Title: The Trials That Bind

Authors: En and Tess

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction, purely for entertainment, based on the Magnificent Seven television series. All rights are owned by Trilogy, CBS and MGM, and no profit is being made by this work, nor any copyright infringement intended. It is purely for enjoyment. If we got paid, it would quit being fun, anyway!

Warnings: None

Rating: PG-13

AU type: This is a sequel to "Family Tries," in which Maude presents Ezra with a baby sister. "The Trials that Bind" takes place five years later.

AU status: Closed



The Trials That Bind
by En and Tess


Billy Travis smiled as he reached out and caught the black-haired dervish. "Where you off to?"

"It'th time for the thage!" Abigail Standish declared, her diction impeded by the recent loss of both front teeth.

"Let's go, then!" he laughed and took her hand, jogging beside her. As they passed the Saloon, Abigail stuck her head under the batwing doors. 

"Ethra! It'th time for the thage!"

"I shall be there momentarily," he said, holding up his fan of cards.

"Okay... I 'thcribe who gets off real careful for ya, if you're late..." and her bare feet pounded down the boardwalk for a few feet, before she leaped off into the dirt of the street.

Chuckling, he went back to his game.

"That little ring-tailed roarer is yours, eh?" the newly arrived soiled dove, that hung over Buck's shoulder, inquired with a charmed chuckle.

"She is, and she's quite the lady when she wishes to be."

"Don't doubt that. Bet she cleans up real pretty, with all that black hair and them green cat's eyes, like yours," she purred, to Buck's dismay.

Ezra smiled at her. "She does indeed."

Billy smiled and squeezed Abigail's hand. "What does that one look like to you?" he asked, pointing at a tall well-heeled gentleman.

"Hmm.. he's dressed too somberly to be a sharper," she surmised, her eyes squinted thoughtfully. "Maybe someone to see Judge Travis?"

"Maybe. And her?" A woman got off -- plainly dressed, her red hair blowing in the wind.

"The new schoolteacher?"

"Maybe...."

The next woman to depart was Maude. "Don' know who she'd be... she's old, but she's rich, I think."

Billy had stiffened. "Crap! I'm purdy sure that's Ezra's mother! I remember her 'cause of all that blonde hair-- I expected her to be sweet like Ma, but she ain't!"

"Ezra's mother?" Abigail echoed, staring at the woman giving the driver the edge of her tongue for tossing her hatbox down with little regard for contents. "If she's Ezra's mother, then he's..." Abigail's eyes went wide, and she turned and darted back towards the Saloon, yelling "Ezra! Ezra!" at the top of her lungs.

Ezra, alarmed, shot to his feet and grabbed her as she ran through the doors. "What is it, sweetheart?"

"She got off the stage, and she's pretty, but I don' like her cause she's MEAN! She was yelling at Luke just for dropping her silly hatbox... How can droppin' a hatbox hurt nothing?"

"Who....who?"

"Your... " she took a hard swallow. "Our... mother. I think. She looks like that pittcher you show me."

"Good God. INEZ!" He lifted Abigail right up and handed her to the Mexican. "Take care of her!" With that, he exited the saloon.

"Ezra, darlin'! How thoughtful of you to come help me with my bags," Maude smiled, opening a parasol to shade her still fine face from the prairie sun.

"I didn't come to be your porter, Mother. What do you want?"

Maude laid a lace-covered hand on her bosom in a very familiar gesture of genteelly offended shock. "What do I want? Why do you suspect me of having an ulterior motive, for simply coming to pay my dear children a call?"

"Because with you, Mother, there always IS an ulterior motive."

"I'm stung by your lack of trust in your own mother, Ezra Percival Standish!" Maude sniffed, looking down her patrician nose at her son. "I certainly hope you haven't tainted Abigail's perception of me with your unfounded vitriol!"

"Oh, so you finally deigned to learn her name."

"I have -always- known her name!" Maude hissed. 

"Odd, you've never USED it before now."

Choosing to ignore that jab, Maude looked around, "Where is darling Abigail?"

"Around."

"-Around?- You don't know where she is? Ezra, she's only five years old!"

"I know EXACTLY where she is."

"Then, take me to her. I want to see her."

"No."

"EZRA! She is MY DAUGHTER, and I WILL see her!"

"She has not been your daughter since before she was born, Mother." With that, he spun on his heel and walked away.

"I suspect Judge Travis will point out the error of your logic, my dear boy," she tossed at his retreating back, at just the amount of volume to carry, without 'making a public scene.'

He froze and turned back to face her.

Maude sauntered up to him, her taffeta skirts whispering almost vengefully. "I never gave up guardianship of my daughter, Ezra, not to you, or to anyone. She is -mine.-"

"You didn't HAVE to give up guardianship, mother. Your abandonment was glaring proof."

"What abandonment? I'd come through an extremely debilitating, emotionally strenuous, time of severe tribulation. I only left Abigail in your care, because I was still too distraught, and 
physically frail from her birth, to see to her proper care. Now, things are different. I have come for my daughter, Ezra, and you -will- produce her. NOW."

"She's going nowhere with you, Mother."

"Bold talk, from someone who doesn't have a prayer in court!" she snapped. 

"Don't do this, Mother. Don't subject her to the same kind of hell growing up you subjected me to!"

"Hell? HELL? You never wanted for anything, Ezra-- you were always surrounded by the finest of things!" Maude blinked, genuinely stung by his vehemence. "I was alone, but I gave you the best of everything, despite the price to me!"

"Everything except a FAMILY."

"I AM your family!" she growled, looking like a furious pampered lapcat.

"No, Mother. The Six are."

"Six drunken, criminal ruffians!" she sniffed. "I am deeply disappointed and shamed by your attitude, Ezra-- and fearful for how you have most likely neglected the proper care and training of my daughter." Maude lifted her chin, and her hem, and sailed off into the Hotel, the gawking bellboy coming out of his rapt trance to stagger behind her with her mountain of trunks and bags.

Ezra stormed back into the saloon-- where he dropped to his knees and gathered Abigail into a tight, TIGHT hug.

"Ezra... I cain't breathe!" she squeaked, her little fist raising a bit of dust that the street had settled onto his jacket back.

He pulled back and looked into his eyes. "No matter WHAT happens, Little One, I love you. do you understand that? I. Love. You."

"I love you too..." Her eyes darkened fearfully. "Whatsa matter?"

"Mother's here --- she's talking about trying to take you. I'll tell you the truth -- I'm frightened. But I'm going to fight her with all I have."

With a little gasp of a sob, Abigail wrapped herself Ezra's leg. "She's not my mother, and I ain't going nowhere with her! NOWHERE!"

"Exactly. The only way is if we're FORCED apart."

"She cain't do that! You and me's been together ever since I was borned! She cain't!" Abigail wailed, and then looked up at Ezra, trust and fear mingling on her face. "Can she?"

"She can try," Ezra told her. "And I don't know what the future holds, I just know we're to be together."

The little chin jutted out, in unconscious imitation of her detested mother. "NObody is going to make me leave you! You NEED me!" Tiny hands fisted on her hips. "I'll shoot her!"

He tapped her nose. "Not yet, you won't. All that aside, she is STILL our mother."

"I don't have a mother!" she declared hotly, her chin still thrust out belligerently. "I'm a bastard, just like Vin an' JD! So she can't say she's my Mother!"

"Oh, Abigail..." a sob hitched as he pulled her close again. "We're ALL bastards here, my dear one."

"Lovely vocabulary and precocious store of carnal information your "family" has imparted to my child," came a silky voice from the doorway.

Ezra shot to his feet and shoved Abigail behind him.

"Oh for heaven's sake, Ezra! You behave as if I were some carnivorous animal!" Maude snapped, and sailed towards him in a cloud of patchouli and refined indignation.

"You are, Mother -- of the SOUL."

"Oh please, Ezra, kindly spare me the over-wrought theatrics! Abigail, come here, child. I want to see you."

"NO!" Abigail countered.

"The first lesson you must learn, dear child, is NEVER to say "NO" in that tone to your mother!" As she spoke, Maude ducked around Ezra with startling speed, and grasped Abigail's grubby wrist, drawing her out into the square of light spilling in from the doorway.

Abigail's reaction was as quick as it was spectacular. She hauled off and smacked Maude so hard that a grimy handprint was left on the powdered cheek.

Maude jerked her head back, a gloved hand going reflexively to the stinging mark, then, she just as quickly boxed Abigail's ears.

Ezra literally shoved her through the batwing doors and he knelt and embraced his crying sister.

Picking herself up out of the dust and an unfortunately placed deposit of dung, Maude shook her fist at the still swinging doors. "You've -ruined- my child, Ezra! I'll sue you for damages AND make sure she never has to lay eyes on you or on this dustheap of a town again!"

"I've not ruined this child, Mother. She's LOVED."

"She's been turned into a unkempt, vicious, impudent, foul-mouthed little hellion!" And with that parting shot, Maude retreated to the Hotel, like a foiled spider to the dark corner of its web. 

After proper repairs to her toilette, she headed straight for the office of Judge Travis. No fool she, Maude had timed her arrival to coincide with his judiciary pass through Four Corners.

Ezra saw where she was headed -- and ran to the wagon in Main Street, scratching urgently on the flap and praying Vin was home.

"Yeah?" The flap opened, and Vin looked out.

"Vin....I need to talk to you...." Two things wrong here. No last name, and no big words.

"Come on in, Ezra-- what's wrong?"

Emerald eyes huge, Ezra gripped Vin's buckskinned sleeves as he climbed into the wagon. "Do you remember when you were showing Abigail some rudimentary tracking and you quipped that I was paying too much attention?"

"Sure..." Vin's eyebrows drew together. Ezra was acting oddly, and not making much sense. Trouble brewing, in other words.

"There's a reason ---- Vin, we must vanish! Abigail and I, we must disappear!"

"Hey, hold on... what's happened?"

"My mother has happened!" Ezra half-shrieked. "Vin, please, help us vanish!"

"What's Maude done to put your knickers in a twist like this?"

"She wants to take Abigail!"

"Like hell she will!" Vin barked, coming to his feet so quickly, he barked the back of his head against one of the bows that held up the wagon's canvas cover. 

"Are you all right?"

"No... not now," Vin snarled, and jumped from the wagon's box. "Where's Shortie now?"

Ezra jumped down beside him. "In the Saloon, with Inez. Mother has gone to the Judge's office."

"Think Judge Travis will give her th' time o' day?" Vin asked, already heading in long strides for the Saloon.

"I don't know. I'm too afraid to take any chances!" With that statement, Ezra told Vin more than just the facts. He told Vin just how far he'd come in five short years -- how deeply he considered himself part of their family.

"Cuttin' and runnin' may not be the best thing t'do... but I cain't say I wouldn't do the same, if'n I's you."

"I want to fight, Vin.....but if I have to, I WILL run."

"I'll help y'... either way. Maude AIN'T gettin' her claws into Shortie! She done give up her rights as a mother when she cut out and left that baby laying in her cradle, when she's 3 days old!

"That's what I feel as well....thank you, Vin." Together, shoulder to shoulder, they marched into the saloon.

"Tell ya what... I'll spirit Shortie away on a little huntin' trip... You face Travis and Maude. I'll keep watch-- you can let me know when it's safe t' bring her back, or we can meetcha halfway t' Mexico, if things go sour."

"What if you're needed to testify?" 

"Then I'll take Shortie t' the Seminole camp, first. Then come in and testify. I ain't gonna stand for that baby to be anywhere near Maude-- don't trust that bitch as far as I could throw her." 

"I don't either...I just hope they don't need HER to testify. Should we tell the others?"

"Yeah-- you do that. The longer I stand here, the more antsy I get... I think me and Shortie'd better ride now, and ride fast."

"Go." He scooped Abigail up and hugged her. "Mind Uncle Vin!" he said and handed her off, before heading on a dead run to Buck's...where he knew Chris and Buck both were.

Abigail looked upat Vin. "We goin' thomewhere?"

"Yeah... how 'bout you and me goin' huntin'... see if we cain't bag us a mulie deer or two? Maybe some coyotes, too, to make you a nice warm winter coat..."

"I'd like that!"

Ezra pounded on Buck's door with both fists.

"She ain't here!" was the bellowed reply.

"It's ME, Buck! I need to talk to you and Chris -- NOW!"

"Come on in, Ez..."

Ezra blew in, seeing Chris sitting in the chair still in just his pants, holding a cold washcloth to his hangover-hurting head while Buck was wetting a second one. "I'm sorry to bust in like this," he said, panting, "but this is an emergency!"

"What's happened?"

Ezra met Chris's eyes. "Maude's in town....she wants Abigail."

"Like hell she's getting that child!Where's Maude now?"

"With Judge Travis."

"Shit, she don't waste any time, does she?" Chris came to his feet, and pulled his shirt on, then reached for his gunbelt. "First thing to do is to get Abigail stashed away somewhere safe. Where is she, Ez?"

"Vin's already on it," was all Ezra had to say. "JD, Josiah and Nathan need to be notified...." He looked pleadingly at Buck.

"I'll do it... why don't you take yourself a snort to settle y'r nerves, then head back to Judge Travis'?"

Ezra looked at Chris. "With you?"

"Try to keep me away." The man's smile was anything but humorous.Ezra nodded. "I'll buy."

"I'll drink..."

They got a shot each, then Ezra straightened his cravat. "I hope I have sufficient emotional equaminity in this situation to present a strong case..."

"If you can keep your nerves in check, I don't think you've got much to worry about, on that count."

"Thank you, Chris...your confidence means the world to me." They walked to the Judge's and inside without knocking.

"Good afternoon, Ezra... I was expecting you," Judge Travis greeted him, with a knowing lift of an eyebrow. Maude turned in her chair before his desk, and glared at her son. She twisted a handkerchief in her hands, and tear-tracks marked the powder on her cheeks.His eyes narrowed. "What act have you been putting on now, Mother?"

She simply bestowed upon him a glare that could have melted lead, and turned back to Judge Travis, "So, you were saying, Judge?"

Ezra waited.

Judge Travis looked decidedly uncomfortable. "I was saying, that, legally, you do have the right to reclaim Abigail."

"NO!" Ezra half-wailed.

"BUT," Judge Travis lifted his hand warningly, "What I didn't get a chance to say, was, that as I'm well familiar with you, I would first put the question to a jury, as to whether or not you could be considered a fit mother for the child."

Ezra looked at her. "And material trappings do NOT make a happy child, Mother," he said with no little contempt in his voice.

Maude lifted her chin. "Fine. So be it." She turned to toast her son with another ncinderary stare. "I shall be able to prove that I am now in a position to provide Abigail with a stable home life, with a mother AND a stepfather, and a sibling..."

He met her stare for stare. "She has a stable home life. TWO mothers, SEVEN fathers, and an entire SCHOOLFULL of siblings."

Maude sniffed in disdain. "She's allowed to run barefooted and in ragged overalls, through the streets as if she were the lowest guttersnipe's child. She is familiar with the inside of a saloon, and its denizens, as well as having a shockingly vulgar vocabulary, and the loss of innocence to go along with it. I have no doubt which way a jury will decide! Good day, gentlemen... as the saying goes... I'll see you in court!"

Ezra slumped, and unaccustomed tears were in his eyes.

"Ezra... I can almost guarantee that she'll be found an unfit mother."

He looked up at Travis. "I pray so, Judge. I will tell how her not being there has affected me -- and how our being there has made Abigail happy and joyful."

Travis nodded. "All you can do is let the truth speak for itself. These folk aren't blind... nor have they lost their memory."

"Thank you, sir...." He clutched Chris's sleeve to try to keep upright, overcome by emotion.

"Come on, Ez..." Chris led him from the Judge's chambers. When they were outside, he told him in a near whisper. "There's not a snowball's chance in hell, of us letting Maude have that little girl-- no matter what the jury decides."

"Vin said he'd meet us halfway to Mexico if we had to."

"If we have to, yeah..."

"I thank you..."

"No thanks needed. She's ours, almost as much as she's yours. We're just protectin' our own."

Ezra squeezed his arm and they headed to the clinic. The rest were already waiting for them there. Ezra's first words were, "Are we all in agreement?"

"Dang, Ezra-- you even have to ask that?" J.D. blurted.

Ezra met Nathan's eyes. "Yes, son -- I do."

"Of course we're in agreement," Nathan responded, his eyes locked with Ezra's.

Ezra relaxed a bit. "Thank you...."

"There isn't one of us, that wouldn't lay down our lives willingly for that child, Ezra..." Josiah pointed out.

"It's not the child I had my doubts as to Nathan's aid," Ezra said. "It's her brother."

"To quote JD-- Dang, Ezra, you even have to ask that?" Nathan shot back. "After all this time?"

"I have a feeling it's his own doubts making him ask that," Josiah said.

"Why do you doubt us?" JD asked, frowning.

"I dont.....I doubt me. You're the first family that's FELT like a family -- I'm scared of losing you."

"Unless you lose us all to some sharper in a card game, you're stuck with us, pard," Buck snorted, and the rest agreed with nods and grins.

Ezra smiled, then sobered. "Chris, when did he say the trial would begin?"

"He didn't... I suppose he'll give us word."

"Most likely, like usual-- when he can scare up a jury," Nathan conjectured. 

Ezra sighed. "Whos' going to ride out and give Vin the news?"

"I will," Chris offered, "Soon as we know."

By nightfall, they had a jury. The trial would begin in the morning.

~*7*~

Abigail sat up in her bedroll and pulled out her slingshot. "Rider," she hissed.

Vin laid his hand over hers. "Put yer flip down... it's yer Uncle Chris... listen... Midnight's got just a trace of an uneven stride... Sides, I done saw him top the ridge." He grinned at Abigail and kissed her forehead. "But you done good, Shortie-- real good. Most growed men wouldn't have heard that horse yet."

She beamed and put the flip in her back pocket. Without being asked, she made a small plate of rabbit and beans for Chris.Within moments, the black horse slowly came into sight. 

"Vin?" Chris called softly. 

Abigail held the warm plate and waited behind her protector. "Come on in, Chris," Vin called back, and sat back down, leaning against his log backrest in a relaxed sprawl.

When Chris hopped down, Abigail held out the plate. "Hungry, Uncle Chwith?"

"You bet, Punkin... this your cookin'?" he asked with a broad smile, as he took the plate and sat down by the fire.

"No," she laughed. "Uncle Vin cooked it. I jutht therved it."

"And that makes it taste even better," he declared around a mouthful. "Brought ya somethin', in the saddlebags..."

She nodded and went to Midnight fearlessly. Vin asked, "News?"

"Yeah... Judge is holding a trial tomorrow, to try and declare Maude an unfit mother. Otherwise, she's got ever' legal right to take Abigail off with her, and not a damn thing-- within the law-- any of us can do to stop her."

"Tomorrow, huh? I'll be just outside town. If ya need either of us, just have Ezra fire his derringer once inta the air. That gun makes a distinctive sound."

"One shot, come in. Two-- hell bent fer leather for Pergatorio... we'll meet up with ya there."

Vin nodded, then grinned. "Looks like she found it."

She came up and hugged Chris. "I love it!" she said, holding the small beaded bracelet.

"You're welcome, Punkin..." He tied the bracelet around her wrist. "I gotta go back to town-- got patrol tonight. You and Vin shoot a mulie for me, ok? I haven't had a good deer steak in a month of Sundays..."

"I'm gettin' more acc...acc.....acc-ur-ate wif my flip!" she said with a smile.

"Good goin'! Gonna have to start callin' you Sureshot instead of Punkin, pretty soon."

"And remember, when I'm nine, you thaid you'd give me a rifle!"

"I remember!" 

She then hugged him. "Tell Ineth I wath a proper hothteth, pleath!"

"I'll do that first thing," Chris wrapped his arms around her, and inhaled the scent of her hair. She wasn't his-- but somehow, she still helped fill a large part of the ragged hole in his soul. 

She held him a long time, then placed a kiss on his cheek before sliding down. "Bafftime," she announced, heading for the calm stream.

"I can't lose her, too," Chris whispered, watching her go.

"Ya won't, cowboy."

Chris turned eyes on him, like cold bottle-glass. "One shot, come in. Two-- fast and furtive to Mexico."

Vin nodded. "Go."

A nod, and Larabee was on Midnight and cantering back towards town. 

Morning found the six lawmen waiting for Travis. 

"Let's get this underway," he grunted. As he entered, the bailiff announced, "Court's now in session, th' honorable Judge Travis presidin'. All rise!"

They rose, Ezra staring ice at Maude. She gave him a matronly smile full of adoration.

He rolled his eyes.

Judge Travis took his makeshift stand. "Be seated." When the rustle of folks taking a seat on any and all reasonably flat surface subsided, he rapped his gavel. "Court is now in session."

Josiah stood up. "Sir, we are here to ask you to deny the petition of Maude Standish to remove her daughter from our custody."

"On what grounds?" the judge asked, following the demands of the procedure.

"On grounds that she is an unfit mother." Josiah took a deep breath before continuing, "And on grounds that Abigail Standish is healthy, happy, and settled where she is."

"Duly noted, Mr. Sanchez. Mr. Plimpton, would you like to make an opening statement?"

"Sir, Maude Standish is the child's natural mother -- and as such, is a better match than seven ruffians." He sat down. A scathing snort, and several mutters, came from various parts of the room. 

Judge Travis rapped his gavel, then nodded to Josiah. "The burden of proof is upon you and your client, Mr. Sanchez. You may call your first witness."

"I call Ezra Standish to the stand."

Dressed as impeccably-- though not as flashily-- as usual, Ezra stepped forward, laid his hand on the Bible, and made the traditional oath. He took the witness stand, and pointedly avoided looking at Maude.

"Tell us about your childhood when you were Abigail's age."

Ezra drew a deep breath... and then, in a completely normal tone of voice, told of abandonment, abuse, and neglect-- all at the hands of people whom his mother had paid or conned into caring for him, while she pursued her profession of chicanery.

"And did she explain to you why she now wanted to reclaim Abigail?"

"She refused to divulge the reason for her sudden burst of maternal feelings."

"Do you trust her?"

"Not one whit."

"Thank you, Ezra."

"Any questions, Mr. Plimpton?" 

"Not at this time, your honor, although we sustain the right to recall Mr. Standish, at a later time."

"You may step down," Judge Travis entoned, and with a nod towards the jury, and then towards the Judge, Ezra did.

"I call Chris Larabee to the stand." 

Looking very much like an incarnation of Violent Death, Chris also swore to tell the truth, and took the stand, the gaze that made murderers quail fixed on the rather fragile blonde woman at the defense's table.

"What's your relationship to Abigail?"

"Godfather."

Ezra smiled at Maude's stiffened back at that revelation. 

Josiah then asked. "Do you love her, Chris?"

"As if she were my own flesh and bone."

"Nothing further, Your Honor."

"Mr. Plimpton?"

Maude's lawyer nodded, his centerparted, well-macassared hair gleaming. Hooking a thumb into his watch pocket, he asked, "You fathered a child of your own, some years ago, correct?" 

"Yes sir, I did."

"And is it true that Abigail is nothing but a substitute for the child you lost?"

"Objection!" Josiah thundered.

"Sustained. We are not here to ascertain Mr. Larabee's foundation of affection for the child, but to decide Miss Standish's fitness to care for her."

"Sir, the question is relevant to show their unfitness to be the guardians of an innocent little girl."

"Their fitness is not what is on trial today, but that of your client."

"My client loves her daughter and wants to be with her. Unlike him, who left his son to burn."

"Objection!" Josiah burst out, at the same time Judge Travis boomed, "That is totally out of line, Mr. Plimpton!"

Chris' demeanor was somehow both expressionless-- and murderous. His stare made the defense lawyer shift uneasily, and tug at his collar. 

"Any further questions? And they'd damn well better pertain, Mr. Plimpton, or I'll see that you're charged with slander and contempt of court!"

"No sir, your honor." The lawyer's voice wasn't quite as polished as before.

"You may step down Mr. Larabee." 

Total silence was broken only by the soft chink of Chris' spurs, as he left the stand. The murmuring that followed was like the closing of the Red Sea behind the children of Israel.

The others were called, to tell of Abigail's birth, rearing, and their love for her. Mr. Plimpton sat, exuding an air of bored skepticism throughout, then rose and called Maude to the stand. She 
made her way sedately to the front of the room, swore on the Bible, then sat down, smoothing her skirts precisely.

"Why have you come back after all this time?" Josiah asked.

"To reclaim my daughter, now that I have a proper home to take her to."

"She has a proper home."

"No sir, as her mother, I think not. I intend to take her to Washington, D.C., where I shall soon be the wife of the honorable Senator Eppa Hunton-- a widower, with a daughter of five, as well."

"What's the angle?" Josiah asked.

"Angle? I'm sorry, Mr. Sanchez, I don't understand the question." Maude's smile was sweet purity.

"You, madame, are a con artist extraordinaire. You do -nothing- without gain."

Maude simply looked at him. Technically, it wasn't a question, so she wasn't obliged to say a word. And didn't-- but she managed to look like everyone's ideal of the maternal Southern flower.

"Objection!" Mr. Plimpton called, coming to his feet. "Your honor, he's slandering my client!"

"Miss Standish's criminal past is a matter of public record in this town. She is well-known to be an admitted con artist, and a very proficient one at that. Objection overruled.

"So I ask you again--- " Josiah repeated, planting his elbow on the rail in front of Maude, leaning in close. "What is the angle?"

"There is no "angle," sir. I have met a man who loves me, and for whom I share that emotion. He is an honorable servant of the public, and will be able to provide a generous upbringing, and a father's affection, for Abigail."

"Two things which she has in abundance, here."

"No sir, she does not. Here, she lives in a boarding house. With myself and my betrothed, she will live in a brownstone mansion on Pennsylvannia Avenue. Here, she eats in a Saloon... with us, she will dine on china and crystal, in her own dining room, with her mother, father, and sister. Here, she runs wild, half naked in masculine garb. With us, she shall wear the finest dresses, and attend classes suitable for her gender and station."

"Here, she is surrounded by loving family. There, she will be shuttled from servant to nanny to boarding school!" Ezra said, standing up.

"You're out of order, Mr. Standish. Please, sit down," the judge admonished.

Ezra nodded and obeyed.

Josiah said, "Ma'am, your assumptions are out of line. Abigail wears dresses to church and attends classes befitting her gender and station."

"I have made my assumptions by what I have seen and heard, since I returned to Four Corners, Mr. Sanchez," Maude told him, with an air of regretful disappointment. "Judge, may I say something, in reference to my son's understandable-- but misguided-- outburst?"

At Travis's nod, she continued. "Ezra, dear-- I know I was not a good mother to you. I was young, and foolish, and had no role model to guide me in your proper care and upbringing. But time brings wisdom, and while I cannot remedy my failings with you, I can make the only amends I can, by ensuring I do not repeat the same mistakes with Abigail."

Ezra stood, "Judge, may I address the witness?"

"You may," Judge Travis nodded. Both requests weren't quite normal procedure, but then, this entire hearing was a far cry from his usual docket of criminal cases. 

"Mother, I suggest the next time you try your concerned mother routine you first; wet the handkerchief so it's less obvious there are no tears coming from your eyes, second; try to keep the smugness out of your eyes and third; really mean what you're saying. Even a novice can see your mind working all the angles so you can get your way. That's all, sir." He sat down.

JD covered his grin with his hand. Buck just let his show. Chris' head dipped in a slight nod of congratulation. Judge Travis seemed to find the papers before him suddenly of intense interest, and Maude let her facade slip, just enough to allow a venomous glance at her firstborn.

But the judge had caught the look. "Any more witnesses, Mr. Sanchez?"

"Not unless the court wishes to speak with the child in question."

"The court so wishes."

Ezra produced his derringer with a flick of his wrist and handed it to Josiah. "A moment, then, Judge?" Josiah asked and walked outside.

Less than a minute later, came a single BLAM! Josiah then returned to the courtroom and handed the gun back to Ezra, who casually reloaded and reset it. Before the curious murmurs of the spectators died down, Vin Tanner strode into the makeshift courtroom, with a rather wide-eyed Abigail clinging to his hand-- and looking as if she were trying to disappear into his coatpocket. She wore a dress and a hair ribbon -- and was glowingly clean. The child looked every inch a little lady. Vin stopped beside Ezra, and looked at the judge with a unreadable expression.

"Abigail, would you come here and sit beside me in that chair?" Judge Travis asked. She obeyed, clambering up and arranging her skirts. The judge couldn't help but smile. The child had as much innate grace as her mother had grace gained from careful schooling. "Abigail, do you know the difference between telling the truth, and telling a lie?"

"Yeth, thir. An' I altho know what a con ith."

Judge Travis' shoulders shook beneath his robe, but his face was smoothly serene. "And what is a con, then, young lady?"

"A con ith when a lie ith told to get information or thomethin elth that will help the Theven." 

The courtroom erupted into uproarious amusement. Ezra looked as though he wished the floorboards to swallow him. Maude looked triumphant.

Abigail looked hurt. "Did I thay thomething wrong?"

"Not at all, dear. Tell me, is it right to tell a lie?"

"No. It'th never RIGHT....but thometimeth it'th nethethawy."

"Very good. Now, Abigail, it's extremely important that you tell only the truth today, do you understand?"

"I underthtand."

"I want you to think carefully about what I'm going to tell you. Your mother has come, and wants to take you to a beautiful city called Washington, where you will live with her, a sister your own age, and a new father. Your brother, wants you to stay with him. I would like to know what you feel about the decision."

Abigail's brow scrunched up and then relaxed. "I wanna thtay here."

"Can you tell me why, Abigail?"

"My family loveth me," she said with little-girl honestness. "They teach me, they play with me, they help me learn. Me an' Vin, we're even learning to read an' write together!"

The tall tracker flushed, but grinned at her and winked companionably.

"And your mother loves you, too, she says," Judge Travis forced himself to say.

She nodded. "That'th jutht IT, Judge. She THAYTH. But she'th got the thame --- what'th it called --- body language! Body language when she doeth, that Ethra hath when he'th runnin' a con!"

It was Ezra's turn to look triumphant. Maude pointedly glanced away from him, to some point in the far upper corner of the wall in front of her.

"When Ethra, my uncleth, Ineth, Mary and Cathey thay they love me, I thee it. I thee it in their eyeth. With HER, there'th only ---- 'I won' in her eyeth."

"Thank you, dear. You can go back to your Uncle Vin, now. Mr. Tanner, please escort her away from the building, please?"

With a nod, Vin led Abigail back outside. When the door closed behind them, Judge Travis turned and addressed the jury. "Well, you've heard both sides of this. Your task now, is to decide which home would be in Abigail's best interest. As most of you are parents, I'm sure you'll give this matter its due serious consideration. Court dismissed until four o'clock." 

Chris lay his hand on Vin's shoulder outside. "Same signal."

"I'll be listenin'... " He lifted Abigail up onto Peso, and swung up behind. Gathering the reins, Vin set the black at a gallop out of town.

Part 2