This was inspired by Angie's fic"Alternate Universe", to find it go to blackraptor dot net, click on "Magnificent Seven General Audience" and then scroll down 'til you find the pics of all seven guys on the side and click on the one that says "Vin" and look under "A" (near the bottom of the page) for "Alternate Universe" to find her it; it's best to read her fic first otherwise this won't make much sense (as I couldn't find any sequels I will assume there were none). This is an AU cross over – ATF/Little Britches and is the flip side of the previously mentioned fic. Oh, and my Vin is a bit on the interesting side (meaning different from other, typical ATF Vins) with me taking my usual liberties here and there, but he seemed to think it was a good idea. Lol Usually my Ezra's the drama queen, but not this time! WARNING: implied child abuse ahead.
Children Again
by Ami-chan
He remembered the explosion, the smell of smoke, the lights and then – nothing. Vin heard himself growl low in his throat and he paused at the sound; the growl wasn't nearly as deep as it should have been, but he wasn't overly concerned about that. His head was pounding as it had been kicked by a horse and then kicked again, just for good measure. It was a very bad feeling, a fuckin' shitty feeling if he's ever felt one. Distantly he heard a shout and frowned because it sounded like Chris and why was he shouting and…
A scream tore through his throat as he bolted up, thinking that he was still trapped in the burning warehouse and that he had to get to safety and finding that he was falling. Onto a soft carpeted floor. And there was no smoke anywhere. And damnit why did this room look vaguely familiar and why the hell was it covered in toys with cowboys and horses on the wall as if it were for a child? And what was it that he had fallen from!
Vin glanced behind him and saw a bunk bed, from which he had apparently fallen from the top of. Except why had he been up there and why wasn't he in a hospital and had Ezra and JD gotten all right as well?
"Hey, Cowboy, you all right?" He turned to find Chris looking down at him, more genuine emotion on his face than he could ever recall seeing before; he was definitely concerned.
"Yeah, sure, Chris. I fall from bunk beds all the time. So just what the hell are we doing here anyway and why…?" he paused, watching Chris's eyes widen in shock. Chris looked… taller than usual. Bigger. Vin glanced down at his own hands and frowned. In glancing down he spotted the clothing he was wearing, pajamas. Pajamas with what appeared to be a cowboy type doll on it. Children's pajamas, which was about the last time he had worn pajamas. "Gawd damn."
His attention was drawn back to Chris as the man frowned. "Don't use that kind of language, ya hear me? Gotta tell Buck to watch what he says." He was shaking his head as he reached for him. REACHED for him!
Vin jerked away violently before Chris could touch him. Chris was not a touchy feely person so just what the hell was he doing? If he hadn't been confused before, he sure as hell was confused now! "Somethin' wrong son?"
"Yes there is something wrong and I sure as hell ain't yer son!" He paused as a sudden, hurt look crossed Chris's face and he found himself growling in frustration. A high growl, a child's growl. "Ah fuck." Vin turned and stalked the length of the room, ignoring the toys and the bed and everything around him. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this. There had to be.
"There a problem here?"
Vin's head shot up and his eyes latched onto another familiar face. Yes, Buck would help him! "Buck! There is something seriously screwed here. I'm – I don't know what I am! It's like I've shrunk and what the hell is wrong with Chris and – and why are you looking at me like that?" No help from Buck then. The lanky agent looked at him as if he had grown a tail and cat ears over night.
"Ya feelin' all right, kid?" Buck approached him slowly, as if not to startle him and reached out to put a hand on his head. It never made it to its destination; Vin smacked it away angrily and resumed swearing and pacing, vaguely aware of the astonished faces of the men watching him.
Then, suddenly, Vin was stopped. Two hands were placed firmly on his shoulders and blue eyes were piercing him coldly. That was the Chris he knew! "You stop that right now, you hear? I won't have you saying those words, especially in front of JD. If you have a problem you tell me, but I won't have you swearing."
That was not the Chris he knew. "What do you mean 'in front of JD'? What does that have to do with – " a soft sound, a groan, caught all of their attentions and they turned to the bunk bed's bottom bunk where a small figuring was uncurling itself. Vin's jaw dropped as he stared at the small boy that was so familiar and yet so utterly unfamiliar. "JD? What the hell?"
JD blinked his eyes a couple of times before shrieking in a painfully high voice, "You're a fucking kid!"
"So are you! Buck and Chris are acting psycho, so no help there. What happened at the warehouse? There was that explosion, but I don't remember anymore than that."
"We must have made it out okay," JD stated, his gaze darting from Chris to Buck over Vin's shoulder – the two men were sure looking at them funny, "But I don't know. Shouldn't we be at the hospital or something? And where's Ezra? What happened to him?"
JD made a soft grunting sound as he was whisked off his feet and into the air. "What are you talkin' about there, Little Bit?"
One of JD's eyebrows shot up questioningly. "'Little Bit'? Oh my god. I think I've just been insulted." He glanced at the large man holding him and his currently very small stature. "Though, admittedly, I'm not that big at the moment, but – Vin? Is this really real?"
A classic scowl was on Vin's face, one he usually reversed for tough problems and people he really hated, as he responded, "I'm afraid so, 'Little Bit'."
"That is so not funny." JD sighed at the bewildered expression on Buck's face. "Would you mind putting me down? This is making me really uncomfortable. I mean, I like you and all, but this is all a bit much, don't you think, especially so suddenly when I'm still trying to get used to this all?" He was set down, slowly, carefully.
"Chris, what happened to our boys?"
The ATF team leader was shaking his head. "Dunno, Buck. Don't rightly know. Maybe we should make an appointment with Dr. Will."
"Yeah. I'll call us off work. Don't think we want 'em going to school like this." Buck gazed at the two boys in front of him and they gazed right back and for some reason they looked nothing like the children he could clearly see they were. Except, with the light hitting them just so it almost seemed as if they were bigger, older. No, that was just a trick of the light. Yeah. "You call on the home phone, I'll call on my cell phone."
Chris readily agreed and turned to retrieve the nearest phone, hoping that Dr. Will could squeeze them in today. He had been worried when Vin hadn't let him touch him, but now he didn't know what to think! Things had been going so well and now this. Whatever 'this' was!
As Buck and Chris moved off to place their separate calls the two now-children began talking amongst themselves. "What do you think could have happened, JD? Some sort of accident that made us little and made everyone else believe we were supposed to be this way?"
"Maybe it was like time travel or dimensional shifting."
Vin rolled his eyes. "You might want to lay off the sci-fi, huh? It seems more likely that it was some chemical reaction to the warehouse explosion. It has to be because of what happened, though. Something triggered this return to childhood shit."
"So, what, an explosion is a more reasonable explanation?" JD mocked lightly. "Like a veritable fountain of youth only you have to nearly get your head blown off instead of just taking a sip of some special water? Sure, if it was that much fun than everyone would want to be getting blown up!"
"Well, maybe that's why no one's discovered the real fountain of youth. After all you wouldn't think that nearly killin' ya would make ya young again. Though I seriously do not want to stay like this and Chris an' Buck ain't gonna be any help there."
They both lapsed into silence when Buck reentered the room. For some time nothing was said, then Buck offered, "Breakfast will be ready soon. How about you two get dressed and we'll eat and decide what to do from there?"
"What and miss the opportunity to see Vin in his cute Woody pjs?
Vin shot JD a glare as he asked, "Woody? What are you talking about?"
"Woody. The cowboy, Cowboy. Don't tell me you've never seen 'Toy Story'! With Buzz Lightyear of the Star Command?" He giggled as Vin gave him an exasperated look. "Hey, I swear it wasn't my doing – Buck wanted to see it, but I'm sure he'd deny it if you asked."
The older boy was muttering darkly to himself as he tore off the small shirt with the ridiculous cartoon cowboy on it. "So… clothes?" He glanced at JD first and when he shrugged he reluctantly turned his attention to Buck, who was still watching them in confusion. "I'm going to need the proper attire here as I seem to be a mini-Vin. If you could point me toward the right direction I am going to do my best to find something clean, plain, and cartoon-free."
"You're no fun, mini-Vin," JD mocked. "It's kinda like 'mini-me' only mini us!"
"Shut up, JD."
Those words stirred Buck back to reality. "Hey, now, don't say things like that. It's not nice." Then he paused, as if still considering something. "Neither of you remembers where your clothes are kept?"
"I remember where my clothes are, but since I'm not in my body or my home – no, I do not know where the pint-sized clothing is kept." Vin glared at him unhappily, watching as Buck slowly crossed the room and opened a few dresser drawers. He followed, JD trailing behind.
After a careful once over of the shirts within the drawer, Vin selected a plain blue shirt – JD immediately snatched it out of his hands, tsking about his lack of imagination and tossed a different shirt over his head. When Vin could see again he glanced down at a shirt with a fat little fish on it. "What is this, JD?"
There was an offended gasp. "You mean you haven't seen 'Finding Nemo' either? Vin! You have got to live a little." He had Buck help him locate the Vin-sized pants and threw a pair at him that matched reasonably well. After heaving a deep sigh Vin changed into them as JD picked out his own clothing, something cute, or so he said.
When Vin glanced up again he found JD was fully dressed. "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too?"
"So you do know at least that cartoon. I guess you aren't so bad after all."
Vin rolled his eyes. "That's because Winnie the Pooh is older than God and everyone knows who they are whether they want to know or not." He reached out and smacked JD on the back of the head before he could move to avoid it. An "ow" of annoyance was his reward.
Then: "Vincent Michael Tanner, what do you think you are doing hitting JD like that?" 'Mother' Chris was standing in the doorway glaring down at him.
"Uh-oh, Vin, sounds like you're in trouble." JD was grinning maliciously. "You're middle name is 'Michael', huh? I'm gonna have to remember that." JD threw himself at Buck and the mustached man automatically reached down to pick him up. "Breakfast ready?" he asked cheerfully.
Vin muttered something along the lines of, "You little suck-up," under his breath as he watched the two depart, only to be faced with this strangely emotional Chris Larabee.
"What has gotten into you today, Vin? You know if you ever have any problems you can talk to me, no matter what they are. Right?" Chris's concern was starting to eat away at him. He wouldn't have minded, really, he wouldn't have, if he had been himself and not this tiny version of himself; he had hated his childhood before and he didn't want to repeat it now! Not with Chris as his – what was he? His daddy?
"If you're gonna hit me just do it and get it over with." The hurt that radiated off the man before him stuck Vin worse than any physical blow could have. What had he said wrong? If Chris thought he was a kid, well, wasn't the way he had been acting, let alone the things he had said add up to that?
He gasped softly as he found himself enfolded in large, comforting arms and for a moment, despite his small size and relative weakness he felt safe and secure. A feeling he was unfamiliar with. "I would never hit you, Vin. Ever. Do you hear me? That's not something I would – Vin?" Chris pulled back a bit to get a good look at him. "Did someone used to hit you? Before?"
Two steps back and with distance between them, Vin could breathe again. "You mentioned breakfast?" he inquired, moving toward the door and away from that line of conversation. He heard the sigh and could imagine the disappointment on Chris's face, but he kept walking. "This is the ranch."
"What?"
He hadn't meant for Chris to hear him. "Nothin'. Just, we're at the ranch." And he had never seen the room they had been in before – or well, he had, but not the way it had been decorated. Vin was aware of the fact that he felt less than his best and that his head was definitely protesting, but he pushed that aside. He needed a clear head to deal with whatever was going on here.
"Where else would we be?" But Chris's question was ignored and Vin made it to the table without further incident. Except that at the table Vin discovered that breakfast consisted of eggs, toast, and milk, only one of which he would actually put past his lips. He asked for water, instead, and Buck readily retrieved some for him. He munched on the toast while attempting not to look at the eggs or even watch anyone else eating them.
"You haven't even touched your eggs." Chris was studying him closely and Vin resisted the urge to sigh. Instead, he wrinkled up his nose in distaste.
"I'm a vegan. I don't eat eggs."
JD's surprise easily covered up the other's with his loud, "What? Really? I didn't know that! Since when?"
"'Least a decade now. Surprised none of y'all ever noticed." He finished his toast and sipped at his water, pointedly pushing the plate and its remaining unappetizing contents away.
"That must be why you're so damned skinny! All this time and I just thought you liked salads."
Vin shook his head. "I do, JD. That's part of being a vegan. That and the detest of all forms of animal cruelty and exploitation, which includes not eating chicken fetuses."
JD, who had been taking a drink of his milk, snorted in surprise, white liquid shooting out of his nose. He was laughing hysterically. "Chicken fetuses! Oh, my! That's a good one!"
"That's what they are." Vin had no idea what was so funny and apparently Chris and Buck hadn't a clue, either. Well, he couldn't tell what Buck thought as he was attempting to clean up JD who had gotten milk all over himself. Soon Buck was leading the boy away to get a new shirt while Chris came back to life and began cleaning up the table and chair where JD had been sitting. They were, the both of them, in full parent-mode. Vin found it slightly disturbing.
When JD returned, milk-free and in a Bugs Bunny t-shirt, Buck suggested that they go play. JD grinned in amusement while Vin looked horrified at the suggestion. "Go play?" he demanded. He almost asked if they looked like children, but stopped himself just in time. It would be ridiculous to say such a thing as they most certainly looked like children. Instead he said, "Give me an M82 sniper rifle and I'll play all right."
"M82?" JD asked in surprise. "I thought you liked the M82A1 rifles?"
"Nah, the M82A1M is better, but I'm actually rather fond of the M107. Still, I like the M82. It just depends, ya know?"
"On the conditions, the target, and your mood. Yeah, I know. In theory. They've never let me have anything beyond the regulation handguns, after all." JD turned to look up into Buck's frowning face and clearly read the confusion there. "I've never killed anyone, though. Not like Vin. He's killed lots of people!"
Vin rolled his eyes. "Ya know, I don't think that's helping any."
"Is that true, Cowboy?"
Why was Chris looking at him like a kicked puppy, damnit? Where was his strong, tough boss, huh? Did the guy just melt in front of a child's blue eyes? "Hell, Chris, you know I have. Don't look at me like that. It's what a sniper is supposed to do. It's not like they were innocent targets or anything and it was by order of the U.S. Government and now in the line of duty as an ATF agent. Granted, now it's more of a 'injury first if possible' policy, but people still die."
Chris and Buck exchanged glances over his head. "ATF agent? U.S. government? What do you mean?"
"Vin was an army ranger. Now he's the sniper for Team Seven under AD Travis. I'm the computer specialist for Team Seven. And you've just entered the Twilight Zone." JD yelped when Vin smacked him none too gently. "Hey! What was that for?"
"The Twilight Zone? Come on, JD, they'll think you've gone nuts."
The smaller boy shrugged. "They already think that so what's the big deal? You know this all just might be some strange dream or some group delusion that will end soon so why not have fun? Vincent Tanner, express your inner child!"
Vin groaned and lowered his head. "I don't have an inner child, JD and if I ever did I killed it a long time ago. Talk to me about spirit guides, but don't give me that 'inner child' BS."
"You sound awfully cranky. Maybe you need a nap." JD fled behind Buck when it appeared as if Vin would strike him. And the warning, "Viin" stopped any potential lashing out, though only barely. He watched as JD snuggled up against Buck, clinging to his leg in a decidedly childish manner. "Daddy," he whined, "Vin's bein' mean!"
A strangled gasp escaped Vin. "'Daddy'? 'Daddy'? You perverted little – " A hand on his shoulder silenced him and he sent a threatening look JD's way while the other miniature ATF agent stuck his tongue out at him. He'd always known JD acted like a kid, but this was ridiculous.
JD turned his wide, deceptively innocent eyes on him. "What, Vin? Don't you want Chris to be your daddy?" If not for the slightly wicked smile curling his lips it all might have been a simple question from a child; only JD was no more a child than he was and the very implications of that made Vin's blood boil. He then found himself ensconced in Chris's arms and he forcibly relaxed every muscle in his body. Maybe JD had the right idea about just going with the flow and yet if they didn't tell anyone how would they ever get back to their normal selves?
Soon they were being loaded into the back seat of a car. Buck placed JD in a child's safety seat, to which JD exclaimed, "Wow! Never thought I'd fit in one of these again." One glance at the seat and Vin was glad he didn't have to be in it and had they tried to get him into one he would have bitten them. "Where are we going?"
"To see Dr. Will, remember? He said we could all have a session together."
Vin and JD eyed each other, both of them clueless. "Who is Dr. Will and why would we be having a 'session' together? What kind of doctor is he?"
"Boys, you've been to see Dr. Will many times. Don't you remember him?"
"No," Vin said as JD dutifully reported, "I've never heard of him." When they pulled into the parking lot and saw the sign they understood. "A shrink?"
"No, Vin, a child therapist. The sign does not say 'shrink'. So now you can confess all your deepest darkest secrets! Like how all those bad men touched you – "
The car that had been pulling into a parking place halted abruptly as Chris slammed on the breaks, jerking them all forward sharply. "What? Is that true? Vin? JD?"
JD's eyes nearly doubled in size as he faced down mama bear Chris, angry in defense of his cub. "Chris, you're scarin' them. Let's talk about this more inside, all right?" Reason slowly returned to Chris and he tensely finished parking the car.
When Buck went to retrieve JD, the miniature agent clung to him fiercely. "Did I say something bad? Vin said I wasn't supposed to tell nobody, but it's okay now right? That was before!"
"JD you shut up right now!" Vin's protest was cut off as he was lifted to Chris's hip, the man cradling him protectively to his side. Shit. Why had JD gone and said that for?
"You didn't say anything wrong, JD. Vin's just upset by it. It's fine to say that now, it might help things along." The soft tone of Buck's voice just made Vin bristle all the more. He was going to kill that half-pint as soon as Chris put him down! Chris didn't appear to want to leave his side, but the receptionist said she would keep an eye on them while he and Buck talked to this Dr. Will fellow.
That was his chance. "JD, why did you say that for? What were you thinking?"
"I was kidding! I didn't think they would take it so seriously. I am interested to know what they think about what happened to us and how we ended up with them in the first place. I mean, Chris and Buck and us all living together, only we are children? What does that mean?"
Vin shook his head. "Nothing I want to think on too deeply."
All too soon they were called back into the jaws of death – er, into the blissful land of child/family therapy. JD, caught up in re-living happy childhood memories shrieked, "LEGOS!" and ran across the room to the toys to begin playing. He was asked to bring the legos closer to where everyone else was and he quickly complied, grinning in contentment. Vin wanted to strangle him all the more. They were mature adults. They did NOT play with legos!
Dr. Will's attention focused onto Vin, much to his dismay. "I hear you've been having some difficulties today. Would you like to tell me what's been happening?"
Vin's eyes hardened, his mouth thinning into a harsh line.
"He had a bad dream," JD chirped, regardless of whether it was true or not. He was taking this pretending thing way too far!
"Is that true, Vin? Did you have a bad dream that made you upset?"
"NO!"
JD, still snapping legos into place in a seemingly random manner, replied, "Yes you did. It was about those bad men again and how they – "
"Shut up already, JD!" He might have lunged across the table at JD if not for the sudden presence of Chris at his side, patting his arm and keeping him in place. He cursed darkly, though quietly.
"Daddy said we could talk about it now. That it'd help." JD looked every inch the indignant child and, god, they believe him too! Every time he opened his mouth they believed him and thought that he, Vin, was lying. Great! "I wasn't supposed to watch, though, he said I couldn't, but I could still hear it and they hurt him bad and he would cry."
Vin was practically foaming at the mouth. He went limp at the sound of Chris asking softly, "JD, you said before, when we first saw you that Vin told you nothing was for free and that you were too little to give them what they wanted for – for food or anything else. Was that why? Vin?" Then he tuned out all of them, the doctor, Chris, JD, and Buck who was still sitting there silently watching. It helped that his vision blurred, but he didn't realize it was because of tears until the first one dropped onto his hand.
Legos crashed to the ground. "Vin? I'm sorry! I didn't mean it," JD directed to the adults in the room before saying more loudly, nearly in tears himself, "I lied! I made it all up! Please don't cry!" He was caught up and held by Buck before he could charge over to Vin's side. It had only been a joke, but apparently he had taken it too far. He never thought he'd see the day when Vin Tanner cried and now he wished he hadn't; the guilt was horrible!
For a moment Vin thought to pull himself out of Chris's arms, but he found he didn't have the strength for that. They talked around him for a while until he had quieted down and had released the hold he had on Chris. "You all right there, Cowboy?"
"JD did lie, but he also said some truths, too, even if he didn't know it. I am not a child. I am nearly twenty-eight years olds and I'm a sharpshooter for the ATF and by your disbelieving looks I am going to assume I am not very convincing." He straightened himself up a bit, unable to remember when Chris had pulled him into his lap, but comfortable there all the same.
"So, you're part of the ATF?" Dr. Will asked. "When did you start that?"
Vin couldn't help but grin; of course they didn't believe him. "Nearly four years ago, now. When I was eighteen, straight out of high school I joined the U.S. army's rangers because I had no where else to go and the people I was staying with at the time could have cared less about me. That's where I honed my skills as a professional killer."
"Who were you staying with before you turned eighteen?"
He shrugged. "Some random foster parents. I never stayed long in one place because they labeled me as a trouble maker, when I really wasn't. I just wasn't too keen on getting beat or starved or molested. So I'd run if it got too bad, they'd catch me of course, try to keep me in line, throw me into another place that might be better or might be worse than the last and I'd end up runnin' again. Got to be a pattern. There was stability in the rangers, though and then the ATF."
"Do you go to school anywhere now?"
Vin snorted. "I'm twenty-eight years old. No." He turned in Chris's arms. "I am sorry I'm not whoever you think I am. I'm not a child. This is all really out there, I know, and there's nothing more that I want than to be myself again."
"When's your birthday, Vin?" the therapist was asking gently, trying to show the boy that he was only pretending in an attempt to distance himself from what had happened to him in the past. When Vin gave the correct day and month everything seemed fine. Until he gave the year. Dr. Will scribbled it down and tracked the date backwards, determining that it was the correct year – for a twenty-seven soon-to-be twenty-eight year old. "JD, when's your birthday?" Again, the response was the correct day and month, but the wrong year. "And how old are you, JD?" Surely the boy was too young to figure out that!
"Twenty-three. Yeah, I know it's odd, but I'm not a sniper, in case you were wondering. I'm the computer specialist for the ATF's Team Seven so I don't see much action. Except this last time Josiah was waiting in the surveillance vehicle and we were all searching the warehouse when there was anexplosion."
"We were investigating a gun-running operation when it happened. Ez covered JD and I tried to shield 'em both, then I don't know what went down. There was a loud noise, lights, smoke and then I woke up as you see me now. A child, sleeping on a bunk bed, which I promptly fell off of." Vin knew they weren't buying it and he sagged back against Chris. He wasn't sure he would have believed him had he been in any one of their shoes.
The therapist still smiled at him gently. "Tell me about the warehouse. Had you ever been there before?"
Both boys shook their heads. "Nope. We were just doing our jobs, searching the area. The explosion was unexpected."
JD wailed suddenly and clutched at his head and immediately Buck was trying to sooth him, brushing back his hair. Then he paused and placed his hand against JD's forehead. "You feeling all right there Little Bit?" To Chris he said, "He's awfully hot."
"Fever?" Chris asked as his own hand sought Vin's forehead. "Vin too. You should have told us you weren't feeling well."
"Head hurts," JD mumbled. "Did we get hit with something in the warehouse, Vin?"
"Dunno, could be."
The session with Dr. Will ended and the boys were hurried to see Dr. Two Eagles who decided that they were badly off enough that they should stay at the hospital for observation. Nathan, hearing that both Vin and JD had been admitted to the hospital, checked in on them after work while the boys continued ranting about not being children, that they were ATF officers and what had happened in the warehouse and was Ezra okay? It wasn't until Ezra actually showed up the next day along with Josiah and Nathan – they had called them all, but especially Ezra to ask him to come, hoping that would calm down Vin and JD down – that the boys got any restful sleep at all.
Another day passed with the boys still in the hospital and five anxious men looking in on them every chance that they got. When they were all gathered outside of the boys' hospital rooms, having a momentary break to recharge themselves by drinking lots of coffee in an attempt to keep them a bit more alert, Chris and Buck finally were able to explain what had happened that first day, two days passed. They told them about Vin and JD's change of attitude and the stories that they had made up and most of all the horrifying revelation they had discovered about what exactly had happened to Vin on the streets.
"Dr. Will seems to think that it's a combination of the fever and Vin's desire to keep everything that happened to him bottled up to make him create this reality," Chris was explaining to the newly arrived Josiah as well as Ezra and Nathan.
Buck was nodding in agreement. "Like, if he was a adult it wouldn't be so bad what happened to him. He also suggested that since we saved him from the warehouse and are taking care of him that he wanted to be one of us, an ATF member, someone strong."
"Doesn't change what happened." Chris's voice was gruff, but it was from unshed tears, and not out of meanness. "I had hoped – even with what JD had suggested… I tried to forget it, because I didn't want it to have happened to him." He cleared his throat and no one mentioned the tears glistening in his eyes as they were all experiencing the same problem. "But – but Dr. Will says it's a good breakthrough for him and that maybe we'll get everything out in the open so that he can deal with it. Better now than years down the road when even more problems might crop up."
"Yeah. He said that it was likely that JD was going along with the delusion for Vin's sake so that he wouldn't feel so alone and that the first story he told was likely the true one." Buck took a steadying breath. "It explains why Vin was so angry yesterday, though. Never heard him swear like that before, but it was a bit unusual that a kid that had been on the streets so long hadn't picked up some bad language somewhere."
A soft sound, a whined, "Da," had Buck moving toward the room where JD had been placed in, obviously glad that JD was back to calling him that instead of "daddy" or just "Buck". JDwas quiet, but more alert and coherent than he had been and there was no trace at all of the strange vocabulary or ATF references that there had been before. They left Buck alone with JD and proceed to Vin's room to make sure he was doing all right. Roughly a half an hour later Vin began to stir again,the word, "Dad?" on his lips.
That one small word made everything all right again. Chris could face anything, any problems, any nightmares, any pretend games or fend offany enemies real or imagined for that one small word. Everything was looking up again.
-The End-
Note: There were references to a fic in here (the part where Chris mentions what JD said before) but I don't remember what the fic was called or who it was by. There are quite a few fics out there that explain the first time adults Chris and Buck meet little Vin and JD, but that version was the freshest in my mind so I used that.
I also have a Two-Blood AU fic that I'll post eventually, but I would like to get caught up on a few of my chapter fics first. That's why I made this one a one-shot! I just got it down to eight chapter fics and I do not need another one banging around!