Josiah sat quietly in the church thinking about the past week. The foundation of their group had been tested, when the gambler had returned with a very injured and sick Vin. True they each had been hurt once in the past six months but it had never been so serious. He had watched as not only Chris but Ezra struggled to come to terms with what had happened and how close they had come to losing Vin. Now they all waited to see how Ezra was doing. Nathan had said they were lucky Vin had said something when he did or it might have been worse. A slight infection and a bullet wound that needed stitching Ezra had been lucky.
However it had shaken Josiah to his core. He had at some point adopted the quiet Southerner as his son. Even before he had met Ezra's mother, even before he thought that something was wrong with the man at the table.
Josiah shifted his position on the pew. He wasn't sure when he had started looking at Four Corners as home. Perhaps it had been shortly after the Seminole Village and Nathan had to keep him to watch. Or when Chris had offered him that job, and it had been taken away and they all came back together to save the town. He didn't know he just knew he liked it.
He took a drink from the flask Ezra had given him as an early birthday present. He new the gambler kept his filled with whisky, Josiah had kept his filled with water. As he sat there his thoughts drifted off to each of the men how they came to mean so much to him. Though Ezra a little more. He reminded Josiah of the son he never had, because his wife had passed away before they're first child was born. He knew the gambler didn't have a good childhood, neither did Vin for that matter. So it amazed him that of all of them Vin had seemed to be the one to crack Ezra's shell first, and the usually quiet southerner hadn't seemed to mind.
As the oldest of the group Josiah had the experience to see what was really happening to them all. They were slowly forging a bond that went beyond their work, and well beyond their friendship. Their past had joined them together forging a bond so strong nothing would break it but one of them. They were an odd group, which caused Josiah to laugh.
Odd indeed but they all fit perfectly with one another. They all had seemed to split up in twos as being the closest to each other. Ezra at first had seemed happy in the prospect of being the loner. However Vin had made it his job to include him and he had and it worked. Ezra no longer staid by himself as much, readily agreeing to games without money, or taking an extra turn at a watch. He had even agreed to a fishing trip with JD even though he complained about the need to sleep on the ground.
Josiah raised his flask towards the clinic before calling it a night. It was wonderful to finally have a family again, to have people to care and to care for.