Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
One hundred years after the time that Chris Larabee found himself standing within the confines of the church built by the labour of Josiah Sanchez' faith, a prominent archaeologist would coined the term by which the gunslinger was presently considering his life.
Punctuated gradualism, the noted scholar would call it.
Sudden changes that take occur between extended periods of steady continuity. Chris life was a perfect example of the term in the sense that the best and worst moments in his life seem to follow a period of calm. When he had lost Sarah and Adam, he had experienced eight years of unbelievable bliss being her husband and father to her child. The great change of their loss set him on another path, a rather self destructive one until one day, he happened across town that was about to have a lynching even though he did not know he had reached another crossroads at the time.
There would be other crossroads in his life and here he was at the most recent. While he ought to be paying attention, he could not help drift in and out of his memories, remembering the day he had stepped into that fight with Vin, had been a day like no other. In a space of 24 hours, everything had changed and there were still instances where he had trouble believing it had happened. He had met Vin Tanner and saw for the first time in his life, the one thing that might convince him that perhaps it was not for the best if he had died with his wife and child. A flash of gold hair before his eyes and it was forever branded into his mind, plaguing him for the next year until he found the courage to do something about it. With Vin, came the five men who would set him on the path to this second in time by their camaraderie and their friendship. Becoming one of the fellowship had saved his life. Chris was not so arrogant that he did not know that.
They were all here with him, this curious family of his that did not just include his dear Mary, his sons Billy and Michael but the six men he rode with and the women they loved with the children that were and would someday come. He saw Vin standing not to far away, with Alex at his arm. The tracker was shifting uncomfortably in his heavy coat and Chris forgave him for his impatience because Vin was still suffering a serious injury following their encounter with one of their many enemies. However, there was no way that he was missing the occasion because his body was not up to it. His wife, the doctor who had brought Michael into the world, leaned her head against his shoulder, carried away by the soft drone of Josiah's voice as he continued to speak.
Sun, Moon, Stars, all you that move in the heavens, hear us!
Into your midst has come a new life.
Make his path smooth, that he/she may reach the brow of the first hill!
Winds, Clouds, Rain, Mist, all you that move in the air, hear us!
Into your midst has come a new life.
Make his path smooth, that he may reach the brow of the second hill!
Hills, Valleys, Rivers, Lakes, Trees, Grasses, all you of the earth, hear us!
Into your midst has come a new life.
Make his path smooth, that he may reach the brow of the third hill!
Birds, great and small, that fly in the air,
Animals, great and small, that dwell in the forest,
Insects that creep among the grasses and burrow in the ground, hear us!
Into your midst has come a new life.
Make his path smooth, that he may reach the brow of the fourth hill!
All you of the heavens, all you of the air, all you of the earth, hear us!
Into your midst has come a new life.
Make his path smooth, then shall he travel beyond the four hills!
Alex seemed to smile wider when Josiah concluded the verse and offered Vin a proud smile, Chris noticed. She had every reason to be pleased because it had been Vin who suggested they use this verse in place of traditional Christian recitals. The Indians used something similar to welcome their own children into the world and Chris had to admit he liked it and Mary, who was always a staunch supporter of Native rights agreed with him at the simplicity of its content. At this moment, it was a feeling shared by everyone in the church because he could see the same smile of soaring spirits among all the members of his extended family.
Chris could see Inez dab a white handkerchief to her corner of her eye as the glistening he had seen earlier formed into tears of emotion. She was at best, a force of nature, their Inez. All fire and heat but within, she was soft like honey and the moments like these made her melt inside. As she cradled her own babe in her arms, little Elena Rose who would one day be an astonishing beauty, Chris found himself thinking that Inez had never looked lovelier and his jaded insides curled into a little smile. Buck Wilmington wrapped his arm around his wife, wearing a thoroughly relaxed smile as he leaned over and kissed her gently on the head before looking straight again. It was hard to believe that Buck could ever be pinned down by domesticity, Chris thought but he had been for the length of Elena's life and made the transition from rogue to family man so flawlessly that it was hard to imagine that he was ever anything else once.
Ezra was stretched out on the wooden seat wearing that same languid expression he wore when he was about to move in for the kill after enticing some helpless victim into the arena of the felt covered table where he ruled supreme. It was never possible to quite know what Ezra Standish was thinking even when he was among friends. However, Chris noted the softness in his usually impenetrable green eyes and knew that the small dimpled smile was a genuine reflection of his secret inner soul. Impeccably dressed as always, he had donned his best for the day and Chris felt some measure of honor in knowing that the occasion meant so much to Ezra that he would make the effort.
Next to him, Julia Pemberton's emotions were not so guarded as Ezra's, her emerald colored eyes sparkled and Chris wondered what it was about events like these and weddings that seemed to strike such a chord with women. It was a testament to her beauty that even with tears rolling down her cheeks, she was still a sight to behold. She had told him once that she had come from a large family but still never felt as much apart of one until she had arrived in Four Corners. Seeing Julia dry her tears with the lace linen in her gloved hand, Chris could well believe it.
A sudden movement by JD Dunne as he adjusted the starchy collar around his neck, shifted Chris' gaze from Julia to the young man who was seated further along the same pew occupied by Julia and Ezra with his fiancée Casey Wells and her graceful looking aunt, Nettie Wells. JD was dressed in his best as they all were but it was he who just him who appeared most uncomfortable in them. Despite his best effort not to fidget, he was unable to keep from tugging at the shirt or the collar that was irritating him in unison. Chris had to stifle a smile because he looked so much like Billy flinching in his Sunday clothes that it was uncanny. Even though Chris had reason to see JD as a man lately, not simply because of his engagement but because the experiences he had come away with since joining the fellowship, he still seemed like very much the boy right this minute. Without any of his older peers being aware of it, JD had become a man and while they still tended to treat him like a kid, it was becoming increasingly hard to ignore the maturity that he now carried himself with.
Of course that was not always so when Casey caught sight of him pulling at his collar again and leaned over and jabbed him gently in the ribs. JD threw her a little scowl and whispered something else in her ear which made her jaw drop open in outrage and brought a little hint of red to a her cheeks. She was about to hiss back when Nettie, armed with the poise that could only come with a lady of her bearing, leaned over and said something to both of them that silenced the duo immediately. Chris found himself shaking his head at how much the whole scene reminded him of Billy's antics with Lilith at times.
Thinking about Billy immediately made Chris seek out his stepson. The boy who might have as well have been his own child because of how much Chris loved the kid, was presently sitting next to Marcus Larabee. Upon hearing the news that he had another new grandson, nothing could keep the crusty old general from journeying to Four Corners to attend the christening. Billy had been following the general ever since Larabee had hit town and while the general would have to be put at gunpoint to admit it, Chris was certain he enjoyed regaling his grandson with tales about his life in the army. Chris had not made mention of it to Mary as of yet but he had a feeling that the twinkle Billy had in his eyes every time he saw his grandfather's uniform was not just a passing fancy.
Of course that uniform had the same effect on him when Chris had been a child too.
In order to let his best friend sit next to him during the ceremony, Audrey King and Lilith were sharing the lengthy seat with Billy and the general. The two children were sitting side by side and while Audrey's gaze was fixed on Josiah as he held Michael in his arms making a recital of the holy sacraments. She was a handsome woman Chris found himself thinking, who must have been quite something in her youth. He wondered what it was about Four Corners that brought such strong women to its principality. First Mary, then Inez, followed by Alex and then Julia. Audrey was no exception and on the few occasions he had happened to chance upon her, delighted in astonishing her with his knowledge of books by bringing up a few that did not seem like the usual reading material for a hardened gunslinger.
In the meantime, there was something about Lilith King that Chris had not quite figured out yet but decided he would once he put his mind to it. He looked at the lovely blond child and saw things in her eyes that were not quite what one would see reflected in a child. If he had to put a name to it, Chris would say that Lilith had secrets and there were not the kind of secrets that children had or for that matter adults even, they were the kind of secrets that the word was first formed to confine. He saw mystery and things older than himself staring back at him even though she was like an other little girl with sunstreaked blond hair and aquamarine eyes.
He saw a hand ran through luxurious dark hair and Chris glanced instinctively at Rain who was nestled quite comfortably against the crook of Nathan Jackson's shoulder as she watched with a smile, the proceedings taking place before them. The sunlight through the window was bouncing off the long strands of wild, jet colored hair, sending a reflection of deep auburn in all directions that had well and truly captured Nathan's wonder. Chris could see the healer using his talented finger to play with the warm strands, with a smile that Chris knew all too well when he saw the sun bouncing off Mary's hair in the same way. For that instant, Chris felt as much kinship as he ever could have with the healer and decided what bound men together, was the soul inside them, not the colour of their skin.
"I baptize you..." Josiah's words sliced through Chris' thoughts and he returned his attention to the proceedings, suddenly feeling Mary's grip around his hand tighten when Josiah took baby Michael from her.
His wife had tears in her eyes but there was nothing sad about how she looked. The radiance that glowed of her face as she glanced at him and smiled almost stopped his heart in his chest and made Chris wonder how a man could be blessed twice in a lifetime. Chris wrapped his arms around her shoulders and drew her to him in a warm hug as they both watched Josiah complete the final part of the ritual. Their child gurgled happily in the giant's formidable hand and a slight splash of water and a long plaintive wail of cold discomfort rang throughout the church that touched the heart of everyone who was present for the gathering.
"Michael Vin Larabee." Josiah concluded with a wide grin that mirrored the emotions in the room much better than words could ever do.
Chris watched Mary retrieve their child from his arms and she placated Michael with a few soft words before the wailing ceased and the child became just as lost in that soft voice as Chris had done a thousand times before.
A hundred years from now, an archaeologist would find the word to describe a moment like this and he would still be wrong.