The Young Riders: General Series prompt 18 - Black
Title: Seeing Black, Seeing Red
Fandom: The Young Riders
Characters: Sam, Emma, James Butler Hickok, Longley, and more
Prompt: 018 - Black
Word Count: 676
Rating: PG13
Summary: the aftermath of Longley's visit
Author's Notes: There is a single AU point in this story, which will continue on in future entries. It deals with some of the 'real history' of the PX.
Nothing had prepared them for the fact that once Longley had been arrested, he’d have no problem talking. The problem was how to shut him up.
The man had lungs in him. Lungs that never seemed to run out of air and a tongue that didn’t mind flapping around as long as he felt that he was getting his revenge and this time it was about Emma.
Teaspoon and Sam both agreed on one thing. They were both mighty glad that Emma lived outside of town so she didn’t have to hear what was being said, but then again they agreed the sooner they got Bill Longley out of Sweetwater the better.
“You wanna shut me up, eh Marshal?”
Sam gave the man a venomous look. “You’re right about that, Longley. You need to shut your mouth if you want to live until your trial.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Hell if he’s not, I certainly am.” Jimmy shouldered his way through the wall of Teaspoon and Sam and leaned on the bars of the prison cell. “I’m tired of hearing you flap your gums about Emma, Longley, and I’m gonna put a stop to it one way or another.”
Longley nearly chortled with glee. “You heard him gentlemen, are you going to stand there and let him threaten me?”
Teaspoon shrugged his shoulders. “I’d chalk it up to that ‘freedom of speech’ idea in the Constitution, as long as Hickok here doesn’t act on it.”
Jimmy turned back to the Marshal and the Station Master. “I’ll do more than that; I’ll give Longley here a gun and meet him in the street. We’d have it over in a few minutes and we’d all be able to go back to our lives without a second thought.”
Longley looked up at Sam. “I dunno Marshal, I think you’d be afraid for your friend here. I don’t take too kindly to havin’ folks sully my good name.”
Sam turned a dark look on the gunman. “Longley the only thing ‘good’ about you is when you’re gone.” He turned around to Jimmy. “That don’t mean that I’m gonna let you yank him out of his cell just because you have a need to shoot something.”
Jimmy had every inch of his body posed in a calm laid back posture. “It’s always worked in the past, why mess with somethin’ that works?”
“Because,” barked Sam, “this ain’t where you’ve ‘always’ been, Hickok. This is my town and when you’re here you follow my rules, or I run you out on a rail.”
There was a dark glint in Jimmy’s eyes. “I’d like to see you try, Cain.”
“Now boys…” both men turned to glare at the Pony Express Station Master, “this ain’t helpin’ or figurin’ out what to do with Longley.”
“No,” agreed Sam, “but Hickok here ain’t doin’ much to help.”
Teaspoon huffed. “It’s getting’ downright hard for me to figure out who the good guys are in the room.”
“I don’t care about good, I care about Emma.”
The room went silent so that the only noise any of them heard came from the street and the open double doors. Longley, who up until now had regaled them with his rants about Emma and the care he’d been receiving now stood up from his bunk and grabbed the bars in his hands, knuckles turning white. “Quite a woman, our Emma.”
Sam stepped closer his gaze dark and brooding. “I’ve had about enough of you talkin’ about the woman like she’s important to you, Longley. You wanna hurt her and that ain’t love… it ain’t anything good like love should be.”
“Really, Marshal? Are you tellin’ us that you’ve already gone and staked your claim on the woman? Are you tellin’ us she hasn’t taken your ring?” Longley swallowed a breath like it was whiskey, fast and with a smile as it went down. “She took mine.”
Sam Cain saw red. It wasn’t so much the blinding anger but the blood pouring from Longley’s broken nose.
Fandom: The Young Riders
Characters: Sam, Emma, James Butler Hickok, Longley, and more
Prompt: 018 - Black
Word Count: 676
Rating: PG13
Summary: the aftermath of Longley's visit
Author's Notes: There is a single AU point in this story, which will continue on in future entries. It deals with some of the 'real history' of the PX.
Nothing had prepared them for the fact that once Longley had been arrested, he’d have no problem talking. The problem was how to shut him up.
The man had lungs in him. Lungs that never seemed to run out of air and a tongue that didn’t mind flapping around as long as he felt that he was getting his revenge and this time it was about Emma.
Teaspoon and Sam both agreed on one thing. They were both mighty glad that Emma lived outside of town so she didn’t have to hear what was being said, but then again they agreed the sooner they got Bill Longley out of Sweetwater the better.
“You wanna shut me up, eh Marshal?”
Sam gave the man a venomous look. “You’re right about that, Longley. You need to shut your mouth if you want to live until your trial.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Hell if he’s not, I certainly am.” Jimmy shouldered his way through the wall of Teaspoon and Sam and leaned on the bars of the prison cell. “I’m tired of hearing you flap your gums about Emma, Longley, and I’m gonna put a stop to it one way or another.”
Longley nearly chortled with glee. “You heard him gentlemen, are you going to stand there and let him threaten me?”
Teaspoon shrugged his shoulders. “I’d chalk it up to that ‘freedom of speech’ idea in the Constitution, as long as Hickok here doesn’t act on it.”
Jimmy turned back to the Marshal and the Station Master. “I’ll do more than that; I’ll give Longley here a gun and meet him in the street. We’d have it over in a few minutes and we’d all be able to go back to our lives without a second thought.”
Longley looked up at Sam. “I dunno Marshal, I think you’d be afraid for your friend here. I don’t take too kindly to havin’ folks sully my good name.”
Sam turned a dark look on the gunman. “Longley the only thing ‘good’ about you is when you’re gone.” He turned around to Jimmy. “That don’t mean that I’m gonna let you yank him out of his cell just because you have a need to shoot something.”
Jimmy had every inch of his body posed in a calm laid back posture. “It’s always worked in the past, why mess with somethin’ that works?”
“Because,” barked Sam, “this ain’t where you’ve ‘always’ been, Hickok. This is my town and when you’re here you follow my rules, or I run you out on a rail.”
There was a dark glint in Jimmy’s eyes. “I’d like to see you try, Cain.”
“Now boys…” both men turned to glare at the Pony Express Station Master, “this ain’t helpin’ or figurin’ out what to do with Longley.”
“No,” agreed Sam, “but Hickok here ain’t doin’ much to help.”
Teaspoon huffed. “It’s getting’ downright hard for me to figure out who the good guys are in the room.”
“I don’t care about good, I care about Emma.”
The room went silent so that the only noise any of them heard came from the street and the open double doors. Longley, who up until now had regaled them with his rants about Emma and the care he’d been receiving now stood up from his bunk and grabbed the bars in his hands, knuckles turning white. “Quite a woman, our Emma.”
Sam stepped closer his gaze dark and brooding. “I’ve had about enough of you talkin’ about the woman like she’s important to you, Longley. You wanna hurt her and that ain’t love… it ain’t anything good like love should be.”
“Really, Marshal? Are you tellin’ us that you’ve already gone and staked your claim on the woman? Are you tellin’ us she hasn’t taken your ring?” Longley swallowed a breath like it was whiskey, fast and with a smile as it went down. “She took mine.”
Sam Cain saw red. It wasn’t so much the blinding anger but the blood pouring from Longley’s broken nose.