*knock knock*
"It's open!"
Hearing the call from inside, Buck, Vin and JD walked in through the door of
the ranch. Chris was inside, setting out the last of the glasses by the drinks
cabinet.
"Hey Chris, we brought you some beers, and a few bottles of wine, and I
thought it'd be fun to get some streamers and stuff to decorate the house with
because, well, it is a party after all and people are here to enjoy themselves!"
JD beamed.
"Damn kid. You're kind of cheerful today aren't you?"
"Well it's a beautiful day and I'm about to spend some quality time with my
best friends! Happy, that's me, I guess!" JD skipped off to put up the
decorations in the living room, leaving Chris shaking his head bemusedly.
"Damn, that kid wears me out just looking at him. How do you put up with him,
Buck?"
Buck just shrugged.
Chris looked at him wryly. "Talkative tonight, huh, Buck?"
Buck just shrugged again.
Chris looked confused. "Vin, you want to tell me what's going on?"
Vin smiled. "Bucklin had a little accident. He cut his tongue and he's not
supposed to try and talk for a couple of days."
"You cut your tongue???" Chris asked.
"Well, turns out ol' Bucklin was worrying about his breath smelling, or
something dumb like that, so he went out and brought himself one of those new
fangled tongue scraper thingies." Vin shrugged. "Can't see the point myself."
"Mm hmm!" Buck puckered up his lips as if kissing someone.
"Buck, kissing girls is one thing, but I think you took oral hygiene a bit
too far this time." Chris said. They were interrupted by a knock at the door.
"That'll be the others," Chris said, and went to answer it.
In traipsed the missing members of the seven. Nathan nodded a hello to
everyone, Ezra sneezed heavily and Josiah yawned.
"What's up with you guys?" Chris asked.
"Well, Ezra's caught that cold that's been going round, only the damn fool
won't spend a day in bed to let himself get better…"
"I have urgent matters that…*ah-choo* …require my most focused attention."
"…and Josiah here spent all night last night working up at the homeless
shelter."
"I'm okay," Josiah said through a yawn. "I'll wake up any minute and be ready
to party. Chris, didn't you say Mary was coming?"
"Yeah, she's gone out with a couple of girlfriends she hasn't seen since
college. They're going to drop her off here afterwards."
A few hours later, and the men had had a few drinks and were enjoying their
downtime together. Nathan, Ezra and Josiah had been filled in on Buck's mishap,
and after Nathan had insisted checking him out, they'd all had a good laugh. And
then Ezra had had a good sneeze. And Josiah took a nap.
A noise from the door signified Mary had finally arrived.
"Come on in, Mary!" Chris yelled, and a few moments later she appeared in the
living.
"Why, if this isn't the prettiest little house I've ever been in. And it's so
wonderful to see all of you!"
She walked over to Vin and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. He turned a
bright shade of crimson. "Aw shucks, Mary."
"Oh Bashful, when will you stop being so shy!" she exclaimed.
Vin shot Chris a confused look. Bashful?
"Oh look, and here's Sleepy," she said, standing by the couch where Josiah
had dropped off to sleep.
"Ah-choo!" Ezra cried.
Mary giggled like a little girl. "And Sneezy! Of course!"
"Mary, are you alright?" Nathan asked.
"Doc! Always concerned, aren't you? And Happy!" She gave JD a big hug.
"And you! Aren't you pleased to see me?" She wandered over to Buck and waited
expectantly. He shrugged. "There's my little Dopey," she hugged him. Buck looked
indignant. Dopey?
"Now there's one missing. Where is he?" She turned and gave Chris a beaming
smile. He smiled back, thinking this was some joke she was playing on the rest
of the team.
"Grumpy!" she scolded. "Don't you dare scowl at me like that. Not after I've
come all this way to pay you boys a visit."
Chris frowned, and looked over to Vin. Mary wandered off, exclaiming over the
decorations she discovered hanging from the ceiling.
"What the hell is up with her?" Chris asked.
"Beats me, Cowboy. Is she on something???"
"Well she's been out with her old college friends. It's possible, I guess."
"What possible other *ah-choo* explanation could there be? I mean look at her."
They all looked over to Mary, who was now standing in front of a mirror
proclaiming "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?"
"What the hell should we do with her?" Chris asked.
"I've got something I can knock her out with till morning. Hopefully it'll be
out of her system by then," Nathan said.
Chris nodded. "Do that. If she says anything else in this room is 'lovely', I
might just shoot her."
"Phew, well I'm glad that's over with," Nathan sighed, falling back into a
chair.
"Yeah, who'd have thought Mary would turn up here thinking she was Snow White
of all people," Vin laughed, nervously.
"And thinking we were the 7 dwarves? That's ridiculous," Chris said, looking
around the room. "I mean, well…humph!"
"Aw shucks."
"Hmmm."
"Happy, that's me."
"Ah-Choo!"
"Zzzzzzzzzzz."
" !"
The End
