==========================

Chapter Twenty One
Cowboys...
--------------------------------------

The ringing of the phone woke Sue from her sleep. Groggily she grasped the handle and lifted the receiver to her ear. "Hello?"

"Good morning. This is your wake up call. Please have a nice day," came an obviously recorded voice over the phone.

"You too," She said, dropping the phone and her arm down to rest on the floor. A short while later a panic tone started to emerge from the receiver, stirring Sue again to activity; this time she rose and swung her feet over the edge of the bed, hanging the phone up as she sat on the bed looking towards the bathroom and trying to generate the motivation to rise and take a shower.

She felt as though she had not slept at all. Her entire body was aching and exhausted. Finally she managed to stagger to her feet, and shuffle into the bathroom, shedding her clothes carelessly along the way.

The spray of water helped to reenergize her a bit. She was still exhausted, but at lest now she was fully awake. Her hair was a dripping, sopping mess hanging coldly down her back as she exited the bathroom several minutes later in search of clothes for the new day.

As she was searching, her cell phone rang.

She stumbled over to the nightstand, and picked it up, flipping the cover open and lifting it to her ear. "Sue here."

"Sue, it's Joe. I wanted to be the one to tell you this. There has been a formal Tribunal called to review your actions and determine what should be done."

"But..."

"Sue, it's ok. Don't worry about it. Mike and I will represent you. I already talked to Adam, and he will be flying up straight from LA to offer his own testimony as well."

"Should I come as well?" Sue asked, sitting on the bed. She had known this was likely going to happen when she decided to "keep" Patrick. And that was a decision she, not Eadgils, had made all by herself.

"No, certainly not. The regulations regarding the calling of a Tribunal are specifically designed so a hearing can be held in absentia, wherein representatives of the accused can stand in for them and offer testimony. It is best if you let us do this for you. If we fail, and the Tribunal issues some sort of sanction, or worse, then you will still have your chance to present your case yourself. That is part of the way the system was designed. If you appear yourself to face your charges, and you fail to prove your point, there will be no appeal. Let us handle the first pass. Ok?"

Sue sat and forced herself to breath in a somewhat normal pattern. Her head was spinning, and her heart was pounding.

"Sue, you still there honey?" Joe asked.

"Yes Joe. I'm here. Just trying to let it soak in to my brain. I had realized this was a possibility; A likelihood even. But it is one thing to realize the potential, and another thing entirely to know you are facing a possible execution."

"That ain't gonna happen, Susie-q. I can guarantee you no one is going to be chopping your head off anytime soon, unless they come through me first," Joe said firmly.

"Thanks, Joe. And Joe, thank Mike for me as well. I am sorry you have to go through this for me."

"It's not a problem. You just take care of yourself and make it back to LA safely. When this is all settled out, maybe you can come out here to Seacouver and visit us for a while. I'll finally get a chance to introduce you to Mac."

"Maybe. I don't know. Right now I don't know anything." Sue answered, as her heart finally slowed to a normal level, the blind rush of panic finally fading away as she realized she did have some options. Ed had started the wheels moving the other night for getting some new ID for her from some guy named Aristotle, from somewhere Canada. If she had to, she could always try and make a run for it. If she managed to get away... But no, she was now an Immortal. Watchers were experts at finding Immortals. There was no way she could actually hope to hide from them for ever. But it was one thing for them to find her as an Immortal, and another thing entirely for them to find her as Sue Danning. After all, if Methos could hide right under their noses, and Elvis, of all people could manage to keep his true identity hidden, then she did have a chance. If she rally had to take it.

"Sue? Did you hear me?" Joe's voice suddenly asked in her ear.

"Huh?" she said in her most inarticulate manner.

"I said, just relax and let us worry about the Tribunal. Most likely the worst they will do is expel you from the society, and since you have already tried to resign, that isn't much of a threat, now is it?"

"I suppose not. Ok, thanks for calling me Joe and letting me know. I'll, I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Ok, Susie-q. You take care. Give Adam a kiss for me, ok?"

"Alright", she said. "Bye." With that she closed the phone and layed it back on the nightstand by her purse.

It was a good thirty minutes later that she finally managed to drag her bags out to the Motor home.

Adam was already out there, standing in the door waiting for her when she arrived. "Did you talk to Joe yet this morning?" he asked her as she dragged herself across the asphalt towards the RV.

"Yeah. He told me about the Tribunal."

"What Tribunal?" asked Sally, sticking her head out the door from behind Adam.

"The tribunal which has been called to review my recent actions and come up with an official response," Sue said, stepping past Adam and slinging her bag into the RV to flomp onto the floor at Sally's feet.

Sally's face had gone white, and suddenly she grabbed for her purse, "Nae! This is all mae fault!"

Patrick, sitting at the table inside the RV had stood and bent to pick up Sue's bag. "What's all your fault?" he asked her, as Adam gently took Ed's laptop case from the exhausted looking Sue.

"The Tribunal," Sally said, punching numbers on her phone.

Patrick looked at Sally, then at the wrung-out Sue, and suddenly his face drained of color as well. "They aren't going to kill her, are they?" he asked, an edge of panic climbing into his voice.

"Nae! They will nae touch a hair on her bonnie head!" shouted Sally angrily, stepping outside the motor home, apparently waiting for someone to answer the call she was making.

Adam turned and followed Sue inside as she settled at the table next to Patrick, who pushed a box of cereal and a carton of milk towards her. "You haven't seen Cassandra yet this morning, have you?"

"Not since I woke up," Sue replied, laying her head on her arms, the thought of breakfast causing the knot of unease in her stomach to retie itself even tighter.

Adam got a peculiar expression on his face, then suddenly he turned towards the door, moments before both Sue and Patrick felt the touch of Cassandra's Quickening.

Cassandra herself appeared at the door a few moments later. Sue looked up and noted the bags under the bloodshot eyes of the elder Immortal, and realized that Cassandra likely felt as bad as she herself this morning.

"Rough night?" Adam asked with a quirky grin towards his possibly ex-nemesis.

"Let's just say I had a really tiring dream," Cassandra replied, settling on the couch and closing her eyes, her own bag left laying carelessly on the floor by the door to the RV. The faint sounds of Sally's shouting could be heard from outside as she held a particularly heated conversation with someone on the other end of the phone.

Adam looked at Sue, then at Cassandra, then outside at the ranting Sally, and turned towards the driver's seat. "Why don't I take the first shift this morning; You two look like you need to get more sleep."

Patrick nodded, and said, "Sue, I agree. You look too tired to be walking, let alone trying to drive this thing."

Already lying down on the couch with her eyes closed, Cassandra muttered, "You take the bed, Child. I'm fine here."

Sue raised her head again with effort, and looked towards the back, and said plaintively, "Do I have to?"

Adam fixed a stern expression on his face and pointed towards the back of the RV. "Go. Sleep. You can drive later when you are more rested."

Sue managed to drag herself back to her feet, and wobbled down the short hallway, to flop face-first onto the bed as she arrived at the bedroom. She didn't even notice when Sally came back in, or when Adam fired up the RV and they pulled out onto the highway, heading towards Albuquerque.

The sound of the road surface changing woke Sue from her slumber. From the sound of the engine, the RV had pulled off the highway, and was moving along surface streets somewhere. From outside she could also hear the sound of rain hitting the top of the motor home, and the whish of the tires on a wet road. Distant thunder rumbled faintly in the distance.

Sue sat up, and looked out the window at the passing scenery. They were apparently in Cattle Country somewhere. There were cows and fences, and more cows. Wet cows, along with some buildings up ahead.

The RV pulled into a parking lot. On its far side was a restaurant who's lighted sign proclaimed it the "Home On The Range Steakhouse" with the tag lines, "We breed 'em, & feed 'em, then we kill 'em, & grill 'em. The best beef around. Guaranteed. No Bull." For some reason, Sue's stomach was particularly convinced by the sign's claims.

As the RV came to a stop by a fence, behind which was a mulling herd of wet cattle, Sue slipped on her shoes. She then made her way towards the front of the RV, idly pulling tangles out of her hair as she went. "What's up?"

Patrick, who sat behind the wheel, pointed at the steakhouse. "Everyone else's going to go in for lunch, I think."

Sue looked around and noted a much better looking Cassandra sitting in the passenger seat, nodding.

"You have something against steaks?" Sue asked Patrick.

"No, I have something against dying. It's raining out there. With my luck, if I step outside, I'll get blasted by a lightning bolt or trip and drown in a mud puddle. I haven't gotten killed in over a day, and I would rather keep it that way. Even if that means skipping a steak and settling for pop-tarts instead."

Sue looked back across the parking lot at the beckoning door of the Steakhouse, her stomach rumbling with it's vote, and couldn't quite bring herself to abandon Patrick to a lunch of cold, dry pastries. "What if we bring you something back?"

Patrick looked up hopefully. "Yeah! That would be great! A Medium well Sirloin would be great! Could you? With a baked potato?"

Sue grinned as she pulled on her coat and nodded her acceptance of his order. "Ok. We'll try not to be too long. And I'll bring you a better lunch than cold pop-tarts."

With that, Sue, Adam, and Sally trudged across the parking lot past the corral filled with milling wet cows, and headed on into the restaurant.

Once inside, the Texas style ambiance soaked into them, along with the luscious smell of grilled beef. The cute little waitress led them over to a booth by the front windows, commanding a view of the damp parking lot, their RV, a few cars, and the cattle beyond.

Once the waitress had seated them, taken their drink orders, and headed off in search of sodas and beer, Sally looked apologetically at Sue. "It's my fault lass, an' I'm sorry."

"What's that?" Sue asked, as she decided on the Smoked Chuckwagon cut, smothered in seasonings and char broiled over an open flame according to the menu.

"The Tribunal. When I lost Cassandra the other day, I raised hell about yea. An' hell has answered. I tried callin' in this morning ta see if I could retract mae request, but there was nae a thing I could do. It had gone too far. I told them I want tae testify though on yer behalf, if ye'll have me. It may help if one of the ones who raised the hue an' cry over ye stands fer ye at the table. It certainly shouldn't hurt."

Sue felt a turmoil of emotion. She had managed to put Joe's call this morning totally out of her mind, but with Sally's reminder, it was brought forcefully to the forefront. Then there was the heartfelt apology and offer of support coming from a woman she had just met a few days ago, one who at one point would have been leading the charge to chop off her head, but now was willing to stand beside her at a Tribunal. Not a simple offer, as charges of collusion had often been leveled on those who supported Watchers who had been found guilty of violations in the past. A second Tribunal to investigate the depth of their own involvements was not unheard of.

Any reply she would have made was cut off by the return of the waitress.

The girl demonstrated a bubbly personality as she distributed drinks, then took everyone's orders, including a second Chuckwagon with a baked potato to go for Patrick, which she said she wouldn't put in 'till they had been served, so it would be ready about the same time they were.

As the girl left, Sue looked across the table at Sally and smiled. "I appreciate the offer Sally, but you have your assignment here with Cassandra. I couldn't ask you to abandon your post just to appear before the Tribunal on my behalf. Adam is already going to offer his input, and both Joe and Mike will be representing my side of things for me."

Adam spoke up at this point, "Um. Still, it might not be a bad idea for another field-Watcher, especially one who was a complainant in the first place to testify for you. I am sure the L.A. office can detach someone to cover Cassandra for the length of her stay, and there is the rest of Sally's family back in Scotland to take up the job when she returns home, if Sally isn't back yet. Plus, in this case, I can't see any danger of her being caught in spillover charges of collusion, since she actually has prior sanction for initiating personal contact with Cassandra at this point."

Sally looked up at Sue, an odd expression, almost of hurt on her face, and said, "Please, Sue? I really won't feel right unless I help fix this. I feel so guilty."

As the waitress returned bearing 3 plates of food, Sue gave in, "Ok Sally. If you really want to, you have not only my blessing, but also my thanks."

Sally's smile was suddenly bigger than the one on the bubbly waitress's face as she nodded her head, before starting in on her steak.

Cassandra, who had remained silently on the sidelines throughout the entire conversation just smiled and nodded at Sue's decision, before tearing into her T-Bone steak with a relish mirrored only by Sue's simultaneous attack on her Chuckwagon steak.

The meal proceeded in silence, until Sue caught a glimpse of movement from the RV out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head to look out the window, she watched as the door banged open, and Patrick came running out, as if fleeing for his life. He was running along the fence, towards the entrance to the restaurant, and had made it about half-way when suddenly the building shook as a blinding flash emitted from right beside Patrick as a bolt of lighting shot out of the stormy sky and struck a fencepost next to him, shattering it to splinters and sending sparks of electricity racing visibly through the wires all around the corral.

Everyone watched as Patrick stood mutely before the wreckage of the fence, looking down at his untouched body. Then he looked up at the sky and raised his hands in a little wave, before going into a mutated version of a Snoopy-Dance, apparently in celebration of his survival. It was at this point, that the herd of cattle, having shied violently away from the blast, had surged around the back side of the coral, then turned towards the newly created opening and started a stampede.

Sue watched in muted horror as the herd of cattle charged through the hole in the fence, and right over Patrick, grinding him into the mud beneath their hooves.

"That's gonna hurt," was all Adam said, as he pushed back from the table.

"We need to get him into the RV before anyone notices," Cassandra added, rising to follow Adam towards the front of the restaurant. Sally and Sue remained behind, watching through the glass as the last of the cows stomped on the muddy and still form of Patrick before heading off down the road after their fellows.

The bubbly waitress was returning with a doggy bag, and the check even as Cassandra and Adam made it to Patrick's form, and scooped/dug it out of the mud, then began hauling it back to towards the RV.

"What happened?" she asked, looking out the window at the empty corral.

"Lightning struck yon fencepost," Sally answered, directing her attention towards the hole, and away from the limp form Cassandra and Adam were hauling up the steps and through the door of the RV.

"And the cows ran away" Sue added stupidly, pointing up the road towards where the cattle had gone.

"Oh my! I'd better get Bob, somone'll have ta chace 'em down an' get 'em back," The waitress said, dropping the bag and check on the table, before hurrying away towards the kitchen. "It's a good thing no one was hurt!" she said to no one in particular as she disappeared through the door in the back.

Sue picked up the abandoned check and counted out three $20's to cover the total plus a generous tip, then collected the bagged steak & potato to go, and lead Sally towards the door.

They noticed that the rain had stopped as they made their way across the muddy parking lot towards the RV.

Climbing in, she set the steak on the table, and headed towards the driver's seat, looking at Patrick's muddy form draped dead on the couch. "Good thing the interior of this beast is so easy to clean. All that mud is going to make a real mess."

Adam came out from the back, a wet towel in his hand, and replied, "It's not as bad as I had feared. Several broken bones and lots of bruises; he'll be in lots of pain when he wakes up; better the mud than if had he'd been on the asphalt. And it's sure easier to wipe up some mud, and sweep the dirt out after it dries, than it would be to explain how a dead body ended up trampled in a stampede, and then was stolen again from the morgue for a second time."

"I suppose. Do you all agree we should get moving, before anything else can happen?" Sue asked, settling herself into the driver's seat, and reaching out towards the key.

Even before Sue could fire up the engine, a police cruiser rolled up and came to a stop blocking the driveway back onto the highway. A man in worn jeans, a flannel shirt, and dark mud stained boots climbed out, and put a plastic covered cowboy hat on his head. Pausing for a moment he held out his hand, removed the hat and peered suspiciously at the sky, before returning the hat to the car and removing another one, this one without it's clear plastic covering which he then placed on his head. Hitching up his belt, he ambled over towards the break in the fence, where he was joined by both the bubbly waitress and a man in a once white cook's outfit, now covered in various recent spills and faint stains showing its considerable service life.

Realizing the blocking of the driveway was probably more deliberate than it might appear to the casual observer, Sue shut off the engine again, and joined Adam and Cassandra outside.

"...near as I can figure," The cook was saying to the man in the cowboy hat.

"There they are!" the waitress said, suddenly grinning and pointing at the party from the RV.

The man looked up and nodded his head, before making a "Come here" gesture with his hands.

With the silent invitation, the 3 Immortals approached the man, who smiled warmly at them and introduced himself. "Sheriff Grimley, folks. I understand ya saw the ruckuss here 'goin down?"

"You could say that we had a ringside seat for the floorshow, yes." Adam opined, as he shook hands with the Sheriff.

"I'd be obliged if ya could tell me what ya saw."

"Well, there was a lighting strike on the fencepost here, and it threw sparks all the way around the corral."

As Adam paused to take another breath , Cassandra jumped in and continued the story, "It looked like the cattle were spooked by the sparks, and found the opening in the fence. They all came out in a rush."

Sue decided she might as well toss in her bit, the same part she had told the waitress before, "And they all ran up the road, that way," She said, pointing towards the northwest.

The sheriff nodded his head, and went back to his car, returning with a digital camera, and started snapping pictures.

The cook looked at the waitress and she smiled, then turned to head back inside, while Sally came out and joined them by the hole in the fence.

"Say Jeff?" the cook asked.

"Yeah?" the sheriff answered.

"What we gonna do about my herd?"

"As near as I can tell, if they headed west, they will come up against Foster's Canyon sooner or later, and either turn towards the south, or the west, or turn around. If they head west, then we can have Peters start rounding them up as they get to his fence line. If they head along the canyon, we'll just have to chase 'em down and turn 'em around to get 'em back here. Only problem will be if they head south along the innerstate and make it down to the bottom of the canyon. Then we'll probably have ta corral 'em in the canyon and haul 'em back here by trailer, as we can't have a whole herd of cattle muckin' up the innerstate."

"Do you need us anymore, Sheriff?" Sue asked, looking pointedly towards the car blocking the driveway.

The sheriff lifted his hat and scratched idly at his head, before finally shaking his head, "I suppose not. Not like this is a genuine crime scene or anything, seein' as how no one was hurt. Lemme move my car an' ya'll can be on your way."

As the sheriff headed towards his car, Sue, Adam, and Cassandra headed back to the RV and climbed in, Sue sparing a passing glance at Patrick's still dead muddy body stretched out on the couch by the door on her way to the driver's seat.

The sheriff's car fired up and pulled itself on into the parking lot proper, opening the way for the RV to depart.

Sue reached for the key, and called to the back, "Everyone agree we should beat feet before something else happens?"

As three voices responded in the affirmative, Sue kicked over the engine and backed up, then turned towards the highway, and headed down the road.

They had made it to the canyon, about twenty miles away when suddenly, Patrick sat up with a gasp, his body returning to life as the damage from the cattle's hooves healed it's self.

"Ouch! What happened ta me?" he asked, swinging around to sit up on the couch, rubbing his head with his hands.

"You died, again," Sue supplied.

"I figured that much, I mean, what happened? Did I get run over by a truck or something?"

"Something. Try stamped into the mud by a cattle stampede." Adam supplied, from his position in the passenger seat, turning his chair around backwards to look at Patrick. "What I want to know is why you changed your mind?"

Patrick had a confused look on his face, as Cassandra added, "Last we heard you were going to remain in the RV, then suddenly you came bolting out of it like there was no tomorrow."

Patrick reached up with a muddy hand to try and clear some of the mud off his face, and looked thoughtful. Suddenly he leapt to his feet and called out "Gas!"

Sue looked automatically at the gas gauge, but it read more than half full. "What's wrong with the gas?" she called back to Patrick.

"No, I smelled gas. And I still do!" Patrick said, getting a panicked look on his face.

At this point, Sue herself noticed the faint cloying scent added to natural gas and propane to warn people if there was a leak. She looked around, and saw a pullout coming up on the inner side of the road, which at the moment was winding it's way down to a canyon below. She cut across the vacant oncoming traffic lanes, and crammed the RV into the pullout, before shutting the motor off.

The RV had hardly stopped when the side door banged open, and people started piling out, to get as far from the RV as possible. Sue, the last one out, left the door open to help vent any gas inside.

As the five people gathered at the side of the road as far from the RV as they could get without crossing the highway or going around the curve out of sight of the pullout, they looked at one another. "Someone is going to have to go back in." Adam said. "However I don't think Patrick is the best bet."

"Nae, but it should be an 'mmortal" Sally said, with a sad look at Cassandra. "If she blows, Cassie or Patrick are the only ones wha hae ean a chance o getting' back out wi their heads still attached an' their hearts pumpin'."

Cassandra spared a wry glance at Adam, then another at Sue, before adding, "And I'm the only one who knows how the RV's Propane system works. If there's a leak, I've got the best chance of finding it and cutting off the gas safely."

Adam started forward, saying, "I'll go with you, if you want."

Cassandra just smiled wryly, and said, "No, Adam. As Sally pointed out, an Immortal has the best chance of surviving. What would you say if it blew up with you in there, even if you didn't lose your head?"

Adam gulped, and checked his forward motion. Patrick decided perhaps having a hillside between himself and the RV was not such a bad idea after all. "Uh, I'm going to go this way," he said, pointing back up around the curve of the road, "Call me when it's, er, safe."

As Patrick slipped out of sight around the curve of the hillside, Cassandra made her way swiftly yet cautiously back to the door of the RV, where she paused before sliding carefully inside and turning to the left, towards the small kitchen.

The minutes seemed to drag into hours, before Cassandra's head appeared in the doorway of the RV, a smile on her face as she stepped back out into the afternoon sunlight.

She swiftly crossed the distance between the rest of the party and the RV, calling out as she came closer, "It's ok now. Someone must have bumped the stove, enough to release the gas on the rear right burner, but not enough for the pilot to light it. There was probably barely enough to smell, but not enough to burn, as both the pilot lights were still lighted."

Sue turned to walk uphill around the curve and get Patrick, when he came barreling back down the road on his own, heading straight for the outside curve of the cliff. Seeing the open space beyond, he seemed to put on the brakes, skidding across the asphalt and almost falling, as he neared the edge of the road, but jumping up in the air instead to land on a rock sticking out of the edge, where he teetered for a moment before coming to a halt, arms wheeling.

Sue was about to cross the road to him when she heard the rumbling coming from around the curve of the road.

She stared in shock, as the same herd of cows from Home On The Range came thundering down the highway, following the curve of the road, but taking up both lanes.

As the cattle neared the rock where Patrick stood, a bush next to the road stirred, and a mangy looking coyote leapt from the bush to land next to Patrick on the rock.

As the cattle continued to thunder by, the rock trembled. Patrick looked at the coyote. The coyote looked at Patrick. The rock broke free, and tumbled off the side of the cliff and out of sight into the canyon below, taking them both with it.

========================== ==========================