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The Only Rules That Matter: Legacy (Corsair and Madam Mim)

"Fuck woman?" Sam teased. "Reckon that was mah plan." Slowly, she dragged her tongue over Jackie's folds once more, taking her time and enjoying her lover. There was an odd taste mixed in with her juices, which she suspected was BD's cum. Maybe she'd have to go and check, later? But that was later. "An' Ah ain't studyin' ta kill yeh. Jes' ta drive yeh wild." She slid her thumbs up and over Jackie's slick lips, using the pads to frame and hold Jackie's clit. She circled the tender flesh with her tongue, then squeezed gently with her thumbs before sucking on it, and the way Jackie squalled and squirmed beneath her was it's own reward. "How'm Ah doin'?"

Time to up the ante, Sam decided as Jackie moaned in response. She thought for a moment about finding Jackie's toy and going at her with it, but decided against it. Mostly because she'd have to move, and she was enjoying having a mouth full of her lover way too much. But also because she figured that, after BD, she might be just a touch tender. And while that toy wasn't as long or thick as BD, Jackie probably wanted a bit of a break. So, still sucking on Jackie's clit, Sam stroked her finger over the slick flesh of her lover. Exploring carefully, she pressed her finger in. Just the tip at first, stroking and pressing against Jackie's walls in time with her lips and tongue on her clit, but slowly pushing deeper until her finger was buried to the third knuckle. 'Gawd, woman," she groaned into her lover's flesh. "Y'all feel so fuckin' good on mah hand."
 
Jackie writhed under Sam's touch, one hand staying in her hair while the other drifted to her own breast to play with her nipple. "Guess you're doin' pretty alright," she assessed in a tone that didn't quite reach casual. She moaned and pressed her good heel into the floor, trying not to squirm out of the chair. That might ruin the moment.

Then Sam pressed a finger inside her. It wasn't like BD, who hadn't been rough but still hadn't exactly been gentle. It was controlled and calculated, and much more precise. How anyone could prefer a cock most of the time was beyond her reckoning. Sure it was good for brute force and making you feel filled, but this...this was so much better.

"Fuck..." Jackie moaned, arching her hips off the chair. She had been coming close when Sam came, so it wasn't difficult to get her there again. "Fuck Sam...I'm close...oh God Saaaaammm..."
 
“Ah don’t want y’close,” Sam growled, gently biting Jackie’s clit as she slid a second finger into her. “Ah wanna taste y’cummin’. Ah want BD there t’see jes’ how fuckin’ hot y’are when y’cum.” As her two fingers stroked in and out of Jackie’s slick folds, she stole a quick glance behind her. The big man sat transfixed, dark hand wrapped around his ebon shaft as he stared at the two women in his bed. Grinning by at the sight, she caressed her lover’s lips with her tongue. “Ah want him ta see y’cum, Jackie. Ah want him ta see how Ah kin make y’cum fer me. Y’gonna show him?”

Another finger pushed into Jackie, stretching her around Sam’s hand. “Cum fer me, baby. Let him see jes' how a real woman kin make y'cum, Jackie. Gawd, Ah want"cha ta cum fer me, baby.". She let her fingers slip from Jackie's cunt, replacing them with long, deep strokes of her tongue. They dripped with her juices, leaving trails on her skin as she traced lower. One finger pressed against Jackie's ass, circling a moment before pushing gently through the tight ring of muscle she found.
 
"Saaamm...fuck me..." Jackie writhed under her lover's tongue as a second, then a third finger slid inside her. She arched her back, eyes squeezed tightly closed against the pleasure as Sam demanded that she cum. She whimpered in need when she pulled her fingers out, but quickly replaced them with her tongue. She felt one finger press into her ass and reached down to squeeze her shoulder. That felt good, but it was enough.

"Fuck baby I'm...I'm...Fuck!" Jackie shouted and arched off of the mattress as she came hard around Sam's tongue, gripping the covers in her fists. Her good heel dug against the mattress as she cried out through her orgasm. She came crashing back down onto the mattress, breathing hard, breasts heaving as she struggled to move. "Fuck Sam...Jesus fuck!" She giggled absently and shook her head. "Like I said...you're gonna be the death of me, woman!" She ran a hand through Sam's hair and laughed again. "I'll be feelin' this in the morning."
 
"Ah'd be real put out if'n y'all didn't feel it in th' mornin'," Sam laughed, climbing up her lover's body. For a short time she was content to collapse into Jackie's arms, letting her taste herself on her lips as she lazily kissed her. "Kin feel it again an' again in th' mornin', if'n y'want," she added with a grin, stroking Jackie's cheek with her thumb. "Gawd, yer amazin'." She kissed Jackie again, lingering over the act and enjoying it. Finally, grinning from ear to ear, she heaved a contented smile and sagged into BD's mattress. "Real amazin'."

The thought of BD made her glance at their host. He sat on a kitchen chair, stark naked, skin seeming to shimmer in the ruddy light of his hearth. His thick cock was erect, clenched in his powerful fist, and he managed to look both embarrassed and aroused as he caught Sam staring at him. Grinning, feeling her pussy flutter at the sight, she nudged Jackie and nodded at the man. "Now look at that. We done turned him outta his bed, an' left him all hot an' bothered. Seems like, if'n we're th' guests here, one o' us outta help him do somethin' 'bout that. Probably ain't gonna sleep well, like that."

As Jackie started to speak, Sam laid a finger on her lips. "Hush, you. Ah reckon y'all ain't that innerested. So, Ah tell you what." She kissed her lover lightly. "Ah figger Ah enjoyed havin' him, so Ah'll tend ta it. All y'all gotta do is lay here, all sexy as hell, keepin' th' bed warm fer me. Deal?" Grinning, she kissed Jackie once more. Then she crawled out of the bed, standing up straight and throwing her chest out, swaying her hips as she walked across split board floor towards BD. He watched hungrily as she stood befoire him, reaching down to grip his thick shaft.

"That fer me?" she purred, climbing into his lap.



Sam shifted lazily, feeling most of the muscles in her body ache as the sun beat into her face. Grunting, she rolled over a little and burrowed against Jackie's body, arm going around her. Another set of arms slid around her waist, and an unfamiliar hard body pressed against her back. One eye cracked open, slightly puzzled, until she saw an arm that looked coal black against her tan skin. BD.

It had been late when she'd finally been too exhausted and sore to continue exploring her realization that she wasn't entirely opposed to men. Not men like the big preacher, at least. She'd ridden him long and hard and then, struck by inspiration and whiskey, cleaned his cum and hers from his thick cock with her tongue. Then he'd bent her over his table, mounting her like a filly and thrusting powerfully until she was hanging on to the edge and screaming as he'd flooded her with his cum once more. It had been fucking hot.

Hot, but something had been missing. No, someone. Jackie had been missing.

Dripping with sweat and cum, she'd barely managed to wipe herself off and limp back to the bed and Jackie. Grinning sleepily, she fingered her lover to a bed-shaking orgasm of her own before falling asleep in her arms. Apparently, BD had joined them during the night. Sam found she didn't mind, not since Jackie was there as well. Waking up with him and without her, though? It wouldn't have been as nice.

Yawing a jaw-cracking yawn, she watched Jackie's beautiful eyes flutter open. "Mornin'," she murmured into her ear, kissing the lobe. "How'd y'all sleep?"
 
Jackie caught the yawn and tightened her arm around Sam's shoulder. She didn't hold it against BD for coming to sleep in his own bed, but she didn't like how presumptuous he'd been with his getting cozy with Sam. Still she didn't let it bother her too much and leaned her cheek against the top of Sam's head.

"Slept fine after y'all finally shut up," she said with a contented sigh. She'd wavered in and out of a dozy stupor while Sam and BD had had their fun, a combination of sleepy and maudlin and unwilling to examine too closely the reasons behind the latter. "'Course, wasn't complainin' none when you finally came to bed either." She grinned and stretched, then hissed in pain. "Put too much weight on my bad foot last night, it would seem," she groaned, carefully rolling onto her side to face Sam. "So...Think we oughtta hightail it before he wakes up? Or should we stay for breakfast?" Her hand slid down Sam's side to her ass and pulled her close. "Y'all pulled out and whatnot last night, right? You gotta find yourself a basin or somethin' to wash up?"
 
“Reckon it’d be rude ta skedaddle ‘fore he wakes up,” Sam grinned, pressing into Jack’s e as she pulled her close. “Might be a while, though. He was plum tuckered out when Ah came ta bed last night.” She was just leaning in for a kiss when Jackie asked her question.

“Y'all pulled out and whatnot last night, right? You gotta find yourself a basin or somethin' to wash up?”

“Pulled out?” Sam questioned, far too interested in her lips to think about the question much. “Why would Ah...” Then the implication caught up with her sleepy, lazily horny mind. “Uhm.” Now the thought dug in, gripping her brain and making her eyes go wide. “Oh. Oh shit.” She might not have been particularly sexually experienced, but she wasn’t stupid and she’d grown up on a farm. She knew very well where babies came from and how they got there in the first place, even if she hadn’t been thinking about that last night.

“That’s... Jackie, that’s jes’ plain loco,” she insisted, shock and anxiety crystallizing in her gut as she remembered the feel of BD’s orgasms the night before. “Ah ain’t... Ah mean, Ah cain’t...” Sitting upright, she stared around the little cabin. “Ah, well, Ah reckon Ah outta clean up, yeah. But... Ah cain’t... Ah mean, d’yeh really think Ah could be..?”

Somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to say the word. As if saying it might make it real.
 
"Hey..." Jackie said gently, frowning and sitting up with Sam while she quietly freaked out. "Hey...Sam, lookit me Sammy. Lookit me." She put her hands on either side of Sam's face and made her look at her. "It's gonna be fine," she assured her. "You're gonna be just fine, and nothin's gonna happen. And if it does happen we'll deal with it, alright? I promise you're gonna be alright."

Jackie slid out of the bed and limped over to the basin, meeting Sam halfway and cleaning her up with the rag and cold water. Occasionally, when it looked like Sam was getting too much in her head again, she'd assure her quietly that everything was going to be alright. She'd give her all kinds of shit for it later, of course, but right now wasn't the time for ribbing. The two women were cleaned up and dressed by the time BD was awake and sitting up in bed.

"Let me make you ladies some breakfast," he offered, sliding out of bed and stretching. Jackie averted her (sober) gaze from his enormous erection. "Least I can do for you after last night." The preacher smiled, being friendly enough, but Jackie shook her head.

"Thanks preacher, but we gotta hit the trail. Justice ain't gonna do itself, after all."

"At least take some provisions then," he insisted, looking around for his clothes but not finding them. "I couldn't conscionably let you two go without knowing where you're going to get your next meal."
 
Hey..." Jackie said gently, almost too low for Sam to hear. Not that she was paying attention. Thoughts chased themselves around her skull, the realization that she could have gotten pregnant rapidly transforming into the dread certainty. She wasn’t ready to be pregnant! Let alone care for a baby! She didn’t know the first thing about...

“Hey...Sam, lookit me Sammy. Lookit me." Jackie put her hands on either side of her face and made her look at her.

“Ah... Ah didn’t...” Sam started, feeling like she was about to hyperventilate. “Jackie, Ah...”

“It's gonna be fine," Jackie assured her. "You're gonna be just fine, and nothin's gonna happen. And if it does happen we'll deal with it, alright? I promise you're gonna be alright."

We’ll deal with it.. Somehow, those four words cut straight through the growing fear and panic. We’ll deal with it.. Drawing a deep breath, she reached up and gripped Jackie’s hands, then offered a weak but genuine smile. “Right. Yer right. We.. we’ll deal with it. If Ah... If Ah am... p... pregnant.”

Things went better after that. The fear was still there, but it was mixed with a warm confidence. A certainty that things would be all right, reinforced by Jackie more than once as they cleaned up and got dressed. It was hard not to dwell on what might have happened though, not the way she aches as she moved. Not the way everything she saw reminded her of what she and BD had done.

Not the way BD watched her after he woke up, or the way his careful adjustments of the blankets failed to hide his erection. “Let me make you ladies some breakfast," he offered, sliding out of bed and stretching. Sam tried not to stare too much at his physique. “Least I can do for you after last night,” he added with a smile.

Sam’s stomach rumbles, but Jackie shook her head. “Thanks preacher, but we gotta hit the trail. Justice ain't gonna do itself, after all."

“Nope,” Sam agreed, disappointed and grateful that Jackie had spoken up. “An’ Ah reckon we got us a fair bit o’ riding, if’n we’re gonna make it ta Hockley today.” She thought for a moment. “If we push, we might make Abeline by th’ day after tomorrow.”

"At least take some provisions then," he insisted, looking around for his clothes but not finding them. "I couldn't conscionably let you two go without knowing where you're going to get your next meal."

“Ah won’t say no ta that,” Sam agreed, tossing him his pants. “As long as y’unnerstand we’ll be payin’ y’back fer ‘em, next time we pass by.”


Time passed as the two women rode along the rail bed, listening to the clip of hooves on packed earth and the warm breeze. Sam adjusted her hat repeatedly, as if trying to shade her eyes from the sun that beat down on them from behind. Finally, she cleaned her throat. “Jackie,” she finally said, feeling unaccountably nervous. “Ah, uhm, well...”

She swallowed. Damnit, this wasn’t like her! “About last night. An’, uhm, BD.” She swallowed again. “Ah, well, Ah liked it.” A brief, nervous chuckle. “Reckon y’figgered that, right? But, well, uhm...”. She swallowed again. “It weren’t, that is, Ah, Ah mean.”

Her gloves hands tightened on her reins as she bit her lip. Finally, she drew a deep breath and blurted it out. “Ah like it better with you. Ah like you better, Tsidiiligai BD’s a nice enough fellah, but Ah...”. Ah love you. But she couldn’t quite get that out, not again. “Ah’m glad yer willin’ ta help me. With, with this mission o’ mine. An if’n Ah am gonna have me a baby.”
 
Jackie hated her name, her "real" name, the one the tribe called her. But the way Sam said it, it sounded nice. It sounded just as natural as any other name and not like a constant reminder that her father was an outsider, that she was half-white. Not that she personally had a problem with being half-white, but others in the tribe--kids growing up and sometimes elders--had always made it feel like there was something wrong with it, like she didn't quite belong in either world. Her mother had had all the best intentions in the world when she'd picked it, honoring her heritage and all that, but she didn't seem to have quite thought things through. Nineteen years saddled with White Bird and Sam was the only one who had ever said her name in a way that didn't feel like was some sort of family curse. It was a weird, quasi-pleasant feeling that she both liked and wanted to avoid at the same time.

"I'll always help you, Dhateste," she returned with a small smile. I love you too. They weren't going to go there again, not so soon after the last time. That could wait until after they saw whether Sam was indeed pregnant. Jackie also recognized that there was a very big difference between loving someone and being in love with them, and that was another conversation she was keen to avoid. "And you ain't gonna have a baby. I'm an Indian, we know these things with our spooky Indian magic, and my spooky Indian magic tells me you ain't havin' BD's baby so stop worrying yourself over it."

They rode along in silence a while longer before Jackie looked over at her companion again. "It doesn't bother me that you liked being with BD, you know," she said finally. It was a lie, but she'd encouraged Sam to go for it the night before and it wouldn't be fair to take it back now. Besides, if it had been another woman she herself certainly wouldn't have had any reservations about what had happened. "I'm not sure what I do and don't believe about the Spirits, but if they do exist and have as much a hand in things as the old stories say then they brought us together for a reason. And they brought us to him for a reason. And maybe that reason was for you to learn more about yourself, and I can't grudge you that. Not gonna lie, I'm glad I got to you first and turned you to my way of thinkin'." She smirked. "But sex has nothing to do with emotions, Sammy. You wanna go fuck a hundred men, I ain't gonna stop you. Hell, if you wanna go fuck a hundred women I still ain't gonna stop you. I just...I like whatever it is we got, and I'd like to keep what we've got going so if a night like that every now and then is what keeps you comin' back to my bed the rest of the time then that's how it'll go. I want you to be happy, Dhateste, and I want you to be with me because that's what you choose, not because that's what you feel obligated to do. Besides, sex with the same person gets boring after six months or a year."

Jackie thought on that then glanced over for Sam's reaction. "Not that it's gotten boring with you, that is. But if you get bored with me, or we get bored with each other...once you know all a woman's moves it's hard to keep from becoming predictable. That's why I...well, you've seen the women come in and out of the hogan." She smiled and shrugged.

"Anyhow, enough of this girly feelings shit," she said, stretching until her shoulders popped. "So after we get the ashes back to the Rangers in Abeline, what then? We got your brother tellin' 'em you're a man, some cursed Aztec gold, and an evil rancher amassing an army of the undead. Seems like the odds are a little stacked, Kemosabe."
 
"I'll always help you, Dhateste," Jackie replied with a small smile. “And you ain't gonna have a baby.”

Sam found herself smiling as well. “Oh? How kin y’be so sure?”

“I'm an Indian,” Jackie replied, a teasing note in her voice. “We know these things with our spooky Indian magic, and my spooky Indian magic tells me you ain't havin' BD's baby so stop worrying yourself over it."

“Oh.” She dragged the word out, nodding her head as she did. “Well. Spooky Injun magic, huh? Well, Ah reckon Ah’m all right, then. Cain’t help but trust that spooky Injun magic.”

A comfortable silence settled between them, broken only by the clopping of hooves on packed earth, and the creak of leather, and the jangling of Sam’s spurs. A hawk drifted overhead, lazily riding the wind, and she found herself idly wondering what flying would be like. They had aeroplanes, right? Maybe, when this was done, she’d learn to...

“It doesn't bother me that you liked being with BD, you know," Jackie said, breaking the silence.

“Hm?” Sam’s attention returned to her lover. “What?”

Jackie began talking about spirits and such, and she wasn’t sure she understood where her lover was going with it at first. But it quickly became clear: in her way, Jackie was saying she believed that God or fate or the spirits had brought them together, a statement that brought a delighted grin to her lips and sent a warm contentment coursing through her blood. “Well,” she laughed, “Ah reckon Ah sure did learn a few things ‘bout mahself last night.” The laughter turned into an affectionate smile. “Reckon Ah done learned more from you, though.”

“Not gonna lie, I'm glad I got to you first and turned you to my way of thinkin'." Jackie smirked. "But sex has nothing to do with emotions, Sammy.”

“That...”. She started to protest, but stopped. Sex with Jackie sure seemed to have a lot to do with emotion, at least as much as it had to do with feeling good. But she’d had sex with BD and, well, she didn’t love him, did she? Sure, he was nice and interesting to talk to, and he sure felt good. But, well, there hadn’t been any emotion. Just fucking.

Jackie nodded, as if she could tell where Sam’s thoughts were going. “You wanna go fuck a hundred men, I ain't gonna stop you. Hell, if you wanna go fuck a hundred women I still ain't gonna stop you.”

“Reckon maybe y’should,” Sam laughed. “That’s a whole lotta folk, Jackie. Ah ain’t sure how it’d work.”

Jackie didn’t respond to the joke. “just...I like whatever it is we got, and I'd like to keep what we've got going so if a night like that every now and then is what keeps you comin' back to my bed the rest of the time then that's how it'll go. I want you to be happy, Dhateste, and I want you to be with me because that's what you choose, not because that's what you feel obligated to do.”

At that, Sam fell silent. It was close, damn close, to ‘I love you’, and she wasn’t quite sure how to respond. Not without actually saying the words again, and it seemed Jackie didn’t want to hear them. “Ah, Ah am happy. Happier than Ah’ve ever been, when Ah’m wit’ you. An’ Ah reckon that’s a choice Ah’m happy ta keep makin’.” She turned her head slightly, watching her lover out of the corner of her eye. “Maybe there’ll be more nights like that. Maybe not. But Ah’ll always find mah way back ta you, Tsidiiligai.”

The moment stretched, out nail Jackie forced a laugh. “Besides, sex with the same person gets boring after six months or a year."

“Wat?” Sam feigned outrage. “An’ here Ah figgered Ah was gettin’ good at it!”

“Not that it's gotten boring with you, that is,” Jackie added hastily.

“Naw,” Sam giggled, “Ah’m jes’ funnin’ you.”

“If you get bored with me, or we get bored with each other...once you know all a woman's moves it's hard to keep from becoming predictable. That's why I...well, you've seen the women come in and out of the hogan." She smiled and shrugged.

“That Ah have,” Sam agreed, still not sure how she felt about that. “Reckon Ah ain’t got me enough experience yet, ta be gettin’ bored in bed.” Jealous, maybe? But of Jackie being with them, or if Jackie’s confidence? “But...” she felt herself blushing. “Next time? Mebbe Ah should see ‘em comin’ in an’ out?”

"Anyhow, enough of this girly feelings shit," she said, stretching until her shoulders popped. "So after we get the ashes back to the Rangers in Abeline, what then? We got your brother tellin' 'em you're a man, some cursed Aztec gold, and an evil rancher amassing an army of the undead. Seems like the odds are a little stacked, Kemosabe."

“Nah, they ain’t a little stacked,” Sam replied. “They’re a hella lot stacked. Us two up against an army o’ haunts, with th’ only way ta beat ‘em bein’ findin’ a bunch’s cursed gold. That’s long odds.”

She fell silent, thinking. Thinking, and trying to ignore the whispering of the spirits she’d heard off and on since she’d been gunned down. “We got us an edge though, Jackie. They don’ like silver, do they? Well, we got us a map ta a silver mine, don’ we”. Catching Jackie’s expression, she hurried on. “Nah, we ain’t keep in’ th’ damn thing. But we kin... borrow it. Fer a bit. Make bullets, an’ horse shoes, an th’ like. And nice we’re loaded fer haunt, we hit Beckett’s folk. Look fer th’ coins, so we kin get ‘em together an’ break th’ curse. An’ see if we kin get some proof o’ what he’s up to.”

Drawing a deep breath, she steeled herself for the next part. The part the dead Rangers whispered to her, urged on her when she let herself hear them. “An’, an’ it ain’t gotta be jes’ us, Jackie. Ah reckon we kin kinda fight fire wit’ fire.”
 
Sam mentioned the map to the silver mine and Jackie looked sideways at her. "Sam!"

"Nah, we ain't keepin' th' damn thing. But we kin...borrow it."

Jackie still looked dubious. "Takin' stuff off a dead man, kemosabe," she warned.

"Fer a bit. Make bullets, an' horseshoes, an' the like. And once we're loaded fer haunts, we hit Beckett's folk. Look fer th' coins, so we kin get 'em together an' break th' curse. An' see if we kin get some proof o' what he's up to."

"Well don't forget we gotta get some of each man's blood too," Jackie reminded her. "Least that was always part of the story my dad told me. So we can't kill 'em right off, if silver kills 'em outright instead of just hurtin' them."

But Sam wasn't done. She drew a deep breath and ventured her next proposition. "An', an' it ain't gotta be jes' us, Jackie. Ah reckon we kin kinda fight fire wit' fire."

Jackie was quiet for a few long moments. "Sam, if you're suggesting some voodoo zombie shit I think we're really gonna have to drop back and punt on this plan o' yers."
 
"No, no voodoo zombie shit," Sam assured her. "Ah mean, Ah don' think so. It's jes'..." She swallowed. "Y'know how Ah hear th' spirits o' them dead Rangers sometimes, right?" Well..." She looked around. "It ain't jes' sometimes, Jackie. They're all here, all th' damn time - 'cept when Ah drown 'em out with somethin'. An'... they want revenge. Ain't even justice, really. That's jes' what Ah got 'em ta agree ta."

She hesitated again, acutely aware of Jackie's gaze on her skin. "An'... they done told me... what Ah kin do. Ah kin take their ashes, Jackie. Mix 'em wit' water while singin' a song they taught me, an' smear it on mah eyes. It'll let me, let me see 'em. See haunts, an' even, even reach into their world. A bit." She shivered at the thought. "Enough ta know Bennet's dead men fer what they are, mebbe even hurt them - enough ta get the blood we need, if'n yer pa's story was right."

Falling silent, she tried to ignore Jackie's gaze. Tried hard to ignore the expectant silence. "An'..." she continued, her voice barely a whisper, "if'n Ah kin see them, Ah kin order 'em ta fight. Ta help us... go gunnin' fer th' haunts. An'... an' then... send 'em ta their rest. When we're done." She shivered. "An' they're gettin' louder, Jackie. Every day Ah ain't huntin' their killers, they're gettin' louder. Pushier. Wantin' ta know why Ah ain't started, yet." Another shiver. "Sooner Ah get this done, sooner they leave me alone, Jackie."
 
When Sam started talking about the voices Jackie stared hard at her. She had been willing to accept that sometimes her lover heard the voices of dead men. They were a part of the spirit world, after all, and spirits could do that. But there was a difference between spirits and a sick brain. She'd had a friend who'd heard voices who had been declared "holy"...until the voices started telling her to hurt herself and others. The shaman had brought a white doctor to the village, and once a week he came to visit her to help her cope with the voices and ignore them. They weren't holy and they weren't otherworldly, they were just her brain playing tricks on her was all.

She had an even more difficult time of hiding her horror when Sam suggested mixing the ashes with water and smearing them on her face. Spirits, she could believe in. Haunts and undead ranch hands, she could believe in. Hell, she'd actually seen those. But she highly doubted that Rangers denied justice would encourage a woman to desecrate their remains by turning them into makeup. If Sam was hearing spirits, they weren't who they told her they were.

"Okay, Dhateste," she said quietly after thinking for some time. "Alright, but...let's stop in Abeline first, hm? Get you some help. Hear me out!" she added hastily, knowing she was probably just pissing Sam off. "We find you some help in Abeline, some brain doctor, and if he can't help then we go with your plan. Deal?"
 
“Ah ain’t crazy,” Sam snapped. “Ah reckon Ah’m talkin’ crazy-soundin’ talk, but Ah ain’t crazy!” Irritably she snapped Silver’s reins, sending him into a canter. The big grey stallion complied, pulls by away, and she glared down along the trail feeling her blood boil. But now that she wasn’t distracted, now that Jackie wasn’t there to focus on, she could hear them. Revenge, the wind seemed to whisper. Avenge us, the echoes of Silver’s hooves chanted. Free us, a distant raptor shrieked.

“Ah’m tryin’!” Sam screamed suddenly, her voice shocking in the silence. “Ah’m tryin’, But you lot ain’t makin’ this any easier!” Tugging the reins, she wheeled Silver around as she looked wildly about.

Distracted, the wind replied. Could do more, Silver’s hooves seemed to beat out. Without her.

Sam’s blood went cold at that last. Shimmering heat danced around Jackie as she watched her lover approach. Wasshe going crazy? She hoped so, because the shimmers looked like spectral images of Rangers to her, Rangers with torn shirts soaked with clotted blood. Dead men, clustering about Jackie. Without her.

“No.” The word came out as a lone, angry snarl.

Without her. Revenge.

“NO!” This time she shouted it, tearing open her saddle bag and digging out the leather sacks containing the ashes of the dead men. “Y’all back right th’ fuck off now!” She roared, tugging the sack open. “Or Ah’ll scatter yeh ta the winds, d’yeh hear?” The shimmers halted in the act of reaching for her lover. “You touch her,” She snarled, “an’ yeh kin wander th’ earth ‘till th’ Last Trump sounds, d’yeh hear?”

The shimmers didn’t withdraw. Snarling, she scooped out a fistful of ash and charred bone. “Doyeh?” She demanded, holding her fist up and letting particles of ash dance on the wind. As it did, the shimmers backed away and became less obvious. “Good,” she breathedd, pouring the rest back into the sack. “Don’t you fuckin’ test me again, y’hear?”

She dropped the sack back in not the saddle bag, then slumped with fatigue as Jackie rode up next to her. “Ah... Ah’m sorry,” she murmured, sheepish. “Ah... Ah didn’t mean ta get all pissy wit’ yeh, Nackie.”
 
"No, I wasn't saying--!" Jackie protested, but Sam snapped her reigns and rode up ahead without her. With a sigh she passed her hands over her eyes. "I don't think you're crazy," she mumbled, shaking her head. "Boy Jackie, you really are doin' a great job of fuckin' this one up, aren't you?"

She wanted to help Sam. If she was sick she wanted her to get better, but if these voices were legit she wanted to help her get justice. Jackie didn't particularly care which it was she just...didn't want to be without her. And suggesting that Sam get help seemed to be pushing things in that direction. Jackie was jerked from her thoughts by the sound of Sam screaming up ahead. She watched with concern as she wheeled Silver around in a circle, looking around wildly and shrieking at nothing. Lines of concern creased her features and she heeled Paint to a trot to try and catch up before one or both of them got hurt.

"NO!"

Jackie stopped Paint, pulling him up short as Sam shouted at her. She chewed her lip as her companion demanded that she back off, hurt and concerned...but then she realized that she wasn't talking to her. Jackie looked around her as though she might see what Sam was seeing, but there was nothing there. It was just them and the horses and the endless, flat grasslands. The good part, she supposed, was that if these voices were threatening her Sam was having none of it. The bad part was that Sam's voices were threatening her. Once her lover had dropped the bag of ashes back into the saddle bag Jackie heeled her horse back to a trot to catch up to her. Sam apologized, but she shook her head.

"It's alright. I just want to help you, that's all." She leaned over to cup the back of her neck and moved the brim of her hat to press their foreheads together. "You're scaring me, Sammy," she admitted. "And whatever's wrong, I just wanna help you make it better, that's all."
 
Sam leaned into Jackie's forehead, suddenly very tired. "Ah... Ah'm scarin' mahself," she whispered, shaking from what she'd just had to do. "Ah... mebbe Ah am crackin' up, Tsidiiligai. It's so real, them voices. Real as mah, mah dead brother an' them haunts that keep doggin' us. Real as th' White Painted Woman."

Still shaking, she fumbled open her canteen and sucked a mouthfull of water, swishing it around before swallowing. Then she sighed. "It feels real, Jackie,' she repeated, offering her lover the water. "Damn real. But, if'n y'think it'll help, Ah'll talk ta one o' them brain doctors." Her fist clenched on the reins. "Ah don' wanna, but Ah will. If you think Ah need ta, Ah will. But, Ah reckon' th' only damn thing'll make this better - whether Ah'm cracked or seein' spooks - is ta get this over an' done wit'."

Wishing she had something a little stronger, she took another swallow of water before capping the canteen. "Well, c'mon Jackie," she said with a weak little grin. "Abeline ain't gettin' no closer, is it?"



The sun was beating down on them from on high the second day, by the time they made the outskirts of Abilene. "Ah'm gettin' tired o' ridin'," Sam bitched, ignoring the fact that she was the reason they'd had to ride most of the way. "Real damn tired. But, well, they's a Sherrif's office in Abilene, an' they kin git word ta Company C in Lubbock, where these men were from. Then mebbe we kin git us a drink, an' somethin' decent ta eat before we go an' get ta dealin' wit' Beckett an' his men."
 
Jackie didn't have the heart to point out that White Painted Woman had been a hallucination induced by thirst and exhaustion. Instead she ran her fingers through Sam's hair, curling the very end of it at the nape of her neck around her fingertip. She took the canteen and swallowed a mouthful as Sam offered to actually see a doctor. That, at the very least, was a relief.

~*~

"And a bed," Jackie put in. They'd slept on the hard ground last night and she was feeling it in her shoulders and back. "Food and a decent bed." She thought for a few long minutes and scratched her head. "If we report the dead men, won't they want the ashes?" She didn't believe in the spooks her lover was seeing, fairly convinced it had been the heat or something wrong in her brain, but she didn't want to make anything worse by upsetting these voices before they'd been dealt with. That was a quick way to make Sam infinitely more miserable.

"Maybe we get that meal and that drink first," she suggested lowly after some more thought. "Then a doctor, then the sheriff's office?"
 
Nodding, Sam steered them towards something that looked likely to be a restaurant - a whitewashed timber building with a few tables outside that proclaimed itself the "Dixie Pig". She stretched as she dismounted, then handed the reins over to a stableboy before turning to help Jackie down as well. Then she recovered her saddlebags and let the boy lead Silver and Paint off, ignoring the curious and skeptical look the boy had given her lover. Instead, she made her way inside. It was a big, open affair with a number of round tables, filled with the sound of conversation and the smell of barbecue. Several heads turned to watch them - to watch Jackie, mostly - but nobody said anything as they took a table.

"Ah hope this ain't a repeat o' th' train," Sam mumbled, keeping her voice low as she examined the menu chalked up on one wall. "Ah'd like ta finish mah damn meal, y'know?"

They didn't have to wait long to find out, though. Soon enough, a young black woman with long pigtails bustled up to the table. "What kin I get for you, sir?" she asked.

"Special looks good ta me," Sam replied, gesturing. "Pulled pork, taters, corn, an' greens. An' iced tea, please."

The waitress nodded. "An' yer lady?"

Sam shrugged. "Reckon she kin order fer herself, ma'am."
 
"Welcome to bein' brown," Jackie mumbled back, limping up next to her and easing herself onto a chair. A pretty little thing about her age, maybe slightly younger, came to take their order. She took Sam's order first, as most folks did, but Sam deferred to Jackie instead of ordering for her like most men did. She smiled at that, then at the waitress.

"Pulled chicken sounds awful good to me, sugar," she said after a moment's consideration, "corn pone and collards and a beer. Please." She tipped her hat briefly at the waitress and watched her walk away before leaning in to Sam. "Boy wouldn't she wash out the taste of man real good," she muttered, giving Sam a sly smile before straightening and carefully setting her bum leg on an empty chair. "So're you he-Sam t'day?"
 
"Boy wouldn't she wash out the taste of man real good," Jackie murmured with a sly smile.

“Sure would,” Sam agreed, joining her lover in watching the waitress walk off. “Course, Ah reckon a sweet tea an’ somethin’ other’n bacon an’ canned beans’d do th’ same.”

Jackie grunt led in response, working her hurt leg up into a chair. "So're you he-Sam t'day?"

The question made her laugh. “More like wantin’-ta-eat- without-raisin’-a-fuss-Sam, actually.” She peeled off her riding glass fee and shoved them into a coat pocket. “An’ since a fellah sittin’ with a pretty Apache gal’s gonna raises a whole lot less fuss than a gal in men’s clothes, well...”. She shrugged and grinned. “Who an Ah ta point out th’ mistake. Sides, Ah like passin fer a man.”

With a sly little smile of her own, she gently squeeed Jackie’s hand. “Sometimes, anyhow,” she added, ignoring the disapproving looks the gesture drew. But her expression quickly changed, becoming more serious. “Any idea how we find me a head doctor? They cain’t be common as regular sawbones, not round here at least.”
 
Jackie nodded. "Fair 'nough," she conceded. "And I guess I ain't gettin' queer looks since God knows what us Godless heathens wear out on the res anyway. White fella goin' around with a Imjun whore like me though..." She shrugged and smiled, squeezing Sam's hand back. Even if Sam had been blood Indian and passing for a man they would've gotten dirty looks. Even the colored staff looked at her like she thought she was better than them. Fuck 'em, if that's what they assumed. Wasn't like they were going to be here long anyhow.

"Any idea how we find me a head doctor?" Sam asked, bringing up a point Jackie had been pointedly ignoring for two days. "They cain't be common as regular sawbones, not round here at least."

She shrugged. "Don't suppose we can just ask the waitress where the closest wig mechanic is, can we?" Jackie had known when she'd offered her deal that they would probably have trouble finding someone Sam could talk to, but she'd been mostly focused on just getting Sam to agree. "Maybe they got a phone directory?"
 
Sam scowled at the words 'Injun whore'. It hadn't been something she'd thought much about, before she met Jackie and her family, but she found she didn't like the conjunction of those words at all. Well, maybe in bed when it was just the two of them and they knew they were playing. But nowhere else. Even if it did let her lover pass without a lot of problems, kind of like how being mistaken for a man let her pass. “Any idea how we find me a head doctor?" she asked, trying to change the subject. "They cain’t be common as regular sawbones, not round here at least.”

Jackie shrugged. "Don't suppose we can just ask the waitress where the closest wig mechanic is, can we?"

"Ah reckon we could," Sam countered, forcing a little laugh. "But that might make mah whole 'not-raisin'-a-fus' plan a mite harder ta pull off."

"Maybe they got a phone directory?" Jackie suggested.

"Maybe," Sam said slowly. "An' if't that don' work, mebbe we kin find a regular doctor, an explain mah visions, an' see what he suggests." She gnawed at her lower lip. "Ah reckon they probably know each other, y'know? So... wait, hang on." She glanced pointedly towards the waitress, who was heading towards them with a tray balanced in her arms. She deftly avoided a few groping hands, shifting and swaying without dropping anything.

"Pulled pork, taters, corn, and greens," announced, dropping a plate in front of Sam, leaning forward slightly as she did so. "Pulled chicken, pone and collards for you," she said, smiling at Jackie as she set the second plate down. "And tea and beer." She paused a moment, glancing from one to the other. "My name's Alice. You all just let me know if there's anything else Ah kin do for you."
 
Jackie wasn't subtle--at least, not to Sam's gaze--as she watched the waitress's hips sway as she avoided the men groping at her, nor as she admired her decolletage when she leaned over to set down Sam's plate. The night with BD left her aching to prove herself a proper woman again. And this was the exact reason why she didn't say "girlfriend," or "lover," and especially not "love": those words would have bound her to Sam irrevocably. And though she certainly liked Sam--more than liked--and didn't plan on tossing her aside any time soon, love meant tying herself down to one woman, and Jackie liked to imagine herself like an alleycat with a need to roam. And even if Alice had only ever liked men, she was just too sweet-looking to not try and persuade her to change her persuasion. But she caught the waitress's smile and smiled back, encouraged.

"Y'sure can, honey," Jackie said, leaning forward as best she could with her foot up and playing up her best white folk accent. White women got away with pet names like that without anyone looking askance at them, so maybe if she sounded white enough no questions would be asked if her gambit didn't work. "Me'n my friend here find ourselves in need of a place t' stay, and a way of findin' someone we came to town for. If y' could be so kind as to bring us a directory and maybe suggest a place suitable for folks like us?" She tilted her head slightly with a significant look, indicating that "us" may not exactly have included Sam, or otherwise did and would have kept Sam from getting lynched. "We sure would appreciate it, Alice." Jackie smiled charmingly and winked.
 
“Well, I sure can suggest a place,” Alice replied with a slow smile, “but why don’t I fetch you that directory first? Y’all just wait right here, an’ I’ll be right back.”

Sam watched her walk away, then reluctantly tore her gaze from the waitress’ swaying hips. “Damn,” she breathed. “How th’ hell d’you do that, Jackie?” She formed up a mouthful of pork and chewed it down. “Whaddya reckon we’ll be lookin’ under in th’ directory? Doctors, Ah suppose.” With that sheclapsed into silence, putting all of f her attention into her meal. After a few days of beans and bacon, the barbecue was a real treat.

“Here you are,” Alice said, dropping the directory on the table. Sam started, just a little. She’d been hungry enough that she hadn’t even heard the waitress return. “Enjoying the meal?”

“It’s good,” Sam said, nodding enthusiastically as she reached for the directory.

“Good. I always like watchin’ a man eat.” She gave Sam a little smile. “Take it slow though. It’s better that way.” She looked over at Jackie as Sam began flipping through the directory. “And how’s the chicken, sugar? It’s all breast and thigh meat, cooked long and slow until it’s ready to melt. Figure you for the type to really enjoy that.”

After a bit Sam located the doctors - some fool had them under P for Physicians, instead of D. It didn’t look prompt sing, though. General Practitioners, all of... “Hang on,” she said, tapping one line with a finger. “A. M. LaMonte. Puh-sy..? Pissy-chat-wrist?” She shook her head as she stumbled over the word. “Whatever. He might be what Ah need.”
 
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