Author's note: This story takes place immediately following the episode "Old Scores".
The laughter of the small group of friends echoed through the streets as Cody fell from the animal he was attempting to "ride" with an unceremonious plop. For weeks now the small town of Sweetwater had been plagued by what they thought was a monster run rampant. Determined to get to the bottom of the weird happenings, Lou, Jimmy, Kid and Cody had gone out in search of it. The completely harmless animal they had brought in was nothing they had ever seen so Teaspoon was trying to explain to them the intricacies of a camel. When he explained that it must have been turned loose after the army gave up their hopes of riding the difficult animal through the desert, Cody had climbed up determined to succeed where the army had failed. The picture of him rolling down the other side of the poor camel's hump had the boys and Lou holding their sides as they laughed. Buck's eye caught something and he stopped laughing and turned his attention towards Ike.
The past few weeks had been extremely hard on his best friend ever since he was positive he had come face to face with one of the men who had killed his family. At first Ike just wanted to kill the man with his bare hands, but things had changed when he realized the man was married and had two small boys. The others weren't even positive it was the same man who Ike had seen when he was eight. Finally Ike had decided that regardless of who he was, he wouldn't be the one to break apart the man's family the way his own family had been torn to shreds. The man, who now went by the name Ben Rawlings, would be leaving to catch up to the rest of their wagon train come sun up. Ike seemed to have let his anger go, but Buck knew that he had brought up painful memories when he ran into Ben. He sat now against the side of Teaspoon's office with a solemn look on his face as he stared at a picture he had drawn as a child of his family. Buck hated seeing Ike so sad and attempted to get him to join in on their fun.
"Hey Ike, why don't you come show 'em how it's done."
Ike looked up, his knowing eyes seeing what Buck was trying to do and smiled as he put the picture in his pocket and walked over towards his friends. He was about to climb up for his own ride on the camel when he saw someone whom he recognized walking towards them. The others saw him too and were immediately somber again, they didn't know if he was a murderer or not, but they knew he had put Ike through hell and for that alone they were on their guard.
"Afternoon." Ben greeted them politely.
They all nodded their greetings in return, Buck merely glared at him from behind Ike. He was the only one that Ike had told the entire story of what had gone on with Ben and the reasons he finally gave up his desire to avenge his family. Ike might have let his anger go, but Buck wasn't sure he would have been so forgiving. Finally Ben turned to Ike.
"Ike, I was hoping I could talk to you before we left."
Ike walked towards him, but was stopped by Buck's hand on his arm. His protective nature for Ike was taking over and he didn't trust Ben. Ike saw this and just looked at him with understanding, his eyes telling him he would be fine. Buck let his hand slip off then watched the retreating backs of Ike and Ben as they walked a little ways out of town.
As they continued to walk Ike looked at Ben with curiosity. He had none of the wariness Buck had. If he hadn't seen there was another good side to Ben, a side that regretted even being there that fateful day his gang shot down his family, then Ike never would have been able to forgive him. Finally they slowed and Ben turned to Ike's expectant gaze.
"I've been wanting to talk to you, but now that I'm here I can't really find the words to say." Ben began hesitantly. "I know there is no way anything I could come up with would make up for what we did to you, and what you had to endure. But, at the same time, I just wanted to tell you how sorry I was." He paused for a moment looking for some way to make his words sound any less trivial. "I wish I had done something to stop Nickerson, that's my biggest regret. That I wasn't strong enough to stand up against something I knew was wrong. I know I deserve it, but I won't ever forget what we did to you… what we did to your sister. Taking away your parents like that-"
Ike cut him off then, signing slowly in hopes that Ben would understand.
<You didn't take away her parents. You took away her life>
The confusion in Ben's eyes was apparent as he followed Ike's signs. He wasn't sure if he had understood him or not.
"Killed her?"
Ike nodded his eyes glaring painfully at Ben. He just shook his head in return, still not comprehending.
"No, no we didn't. Nickerson shot her, but after he left I noticed she was still breathing, so I took her to the doctor. It was one small thing I could do to make up for my cowardice. I told him I had found her like that out on the plains and after he took care of her he told me she would be fine." He looked intently at Ike. "You mean you didn't know this? You thought….?" But he couldn't finish his question, it didn't seem possible. He was overcome by guilt knowing that the two siblings had been split up as well. He didn't have time to think anymore as Ike shoved into him, grabbing his shirtfront and pushing him against the wall.
Once the words had come out of Rawlings' mouth a cold fear had clamped over Ike's heart. The words kept echoing in his head until he completely understood what Ben had said, and realization hit him like a punch in his gut. The pain in his stomach was put aside as he was filled with nothing but an urgency to know the truth.
<Where??> He signed furiously over and over again. <Where is she?>
It took Ben a moment before he could catch his breath to speak again. "I don't know. I left her there, it was the doctor in Fern Spring." Ike let him go and took a few steps back as Rawlings slid down in defeat. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, but it never reached Ike's ears as he turned and ran towards the bunkhouse.
Amidst the group, Buck had been keeping an eye on Ike from down the street. He saw them talking and then he saw the sudden change when Ike lunged at him. It took no time for Buck to charge down the street towards them. The others looked in surprise at his hasty exit until they saw the reason for it and chased after him as well. By the time Buck reached Rawlings Ike had already run the other way.
"What happened?" Buck shouted at the man still sitting on the ground staring at the spot where Ike had disappeared.
"It's my fault," Ben stated simply, not even meeting Buck's eyes. It took a split second for Buck to decide he wasn't going to waste anymore time on him and he continued on, trying to catch up with Ike.
My sister's alive. The words kept repeating in his head as he grabbed the few things he needed and ran to the barn to saddle his horse. Could it be possible that he did have family out there? and what would she be like? He was scared to death to find out. He was angry too. Angry that he had no idea, that he had been through so much and she probably had too when they should have been together protecting and caring for each other. But that didn't matter now that he had no idea where she was. Once Ben had told him the truth it was as if he had been split apart and there was suddenly a piece of him missing. He felt that he had lost something he never knew he had. He didn't know what he would do, or how he would find her, he just knew that no matter what he had to find her now. He wouldn't let an extra day go by where he didn't know who she was or whether or not she was alright. With these thoughts in his head he finished tightening the girth and pulled himself up onto his horse. He took off galloping at a break neck speed and didn't hear Buck shouting after him as he ran up.
"Ike! Ike, where're you goin'?!" he sighed as he realized the futility of his efforts and turned back to the others who had finally caught up. Without a word he walked by them back towards Rawlings. He would get to the bottom of this.
