PAIRING Chris/Vin
Follows Hope and Faith
Ezra Standish stood in front of his full length mirror checking over his attire as he readied himself for the day at his boss and friend Chris Larabee's ranch. Usually he enjoyed the camaraderie that went along with the football game or any other sport on TV and the BBQ they had as a weekly event but not this weekend. This weekend was long in coming as he thought back to that fateful day on their last bust. Before he could dwell on it longer his phone rang and he shook off the memory with a start as a cold chill ran down his spin.
Ezra snapped the phone open, "What do you want Mr. Wilmington?"
"Just reminding you to bring your fine wine today." Buck Wilmington smiled into the phone.
Ezra sighed and shook his head knowing the mustached man didn't call him about wine. "I shall endeavor to remember the wine Mr. Wilmington, now what is the real reason you called?"
"I was just checking to see how you were doing. You are just getting over a gun shot wound you know." Buck said.
"Wound's fine and has been fine for the last couple of days. I have already returned to work as you well know. Now if this has something to do with our weekly jaunt over to Mr.'s Larabee and Tanner's today I do not know what they want to talk to everyone about." Ezra said with sadness in his voice. "I don't even want to bet on what it would be to be honest."
"I got a really bad feeling about this." Buck said.
"Yes, well you and me both Mr. Wilmington, but our esteemed leader and sharpshooter are keeping their mouths unrelentingly closed. Ezra replied. "I shall see you in a few hours, I must finish getting ready." With that Ezra hung up the phone on Buck before he could say anything else.
With a sigh, Ezra turned back to the mirror checking once again that everything was in place then headed to the kitchen and his wine room to pick a few bottles, he had a feeling they would be needing them today. He also decided that he would stop at the liquor store he shopped regularly and pick up an extremely expensive bottle of scotch, the mood in the air was decidedly sad and the scotch would help ease the pain everyone was feeling.
Buck hung up the phone and shook his head as he walked away. Even Ezra had a bad feeling that whatever was going on with Chris and Vin it wasn't going to be good especially if Ezra is not taking bets. He stopped at the end of the kitchen counter and thought back to that day several weeks ago....
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The bust was going fine, everyone was in place when all of a sudden one of the gun dealers recognized Chris from the Denver PD. He came out shooting hitting Ezra before the undercover man could get behind his car. Chris was hit in the leg as he flew over the trunk of Ezra's car.
Team 4 came rushing in as the shooting started and covered the exit of the warehouse where the deal was going down. Vin was up on the roof shooting through the broken skylight window since there were no rafters he could have hidden in.
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Buck shook himself out of the memories as his roommate and Team member JD came bouncing into the kitchen to grab the food they were bringing to the BBQ.
"Come on Buck we're gonna be late!" JD exclaimed as he started grabbing the snacks and beer they liked.
They grabbed the food and headed out the door, they had promised to pick up Nettie and Casey Wells on the way. Chris had decided he wanted a big BBQ this weekend since the weather was so nice.
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Nathan and Rain Jackson were putting the finishing touches on the salad they planned on bringing to Chris' BBQ when Rain made a comment about the day.
"I'm glad Chris is finally up to having visitors, it will be good to see him again. It has been a while since we've been to the ranch for a BBQ." Rain said.
Nathan was staring off into oblivion remembering the last op that went down so badly.
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Nathan was hiding in a stack of boxes off to the corner when the shooting started. As he looked out to return fire he saw that Ezra was down and Chris was flying over the back of Ezra's car and was bleeding.
It had all been perfect, he didn't understand what had happened to make it go so wrong so quickly. All he knew was that he needed to get Ezra to cover and see how badly the two of them were hurt.
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"Nathan. NATHAN!!" Rain yelled, "Hey wake up and get with the program. We need to get moving, what's wrong with you?"
"Uh, What? Oh sorry. I was just spacing out a minute." Nathan responded shaking himself from the memories of that day. "Ok, let's go."
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Josiah Sanchez had decided to make a big pot of chili he knew that Vin Tanner loved the stuff the hotter the better. Josiah didn't make it to hot so that everyone could eat it. He made sure that he had the hot sauce and peppers so Vin could spice his up a little more.
Josiah knew that this day was going to be special; it would be the first time in months that the whole Team would be sitting down to a nice meal together after the last op. An op that started out well had ended badly.
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From Josiah's vantage point in the warehouse he could see the gun dealers from one side, it just happened to be the wrong side.
By the time Josiah realized a hidden gunman started shooting both Chris and Ezra where already scrambling to take cover. He started shooting at the gun dealers he could see and hit a one or two. He also heard Vin up on the roof picking off the gun dealers.
What happened after that was so quick it was almost over before anyone realized what was happening.
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Josiah snapped out of his thoughts as he burned a finger trying to grab the pot of chili off the stove.
He shook his hand and then stuck his burning finger in his mouth to cool it down. "Ouch, damn it that hurts." He said as he pulled the offending finger from his mouth and looked at it.
He put everything in the car, locked up the house and headed out to Chris and Vin's ranch.
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Chris Larabee stood outside the barn door first watching Pony and Peso play around in the corral then turned toward the house when he heard the siding glass door open. As Chris watched his lover of two years hobble outside using his crutches he was amazed again at how lucky they were after this last op that nearly took Vin's life. Today was going to be the first time since Vin came home from the hospital a couple of weeks ago that the whole Team and extended family would be at the ranch.
Chris watched Vin settle into a chair as he thought back to that fateful day several months ago....
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The shooting had started and was over pretty quickly when the rest of Team 7 rushed out from their positions and Team 4 came in from their van behind the warehouse as the back up.
No one had noticed that Vin had stopped firing, they were so busy checking out Chris and Ezra. All of a sudden there was a crash and when everyone looked up to their horror they saw Vin falling through the broken skylight.
One of the dealers had decided to check out the roof to make sure it wasn't a trap when he spotted Vin up there. The shooting had already started by the time he had made his way over to Vin's location.
The two men were struggling when they fell though the skylight. Vin made sure he was on top of the other guy who was twice as big as Vin. Vin had figured the other guy would take the brunt of the fall. Neither man realized they were going to crash onto the top of the van carrying the weapons there to be sold to Eric Strong aka: Special Agent Ezra Standish. The bad guy landed with such force that when Vin landed on top of him the force knocked him off and over the side of the van.
All of the men in the warehouse watched in stunned silence as Vin flew off the van and landed on the crates of weapons with a little bounce. You could hear bones' breaking as his downward momentum was stopped by the crates. By the time everyone snapped out of what they had just witnessed Vin lay unconscious and bleeding from his ear, nose, mouth and several other places.
Pandemonium broke out in a split second with Nathan and Josiah rushing over to Vin and the downed gun dealer. The dealer was dead at the scene Vin was in really bad shape and he was barely breathing having had a broken rib puncture a lung collapsing it.
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Chris shook himself out of the memory as Vin called for him. He never wanted to remember seeing his soul mate flying through the air like that again. He thought to himself, "I'm getting to old for this shit!"
He squared his shoulders, put the shovel away and walked to the porch were his heart and soul waited for him.
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Chris leaned over Vin's chair and gave his lover a sloppy wet kiss that lingered for a few heart beats. As Chris pulled away he said, "Morning sunshine."
"Morning to you too, Cowboy." Vin responded licking his lips.
They had hired a house keeper to help take care of the house while Chris was taking care of Vin. He had taken an extended leave of absence while Vin recovered.
Juanita came out of the house carrying a tray of breakfast with a pot of fresh coffee. She only came there three times a week but she had told Seniors Chris and Vin that she would come and help on Sunday for the big BBQ, so that they could spend as much time with their friends as they wanted. She had met all of them at various times as they came and went visiting Chris and a healing Vin but never all of them at once.
Vin was still having problems with headaches from the concussion he had received so he couldn't handle a lot of noise yet, "makes my hair hurt" he would complain. They all had understood because when they all got together they were a rowdy bunch. Juanita liked all of the men, Seniora Wells, Seniorita Casey and Seniora Rain. She had met Seniora Travis once or twice as she came out to the ranch to visit Vin and bring some papers for Chris from AD Travis.
As Chris started to fill his plate he thought again how close he had been to losing Vin....
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The ambulance with Nathan and Vin had left ahead of the one carrying Chris and Ezra and the rest of the Team and Team 4 started the clean up. They all wanted to get to the hospital as quickly as possible.
At the hospital they had taken Vin straight into the examining room as he had coded once on the way in. The staff had asked Nathan to wait out in the waiting room knowing that rest of the Team would be in shortly.
Chris tried to get them to let him see Vin but they told him they had to take care of the his bleeding and get him stitched up before they could allow anyone to see him. Dr. Stone threatened him with knocking him out if he didn't stop giving the staff a hard time. She understood what Vin meant to the blond leader but she also knew that he would just be in the way and hurt himself more.
A short time later Dr. Stone had Chris, Ezra and the rest of the Team in a private room so she could tell them what was going on with Vin while he was being taken up to the operating room.
As Dr. Stone told Chris and the boys how severe Vin's injuries were it made their hearts drop to know how bad it really was. They had all tried not to admit they were afraid for their young friend but after hearing what the doctor was saying they had to accept it. Vin had a fractured skull, compound fractures of his right leg and left arm, right collar bone, several broken ribs, one of which punctured and collapsed a lung, and a severely damaged spleen. To a lesser extent Vin was skewered by a small piece of the crate in the butt. The doctor told them that he had lost a lot of blood and could lose the spleen, but they wouldn't know yet, that decision would be made once they opened him up and got the internal bleeding stopped. Dr. Stone did assure them that Vin was still young, in great physical shape and healthy so those were all in his favor.
Once the briefing was over and Chris had signed all the papers for Vin's surgery Chris and Ezra were taken back to the ER to be finished up and released. They were told to go home and rest but that was ignored like all other info regarding their wounds. They had Nathan to make sure they were ok and that was good enough for the two stubborn men. Chris wasn't going to leave his lover until he knew he was out of danger and Ezra wasn't going to leave until he knew Vin was alright because they were good friends.
Several hours later Dr. Stone came out and told them Vin had come through the surgery fine. She also told them that even though his spleen was damaged they were able to repair it, now they would have to watch it to make sure it healed well. She explained that the spleen was an important part of the immune system and he would need that if he got pneumonia from being bed ridden for the next couple of days. Little did anyone know that Vin would slip into a coma and be in the hospital for over a month, catching pneumonia on the way to recovery.
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Vin softly called to Chris until he responded. "Sorry, was just thinking again." Chris said with a sigh.
"Yeah, I know, yer makin' my hair and head hurt yer thinkin' so much. Stop thinkin' for a while. I'm here, I'm getting back to healthy and most definitely alive. After last night you know I'm ok. Just about broke the bed this time." Vin said with a sly grin and a twinkle in his eye.
Chris blushed and looked down at the floor at Vin's soft words remembering after his initial hesitation that they went at it like two wild animals. They had made love so many times that he didn't think either one of them would ever walk again. Chris had been insatiable for Vin's body. Maybe it was because they had been apart for so long but Chris knew it was because he wanted to reassure himself that Vin was really there with him and okay again. They had slept in knowing that Juanita was going to be there in the morning to help them get things ready for everyone to arrive in the afternoon.
Chris had snuck out of the house to take care of the horses while Vin slept having been exhausted from the previous night's vigorous activities.
Chris thought back to the precious night with a smile on his face.
They hadn't made love since the day Vin had been hurt. Vin had decided to use all of his various persuasive skills to work on his lover to get what he wanted. Chris had finally given in when Vin pinned him to the couch and proceeded to suck him dry. Vin's leg may have been in an air cast but that didn't mean his hands and mouth didn't work, he had told his lover as he went to work on the throbbing cock. Once Chris had recovered enough he all but dragged a happy Vin into the bedroom and threatened him with bodily harm if he tried to do anything more then enjoy what Chris was going to do to him.
When they reached the bedroom Chris undressed both himself and Vin, not letting the younger man do anything. He then laid Vin on the bed as he climbed on top him. Chris then proceeded to get reacquainted with every inch of his young lover's body by gently tracing his hands over Vin's body followed by his mouth. He started at the top of Vin's head running his fingers though his hair then kissing his head before making his way down his forehead kissing it as he made his way to Vin's eyelids kissing each one. Chris slowly ran his tongue and lips over Vin's straight nose before kissing Vin so deeply he thought he would pass out from lack of air, he was so lightheaded afterwards he felt giddy.
Chris had always known that kissing Vin senseless was the only way to win an argument when he was losing. Kiss Vin senseless then make love to him all night and in the morning whatever they had argued about the night before was forgotten by both men. It seemed that when they were both really stressed over a work situation that's what would usually happen.
Chris continued kissing along Vin's jaw to his ear were he assaulted the outer shell and worked his way inside sending chills down Vin's spine as he did so, continuing down to the hollow of his neck, nipping and sucking the skin as he went. All the while Vin was writhing and moaning at all of Chris' focused attention to pleasing him body and soul. Chris could feel Vin's erection straining and needily rubbing against him.
"Oh, God, Chris, I love you so bad it hurts." Vin whispered, huskily into Chris' ear. "I need you inside me so bad. Make love to me Cowboy."
With that Chris looked at Vin all flushed and sexy, he reached over and grabbed the lube from the nightstand drawer. "I'll make it good for you I promise, just like the first time." Chris said as he leaned in and kissed Vin again. He sat back and put lube on his fingers and laid the tube next to Vin on the bed, he knew he'd need more since it had been such a long time since they'd made love. Chris sat back on his heels between Vin's legs and pushed the left one up and propped the right one that was still in the air cast on some pillows. He also made sure Vin was completely comfortable before he started to insert a finger into Vin's small whole. Chris worked his finger, rubbing against Vin's prostate making the younger man moan and squirm. Slowly Chris worked up to three fingers into Vin, which had him nearly bucking off the bed. Chris put his hand on Vin's hip to settle him down as he talked softly to the over excited man.
"Chris, please, I need you!!" Vin moaned softly.
"It's ok, Vin, settle down, I'm going to take care of you now. I'm gonna take you away." Chris murmured into Vin's ear.
Vin settled down as he watched Chris slick up his throbbing cock. He saw Chris close his passion filled eyes and hiss through his teeth at his touch on his cock as the lube went on.
Chris moved and lined up his throbbing cock with Vin's pulsing whole and slowly pushed his way in. As the head of his cock popped though the ring of muscle both men moaned at the feeling. Chris slowly pushed in until he could feel his balls against Vin's smooth ass he didn't move for what seemed like forever as he reveled in the feel of Vin all around him as he filled him completely. Finally the spell was broken as Vin started to move, he needed the friction to bring himself off and he decided if Chris wasn't going to move then he would.
"Come on Cowboy, move damn it." Vin finally murmured on a hissing breath.
Chris leaned down and stole a breath taking kiss as he slowly and torturously pulled out and pushed back in. He wouldn't release the younger mans lips as he repeated the act several times and felt Vin's moans as he swallowed them himself. He could feel Vin tremble with need as he started to speed up his actions knowing that neither man would last long when he finally broke the kiss and started pounding in and out, faster and faster. Chris grabbed Vin's hard and weeping cock with one hand and pumped it in time with his cock sliding in and out of Vin.
"Look at me Vin, I want to see you when you come." Chris said on a whisper.
Vin opened his eyes and looked into Chris' seeing all the love and emotions reflected back at him. They keep their eyes locked on each other as they reach climax together. Vin's seed spilling over Chris' hand as Chris' seed spills into Vin's hot channel. Chris collapsed onto Vin as they both panted for breath and tried to recover. Chris leaned up and kissed Vin slowly as he gently pulled his now limp cock from its wet and warm home. Chris wiped them both down with a t-shirt that was by the bed. Once they were clean they snuggled up together and slept for a while before starting all over again all night long. Chris made sure Vin was well loved and vice versa.
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A few hours later the boys arrived and they all descended on Vin, hugging and back slapping him and reassuring themselves that he really was ok. The spent the next several hours talking, drinking and watching the ball games until the food was done. All the men fell in love with Juanita and her Mexican food.
"Chris, you better watch it, that woman makes a mean pan of beans. If you and Vin ain't careful you'll both gain 20 lbs." Buck said with a laugh.
"I know, she knows the way around the kitchen better then any a you do, that's for sure." Chris replied as he got up and headed into the kitchen for another beer. "Anybody want a beer?"
Six hands went up and he grabbed enough for everyone as he went. "Juanita, why don't you head on home, me and the boys can clean up all this mess, besides its Sunday and you should be home with your family." Chris said to Juanita softly.
Juanita knew what Vin and Chris wanted to do and shook her head, grabbed her bag and said goodnight to all and headed home. As Juanita got to her car she sat in it for a minute shaking her head knowing tonight was not going to end well.
Chris nodded to Vin as he walked in and handed everyone a beer. Vin grabbed the remote for the TV and lowered the sound as Chris handed him a soda, knowing Vin still wasn't allowed to drink alcohol yet, and sat down by the frowning man.
"Chris and I have something we want to talk to you about." Vin started off.
"Yeah." The blond leader said. "We went to the doctor on Friday for Vin's follow up visit about his leg injury and the doctor said he was healing fine."
"But." Vin continued, "My leg isn't going to heal correctly all the way. I'll have a permanent limp from where they had to remove some bone and muscle."
At Vin's confession all the men shook their heads and felt sad at their friend' permanent injury, then they all bombarded the two with questions.
Both men put up their hands to stop the flow of questions until they could get everything that needed to be said out.
Chris continued with the explanation, "Vin and I have talked and Vin is going to put in for permanent disability, the Doctor will agree that Vin will never be 100%, so this is the best thing since he'll never be a field agent again. We've decided since he couldn't do what he loves best we would go ahead and start the horse ranch. You all know we've talked about it for a long time, well it's time."
Vin cut in then with, "You don't know how hard this decision was for me I love working with you guys and being with the ATF, but I also know I won't do a desk job that this injury would require me to have. Not being out in the field with all of you watchin' ya backs would have me worryin' right into an early grave every time you went out on an op."
Chris finished with, "I've decided to take an early retirement so I can be were with Vin and we can get our ranch up and running. It's time, you all know my knees have been bad for a while now and after this last op, diving over Ezra's car, didn't help any at all. We're telling you this because you're our friends and most importantly you're our family. We wanted you to be the first to know, tomorrow we're having dinner with Nettie and Casey Wells to tell them also. On Tuesday Vin and I will be having a meeting with AD Travis to let him know."
The five men sat stunned, tears in their eyes as they looked at their friends to see if maybe they were joking. The look on Chris and Vin's faces told them all they needed to know, it wasn't a joke. JD openly sobbed into Buck's shoulder, thinking to himself, it's the end of the Seven.END