Cast Away
by Joy K
Little Britches ATF Universe
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Hi computer. See Chris? It writes what I say.
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Chris took a closer look at the man seated at
the lunch counter next to him. The man looked tired, worn out. The nervous
clenching and flexing of his fist revealed someone who had been on edge for
too long. Frayed jeans, faded tee shirt, slightly shaggy hair and a beard
Chris could deal with, but the earring had been a surprise.
"Are you all right, Ezra?"
"I assure you, Mr. Larabee, I am fine." said Ezra, but the truth was reflected
in the dark circles under his eyes and his less than convincing smile.
"And I'm the Queen of England," quipped Chris.
"I hardly think she'd appreciate the comparison," Ezra countered. He took
a long, grateful sip of coffee. It wasn't his normal brew, but it was hot
and that was good enough for now.
"Tell me," said Chris, urging his undercover agent to update him on his progress.
He took a bite of his hamburger as he listened.
Ezra filled Chris in, giving the facts in short, succinct statements without
any embellishment. The man was weary, and when a man got too tired, mistakes
happened. The case was important, but the survival of his agent was Chris'
first concern.
"I'm going to pull you out," said Chris.
"No!" said Ezra sharply. "No," he softened, "I'm close, Chris. A few days,
a couple weeks tops and I'll have what we need."
Ezra took a bite of his baked potato, chewing it thoroughly before meeting
Chris' concerned eyes. "I'll pull myself out if anything looks or feels wrong,"
he assured.
The past five weeks had been stressful for everyone with Ezra going into
deep cover. His contact with the team was severely limited in order to protect
his cover. Chris had been on edge with the responsibility for Ezra's safety,
his life, resting in his hands, but it had to be even harder for Ezra.
At least Chris had the rest of the team and two little boys to distract him
and help him keep perspective.
"How is Master Tanner's arm?" asked Ezra. Vin had taken a fall at school
and had fractured his wrist. The accident had happened only a few days before
Ezra went on assignment.
Chris smiled. It had been the same at each of their meetings. Ezra would
fill him in on the case facts, and then his questions would turn to Vin and
JD. It was obvious that the two boys had changed Ezra's priorities.
"He should be getting the cast off," Chris checked his watch, "right about
now."
Ezra frowned. "You should be with him. Go!"
"No, Ezra," Chris answered firmly.
"We could have changed our plans…"
"No, Ezra," Chris repeated. "If we started changing plans somewhere along
the line someone would slip up and - well, I'm not willing to take that chance
with your life."
Ezra looked down at his hands, his heart humbled and strangely warmed by
the concern.
"He'll be frightened," he said softly.
"Probably," Chris agreed. "Buck and JD are with him. Buck's bringing him
by the office, so I'll see him after we're finished."
"I wish…" Ezra stopped. The emotions stirring inside seemed to be stealing
his ability to express himself.
"I know, Ezra," Chris replied, relieving the agent from having to say how
much he missed two little boys. "They miss you, too."
"What have you told them?" Ezra asked pointedly as he took another bite.
"Nothing," said Chris. While Ezra had been undercover several times since
the boys had become a part of the family, it had been for a couple weeks
at the most, and his absence was easily dismissed with 'Uncle Ezra is
working.' This was the first long term assignment.
"It seemed that telling them that you're in deep cover and in danger every
moment of the day would be too much for kids to deal with."
"Seemed?" Ezra placed his fork on his plate.
Chris nodded. "We thought it was best to keep it from them, but now, I just
don't know. They seemed okay the first couple weeks, taking the news that
you were working and couldn't come over at face value. JD still seems to
be okay with it, except," Chris chuckled, "you are in his bedtime prayers
every night about how much he misses you and hopes you'll come home 'really,
really soon.' He still thinks you work 'under covers'."
Ezra smiled. JD had caused him an undue amount of teasing by his innocent
statement. Somehow the child had connected the fact that Ezra tended to enjoy
sleeping late with the job assignment of undercover and came up with 'Uncle
Ezra works under covers.' His teammates had really piled on the innuendo
when they were away from little ears.
"And Vin still thinks you're a James Bond style secret agent with all the
gizmos," Chris added.
Ezra nodded, remembering the day that Vin had asked him if he could shoot
oil out of the back of his jag to make the bad guys 'slippy slide across
the road and crash.' Of course, he had also wanted to know if there were
guns in the headlights and an ejector seat.
"But Vin is starting to really press the issue," Chris said with regret.
"He knows we aren't telling him everything."
"He's a very intuitive child," Ezra agreed. "What are you going to do?"
Chris shook his head. "I don't know. I still think the naked truth is too
harsh for them to handle. Little kids don't need to deal with the fear of
someone they love being in constant danger or not coming home."
"They already are," chided Ezra softly.
Chris looked down, realizing the truth of Ezra's statement.
His point made, Ezra changed the subject. "I should be going, and you have
a youngster who needs your attention." He stood and turned to leave.
"Ezra?"
The southerner looked back as he approached the door.
"Watch your back."
Ezra gave a short nod. "Monday at 4:00 p.m."
"I'll be there."
As he watched Ezra leave the diner, Chris grinned, realizing that the wily
agent had stuck him with the check.
Vin closed his eyes tightly. "I wish Chris was here. I wish Chris was
here. I wish Chris was here," he thought. Opening his eyes, he let out
a sigh. Nope, Chris wasn't here. Just Buck and JD.
He looked at all the big scary instruments on the tray beside the exam table.
He wasn't very excited about getting his cast off anymore.
"You'll be fine," Buck assured, catching a glimpse of Vin's nervous fidgeting.
"I want Chris," Vin whispered, the plea barely audible.
Buck looked into the frightened blue eyes realizing Vin didn't know he had
said the words aloud. He cupped the back of Vin's head and squeezed
reassuringly.
"Hello, Vin," said Dr. Steve as he entered the room. "Are you ready to get
that cast off?"
Vin just blinked in response. His eyes widened as Dr. Steve picked up a huge
drill like thing with a round blade with gigantic teeth on it.
Well, it seemed huge to Vin.
"He's gonna cut Vin's arm off!" JD shrieked.
Buck covered JD's mouth to prevent the child from saying anything else to
the already terrified Vin.
JD struggled to move Buck's hand. "Ya gotta save him, Buck!"
"It's all right, JD," Buck assured. "He's not going to hurt Vin."
Vin's lip began to quiver as the doctor approached with the gigantic saw.
"It's all right," Dr. Steve soothed. "Let me show you how this works."
Vin reflexively pulled his casted arm tight to his body. He wasn't going
to let anyone cut his arm.
"Look," said Dr. Steve, "It doesn't hurt at all. It doesn't really cut the
cast, it vibrates it apart." Dr. Steve put the cast "saw" against the heel
of his own hand and turned it on, showing Vin – and JD – that it
didn't cut.
"Do you want to keep your cast?" he asked.
Vin, now more curious than terrified gave a single nod.
"Let me see," Dr. Steve examined the signatures on the cast. "Looks like
we might have to go through one."
"No!" said Vin, finding his voice as Dr. Steve indicated he would have to
cut through Chris' signature.
"Okay, okay," he soothed. "How about we start here," he said, indicating
a spot on the upper outside edge of the cast by Vin's elbow. "And we'll wind
our way around a little bit here, but I'll do my best to save the signatures.
Okay?"
Vin nodded. He braced himself as Dr. Steve prepared to start cutting the
cast. He could be tough. He could be strong, even if Chris was at work.
Who was he kidding? He gasped in fear as soon as the saw roared to life…
…And melted into giggles as soon as the vibrations of the blade tickled
his funny bone.
"It tickles," said Vin with a smile.
"Really, Vin?" asked JD. "It don't hurt?"
"Nope. It tickles," said Vin with a laugh.
"Yep," said Dr. Steve, smiling. He continued down the outside of the cast
and then up the inside of his arm. Then he put the cast saw down and picked
up the bandage scissors.
Hearing Vin's gasp of fear, he showed him how the bandage scissors had blunt
tips and no edge underneath so he wouldn't be cut. Then he used them to cut
away the gauze lining underneath the cast material.
"Ewwwww!" said JD, pinching his nose closed at the odor. "Vin, your arm is
stinkerooni!"
"Nah, it's not his arm, son," said Dr. Steve. "It's the padding inside the
cast. Nurse Jennifer, let's see if we can do something about that."
Vin ignored JD's comment, staring at his skinny odd-looking arm. Some of
the skin was very pale, some was dried and peeling, and his arm looked scrawnier
than his other arm.
Dr. Steve cleaned Vin's arm while gently supporting Vin's wrist. "There we
go," he said as he set aside the swab. "Let's see what you can do now, Vin.
Why don't you try bending your wrist a little?"
He smiled at the look of uncertainty on Vin's face. "See that x-ray on the
wall, Vin? That's your arm. It's all healed up. It's okay to move it. It
might be a little painful at first, but you need to move it. Give it a
try."
Vin wiggled his fingers as he worked up his nerve to try bending the wrist.
Slowly he moved it, wincing as he did.
"Ow," he complained.
"A little sore?" asked Dr. Steve.
Vin nodded.
Dr. Steve took hold of Vin's hand while supporting the wrist with his other
hand. He slowly and carefully maneuvered the wrist, watching both the movement
and Vin's reactions.
"Okay, Vin. I'm going to give you some exercises for your arm, and I want
you to do them every day. Can you do that for me?"
Vin nodded and watched intently as Dr. Steve showed him how to exercise his
arm.
"Do you have any questions?"
Vin chewed on his lip for a few moments.
"Will it break again?" he asked tentatively.
"Not from normal use. It's healed. See?" Dr. Steve pointed to the healed
place in the x-ray image.
Vin nodded.
"So you can do anything your arm feels up to."
"Can he play on the jungle gym?" asked JD. "We gots a real great jungle gym
in the back yard. It's boring playing on it without Vin, and if he plays
on it, he gets hollered at 'cuz he ain't s'posed to."
"Well, his arm will tell him when it's ready," said Dr. Steve.
"That's silly," laughed JD. "Arms can't talk."
"JD," said Vin rolling his eyes.
JD laughed. "I know Vin. I'se just teasing." He grinned broadly at his joke,
while Buck just shook his head.
"Jennifer, how are we doing with that cast?" asked Dr. Steve.
"Here we go," replied the nurse. She had pulled all the well-worn padding
off the inside of the cast, leaving the dirt smudged, purple shell.
Vin smiled as she handed him the two pieces. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Sweetie."
Dr. Steve rolled his eyes at the word "sweetie" making Vin giggle. "Girls,"
said Dr. Steve. "They like to call us things like sweetie and honey and baby."
He shook his head.
Vin grinned at the pediatrician.
"Well, that does it Vin," said Dr. Steve. "You're ready to go."
"Thank you, Dr. Steve," said Vin.
"You're welcome." He lifted Vin off the exam table and stood him on the floor.
"Don't forget your toy from the box."
"Me, too?" asked JD.
Steve smiled. "You, too."
"Yay!" said JD as he scrambled away from Buck and started pawing through
the toys.
Chris looked up as two little boys came bursting
into the team's outer office.
"Hi Unca Nathan! Hi Unca 'Siah!" bellowed JD as he ran to their desk area.
Josiah scooped him into his arms as JD showed him his toy and chattered excitedly
about the doctor visit.
Vin climbed onto Nathan's lap and showed him his arm.
"It looks good, Vin," said Nathan. "I bet it feels great to have it out of
that cast."
Vin nodded and looked towards Chris' office. "Did Chris get done with his
meeting?"
Nathan nodded. "He's making some phone calls. What have you got there?"
Vin dumped his armload of stuff on Nathan's desk and sorted through it.
"This is my cast. And this is my new truck. See? It looks just like Chris'
truck." Vin held the truck up so Nathan could see. "And this is my new ball,"
Vin said as he put down the truck and picked up the ball. "I'm supposed to
squeeze it to make my arm get strong." He demonstrated for Nathan, and then
picked up the papers. "And these are my - umm – rules for making my
arm better and my x-ray that shows it's all healed. See?"
Nathan nodded and grinned at Chris who was now standing behind his excited
boy. Vin had been so excited about telling Nathan everything that he hadn't
noticed Chris' approach.
"Looks good," said Chris.
"Chris!" Vin turned and dove into Chris' arms.
"Hey, Cowboy," Chris chuckled at the exuberant greeting. "How'd it go?"
"He had a huge saw!" Vin exclaimed.
"Yeah," JD piped in. "He was gonna cut Vin's arm off!"
"But I was real brave, wasn't I, Buck?" said Vin.
Buck smiled. "Yes, you were, but I would have been really scared."
"I think I would have been scared, too," said Chris.
Vin looked at Nathan and Josiah. They were nodding in agreement that they
would have been scared, too. "Well, okay," said Vin. "I was kinda scared,
but Dr. Steve showed me how the saw worked and you know what?"
"What?" asked Chris.
"It tickled!" shouted JD.
"JD!" Vin scowled. "I wanted to say that. It was my special thing!"
JD looked at Buck. He didn't look mad, but he didn't look happy either. JD
couldn't help it. He didn't have a "special thing" right now and he was getting
awfully tired of Vin getting all the attention. Besides, Torkus hadn't been
eating all week and nobody else seemed to care. Especially not Vin. He was
too worried about the dumb ol' cast. JD sighed. He should probably apologize
anyway. That would make everyone happy again.
"Sorry Vin," he mumbled.
Chris nudged Vin, who seemed reluctant to accept the apology.
"It's okay, JD. But let me tell it next time, okay?" said Vin.
"Okay." He turned towards the door as it opened. "Hi, Aunt Rain! Vin gots
his cast off, do you see? And he's supposed to tell the part about the saw
tickling."
Vin thumped his head against Chris' chest in exasperation.
"He's just excited," said Chris quietly.
Vin sighed. "I know. And he's little."
After Rain appropriately admired Vin's wrist and his cast and ball and list
of exercises, Nathan declared it was time for them to head out. He and Rain
were going to baby-sit the boys until Chris and Buck got home after their
meeting with Team Two. They gathered up the boys and their gear and headed
for the ranch.
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That's when we got the broccoli.
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"Spy One to Spy Two."
"What?"
"JD!" Vin sighed. "You're 'sposed to say, "Spy Two, here."
"Oh yeah, I forgot." JD keyed his pretend radio made of red, white and blue
Legos. "Spy Two, here."
Vin grinned. "Any sign of Agent 7 and Miz 7?"
"Nope. They went out to the car," replied JD.
Both boys grinned at each other as they stealthily crept back into the kitchen.
They had a mission. Uncle Nathan and Aunt Rain were watching them and making
dinner. Uncle Nathan always brought broccoli for a salad. Their mission was
to remove the broccoli from the dinner menu.
JD stuck out his tongue and grimaced as he picked up the plastic bag of broccoli
off the counter. They had better uses for the broccoli than salad.
"Uh-oh!" he whispered loudly as the screen door squeaked.
"Come on, JD!" urged Vin as he hurried from the kitchen.
"I'm Spy Two, Vin!" JD reminded him as he ran after his friend.
Both boys slid around the corner in their stocking feet, hiding just inside
the dining room grinning at each other. They peered around the corner watching
Uncle Nathan set another bag of groceries on the counter.
"Let's start with the chicken," said Nathan, wrapping his arms around Rain
and kissing her.
Two boys rolled their eyes and stifled their giggles. Uncle Nathan and Aunt
Rain would be busy a long time making dinner and playing kissy face.
"Let's go, Spy Two," said Vin.
JD nodded and scurried down the hall into the den behind Vin.
“Honey, where’d you put the broccoli?” asked Rain.
“It’s right there in the plastic grocery bag,” replied Nathan.
“Next to the fridge.”
Rain looked through the bag a second time and shook her head.
“It’s not here.”
Nathan and Rain exchanged glances, and then Nathan rolled his eyes in
realization.
“You haven’t seen two short people come through here?” he
asked sheepishly, knowing he had been paying more attention to the lovely
Rain than he had to his two young charges.
Rain smiled. “I thought they didn’t like broccoli.”
“They don’t, but a certain member of the extended family does,”
explained Nathan. He nodded towards the doorway in invitation.
Rain slipped her hand into Nathan’s and walked down the hall with him.
“This has happened before?” she asked.
“Yep,” Nathan said. “It seems broccoli makes perfect trees
for their cowboys, and a certain pet tortoise considers it a delicacy.”
Rain smiled back at him as they peeked into the den. Sure enough, Vin and
JD sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by little plastic cowboys and
horses…
… And broccoli trees.
JD seemed to be preoccupied with feeding a “tree” to their pet
tortoise.
Nathan cleared his throat.
Vin looked up guiltily, but JD continued trying to coax the tortoise to eat.
“And what are we going to have for dinner tonight?”
Nathan chided gently.
Vin shrugged. “I don't know. Torkus is having broc'li trees.”
“Nuh-uh,” said JD, with a slightly desperate tone. “He won’t
eat it.”
Vin frowned and crawled over to see what JD was talking about. He picked
up a plump tree and offered it to the tortoise.
Torkus blinked and drew himself part way into his shell.
“He wouldn’t eat his food last night neither,” said JD as
the tears began to form. "Or the night before or the night before that."
“Maybe he’s sick,” said Vin softly.
JD picked up the tortoise and ran to Uncle Nathan.
“Fix him!” he cried, pushing the tortoise into Nathan’s hands.
The boys had become accustomed to Uncle Nathan taking care of their bumps
and bruises and checking up on them when they were sick. It made perfect
sense to them that he would do the same for Torkus.
Nathan looked to Rain for help. She shook her head. She knew nothing about
doctoring a tortoise.
“JD, let’s just watch him for a while and let Buck and Chris check
him out when they get home,” Nathan suggested.
“But you always fix us when we’re sick,” said JD.
“Maybe he’s just not hungry,” suggested Rain.
“But you always make us eat when we’s sick and don’t wanna,”
JD insisted. “You says we has to eat to get better. Fix him, Uncle Nathan.
Please?”
Vin now stood behind JD, his blue eyes pleading the same request as JD.
If Nathan had known anything about tortoises, he would have done anything
in his power to “fix” Torkus and keep two little boys’ fears
at bay, but the truth was, he didn’t even know if this was abnormal
behavior for a tortoise.
“Okay, here’s what we’ll do,” said Nathan. “Chris
and Buck will be home in an hour. Until then, we’ll just keep Torkus
warm and quiet.”
“Noooooo!” Vin protested, taking the tortoise from Nathan.
“Torkus likes cool, not warm.”
Nathan stared at the boys for a moment. It didn’t make sense. They found
this tortoise in the desert. Obviously it did well in hot temperatures. But
the boys had been caring for the creature for a few months, and maybe they
knew more than he did about what it needed.
“All right,” Nathan compromised, “Let’s just put him
in his tank where he’s safe and let him rest until they get home.”
“Okay,” said Vin tentatively, examining their beloved pet. The
cowboys and horses and broccoli trees were forgotten as more urgent concerns
flooded the minds of two little boys. Any scolding for the broccoli theft
would have to wait.
JD sniffed and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He frowned at Uncle Nathan not
liking his suggestion at all. Something was wrong with Torkus and Uncle Nathan
wasn’t making him better. JD popped his thumb in his mouth and trotted
down the hall behind Vin to their room to hold vigil over Torkus, not sure
if he liked Uncle Nathan anymore.
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