ikissdhimbck | Entries tagged with character: ben wade

Before Kate leaves the Bar tonight, she politely requests the Lady deliver a few notes and parcels to her friends.

( Miss Bela Talbot )

( Sheriff Bill Pardy and Miss Kate Warner )

( Mr. Ben Wade )

( Miss Esfir Shostakovna Yazycova )

( Miss X-23 )

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The rest of their first night in Cuero went off without incident. After they made their way back to the hotel, Kate told Ben about her conversation with Will, and the outlaw's plan to throw a bonfire in Doc's memory.

'Wouldn't miss it for the world,' Ben had said.

They spent the rest of the night in quiet conversation, some of it about Doc, some of it about the Bar, some of it about the banks just outside their hotel room, and the fine citizens of Cuero.

But when morning rolled around, the door to their room had became a door to Milliways. The two put on their "Sunday's finest," and went through to give Doc one last big send off.

It's seconds later, as far as Texas is concerned, when they re-enter their room. Kate is moving freely, without even the barest hint of a hitch in her step, now. They are both also dressed down from how they were when they left, having spent the night in the Bar after the wake was over.

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[following this:]

Once the details are ironed out and their aliases are firmly in place, Reverend and Mrs. Evans ride for Cuero looking as much the part as they could manage. Ben even has himself outfitted with a makeshift clerical collar.

(Kate can't look at him without laughing. 'Perhaps,' she suggested, 'you can use it as a Bible bookmark when we're through, Ben.')

It's a half a day's ride from their campsite to the outskirts of town, so it's already late afternoon, pushing for evening, when they finally arrive. Cuero is right off the river, good dirt roads and two free iron bridges crossing the river a coup for the community. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway, connecting Cuero to Houston, is visible from the ride in, and once they make it onto the main drag it's obvious that the trade town is, indeed, prospering (with more than two and a half thousand residents). Otto Buchel's bank is a prominent storefront, near J. R. Nagel's hardware, and H. Runge and Company (a branch of Henry Runge's Indianola-based store and bank). There's an opera house, two large schools, a fire department, and a hotel, as well as at least six different churches (which has Kate smirking, and teasing Ben about him better knowing his stuff before starting any conversations he can't finish). And, farther from the main street, are the factories Kate had heard about: a railroad machine shop, and a $50,000 steam-powered cotton textile factory with sixteen looms.

Suddenly, all of Kate's worries about being recognized while in town fade to background noise. If she can't blend in, in a place like this, then she deserves to be caught.

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[following this:]

It was a breathtaking sunrise. Kate slept through part of it, waking when the sky was already on fire, pink clouds melting into a violet haze at the horizon. She rose up and gave Ben his coat back, shaking off the chill in her bones and the fog across her mind from not enough solid rest.

The morning routine set them in opposite directions at first, as they quietly attempt to wake themselves up for the ride into town. "Baths" need to be taken (in other words, they need to walk down to the river and splash freezing water on themselves), fires rebuilt, food prepared, and trail coffee is a definite must.

Kate leaves Ben to his own devices, wandering off to see what sort of game she can rustle up.

Moments later, gunfire breaks the serenity of the desert morning.

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[following this:]

The door dropped them off out in the middle of nowhere -- right were Kate was, the last time she'd been 'home.' When she'd left Green Lake after confronting Trout, she'd ridden north with little thought in mind other than putting some distance between the Walker estate and herself. If she had any point of reference, she might have known this put her right in the middle of the 44 Ranch, but there was nothing to see for miles but brush and scrub and river water and dirt.

She and Ben had mounted up and kept going north, following the river until nightfall. Their ride had been somewhat reserved, quiet, and somber. The both of them had a lot to think about, after the morning's events back in Milliways.

Setting up camp was also a quiet affair, punctuated by brief discussions of where they should tie the horses, who should build the fire, what they should cook and eat -- anything they could think of that didn't touch on the subject of Doc, or the limp in Kate's step.

Ben took first watch following supper, offering to also take the third. But after he woke Kate for her turn at second watch, she was up, and didn't bother waking him when the time came around for him to take over. Her eyes were on the horizon, and the clear night sky overhead.

She had missed her Texas sky.

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It's chilly outside, and Kate has traded in Doc's winter coat for one of her own. After X-23 had explained that she retrieved both bags and kittens from the stables that morning, leaving the former with Miss Bar and taking the latter back to her apartment for safekeeping, Kate had decided to pick the bags up. The kittens, she told X, could stay with her for a little while longer. At least until she got back from a trip she was planning on making back home, to clear her head and give Ramon some space. She knew the man wouldn't be celled forever, and despite their newly-established truce, she felt more comfortable with making herself scarce before Security released him.

X had agreed that this was a logical plan.

One bag had gone to her room, for repacking. It's where she found her own winter wear (things she could have used over that cold Colorado season), and a few more things she would be needing for this trip. The other -- Doc's bag -- was brought up to Doc's room. Bar generously gave her a key, no questions asked.

She thought about packing up some of his things, to make the room available for another patron, but it became quickly apparent that she still didn't have the heart for that. Even in Doc's Colorado home, she left much of his things there; an unexpected inheritance for the new buyer.

So his bag was left by his dresser, his key pocketed, and his belongings untouched.

(Except for the little orange paper crane, which found its way between the pages of a volume of poetry, and placed with her things.)

She now stands in the stables, brushing down Beaut with numb fingers; words of affection for the horse are steamy little puffs of air in the chilly morning weather, which linger between horse and master before melting away. Her bags are against the wall, waiting with Beaut's tack.

If Ben's note was accurate, however, they won't be waiting much longer.

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Kate leaves the following notes and parcels with the Bar:

( Bela Talbot )

( Ben Wade )

( Billy the Kid )

( Esfir Shostakovna Yazycova )

( Weyland )

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