Somewhere bells were ringing. Almost he could hear them above the sounds of laughter that was too loud and music that was too jolly and people that were too desperate. Almost he could hear them. But not quite."Awwww hell." Vin stood up, reached into the front pocket of his well worn jeans and dug out a handful of crumpled bills. He threw the bills onto the bar and turned to go, ignoring the "Merry Christmas" the bartender tossed halfheartedly at his retreating back. He could almost hear bells and drink cheap whisky just as well in the comfort of his own home as he could in this dive. And he wouldn't have to listen to the latest boy band do their 127th rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, either. If he heard that damn song one more time he might have to hurt someone.
The blast of cold air that met him as he opened the door almost made him change his mind about leaving. Almost. This seemed to be his night for almosts. As in he'd almost had a Christmas. If it wasn't for the fact that:
a) He had no family. b) He apparently had no friends, either.
Vin wasn't sure why this Christmas was different, he just knew that it was. He hadn't had any family since his Aunt died ten years back and he hadn't had any close friends since his days in the Army, but he'd always managed to find at least some part of the Christmas spirit in the past. Whether it was by serving soup at the local shelter or finding a willing body to warm his bed, he'd always managed. Until now.
"It's all Chris's fault." Vin muttered, hunching his shoulders against the cold as he started walking down the street towards his jeep.
Chris was at some fancy schmancy Christmas Eve charity benefit with Mary Travis. Some people would go to any lengths to get a man. And Mary Travis so wanted Chris Larabee. Vin didn't care about that. Chris Larabee wanting Mary Travis - that he cared about. Shouldn't. But did.
And the rest of his so called friends were off having fun without him, too. Full of holiday cheer and beer, no doubt. Buck with his latest conquest, JD over at Casey and Nettie's, Nathan visiting Rain and her family, Josiah assisting over at his local church, and Ezra in London with Maude and her recently acquired husband number 7.
He might almost feel sorry for Ezra, if...
"If you weren't so busy feeling sorry for yourself." A low, sexy, naggingly familiar voice whispered in his ear.
"Tis the season." Vin snapped, as he kept walking. It was just too damn cold to do anything else. If his stalker with the sexy voice wanted to keep whispering in his ear, he'd have to do it in the jeep where it was warm. Well, warmer than out here at least.
"Yeah. And you're the reason I had to cancel my plans for the evening. My very special, far more fun than cheering up your sorry ass, plans. So let's just cut to the chase, shall we?"
"Huh? And here I thought I had too much to drink tonight." Vin shook his head and walked faster. What was he? A lightning rod for nutcases? The jeep was just up ahead. The nutcase at his elbow would have to find someone else to whisper to then. Because Vin Tanner was out of here. And maybe he'd just keep on going. Would serve 'em all right.
"Oh puh-leeze. It's not like they stripped you naked and left you out in the cold to die. And Buck did say he could fix you up with his date's cousin if you wanted him to." This time the voice wasn't whispering.
"Oh puh-leeze. Don't you have someplace else to be?" Vin dug his key out of his pocket and struggled to fit it into the lock. Damn thing kept moving.
"I just told you I didn't. Thanks to your sudden urge to throw a last minute pity party." Vin felt a warm hand slide the key out of his grasp. "Let me do that or we'll be here til New Year's. And you are not going to ruin those plans."
Less than a minute later, a drunk, confused, and very annoyed Vin Tanner found himself sitting in the passenger seat of his jeep watching the scenery fly by. The dark haired stranger at the wheel was saying something but Vin had no idea what. He was too busy trying to figure out where he knew the guy from and why the hell he was just sitting here letting him drive the fucking jeep without even a token effort at resistance. He was still pondering that when the jeep came to a screeching halt.
"Ok. We're here. End of the line. Out you go."
"What do you mean, out I go? It's my jeep."
"Yeah. Well, I wouldn't go bragging about that if I were you."
"Well, you ain't me."
"Obviously not. If I were you, I'd be in there having hot monkey sex with the man of my dreams."
"Man of my...?" Vin peered through the windshield. Chris Larabee's front porch was almost touching the front bumper of his jeep.
"It was only one dream... How did you know... Who the hell are you?" Vin sputtered, while surreptitiously pinching himself to make certain this wasn't all some whisky induced nightmare.
"I am... forget who I am. I'll tell you who I will be. One very pissed off dude if you don't get your scrawny, but cute, ass in there and confess your undying love and devotion to a certain Chris Larabee. Or maybe your undying lust and devotion. Whatever you think works better."
Next thing he knew, Vin found himself out in the snow, watching the taillights of the jeep disappear into the distance, the faint echo of his strange companion's words "Don't worry, I'll have her back by morning." lingering in the air.
Since his only other choice was slowly freezing to death, Vin reluctantly began walking back in the direction of home. 'Cause he'd rather die than go knocking on Chris's front door crying because he was all alone on Christmas Eve. Maybe he'd get lucky and a bus would hit him before he had a chance to freeze.
He hadn't gone two steps when he was caught in the glare of approaching headlights. "Ain't no better than a damned deer." Vin looked down in disgust, as his legs refused to move at the sight of one Chris Larabee pulling up and parking just inches in front of his feet.
"Vin? What the hell are you doing out here?" With these less than promising words, Chris made his way over to the still frozen in place sharpshooter and half pushed,half dragged him up the stairs and into the house.
"Now what's going on?" Chris folded his arms and leaned back against the front door. No escape there. Vin would just have to tell the truth. If he couldn't manage to think up a convincing lie first.
Somehow or other, it was the truth that managed to come out that night. Or enough of it, anyway. Some of it got lost in the warmth of Chris's body as it lay sprawled out on the bed beside him and some of it could wait for another day. But he finally heard bells ring. And his jeep was back the next morning looking none the worse for wear. It was the season, indeed.
The End
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