Disclaimer: I still own nothing.

If ya can't stand the heat

The chain around his ankle caught him 5 inches above the smelting pot, suspended upside down. The heat was unbearable. Thankfully his earpiece hadn't fallen out in the drop and after several seconds of trying to draw in air he heard the others through it.

"Vin answer me right now are you okay?" Chris predictable

"Come on Junior say something to us" Buck equally predictable

"Vin! Answer our associates" Ezra…not so predictable

"Ez" Vin's voice had a wheeze to it "Did you just call me Vin?" Ezra huffed out a laugh. "I believe I did Mr Tanner"

"Vin I know you don't want to think about this right now, but I need to know if you're hurt" Nathan, once again predictable.

The others listened expectantly, Vin hadn't been hurt yet in the time that he had been with them, well not seriously anyway, but he'd kept the small things hidden. The rest of the team had been worried when Vin hadn't turned up for work and he was usually there early, lounging on his desk with a cup of coffee. When he was two hours late, Chris was about to go out and look for him, when Vin walked casually in, and sat down at his desk. Chris was reaming into him for being late and not calling them to let them know, when, JD noticed the bandage. It was small and almost hidden under the t-shirt, but when Vin moved his arm in a placating gesture towards Chris, the short sleeve shifted just enough for JD to see the white contrasting against the dark grey top. JD had asked Vin if he was okay and Chris froze in the middle of his rant, he hadn't even considered the possibility that Vin might have been hurt. It turns out it was only a small cut, that hadn't even needed stitches, although Vin had refused to tell them how he'd got it.

They heard Vin muttering over the radio catching only the odd word, "Damn" "Mother hen" "After myself". Buck started laughing. Having figured out what it was that Vin had been saying. Nathan just stood staring expectantly at Vin as if staring him down would get him a straight answer. "I'll be fine as soon as ya get me away from this vat!" Buck and Josiah immediately headed over to the controls, trying to figure out what Monte had done to turn it on. Chris and the others headed over to the chain by the next vat, JD and Nathan hauling both Chris and Ezra up onto the unstable catwalks, using the next chain along. All the while the six men could hear Vin's soft gasps as he tried to breathe through the heat and steam coming of the vat, five inches from his nose.

Two minutes later Chris and Ezra were at the catwalk nearest the Vat that Vin was hanging above. The chain that was saving his life was stuck on the rafter that Vin had climbed over earlier somehow, as Vin had been falling, the side of the chain, no longer held down by the weight of the thug had hooked around itself and had jammed just in time to save the sharpshooter's life but still leave him in mortal peril. Chris and Ezra decided that their best bet would be to try and raise Vin up and move the pulley away from the Vat. Therefore moving Vin away from the Vat too. Chris boosted Ezra up towards the chain and the undercover agent grabbed the knotted part of the chain allowing his weight to pull it down. Vin was now completely unaware of the immense heat coming off the smelting vat. In his black fatigues the heat had caused him to pass out. He didn't move a muscle when Standish's weight raised him away from the warmth. Once Ezra's feet were on the catwalk, he and Chris started pulling the chain to raise Vin further.

Back on the ground Buck and Josiah were staring at the controls with no idea which button did what, none of the buttons were labelled and they didn't want to take risks with one of their own being on the line. Looking back up at Vin's form hanging limply above the Vat and Ezra and Chris working on pulling him higher they decided that Vin was out of harm's way for the moment. They pushed the button that Josiah thought he had seen Monte press to activate the Vat. With a whirr of machinery the pulley that had Vin suspended moved sharply away from the Vat, the sudden pull dragging Chris and Ezra with it. With no one steadying the chain, Larabee and Standish swung around Vin, before grabbing onto the lax form of the Texan, leaving all three hanging above the factory floor. Fortunately away from the vat, unfortunately with no easy way to get down.

JD and Nathan, who had been watching and trying to help direct the two pulling Vin to safety, ran after their three friends as they were dragged from the Vat. Buck and Josiah shared a look before simultaneously saying "Whoops"

Chris and Ezra knew that they would not be able to hold themselves in their current positions for long. Despite the fact that the chain around Vin's ankle would keep him from falling, both the leader and the gambler, had a hold of him with one hand, and were holding themselves up with one hand.

"Well, this is a rather unpleasant situation"

"Buck, get us down!"

Then a weak, raspy voice, "Nice view" Everyone heard Vin as his earpiece was still transmitting continually. So they heard his soft laughter as all of them jumped to look at him at once. "Nice of you to join us Mr Tanner"

"Don't tell me ya'll are stuck up here with me?"

"For the moment yes"

"Damn Ez, thought I taught ya better than that"

"On the contrary Mr Tanner, you are always endangering yourself for one of us, I thought it was about time one of us endeavoured to reciprocate"

"Well good job savin' me pard"

By the tone of Vin's voice Ezra could tell that he was joking. But seemed unable to come up with a retort. Mouth opening and closing as his brain kept coming up short. He didn't know when but Tanner had gotten under his defences. Before the sharpshooter, Ezra had been the newest member of team seven, and his upbringing, much like Vin's, had taught him not to let people get close. They were either after something or they would hurt you. The others had tried to draw him out but had been unsuccessful. After joining the team, Vin had Ezra at the saloon with them within a week. None of the others, including Ezra himself, could explain it. But the scruffy Texan had somehow gotten past his barriers and in the process had drawn him and the other members of team seven closer together as well. Before the undercover agent had felt like the outsider, now he and the others were more like a family than an ATF team. Buck openly teased him, but he knew the womaniser didn't mean anything that he said. Chris seemed to have dropped the trust issues he had with the former con-man, JD looked up to him and had asked him for advice on several occasions. Josiah had a sense of humour that the southerner appreciated, the ex-priest, seemed to laugh in the face of death and on several occasions had said something that was seemingly innocent but had helped Ezra deal with both his conscience and demons from his past. He and Nathan had had a bit of an issue when Ezra first joined. Rather than let the medic help him with a dislocated shoulder, the gambler had insisted that he was fine. A little trickery on Jackson's part had eventually forced the issue, and after that the former con-man was more willing to let Nate help him with his injuries. But out of them all he was closest to Vin. He appreciated the wry humour that the Texan possessed and the way that he went out of his way to help people in need, he saw life in a totally unique way and always surprised the gambler by helping see things for how simple they were. They had had much in common despite the fact that they appeared so different.

Ezra had been the only one out of the seven, with the possible exception of Chris, to know about some of the time that Vin spent in foster care, and at the orphanages. Despite the fact that Maude had always left Ezra with various family members, Standish knew what it was like to believe that you were unwanted. That was what made team seven so important to him. He felt wanted and needed. He knew that Vin felt like that too. They had only known each other for a short while but it seemed like they had always known each other. Without realising it the agent increased his grip on the sharpshooter, if Vin realised this he didn't mention or react to it.

Vin snorted a laugh. Relieved at hearing that Tanner was alright, JD headed over to the controls and Buck and Josiah. Leaving Nathan to once again question whether Vin was injured seriously or not. Joining the others by the control panel, JD didn't make his presence known straight away. Instead he listened to the conversation currently taking place between his surrogate older brother and the preacher.

"It was your idea!"

"My idea, brother, you were the one that pushed it."

"But you said that that was the one Monte pressed"

Deciding that he should probably make himself known, JD cleared his throat and had to fight to keep a straight face as the two older men, span to face him, with innocent expressions on their faces. Before realising it was just JD. "You guys mind if I take a look at it? It looks pretty much the same as the ones that we used to have back in Boston." "When did you work in a smelting factory son?" Buck look genuinely surprised at that revelation. "When ma was ill, I took up working anywhere I could to pay for her treatment, she weren't too pleased about it, but weren't nothing she could do either."

Both men saw tears in the younger man's eyes and decided to head other to the others, to give Dunne a moment to compose himself and to let him work the controls. They joined Nathan under the others.

"Brother Vin, you through hanging around for today? Got us some paper work back at the office."

"Thought Chris would want us to get started on it, but he seems just as caught up in not doing it as you"

Despite the others trying to lighten the situation with humour, Vin still felt pretty rough. The bullet graze was still seeping blood, he had several cuts and bruises from the 'shrapnel' that one of the bullets had caused, and his head was killing him from where he'd hit the rafter, which was not helped by the fact that the longer he stayed suspended upside down the worse the dizziness got. Still the fact that Buck and Josiah were making jokes must mean that they had everything under control.

JD's voice came over the radio. "I think I've found the button that should lower you guys down, I'm not sure coz the controls are different to what I remember but I can try it if you want"

Chris was the one to respond. "Okay JD thanks, press it when I tell you to. Buck, Josiah Nathan, get ready to help us get this chain off Vin." The three on the floor below moved so they were almost directly below the three suspended and nodded to Chris when they were ready.

"Alright JD, press it"

There was a clang from the pulley that had them suspended and all three looked up, in time to see the chain disengage from the pulley completely. Chris and Ezra had time to share a look before all three of them started falling.

They landed, neatly on top of the other three, all six of them ending up in a heap on the ground. JD came running over and helped Ezra get off of Nathan. "I'm so sorry Chris I thought that, I thought , I didn't think it would do that!"

Chris pulled himself off of Josiah, looked to the youngest member of the team and shook his head, for a moment JD thought that Chris was mad at him, but a closer look revealed that the leader was grinning. "Don't apologise son, you thought it was the right thing to do, besides it was a lot quicker" JD returned Larabee's grin and all eyes turned to Vin and Buck who were still on the floor. Vin was sprawled across Buck's back, whilst the moustached agent was face down on the floor.

"Mind getting off me junior"

Vin rolled off of Buck onto the floor, lying face up, the chain still caught around his ankle. Chris knelt down by his side, whilst Nathan started to remove the chain.

"Figure I owe you an apology" The leader didn't know whether to be concerned or offended at the surprised look on Vin's face. It was like he hadn't expected an apology. But then again thinking back to what Travis had said earlier, maybe that wasn't such a shock. Deciding to just get it over with, Chris carried on. "I'm sorry for blowing up at you in the office", Vin gave him a small, lopsided grin. "It's fine, I know you were just grieving, in your own unique, angry, permanently scowling, way" This got a laugh out of the others gathered around, but made Chris realise what Vin had been trying to do. He should have known that the quiet man had figured out what was bothering him, it was almost scary the amount Vin could pick up just from watching people. But he had been trying to draw Larabee out of his grief, lighten up the tension in the office with the familiar nickname. He placed a hand on Vin's shoulder again communicating, non-verbally, that he was sorry. Blue eyes found his and Vin nodded, understanding what was being said, without a word passing between the two of them.

Chris directed his gaze towards Nathan next, raising and eyebrow so the medic would fill him in on Vin's condition. "He don't seem to bad off, got a bullet graze but the bleeding is practically stopped and I don't think it'll even need stitches, there are some small cuts and bruises, and I think he has a concussion, probably slightly dehydrated from the heat, but other than that I'd say he's not too bad off. Shouldn't even need a trip to the hospital. We just keep an eye on him overnight and bandage up that graze and Vin'll be fully healed in maybe a week."

During Nathan's talk Vin had propped himself up on his elbows. Now that Nate was finished he pushed himself to his feet. Almost falling on his face as the dizziness returned. Several pairs of hands grabbed him and, when his vision cleared, he found himself supported by Chris and Buck one arm pulled across their shoulders. Raising his head he met Ezra's gaze. "I do believe we should get Mr Tanner to a bed with all due haste, his pallor leaves a lot to be desired."

Unable to work out what Ezra was saying as his mouth was moving, but not in time with the words, Vin let the others guide him to the van and was asleep before Chris started issuing the others orders.

He awoke at Larabee's ranch in one of the spare rooms. He opened his eyes slowly and didn't move a muscle, a habit from the special forces that he hadn't been able to break. From the light coming in through the curtains he guessed it to be around midday. Meaning he'd been out for over 12 hours. Not surprisingly he could hear the other six moving around the ranch and teasing each other. Buck, JD, Ezra and Josiah all seemed to be 'discussing' what to watch on the TV. Looking around the room he saw Nathan and Chris in chairs on either side of the bed. Chris was asleep, his head propped upon his hands. Nathan reading a book about field surgery. Looking at them both triggered memories, of being woken up every couple of hours in the night, that he hadn't even realised he'd forgotten. Closing his eyes Vin allowed his mind to drift. Maybe he wouldn't have to leave after all. He was quite happy here and Chris had apologised, which he hadn't been expecting. With a small sigh, he assured himself that there wasn't much more he could do with his, unique, skill set, and decided to let the next couple of months play out. If the others were as he thought, and not like the army had been, he could see himself working with them for as long as he was able. If they weren't he would leave as and when he wanted.

Unaware that Chris had awoken when he sighed, Vin literally jumped when he felt a hand on his arm. "Thinking mighty deep there cowboy" the nickname was emphasised and Tanner found himself smiling despite everything. "I think you owe me a drink pard" this caused both to laugh. Nathan however was not so pleased. "you are not drinking alcohol, until I say you can" "Until you say what?" "that you can drink alcohol" "I can why thank you Nate" "That's not what I said and you know it!"

Looking from the sharpshooter to the medic, Chris found himself smiling at the playful banter between the two, finally convinced that things were as they should be again.