Series/Universe: Family Business
Disclaimers: M7 characters belong to Trilogy, et al. Original characters are all mine ... don't mind if you borrow them, just ask first, give them back intact and give credit where credit is due.
Warnings: The usual ... violence, language, and references to ugliness. Oh yeah, and the original characters. Can't forget them.
Spoilers: All twenty-one episodes, my Road to Hell trilogy, (Recovery, Reunion and Reconciliation) and the stories in my Facets series will probably be alluded to.
Author's Note: The title is a bit anachronistic, since it's inspired by a 20th century song, but given the events of the story, I think it's appropriate.
A Sudden Gift of Fate
"And so this has to be,
a sudden gift of fate.
You're nothing less to me,
than a sudden gift of fate."
Mary Chapin Carpenter, A Sudden Gift of Fate, from the A Place in the World CD.
The sun set by the time Buck made his way back to the guestroom where Vin rested. Rachael told him the tracker was sleeping, courtesy of a draught she gave him. He wasn't sleeping, he was unconscious ... from blood loss, from pain, and from that draught. He wasn't sleeping, because it wasn't natural. And Vin hadn't given up control. That's why Buck returned as soon as he could, so he could watch Vin's back.
Vin was lying on his side, facing the door. It was probably easier that way, on his leg. He moaned softly in his sleep, shifting on the bed uneasily. Buck lowered himself to the ground, gently resting his hand on the back of Vin's head. It was a tentative touch, but Vin quieted instantly. When the tracker was recovering at Aurora's ranch, Buck wasn't allowed near him until he apologized ... and he certainly wasn't allowed anywhere near Vin while he was sleeping. Neither Chris nor Adriana were willing to trust him with that.
And Buck once made the mistake of commenting on that. But only once. Because after the looks he received from his oldest friend and from his sister, he knew better. Just as he knew better than to say anything about Chris being overprotective of Vin, after another such confrontation with his sister. Adriana retorted that Chris was certainly no worse than he was with JD, after the boy was hurt. Which, Buck had to admit, was true enough.
In fact, remembering the confrontation with Chris in the saloon months earlier, Buck had to admit that if Chris done that to JD, what he and Nathan done, he would have killed Chris for that. Never mind their years of history together, never mind Sarah and Adam. Never mind all of that. Which made him wonder. Chris was always a dangerous man, more so after the deaths of his wife and son.
He began coming back to life in the last year, but Buck wondered. Given the rage which Buck felt when he thought about JD in that place, what kept Chris from killing him? When they thought Vin was dead, and the rest of the town turned against them? Wha ... what was that? Buck's head snapped up at the sound, and he looked around the room, only to find Vin moaning in his sleep.
Buck whispered, "Shhh, you're okay now, Vin. C'mon back." But Vin was lost to him at the moment, as another nightmare took hold. The tracker began to move about on the bed, his head thrashing side to side. Buck moved slightly, until he could hold Vin's shoulders and whispered, "It's okay, little brother ... just rest. I've got your back." He was hoping the sound of his voice would guide Vin back.
Not this time. Not like it had on the trail. Vin moaned, "Nooooooooooooo ... ain't gonna letcha ... nooooooooooooooooooo." Buck felt the hair on the back of his neck prick up. Where was Vin? This wasn't about the beating. This was something else. Vin gave an anguished sound which defied any definition, then, "No. Stop! I'll kill ya, I swear I will! I'll kill ya ... aghhhhhh!" The sentence ended with a scream and Vin arching from the bed.
He fought hard against Buck's gentle, restraining hands, gasping, "No ... no! No, it ain't true! Nate don't ... oh, God. Nate, why?" Buck closed his eyes at the anguish in his voice, blinking back tears. Vin gave a low, inarticulate growl, which forced Buck's eyes open a second time. He wished they remained closed, because tears were streaming down Vin's face and the tracker whispered, "Ya best hope I die here, Nate ... 'cause if I don't, if I git out ... I'm comin' fer ya. I'm comin' fer ya, and doin' to ya what he done to me."
Buck's blood ran cold, not just at the words, but the coldness of the young man's tone of voice. It wasn't a threat, it was a promise. The question was, which him did Vin mean? Daniel Neely or Rupert Browner, or someone else? Buck didn't know ... and in the next second, he didn't care, because he was restraining a kicking, screaming, cursing, enraged Vin Tanner. Buck didn't understand half of what Vin was saying, and the other half ...
The other half made him wish he could return to the prison camp at Pordios, find Wallace Powell's body, and put a few more holes into it ... for what he done to DeeDee, to Laura, to Vin. The man tortured Vin. There was no other way to put it. He tortured Vin, and began the torture with that damn concoction. He ... oh Jesus. How could one person do such things to another? With all the things Buck Wilmington saw in his life, it sickened him that this young man saw so much more ugliness. Vin went limp, and for a moment, Buck was afraid his friend was dead.
Then a scream burst free ... nearly inhuman with rage and grief, with hurt and betrayal. Vin began fighting once more, growling with rage, and Buck had enough. He scooped the slight young man into his arms, and held on tightly, tucking Vin's head just under his chin. He ignored the growling and infuriated hisses, and held on with all of his strength. He held on when Vin started ranting about what he would do to Chris and to Buck, to Nathan and everyone else responsible for abandoning him.
He held on through all of Vin's struggles ... he must have been reliving another of Powell's experiments. And he held on, tears running down his own face when Vin stopped struggling, stopped fighting, stopped ranting and cursing. Because it was then that simple anguish took the place of the rage. Vin begged to know why. And just as it had, the first time he heard one of Vin's nightmares, Buck could only answer in his heart, which was now breaking.
Eventually, the young man quieted, as the nightmare played itself out. Buck was grateful, as he wasn't sure how much longer he could have held on. As Vin's body finally gave into his exhaustion and went limp in Buck's arms, the scoundrel never even thought about placing Vin back against the pillows. Instead, he shifted on the bed, still holding Vin tightly, until they were both lying on their sides.
Vin mumbled something in his sleep, and Buck whispered, "Shhhh ... it's okay, son, just sleep. Just sleep." The big man wasn't used to holding another man through the night, but if that was what it took to make things right with Vin, he would do it. For the first time, he truly started to understand what his sister said, about doing things on someone else's terms. It wasn't about him, or his pride. His pride wasn't worth Vin's life, his soul, or his sanity. That was what she was trying to tell him all along.
His pride wasn't worth his sister's love, either. It didn't matter if Rachael Welliver was right. Maybe those people had orders to shoot him if he took Adriana out of that godawful place. But it didn't matter. Buck Wilmington prided himself on being a good brother, on being a good friend. He failed. And there was no excuse for that. He left his sister in hell, because he was a coward. Too much of a coward to face losing someone else whom he loved.
Well, all right. That was where he started, then. He had to face his sister. Tell her that he left her in that hell, because of a lack in himself. Because he was still hurting badly from Sarah's death. He should tell her, too, that it wasn't just that she wasn't Sarah. She needed to know that. She needed to know it was just ... that he probably would have left Sarah, if her death came on the heels on Adriana's own.
She needed to know that. Right now, his sister believed that he loved her less, because she wasn't perfect. Because she wasn't Sarah. She needed to know that wasn't true. Buck winced, remembering his words about Sarah. He diminished her, by turning her into a saint. She was as far from a saint as ... well ... as Adriana herself. She had one helluva temper, and she could be damn mean when she wanted. But then, in Sarah's own words, some mealy-mouthed ninny could have never married Chris Larabee ... she had to be a bitch in some way.
Buck remembered how shocked he was when Sarah said that. She could be gentle and restful, but Orrin was right. If Buck said there were never times when Sarah hurt him, or Chris, or Adam with a thoughtless remark, he would have been lying. She was sweet and kind, that was no lie. But she didn't always think before she spoke, and she was stubborn. Just as stubborn, now that he thought about it, as his own sister. He made himself forget, fearing that to acknowledge the truth would make her less. Fearing it would be a betrayal to her memory.
But he was wrong. By turning her into a saint, something she never was, he made her less. Sarah Connelly Larabee was never a saint. Maybe she was a martyr, with the way she had died. But she wasn't a saint, and his insistence that she was put yet another barrier between himself and his sister. Sarah was dead. But Adriana was alive, and he had so much to make right with her.
She wasn't the only one. Buck looked down at the now-sleeping tracker, his throat tightening with tenderness he never showed anyone except his sister, Adam and JD. Vin didn't need his protection, not the way JD did. But he did need Buck's strength. In that knowledge, Buck found the beginning of his redemption. He gently rubbed one shoulder and the back of Vin's neck, never breaking contact, never releasing the slender, still trembling body.
No words were spoken ... times were when words only made things worse. What had Chris and DeeDee told him? They were just words. At the time, words were all he had. But that was then, and now Buck was starting to see a way to the other side. Feeling more at peace than he had in months, than he had since the beginning of the nightmare, Buck gave his friend a gentle hug, then lay his head down to sleep.
"Well, it's about damn time! I was starting to think I'd need to pay him a little visit!"
Katrien van Gesen suppressed a smile at Sarah Larabee's obvious impatience with Buck Wilmington. The other woman shook her head, muttering under her breath, and Katrien asked, "Does this mean you have no anger with my daughter?" Sarah looked away from Buck and at Katrien, her eyebrows raised questioningly, and Katrien continued, "For her hatred of you, I mean. Do you hold any anger with her?"
"No, 'course not!" Sarah immediately denied. Katrien just looked at her in disbelief, and Sarah continued with some annoyance, "Oh, all right, maybe a little!" Katrien just hiked her eyebrows up a little more, and Sarah growled, sounding a lot like her husband, "All right, all right, yes! Satisfied? Sweet heaven, sometimes I wonder if Julia ain't right about you after all when she calls you 'Trien!"
Now it was Katrien's turn to glare. Ever since the young Dutchwoman arrived, Julia Tanner called her 'Trien as a nickname. Katrien asked her not to, since it was a polite Dutch word for calling someone a bitch. Julia, however, showing all the tenacity and cussedness of her son, persisted. The woman was stubborn, and that most assuredly wasn't a compliment.
"If you call me 'Trien, then I must call you 'Sally' or 'Sadie.' Those are the pet names for Sarah, are they not?" Katrien asked, showing some of the contrariness she passed onto her own child. The same contrariness which led to her double standard regarding her daughter's father. It was the only way she could protect Adriana from her father's attempt to get his hands on her inheritance.
Katrien's half-brother Anton was on his way from Holland, after being notified by Julian Poplar that Adriana was very much alive, and passed her twenty-fifth birthday. At the time of her own death, more than fifteen years earlier, Katrien was unaware that her father's handsome young barrister was in fact her half brother, but it was a fact she learned upon her arrival. And she spent the last several years observing him.
She couldn't say she liked him, much less loved him. In fact, she feared he would bring more trouble for her precious child. Not because he wanted to, but because she feared he would inadvertently lead Avery Wilmington to Adriana, after Bucklin's attempts to throw him off the chase. In addition, Anton represented everything she was escaping when she left the Netherlands, so many years earlier.
Before Sarah and Katrien could really get into it, however, Julia stepped in. She said with more than a touch of annoyance, "Ya know, if y'all are gonna behave like a pair a' ten year olds, I suggest ya do it somewhere else. It's bad enough that I gotta put up with yer caterwaulin' about your husband and your daughter, when it's my son in danger at the moment." She fixed each with a glare which would have made Chris proud.
Katrien fell silent, recognizing that her friend from Texas was right. But it was worth it. Sarah got annoying after a while with her sweetness and understanding. Katrien enjoyed shaking that up, even if she had to poke and prod and irritate the redhead to do so. The young Dutchwoman preferred the flawed and honest Mary Travis to the sweet and saintly Sarah. Adriana had a few points where that was involved.
But, of course, Sarah had to go and ruin that as well. She pointed out, her tone gentling, "But Julia, Vin's not in danger right now. Buck's taking care of him, with some help from Rachael." At that, both Julia and Katrien glared at her. That was not the point! And Julia looked dangerously close to pointing out that it was Buck who almost got Vin killed in the first place, or did Sarah forget that?
Julia didn't need to say it ... her emotions and her mind broadcast it for all to hear. Sarah flushed and looked away. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, then Katrien asked her Texan friend, "Did you find it as amusing as I, when my daughter punched Chanu?" Julia's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly, her smile reappearing. Katrien chortled, "I do not know what was more funny ... Chanu's expression or Christopher's!"
"Chanu's," Julia replied with a grin, "definitely Chanu's. Chris knows to expect things like that from Drina. Chanu don't really know that much about her." Katrien laughed, accepting that her friend was right. Julia grew solemn and she said, "Katrien, I want ya to know. My Vin ain't gonna never leave her behind again. I don't think he'll ever stop blamin' himself for what got done to her after they separated."
"It was not his fault, Julia. He did what he believed to be best. For my daughter, as well as for himself. He believed that if she remained with him, that monster Eli Joe would have killed her. He may well be right, and that is why I forgave him so easily," Katrien answered. Chris and Buck would be much more difficult for her to forgive, however. And she found it much easier to forgive Chris than Buck, but it would still be a long time before she could forgive either. Sarah started to speak once more, but Katrien glared at her. She was finished being nice and understanding. Adriana was much more forgiving of them both, but then, she loved them. And Katrien did not. They had not yet proved themselves worthy of her trust or her forgiveness.
When the following morning dawned, a slight, red-haired figure made her way to the guestroom. Rachael looked into the room where she placed Buck Wilmington and Vin Tanner the night before. Much to her surprise, Vin was curled up in the protective circle of her step-son's arms, and Rachael smiled in spite of herself. The walls were coming down, whether he realized it or not, whether he wanted them to or not. Vin Tanner could now find comfort and safety in the arms of a man he didn't think he would ever trust again.
And he still didn't trust Buck, not entirely. It sometimes took years to overcome such betrayals, as Rachael knew from her own life. But they were taking steps in that direction. That was the important thing. They were taking steps toward a true reconciliation. Buck's eyes opened and he looked at her blearily. She smiled, looking at Vin, and Buck's eyes widened as he realized he was still holding Vin.
"Don't worry," she whispered, laughing ever so softly, "I won't tell him." Buck glared at her, carefully disengaging himself from the young tracker. Vin never even stirred. Just mumbled in his sleep, and Rachael continued, "I wanted to let you know, Vin will probably be ready to leave later today. I know you'll feel better once you get him back to Four Corners, and I know he'll rest better."
"Why are you doin' this? Really? Why are you helpin' us, and don't tell me 'bout how you got no reason to like Staines or my old man. That don't answer the question. Why?" Buck asked bluntly. Rachael knew this question was coming ... it was just a matter of time. The big man shook his head, and the woman eyed her stepson. Her stepson. So strange, to think of this man in such a way. But he was Avery's son. He was big, like his father. And he had Avery's dark hair, before Avery's hair silvered. But there the resemblance ended. For all that Avery Wilmington was pleasing to the eye, his son was far more handsome than he ever would be.
"Because it's something I should have done years ago. Because it's my penance for not doing right by you or your sister. Because I have no desire to see Vin Tanner end up like the last man who crossed your father," Rachael answered equally bluntly. She stared at him for several moments, quietly judging whether or not she could trust him with the greatest truth of all. Then she added, "Because a thousand times in the last twenty-five years, I've wished that Adriana was my own daughter."
"Why?" Buck asked again. He covered Vin up gently, and continued, "I love my sister more than I can tell you. But I ain't rightly sure why you wish she was your little girl." Rachael smiled faintly. She wasn't sure why he was asking the question, but in the end, it didn't really matter. He wanted a straight answer, and from her perspective, that was the very least she owed to Buck Wilmington.
"Because the one thing I truly wanted from your father was a child. I will never have children, Buck. Oh, I'm still physically capable of it ... but my husband is impotent. I'm too young to be your mother ... but I'm not too young to be Adriana's. She's my step-daughter, and if there was any justice in the world, I would have raised her as my own. I would have protected her from that bastard who sired you both. But that's not the way the world works. So, I'll protect her in whatever way I can," Rachael answered.
"Would you have kept him from sellin' her into slavery, like he done?" Buck asked. Rachael flinched. She knew what happened to her step-daughter, of course. She knew about the inheritance, and everything else. She knew about the poker game which Avery rigged, so he would lose. He knew about it all. She wondered if she would have been able to protect the little girl, then firmly decided she could have. Her daddy would have seen to that.
"I would have made sure your father could never get his filthy hands on that child. And my father would have helped me. Buck, you've got no reason in the world to trust me. Not after what I did to your mother and Katrien. But ... I want to help. I want to make sure that Avery Wilmington pays for what he did to everyone whom he hurt. And I'm willing to make a deal with the devil himself to make sure Avery pays," Rachael answered.
What she didn't tell Buck was that she already made a deal with the devil to do just that. At least, he would consider the others in this bargain to be the devil, but Rachael was too practical to worry about that. They would help her to take down an evil man. That was all that mattered. Even now, her partners were casting a long shadow over her ex-husband, a shadow and a net. They would give him just enough rope to hang himself, and that would be it.
Her stepson sighed, "All right, then. And just so you know ... I don't hold the past against you. Hell, I don't got the right to judge nobody!" Rachael winced, realizing that it would take Buck a long time to forgive himself. A man like him, though, that was to be expected. He prided himself on being such a good friend, always there when his pards needed him. The twin betrayals weighed heavily on his soul, no matter what she did or said. He was just as stubborn as his father, though in a very different way. Buck asked next, "What about DeeDee? Should I tell her about you?"
"I see no reason for that," Rachael answered, "she doesn't remember me, and I would think that the reminder would only end up hurting her." Buck started to speak, then lowered his head, realizing what she meant. Rachael took pity on him, and added, "Your sister needs you, and Chris Larabee, and Vin Tanner. She doesn't need me. She needs you, Buck, her big brother. And you can't let her down again."
"Nah ... I got no intention of letting her ... or anyone else ... down. Ever again," Buck replied with conviction in his voice. Rachael nodded, smiling faintly, and Buck added, "I ain't gonna forget this ... and when I tell Chris, neither will he. If you ever need us ... ever ... you call on us. We'll be there." He bobbed his head, and Rachael's smile grew. She knew that. With one last smile, she slipped from the room. She had to gather their supplies for the return trip, including medicine and bandages for Tanner.
The wagon was being prepared with blankets and pillows. A voice from behind her asked, "Is the boy still sleeping?" Rachael nodded without looking around, seeing what she could send with the travelers. There was a heavy sigh, then the voice continued, "Good. I know it didn't set well with you, Rachael, drugging him to the point of oblivion, but it was for the best. He ... he isn't ready to know the truth. None of them are."
Rachael did turn around at that, almost trembling with rage. There were times when she swore she did, indeed, make a deal with the devil to make sure her ex-husband paid for his crimes. This was one such time. Rachael asked, her voice rough with anger and worry, "And will you decide when they are ready? Will you judge these people? My stepson knows that he has no right to judge others. Do you know that?"
She came face to face with a man whom both the young man in the other room and her own step-daughter considered a nightmare. Wallace Powell lowered his eyes and said softly, "I know that. God, do I know that. But Rachael ... they aren't ready. Not to know the things I know. They aren't even ready to know that I'm still alive." Rachael looked away in disgust, and her brother-in-law continued, "I know you wish I died in Pordios. But I didn't. I couldn't die, I had too much to atone for."
"Oh, now there we agree! You let my step-daughter think my husband sacrificed himself for her sake! Do you have any idea what that would do to a girl like that? And you tortured Vin Tanner! You tortured him! I heard him screaming last night, Wallace! I heard what you did to him! God! And for what reason?" Rachael demanded, sweeping her arm around the room. Again, Wallace Powell looked away.
"Julian Poplar wasn't the only one undercover, my dear Rachael. My sole purpose has always been to defeat Avery Wilmington. I did not arrange for the girl's incarceration at that place, but I did make sure she escaped. And if I made her hate me in the process, so much the better. That gave her the anger, the hatred, the drive to keep her alive. And that's the most important thing, isn't it?" her brother-in-law finally asked as his younger brother and Rachael's second husband entered the room. Isaac Powell, also known as Ike Poole, the inept bounty hunter who supposedly sacrificed himself so Adriana Wilmington could escape the asylum.
Rachael raked her hand through her red hair, sighing deeply. At last, she answered hoarsely, "All you had to do was tell me, Wallace. Tell me that the girl was being held against her will, so her pathetic excuse for a father could get his hands on her money. Tell me that, and I would have had my father here in double time. There was no reason for her to go through that! We could have defeated my ex-husband months ago, if you just trusted me!"
"We did trust you, Rachael, and we still do. But Wallace is right. You know he's right. The girl isn't ready to know the truth. She's still healing. And Tanner isn't ready, either. You know that, too," Isaac replied. Rachael sighed once more, scrubbing her hand over her face. Yes, she did know that. She only hoped that the bizarre, Byzantine web of deception woven by her husband and brother-in-law wouldn't end up destroying the people they already hurt.
"All right. You know I won't tell them. Now would you two go away, so I can finish this up?" she finally asked. The brothers looked at each other, then nodded. Isaac kissed her cheek, and Wallace just inclined his head to her. They drifted away, and Rachael returned her attention to her work. But it wasn't that easy. In the process of making her ex-husband pay for his crimes, was she becoming just as bad as that monster?
To be continued...
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