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Disclaimer: The Magnificent Seven are the property of MGM, Mirisch, and Trilogy Entertainment. I do not own them or make money from them but if I did own them I promise that I would share all six of them.
Characters: Modern Day. Sarah, Chris and Vin
Summary: It's Christmas and only Sarah knows how to save Chris. I couldn't have finished this without Amber F. Drabble. She found me the perfect song because she writes the boys way better than I do!
Warning: NOT a jolly Santa story!
That's Why I'm Here
Kenny Chesney
Well I ain't had nothin' to drink
I knew that's probably what you'd think
If I drop by
This time of night
Remember way back when
I promised you I'd drop in
At one of those meetings
Down at the Y
They started talkin' about steps you take
Mistakes you make the hearts you break
And the price you pay
I almost walked away
You could hear a pin drop
When this old man
Stood up and said
I'm gonna say it again
Like I do every week
For those who don't know me
It's the simple things in life
Like the kids at home
And a lovin' wife
That you miss the most
When you lose control
And everything you love starts to disappear
The Devil takes your hand
And says No fear
Have another shot just one more beer
The song playing on the radio had suddenly cut into the usual sugary Christmas tunes as he parked the truck down the street, carefully avoiding the streetlights. The engine thrummed in the darkness as his hand rested on the key. Twelve Steps. Was that all it would take? To cure him? Heal him? Redeem him?
"Hi, my name is Chris and I'm a alcoholic."
Turn off the engine! Get out! Cross the street! Step through the door! Stand up! Say it! Admit it!
Chris Larabee couldn't admit it even to save his own life.
Still, he wouldn't die alone. He had his good friends Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker and others he had never bothered to ask the names of. Slyly, imperceptibly, they'd replaced his real friends. Stood by him when Buck Wilmington had finally left, after repeating what Nathan Jackson had already told Chris, that the blond cop had only a few months to live before drink killed him.
He pulled away from the curb and headed back to the ranch where his liquid friends waited.
M7 M7 M7 M7 M7 M7 M7
Do not stop for hitchhikers. The golden rule. A woman knew it wasn't wise. A mother with her young son fast asleep in the back knew it was too great a risk. A cop's wife knew it better than most. The truck's headlights picked him out in the darkness. Illuminated him. Turned him into a long haired wingless Angel. She stopped the truck.
"Need a ride?"
"Thank you kindly, ma'am."
He tossed his duffle bag and motorcycle helmet into the truck-bed, opened the door and slid inside. He shivered as his butt hit the cold leather. She turned up the heat. The boy needed some meat on his bones to keep out the cold. He looked exactly like the half-starved feral cat she fed on the rear porch. All teeth and claws and vicious temper but wildly beautiful.
Shrugging off his fringed jacket he acknowledged the warmth, "Thank you, ma'am."
She nodded, concentrating on the road as he dozed next to her. It had been quite a while and she didn't want to miss the upcoming turn-off. Smiling, she found the bumpy track easily. Nearly home.
He blinked awake as they passed the mailbox. "Ma'am, can you stop? I'm on my way back to Texas for good. To catch a ride I need to stay on the highway."
"It's Christmas, Vin. Even on the highway you could freeze to death waiting for another ride."
His striking blue eyes studied her properly for the first time. She was without doubt the most radiant woman he'd ever seen. A renaissance madonna driving an ugly black truck while her blond cherub slept in the back seat.
"I can look after myself, Sarah."
His loudly growling stomach promptly made a liar out of him.
She laughed and the delightful sound tickled his heart making him chuckle too. Something he thought he'd forgotten how to do since leaving the Rangers.
Finally she slowed the truck. "Will you get the gate?"
He hopped out of the truck and easily swung open the freshly painted wooden gate with the HELP WANTED sign nailed to it. He never heard the truck reverse away but now the track was completely deserted. Only his duffle and crash helmet sat waiting there. He turned to pick them up and when he turned back he noticed that the peeling gate was rotten, hanging half off its hinges.
He shivered but this time it wasn't from the chill night air.
His Harley was ancient but he was too good a mechanic for it to just up and die on him like that.
She'd suddenly appeared on the most isolated stretch of the highway.
The truck smelled of fresh new leather but that model had to be a good few years old.
She'd called him Vin.
He'd known that her name was Sarah.
The name on the mailbox said Larabee.
Up ahead light spilled from a door drunkenly left open.
Picking up the HELP WANTED sign, Vin Tanner walked towards the light.
M7 M7 M7 M7 M7 M7 M7
He listened to the song playing on the radio as he parked the truck across the street under the bright streetlights. Happy New Year's. A fresh start. The engine fell silent as he turned the key. Twelve Steps. That was all it would take to save his life. Cure me. Heal me. Redeem me.
He crossed the street.
He went inside.
He stood up.
Chris Larabee admitted it.
"Hi, my name is Chris and I'm a alcoholic."
Yeah I've been there
That's why I'm here
This old boy stood
Up in the aisle
Said he'd been livin'
A life of denial
Then he cried as he
Talked about wasted years
I couldn't believe what I heard
It was my life word for word
And all of a
Sudden it was clear
It's the simple things in life
Like the kids at home
And a lovin' wife
That you miss the most
When you lose control
And everything you love starts to disappear
The Devil takes your hand
And says No fear
Have another shot just one more beer
Yeah I've been there
That's why I'm here
I know for us it
May be too late
But it would mean
The world to me
If you were there when
I stand to say
It's the simple things in life
Like the kids at home
And a lovin' wife
That you miss the most
When you lose control
And everything you love starts to disappear
The Devil takes your hand
And says No fear
Have another shot just one more beer
Yeah I've been there
That's why I'm here
Oh I've been there
That's why I'm here
It was too late for the long dead Sarah and Adam but it meant the world to Chris Larabee that Vin Tanner had climbed off his purring Harley, crossed the street by his side and was starting his New Year sitting there watching Chris beat back The Devil.
THE END
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