My turn! (Be very *very* afraid)
"Faces"
3/?
By Jennifer Pennington and Dana Anderson
Disclaimer- If you're really *that*
interested, check part 1.
Rating- I'd say PG.  I'm going to try and
keep this part pretty tame.
*******
The two women released a great sigh of relief as Mary slammed the
door of the Clarion behind them.  Jenna immediately collapsed to the
floor, breathing heavily. The stress of the last few months was
starting to take its toll on the beautiful young woman. 
Jenna had long brown hair, which she let hang loose on her
shoulders. Her skin was a dark tan color. She had gotten the Native
American heritage of her father, while Mary had gotten her mothers
European looks. Mary kneeled down next to her and they embraced.
"Are you all right?" Mary asked, concern apparent in her voice. 
Jenna nodded and swallowed before she replied.
"Yes, I'm fine.  I just need a moment to catch my breath."  Mary
helped her over to a stuffed chair and sat her down
on it.  Then she went over to grab another one and pulled it over to
face the one Jenna was in. Before Mary could sit down there was a
knock at the door.  She walked cautiously over to the window and
peered out. Then she relaxed and opened the door.  Jenna looked up
to see Chris Larabee standing in the doorway, hands resting on his
gun belt, obviously looking for answers. Vin stood a couple paces
behind him, there for the same reason.
"Would anyone care to explain to me what's going on?" Chris said. 
Mary looked over at Jenna, who nodded.  Mary then gestured for the
two men to come in and closed the door behind them.

*******

"I suppose that we'd better start with introductions.  Jenna, these
are Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner, two of the men hired to protect
this town," Mary said.  They each nodded to Jenna in turn.  Jenna
smiled at them.  Her eyes lingered for a moment on the handsome
tracker, but they then made their way to the floor as a slight
blush rose in her cheeks. 
Mary continued, not noticing the young woman's embarrassment.
"Chris, Vin, this is Jenna Perkins.  My sister."  Vin's eyes widened
and his mouth fell slightly open.  Chris, who was more adept at
concealing his feelings, showed little outward reaction.  He looked
back and forth between the two women, trying to determine the family
resemblance.  There was very little, but if you looked at them
closely, they carried themselves the same way and both
had the same eyes.  The thought of Mary's beautiful eyes distracted
Chris for a moment, then when he saw Jenna looking at him strangely,
he shook himself mentally and tried to concentrate on the matter at
hand.  Jenna smiled a little at the look on Chris's face. He'd been
caught, and he knew it.  This is going to be interesting. She
thought to herself.  I can't wait for Dad to meet this one.
"You mentioned something earlier about trouble on the reservation,"
Vin asked. "Oh, yes."  Jenna said and looked over at
Mary, who came to sit in a chair next to her sister.  "A few months
ago the soldiers came and took over our tribe's land.  Our leader
had been tricked by a man from Washington into signing our land away
to the government.  That's when the army came.  They took us away
from our land, and brought us to a reservation" As she continued to
tell her story, Vin's eyes got colder and colder.  The same thing
had happened to the tribe who had raised him.  It was a story that
he was familiar with and one he hated to see repeated.  Jenna didn't
notice Vin's reaction.  She was too wrapped up in the memories. 
"Then right after the soldiers took over, the first person was
killed.  Since then there have been thirty people killed. Men,
women, children, the elderly.  Whoever is doing this doesn't care
who they kill.  But they never kill soldiers. At first we thought
that it was the soldiers doing it, then we started to see things
about the killings that the soldiers couldn't possibly
understand.  Cherokee and Seminole writing.  It will say things like
"Who's next" and "Why are they here".  None of the soldiers
understand our languages.  We have to speak English when they are
around.  The killings make no sense. There's no pattern with whom
they kill.  They don't always write on the bodies.  The only thing
that's always the same is that they always use a knife.  Never a
gun.  That's another reason we don't think that the soldiers are
doing it.  But they won't do anything to help us either. As long as
none of them are killed, they never will."  Her voice was shaking as
she finished.  Mary put a hand on her arm to console her. 
"My Our father sent me here to see if you could help us." She asked
hopefully, looking at the three of them in turn.  Mary looked at
Chris with her eyebrows raised.  Chris looked at her and nodded.
"We'll do our best," he said.  Jenna smiled and breathed a sigh of
relief.
"Now I think that you'd better go and rest before we head back,
young lady," Mary grinned at her little sister. Jenna rolled her
eyes, but followed Mary to the back room that Mary
occasionally used as a guestroom.  The men, sensing their cue to
leave, nodded to the two women and headed out the door.

*******

"It could still be the soldiers who are doing the killing.  They
might not want to use guns, because they make too much noise," Vin
said to Chris as they continued towards the saloon, where the others
were waiting.  
"Do they also speak Cherokee all of a sudden," asked Chris with
eyebrows raised.  Vin grunted in response, still not fully
convinced.  Chris looked behind them to see Mary open the door
of the Clarion and start for Gloria Porter's store.
"Tell the others that I'll be there in a few
minutes," Chris said as he headed after Mary.
"Surprise, surprise," Vin smiled to himself as he watched Chris
hurry off.  

*******

"Mary, wait."  Mary looked around to see Chris coming up behind her.

She slowed her pace, but didn't stop walking. Chris quickened his
pace and got in front of her.
"Since when do you have a sister," he asked, blocking her path.
"Oh, about since she was born.  I thought that would be apparent,"
she said with a look on her face that plainly said she didn't have
time for this right now.  She stepped around him and
tried to continue on her way.  The hand that reached out from behind
her and grasped her arm stopped that plan.  Chris steered her over
to the bench in front of the telegraph office and sat her down right
there.  He leaned against the pole in front of her, and made it
quite clear that she wasn't leaving until he got some answers.
"Why didn't you ever tell me that you had a sister," he asked
simply. Mary looked at him impatiently, and sighed as
she realized that she was stuck.
"Our father is Cherokee, but our mother was white.  She was killed
when we were young.  We never found out for sure who did it.  There
was a man who had been threatening our family, but no
one could prove anything.  I left the tribe when I was about ten
years old.  I've always looked a lot like our mother, and our father
thought I would be better off if I grew up white, and not Cherokee. 
Jenna and I have written to each other a few times, but I haven't
seen either of them for years."  The pain in her voice was not hard
to pick up on.  Chris was starting to regret that he had made her
talk about something that was obviously so hard for her to go into. 
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Why should you be sorry.  You didn't
have anything to do with what happened to me, or my family," she
said straightforwardly. "Do you mind if I go to the store now." 
Chris looked down and nodded.  Mary got up and walked off without
giving him a second look.

*******
End Part 3