A somewhat AU What Happened Instead for The First Born. While New Orleans had brought Marie into Ben’s life, it was also a breeding ground for lies, whispered rumours, family disputes and long-held hatred. It has long been said that revenge is a dish that is best served cold.

Rating: T

Word Count: 63028

SUMMARY:  This is a story expanded from a challenge on Bonanza Trailriders.  One man faces execution for a crime he didn’t commit, another suffers a terrible beating, and Proud Mary is at the center of the controversy but can’t help.  The whole family will have to work together to untangle the mystery, but the question is whether it will be in time to prevent tragedy.  That depends on how much Adam can remember.

Rating = T  Word count = 4632

SUMMARY:  An expansion of a pinecone challenge from Bonanza Brand, this is the story of a boy who makes a terrible choice and has to live with the consequences, but he isn’t the only one.

Rating = T  Word count = 1941

SUMMARY:  Adam has had some difficulties with women, and it doesn’t seem to stop.  When there are more incidents, he’s ready to give up on romance, but sometimes the darkest days can turn out to have unintended consequences that a man can learn to appreciate.  Added the second Adam and Monica story, Not Always, to this one.   Adam makes some serious mistakes in trying to extricate himself from trouble until he turns to his family for help.

Rating = T  Word count = 22,989

Summary – Jamie learns first- hand about a special trait of the Cartwrights.

Rating – K, Word Count – 1270

SUMMARY:  On a trip to catch mustangs, Adam learns about breaking horses from an unlikely source.  This is an expansion of a Sourdough challenge from Bonanza Trailriders.  Edited in a second Mustang Sally story based on a Pinecone challenge from Brand — McTeague.

Rating: PG  Word count = 2215

Summary: Little Joe’s hopes to leave school are dashed by Adam’s interference. Then the arrival of a tyrannical substitute schoolmaster’s brings trouble for the children and takes Little Joe’s relationship with his family to breaking point. But will something far darker in the man prove even more dangerous for Little Joe?

Word Count – 20,868 Rating MA – For adult themes. Child punishment, cruelty and spanking.

Summary: It was just another ordinary day for Adam Cartwright, with the ordinary prospect that he would have to step in and keep his little brother out of trouble.  Or was it?

Word count: 2507
Rated: G

Summary: A tragedy forces Joe to face his darkest fears.

Rating: T Word count: 5457

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