Disclaimer: I own nothing and all mistakes are mine.

Confined

It only took seconds for the bright sunshine to turn into partial darkness as Vin and Jimmy fell down the well. But it was not the darkness that bothered Vin, his time spent with the Kiowa's and Comanche's had taught him how to track, escape and attack in the dead of night, it was the lack of space. Before they'd even hit the bottom, his breath had caught in his throat and he was struggling to maintain his composure. Unconsciously tightening his grip on Jimmy, Vin took a deep breath and held it, in an attempt to both ward off his increasing panic and in case the water was deep enough for them to go under. The awkwardness of the fall meant that on several occasions the Texan came into contact with the well's brick wall, scraping his arms and legs and banging the back of his head hard enough to blacken his vision.

Following the sensation of pain and disorientation was the feeling of being completely submerged in the water, eyes wide open as the small circle of light at the top of the well became blurred through the murky water, feeling Jimmy squirm in his grasp the tracker kick viciously with his legs, propelling them both to the surface. The eerie silence of the water was broken as they both gasped for breath and the echoes of those above filtered down through the dark.

"Vin!" "Jimmy!" "Vin answer me damn it!" "Jimmy, son, are you okay?"

"Ma!"

"Jimmy! Jimmy you okay?"

"Fine Ma"

"Where's Vin?"

Shaking his head to try and clear the lingering spots of darkness from his vision, whilst at the same time treading water to keep both of them afloat Vin left it to Jimmy to reply.

"He's here Mr Larabee"

"Vin" it was Nathan's voice "you okay?"

"M'fine"

"Well that sure was convincing Vin" Buck's voice,

"Ma, it's cold and dark down here!"

"You hold on now Jimmy we're gunna get you outta there"

"Vin" Josiah this time "How deep is the water?"

Glancing at his young charge Vin saw scared brown eyes looking up at him.

"Can you touch the bottom Mr Vin? I can't I'm too small"

Using his arms to guide Jimmy's hands to the wall, Vin made sure the boy had a firm grip and wouldn't slip under without his support, before letting himself sink under the water. All at once the fear of being confined rocketed. The darkness of the water obscured everything around him but his arms could still feel the walls on either side of him, and he definitely couldn't touch the bottom. He could feel the fear eating away at him, ripping through his defences and gripping his soul.

Have to get out have to get out.

Spinning under the water, Vin tried to push himself upwards using the walls, but various mosses had made the walls slippery and he couldn't get a grip.

The silence after Josiah's question worried all those topside. Sharing an uneasy glance the other regulators called out again, wanting to make sure their missing member hadn't drowned.

"Vin?" Silence. Another glance "Vin?" Panic was evident in the voices this time as all six called simultaneously. "He's gone under" it was Jimmy, his fear making his voice shaky.

Kicking his legs violently, Vin managed to move upwards, hitting his legs against the wall only fuelled his claustrophobia and in his panic he opened his mouth swallowing a mouthful of water. After several seconds Vin's survival instincts overrode his fear for long enough for him to fight his way to the surface, gasping for air and spitting water. Wild eyes searching for a way out, anyway out.

"Vin!" the tracker physically jumped as the sound broke through the layers of terror and brought him with a jolt back to reality.

"Mr Tanner?" Ezra that voice was definitely Ezra. "Ez! I can't touch the bottom" Vin's fear was clear in his voice and it only took the gambler seconds to come to the conclusion that Vin was claustrophobic. He couldn't be worried about the water. Ezra had seen Vin jump into a rushing river to save a small child, and fight his way with the precious life in his arms back to the shore. There was little else to cause such fear down the well.

"Oh dear" all the others turned to look at the southerner, worry marking all their faces. "What Ezra?" "It appears our dear tracker is claustrophobic" "Claustra-wha?" Questioned JD, Nathan nodded, "That would make sense, we need to get them out of there, Mr Wilson do you have any rope?" "There were some coils in the barn" Josiah took off towards the barn without a word. Buck looked towards JD who was still trying to figure out what was going on, "Means he don't like small spaces kid" JD absently nodded his head, the new information adding up with things he's seen Tanner do and avoid.

Jimmy's grip on the wall faltered and he slipped under with a small whimper of fear. Vin reached under and grabbed him, pulling the boy back to the surface and again treading water to keep the both of them afloat, his bruised and scraped limbs protesting at the constant motion, breathing shallow and panicky. Mind flashing back to the past…

Trapped, no way out, got to get out, laughter, horrible evil-sounding laughter, legs and arms kicking and punching, striking solid wood. Pain. Silence, the silence was the worst.

"Jimmy, Son there's a rope coming down now, I want you to tie it to yourself and then we're gunna pull you up okay?"

"Yes Pa"

The voices brought Vin back to the present and the realisation that the Wilson boy was still clinging to him gave him something other than the confines of the well to focus on.

"Ya hear that Jimmy, they're gunna get you out of here and everything's gunna be okay"

"Are you sure Mr Vin?"

"I give ya my word kid"

Seemingly accepting this, the boy looked up as a rope was lowered down.

"There it is!"

Jimmy reached up and got hold of the rope, handing it to Vin who took it and started to tie it around the boy's waist. Once he was sure it was secure, he looked Jimmy in the eye and tried to calm the unease he saw there. "Put your hands on the rope above you, it'll ease the pull off the rope on your waist and don't look back down keep your eyes on ya ma"

Jimmy nodded his head once, raised his hands to the rope but he kept his gaze on Vin who was still supporting him. "What's going to happen to you?"

"You don't worry about me little fella, ya just get yourself to ya Ma"

"Vin is the rope secure?" That was Nathan again, no doubt hoping that he could get the kid up top without him getting injured.

"Ready when you are Nate!"

Vin watched as Jimmy was lifted to safety, before his eyes drifted again to the walls of the well, the walls that were closing in. The darkness that was suffocating, he could no longer distract himself from his surroundings by using the welfare of the kid, and he was tiring, his muscles were burning, after spending the day helping to fix up the ranch and digging several holes to find the well that he was now stuck down, he didn't know how much longer he could keep treading water. His head was starting to hurt from where he'd whacked it, but even the physical pain and fatigue he was feeling couldn't cancel out the fear.