Stormy Weather by Stormm

The wind picked up as Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner were getting closer to their prey. Vin turned blue eyes towards his companion and nodded towards the tree that was a few feet away. Chris nodded, green eyes squinting at the distance and nudged his horse towards the direction of the tree with Vin following close behind. Once they got to the tree, both men dismounted and pulled their horses towards the tree.

"I think a storm's comin', Chris!" shouted Vin over the din of the wind.

"Yeah, I can see that," shouted Chris back. "Think we can still track 'em?"

"It's not gon'na be easy, Pard. They got a big lead on us and the wind keeps blowin' dust and hidin' the trail," replied Vin loudly.

"So what ya thinkin'?" asked Chris.

"I think maybe we should head back to town and wait it out."

"But we could lose 'em. They already have a big lead on us now," voiced Chris.

"You thinkin' we should keep goin'?"

Chris thought about that. He wanted those men bad, bad enough to take the risk. But he would not only be risking his own life, but Vin's as well and he would not do that without Vin's approval.

"What do ya think?" he asked Vin over the blowing wind.

Vin stood silent for a moment and then said, "I think we should keep followin', at least until we can't track 'em anymore. That storm's coming up fast and I don't think we gon'na have a lot of time here." Vin turned to look at the clouds that were forming in the sky.

"Let's go, then," said Chris quickly mounting his big black and starting to ride towards the oncoming storm.

Vin followed suit and galloping swiftly to catch up to the blond gunslinger.

***

Vin had been following the tracks closely, but now the wind had picked up even more and the rain was coming down in sheets. He turned to look at his riding companion and found him hunched down in the saddle, trying to keep the rain from going down his back. Vin smiled at the sight, knowing how much Chris Larabee hated the rain.

"Chris!" shouted Vin over the din.

"Yeah?"

"I think we should find some shelter. We ain't gon'na find anythin' in this storm."

Chris nodded silently that Vin's assessment was the right one. He was miserably cold and tired and the weather had not given them a rest since it started. Chris then pointed towards a copse of trees and saw Vin nod in agreement. They both then nudged their horses towards the area. The wind had picked up even more in the short ride towards the trees and the rain pelted them even harder. Both Chris and Vin leaned forward on their horses, trying to abate the storm's wrath that was bombarding them, but it did no good and the horses were skittish at best.

When they finally reached the covering of the trees, a crack of lightening flashed and then all went to hell. Vin saw the lightening hit the tree closest to Chris and he cried out trying to warn the gunslinger, but it was too late. Chris heard Vin's shout through the din of the rain and wind, but it was not in time. He looked up to see a huge branch of the tree that he was near coming straight at him. He lifted his arm up to try and protect his head, but the tree branch just plowed into him, knocking him from his horse. His horse moved away from the spot, the branch barely missing steed as it hit the ground, along with Chris.

Vin jumped from his own horse's back and ran over to where the blond lay on the ground unmoving. He knelt down and saw a long gash running down Chris forehead to his right ear and the right ear was bleeding. He also noticed that his arm bent at an awkward angle. It did not bode well for the older gunman.

"Damn, Pard! Ya sure got yourself into a fix," Vin cursed.

Vin knew he had to get Chris out of the storm before he could start working on Chris, so he grabbed him underneath his armpits and heaved him upward, careful not to jar his already bent and bleeding arm. Once he got a good grip, he slung the limp gunslinger over his shoulder and started walking towards his own horse. He slung Chris on to his horse sideways and as he passed by Chris' horse, he grabbed the reins of the still excitable steed, hoping that he would not lash out at him as he did. He then moved towards the hill behind the trees to what he thought as safety.

He had noticed a cave opening there and hoped that there were no residents present, but he would have to deal with that when he got there. Fighting the wind and the rain and trying to keep a hold on the reins of both horses, Vin climbed up the hill towards the opening. When he got there, he pulled Chris from the saddle and carried him in his arms into the cave mouth.

It was dark inside and Vin's eyes had to adjust. Once they did, he did not see any living thing inside the cave and carefully laid his bundle on to the ground. He then went further into the cave and searched out for anything that might burn so that he could make a fire. As luck would have it, he found firewood, stacked up in the back against the cave wall, a good tale-tell sign that someone had been here recently. He just hoped they were not planning on returning. Once the wood was piled and the campfire started, he walked back to the body of the blond gunslinger that lay unmoving on the ground and lifted him so that he could move him further into the cave.

He then walked back outside to the horses and grabbed what he needed to make his friend comfortable. As he prepared everything he needed, he prayed silently that his friend would not wake up until he was done. But he had a feeling that his prayers would go unanswered as the dark clad gunslinger started to stir.

***

Chris awoke in pain and when he tried to move found that it was coming from his head and his arm. He felt something light covering his body and knew it was a blanket. His glassy green eyes looked up and found himself looking into two bright blue orbs of a man he trusted most.

"V...in?"

"Hey, Pard. Was hopin' ya would stay out a little longer, but I should have known that ya don't do anythin' like a normal person," said Vin gently trying to lightened the mood.

"What...what...h...appened?" asked Chris as a flash of pain ran up his injured arm.

"Ya had a run in with a tree, Cowboy," said Vin as he carefully cleaned up the blood running from Chris face and ear. "I think ya arm's broken, Chris."

Chris chuckled lightly and then groaned again as the pain in his arm flared again making itself known. "Don't...don't make me...laugh," coughed Chris.

"Ain't tryin' to, Pard. I need to get ya cleaned up and ya arm needs to be fixed."

Chris nodded as he could do nothing more with the pain that was plaguing him, but he trusted Vin to do what was best. He always had. "Do...Do...Do what...ya got to do, V...in," gasped out Chris.

Vin looked at him fretfully. "I wish Nate was here. I ain't no doc."

"Ya...all I got, Vin," responded Chris. "I trust ya, Pard."

"I know ya do, but I don't know if I trust myself. What if I mess it up worst than it is."

"Can't...wait, Vin," said Chris keeping the pain in check. "Need to get...need to... get it done, Cowboy."

Vin did not like the sound of that. He knew Chris was right, but he also knew what would happen if he did it wrong. Looking at his friend lying there in pain made up his mind for him.

"Okay, Chris. But let me get ya somethin' for the pain."

"No Nathan...horse piss," laughed Chris softly.

"Nah, Pard. Got some whiskey I was savin' for later. Ya stay right there and I'll be right back."

"Ain't...ain't going anywhere," said Chris as his green eyes closed.

Vin knew Chris was not sleep. He could still see him shivering under the blanket he had thrown over him.

Vin quickly rummaged through his saddlebags and pulled out the full bottle of whisky he had been saving for later and went back over to the still form of his friend. He then uncorked the bottle and gently lifted his friend head. Chris eyes opened, glazed and unfocused.

"Here, Chris. I got something for ya. It'll ease the pain some," he said tipping the bottle towards his friend's mouth.

Chris drank the fiery liquid as it drippled down the sides of his mouth. Chris coughed slightly as he felt the whiskey burn as it went down his throat. Vin tried to put as much as he could of the whiskey into the blond gunslinger. He knew Chris would need it for him to complete what he had to do. Once Chris had signaled that he had enough by turning his face away, Vin pulled the bottle away and laid the man back down onto the pallet. He then corked the bottle and placed it off to the side. He looked worriedly at his friend, knowing he was about to cause him more pain. But it was necessary.

"Okay, Chris. Ya ready?"

"N...o," replied Chris trying to ignore the pain.

Vin sighed and knew the blond was trying to mask his pain by being flippant with him, but he knew better than anyone how much it was taking his friend not to scream in pain.

"Here we go, Chris," said Vin hoping it would prepare the man for what was about to come.

Vin pulled hard on Chris' arm, snapping the bone back into place in one swift motion. Chris screamed as he felt the bones grating on each other as they were forced back into their original pieces and knew that nothing Vin had said had prepared him for it. The pain encompassed his whole body and with a last muffled cry, the blond fell into unconsciousness. Vin quickly checked his friend's pulse as he watched the man's mind deal with the pain in the only way it could. Vin felt the soft pulse beat beneath his fingers and sighed. He figured maybe it was best that the blond was unconscious. It would probably make the rest of his work easier.

As Chris lay in the arms of Morpheus, Vin quickly went to work to repair the damage the tree had done to friend and hoped that when he did awake things would be better.

***

Chris awoke to pain, but the pain was not as bad as it was before. He squinted at the fire that burned brightly at the end of the cave and noticed that all was quiet, except for the deep rumbling of someone snoring. He turned his head to the other side of where he was lying and saw Vin asleep on his bedroll not far from him. The scruffy looking tracker was lying on one arm, his curly brown hair falling lightly into his face and across his eyes. He was curled up on his side in a deep sleep. Chris smiled gently and turned back to try determining what had happened. His clouded mind brought images to him of a storm and a large branch of tree falling towards him. His eyes closed at the frightful image and realized that the tree branch was the cause of his current pain. He looked down at his arm and found it wrapped up tightly with cloth between two pieces of wood and knew that it was broken. It throbbed incessantly, but Chris ignored it. His mind was on a more troubling problem. He spied the water canteen next to the fire. His thirst was outweighing the pain and dizziness that he was currently feeling. Parched, he tried to reach for the canteen that was next to the fire. The pain he felt in his head and arm blared to life and he fell back with a moan, panting hard.

Vin awoke to the sound of someone being sick. He sat up and looked across the fire and saw Chris leaned over and throwing up on the dirt floor. Vin jumped up and ran over to his friend's side, holding onto to his shoulders, as the blond's empty stomach tried to bring up whatever was still left in his stomach from before.

"Take it easy, Cowboy. I got ya," said Vin soothingly.

Finally it was done and Vin helped Chris lay back on to the blanket pallet. He then went to get a cloth and wet it. Wiping the gunslinger's sweat soaked forehead, he sighed.

"How ya feelin', Pard?" Vin asked worried.

"Guess...guess I'm okay," rasped Chris. He still felt thirsty, but he did not want a repeat of what had happened a few seconds ago.

"Ya thirsty?" asked Vin sensing the man's need.

"I was...but I think I"ll pass," answered Chris, his eyes slowly closing with the tiredness that he was feeling.

"Chris?" called Vin softly.

"Hmm?" answered Chris, his eyes still closed.

"I gotta get ya out of here, Cowboy."

Chris eyes opened slightly and looked at Vin confused. "Huh?"

"Ya ain't doin' too good, Chris. Ya arm need more than I can give. Ya need Nathan."

Chris looked at him more confused. "Ain't...ain't he in town?"

Vin looked at Chris concerned. He realized that Chris was having trouble focusing. It was then he remembered the head wound. "Chris, how's ya head?"

"My head?"

"Yeah. How's it feelin'?"

Chris closed his eyes and concentrated on what Vin was asking him. He thought about his head and it did ache some. "Ache's...some."

"Some?" asked Vin unconvinced.

"O...kay. Ache's...a lot," admitted Chris reluctantly.

"Ya stay put. I'm gon'na see if that storm's calmed down any. Maybe we can get ya to Nathan then," said Vin rising from his position to start for the cave entrance.

"Vin?"

"Yeah?" asked Vin stopped by Chris' call of his name.

"I'm...sorry," said Chris, his eyes dropping down in shame.

"Sorry? 'Bout what, Cowboy?"

"We should of gone back, Vin. My...my fault."

"No it ain't, Chris. Ya didn't force me to go with ya. Listen, if I trusted ya enough to put my life in your hands, then ya should trust me when I say it wasn't ya fault. Mother nature does what she wants, pretty much and neither you nor I have any say in it," said Vin determinedly.

"Shit! I ain't...ain't heard you say that much in years," said Chris smiling lightly.

Vin smiled back and said, "Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back."

Chris chuckled as he watched the young tracker walk out of the cave. "I don't think...I could go anywhere right now." He then closed his eyes to wait for Vin's word on the storm.

***

A little far off from the cave three ragged men were riding back on the trail. The trail that would put their journey passed the cave of the two friends.

One of the three, a tall red haired man, his shirt and pants torn in places leaned heavily over the horn of his saddle and said to the other two, "Hey, stop!"

The other two, a short blond haired man and an average height brunette man both turned to face the other man who was riding behind them.

"What is it now, Jake?" asked the blond haired man.

"Jeb, I can't go on any longer. My leg's bleeding pretty bad," answered the red-haired man looking down at the calf of his leg. The blood from a long deep gash was flowing in rivets down his leg and his horse.

"Charlie, go and take a look at his leg," commanded Jeb.

The brunette-haired man who was younger than the other two, rode over to Jake and got off his horse. He then leaned down, while Jake was in the saddle and peered through the slit in the pants where the leg was bleeding through the ragged bandage that was placed there.

"He's right, Jeb. It's pretty bad. He needs a doctor."

"Damn! We should have been long gone from here, but that damned storm turned us around. I can't believe how clumsy ya are, Jake!" exclaimed Jeb.

"I wasn't clumsy, Jeb. How was I suppose to know about that fallin' branch?"

"Ya coulda paid more attention to where ya was goin'!" shouted Jeb.

"It didn't help Clem or Johnny none," replied Jake.

"They were clumsy too, the idiots done got themselves drowned in the river!" shouted Jeb.

"Guys, we ain't gettin' anywhere arguing like this," interrupted Charlie.

"Shut ya trap, Charlie!" yelled Jeb. "I'll tell ya when to start thinkin'!"

Charlie quickly closed his mouth, knowing that if he made Jeb any angrier that the man was bound to take it out on him and Jake. He had done it before and it made Charlie wished that he had never met the man.

"If it wasn't for that gunslinger and that damned bounty hunter, we would of gotten far from here and the storm," complained Jake.

Jeb had to agreed with him there. Those two were like devils the way they were following them. They had got them off their trail once the storm hit, but it also got them lost and turned around since they were caught in it too.

"If I had those two in my sights, I'd put a bullet in them," raged Jeb.

"I think ya might have a chance to do just that," interjected Charlie.

Both Jeb and Jake turned to look at the young man, who was staring at a spot on the ground in front of them.

"Why ya say that, Charlie?" asked Jake curious.

"See these tracks? They were made recently by two horses. I think they might be those fellas ya was talking about," explained Charlie.

Jeb eyes lit up with fire. "Yeah, ya probably right, Charlie. Yeah, ya just might be. And to think I was thinking about getting rid of ya back at the bank," said Jeb laughingly.

Charlie stared at Jeb and felt a shiver go through him. It scared him like hell to know that Jeb was contemplating his death. But then he knew Jeb never did like him. It was Jake that kept him around. They were friends from a long ways back, before Jeb. And when Jake tied himself to Jeb, Charlie naturally followed, but he always knew that Jeb did not want him there.

"Charlie, take care of Jake's leg. Then we gon'na go get them fellas and show them that we ain't no one to mess with," said Jeb gleefully.

Charlie started working on Jake's leg, all the while feeling like he was not going to see another day.

***

Vin sat in front of the cave entrance scanning the landscape. Chris had fallen back to sleep and Vin was glad of it. The blond man needed. He also knew the storm was over and he started forming a plan to the get the man back to town and to help. He was about to go inside and check on Chris' progress, when he spotted three riders heading in their direction. He took out his spyglass and focused it upon the three strangers.

"Shit!" he cursed. He knew immediately who the three were. They were part of the bank of the robbers that they had been chasing for the past two days.

Vin, keeping close to the ground, crawled his way back into the cave, knowing what these men wanted and started preparing for what he knew was going to be a hard fight.

As he quickly went about readying his mare leg and ammunition, he heard Chris groan from nearby. He quickly holstered his firearm and sidled closer to where the blond lay.

Chris was waking and with it came pain and disorientation. He opened his green eyes to find himself looking directly into a pair of blue ones. As his mind sifted through foggy memories, he realized where they were and why they were here.

"V...in?"

"Yeah, it's me, Pard. How ya feelin?"

"Like someone ran a steer over...over me," replied Chris tiredly.

Vin chuckled lightly. "Well, at least ya haven't lost ya sense of humor."

Chris glared at him annoyed and answered, "Probably the only thing I still have considered I hurt everywhere." He then noticed that Vin was carrying a lot of hardware and said, "What's going on?"

"I think we have company, Cowboy and they ain't the nice kind," said Vin continuing to grab up ammunition.

"Our friends from the bank robbery?"

"Yeah."

"How many?"

"Three, riding this way."

Chris sighed and tried to get up, but Vin pushed him gently back against the pallet. "Ya ain't goin' no where, Pard. Not in the condition ya in."

"Ya can't handle them alone, Vin and I can help."

Vin sighed despondently knowing that if he did not relinquish, the blond might do something stupid anyway. "Alright," he said and saw his friend smile. "But ya stayin' here!" exclaimed Vin and he watched as the smile faltered some.

"I ain't gon'na do anything stupid, Vin."

"Ya said that before, Chris and I ain't takin' no chances. So either ya stay here and watch my back or I'll do it alone," said Vin giving the hurt man an ultimatum.

"Okay, Vin. Ya don't need to get ya panties in a bunch. Just give me my gun."

Vin passed Chris' colt over to him and watched as Chris took the gun and crawled over to the entrance. He could see that Chris had taken a good position and would not be seen by their three pursuers. Vin then crawled passed Chris and was half way out when he turned to the blond and said, "I'm gon'na get behind them. Between the two of us we can get them in a cross fire."

Chris nodded, but as he did he felt himself get dizzy for a moment. He squeezed his green eyes shut, waiting for the disorientation to abate. When he did, he opened his eyes to find a pair of blue ones looking at him concerned.

"I'm..."Im alright, Vin. Just go," snapped Chris.

Vin nodded that he understood, but he was still worried about his friend. "Keep sharp, Chris," said Vin moving out of the cave.

"I plan to," answered Chris, although he doubted that Vin had even heard him.

***

Vin was behind a tree watching as the three men on horseback riding closer to where the cave was situated in the hill. He had carefully placed his mare leg at an angle where he could pick them off. He just hoped that they would not discover the cave too soon. He did not think that Chris could hold them off and he was too far away to help Chris if they found their hiding place.

Jeb, Jake and Charlie rode closer to the hillside face. They stopped in their tracks, staring at the surrounding area and the hill trying to determine where their prey would be. Charlie looked at the ground and pointed to a spot.

"There's their tracks. It looks like they went up there somewhere," said Charlie.

"Yeah, but where," replied Jeb.

Jake scanned the area and that was when he saw it. "Hey, Jeb. Look up there," he said pointing towards the top of the hill.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Jeb.

"Yeah, it's a cave. They must be hiding in there," replied Charlie. "But I don't see no horses."

"They could have the horses hid somewhere on the other side, out of sight," said Jeb thoughtfully.

"Ya right. That's what I would do," stated Jake.

"No you wouldn't!" exclaimed Jeb. "Ya ain't smart enough."

Jake glared hatefully at Jeb. He could not understand why he had stayed around the man. In all the time he rode with him, the man had never had anything to say good about him or anyone else for that matter. "I ain't stupid, Jeb!" declared Jake angrily.

Jeb turned to look Jake in the eyes and smirked, "That's what you think. What about that time I told ya to keep an eye on that woman in the bank in Laramie? Huh?"

"How was I to know that she would start screaming like that?"

"Well, it was ya fault that she got killed. If ya kept her quiet then I wouldn't have to had to shoot her."

Jake glared again at Jeb. He knew the man would have killed the woman anyway whether she had screamed or not. She was a witness and Jeb always believed in leaving no witness alive to crimes. Jeb was bad news and he should have left him a long time ago. But during a time when Jake was so low he could not get any lower, Jeb had came into his and Charlie's lives and had shown them what life could be like when one had money. The temptation was great and even though Charlie, his long time friend before Jeb had adamantly complained that this was not the way to go, Jake followed Jeb's lead anyway. Jake was about to argue the point about the woman, but then sighed dejectedly. He was not going to win this argument and thought it was a waste of time to go into it. Instead, he nodded towards the area they sought and urged his mount onward.

Jeb smiled thinking he had won this argument. But he did not know that he probably wished he had not later.

***

Vin watched the men moving closer. "Shit!" he cursed silently. He knew they had found the hiding place where he left Chris and he knew he had to work quickly.

Taking his mare leg and aiming at the three men he stood up from his hiding place and shouted, "Stay where ya are! Don't move any closer or I'll plant ya where ya are!"

Jeb, Jake and Charlie turned to the side of the hill. They saw a form standing up behind a rock at the top, aiming what looked like a gun at them.

"Hey, Jeb, it one of them men from that town!" exclaimed Jake.

"What do we do now, Jeb?" asked Charlie nervously.

"I only see one of him and three of us," said Jeb confidently.

"Yeah, ya right, Jeb," said Jake smiling.

"Kill 'im!" shouted Jeb.

The three men started urging their mounts forward towards the man on the hill, pulling their weapons and shooting as they rode. Vin ducked behind the rock as the bullets hit. He knew these men decided that they were not going to come peacefully. He stood up quickly and taking careful aim, fired a round off at one of the men riding in front. It found it's target easily and Vin watched as the man fell to the ground. Vin then ducked back behind his rock shield, waiting for the return volley. But none came. The two men left on their horses stared down at the open eyes of their dead companion, shock vibrating through them. Jeb sat in the saddle looking down at the blood pooling from the chest of Jake and shook his head sadly.

Charlie looked down and then looked back at Jeb wondering what the hell had just happened. His mind was telling him that this could not be happening, but his eyes showed him the truth of Jake's dead eyes staring up at him.

"Jake?" called Charlie softly, not really expecting a response.

"He's gone, Charlie," said Jeb solemnly. "Too stupid to live."

Charlie turned and glared at Jeb at his comment. "No. He wasn't too stupid to live. Just too stupid followin' ya lead. But I ain't," said Charlie and he turned his horse around to go back the way they had come.

"Where did ya think ya goin'?" asked Jeb angrily.

"Where I should a gone a long time ago. Home," said Charlie starting to ride away.

"Go on! Leave! I never liked or needed ya!" yelled Jeb.

"That goes for me too, Jeb," snarled Charlie. His eyes then caught sight of the motionless body of Jake, lying on the ground with blood pooling out of his chest and his eyes open.

Charlie jumped off his horse and quickly lifted Jake's body off the ground, holding him tenderly in his arms. He whispered to him, although he knew he could no longer hear him, "We're goin' home, Jake." And with that statement he placed Jake's body across his horse and then climbed up behind him.

Taking the reigns of his horse in his hands, he rode away without looking back. Jeb cursed and wished he had shot the man as he rode away, but he had another immediate problem to take care of. He looked up the hill, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man behind the rocks above.

"Ya friend seems to have the right idea," yelled Vin to Jeb. "If I was you, I'd ride out the same way he did."

Jeb smirked angrily at the man's comment. He was not going anywhere. This man and his friend had chased them half way across the plains. He wanted this to end now. He also wondered where the other man was. He had not seen him since this started.

"Seems like it's you and me, Cowboy," shouted Jeb back.

"I ain't a cowboy," called back Vin. "And I meant what I said. I'd ride out if I was you."

Jeb snorted and he knew it would only end with one of them dead. Vin figured the same thing, as the man did not take the same route as his friend. He knew it would end with one of them dead.

"Mister," called back Jeb. "I don't know who ya are, but ya shoulda stayed out of this," said Jeb reaching for his sidearm.

Vin saw the motioned and drew his mare leg quicker than Jeb. His bullet flew and straight and true, hitting Jeb in the head, blood, skin and bone flying in all directions. Jeb's body did not last long without a head and fell hard to the ground, his horse spook moving quickly away from the refuse on the ground. Vin sighed and shook his head. Although he knew violence was a necessary evil in this country, he took no pleasure in taking lives. He stood up and looked down at his handy work.

It was then he remembered something. Chris! Damn! He had left the man alone in the cave, hurt and in pain. He quickly picked his way back up to the cave, hoping that he was not too late.

***

Epilogue

Vin reached the cave entrance just in time to see Chris fall over to the dirt ground. He moved quickly to maneuver his friend into a more comfortable position and leaned him up against the rock-face wall.

"Hey, Cowboy, I'm here," said Vin breathlessly, hoping to get some response out of the now unconscious man. But no answer came, only the irregular breathing of the blond agent he held upright against the wall. "Chris! Answer me!" exclaimed Vin, slapping the face gently.

Slowly the eyes opened to slits of green, unfocused. "St...op," came the soft whisper from his friend.

"Ya with me, Chris?" asked Vin eyeing him with concern.

"Ye...yeah. I think...I think I am. What happened?" said Chris, his eyes opening wider to find a pair of blue ones looking at him doubtfully.

"Don't ya remember? The storm? The bad guys?"

Chris looked at him confused and shook his head slowly. His eyes then closed in pain as he realized that he should not have done that.

Vin saw the pain reflected in Chris' face and said, "Don't worry about it, Pard. It'll come back to you."

Chris then opened his eyes wide and stared at the young bounty hunter as if he had not seen him before. "Vin?"

"Yeah, it's me, Cowboy."

"The...storm, I remember the tree."

"Yeah, that's right, Chris. Ya got hit pretty hard, but ya gon'na be fine. Listen, I need to get the horses, ya gon'na be alright for a little bit."

Chris closed his eyes again, trying to squelch the pain in his head. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be...fine."

Vin nodded. He left quickly to find the horses, leaving Chris behind in the cave. As he climbed the rise to the horses, he heard a sound in the distance. He turned suddenly to his right and saw five riders heading his way. A huge smile crossed his face as the five riders stopped not far from where he stood.

"Do you know we've been lookin' for you and Chris all over this god-forsaken country?" exclaimed Buck jumping from his horse and walking over to him.

"Good to see ya too, Bucklin. What took ya so long?"

"Well, when you and Chris ran off after them bank robbers, you left in a real hurry and it took us some time to find your tracks," explained Josiah as he sat leaning over his horse appraising him.

"And I daresay, our dear compatriots here took me away from a very profitable game of chance in which I was winning," stated Ezra off-handedly.

"Yeah, and that storm didn't help us any either in finding ya," added JD. "Where's Chris?"

Vin smile faded and said, "We ran into that storm you're talkin' about, JD. Chris had a little trouble."

"I don't like the sound of that," interjected Nathan. "What kind of trouble and did it involve in anythin' that I got to worry about?"

"Well, he kind of had a run in with a tree, sort of," said Vin. "I think ya need to check him out, Nate. He ain't in great shape."

"Lord! I just knew you two couldn't keep out trouble. Let's go!" said Nathan.

Vin grabbed the reins of both his and Chris horse and led the others back towards the cave. When they reached the cave, Vin had found Chris still in the same position that he had left him, but he was not awake. Nathan knelt down and examined the now unconscious blond gunslinger.

"Ya did good on that arm, Vin. Real good."

"Thanks, Nate. Wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing or not. Ya should look at his head and ear too. It was bleeding before."

Nathan nodded and did just that. After a while, he sighed softly. "Well his head don't seem too bad. Probably got a slight concussion. Was he disoriented or dizzy?"

"Yeah, but there was times when he seemed better."

"That's good, but I don't like the fact that his ear was bleeding. Could be busted inside. Won't be able to tell until he wakes up."

As if on cue, they heard a moan coming from the man on the cave floor.

"Chris? Chris, can ya hear me?" asked Nathan concerned.

Chris did not answer, but his eyes opened and both men saw two green slits look at them unfocused.

"Come on, Cowboy. I know ya in there somewhere," said Vin trying to get the man to respond.

"V...in?" rasped Chris, his eyes slowly opening wider.

"Yeah, Cowboy. It's me and I got help," he said.

Chris saw that Vin had brought help.

"Take it easy, Chris. I just need to finish lookin' ya over," said Nathan

"I...I'm fine," replied Chris as he shivered from the pain.

"Yeah, we know. Heard it before. Now just keep quiet and let Nate work," commanded Vin.

Larabee laughed lightly, although it pained his head. His ear did not feel any better. It felt good to know that there were men like these watching his back. Chris suddenly noticed a shadow coming across his view and squinted to clear his vision.

"Hey, Stud. Heard ya had a run in with a tree," said Buck smiling widely.

"More like the tree got mad at him," came a voice from behind Buck.

Chris saw that it was Josiah, looking at him grimly.

"Ain't...too bad," coughed Chris as he tried to sit up more.

"Stay down, Cowboy," said Vin gently pushing him back down. "Ya ain't ready yet to start movin'."

Chris glared at him, but only one eye was working properly.

"Chris, ya need to stop doing that," said Buck. "One of ya eyes ain't workin' right now."

"Very...very funny, Buck," said Chris feigning anger.

"Alright, ya'll. I want ya to leave my patient alone for a few minutes so that I can get him ready to get out of here," commanded Nathan.

Buck and Josiah nodded and left to where JD and Ezra were standing guard over the horses.

"Ya think ya can ride, Chris?" asked Nathan concerned for the blond.

"As...as long as we...leave," answered Chris controlling the pain.

Vin chuckled lightly. He was just glad to see that Chris was alive and probably would stay that way. "Then let's go, Cowboy," he said helping Nathan to pull the blond gunslinger up from his position.

Chris groaned as he was lifted up and his arms thrown carefully across the shoulders of both men, but he was happy that he was leaving and on he was on his way to Four Corners. At one time, he would never had called the place anything but a stop on his way to hell, but now, things were different. Now he had six men who he considered more than friends. More like family and that weighed heavily on his decision to stay.

As they left the cave to meet the others with the horses, Vin turned to smile at Chris and said, "Hey, Pard. We really had us some stormy weather, didn't we?"

Chris snorted, glaring at the blue eyes that peered mischievously at him and replied, "Yeah, Vin. We...we sure did have some."

The three men walked down the hillside towards their waiting friends and towards another day of life.

The End.

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