Category: What Happened Next/Later
Episode inspired stories.
Dangerous Liaison: The Countess (by BluewindFarm)
Summary: The Cartwrights had pulled it off; successfully defended the Ponderosa without firing a single gunshot. Yet, the triumph was overshadowed by a persistent question; was anyone truly a winner or a loser when it came to a bittersweet memory from the past?
Rating: G (655 words)
Epilogue: The Quality of Mercy (by Annie K Cowgirl)
Summary: A WHN/alternate ending for the episode The Quality of Mercy. Joe goes to see Seth Pruitt in jail.
Rating: K+
Word Count: 613
Everybody’s Wrong (by Annie K Cowgirl)
Summary: A WHIB for the episode The Jury. Adam and Hoss have another heart to heart. This one would take place before the one in the episode, but after the scene where Adam comes home with a busted fist.
Rated: K+
Word Count: 959
The Blows of Sound (McFair_58)
A WHN and Missing Scene story for ‘The Stillness Within’. While rewatching the episode I realized that, after the first commercial break, while Doc Martin was examining him, Joe says it’s been a month since he was blinded. Say WHAT?? This tale explores what happened between the explosion and Paul’s examination of Joe, as well as what happened during that missing month and ends after Miss Dobbs’ departure.
Word count: 18,320 Rated: PG
The Ultimate Wound (by McFair_58)
Summary: As Ben Cartwright seeks to comfort Little Joe after he is forced to kill his childhood friend, Sharp Tongue, the older man recalls the curious circumstances that brought the two boys, Indian and white, together – circumstances that threatened his young son’s life then as surely as now. A WHN/WHI for season six’s ‘The Far Far Better Thing’.
Rated PG-13 for Western violence and brutality
Word count: 29,541
That Changes Everything (by Annie K Cowgirl)
Summary: After Joe takes the sheriff position in Rubicon, Adam decides to head up there to knock some sense into him. But Ben isn’t about to let that happen. A WHIB/WHN for the episode “The Tin Badge” with a little bit if “The Honor of Cochise” thrown in for good measure.
Rating: K+
Word Count: 1,400
All the Butterflies Have Broken Wings (by McFair_58)
Summary: A WHN for both the episode ‘A Time to Step Down’ and ‘Lonely House’. Five years have passed and Trock has been released from prison and returned to marry Lee Bolden. Little does the former bank robber know, but his past is about to catch up to him – and Joe Cartwright – in the form of a man whose dark secret only Dan Tollivar knows. A note for the Adam-gals, your feller is home for a visit.
Word count: 61,659
Rated: PG-13 for adult situations and innuendo, torture, and typical Western violence and brutality
Can’t Smile Without Her (by BettyHT)
SUMMARY: A WHN for The Hopefuls, this is a scene in which Hoss and Adam talk about an incident in Placerville. The actions Adam took there were because, although Regina was gone, her effect on him was still being felt.
Rating: PG. Word count: 1208
What Comes Around (by Missjudy)
Summary: Ben took the leadership of his wagon train when the group decided to keep moving to Fort Laramie after the tragedy at Ash Hollow. With their journey nearly complete, Ben rides ahead to make arrangements with the cavalry at the fort, leaving others to move the wagons the 15 miles from the final campsite. He’s excited to see his group arrive, but soon realizes all is not well.
Rating: K Word Count: 16,263
Convergence (by JC)
Summary: Three years ago Adam left the Ponderosa for parts unknown, and now Ben finally gets the news he has been praying for – his firstborn is coming home. However, an unexpected reunion in Stockton isn’t the only surprise fate has in store for the Cartwrights. (A Bonanza/Big Valley crossover story and sequel to More Than a Memory)
Rating: T 35,257 words
More than a Memory Series, links to all stories included within.
The Healing (by Missjudy)
Summary: Adam’s unexpected illness; an unexpected visitor, and Ben’s unexpected reaction to a developing situation leaves the Cartwright home in upheaval. Can the information this stranger holds, bring healing to old and new wounds?
Rating: G Word Count: 25743
Bittersweet (McFair_58)
Summary: It is October, a time of looking back and giving thanks for a harvest of blessings. For Joe Cartwright, this is impossible. The autumn marks one year since he lost his beloved brother, Hoss. Needing to escape, Joe heads out to visit to Carrie Pickett. He never makes it. Instead, Joe finds himself lost and alone and badly injured. Half-dead, he works his way toward a plume of smoke rising in the distance. Little does Joe suspect that what he finds at the end of his journey will change his life forever.
Word count: 22,401
Rated PG
Dead Men Tell No Tales (by AC1830)
Summary – October challenge – write another worldly story involving one or all the Cartwrights. The unthinkable has happened – all four Cartwrights are dead!
Rating – K, Word count – 2045
The Squirrel’s Stash #3 (by Questfan)
Summary: A few more Pinecone Challenges for my pet squirrel to gnaw on. Each chapter has a lyric prompt and had to be no more than 500 words.
Word Count: 8885 Rating: T
Only Fifteen (by PSW)
Summary: A short WHN for ‘He Was Only Seven’ — a moment on the way back home.
Rating: G Word Count: 1863
