Category: Hurt/Comfort
Not Guilty: Part One, Justice Denied (by BettyHT)
Summary: Joe makes a serious mistake and Adam agrees to help him fix things only to find that he puts himself into a greater problem as others make too many mistakes as well. Adam needs more help than Joe did, but that help is slow in arriving.
Rating: T Word count: 35,315
Part of The Not Guilty Series, links to all stories included within
The Trial of Jessica Hardy #3 – The Empty Casket (by Missjudy)
Summary: The final story of the trilogy of stories: Trial of Jessica Hardy, Buried Alive, and now, The Empty Casket. The first two stories told of Adam’s disappearance after being taken as a hostage by a woman bank robber, and then his return after months spent drugged in a mental hospital. When Buried Alive ended, Adam had left Carson City following a frosty reunion with his family that had left him feeling that for everyone’s sake, he should have died as Jessica Hardy, AKA Leslie Richter, meant for him to do. This story picks up in San Francisco, where he has gone, hoping to find something about himself that is worth saving. He meets someone who just might understand what he’s feeling, and recognize what he’s planning to do. Can this other “man in black” save Adam from himself?
Rating: K+
Word Count: 28,000
Part of The Trial of Jessica Hardy Series, links to all stories included within
The Protector II – The Solitaire’s Song (by Sierra Girl)
Summary: It’s been a year since Adam returned to the Ponderosa together with a 12-year old girl that he rescued on his journey. Life is good, but troubles don’t stay away for long. Not only does an old acquaintance cause trouble for Adam, but the presence of Clara’s father still lingers like a black cloud. This is the sequel to ‘The Protector’ but can be read as a stand-alone story.
Rated: K+ (64,572 words)
The Circumstance of His Return (by McFair_58)
A violent storm, a frightened mare, and the matter of his homecoming. My entry for the 2021 ‘Man in Black’ challenge.
Rated: PG
Word count: 10,999
End Of the War (by BettyHT)
Summary: Often, Adam and Joe butted heads over the issues of the Civil War. After Appomattox and the assassination of Lincoln, it is time for them to resolve their differences.
Rating T Word count 2,685
Whose Sin Is Her Love (mcfair_58)
Summary: Adah Menken and John C. Regan return to Virginia City stirring up old emotions and creating new trouble for the Cartwrights.
Rated PG-13 for western brutality, violence and adult situations
Word count: 55, 282
A Matter of Guilt (by Annie K Cowgirl)
Summary: A WHIB (what happened in between) for the episode “A Matter of Circumstance”. Ben and Hoss worry and wait for word of Joe’s condition.
Rated: K+
Word Count: 975
Wanderlust and Consequences (by BettyHT)
Summary: A NaNoWriMo entry, this story begins when Ben and Adam traveled west and built the Ponderosa and Hoss and Joe joined the family and Inger and Marie are there as well. Then as an adult, Adam traveled to help Hop Sing on a quest, and he finds adventure and love before returning. There is a surprise too in the last chapters that ties the story back to the prequel beginning of the story.
Rating: T Word Count: 102,898
Going Home (by mcfair_58)
Summary: It is 1847 and such a winter had never been seen! Snowstorms and squalls. Sleet and ice. Winds so ferocious they built drifts high as a man. Driven by a need to escape the memory of his late wife, Ben Cartwright ventures out into a frozen landscape and becomes lost. As he seeks a way to survive, he has no way of knowing that another member of the family has become lost as well. Will the killer snow claim two Cartwright lives?
Rated PG
Word count 20,990
Please Don’t Go (by Annie K Cowgirl)
Summary: “I’d never thought much about my own death, but on the rare occasions that I did, I’d always imagined I’d be surrounded by my family when my time came. Now, as I watched Hoss ride away, I knew I wouldn’t even be afforded that luxury.” An extended/AU scene from the episode “Second Chance” Joe’s POV.
Rated: T (for mild language)
Word Count: 920
Everybody Makes Mistakes (by BettyHT)
Summary: Joe and Adam have a series of altercations that have significant consequences for them and their families until they work out their differences and both make changes in their lives.
Rating: T WC: 30,906
This story is part of the Brenda Series, links to all stories included within.
Bird Hunt (by BettyHT)
Summary: Hungry for something other than beef for dinner, Hoss gets his family to go on a bird hunt, but Adam ends up in a difficult situation as a result. This is the first of three stories about the family in which winter is the setting and hunting is the theme.
Rating: PG WC: 4,153
Winter Tales Series, links to all stories included within
Slow Burn (by BettyHT)
Summary: Adam suffers a minor injury but it is the words of his opponent that wound him the most. He sets out on a quest to test those words because of the doubts they have raised about his perception of himself and about his vision of his future.
Rating: T Word Count: 25,106
Deception (by BettyHT)
Summary: A woman attempts some romantic deceit and fraud with two Cartwright brothers, but it turns out to be even more devious than that. Her actions tear at the fabric of the family and open other issues which leads to great changes for one of them.
Rating: T Word Count: 28,025
Blindsided (McFair_58)
Summary: Two years after he was bushwhacked, Joe Cartwright returns to Lone Pines and the Griswolds’ spread. Though he intends to stay for one night, circumstances beyond his control compel him to change his plans. Something is terribly wrong, and he is bound and determined to set it right – even if it it costs him his life. Slightly AU in that the eps ‘Forever’ never happened.
Word count: 66, 499
Rated: PG-13