Homeward Bound

Obviously it's a take on Homeward Bound, because, let's face it, how closely does it work really? Think about it. I can only hope that I do it justice. If there's anybody out there who'd like to give me a hand with this story I'd appreciate it, sometimes I need a little extra push to get me going, I'd be willing to co-author as well, I've always wanted to try that. Anyway, drop me a line if you're interested. Please forgive that this is not the best it could be, it's get better as the story continues, I promise

check out my homepage for pics of the animals!

Chapter 1.

Vin was napping comfortably in the afternoon sun, sprawled out in a most ungraceful fashion in the dirt beside the porch steps. JD was bounding cheerfully round the yard, happily chattering to the horses, thankfully leaving Ezra in peace. Ezra had perched himself securely on the wooden railing on the porch, his tail flicking as he watched JD.

It had been three days since Chris and Buck had left to go to the city. Ezra was the first to admit he hadn't paid the slightest bit of attention to the reason, but Vin had informed him later it was some nonsense man thing called a court. Ezra was familiar with the word, his previous owner, Maude had been to one a time or two, but beyond that, he knew very little.

He had been rather apprehensive he could admit, albeit only to himself, when Chris had left and not returned the next day, and though it had aggrieved him greatly that Vin had noticed his agitation and the way he kept glancing towards his food bowl. he was quite relieved (he would never let Vin know--though he suspected the dog already did) when Vin had assured him Chris had asked Josiah and Nathan to come over everyday to check on them.

Not that Ezra needed them to of course, after all, he was an accomplished hunter, he could fend for himself if the occasion warranted it. That he didn't want to was besides the point.

'whas'matter Ez?' Vin asked, rolling on his back until he could fasten blue eyes on the chestnut cat on the railing.

'Nothing of any consequence.' Ezra responded, tail flicking again, keeping his eyes on JD. The pup was trying to get into the corral to play with the horses. 'I fear young JD is going to end up getting trampled if he doesn't desist his insane behaviour.'

Vin twisted his head round to look at the pup; he had grown a lot from when Vin and Ezra had met him five months ago. He was starting to become gangly, coming into his full height and weight. Vin gave a small bark of laughter at his antics. 'Maybe.' Vin responded in amusement. His ears pricked up at the sound of an engine. 'Nathan's here.'

Ezra turned his head to face the driveway. Though he didn't dispute Vin's claim that it was indeed Nathan's car, he still checked himself just to be sure. Nathan's little blue ford pulled up. Stopping scant inches from the steps of the porch. With a lazy stretch Ezra got to his feet, balancing easily on the raili ng, watching Nathan.

The black vet and the cat had formed a mutual dislike of each other the second they had laid eyes on each other. It wasn't anything specific really, Ezra just didn't like vets, and he supposed he was more… flighty, he supposed the word was when it came to dealing with them. Nathan was one of those who preferred his patients to stay still and let him do his job.

"Hi JD." Nathan smiled, scratching the pups ears when JD pawed at him. He pulled a Boneo out of his pocket and gave it to the dog. JD took the treat cheerfully, munching away, losing half of it to the ground. Nathan laughed and moved on to Vin, who was sitting up now, watching him, waiting for his treat, which he knew was coming. "Vin." Nathan greeted, giving the mongrel his treat and a quick pat.

Ezra watched Nathan with narrowed eyes as he ascended the steps to the front door. Nathan sighed when he saw the distrustful animal watching him. He had grown to dislike the way it seemed to be sizing him up, but after what had happened just a month ago he wasn't about to be mean to him. Not after the scene he had witnessed just ten days ago.

The red sports car pulled up, and Nathan was surprised to see Chris tense slightly, almost as surprised at the fact that a sports car of any kind had arrived at Chris Larabee's ranch. Chris hadn't moved to greet the blond woman who was now exiting the car, but he was watching her.

"Mr. Larabee!" the woman said, stepping daintily over a mud puddle, coming to stand in front of Chris. "Would you care to explain to me why my cat has somehow ended up in your possession once again?" she was angry.

Nathan was quick to realise that this was the woman who had taken Ezra and left him in those awful conditions, he straightened from where he had been checking the horse, intent now to hear her side of the story. If Josiah were here, the woman would already be learning the error of her ways.

Said cat was seated, looking rather tense, watching the scene from the edge of the corral water trough.

"Maybe he jus' like's it better here, Mrs. Standish." Chris replied, tone cold and biting.

"Oh, I highly doubt that Mr. Larabee, what you have done amounts to theft you know." Mrs. Standish regarded him coolly. "Now I want him returned to me immediately."

Chris looked at her for a long moment, Nathan could see the anger rising in him. Chris was not a man to let anything of his, even if it was a cat he had never wanted in the first place, be treated badly. Nathan had seen him take temporary workers at the ranch to task if they treated one of his horses wrong, so it wasn't too far fetched he would do the same for his pets.

"Lady, you are not getting Ezra, he belongs to me now. You gave up all rights when you left him stuck in a cage starving to death, while you went on holiday."

Mrs. Standish looked shocked. "Excuse me! I did no such thing!"

Chris snorted and turned away from her. "well, I think animal services are on my side."

"We'll see about that!" she declared angrily.

Chris frowned at her. "You really think anyone would let you have Ezra back after the way he was found?"

"He has a perfectly acceptable show name Mr. Larabee, please do give him another, he'll become confused." she informed him. "And I will have you know that I left him in the capable hands of my housekeeper, Elise, who is nothing if not thorough."

"Seems to me your housekeeper didn't too a good enough job, and if you can't be bothered to ask her if she'd checked on your cat then you really shouldn't own one. And he answers to Ezra just fine." Chris turned away to look at Nathan then, making the vet realise he had just stood and listened shamelessly on a conversation he probably shouldn't have heard.

Mrs. Standish fumed at being dismissed in this fashion, but her move towards Ezra was brought short when Vin growled low in his throat from the side. With an effort, she schooled her features and turned to Chris. "I will be back Mr. Larabee to claim my cat, do not get too attached." with that she turned on her heel and stalked back to her car and drove off, tires skidding.

Nathan had thought it was rather strange that she had known to come to the ranch looking for the cat. I spoke of her knowledge of Ezra's whereabouts. He didn't think she really had any right to turn up demanding her pet back. At another time Nathan might have agreed with the woman's claim, before he had been called out to the ranch to check up on a half starved, flighty cat. If that was how Ezra was normally treated under her care then he was glad Chris had him now.

Nevertheless, even his empathy towards the cat did not make it any easier to like the ornery creature. Who was right this second watching Nathan carefully, sizing up his movements, and Nathan knew he was, all the while looking completely disinterested in him. It was a talent all cats seemed to share. It reminded Nathan why he preferred dogs, horses and even cows to cats.

Even so, he slipped his fingers into his other pocket and pulled out a cat treat, like a chocolate drop, just because he didn't get on with the cat was no reason to leave it out of his greetings. "Ezra." he said, mouth lifting in a small smile as he put the treat on the railing beside Ezra, knowing better than to touch him. He was surprised when Ezra chirruped in response, it almost sounded like a 'Thank you'.

Shaking his head, he moved to unlock the front door, disappearing inside to get the animal food to refill the bowls that were currently in the stables where the animals were sleeping the nights until Chris and Buck returned.

'How come you thanked him Ez? I thought you didn't like Nathan?' JD asked, having finished his boneo and had come up the steps of the porch to sit and watch Ezra nose the chocolate drop, half hoping it would drop so he could eat it. Ezra never ate off the ground, said it was… 'improper'… yeah, that was the word the cat used.

'Just because my self and the good vet share a mutual dislike of each other is no reason to be rude JD. After all, appearances are everything.' Ezra responded, finally getting his teeth round the treat and chewing it slowly. He had to give Nathan his due; he did always come with the best treats.

Vin frowned up at Ezra, he had heard that turn of phrase many times from Ezra, but it had only recently made sense to him. This whole 'appearances' thing was a direct result of that Maude woman. Vin just didn't know how to get Ezra to stop thinking it.

'I'll have you know Vin, that feline's are fastidious creatures by nature. Human intervention had not changed that at all.' Ezra casually jumped down from the railing to land beside Vin. Seemingly reading Vin's mind with relative ease.

'What's Fast… fast-did-e-us? What's that word mean Ez?' JD asked, bounding down the steps to join them.

'Fastidious, JD, it means clean, in it's most common usage.' Ezra explained, tail flicking, dismissing the word as he said it.

Vin shook his head. 'There's clean, an' then there's this 'appearance's' o' yours.' the dog pointed out.

Ezra looked at him for a long moment. 'Perhaps.' he conceded.

Their conversation was cut short when Nathan re-emerged from the house with two brands of dog food and a box of cat food, which Ezra had unfortunately had to agree to, Chris was hardly a connoisseur of the better brands of cat food, and was hardly going to go out of his just because Ezra preferred it. It was better than nothing. And to be fair Chris had started buying the more reliable brands in Ezra's opinion, basic, but reliable.

In fact, since his emancipation from Maude's home Chris had been unnervingly nice, letting him get away with things that, before his incarnation had, at the very least, gotten him yelled at. Not one to let the opportunity pass him by Ezra had of course used it to the fullest extent, but he was still wary. After all, removing a collar was far easier than putting it on.

"Now." Nathan said, sitting JD's puppy food to the side and looking at the three feasting animals.

'What would be the chances of Nathan now mentioning our recent nightly ritual once again?' Ezra asked, looking up from his food bowl at the dogs.

JD paused just long enough to look over and say. 'Ain't betting with ya.' and turned back to his dinner.

Ezra wrinkled his nose a little, why were dogs so messy?

Vin huffed a small laugh. 'Hell Ez, o'course he's gonna tell us.'

'One would believe we were incapable of understanding.' Ezra said, nibbling at his food, sitting back up and crunching one of the little nuggets while he watched Nathan ready the, by now, much expected speech.

"Now, Yosemite will be here this evening, I expect you to be good and get in here when he tells you to." Nathan said. A long time ago, he might have felt foolish for talking to animals like this, but since becoming a vet, it was part and parcel of his daily life. Sometimes explaining calmed the animal he was working with down, he didn't reckon they could understand him, but it didn't hurt any.

'We know Nathan.' JD yipped cheerfully, having finished his food disturbingly quickly, it was wonder he hadn't choked.

'Indeed we do.' Ezra agreed, crunching on another nugget. 'Why do humans feel the need to repeat things multiple times?' he asked wonderingly.

'Heck Ez, I reckon it's 'cause you never do as you're told the first time.' Vin grinned at him, teeth bared for an instant before vanishing.

'My dear canine friend, we feline's live by an entirely different set of rules. We don't have to do what we are told, we do what we wish.' With that, Ezra turned from them and jumped onto one of the horse stall doors, leaving half his food untouched, ready for later should he want it.

JD looked over at him. 'You're full of it!' he proclaimed.

Ezra just shook his head.

Nathan left soon after, needing to get back to the surgery in case of a patient. Leaving the two dogs and the cat to their own devices until Yosemite returned that evening to see to the horses in Chris' absence.

'Hey, Ez.' Vin said after a while, not looking at the cat, but towards the tree's behind the corral.

Ezra frowned at the dog's intense stare and looked himself. 'What?'

JD crept over to them from the corral, where he had once again been trying to get in to see the horses. 'Do you see him?' the pup asked, taking a place beside Vin.

'He's back.' Vin confirmed.

Ezra huffed a sigh, emerald eyes scanning the trees before he finally saw what the dogs had. 'How many time's is this he has been here?' the cat asked, eyes narrowing.

'Was here this morning too.' Vin mentioned.

'What! And you did not think to inform us?' Ezra demanded.

Vin shrugged. 'He weren't doing much, just standing there like he is now.'

JD looked from each of his friend to the man hiding in the trees. 'What do you suppose he wants?' he asked. 'It can't be good if he just stays over there, can it?'

Ezra and Vin shared a look, partly amused, a short while ago JD would have believed everyone innocent, thankfully he knew better now, his training finally taking root it seemed.

'I do wonder what he intends.' Ezra said.

'Nuthin good.' Vin said.

The man the three animals were looking at, had turned up the day before Chris had left, he hadn't done anything, just stood, hidden in the trees, watching the ranch. He had come again the next afternoon after Chris had left, and again the day before. Now he had visited twice in one day. There had to be some reason for it, and Vin had a feeling it would be bad. Unfortunately there was no one around that they could tell about the mans presence. If Chris had been here, Vin was sure he could have somehow made him understand. But as it stood, only they knew of this man.

Ezra huffed another little sigh and curled up on the railing of the porch again, warmed nicely by the sun. 'Well, there does not appear to be much we can do about the ingrate.'

'I'm going to have a check round the ranch.' Vin told him.

'Don't let me keep you.' the cat responded with a yawn.

JD bounced beside Vin. 'Can I come?'

'Sure pup.' Vin smiled.

When the two dogs had gone, JD arguing that he wasn't a pup and Vin laughing at him, Ezra opened one eye and looked at where the man was standing in the trees, he was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he didn't think it had to do with what he had just eaten.