In Sickness and In Health

Chapter 4

by Alias

e-mail: [email protected]

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Disclaimer: See part one.

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Silver Rain. She’d never met the woman, would

never meet her, but already, just after listening to Vin’s delirious

ramblings, Laurie hated her. Hated her because Vin had loved her,

because she had been his wife. Hated her for her seeming perfectness.

Hated Silver Rain because she could never be Silver Rain. Hated

her…hated her because Vin would never quit loving her. Couldn’t quit

loving her. It had taken Laurie about five minutes to figure that

out.

And now, after listening to Vin’s ramblings about her, she knew why

the tracker could never love her. Not like he’d loved Silver Rain.

She’d been everything a wife should be. Everything that Laurie

wasn’t. Tall and beautiful, and proper and…and perfect. In short,

not Laurie.

She was finished with the fire, and realized that Vin had stopped

talking. Which wasn’t good.

"Vin?"

"Yes?" He was responding, that was good. And he wasn’t thinking that

she was Silver Rain again. He had done that before. She could tell

the difference, the way his voice changed when he talked about Silver

Rain.

"Keep talking, ok?" She racked her brain, trying to remember what you

were supposed to do after you built a fire when dealing with exposure.

"About…what?"

"Huh?"

"What…what do you want me to talk about?"

"Oh…uhm…Silver Rain." He sure did seem to enjoy talking about her.

"Tell me…tell me what happened after you left to get permission to

take her off the reservation."

Body heat, that was it. You were supposed to share body heat. She

looked closer at him. No way was she taking off her clothes, period.

But they were half dry by now, and her shirt wasn’t very thin in any

case, so maybe it would be ok. She bent down and started taking off

her boots.

"After…" She saw the tears gather in his eyes, and instantly regretted

asking. "After…I came back. Her brother…Grey Wolf…he attacks me.

Knocking me backwards, I stumble over a fire, I fall down, and so does

he. We fight, I don’t know why. He never liked me, never thought I

was good enough…but respect was there…and love. For her, and for

their father. My fault he says. All my fault. I should have been

there. I yell at him, asking what happened." She crawled under the

covers, putting her arms around him. Not just for the body heat, but

because he was crying now. Crying in a way she’d never thought to see

him cry. And somehow…somehow she knew why Grey Wolf had attacked him.

"And then he tells me. They’re dead, both of them. One of the

soldiers…he had decided that Silver Rain would do fine for warming his

bed. She said no. He hit her, in the stomach. Three times before

anyone could stop him. They both attacked the soldier. Grey Wolf is

hit from behind, knocked unconscious. And their father…he died.

Stabbed by the soldier. Silver Rain…the hits…she was pregnant…they

tried, but it was already to late. She…" Laurie covered Vin’s mouth with her hand. She didn’t want to hear anymore. She couldn’t. "Don’t ok?" I’m sorry.

I shouldn’t have asked."

His arms tightened around her—she hadn’t realized that he’d been

holding her just like she’d been holding him—and he looked down at

her. His eyes, for a moment were clear, and there was something in

them…

"I love you girl."

She opened her mouth to say something—what she didn’t know—but didn’t

get a chance to. Before she could say anything, her mouth was covered

with his.

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J.D. poked at the fire. They were still going at it. In fact, Buck

was on the verge of plotting Vin’s death. That man got waaaaaay to

far into the overprotective brother bit.

"I don’t CARE if it’s Vin Chris, I don’t like the thought of Laurie

spending the night with anyone."

"They’re not spending the night together Buck."

"Then what would you call it?"

"Finding shelter."

"Together."

"Yes together. What, you think they’re gonna find a place for Laurie

to stay, and Vin goes on his merry way?"

"Well…"

"Ain’t gonna happen Buck."

Buck stubbornly crossed his arms. "Says you."

"Yes, says me." There was a long pause as Chris and Buck stared at

each other. "Buck…it’s Vin."

"What difference does that make?"

JD suppressed his groan. It was going to be a looooooong night.

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Lord but he was a good kisser. She’d been kissed

before. All of them stolen kisses, and she’d always been to busy

letting the kisser know that she wasn’t interested to actually pay

attention to the kiss, but she was sure most men didn’t kiss like this.

A part of her didn’t want him to stop, to let him kiss her forever.

And another part…another part knew that it wasn’t her that he was

kissing. He thought she was Silver Rain. Silver Rain.

She jerked up, staring down at him. Confused blue eyes looked into

her light green ones.

"I’m sorry. I…I…" He held a finger to his lips,

and she couldn’t tell if he knew who she was or not.

"I love you girl." And then she did, and even as

she felt the tears begin to gather in her eyes, she could feel her

heart breaking.

"I know." She said as she snuggled back against his chest, feeling

his arms go around her again. "I know."