Standard disclaimer: the characters actually belong to a large organisation. The AU universe of the Magnificent Seven team in the 21^st century, was I believe, created by Mog, and the Little Britches ATF by Barbretta H..

Rating: PG-13, I guess, there’s a little bit of bad language, h/c, angst, action, thriller and happy endings. Primarily, Vin, Chris and Ezra with a goodly amount of Buck.

Acknowledgments: Marnie and Cindy were kind enough to beta the fic. Their advice and edits were invaluable, and in light of their comments I have made changes. Any errors belong solely to me.

I have retained English English spelling rather than converting to American English spelling. Effort has been made, however, to map to idiom and American word usage e.g. torch/flashlight et cetera, and nobody asks for a delightful cup of tea or wears a woolly jumper.

Comments? Email: sealie@trickster.org

Courtesy Gibbous

By Sealie

Part One

Chris totalled the column of figures in his head and came out with the same results as the computer spreadsheet. It was always best, in his opinion, to double check figures, especially when they related to the budget

He wrote the figure down on his hard copy and then copied the figure over to the summary spreadsheet. He wasn’t paid enough for this, especially on a Saturday.

“You okay, pard?”

“Yep.”

The sound of scribbling filled his ears. Chris pushed back slightly on his chair. Vin was happily ensconced in the footwell under his table. Ezra, displaying his lack of uncle-experience, a few weeks ago had given the seven year old a high quality sketch pad and a variety of professional B, HB and H, soft to hard, grade pencils in a wooden box. Crayons and a colouring book would have been a bit more practical, Chris thought. Vin had settled under the table and began drawing. He seemed quite taken with the different grades of pencil and was trying each one individually. The effect was quite surreal like a photo negative of a sunset.

He wasn’t too sure why Vin had chosen to play under the desk, his child psychologist would probably pull all sorts of reasons out. Chris thought that it was comfortable.

Vin twisted on his butt and held out the paper for Chris to view.

“Each pencil draws differently.”

“Yeah, you can use them to shade.”

“Shade?”

“It’s probably easier to show.” Chris pushed back his chair and joined Vin on the floor. “You got another piece of paper?”

The thrifty child turned over his masterpiece and offered the other side.

Chris drew a circle freehand. “What’s this?”

“It’s a circle.” Vin sat on his heels and wrapped his arms around his bare knees.

“K.” Chris rifled through the pencils and pulled out a soft tipped 2B. Carefully he drew a thin, dark line at the five to six o’clock position on the circle. Swapping the soft tipped 2B for a B pencil, he drew --shading a blob outside the dark line creating a shadow. Taking a lighter 2H, began to shade inside the circle from three to seven o’clock using his thumb to stop the lines going outside the circle. “What’s it now?”

“It’s a ball,” Vin said breathlessly, and Chris was suitably rewarded by his awe. “How did you do that?”

“Shading.” Chris pointed to the shadow under the ball. “The shading makes you think that the picture has depth.” He reached up and pulled down his desk lamp to their level.

“You want a ball?” Vin asked reading Chris’ mind. He scrambled to his feet and darted out of Chris’ office to get the nerf ball from Buck’s desk. He was back a heartbeat later.

Chris accepted the ball with a smile. He sat the ball beside the light and switched it on.

“See the shadow?”

“Yep.”

“I drew that and made the picture look real – more real. Realer?”

“More real,” a familiar voice supplied laconically.

Chris spun on his butt to glare up at his undercover agent.

“Uncle Ez,” Vin said, smiling. “Look, Chris can draw.”

“What are you doing here--” Chris made a production of looking at his watch, “--on Saturday morning?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“You could, but I’m the boss.”

“Ah.” Erza tugged at his shirt cuff. “I am missing a cufflink which has some sentimental importance. I had hoped to find it here before the cleaners descend on Monday morning. Imagine my surprise when I saw Master Tanner, apparently on his own, in the office.”

“We was drawing.”

“Were drawing,” Ezra corrected.

“Were drawing,” Vin echoed. “You want me to help you look for your thingy?”

“Why thank you, Vin, that would be appreciated.”

“I’ll be back, Chris.” Vin patted Chris on his shoulder and then scrambled to his feet. “What are we looking for? Why do you think you lost it here?”

“You’ve obviously been taking interrogation lessons from your…” Ezra hunted for the appropriate noun. He shot an uncharacteristically unsure glance at his superior. “Foster father.”

Chris supposed he hadn’t really laid it down in stone what his role was in Vin’s life to his team. He was leery of using the ‘dad’ word and his empathic undercover agent had picked up on that unease.

Ezra was showing Vin a cufflink, Vin seemed quite intrigued and was checking out Ezra’s cuffs.

“Buttons work better,” was his considered opinion.

“Perhaps they are more efficient. But they lack style.”

Vin looked down at his white button t-shirt, navy shorts, socks and sneakers. “Is this stylish?”

“Style, Master Tanner, belongs to oneself. You have your own style. I think that the Shrek band-aid on your knee has a certain savoir faire.”

“What’s save..save…?”

“Savoir faire is knowledge of how to behave in any situation. It pertains to style. A person with savoir faire has style.”

“You use big words on purpose, don’t you?”

Chris shook his head in fond amusement. Vin had his own style and Ezra had his style – together they certainly had style. He returned to his statistics, keeping one eye on his ward and agent. Vin was standing on Buck’s table scrutinizing the floor from his new vantage point as Ezra retraced his day.

~*~

“Found it!” Vin wriggled backwards out from under Josiah’s desk. He held it up exultantly.

“Excellent, Mr. Tanner.”

Vin handed it across. “It’s important, isn’t it?”

“Yes, my great grandfather, a cantankerous old gentleman of the fifth degree, gave me these cufflinks.”

“Do you like him?” Vin said getting straight to the heart of the matter.

“I liked him very much.”

Vin sagged reading the past tense accurately. “‘Am glad I found it.”

“Thank you for finding it. You have sharp eyes.”

“How old was ya?”

“Sorry?” Ezra paused in returning his cufflink to its velvet lined box.

“When your grandpa died?”

“Somewhat older than you are now. I believe I was eleven.”

“And he gave you cufflinks?”

“I received the cufflinks when I was nine.” Ezra smiled thinly. “They were a present that I had to grow into. A ZX-81 might have been more fun but the cufflinks are of greater value. Actually, the ZX-81 would have been a good investment. But I digress, the cufflinks are perfect.”

“I’m glad I found them, then.”

“As am I, perhaps an ice cream is in order to celebrate.”

“At your swanky place?”

“Yes, at Donatello’s Emporium.”

Vin lit up like the Fourth of July. “Can Chris come?”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

Vin shot off as if fired from a cannon. “Chris, Chris, you wanna go for ice cream?”

Ezra craned his head to see into the superior’s office. Chris had an open smile on his face as Vin inveigled him to join them on their trip to the ice cream parlor. Prior to Vin’s appearance in their lives, smiles were not on the agenda and Ezra knew that he would not have gone anywhere on a social event with his boss without his other team members.

Vin rocked from foot to foot as Chris shut down his computer. Seeing agreement, Ezra collected his jacket and shrugged into it.

“Coffee, Ezra?” Chris asked.

“Yes, Mr. Donatello makes the finest Italian coffee in addition to ice cream creations including his world famous Knickerbocker Glory.”

“Which is?” Chris queried.

“An imported speciality of fruits, syrups, cream, ice cream.”

“I don’t think that Vin will go for that.”

~*~

Both adults could see that Vin was in a happy place. He hadn’t been too enthusiastic about the knickerbocker glory and its fruit base. The boy wanted chocolate. Eric Donatello had succumbed to a quiet request for the chocolate sundae but could he please not have the vanilla ice cream with the chocolate ice cream ‘cos the vanilla is a bit strange tasting and I really like chocolate and you’ve got lots of different types of chocolate and if the chocolate sundae comes with vanilla ice creams it’s not really chocolate sundae and I can’t try the other chocolate ice creams that are behind the counter if the chocolate sundae has vanilla in.

Ezra had been moderately impressed by the logic and the hitherto unknown eloquence of Master Tanner. The ice cream that Eric had delivered to their table had one small scoop of each chocolate flavour that was created in the store. Chocolate, chocolate with chocolate chips, mint choc chip, white chocolate with honeycomb, drizzled with rich chocolate syrup and dotted with maltesers. The child actually hummed contentedly as he dug in. Erza shared a smirk with Chris. They were content with espresso and almond biscotti.

Vin scraped the bottom of the dish and then, after glancing sideways at his guardian, resorted to using his finger to chase after the final dregs of chocolate syrup. Once every iota of chocolate had been hunted down and captured he settled back with a happy burp.

“Vin,” Chris said lowly.

“Excuse me.” Vin grinned unrepentantly.

“Go wash your hands.”

“’K, Chris.” He slithered out of the booth and scampered to the men’s room.

“Hmmm, I think that that was a success,” Ezra observed.

“You really can’t go wrong with Vin and chocolate,” Chris said.

Ezra drummed his fingers on the table as he mulled over his next words. He smiled inwardly at the uncharacteristic display of unease.

“If you need to return to work, I would be happy to take Vin to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. There is a display of Prehistoric Monsters from the Sea which I believe would appeal.”

Chris leaned back in the booth. “No, I’ve finished, but that sounds like something that Vin would appreciate. At the Museum of Nature and Science, right?”

“Yes, prehistoric dinosaurs and other animals which were predators during the Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous and other eras. It will also be educational.”

“Monsters, blood and gore, eh?”

“Essentially, yes.”

Vin walked out of the bathroom but made a detour to speak to Mr. Donatello, thanking him for the world’s bestest ice cream.

“That sounds like something that something that Vin will enjoy.”

“Do you require directions?”

“Aren’t you coming?”

“Ah. Yes. I am. But we have two cars.”

High on a sugar rush, Vin bounced over with a spring in his step.

“Would you like to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Vin?” Chris asked.

Vin looked left then right at the two adults. “What’s that?”

Somewhat nonplussed, Ezra finally spoke. “It has displays for you to look and play with.”

“Displays of what?”

Impressed by the desire to know everything before committing himself, Ezra answered, “Dinosaurs.”

“Dinos’urs!” Vin’s eyes lit up. “Yeah. We looked at them at school. They were great.”

“Okay.” Chris stood and Vin was to the door before he could shift out of the booth. “Vin!”

“Vin,” Ezra called simultaneously.

Vin scampered out onto the sidewalk. A figure on the other side of the door tangled up with him and both went down, falling out of sight. A heartbeat later, both men burst through the door.

Vin lay sprawled, flat out on his back. A lady sat beside him, one leg twisted under her.

Chris’ attention was solely on his foster child, he dropped to his knees beside Vin. “Don’t move.”

“Chris!” Vin sat up.

“Your back; don’t move.”

Ezra moved to the brunette’s side. “Are you injured, ma’am?”

“The little boy? Is he okay?”

Ezra spun on his heels. Chris was carefully helping Vin to his feet, guiding his movements with the utmost care. Vin was chaffing under his ministrations insisting that he was fine.

“Vin has something of a bad back. My friend is merely ensuring that he has not hurt himself. And yourself?”

The woman shifted carefully straightening her leg. She hissed with pain.

“Ma’am.”

Her face creased up. She rotated her ankle, hissing all the while.

“Ma’am.”

“I just twisted it, I think. Help me up, please.” Gripping on to his forearm, the woman stood. She tested her ankle before setting it on the sidewalk. “Oh.”

Ezra smiled winsomely, seeing lawyers and injury claims in Chris and Vin’s future. “Allow me to take you to the E.R.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary. It’s not too bad.” She smiled, and Ezra watched her lower her lashes demurely. “And you are?”

“Ezra Standish at your service, ma’am.”

“Ella Gaines!”

Ezra spun on his superior.

“Chris!” she gushed.

“Ah.” Ezra looked between them as if watching a tennis match. Chris held Vin against his hip and regarding the woman with something close to consternation, but tinged with happy memories. The woman, Ella, shrugged Ezra off and limped over to Chris.

“Oh, I haven’t seen you for over a year.” She flung her arms around him and kissed him soundly on the mouth.

Chris was an icicle for a moment and then he relaxed into the caress, releasing Vin and entangling his fingers in the woman’s dark hair. Ezra was somewhat impressed by the degree of tonsil hockey going on. Vin backed off shuffling to Ezra’s side.

“I think Mr. Chris knows the lady.”

“I think you’re right.” Neither of the pair were coming up for air.

The display went on. Vin shifted at Ezra’s side.

“How long are they gonna do that for?” he finally whispered, loudly.

“They will run out of air eventually,” Ezra said clinically and mentally began counting.

Vin let out a heavy sigh, and then tugged Ezra’s sleeve.

“Yes, Vin?”

“What time does the museum close?”

Ezra contained a smile by pure force of effort. “Not until much later – we have plenty of time.”

Vin let out another, heavier, louder sigh and it finally reached his guardian. Chris disengaged and blinked slyly as the woman tucked an escaped curl behind her ear.

“How are you doing, Chris?” she drawled.

“Very, very well.” He smiled. “How are you, Ella?”

“All the better for seeing you,” she said coyly. “So are you going to introduce me to your friends?”

Chris, still looking a bit sandbagged, turned. “Ella, this is Vin, my foster son, and my friend and colleague, Ezra Standish.”

“Ma’am.” Erza glided forwards and caught her outstretched hand. He bowed over it, and delicately kissed the back. “At your service.”

“Why YOU are a gentleman.” Her smile grew and she turned her attention to Vin.

“Hello,” Vin whispered, as he darted behind Chris shifting out of view.

Charitably, Chris allowed Vin to stay out of sight of the woman. Ella raised a finely plucked eyebrow in question. Chris shook his head.

Vin tugged on the back of Chris’ slacks. “Can we go?”

“Ssssh, Vin,” Chris soothed, smiling down at him. “Be polite – we’ll go soon, I promise.”

Vin moved to Chris’ side to semi-glare at the interloper.

“I’m pleased to meet you, Vin. And I’m sorry for banging into you. Are you okay?”

Vin nodded, long hair falling in his eyes.

“Where are you going?”

Van glanced mutely at Chris asking him for help. Chris nudged him, directing the shy child to answer.

“We’re going to see the dinosaurs at the museum.”

“Dinosaurs? Where are they from?”

Vin shrugged.

“It’s a travelling exhibit on a world tour consisting of ‘Sea Monsters from the Deep’ – dinosaurs from the marine environment, pre-historic giant sharks and the ilk.”

“It’s sounds interesting.”

“You’re welcome to come, Ella. It would be nice to catch up.” Chris didn’t react when Vin grabbed his thigh.

“No, I’m afraid I can’t I have a business meeting in the Crawford Tower in forty minutes.” She rifled through her patent black leather purse. She pulled out a black and gold embossed card. “This is my number, Chris; give me a call I would love to, you know, connect.”

“Thanks.” A slight blush touched Chris’ fair cheeks as he handed over his own formal ATF card.

“Are we going now, Chris?”

“Vin,” he chastised, “that’s not very polite.”

Vin hung his head. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay, you want to spend time with your,” Ella stared at Chris, “guardian?”

Chris nodded sharply. “Yes, I’m fostering. Vin gets to stay with me, aren’t you, Cowboy?”

“Yeah, Mr. Chris,” Vin said brightly. “Forever.”

Chris ruffled Vin’s long curls. “Forever.”

Ezra watched as was his wont. The woman leaned forward and dropped a kiss on Chris’ cheek, and whispered a sultry goodbye. She spared no glance for Vin or himself – focussed on Chris.

“I have to run.” She sashayed off.

Vin slid a foot in the direction of the parked cars, eagerness vibrating through him. Monsters were a great attraction.

“Okay,” Chris said.

Vin shot off, racing to the cars.

“Vin!”

Vin skidded to a stop. Turning he scowled. His body language screaming ‘what now?’

“No running on the sidewalk,” Chris ordered.

“Why?” he held his hands out underscoring his frustration.

“What if you fall into the traffic? You don’t run on the sidewalk. Okay?”

“Okay.” Vin jiggled from foot to foot. “Are we going?”

“Yeah, we’re going.”

Vin half skipped, half jumped to Chris’s big SVU. He stood beside his side, waiting for Chris to open the vehicle.

Chris clicked the unit on his key ring and the doors unlocked. “Okay, Ezra, we’ll see you at the museum.”

“I am looking forward to it.”

~*~

“We saw orthocones, they’s giant squids. They’s great. They grabbed their prey wif their tentables and rip them apart. They’s bigger than sperm whales. And then we saw a Liopleurodon, they’re from the late Jurassic, that’s 160-155 million years, which is like older than anything ever. It’s the biggest, bestest, most greatest predator ever. They’s like giant crocodiles but they have flippers. And we saw a megalodon, they’re bigger than Jaws, they’d gobble us up whole. Gnash. Gnash. Gnash.” Vin mimicked the attacking jaws with his arms.

Buck stood stock still, awed by the display.

Chris chortled under his breath as he crossed to the refrigerator and pulled out a micro-brew.

“Where have you been, son?”

“Me and Chris and Ezra went to the Denver-Museum-of-Nature-and-Science,” Vin said sing song. “We saw the ‘Sea Monsters from the Deep’. They’s were great.”

Vin bolted off to tell J.D. all about it.

Theatrically, Buck staggered and fell against the kitchen counter. “What hit me?”

Chris handed over a beer. “A Sea Monster from the Deep called Vin.”

“Did ya have a good time?

Chris could only shake his head fondly.

“That good, eh?”

“Who knew that he would love dinosaurs so much? Did you hear him? He knows the names of every marine dinosaur and reptile that we saw, their ecology and life history. They had video and those interactive educational displays, he needed a little help, but you show him once and then he got it, memorised it and categorised it.”

“You think we could go again and take J.D.?”

“Just don’t give him sugar for a couple of days before.”

“Amen, brother.”

Buck and Chris knocked their beers together.

End part one

~*~

Part two

Life was good. A major operation with over six days of long days and nights had culminated in a perfect take down. Chris dotted the ‘i’s’ and crossed the‘t’s’ on the summary report. Travis would be pleased. This was worthy of a celebration. Perhaps Mrs. Potter could baby-sit for a couple of more hours so that the team could take a post mission trip to Inez’s? He would have to toss with Buck to see who would drive but if he borrowed Ezra’s double headed dollar piece…

The phone ringing jarred him out of his nice contemplations. He didn’t recognise the caller ID.

“Agent Larabee.”

“Chris,” Ella breathed.

“Oh, hi, I meant to return your phone call, but we’ve had a…” Chris began to apologise.

“I understand, Chris; I saw the news. Is everyone okay? You still work with Buck, yes?”

“Yes, it was sweet.”

“Perfect. How about a meal to celebrate this evening?”

“You know, that sounds like a damn good idea.”

“How about Rossilli’s?” Ella said, naming a high priced, but excellent, restaurant on the other side of town.

Chris leaned back in his chair. He still wanted to celebrate with his team. He could have one beer at Inez’s and then have a good meal before driving home a few hours later. It would mean leaving his SUV outside Inez’s and grabbing a taxi across town.

“Are you at the Crawford Tower?”

“Yes,” she said slowly.

“I’ve got a few things to finish up here. How about the Fisherman’s Lodge? That’s half way between our building and the Tower.” The restaurant was upmarket, but not as high priced as Rossilli’s – he had two foster children and mortgage to consider.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“Ella?”

“Sorry, my pager beeped. That sounds lovely. What time?”

“Seven?”

Again there was silence, then she spoke, “Seven it is.”

~*~

The house was in darkness so Chris crept. What a perfect end to a perfect day, he mused. Hyperaware of all noises, he was extra careful as he slowly turned the key in the lock. The house felt peaceful and he could hear Sarah’s rocking chair creaking. Hollowness touched him just for a heartbeat – that sound echoed through his life spelling comfort tinged with loss. He tiptoed to the living room. The television was on, sending low light into the darkened room.

“Hey, stud,” Buck whispered from the chair. “Did you have a good evening?” Toe on the floor, his friend gently rocked the chair back and forth. Wrapped in the sweater that Buck had been wearing earlier, Vin was snug on his lap, eyes closed and mouth slightly open, deep in the Land of Nod.

Chris essayed a rich smile at the sight. “He seemed all right with me when I spoke on the phone.” When they spoke on the phone at five (in the office); six-thirty (with hellos from the rest of the team); eight (during dessert to share chocolate experiences) and half an hour later, just before Vin went to bed.

“He was being brave,” Buck said. He shrugged infinitesimally. “I mean, yeah, he was okay – but, you know.”

Yes, Chris knew, but their child psychologist said that they needed to sometimes rock the boat just slightly.

“When did he wake up?”

“About half an hour after he went to bed. I don’t think he was awake, he was sort of sleepwalking. He just wandered in, looked around – looking for you. I turned the television down. He stopped by the rocking chair and just stood next to it. I asked him if he wanted a drink of juice and he just stood there. I sat in the chair and he clambered onto my lap and flopped. Kinda nice, really.” Buck smiled dotingly down at Vin.

Unconscious trust was better than nice it was perfect.

“You want to put him to bed? Or shall I?” Chris asked.

“Nah,