Title: Nothing to be scared of

Author: Josette Grover

E-Mail: josette_g98@yahoo or jgrover@tm.net

Fandom: Magnificent Seven

Series/Sequel: Part of my Hellmouth universe, You will need to have read the first story in that universe 'Seven men against the darkness' to understand what's going on.

Archive: WWOMB, BeyondCanon

Synopsis: Nathan comforts three boys during a thunderstorm


Nothing to be scared of
by Josette Grover


"Dad?" Nathan hears as he wakes from a fitful sleep. The small hand tugging at his elbow causes him to roll over and see his son and little Ez, thumb tucked in his mouth, standing beside his bed.

"What's the matter, tummy ache?" He asks, sitting up and reaching for the two boys.

"I's scwared." Ezra mumbles around the thumb in his mouth. "I's hate stowms."

Nathan smiles and lifts the covers on either side of him.

"Come on and curl up beside me then," He says as the two boys crawl in. He wraps an arm around each of them and looks to the other bed. A solemn three year old looks back at him.

"Josiah, want to come cuddle with too?"

"No thank you, Uncle Nathan. I'm actually enjoying the weather. Father and I usually sit up and watch the sky when there's a storm. I. . . I . . . I wish he were here with me."

Nathan smiles, able to see the boy's lower lip trembling under the façade of calmness.

"Why don't you come over here and help me calm the boys down then?" He smiles.

"No thank you Uncle Nathan, I'm YIPE" Josiah yelps as a huge crack of lightning, followed immediately by a crash of thunder erupts outside the window. Without even seeming to have moved, Josiah finds himself cuddled on Nathan's chest as the older man tries to calm down three, all crying by this time, children.

"Shh, shh, it's okay," Nathan croons in three small ears. "It's okay," He says a little louder. "It's just a storm. I'm sure your and Ezzie's dad wish they were here too." Nathan begins humming an old spiritual his mother used to sing when the kids were scared, smiling as six tear-drenched eyes slowly close and the steady breathing tells him all three boys have fallen asleep.

He closes his eyes and is nearly asleep again when the door across the room opens, and; Ezra and Josiah, both soaked to the skin, rush into the room.

"What the hell are you two doing here? I thought you had planned on staying overnight at the village?"

"We decided to get an early start and were nearly back when the storm hit. We ran the wagon into the barn, made sure the horses were dry and had water, then immediately headed here. I knew the boys would be scared."

"Well, wash the trail dirt off you, grab your nightshirts, and try to get some sleep before the boys wake up and realize you're back."

"We've been rained on for a good ten minutes brother. And we washed in the trough before we came inside."

"Then grab a towel, dry yourself off and get your asses in that bed before you catch your death of foolishness." Nathan says, mumbling under his breath about damn fool brothers who don't have the sense of a turnip. Josiah dries himself off and tucking little Josiah and Ezzie between himself and Ezra in the other bed grins as he hears Nathan's parting shot.

"And don't come crying to me if you catch a cold from this. Serves you right."

Josiah grins as his son, never really waking up, curls himself around him. He knows that couldn't be further from the truth. Nathan's too much a healer to see anything in pain, even two overprotective fathers who, as he put it, don't have the sense the good lord gave a goose.



The End