Notes: this is a companion piece to As Luck Would Have It; higher rating for mentions of sex, nothing graphic. VLD isn't mine, obvs. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Life out West for a woman was predictable: you worked your fingers to the bone on your father's ranch until you got married at which point you worked your fingers to the bone on your husband's ranch. Or perhaps you would work on some other man's ranch, or in someone's house, or a restaurant. Of course, there was always the option of shaming the family and becoming a member of 'the oldest profession' or working in the gambling dens.

Katie knows life out West for a woman included more options than life out East. She was valued for her work, could own property, operate her own business…

But she wants more out of life than just work or being a wife and then a mother. She wants to know, see, hear, touch, smell, and taste all that's out there in the big beautiful world she lives in.

It's this burning curiosity about the world that makes her take action. If she wants to truly get out there, she can't stay at home and she certainly can't shackle herself in marriage.

It will gut her family, but Katie has to know.

A woman travelling alone would never make it. Katie hems her brother's pants, shortening them to fit her. She puts on a shirt and vest, then eyes herself in the small mirror her family owns. Her chest is small, almost imperceptible with how loose the vest fits. The only thing dispelling the illusion is her hair.

The first hank of hair comes off and the sound and sensation almost has her in tears. She swallows hard and keeps cutting away. If the price of freedom is a haircut, she is more than willing to pay it.

When she is done, Katie notices how much she looks like Matt. She smiles, and feels grateful. Now, no matter how far away she is from her family she know she only needs to look at her reflection and be reminded of home.

She steals away in the middle of the night with one of the family's horses, a pistol, and a pouch of money she has earned from cleaning at the inn. After she establishes herself and makes some real money, she will pay her family back for what she took.

Katie - now Pidge - had intended to live honestly. At least, that's what she tells herself. It's just so much easier to cheat at cards to earn her bread. It's more fun too.

Getting shot at wasn't part of the plan. She's lucky one of the men she was fleecing decides to take her side.

She's hiding out in an old barn on the outside of town with the man she fled with-Lance, she recalls his name. He liked to flirt with the kitchen girls and had a great sleight of hand at cards. He liked to talk, and used it to great distraction at the table. What impressed her more was his skill with the pistol. Truth be told, she might not have escaped were it not for him.

It's these thoughts accompanied by the adrenaline high that has her placing her mouth on his. He freezes a moment, and Pidge is about to pull away, also realizing in that moment her foolish impulsive action, when his hand cups the back of her head and he's kissing her well and truly deeply.

They fall back against the horse blankets.

He pulls away, blue eyes hazy and breathing quickened. She must be the same way, she reckons. But she should say something. This man thinks she's a man and if they continue he's going to find out real quick it's not the case.

"I haven't done this with another man before," he confesses.

Oh. Well in that case, maybe her being a woman won't be a problem.

She takes his hand and presses it to her breast. His eyes widen in surprise, and then he smiles. His hand slides away from her breast, down across her side to rest on her hip. His other hand curls into her goldenrod hair and then they are kissing again, his body pressed delightfully against her.

Sex is much more fun and a little more awkward than she imagined it to be.

She's in the middle of putting her pants back on when Lance wakes up.

"Where you running off to?"

She finishes pulling her pants up and cinches the waist.

"Montana, maybe. I hear it's beautiful. I want to see for myself."

"Montana, huh? I'd like to go there too," Lance's eyes, which had been trained politely on the barn ceiling cut over to her.

"I'm not looking to be someone's wife," she warns.

She had fun with him, but if he was under the impression that it meant more than that he was sorely mistaken.

"Good, because I have been there and done that before and she left me broke and tied to a tree," he replies, starting to put his own clothes back on.

"Then what do you want?"

"Someone I can cheat at cards with. We made a good team at the shoot out. I think if we worked together, we would make more together than apart. I wouldn't mind doing it in Montana, if that's what my partner wants to do."

Pidge mulls it over. Lance ensured her escape today. He was great at the card game, too.

"If you decide you don't want me around you can always tie me to a tree and leave," Lance jokes, referencing back to the story of his ex-wife.

"Okay," she says, surprising herself at the speed of her answer.

Maybe it's because she likes him, and truth be told she wants to get to know him more. (She's going to pretend it's solely because of his skills though. It's safer that way.)

"Okay!" he grins, and grabs the horse blankets from the ground.

Then they are saddling up and off for adventure. She's nervous, but mostly excited. A partner was never a part of her plans… but maybe having someone to share in her discoveries would be nice.

She could always leave him, if it doesn't go well.