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Chris stood on the deck and watched as Vin approached from the barn. He´d finished exercising a very enthusiastic Peso and then had brushed the black´s coat until it shone.

“I think he needed that,” the blonde said with a smile as the younger man mounted the steps to join him.

“We both did,” Vin grinned, using the back of one hand to wipe the perspiration from his forehead. “And now I need a shower.” He closed the distance between them and slipped his arms around his lover´s waist. “Care ta join me?”

Chris shook his head with a smile and then leaned in to kiss the pouting lips. “Sorry, pard. We´ve got company coming, remember?”

“We could just lock the door and pretend we ain´t home,” Vin suggested hopefully.

Chris laughed. “After we agreed to this little gathering?  I don´t think that´s going to work. Besides, they´d see the truck and the jeep.”

“Could hide ‘em,” Vin purred, nuzzling the blonde´s neck.

“Yeah, right,” Chris replied, slapping the younger man´s denim-clad ass before circling his arms around the trim waist. “The truck, maybe. We´d likely have to push that thing you jokingly refer to as a vehicle and that sounds a little too much like work to me.”

Vin sighed and pulled back to look into the teasing green eyes. “Ya just don´t understand ‘er,” he grumbled. “She runs good if´n ya treat ‘er right.”

“I´ll remember that next time we´re stranded on the side of the road,” he countered, raising one sandy brow. “Now you´d best get cleaned up. They´ll be here any minute.”

As though on cue, the doorbell rang.

“Told you,” Chris smirked. “I´ll get it. You hit the shower.”

“Fine,” the smaller man grumbled, reaching up to kiss the blonde lightly on the mouth. “But I´ll be ‘xpectin´ a rain cheque.”

Chris shook his head slightly as he made his way through the house to the front door. The man was insatiable, but he wouldn´t change a hair on that shaggy Texan head. He opened the door to Nathan and Raine and saw Ezra just getting out of his car. The gathering had been Buck´s idea, a sort of celebration for having the team whole again. Not that Buck needed an occasion. But the sentiment was a good one nonetheless and Chris had agreed after making sure that Vin, too, was OK with the idea.

He really shouldn´t have had any doubts. Since Vin´s recovery, he´d jumped back into normal activities with a new zest for life. Not that the sharpshooter had ever been lacking in that department. Vin Tanner had a way of appreciating everything around him that most would envy. But since the shooting, Chris had noticed an increase in the man´s already high level of activity.

And he understood perfectly. The threat of losing one´s mobility was bound to make the average person appreciate it all the more. And for someone like Vin, who already possessed a love of all things physical, it had served to intensify that appreciation.

And Chris couldn´t be happier. Just seeing the man moving as though nothing had happened was a balm to his soul.

“Buck not here yet?” Nathan asked as they entered the house carrying two bowls of salad.

“No,” Chris replied, taking the bowl from Raine´s hands with a grin and a nod of thanks. “He´s picking up a date.”

“Oh?” Raine questioned, suddenly interested. “Anyone we know?”

“Debbie,” Chris replied. “The nurse from the high-acuity ward.”

“Ahh,” Nathan grinned. “She´s a pretty one, no doubt about that.”

“She´s really nice, too,” Raine nodded in agreement. “I´ve worked with her a few times. One of the best nurses I know.”

Ezra entered the house then, carrying two bottles of what was, no doubt, very expensive wine. “Wasn´t sure what went with burgers and dogs,” he drawled, putting a slightly disdainful emphasis on the last three words, “so I´m afraid I had to guess.”

“I´m sure it´ll be fine, Ez,” Chris chuckled, shaking his head. “Thanks for bringing it.”

“Of course,” Ezra acknowledged the gratitude. “I surely wouldn´t trust any other in our group to know a good wine when he saw one.”

“Is JD coming with Buck and Debbie?” Nate asked, moving to the fridge and retrieving a cold beer for himself and a wine cooler for Raine.

“Buck offered, but JD declined,” Chris grinned. “He´s getting a ride with Josiah.”

“Someone call?” a booming voice resounded from the doorway.

They greeted the two newest arrivals and Nathan opened a beer for each of them. He held one up to Standish. “Ez?”

The undercover agent was about to decline but allowed a small smile instead. “Why not,” he agreed, warmed by the smiles of approval that resulted from his words. Taking the cold beer from Jackson´s hand, he looked around the room and out through the sliding doors to the deck. “And where, may I ask, is our redoubtable sharpshooter?”

“Shower,” Chris murmured absently as he tried to find room in the crowded fridge for the salads.

He heard a low chuckle and turned to see each of them, including Raine, boasting a knowing smile much to his embarrassment. “He just got through working the horses,” he explained quickly, feeling the colour rise slightly in his cheeks.

“Who did?” Buck asked. As usual, he´d entered without either knocking or ringing the bell, not that Chris minded at all. They´d reached an unvoiced agreement that as long as they knew to expect him, it was OK to continue with the habit he´d developed over many years. When showing up unannounced, however, he knew enough to give some sort of warning. That had been another lesson learned the hard and embarrassing way for all concerned.

“Vin,” Chris answered. “He just finished up in the barn and is in the shower.”

Buck grinned but didn´t launch into the teasing that normally would have greeted such a statement. “You all remember Debbie, right?”

Everyone nodded and greeted the young nurse warmly. Before long, Raine had given her a drink and they were heading out to sit in the sun. Girl talk, Raine had explained with a wink. Debbie had laughed and followed the other woman, already seeming to be quite comfortable in the company of the tightly knit group.

“Where´s Casey, JD?” Nate asked.

“In Chicago with Nettie,” JD answered, rolling up a slice of cheese he´d scavenged from the refrigerator and popping it into his mouth. “Visiting her sister.”

Vin joined them then, greeting everyone and then heading to the fridge for a beer. “Who´s up for a game?” he asked. “Touch football if the ladies wanna play, or anythin´ else y´all are up for.”

They´d all noticed the Texan´s newfound enthusiasm for the physical aspect of things and understood it as well as Chris did. Still, they couldn´t resist the knowing smiles that were exchanged. “Sure, Vin,” Nathan nodded. “I´m up for anything. What about the rest of you?”

The question was met with a chorus of enthusiasm and Raine called in from the deck, “Count us in.”

“I´m going to finish getting things ready in here, then start the grill,” Chris announced. “You guys go ahead and get started. I´ll join in once I´m done.”

Vin nodded and slid the door open, knowing the others would follow him. Chris watched them go, joined by Raine and Debbie as they descended the steps to the yard. With a smile of contentment, he finished chopping the onions and tomatoes, then went out to light the grill.

It was a pleasant site that greeted him. Everyone was playing, even Ezra who sometimes bowed out of the sporting events, even though he was quite good at them. As he watched his friends playing and heard the laughter that ensued, he thought about all that had happened in the last couple of months. The FBI had finally found evidence to tie Collings to the murders of the two men in Denver as well as those in Seattle and the girl in New York and those cases had been closed. It was still hard to believe that any of it had happened and he found himself remembering that first day in the hospital. How painfully familiar it had all seemed.

And the moment that he´d realized that the events of that night so many years ago had come full circle.

The sound of laughter shattered his reverie and he looked out to see Vin and JD tangled in a heap on the ground. So much for touch football, he grinned to himself. As the scene unfolded in front of him, those two words came back with new meaning.

This was what it was really all about. This was the only full circle that mattered – a full circle of family and friends.

THE END

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