By the end of the day after a week of planning, trenches have been dealt with, there were now miners and war soldiers camping just outside of town, and the people of Rose Creek appear to be a lot more alive and celebratory than usual. There were violins being strung and people laughing echoing through the evening air, bouncing off the tavern walls. One of the loudest laughs just so happened to come from some very drunk men who were hired to protect this town.

"Where did them eggs come from?"

Jack Horne laughed the loudest, Goodnight running out of air alongside him while slapping Billy's back, who ate silently. Across the table, Matilda was hiding her laugh with her hand while chewing her food, meanwhile, Vasquez was openly laughing with a mouth full of eggs.

"The chicken's ass, you dummy." Faraday was cracking a joke as per usual, laughing like a little kid with all of the whiskey to help him while Tilda tossed some bread at him out of drunkenness.

"Did I introduce you to my wife?" Faraday asked the people sitting around the table with him while standing up, taking out the peacemaker with the white-bone handle for display, "Her name is Ethel, and I love her~!"

"Hello, Ethel. Charmed." Goodnight, being as drunk as he may be, happily obliged talking to the gun, while Billy just kept on eating beside him.

Teddy looked over his shoulder from where he sat across the room, observing the strange men and a clearly loud, drunk woman as Faraday continued, "And I consider her to be the love of my life. And she is a no-bullshitter, she's a straight shooter."

As Matilda and Vas snort out of amusement, Faraday raises his pistol and aims out of sight, while Jack tries to talk him out of it, the alcohol most likely wearing off of the older man, "All right, calm down, now. Put the gun away, son."

"Her name is Ethel. And you'll show her some goddamn respect." Faraday slurred in a slightly more serious tone, putting his favorite gun away.

"Yeah," Jack muttered, keeping a straight, almost disappointed face on while being sick of Faraday's shit.

Faraday then takes out his other pistol, a more run down and older gun, "It's Maria you can disrespect."

Goody and Vas start laughing again, while Tilda helps herself to some of Billy's food (he didn't seem to mind) and Jack frowns with tiresome eyes.

"Don't tell Ethel about Maria." Faraday joked with a heavy, out-of-breath laugh while putting his gun away.

"Wait, wait, wait," Vas tried playing off as serious while looking up at Faraday, "My Maria, cabron? Hm?"

"You have a Maria?" Faraday asked quietly, his tone had gone soft and almost sad. Goodnight and Matilda watched intently as if watching their favorite soap opera, Billy looking at Vas expectedly, waiting for the punch line.

Vasquez started to laugh, holding up three fingers full of scrambled egg scraps, "I have three Marias!"

Both him and Faraday start laughing like children, almost like they have been friends for years while Horne just scolds them.

"That's not right."

As he continues to lecture The two young men, Goodnight's mood appeared to have changed as he leans over to Billy with a haunted look, "The owl followed me here."

Billy barely looked over his shoulder before bluntly commenting, "Nothing's following you."

"I heard the voice."

"Goody..."

"I heard the voice."

"Goody." The assassin spoke more sternly, only to be interrupted again.

"Billy, I heard it. I pull that trigger in violence again, I'm gonna die a ghastly death, Billy. I heard it." As Goody's whole body appeared to be shaking with anxiety, Billy lit a match with the edge of the table and then went to light a cigarette. He inhaled the smoke before passing it on to Goodnight, sighing out a small comfort to his friend, "They're just dreams, Goody."

"Same thing, it's not the same thing." Jack Horne continues to lecture in the background.

"Yeah, it is," Vas mumbled between bites of food.

"No, a woman's a woman, a gun's a gun, in the Lord's eye. I'm sure this makes Miss Crawford very uncomfortable."

"Thank you, Jack. But I don't mind." Matilda smiled softly, thanking Horne for keeping her dignity with just her eyes.

"You talk about guns, you talk about women, you talk about 'em separately. It ain't right." Horne muttered.

"Sure it is. Sure it is, my friend." Vas keeps saying while still shoveling his mouth full of scrambled eggs.

Jack's expression went somber as he explains a bit about himself, "I had a wife once. Had a family. Had some children, too. One time." This explanation makes Vas pause with his eating and Faraday with his jokes, both men looking at Jack with sad features.

Matilda reaches over to pat Jack's shoulder just as the woman Leni walks forward and sets down Horne's old and tattered vest for him, "Now the stitching'll outlast you, I imagine."

Vasquez's both eyes and mouth widen, looking between her and Jack as the old tracker obliges to his things, "That's very nice of you. I didn't ask you to do that."

"I didn't ask you to ask." She replied, almost smugly. As she stood there awkwardly, earning stares from Jack's friends while he didn't acknowledge her anymore, she decides to leave and Jack points at Vas without looking up.

"You quit staring. I didn't ask her to do that."

But Vasquez couldn't help himself, he had to make a comment, "Well, the lady just did some poking and sticking for you. Maybe you should consider returning the favor, you know?" He breaks out into laughter, Tilda gasping in astonishment to the outlaw's twisted sense of humor.

"Vasquez! I didn't know you had it in you!" She suddenly whips out a grin while Faraday closes his eyes to laugh, his shoulders and head shaking.

Goodnight laughs along with them and finally, even Billy breaks out into a grin, Horne looking embarrassed and a little mad as he tips down a bottle of liquor, muttering,

"Okay, all right."

~~~~~~~~~

"Here we go. Easy. Easy."

"Steady."

"Throw me the other end!"

"Here you go. Okay, pues."

"That far enough?"

The next morning, most of the townsmen were found with the seven hired men and woman, helping with bringing up the bell to the church's steeple in all of its glory. Sam and Vas help bring the bell up from the ground with the Preacher speculating beside them. Pulling the rope tied around the bell to hoist the massive piece of metal up was Horne, Billy, Tilda, and Faraday, each of them wearing one less strip of clothing than usual.

"That'll do! All right, two or three more of those, then we're good. That's it, right there."

"Look. Look. Look." Emma tries getting Leni's baby to stare up at the bell's magnificence as it's finally extended up into the air, then being put back onto a pulley by Teddy Q, Goodnight, and Josiah.

"Watch your head now, Teddy," Goody instructed while he and Josiah tie a knot around the base of the bell to keep it propped up.

"Now you can pray for us, Father," Vasquez says to the Preacher as the old man in a sling reaches out to shake Horne's hand after they had finished their task.

"My brother, I will pray for you until I forget how to pray." The man spoke with much appreciation.

"Water, Mr. Chisolm?" A small boy asks the bounty hunter while holding up a bucket of water. Sam just pats the boy's head while staring up at the bell.

"This is a grand day in the history books of Rose Creek!" The Preacher proclaimed loudly to the people walking by as they awed at their old bell.

"God bless you, Mr. Chisolm, sir."

"Vindication, brothers and sisters!"

"Water, Mr. Horne?"

"Thank you, miss." Jack leans down to the young girl who offered him a drink from her bucket, then she moves on to the next hardworking advocate.

"Water, Miss Crawford?" Matilda looked down to see a young girl with curly blond hair offer her a bucket of water.

She smiled through the sweat that had drenched her white undershirt and long, loose hair, "Why, thank you, young lady."

Tilda takes the wooden ladle and scooped up some water, tilting her head back and taking a long sip of the cool and refreshing liquid. Some of it spills and runs down her neck and through the front of her shirt, but she didn't seem to mind as she sighs out of content after taking the ladle away from her lips. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and smiles down at the girl.

"What's your name, sweetie?"

"Amelia." The girl spoke quietly.

"What a lovely name. Where're your parents?"

"My mother is helping the other kids with their pinwheels while my pa is helping with the trenches."

"I see." Matilda sets the ladle back in the girl's bucket and pats her head to send her off to offer water to other thirsty workers. The girl does so but pauses while walking away and comes strolling back with her bucket still in her hands.

"...Miss Crawford? Can I ask you something?"

Matilda looks back down from the church bell and smiles, "Of course."

Amelia ducks her head, ashamed, "My parents are scared. I'm scared. How is it you got to be so brave?"

Matilda's eyes widen while staring down at the young girl, quite shocked by this question. No one has ever asked her how she became who she was today, and the question stopped her in her tracks. Suddenly unfreezing from her astonished state, she smiles and kneels down to the girl's height.

"Amelia... I'm going to tell you something that I've never told anyone else... But it's okay to be scared."

Faraday looks up from wrapping a bandage around a bloodied, splintered hand and listens in as Matilda's voice lowers.

"When I was a girl, my father gave me this," she shows her arm, and to Amelia and Faraday's amazement, a bullet-shaped scar was found running down her skin, "Since then, he's given me plenty more. But I like to think of them as good luck charms. Whenever I was scared or tired, I felt better if I touched them. Throughout my childhood, my mother told me I attract men like my father. And she was right."

Then, Matilda lifts up her skirt and pant leg a little to show a raised rope burn scar around her ankle, "My husband gave me this, along with many other good luck charms to add to what I got from my father." She looks up and gently takes Amelia's shoulders, "I'm telling you all of this because you're already a brave girl when you admit that you are scared. Don't ever forget that."

After Amelia leaves with a heavyweight now lifted off her shoulders, Matilda is standing up and wiping off the sweat from her hands onto her skirt when someone pokes the side of her bare neck.

"What's that one from?"

Matilda looked up to see Faraday not meeting her gaze but was busying himself with some rope he was winding back up into a lasso. His eyes squint underneath the brim of his hat, either from the sun or from the grim details of Matilda's story he eavesdropped on.

Tilda reached up to touch the scar in the space between her shoulder and neck, where Faraday had just poked her. She looked away, "My husband liked branding with hot pokers."

Faraday barely looked up to catch a glimpse of her left hand, "You don't wear a ring."

"I'm divorced. Not many people would help a woman leave her husband... But Sam did. He saw right through me and saved my life from that Hell of a marriage. He shot him dead and told the sheriff he killed a justified criminal."

Faraday watched as Matilda observed Sam over by the preacher, "That's why I'm here. Not just because of this town, but I owe that man a lifetime of service."

The gambler doesn't respond, respecting the amount of information Matilda had already given him that she no doubt wouldn't have told a couple nights before.

"For God's glory!" Faraday could still hear the Preacher admiring and praising the steeple.

Suddenly, there was the sound of hooves as they entered the town, everyone turning to see a single horse with a red skin riding bareback coming towards the church. Sam wore a somber face as Red Harvest dismounted from his steed, out of breath as he spoke in Comanche.

"Bogue comes with his men."

"When?"

"Dawn."

This news drives everyone to be silent, before all heads turn up at the sound of the bell, vibrating off of a hammer. Josiah the schoolteacher raises the hammer, and the chime itself is the only reminder needed to ease everyone's worry, as now they finally believe that they are ready for war.

~~~~~~~~~

Late that very evening, Matilda finds herself leaning against a post leading into the Imperial Saloon, once again standing across from Vasquez leaning against another pole and Faraday seated in a rocking chair beside them. Jack was leaning against the saloon wall beside him while Red Harvest stood closest to the entrance. None of them spoke as if they knew a grave decision was coming, and Faraday tried avoiding it while playing with his cards, hoping the others would gladly be distracted by it.

Their nightmares were heard as they hear the trotting of hooves rise up against the muttering prayers of the townsfolk from across the road. The team's head turns to find Goodnight riding off into the night, slipping away from their sight and their lives. They see Sam follow Goody out, watching him leave before turning to the others and walking up the steps to the porch. Everyone refrained from making eye contact with him as he spoke.

"You all right?" When no one answered him, he looked around, not seeing one but now two bodies missing from his group, "Well... Where's Billy?"

"It looks like he's started to drink," Jack noted while looking over his shoulder to peer into the window of the saloon, spotting Billy knock back a shot with his back turned.

"All right." Sam spoke gravelly while addressing what was left of his recruited men and woman, "Well... Anybody else wants to leave, now's the time. No one'll hold no ill will towards you."

"What about you?" Vasquez asks Sam while inspecting his cigar, never looking up at the bounty hunter.

"I believe I'm gonna see this through. These people deserve their lives back." Sam answered without hesitation.

The six of them are quiet once again before Vasquez breaks the silence, "I have nowhere else to go, so I'm in."

Sam looks to Matilda, his gaze softened as she looked at Vas and Faraday, both men not noticing her eyes on them. Sam could tell that she had made a family among this group of men, and as it was starting to look like a beautiful future for her, tomorrow it might just all come crumbling down. Sam has seen first hand how far she's come from that broken girl he met all those years ago, and to see the vulnerability in her eyes tonight as she stared at her two partners in crime, Chisolm knew his old friend would never sleep tonight knowing what would be taken from her come this time tomorrow.

Matilda's heavy eyes meet Sam's, and she swallows back something hard in her throat as she struggled to say something. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You know, I knew that tomorrow was gonna be a dark day." Sam turns to the sound of Jack's voice, "And now that there's one less of us, gonna be darker. But to be in the service of others with men that I respect, like you all..."

There's a cough amongst the men and Jack couldn't help but smile softly, "And of course you most of all, Miss Crawford." The woman laughs gently while letting him continue, "Well, I shouldn't have to ask for more than that." When Chisolm looked up to see Red Harvest, the young man only gives him a hard stare, and there was a silent agreement between them that no one else could understand. But Sam knew, Red wasn't going anywhere either.

And so Sam was left to look at Faraday, who has been the quietest he has ever been since the first time he had met him. The younger cowboy looked up to see Sam looking at him and for a second, just a second, Sam saw those green eyes shift over to his left, where a certain young woman was leaning on a post beside Vasquez. Faraday never said a word, not even a nod, because just by the look in his eye, Sam knew...

That wherever Tilda goes, Faraday goes.

"I'll see you in the morning," Sam mutters as he walks off towards the church, now that the people of Rose Creek were dispersing from it.

Matilda appeared unaware of the silent conversation between Chisolm and Faraday, looking up from handing Vas a match for his cigar, "All right."

Faraday gets up from his seat to watch Chisolm leave, a hard, almost curious look sketched on his face while Red Harvest grunts to break the silence,

"I'm hungry."

Vasquez nearly drops his cigar while Matilda's jaw falls to the floor, both staring at the young Native American in pure shock.

"Wait. Hell, you speak English?" Horne asked with a sharp tone.

Vas says something in Spanish out of the surprise Red had given him, Matilda letting out a breathy laugh as a small smile appeared on her face.

Red looked between the three of them with a smug expression while getting up to walk into the saloon, "Some."

Jack breaks into what could only be described as fondly laughter as he followed Red Harvest inside, Vasquez pushing himself off his post to follow as well, "You little shit. We got a lot to talk about. Don't walk away from me!"

Matilda pushes herself off of her own post once the others went back inside, walking up behind Faraday and touching the back of his arm, noticing how deep in thought he was.

"Hey."

He blinked out whatever was on his mind and looked down at her, while she just smiles softly and draws her hand from him, hugging herself in the cool night air while motioning towards the saloon door with the tilt of her head.

He hesitates, looking back towards the direction where Goody and now Sam have disappeared than turned back to Matilda, nodding his head slightly as he followed her into the saloon. There, they find that Billy was still drinking, and almost as a way to comfort him, Jack and Vas sit down with him for a drink or two while Red Harvest finds some food to eat while Horne lectures him out.

Matilda finds herself sitting on the other side of Billy, her hand running circles in his back while reaching over and grabbing the big bottle of whiskey, pushing it out of the assassin's reach. Faraday lets her comfort the grieving man, while he himself sits down to continue with his cards, away from the others.

"This is the one time where I couldn't follow him," Billy mutters softly, only allowing Tilda to hear him.

She wears a look of concern, contemplating whether she should bring it up or not, but it might help, "Just out of curiosity, weren't you scared that Goody might leave you back in Volcano Springs?"

Billy shrugged, "Even if he did, I would have tracked him down. But this time... This time I need to think for myself, and what I need is to stay here and help these people. And if Goodnight Robicheaux isn't going to, then..."

His voice breaks, and from the sound, he made when saying Goody's full name, Matilda knew it was time to get him to put down his drink and bring him to bed.

"Come on, Rocks," she soothes, standing up and patting his back, "You need to sleep off your hangover before morning. Tomorrow you're going to need every fiber in your body ready to move."

It took some effort, but eventually, she had Billy stumbling up the stairs and into a separate room. Once she knows he was comfortable and didn't have any liquor hiding under the floorboards, Matilda closed the door to Billy's room behind her and started making her way back down the stairs. On her way down, she meets up with Red Harvest and Vasquez also trying to get to their rooms without tumbling from exhaustion. Jack Horne was nowhere to be found, and so Matilda assumed that he must have made camp out in the fields down by the river. He was used to sleeping outdoors, and so was Red, but he was starting to grow accustomed to the feather beds.

Matilda nods her head towards the two young men and tries to work her way past them, but not before Vas gently grabbed her arm to stop her. She looks up to meet his dark eyes peering underneath the brim of his hat, and she must have looked surprised since this just could be the first time Vasquez ever made direct eye contact with her. And in her thoughts, that was progress that could lead to trust. And trust to friendship.

"Promise me one thing, that you'll take care of my horse out there tomorrow?" Vas whispered gently, and Tilda could tell by the look on his face that he, indeed, trusted her. Not just with his horse, but with his life if it ever came down to it.

"I promise, Vas." She smiled, nodding her head, "Night."

After Vasquez and Red retire to bed, Matilda makes it down the stairs to find that Faraday was still there, idly shuffling his cards without a care in the world. The sight almost looked a little sad to Tilda but tries not to show it when he suddenly looks up to meet her gaze.

"Care for Round Two?"

The saloon was dead to the world, not many bodies were left keeping the place warm as everyone had finally turned into bed with heavy hearts. No one blamed them, of course, because in the morning Bogue's men were supposed to arrive. Everyone wanted to rest up, though everyone could silently agree that they were too nervous to get rest tonight, they all had reluctantly left the saloon anyway. And so, Faraday and Matilda were once again alone, playing some round of cards across the table from each other, hats put aside and small empty glasses faced down on the table.

Faraday found himself more distracted then he usually would during a card game. It was his last night, however, and he wanted to spend it practically smitten by the woman sitting across from him. His chin rests on the palm of his hand, he smiles with such an affinity the corners of his lips started to ache. He observed the way she was concentrating down at the cards in front of her, his own deck forgotten as they lay out across from him, so she was clearly cheating. But she wasn't making any complaints. Faraday's green eyes dazzled with admiration as her hair had been let out of today's hardworking braid and slightly curled over her shoulders. He could sacrifice one minute of letting the people of Rose Creek see this sheet of human in him. Usually, his face was stone cold, as a way of intimidating the folks around here, but for a moment he lets his guard down, staring at the independent woman he's been trying to woo since the day he met her.

"Tilly..."

She sighs, irritated with the childish nickname he had given her the first day they met, and ignores him, staring down at her cards thoughtfully. Faraday doesn't consider it, still smiling with a fondness so warm and inviting, she was missing out from not looking into his green eyes.

"Tilda..."

She pauses, hearing a different tone in his voice that finally makes her look up at Faraday and when she does she finally noticed the stare he was blanketing her with. Her cheeks heat up slightly, the warm light of a tiny candle thankfully hiding it from view. They lock eyes and Faraday takes that as a sign to continue.

"Since I might die tomorrow...is it safe to tell you that you are the most beautiful woman I've ever met?"

Matilda's eyes only widen, her mouth opening and closing while trying to find something to say, but nothing comes out. She was astonished, to say the least, knowing Faraday just enough to know that he isn't usually like this, and she thought that he might be drunk. But honestly, when is he not?

"You kill me." He said with such sincerity and praise, the endearment in his eyes made Tilda's stomach feel warm, like a cloud of honey. It was reminding her about earlier this week when he had gotten very close to her as they went around passing guns out to the farmers.

Her neck heats up along with the rest of her face when she thought of the memory, her chest fighting for the air it lost only moments before. She finally makes a decision instead of just letting Faraday's words cling to the night air, and she huffs in defeat. Slowly, she sets down her cards.

When Tilda makes a motion to get off her chair, Faraday could've sworn that she was going to walk away. But instead, Matilda thought that walking around was too much work for her and so she pushed her cards aside as she climbed onto the table on all fours. On her hands and knees, she makes her way across the table, Faraday leaning back to watch, their eyes never leaving each other as she reaches him, her hand finding the back of his neck to bring him up for a tender, mesh of kisses. Smooth and perfectly fitting together, they kiss for the longest of time, without breath and she goes to slip off the table and onto his lap. In the process, however, she knocks over his cards using her skirt that covered her pants and he finally breaks away from the more than enjoyable kiss to catch his breath and whine playfully,

"But I was winning..."

She lets out a breathy laugh, leaning down for another kiss, her breath hitting his chin while she spoke for the first time since this started, "You don't consider this as a win?"

He most certainly did.