Almost Too Late

To make matters worse, he was riding a strange horse. Katie, his usual mount, had gone lame suddenly and Kid was giving her a rest. So he was riding Lollipop, a brown stallion that was a little hard to handle, especially when you were tired. But nothing mattered to him at that moment except getting the mail through, following the unspoken rule: Mail first; horse second; self last.

So intent on his riding was Kid, that he did not notice that he was being trailed. A band of outlaws had robbed a bank in Fairfield, and saw him there. Thinking that he had witnessed the robbery, they decided to chase him and kill him. They found it hard to catch up with Kid, as he was riding at breakneck speed, but Winston, who was riding in front, caught sight of Kid's brown stallion racing along the trail about fifteen miles east of Rock Creek.

Nelson was the outlaw's best marksman. At twenty-five he was already a hardened criminal and easily recognisable with his head of red hair. He drew his rifle from his saddle and took as careful an aim as he could; racing along at the same speed Kid was going so as to keep him in sight. Green eyes narrowed as Nelson pulled the trigger to fire at The Kid.

About thirty yards ahead, Lollipop shied as the shot rang out. Almost simultaneously Kid was knocked to the ground as Lollipop stumbled and fell. Another shot rang out, and this time Kid was hit in the side as he was moving towards some cover to fight from. Nelson dismounted from his gelding to move closer, ready to finish The Kid off.

Meanwhile in the nearby woods, Lou McCloud was taking a quiet ride on Lightning. She, like The Kid, was a rider for the Pony Express, but because she was a girl, she remained undercover, dressed as a boy, keeping her hair cut short so that she resembled a boy. The only people who knew the truth were those that lived and worked at the Rock Creek home station. Lou herself thought that about half the female population of the town of Rock Creek knew that she was a girl, but nobody reported it to Russell, Majors and Waddell. She often took rides in the woods to clear her head and to get away from the town. That afternoon, she was taking such a ride when she heard the shots.

Lou peered through the trees. From her vantage point she saw about five men about twenty yards away, all firing at somebody or something to her right. Drawing her gun, she looked in that direction. What she saw made her heart stop. About ten yards away from her was Kid, struggling to sit up, a blood stain spreading on the front of his blue shirt. He was drawing his gun to fire at the outlaws when Nelson fired again, this time hitting him on the left shoulder.

"Kid!" Lou yelled. The outlaws, hearing her voice, turned and began firing at her. Lou cocked her gun and fired in their general direction six times until her gun barrel was empty. A lucky shot got one of the outlaws in the heart and another hit Winston in the leg. When she stopped firing, Lou flung herself from her horse and ran to Kid. As another bullet came dangerously close to Kid's ear, Lou knew that she had to get him to cover. With two bullet wounds, Kid just did not have the strength to move. Placing her hands under Kid's armpits, carefully so as not to hurt him too much, Lou dragged him behind a fallen log. Then, sitting down, she reloaded her revolver.

"What happened?" she asked him as she turned to fire at Nelson and the remaining outlaws.

"I don't know," Kid said weakly, almost inaudibly compared to the sound of the gunfire. "One minute I was just ridin' along, the next I was gettin' shot at."

Lou temporarily ignored the surrounding gunfire as she took a good look at Kid. Then, knowing that she had to tend to him, she swiftly unbuttoned his shirt and carefully took it off. Ripping the shirt in pieces, she used the unstained bits to make a temporary bandage around the worst wound, the one in the side. Using what was left of the shirt (which was not much) she covered the shoulder wound somewhat. Her hands were now sticky with Kid's blood, so she ineffectually wiped them on her shirt.

Looking over the log, Lou took careful aim and fired, killing another outlaw, which left only Nelson and another outlaw standing and Winston, who could still shoot. "I'll be back in a minute," Lou whispered to Kid, and slipped into the surrounding forest.

Lou snuck through the trees to come up behind the outlaws. Unfortunately the other outlaw, Barclay, had the same idea. They met halfway. Both guns were drawn. There was a long pause as neither was willing to fire first, then Barclay raised his arm to shoot. Lou dived head first in the dirt, so that the bullet missed her, then fired a direct shot into Barclay's heart, killing him instantly. She then proceeded through the forest to Nelson and Winston.

Nelson and Winston heard the gunshot and figured that Barclay had killed whomever was firing at them, which, in their minds, left just The Kid, who was too wounded to offer any resistance. So they concentrated on him and relaxed their guard a bit, not dreaming that Lou was coming through the forest for them.

Lou had just come up behind the outlaws when Winston turned and saw her. He figured correctly that because Lou was not Barclay, she was with The Kid; so he went for his gun. Lou saw this and killed him.

Nelson turned at the sound of the gunshot and was about to shoot Lou when she raised her revolver to aim it at his heart.

"Freeze," she commanded. "Drop your gun."

Nelson debated for a minute whether or not to obey, when he noticed that she was a girl. He could not be sure what gave her away; at first glance she appeared to be a teenage boy. But the more he thought about it, everything about her seemed to demonstrate that she was female, her stance, the way she carried herself, even her figure.

So he folded his arms and said with a smirk: "You ain't gonna shoot me. A woman like you ain't got it in you."

For a moment Lou wavered, shocked that he was able to tell the truth about her. Then, anger took over and she cocked the revolver. "You want to stake your life on that?" Lou raised her eyebrows and waited, her outward calm belying the anger within her as she faced the man who had shot Kid.

Nelson seriously considered lunging forward and making a grab for her gun, but the look in her hazel eyes halted him. He could see the passion and anger in them, and could tell that she was deadly serious. So he complied, throwing his gun into the trees. They heard it land several feet away.

With her gun still aimed at Nelson, Lou backed to his gelding and one-handedly searched through the saddle bag and pulled out a piece of rope about three-and-a-half feet long. "Move!" Lou stepped forward and jabbed her gun in his chest. She pushed him ahead of her and they went back to The Kid. One look at Kid told her that he was still bleeding badly, and she needed something to stop it. But they had no bandages, so Lou turned to Nelson and demanded that he take his shirt off.

"What?" Nelson asked incredulously.

"Just do it."

Nelson complied, taking off his jacket and slowly unbuttoning his shirt, wondering if she would take it off for him if he refused. But she just stood there, impatiently, until he finally removed the shirt and threw it at her. After he put his jacket back on. she tied Nelson's hands and feet together, making sure that he could not get away.

Lou went to tend to The Kid but he shook his head as much as his strength would allow. "The mail," he said weakly.

For a moment Lou was taken aback, but she realised that he was just complying to that unspoken rule they live by: Mail first; horse second; self last. Lou knew that Kid wanted her to take the mail and ride on to Rock Creek, and by rights she knew that she was expected to do so. But she could not just ride off and leave Kid badly wounded, no matter what code she lived by. Her feelings for The Kid ran deeper than loyalty to her job. After a moments thought, she knew what she would do.

Lollipop lay only a few feet away, Lou went over to him and removed the mail from the saddle. Then, looking closely at the stallion, she realised that she could not remove the bullet; it was embedded too deep in his chest. Knowing that Lollipop was suffering and she could not do anything about it, Lou reloaded her revolver and shot him, putting him out of his misery.

Taking the mail, she went to her mare and flung the mochilla over her saddle. "Ride home, Lightnin'," she whispered into the mare's ear. "Ride home to Rock Creek." After getting her jacket from the back of the horse, she slapped the mare's hind quarters and urged her on her way.

Lou turned to The Kid and realised that she did not have much time left. Kid was losing blood fast, and twilight was setting in. She picked up Nelson's shirt, and proceeded to rip it into long strips. "Let's get you tended to and then we'll go home." After removing the blood soaked pieces of cloth, Lou proceeded to extract the bullets from his shoulder and side. She then used the strips of Nelson's shirt as bandages, to cover the wounds.

"What are you gonna do with me?" Nelson asked sullenly.

"Take you back to Rock Creek as soon as we're finished." Lou wiped her bloody hands on her shirt again.

"How's he gonna make it?" Nelson jerked his head toward Kid. "I don't s'pose you'd leave him behind."

Lou looked up from tying the final piece of cloth. "We'll ride of course," she said, jerking her head towards the outlaws' horses grazing thirty yards away.

Not if I can help it, Nelson thought. He desperately wished he knew what to do. On one hand, he thought, I could drive the horses away, leavin' us to walk the fifteen-odd miles to Rock Creek. She'd have to help him, which might give me the opportunity to slip away. If I managed to disappear, she'd soon tire of looking for me and go back to him; giving me the chance to go look for my horse and go.

On the other hand, if we rode the horses, I just might be able to ride away before she can shoot me. Weighing these options carefully, Nelson decided to drive the horses away, believing that the odds of him escaping were greater. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and let out a blood curdling cry, frightening the horses and thus making gallop away.

Lou looked at Nelson reproachfully. He smirked back at her, satisfied that he had managed to foil at least part of her plan. Lou opened her mouth to say something, but she decided that it was not worth it and instead turned back to Kid.

"Think you can walk?" she asked him softly.

"I'll try," Kid said bravely. However when he tried to stand up with Lou's help, he found that he could not even manage a few steps on his own; and he refused to let Lou support him the whole way. She had to keep her eye on Nelson, and besides, she was not strong enough to bear his weight for such a distance. So it was decided that they stay and wait for help.

"How can you be so sure that help will come," asked Nelson derisively.

"When he doesn't turn up at the station and my horse does, they'll know somethin's wrong." Lou explained.

However, fifteen minutes later, Lou wondered if waiting was the right decision. She had been burying the dead outlaws, and the coming darkness bothered her. She knew that even if the other riders at the station knew that something was wrong, they would wait until morning to send help as you could not track at night. One glance at Kid told her that he might not last until morning. She had an agonising decision to make, whether to stay and wait or go for help. If she left to get help, chances are that they will be back before morning. The problem was, Kid may die before then anyway.

The decision to go for help was hardest decision of Lou's life; and by nightfall she had come to that decision. She took her jacket off and covered Kid with it. "I'm goin' for help," she whispered in his ear.

Kid nodded weakly. He knew the score as well as she did, that he might not live until morning. "Be careful," he whispered back before passing out and falling forward into her arms.

Lou gently lay Kid on the ground, wondering again if she made the right decision. "I love you," she said softly after checking to see if he were still alive. She placed her jacket over Kid, then got up and briskly untied Nelson's feet. "Come on."

Nelson stood up and stumbled as Lou roughly shoved him in front of her. "Watch it!" Lou indicated with her gun that she wanted him to walk down the trail. "You ain't thinkin' of tryin' to get to Rock Creek in the dark? You're crazy!" he added when she just stood there with a determined look on her face.

"I know my way home," she said simply. "Move!" Lou jabbed Nelson with her gun and they headed off in the direction of Rock Creek. Lou took one last look back at Kid. Please be all right, she prayed.

Two-and-a-half hours later, Lou was beginning to doubt whether they would make it. She seemed to be getting tireder every minute, and she found it hard to keep her attention on what she had to do. Nelson figured that her guard was beginning to wane, somewhat, and he decided to make his move. Nelson suddenly darted into the nearby bushes and crouched down, out of sight.

Damn, Lou thought, cocking her gun. I'm in no mood for games. It was nearly ten o'clock, yet she felt like it was much later than that She briefly considered leaving Nelson there and going on to Rock Creek by herself. But if Kid died, Nelson would have to stand trial for murder; Lou was not going to let him get away with it. She started to look through the bushes opposite to where Nelson was hiding. Unfortunately, the moon was not out that night and she could not see anything clearly; in fact she could hardly see her hand in front of her face.

Nelson heard the bushes opposite him rustle. Knowing that Lou was looking in the wrong place made him relax a little. He relaxed too soon. Lou heard Nelson sigh and instinctively turned and parted the bushes above his head.

"Get up," she said roughly.

Nelson remained where he was. "You gonna make me?" he asked belligerently.

Lou just fired a carefully aimed shot, the bullet flying past Nelson's left ear. A lucky shot as she could not see him clearly. I ain't foolin' around," she said, cocking her gun again. "You try another stunt like that again, I'll kill you."

Nelson stood up as if he was going to obey, but as he straightened, he suddenly head-butted Lou, making her stumble backwards, momentarily stunned. He took this opportunity to escape.

Lou shook her head to clear it. Vaguely she heard somebody thrashing through the bushes in the distance. When she realised that it was Nelson escaping, she fired her gun four times in the direction she thought he was going. There was a thud as if somebody had fallen down, and she presumed that she had killed him. Lou thought about checking to make sure, but decided against it. It's too dark to chase him now. I need to get to Rock Creek. She continued on her way, hoping against hope that The Kid would be all right.

Around two-thirty the next morning, Lou stumbled into Rock Creek and onto the bunkhouse veranda. She was dead tired and looked as if she were about to drop in her tracks. Her fatigue was the furthest thing from her mind at that moment; however, her most pressing concern was Kid.

The noise she made tripping up the steps and opening the door woke Buck Cross, one of the lightest sleepers. He reached for his gun, which was hanging in its holster above his head. "Who is it?" he called out sharply, waking some of the riders.

"Buck," Lou said, moving to the table to light the oil lamp. "It's me." Buck relaxed as the oil lamp brightened to give off a warm dim light, illuminating the interior of the bunkhouse. Looking around, Lou noticed that Buck was not the only rider who was awake; Cody and Noah were also rubbing sleep out of their eyes and yawning, confused at being woken up at that early hour. "Where's Jimmy?"

"Er... he's on a run. Lou what happened?" Buck was concerned; not only about the fact that Kid was long overdue and Lou's horse turned up with the mail several hours before, but about Lou herself. Her dishevelled appearance worried him: fatigue was evident upon her face, her eyes were shadowed, she was shivering from cold, and her shirt was stained with dirt and blood. Her agitated manner did nothing to calm him.

"Kid was shot... he's badly hurt... I had to leave him... we have to go back... we have to help him!" She spoke in broken sentences, almost in tears, fidgeting, hopping from foot to foot, anxious to get moving. She was so anxious, in fact, that she did not notice Cody jumping down from his bunk, nor did she hear him say that he was going to hitch the wagon, before he left the room.

"Lou, calm down," Buck said gently, getting up and placing his hands on her shoulders. "Cody'll hitch the wagon, and me and Noah will get Teaspoon and Rachel. You just stay here and try to relax." Buck and Noah left, Buck going across to Rachel's house, and Noah heading down the street to the Marshal's office where Teaspoon, the station master and town Marshal, slept.

Lou, however, could not, and did not relax. Instead she changed her shirt, as the one she had been wearing was stiff with blood, and paced back and forth until Noah came back with Teaspoon.

"What's this about Kid gettin' shot?" Briefly Lou reiterated what she knew; that a band of outlaws were shooting at Kid when she got there, he was already wounded, all the outlaws were dead, (to the best of her knowledge they were—Lou had no reason to suspect that Nelson was otherwise), and that she had walk the fifteen-odd miles into Rock Creek. Rachel and Buck came in at that point, with bandages and things they would need to tend to Kid—if he was still alive.

"Where'd you say Kid was?" Buck asked as Lou paused for breath.

"About fifteen-odd miles east of here."

"And you walked all that way?" Rachel was astonished that Lou was even standing. "You must be exhausted." She went to the jug of water on the table and poured a glass for Lou, handing it to her. Lou waved it away, but Rachel insisted. Finally Lou relented and took a long drink, suddenly realising how thirsty she was.

Cody appeared in the doorway. "We'd best be movin'," he said. Teaspoon and Rachel led Lou out of the bunkhouse so the boys could get dressed. Outside, Teaspoon suggested that Lou get some sleep while the riders brought Kid back.

"I can't, Teaspoon," Lou protested.

"Lou, you won't do Kid any good if you wear yourself out," Rachel pointed out.

Lou sighed. "I know, but I won't get no rest until I know for sure if he's okay."

"Lou, you'll make yourself sick."

"I don't care about that!"

"Kid might."

Lou paused when Rachel said that and seemed to consider it, but her mind was not changed. "Teaspoon," she implored, "I need to know."

Finally, against his better judgement, Teaspoon relented. "All right, but you know that Kid might not make it,"

"I know," Lou said softly, "but I have to be sure. You understand that, don't you?"

Teaspoon nodded as the boys came out to load the wagon. They were surprised to see Lou come over to them to help.

"Lou, I don't think you should..." Noah started.

"I'm not stayin' here," Lou said firmly, ignoring their protests. "Look, we're wastin' time arguin'. Let's get goin' okay?" The boys agreed.

Buck climbed up on the wagon and waited for Lou to join him, but she hesitated. "I should be leadin'," she said, heading for the stables to saddle a horse, but Cody placed his hand on her arm, stopping her.

"Lou, you're exhausted, better ride with Buck." He was resolute about that, and one look at the others told her not to argue. She was too tired to anyway. Lou climbed up beside Buck, and Cody and Noah mounted their horses.

Teaspoon handed Buck the reins for the wagon. "Be careful, all right?" Buck nodded and they set off into the dark night, around quarter-to-three in the morning.

A little over an hour later Cody, who was leading them, called back that he found Kid. Lou leapt from the wagon almost before it had stopped and rushed to his side. From the lantern that hung from the wagon, she could see that he had not moved since she left him almost eight hours before. Buck and Cody also crouched beside Kid, to check if he was still alive.

Buck swore softly when he saw Kid's wounds. "It's a wonder he's still alive," he murmured.

Lou looked at him, hope in her eyes. "Then he is still...?" she could not finish the question.

"Yes, he's alive... just barely though. We need to get him to a doctor quick." Buck and Cody worked quickly, removing Lou's blood-soaked make-shift bandages and replacing them with real ones that Rachel had supplied. When that was done, Buck Cody, and Noah lifted Kid up and placed him on the back of the wagon. Lou climbed up next to Kid, and soaked a cloth with water from a canteen, using the cloth to wipe Kid's feverish brow.

In later years Lou could not remember a more harrowing night than that one. Every jolt on that bumpy road scared her; she feared that they were killing Kid. Her eyes were almost closing as she methodically wiped Kid's brow; her mind kept returning to a time a few weeks before when a friend of theirs, Ike, died from a fatal bullet wound in the chest. Ike had only lived a short while after he was shot two, three hours at the most; and he was not driven over a bumpy road in the meantime. Kid had been shot twice over eight hours before, and this drive was not helping him. Buck was right; it was a wonder that he was still alive.

It was five o'clock in the morning before they made it back to Rock Creek. Noah went straight to the doctor's house to wake him up while Cody, Buck and Lou carried Kid into Rachel's house and set him down on a bed. When the doctor came he shooed them out while he tended to Kid. Half-an-hour later the doctor came back out, with a grim look on his face.

"Well?" Teaspoon asked.

The doctor shook his head. "I don't think he'll make it," he said regretfully. "Call me if anything changes." He left, leaving Rachel, Teaspoon, and the riders looking at each other, shocked.

"Lou..." Rachel turned to say something comforting to her, but noticed that she had fallen asleep on the couch. Noah picked her up and carried her into the bunkhouse and lay her on the bed, pulling a blanket up over her, leaving her shoes on.

Lou woke ten hours later to the afternoon sun shining on her face through the window. For a moment she was disoriented, the last thing she remembered was waiting for the doctor to tell them about Kid. She had no recollection of going to bed and she wondered why she did so fully clothed, shoes and all. She sat up and stretched.

"Good afternoon," said an annoyingly cheerful voice.

Lou turned to see Cody lying on his bunk, reading a dime novel. "What time is it?"

Cody shrugged. "Oh... around three-thirty."

"And you let me sleep that long! What 'bout my chores?"

"You needed to sleep. You were up all night, remember?"

Lou flinched, remembering what had happened the night before. "How's Kid?"

Cody shook his head. "No change."

Lou got up and went to the wash basin to splash her face with cold water before going across to the house to check on Kid. She found Rachel sitting by him, wiping sweat from his brow. It was a shock to Lou to see him like this. Kid was restless, tossing his head from side to side, muttering unintelligible, incoherent things in his delirium. Lou looked at Rachel, shock and worry reflected in her eyes.

"He will be all right, won't he?" Lou asked, suddenly fearing the worst.

"Oh, Lou," Rachel wanted so much to spare Lou this pain; she had been through so much in her life. But Lou always refused to hide away from pain; and she cared so much for The Kid. "The doctor doesn't think he'll make it," Rachel said gently.

Lou's hazel eyes filled with tears, and she suddenly thought of Ike again. "First Ike, now Kid," she whispered.

"Lou, you don't know that Kid's gonna die," Rachel chided gently, but she knew as well as Lou did, that Kid was more then likely going to die.

"Can I sit with him for a while?" Lou asked.

"Of course you can." Rachel left the room as Lou sat by Kid and stroked his head. His brow was getting sweaty again, so she picked up the cloth that Rachel had put down and wiped his brow. Then she held one of Kid's hands, gently squeezing it occasionally, something which Kid seemed to find soothing.

Please God, Lou prayed silently, Please let Kid live. Let him be all right.

Meanwhile, fifteen miles east of Rock Creek, Nelson came to. His brain was a bit fuzzy about being unconscious for over twelve hours. The last thing he could remember was being shot at. As his brain cleared he remembered everything that had happened: robbing the bank in Fairfield, chasing Kid because they thought he saw the robbery, the gunfight which killed his friends, being captured by a girl (this was the crowning indignation), and trying to escape on the way back to Rock Creek only to be shot at again. He wondered briefly if Lou had managed to hit him, but he did not seem to be wounded and he concluded that he was just knocked out.

I'll get that bitch yet, he vowed to himself, getting up and brushing himself off. I'll get her and her boyfriend too. For he still had to get Kid so he could not tell about the robbery—if he was not already dead. Nelson looked around him to get his bearings, and found the tracks he made the night before when he was running from Lou. He followed them back to the trail and set off to Rock Creek.

However, when he got to Rock Creek, he heard the news about Kid, that he was not expected to make it; so Nelson decided to wait a few days to see if he dies.

Kid's condition did not change over the next couple of days and people marvelled that he had managed to hang on. Lou spent every spare moment she had by his bedside, moving only to eat, sleep, and work. Not that she slept much, she was a fitful sleeper at the best of times, and her worrying about Kid continued in her sleep, plaguing what sleep she got with nightmares.

She had just such a nightmare three nights after the accident. The dream started off very pleasantly. Lou was in a meadow having a picnic with The Kid. They were laughing and having a good time. Suddenly, Kid got serious. He leaned forward and gently brushed some of Lou's hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry Lou," Rachel says, "but Kid has just died..." The words seem to echo in Lou's ears.

"No!" Lou screams as she sits up in bed.

"What's the matter, Lou?" Her scream woke the other riders up.

"Nothing. I'm sorry guys; I just had a bad dream." Lou got up, put her jacket on and went outside to think. This recurring dream was very disturbing to her, as Kid died each time; and Lou hoped that the dream was not a presentiment of what was to come. She shivered in the cold early morning air, the memory of the dream still vivid.

Lou was standing by the corral when somebody came up behind her and suddenly clamped his hand over her mouth. She heard a gun being cocked near her ear.

"If you scream you're dead," Nelson said precisely.

For a moment, Lou was stunned into submission; but when that moment passed she took action by stepping backwards to tread on his foot, hard, and then she elbowed him in the stomach. Startled Nelson let go of her. As soon as she was free Lou whirled around, kicked Nelson in the groin and grabbed the gun which he had somehow acquired when he doubled over, groaning. She aimed the gun at his head and placed her finger on the trigger.

"I ought to just kill you now!"

"Why don't you?" Nelson asked, fully believing that she would not be able to bring herself to do it.

Lou took a deep breath and was about to pull the trigger when Buck called out from the bunkhouse. Lou and Nelson both turned to see Buck and Cody standing on the veranda with their guns drawn. She turned back to Nelson, collected her thoughts and flipped the hammer back on the gun. "No, I think I'll just give you to the marshal to stand trial."

Buck and Cody came to escort Nelson to Teaspoon when Rachel appeared at the doorway of the house. Lou's heart filled with dread as she thought that her nightmare had come true, and she ran up to her.

The fear in her hazel eyes said it all to Rachel. "No, he's still alive," Rachel was quick to assure her, "but he's been callin' for you."

Lou went up the stairs two at a time and rushed straight to Kid's bedside. He was still tossing his head restlessly, but instead of his incoherent murmurs of the past few days, he was calling out her name repeatedly.

She took one of his hands in her left one, and wiped his brow with her right. "Shh, I'm here, it's okay," she said soothingly.

His restlessness seemed to die down a bit as he recognised her voice. He turned his head to look at her, but his blue eyes were glazed from the fever. "I...have to tell Lou somethin'..." Kid muttered brokenly.

"Shh, don't worry, it's okay," Lou knew that he needed to get something off of his chest, but his delirium prevented him from forming the words clearly, and she was afraid the effort was causing him to much pain. Oh, please God, end his pain. Don't let him hurt no more.

Slowly Kid's restlessness eased completely and he fell into a deep sleep, so deep, in fact, that Lou was initially afraid that he had died. She called Rachel, who took one look at him and sent for the doctor. But the doctor had good news, the fever had broken and he was sleeping normally.

Several hours later, Lou was still at his bedside when Kid opened his eyes and looked at her. "Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," Lou smiled.

"How long have I been out?"

"A few days. We didn't think you were gonna make it for a while there."

Kid smiled weakly. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Can you remember anything?"

He shook his head. "Not much. The last thing I remember is you tellin' me that you love me." Lou flushed; she had thought that he had passed out before she said that. Kid smiled when he saw her embarrassment. "Did you mean it?"

She nodded. "I never stopped. Even when we broke up. When I thought that you were gonna die I felt that it was too late, that I had lost you. I should've told you ages ago how I felt, that I wanted us to get back together, but..."

Kid sat up and placed his finger to her lips. "I felt the same way," he said. "When Doritha died I knew that I wanted to get back with you. But after what happened last time, I didn't know how you felt."

Lou shook her head. "We've been a pair of fools."

Kid grinned. "Come here." Lou leaned forward and they started kissing, gently. Suddenly there was a cheer from behind Lou, and they broke apart to see the other riders standing there, grinning.