DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Magnificent Seven or its characters. There will be disciplinary SPANKING of an adult in this story so if that's not your thing please move on to another story.

This is an almost finished story – kind of having some writers block on my other two stories so I thought I would try my hand at just a one shot, which this was supposed to be, but it just kept getting longer and longer, anyway –hope you like it J Just another chapter to write which I will finish this weekend hopefully.

It's Tough Being the Youngest!

CHAPTER 1

JD just knew that he had made a bad decision almost from the moment he made the dang decision but his stubbornness and foolish pride wouldn't let him turn back now. Chris had specifically forbid him- and only him- from going out and looking for the cattle rustlers tonight by himself like he was some kind of baby. He didn't say that to Buck and wouldn't have said it to the other guys if they had been here…oh no, just to him – singled him out in front of everyone – ok maybe it was just in front of Buck but STILL- singled him out to tell him not to go out looking for the rustlers tonight! He was just so tired of the other 6 men treating him like a baby – sure he may not be as old as them or have as much experience but it didn't mean he was useless or needed to be coddled and protected like some green behind the ears teenager…

Riding around in the dark trying to be quiet and sense if there were any people moving around that shouldn't be out in the pastures gave JD lots of time to think. He thought about the 6 men who had become as close as family to him over the last year. Each one of them was so different from the others but the bond between the 7 of them was stronger than he could have ever dreamed of back East in what seems like a lifetime ago when he dreamed of coming out west to be a cowboy. Now here he was – living the life he had dreamed but sometimes he still felt like the kid back home living with his ma..

Earlier that day when they had gotten a tip that the cattle rustlers who had been plaguing the outlying ranches for the last few months were going to make a move again tonight JD immediately wanted to conduct a watch for them to catch them in the act tonight – but Chris, the quiet unquestioned leader of their group had disliked the idea because Nathan and Vin were at the reservation and Josiah and Ezra both were to ill from the flu to ride out tonight. Chris didn't want to leave the town unprotected so he had ordered that no scouts would go looking for the rustlers until after Nathan and Vin returned in two days.

JD had disagreed with Chris' decision – he was worried that they might miss their best chance of catching the outlaws and felt that Chris was just being overcautious as usual. JD tried to voice his opinion on the subject but was cut short by Chris who decided to FORBID him to scout for the rustlers tonight and then proceeded to tell him to make rounds and turn in for the night like he was a 5 yr old being sent to bed!

Chris was an amazing gunman and JD had already learned so much from him. His marksmanship skills had gotten so much better since Chris and Vin had been working with him. It was so frustrating to him though that they could not see how much better he had gotten…

Vin was pretty amazing in his own right – he could track anything at any time of day. He had been slowly showing JD how to track everytime an opportunity came around. JD was positive that if Vin had been in town tonight Chris wouldn't have forbid the scouting for the rustlers – he would have allowed Vin to do it – it was just so obvious to JD that Chris just didn't trust him like he did Vin.

Nathan and Josiah were great too. Nathan was always worried about JD's health and Josiah was always worried about his soul. In fact, JD rarely worried about either figurin' the two of them worried about him enough for all of them. Although neither of them seemed to enjoy the lawman part of their jobs as much as the others he had never seen either of them shy away from a fight if one was needed. They were two of the bravest men he knew and he had really been trying hard to mirror his own temper after theirs.

Ezra was a breed of his own. Back where JD had come from he had never dealt with a con man before and at first didn't think he would like Ezra at all but the gambler's easy going nature and charm quickly won JD over. He had been teaching JD the great game of poker and the fine art of keeping a neutral face no matter what your cards say.

And then there was Buck. Buck was the one he felt the most comfortable with. He loved to have fun, and unlike the others, didn't treat JD like a child. Buck would take him with him when he went to the Saloon or some of the other less seemly parts of town. It was also Buck he usually went to for advice on girls, or rather for advice on Casey as she was the only girl who really held any interest for him. Buck had never stearred him wrong in that area which is probably because Buck was as good with a woman and Chris was with a gun.

JD was so lost in his thoughts about the other guys that he didn't even notice the man slowly riding up behind him with his gun drawn until the very last minute – he could swear he actually felt that bullet fly right by his ear as he turned his horse and fired in the direction of the shot, quickly got off his horse and ran for cover firing a couple of more times in the same direction while he ran….