A Bird's Eye View

by Freespirit

Since 'Blazing Their Own Trail', I got to thinking, what other extreme sports would our three youngest guys do together on their weekends off, without their big brothers.

It's Friday night at the saloon, and our guys are planning their weekends. Nathan made plans with Rain to go bird watching. Since Billy was spending the weekend with his grandparents, Chris invited Mary to spend the weekend alone at his place. Josiah planned to go to a retreat for some R and R. With JD gone for the weekend, Buck had a romantic weekend planned with the new girl in accounting. Ezra wasn't looking forward to spending his weekend with his mother and was hoping she would change her mind at the last minute as she so often does. Vin had plans to help one of his neighbors move over the weekend even though he didn't want to, and JD planned to spend his weekend with the Wells mending fence. He hated mending fence.

Ezra entered his condo to the answering machine's light blinking, informing him he had a message. Even before he checked to see who it was from, he knew and grinned.

Vin climbed the stairs to his apartment as he dug out the keys. There was a note tacked to his door stating he wasn't needed to help his neighbor to move and smiled.

JD sighed as he sat in his mustang, not looking forward to fixing fence. His cell beeped letting him know he had a text. He looked to see who it was from. The text was from Casey telling him the fence was fixed by a neighbor. JD sighed a sigh of relief.

+ + + + + + +

Vin opened the door when he heard someone knock.

"Hey JD. Thought ya had a fence ta mend?" Vin asked as he let JD in the apartment.

"I did, but Casey texted me and told me a neighbor had went and fixed it. So I came here to help you move your neighbor."

"Sorry ta disappoint ya, but my neighbor don't need me." Vin shut the door.

JD dropped down on the couch with his back pack of weekend cloths, "Now what are we going to do?"

"We'll come up with somethin'," Vin answered as he went to the kitchen.

"Hey Vin, ya want me to answer the door?" JD asked when he heard a knock on the door.

"Yeah, thanks," Vin called from the galley kitchen.

"Hey there Ez. What's up?" JD said when he opened the door and was surprised to see Ezra in a pair of warn jeans, a t-shirt and tennis shoes and a duffle bag.

"JD? I thought you to be at the Wells."

"Yeah, well, one of Nettie's neighbors fixed the fence so I wasn't needed. I came to help Vin move his neighbor but Vin ain't needed either," JD answered as Ezra entered the apartment.

"Oh, I see. I too thought I would lend a hand in the moving in hopes to speed it up so perhaps Vin and I could go do something this weekend. Would you care to join us?"

"Sure, what ya got in mind?"

Vin came out of the kitchen with a bowl of nacho chips and a smaller bowl of cheese sauce and sat them down on the coffee table.

"Yeah Ez, what ya got in mind?"

+ + + + + + +

Mary liked coming out to Chris' ranch. She liked it even more when it was just the two of them. Mary relaxed in one of the deck chairs with a glass of ice cold lemonade in her hand as she watched Chris turn the steaks over he had on the grill.

Chris came and sat next to Mary in one of the other deck chairs with his own glass of lemonade.

"It's so beautiful out here," Mary stated.

"Yeah it is," Chris agreed.

Mary squinted up toward the mountains, "Oh look, hang gliders."

Chris looked up to where Mary pointed and shook his head, "I know of a hundred other things I'd rather be doing on a beautiful Saturday afternoon then hang gliding."

Mary laughed.

+ + + + + + +

Buck pulled up in the parking area of the pick nick area that over looked the valley below. He got out and opened the door for his date then reached back in the truck bed and retrieved the pick nick basket and escorted his date to the look out.

"Oh Buck, it's beautiful up here."

"I thought you might like the view. It's peaceful and quiet up here."

"Yes it is. How on earth did you know I needed this."

Buck smiled down at her, "Just lucky I guess."

Julie smiled up at Buck then back to take in the view again. "Oh, look Buck, hang gliders," Julie pointed out.

Buck looked to where Julie pointed, "There is no way you'd catch me up there."

"It does look like fun."

"If you say so darlin'."

Julie laughed at the expression on Buck's face.

+ + + + + + +

"Hi Josiah. I see you've found my favorite sitting spot."

Josiah looked up at the woman that stood in front of him, "And a good afternoon to you Miss May. What you got there?"

May removed the back pack she was wearing and sat it down on the boulder next to Josiah and opened it.

"Just some water and sandwiches. I was hoping to see you up here."

"This is a nice retreat." Josiah smiled and took the water May offered.

"I never dreamed I would meet someone on this retreat. Let alone him being a fed."

Josiah slid over a bit so May could sit down next to him.

They sat there taking in the beauty of their surroundings for a few minutes.

"Oh look Josiah, hang gliders. I wish I had the nerve to do that. To be up there flying like a bird, man, it would be something wouldn't it?"

"I guess, but I like the view from right where I am."

May laughed, "So do I Josiah."

+ + + + + + +

"I wish we could have went to the marsh, but the trails up here are good too. I hope we see some rare birds," Rain said as she and Nathan hiked up the mountain to where they were going to camp for the night.

"Yeah I know. I would love to see some rare birds."

Nathan and Rain stopped at a clearing that over looked a valley. They could see cliffs off to the right of them.

"Hey look Nathan, hang gliders," Rain pointed out.

"Yeah, I see ''em. That's too dangerous for me."

"Yeah me too."

When Nathan and Rain turned to leave, Nathan caught sight of a parked blue Jeep that looked a lot like Vin's Jeep. He dismissed it as he and Rain went on up the trail to their camp sight. Nathan knew Vin was helping a neighbor move. And he also knew Vin and Ezra had an agreement to never do anything dangerous alone. Still, it bothered him to see the blue Jeep.  There were three hang gliders gliding along the cliffs, so who were they? Could Vin be one of them? Maybe Ezra was another? Then who would the third one be? The only person that came to mind was JD and he was out at the wells' place. Wasn't he?

Nathan turned toward Rain, "Rain? Could you please hand me the binoculars."

"Sure Nate," Rain said and handed the binoculars to Nathan from around her neck.

Nathan stepped closer to the railing of the trail and put the binoculars to his eyes and focused them.

"Awe hell!"

"What is it Nathan?" An alarmed Rain asked.

Nathan brought the binoculars down and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and middle finger and sighed then looked up at Rain, "The hang gliders are Vin, Ezra and JD. Chris, Josiah and Buck are going to go postal on those three when they find out."

Rain smiled up at Nathan, "Who says they're going to find out?" Rain asked.

Nathan smiled mischievously down at his girlfriend then took 0ut his cell phone and took a few snap shots of the hang gliders, "Leverage for a later date."

"You mean blackmail," Rain laughed as she hooked an arm through Nathan's and lead him up the trail to their camp sight.

Nathan laughed and let Rain lead him.

+ + + + + + +

Chris was surprised to see Nathan arrive before Vin Monday morning for work. So was Vin when he came into work.

"Hey Nate, what are ya doin' here so early?" Vin asked as he booted up his computer.

"Oh, no reason. Did you get your neighbor moved okay this weekend?" Nathan asked and took a drink of coffee as he smiled over at Vin.

Vin didn't like the look he was getting from Nathan, "Yeah."

"Good, glad to hear it. At least that way you could keep your feet on the ground."

Next came Buck and JD.

"Hey Nate, you're early," Buck said as he and JD booted up their computers.

"Yeah, how come?" JD asked.

Nathan smiled over at JD, "No reason, just felt like it. How did the fence mending go JD?"

"Okay," JD answered then glanced at Vin who just shrugged his shoulders.

Next came Josiah. "Good morning Brothers."

"How was your retreat?" Buck asked.

Josiah sighed and grinned, "Nice, real nice."

"Josiah, you dog. You met someone," Buck smiled. "What was she like?"

A little past nine, Ezra showed up for work. He was a little freaked out at Nathan's expression when he sat at his computer.

"How was your weekend with Maude, Ezra?" Nathan asked.

Ezra looked across his desk at Vin then over at JD before he faced Nathan, "Actually Mr. Jackson, mother had more important matters to deal with then to have a visit with me."

"So what, a quiet weekend at home?"

"Something like that. How was your weekend? Bird watching, wasn't it, with your lady?"

"Oh, it went pretty well. We ended up camping up by some cliffs. We saw some rare birds. Three of them in fact. Got the photo's to prove it," Nathan smiled.

"Rare did you say?" Ezra asked.

"I would love to show them to you, Vin and JD. I'm sure you'll like them.

Vin looked over at Ezra then at JD.

All three knew Nathan knew what they did over the weekend.

"I would like see some photos of rare birds myself," Josiah said.

"I don't know, Josiah. You, Chris and Buck might not like these photos." Nathan grinned at Ezra, Vin and JD.

Buck looked at the faces of JD, Vin and Ezra then back at Nathan, "Are we missing something?"

Nathan sighed, "Let's just say, those three went exploring this weekend."

Buck turned to look at JD, "I thought you had to fix the Nettie Wells' fence?"

"I did but Casey texted me and said a neighbor did it."

Chris stepped out of his office, "And I thought you had to help a neighbor move this weekend Vin?"

"I did, but when I got home, there was a note on my door saying he got someone else to help him."

"And I told you Maude cancelled. So the three of us went to the mountains on a camping trip."

Chris sighed, "At least you didn't get into any trouble. Now get to work."

"Or do anything stupid," Buck commented as he went to work.

"Yeah, like hang gliding," Josiah added.

Nathan smiled a knowing smile toward Ezra, Vin and JD before he went back to his computer and work.

A little bit later, Ezra, Vin and JD met up in the break room.

"Man, am I glad Nathan only knows about the hang gliding on Saturday," JD said.

"Tell me about it. If he knew we went sky diving on Sunday, he'd have our heads," Vin agreed.

"Here's to a bird's eye view," Ezra said and raised his coffee cup.

The three men clinked their coffee cups together and sighed with relief and left to go back to work.

End