This is the first M7 fanfiction that I ever wrote.

Reviews would be very appreciated and encouraging. So, thanks in forward for each line you drop to me about this story!

I am moving both of my fanfiction stories about Mary and Chris from the other page on and will update here.

Special thanks goes to Denise for beta reading this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, they all belong to "Magnificent Seven".

Observation

A singing unknown bird made Mary snap out of her dream. At first, she was confused and felt a bit lost, not knowing where she is.

Abruptly, she lifted her head up from her hands where it had been resting and that movement caused her to wince from a slight pain in her neck. As she gently massaged the painful spot, her sight and mind cleared a bit more and she huffed in frustration. Once again, she fell asleep working.

Slowly getting up, Mary tried to tidy the mess on her writing desk. Her glance fell on the clock and she noticed that it was nearly four o' clock in the morning. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she decided not to tidy and went towards the door of Billy's room to check on her son.

Slowly, her hand pressed the doorknob and she opened the door, trying to be as quiet as possible so that she wouldn't wake up her little son. There was a frown of worry about Billy visible on her forehead as she still remembered her child's struggling over his comeback to Four Corners. Ever since that morning when she woke up to find Billy missing, Mary barely slept at all. Fear that her son would escape again terrified Mary and she spent nights and nights working on new edition of "The Clarion News" to keep herself awake…

Her facial expression softened a bit at the sight of Billy sleeping peacefully in his bed. No sweat on his forehead which awful nightmares of witnessing his Father's death caused… They haven't been there for weeks now. And they certainly weren't there last night. Her son slept peacefully now. The bright sunshine of life was coming back into Mary's little bundle of joy and the fear on his face and in his heart was gone forever and was replaced with what a child of his age should wear – a smile. Yes, he was coming back, he was that adorable, darling little boy again who would run through the house playing and pulling his Mum along with him, yelling impatiently: "Come on, Mum! I wanna show you something!" Each time when she saw her son like that, Mary's heart would jump of happiness. Her child was living again.

Mary fixed the blanket on the sleeping boy and gently caressed Billy's soft hair. As her eyes went away from her son, she noticed something white on the cupboard.

Warm tears filled Mary's eyes as she recognized the toy… a carved toy.

A carved horse that Chris gave to Billy.

Her shaking fingers caressed the gentled carved horse and her sight went blurry from the tears…

She could still remember that day vividly, the day when Billy came back to Four Corners. He would hide behind her when someone wanted to approach him to greet. He was silent, too silent for a kid of his age. She knew back then that the consequences would remain there for a long time, if not even permanently… Billy saw his Father getting killed, and no matter the time that passed by, no matter if the child was away from home, the place where he witnessed the terrible lost of his parent – the pain and the fear didn't leave the little boy.

As her fingers absently caressed the carved horse that laid on her palm, Mary remembered how she crossed the street to get some sandwiches from the store – and how she turned around to see her son standing next to Chris Larabee… She watched as the gunslinger looked at the boy and told him something… Than handing him the carved horse… She could still feel the happiness she felt back then when she saw a smile on her little son's face. After such a long time, he smiled again.

She could still feel the fear that captured her heart when she saw Billy standing nailed to the ground in front of galloping horses. Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered the panic she felt as she ran and screamed out her son's name. The next thing she saw was Chris Larabee saving her little boy's life…

Her fingers closed around the small carved horse as she quickly left Billy's room so she would not wake him up. Closing the door, Mary let her tears fall down freely.

A few minutes passed before she walked across the room and opened the door of "The Clarion News" and stepped over the threshold. It was peaceful outside, no sound to be heard as the whole town was still sleeping, nobody on the street except for her.

Mary gazed to the sky, searching for the stars, but there weren't any. The night was cloudy and chill and a few minutes later, Mary felt the coldness reaching her skin through the thin material of her blouse. She rubbed her palms up and down her arms to keep herself warm, not wanting to go back inside to get a coat or a shall. The feeling of the carved horse that she still held in her palm made her eyes fill with tears again as she shivered.

A click – sound of boots that suddenly reached her ears made Mary flinch and gasp in fear, dropping the toy. Turning around in panic, she noticed Chris coming slowly towards her.

"Mary?", she heard his voice and all of a sudden, she felt the coldness abandoning her body… only to be replaced by warmth.

It took a moment or two for Mary to compose herself and she smiled nervously.

"You've startled me, Mr. Larabee", she watched as he came closer, every step, the sound of his boots so recognizable… and so dear to her.

For a few longs seconds, his eyes locked with hers, his face unreadable to Mary as she couldn't divide him well enough from the darkness he appeared from. She, however, stood in front of the threshold, under the gentle light of a lamp and could swear that her cheeks got a nice shade of red – and that Chris could see it.

"You've dropped something", was the next he said and Mary was puzzled at first… Than panicked.

"Oh, it's a…", she tried to bend down to pick up the toy – but, Chris was faster.

She watched as he straightened up, his eyes set on the toy in his palm – only to move to meet Mary's eyes again.

And she, again, felt her blood boil. His eyes were intensively set on her face, his piercing gaze reaching out to the most hidden parts of her heart and soul. She couldn't move.

"I picked it up from Billy's cupboard. He keeps it with him all the time", she rambled, a nervous smile playing around her lips. Looking away, she mumbled "I forgot to put it away."

"You okay?", was his reply and it caught Mary off-guard when she heard so much warmth and concern in his tone of voice. She nodded, still not looking at him, a few shivers creeping up her spine and unconsciously, she rubbed her palms across her arms once again.

And than suddenly… she felt something warm hugging her shoulders. Slightly flinching, she looked down only to see the black material of a coat on her shoulders.

"You're shivering", she heard Chris' silent voice and became aware of his palms resting on her shoulders as he wrapped her coat around her.

She felt a lump down her throat and her sight started to get blurry as the tears burned in her eyes again. In the next moment, she burst to tears – causing Chris to get even more worried.

His strong arms encircled her in a safe, protective hug and she closed her eyes, leaning her face on his chest, sobbing.

"Ssssshhhh", he whispered, his hand gently caressing her golden hair, allowing her to cry it all out.

It took several minutes for Mary to calm down and she pulled herself away from Chris' embrace, even though she didn't want to. And that realization frightened her more than anything.

How did this happen? How did she allow to herself to fall for Chris knowing that it could never work out, that he could never see her that way? How?

"Mary, what happened?", she heard his question.

Collecting all the strength she had in herself, Mary turned to look back at Chris, even managing to flash a small smile.

"Nothing, I'm fine, really. Just can't sleep and than I am a bit… moody."

His eyes showed that he didn't believe the words she had just said, but Mary couldn't stand his intense stare again.

"But, I think that I will go in now. Good night", she silently tried to escape the further conversation which would, undoubtedly uncover her emotions. She tried to reach the door…

But, just as she was about to press the doorknob, she felt Chris' palm on her wrist… stopping her in her tracks.

"Mary, what's wrong?", he asked her. Determinedly.

Last few weeks, Chris was deadly worried about Mary. He had been watching her opening the office of "The Clarion News" in the morning and closing it in the evening. His eyes didn't miss the black circles that lay under her beautiful eyes for days. She just wasn't the same. She moved mechanically, did things like a robot, sometimes he caught her barely standing on her feet or keeping her eyes open… Like that day in Mrs. Potter's store when he and Nathan went to buy some groceries – Mary was there, staring into space. It took three calls from Nathan before she turned around.

He was worried about her. Deadly worried. He tried to understand what was on her mind that tortured her so much. She didn't speak, of course. She was very much like him. But, this had gone too far. He knew that Billy was okay, more than okay, he spent days and days with Mary's son fishing, hunting – even talking. The kid was recovering, coming back to life.

But, Mary… Mary was sinking down.

And Chris couldn't stand to watch it. To watch that beautiful, amazing woman falling into darkness. He had been there to, he knew how it was like to be drawn deeply into the darkness – and he certainly didn't want for Mary to experience that. Not Mary. Not the light that pulled him out his darkness.

"You can tell me, Mary", he tried again, still holding her wrist gently.

He watched as her chin shivered under the attack of new tears. But, before he could even move to comfort her, she started to talk, her voice broken by the tears:

"I haven't been able to sleep for nights, I am afraid to fall asleep although I know that Billy is fine now. I am afraid that I will wake up and find him missing again…"

"You mean… you didn't sleep at all since that day?", Chris's forehead wrinkled with deep worry "Mary…"

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I know that my son is safe now, that Steven's murderer paid for what he did to my family", she coughed from strong sobs that shook her throat "Yet, I can't relax, I can't overcome that fear, Chris. Even during the day", her voice drifted away in tears.

"I would never let anything happen to you or to Billy", those words were out before Chris even realized that he said them.

And Mary was crying so hard that she didn't even realize what he just said to her… Just kept on rambling:

"You saved my son, Chris. Not only from those horses, but from his worst nightmare. You talked to him even though it hurt you. My son healed – because of you. He's that adorable, darling, most loveable little boy he was before Steven's death. He is smiling again, laughing again, living again… All thanks to you", she looked up to Chris' eyes and the next words were out before Mary could control her emotions "And I am scared what will happen if one day you're not here."

That last sentence lightened a sparkle in Chris' eyes and he moved. He made a step closer, reaching with his hands toward Mary's cheeks that were wet from tears. Cupping her face, staring deeply in her eyes, Chris leaned down… Placing a soft kiss on Mary's lips.

A silent gasp escaped Mary's mouth accompanied by a soft moan as Chris' thumbs gently wiped her tears away. She moved her hands towards his neck, hugging him, returning a kiss with all the love she felt for him…

His lips slowly parted away from hers and he whispered:

"I'll always be here for you and Billy, Mary", he gently kissed her forehead and than placed his lips again on Mary's lips, more passionately this time. As she returned the kiss, he picked her up in his arms and slowly entered "The Clarion News" office.

And as the door closed behind Mary and Chris, Ezra poked JD's ribs. As the youngest of the seven lawmen looked at Ezra, his mouth still widely open, the gambler simply said:

"I believe it's pay time, Mister Dunne", as the young sheriff slowly pulled money from his pocket, Ezra took it, with a very content smile washing over his lips "Thank you, very much, Mister Dunne. I've always respect a man who deals so good with losing a bet."

The End