Chris didn't know why his brother needed to make his introduction another show, but he figured he would go along with it. After telling the others to just meet him at the Saloon, Chris waited for Christian to arrive. His younger brother was grinning like a fool, but wearing the exact outfit as himself.
"Raiding my closet again? What are you, a girl now?" Chris said, realizing how much black he had, and how much of it was the same.
"You need a bigger wardrobe. I bet if I'd just bought clothes that were black you'd think they're yours." Christian laughed.
Chris rolled his eyes and turned back to the entrance of the bar, "So how do you want to do this."
"Come on Chris. Remember, you go to do it with flair." Grinned his brother before he started giving the plan.
MMMMMMMMMMMM
Christian went in first and when he sat down, he had a few heads look up towards him in confusion. He was seated next to Ezra instead of taking his usual spot by Vin. Ezra looked confused as did the rest of the team. When Inez came by to drop off his usual drink he asked if he could have a strawberry daiquiri instead. Inez looked to the others and then back at Chris who smiled innocently before she went to get the new order.
"Trying something new today, Chris?" asked Buck.
"Yep," Christian smiled and from the expressions they made from just that action, he wanted to double over laughing, "Why are you guys acting all tense all of a sudden? You're all acting like Ez over here." The man became even more tense and uneased when Christian put his arm around him.
"So are we still heading up to the ranch after this?" asked Josiah.
"I really don't think I can make it." Ezra said, trying to slip from under the arm.
"Nonsense of course you can! I won't have it any other way." He gave a grin that could rival his glare as he looked at the other men to leave no room for refusal. Six heads nodded and he slapped Ezra on the back rather roughly, "Great, I'm going to go see to my drink then."
Getting up, Christian walked over to the bar, just in time to see his brother enter the building. Making sure he was well hidden, so the team couldn't see him, he decided to talk to the lovely Inez for a while.
Chris took his normal seat by Vin and frowned when he noticed that his brother must've cancelled his usual drink.
Vin frowned, "Where's your drink?"
"That's what I'd like to know." Chris said gruffly, but decided to sit awhile before going to go get it. The time they were supposed to switch places was two minutes.
"You just went up to go get it." JD offered, "Strawberry daiquiri."
"Straw—" Chris had to stop himself from going up and strangling Christian for making it appear that he'd drink something like that.
"Mr. Larabee, this isn't one of those times where you're feeling unusually cheerful is it?" Ezra asked, a bit relieved to see the frown directed towards him.
"Why the hell would I be cheerful?"
"You were just a couple minutes ago." Buck pointed out.
"Well," Chris said, getting up to switch places, "unless all the criminals decided to take a week off, I don't see a reason to be cheerful."
Walking away, he was able to switch with Christian just as he was walking back to the table. The others had been talking and didn't see the swap. They looked up when the blond sat down again next to Ezra.
"So what did I miss?"
"What is this musical chairs or something?" asked Nathan.
"What are you talking about? I like this seat." Christian smiled and took a sip of his daiquiri.
The team eyed the brightly colored drink.
"Since when did you start drinking those?" asked Buck.
"You'd be surprised at the things you don't know about me Bucklin." Christian grinned at the taller man before addressing the rest of the table, "I say, let's get a case of beers, get ridiculously drunk and play a game of twister. Who's in?"
Vin laughed at that. Seeing a drunk Chris in a tangle of bodies.
"Since when do you want to play games like twister?" asked Nathan with a raised eyebrow.
"Since I bought it before coming here. I also heard that a few of you, I won't say names yet, but a few of you can sing. We should totally do karaoke."
JD was laughing this time as did Josiah. Christian's phone buzzed and he got up from his seat.
"I need to get this really quick."
When he was gone the others tried to figure out what was going on.
"He's acting strange again." Vin said after he stopped laughing.
"Doubly so. He won't choose a seat and orders a daiquiri, then forgets he does." Ezra murmured.
"I think you're just scared he'll give you another shoulder massage." JD snickered.
"When it happens to you, I want to see you laughing." Ezra glared at the younger agent.
They stopped their conversation when Chris arrived, coming back with his usual drink, not the daiquiri which was sitting by Ezra.
"What did I miss?" he asked, taking a generous sip of his beer.
"Besides the fact that you have a drink already. Nothing much. I thought you had a call or something." Asked Buck.
"No, I sent a text." Chris frowned. The rest of the team seemed confused and Chris decided to change the subject, "So what movie did we decide to watch tonight after this? Mission Impossible or that comedy movie Buck asked for?"
"You just said you wanted to do drinks tonight and then play twister." Vin said with a smile.
"Twister?"
"Yeah and then Karaoke." JD added.
"Hell, if you all want to do that then it's up to you." Chris murmured.
"But you were the one who suggested it." Nathan frowned, "Chris, are you okay? Have you drunk too much? Are you forgetting things?"
"I know exactly what I've said and haven't said." Chris growled. His phone 'slippped' and fell to the ground and he stooped under the table to grab it while his brother re-entered and sat down next to Ezra. Everyone could still see the other Chris still looking under the table, and when he came back up, there was a long pause as six pairs of eyes went from one Larabee to the other.
"This is weird." Vin murmured as he studied both faces.
"I told you Chris was cloned." JD whispered and pulled out his phone to document it.
"I'm not a clone." Said both Larabees in unison. One was frowning while the other was smiling.
"This is uncanny." Ezra said, trying to make out which Chris was theirs and which one was…fake?
He tried to see if the Chris next to him was wearing some kind of mask.
"Calm down there, Ezra." Christian said with a laugh, "This face is real. His on the other hand…"
Chris wanted to smack the smile off his brother's face.
"Wait so which one is really Chris?" asked Nathan.
"I am." Said both men.
"This is so cool." JD said from behind his phone. "It's like they've been programed to say the same thing at the same time.
"This is getting ridiculous." Chris growled.
"I agree." Christian grinned.
"It's your fault, Chris, so wipe that smile off your face."
"My fault? I'm being the benevolent leader who loves his team as opposed to the brooding leader." Christian threw his arm around Ezra's shoulder before the other man could escape. Chris almost let himself chuckle at that. "Gentlemen, this here is my twin brother, Christopher, who has been seeing to the team while I've been away on medical leave. I was the original Larabee who was supposed to be leading team 7, and now that I'm healed, I'll be taking over."
No one said anything for a full minute, trying to judge the truth in his words.
"So wait, then who are you?" asked JD finally.
"I'm Christian, but people call me Chris. So not much will change. Just that we'll have way more fun." Christian grinned.
Vin looked to Chris, "Is this true?"
"From what I heard, you all like Christian." Chris said, hiding his smile behind his glass.
"He gorilla super glued JD and Buck to their seats two days ago." Vin pointed out. Now understanding who was behind it.
Chris almost spat his beer out when he started to laugh. He was curious as to how that happened.
"And I'm sure the itching powder was him too." Ezra said, finally getting from underneath the arm. He spent 30 minutes trying to get rid of the stuff and take a shower.
"You're forgetting the stapler in the jell-o. Classic Office gag." Christian laughed.
"Please tell me this is all a joke and that he's not really going to be our team leader." JD asked Chris.
"He's not. Christian is just here for a couple of weeks while he's on leave from the Navy."
"So wait, you are twins then, and his name is Christian?" asked Nathan.
"He's my younger twin, yes. He wanted to meet you all in a less traditional way. I figured the people who usually did pranks wouldn't mind being on the receiving end for a day. I wasn't aware of the gorilla glue and itching powder was him." Chris rose an eyebrow towards his brother.
"I came into the office early. The secretary likes me."
"Yeah and Ezra thought you were hitting on him." Vin laughed.
"Don't put false words in my mouth." Ezra glared at the sharpshooter.
"What I said about the team was true. You are all good men and my brother is lucky to call you all his brothers. Josiah, you're a strong voice of reason for this team and a great mentor. Nathan, I'll say it for the rest of these idiots because I doubt they say it enough, thank you for the time and commitment you put in for caring for these injured-prone people. Buck, you're a good friend to Chris, he didn't have many of those a lot growing up. But you stayed by him. Thank you. JD, you remind me of when I was young and I kept things lively for Chris. Keep that up because that's exactly what this team needs. Though you can put more effort in you pranks. I can see them coming a mile away. Vin, the silent friend who is always there for Chris when he needs it. Thank you. You're a reliable guy, and I'm sorry for giving you those laxatives. Ezra, I'll say it again, you need to relax a little and let your guard down. Like Chris, and I'm guessing some of the others, you don't trust easily, but these men are here for you. I'm also sorry what's going to happen Monday."
"What's going to happen Monday?" Ezra frowned.
"Nope I'm done talking. Can we move this party and go play some twister now?"
"Oh he wasn't playing about that." Buck said.
They played for about an hour, too drunk to notice Christian taking pictures on the side. They did a bit of karaoke before passing out.
MMMMMMMMMMM
On Monday, the office was quiet and everything seemed normal. Ezra arrived late with his coffee in hand. He looked extremely tired and his appearance was not its normal clean self.
About an hour later the undercover agent was out cold. Christian made an appearance at the office, to the shaking heads and smiles of the others, realizing he must've given Ezra something. He only drew a couple of things on the man's face with permanent marker before taking a picture and going into his brother's office.
"Hey, I'm going to be heading out today. Going to go visit some friends for a while and sleep on some couches."
Chris gave his brother a hug and when they separated, Christian gave him an SD card.
"Figured you'd need more than one picture of your new family. I already have a copy to show my brothers in the navy."
"Thanks." Chris smiled, "Talk to you later."
Christian gave his brother a two fingered salute before walking out of the office.
Chris went his desk and put the SD in his computer. A slideshow came up of team 7. Chris hanging out with his team at the Saloon. There was one of Inez and Christian. A few where Christian must've pranked some of the men: JD and Buck, glued to chairs having races down the hall laughing. Ezra looking disgruntled as he tried to scratch an itch. Vin holding his stomach while going back to the bathroom. Nathan and Josiah in a picture with Christian. JD getting attacked by spit balls. Them playing twister and failing miserable. Vin and Ezra in a karaoke competition and then Josiah and Nathan. All of them passed out sleeping on the floor together. It was perfect. Chris smiled and decided he would share them with the team later on. Probably after Ezra was awake and done being upset with having marker all over his face.
Looking up, he thought he heard Travis walk in. Pulling the SD card out, he went out of his office to hear the man complaining about Standish drooling on his desk with permanent marker on his face. His forehead reading.
Property of Team 7: Return if lost