Author's Note: Please everybody listen to the song for this chapter! I've had this song in my mind ever since I knew how the ending would be, and also it makes for the perfect soundtrack to a certain scene in this chapter. You'll know what I'm talking about.

Also! There is a piece of art to go with this chapter - please go check it out on my deviantart page!

(And a huge recommendation for you to go check out the TV Tropes page)

The Sunset Shot

"My broken promises broke your heart, time and time again

I let everything fall apart, I was such a fool back then

But you loved me once I know…

So many sorrys ago…" – Charles Esten, 'I Know How To Love You Now'

The group managed to hobble their way back to Mud before dawn the next day. With their return spread the news that Dufayel was dead, and his goons either dead too or dispersed. The town was saved. They'd won. Through the whole of the next day was a celebration the likes of which Mud hadn't seen since the water came back. Most people honestly didn't remember it when they sobered up. The group of heroes were immortalised in song, and toasts were made in their honour, even if they couldn't be there to witness it themselves. All of them had to be patched up and tended to, some worse than others. Rango's wound wasn't fatal, but that didn't stop him screaming blue murder at the top of his lungs until someone shoved a sock in his mouth. Delilah was also patched up, and Reth stayed by her side… that is, when Wounded Bird wasn't there. The crow seemed to get rather attached to the bobcat, in his own stoic and unemotional way. And Delilah seemed to get a lot of fun out of trying to make him blush with her flirts which had no effect.

When Beans found out about Rango's heroic escapades, she'd raced to the Doc's surgery and threw open the doors. Everyone inside had frozen, and then hurried out of her way as she stormed towards the bed where Rango laid all bandaged up. Her eyes were filled with fury and tears, she was shaking so hard they thought she would lapse into her -freeze-frame-state at any moment.

"You!" she growled down at the Sheriff. "You sneakin', connivin', son of a snake!"

She grabbed hold of his shirt and shook him so hard his wounded shoulder hurt. Rango opened his mouth, to complain, to reply, to beg for mercy. But before any sound could come out, Beans swallowed it as she kissed him fiercely with bruising force. Rango was still for a moment with shock, before melting into a puddle.

"If you ever do somethin' this stupid again," she panted when they parted, "I'll marry you then kill you, you rotten heroic bastard!" And she hugged him with all the emotion she couldn't put into words. Rango patted her back, a grin forming on his face as he looked over at his surrounding friends in triumph.

In the days that followed, Rango would be hailed a hero again, and the whole town would pitch in to help rebuild Beans' house and any damage done to her ranch. In light of Dufayel's plans, and the knowledge he'd left behind, the town council thought it a most divine opportunity to make the town prosperous. With the location of the gold-mines now discovered, plans were being drawn up on how to safely mine the precious metal without costing their water supply. It might take a year or two to come up with anything, but the people of Mud were nothing if not tenacious and resilient. With time, wounds would heal and the whole town would come back stronger than ever.

Life was going to be pretty good for some.

For others, it still had yet to be decided...

Jake stood on the edge of the farm, looking up the front yard to the house that was lit with the warm glow of a home well loved. Across the desert on his left, the sun was beginning to sink into the horizon, washing everything in a golden light. There was an ever so slight breeze that tickled against Jake's scales, whispering to him to go forward, to do something. Across the farm, he could hear the boars grumbling softly to one another, as if taking bets on when the rattlesnake would work up the nerve to go to the house.

He shook his head, trying to pull his head out of his ass and do what had to be done. But there was a pressure on his chest he couldn't shake, an ever so slight anxiety that made him think something was still alive and wriggling in his stomach. But this was ridiculous, Rattlesnake Jake was no coward and he didn't hesitate because of a woman. And yet he was…

A hundred times he'd tried to convince himself with rational logic. After everyone had come back and been patched up, he'd purposefully left Grace and Teddy alone so that they could recover after everything they went through. It had been so hard, to stay away, to keep his distance, to not come in and check they were all alright. Two days was the maximum he was willing to wait, though, it seemed. No matter what he tried to tell himself, he couldn't keep away any longer. But then had come the thought of what he would do once he was here…

The fear and worry that had eaten at him the whole time they'd been in Dufayel's hide-out, and when she'd come into his embrace so easily, as if she'd wanted nothing more than to be in his coils… Technically he remembered it all perfectly fine, and that should give him all the permission he needed to take that step onto her property. Yet his memory couldn't keep out her words to him the last time he'd been here: "You get off my property. And you don't come back. Not ever. I don't ever wanna see your face again, Rattlesnake Jake." He knew he'd been cruel, and it had been his intention, but those words made him doubt if she would even listen to him now.

Damn it, he couldn't stay out here forever. He tried to look at the situation as business. Grace had saved his life – from a Hawk no less! He owed her. So, he was going to say his piece and if she didn't accept it… well, that would have to be that. He tried to tell himself that if she said no, then it wouldn't ruin him, it wouldn't leave him a mess. He would be disappointed, but they'd have to go their separate ways. But as he started up the path to her house, and the front door opened as if she knew he was coming (she'd probably been watching him standing like a fool through the window), she watched him approach… and he knew he was a sucker.

This was gonna kill him.

Grace stood calmly on her front porch, watching him come closer without saying a word, her brown eyes seeming to make his scales catch fire. Behind her, the front door was closed, but Teddy pressed his nose against the windowpane to watch. Jake made his way towards her, making sure his tail made as little noise as possible in a subconscious effort to not seem a threat. He stopped at the foot of the stairs leading up to the porch, giving her that tiny bit of height over him (he was still large enough that his head easily reached hers even when she was elevated, she probably only had a centimetre or two on him now). He fixed his eyes on hers for a long moment, and the careful planning he'd put into this, all his strategies and tactics all flew out of the window. Abandoned, he had to take a moment to remember how to talk.

"You donin' okay?" was the first thing he could think to say in a mumbled voice. He ground his teeth together and kicked himself like an idiot.

Grace nodded. "Yeah. We're doing good. We're home, and everything's now finished. It's all over."

Jake tried to push away the voice in his head that insisted that sentence was filled with ominous subtext. "Grace, I…" he faltered, and had to swallow down his stubborn pride, both figuratively and literally. "When I left… I was an ass."

"Yeah. You were."

"No need to rub it in," he muttered under his breath, and then closed his eyes. He took a breath, then another. If all his plans had disintegrated, he might as well just speak his damned mind. To hell with it. "I'm sorry."

Grace blinked, but otherwise carefully gave no reaction. Was she surprised? Disdainful? Not at all bothered?

"I made a promise to ya, yer right. And I broke it. I thought I'd lead Dufayel's lot away from ya if I left. Was a stupid mistake. And I know why ya said ya don't want me back here again." He dared to put his coils on the next step, to raise himself a little higher, a little closer. "But I also want ya to listen. Because I know ya loved me when we was together, and I… I loved you, Grace Glossy. I still do."

Now that was definitely surprise he saw in her widening eyes as she stared at him. Emboldened, he spoke on quickly, hoping that something might sink in.

"I made my mistakes, but I wanna learn from 'em. I want what we had back. For good, this time. Now, I know I can't be the perfect man you want, or the kind that stays on the right side of the law all the time. There's parts o' me you can't change, yer gonna have to accept that. But if you do, I'll treat you as good as I can, Grace. You and yer boy, I'll keep ya both safe with everythin' I got. And you'll be stuck with me fer as long as you want me." He trailed off, unsure of what else he could do. "What d'ya say?"

Silence. Grace said absolutely nothing. She simply stared into Jake's mind for what felt like forever. Jake was usually good at reading people, but Grace's expression was so well guarded that he couldn't get any indication for how she was feeling. Jake stood perfectly still and tried his best not to squirm. For every second that ticked past, he could feel his patience getting closer and closer to snapping. Finally, he was about ready to growl at her to make up her mind, when she moved.

It was only the tiniest flicker at first, something shifting in her expression. And then her gorgeous brown eyes softened, and her lips curved into a smile. Before Jake could ask what that meant, she leant forward and looped the end of her tail in his bullet-belt. She yanked him towards her, taking the rattlesnake a little by surprise, pressed her lips to his and kissed him. Jake was in shock a first, but his heart was too busy pounding with triumph to listen to reason. He wrapped his coils around her body and squeezed her closer, taking over the direction of the kiss as he tasted her tongue. From the window, they both heard a loud: "WOO-HOO!" as Teddy jumped all around the room in jubilation.

When they parted, Grace looked up at Jake with a blissful, if slightly mischievous smile. "That answer enough for ya?"

Jake did his best to wipe off the stupid grin he could feel fighting to get on his face, and instead tried to look smug and shrugged. "It'll do. Wasn't expectin' much different. I did tell ya you was mine all along."

Grace threw her head back and laughed, before coming into kiss him again, growling between her teeth. "God damn you, Jake."

No one in the town of Mud expected Rattlesnake Jake to stick around. But though his face was seen a little more often then some folks would like, they wouldn't soon forget his role in helping them free their town – both times. And following Miss Glossy's example, he stayed away from town most of his time, which probably helped out Doc a little seeing as he had fewer spontaneous heart-conditions that way.

Jake was an outlaw, a gun for hire, through-and-through. But he had come to some kind of an understanding with Sheriff Rango. That so long as he kept his 'activities' outside of Mud, and was there when Rango called on him, he was free to go about his business as he pleased. This suited Jake just fine, letting him leave most days to go about his work and still be able to come home. Yes, home. After so many years living from one place to the next, Jake had himself a home on the Glossy farm. He established himself a territory, of sorts, where he wandered far and wide for work and to see to the matter of the Gunslinger Court, but that house was smack in the middle, always there for when he came back. For her part, Grace turned a blind eye to the fact her significant-other was technically a criminal, so long as he didn't ever bring his work home and he didn't talk about it. There were still some things that she just didn't need to know about what he did. And that was fine with Jake, he'd much rather all that stay as far away from their home as possible. Because if anything did come calling to threaten either Grace or Teddy to get to him – Jake swore he'd drag the unlucky son of a bitch through every level of hell for it.

Of course, no one lives happily ever after. Grace and Jake still argued on occasion, they butted heads, and their world views sometimes crashed together with spectacular style. But neither of them wanted to trade it away for anything. They loved and lusted after each other with as much sincerity as there was passion. And Teddy was overjoyed to finally have Jake home for good. Grace wished she could immortalise the moment when Jake reacted to Teddy calling him 'Dad' for the first time. It wasn't much, but it was a happy home.

"Teddy! Come on, it's time to say goodbye!" Grace called. Teddy rushed down the stairs, almost tripping over his own tail in his hurry. He burst out of the front door and almost leapt straight off the front porch when he was blinded by the afternoon sun. Jake caught him in his coils with practised ease and handed him back to his mother, who set him down gently beside her. She watched Jake warily as he checked over his gun to make sure it was fully loaded. "You sure you're gonna be okay?"

"Won't be a problem," he shrugged nonchalantly. "Been called for a hit in Dust-Town. A toad thinks he can cheat his way–"

"I don't want to know."

He threw her a glare and a growl. "Then don't ask."

Th words weren't even out of his mouth, and he was leaning in to kiss her fiercely, his tongue sliding over her teeth. Grace wished she could give in to the slowly building fire of need that his skilful kisses invoked, but all too soon they parted. "You come back home soon. You hear?"

Jake grinned, and whispered in a husky voice. "Oh, don't ya worry. I'll be back for my midnight snack from ye later…"

Grace smiled, even if her cheeks were blushing furiously and her body was trembling with excitement.

"See ya later, Mr Jake!" Teddy said with a huge grin.

Rattlesnake Jake's lips quirked into a lopsided smile, and he tapped Teddy's chin with the end of his gun proudly. With one last look, he turned away from them and quickly began to slither off towards the desert. Grace hugged Teddy in her coils as they both watched him go. She smiled to herself as she swore she could hear Rango's voice telling her that this was the perfect moment for what he called "the Sunset Shot".

THE END

A/N: So, here we are. The end of this wonderful story. I can't believe it's been 3 years. But I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your support and love throughout these 3 years. I honestly cannot describe how much each of you have helped me throughout this story. Your loyalty to me and this piece have humbled me in ways you cannot imagine, and I am so grateful to all of you that have taken the time to read this story and to see our characters through until the end.

I know a couple of you have been asking about a sequel. I have left some threads to hang so that if I ever do decide it, then the plot is all set and ready to go. But who knows what the future will bring? If a sequel does or doesn't come, I hope you all have enjoyed your time with Jake, Grace, Teddy and Rango and the crew.

I couldn't have done this without you. Forever yours,

Donovan94