The Incident at Last Home

Riley nodded over her shoulder, relieved and grateful to the saloon owner. The man followed behind her as she started back toward the brothel. He stopped just inside the door, took off his hat, and made the sign of the cross.

"This was a piece of work, son."

Riley nodded grimly, and the two of them started grabbing all the unbroken bottles they could find. Eventually, Virginia Alice joined and showed them the storeroom in back. They loaded up a mule cart, and Earl hitched up a horse to move it out into the middle of the road. Riley started pulling their guns, too, and soon they had a fair-sized pile of firearms behind the general store. The women went through the rooms, collecting everything of value for themselves or the store, and, by the time the sun was setting behind the peaks of the Rockies, Riley was alone inside the brothel with a box of matches.

The blaze spread almost completely through the building just after full dark.

***

Riley was bone tired by the time she and Virginia Alice arrived at the same spot she'd stopped with the others the night before. The little blonde had been quiet, staring down in front of her as she walked. Riley led her mare by the reins, and she'd taken Black Rob's gentle gelding as well. The horse had the right temperament for a novice rider. They'd had to walk, though, in the dark, to keep their horses from breaking a leg even with the near-full moon lighting their way. Hugo's large gelding, loaded with supplies, was the last in their string.

She stood still while Riley gathered more wood and built a fire for them, and soon after Virginia Alice laid down on Trigger's old bedroll. Its former occupant would have been fit to be tied to know it suited the diminutive girl as well as it did. She looked up at Riley and looked like she was about to speak when Riley shook her head.

"In the morning."

The girl nodded, eyes closing as she settled in, and she fell asleep without another word. Riley sat up for at least another hour. Most of it she spent staring at the stars, but she frequently looked down at Virginia Alice's back and worried.

She had no idea how much later it was when she woke with a start. Her hand was on her carbine before she realized the shadowy figure kneeling beside her was Virginia Alice. It registered, briefly, that she'd fallen asleep while the fire was still going, but that was a habit she was going to need to learn to fix later.

"Why did you do it?" Virginia Alice asked softly, half her face orange with the glow of the embers with the other half in shadows

"Do what?" Riley knew what, she was just stalling for time.

The little blonde didn't seem to have it in her to follow up with more. After a moment, Riley let go of her carbine and lifted herself up onto her elbows.

"You know," Riley said, pointing to her jaw, "a horse kicked me... right here... when I's little. Doc said I was lucky, but... my pa didn't see it so." She took a breath through her teeth and settled her upper back against the rock so she was reclined slightly. "He was mean. Pro'ly still is. But... he was my pa, and just like he was stuck with me, I's stuck with him. I set out on my way with jus' that in mind." Virginia Alice's wisps of hair shone red in the light and Riley itched to touch them. "And then suddenly you pop up an' just say outright that he's mean." Riley raised her hands and let them fall, palms smacking her thighs, "Like it weren't as clear as the sun in the sky."

Virginia Alice smiled a little and turned further, sitting on her hip, one leg pressed against Riley's, shin to thigh. "You knew he was mean 'fore I came 'round."

"Yeah," Riley said, tilting her head back and looking up at the stars. "But I kept goin' on like that might change. Like I could march in his house with Ellis Hodge's head and he'd pat me on the shoulder. All is forgiven. Let me stay without turnin' cruel the minute he remembered I still weren't a boy."

"That don't rightly explain what you did f' me."

"You said my Pa weren't much different than the Tatums, and when I walked down those stairs, I saw it in all them... Emit, Walt, Tector, all them." She brought one knee up, but kept the leg pressed against Virginia Alice's where it was. "An' I knew I was leavin' you where I'd run from. That didn't sit well."

Virginia Alice peered at her quietly, her hand resting on Riley's straightened knee. The heat from her palm radiated through the thick cloth until Riley could barely think of anything else.

"Wouldn'a been right," Riley said, reaching up to brush some of the flaming locks away from the silhouetted curve of Virginia Alice's cheek, but just as quickly brought her hand back to her lap when the job was done. "My brother was a good man, but killin' Hodges won't bring 'im back. Plus I..." Riley swallowed hard. "I was never in it for justice if I'm bein' straight about it. I... I just had nowhere else to go once my Pa put this on me." Her fingers brushed her scar.

Virginia Alice's hand replaced hers on the uneven skin but her touch was careful and soft. The blonde's fingertips lingered in the ridges as they made their way from Riley's temple down until they reached parted lips. Riley stared at her, as fingers lingered on the unblemished skin before continuing back up the path they had just made.

There might have been more Riley could have said in that moment, about her brother, her father, or the men she'd set up to die earlier that day, but it all faded faster than she thought possible. The blonde shifted, throwing one leg over both of Riley's. Her face and body were now completely dark, leaving only her edges brilliant red with the light of the dying fire behind her. Riley fisted her hands by her side, unsure of how to react but desperate not to do anything to stop what was happening.

Riley's breath stopped, and a strange ache took root in her chest. All the while, Virginia Alice moved closer, her touch continuing to the middle of Riley's mouth so lightly Riley was afraid she might be imagining it. The silhouette of Virginia Alice moved in, blocking the fire until Riley could make out the details of her face in the moonlight. There was that smile, joyful and calm all at once.

She leaned to the side and placed her lips gently on the scarred flesh, once at the corner of Riley's eye, and then again at the worst of it on her cheek bone, and finally right at the corner of Riley's mouth. Each soft kiss struck like lightning, and the peal left her shaking.

"I like this," Virginia Alice said, her whisper felt against Riley's skin as she barely pulled away. Riley gasped, having forgotten to breathe."It's like... God has tested you, and you bear his mark."

"You what, now?" Riley's voice withered to almost nothing.

"It's pleasing." Virginia Alice's nose brushed hers as the girl came closer. Her lips tingled with the potential of their touch. It didn't even matter that Virginia Alice had once again complimented her appearance; all that mattered to Riley was the chance to touch her again.

She didn't have far to go. Just the smallest shift forward brought their lips together, and the other woman's hands came up to her cheeks to guide that decadent pressure. The kiss ignited the sensations worrying her chest and she leaned into it, seeking relief from the loneliness that lived inside her.

Virginia Alice was a patient teacher. Her lips moved over Riley's in languid kisses before she slipped her tongue along the seam of her mouth. Riley followed suit, allowing her gentle tongue access as her own rose to meet it. It was a slow seduction and Riley followed her wherever she led, willing to go as far as and farther than, Virginia Alice was taking her.

Timid hands uncurled and found spread thighs. Virginia Alice made a small sound in her throat when Riley touched her, spurring Riley onwards. Her palms slid up the skirt until they reached Virginia's bent waist. Virginia Alice immediately moved closer, never losing the pace and pressure of the kiss, and Riley's hands gripped her hips as she shifted forward.

When her legs had parted enough so that she was seated directly over Riley's core, her own heat radiating through the thin petticoat, Virginia Alice sat up. Riley was instantly afraid she'd done something wrong and scared the girl off again, but Virginia Alice's hands slid on top of hers and held them in place.

"I'm mighty appreciative of what you done for me," Virginia Alice said, her hands making their way up Riley's arms.

Riley immediately tried to right herself despite the woman sitting on top of her. "No, I didn'... I don't..." She struggled, hands pushing uselessly at the earth beneath her, only bringing her body in closer contact with the occupant of her lap.

Two hands came down on her shoulders to hold her still, and it was only then that Riley looked up and noticed just how close she'd brought herself. "I didn't think you did," Virginia Alice said softly, her palms running down from Riley's shoulders and onto her chest where the ridges of her binding pressed through the cloth of her shirt. "An' I don't intend this to be any kind of... I don't know... payment or nothin'. I'm done with all that." She paused as she traced the bandages under the fabric of Riley's shirt, the path bringing her fingers across Riley's trapped nipple. The brunette blushed at the muted sensation against her intimate skin, even if it made them ache harder to be freed. "But I wan'to, if that's all right with you."

Riley stared up into the shadows that hid Virginia Alice's features. She felt the truth behind her words, and nodded.

"You know how you were sayin' about them men and speakin' for you? Like they just take whatevers in their heads and pretend you said it?" Virginia Alice said softly, her fingers finding the buttons of Riley's shirt.

Riley nodded again.

"Well they'd do the same to me, take whatever they thought of an' stuck it in me like they could create me from scratch how they want." She pulled at Riley's shirt until it slid from her belt. The sensation of the fabric against the skin above her mound made Riley start before Virginia Alice went back to work on the last few buttons, "If they put someone in they like, then they'd be sweet as could be. Maybe slip me some extra. Sometimes they put in a bad woman, some ol' girl who wouldn' look twice at 'em when they's younger, and they could get mean. Them Tatum boys charged extra for bruises.

"But when they put somethin' in they could love..." She pushed the separate halves of the shirt apart and started in on the bandages, "...they'd say all sorts a' things. How they's gonna save' me, comin' back when they could pay me free." Her quick hands began rolling the fabric into a ball as her arms moved around Riley's torso, passing the growing bundle from one hand to the next as she worked. "First time one a' them told me they's comin' back for me, I believed it. Waited for him and everything. But the thing about that kinda love is that you can take it with you anywhere, put it in anyone, cause it don't make no difference if it lives in your head."

The last of the bandages slipped off and Virginia Alice tossed the bundle to the side, never taking her eyes off of Riley. "Am I makin' any lick a' sense here?"

Riley licked her lips and nodded again, but then closed her eyes and moaned as Virginia Alice's hands cupped her small breasts, Rubbing them much the way she would whenever she would unbind herself, but with much more care and skill than she'd ever attempted, or than she knew was possible. "I started makin' marks on my bed whenever one of 'em would say it just to be sure not to get my hopes up. That way, if I did start lookin' out 'n waitin' for one of'em. I could always look down and see how many came before."

Her touch shifted, from the hard press of a palm against the compressed skin to stroking fingers that slid along the curve of Riley's breasts. The tips danced across nipples tight from the cool night air and so much more. "I'm glad it was you, an' not any of those notches comin' back to save whatever they put on me. I'm almost glad I never did get away so I could freeze in the dark all alone." She leaned very close. "I'd much rather be out here with you."

She placed her lips on Riley's, sealing her words with action. Her fingers pressed into the tight buds of Riley's nipples as her tongue invaded again. Riley hummed into Virginia Alice's mouth as the blonde's hands began to roam her chest, along her ribs and back. Their kiss grew more and more insistent, more passionate.

When Virginia Alice released her mouth and shifted down her legs to begin unbuttoning Riley's breeches as well, the older woman jumped again. "Wait," Riley gasped a second, gripping the blonde's wrists tightly. "This ain't right."

"I told you I ain't doin' this as no payment," Virginia Alice said quietly,

"I know, I know." Riley said quickly, wondering why she felt so out of breath. "It's just... I dunno... Ain't it unnatural?"

Virginia Alice stopped. Surprise was clear on her darkened features before her grin spread wide, silvery white sparkling in the moonlight. "Ain't no more unnatural than you traipsin' around like a man, I reckon." When Riley's hands didn't move, Virginia Alice released the button but didn't move her hands from their post.

"You know I used to share a pillow with one of the girls there. Regina." Virginia Alice's voice was soft and soothing again, the way she'd spoken when Riley had been in the tub the day before. "We didn't always see eye to eye during the day, but comfort is a rare thing in a place like that. We'd take it where we could find it." One of her hands slipped out from under Riley's and she slowly pressed Riley back until she was reclined against the rock again.

"Just sharin' a pillow?" Riley said hoarsely. Virginia Alice hovered over her, the loose strings from the neck of her dress tickling Riley's bare skin.

The blonde shook her head. "I don't see nothin' unnatural 'bout this," she whispered, as her hand slid down the center of Riley's chest, "and I don't much feel like stoppin'. Do you?"

Riley swallowed hard and shook her head. Nothing struck her as worse than halting the blonde on her lap. Her hands retreated, and Virginia Alice took up the button again. Riley wiggled her hips a little, side to side, as the shorter woman pulled her pants down past her hips. Her bushy hair puffed up and away, freed from its confines. Riley stilled again, the instinct to cover herself strong after so many months of guarding her secret.

If Virginia Alice noticed the tension in Riley's body she didn't make it known. She calmly removed Riley's boots from her feet and her fingers slid along Riley's legs, following the same path over her skin that she'd blazed a lifetime ago. Feeling in the dark what neither of them could have seen before. Riley stared at her, wide eyed and fearful.

The brunette said nothing, worried that any action she took would break the spell of the moment. Her skin tingled under Virginia Alice's touch, and she wondered if that was what it was supposed to feel like. If the touch of another was supposed to make her feel that good.

"You know," Virginia Alice said, moving her hands up to massage and press into Riley's thighs. "I never did find comfort with any man, even them that tried."

"So you..." Riley slouched lower, and shuddered as Virginia Alice moved to the valley between her thighs. She slid her legs apart to make room, and looked away with a blush. "You did with... the other girl?"

Virginia Alice smiled, hand ever encroaching, and Riley whimpered the first time fingers found their way through her briar patch.

Riley had been told she was ugly and worthless for the role of wife since she was small, and thus never paid any attention to those things that might make her a mother. Her pa made her so ashamed of what she lacked between her legs that she never thought to look for what might actually be there. Virginia Alice touched her so precisely, waking up every bit of flesh and showing her how one area might tickle while another sent shivers through her whole body. There was nothing missing under that touch, only more to be discovered.

Surrender was sweet when she finally allowed the warmth radiating from Virginia Alice's attentions to envelope her completely. She let go of the man she'd pretended to be, of the justice she sought on behalf of a man who'd told her she was worth less than the brother she'd buried with her own two hands. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Riley was simply a woman, whole and unencumbered by the voice of her father telling her otherwise.

Physical sensations intertwined with the catharsis to such an extent that the two were inseparable and indistinct. Riley reached up, her hands cupping those fire-bright cheeks, and brought Virginia Alice into a desperate kiss. Allowing all her unspoken gratitude to guide her tongue as it ran against Virginia's. The fire flickered before dying completely, and in the glow of orange embers Riley took Virginia Alice's arm by the wrist and guided it.

"More," she gasped, still close enough to the blonde that the whispered words caused their lips to brush.

"Does that feel good?"

"Yes," Riley said, weeping.

"Are you sure?" Virginia Alice asked. "I don't wanna-"

"Don't stop." Riley gripped her wrist even tighter. "Please, God, Don't stop." That was the only direction Riley was able to give. Her understanding of what was happening to her was so fleeting that all she could do was beg for it to continue. There would be time later to learn it, but right then all Riley could do was hold on tight and not let go.

The little blonde nodded, her hair brushing Riley's forehead, and turned her arm to bring her thumb to bear on the apex of the channel. Riley cried out at the gentle, circular pressure, and the way it swept through her. Lights danced across her field of vision. She rolled her head back, and the lights blended and swirled with the stars. She didn't need the fire; the world was bright enough without it.

"Riley?"

"Yeess?" Riley groaned.

"I don't want to go back to what I was doin' before." Her thumb continued circling. "I don't wanna be this for anyone else. I want what happened today to mean something."

'Oh my God," Riley moaned. Her eyes widened as the feelings inside of her swelled. She felt like a vase, and the water level was near to overflowing. "Oh my God!"

The little blonde's voice was so low, "I only want to do this for one person. D'ya ken what I'm sayin?"

Riley meant to say yes. She did, but such was the surge within her that Riley's cries were wordless, and yet so full of nuance as to be an entirely new language unto themselves. Her gruff, panted breathing carried so much context, framing and highlighting the soft cries that stated clearly, in no uncertain terms, her femininity.

Virginia Alice watched her quietly, straddling her legs, as Riley heaved and gasped. Riley clung to the blonde's wrist even though the pressure had ended.

"Do... do you-"

Riley raised her right hand up, cupping Virginia Alice's cheek and sliding her thumb over the girl's lips to quiet her. "Yes," Riley croaked. "Only one." Her breath was too quick, too shallow, to relay the complex thoughts she was having, but she tried her best to elucidate them. "Me."

"Really?" Virginia Alice cried, and Riley nodded.

"I don't rightly know how to... how to..." Even in the low light, Riley's cheeks glowed with embarrassment. "I don't much know..."

Virginia Alice tucked her chin to her chest as she unthreaded the drawstrings of her dress, but no amount of looking down or away could hide the glow in her cheeks. Riley looked on in fascinated wonder as the fabric came loose. In her eagerness to help, she took hold of the bottom of the dress and helped to lift it over Virginia Alice's head, and her breath stilled in her chest as the other woman exposed herself.