you up. I'm just stating the facts. I am tired of the two of you fighting. I am tired of you boys making Lou miserable and of making everyone at the station feel uncomfortable. I'm not just talking about you Jimmy. I'll be telling Kid the same thing. Since you showed up first, I told you first, okay." Teaspoon told him, laying a hand on his shoulder.
Jimmy nodded, letting the anger drain out of him. "Just so's I know that you ain't taking sides against me." He said sheepishly.
"Do you think that I'd be fool enough to cross 'Wild Bill' Hickok? I don't think I have ever heard of anyone crossing old 'Wild Bill' and live to tell about it, except maybe Rachel." Teaspoon said, with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Let's go eat. I don't want Rachel mad at me for being late to the table."
"I ain't ever going to live that one down am I?" Jimmy muttered as he followed Teaspoon out of the office and down the street in the direction of the bunkhouse.
"Nope."
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