{"id":64766,"date":"2026-06-02T10:24:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T14:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=64766"},"modified":"2026-10-01T13:28:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:28:45","slug":"being-there-by-tavia42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=64766","title":{"rendered":"Being There (by Tavia42)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Summary: Just a conversation between Candy and Joe, because they&#8217;ve both been there. A brief WHN for The Stalker.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Rating: G | Word Count: 908<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been there, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Candy kept his gaze fixed on the lake, and didn\u2019t even turn his head at Joe\u2019s voice as the man settled down sitting next to him on the rocky shore.\u00a0 He had been thinking about Lisa\u2019s face as she told him why they couldn\u2019t be together, and he didn\u2019t appreciate the interruption.\u00a0 Maybe if he stayed silent, Joe would go away.<\/p>\n<p>Right.\u00a0 Like\u00a0<em>that<\/em>\u00a0was going to happen.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, he ground out, \u201cBeen where?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know.\u00a0 There.\u201d\u00a0 Joe gestured, vaguely and expansively.\u00a0 \u201cHere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Candy glowered at the innocent sunlight on the water.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen a man asks for three days off all of a sudden, and the woman he\u2019s been seeing is leaving town, it\u2019s not real hard to figure out what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Candy let his head drop into his hands.\u00a0 \u201cYou talked to Lisa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNah, Hoss did.\u00a0 Then he talked to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGreat.\u00a0 Good.\u201d\u00a0 Fine if everyone talked, if they just wouldn\u2019t talk to <em>him<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I could guess where you were.\u00a0 Emotionally, I mean.\u00a0 Took some searching to find out you were <em>here<\/em>.\u00a0 Nice spot, though, good view.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Was he supposed to thank him for the effort?\u00a0 Candy lifted his head again, but didn\u2019t look at the man next to him.\u00a0 \u201cJoe, what do you\u00a0<em>want<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust saying that I\u2019ve been there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFine, you said it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Joe\u2019s jacket rustled as he leaned back, clearly a man intent on staying where he was for a long time if necessary.\u00a0 \u201cReckon I\u2019ve been turned down by\u2026let\u2019s see, I think it\u2019s seven women that I proposed to.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t tell that to just anyone, you know.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got the reputation of being a love \u2018em and leave \u2018em type, and it would pretty well ruin it if people put it together to realize it\u2019s been more love \u2018em and get left, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo what is this, a competition?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d Joe said, voice far too patient for Candy\u2019s current frame of mind. \u201cI\u2019m just saying, I\u2019ve\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeen there, yes, I know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight.\u00a0 Did I ever tell you about Tessa?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Candy shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Maybe?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was engaged to her, hmm, about five years ago.\u00a0 Maybe six.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoe, I don\u2019t keep track of your\u00a0<em>current<\/em>\u00a0romances. \u00a0I don\u2019t care who you romanced five years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it was six.\u00a0 Anyway, she was riding through the Ponderosa with her father and brother while I was out hunting a cougar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The story sounded familiar.\u00a0 \u201cWait, I remember this one \u2013 the blind girl you shot?\u201d\u00a0 There had been a campfire some while ago, with Hoss and Joe and a lot of stories about the crazy romances they\u2019d both, but mostly Joe, gotten caught up in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSure,\u201d Joe said, apparently unoffended, \u201cwe can joke about it\u00a0<em>now<\/em>\u00a0because she got her sight back and it all worked out.\u00a0 But we didn\u2019t know then that she\u2019d ever see again, and I felt real bad about that.\u00a0 Felt like I had to fix it somehow, make it up to her.\u00a0 Take care of her.\u00a0 You know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d Candy said flatly, even though he\u00a0<em>could<\/em>\u00a0see what Joe was driving at.\u00a0 Of course he\u2019d wanted to fix things for Lisa.\u00a0 He\u2019d killed her husband, even if it had been self-defense.\u00a0 But that wasn\u2019t the point.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got all the way to the altar with Tessa, said the vows, everything.\u00a0 Then before she said the vows back, she ran off up the stairs, vision perfect.\u00a0 And you know how\u00a0<em>I\u00a0<\/em>felt?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike an idiot?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, yeah.\u00a0 But also relieved.\u00a0 Because I didn\u2019t really love her, I just wanted to help her, and\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll right, if you say so, but\u2026are you sure it\u2019s actually\u00a0<em>that<\/em>\u00a0bad?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Candy straightened up, moved his glare off the view towards the target it should have had to begin with.\u00a0 \u201cJoe, I\u2019ve punched you before, I can do it again, I don\u2019t care if I work for your father, I can still\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, no, I\u2019m just asking,\u201d Joe said, unperturbed, waving a hand.\u00a0 \u201cJust something to think about.\u00a0 \u2018cause I remember how you used to smile, when you were courting Laura.\u00a0 You weren\u2019t smiling that way about Lisa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Candy was struck momentarily silent, and he didn\u2019t even know if it was the reminder of that past loss, or because Joe was right.\u00a0 \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean,\u201d he said finally, \u201cthat it isn\u2019t bad this time too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t say it wasn\u2019t <em>bad<\/em>.\u00a0 Just, you know.\u00a0 Might be some perspective.\u00a0 And maybe, in the long run, with the long run sort of perspective\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not <em>in<\/em> the long run.\u201d\u00a0 Not yet, anyway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve been <em>there<\/em> too.\u00a0 Things can look different after a while. You remember hearing about that witch woman I romanced once?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVividly.\u201d\u00a0 That one was very easy to place, and considering how hard Joe had tried to stop Hoss from telling that particular story, it was probably a strange sort of honor that Joe was voluntarily bringing the subject up.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not the same as that either.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, but, you know.\u00a0 Still.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Candy sighed.\u00a0 \u201cAre you done talking?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe.\u00a0 Any of this help?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Candy let the silence hang for a long moment, then finally, gaze back on the lake, said only, \u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Joe nodded.\u00a0 \u201cWant me to go away?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The silence hung even longer this time.\u00a0 Candy sighed again.\u00a0 \u201cNah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Joe nodded again, and they sat together on the lakeshore.\u00a0 Just being there.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Author&#8217;s Note: After watching The Stalker, I got to thinking about how it compared in some ways to Bullet for a Bride&#8230;and then Joe and Candy basically sat down and dictated this entire conversation for me.\u00a0 To clarify references, Joe accidentally blinds Tessa in Bullet for a Bride, Candy romances and loses Laura in Star-Crossed, and Joe&#8217;s witch woman is, of course, the infamous Tirza from Dark Star.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary: Just a conversation between Candy and Joe, because they&#8217;ve both been there. A brief WHN for The Stalker.<br \/>\nRating: G | Word Count: 908<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12522,"featured_media":64768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1046,23,8,13],"tags":[1337],"class_list":["post-64766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-candy-canaday","category-drama","category-short-stories","category-whn","tag-the-stalker","wpcat-1046-id","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-8-id","wpcat-13-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/S11.08_Stalker-11.jpg?fit=1501%2C1191&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12522"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/64768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}