Title: Christmas, A time to love, laugh, and Duck?

Author: Josette Grover

E-mail: jgrover@tm.net or josette_g98@yahoo.com

Fandom: The Magnficent Seven (Modern-Day ATF Universe)

Series/Sequel: Part of my brothers born of adversity universe

Genre: Slash

Rating: PG for language and male/male relationships

Pairing: Vin/Chris, Buck/JD, first time

Synopsis: The extended Larabee/Tanner family gets together to purchase a Christmas Tree, buy and wrap last-minute presents, and try not to burn the house down cooking dinner.

AN: I started this a long time ago, it's the third story in a series called Brothers born of adversity, where Adam Larabee is alive and Chris and Vin have adopted Billy Travis.


Christmas, A time to love, laugh, and Duck?
By Josette Grover

Adam Larabee wakes up at the first footstep in the hall outside his bedroom. Snuggling under the covers, he winces, waiting for the first fist to fall. Across the room, his older brother Billy Travis-Larabee still sleeps, not used to waking at every small sound during the night.

"Shh, you're going to wake the boys making all that racket." A hissed voice calls out in the hallway, following the sounds of something falling to the floor and a hastily muffled swear word.

The door across the room opens a little wider, and quiet footsteps come across the room.

"Adam, come on baby. It's time to get up." A quiet voice says in his ear as the covers are pulled off his stiff form. One huge hand, huge to Adam that is, tenderly strokes his hair and back until he relaxes, realizing he's home and he's not going to be beaten for sleeping too long.

"Daddy Vin? What are we doing?" A sleep muffled voice asks from the other bed in the room.

"We're going into town to get a Christmas tree." Vin answers as two excited boys bounce in their beds. "Hurry up and get dressed. We'll eat breakfast in town before we go looking for trees."

Vin grins as he's nearly run down by two small boys running down the hall to the bathroom.

"And Billy?"

"Yes, Daddy Vin?"

"That soap doesn't do anybody any good sitting in the dish. Use it when you wash your face and hands."

"Yes Daddy Vin." A crestfallen voice calls down the hall, followed by the sound of small boy and adult male giggles.

"Good call Vin." Josiah says, standing in the doorway with clean bedding as Vin and JD strip the boys beds.

"I remember when I was that age. My momma had a hard time convincing me that the soap wasn't going to kill me if I touched it."

"See she didn't succeed, huh?" Buck grins from the doorway, smirking at the identical rude gestures that greet him.

"Now now boys, play nice." Josiah chides from the doorway as Billy and Adam run back into the room, heading for their dresser and clean clothes.

"Yes, Daddy." Three male voices say in singsong unison. "We'll be good."

"Uncle Josiah?" Billy asks, looking at the oldest man in the room.

"Don't worry Billy, your Daddy Vin, Uncle Buck, and Uncle JD are just being smart-mouthed brats."

"Same old, Same old?" Adam says, looking up as his father enters the room.

"Yep, Vin, Buck, and JD will mouth off to Josiah, Josiah will treat them like the brats they are, and Nathan will be ready with the bandages."

A snort from the hallway heralds the arrival of Nathan and a furiously blinking Ezra. Chris snorts at the sight of the normally immaculate Southerner looking like an overgrown version of the two boys tussling over the last pair of clean jeans in the closet.

Ezra's chestnut hair is standing straight up in places, his eyes are at half-mast, and he's dressed in faded blue jeans and a t-shirt that says 'Kiss the Cook. I'm Irish.' Feet that are normally dressed in handmade Italian leather loafers are shoved into old tennis shoes with holes showing that he isn't wearing any socks and a hint of violet nail polish?

"Buck, get the camera." JD says, nudging his roommate.

"Nathan, you realize that Ezra's going to go nuts when he wakes up enough to look in a mirror." Buck says snickering as he takes several pictures of the oblivious Southerner.

"You had to dress him, didn't you? You couldn't have just thrown him in a cold shower?" Vin asks, handing Billy a pair of Chinos to wear as he empties the boys laundry hamper.

"Where's the fun in that?" JD and Buck ask in unison.

"I'll say something nice at the funeral." Josiah says.

"Whose? Nathan's when Ezra kills him? Ezra's when he has a coronary the minute he wakes up enough to look in a mirror? Or ours when Chris finally has had enough and shoots us?"

"Boys, I got all your dirty clothes?" Vin asks, hefting the full laundry basket onto his shoulder for the trip downstairs.

"Lemme check, Daddy Vin, my socks have a nasty habit of disappearing under my bed. I think the dust bunnies under there are using them to line their nests." Billy says, sliding off his bed and crawling under it. Two balled up socks, three pair of underwear, and a baseball come flying out from under the bed.

"I wondered where that had disappeared to." Adam says, picking up the rolling ball and placing it back on the dresser.

Meanwhile, five shadowy figures laugh themselves sick in the corner of the room.

JD grabs the clothes from the floor and tosses them in the general direction of the laundry basket Vin holds out. Snickers and the flash of the camera tell him he didn't make the basket.

"Do I want to look or just wait for the film to be developed?"

Vin calmly pulls Billy's underwear off his head, grabs the socks that bounced off the opposite wall, and heads downstairs to the laundry room. High pitched yelping bounces off the wall as a Great Dane puppy runs up the stairs, narrowly missing tripping Vin.

"Boys, take Zane for a walk before we go. I don't want any more accidents in the house." Chris calls from the kitchen.

"We aren't leaving him here alone, are we Daddy?" Billy asks, grabbing the leash hanging beside the door. A fluffy white cat looks down at him from his perch on top of the kitchen, sneering at the puppy yelping up at him.

"Nope, we're dropping Zane off at Miss Nettie's before we go into town. I talked to her last night and she's got a list for us of stuff to pick up for her. We're invited to dinner too." The door slams shut behind Adam and Billy, then opens again and a blond head pokes though.

"Sorry about the door, Daddy." Adam says before shutting the door just as loudly behind him. Chris watches as the two boys race across the yard, towed by the bouncing puppy.

"This isn't a home, it's an insane asylum, and the inmates are in charge." He mutters, sipping his coffee.

"Would you have it any other way, Brother?" Josiah asks, watching over his shoulder, raising his voice a little to be heard over the radio blaring in the laundry room.

"Hell no, but I could do with a little more peace and quiet." He sighs, watching the cat jump from the top of the refrigerator onto the countertop and from there to the kitchen table.

"Stuart, get your butt off the table."

The cat stares at the human disdainfully, looking down his nose at the man who thinks he's in charge of the household, before slowly walking across the table and jumping to the floor.

'I'm only moving because I want to move, not because you told me to. And don't forget it either.' the cat's body language says as he walks out the door towards the living room.

"I don't even get any respect from that damn cat."

"Brother, aren't white cats deaf?"

"Most of 'em, yeah. That's why Stuart's an indoor cat."

"So why are you telling the cat to get off the table. He can't hear you."

"Because it makes me feel better?"

"Oh my dear sweet lord."

"Sounds like Ez finally woke up." Josiah smirks into his coffee cup.



END PART 1