SNIPPET 2 : TO GET ME TO YOU

By Thalia

Disclaimer and the rest: See first page

Notes: "To Get Me To You" is performed by Lily McCann

Pairing: From Vin to Chris

Summary: A few bad weeks, a bad end to a mission, long days of rain and here are the guys, at the saloon, where the atmosphere doesn't really help since everybody has the blues. The jukebox plays on and Chris gets his answer from Vin…

7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Vin sighed, staring into his mug of beer. No need to look at the others to know what thoughts were flashing through their minds. Yes, they had been lucky. In fact, lucky didn't even start to express how they had felt once Chris had started to count his team to ensure everybody was till alive…

Just like the week before, just after they had started the mission and he had been shot at in the street, hardly able to identify the shooters because they were firing from a passing car… And then again, there had been casualties among the civilians… nothing that he could have done about that, no matter how hard he could have tried. That didn't sit well with him, that innocents would be shot while he was the target… and that hadn't sit well with Chris either. He had spent his time ranting and raving, swearing that he was gonna get him a leash, or better then, keep him inside a safe- house to protect him. But they both knew Chris was just riding the wave of adrenaline after he'd witnessed the shooting. And the waves of fear and relief. Chris knew him too well to keep him fenced in.

Vin had tried not to take to heart too much of what Chris had been saying. Hell, ever since they had first met, Chris had been trying to take care of him, even against his will. Okay, so he had to admit, sometimes he really needed to be taken care of, but it wasn't that easy to finally accept the fact that it was a need and not a choice.

Still, ever since they had become lovers, that need had become such a part of him that just thinking about how his life had been before he met the leader of Team 7 was like thinking or talking about somebody else's life.

He could still remember that very first moment their eyes had met, in the warehouse, over Nathan's shoulder. He had been following his bounty and ended up loosing it… and looking carefully back at that moment, he knew that he had lost his heart and his freedom the instant his blue eyes had met the cool green gaze head on.

And looking back at what his life had been, ever since he had lost his mother at the tender age of five, all the times he had been told he didn't belong, all the times he had hoped only to be crushed unmercifully by careless people… all the tears his heart had bled but his eyes never shed…

His choice of being a sniper in the army, just because he was gifted at it… gifted at taking lives… taking them with such ease that it had started to make him heartless… until he understood he had to choose between losing himself for ever or being human again. Making that choice had been surprisingly easy in the end. The fact that he could choose who would be on the other end of his sight. The fact that he could choose if the prey would live or die. The fact that he could simply choose who his prey would be. He wasn't fool enough not to be aware that it also was about money. You don't become a bounty hunter to visit the country. But the people he had gone after weren't the nicest ones. They were criminals that ought to pay for their crimes and were trying to escape justice. And so, he had made his living on a simple principle. And now, each day, he could wake up and look at himself in the mirror and recognize that man in the mirror.

And ever since he had met Team 7 and its black-clad leader, he had been thanking his lucky stars. Who knows what would have become of him had he chosen to stay in the army and go on killing on orders…

And because those bleary and dreadful years would always be present in his mind, so was each and every single day since he first set eyes on one Chris Larabee… even more clearly etched in his mind since they finally had crossed that boundary between friends to lovers. Chris could rant and rave, could be downright mean when one of his dark moods stole over him. But Vin knew who the man really was deep down. Knew about his propensity to shoulder blame and guilt, even when he was not in charge. Chris was making him more alive than he had ever been in his life, as far as he could recall. True, the man could also be a pain in the ass, but it was only because of the love he had for him, because of a desire to protect him from all harm. True, that desire was for all his team, but the anxiety that would sometimes flash in his eyes at the idea that he was risking his life to protect another one, that anxiety was what would make Vin take more care… because now, he had someone to come home to, and he wanted to be able to do that for a lot of other years in the future.

So, no, he wouldn't change anything that he had done in his short years for the fear a single thing changed might also change the outcome and he would not get to meet Chris and might lose him not only has a lover, but also as a friend. No, he wouldn't change a thing in his life, because in the end, he had found a home, brothers… and just when he had given up on it, he had finally found love.

And looking up in the wondering green eyes of his friend and beloved, he let his message come across. 'I love you and I have no regrets… and you won't make me leave, Cowboy!' his eyes vowed as they kept the green gaze enraptured. And the feeling of love that then flowed freely between them was so strong that it wouldn't have surprised either of them if they had suddenly noticed a link thick as a cruise-boat mooring rope going from one heart to the other.

He never stopped at wondering if the others would notice their silent exchange. He had finally found love and was loved in return. If he were to die tomorrow, he would die peacefully for he had known that feeling that had eluded him his whole life. Nothing and nobody could ever take that away from him.

In the background, another song came on… But none of them noticed the troubled and pained look that crossed Ezra's face… and another song softly flowed from the jukebox…

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