Buck stayed on the road, not wanting to chance the open prairie at night. He needed to put some miles behind him, before the others realized he was gone, before he had a chance to change his mind.

But for some reason Buck wasn’t surprised to see a lone rider sitting his horse in the middle of the road about two miles out of town. Buck pulled his horse up short and slowly moved closer to the man he thought of as a father.

"How’d you figure it out?"

"Rachel found your note when she was changing the sheets. But I knew you’d try and leave," Teaspoon rubbed his eyes, clearly unhappy about what he might have to do. "I can’t let you go Buck."

"Teaspoon, you can’t stop me either. I have to go. Red Bear needs me. The Kiowa need me."

"I knew you’d say that too." Teaspoon suddenly swung out, catching Buck just right, knocking the boy out of his saddle. Teaspoon dismounted and checked him. Out cold. He carefully picked Buck up and put him over the back of his saddle, then mounted himself and led the boy’s horse off.

~*~*~

Buck awoke sometime later. Even though it was dark he could tell by the smells and the heat where he was. Teaspoon’s sweat lodge. The older man had used the one back at the Sweetwater station whenever he needed to think or when he had a problem with one of the riders. They had all been there at one point in time or another. When they had moved to Rock Creek, Buck had helped the man build a new one.

He heard the door-covering move and looked up. Teaspoon was entering, several heated rocks cradled in the blade of a shovel. He deposited them into the central pit, and lit a small lantern nearby before settling down and looking at the young man across from him. Buck was sitting up carefully, hampered by the fact that his hands were tied in front of him.

"This necessary?" he asked the older man.

"Probably." Teaspoon replied as he poured a ladle-full of water onto the rocks. Steam rose up and began to fill the lodge.

"Did you have to hit me so hard?"

"Needed to make sure I stopped you."

"Why?"

"I made someone a promise."

"Who?"

"Red Bear."

"Red Bear? What kind of promise would you have made to my brother?" Buck was barely holding in his anger at having been detained. This little bit of news only confused him more than he already was.

"I promised your brother that I would keep you here. No matter what. And you know I don’t like to go back on my promises."

"Why would he ask you to do that? I don’t understand!" Teaspoon could tell the young man was getting agitated. "Why doesn’t he want me to come back?"

"Calm down son. I’ll try and explain it. Just you calm down." He poured another ladle of water over the rocks and settled back. It was going to be a long night.

~*~*~

They talked for hours. Teaspoon kept the wick trimmed low on the lantern, but he wanted to see as well as hear if what he said to the young Kiowa was sinking in. He saw the confusion and hurt, as well as the anger as his words settled in. But mostly he saw pain and sorrow as the boy tried to deal with the fact that his brother did not want him with him, even if it was to save his life.

As the sun was rising, Teaspoon finally untied the boy, and the two emerged from the lodge, totally exhausted. He watched Buck as he carefully rose to his feet and stood for a moment watching the sun as it began to peek over the horizon. The two had sat in silence for the better part of an hour before emerging.

Teaspoon was surprised to see Buck suddenly start running as fast as he could. But his injury and a long night with no sleep had taken it’s toll and he hadn’t gone far before he stumbled and fell to his knees. Teaspoon moved up behind him, listening as the young man cried out, releasing all the pain and agony bottled up in him since Ike’s death, maybe even longer. Finally Teaspoon moved around in front of him, gathering the boy into his arms, where he cried until he had no tears left to cry.

~*~*~

The two slowly rode back to the station together, Buck looking a little like he would fall from the saddle at any moment. They were both tired and emotionally drained. As they entered the edge of town, Buck pulled his horse up.

"How do I explain the note? They’re not gonna understand." He said as he watched the town that was beginning to awaken.

"They never saw the note. Rachel stayed up too. As soon as you left, she went and took the note off the table. All we need to do is explain why you were out all night. I reckon that you just couldn’t sleep, what with all the sleep you’ve been getting lately and decided to take a ride."

Buck nodded and the two rode on. Rachel met them outside the barn. Buck dismounted and Rachel gathered him into an embrace.

"I sent the others on some errands. Why don’t you wash up? I saved you some bacon and I’ll fry up a couple of eggs. Then you need to get some rest. They’ll all be gone most of the morning so you should be able to get a few hours anyway." Buck nodded and started to walk away, stopping after only a few steps. He turned back and looked at his two friends. His family.

"Thank you." He said quietly, then headed off to clean up.

Rachel waited until he had walked away.

"Is he gonna be okay?"

"I don’t know Rachel. I certainly hope so. I certainly hope so."

To be continued...