"I'll wake Montana and gather the rest of the Amazons. We'll stop that bastard in his tracks. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Alright then. Let's get to it."

"What about me?" I asked, slightly miffed at being left out of the plans.

"You stay with her. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." The sneer on her face was quite pronounced.

Feeling myself stiffen, I came to my feet before I quite realized I was even standing. "Pony? Could I speak to you for a moment? Outside?"

Open-mouthed, she looked at me as if I'd grown another head.

"Now."

After a long, silent battle of wills, Pony backed down slightly, nodded brusquely, and stalked out of the room. I glanced at Critter. "Will you stay with her for a minute? I don't think it's a good idea to leave her alone right now."

"No problem," she said, favoring me with a slight smile that had more than a touch of awe mixed in.

When I walked out into the hallway, it was to find it lined with women, each with a shocked expression on her face. I looked at Corinne, who was standing closest.

"I'll help with Nia," she whispered, and I gave her a grateful nod. If anyone had any hope of comforting Nia, it was Corinne. She just has a way of reaching out to the unreachable. It's a gift, and one I'd gladly pay good money to have.

Ignoring the rest of the women, I followed Pony down the hallway, through the living room and out into the cool dawn. When she stopped, I stopped, staying several feet behind her and staring at a back she had turned to me. "Pony," I said softly.

Her fists clenched and the broad, thick muscles in her back bulged under her shirt, but she didn't turn around.

"Pony, please."

When she finally turned, her expression was a curious mixture of anger, respect and a curious sadness. "Little Angel's all grown up, huh?" she said, a bittersweet smile on her lips.

"Pony... it's not like that..."

"Isn't it?"

"No. It isn't."

"Then maybe you could explain it to me, Angel. Because the last time I checked, I was responsible for security here. Which means that in a situation like this, everybody listens to me. Even Montana. Or are you above that now?"

"I'm not above anything. You know that."

"All I know is what I saw, Angel. And what I heard."

I laughed a little. "Funny. I was going to say the same thing."

Dark, narrowed eyes stared back at me. "What do you mean?"

"Pony, do you realize how much you terrified Nia back there?"

"So? You heard what she did!"

"Yes, I did. But do you also realize that what you did to her, how you yelled at her, was probably almost exactly like something her husband would do? I know it's exactly what Peter used to do to me."

Her lips parted slightly as her eyes widened. Obviously, it was something she hadn't considered.

"Look. I know you were angry. You have every right to be. What she did was foolish and thoughtless. But it's also in the past. What we have to do now is to work on some way of rectifying her mistake."

"That's what I'm tryin' to do, Angel! Or do you think I'm just givin' orders cause I feel like it?"

"I realize that, Pony. But..." How to put this tactfully.

"But what?!"

So much for tact. I sighed heavily. "Listen. Keeping Nia locked up here isn't any better than the relationship you just got her out of. I know you don't like it. I don't like it either. It's dangerous. But the fact of the matter is that Nia did call her husband. And she needs to be given the choice to see him or not. If you take that choice away from her, can you really say that that's any better than what he would do to her?"

"Sure I can," she replied, sneering. "I'm doing it because I want to protect her, and everyone else."

"And I'm sure that sometime in his life, her husband thought the same thing. Either way, it's wrong. Nia is an adult. She needs to be treated like one."

"Then she damn well needs to start acting like one!"

I took a step closer. "That's not for you or me to decide, Pony. You need to let her make this choice. It's the right thing to do, and I think you know that."

I could see the knowledge come to her face. I could also see, by the set of her jaw and the tenseness of her body, how hard she was still trying to fight it. "I don't have time to be anybody's babysitter," she said finally, grudgingly.

I couldn't help smiling. "You won't have to. I'll do it."

"Oh no. No. No. No. No. No. Forget it, Angel. Not a chance in hell."

"Pony..."

"Forget it, I said! No way, Angel. I do that, and I might as well let that bastard husband of hers put a gun up to my head and pull the trigger. At least then I'll only die once. You get hurt out there, and Ice will cut me up into little bitty pieces, then kill me, then resurrect me, then kill me all over again. Nope. Not happening. Sorry."

"Pony, listen to me."

"Nope. Sorry."

I looked at her, struck with the almost unbearable urge to laugh. I could almost picture her on some playground somewhere sticking her fingers in her ears and shouting "I'm not listening! I can't hear you! LaLaLaLa!"

I guessed my struggle against laughter must have shown up on my face, because she halted her rant in midstream, planted her fists on her hips, and stared at me. "What's so damn funny?"

I wiped the smirk off my face, feeling oddly chastised, like a child with her grasping appendage caught in a baked goods container. "Nothing."

"Yeah. Right."

Clearing my throat, I struggled to get the conversation back on course. "At least hear me out, Pony."

"Can you handle a gun?"

"No."

"Then forget it. Period. End of story."

As she turned to leave, I reached out, grabbed her arm, and turned her back to face me. She looked at me, down at her arm, then back up at me. "You know, I'm really getting tired of you doing that to me."

I dropped my hand to my side. "At least hear me out," I repeated. "Please."

Crossing her arms over her chest, she leveled her best glare at me. "Fine. Start talking."

"Nia trusts me. And I think, in some way, she respects me as well. We share the same history. If I take her out there, maybe she'll be able to see exactly the kind of person her husband is. And maybe she'll stop going back to him."

To her credit, she was really listening to what I had to say. "That's a hell of a lot of maybes for you to risk your life like that, Angel."

"You're risking your life too, aren't you?"

"Yeah. But I'll have a gun in my hands."

"And I'll have twenty women with guns all around me. I think that evens the odds a little." I reached out again, and this time, she accepted my touch. "I wouldn't suggest this if I didn't believe it would work, Pony. All I'm asking is for you to have a little faith in me and believe it too."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I'll do as you ask and stay inside. No questions asked."

As she looked at me, I could almost see the gears turning inside her head. After a moment, the faintest of grins curved her lips. "You know the name of a good shrink?"

"What?" I asked, blinking at the non-sequitor.

"I think I need to have my head examined."

When the meaning of her words caught up to me, I laughed out loud, crushed her to me in a grateful embrace, and kissed her soundly on the lips. "Thank you, Pony! You won't regret this!"

Laughing again, I pulled away, turned, and ran for the house.

When I found she wasn't behind me, I turned again, to find her just where I'd left her, mouth agape, her eyes glassy. "Pony?"

"Bu.... Wa... He..." For a brief moment, I saw only the whites of her eyes, and I thought sure she was about to faint. Then she blinked, shook herself, and looked around to see if anyone had caught her brief lapse into insanity.

Unable to help myself, I laughed again, then completed my trek to the house, grinning like a madwoman.

Stepping inside Nia's room, I wasn't surprised to see her safely ensconced within Corinne's all-encompassing embrace. The dampness of Corinne's nightgown attested to the many tears shed by the younger woman, and when I softly closed the door behind me, she gifted me with a tremulous smile, her head tight against Corinne's generous chest.

"How are you feeling?" I asked as I came to sit beside them both, laying a hand on Corinne's warm arm in thanks.

"A little better now, thanks," she said very softly, her eyes not quite meeting mine. Straightening a little, and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she pulled away from Corinne's hold, still not meeting my eyes. "Listen, I'm sorry about all this. I know you must think I'm some kind of nut for calling Richard."

"I'm not here to judge you, Nia. None of us are. I think I can understand a little bit why you called him. I might have done the same thing, once. That's not the problem here."

As I fell silent, she finally met my eyes, her own round and dark and full of tears.

Though part of me felt for her, I had to harden my heart just a little. "The problem, Nia, is that your mistake in giving your husband directions to the ranch could put some innocent women in danger. Do you understand that? And why it's so?"

"But Richard wouldn't..."

"Stop it, Nia," Corinne interjected, reaching out and tipping the young woman's chin up, forcing those round eyes to meet hers. "Right now. If you wish to continue to lie to yourself, feel free. But don't force the burden of those untruths on others who don't deserve it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nia mumbled, but I could see that she did, in fact, know. Guilt was written in bold strokes across her face and her eyes wandered downward, despite Corinne's firm grip on her chin.

Knowing that continuing further down this path would only lead to Nia withdrawing into herself once again, I decided to try a different direction. Summoning up my friendliest smile, I turned it toward her and held out my hand. "C'mon. Let's get dressed."

Her eyes narrowed, suspicion seen easily within their clear depths. "Why?"

I affected an offhand shrug. "Well, since your husband and his friends are coming down to pick you up, don't you think it might be better to meet them in something a little more... substantial... than your nightgown?"

That "Angel just sprouted another head" look came back again, directed at me through two sets of eyes this time. I seemed to be getting that look a lot lately. I shrugged again, inwardly. Whatever works.

"You mean you're just gonna let him waltz right in here and take me?" Nia asked finally.

"Isn't that what you want?" When I wanted to, I could look very innocent indeed. In the periphery of my vision, I saw Corinne quickly hide a smirk behind her free hand. Ok, maybe not to people who knew me really well. "I mean, you did call him to come get you, right?"

"Yeah," she replied, though her voice didn't sound quite so sure as before.

"Let's get a move on, then."

But Nia didn't move. Not an inch.

"Well?"

"Maybe I changed my mind?"

Corinne snorted. "It's a little too late for that, my dear."

"Corinne..."

"No, Angel. I'm right. It's about time we stopped coddling this woman. She's made her bed. The best thing for all concerned is to let her lie in it. We've all had to do it a time or two. Perhaps it's best to allow her her turn."

Nia straightened. "But maybe I made a mistake! You said you could forgive a mistake!" She was talking to us both, and we both knew it.

It was Corinne who answered. "Forgiveness is one thing, Nia. Forcing others to live with the consequences of that mistake is another matter entirely."