Let's Go Home
Part 1 of the "Home" trilogy
OW/FutureFic or my ideas about how things would have changed after canon series end
Rated G, Wear your slash goggles if you will.
Timeline/spoilers: Takes place about 6 years after the series ended. Possible spoilers for entire series.
Usual copyright disclaimers.
It happened the way Vin always thought it might. He'd just ride into a camp, looking for a cup of coffee and maybe some news or a hot meal and there'd he be and the years would all just melt away. They'd talk or not talk the same way as always and it would be just fine.Chris's hand had lingered over the butt of his gun only briefly as he recognized his friend and a smile played around the corners of his mouth. "Coffee?"
Vin ground-tied Peso and nodded, accepting the fragrant, steaming mug as he hunkered down by the fire. Chris poured himself a cup and settled on his bedroll on the other side of the blaze, leaning back on his saddle. After a few sips Vin commented, "Been a while."
"Forget your pot or just run out of coffee?" That hint of a smile still loitered in the gunfighter's eyes.
Vin's answering smirk told his friend that he appreciated the humor, but he said the words anyway, "Was talking about you."
"Yeah."
Six years it had been since they'd last seen each other. Chris's face had new lines, a still-raw scar on one cheek and the body had thickened some; youthful leanness gone with the years. Hell, Vin thought, he'd put on a few pounds himself. Could run from a lot of stuff, but not your age. "We came looking for you in Abilene. Missed ya by a couple o' days tho."
Chris nodded. "Figured the news would get out to Four Corners. Wasn't ready to come back yet, Vin. I had some sorting out to do."
Vin could appreciate sorting out. He'd had enough of that to do in his lifetime already. After what had happened in Abilene, he could understand Chris needed the time to sort out a lot. The gunfighter had finally caught up with Ella there.
She'd almost killed Chris according to the reports they'd heard. He'd definitely killed her. They asked to see the body; just to be sure it was really her. It was.
The doc who had patched Chris up told them that he hadn't wanted his patient to leave, but after the local sheriff had closed the case as self-defense, Chris had slipped away in the night; gone like a coyote to lick his wounds and heal, away from the stink of civilization.
"We buried her," Vin blurted out.
At Chris's amazed look, he explained, "We were going to just let them put her in the Potter's field, but Buck paid for her. He said he wanted to make sure that hell-bitch wouldn't get up out of her grave to come after you or any of us. Kinda felt good to throw dirt on her. Josiah. . .he. . .well, it was the kind of words you'd expect him to say I guess. Something about consigning her soul to Lucifer."
"I thought killing her would bring me some peace, Vin, but it didn't. It didn't fix anything. After a while, I realized it wasn't a matter of fixing things or evening the score. It was about making the world a safer place and about making sure the people I cared about were safe."
Chris had been tending what looked to be a couple of prairie hens on spits near the fire and the smell of crisping skin was making Vin's mouth water. He was making do with cold trail rations in his eagerness to get home. "Them birds smell about done," he hinted.
Chris flipped out a Bowie knife to check and then handed over one of the spits, taking the other to slice off choice bits for himself. Vin set into the meal without further comment. Afterwards, he cleaned up by tossing the bones into the fire and washed the grease from his hands with a canteen-water dampened bandana. Then he settled Peso for the night; his bedroll and saddle mirroring Chris's on the other side of the fire.
The stars were bright in the moon-dark sky overhead and the sagebrush they'd used for the fire spiced the chilly night air. Vin leaned back on his saddle, staring up into the heavens, wishing he could find the right words written up there for what he wanted to say next. "Things have changed a bit," he started.
"How is she?" Chris asked and Vin knew who he meant. The tracker considered briefly hedging the question, but then sighed and blurted it out.
"Married."
Chris nodded. Vin figured the gunfighter probably realized that she wouldn't have waited all this time for him. Mary was young and beautiful and smart. She'd have been a prize in the big city; out here on the frontier, she was a real treasure. Vin waited for the next question. . .the one he didn't want to answer.
"Anyone I know?"
Vin hesitated, knowing that Chris would read that pause and that it would help steel his friend for what was to come. "Buck."
Chris sat up. "Buck? Buck Wilmington? Vin, if this is a joke..."
"She was pregnant, Chris. She needed a husband."
Chris slumped down against his saddle looking much like he'd been pole-axed right between the eyes. "Ah, shit," he muttered.
Vin waited to get his full attention back before he continued gently. "They have a little girl. Christine. She's everyone's darling, especially her big brother's. Everyone knows, Chris. Hell, she's got your green eyes, but in every way, she's Buck's little girl. There ain't no play-acting on his part. He adores her and her mom. They lost one a while back, but Mary is pregnant again. They're happy. She's happy."
Chris nodded. "I'd have just drug her down."
"Don't know that for sure, pard, but what's done is done. You made your choice and she made hers."
He looked to be accepting it well enough. Maybe the years had softened some of that darkness in his soul or maybe Ella's death had done more for him that he realized.
"Guess I'd better make some different plans then," Chris commented thoughtfully.
"If that means you ain't going back, then I hope maybe you'll change your mind. We've missed you, Chris. All of us. Least you could do is come see everyone before you go making up your mind. You was on this trail for a reason and I don't think Mary was the only reason."
Chris slid further down his saddle and stared up at the stars. "So what about everyone else?"
"Well, you can guess that Casey and JD finally got hitched. Nettie passed on about three years ago, so he took over the ranch and they're raising some pretty nice horses out there. She still rides better than him though," Vin smirked.
He was pleased to see his old friend's grin. "They got twin boys, just about 2 now. Couple little hellions. Jake and Josh. He was a bit put out that he couldn't call them Bat and Chris, but Casey had more than a little something to say on the matter I suppose. He resigned as sheriff and Buck took over, but we're all deputized anyway. Got a new doctor in town and Nathan is working with her. He and Rain got hitched last year. Convinced her to move into a little place just outside of town. She's raising all kinds of birds for the restaurants and the butcher. I expect they'll be raising another kind of youngins soon."
"Josiah ever get that church re-built?"
"Twice," Vin informed him. "Once to finish it and once to rebuild it when it burned. Lost about a third of the town that year to wildfires. Funny thing. He's got a pet crow now. It seems to like Ezra's pocket watch pretty well. They get into it at least once a week over Diablo's pick-pocketing. Josiah insists on a donation from Ez to get it back. Ezra finally bought the saloon and last year, the hotel. Maud passed on too, and left him a pretty good stash."
Chris snorted. "Only nice thing she ever did for him then. He got a gal yet?"
Vin shrugged. "Not steady. Spends time with some of the gals who work in the saloon, but doesn't seem to favor any particular one. Mostly seems to be whoever's convenient. I catch Inez looking at him sometimes, but he don't seem to be looking back."
"Got to be able to trust to have a real partner," Chris commented as he leaned over to feed and bank the fire a bit for the night. "His mama taught him the only person he could depend on was himself."
Vin couldn't stop the words that came out. "I've always trusted you, Chris. Trusted you'd come home someday. We all did."
"Didn't trust myself, Vin. Had to be without for a while I guess, before I understood what rare thing it is to have six brothers who I can trust with my life. I finally figured out what was missing."
They were quiet for a bit and Vin was getting drowsy when Chris asked about him. "I figured I was about done with dodging bounty hunters and finally went back to Tuscosa. Made a few side trips on the way and picked up a few of Eli Joe's old gang members. Between what I convinced them they should tell the truth about and what the Judge wrote for me, I got the papers I need to prove my case. I'm a free man, Chris. And now I'm going home and maybe taking up a bit of ranching with a pal. That is if he wants to. Got a nice little shack not too far from town and I know where a choice herd of mustangs like to graze. We could make a tidy bit with a little work, pard. If you want to think on it."
"I'm thinking. First I'm thinking about some whiskey. And a bath. And more whiskey. And then thinking about letting Ezra fleece me out of some of this pay I got in my boot. And then maybe we'll go take a look at that shack."
Content, Vin snugged further down into his bedroll and mumbled, "Goodnight, cowboy."
The gold and purple sunrise found them breaking camp with just a cup of coffee each and a handful of cold trail rations, eager to move on. As Chris swung up into the saddle, he asked, "You sure Buck is gonna want me around?"
Vin nodded. "Named you her Godfather along with the rest of us. He'd never give her up, but he's willing to share."
"And Mary?"
"Hell, Chris, she ain't the kind of woman who dwells on regrets. I expect some time or another you'll get some plain talking from her, but she'll be as happy as the rest of us to have you back where you belong. Town still needs us. Needs you."
Vin could see the words had sunk in. Chris needed his family, needed his home as much as it needed him. "Okay, pard," the gunslinger nodded. "Let's go home."
The End
Continues in Coming Home