DISCLAIMER: No they are not mine and those who do own them take pretty shoddy care of them.

RATING/CATEGORY: PG; Missing Scene from "Manhunt"

MAIN CHARACTER(S): Chris and Vin

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a short fic that was born from a challenge on Tanner Tracks for a missing scene fic. If you've already seen it, oh well. That's what the delete key is for. Thanks to my M7 email pards for their encouragement and to all of the other writers who not only entertain, but inspire. Special thanks to my beta Sherri.

Vin slipped out the side door of the jail and headed for his wagon. How could he have let Chanu get away? "Stupid. Shoulda seen it coming!" He spoke harshly to himself. Making his way behind the buildings of town so as not to be seen, he rubbed absently at his still aching neck. 'Damn,' he thought, 'that was just too similar to being hung.' He had just reached his wagon and pulled his hand away from his neck when a sound from behind him had him instinctively drawing his gun and spinning around.

"Ya trying to get yerself shot, cowboy?" Vin asked reholstering his mare's leg.

The black clad leader strolled up as if confident that he wouldn't have been shot. "I trust your instincts."

It was a simple statement that spoke volumes. With four words, Chris had assured Vin that he believed him. Or, more importantly believed in him. But, Chris was just one man and Vin remembered the pain he'd felt at the way Buck and Ezra had confronted him outside the jail earlier. They didn't trust him and he knew it. Hadn't seemed to matter much before, so why did it now. Because they were his friends. Even the word seemed a little strange to him. Friends. Hah! Buck and Ezra were questioning his loyalty; that was what truly hurt.

"Too bad a few others don't share your opinion." Vin's frustration with the entire situation leaked out more than he had intended. Rubbing absently at his throat again, he turned back to his wagon. God, he was tired. But, he wasn't about to let that slow him down. He'd been through worse and survived. A sudden wave of dizziness swept over him and he swayed slightly catching himself on the back of the wagon.

Chris had been about to say something to Vin about the others. He knew that Buck and Ezra had some doubts about Vin's frame of mind and wanted to reassure the tracker as well as himself. His own hidden doubts about letting Vin go surfaced when he saw the man sway slightly.

"Vin?!" Reaching out to put a steadying hand on the trackers arm, he began to rethink his decision.

Vin stepped away from Chris, almost losing his footing as he did. Chris felt his gut clench in worry remembering something Buck had said to him earlier. "Why don't you just stay here and rest? I'll take a couple of the others and go look for Chanu."

"No!" Vin's angry reply brought Chris's glare out.

"Look Vin, Buck said you barely slept while you were tracking Chanu before, and you look like shit. You need to be fresh to do this. Have you slept at all?" Chris's glare went unheeded by the tracker.

"Well hell Cowboy, did you miss that nice nap I had right there in the jail." Chris saw the glint in Vin's eyes and couldn't help the tight grin that escaped his lips. Tanner's strange sense of humor always came out in some of the most stressful situations. Like a cool drink of water to a dry, dusty throat, a quiet word or a wisecrack from the easygoing young man could quickly ease the tension among him and the others. It was Vin's way of keeping things in balance. And a vital part of what helped bring the seven radically different men together as one cohesive force.

Before Chris could say anything else Vin tried to reassure him. "I'm fine. I've got to do this. I'm the only one of ya that can track him. It's my fault he got away and I'll bring him back."

Chris knew Vin was right. The others, minus JD, were no strangers to living in the west and could do some tracking, but Vin was likely one of, if not the best trackers Chris had ever known. It was almost eerie sometimes the way Vin could find a trail practically out of nowhere. A hidden hoofprint, a bent twig, and more than once the gunslinger would have swore he saw the tracker sniffing the air like an animal on the scent. Just plain eerie.

What he also knew was that Vin felt responsible. He blamed himself for Chanu's escape and in the back of his mind Chris couldn't help but agree a little. It was Vin who had been watching the jail when he had escaped and Vin they found passed out on the floor. Chris's gut tightened at that thought, remembering the sense of dread when JD had come to get him. He was the leader of this bunch of men and felt his own sense of responsibility to protect them. How and when he had started caring for these men he wasn't sure, but he had. He was also careful to realize that he felt a bit more so toward Vin. Their friendship had been almost instantaneous, as if they had known each other all along. And, for a gunslinger whose very life depended on trusting no one and a wily ex-bounty hunter who had been on his own for most of his life and learned not to trust others in order to survive, that instant trust between them was nothing short of a miracle.

Just in the few months that they had known one another, the gunslinger had come to understand that Vin saw it as his personal duty to look out for anyone that needed help. That had been evident from their first meeting when Vin had stepped off of the boardwalk to help Nathan, a man he didn't know, but who needed help. Vin had also stepped up to look out for Nettie Wells, when Guy Royale had tried to take her land. And, every one of the seven had been saved at some point by the tracker watching their backs.

Vin's sense of responsibility was an almost sacred thing to him. And if the stubborn tracker got it into his head that he was responsible, nothing would change his mind, even if it put him first in line for a bullet. Chris felt a cold chill run down his spine. Right now that same sense of responsibility that had drawn Chris to Vin was also his main cause for concern.

Vin's next words brought Chris out of his musings. "Besides, Nathan'll be with me."

Chris's eyes narrowed. "Just don't give him any reason to try and repay you for saving his life."

Vin grinned that sheepish grin that made him look like the kid that Larabee feared he really was, as far as years went. Then his eyes changed back immediately to the world wise man that he was. "You just worry about your own backside, cowboy. These townsfolk seemed mighty riled." Vin could feel the old pains resurfacing. He'd seen this type of prejudice before. And, had even been on the receiving end of it a few times.

Chris could hear the disapproval in Vin's voice and without thought tried to defend the town's view. "They're just afraid." Even as he said it he regretted it. He wasn't trying to make Vin feel that he was wrong and the others right. It wasn't how he really felt.

Vin's anger got the best of him. "Don't make it right. Hell, they were ready to string him up without a trial." Then as quickly as it appeared, the anger in the tracker's face disappeared to be replaced by a deep sadness. Chris envied Vin's ability to set aside his anger so easily. But, with Vin's next words, he realized that for the tracker this was an old and seemingly winless battle. And, the sadness the gunslinger now saw in the deep blue depths of Vin's eyes was born of firsthand experience.

"People are too quick to judge. Just because they don't understand or just because it's different, don't make it wrong. But their solution is just to get rid of it." Vin paused, but the next two words were a breathless whisper that would haunt Chris for some time. "Kill it."

Chris shuttered at the defeated tone of Vin's voice. He knew Vin spoke of the white man's treatment of the Indian's, but also wondered if it wasn't something more.

"Not everyone feels that way." Chris spoke quietly. He hated to admit that he had been guilty of such thoughts himself. But, seeing Vin like this and hearing those haunting words of his made him wish he had said something sooner. He'd have to talk to Buck and Ezra. They had voiced their doubts to him earlier. He regretted not stopping the two before they got to Vin with their doubts. Watching the tracker carefully, he saw as that sharp mind began to work. Chris had already figured that Vin's education was minimal at best, but there was no mistaking his natural ability at problem solving.

Something had been bothering Vin from the moment this whole thing had begun. Something that seemed off somehow. It was like something clawing at the back of his mind that he couldn't quite grasp. And, it was driving him nuts.

"We're missin' something. It's like when you break something and then go to put it back together, but you can't because there's a piece missin'. If we find the missin' piece then everything else'll fall into place."

"You think somebody's not telling us everything?" Chris wondered at Vin's description.

"Just a feelin'. Just need to be sure what's going on. But, first I've got to go find Chanu, before someone else does."

If Vin had a feeling it was likely for good reason. Chris had learned to trust Vin's uncanny ability to read a situation. It had saved lives before and likely would again. "Alright, just take it easy and don't overdo it."

Vin's childlike grin appeared again. "Yes ma." Chris just glared at him. Vin grabbed his readily packed saddlebags from his wagon and turned around to face Chris. Their arms snapped up simultaneously and grabbing forearms, they spoke volumes without saying a word.

'Be careful.'

'Aren't I always.'

'No.'

'You too.'

'Aren't I always.'

'No.'

"Watch your back!" They both said it at the same time and smiled. Each let go of the other's arm, but not the bond it symbolized. Vin silently slipped out the back of the alley to make his way over to the livery unseen. Chris watched him go and said a silent prayer for his friend's safe return. He hadn't really believed in much of anything since the death of his family, but there had to be some higher force at work that had brought him to this town, to these six men he now called friends and to the one he silently called brother.

July 2001

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