Work Text:
Title: "Never Alone"
Author: Kat Lee
Rating: PG/K+
Summary: Autumn brings reminders.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
He first noticed the leaves beginning to change color weeks ago, but it isn't until an apple hits him in the head that Chris can no longer ignore the changing of the season. He leaves his ranch immediately, leaving the apple where it landed after bouncing off of his head and galloping over it as though Satan himself handed it to him. He rides straight to town and isn't surprised to spot Vin already sitting on the steps outside the saloon. He joins him with only a shared glance passing between them. Vin pauses his playing and then resumes the song, which Chris finds haunting despite having no further what the tune is, he's been playing on his harmonica.
Buck joins them shortly thereafter, dropping his large frame into a chair. He glances at Chris first, then Vin, and then Chris again before drawing his knife out of his pocket and beginning to carve the apple he holds. Chris stares at the apple as Buck cuts into it. Sarah had been able to do amazing things with apples, from casseroles to the best, dang apple pie he knows he'll ever taste. Adam, like Chris himself, had loved everything his mother had made, but the kid had even enjoyed munching on a raw apple every day on the way home from school.
They had loved this time of year, the changes Autumn brought with different colors to the leaves, cooler breezes, and fresher grass for the horses. Adam had even enjoyed the return to school, always eager to learn despite missing his family. The animals had liked the change in weather, too; Adam's pony had especially liked to play with Chris' son when he'd come home in those first few weeks of school. They would all run together some days, the humans, the horses, and the dogs, until collapsing into piles of leaves which Chris had spent hours raking. The leaves would, of course, always scatter all over the place, which meant Chris would have to rake them back up again, but Chris had never once minded.
Buck bit into the apple. The loud crunch pulled his friend out of his reverie. He noticed, for just a second, that Vin had stopped playing again and his sky blue eyes were watching him intently. Then the Texan resumed his song once more.
One by one, the others came. JD was next, followed by Nathan, and then Ezra. Josiah ambled up last. Chris stood in the center of his men, his friends, as the Preacher approached. "Widow Potts had a bit of a problem," the holy man spoke in his deep, rumbly voice. It sounded almost like an apology, but he had no reason to apologize. He had done nothing wrong. None of them had, but yet, they gathered around Chris as though they expected the end of the world to hit.
"She was missing her husband, needed to hear some of the Word." Josiah held up his Bible before slipping underneath his poncho. Six faces peered intently at Chris from their various places around the boardwalk. Two more looked out from windows, all in deep concern.
Chris let Josiah's words slide over him and made no mention of them. He looked, instead, to where the final rays of the setting sun were hitting the toes of his black boots. "Let's ride." There was no mission, no escaped convicts to hunt down, no outlaws to lasso, or lives to save of which they knew, but none of Chris' men spoke a word of rebuttal.
Instead, as a group and as silently as they had sat all afternoon, the friends headed to the stables, mounted their horses, and rode out underneath the moon as Mary and Inez came together to say a prayer. There was a live to save, though he would not admit it. There was a friend who needed help, a man desperately trying to keep from drowning, and this year, too, they'd keep him as safe, sane, and healthy as Larabee ever got.
The Seven rode, never saying a word, until the morning light found them. It was several more days after that before they finally headed back to town. They had spoken by then, but none had said a word about Sarah, Adam, or the changes happening around them. None had said a word, but every gaze had met Chris'. Every hand had touched him at some moment or another, and he knew.
He was not alone with his agony. He would never be alone. He had a family now with whom to ride through life, and although he would see Sarah and Adam again one day, it would be many, long years before he would take his final ride into their waiting, loving arms. When he did, he would go in a blaze of glory, friends surrounding him on all sides as they did now and every day.
The End