On This Lonely Road

Mouth of this Holler

Raven walked into the hotel room to find Raylan and Liz sitting on the edge of the bed. The first thing she noticed was the bandage on Liz's eye. 

"Oh my god!" She dropped her keys, "Liz what happened!?"

"I got into a fight with Coover Bennett," Liz replied. 

"You what?" Raven said in disbelief, "we warned you about them!" 

"Don't worry," Liz tried to reassure her, "I'm fine." 

"Better question is where the hell have you been?" asked Raylan.

"Out," is all Raven replied with. 

She walked into the bathroom and shut the door. Liz and Raylan looked at each other. 

"She's not telling me the truth," He stood up but Liz stopped him. 

"Let her have her space," she said, "I'll go talk to her. You step outside and Ill call you back in." 

Raylan nodded and then stepped outside to let the woman have their space. 

Liz knocked on the bathroom door, "Raven, hes gone." 

The door opened and Raven looked around the room making sure what Liz saidneas true. She let out a deep breath and then walked over to the bed and flopped down. 

"Liz I dont know what to do," she looked over at the marshal.

"What the hell happened?" Liz pried wondering what had gotten Raven to act so weird.  

"Liz," she started to cry, "I....I..." 

"Take a deep breath," Liz sat down next to her, "tell me when you're ready." 

Raven laid back on the bed feeling tears stream down her face. She knew she had to tell Liz what happened. It was eating at her from the inside. But how did she tell her? What would.Liz do? How would she react? Would she tell Raylan? She couldn't keep it in much longer.

"Liz I shot Aiden," She finally let out. 

"What!?" Liz looked at Raven shocked. 

"I...I...I dont know how it..it...it...just happened," Raven stuttered, "I...I...I..was there, then we...we fought, and then the gun went off!"

"Slow down," Liz placed a hand on Raven's shoulder, "and explain what happened."

Raven explained the whole chain of events to Liz. When she was done, they both sat there in silence processing everything. Liz found herself in the same boat as Raven, nsure what do or what to think. Liz was a Marshal, and Raven had just confessed a crime.

"Is Aiden dead?" Liz finally asked.

"I have no idea," Raven replied.

"You left him with Boyd?"

"Yes."

"Then we need to tell Raylan."

"No!" Raven pleaded, "we cant tell him!"

"Raven I have to," Liz explained, "this is one secret I cant keep."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raylan came back into the room at Liz's request. He looked at Raven, then at Liz.

"Alright," he said, "what is going on?"

"So..." Liz glanced at Raven, "our hunt for Aiden can come to an end."

"Why?" Raylan raised an eyebrow.

"Because I shot him," Raven didnt even let Liz speak.

Raylan's expression got stern. He had to admit, he was impressed with the fact that Raven had actually shot someone. He was pissed at the fact that now he knew.

"How the hell did that happen?" He asked.

Raven once again told the story of a few hours ago.

"So you're telling me you hired Boyd Crowder to kill your brother and then ended up shooting him yourself?" Raylan asked.

"It was self defense," Raven clarified.

"Self Defense," Liz made air quotes.

"Liz I need to talk to Rsven alone now," he said.

"Raylan I..." Liz started.

"Now Liz!" He snapped.

She looked at Raven with a concerned look then exited the room.

"What the hell were you thinking!" Raylan laid into the woman.

"I wasn't Raylan!" She snapped back.

"Do you realized the position you put us in!" He continued to yell, "now we have to either investigate or act like Aiden disappeared.  But given that Liz's job is tracking your brother makes life a little hard!"

"I'm sorry Raylan," she said.

Raven looked hurt as she stood under Raylan disapproving glare. His face softened as he realized that she was just acting on the natural instinct that had been ingrained in her from growing up in Harlan.

"Raven," he sighed, "I'm sorry."

Her eyes glanced up at him. She stepped forward kissing his cheek. He pulled her into a hug kissing her forehead. He stood on her toes kissing his lips. He kissed her back resting his hands on her hips. He pulled her into a hug and rested his head on hers.

"I dont know what to do," she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"We'll figure this out," he whispered, "you're going to be ok."

"Thank you Raylan," she said and then kissed him.

"You're welcome Raven," he grinned back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day at the office was a uneasy for Raylan. He didnt have Liz on account of Art's orders to take two days and he didnt an excuse to run out to Harlan and track down Boyd Crowder to find out what had happened to Aiden. If ye was dead, their job got easier in the track down, but more complicated on the logistics side. The one thing he knew for sure, if they never found a murder weapon then the case would stay cold and be tossed aside. He knew Raven would keep quiet, but would Boyd Crowder if push came to shove? He decided just to go and face the consequences later. He got up from his desk and grabbed his keys just as Art came out of his office.

"Raylan!" He called.

Raylan stopped and turned around not wanting to talk to his boss right

"Hows Liz doing?" He asked.

"Good," Raylan answered, "she wanted to come back to work but decided not to take a page from my book an actually listen to you."

"Good to hear," Art said.

"I'm going down Harlan," Raylan said, "got a call about Arlo again."

"Ok," Art said, "I'll call you if we need you."

"Sounds good," with that Raylan took off.