A/N: I was going to wait until this whole thing was done and publish it as a one-shot, but then I figured, why wait. This is the story of how the "Team Seven and Friends" family tree mentioned in Official Transfer was created, or part one of that story anyway.

The next chapter of Official Transfer will be up soon, it kept wanting to change viewpoints, and that story doesn't do that mid-chapter, that mixed with finals (did good on all three papers, did not so good on things in two of classes before that, so my grades are blah for those, not good not bad, which is kind of disappointing) has me behind schedule but it should be up soon.

Enjoy!

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The BBQ had been rained out-or, at least the eating outdoors part of it had been. Josiah had just tugged the grill over underneath the lip of wooden awning that hung over the back part of Chris's deck when it started to pour and carried on flipping burgers and sausages, the wind that was driving the rain in sideways even under the cover being soundly ignored.

Though, Buck supposed as he took a long sip of his beer, leaning slightly back away from the table and unbuttoning his pants, finally full, Josiah had pulled on the coat an annoyed Nathan had tossed at his head, having given up on talking him into coming inside after a solid five minutes of cajoling mixed with threats of leaving him to suffer when he inevitably caught his death. "Buck, can ya pass the potato salad?" Buck looked in disbelief to where Vin was apparently fixing himself up his third burger and second sausage, along with a third serving off all the sides, and then passed the mostly empty bowl his direction when the sharpshooter looked up expectantly, shaking his head.

"Onea these days, Tanner, your stomach lining is gonna split straight open."

JD's head popped up from his dessert like a prairie dog, all eyes and earnest enthusiasm, "That can happen you know, I saw it on that show Emergency Room Horrors, this dude came in who'd been in, like, a pie eating contest or something, only he ate so much his stomach split open on the inside and it was all distended-"

"Mr. Dunne, please, some of us do not want to think about such things while eating our strawberry shortcake!" Ezra, looking kind of queasy, protested while Vin looked doubtfully down at his plate.

"Hey, Nate?"

Nathan rolled his eyes and put down the ear of corn he'd been finishing, having eaten at a much slower pace than the rest of them, "You're stomach isn't going to split open Vin, you have to eat a good ten pounds of food to do that. Doesn't mean you probably aren't gonna wind up with one hell of a stomach ache later, and I'm telling you now, I won't have-"

"One bit of sympathy!" Everyone but Vin and Nathan chorused, and Nathan scowled at the lot of them, turning back to the last of his meal while muttering about ungrateful idiots who never listened. Vin looked down at his plate for another few seconds, shrugged, then picked up his sausage, piled high high with onions and mustard, and took a large bite, chewing and swallowing before he spoke.

"Nah, I never get stomach aches."

"That show is really cool though," JD said, still geared up about it, "We should watch it later, I can get it on my laptop and then use dual monitor mode to get it on the big TV. On the last episode this lady swallowed a snake for some reason, like a little one of course-"

Ezra was looking more than a little green now, and Chris cut him off there, "Alright, enough talk about weird shit while we're eating." JD opened his mouth, probably to ask if that meant they could watch it later, when they weren't eating, but shut it again, looking warily at Ezra as Chris directed his next words to him, "Aim in the kid's direction if you have to spew." Ezra looked slightly greener at the word spew, but at least JD had stopped. It was bad enough when Buck was walking through the living room to get a snack out of the kitchen or something and he heard little snatches of it, he didn't need a detailed description while his food was trying to digest. Buck was pretty sure though, that Ezra's green face probably had just as much to do with the fact that JD and him had been sharing whatever was in that fancy bottle Maude had sent him since about two o'clock, while thinking no one was any the wiser, getting increasingly giggly, and then he'd eaten just as much greasy food as the rest of them, and now sugar. JD, at twenty-two, would be immune to any ill effects as long as he drank some water before he hit the sack. Well, unless the two of them kept it up the rest of the night, and then all bets were off. One good thing about the kid's new haircut, Buck wouldn't have to hold his hair back either way-it had been starting to rival Junior's for a couple of months there, reaching his collar at least.

No one was going to say anything to them even if they couldn't stand by the end of the night, knowing they needed to unwind, and they needed to do it here, surrounded by the rest of the team. JD's first time going undercover undercover, not just playing a part for a few hours, or a day or so tops, but going under for two weeks, joining Ezra as the youngest of the Daly brothers, had been stressful on all of them, but obviously hardest on those two. Ezra, for all he'd acted nothing but confident over JD joining him 99% of the time, 100% when the kid was around to see, had clearly been nervous as hell the 1% of the time he'd let his guard down. Buck didn't figure it had anything to do with JD's skills exactly, Ez had pronounced him more than ready before he'd gone under himself, and after all the time he'd spent working with the kid JD sure should have been. Nah, what it had been was, for all Ezra acted aloof sometimes, he was just as protective of the youngest member of the team as any of the rest of them, and it didn't matter how ready JD had been, Ezra was gonna worry about him. Just like they all worried about Ez every time he went under. The extra responsibility of being the senior agent would've added a new layer to the game anyway, it being JD under him added about five, and Hoss had probably been on hyper alert the whole time. They'd both done good, watched each others backs, got the job done and got out safe, cover maintained even with the bust. Buck was proud of them.

Maybe a little tipsier than he'd care to admit himself, he'd lost track of how many beers he'd had about an hour ago, but damn proud of them, all the same. "Mr. Wilmington, is there a reason you are staring at mah person in that peculiar manner?" Buck startled, not having realized he was staring, but before he could say anything JD piped up again.

"That's his 'you did good kid' face. Must've done something good." He then reburied his own face in his plate of strawberry shortcake. Ezra looked surprised and more than a little uncomfortable for the split second before one of his cheerful masks fell into place, and dammit, that was why Buck hadn't been going to say anything, at least not in front of everybody. Still, it would probably do more harm than good if he tried to play it off, so he nodded, smiling a little.

"Yep. Got yourself and the kid home safe and sound, in time for this great BBQ. Wouldn't've been the same without ya."

Ez's posture relaxed a little, but not a lot, mask slipping, "It was hardly just mah efforts, JD was rather instrumental as well you know."

"Mmm-hmm. I'm proud a both of ya." That had been a long shot, Ezra might have clammed up even more and Buck had known it, but there had been something in the southerner's eyes that told him to go for it, and when that bashful, little boy smile spread across his face, the only smile of Ezra's that ever seemed really genuine, except maybe the shit-eating grin he wore when cleaning them out in poker or purposely poking at Chris's last nerve, Buck was damn glad he had. Just when the silence was going to stretch too long, Josiah slid back from the table, standing and stretching in one move, jostling the table a bit as he did so.

"Well, I'm going to go get the hockey game on-"

"What? No, c'mon, the season premiere of battle-bots is on tonight, we gotta watch it!" Yeah, Buck thought with a chuckle as JD went from being hot on Josiah's heels to passing the big man in about two seconds, Josiah looking bemused as he stepped back slightly to let him pass, that boy was past tipsy even with a belly full of food. Hadn't gotten all melancholy on them either, which was always a risk with JD.

When Ezra followed after them, complaining about why it was always sports of some type, as though he hadn't made them watch the World Series of Poker or whatever the hell you called it, that seemed to be the de-facto signal for the rest of the group to follow, heaving themselves to their feet and heading that way. "Hey, you all aren't leaving the table like this! And who's putting away the leftovers?" Buck kept on walking like he hadn't heard Chris, chuckling as Vin scooped up his plate-somehow already cleared-and glass and headed towards the kitchen with it like that's what he'd intended all along. Nathan almost made it through the swinging door after him, but hesitated long enough that Chris could tell he'd heard him and growled, Nate heaving a sigh and turning around in the doorway as Buck plopped himself down on one half of the loveseat next to JD, Ezra tucked up in the matching armchair on JD's side. They'd stuck to the paper plates and plastic utensils they'd grabbed for eating outdoors, wasn't much to do but throw stuff in the trash. Chris would still wind up putting away most of the food no matter who was in the kitchen-no one else apparently knew how to properly wrap up leftovers, and Chris had been paranoid about food poisoning even since Buck knew him- Nate would take charge of the trash and then disappear before he could get stuck with the few dishes too, and after he'd loaded up what could go in the dishwasher Vin would turn his puppy dog eyes on Chris and the rest of the dishes would sit in the sink in soapy water for whoever made breakfast in the morning.

Which might just be Buck. He felt like an omelet and he made damn good ones, if he did say so himself.

Battle-bots opening credits was on the TV, less to do with JD's insistence and more to do with the soft spot the profiler had for the younger man. That and it wasn't a half bad show, yeah, lots of technical stuff, but who didn't like watching robots beat the crap out of each other? As it went to a commercial before any action actually happened, he turned his attention to the youngster who thought he was oh-so-slyly taking another large sip off a bottle of what must be very strong liquor, because it wasn't more than a fifth and it didn't look like they'd drank more than a quarter of it together. "Hey, you boys feel like sharing?" With a somewhat guilty look at Ezra, who himself looked a bit more uneasy than Buck would have expected, JD passed the bottle over, "What kinda fancy-" Buck paused, turning the bottle over in his hands as a snort left his mouth. Yeah, it was strong alright. Buck had wanted to try this particular spirit since a buddy of his had smuggled a gallon of homemade stuff onto base when he'd been in Seal training, and gotten caught before any of them could enjoy it. "Absinthe. Ya know, I'ma 100% certain this stuff is still banned in the U.S., and being as how we're ATF agents and all, you guys maybe shouldn't be drinking this." Then seeing that Josiah's head had come up from where he'd been relaxing, enjoying having the couch all to himself for the few minutes it would take the others to join them, and figuring he only lived once, Buck tipped back the bottle and took a slug, surprised by how smooth it was, and ignoring Ezra's spluttered call of, "Sips, good lord, sips!", took another. With a chuckle on his lips Buck pulled the bottle away in time to have Josiah's big paw of a hand snatch it out of his, his other lightly smacking Buck upside the head.

"You tell them they shouldn't be drinking it, and then start in yourself?" Josiah sounded more incredulous than actually annoyed, shaking his head at the innocent smile Buck leveled at him, and then started to examine the bottle.

"C'mon 'Siah, like you've never wanted to try that stuff." Buck figured the little bit he'd drank couldn't do much of anything, anyway.

"I have tried it, in my younger days." Josiah's voice was dry as he carried on, "This is definitely the real stuff too. Luckily for all of you, it's not nearly as hallucinogenic as advertised, though it definitely has a different kick than regular booze. You know you're supposed to water this down, right?" He directed his question to Ezra, who, studiously casual, ignored the query and held one hand out for his bottle.

"Mothah does love to send exotic presents, Ah'll just put it away now-" It was a nice try, but Josiah shook his head, amusement coloring his tone, even as the firmness behind it ensured that Ezra would not be getting it back.

"Whether it should be or not, absinthe is banned in the U.S., Brother Ezra, I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate this." He then turned and walked over to the built in wall shelf above the entertainment center and tucked it up behind one of the speakers, Buck chuckling lightly as he realized that it was too high for either JD or Ezra to get to without climbing something, which even Ezra would have trouble doing without attracting anyone's attention.

"Being as you aren't disposing of it, one has to wondah Mistah Sanchez, if you aren't confiscating the spirits for your own consumption latah." Ezra's drawl was just slightly more exaggerated than usual, Buck figuring he was a little drunker than he was letting on, and he was clearly not particularly pleased about the removal of his gift, stubbornly staring back when his comment earned him a look from Josiah.

It figured, Buck thought with a hint of sourness, that Maude would send Ezra something that could get him in trouble. It was probably just thoughtlessness, but with that woman it was hard to tell.

"Ezra?"

"Yes, Josiah?"

"Shut-up." Josiah patted him lightly on the shoulder as he passed by the armchair to take any sting out of his words, Ezra's eyeroll in response probably visible from the space shuttle. Buck settled deeper into his chair as a robot that looked to have both flamethrowers and some kind of buzz saw arm went up against one that had giant pinchers and a huge mallet that almost immediately smashed one of the flamethrowers off the other robot, wondering how long it would be before either Ezra or JD asked him to get the bottle for them, and whether he would do it or not. That they would ask, that wasn't a question.