Recovery

Inez wiped down the bar for the tenth time in a half-hour. It didn't really need it but it gave her something to do while she kept an eye on Senor Standish. He had come in an hour before, face entirely devoid of expression, ordered a scotch, and headed straight for the back table. That is where he still sat, slowly nursing yet another scotch after having demanded the bottle of Glenfiddich, continuing to wear that same expressionless void on his face. Inez sighed. She rather liked the enigmatic undercover agent and hoped that whatever had disturbed him was nothing too serious.

She gave up on wiping down the now pristine counter for the time being. Sneaking another glance at Ezra she couldn't help but wonder where his friends were. It was unusual for one member of Team Seven to come in upset without one of the others following him soon after. Inez looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled with relief at the sight of Buck Wilmington walking into the bar. She had noticed that whenever the gregarious ladies man was around Senor Standish seemed considerably more relaxed than he did at other times. She was certain Buck could cheer him up.

Twenty minutes later she was back to wiping down the bar and mentally cursing Buck Wilmington in every language that she knew. Instead of going over to see about Ezra as she had expected he had resolutely avoided the southerner in favor of determinedly, loudly, and repeatedly hitting on her. And not even very well. That was unusual in and of itself as whatever else she might have to say about Buck Wilmington she never would have said that he wasn't charming. Ceasing her movements she looked up into Buck's bright blue gaze.

"Senor." She said evenly and looked pointedly in Ezra's direction. Buck followed her gaze and opened his mouth to say something when Ezra looked up from his previously engrossing study of the tabletop to refill his glass. His always bright eyes were even brighter than usual, face flushed, hair just slightly out of place and all the lines of his face a work of masked pain. Inez watched with intense interest as Buck's face tinged pink and could barely contain her satisfaction as he made his way over to Ezra.

She cursed, out loud, in Spanish though when he deliberately sat down with a space between himself and the undercover agent. Men could be so stupid sometimes. She shook her and heaved one last sigh before returning to work that really did need to be done. It was a pity really; Senor Wilmington was a very handsome man. But Inez was no fool; one simply didn't get involved with someone who had so clearly already given his heart to someone else, even if he didn't yet know it.

"Hey there Ezra."

"Come to check on me Mr. Wilmington? Wouldn't want me get in any trouble and cause our beloved team leader any extra headaches now would we?

Buck pinched the bridge of his nose and counted to ten. "Ezra...what the hell are you talking about?"

"My little evaluation has merely reminded me of a few of the inescapable truths of life with Team Seven."

"What 'truths' are those Ezra?"

"Why don't you return to your considerable efforts to gain the favors of your previous companion Mr. Wilmington? I'm sure she'd be most ebull...eb...really happy to see you."

"How much have you had to drink Ezra?"

"Not nearly as much as I intend to Mr. Wilmington."

"Buck. My. Name. Is. Buck. We're your friends Ezra. Why do you do that?"

"Do what Mr. Mynameisbuck?"

Buck was well aware that Ezra already knew the answer to that question but chose to answer the man anyway. "Push us away Ezra. Why do you do that?" He winced at the humorless laugh that immediately answered his question. "What are you defending yourself from?"

"... did you just call me defensive? Because my dear Mr. Mynameisbuck I'd like to make it clear here and now that I am not defensive. Ever. I have no need to be defensive and so I am not. It's really very simple. Besides why is it you who is asking all of the questions of me? Was your little visit in the chair enlightening?"

"Uhhhh. Umm. Well, see uh that is to say that uh...no. No it wasn't 'enlightening' at all! Man's a quack. Complete and utter quack."

"My. My. Aren't we defensive."

"I am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not."

"Are"

"Not"

"Are."

"Not! I AM NOT DEFENSIVE!"

"Good. That's three of us."

Both men looked up to see Vin Tanner approaching the table. Buck unconsciously moved to close the space between himself and Ezra before that shaggy haired sharpshooter could get there. Vin sat down silently and signaled Inez for a beer. "I take it then Mr. Tanner your 'evaluation' is also completed?"

"Yep."

"Ya wanna talk about it Vin?"

"Nope." Vin took the beer Inez wordlessly handed him and drank the whole thing down as the other men watched with raised eyebrows. Handing the glass back to Inez he asked for another one before turning back to Buck and Ezra. "Just cause a man don't talk much don't mean he's hidin' nuthin'. Man should be able to say whatever he does or doesn't want to and not be judged on it."

"Mr. Tanner I could not possibly agree with you more. One should be allowed to converse in whatever manner one wishes to converse in without fear of comenda...comen...judgment or analysis from his peers or anyone else. Wouldn't you agree Mr. Mynameisbuck?"

"Would you quit that! It wasn't even funny the first time."

Vin silently observed the slight flush to Buck's face and the slur to Ezra's already honeyed drawl and filed the information away for further thought. Inez came with his second beer at that moment and slammed a tray with seven glasses and several pitchers down on the table clearly not giving a damn how much amber liquid spilled over the sides. Muttering to herself in Spanish she stalked off. Vin raised both eyebrows. He hadn't known that she had such an...impressive vocabulary. He was pulled from his observations by the sight of Chris stalking his way towards their table.

"Hell cowboy, you spent even less time there than I did."

"It's all that black he wears. Shrink probably decided he's got a death fixation or something in no time."

"Shut up Buck." Chris said though the words were almost entirely without heat. Ignoring the beer Chris reached across the table and snagged Ezra's bottle of scotch instead.

"Oh, by all means Mr. Larabee do help yourself."

"Think I will." The men sat in silence for some time as Chris attempted to catch up with Ezra's current level of drunkenness and Ezra just continued to get drunker.

"So what was it that sent you scurrying from your evaluation so quickly Mr. Larabee? Care to share with your friends?"

Chris locked eyes with the undercover agent, his lips thinning at the man's slightly mocking tone. Standish had that calculated to irritate smirk on his face; the one that Chris had to be stone cold sober to cipher out the meaning of and the last thing Chris wanted right now was to be that sober. Chris leaned forward towards Ezra so focused that he failed to notice the way Buck mirrored his actions, placing himself slightly in front of the southerner.

"How 'bout you Ezra? Anything you care to share? With your friends?"

"No. No there isn't." Ezra pushed himself up on wobbly legs and reaching for his keys said, "Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me I think I'll take my leave of you now."

"Where the hell do you think you're going Ezra?"

"Why, home Mr. Larabee. I thought that I had made that abundantly clear." Assuming he could remember where his car was that is. He blinked. Actually if he could just remember which of those doors he was supposed to walk through to get out of this place he'd be happy enough.

"Ezra you can't drive like this. Why don't you let me take you home?" Ezra turned to see Buck standing behind him and placing a steadying hand on his arm.

"That will be quite unnecessary Mr. Mynameisbuck."

Chris turned to Vin with a question on his face. Vin just shrugged. He didn't know what the hell that was all about either. Chris stood up and walked over to where Ezra stood on shaky feet.

"You aren't driving home Ezra."

"Go back to your friends Mr. Larabee. I am not in need of a babysitter." Chris clenched his jaw. Two sets of green eyes locked. Angry, surly, hardass, slightly drunken stubbornness faced hurt, sardonic, wiseass, and really drunken stubbornness. "Ezra, I am not losing any more family. So for once just do as you're told and sit your ass back down because I do not have it in me to bury anyone else in my family."

JD burst into the room with Nathan following immediately behind him. "Buck! There you are. I've been looking all over for you. I found Nathan though, well really he found me and then we had to stop by the drugstore and...what's going on?" JD cut off finally noticing the tension smothering the room like a blanket.

Ezra carefully turned to face JD. "Mr. Dunne, would you be so kind as to drive my car home tonight? It would seem I'll not be making use of it."

"Really? Me? Thanks Ezra! Didn't think you trusted anybody with your car."

"You must be -really- drunk Ezra. C'mon." With that Buck took hold of Ezra's other arm and carefully steered him back to the table JD following close behind. Chris made his way back and refilled his glass of beer as soon as he did. Nathan just stood there and shook his head. Chris and Ezra had obviously been arguing about something. Hotheads. Hotheads. Hotheads. Every damn one of them. Glad he wasn't like that. Checking his pockets to make sure he had an ample supply of aspirin to send home with everyone, 'cause God knows none of them would take care of themselves, he went to join the others.

"Hey, where's Josiah anyway? Shouldn't he be done by now?" JD asked after they had been sitting there awhile slowly letting the tension ease and making conversation about anything but their evaluations. Conversation remained on neutral topics though everyone was quick to point out that they weren't defensive should anyone happen to disagree with them. Ezra had slowed down on his drinking at this point but he was still gone enough to be practically leaning on Buck in order to remain upright. Buck, both Chris and Vin had noticed, didn't seem to mind at all.

"Right here brothers, right here." Josiah's voice boomed, having come in just in time to hear JD's question. "And I believe that Brother Ezra owes me 100 dollars. Our poor analyst all but ran from the room."

"You don't say." Bucks grin of delight at the thought of that was matched by everyone else's at the table. "You gotta tell us how you did that."

"The spirits might persuade me at that." Josiah grinned as he pulled up a chair.

The Seven talked long into the night until finally their numbers began to dwindle one by one. Josiah 'borrowing' a nearly unconscious Ezra's wallet to retrieve the hundred and pay the tab. It seemed only fitting. Finally only Buck, Chris and Ezra remained in the parking lot as Chris helped Buck drag Ezra in the direction of Bucks truck.

"You gonna drive him home?" Chris asked unnecessarily.

"Yeah, that's why we're takin' him to my truck ain't it?"

"You gonna tuck him in too?"

"Shut up Chris."

"Night Buck."

"You too pard."

Inez watched the last of the vehicles pull away. Wiping down the bar again she looked up to see a man with glasses and a stack of files enter. He sat the files down on the bar and looked at Inez with the same expression usually worn by a deer just before it's about to be hit by a speeding truck. Inez recognized the names on the files. With a sigh she just started pouring.

The End
Continues in Boundaries