In Sickness and In Health
Chapter 5
by Alias
e-mail: [email protected]
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Disclaimer: See part one.
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Vin wasn’t used to waking up having another body pressed close to his.
In fact, he had almost forgotten what it felt like. Almost…but not
completely. And it felt good.
He looked down and saw dark red hair that was only just still in its
braid, and a small body half-strewn across his. Laurie. What was
she…the events of the past night came flooding back to him. Most of
them at least. He only had snatches of what had happened after he had
fallen in the river. Had she stayed with him the whole night?
He remembered that she had pulled him out, and that they had found a
line shack, but beyond that…He had told her something, something
important, but what he had no idea. For a moment, something that was
almost a memory flashed through his mind. Soft, warm lips pressed
against his. No, that hadn’t been real. Just a delusion. He
remembered those. Several times, he had thought he was with Silver
Rain, but her face had somehow always been replaced by Laurie’s. That
had happened before last night to. It wasn’t something that he liked.
He didn’t want to…he COULDN’T forget. That was why he had never told
Chris that it wasn’t his fault that Sarah and Adam had died. Because
to do that would be the height of hypocrisy, and that was something he
couldn’t do. But…it wasn’t something he hated either. Because there
wasn’t a face he’d rather see than Laurie’s.
Speaking of which, she was still sound asleep, and he was hungry.
Tentatively, he removed his arms from around her, and started to ease
out from under her. However, that caused her to hold him tighter and
snuggle her face against his chest. This could take a while.
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"HEY!!! Kid! Geddup!"
"Huh? Wha…? Buck?"
"Yeah, Buck. Who’d you expect, Bat Masterson?"
"It’s to early to get up Buck."
"No it’s not. Up."
"Leave the kid alone Buck."
"We need to get an early start Chris."
"Let ‘im sleep ‘till breakfast is ready."
"What breakfast? We’ll eat after we find her."
"Them."
"Whatever. LET’S GO!!!"
"Bu-uck."
"It’s good for you kid. UP!!!"
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Laurie groaned. She needed coffee. And a soft mattress. And she
needed coffee. Speaking of which…was that coffee she smelled?
Her eyes flew open, and she saw Vin hunkered down at the fire,
pulling a pot from over it. "Vin?" He turned, and a smile almost seemed to
play at the corner of his mouth.
"Good morning."
"Not yet it’s not." She muttered, sitting up.
The braid was all but gone, so she shook the rest of it out, letting
her long hair fall about her shoulders.
Vin came to crouch down in front of her.
"Are you all right?" She asked. "I mean…" "Never better. What about you?"
"Me? I’m not the one who fell in the river."
"Good. I probably wouldn’t be here if you had."
"If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have fallen in
the first place."
"Laurie…"
"No, listen. If I hadn’t been stupid and run off
like I did, none of
this would have happened, so—" He put a finger over her lips to quiet her. "Laurie…you don’t have to apologize. Actually, I may be the one who
needs to apologize." "You? Why?"
"Last night…I may have said and done some thing’s
I shouldn’t have.’
"What…? No, you didn’t. I mean, you talked a
lot, about your past mostly, but you didn’t do anything." Except kiss
me because you thought I was your dead wife.
"Oh. Good. That’s…good." He paused, and seemed
to be searching for the right way to say something. "What…what did I
talk about?"
"Uhm, about your Ma some, and about when you were a bounty hunter.
You talked a bit about the others. And…" She trailed off, not
knowing whether or not she should tell him about Silver Rain. He
didn’t say anything to prompt her, he just waited. "And you…uhm, you told me about Silver Rain."
That seemed to be what he had been waiting to hear, or part of it at
least., and he let out the breath that neither had realized he had
been holding.
"I’m sorry."
"You’re sorry? Why?"
He reached out as if to touch her hair, but then
quickly put his hand back down.
"I shouldn’t have given you that burden, you have enough to worry about without adding my baggage to it." "You didn’t. Give me any unwanted baggage I
mean."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I mean, it helps me understand why…" She
stopped herself from finishing the sentence. Why you can’t love me.
"Understand what?"
"Understand…understand you I guess."
"Oh." They stared at each other in silence for a
moment, and then Laurie remembered smelling coffee.
"Is that coffee I smell?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah." He jumped to his feet, almost too quickly, and went
back to the fire. "There’s also beans."
"Good, I’m hungry."
"HEY, LAURIE, YOU IN THERE?" Laurie jumped to her feet at the sound
of Buck’s voice, looking around for her boots and pushing her hair out
of her face.
"Nice Buck. Very subtle. I’m sure that there’s no possible way they
could have still been asleep this early in the morning."
"Shut up Chris."
"Do you think they have any food?" JD’s voice, still tired—Buck had
probably dragged the poor kid out of bed before sunup—drifted through
the door.
Vin glanced at Laurie before answering the door, watching her frantically look around the room.
Where the hell were those boots? And her shirt was half untucked, not
to mention her hair… if Buck noticed her state of undress, there
would have to be some fast talking if Vin wanted to keep his head
attached to his shoulders.
Buck and Chris, who had been glaring at each other, turned to face Vin
as soon as he opened the door.
It took Buck about two seconds to cross the room and sweep Laurie into
a crushing bear hug that almost resulted in broken ribs
"Bu-uck!" Was all she managed to get out before
he let out a barrage of questions—repeating half of them several times.
"Uhm…say, Vin…"
"Coffee and beans over by the fire kid."
"Thanks."
Vin nodded towards Buck and Laurie. "Not gonna join ‘im Chris?"
"Wouldn’t be able to get a word in edgewise. You ok?"
"Yeah, fine."
"Is she ok?"
"She’s fine Chris." He glanced at Laurie, who Buck had just pushed to
arms’ length so that he could get a better look at her. "Well, she
was. I think she may have a broken rib or two now."
"Vin," Chris began in a lower voice. "I know how you two feel about
each other, did anything—"
"I think you know me better than that Chris."
"I do. But I also know what tends to happen when two people who have as many unresolved feelings as you two do are thrust together under
the conditions you and Laurie were."
"I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU JUST ASKED ME THAT!!!" They
turned to see Laurie pulling away from Buck.
"I think you handled it better than she did."
"You’re more tactful." He nodded to where JD was fanning his mouth.
"Hungry?"
"Very."
"LOOK," Buck was shouting at the top of his voice, "IT’S A PERFECTLY
LOGICAL QUESTION!!!"
"OH PLEASE!"
"WELL IT—What do you think you’re doing?"
"It’s to early for this. I’m going back to bed."
Vin glanced at them from the corner of his eye. Laurie had crawled
back under the blanket and had pulled it over her head, and Buck was
glaring down at her. Vin couldn’t help grinning. Lord, but those to
were interesting when they fought.
The grin quickly disappeared when Buck’s stormy gaze was suddenly
directed at him.
"You might wanna consider going somewhere a bit safer." Chris
commented.
"You’re probably right."
"Got anywhere specific in mind?"
"Yeah, Tuscosa."