CHANGES

The final scenes of "Obsession" reworked.

"Chris!" Vin roared. "Ella!"

Chris looked up to see the demoness that had murdered his wife and son riding away. He took aim and fired.

She kept riding.

Chris heard the roar of Vin's mare's leg and saw the brunette's body jerk as she fell backwards off her galloping horse.

Grunting, Chris hobbled over to where she lay. He could see where her shoulder was soaking with her own blood.

She opened her eyes as he straddled her, pinning her to the ground. She smiled up at him. "Now... we-we can be together...."

"Never," he growled. "You took my life."

"So we could build anew!" she gasped. "Just – just kiss me – you'll see!"

Chris snarled and backhanded her.

And still, she smiled. Completely unhinged. "Yes...I knew you liked it rough, too..."

Chris's vision clouded with fury. He realised he was still holding his gun. "Oh, you'll be kissed, all right."

Ella laughed and opened her mouth to reply – and froze as Chris forced the barrel of his pistol into her mouth. Her eyes went wide, looking into his.

"I. Loved. Sarah," he snarled. "For her. For Adam."

And Vin turned his head and closed his eyes as a single gunshot cut off Ella's choked scream.

He opened them when Chris touched his shoulder. "Look....Vin...."

"No," Vin said. "You need Nathan." There was a world of forgiveness in those four words. He supported Chris as the injured man's legs finally gave out.

"C'mon, Cowboy," he said softly. "Let's go home."

"Home," Chris half-sobbed. "It's over..... It's...." He looked up at Buck, who had joined them. "It's over," he gasped out.

"They're avenged," Buck said. It was not a question.

Chris nodded and finally passed out.

Buck took him from Vin, scooping him up like a small child. "Now you can rest, Ol' Hoss," he breathed.

"Now you can heal."

Rework of the central scene from “Sins of the Past”

Vin gasped as the gunshot sounded in the tense silence. Eli Joe jerked with the force of it. His eyes went huge in surprise as he slowly sagged back onto the roof.

"No," Vin gasped. "No, no, no....."

A hand seized him, helping him back onto the roof. He raised his eyes to Chris. "He's....."

"Alive," Chris said, and Vin saw that one of his Colts was trained on Eli Joe. "I got him in the leg."

Eli Joe looked up at them with pure hatred in his eyes.

"Up you come," Chris snarled, fisting his hand in Eli Joe's shirt and hauling him to his feet.

Nathan patched Eli Joe up and they let him stew in jail for two days. Then, he smirked to see Chris and Vin standing outside his cell.

"Why'd you do it?" Vin asked without preamble.

Eli Joe smirked at him. "You know why, Tanner."

"No, I don't!" Vin roared. "All of a sudden I've got a bounty on my head for a murder I didn't commit! And I have no idea why!"

Eli Joe laughed. He laughed so hard he had to sit on the cot. And then he looked at Vin and laughed even harder.

"You son of a –" Vin lunged forward and Chris physically held him back.

"You don't know?" Eli Joe howled. "You don't know!" He stood up and pointed through the bars. "You cost me over a thousand dollars, you son of a bitch! You beat me to four of the most lucrative bounties out there!"

Vin gaped at him. He shook his head in sheer disbelief. "I.... I can't.... You framed me – because I cost you money?"

"Perfect revenge, ain't it?" Eli Joe laughed. "And I'd get you, bring you in – you'd be dead and I'd get at least half my money back!"

Vin was trembling with rage. He spun on his heel and strode out of the jail with Eli Joe's mocking laughter ringing in his ears.

That laughter died away when it registered that Chris was smirking at him. "What?"

"You just confessed to murder and the framing of an innocent man."

"So what?" Eli Joe snorted. "Don't count for nothin' – you were the only other one t'hear it!"

"No," a strange voice said and an older man came striding into the jail. "He wasn't."

"Who the hell are you?" Eli Joe demanded.

"Travis," the man said. "Orrin Travis." He turned to Chris. "Tell Mister Tanner by morning he will be legally a free man."

"He'll be glad to hear that sir, Chris said with a smile.

"You can't do that!" Eli Joe howled.

"Oh, I can," Travis said with a cold smile. "You see, I'm Judge Orrin Travis. And you? You are gonna hang."

Rework of the central premise of “Manhunt”

Vin pulled his horse up as he saw Reverend Moseley bent over the body of his daughter. "Reverend!"

Moseley lurched to his feet. "Mister Tanner! I found her like--"

Vin drew his mare's leg. "Move away from her."

Nathan rode up. "Vin,what--"

"He had his hands round her throat," Vin reported, his voice cold.

"Mister Jackson," Moseley chuckled. "Surely you can't believe--"

But Nathan was not listening. He had dismounted and was bending over Claire, his fingers grasping gently at her throat. He looked up. "Arrest him, Vin – attempted murder."

"Attempted?" Vin asked.

"Yeah, she's got fresh marks on her throat – and no one else's about."

"But – attempted?"

Nathan nodded. "Attempted. She's alive."

The townspeople were in sheer disbelief. The Reverend Moseley – a man of God – had nearly strangled his own child?

The man's reasoning remained hidden until the day Claire walked down the stairs of Clinic. A young Indian man raced toward her, and a welcoming smile exploded over her face.

In front of everyone, he kissed her, then his hand went to her stomach, and he asked her a wordless question. She put her hand over his and nodded. His smile was like the sunshine.

Mary Travis walked up. "You're sure I can't change your mind?"

"No," Claire croaked out, her voice loud in the stunned silence. "I know now I'll never be welcome in the land of my birth because Chanu is my husband."

"She will be safe with my family," Chanu said. "As will our child."

The Seven rode up with an empty horse. Claire was helped onto it, and Chanu swung up behind her.

The Seven then surrounded them, and the crowd parted for them as they rode out of town.

The only sound other than the horses' hooves was the enraged swearing of Reverend Moseley as he watched the procession from his jail cell.

Some distance from town, the eight horses became nine. Claire gasped at the unexpected sight of her brother. "Rafe, what?"

He looked at her. "You will always be my family, Claire. 'I'm sorry' is just words. So I'm going to show you how I feel." He met her husband's eyes. "Chanu, I would like to help you and Claire any way I can."

Chanu's head dipped. "Then do not lose touch with Claire – or force her to choose between us."

"Agreed." A handshake to seal the deal, and the Seven and Rafe delivered the couple to their new life.

In peace and in safety. And with love.

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