31_days | [August 7th] [The Wild Wild West] The Beginning of an Empire

Title: The Beginning of an Empire
Day/Theme: August 7th - we lingered on bridges.
Series: The Wild Wild West (specifically, The Poisonous Posey episode)
Character/Pairing: Snakes Tolliver/Chita McCarthy (she's an OC; he's in my icon)
Rating: K/G

Continued from the prior piece.

By Lucky_Ladybug

Chita was hardly a romantic. The most romantic thing you could say to her that she'd get excited about was, "Here's a thousand dollars. Go spend it however you want." Not that it isn't a nice thing to be told, especially to someone who grew up without much of anything, but it wasn't exactly my idea of a perfect evening.

It's funny for a gambler, I guess, but it was never really about the money to me. It was about survival and staying at the top of the pecking order. The more money you had, the more you could do to build your empire and the less likely you were to be kicked down like a puppy.

In the end, though, Chita and I were both pretty obsessed with money, just for different reasons.

Every now and then we had kind of a romantic time together. We both liked wandering through the parks in the city. Sometimes we'd stop and talk on the curved bridges over the water running through them.

One night, for some reason, Grey's goons' words came back to me again as we were strolling over our usual bridge. As usual, we paused at the highest point to just relax and look out over the area for a few minutes. I decided to try to learn a little bit more about my wife of several weeks.

"So, do you have anybody back in Queens?" I asked. "Family, friends . . . somebody?"

"A really strict aunt," she told me. "She never did let me have any fun. It's part of why I cut loose and came here."

I wasn't sure what to make of that. I'd longed for a family all my life. I couldn't imagine ditching it if I had it. "She probably loves you, though," I said. "Isn't she worried? I haven't seen you get any letters from an aunt."

She scoffed. "Her, worried? The only thing she's worried about is seeing that her soul gets saved in the Great Beyond." She spread her arms wide in a mocking gesture. "That's the only reason she took me in; she thought if she raised me, it would give her a lot of Heaven Points."

I had to admit that didn't sound fun. But I wasn't ready to concede yet. "Maybe that's just how it looked," I said. "A lot of kids aren't crazy about their parents or guardians, but when they're older, they realize that they were just being looked after as best as their guardians knew how."

"You're one to talk," she retorted. "How do you feel about the sisters at the orphanage?"

"Different ways," I frowned. "Actually, I really liked a couple of them. If they hadn't felt so oppressed by those in higher power, they would've been really great as guardians and maybe I . . ." I trailed off.

"Maybe you wouldn't have run away," she finished. She traced a pattern down my hand with one finger. "Aren't they worried?"

I shook my head. "I guess I walked right into that one. Actually, I wrote letters to Sister Agatha and Sister Martha after I was in a situation where I couldn't be taken back. I didn't leave them hanging."

She made a face. "Maybe you're right that I should send something to my aunt. I just don't want her to find me."

I sighed. "Well, it's your decision."

"Are you sure you don't have some family somewhere?" she wondered. "Cousins, maybe?"

"Maybe." I shrugged. "I've heard of a couple of other Tollivers and checked into their backgrounds, but we don't seem to be related."

"What if there were any?" She kept tracing her crazy patterns. "I mean, like, if something happened to them, would you be the nearest relative to inherit?"

I really didn't like where the conversation was going. "I'd hate to only find out about them when they were dead," I shot back. "And there'd probably be other relatives who'd be closer to them. But I don't know. I guess anything's possible."

"And I'd inherit if anything happened to you," she mused. Feeling me go stiff, she hurried on, "Oh, but I'm just talking. Don't worry, I'm not one of those black widows or anything like that."

"Yeah, I didn't think so," I said gruffly. "You'd inherit, yeah. But I'm planning to be around for a good, long time. That deal I was telling you about, I'm gonna be going ahead with it in the next poker game."

"The freight stuff?" she sighed.

"That's just so I'll have it to put up in a game against the casino owner," I said impatiently. "I told you that."

"I know. I just hope you won't end up liking it or something and not wanting to sell." She shuddered. "I'm a city girl through and through. I don't like rural spaces and I don't like smelly, messy animals."

"I don't mind them as much," I admitted, "but I'll admit that I don't wanna be taking care of a whole bunch of them. However . . ." I paused. "If I really want to be on top, I'll have to have my fingers in a whole lot of pies. Maybe we should own a freight business. Somebody else could run it, but I'd ultimately be in charge."

"I knew you were probably gonna keep it," she fretted.

"It'd just be one of many things." I was starting to get excited now. "We should also own a shipping line and a railroad. Get into all the different kinds of transportation."

"What about a casino?!" she practically wailed.

"There's still going to be at least one casino," I promised her. "But don't think of it as gaining a lot of smelly animals. Think of it as more money in the bank."

That lit her eyes right up, as I was sure it would. "That does sound nice," she said. "As long as we don't have to personally take care of the animals."

"We won't," I insisted. "We'll probably keep the manager on at the freight business and he can do it."

"If you win it," she reminded.

"I'll win it." I kissed her on the lips.

Smiling now, she put her arms around my neck and returned it.

I only realized then that I'd never quite got back to finding out if there had really been other guys before me. It didn't seem like the right time to ask by then, so I just let it drop. I had other things on my mind anyway. I was gonna go right ahead with building my little empire. I'd never again be that helpless kid with a burning knife being driven into his face.

I'd just be an idiot adult with a frozen knife being driven into my back.