Yellowstone - John Duttons daughter

Blood the boy

Tessa and John drove along the road, Molly sat in the back, raining pouring down outside.

They passed a sheriff truck pulled over, which drove after them as soon as they passed.

"The balls on this son of a bitch." John muttered looking into the rear view mirror, sheriff Haskell could be seen in the drivers seat.

John pulled over, the two Duttons climbing out. Molly trailed behind. Sheriff Haskell waking over to meet them.

"Quite the about-face on the news." John states, "You accepting responsibility for something. Not like you these days."

"You in business with the Beck brothers now?" Sheriff Haskell asks straight up

"Yeah, he's putting... he's putting slot machines in the barn." Tessa said sarcastically.

"Look, it's not a fuckin' joke." Sheriff Haskell shuts her down, "Once they get screws in you, John, they never take them out. Now, we can have our differences, but we want them nowhere near this valley."

"How'd they get screws in you?" John asks

"I got in pretty deep at one of their casinos, John." He explains

"And?" John asks looking for more.

"I couldn't cover the debt." He stoped

"And?" Tessa questioned

"Then they came up with ways that I could." Sheriff Haskell finished

"And now they own you." John nodded understanding

"I'm giving the man who used to be my friend some advice." Sheriff Haskell said, "Now, you're on their radar. For the love of God, find a way off it, John."

"I never stopped being your friend, Donnie." John tells him "You stopped being mine. I suggest you start being my friend again, big fella, because as you can see, the walls are closing in on all sides."

And with that John turned away, Tessa and Molly following him. Agent Haskell heading in the opposite direction.

***

Kayce, Tessa and Tate all sat at the island bench, it was still dark outside. John walked into the kitchen two rifles in his hand, he handed one over to Kayce the second to Tessa.

"Heavy." Tate muttered as Kayce placed the gun over his shoulder

"Yeah, right." Kayce agreed

"Daddy gave that rifle to me when I was 7." Tessa tells Tate.

"Really?" Asked Tate, Tessa nodded

"That rifle has the power to take a life." Tessa adds, the exact same thing John had told Tessa as he handed the gun over on her 7th birthday. "Whatever you point it at. You know that, right?"

Tate gave a small nods.

"So if you know that, you also know you don't have the power to bring it back, do you?" John adds, Tate shakes his head, "Even if we wanted to. Even if it was a mistake.

"It's not a trick question, Tate." John goes on "You just gotta be sure before you pull that trigger, because killing is the one thing you can't undo." Kayce and Tessa both exchange glances.

"Let's go, Dad." Kayce tells him, the 4 heading out the door.

***

"You see him through there?" Tessa asked Tate lowering her binoculars.

"Yeah." Tate nods looking through the scope.

"Okay, I want you to put those crosshairs right on his shoulder." Kayce explained, "Let me know when you've got em in there."

Tate slowly and carefully moved the rifle around for a bit; "I got 'em." He tells his dad.

"Okay." Kayce nods, "Now take a real deep breath. Pull the trigger real slow."

Tessa lifted her binoculars back up, just as the gun went off. She couldn't help but smile as she watched the deer drop, Tate had shot his first deer.

"Good shot!" Tessa tells him, giving a high five.

They pick up the guns and walk over to where Tates deer lay.

"Look at that." Kayce smiled

"That's bigger than my first buck." Tessa tells him, Tate stood a few feet back, a look of regret in his face. Kayce bobbed down besides the bullet wound

"First deer. We gotta blood you." Kayce says, pulling off his beanie.

"What does that mean?" Tate asked

"You gotta wear his blood to honor him." Tessa explained

"Come here. Come here." Kayce tells him, Tate steps forward and Kayce wiped the blood across his forehead and cheeks. Tate just stood there, looking bad.

"Hey... What's the matter, buddy?" Kayce asks

"It's that, I was..." Tate trailed off

"Hey. It's all right." Kayce reassured, "It's a big deal taking a life. But everything on this earth has to do it to survive. The trees they're going to kill all the smaller stuff beneath it.l

"Killing is the one thing everything on this planet does to survive, Tate." John adds, "It's the one thing we all share. Now you share it, too."

"Will something kill us too, Grandpa?" Tate asks

"Yeah, something will kill us, too." John nods, "Might be bacteria so small you need a microscope to see it. Might be a big ol' bear. There's no such thing as dying of old age. Something kills us all."