This was originally a series of loosely connected bits embedded in a discussion on another list. I've pulled them together and expanded on them a bit is all.
Thanks to Tess for the *very* fast beta! I really appreciate it.

Strong hands tore at Vin Tanner, pushing him none-too-gently against wall of the livery. Hard, insistent lips pressed against his own cut off the explosion of breath escaping his lungs.

"It's about time you got back," a honey-smooth drawl whispered against his lips, as a hot, hard groin pressed against his own.

Vin grinned, wrapping his arms around his lover's shoulders. "What? No 'Welcome home, Vin'? No 'I missed you, Vin'? It's been two whole days, Ezra."

The gambler chuckled, sliding his hand against Vin's growing erection. "Mmmmm," he pressed his lips against the tracker's. "Welcome home, Vin," he murmured.

Vin gasped, arching against the gambler's magic fingers.

Ezra grinned wickedly, pulling Vin closer to nibble at his earlobe. "I missed you, Vin," he whispered against the tracker's throat.

"Oh, God, Ez," Vin groaned softly.

"Might I suggest," Ezra murmured, "that we retire to my room before..."

"Vin!"

The two men jumped apart as they heard Buck shout from just outside.

"I know yer in there! I saw you ride in."

With a resigned look in Ezra's direction, Vin walked toward the open doorway. "What d'ya want, Buck?"

"Ain't me, it's Chris. Seems he got a wire from the lawman in Twin Oaks." Buck grinned. "Somethin' about the condition of their prisoner when he was delivered?"

"There a problem?" Vin drawled softly.

"You'd best go talk to Chris." Buck grinned again. Looking over Vin's shoulder, he nodded to the gambler. "Hey Ez, what're you doin' here this time o' day?"

*

*

"Vin," Ezra whispered.

The tracker didn't respond, distracted by the revelry. The birthday party at the saloon was in full swing. Music and clapping drifted out to the street. Loud laughter echoed as Josiah swung Inez around the dance floor. Altogether, the din served to drown out the gambler's quiet words.

"Vin!" the gambler whispered more urgently, tossing a small cork in the tracker's direction.

Vin's head turned, blue eyes meeting green across the small space.

Ezra smiled lasciviously, nodding in the direction of the doors, with a wag of his eyebrows.

Vin grinned back with a small nod of acknowledgement.

Casually, the two men snuck out, Vin through the saloon's swinging doors, Ezra out the back.

Meeting around the side of the building, Ezra groaned, pulling the tracker tightly to him. "Hmmmm, Mr. Tanner," he teased, mumbling between kisses, "I've missed you."

"Ready to pick up where we left off?" Vin chuckled, trailing his hand around under Ezra's coat, sliding it down his back to cup the gambler's firm cheeks, pulling him tight against Vin's own heat.

"Indubitably." Ezra grinned, grabbing Vin's hand and turning to pull him in the direction of the livery.

Rounding the corner, they stumbled into JD and Casey, smiling and giggling as they walked toward the saloon.

"Hey," JD grinned, "you guys are coming to the birthday party, right?"

Ezra closed his eyes with a small sigh, squeezing Vin's fingers behind his back, before dropping them, pasting on a wide smile and saying, "Indeed. We were just on our way."

*

*

Vin stood near the back of the crowd; idly letting others push in front of him. A loud chorus of "Happy Birthday" struck up as Inez walked in carrying a large, well-lit birthday cake and set it on the table in front of Judge Travis.

Grabbing Ezra's hand, Vin used the heaven sent distraction to shuffle the gambler quickly away from the party.

Once outside, he couldn't resist any longer, and pulled Ezra into his arms. "God Ez, I can't take much more of this."

"Agreed," Ezra whispered. Tangling his fingers into the tracker's long curls, he pulled Vin's mouth to meet his own, devouring the sweet lips, passion too long denied adding a desperate urgency to his movements.

Pulling back only slightly, maintaining his hold on Vin's face, he stared deeply into desire-glazed blue eyes. "Vin, I need you... now. Shall we retire to my room? Or do you have someplace closer in mind?"

"Ezra," Vin whispered, blinking, just as a second small voice interrupted.

"What'cha doin'?" Billy Travis asked loudly.

Ezra slowly turned to look down at the boy, his hands still cradling Vin's cheeks. Billy and Mary stood in the dim light. Billy had a wide-eyed, perplexed look on his face, and Mary seemed to be trying to hide a grin behind her fingers. "Yes, Ezra," she smiled, "what ARE you doing?"

Ezra hesitated only a moment, "Mr., uh, Mr. Tanner had something in his eye. I was endeavouring to help him rid himself of the debris."

"Thanks for trying anyway, Ez." Vin muttered.

"Oh," Billy mumbled, disappointed, "I thought you were gonna kiss 'im."

*

*

Ezra grinned at the soft knock on his door.

Easing the door open a fraction, he murmured, "Yes?"

"Lemme in Ez, quick, 'fore someone sees." Vin Tanner was beginning to feel as though there was a huge conspiracy brewing to keep him out of the gambler's bed. But damn it, enough was enough!

Ezra opened the door further, and the tracker slipped quickly inside, closing it firmly behind himself.

"Ez," he growled, tearing at the gambler's fine clothing, pulling the tie from around his neck. Latching his lips onto Ezra's soft mouth, he groaned, using his right hand to fumble with the buttons on the expensive brocade vest, while the other hand pushed the heavy coat off Ezra's shoulders.

Equally desperate, Ezra pushed at Vin's jacket and shirt, taking no notice of buttons flying into various corners of the room.

Vin licked at Ezra's ear, wringing a deep moan from the gambler's chest, before letting his lips stray down the strong neck, sucking and nibbling, leaving a trail of small passion marks as he went.

"Have mercy!" Ezra gasped, stumbling in his haste to pull the tracker toward the bed.

A knock sounded on the door.

Vin groaned.

"Ignore it," Ezra urged.

"I didn't lock..."

"Ezra, darling boy!" Maude was speaking even as she barged into Ezra's room.

"Mother?" Ezra muttered, pulling away from Vin as the tracker beat a hasty exit from the room. The gambler sighed, making no more than a cursory attempt to straighten his dishevelled appearance.

"Ezra, dear, what WAS that man doing in here?"

"Mother..."

"Now you know darlin' boy, that I wouldn't DREAM of interfering,"

"Mother..." He rolled his eyes.

"But you must realise the man is..."

"Is what Mother?" Ezra asked, warning clear in his tone.

"Well... he's POOR, of course."

*

*

Ezra sighed softly, brushing a finger idly back and forth through a small puddle of water on the bar. The last of the partygoers were finally leaving, but Vin was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Ezra hadn't seen the tracker since he'd disappeared after Maude's abrupt arrival.

Quiet settled over the saloon as the last rowdy group moved off down the boardwalk.

Ezra sighed again, reaching for a shot glass to pour himself a stiff drink.

He jumped, spinning, as he felt a hand on his shoulder and a soft whisper in his ear, "We alone?"

Ezra grinned at Vin's suggestive leer, pulling the tracker close as he murmured, "At long last," in reply.

"Let's go Ez, right now," Vin muttered, pressing his heat against the gambler's matching erection, "if I don't feel you inside me soon, I'm gonna explode."

"God, Vin," Ezra groaned, drawing in a sharp breath at the tracker's throaty murmur. "I've been going mad all evening, imagining your lean, smooth body bucking under me, around me." The gambler leaned closer, breathing directly into Vin's ear, "Imagining the breathy cries, the soft whimpering moans I want to draw from your throat."

Vin groaned, "Let's go."

Spinning around, Ezra bumped the short stack of trays balanced precariously on the end of the bar, knocking them to the floor with a loud clatter.

Blushing at the clumsiness, Ezra knelt quickly to pick up the scattered trays.

"Ezra," Vin knelt beside the gambler, pulling him forward into a deep kiss.

Surroundings forgotten, Ezra could not help but respond. Leaning into the kiss, Ezra began to tug at Vin's clothing, pushing the tracker's jacket off his shoulders, tearing at the few remaining shirt buttons.

"Senor Standish?" Inez called, "Ezra?"

Ezra jumped up behind the bar, keeping his hand on Vin's shoulder. "Yes, Inez? What can I do for you?"

Inez scowled slightly at the gambler's unsettled behaviour, so unlike his usual controlled nature. "I thought I heard something crash. Is everything all right in here?"

Ezra shifted slightly, careful not to look down. The tracker was still on his knees at Ezra's feet and the gambler could well imagine Vin's leering grin, as he felt fingers inching up his thighs, working his belt.

"Um ... No! I mean, everything is fine. I just knocked over the stack of trays."

"Oh," Inez smiled. "Let me help you pick them up," she added, moving toward the bar.

"No!" Ezra burst out, "I mean," he gasped slightly, feeling Vin chuckling against his groin, "that's not necessary. It's been a long evening. The festivities are finally over. Tomorrow is early enough to start the clean-up."

Inez hesitated, a slight frown wrinkling her forehead, wondering at the gambler's white-knuckled grip on the bar, "If you are sure?"

Ezra coughed, clearing his throat, "Absolutely."

Inez nodded then, leaving.

"Finally," Ezra murmured in his soft Southern drawl, smiling as he reached down for Vin, who was grinning up at the gambler from his kneeling position on the floor.

"Ezra?" Chris Larabee called, striding purposefully through the swinging saloon doors.

Ezra lifted a whiskey bottle and glass from beneath the bar in a single smooth motion, looking for all the world as though that was what he'd intended all along. He squirmed slightly, trying ineffectually to shift away from Vin's teasing caresses.

"You seen Vin?" Chris asked.

The gambler's hand shook slightly, spilling a little as he lifted the glass to his lips. "Not recently," he muttered, disgruntled.

A soft groan interrupted the quiet and the two men turned to see Nathan sitting up in the corner, rubbing at his chin. The healer was uncharacteristically dishevelled, vest hanging off his left arm, shirt untucked and hanging open.

"Nathan?" Chris called, "what happened to you?"

The healer ducked his head with a grin, stammering, "Uh, y'all see where Josiah went?"

Ezra shook as head, as Chris muttered, "Went off with some woman, last I saw."

"Don't," Ezra squeaked.

The gunslinger and the healer turned to look at the gambler, surprised.

Ezra cleared his throat, "Don't you, uh, don't you think you should go look for him?" Hands shaking, he poured himself another drink.

"You okay, Ezra? You look a little pale," Nathan asked, concerned.

"I am quite all right. Just somewhat fatigued. It would seem to be well past time for me to be in bed," Ezra muttered, his voice dropping to a husky whisper at the last words.

"If you're sure," the healer muttered.

Chris and Nathan left the saloon, going their separate ways, each in search of their missing friend.

Waiting only a moment after the two men disappeared, Ezra pulled Vin up to his feet with a growl, "Rest assured, my friend, retribution shall be swift and sure."

"I'm countin' on it," Vin leered.

Ezra hoisted the tracker to sit on the bar, pushing Vin until he was leaning back on his hands. "Don't move," the gambler growled, with soft menace colouring his Southern accent. Tearing at Vin's clothing, pushing aside what couldn't be removed, Ezra bared his partner's chest to his hungry eyes.

Now it was Vin's turn to groan softly as fingers, lips and teeth roved voraciously over ever inch of exposed skin, teasing, tickling, nibbling until his whole body thrummed, aching with want. Ezra grinned against the tracker's quivering belly, moving lower and lower toward the centre of Vin's need.

"Oh, God, Ezra," he whispered.

The gambler pulled Vin down from the bar, turning him quickly, pushing until Vin lay pressed over, gripping the bar with tight fists while Ezra worked his pants down to his knees.

Eyes wide at the gambler's sudden steely determination, Vin choked, "Ezra, here? What if someone comes in?"

"I don't care," the gambler rasped, "you're mine. It's time they all knew it."

Vin moaned, Ezra's words curling through his belly. "Yes," he whispered, roughly.

Ezra kneaded his fingers over the tracker's smooth cheeks, letting his thumbs slide down the crack as he pulled them open, baring Vin's grasping opening to his burning gaze. Extending his tongue, he began licking across Vin's low hanging scrotum, slowly working his way upward.

The tracker bucked in his tight-fisted grip as Ezra worked his tongue against Vin's small puckered entrance, wetting it and teasing at it until he felt it relax and open slightly under his determined ministrations as a low rumbling groan vibrated through Vin's entire frame.

"Sweet Jesus, Ez, please," Vin gritted, his eyes clenched tight as he let his forehead thump down against the bar.

Ezra grinned. "Was there something you needed?"

Vin groaned, moving his head where it rested against the bar in an attempt to nod. "You," he growled. "In me. Now."

The gambler chuckled softly. His cock was still aching and wet from Vin's teasing as he positioned it against the tracker's opening. "Mine." Ezra thrust forward; burying himself in Vin's willing body in a swift, smooth motion.

Vin gasped, chest squeezing at Ezra's claim, meeting the gambler's frantic pounding with a renewed frenzy of his own. "I love you, Ezra."

"Love you too, Vin," the gambler growled, "My Vin." Latching his mouth onto Vin's collarbone to swallow his shout of completion, Ezra tumbled over the edge of control, shuddering, shooting his climax into the tracker's limp body.

The two men crumpled to the floor, laying spooned together.

Kissing Vin softly on the forehead, Ezra sighed, "We should go up to my bed."

Vin chuckled, a quiet, exhausted sound, "Yes, we should."

But neither man moved, content to lay together, wrapped in the warmth, security and love of each other's embrace.