Don't Play with Fire, You Might Get Burned
Summary: A call in the night leads to a pain in the rear.
Category/Keywords: Discipline, slash (nothing shown), Magnificent
Seven C/V
Disclaimer: I don't own the boys. I don't own the concept. I don't
own anything worth suing over except a whole lotta debt which you are
more than welcome to and a 6-month old puppy who eats everything in
sight.
Archive: Please contact me.
Feedback: This is my first time posting a discipline story and I am
quite nervous about posting so keep that in mind in your feedback. :)
I have only posted one other story (gen, non-discipline fanfic on
another list a couple of years ago) and it started a flame war which
destroyed the list. So please, if you want to flame me that is your
right but please do it off list so that there is not a war started.
Notes: This is a story using characters from the Magnificent 7
television show staring Michael Biehn as Chris Larabee and Eric Close
as Vin Tanner (plus five other guys). A couple of years ago, MOG
took that original group and decided that they needed to live in the
present in Denver CO and be Federal Agents in the Bureau of Alcohol
Tobacco and Firearms. She opened her sandbox for anyone to write
in. The result was tons and tons of stories in that AU. I decided
that Chris and Vin needed to get together and Vin needed a strong
hand to keep him in line at times.
This story took me an entire summer to write and months and months
before that to work up the nerve to do it. It would never have come
about or be in a position to be read without the wonderful help of my
Beta Kristen. I couldn't have written this without her and I sure
wouldn't have worked up the courage to post it without her support
and encouragement. Thus, I dedicate this story to her. All mistakes
and problems are my own. I also want to thank Wolfie for help,
especially with descriptions. My description of Chris - Blond hottie
who loves to wear black. My description of Vin - Brown haired hottie
who loves to wear tan. I was told that was not sufficient. Then,
Wolfie to the rescue. Thanks for the wonderful look at the boys.
Enjoy.
2 a.m.
The silence of the dark bedroom was broken by the shrill ringing of
the bedside phone.
"What?!" Chris demanded into the phone, still half asleep.
"Cowboy?" a soft voice asked.
"Vin, what's wrong?" Chris demanded, fully waking up.
"I was wonderin' if ya could come get me."
"Where are you? What's wrong?"
"I'm at the Four Corners Hospital. Can ya get me?"
"Are you OK? What happened?" Chris demanded, already up and pulling
on jeans and boots.
"Well, there was a small fire."
"How small was the fire, Vin?" Chris asked, knowing that his team
sniper and lover had a tendency to downplay the danger of anything he
had been involved with. In the course of their work, both men were
involved in plenty of danger.
Chris Larabee was the team leader of ATF Team 7 out of Denver
Colorado. When he retired from the Navy SEALS, he knew that he wanted
to go into law enforcement. His oldest friend and fellow SEAL, Buck
Wilmington, talked him into joining the Denver PD. Less than three
years later, Chris was asked to head up a new team in a new branch of
the ATF. He had carte blanche to recruit anyone he wanted to be on
the team.
His first recruit for the new ATF branch had been his buddy, Buck
Wilmington, whom he put in charge of explosives and surveillance. For
a medic he asked a local EMT, Nathan Jackson. Nathan put Chris in
touch with Josiah Sanchez, a preacher/philosopher turned profiler.
For undercover work, he recruited a young FBI Agent, Ezra Sanchez.
Chris scoured the countryside for a good technical computer geek who
would fit in with the rest of his team. He found it in JD Dunne, a
cop out of Boston who was looking to go west. Although barely twenty-
one, JD could do anything with a computer. All that was missing was
a sniper/weapons expert.
During the team's first bust, Chris found him. Vin Tanner was bounty
hunting and happened to be in the right place at the right time to
save Nathan's life.
When Chris first laid eyes on the bounty hunter, he was filled with
an awareness of the younger man. He knew then that something had been
missing in his life, and that something was slowly climbing down from
the rafters. From behind, the lean wiry body stood out in the worn
jeans and faded Henley. His muscles stood out as he exerted his
strength to ease his way down the rope from the rafters. When he
turned around, he glanced up at Chris through his long dark lashes.
Chris could see the beautiful doe-like eyes that held a good dose of
wariness, a lot of intelligence, and just a hint of mischief. The
soft, sandy brown hair fell in waves, stopping just below the
shoulders. In the instant Vin flashed his shy grin to Chris, Chris
lost his heart.
The exact same reaction was happening from on high in the rafters.
Through his scope, Vincent Michael Tanner had spotted the tall slim-
framed man dressed in form fitting black shirt and black jeans.
Without a second's thought, Vin had labeled him the Alpha male of the
group of men who had entered the warehouse below him. Sometime
during the ensuing gunfire, Vin lost sight of the man, but somehow,
through it all, he *knew* where the man in black was in the warehouse
and could predict where he would be needed to protect the man and his
friends.
As he climbed down from the rafters after the firefight, Vin searched
the ground spotting the Alpha leader talking to the black man Vin had
just saved. Reaching the ground, Vin glanced up to see the sculpted
chest in the form-fitting black shirt directly eye level in front of
him. Continuing up to the face attached to that chest, Vin had to
take deep breathes to calm his racing heartbeat. It wasn't the
adrenaline of the gunfire, but the deep sea green eyes staring back
at him from below dirty blond hair which caused the reaction. With
one look into those eyes, Vin knew that he had fallen.
He had never believed in love at first sight until his first look at
Chris Larabee.
"How small was the fire, Vin?" Chris asked, bringing both of them
back to the present.
"Well, not that big, but sorta big." Vin hedged his answer.
"Vin? How big?"
"Just my building," Vin stated, wincing at the yell on the other end
of the phone.
"Your *building*? Are you hurt?"
"A little, not bad though. The docs here said that I couldn't drive
home 'cause of some stuff they shot me up with. Can you come? If ya
can't that's fine, I can get a cab back to Purgatorio."
"I'll be there in thirty minutes, I'm leaving the house right now.
Find a seat in the lobby and STAY there. Do you understand me?"
"Yeah, I understand, Cowboy."
"I'll be there soon. And don't call me cowboy."
Chris walked into Four Corners Hospital 25 minutes later, at least
ten minutes faster than it should have taken from his ranch. After
stopping to talk with the ER doctor, Chris walked into the waiting
room to find his wayward brat. With a quick glance around, he spotted
his injured lover scrunched down in the corner of the room and he
headed that way.
Reaching Vin, Chris squatted down in front of the huddled form of his
lover. "Hey babe. You okay?" he asked, gently brushing the unruly
brown hair off Vin's forehead.
"I'm fine, nothing wrong," Vin answered, leaning into the soft touch.
"Nothings wrong with your hands?" Chris asked.
"They're fine," Vin said, nonchalantly sliding his hands behind his
back.
"Let me see them," Chris demanded.
"They're fine, Chris." Vin sighed, hoping to get out of showing his
injury.
"Now!"
"Come on, Cowboy, I'm fine. Nothing really wrong with 'em."
"Vincent Michael Tanner! *Show*...*me*...*your*... *hands*."
Vin hesitated one second too long, and Chris' larger hand grabbed him
right above his left elbow and pulled that hand out from behind his
back. "Don't make me ask again."
Vin could tell that Chris was quickly losing his patience with him,
and so he pulled out his other hand as well.
"See, they're not that bad," Vin tried, hoping that the white gauze
bandages that went up to the elbow wouldn't be too obvious.
"Not that bad? Vin, you have second and third degree burns on your
hands. And first degree burns and cuts across both forearms. The
only reason you are being released from the hospital is because Dr.
Gardner knows you and knows you won't stay in the bed if she did
admit you," Chris stated, looking over both arms and hands.
Ducking his head, Vin quietly asked, "You talked with Dr. G already?"
"Yes, I did. I also talked with the police and the fire department.
I promised the Doc you were coming home with me and that I
would 'take care of you'," Chris said with a menacing grin and led
the young man out of the hospital toward his truck.
Vin gulped, knowing that the Doctor's image of "take care of" and
Chris' image varied greatly. One consisted of lying in bed, not
doing anything with his hands, and resting. The other might involve
those things, but there was a good chance it would be preceded by a
nice view of a dull corner and then a hardwood floor. One sure would
be more comfortable than the other.
"You talked with the fire fighters, huh?" Vin asked, trying to see
how much sympathy he needed to win to get out of anything happening
when the truck reached the ranch.
"Yes. Want to talk here or at the house?" Chris inquired, once they
were in the truck.
While wanting to put off the conversation as long as possible, Vin
knew that if Chris had to concentrate on the driving, there would be
no instantaneous painful swats as a result of anything he confessed.
His hope was that by the time they reached the ranch, Chris would
have cooled down some.
"Here, please," Vin quietly murmured.
Chris gave him a sideways look, knowing what Vin was thinking and
hoping. "As Josiah would say, 'the confessional is open, brother.'
Why don't you start at the top, Vin, and work your way through.
Start at leaving the stake out and going to your place alone, not the
ranch, and continue from there."
"Well, I knew I was comin' out to the ranch tomorrow and was gonna
stay for a while and so I thought I would go check on the kids and my
apartment," Vin started.
Although they had not moved in together yet, Vin usually spent six of
the seven nights a week in Chris' bed at the ranch and one night with
Chris in his place. Lately, that seventh night had been at the ranch
more often than not. No matter the location of the bed, the two
partners had a rule that it was to always have both of them in it
unless they had discussed it beforehand.
"Without me?" Chris asked mildly, keeping his eyes on the road.
"I was workin' late every night this week, and you was asleep when I
came in every night anyway. I just figured I wouldn't bother ya
tonight. Let you get at least one night a sleep. I hate working
different shifts of stake outs. I woulda come out if I thought you
was still going to be up." Vin stated, diversionary tactics set on
full.
"One, WE made a rule, no matter the time, you would always be free to
wake me when you came in. Two, WE made a rule, no matter the time,
you WOULD come in and wake me. Three, we have been over this many
times, I love you and want you in bed with me even in the middle of
the night. Four, WE made a rule, for the present, you were to NEVER
NEVER go to your apartment without telling me. Why did we make that
last rule, Vin?" Chris demanded, his voice getting louder and
stronger with each point he ticked off.
With a sigh and a whisper, Vin answered the last question, "'Cause of
the Uno's who have my place under surveillance and a death threat out
on me. But they won't do nothin' about it. This isn't the first time
they've had a death..." Vin trailed off seeing Chris' angry stare.
"When you get in the middle of a gang war, confiscate drugs and guns,
take kids out of the gang, and then turn your back and walk away, the
leaders on the other side are going to want to get even. Thus, WE
MADE A RULE. We have discussed this. You admitted that this threat
was different. You admitted that you spotted guys hanging around.
AND we are getting off the subject. Back to tonight. After going to
your place alone. What happened."
Vin sighed at the return to the dreaded original discussion and
started talking again. "No one was watching the place. Hector and
Carlos said that the guys left yesterday afternoon and hadn't been
back. There seems to be a change of leadership in the Uno's and I
have dropped out of priority. So I went up to check messages from
today. I meant to call ya. Honest Chris, you have to believe me. I
was gonna call but I sorta fell asleep on the couch. Ya gotta believe
me," Vin pleaded.
"I believe you. Keep talking."
"Well, then the next thing I know it was midnight and the fire alarms
going off. I go out and help some others out of the building, burn
my hands, go see to the ER, call you and then here we are," Vin
blurted out in a rush.
"Hold up there, Babe. Slow down and more details. That's the part
I'm upset about. The 'help some others out of the building' and 'burn
your hands' part. According to the fire department, you cleared the
building and then after they got there, removed you from the fire
area and started their own search, with proper fire fighting gear,
you slipped away from the medics, entered the building in nothing but
your street clothes, and started walking through a BURNING
BUILDING," Chris yelled, getting more and more agitated as he went
on.
Vin, for his part, slipped lower and lower in his seat, as Chris
listed his acts of the evening.
Chris continued, "And then when the firemen found you, pulled you
out, AGAIN, took you to the medics, AGAIN, and repeated their
assurance that you got everyone out of the building the first time,
YOU WENT IN AGAIN! What was so important that you had to reenter a
burning building TWICE?!?"
Not looking at Chris, and muttering into his chest, Vin knew this was
where the real problem with the night would occur. "Rita wanted her
teddy bear."
With a sharp swerve, Chris pulled the truck over. In a deceptively
quiet voice, he asked, "Could you state that again? I am sure that I
didn't hear you say that you purposely, recklessly, and dangerously
went back into a burning building without telling anyone just for
Rita's teddy bear."
Vin found many interesting designs on his jeans as he avoided looking
at Chris and remained silent.
"Vincent Michael, answer me. Did you reenter a fire for a teddy
bear?" Chris demanded, grabbing Vin's chin and forcing the younger
man to look at him.
"Well, Rita was cryin' and she ..."
"This is a simple yes or no question. Answer it!" Chris interrupted.
"Yes, Sir, I did."
Letting go and turning back to the steering wheel, Chris trembled
with anger and fear. "The doctor said that you should rest. Close
your eyes and try to rest for the rest of the trip. We should be
there in twenty minutes. I am too angry to deal with this at the
moment."
With tears wetting his lashes, Vin leaned into his door and shut his
eyes.
/ He hates me. / Vin thought. / I finally did something so stupid that
he won't want me any more. How could I be so dumb. I know Rita was
cryin' her eyes out for that bear. I know she thinks it's alive. But
he hates me. /
As if hearing his thoughts, Chris reached one hand over and gently
rubbed Vin's shoulder. Speaking softly into the darkness of the truck
cab, he said, "Vin, I am angry at you risking your life. I am upset
that you reentered the fire after repeated attempts to keep you
away. I am scared out of my mind that I almost lost you to a fire
like Adam and Sarah. But, and this is the most important of all of
my feelings, *I still love you!* You definitely won't be sitting for
a long time and we are going to have some conversations about
needlessly risking your life. But I still love you and want you and
need you in my life."
With that heartfelt reassurance of his place, Vin fell asleep for the
rest of the ride to the ranch.
When the truck pulled up next to the house, Chris glanced over at his
sleeping lover. Although not one to generally put off punishment,
Chris decided that the discussion could be tabled until the next day.
Gently, so as not to startle and awaken his lover, Chris lifted Vin
out of the truck and carried him to bed. After undressing both Vin
and himself, he turned off the lights and climbed into bed hoping for
a few hours of sleep, glad that it was Saturday and they had the day
off.
Two hours later, Chris was awakened by the soft whimpers of his
bedmate. During the night, Vin had moved as close as possible to
Chris, ending up on top of Chris with his head resting on Chris'
strong chest.
Glancing at the clock, Chris noticed that it was past time for the
next round of pain pills. Slowly easing out from under Vin, he went
for water and the medicine.
Vin woke up while he was gone. Confused over where he was and in
pain, he looked around the room for his lover. / He left. / Vin thought
sadly, not remembering who and what he had used as a pillow. / He said
he needed me but he left me. I *did* screw up so bad he left. / Vin
rested his forehead on his knees and tried not to cry.
Coming back into the room with the water, Chris saw his forlorn lover
sitting on the bed. Setting the water aside, Chris eased himself down
next to Vin and pulled him into his arms. "I'm right here, Vin. I
love you."
"You left," Vin accused, safe within Chris' arms.
"I went to get you some water, Little One. It's past time for your
medicine. I didn't leave you. I'm right here."
"I'm not little," Vin responded, as he always did to the endearment.
While normally a friendly ritual bantering followed, this time Vin
burrowed more into Chris' arms.
Although he needed to give Vin his medicine, Chris kept a tight hold
on his young lover, knowing that being held would heal him more than
any medicine would.
When Vin was almost asleep, Chris forced the pills on him and tucked
him back into bed. "Go to sleep, love. I'll be here in the morning
when you wake up."
Stretching lazily, Vin woke to find the sun shining in through the
bedroom window and his lover sitting by the side of the bed watching
him.
"Mornin'," Vin whispered shyly, ducking his head.
"Mornin' sleepyhead, its almost 9:30, you hungry?" To Vin's ears,
Chris' greeting sounded very normal, not his typical pre-"discussion"
tone. "Come downstairs, breakfast is waiting."
After helping the injured young man into sweats and a t-shirt, Chris
led the way down to the kitchen where he proceeded to fix breakfast
for both of them.
Breakfast was a peaceful, companionable meal of pancakes, sausage,
and of course, coffee. There was no mention of the previous night or
Vin's hands. There was no mention of punishment. There wasn't even a
look or a glance that made Vin suspect that Chris was going to do
anything. If it wasn't for his bandaged hands, Vin could have
convinced himself yesterday had never happened and he was not in
trouble.
But he had bandaged hands.
Vin stopped eating and stared at those bandages. / I got burned last
night, / he thought / for a teddy bear! People could have died in that
fire. ... I could have died in that fire. / And all of a sudden it hit
him how close he came.
Glancing up through his long dark eyelashes, Vin stealthily watched
Chris clean up the breakfast dishes. / He already lost one family to a
fire when his wife and child died. Now I almost died. It's a wonder
that he didn't tan my hide last night in the hospital with the scare
I gave him. /
Once the dishes were cleared Chris returned to the table where Vin
still sat. As he opened his mouth to speak, the telephone rang.
"Larabee," Chris answered, grabbing the cordless off the counter
behind him.
"Ah Huh. He's here...He's gonna be fine, burned hands but that's
about it right now...No, you don't need to come out and check on him,
Nate, I can change his bandages this afternoon just fine...Yes, I
promise to call if there's a problem...No, poker tonight is not a
good idea...Why don't we play tomorrow night out here...OK, why don't
you call the others so they don't all call here and disturb
Vin...Yes, Nathan...Yes, Nathan...Yes, Nathan...Bye, Nathan."
"That was Nathan." Chris stated, unnecessarily. "He saw a story on
the fire on the news and wanted to see whether you were there and if
you got hurt. I'm supposed to make sure you take your medicine, and
not use your hands, and get some rest."
"No poker tonight?" Vin questioned tentatively. Saturday night poker
at the ranch was a standing tradition with ATF Team Seven.
"I think WE have some things to discuss, and by then you'll be back
in bed for the night. I figured you wouldn't want the guys here for
that." Chris fixed a steely glare on his lover. "I think we've
waited long enough. You know what you did, you know how I feel about
it. You broke our rules and you know the consequences. Let's get this
over with and then we can change your bandages and take a nap. You
know what to do, go on."
Vin guiltily walked into the downstairs study where all "discussions"
took place and took his place in *His* corner on the far side of the
room. After a few minutes, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure
Chris had followed him.
Two quick swats landed on his backside. Every time he was placed in
the corner, Vin would turn around to make sure that Chris had not
left him alone and every time Chris responded the exact same
way. "I'm right here Vin. I promised you when we started this that I
wouldn't leave you alone while you were being punished. Face the
corner and don't fidget."
Thirty minutes later, Chris called Vin out of the corner and over to
where he was sitting in the middle of the room. They had an armless
straight back chair, originally from the dining room, which
permanently resided in the study just for punishments.
After thirty minutes of silence and concentration on the past twenty-
four hours, Vin was feeling extremely guilty and was ready for the
spanking. Or more precisely, he was ready for the knowledge that once
it was over, it was over. He would be held in Chris' lap, told he was
loved, and the slate would be wiped clean.
As he reached his lover's right side, Vin's courage started to fail
him. Taking the initiative, Chris seized Vin and pulled him down over
his lap. With gentle ease, he pulled the injured hands to safety
where they wouldn't get hurt.
Sliding the lean body up onto one side, Chris reached around, undid
the strings on the sweats. Resettling Vin, he slid both the sweats
and the boxers to below Vin's knees bearing the expanse of golden
backside. It always surprised Chris that his shy lover was baked to a
golden brown ALL over his body, not a single tan line to be found.
"Why are you getting this spanking?" Chris ritualistically asked,
bringing his hand down onto the upturned bottom.
"For burning my hands?" Vin said, tentatively.
Chris immediately checked his next swing. He never wanted to punish
Vin without Vin knowing and understanding the reasons behind it.
After years on his own and in bad foster placements growing up, Vin's
sense of what actions deserved punishment and what actions did not
was off kilter. Chris was slowly trying to correct that.
"No Vin, you are not getting punished for hurting your hands. Both
the fire department and Dr. G. told me that your hands were burned
during your first sweep of the building." Chris answered while slowly
rubbing circles on the back of the man across his lap. "What about
the fire ARE you getting punished for?"
"Going back into it."
"And why does that deserve punishment?" Chris asked, still waiting to
restart the spankings.
"'Cause I put my life in danger." Vin knew that this was big on the
list of rules, no unnecessary risk to life or limb.
"Very good." Chris began to bring his hand down again. A half a dozen
blows fell before Chris asked, "What else?"
"OW. 'Cause I went to Purgatorio without calling ya." Vin knew that
Chris was more upset with the breaking of their rules than the rest
of the night. Chris' right arm showed him he was right.
"And why does that result in this spanking?" Chris asked, continuing
to turn the tanned backside bright red.
"'Cause of the Uno's ... Ow! and their death ... Ow! ... threats."
Vin said, starting to sob with the pain.
"And?" Chris prompted.
"Ow! 'Cause it ... Ow! ... broke our rules." Vin stated
Continuing to rain down the swats, Chris showed his lover the error
of his ways and hoped that it taught him to think before he acted.
After another round of hard spanks, Chris stopped the spanking and
eased his lover into a sitting position on his lap, careful of the
enflamed backside.
"It's OK now," he said quietly, rubbing small, gentle circles Vin's
back. "It's OK, I'm here. It's all over now. Everything is fine. I
love you."
Vin, with tears flowing down his face, leaned into the strong, loving
arms and held on for all he was worth. With the gentle words from his
lover, Vin knew all was forgiven. It would be alright now. Chris had
said so.
After almost twenty minutes, Vin had calmed enough that Chris tried
to start moving him toward his bed. "Come on, love, let's get up."
"No, I don't wanna." Vin demanded, sounding for all the world like a
sleepy three year old.
"Come on, little one, let's get up and just go into the bedroom. We
can lie down there and be more comfortable." Chris said with a
smile. When Vin was recently spanked and cried out, he tended to act
like a sleepy child. "I'll get you your medicine and then rub your
back until you fall asleep," Chris bribed.
"'Kay. Will you stay?" Vin asked, standing up but still leaning into
the bigger man's chest.
"Yep. I promised Dr. G I would take care of you and I will," Chris
said as he gently supported his lover into the bedroom. He eased Vin
down into the bed and went for his medicine.
With the combination of the emotional and physical exhaustion of the
morning, the anti-inflammatory and pain drugs in his system, and the
soothing, loving hands on his back, Vin quickly fell asleep.
Reaching up to turn out the bedside lamp, Chris decided that he too
needed a nap and slipped under the covers with his lover. As he was
drifting off, he heard the quiet drawl next to him. "Love ya
Cowboy."
"Love you too, little one." With Vin nestled close to him, Chris knew
that there wouldn't be any unexpected calls like the one that had
woken him earlier. His lover was safe, and right here with him. It
was all that Chris could want.
THE END