Never Surrender
By JudyL
November 10, 2013
Universe:
ATF
Character
Focus: Vin, Chris
Language
warning: none
Summary
- Vin F&D 1 Hour Fic Challenge -Theme word ‘cave’ - by Judy
Length:
1239 words
*********************
“No,”
Vin said, shaking his head as he walked away from
Nathan who couldn’t follow him very fast on crutches.
“Come
on, Vin,” Buck pleaded. “Think of the ladies,” he added with a waggle of his
eyebrow… the second one being covered with a bandage that protected Buck’s left
eye.
“I
said, no, Buck,” Vin repeated, picking up speed, his
cheeks flaming at Buck’s insinuation. Bad enough to have the ladies ogling his
rear end, he didn’t need that!
Vin
reached the door to Team 7’s office and slipped in, closing it and wishing he
could lock it to avoid his well-meaning team mates.
“Ah,
Mr. Tanner,” the cultured, Southern-accented voice made Vin
wince.
“Aren’t
you supposed to be home keepin’ offa that wrenched knee?” Vin
asked, wondering what excuse he could come up with to go home himself.
“I
am resting it,” Ezra replied, waving a hand over his leg where it rested on a
cushioned stool. “I wanted to address the issue of your assistance with…”
“Nathan’s
coming,” Vin said, by way of distracting Ezra.
Ezra’s
eyes widened and his eyes locked on the door to the office. “Isn’t he supposed
to be at home?” he asked, almost desperately.
Vin
chuckled. “I can wheel ya into the conference room,” he offered gleefully
earning a glare from the undercover agent. He was saved only by the opening
door and the entrance of the rest of the team. Vin
sighed as the noise level in the room rose to new heights.
“Honestly,
Josiah!” Nathan railed as he maneuvered expertly into the office on his
crutches. “You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t be driving! You shouldn’t even
be out of bed!” he exclaimed, lifting a crutch off the ground as he started to
wave his hand dramatically, only to almost fall as his balance was disrupted by
the movement.
Josiah
raised an eyebrow in what he hoped was Nathan’s direction. If he was honest,
everyone was a little blurry. “Aren’t you supposed to be at home resting as
well, brother?” he asked wryly.
Chris
pushed past Buck and JD who had wisely stayed back from Nathan’s wild crutch
swinging. “All of you were supposed to stay home, except Vin…
and me,” he added with a wave of his casted wrist and a glare at all of them,
including Ezra who was trying to hide behind his monitor. He let the glare sink
in for a moment then sighed. “Since you’re here, you might as well get some
work done. But we’re leaving early and you’re all going straight home!” he
finished with an additional glare and glanced at Vin
before entering his office.
Vin
sank down in his chair trying to ignore Chris’ unspoken request.
“Now,
Tanner!” came the bellow from his boss’s office.
Vin
glared at the snicker that came from behind Ezra’s monitor. “Shut up, Ez,” he
said as he slowly got up and made his way toward the lion’s den.
Chris
looked up when Vin entered. “Have a seat.”
Vin
shook his head and moved to lean against the window sill.
“Come
on, Vin. It won’t be that bad.”
“I
won’t do it, Chris. Let one of the others, I’ll do anything else,” he
added pleadingly.
“You
know you’re the only one of us who
can do it, Vin,” he said. “Trust me, if I could take
your place I would,” Chris said lifting his cast meaningfully. “It’s not that
bad, only three sides, not completely enclosed and it’ll be lighted,” he added,
hoping to comfort his friend.
Vin
crossed his arms, keeping his head down so his hair blocked Chris’ view of his
face.
“Vin?
Talk to me.”
“’s
not the claustrophobia,” he said softly.
Chris
waited, knowing that admitting any short-coming was
hard for Vin… hell, for any of them.
“Ain’t
ya noticed that I never really get all the way in the water ‘fore?”
Chris
frowned, trying to figure out what Vin meant. They had
all spent many a day out at the lake or on the river. He tried to recall Vin’s level of involvement with the water, but couldn’t
remember anything out of the ordinary. “I’ve seen you swim, Vin.”
Vin
shrugged. “Yeah, I can swim, real good actually.” He
sighed. “I just don’t like…” he paused, rubbing a hand over his face as he
tried to put his fear into words.
“What
happened, Cowboy?” Chris asked, suddenly realizing that this might be another
incident like the one that caused Vin’s fear of
closed-in places.
The
sharpshooter nodded to himself and spoke in low tones. Chris strained to hear.
“Was
in a foster home when I was about eight or so.
Had two older ‘brothers’ who were takin’ swimmin’ lessons. Their ma thought it would be a good idea
for me to go too and I didn’t know how to swim yet, so I was excited about it,”
he said, his voice so monotone that Chris almost
didn’t believe he had ever been excited about swimming.
“After
class one day, they decided it would be fun to pick on me. I could dog-paddle
by then, just. They were both more advanced and pretty confident in their
skills. The oldest one convinced me that they could help me, had me take hold
of one of those float boards,” Vin paused glancing at
Chris to see if he knew what he meant.
Chris
nodded, his heart aching for his friend.
“Anyways,
they dragged me around the pool on the board while we waited for their ma. When
they got me to the deep end they let go and started splashing me. They tugged
at my legs and managed to dunk me quite a few times. I was always able to get
back to the surface, but I’ve never really liked getting my face dunked or
splashed. Always brings back that feeling of helplessness,” Vin
finished dejectedly.
“How’d
you learn to swim, Vin?” Chris asked.
“Huh?”
“After
that, how’d you learn to swim? Why’d you ever learn to swim if you were so
afraid?”
Vin
frowned. “I wasn’t gonna let them beat me. Figured the only way to protect
myself was to learn to swim better’n them.”
Chris
just raised an eyebrow at Vin’s defiant stare.
“Larabee…”
Vin growled, trying to bite back his grin.
“Tanner,”
Chris said, not hiding his own fond smile.
“Damn
it. I still don’t want to do it,” Vin argued, but his
tone was lighter and the anxiety about his upcoming assignment had faded.
“Honestly,
Vin, if there was anyone else able to, I wouldn’t ask.”
Vin
sighed. “Okay. But you’re gonna owe me big for this, Chris.”
Chris
stood and met Vin in front of the door. He offered his
hand and Vin shook it. “Thanks, Vin. It’ll mean a lot
to the kids.”
The
Texan nodded.
“I
promised Mary I’d buy a bucket of balls to support the cause,” Chris said with
a smile as he headed back out into the bullpen.
Vin
nodded again then stopped and stared at the back of Chris’ head. “You
wouldn’t…” he stammered.
Chris
chuckled. “You might want to tie your hair back and wear a black T-shirt. I’ve
heard the ladies in the secretarial pool talking about getting the chance to
see you in a wet one,” he added with an evil grin.
“Larabee!”
Vin growled, not at all alarmed by the thought of this
brother dunking him under the water.
The
end
Tell me what you think, like it, hate it. Feedback is always appreciated. JudyL