Title: March 05 challenge Answer

Author: Heatherf

Disclaimers: Not mine, no money made

Warnings: I'm sure there should be some. No plot. Language.

Challenge answer: Write a story (I think preferably ATF) using Frazer Chocolate;. A little tongue in cheek (at the end). No offense meant.

Warning 2: Wrote this riding my bike a few weekends ago. Forgot about it and found it tonight. Posted it. No beta (because I'm lame and just found this little story) Oh and I think all my itialics will disappear.

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Part1/1

The kitchen door banged open. A blast of cold blustery air preceded and followed the six men that shoulder their way in over the door step.

JD stomped his feet and shook his hands to free his hands of his mittens. He stepped forward to give Josiah more room as the big man tore one glove off with his teeth.

Beside Josiah, Nathan sniffled his nose as he scooted further into the mud room unzipping his coat with mittened hands.

Buck and Chris both stepped to either side of the doorway as Vin slid into between them shutting the door.

JD peeled one boot off using the boot jack and held onto Sanchez for leverage, "Ya guys think Ez made us somethin' too eat?"

"Doubt it kid," Vin answered pulling his hat off and tossing it over a hook.

"Brother Ezra wasn't looking too spry this morning." Josiah put in as a defense for the undercover agent.

"If he's smart he'll be layin' on the couch watchin' the game." Buck toed off his own boot and then gently shoved JD out of his way and commandeered the boot jack for himself.

"You two get the troughs straightened out?" Chris asked. He shucked out of his coat and hung it on a hook following it with his hat and gloves.

"Yeah, we covered the tanks with plywood but left enough for the horses to drink. Can't figure out where the short is, but the whole shed is without power." Buck added.

Larabee merely nodded. He'd have to get an electrician out.unless..

"I'll look into it in the morning brother," Josiah offered. His time spent renovating the old church was paying off.

"You boys get the fence back up?" Buck asked over his shoulder as he headed into Larabee's kitchen following JD's lead. The others trailed behind.

The cold air seemed to follow them, bringing a brisk freshness to the warmth of the kitchen.

"Yeah, grounds a bit froze for diggin' but it should hold 'til spring," Tanner answered. He pulled open the pantry door and grabbed a bag of chips.

JD raided the refrigerator.

Larabee, in defense of his living room, started taking out bowls and plates hoping the others would take the hint and use them and not eat out of the dip jar or make a mess with the chips.

The six filtered into the living room.

The game was on.

Standish was indeed wrapped in a blanket stretched out on the couch.

JD and Vin raced for the lazy boy chair, and while they pushed and shoved one another battling to see who would reach it first, Josiah skirted around them and took the prized recliner for himself.

Damn.

The next fight was for the over stuffed leather chair but Chris had already nabbed it.

"Since ya both still up," Buck said as he scooted into the space on the couch left by Standish's curled feet, "why don't you make a fire."

"How come ya don't ask Nathan?" JD worked his way out of Tanner's head lock and snagged the bag of chips from the sharpshooter. Dunne had seen Chris put the bowls on the table but JD was too cold for ice-cream. Chris was kind of strange like that.always putting bowls out, like they should be eating ice-cream or cereal or something. Unless Chris himself wanted some, but JD sure as Hell wasn't going to scoop it for him.

Josiah unscrewed the jar to the salsa and held his beer between his knees. He silently wondered when the others would figure out Chris put the bowls out for chips and dip and not for ice-cream and cereal. Sanchez smiled to himself, he would follow their lead and inadvertently drive Chris insane.

The fun of weekends.

"Because I'm busy," Nathan answered. He stood next to the arm of the couch and looked down at the undercover agent who was buried under a quilt and nestled into a hooded sweat shirt. Shit.

Jackson reached down and pushed the quilt back off the undercover agent's flushed face and slid the hood of the sweat shirt back off his forehead. Nathan didn't need to rest his hand there to feel the heat of the fever, he could  easily identify it in the rosy cheeks, chapped lips and slight chills that coursed through the southerner's frame. Shit. He knew this was going to happen.  He had seen it coming last night. Damn.

"JD, go get Chris's ear thermometer, it's in the hall bathroom."

Dunne paused in shoving a hand full of chips into his mouth and gazed at Jackson with a silent indignant question; Me?

"Yah you, so git goin', JD," Vin pushed the kid away from the fire place and snatched the bag of chips from his hand in one motion. Maybe after eating some chips and getting a fire going he'd want some ice-cream. Too cold for some now.can't believe Chris thinks one of us is going to scoop him a bowl, the idiot. Cowboy should know better than that. JD grabbed a last solid handful of chips from the bag Vin now controlled.

Dunne wedge, manipulated and crammed more chips into his mouth as he headed out of the living room.

Chris shook his head, what was wrong with eating one chip at a time?

He looked over at the mound of blankets that made up his undercover agent and then turned his attention back to the game, ignoring Tanner as he wrestled with folding as many chips into his mouth as he could. Chris focused on the game.  He'd worry about Standish when Nathan told him too.

"Hey, Ez, share some of that blanket with me pard'," Buck said as he reached for the end of the quilt and started to un-tuck it from the wool socked feet that lay curled underneath it.

"Leave it be, Buck," Nathan said as he ran the back of his hand over Standish's cheek and then his neck hoping that the heat he felt radiating from the undercover agent was a figment of his imagination.

"What's wrong brother?" Josiah took a spoon to the salsa dip and scooped some out and ate it down. He followed it with a swig of a dark lager.

Vin cringed. Josiah had to have an iron stomach. "Save some dip for the rest us of big guy."

Nathan shook his head and wondered how Josiah managed to have the lowest blood pressure of the group when he ate raw hot salsa like most people ate cereal.

"I'm thinking he's got one hell of a fever."

The occupants in the room shrugged. They had seen this coming. The last undercover job had been mostly outside. Ezra had been hauled all around the upper elevations playing junior partner to a major gun trafficker. Unfortunately, the weather shifted constantly from snow to rain and back to snow and then rain again and the wind never seemed to let up.

The rest of the team was sympathetic to their undercover agent's plight, especially in the warm confines of ski charlottes, coffee shops, and restaurants that always seemed to spring up at the base of high elevation trails.

For three weeks, Standish had been miserable and for three weeks the team had to listen to his complaints at every check in while they were forced to drink coffee, eat pastries and some type of special Frazer Chocolate, at pre-arranged meeting places.

The arrests occurred on Thursday mid afternoon. Ezra had slunk off to his condo and into a hot shower. He swore not to come out of the hot shower until Hell froze over. He came out sooner, when the hot water ran out.

Larabee had dragged his men up here, without much persuasion, truth be known, they had invited themselves out here Friday, after declaring a 'mental health' day. Travis had ok'd it but feared one day would not be enough.

Buck and JD had stopped by Standish's place and hauled him out of bed at seven in the morning so they could be at Larabee's before 8am and get a good day's chores done.

Ezra had walked through the front door and simply headed for the couch and had not moved.

Chris couldn't argue with the man. Ezra didn't like the cold, didn't mind the outside if it was in a picture book and loved back wrenching work.if someone else was doing it.

Larabee left his undercover agent on the couch, and Nathan had dropped a blanket on him before they all headed out to fix things that needed mending; like the water troughs, fences and the removal of a few downed trees.

At four in the afternoon the bulk of the work was done. They were cold, tired but refreshed and it was only Friday. They had all day tomorrow to get more work done on the barn and corrals, and Sunday to relax.

Larabee sighed and watched with apprehension when JD handed Nathan the thermometer.

Nothing good ever came of this.

Nathan reached down and pulled slightly on Standish's ear and then inserted the thermometer.

Standish nearly exploded off the couch.

Southern laced obscenities flew forth with more gusto than a marine corps drill sergeant with laryngitis could ever hope to muster.

The undercover agent roughly pushed Nathan's hand away, shot a scathing glare at the medic and then curled back down on the couch and held his ear cursing the medic and all his medical kind. The gravel scratchy tones with the Southern accent made deciphering his words near impossible.

Nathan turned back to JD, " JD could you put this back and grab the Actifed and a cup of water."

Dunne shrugged and headed back to the bathroom. If he kept this up, Ice-cream might not seem so bad.

Nathan turned his attention back to Ezra. The medic noticed that Buck now had a pillow over his lap. Good idea. Standish was pretty quick with his feet and a heel to the groin was something not easily cured.

"Ezra, ya ear hurtin' ya?"

"What ever gave you that idea?" The voice was a bit complaintive.

"Both ears or just one?" Nathan sounded slightly annoyed, Chris thought, which translated to nothing life threatening. No need for concern yet.

"Does it matter?" a slightly muffled, pitiful whine.

"Yes," Nathan sighed out as he continued to speak to the sweat shirt hood.

"Both," definitely a whine now.

Chris closed his eyes. Why me?

"What's his temp Nate?" Vin pushed more chips into his mouth, eyeing the salsa.

Josiah eyed the dwindling bag and wondered how he could grab them without relinquishing his claim to the lazy boy chair and the salsa jar.

"103.2"

"Shiiiit," Buck hunched away from the undercover agent. Damn he was hungry but Josiah just ruined another jar of salsa and Vin and JD had the bag of chips nearly inhaled. Maybe Ice cream wouldn't be such a bad idea.or at least cereal.  Sometimes Chris's back ass food cravings weren't so bizarre.

"Ear infection?" Larabee asked and didn't bother turning his eyes from the game on the TV. He would ignore Vin inhaling the chips and dropping crumbs all over his floor. Diablo, the good dog that he was, was like a living wet vac, he'd clean it all up in no time. Chris did wonder how Josiah was going to get his hands on the chips without losing his chair to JD who circled it like a shark waiting for his chance to snag it. And he hoped Josiah finished the salsa this time and not recap it and put it back in the refrigerator after double dipping numerous times with a spoon no less. Larabee shook his head and wondered how Josiah avoided rotting his stomach lining out.

"Either that or Strep. throat." Nathan patted Ezra's shoulder, "Ez sit up for a sec. I've got some medicine might make ya feel better." JD handed over two small pills and a paper cup of cool water.

Dunne eyed Josiah's chair and sat down near by, biding his time.

Ezra slowly sat up and with shaking hands took the pills and then the water, no argument, no back talking and no sass. He downed the pills and swallowed some water. He held one ear squished against his shoulder and held the other tight in his hand and grimaced. Fierce pain shot up and down his neck and somehow pierced through his ears.

He laid down immediately and hibernated under the quilt. If the world cease toexist then perhaps so would he.

"Why don't you go to bed Ezra," Nathan asked quietly. Standish would be staying in the spare room tonight. There was no question of that.

"Not tired."

Nathan sighed and Chris merely shook his head, figures. Larabee hoped the Actifed worked well enough to keep the undercover agent sleeping through the night.

He knew it wouldn't.

"Sucks to be Ezra," JD piped up as he eyeballed Josiah's chair. "Josiah ya must be getting pretty thirsty eatin' all that salsa."

"Are you offering to get me another beer, brother?"

"No." JD answered and leaned back on his elbows and watched the game.  Basketball was boring. Salsa made beer fizz in his mouth. Josiah was a freak.


Dunne leaned back against the front of the couch and patted Diablo's ears. Too bad they didn't have any more of that Frazer Blue Chocolate Ezra was so hot on. It wasn't so bad; not as a good as a Snicker's Bar but it would do in a crunch if you were starving to death or something.

The end.