The Trail Ends
Author: BmblBee
Rating: Adult overall
Paring: S/X
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.
I just saddle them up and take them for a ride
Summary: This is the last story for Deadwood Dick (Finally. Right?)
It is not necessary to have read the others to read
this one, but it helps.
Spike is a gunfighter & Xander an ex-saloon boy.
It all ends here.
Unlike the others this one is not a comedy.
Spike leaned in close and kissed Xander lightly.
First on the lips then on the cheek gently licking off the tear
that had slid down from the corner of Xander's eye.
"What's wrong, love?"
"I don't know Spike. I think maybe we stayed here to long.
It's kinda hard to leave."
Spike looked behind them at the whore house they had helped
set up several weeks ago.
Everyone there had become like family.
Joyce, the girls, Andrew, who was always included and
considered as "one of the girls", even Adam and Billy the Kidd.
It had been great. They had settled in and become part of the house.
They had fallen into a daily routine.
They had become almost domestic, and in the end that
was what sealed their decision that it was time to move on.
After regular business hours last night Joyce and the girls had
had a big dinner for them, cried, hugged, and said their farewells.
Spike and Xander rose early while the house slept,
packed their horses and were now ready to leave.
"Not having second thoughts are you pet?"
Xander looked off down the trail out of town with a
faraway look in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he turned to
Spike and with resolve in his voice answered
"No second thoughts at all. Let's go."
Spike smiled and kissed him again. Deeper this time then
holding Xander's face in his hands looked him in the eyes.
"No matter where we go, Xan, in the end it will always be
just you and me.
We live together, ride together, and someday die together, understand?"
Xander nodded, "Promise?" he asked, craving the reassurance.
Spike wiped the tears off Xander's cheeks with his thumbs "Promise, love."
And with that they both swung their legs up and over,
settled into their saddles and rode off.
Still heading south.
Xander pulled up along side Spike and asked
"So any idea where are we going ?"
Blue eyes sparkled with excitement
"Got word from some of the gamblers in the saloon.
Talk is about a place down Arizona territory.
Say they're finding gold there and that the city is booming.
All kinds of opportunities for a couple of enterprising young men like us.
Going to find our fortunes there, Xan.
Place called Tombstone."
It wasn't any place Xander had ever heard of but he knew he would follow
Spike to the ends of the earth. Like he had said.
They would live together, ride together, and someday die together.
And that was o.k. with him.
The trail was getting hotter now, dryer, dustier
It apparently had not rained here in a long time. A lot of the water
holes were dry and a couple cattle carcass could atest to the
inhospitality of the region. Lately they had taken to starting out at
around midnight and riding till noon till the sun started to cook the
backs of their necks and blind their eyes. Sometimes the only way
they knew what time it was was by the pocket watch Spike always carried
with him. The sun burned so bright it was hard to pin point exactly
where it was in the sky.
After that it was easier to find some shade and sleep till the sun set,
then start out again.
Getting closer to Tombstone Xander was starting to have an odd
feeling gnawing at the back of his mind. Nothing he could really put
his finger on, just something uncomfortable.
A feeling like something was wrong.
Something he should be remembering, but was just slipping
out of reach of his memory. Each day since they entered the
Arizona Territory the feeling had grown.
Spike's words echoed in his ear.
"Live together, ride together, die together"
Words that brought comfort and spoke of Spike's love and devotion to
him in New Mexico now filled him with discomfort. Yet it sounded foolish
even to him, so Xander kept his reservations to himself, and didn't discuss his fears with Spike
Finally they were just about two days out, and the heat had them
both tired, sweaty and irritable.
They stopped early and slept in the shade of a cave they had found.
Xander was restless and felt like he had just dozed off when he heard
Spike up and moving around.
"Come on. Sun's down, Xan. Let's get the horses packed up
and try to put some miles behind us."
Spike swatted a sleeping Xander with his cowboy hat as he walked past him.
"I'll get the horses seen to, give them some water from what's left
of the creek and bring them around. Now Xander!"
"Shit, Spike. Quit yellin' I'm up. Gotta piss first." But by then Xander realized he was bitching to empty space.
Spike had already walked off.
Still stomping, Xander headed in the other direction to find a
tree that needed watering, and considering the present draught,
he figured he was doing it a great service.
Stumbling back into their camp he saw Spike squatted
down over their saddle bags frantically rooting.
Slipping up quietly behind him, Xander circled his arms around Spike's
waist and whispered in his ear
"What'cha looking for, babe? Dig into my britches and I bet you could
come up with just what you need." The response was instant and wholly
unexpected.
Xander was punched in the face.
Punched hard enough to knock him down, then kicked in the ribs.
Curling into a ball to protect his body, all he could see in front of him was the foot pulling back to swing again, this time at his head.
"Wouldn't do that, mate." The sound of Spike's voice was
accentuated with the click of the hammer on his pistol.
The foot froze. Slowly Xander uncurled his body and looked up.
The person looking down on him disgustingly was definitely not Spike.
The man with the gun pointed at the strangers head, thank god, was Spike.
Struggling to his feet and wincing with pain, Xander stared back and
forth between them. Same body size, same stance, same blond hair,
but there was nothing similar about the face.
Where Spike was beautiful, this man was ugly, both
inside and out. His eyes held a hate and cruelty that
seemed to bubble over into a nasty case of puss crusted skin sores.
Xander was stunned.
How could he have ever mistaken this creature for his Spike.
Even in the dark. Even from behind.
"Who the fuck are you?" He demanded.
"None of your Goddamn business." The stranger spat out.
Two steps forward and the gun Spike was holding was now pressed
against the stranger's temple.
"Answer his question or I blow your nasty pussy head off."
Spike told him calmly.
"I ain't gotta tell him shit. He ain't nothin' but a fuckin' queer.
Tried to get in my ass, he did."
With a half a smirk on his face, Spike turned to Xander and asked
"Can't leave you alone for a minute can I?"
"Shut up, Spike. It's dark. He was going through the bags.
I thought it was you.
HEY! He was going through the bags!"
Xander, recovering from the pain and embarrassment was now filled with indignation.
"Looking for something, mate? Search him, Xan."
Spike nudged the stranger's head a couple times with the barrel
of the gun as warning. Xander checked all his pockets and found nothing.
He took the gun from the stranger's holster and stepped back.
"He's clean. Got nothing."
"Just means you caught him before he stole anything. Don't matter, Xan,
I still think we should shoot him."
Finally realizing the seriousness of his situation, the stranger threw up his hands.
"Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Names Long. George Long.
Didn't mean no harm"
George tried looking friendly with a weak smile that showed
more than a few black teeth.
"Just hungry is all. Just looking for food."
"Let him go, Spike. I searched him. He didn't get anything."
"Let him go!? He's a fucking thief. He beat the shit out of you."
"Yea, sorry about that" George continued, still trying to grin and weasel his way out.
"I misunderstood what you were saying. No hard feelings? Right?"
"Let him go, Spike. We don't need no more dead bodies behind us.
We've done enough killing."
At that comment Spike chuckled quietly. Yea, that was his boy.
George's eyes got big and he froze. Just as he was trying to decide just how much of a threat these two were, Spike raised the gun an inch or two above George's head and pulled the trigger.
An ear splitting shot rang out.
Screaming, George pissed himself. and grabbed his chest, waiting for
the pain of the bullet to register.
"Just a reminder, mate. Stay the hell away from us. Now, get the fuck outta here."
Spike holstered his gun and stepped back to give the terrified, wet man room to flee.
As soon as he was out of sight Spike went to Xander's side and
supported him under the arms. "You o.k., love?"
"Yea, Spike. Just feel like this is a bad omen. I think we should go. Now."
Xander pulled away from him and limped towards his horse.
Spike stood and watched him go. It was funny, almost like
Xander could read his mind and knew about the foreboding he
had been feeling.
Spike finished packing the horses wordlessly and they rode
off together, both lost in their own thoughts