TITLE: Sugar Heart
AUTHOR: Mette
FEECBACK: metteknudsen@get2net.dk
STANDARD DISCLAIMER: The Young Riders don't belong to the author, but to
MGM/UA Television, Ed Spielman and Josh Kane. No copyright infringement
intended.

                                 Sugar Heart
                                  By Mette

Rock Creek, Nebraska Territory, Februrary 14th.

The weather had been bad all week, snowing and storming, but today it was
exceptionally pretty. Although several degrees below freezing, the air was
clear and fine. A bright sun pierced the eyes of everybody on the streets,
and made the snow drifts shine and sparkle. Every roof in the small town was
beautifully covered with twinkling snow, and the branches of the trees hang
low under the weight of their powderlike white burdens.

Jimmy Hickock's glanze was caught by a small dark red object in the window,
as he walked by the tailor shop. He was in town for picking up supplies for
the Pony Express and had actually no time for popping in somewhere on the
way, but he couldn't take his eye off that thing in the window decoration.

On a heap of fluffy snow white cotton lay a little piece of candy in the
shape of a heart. It was covered with burgundy frosting and on top was
written a few words in white cake icing:"Will You Be My Valentine?" The
writing was handsome and the dots over the i's were formed as little hearts.

For many years, the Valentine Season hadn't meant anything to him. Hearts
and red roses hadn't been a priority in his life, nor had the spirit of the
holiday. For him, love was not a matter of romance or bright hours. Love was
a few stolen moments of passion and else a forced feeling in his stomach
whenever he had met a woman of his fancy. His matters of the heart had
always been painful, and most the times they had ended before he knew it. Or
so it had been until very recently--

He walked up to the shop window for a closer examination of the candy heart.

"She will love it," Jimmy thought. He imagined Lou's surprise and happiness
when she got the sugary heart, the love in her eyes would be obvious to
everybody. With a pounding heart, he pictured her white teeth biting through
the crunchy red frosting, little crumbs would stick to her rosy lips and her
chin, and he could hear her with a joyful laughter offer him the other half
of the candy heart. Affectionately, she would shower sweet and sticky kisses
on his mouth -- kisses he would return return with much passion, untill they
both got dizzy and--

Jimmy got abrubtly interrupted in his romantic daydreams, when a large drift
of snow slipped down the porch roof above him and landed on the street with
a loud thud. Since he was in safety under the roof, he wasn't hit with the
avalanche, but Teaspoon Hunter was -- ever so much! He had been walking
peacefully down the streets of his town, being a good marshal and keeping an
eye on the people in town -- but unfortunately, he was not paying any
attention to the huge layer of snow on the roof, which now dropped thickly
upon him.

Jimmy exploded with laugter, as the marshall coughing and sputtering tried
to wipe the snow off his face. His entire body was covered with snow, and he
looked excactly like a big and very, very angry snowman. Jimmy almost choked
in convolsive laughter, and he had to lean against the railing of the porch
to keep his balance.

"It ain't funny; Hickock!" Teaspoon scolded harshly, but Jimmy was killing
himself with laughter. The sight of the otherwise so majestic and imposing
Texan covered in snow from top to toe was absolutely hilarious, and the
young express rider couldn't but shreak with laughter. Tears welled in his
eyes and his laugter turned into an stifled giggle, when he almost lost his
breath.

In the end though, Jimmy took pity over the greyhaired marshall fighting the
thick blanket of snow. He stepped down and with glove-brushes helped his old
friend get rid of his winterly attacker.

"Phhffh--" Teaspoon spat the last snow out of his mouth and looked strictly
at Jimmy. The young man handed him his hat with an assumed guilty look in
his brown eyes ­ though he was not entirely able to repress the twinkle in
them, neither the little giggle that escaped his lips.

"Don't you have any chores to do, Wild Bill?" The stress upon the last two
words was supposed to be Teaspoon's punishment for being the laughingstock,
and he looked really mean. But in his heart, he wasn't all that angry ­
though he never would admit it. He hadn't heard the sound of Jimmy Hickock's
cathchy dry laughter, nor seen his shining smile in a very long time, and he
had missed both. The tall young man in front of him held a special place in
his heart. Hot headed and temperamental as Jimmy was, Teaspoon saw many
sides of himself as a youngster in the express rider. Maybe because of this,
he always felt that he had to be a little harder on Jimmy than on the rest
of the riders--

"Yessir. I was just on my way back. I just saw something in that window--"
Jimmy swalloved his last giggle, and tossed his head in the direction of the
tailor shop, where he had seen the candy heart. He regretted instantly that
he had done it, because Teaspoon took an interest in it.

"Oh, I see--since when has a dressmaker's shop got anything to offer you? Or
maybe it ain't for yourself?" Teaspoon climbed the three steps to the porch
and took a look at the window decoration.

"Maybe it is -- maybe it ain't" Jimmy said abruptly, he wanted this
discussion over with. The subject was a rather personal one--

Teaspoon pointed at the candied heart. "Nice thing, I'm sure that Lou'll
like it!"

"What makes you think I'm buying it for Lou?"

"Well, she'll sure be mad if it isn't, right? See you later!" Teaspoon
giggled for himself and descended the porch.

                                    *~*~*

Jimmy gazed after the old marshall for a while, suddenly in doubt if he
should buy the sugar heart or not.

His feelings for Lou were--strong. The feeling of admiration and the yearning
that rushed through his veins as well as his mind when ever he saw her was
stronger than anything he remembered, and he knew that it could only be
described by using the big word love. Definitely, he loved her, and had done
it for a very long time, maybe even from the time he found out that she was
not the boy she dressed like, but in fact was an very attractive woman.

But it was not until recently he had acknowledged this feeling. She and the
Kid had been together for a long time, and he hadn't done anything to change
it. What had changed it all though, was a certain night, when they were
Elias Mills to his hanging. The words she had said there felt like the twist
of a knife in an open wound. >When you see Elias Mills, it's like staring in
a mirror twenty years from now. And it scares you to death.< She had excused
her harsh words in the next second and he had seen the true remorse in her
eyes.

The moment had made them closer than ever before and he had kissed her in a
spur of the moment. She had kissed him back, passionately and intensely, and
for a short while. Jimmy trembled by the memory. Lou had immeadiately
regretted it, though, and she had turned to the Kid the next day for
comfort. Her rejection had hurt him more than the deepest gunshot ever
could.

For days and days, he had tried to avoid her as much as possible, and to
leave the kiss as a minor accident. He had tried to excuse it as sudden
surrender to his deep loneliness, or to hurt pride over the words, she had
said to him. He had even tried not to think of it at all, but neither of
ways had any effect.

The situation was burnt into his mind, and he would never forget it, nor be
able to think of it without a throbbing heart. The salt taste of her mouth
were burnt into his lips, and the soft feeling of her body in the white
shirt was forever marked on his chest. He had smelled the fine scent of her
skin, and had felt the soft touch of her black eyelashes on his cheek. Who
had he been fooling, trying to erase such an intense memory from his mind?
He never could forget--

And now he had a chance to win her back. Valentine's Day was a perfect
opportunity. He knew she had feelings for him, it was only a matter of
taking the first step. And he was willing to take that risk now, on this
very day ­ the Day of the Hearts.

But maybe it was too radical a thing to do, so shortly after Lou and the Kid
had broken up--Jimmy didn't give much concideration to this subject, though.
All the speculations was making him crazy. If he didn't make his move now,
he never would. It was indeed now or never.

He took his courage in both hands and pushed the door to the tailor shop
open. Nothing venture, nothing win.

                                    *~*~*

It was a new tailor shop in the town of Rock Creek, and he had never been in
there before. He soon found out that he hadn't missed anything, The shop was
run by the most bitter old woman in the West, or so it seemed. She sent him
an extremely suspicious look as he entered the door. She had the face of a
horse, and her long yellow teeth just made the horse-impression stronger.
Her grey-streaked hair was set in the back in a knot, held together with two
long hainpins.

"If you're here to beg, then go away!" was her snarling welcome. Her voice
was high and strident. Jimmy felt a strong desire for doing so; if fact he
visioned her take one of the hairpins out and penetrate his eyes, if he
stayed in the shop much longer. But he hadn't seen a candy heart elsewhere
in town so he had to buy it here. After all, who was he to be frightened by
an old woman?

"How much for that?" he asked and pointed at the sugar heart in the window.
This was not the place for smalltalk, he realized. He better get the
shopping over with as quickly as possible.

"More than you can pay!" she answered him impolitely.

"Actually, I do have money, ma'am! And I'll take it no matter what the
price." The last thing was a very unwise thing to say, he soon found out.
The old woman got a greedy loke in her small eyes. But it was too late to
take it back.

"Really--?" Interested, she stepped a few steps forward and looked more
closely at him with a couple of beady eyes.

She hissed the prize at him, and he sighed inside. That was an absurd amount
of money for a little piece of compressed sugar with frosting-- it would rip
him off for two weeks pay--

"I'll take it" He handed her the money and watched as the shopkeeper with a
sour expression wrapped the candy in pink tissue paper. She looked regretful
that she hadn't asked an even higher price for the candy heart.

                                    *~*~*

Jimmy returned to the Pony Express Station with the candy heart deep in his
chest pocket. All the other riders were out on rides, except Lou. She had
caught a cold and had been ordered by the joined forces of Teaspoon and
Rachel to stay in the bunkhouse and don't go out no matter what. They had
threatened her with the worst possible punishments if she left the house,
but of course she wasn't in there when Jimmy came back from town. In stead,
he found her in the corral, rubbing down her beloved Lightning.

Jimmy kept standing in the doorway for a moment, looking at her. She hadn't
noticed his arrival and was deeply concentrated on the horse. With a small
smile resting on her lips that she wasn't even aware of, she fed Lightening
a carrot and whispered kind words in his ears. The horse nodded, like he
agreed in what she said. Lou giggled softly and placed a kiss on the horse's
muzzle.

"What's that you telling him?" Jimmy asked and entered the room.

Startled, she spun around and looked at him in shock. A dark rose blush
spread over her face and neck.

"Nothing"

"Sure sounds interesting to me!" He walked a little closer and reached for
the gift in his pocket.

Lou laughed out loud. "Jimmy, anything that is said in a whispering tone
sounds interesting to you! What you got there?" She asked coriously and
jumped a little to see the pink tissue paper in his chest pocket.

"I have something for'a, Lou. You probably won't like it-- "

"Why don't you hand it over and let me be the judge of that?" Lou said with
a smile. She couldn't wait to see what was wrapped inside the pink paper.

"Well, it's just-" Jimmy felt a hard push in his back and fell forward down
on the ground. He got a lot of hay in his mouth and somebody fell on his
back. It was Jesse, who had been running into the corral, like the devil
himself was chasing him. He hadn't seen Jimmy standing there, until it was
too late and a collision was inevitable. Jesse was in too much of a hurry to
stop and he therefore pushed Jimmy down and landed on the rider's back.

"Damn you, Jesse! What the Hell you doin'?" Jimmy roared at the young boy. A
crunchy sound from his chest pocket indicated that his precious gift was no
longer in the same condition as when he put it there. Jesse caught a glimpse
of extreme anger in Jimmy's eyes and there was only one thing in his mind ­
to get up and get away as quickly as possible! But that was easier said than
done.

Jimmy got a hold of the fleeing boy's shirt and shook him roughly, with a
very angry look on his face. Jesse tried in vain to get loose, flinging his
arms and legs around, but he was stuck in Jimmy's hard grasp and had to stay
where he was. Jimmy was too strong an opponent to beat, even though Jesse
squirmed like an eel.

"I-I-I-I didn't mean to knock you over, Ji-Ji-Ji-Jimmy! So-so-sorry!" Jesse
coughed the words out in step with Jimmy's shaking him. Then the rider
finally let go of him.

"Just get away and pray that I won't see you any more before supper! Or
else--!!" Jimmy let the last words hang in the air as a thread to Jesse, but
it was to no use; the boy was out of the corral in the same minute he felt
the grasp dissappear from his shirt collar.

"What was that all about?" Lou asked curiously. Of course, she had seen
Jesse run into Jimmy, but she hadn't expected that loud outburst of anger,
Jimmy exploded in.

"He ran into me, that clumsy, little--! Sometimes I'd wish he'd speed down
just a bit, he'll end up killing somebody! And I sure don't want the first
one to be me!"

"Oh, I bet you were every bit as him, when you were a kid, Jimmy! Always
running off somewhere to play!" Lou teased and brushed a few pieces of hay
off his hair. "You said, you had something for me--?"

"Well, I don't think it survived Jesse--" Jimmy drew the pink piece of paper
out of his pocket and handed it to her. This hadn't turned out as well as he
had planned. She would probably be dissapointed, that the content of the
gift was not a cute candy heart, but in fact a million little crumbles. But
for now, Lou jumped in exitement.

"Oh, what-is-it-what-is-it-what-is-it?" She ripped most the paper off before
she realized that the content was dark red crumbles. She looked at the
destroyed red candy with a stunned look in her eyes, then she laughed
deeply.

"What is this, Jimmy?"

"Candy" He said shortly and looked the other way. "It was kind of pretty
when I bought it. I mean, it was in the shape of a heart and--" he began
shyly.

"A heart? Uh, Jimmy--" Lou couldn't help laughing again over this sudden
romantic idea. Normally, romance and Jimmy Hickock was an unexpected
combination, but she knew him better than that. Few men could be more
romantic than this tough guy.

"Yeah, and on top it said--, well, never mind" He regretted he had started
that sentence -- there was no way he was going to repeat the words from the
top of the candy heart!

"Did it say "Well, never mind" on top?" Lou sent him a confused look. "What
a shame--"

"Why's that?"

"'Cause I saw this really nice candy heart at the tailor shop day before
yesterday. And it said "Will you be my Valentine" on top. And I really hoped
for such one--" She said and for fun tried to sound dissapointed, though she
was very well aware of that there was only one kind of candy hearts
available in town.

"Well, it was one of those--a Valentine-heart--" Jimmy said and stared at his
boots.

"Really? Oh, thank you!" She placed her fingers in the candy crumbles and
grapped one of the larger chunks and it dissappeared into her mouth.

"What does it taste like?" He asked, the sight of her eating the candy was
excactly what he had dreamed of and he trembled.

"It's--ehm--nice! And sweet--!" Her lips crushed by the taste and she swallowed
giggling. She couldn't wait to see the expression on Jimmy's face when he
tasted it. "Here, you have a bite! Open wide!" She picked up a large crumb
from the paper and put it inside his mouth. The light brush of her tiny soft
fingers against his tongue and lips made him shiver, and he felt his cheeks
burning. The slight touch set his entire body on fire and knocked his breath
away. If only she knew what an effect she had upon him whenever she was
near...

Luckily, Lou didn't seem to notice his emotional instability. All of a
suddden, the taste of the sugary heart hit his taste buds like a fist punch,
and he had to fight the urge for spitting the candy out again. He had never
tasted anything as sweet as this! In fact, it was sickly sweet, his mouth
dried out and his throat yelled for water. A stinging pain flew through a
sore teeth in his upper jaw and he barely manged to swallow the candy.

"Yaks, that's so sweet!" He couldn't find any other words to describe that
taste. It was sickly sweet and none of the had never tasted anything like
it. They looked at each other and burst into laughter at the same time.
Jimmy reached out for her and took her in his arms. He placed a small kiss
on the temple of her head and looked into her eyes.

"Will you--"

She smiled at him, the man she loved more than anything on this Earth.

"Yes, of course I'll be your Valentine, Jimmy!" She mumbled and raised
herself on tiptoe for kissing his mouth.

                                  The End