True woke with start and slowly opened her eyes, wincing as the light streaming through the window increased the pounding in her head. "Fuck." She croaked and pulled the pillow over her head. Said pillow was immediately removed and she squinted up at Rhianna. "Go away and let me die in peace."

Rhianna opened her mouth to give True the tongue lashing of her life but closed it with a sigh at the pathetic look her cousin was giving her. Verbalizing her thoughts on True's stupidity could wait. She reached down and placed her hands on her head and sent enough healing to reduce the headache to a dull roar. "What? You being stingy? Can't you get rid of it?"

"Absolutely not. You deserve some pain for being an imbecile."

It took True a few seconds to remember what happened and she groaned. "I'm gonna be in enough pain later once the guys are done with me. C'mon help a girl out would ya?"

Rhianna tried to ignore the big blue eyes her peering up at her but couldn't. "Fine. But if you are not punished to my satisfaction I'm going to give it back ten fold."

"How long I been out?"

"Approximately 2 hours. We were able to administer an emetic shortly after you finished the whiskey so it was not in your system long."

She had just finished relieving Trues headache when the door opened and Nathan stepped into the room. "You've got a lot to answer for little miss." He fussed as he crossed over to the bed and sat down next to True, placing a gentle hand on her cheek. "How ya feeling? Feel sick or any pain?"

"Rhianna took care of it."

"Well I don't know anything about that stuff you took so you're gonna stay right here until I'm sure your okay say you can get up." He poured her some water. "Drink this then I want you to rest."

"But I just woke up!" True whined, not wanting to be confined to the bed even though she felt like she'd been run over by a wagon.

"You listen here, you did this to yourself so don't go complaining. If you get out of this bed before I say so I'm gonna bust your little backside. Don't think you want that considering all you got coming do you?"

True looked down and played with a loose thread on the blanket. "No sir."

"Then you lay back and do as your told."

True reluctantly settled back on the pillows. "Where's Vin and Chris?" Normally one of them is there when she ended up needing Nathan's medical expertise.

"Chris rode out to Nettie's to get Vin. They should be here soon." Nathan tucked the blanket around her. "Now enough talk. Close your eyes and rest. If you behave we just might be able to give Josiah his bed back for tonight."

Vin and Chris arrived just before nightfall. Both were grateful True would be okay and decided to hold off on any discussions until the morning. Nathan allowed Vin to carry True back to the boarding house and up to their room with strict instruction that she stay in bed until morning.

Vin was exhausted after the day he'd had and decided an early night sounded good. Besides he needed to keep an eye on True. He tucked her in and carefully laid down on his bed.

True was so worried about his reaction to her escapade that she didn't even notice how slowly he moved or the wince when his backside hit the bed. "I'm sorry Vin."

"I'm sure you are."

"You mad?"

Vin was too tired to get into a discussion about what happened. "You worried everyone. We'll talk about it in the morning so you can explain yourself to all of us."

M7M7M7

The next morning True woke to find herself alone. She got up and dressed quickly but walked slowly down the stairs to the breakfast table, trying to delay the inevitable. All six men and Rhianna looked up when she entered the room. She saw that the only open seat was between Vin and Chris and figured that was by design.

Chris placed some eggs and bacon on her plate.

"Eat."

"I'm not..." she stopped at the look he gave her. "Yes sir." When she ate enough to satisfy him he told everyone to meet at the Church so they can discuss last night.

Rhianna could see how miserable True was and put her arm around her. She already read her cousins thoughts and knew why she ended up on the church roof. She also knew how angry but relieved everyone would be once they found out. From what she was able to discern they all thought something was really troubling True. "We have got to work on your impulse control Ennoilid."

Once at the Church Vin guided her to stand in front of everyone. "All right. Let's hear it."

True looked down and twisted her fingers nervously. "Um well I was lookin in the clinic for something to put in Jonathan's food to get him sick and found the bottle of whiskey and Kyrloghe. I figured I might as well enjoy myself."

Chris and Vin shared a look of incredulity. "So you did this to have fun?" Vin asked. Chris read him the riot act over not spending time with her and he was struggling to believe her actions were due to something so simple.

"Yes sir."

"That pill of yours wasn't in a place you could easily find it. I know you didn't just stumble onto it." Nathan stated.

True was hoping no one picked up on that. "I kinda got a little nosy and started poking around in your stuff. I found the whiskey easy enough and when I found the pill I figured why not?"

Rhianna was not able to stay quiet. "Why not? How about you could have died from the combination or destroyed the town if one of your powers went haywire."

True's eyes flashed with anger at her cousins intrusion and she took a step towards her. "Me and Canyon used to do it all the time! I was fine!"

"So fine you did not notice Creed until he called your name or feel Chris hand you to Josiah to get you off of roof!"

Chris moved between them. "Enough. Both of you." He looked at Vin and after he nodded turned to Nathan. "It was your privacy she invaded and whiskey she stole. You should be the one that punishes her for it. Vin will take care of the rest tomorrow."

That got True's attention. Nathan tended to be easily swayed when it came to punishments. Then she heard the rest of Chris's words and felt her stomach drop. She wasn't going to sit for a week!

Nathan thought on it for a minute and realized they were right. She would have never done this to Josiah or Ezra. She needed to learn to respect him and his privacy. "All right." He picked up an abandoned shutter slat. "Josiah can we borrow your room again?"

M7M7M7

True laid on her bed in misery. To her dismay Nathan was not an easy touch when it came to messing with his stuff and stealing from him. He was very thorough with that devil be dammed shutter slat. The pain was just going away when Vin came and took his belt to her for putting herself in danger. He'd only been gone a half hour when she heard a soft knock then someone enter and sat on the bed beside her. "You all right?"

True looked at Chris with red rimmed eyes and carefully maneuvered herself onto his lap. He pulled her close and let her cry herself out. "What you did yesterday was really dangerous. You could have really hurt yourself or someone else."

"I know."

"I want the pills you kept." He gave a small smile at the look of surprise on her face. "I know you too well little girl."

"There is only one left." She yelped when he lifted her up and swatted her hard twice. "Want to try that again or should I spank you for lying to me?"

True didn't know why she even tried to deceive him. Old habits and all that. She slid off his lap and got a small vial with two pills and after a moment of hesitation picked up the one she stowed away in a kerchief. "This is all of them."

Chris put them in his pocket and pulled her back onto his lap. "Why did you do it?" He asked wanting to be sure it was truly on a whim and not something deeper.

"I just did it to have fun. Me and Canyon used to do it all of the time so when I found the pills and whiskey I just decided to do it. It made me feel close to Canyon." She looked up at him. "I already told everyone this. Why are you asking me again?"

"When we were on the roof you said something about Vin being with Lauren again. I know he's been spending a lot of time with her and hasn't been around much. I wanted to make sure that wasn't why."

"You thought I'd be upset Vin wasn't around to watch me like a hawk? Are you losing your marbles?"

"Yeah I must be." Chris chuckled and kissed her head. "I'll call you when it's time for supper." He stopped at the door. "And True? Vin might not be watching you but I am. Remember that next time you get it in your head to pull something like this."

True grinned. "Aye aye Captain!"