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Rating : SA for Sappy
Disclaimer: Not mine, I’m just playing. Don’t sue. I have no
money.
Author’s notes: I just couldn’t resist consoling my bestest
friend in her moment of Evilness!
feedback welcome! Earthsong_71@yahoo.com
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‘Tis the human touch in this world that counts,
The touch of your hand and mine,
Which means far more to the fainting heart
Than shelter and bread and wine;
For shelter is gone when the night is o’er,
And bread lasts only a day,
But the touch of the hand and the sound of the voice
Sing on in the soul away’.--Spencer M. Free
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“Chris?” Vin Tanner’s voice sounded weak and hoarse, but to the gunslinger
crouched at his
side, it was pure music.
“I’m here.” Larabee reached a hand out and pushed a few locks of dusty
blond hair away from his
best friend’s sweat-covered forehead. “Just try an’ relax.”
“What the hell happened?” The bounty hunter croaked, his pain-filled eyes locking onto Chris.
The black-clad man took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m not sure. One
minute we were riding
along and the next, a band of Indians came out of nowhere.” Chris pulled
off his hat and ran a
hand through his silken tresses. “You were hit.”
Tanner squeezed his eyes shut as a rush of pain from his right shoulder
washed over him. “That’s
why I feel so terrible, huh?”
Larabee let his hand come to rest on the other man’s brow again. “Fraid
so, cowboy.” Chris
frowned as he felt the heat already starting to radiate from his friends
form. The fever was
building fast.
Vin reopened his eyes and, with some horror, noticed that the arrow
was still buried in his arm.
“Damn, that hurts.”
“Easy.” The older man soothed. “Just keep breathin’, alright?”
Tanner nodded and decided that keeping his eyes on his friend’s steady
gaze was a smarter move
than observing his injury. He never cared much for blood, especially
when it was his own. “What
happened to the Indians?”
“Damndest thing,” Chris muttered, pulling his bandanda from around his
neck and soaking it
with some water from his canteen. “After you went down, they turned-tail
and headed for the
hills.” Larabee run the cool cloth over the tracker’s face. “I
managed to get off a few shots, but I
don’t think I did any damage.”
“You think they’ll be coming back?”
“Depends on what spooked them.” Larabee stopped his ministrations and
pinned his bestfriend,
the man he’d come to consider a brother, with a hard stare. “I’m thinkin’
we need to get you
travel ready and we get the hell out of here before they have a chance
to regroup.”
“Gettin’ out of here sounds good,” Vin said softly, his breathing becoming
more labored. “The
other part does not.”
“I got to do it, Pard. Infection is already setting in.” Chris’s blue
eyes softened. “I can’t take a
chance on you making it all the way back to town .”
Tanner easily read the emotions on the gunslinger’s face. Guilt was
something Larabee had
perfected and more often than not, the tracker was the cause of the
undeserving emotion
tormenting his bestfriend. “‘Salright, Chris. Just do it.”
The older man nodded. “It’s going to hurt like hell.”
“I’ve had worse.” The bounty hunter offered a weak immitation of his usual slow grin.
Chris didn’t respond with an answer but instead helped the younger man
to a sitting position. Vin
gasped at the unwelcome movement, but managed to fight off the grasp
of unconsciousness that
was so fiercely tugging at him.
“You alright?” Larabee stopped once the bounty hunter was leaning against
his chest, each breath
he took ragged with the obvious torture he was enduring.
Vin nodded. “Just get it over with.”
The gunslinger started by grasping the end of the arrow protruding from
the back of his friend’s
shoulder and breaking the flint head off.
Tanner bit his lip to keep from crying out. As gentle as Chris was trying
to be, his actions still
jarred the foreign object impaling the younger man.
“I’m sorry,” Larabee murmurred softly, letting his own forehead rest
against the top of Vin’s
head.
Tanner let his good hand find Chris’s arm and gave it a weak squeeze. “Finish it.”
The black-clad man took a deep breath and let his his fingers wrap around
the soft feathers of the
projectile. Knowing that no matter how he handled this situation Vin
was going to suffer, Chris
decided that the quicker, the better. So, with all the strength that
he could muster, Larabee jerked
the wooden weapon away from his friend.
It was strange that even through the agony filled scream that erupted
from the tracker, Larabee
imagined he could hear the cylindrical instrument of destruction slice
through the layers of Vin’s
flesh and tear it’s way into the very depths of his own heart.
“God, Vin. I’m sorry.” Chris felt Tanner’s body go limp against him
and he was almost startled
by the foreign quality of his own voice, as he tossed the remnants
of the bloodied arrow aside.
“Me too.” The soft southern drawl nearly caused Larabee to release the grip he had on his friend.
“What the?” With the reflexes of a cat, he drew his side arm and pulled
Vin protectively, closer
to him.
“Easy, Chris. It’s me. Cass.” The blond girl stepped around a tumbleweed
to stand shyly infront
of the confused men.
“Cassidy!” Larabee growled. “I should have known this had your name
written on it when I heard
that sappy poem at the first.”
Innocent blue eyes met the ice-filled gaze. “I didn’t mean for this
to happen, exactly.” The girl
twisted a long strand of hair around her finger and nervously chewed
at her lower lip. “ I mean I
was trying to think of a way to cheer Maggs up and the next thing I
know...Indians appeared out
of nowhere. I tried to keep it more Sappy than Evil, but you know how
Maggs loves the Vinster
in peril.”
"Right.”Chris didn’t look convinced, but Vin suddenly stirred in his
arms, drawing his attention
away from the girl.
“He’ll be fine.” Cassie knelt next to the two men. “Nathan and the others
will be here any minute
now.”
“I’m afraid that there’s been a slight change in plans, pardners.”
Both Cass and Chris turned startled glances to the approaching figure.
“Maggie!? What are you doing here? I told you to wait at home in front of the computer.”
“You were being serious?” The maniacle one let a wicked grin cross her still sun-reddened face.
The blond stood and put a hand on her hip. “I was being very serious.
I didn’t want you
interrupting this story with your bad mood.”
“This just keeps getting better,” Chris murmurred.
“My sentiment exactly, Christopher.” Maggie let her dark eyes fall on
the gunslinger. “Vin’s
fever is up and you just ran out of water.”
Larabee’s eyes darted to his discarded canteen which now lay on the
dusty ground, its contents
emptying onto the parched earth.
“Margarett!” Cassie stomped her foot. “That is not funny.”
Maggie placed a hand to her ear. “And what’s that I hear? Could it be horses?”
“Yes!” the blond exclaimed. “Buck and J.D. are on there way.”
The other girl tossed her friend an incredulous look. “Sorry, blondie.
But Buck and J.D. are a
little ‘tied’ up at the moment. I’d bet my money that the Indians have
decided to come back.”
“You didn’t?” Cassie’s eyes widened and she scanned her friends UV exposed
features for the
usual signs. Dancing black orbs. Lip curled slightly into a crooked
grin. One eyebrow arched.
“You did!”
“What?!” Chris let his eyes go from Cass to Maggs. “What the hell did she do now?”
Blazing blue eyes turned on Larabee. “My bestfriend here has been wanting
to do a little story
down the Mexico way,” Cassie explained. “I’m guessing the others have
been taken as bait to
lead you and Mr. Tanner into a trap. Not only that, but she somehow
found the band of
Comanches I thought I had hidden.”
“Is she crazy?” The gunslinger snarled. “Vin can’t travel like this.
He’s burning up, not to
mention unconscious. We’ll never survive an attack, less on make it
to Mexico.”
“That makes things more interesting.” Maggie explained casually, twirling
one of her
silver-handled pistols on her finger. “Our list sibs love ‘interesting’.”
Cass rolled her eyes. “What they love is torture. Vin torture. J.D.
torture.” The blond waved a
hand in the air. “ Anything envolving outlandish suffering makes their
pulse quicken, their
breathing speed up, that sudden tight feeling to set up in the chest.”
“Yeah,” Maggs smiled. “Isn’t it cool?”
“For your information, Margarett. I had things perfectly interesting enough before you arrived.”
It was the dark-haired woman’s time to look disgusted. “Don’t give me
that. If I hadn’t showed
up when I did, you’d have had a smarm-filled moment with the two cowboys
here, followed with
a daring rescue by the rest of the Seven.”
“Did she just call me a cowboy?” Larabee spoke up before Cass could reply.
“I believe she did.” The weak voice caused all three to look at the
tracker still nestled in Chris’s
arms.
“Vin?” Larabee eased the younger man back to the ground so he could
get a better look at him.
“How ya doin’?”
“By the looks of it,” Tanner let his eyes drift to the smiling face
of Cassie and then to the
disappointed grimace of her writing partner, “I’m guessing I’m in hell.”
“Cute.” Maggs laughed. “The boy has wit and an a..”
“Maggie!” Cassie quickly cut her friend’s words off.
“What? I was going to say ‘abs’ to die for.”
“You should know,” Vin grimaced. “I still remember the shirt thing.”
A deadly grin graced the maniacle ones features as she recalled the
particular pleasure Tanner
was speaking of.
“Oh no,” Cass cringed. “You shouldn’t have went there , Vin.”
“What?” Chris stood and placed himself between Maggie and the bounty hunter.
“Oh, nothing.” Margarett shrugged her shoulders. “I was just thinking
about an old Indian torture
ritual. You know, the one where they strip the victims of their clothes
and then leave them staked
out in the sun all day.”
“Great,” the blond grumbled. “She’s having beach flashbacks. This can’t be good.”
As if to punctuate Cassidy’s statement, horses' pounding hooves could
be heard in the distance,
and a war whoop broke the silence that had surrounded the four.
“Well, I guess I’ll be headin’ home now.” Margarett pushed her black
cowboy hat back on her
head some. “My work here is done.”
“You’re just going to leave us like this?” Chris reached out to stop
the woman. “After all that
Vin and I have done for you? I thought you loved us? ”
The dark-haired vixen paused and a thoughtful look crossed her face.
“I guess I could leave you
with a little something.” Maggs smiled.
“Damn strait.” Vin added, finally pushing himself to a sitting position.
“Okay,” Maggs rubbed her hands together. “Since this is Cass’s story,
I’ll do this her way. Words
are power you know, so how about a few inspiring quotes?”
“Maggs..”Cass warned, but the other woman merely waved her off.
“ ‘Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen
if you love.’ John Le Carre and
Cass’s last boyfriend said that one.”
“Maggie!” The blond bit her lip.
“Okay, okay, here’s one of my favorites by Martin Scorsese. I know he’s
a little after your all’s
time, but I think you can grasp the meaning just the same. ‘You’ve
got to love something enough
to kill it.’” Maggs grinned. “So true, huh? What do ya’ think?”
“I think you’re full of sh..” The gunslinger’s words were cut off as
an arrow whizzed past his ear
and a cloud of dust could be seen approaching from the East.
“Damn,” Vin swore and covered his head.
“That’s my cue to go.” Maggs waved at the three and then vanished without a trace.
“I hate it when she does that?” Cassie stood glaring at the last spot she had saw her bestfriend.
“I suggest you either follow suit or get down,” Larabee shouted above
the whoops and hollars
that were thundering about them.
“And leave you two to Maggie’s sick imagination? I just couldn’t live
with myself. Trust me, I
know what she would love to see happen once the Indians take you.”
Vin sighed and looked at Chris. “At least someone cares about us.”
Cass smiled sweetly at them. “Besides, who would save Buck and J.D.
from that horrible Mexico
fiasco if you two are captured?” With that the blond also vanished.
“Yeah, she cares alright.” Chris growled and tried to shield Tanner
as another barrage of arrows
careened above them. “She may look angelic, but I have no doubts that
she’d sell us to the Devil
in an instant if it came down to us or Buck and J.D.”
Vin started to reply but then stopped and turned his head towards the West. “Do you hear that?”
“It sounded like a bugle.” Chris cautiously chanced a look in the opposite
direction from the
approaching rengegades. “I be damned,” he breathed. “It’s the cavalry.”
“I guess Cass got the last laugh after all,” Vin sighed and relaxed his stance some.
“I wouln’t be so quick to say that.” Larabee bit back the smile that
was pushing it’s way onto his
face. “Are you feeling a little ‘vulnerable’, cowboy?”
Tanner’s brow furrowed in puzzlement for a moment and then a look of
horror crossed his face.
“She didn’t?”
The tracker looked down at his now completely bare body. “Chris..”
Larabee gave his friend a sympathetic smile. “Erasers are a real bitch, huh?”
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The End;--)
Hope you feel better Maggs,
Nothing like a naked Vin Tanner to lift a girl's spirits!
Cass
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