The disclaimer is and always will be I don’t own ‘em and never made a plug nickel off ‘em. Wish I did. This is a series of stories set in a Modern universe where the boys are working in Chris’ and Buck’s 4C agency as private investigators, bounty hunters and body guards. This takes place 9 years after the events in “The Chronicles of Thunder and Consolation” 2/29/04.
Coming home
Sometimes it is easier to fail than to fight.
Tired of fighting, tired of explaining what motivation was behind his actions, hell Ezra was just plain tired of it all on that cold winter day that he stepped off the airplane. He was technically home, yet it didn’t feel that way. An unexpected message had spurred this quasi homecoming. Despite all his misgivings he had returned. Slightly disappointed that no one was waiting for him in arrivals area, a whimsical hope at best especially since no one knew he had received the message let alone had flown into Denver International Airport. Instead Ezra cinched his small carryon higher up onto his shoulder and made his way out of the main terminal building and as the soft white snow flakes fluttered down from the gray sky he hailed down one of the dozens yellow taxis to take him where he needed to go.
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The more things seem to change the more they remain the same.
Three years was a long time. Ezra wondered if he would still be welcomed.
For as long as he could remember Ezra never felt like he belonged, no that wasn’t exactly true there was a time he had been loved and cherished. In a cruel twist of fate that was taken way in the space of an hour on a long ago summer day.
His life as Adam Larabee never seemed real, a pile of faded pictures was all he had to go by that and snatches of hazy memories that were more dream than reality. Chris, his father, tried his damnedest to make him feel welcome and wanted but no matter how the man tried there was something missing. An awkwardness that no amount of hugs and reassuring words could dispel drove them apart. The harder Chris tried to reach him, include him, the harder Ezra fought against his father’s love.
One night they fought, Ezra and Chris fought almost every night back then, but this time it was different, after that long heated argument the seventeen year old left the Larabee ranch.
It had taken Chris six months to find him living in Rio de Janeiro only to have the heart broken man return to Denver alone.
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Ezra stared out of the taxi watching the snowy streets of Denver whiz by, fervently hoping that it wasn’t too late, that he wasn’t too late. Barely waiting for the livery cab to come to a halt the young man clambered out of the back seat after shoving a handful of bills at the driver.
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Jogging up to the hospital’s reception desk a nearly breathless Ezra couldn’t get the words he needed out before a hand tapped him on the shoulder and he spun around.
“Mister... you forgot your bag!” The livery driver smiled brightly as he handed over the bag.
Managing to get out a husky thank you, Ezra tipped the man and turned his attention to the receptionist. The older woman, who by this time was scrutinizing him over her glasses,
“Ma’am, I’m looking for a patient Christopher Larabee…I’m Ezra… his son… I got a message that he was admitted here after having a heart attack…”
“Lar… a… bee, could you spell that for me hun?”
“L-A-R-A-B-E-E, Ma’am, its important that…”
“Christopher Larabee… he is in C.I.C.U.” Apparently the woman was well versed in this trying moments because she stood up a handed him a clipboard. “Sign in the visitors log and I’ll point out the way to the elevators after that all you have to do is follow the signs.”
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Hospitals, The young man hated them. He had spent far too much time in them. The corridors were far too long and entire building seemed a bewildering maze of corridors leading to no where fast. All of his fears and worries seemed to descend upon Ezra as he got closed to the C.I.C.U., upon arriving there a nurse directed him towards the far end of the unit. Standing outside the glass partition too scared to cross the threshold. A lone tear snaked down his cheek. He was about to turn and flee when a familiar voice spoke.
“Hey bud, glad ya made it?”
“Buck?”
The big mustached man embraced him, enveloping him in a strong comforting hug.
For first time in a long time Ezra didn’t know what to say barely managing to stutter out. “I.. I..”
“Been touch and go… won’t lie to you… and he’s been asking for ya so go on in.” Buck whispered as patting him on the back and then released him.
Cautiously Ezra stepped through the doorway calling out to Chris as he did so. “Dad?”
One Thing
He stood there by the frozen stream that ran through the ranch, His father's ranch. Ezra's feet were numb from the cold as he stood there in the deep snow, frozen in place as much by the day's events as the weather. He had been chased out of the hospital's C.I.C.U. by the nursing staff. There would have been a time that wouldn't have worked, but guilt drove him back to the only place he could think to go but when the taxicab had dropped him off the young man could not bring himself to enter the house instead he opted to walk through the maelstrom besieging the area before finally stopping at the stream. Actually he slipped and fell hard on the ice. After a long struggle, he managed to regain his balance without sliding across the frozen stream to climb back up the snowy bank. Ezra's clothes were stiff, the damp material quickly iced up.
If only he had called
If only he sent a letter
If only he had done one thing different"Stop it!" he grumbled out loud, Chris wasn't dead.
Not yet
A song that he heard on the flight into Denver replayed over and over in his mind.
If I traded it all
If I gave it all away for one thing
Just for one thing
If I sorted it out
If I knew all about this one thing
Wouldn't that be something
He wished he could trade it all to speak with his dad again.
I promise I might
Not walk on by
Maybe next time
But not this time
"God I wish.."
Even though I know
I don't want to know
Yeah I guess I know
I just hate how it sounds"I wish…"
a simple wish
A chorus of obnoxious singing caused Ezra to turn around squinting at two figures bobbling through snow and trees.
Bobble was that a word?
"EZRA?!!"
Buck?
"What the devil are you doing out here?"
Vin?
What were they doing out in this freakish weather?
"Hey bud, why don't we go inside?
Yeah he would trade it all for that one thing
Ezra Standish born Adam Larabee finally let go and allowed them lead him away.