Warnings: Deathfic
Note: This sad little ficlet was inspired by (nearly stolen from) Chad Brock's song The Visit.
Vin sat on the ground before his beloved Ezra and took two deep breaths before he started to speak. He never was one to speak without thinkin' on it first, but Ezra had shown him how to breathing deep would help bring the words to the surface of the taciturn tracker."Sorry, 'm so late. Been out ridin'. Just ponderin' on a way to tell ya, what I figger ya already know." The birds calling in the trees was the only audible response, not that Vin expected to hear one.
"I'd never wanna hurt ya, cause Darlin' I still love ya, but things ain't like they was before and it's time fer lettin' go." Vin took another deep breath in the silence following his statement. He sure missed hearing Ezra speak to him, but that wouldn't be happening anymore. Better to just get it all out now.
"Weren't out there lookin', but I ... I met a feller down at the livery a might ago. He's a lot like ya. Weren't no gambler, but a quick mind like ya got, and a wicked grin on 'im like ya used to let loose on me, set m' ol' heart to poundin'." Vin couldn't fight a small grin of his own thinking on Ezra and the flash of gold tooth he would send Vin's way with a twinkle in his green eyes promising good times to come.
"We been spendin' time together," Vin said with a slight blush rising to his cheeks, "Yeah, he knows all about ya. Aw Hell, Ez, the truth is he can give me what ya can't anymore."
"Lookin' back when we first started, I never thought I'd see this day. If only I could write the pages, our story wouldn't end this way." A single tear rolled down the sharpshooter's face as he remembered all the letters, all the love poetry he had dedicated to his beloved Ezra, poetry that the gambler had told him once he treasured above all the letters ever written. Poetry that would always be for Ezra only, no one else's eyes would ever see them. If only he could have written more before it all ended...
A sorrowful breeze went through the trees at that moment and blew through the tracker's hair. It almost felt like the velvet touch of Ezra's smooth long fingers when they had gone through his hair, and his beloved gambler had told him he was loved. That was the first time Vin's heart had opened to love, and he knew that Ezra's love was what was going to help him move on now.
"Thanks Ez. I feel so much better knowin' we could have this moment." The breeze was now becoming a wind heralding rain to come. "But it looks like it may rain soon and it's gettin kinda late."
"I'll always bring ya roses each time I come to visit. Buck's a'waitin on me now, he wants to close the gate." With Vin's final words he laid the roses he had brought with him, symbols of the love they had, down on the final resting place of his beloved Ezra. The roses would always be a symbol of their love, that their love would never die, though Ezra had gone.
More than a little guilt and a lot of crying had about devastated the Texan when the man he loved had been taken from him. That he had given his own life to save Vin's had hurt for a long time, but he remembered the things that Ezra had said to him when they were still happy and in love. Ezra had taken a withdrawn, haunted man with his eye always alert and ever on guard, and had opened him up to love. Vin would always be eternally grateful for every second they had had together.
The wind shifted again, pushing the tracker down the hill, and he felt again a connection to his beloved. He knew that Ezra would tell him now that it was OK, to live his life and be happy. "All those years, mah love, without a scintillah of affection. I want tah make you happy Vin. All I could evah hope for is that you should be happy," his beloved would say, flashing his beautiful gold toothy grin. The chill of impending weather could not steal the warmth in his heart that the memory gave him.
Buck was there waiting for him, when he got to the gate. "Ya okay there, pard?" he asked, with his bushy brows drawn together in a worried frown. Buck had been there to pick up the pieces when Vin had fallen apart after Ezra's death, much as he had been there for Chris when tragedy had taken those he loved. Buck secretly wondered how much pain would befall his best friends before God was done kicking them while they were down.
"Yep, we had a real good visit," the Texan drawled as he let Buck slap him on the back and they both turned and headed back home.
The End
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