You Promised:

Jax ran down the stairs at full steam. She was wearing Joe's old clothes and felt for the first time in her life that her father would let her get away with it. It was her first day at work and she knew working with Adam she really couldn't wear a dress.

"Jacqueline, I don't care if you're working this ranch or not, you will dress appropriately," Ben said not looking up from his breakfast.

"But Pa…"

"This can be over before it begins, young lady."

"Yes sir," Jax said reluctantly and walked slowly up the stairs running into her twin on the way.

"Told ya so," Joe teased.

"Shut up," Jax said and pushed her brother slightly for the jab.

Ben smiled at the pouting form. He still wasn't sure of his decision, but Adam assured him that he would keep Jax safe. Ben wanted Adam to prove to the girl that this wasn't the life that she wanted to live, but he knew Jax was too stubborn to ever admit it. Finally he relented and told Adam to follow his normal routine.

Jax was back down five minutes later still full of smiles. Sure the switching and eight days worth of bedtime spankings had sucked, but her leaving the ranch and working for two months at the O'Kelly Ranch with Billy had proved that she could do anything that the boys could so it was totally worth it.

"You need to hurry up. We have to get down to the lumber camp," Adam snapped. He decided that he wasn't going to treat her any different than he would any foreman on the ranch. The kid really should have to work her way up like he did, but there was too much danger in both his and his father's opinions.

"I just sat down," Jax argued.

"Don't care. We have a hard day of work ahead of us."

"You don't have to get snippy."

"And you don't have to go with me, Jacqueline. Right now you're a cow hand, just like you were on the O'Kelly Ranch. Don't expect special treatment because you're a girl or my sister," Adam said angrily.

"Fine," Jax said getting up from the table and grabbing a couple of pancakes to go.

Jax followed her older brother out to the barn and tried not to smile at Hoss who was nice enough to saddle Miss Lily for her.

"Thanks Hoss," Jax said giving her big brother a hug.

Billy came up a few seconds later, smiling from ear to ear. He gave her a big hug and said,

"Are you ready for this?"

"Yep. Listen to Hoss and take care of Joe, OK?" Jax said smiling.

"I will, promise," Billy said as Joe walked in.

"What do you promise?" Joe asked.

"To keep you safe," Billy said getting a push from his friend.

"Alright you three stop yapping and let's to work," Hoss said.

Jax jumped on Miss Lily still smiling. She was going to enjoy her day no matter how hard it was.

Adam still didn't know if this was a good idea, but knew this was the only way to appease Jax's need to prove herself. But he loved spending time with his pigheaded little sister and to be honest he missed her terribly while she was gone. He would never chance that again. His biggest fear was that Jax wouldn't listen to him. His little sister tended to take on more than she could chew more days than not. What they did on the ranch was dangerous and Jax really didn't believe anything was dangerous.

They rode in silence for the first fifteen minutes. Finally Adam looked over at the smiling form and said,

"Jax, I need you to listen to me today."

"I will," Jax said offhandedly.

"No Jacqueline, I mean really listen. These guys aren't used to having a little…"

"I'm not a little girl, Adam. Today, I'm just like everyone else."

"I hate to break it to you sis, but you're a little girl."

"Adam, why are you trying to aggravate me this morning? I know I'm a girl. I know they are going to treat me different, but they're going to treat Joe different today too. It has something to do with our last name and the fact that our Pa owns the place. I also know you were probably down here yesterday threatening their jobs if they didn't mind their manners and let me do more than you think I can."

Adam smiled because that was exactly what he did at the end of the day yesterday. He knew he couldn't be there every second of the day and if he wasn't careful Jax was going to try and do something stupid. He promised his Pa that nothing would happen to her and he wouldn't allow it.

"Your smile tells me I'm right. So who's my babysitter?" Jax asked in annoyance.

"Charlie."

'Great, the one person who I can't manipulate,' Jax thought. The man was older than Adam and had known her since she was six. He was kind of like a third older brother.

"Take it you're not happy? I thought you liked Charlie."

"I do like Charlie, but I don't really need a babysitter."

"Everyman out there has a handler the first few weeks. Like I said I'm not treating you any different."

"Except everyman out there is expected to do everything, while I'm expected to do only what you think I can."

"Jax, I really don't want to argue."

"And I really want you to trust my abilities. Let me show you what I can do," Jax begged.

"Slowly."

"Fine."

"Jax, cut the attitude. I really don't want to have to spank you in front of everyone."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me," Adam warned.

Jax decided that she wasn't going to try him, not because she was afraid of the whipping, she wouldn't be able to handle the humiliation of being tanned in front of her new coworkers.

They finally made it to the lumber camp and Charlie walked over to help Jax off her horse.

"I don't need your help," Jax snapped.

"Jacqueline," Adam warned softly.

"I thought I wasn't going to be treated any different. I can't see Charlie helping Joe off a horse," Jax whispered fiercely.

Adam almost smiled at that because she was absolutely right, but he still wasn't letting her get away with it.

"That's one, Jacqueline. Let me get to three today and we'll find a nice place to chat. Got it?"

"Yes sir," Jax said trying to keep her temper in check.

"Good. Charlie will please take her down and show her how things run. I have to go and see how the boys are doing with Peterson Contract."

"No problem. Come on Jax, let's go check out how things are done around here," Charlie said brightly.

Jax smiled loving that Charlie was actually happy for her. Maybe having him as a babysitter wouldn't be that bad. They walked down the hill together and Jax gasped. Sure she had been to the lumber camp before but she'd never been allowed to go farther than the work shed because Adam and Ben wouldn't allow it. There were logs in the water and horses were dragging lumber up to the saw mill.

"Ok, so here's how it goes. The trees are cut, brought down here, we skin them and we cut them into boards."

"So what am I going to do today?"

"Keep a tally of how many logs go through the mill."

"No really, what am I going to do?"

"Tally the number of logs that go through the mill. It's usually my job, but I thought I'd give you a chance," Charlie said smiling brightly.

"This is Adam. I can do more than count," Jax snapped.

"Jax, keeping track is extremely important."

"I know that, but Pa would have let me do this before I took off."

"Adam wants you to start slow."

"Adam wants to treat me like a helpless little girl and I'm not putting up with it," Jax said angrily getting up and walking towards the door.

"Jax, stop," Charlie said grabbing the little girl's arm.

"No Charlie, Adam is being well Adam."

"Look kiddo, I promise I'll go to bat for you, but we have to do this Adam's way. You're right Adam is just being Adam. He loves his little sister and won't let anything happen to you. So please do the job he set for you today," Charlie said knowing the little girl for most of his life if he didn't calm her down right now she would do something completely stupid.

"Fine, but tomorrow I better get to do something more exciting than counting wood."

"Well, it'll probably be more like next week," Charlie admitted.

"My brother really sucks and I'm betting arguing isn't going to help."

"Nope, he said that he would fire you. You're not his sister at work, you're his employee, so you have to do what you're told," Charlie said reasonably.

"Fine, but can you show me other things too?" Jax asked.

"Sure. How about I show you how the mill works? You can count and learn at the same time."

Adam showed up six hours later and smiled at his little sister whose head was in a book.

"How'd she do?" Adam asked.

"Great. She listened to every word I said and was able to keep up with the inventory."

"No arguing."

"Nope," Charlie said with a smile.

"Come on Jax, time to head home."

Jax decided she wasn't talking to Adam, because she was still too angry. She couldn't believe that he didn't trust her and that he gave her such a cushy job. There was more that she could do. Sure she might not be able to saw down a tree, but she could run the horses or run the mill. Sitting on her butt all day wasn't what she was looking for.

"How many planks were we able to make today?" Adam asked not liking the silence.

"Enough. I'll put it in the ledger when I get home. It's my job, not yours," Jax said testily.

"Yes, but I'm you supervisor."

"Then you can check my work the second I put it in."

"Come on Jax, I know you're not happy…"

"Adam, you said you would give me a chance and you made me a glorified bookkeeper. That's not what I want and you know it. If you're so worried that I'll get hurt keep me with you."

"What I was doing today was too dangerous. You said you wanted to learn all aspects of this ranch and bookkeeping is part of it."

"How many first day hires do you trust with the books?" Jax challenged.

"None, but then again not many first day hires are Cartwrights?" Adam challenged back.

"I don't want to be a bookkeeper. I want to be a rancher."

"And being a bookkeeper is part of being a rancher."

"Do you promise to let me have chances to do other things?"

"Slowly," Adam said reluctantly.

Jax spurred her horse ahead, not wanting to talk to Adam anymore. Adam decided to let her go. The one thing about Jax was that it was better to let things go when she was angry.

Jax rode into the barn and found Billy and Joe joking and smiling. Billy looked at her scowl and asked,

"Adam made you do something stupid didn't he?"

"Yeah, I had to watch lumber being cut and count it. A monkey could do it," Jax pouted. "He doesn't trust me."

"It isn't that he doesn't trust you Jax, he wants to break you in slowly," Hoss tried knowing dinner was going to be awful if he didn't calm his sister down.

"Joe, what did you do today?" Jax asked ignoring Hoss altogether.

"We moved cattle from the north pasture to the west pasture so that we can fix the fence tomorrow."

"You've moved cattle before, so…" Billy tried.

"Billy, don't defend Adam. He's doing this on purpose," Jax said.

"Ok Jax," Billy said. "I gotta head home. See ya tomorrow."

"Bye Billy," Jax and Joe said as Adam rode into the barn.

"I have chores to do," Jax said walking away not giving Adam a chance to talk to her.

"What did she say?" Adam asked.

"That you aren't giving her a chance. You promised Adam," Joe said angrily.

"This is between me and Jax, Joseph, so keep out of it."

Joe just walked away wanting to find his sister. Jax was sitting by the well looking miserable. He sat down next to her and said,

"I'm sorry."

"I'm going to have to prove myself again," Jax said angrily.

"Give it a few days before you do something about it. OK?"

"Alright, but when I do, will you please help me?" Jax asked.

"Of course I will," Joe said with a smile.