TITLE: Laughing In The Face Of Danger
AUTHOR: Kirsten T.
FEEDBACK: robin-t@clear.net.nz
COMMENTS: Third in the 'Katelynn series
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.

                       Laughing In The Face Of Danger
                                By Kirsten T.

The knock on the door sounded like a thousand guns going off. Jimmy slowly
rolled over to see that Amanda had already gotten out of the bed and put a
robe on to open the door. Jimmy pulled his trousers on and stood behind the
door, gun drawn. Nobody knew about him and Amanda and that was the way he
wanted to keep it. He had seen the problems that could happen when too many
people knew about a relationship, when Kid and Lou first got together.
Amanda checked to make sure that Jimmy was safely out of sight before
opening the door. Outside stood Jimmy's deputy.

"Morning Amanda. Sorry to bother you so early, but I was wondering if you
had seen the Marshall. We have a bit of trouble outside."

Amanda frowned. "No, I haven't seen Marshall Hickok. What do you mean "a
bit" of trouble?"

The deputy grinned. "Well, a couple of fine looking women have just ridden
into town. Twins, I think. When one of them was asking where the Marshall
was, a couple of the boys figured they would have a ride on her white
stallion." He chuckled. "Damnedest thing. The horse bucked him right off as
if he was one of those rodeo riders. You know that woman has a temper to
match that red hair of hers. She got a whip out and caught the guy around
the neck with it. She has a pretty good grip on him. The other woman is
threatening to shoot anyone that comes near them. Well, I had better find
Jimmy before she makes good on her threat."

Amanda smiled good-bye before closing the door. She turned to Jimmy. "It
sounds as though Louise and Katelynn have come to visit. Nobody else could
cause that much trouble just riding into town." Jimmy chuckled. Louise and
Katelynn were both petite and elegant looking women who at first look didn't
look like much of a threat. Unfortunately, in their case looks were very
deceiving. Both women had very quick, not to mention dangerous tempers.

"I better go and save the town from them before someone gets brave enough to
take one of them on. I'll see you later." Wrapping one arm around her tiny
waist, he pulled her into his embrace and kissed her passionately. Before
Jimmy could change his mind about leaving, a gunshot rang out. Jimmy rolled
his eyes towards the ceiling. It was going to be a long day, he could tell.
Giving Amanda a quick kiss good-bye, he climbed out of the window and made
his way towards where the gunshot had come from.

Jackson Post, the town trouble maker was lying on the ground holding his
shoulder with a shocked look on his face. Standing in front of him with her
gun raised was Louise. Just behind her was Katelynn, one eyebrow raised, her
blue eyes as cold as ice. Her voice was even more icy. "You're lucky she
didn't aim lower. You would have made a wonderful member of the women's
choir."

Jimmy cleared his throat. "Morning ladies. Nice to see you haven't changed
since Christmas."

Katelynn turned slowly to face him. "What a lovely town you have here
Marshall. It's a shame nobody here has any manners."

Jimmy took a quick glance at Jackson Post, who hadn't dared move from his
spot on the ground. "I take it that you two just stopped by to say hello."
He moved beside Katelynn and lowered his voice. "You two got me out of bed."

Katelynn flashed him a sexy smile. "How is Amanda?"

Jimmy glanced at the ground and grinned. "She's fine." He slapped Katelynn
on the rear before walking towards Louise and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"Has that sister of yours taken up reading minds?"

Louise put her gun away and looked up at her tall friend, her brown eyes
dancing. "No. She saw you climbing out of Amanda's bedroom window." It
wasn't often one saw Jimmy Hickok blushed, so this was a moment that Louise
and Katelynn were going to remember and constantly remind Jimmy of.

"Come on, Amanda will want to see you." Jimmy's voice was almost a growl.
Louise had to bite her tongue to stop herself from laughing. Jimmy stopped
in front of Post. "Get yourself cleaned up Jackson, and for God's sake don't
touch anything that isn't yours, especially while these two are in town."
Post had the decency to look more that a little worried.

Amanda was thrilled to see her two friends follow Jimmy into the salon. It
was as if they were her own sisters. "Two minutes in town and you're already
starting trouble. How long will you be in town?"

Louise hugged her friend and grinned. "Not long. We just wanted to say hi
since we were passing through. We have to meet up with Kid and Buck before
nightfall or Kid will send a search party out for us." She saw the
disappointed look on Amanda's face. "Maybe next time we can stay longer, but
we can only stay long enough to make sure Jimmy's head is still on his
shoulders."

"You know, I am still in the room." Jimmy's disgruntled voice made them all
laugh.

Amanda managed to convince them to stay long enough to have a cup of coffee
and let her know Teaspoon was fine and coming to visit next month. Teaspoon
wanted it to be a surprise, but Katelynn and Louise didn't think that it was
a good idea if Teaspoon walked in on Jimmy and Amanda.

They waved good-bye to Jimmy and Amanda as they rode out of town after
leaving Amanda with strict orders to look surprised when Teaspoon came to
town. They would be spending the night in an Indian camp with their husbands
before continuing onto Sweetwater the next morning. Although the two women
looked almost identical, their marriages were vastly different. Both women
were loved and adored by their husbands, but where Kid and Louise had a
shyness to outsiders seeing their obvious love for each other, Katelynn and
Buck could barely keep their hands off of each other and they didn't care
who saw them.

As they got closer to the camp, they could hear yelling. Unfortunately, the
voices were echoing through the woods and what was being said, couldn't be
understood. Dismounting from their horses they split up to find the owners
of the voices. Katelynn had just about got to the clearing when her dog came
running through the woods barking. "Go and get Napoleon." The little black
dog barked an answer and raced off into the woods.

Walking out into the clearing Katelynn walked straight into the Baxter's who
were holding Kid at gun point. The Baxters had been making trouble for Kid
for years. They had known Kid's brother Jed and were convinced Kid had
betrayed his brother and therefore they felt he had betrayed them, plus they
weren't the brightest things on two legs. The sound of the gun going off was
deafening. Katelynn's head spun around just in time to see Kid fall
backwards off of the cliff. The sleazy grins on the Baxter brothers faces
more than explained what they had in store for Katelynn. Katelynn looked
over the cliff to see Kid floating downstream. It wasn't much of a choice
really, considering she couldn't swim and she was afraid of water. Be raped
or drown. Taking a deep breath she jumped. It seemed ages before Katelynn
felt the cold water hit her body. She struggled to fight her way to the
surface. There was so much debris in the water that Katelynn was scratched
and bruised, but it also meant she easily found something to cling onto.
Buck had tried to teach her to swim so many times. Katelynn remembered Buck
had told her to kick to make her propel herself along in the water. As
frightened as she was, she knew that she had to catch up with Kid. There was
no knowing how bad he was hurt. Katelynn started kicking for all she was
worth. The sound of barking caught her attention. Looking across to the
bank, Katelynn saw Napoleon and Blackie. "Find Kid." The little black dog
raced downstream following Katelynn's order, while the white stallion waited
for his mistress to make her was to the dry bank. Climbing on the white
beasts back she followed Blackie downstream. It wasn't long before she
spotted both Kid and Blackie in the water. The dog had gone in the water and
had started to pull Kid to shore. As Katelynn jumped down from her horse,
she saw Kid move. Katelynn reached for his arm to help him up. Kid yelled
out in pain. "It's dislocated, Katelynn." Katelynn reached around Kid's
waist and helped him up. Kid was quite a mess. The Baxters had only winged
him but with his other shoulder dislocated he couldn't help himself much.
The sounds of gunshots alerted them to the Baxters presence. Kid shot a look
at his sister-in-law, whom he had just noted was as wet as he was. "I
thought you hated the water."

Katelynn arched an eyebrow. "The alternative was any better than getting
wet. Besides, Louise would never forgive me if I just let you float away."
The gunshots were getting closer, they would have to get out of there now.
"Where's Katy, we had better get moving."

Kid shook his head "I don't know. The Baxters knocked me from Katy. I think
she probably headed to the camp."

Katelynn helped Kid over to Napoleon. The horse knelt down before his
mistress to make it easier for her to help Kid to climb on, before climbing
on behind him. Napoleon slowly stood up and started to move towards the
mountains. They could hide in the caves. Blackie led the way, trotting in
front of the huge horse. They found a cave large enough to allow Napoleon to
enter. Carefully Katelynn helped Kid dismount Napoleon. She removed one of
her saddle bags and checked Kid's wound. It wasn't as bad as she had first
thought. At least the bullet had gone straight through. All she would have
to do was patch his shoulder up. His other shoulder she would have to put
back into place, but she would need Louise's help. Katelynn patched up Kid's
shoulder and helped him into a dry shirt. She knew Louise was close by, but
there were a lot of caves to search around here. Blackie was sitting
faithfully at Katelynn's feet. "Go and get Louise." Katelynn couldn't leave
Kid at the moment. Blackie raced out of the cave and into the dimming light.
Katelynn moved behind her horse and out of Kid's view to change her shirt.
Kid could still see the bruises that had already started to form on her
shoulders.

"Are you alright?" His voice breaking the silence.

Katelynn glanced over her shoulder. "I've had worse. But next time you fall
off a cliff into water, you are on your own." Katelynn grinned. "You sure do
bring out the best in people don't you Kid."

Kid laughed, then winced at the pain it caused. "If I remember correctly, it
is usually you everyone is shooting at."

Katelynn came out from behind her horse in dry clothes that were far too big
for her. Bucks shirt kept sliding down her shoulder exposing the bruises
there.

"Well well, look who we've found." Katelynn and Kid spun around to see the
three Baxters standing in the mouth of the cave. Clive Baxter moved directly
in front of Katelynn. "How about a real man showing you what life's all
about." He stunk of sweat and whiskey.

Kid watched Katelynn. He could never tell what she was going to do.
Katelynn's first urge was to throw up all over Clive Baxter, but the sight
of Louise behind the other two Baxter's with Buck and Teaspoon made her
rethink her position. Instead she smiled slowly and planted her knee
forcefully in Clive Baxter's groin, leaving him groaning at her feet.
"You're not man enough for me."

As the two remaining Baxters reached for their guns, Louise brought a log
crashing down on one of their backs while Teaspoon and Buck triggered their
guns behind the other.

Katelynn watched Louise step over the man unconscious on the ground. "What
took you so long?"

Louise shrugged. "I stopped off to pick a couple of men up."

Teaspoon and Buck chuckled. Katelynn and Louise found the strangest moments
to express humor.

Louise sat behind Kid bracing him so that Katelynn could pull his arm back
into place. Kid tensed in anticipation of the approaching pain. Katelynn
winked at Louise, "Hey Kid, did I tell you about me and Jimmy." Kid relaxed
and looked at Katelynn confused. What was she on about? As soon as Katelynn
saw Kid relax, she yanked his arm back into place. "Alright, let's go home."
Katelynn stood up and started to pack her things back onto her horse,
leaving an amazed Kid and a laughing Louise, Buck and Teaspoon watching her.

Teaspoon tied the Baxters up and rode back to Sweetwater with them. Kid and
Louise climbed onto Lightning. It had gotten dark. They would still spend
the night at the Indian camp and ride home in the morning. Kid, after all
was in no condition to ride all night. "You know Buck, I would really like
to know how your wife can keep laughing in the face of danger." As Kid and
Louise turned towards the other couple to hear their response, they saw Buck
and Katelynn in a passionate kiss. They hadn't even heard what Kid had said.
Kid shook his head and laughed. "I guess we'll be waiting a long time for an
answer to that one."

The stars sparkled as the couples rode on into the night. As long as they
had each other they could all laugh in the face of danger.

The End
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