Hey guys, was literally falling asleep as I typed the end of this, hope it came out okay.

Shout out to: Annie Jones, MamaBear2Two, SubRosa7, Chrissysmiles, Lunez, kellya, guest, history grrl, and Eliza. You guys are awesome.

I did want to say to Eliza, I do plan to explore more of the Chris/Buck friendship at some point. Also, while I don't know if it will ever happen the only person I could see Chris getting in trouble with is Judge Travis :)

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As he slumped a little, wishing he weren't so sure he deserved this, Vin realized he hated standing in the corner, being trapped in the little cubby of space, even more than he hated being trapped in the clinic. He didn't mind visiting the clinic, Nathan was good for a quiet game of checkers if he wasn't too busy, but when he had to be there, when he was bleeding and miserable, and just wanted to be left the hell alone, but he couldn't be, that was when he hated it.

Hated being trapped anywhere, really. Could be his favorite place in the world, and the second someone was making him stay there, forcing him, he wouldn't be able to stand it. The difference between that suffocating, overcrowded orphanage he'd spent a few years in before he managed to run away and the freedom he'd had when he was with first his Indian family, and then after-well, it had made sure that he would never be okay with being confined.

'Course, once he was free from the corner he had to face Josiah, and he didn't want to do that anymore than he wanted to stay here. He'd just been trying to have a bit of fun, really, hadn't expected things to turn out like they had, but he knew the preacher had every right to be as mad as he was. It had been damn stupid to be running around on the rooftops like that, Vin moved and even leapt and jumped about on the roofs during gun battles, the height letting him pick off the people that were the greatest danger to his brothers, but he paid attention to his footwork at the same time as he was looking out for bullets flying at him, there weren't no excuse for how careless he'd been that day.

"Ezra, what in the world-why are you all sticky?" Vin cringed a little at Nathan's question, wondering how Ezra would respond.

"Ah may have had an unfortunate encounter with a quantity of sugar and flour earlier."

"...never mind, I don't want to know." Nathan muttered, with that exasperated tone that meant he was going to start complaining they were making him old before his time before too long.

"Well, I do. Does that have something to do with why you and Vin were up on the roof?" Josiah's voice was calm, but deadly serious, with none of the humor Vin could usually hear when they'd gotten into mischief.

"Ah fear that Ah must plead the fifth on that particular mattah." Lord, Ezra could be as bull-headed as a mule when he wanted to be. Vin knew he'd been getting stubborn himself a minute or two ago, but it hadn't been with Josiah.

"Ezra Patrick, this isn't a courtroom, and it isn't the time for you to get smart either. Trust me, son, you've already incriminated yourself plenty. You directly disobeyed me by climbing down off that roof, do you want to add to that by refusing to answer my question?" The rumble that started low in Josiah's chest was in full force now, and Vin was certain he could hear Ezra shifting nervously in his seat.

"...No, sah. Yes, that was one of the factors that led to our ascent to the roof." Vin waited in the silence that followed, wishing he could see everyone's faces, see the reaction instead of standing here wondering about it.

"I think a big part of the talk we have today is going to need to be on both where it's inappropriate to pull pranks and to get revenge for being pranked, isn't it?" It wasn't natural, the way Josiah could take a couple pieces of something, look at a man, and suddenly he had everything figured out.

"Ah can find no errors in your deductive reasoning." Ezra's voice was soft, subdued in a way it hadn't been when he was talking just a minute ago, leaving Vin again to wish that his view wasn't limited to the wood planks in front of him.

He'd known when they climbed down from the roof that they weren't doing anything but getting themselves in deeper, but Ezra had been starting to panic, worried, Vin thought, that he'd taken things too far this time. He hadn't actually said that, but, hell it was something Vin figured they all worried about sometimes, maybe even the older guys, even though it wasn't gonna happen. Especially not with Ezra and Josiah, the preacher must have called Ezra 'son' at least a half dozen times a day, had basically adopted him.

Vin had nearly been adopted once, after those soldiers had supposedly 'rescued' him from his Indian family and dumped him in another orphanage. A rich, religious, family who'd heard of the boy found with the Indian tribe had decided it was their job to 'civilize' him, to 'save his soul', but since they seemed more determined to convince him there was something wrong with it, that he was tainted, he'd decided not to stick around.

Had actually been adopted once, even if those exact words hadn't been used, in a big ceremony with everyone watching. Had had a family, but those damn soldiers hadn't cared about that. They'd hit his mother, hard enough to knock her to the ground, when he'd been crying for her not to let them take him, and all she'd done was move forward a step. So he'd dried his tears and hardened his face, done his best to look brave, because it was the only thing he could do. Things would have gotten ugly, had already been getting ugly, and the only thing that Vin could do to stop anymore bloodshed was go with them quietly. He knew that sometimes children taken in by tribes had been treated as slaves, or little better than, but his people hadn't believed in that, he'd been treated well, loved, but no one had cared.

Hell, he didn't know why he was thinking about that. Usually when he thought about back then, which wasn't often, he tried to think on the good times.

He wondered what they'd think of this new family he'd found. Wondered what his Momma would think. Vin didn't really remember what she looked like anymore, or what her voice had sounded like, hadn't for years, but he thought he remembered enough of her to know she'd like them.

Probably wouldn't like what he'd done any better than 'Siah or Nate. Vin shifted slightly, a bittersweet smile stealing over his face, as a snatch of old memory came back to him. About a month before the fever had taken her they'd made a trip to the general store in town, where he'd crept over to the older men jawing around the pickle barrel on the porch, and probably because they knew he was listening to their tall tales, they'd spun a silly story about a boy who learned to fly by sticking old chicken feathers in his shirt. Momma hadn't been very happy when she found Vin on top of the chicken coop the next day, covered in feathers and flapping his arms like he was getting ready to fly off.

When he'd been falling, he'd been scared, hell, he'd been plain terrified. But he'd been that scared before, more than once, when he'd thought he was gonna be hanged, or crushed in a buffalo stampede, or shot in a way he wouldn't be getting up from. When he'd thought Ezra was falling, and falling because Vin had just had to pull that prank, and get them running around the rooftops...that was worse than when he'd had to let those so-called bounty hunters take him out of town, worse than anything he could think of. Truth was, when he'd reached out to grab him, throw him back, Vin had realized it was gonna start him sliding again, and known he might not be able to stop. But not doing it, letting Ezra fall, letting him die, hadn't been an option, no matter what might happen to Vin because of it. When Ezra had swung his belt down, shouting for Vin to grab hold, he'd made eye contact with his little brother and seen the same thing in his eyes, even if Vin's weight knocked him loose, he couldn't not do it.

He reckoned maybe it was things like that Josiah meant when the preacher was talking about family and destiny and how they'd all been meant to find each other, how they all needed each other. He didn't figure many people were really willing to do things like that, whatever they might say, but his brothers were different. They were men to ride to the end of the road with.

If he'd been that scared, him and Ezra both, Vin knew it had to have been even worse for Josiah and Nathan who couldn't do anything but stand there and watch, waiting and helpless. None of it would have happened if it hadn't been for him, all he'd had to do was not climb up the damn side of the clinic, or not chase after Ezra when he'd tagged him.

Yeah. He'd been acting the fool before that, but right then, when things were definitely getting more than a bit out of hand,that had been his chance to say it was enough, that Ezra won and they should stop, but he hadn't. He was supposed to be the older one, supposed to look out for the younger boys, but sometimes that was harder said than done, and sometimes...well, sometimes the two or three years he had on Ezra seemed like a lot, and sometimes it seemed like nothing at all. But he knew they looked up to him, Ezra and JD both and that meant he had no business leading his brother into the kind of trouble he had today. He'd be lucky if the preacher didn't strip the hide right off him, and right about now he felt low enough that he figured he more than deserved it. He could've gotten Ezra killed.

The door burst open then, Vin whirling around, expecting trouble, before his brain could register the voice talking a million miles a minute into the surprised silence of the clinic, "Caleb Forrester said Vin fell off the hotel roof! Was there a gunfight? Is he okay? Where is he?" JD's frantic sweep of the clinic must have missed Vin tucked into the corner by Nathan's desk, because his eyes were widening in horror as Vin stepped forward, the boy breathing out, "He isn't..."

"I'm right here, JD, an' just fine." He was going to break Cal Forrester's nose for scaring his little brother like that.

JD sagged in relief, and then, while looking Vin up and down like he was checking for missing limbs and still a little shaky, said,"You're sure you're okay?" Josiah had stood up by now, crossing to JD and putting a hand on his shoulder as Vin was nodding.

"Both your brothers gave us a scare, but they didn't actually fall and neither of them are hurt bad. Nathan checked them over, didn't you Nathan?" Nathan nodded, JD moving his gaze first to him and then to Ezra, looking him up and down too.

"Yep, and Josiah's right, they weren't hurt bad and they're all fixed up now, anyway."

"Okay. But-jeez, what were you guys doing up there in the first place?" Hearing his little brother ask that question with total disbelief, like he couldn't believe they'd been that stupid, had Vin's cheeks flushing and his head hanging all over again.

"I just asked that question myself," Josiah's voice was dry, but serious, "and since Nathan is done with both of them, I think that's something me and your brothers are going to go discuss. Before all this happened me and Nathan were planning to have a checkers game, think you could take my place?"

Vin took a quick glance at Nathan's face, hiding a smile at the flash of confusion that was quickly schooled into a welcoming smile as JD shrugged and said, "Sure." There hadn't been any checkers game, Josiah just knew JD was still excitable after that scare and didn't want him to be alone.

"Alright," Josiah let go of JD and suddenly Vin could see how upset he still was, "You two, over here, now." Huh. Right about now that corner didn't seem half bad.

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Josiah stayed close behind his boys as they reached the bottom of the stairs and began moving along the boardwalk. They'd only gone a few yards down it, far enough along that Josiah was planning to steer them across the street and over to the church when Inez and Mary came up behind them, Josiah sticking his head over his shoulder to see who belonged to the feet clattering towards them and almost wincing himself when he saw the expressions on their faces. Not that they didn't deserve it, and not that the ladies didn't have every right to be upset. Mary all but considered Ezra her little brother, and during that mess with that Don Paulo mocoso Vin's protectiveness had very much endeared him to Inez. Slowing to a stop, he intoned, "Boys.", softly, and, reluctantly, it clear that they'd noticed the women too and weren't looking forward to their reactions, they followed suit. "Evening, ladies."

"Good evening, Josiah," said Mary, somewhat prim and stiff in her displeasure, "We hate to interrupt, but we were hoping to talk to the boys for a few moments."

"I don't want to talk," said Inez, eyes flashing, "I want to smack esos muchachos estúpidos upside their cabezas. Maybe then their brains will start working again." Josiah hid a smile as Vin shrank a little at her words and Ezra did his very best to keep from shrinking, eyes raising in defiance. Until Inez directed her attention solely at him, and Ezra, knowing that was a battle he would not win, dropped his gaze a little.

"If they scared you even half as bad as they scared me, I imagine you have the right to say your piece." He nodded at them, and took a step back, leaving the passage to the boys clear. Considering he'd hugged the two before anything else himself Josiah wasn't very surprised that rather than smacking either of the boys right off the bat Inez stepped forward and put a hand to each of their cheeks, speaking quietly, but fiercely, Josiah noticing that her sentences were turning to Spanish at the ends. Ezra understood her just fine, but while Vin could get along pretty well in Spanish, Josiah thought the rapid back and forth between the two was throwing him a little, though he was doing his best not to show it. Seeming to wind down, Inez surprised both the boys and him when she pulled away the hands that had been cupping their cheeks and gave them each a solid box on the ear. Vin immediately hung his head, though he looked up at Inez somewhat warily, wheras Ezra tried to look indignant and failed miserably.

"You will never do anything so foolish again, will you?"

The, "No ma'am,"s came out in unison and with a satisfied nod Inez moved to the side, letting a Mary who had been doing her best to look more patient than she was get her turn in. Mary didn't talk to them both at the same time, stepping directly in front of Ezra and wasting no time as she glared at the.

"Do you realize the types of debilitating injuries you could have gotten?" Ezra, knowing when it was time to cut his losses, admitted that he did, shamefaced. "What if you'd lost one of your limbs-how are you going to play your card games minus a hand?" Mary might not much like just how fond of gambling Ezra was, but she knew where to go to make her point, if Ezra's sudden loss of color meant anything. "You're lucky I don't turn you over a knee myself, and if you do something like that again I just might. The boy blanched, clearly not sure what to say to that, but Mary just turned and moved to Vin, who looked like he wished the earth would swallow him whole. "Don't think for one minute that that doesn't go for you too."

"No ma'am."

"I had a friend who took a bad fall in college, a man who loved the outdoors nearly as much as you. Now he is confined to a rolling chair, and can't go anywhere without assistance." Vin shuddered, and Josiah found himself impressed, though he supposed running the newspaper would've given her experience in reading people and seeing their weaknesses. "I don't want anything like that happening to either of you," Mary's voice had softened and she was addressing both of them now, and judging from the way Ezra and Vin were both regarding her with quite a bit of guilt, she'd been effective. Mary stepped back after another moment, nodding at Josiah as if to say 'all yours'.

Inez announced that she needed to get back to the saloon, "I left Simon in charge, there might not be a saloon left if I'm not back soon."

"And I need to run some errands before the day is half over." The two women peeled themselves away with some reluctance, the boys seems like they weren't certain whether they were glad about it or not. After all, Josiah thought, just a hit of a smile crossing his face, the sooner they got to the church, the sooner they were in deep trouble.

Josiah gave the boys a gentle shove to to a shoulder each, waiting for them to start down the porch steps, "The hour of judgement is here, my brothers."