Chapter Text
1x07
The party at the house was in full swing, welcoming the new guns, jesses gang and of course the infamous Billy the Kid.
Billy stood off to the side, surveying the room with a drink in his hand before his attention caught a girl, couldn’t be older than him, sat on one of the sofas in the centre of the room, nursing her own drink. People milled around, passing from conversation to conversation with a mix of interest and boredom but this girl remained separate from it all. Billy tilted his head and couldn’t help but linger on her, the dim lighting made it difficult to pick out every detail, but she was a brunette that was for sure. Her eyes remained either ahead towards the fireplace or down at her drink, but every now and then they’d flicker to the side or over at a group who were conversing near her. They acted as if she didn’t exist, but she clearly was alert enough to pay attention to her surroundings.
He stepped away from the wall he’d been leaning against to make his way around the house, fighting the urge to keep looking over to the girl. It wasn’t long before he heard his name being called from across the room, “Billy!” John Riley, one of Murphy’s henchman made his way over and without waiting for a response began leading him over to a young woman, introducing her as his wife.
“Honey, this is the fella I was telling you about. This is Billy the kid. Billy belongs to the house now” The man looked at Billy as if he were a new shiny possession on his shelf, he narrowed his eyes at the implication he belonged to anyone.
“This is Irene.”
Billy’s attention fell to the woman, Irene, she was notably younger than her husband and had a tidy appearance with her hair arranged atop her head. He politely took her offered hand. “Howdy.”
“So you’re a cowboy. Are you?”
“Oh he’s an outlaw baby.” Billy avoided eye contact or a moment, remembering exactly what his reputation was. Sometimes he was able to forget what he’d done to earn praise from such a man as Lawrence Murphy. Until Mr Riley reminds him. “-this man’s wanted for murder.”
Somewhere behind Billy, the girl he’d been watching began to make her way closer, fading into the background and taking her spot In a cove not far from the three conversing. Keen eyes watching the exchange.
“Well, it sure is nice to meet such a handsome outlaw.” Irene stepped closer and Billy’s eyes flickered between the man and his wife, unsure what to make of the exchange. He met her smile with a small one of his own before watching John practically drag his wife away, revealing the brunette in her little Hidy spot. He felt, under her scrutinising eyes, that to walk away would be admitting defeat in some way which propelled him to draw closer, into a more shadowy corner of the room.
“Billy the kid, I’ve heard of you. Only a little though, don’t get too flattered.” Her voice had a familiar charm to it Billy had heard many times before, it was husky to some degree and he imagined many men could’ve been tempted to do ungodly things for that voice if instructed.
He straightened his stance and folded his hands in front of him before asking, “You are?”
“Adelaide Murphy, nice to meet you.” She made no attempt to shake his hand in greeting and so neither did Billy, his brows creased at the familiar last name. “Murphy as in…” She didn’t let him finish his thought, already knowing full well where it was going.
"Yep that's my daddy, I understand he's got you on his payroll. Good luck with that"
"Have come I haven't heard anything about you" He would’ve thought her father would’ve considered her a crucial guest, introduced her like John Riley did his wife.
"I keep to myself, as long as i keep trouble to a minimum and look pretty and obedient at events like this, my daddy keeps me comfortable. But they think I don't hear anything."
"I’m assuming they're wrong"
"You play at being invisible long enough, no one will care to look any closer, or talk any quieter" She whispered the last part with a sly grin and Billy felt the corner of his mouth turn up at her quick wit. He couldn't help but feel that everyone in this party was missing out by thinking her invisible.
It seemed as though the girl, Adelaide, had just come to realise she’d moved at all and Billy had the feeling she was watching to see if anyone saw her interacting with him. “Anyway, I should return to my little perch.” She went to move past him, re-entering the full light of a nearby candle, He watched her pass him, her hair was even more wavy up close and there was a slight line between her eyebrows that’d no doubt developed over years of frowning. He wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t have one himself. He was now more curious than ever.
“You followed me in here?” She turned back to him, mid step. He turned his body around to face her again, intending to continue the conversation but knowing Adalaide had said all she wanted.
She looked him up and down, a look of calculation before she decided the excuse she wanted to give, “Well you were staring at me, I got a little curious. Shall we.” She motioned to the archway that’d welcome them back into the main area of the house. Billy went first and when he turned to offer another drink to the Adelaide, she’d already made her way to one of the seats in the middle once again but he’d be a fool to think she was out of earshot.
Jesse’s presence pulled his attention back to getting a drink, “this a bit of fun.”
“Sure.”
The two men turned their backs to the drink table and Billy inquired about some of the men surrounding Murphy, he purposefully didn’t ask about Adelaide who was sat close enough to be considered amongst them because he hoped Jesse didn’t know who she was as he hadn’t.
The two mens peace was interrupted by Jim’s appearance, “Hey Billy…we’ve uh, set up a little fun thing for you to do. See everyone here, they want to see what you can do with a gun hm.” Jim kept the conversation sounding light, looking over to Jesse as Billy lowered his gaze, realising what was happening. Addy looked over her shoulder slightly, intrigued as to what Billy’s response would be. – “They’ve all heard the stories. Murphy thinks it’d be a great idea for you to give them all a little…y’know a…a demonstration.” Addy rolled her eyes.
“Yeah?...no.” Billy made to walk away but a firm hand on his chest from Jim made Addy perk up even more in her seat. She rarely found herself this interested in anyone but right now she couldn’t wait to see what Billy would do. “Okay…okay billy.” He spoke to the younger man as if he were a child who wasn’t acting how he should, Billy’s eyes never left the man as he calculated how this would play out.
“I see you don’t understand how this works, we’re playing yall a whole lot of money, so if we ask ya to do somethin small for us in return, we expect you’ll do it. Now come this way.” Jim walked off as if he expected Billy to trail behind after having a firm talking too, but Billy had met many people like Jim and he wasn’t going to let his age make him seem easy to play with.
“I don’t feel like doing that.”
John stepped in and tried a different approach, offering Billy whiskey and blatantly boosting his ego. Addy couldn’t help but almost chuckle at the show between the men, she’d been waiting for someone to stop walking on egg shells around her daddy’s lackies and was enjoying seeing them almost beg from a little performance.
She could see Billy considering whether or not to do it and when John put the pressure on by announcing to the room that they wanted a demonstration, she knew he couldn’t refuse without looking weak, as if his reputation was false. The gift of a brand new gun, a double action to be exact, that was clearly being used as bribery enticed Billy enough to cooperate. He sighed and picked up the gun effortlessly, Addy stood from her seat to get a better view at the thing that must’ve been special for whatever reason. Men and their toys. He tested the weight of the weapon in his hands, Addy wasn’t sure if it was a performance, his spinning the gun as though it were the most natural thing he could do, but Billy didn’t seem like the type to act for the mere purpose of impressing others. Holstering his new gun, the decision was made and with a final drink of whiskey. John beckoned everyone outside.
Billy began loading his gun, aware of the eyes that bore into him shamelessly. Murphy’s daughter, the girl he assumed kept to the shadows was surprisingly at the front, stood between her father and Irene with uncontained intrigue written on her face. As much as he hated being showcased like a prized possession, the urge to play with his new toy and prove his skill was undeniable.
Addy stood beside John's wife, ignoring the clear desire written on the married woman's face. She couldn't blame her to be honest. Billy was attractive, with his dark curls, clean shaven face and piercing eyes. His reputation and ease with a gun tickled that part of any woman that desired a rebel to whisk her away in the dead of night.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Her father did what he does best, spoke loudly and in charge.
“Our friend Billy here is gonna demonstrate his gifts as a gunslinger and the reason why we hired him to protect all of our interests, yeah?” There were sounds of agreement from the crowd and an opening round of applause as Murphy cleared the ‘stage’ for Billy to start. Billy ignored the crowd, turning to focus completely on the targets that’d been so clearly laid out for him. He let his body relax, making sure he didn’t make the rookie error of trying to be too boastful. He could shoot and his body knew that the gun was a mere extension of him and the targets were something he had to shoot through, not at. The many nights in front of a mirror practicing his stance took over, the many times his hand cramped taught him to keep his grip firm but gentle as to not let the force of the blow obstruct his aim. The moment stretched and Billy pulled the gun from its holster, effortlessly shooting each hanging bottle in succession so fast Addy was sure some peoples eyes couldn’t keep up with the explosions of glass and liquid. Another applause broke out and Addy gave a clap or two herself, though she was sure it wasn’t over and so far, she wasn’t all that impressed.
The gun was placed on the table and Billy stripped himself of the fabric around his neck, hardly taking his eyes off the targets in a cool indifference that made Addy inhale a sharp intake of breath.
With only one hand this time, Billy took proper stance and lined his gun up. The gunshots fired repeatedly, each one hitting true. Addy felt the woman beside her flinch, as did many of the other people in the audience causing the corner of her mouth to turn up, this show was proving to be more exciting than she thought. The applause continued and the laugh of her father almost encouraged Addy to let one out herself, maybe this was something she and her father actually shared.
Billy picked up the shotgun, she felt the exact moment fear started to cloud some of the audiences vision. She felt her dad stiffen beside her as if he and the others had come to realise that trying to own someone that dangerous was like trying to cage a bear. She only felt smug satisfaction as though it were her amazing everyone with sheer skill. It was the little victories and by the look on her fathers face, she took this as a victory. Each shot made her smile more until she was practically beaming, something she hadn’t done since her mother died years ago. Billy rebolstered his guns, laying the shotgun back where it’d been placed, he wiped his hand across his growing stubbled and paid little mind to the audience as he took his leave, conscious however as to how Adelaide Murphy’s eyes followed his every move.
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The was a knock on the door as Addy and her father sat in silence, him reading a paper and her knitting away like a docile young lady. He shot her a look to go answer it and she knew already who it’d be, her father always made her answer the door when the Sheriff came knocking.
“Howdy sheriff.” She offered a polite smile to the white haired man.
“Sweet Adelaide, is your father home?”
“Yeah he’s in the room, come on through. I’ll stay sitting and knittin if you don’t mind, ive created a little nook for myself.”
“Continue girl, you’ve grown so much. I’m happy to see you keeping yourself busy.” The Sheriff offered her the smile you’d give a small child and though she hated being treated as such she couldn’t help give a small one of her own before moving her stuff a little further away from the two gentlemen but still within earshot.
She continued her knitting, something she hated doing but it gave the impression she was too focussed to be listening. As if she couldn’t multitask.
“How’s your girl?” The sheriff asked as he took the seat closest to her father. Murphy put his paper down and picked up his glass of drink instead, taking a sip before answering in his slouched but arrogant position.
“She’s not a problem, she’s happy in her own world and I’d like to clear all this mess up before it effects her.” Addy almost burst out laughing at the implication anything Murphy did was to keep her safe. He loved playing the doting father in front of the sheriff, he’d use her as a token of his humanity when he could and adjusted his treatment of her depending on who he was with.
“That’s good, because feelings are running high in Lincoln….” The two men talked about what to do about the murdered Mexican farmer, more so how to keep Pat Garett out of jail for a crime he clearly committed. Addy didn’t hate the sheriff, all things considered, he tried to work with his community, but she also felt he’d grown too comfortable pushing things under the rug and though she has fond memories of how he treated her as a young girl being introduced to who her father was. She needed to accept that he wasn’t on her side, no one really was.
Her father proposed a cover up she’d become familiar with, sending the culprit away whilst tensions were high, lying to a community who were desperate enough for justice they might just believe the lie that he’d be hung for his crimes.
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Billy lead his horse into a slow trot after leaving the funeral of Manuel, thoughts of Charlie and George, Tunstall’s men and the implications of what they suggested filled his thoughts. His mind wasn’t too clouded to recognise the familiar sound of a bullet shooting past him however and before it’d even had time to finish narrowly missing him, he had his own out and ready, aiming past the large tree in front at him and inched closer to see who was stood further in the thicker woods.
Addy was looking down at her gun, fruitlessly checking to see if there was something wrong with it to make it shoot so bad when she looked up to see the familiar face of Billy the kid at the other end of his own gun pointing directly at her.
“Oh, Howdy Billy.” She offered a greeting and went back to inspecting the gun she’d stole from her father without showing as much of an inkling of fear.
“You almost shot me!” Billy shouted down at her, regaining her attention. His mournful feelings over the death of the farmer causing him to lose any control over his voice.
“Well obviously I wasn’t trying to. There’s a big ol tree there, that was my target.” She spoke as if he was being purposefully stupid but he recognised her tone as one of playfulness, not intending insult. Not fully anyway. “Are you trying to learn to shoot?” He asked with a smug look, the tense expression he’d previously worn fading away. She couldn’t be trying now because of his performance now could she?
“I can shoot.” She waved the gun around a bit too haphazardly for his liking, causing him to hop down from his horse and take the gun from her hands. She let it slip from her grip without a fight and watched as the boy in front of her looked thoughtfully between herself and the gun. "can't aim"
Addy kept observing Billy before coming right out and saying what she thought, "someone's being short with me, something happened? " He snaped his gaze up to meet Addy’s eyes, normally with that question there’d be worry but Billy scoffed quietly when he remembered she probably already knew about the farmer. "I thought you heard all"
Addy dropped the façade of unknowing and smiled smugly, "oh I do and I already know. I was just wanting to see what you know"
He put it as blatant as he could, not wanting to remember what had happened. "a farmer was killed by someone I ride with. I paid my respects."
She nodded, tucking a strand of her wavy hair behind her ear and looking up at him with slight shame but still spoke matter of a factly. "my daddy's already covering it up, your friend will go away for some time till things calm down with the excuse that he’s being sent to a higher court and then he'll come back and everyone will forget." Billy could see she was hiding behind the veil of facts to distract from how much she didn’t like what her father had undoubtedly done many times.
"not the family"
"no. I guess not them" She took her gun back from him and pretended as if she was strongly focused on the tree that stood before her, a fair few feet away.
"Doesn’t it bother you." He wasn’t as good at reading people as she was but something about how she had spoken of it made him think it did and now he wanted to know to what extent.
"I guess, there’s not much I can do.”
“So you do nothing?”
“Before you judge me for my inaction, I’d like to remind you only one of us was there when it happened and you’re projecting your own shame for not doing something onto me. I don’t blame you but I’ve been here my whole life, I’ve tried and I’ll pray for him and his family. I won’t forget them. What will you do Billy?” He thought back to what had been said about mr Tunstall and what he could offer, a better way. He wondered if Adelaide were to be invited for an audience with him, if she’d take it. The two fell silent, Addy stood and watched him waiting to either bid him farewell or continue whatever conversation he’d like. Respectfully, Billy lowered his head in a nod and made his way back to his horse, seeing in her peripheral, Addy raising her gun and preparing to shoot, she’d kill someone out here with that aim, he thought to himself with an almost chuckle.
He should be getting back to Jesse and his gang, facing their reactions to what’d happened to the farmer and his role in it, instead he turned himself back around to face the brunette.
"Your father not taught you?"
She smiled knowingly, "No, if it was up to him, I'd be a bird in a cage, helpless and completely dependent on him. But after my mum died, I realised she was dependant and she trusted him to protect her. But no one can really protect you but yourself." She raised her brows with a question in her gaze.
Billy took walked his way back over to Addy and looked between her and the target she’d given herself. "Do you want my help?" He offered it as a one time only chance, still wound up over what’d happened today.
"Are you asking because you wanna help me or because you wanna forget what you saw?"
He might as well be truthful with her; she’d never lied to his as far as he knew. "both" She nodded at his response knowing it was probably more the latter but still felt slightly proud that Billy the kid wanted to help her shoot. Not that she’d admit that to him and his ego.
"Gimme another demonstration, I need to double check you're a worthy enough teacher and then I'll decide." they both knew he could shoot like a God but he could detect something in her gaze. A challenge, and deep down he knew she was dragging it out to further help him forget. He wondered what she'd seen being tied to someone like Murphy, and if anyone had helped her forget.
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Addy followed Irene into the tavern, she’d slipped out of her house whilst Murphy was in a drunken slumber. He probably wouldn’t have cared about her leaving but she’d never shown much interest in visiting town at night before with Irene and didn’t want to raise suspicion that anything was going on because it wasn’t. She felt a little out of her depth in a place like this, but Irene took the lead leading them over to an old friend of hers gambling table, sam. The hat and brown curls she feared she was beginning to see all to often sat at that same table, his back to her.
“Hey there Irne, come to join?” Sam welcomed the two ladies over.
“If you’ll have me Sam and of course my Adelaide.” Billy darted his head to turn at the two women when he heard her name, making immediate eye contact with the bronze eyed girl as she had clearly already been surveying him without his knowing. He slowly turned to reface the table as the two ladies pulled up chairs. “Good evening gentlemen.”
Billy, ever the gentlemen, took off his hat smoothly and joined the table in greeting Irene, “Ma’am.” Irene beckoned Addy to take her seat and after a quick survey at the others surrounding the table, she perched herself down. “Howdy.”
“Miss Murphy.” The table wasn’t sure how to greet her and she wasn’t sure whether she’d have welcomed ‘ma’am’ anymore than miss murphy. “Call me Adelaide.” They looked at her with a mix of excitement and fear, thinking whether she was a trap laid by her father or the kind of girl that’d run home crying to him if she were to lose. She wasn’t interested in gambling anyway.
Irene sat next to Billy, and Addy found herself between the woman and Sam, who seemed nice enough. Billy spoke to Irene respectfully, calling her ma’am and apologising when she said it made her feel old. His gaze would shift from the table to the woman he was in conversation with, to the other woman who made idle chat with the man to the left of her.
“You want me to deal you in?” Sam asked, though Addy always had one ear on Irene and Billy’s conversation, she was able to engage.
“Nah don’t worry about that, I’m a pitiful play. I’m happy to give you tips and encourage your own winning there Sam.” She allowed the cowgirl accent she’d gotten from her mother charm him, along with a smile and felt as the other men around the table relaxed.
“I’m really so happy to see you, Billy.” Everyone’s attention fell to Irene and Addy could detect a fair amount of alcohol within her system, not that she blamed her with the husband she was stuck with. Billy kept his attention straight, not oblivious to the married woman’s tone or suggestion. He wasn’t eager to get involved with any woman, let alone a woman who was married to such a dangerous man.
“Want to start a new game?” Sam offered.
“Oh no, you go on, I’ll watch.” Irene meant to mean the game but Addy had a feeling her eyes would stray more to Billy than any cards or money.
“here’s to you Billy.” Irene tilted her drink in Billy direction and took a sip with clear intent as she eyed the young man over the glass. Billy could see Adelaide’s stare from the other side of Irene and the look in her eyes suggested she was eager to see how Billy would play this. He was beginning to think Adalaide enjoyed watching everything unfold as though it was there constructed for her own enjoyment. And he wasn’t sure how that made him feel.
Addy watched with sharp eyes as Billy made to take his leave, being held back by Irenes insistence that he walk her home before Sam suggested he would. The man on the other side of Billy followed as well, which she found interesting. She wasn’t too familiar with the man aside from noting how he’d been observing Billy this whole time as if waiting to catch him on his own.
“Deal us in Sam.” Irene instructed. Addy guessed she was playing after all, not before sparing the doors the two men had passed through a longing glance. The itch in her brain that told her to follow, that she had to know what was going on, was only dulled when she took Irenes offered drink.