Sequel to: Watched

Chris hadn't really been surprised when Vin came into his office Monday morning looking angry, but he was taken aback by the fact that the sharpshooter didn't close the door to give them privacy. Vin saw the look and snorted. "Nope, cowboy, you dragged Buck and JD into this so I figure ain't nothin' I have to say needs to be a secret."

Chris scowled. "And exactly what is it you think you have to say, Tanner?"

"First I've got a question." One corner of Vin's mouth quirked up in a mocking snarl. "You enjoy spyin' on me and Emily Friday night? She wanted to know if maybe you wanted me for yourself, seemed to think you might not just be watchin', if you get my meaning. Did she think right?"

"You think that I..." Chris went red in the face and slammed his hand down on his desk. "What the hell kind of question is that?! I was just looking out for you, you ungrateful bastard, you've got no call to accuse me of..."

"I've got every right," Vin interrupted. "First you had Buck and JD on me, then when they backed off like I asked there you were to take their place. Why don't you tell me why my personal life is suddenly your business, Larabee? I under suspicion of somethin', maybe you think I'm playin' both sides?"

"No, of course not !" Chris shot to his feet. "This isn't about you, Tanner, it's about the team! We've got a good thing going here and I'll do whatever it takes to keep it that way, understood? I refuse to let anybody mess this family up for any reason - especially not because somebody didn't feel like keeping it in his pants!"

"Oh, I see." Vin's tone was sarcastic, his eyes hard. "So I guess that would apply to Buck too, then? He wouldn't wear pants at all if he could get away with it..."

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it," Larabee spat. "Nothing Buck does involves the team, he knows better - and you should have too. Now get out of my office and get back to work."

Vin hesitated just long enough to make a point and then obeyed. No one would have known it to look at him, but the confrontation had shaken him badly. He'd known since joining the team that Chris had...problems stemming from the loss of his family, he just hadn't known deep those problems ran. He sat down at his desk and turned on his computer, pulling up the report he'd been working on and staring at it blankly. He didn't look up when he felt the presence behind him. "What'cha want, Buck? You can't have her phone number so don't ask."

Buck chuckled. "Wasn't plannin' on it - like the man said, I know better than to upset the status quo." He sobered quickly. "Vin, about Chris..."

Tanner's blue gaze swung up to lock with his. "You're makin' it worse by goin' along with him."

"It ain't like that." The older man shook his head. "I'd expect you of all people'd understand, Tanner; once a man's lost his family, if he's lucky enough to get another one he ain't gonna let anything take it away from him."

Vin didn't soften. "Oh, so since I'm part of his family now he gets to have a say in how I run my life, is that it? I'm his 'boy' now so he calls the shots?"

"Yeah, that's about the size of it," Buck replied coolly. "And since your last shot missed the target and went someplace it shouldn't have, you should be grateful for the help. Be expectin' more of it, too; you spent the weekend with Miss Emily, and if you start to enjoy her company on a regular basis we'll be needin' to know more about her, make sure she fits in."

"I kind of expected that," Vin ground out. His eyes narrowed suddenly. "That why you never stay with one woman too long, Bucklin? Because he don't like it?"

Wilmington straightened and turned red. "Family's the most important thing in the world, Tanner."

Vin nodded. "Yeah, it is. But a man's got a right to start his own, too, and that don't mean he has to lose the one he's already in."

Buck stiffened even more but didn't respond except to say, "You just think about what I said, won't be no problems once you accept the situation." And then he stalked out of the cubicle, leaving Vin with a lot on his mind.

Ezra came in late, as usual, and two hours after that JD went to get some lunch for everyone and Vin headed up to the roof to get some fresh air. He wasn't surprised to find the young agent waiting for him. "What is it you wanted to tell me?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"I didn't know what they were up to for sure until this morning," JD almost stuttered. "I mean, on Friday Buck said they were planning to find a real long undercover assignment to keep Ezra away for a while and I didn't like the sound of it, but now..." He looked absolutely sickened. "Vin, they're planning to put him under in a prison. Chris is going to have the police come get him this afternoon and just haul him off, he said it had to 'look good'."

Vin paled. "Oh shit..."

"That...that isn't all." JD swallowed convulsively. "His cover...once he's in the only person who'd be able to get him out would be Chris. And some of the things they wanted in the false record..."

"I get the idea," Vin interrupted, not wanting to hear any more. He cocked his head at the younger man. "JD, you realize Chris is sick, right?" A nod and another swallow. "And Buck...Buck has been playin' along for so long that he can't see to do anything else. I know you didn't want to be a part of what was goin' on and I appreciate the risk you're taking to warn me and Ez."

"I had to warn you, you're both my friends. And..." JD sighed and shook his head. "I don't see what the big deal was about the two of you being together. You were happy, that's all that should have mattered."

Vin smiled at him and patted his shoulder. "That is all that matters - and we are happy. We're also leavin', and after what you just told me I think we'd better do it today. But JD," the sharpshooter grew serious again. "JD, they're gonna figure out that it was you who told us and then it'll be your ass and Ez and I neither one would want that. Do you want to come with us?"

JD's eyes widened. "Where are you going?"

"California." Vin winked. "Figured it might be nice not to have to put up with this damn mucky Colorado weather, thought we could get a place somewhere between the mountains and the beach. Sound good to you?"

"Sounds great to me!" JD exclaimed enthusiastically. Then his face fell again. "Buck ain't gonna like it much, though."

Vin patted his shoulder again. "You let me worry about Buck. Now why don't you go on and get lunch, and this afternoon...well, just follow my lead. Get goin' now." JD took off, and Vin slumped and allowed the worry he was feeling to show. Goddamned bastards, it hadn't been enough to try to break him and Ezra up, now they were apparently out to teach the Southerner a 'lesson' of the vilest kind. Blue eyes hardened and Vin's jaw set. "We'll just see who learns the lesson, cowboy, we'll just see."

The office had been quiet and the men of Team Seven hard at work when Larabee's yell shattered the air. "Standish! Get your ass in here!"

Ezra finished the sentence he was typing, saved and backed up his report, and then picked up a paper that was lying on his desk and sauntered into the lion's den. "Mr. Larabee, you bellowed?"

"Wouldn't have to if you weren't the most insubordinate piece of shit that ever worked for the federal government," came the snarled reply. "I've got a new assignment for you and you start immediately, your ride will be here any minute."

"I shall need a little time to make arrangements..."

"Well, you won't get it," Chris cut him off. "We'll take care of your stuff, or you can just replace it when you get back. The police are coming to pick up one Alfred Sanchez and deliver him back to Buena Vista for violating his parole, we needed someone on the inside up there."

Ezra had paled when Chris said Buena Vista. "Getting someone in and out of a maximum security prison is not so easy to set up safely..."

"I don't give a damn about safe, I just want you to do your job. And this is deep cover so I'll be your only contact, I'll get you out when I'm ready to and not before." Larabee's expression twisted into a rictus of a smile. "Maybe while you're in there you'll have time to think about some of the mistakes you've made lately, realize how good you have it here."

"I won't go, I refuse the assignment."

"I refuse to accept your refusal," came the cool reply. Chris stood up and circled around his desk like a panther stalking his prey. He stared down at the smaller man, his turquoise eyes darkened almost to black. "You had an itch you needed scratched so I've arranged it for you; those boys up there should be happy to help, and I guarantee it won't itch any more once they're done with you. As soon as I'm convinced that you're ready to come back to the family I'll bring you home."

"I won't go." Ezra swallowed and took a step back, holding out the paper. "My resignation, Mr. Larabee, effective immediately. As of this moment I am no longer a federal agent and therefore no longer obliged to follow your orders."

Chris took the paper, looked at it...and then ripped it in half. "What resignation? I didn't receive any resignation from you, Agent Standish." There was a very official-sounding knock at his door, and Chris smiled. "Or should I say, Alfred Sanchez?"

Ezra took another step back. "You can't do this, Chris."

The grin widened disturbingly. "I'm the head of this family, I can do whatever needs doing to take care of it. If you're a good boy you could be out in a month, although I really don't expect it to take you less than two or three to learn your lesson. And don't bother trying to tell anyone about all this, as soon as you're on your way we'll start erasing your real identity 'for your own protection'; Ezra Standish won't exist again until I say he can." He went back to his seat at the desk and raised his voice. "Come in, boys, he's ready to go!"

The door opened, but instead of uniformed officers it framed Judge Travis and Vin with JD, Josiah and Nathan standing behind them. "You weren't gonna send him off to OZ without his ruby slippers, were you, cowboy?" Vin said lightly, but there was a hard, dangerous light in his eyes. "Thought I'd better bring along Glinda and the munchkins just in case."

Travis stepped into the room and looked around. "You all right, son?" he asked Ezra.

The undercover agent swallowed and shook his head. "No sir, ah don't believe ah am."

"Would have been worried if you'd said yes," the judge grunted. "That was quick thinking on the part of you and Agents Tanner and Dunne, wearing a wire in here so we'd have concrete evidence; I'm just sorry you had to go through this." He cleared his throat. "Now, Agent Larabee, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Chris' expression was stubborn. "You said I could manage my team any way I saw fit as long as I got results."

"Your team, yes," Travis replied with surprising gentleness. "This wasn't about managing your team, Chris."

"We're more than a team, we're a family," came Buck's voice from the door. "None of you can understand!"

The judge looked back and gestured for the two officers holding Wilmington to bring him into the room; his hands were cuffed in front of him. "Buck, I think we understand all too well what was happening here, and I think if you'd let go of the guilt Chris has been piling on you all these years you'd see it too." Travis shook his head when the man looked away. "It wasn't your fault that his family died, and if he were in his right mind he wouldn't still be blaming you."

Chris scowled. "Don't tell him it wasn't his fault, he knows what he did and I've made sure he won't forget it! He owes me for killing them, he'll always owe me."

"Buck didn't kill them, he saved you," Travis corrected. "As long as this has been going on I'm not surprised that you've fallen into the role of playing Renfield to his Count Dracula, Buck, but that doesn't excuse what you've been doing in the slightest." He gave the man a long, disappointed look and then shook his head. "One of you officers take Agent Wilmington downstairs to a holding cell and stay with him until I send someone else down - and it won't be anyone in this room."

Josiah and Nathan had watched the events of the last half-hour unfold in silent disbelief, from Vin and JD subduing Buck until Travis arrived to the unbelievable conversation heard so clearly over the wire Ezra was wearing, but now Josiah stepped forward. "Judge Travis, couldn't I go with them to try to talk to him..."

"You should have talked to him before now," Travis interrupted him sharply. "You're a profiler with a background in psychology, it concerns me that things got this far without you saying something about it. But you and I will talk later, for now I want you and Agent Jackson to go back to your desks or to your break room, don't either of you leave the office until I okay it."

Chastened, they two men left as did the officer with Buck. Vin had moved up beside Ezra, not touching him but close enough to be reassuring. "Can't believe you were gonna do that, Chris. We've seen the files, we know what you had the kid put on Ez's rap sheet, and we heard every word you said to him once you called him in here. "

Larabee glared at him. "He had to learn his lesson! You don't do things that mess up your family, the family comes first..."

"Ez didn't do anything to mess up what we all had, that was you," Vin replied in a flat voice. "You were the one ordered Buck and the kid to keep me under surveillance, you were the one that decided to ship Ez off to prison - you broke up the family, Chris, it was all you. And you took Bucklin down with you, man didn't deserve that just for bein' your best friend."

"Killed my family," Chris replied stubbornly. "He's why Sarah and Adam are dead."

"No, he isn't," Travis countered again. "He's not to blame, Chris, and neither are you. And eventually I hope you'll be able to see that."

Ezra had been watching his former boss warily. He could still feel himself shaking from the close call; if JD hadn't warned them... "Judge T-travis, will it be necessary for me to press charges against him to see that he gets the help he n-needs?"

Travis frowned over the uncharacteristic stutter in the normally smooth voice but shook his head. "No, I don't believe so, Agent Standish. Once the bureau psychologist interviews him and Wilmington I don't think there will be any question about what needs to be done - and if there is, we have the tape of his conversation with you."

"Yeah, because the little weasel was wearing a wire," Chris sneered. "Everyone tried to warn me but I wouldn't listen; you're nothing but a self-serving traitor and I should never have brought you into this family."

The accusation made Ezra flinch and Vin immediately stepped in. "Ez is one of us and he always will be," the sharpshooter corrected firmly. "But cowboy, this ain't the way a family works and I guess you've got it to learn."

"Like you would know anything about families, Tanner," Larabee spat back. "You've never had one, I was trying to give you something special and you pissed it away for a..."

"Enough." The authority in Travis' voice cut of the rising diatribe before Chris could gather steam. "Officer, call in the men you had guarding the elevator and the stairs, I want all of you to escort Agent Larabee downstairs and I don't want him left alone for a minute, not even in his cell - consider him a suicide risk. Chris..." The judge was at a loss for words for a minute, looking into the anger darkened blue-green eyes and wondering how long he himself had been missing the signs that this man was dangerously unstable. "Agent Larabee, you are hereby relieved of your responsibilities to the ATF pending a full psychiatric evaluation. We'll see what happens after that."

Larabee just kept glaring at him. "What about the others?"

Travis wished that Chris was asking as the leader of Team Seven and not as the head of the 'family', but now he knew that wasn't the case. "Three of them have resigned already, Chris, and Buck is...sick too, we're going to make sure he gets some help. I'm going to recommend to Josiah that he retire again, permanently this time, and Nathan will probably transfer over to the lab like they've been begging him to do. They'll all be fine, just fine."

"No, they won't be; he's still here," Chris snarled, jerking his head in Ezra's direction. "He'll go after Vin again if I'm gone and that can't be allowed, it's incest."

"I'm moving to the West Coast, Chris," Ezra said in a low voice. "I'm leaving Denver for good, you don't have to worry about it anymore."

"And I'm going to stick with JD here; someone has to look out for him now that Buck is...well, while Buck is getting' better," Vin assured the still-suspicious man. "So you just take care of your business, cowboy, all the bases are covered."

Chris looked at him and frowned, then shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "I have the damndest headache."

"Too much stress," Travis said. "You need a vacation, Chris, time to unwind and sort things out. Go on downstairs with the officers and I'll have someone bring you some aspirin, all right?"

Larabee sighed and nodded. "I could use some, I think I'm all out. Had a lot of headaches lately."

"I just imagine you have; we'll get it fixed up, don't worry." Travis gestured for the officers to go ahead and provide escort but not to try using the handcuffs - he didn't want to push his luck. Once they were all gone he let out the breath he'd been holding and shook his head. "I'm not sure I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it. So much for this team being a legend in its own time; there's no way we can salvage Team Seven's record once this story gets around."

"I think we can," Vin contradicted. "Ezra always says misdirection is the best defense, why don't we do that? Go ahead and tell the truth; Chris had a breakdown and Buck's been tryin' to hold him together all this time so he cracked too. Normally when something like that happens everyone gets reassigned, so let everyone think we all quit rather than be sent to another team. That way Team Seven's reputation stays intact and you don't have to worry about it - the legend will live on without us."

Travis nodded but he was still frowning. "That would most likely work, Agent Tanner, except for one problem; even without charges being brought it will doubtless be revealed that you and Agent Standish are involved in a homosexual relationship and that your colleagues were trying to break it up. And that could have repercussions that extend much farther than the Denver ATF."

"Even that can be remedied, Judge Travis," Ezra said suddenly. "Those base rumors about Vin's sexuality should be laid to rest by the fact that he has a girlfriend; with that added in, most will assume that Mr. Larabee's...condition made him delusional."

"Which he obviously is, no lie there," the judge agreed. He cocked an eyebrow. "Agent Tanner..."

"Her name is Emily, I met her last Friday and we spent the weekend at my place," Vin told him matter-of-factly. "Buck and JD saw us together that night and so did Chris."

"Which would go even farther to proving the false point," Ezra said. "Chris saw Vin being amorous with a lovely woman and part of his delusion shattered; consequently another one formed to take its place, a scenario in which I was the vile sexual predator whom he feared was hunting Vin down for conquest. Ergo he attempted to remove me from the picture, although by his own admission it wasn't to be permanent but simply a...'learning experience' after which I was to be brought back into the fold." He smiled at Vin. "It may be wise for you and Emily to have dinner with the judge in some suitably visible public place so give the story stability."

Vin's blue eyes picked up the wicked sparkle from his lover's green ones and he nodded. "That sounds like a plan, Ez. And I'm sure Emily won't mind a bit if you don't, Judge."

Travis breathed a silent sigh of relief. "It would be my pleasure, A...Mr. Tanner, and I'll look forward to meeting your special lady. We'll work out the details of that later, but for right now I'd suggest that you three boys go ahead and get your things together. Normally when someone quits we assign a security escort to walk them out, but I trust you. And now I'm going in to have a talk with Sanchez and Jackson, come find me when you're ready to leave."

He left the room and for a moment the three former ATF agents just stood there and tried to absorb everything that had just happened. Vin shook it off first. "JD, Ez and I will help you sort things out over at your place before the move, don't think Bucklin will be out any time soon to help you."

"I don't think so either," JD said, swallowing. He still felt sick. "I...I don't understand how Chris could do that to Ez. Or Buck. How he could be so c-crazy like that and no one noticed?"

"There are different kinds of crazy, JD," Ezra told him quietly. His soft sigh was heavy with regret. "Mr. Larabee was like a lump of plastic explosive, threatening but still mostly stable until the wrong stimulus set him off."

Vin moved closer and slid his arm around his lover's shoulders, feeling the nearly invisible tremors that were shaking the compact body. "Ez, it wasn't your fault - or mine, or ours."

"Nope, it wasn't," JD agreed seriously. "There's nothin' wrong with being in love. I was...was happy for you guys when I realized you were together, I couldn't understand why the other guys acted the way they did about it. And it sounds like you really like Emily, Vin, but I'm sorry it's over between you and Ez because of all this..." He frowned suddenly, taking in the tender way that the sharpshooter was hugging the undercover agent. "Or is it over? Was last weekend all just a setup to get them off your backs?"

"Pretty much," Vin admitted, hugging Ezra a little tighter when he felt him tense up again. "Ez, we can tell him; you heard him, he doesn't think there's anything wrong with us bein' together."

"And he helped us, we owe him the truth," Ezra agreed, allowing himself to lean further into the comfort his lover was providing. "What you saw Friday evening was an illusion, JD. We were showing our watchers what they wanted to see."

JD still didn't understand. "But who was she? Why did she agree to help you two - and why did she spend the whole weekend with Vin? Buck and Chris said you two never even left the apartment."

"We didn't," Ezra told him pointedly. He watched as understanding and then astonishment flooded the younger man's face and he smiled slightly. "The men at the bar were fooled as well, I had to fend off several gentlemen before the one I was waiting for approached me."

"But...but you agreed to have dinner with the judge! Don't you think that he'll..."

"Probably," Vin said dismissively. "But it don't matter what he does or doesn't think about Emily, that ain't the point; the whole idea is for the right people to see us with him so the story gets around."

"This is for the greater good, not for the judge or even for ourselves," Ezra put in. "Even though it is nice to be able to express our affection for each other openly in public without fear of reprisal."

"Real nice." Vin reached out and patted JD on the shoulder. "Y'know, I think I'm about ready to see the back of this place, how 'bout you? Why don't you go root us out some boxes and Ez and I'll be out there to clean out our desks in a few minutes?"

JD took the hint and headed out with a nod and a wink, leaving the two lovers alone. As soon as the door clicked closed behind him Vin pulled Ezra tight against his chest and just hung on. He couldn't believe how close he'd come to losing this man he loved more than life itself. Ezra for his part buried his face in Vin's shirt and let go of the control that had been holding him together for the last half hour. In between the nearly silent sobs the sharpshooter could hear him saying, "It's over, it's all over," again and again.

Vin knew what he meant; not only was the nightmare with Chris and Buck over and done with, but so was the unique relationship the seven of them had shared for the past two years. He let Ezra cry for a few minutes, then tipped the smaller man's head up and began gently kissing away the tears. Ezra's hands came up to tangle in his hair and their lips found each other. The kiss wasn't passionate but rather reassuring, a reaffirmation that their bond had survived the round of confrontations and their aftermath, and when it ended Ezra leaned back against his lover's chest with a sigh. "I hope we never have another day like this one, Vin."

"If we ever do, we're movin' to a desert island," Vin murmured against his hair. "One where we can just walk around naked all day and make love on the beach whenever we feel like it."

Ezra chuckled and squeezed his lover affectionately. "You would make a beautiful savage, I'm sure. Perhaps tonight we should go back to the condo and explore the possibilities inherent in perpetual nudity?"

"If you're askin' me to come home with you and leave my clothes at the door the answer is yes," Vin replied. He kissed the top of Ezra's head and then pulled back to look at him. "I plan to make love to you until we both forget today even happened, and then we'll get up in the morning and do it again."

"Good plan," Ezra agreed. "And then perhaps afterwards you would like to take Emily out for a late breakfast and indulge in a few blatant displays of public affection while we discuss our upcoming move?"

"Sounds good." Vin kissed him one more time and then they reluctantly broke apart. "Every little bit will help, I reckon; just because this all went to shit here at the end don't mean everybody has to know it did."

"I concur." Ezra looked at the nameplate on the cluttered desk and shook his head. "In spite of it all, I will miss them."

Vin guided him toward the door. "Me too." But before he closed it behind them, he too looked back at the desk; his attention, however, was focused on a framed photograph of the seven of them taken up at Chris' ranch the year before. Josiah had always said that destiny had pulled them together, and Vin had a feeling that maybe it wasn't quite done with them yet.