|
|
DISCLAIMER: I make no profit from nor any claim to own the characters from this story.
WARNINGS: Maybe a bit of bad language.
NOTES: This is my penance for daring to blaspheme against the Fanfic Commandments on the m7fic list. The high priestess of fanfic demanded an offering of Vin/Chris h/c. But just coz it’s h/c don’t mean it’s gotta be totally serious...
MAIN CHARACTERS: Chris, Vin, Seven
UNIVERSE: Old West
GENRE: Gen
Vin was not dead. He was not going to die.But Chris wasn’t so sure about Buck, JD, Ezra, Nathan and Josiah. They were all walking on very thin ice, as far as he was concerned.
The five of them were huddled together at the other end of the room. Even Nathan relinquishing his customary role as watcher over the sick and injured. They knew their place. This all the proximity they were allowed.
Chris put a hand to Vin’s pale face to again remind and reassure himself that the fever was dwindling.
The unexpected reward for that gesture of concern was that Vin stirred and after a faint moan opened his eyes.
The tracker looked up into his friend’s face. A face that even now, many would think was hard and unyielding. But Vin knew better. Chris was eating his insides up with worry.
Vin offered a weak version of a cocky grin. "Y’look...awful."
"Y’look worse." Typical Chris Larabee. No flowery language. Simple statement of fact.
Vin tried to shift his position so that he could see more of the room. The stunning increase in the pain in his chest made him gasp.
"Who...shot me?"
"JD."
Another simple statement of fact but this one was completely ludicrous. Vin heard movement behind Chris and managed to glance past him, into JD’s stricken eyes.
The tracker shook his head slightly. He’d wake up properly soon.
"JD...shot me?"
"Yeah, with an arrow."
"I’m sorry, Vin!" The kid’s voice was so plaintive that Vin felt he had to second his apology to Chris.
"I’m sure...he’s real...sorry."
Chris looked at him with now openly weary eyes.
"Yeah, JD’s sorry he shot the arrow. Buck sorry that he egged the kid on in the damn arrow-shootin’ contest. Josiah’s sorry he lent the kid the book on Robin Hood and suggest the contest to begin with. Nathan’s sorry that he didn’t see ya comin’ from the other direction and stop you from walkin’ into the damn thing. He was supposed to make sure no one came in unawares. And Ezra’s sorry he bet on the whole damn thing. Said you’ll get all his winnin’s. There’s quite a lot, y’know."
"I’m...sorry too."
Chris couldn’t hide his surprise.
"What are you sorry about?"
"Sorry I...didn’t...get t’see...all this."
Chris immediately renounced all his previous vows of loyalty and protection.
He was going to throttle Vin Tanner with his bare hands.
He leaned close to Vin’s grinning visage and whispered threateningly, "Laugh it up, cowboy. I’m gonna let Nathan keep ya here until he sees fit t’let ya up. An’ I warn ya, y’gave us both a hell of scare lyin’ there with an arrow stickin’ outta y’chest."
Vin blinked. Now that he thought about it, he could remember looking down to see the arrow embedded in his chest. Couldn’t have missed his heart by much. How did it miss his lung? No wonder he felt kinda breathless.
"Y’musta thought...I was...dead," he whispered, slightly unnerved by the thought.
"Yeah, I did an’ ya came close. Nathan think’s yer lung collapsed a bit an’ took three days fer the fever t’break."
Vin smiled slightly. "But...you an’ Nathan...y’wouldn’t let it win."
Chris shrugged. "Hell, y’know Nathan. He loves a challenge."
"Yeah...some one...chop my head off...him an’ you...yer’d still try...an’ save me."
"Reckon so." A truly wicked Larabee grin appeared. "See, shall we? NATHAN! Some one’s cut Vin’s head off! Get yer sewin’ kit! We ain’t got long before he bleeds t’death!"
There was a chorus of six voices in unison.
"Not funny."
The End
Comments: Derry