It had been a cold, wet night, but the next morning found the sun peeking through the clouds. Vin woke first, just before dawn, and made coffee and unpacked supplies for a quick breakfast. The former buffalo hunter was used to living outdoors in all kinds of weather, but even he had to admit that he was enjoying the sight of the sun this morning.

Chris was next to wake up, and he felt like he had swallowed a cotton ball. He tried to clear his throat, but the feeling would not go away. "Maybe coffee will help," he thought.

As Larabee walked over to Vin and asked if the coffee was ready, Vin's bright blue eyes grew wide and a smirk formed on the tracker's handsome face. Only a couple of strange squeaks emerged from Chris' mouth as he tried to speak.

"Shit," thought Chris, "what a wonderful time to lose my damn voice."

"You ok there, Cowboy?" Vin continued to smile.

"Shit." This time Chris attempted to say it out loud.

Vin poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Chris. "Here, try this."

The silent, blond gunslinger took the offering and wandered over to a patch of sunshine to warm up and drink the coffee.

"Never a dull moment with these fellers," said the long-brown-haired Texan to himself as Josiah ambled over towards him.

"Good morning, brother Vin. What's our plan for this fine day?" Josiah asked.

"Mornin' Josiah. I think Chris is feelin' a might talkative today. Why don't you go ask him?" Vin laughed.

The big ex-preacher was curious as to what was tickling Vin so this morning, so he took his coffee and headed over towards Larabee.

"Damnit Vin," thought Chris.

Vin could have made his life easier if he just explained to Josiah what was going on, but now Chris was going to have to squeak out enough words to tell him himself. Maybe he would get lucky and the ex-preacher wouldn't feel like talking?

Yeah right.

"Brother Chris, are you enjoying the sunny morning?" boomed Josiah's loud voice.

Vin followed not far behind Sanchez.

Chris tried desperately to clear his throat once again, looked at Vin, and managed to mostly get out the single word, "help."

The long-haired man broke out laughing, and said, "Chris here seems to have come down with a case of laryngitis."

Josiah's blue eyes widened, and he said, "is that right?"

Chris tried to say, "yeah," but he was only able to mouth the word; no sound came forth.

"Do you think you caught Buck and JD's cold?" Josiah asked.

Chris shrugged his shoulders and replied (as best he could), "feel ok otherwise." He was trying so hard to make a sound that it made him cough.

Their party wouldn't get close to the Storm gang until at least tomorrow, so Larabee figured maybe he wouldn't have to talk much today…..and then he heard Ezra stirring around.

Vin headed back to pack up the camp and left Larabee and Josiah to finish their coffee and get the horses ready. Vin decided that he was going to have some fun with their current situation.

"It's about time you woke up," Vin said. "Chris is pretty ticked; was wantin' to be on the trail by now."

"Of course he was," sighed Ezra. "I guess the sunshine has done nothing to improve our leader's disposition."

The gambler quickly packed up his bedroll, grabbed a biscuit, and a cup of coffee. He then met up with the two eldest members of the group.

"I am ready whenever you gentlemen are," remarked Ezra. Chris walked away, not wanting to try and explain his vocal problems to Standish at the moment. Since Vin had already planted a bug in Ezra's ear, Standish thought Chris turned away because he was angry.

"Mr. Larabee?" Standish questioned. Chris looked back, shook his head, and turned away again. "Mr. Larabee?" Ezra repeated. "If you are upset with me, I ask that you at least have the common decency to tell me why."

Chris sighed and tried to give Ezra a look that said, "let it go." Standish did not read the look correctly.

"I, for one, am quite tired of always being at the receiving end of your anger. Maybe I should ride back to town now and save you all the irritation of dealing with me as a companion," Ezra's voice was getting louder, and Josiah and Vin took notice.

"Damnit Ezra, I ain't angry," Chris tried to say, but his back was still to Standish and Ezra didn't hear Larabee say anything at all. Ezra's temper was boiling over at the fact that Chris was simply ignoring him.

Ezra reached out and spun Larabee around...so quickly in fact that Chris' hat fell off. Ezra then proceeded to deck the gunslinger with a hard right hook to the face. Vin and Josiah took off running towards the battling men. Larabee was still sitting on the ground, holding his jaw, and Ezra finished with, "there, sir, NOW you truly have a reason to be angry with me."

Josiah grabbed Ezra by the arm as he tried to walk to and mount his horse, "Wo there, son."

Vin offered his hand to Larabee to help him up and then retrieved the black hat. "Ah hell," Vin started. "I'm sorry fellers. I was just havin' a little fun this mornin'. Chris, I's the one who told Ezra you were angry." Vin then looked to Standish, "Ezra, Chris wasn't mad at all. He's just frustrated 'cause he done gone and lost his voice, and I don't think he felt up to explainin' it to ya right now."

"What?" questioned Ezra. He looked at Chris, and said, "is this true?"

The fair-haired man shook his head, "yes," and squeaked out between coughs, "I tried to tell ya things were fine, Ezra."

"I do apologize Mr. Larabee," said Ezra, "I should have decked Mr. Tanner instead." And with that, Vin took off back towards the camp with Standish running after him.

"You ok, Chris?" asked Josiah, watching the man still rubbing his jaw.

Larabee shook his head in the affirmative and then motioned with his hands that he would follow Josiah to help finish readying everyone's mounts.

Ezra finally caught up with Vin, grabbed a handful of his hide coat, and flung the lean tracker to the ground. "Mr. Tanner, what on Earth were you thinking? You managed to goad me into punching Chris Larabee."

Vin looked up at the auburn-haired man as innocently as possible and said, "come on Ez. It was just a little joke."

"It wasn't funny. Would you have found it amusing if Mr. Larabee would have decided to shoot me?"

"Chris wasn't gonna shoot ya," Vin rolled his eyes.

"I'm positive that he has shot men for less," Ezra continued to glare at the tracker.

"I said I was sorry; don't know what else I can say, Ezra," Vin got to his feet and returned the glare, "and if ya know what's good for ya, ya won't shove me again."

"Fine, sir, next time I will just punch you instead," Ezra walked away and went to collect his things for the long trip ahead.

All parties made up before leaving camp, and the remainder of the day passed without much excitement. Chris remained quieter than usual. Trying to talk proved painful for his sore throat. He presumed that he had indeed caught JD and Buck's cold, but overall he didn't feel too bad. He didn't have a fever and his head was clear; the infection was only bothering his chest and vocal cords. Even for Larabee though, who was always fairly quiet, it was damn annoying not to be able to talk at all. Fortunately, Ezra and Josiah were more than happy to carry the day's conversations, and Vin easily took over the leader position temporarily.

The four men camped that night with a view of the majestic Rocky Mountains in the distance.