The Long Weekend
(ATF)

by Sammy Girl

Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money
Author's Note: My Thanks to Firefox for proof reading this for me.
Pairings: Primarily Buck/Ezra, some Vin/Chris.

Back to: Entertaining At Home

Part 1

Ezra was as miserable as a person could be. It was the Labour Day weekend. They had it all planned out. Saturday at the ranch with the guys, a nice long ride with a picnic and maybe even a swim in the hot springs. Sunday as always, with the guys at Josiah's house watching baseball. Ezra didn't actually like baseball, but he didn't mind because he still got what he did like - a whole afternoon stretched out on Sanchez' huge sofa wrapped around Buck. Wilmington would lie out flat and turn his head to the screen, Ezra would lie alongside him, their legs intertwined, his head resting against Buck's shoulder, one arm under his lover's neck, the other across his broad chest. Like that he could sleep for hours, no matter how exciting the game or how loud the room became.

Buck, for his part, couldn't be happier, he was with Ezra - his favourite place to be in the whole world was wherever Ezra was. He was watching sport - though he no longer bellowed at the screen as if the players could hear him, or jumped out of his seat at moments of high tension or celebration. And on top of everything else, he was waited on hand and foot, since Ezra's slumbering bulk made it impossible to get up. And Monday he and Ezra were going to spend together, at home, just the two of them.

What actually happened was his latest case took an unexpected turn and Ezra ended up in a tiny rural community, way down south in what he thought of as the boil-on-the-ass of the most backward, bug infested, uncivilised, hell hole it had ever been his misfortune to visit. It wasn't even his case; he had just been 'borrowed' by the DEA when they needed an experienced undercover operative at short notice. What had him really worried was how well his cover had worked. It was disquieting to think he could pass for someone who actually belonged in the shit heap of a place. But the villains had been apprehended, and a fine advertisement for not marrying your cousin they made, so Ezra was on his way back home.

He had managed to secure the last seat on the last plane out of the nearest city on Friday night. Said bastion of more or less civilisation was a good six-hour drive away and he had no intention of being late, so set out with plenty of time. It was hot; it was very, very hot. When Ezra had first moved to Denver he thought he would never get used to the cold and craved the heat of his native south. But these memories of warmth he now saw as flawed, he had forgotten just how unremittingly hot it could be, and humid. That Friday the heat was in the hundreds and the humidity in the high nineties. Worse still the hire car's air conditioning had failed. And then, just when he thought it couldn't get any worse; he had a flat tyre.

With the air conditioning broken the car windows were already all the way down and he had taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. He had to take his bag out of the trunk and put it on the back seat so he could liberate the spare wheel from under the trunk floor. He was dripping in perspiration as he struggled to get the wheel off, when he heard a vehicle draw up. Thinking or at least hoping someone was coming to his aid he looked up from the far side of the car to see a black pickup stop beside him. Then, before he could react, a young man in an old cap leaned out of the back and grabbed his jacket off the front seat while the similarly dressed youth who was driving, snatched his bag from the rear seat. With trophies still in hand held out of the windows, the car sped away. Ezra tried to at least get the number plate, but it was strategically splattered with mud.

With a sickening feeling in his gut, Ezra realised that everything was in his jacket, his ID, cell phone, keys, wallet. All he had was the car key, and his gun, safe in its ankle holster. Worse still his address book was in his bag. In the car all he had were the keys and the hire papers - which just happened to be in a false name - Edwin Staples.

After letting loose a string of expletives that would have had even Vin blushing, he turned back to the flat tyre. Several hours later, with every knuckle skinned, his wrist sore and beginning to swell after he wrenched it, and drenched in sweat, he gave up. One wheel nut just wouldn't come off. In truth he knew it wouldn't come off after twenty minutes, but stubborn pride wouldn't let him give up. Men changed tyres, real men didn't call for help, real men didn't need the auto club, real men could change their own tyres. But nothing was going to move that nut, he had tried everything, up to and including hitting the wheel brace with a rock.

All hope of reaching the airport in time to catch his flight was now long gone as he locked the stranded car and set out to walk to the nearest town.

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Buck watched the clock in Team Seven's offices move with excruciating slowness toward five. Normally five o'clock on the Friday of a holiday weekend would be a joyous time. Normally, but not today, because today he was alone. Four of the others were there, and there had been office banter as always, but it wasn't the same, not without Ezra.

The other missing team member was Chris, and it was his absence that had lightened the atmosphere. Ever since Buck and Ezra had come out to the rest of the team, Chris was against their relationship. Whether he was against it because they were on the same team or just against same sex relationships in general or both, wasn't clear. Buck knew, and therefore Ezra knew, that Chris was attracted to Vin, but wouldn't or couldn't admit it. For his part Vin was desperately in love with Chris, though Chris appeared to be oblivious to it. How much the others knew about Vin and Chris wasn't known because no one ever talked about it.

But whatever Chris' feelings, they didn't change the fact that they were Team Seven, and no matter what the problems within the team, to the outside world they were as close and united as ever. They would back each other, and protect one another, no matter what; even Chris would stand by that, irrespective of his personal feelings. But on this particular weekend Chris was away in Washington, he had been called to testify to a congressional committee about illegal explosives. He had decided that instead of flying back, he would spend the weekend visiting Sarah's sister and her family. It was a move that had surprised Buck. Chris and Jane had always got on but he hadn't seen her and especially her children since the funeral. Jane was Sarah's older sister, her two daughters were already teenagers when Sarah and Adam died. Now one was at collage and one had graduated, got a job and left home. Sarah's husband Mark was a career Navy officer and he and Chris had always got on well. Part of Buck was pleased, he had always thought it a shame that Chris had seemed to cut himself off from his wife's family, he was happy his old friend had made the first move to maintain the relationship - and yet - he couldn't help but wonder if Chris was just using it as an excuse not to have to spend time with him and Ezra, or worse, face telling them they weren't welcome at his ranch any more.

Yet despite his absence, Chris had insisted they still go out to the ranch on the understanding someone, preferably Vin or Ezra, gave his horse a good run out. The actual plan was for Casey to come along and ride Pony. Casey was living with JD at the former CDC. Former, because Casey had put her foot down and the three of them had spent the first weekend they were there, cleaning and scrubbing and throwing out. They had filled one whole dumpster all on their own! Ezra had not participated, he had supervised and provided food - catered of course - and inspected, Ezra never cleaned. One of the biggest changes Buck had to get used to when he moved in with Ezra, was that Ezra employed a cleaning and laundry service who did everything, cleaned house, washed the clothes, did the ironing, sent and collected the dry cleaning and bed linen. He did own a washing machine and a dryer, even an iron, and used them, though only for underwear and his meagre collection of casual clothes, claiming he couldn't possibly send jeans, much less a plaid shirt, to the cleaners. Buck had expressed a concern that the cleaners could 'let the cat out of the bag' about their relationship or even blackmail them. But Ezra had assured him there was nothing to worry about.

"Buck have no fear, 'Butler's Exclusive Cleaning and Laundry Service', are well known, one pays over the odds for discretion, they service some of the most exclusive 'clubs' in the state," he explained.

"Really?" Buck raised an eyebrow. "The Belmont?" he asked.

Ezra knew of the club, it was the best, most expensive bordello in the Rockies, it called itself a gentleman's club, but if you were in the know and could get in through the front door, it offered a full service - whatever your tastes. He had no doubt the police knew what went on inside too, but given the number of judges, DA's, senior police officers and even various federal agency personnel who were members, their chances of a successful bust were minimal. Besides, it wasn't hurting anyone so they left it alone. Now he wondered if Buck was a member, and if so how he could afford it.

"Indeed, can I ask why you ask?"

"Oh I'm a life member," Buck grinned. "And before you ask, I got it free, seeing as how I used to live there."

Ezra's eyes opened in amazement, but he waited for the explanation he knew was coming.

"See - me and Ma moved here from Vegas when I was sixteen, she got a job at the Belmont, you got to realise she was only 32 and she looked more like 25. At the Belmont, they wanted experience and looks, and Ma was a looker."

It still never ceased to amaze Ezra how casually Buck would talk - when he felt safe - about his mother and her 'profession'. That he had loved her and she him, was so evident it was sometimes painful to listen to, when compared to the relationship he shared with his own mother. Buck's mother, if her picture was to be believed, was more than a 'looker', she had been stunning and her early death a real tragedy.

"We came here and lived in a couple of rooms over the garages at the Belmont, it was a good time, well until she... you know, until she was killed."

Ezra knew she had died in a car crash, it was no one's fault, her car suffered a blow out on the freeway, it was a snowy day, and she had had no chance, dying instantly. Buck had been just nineteen and in his first year at college.

"It was a sort of gift, from the manager, after Ma... when I moved out." To him it was nothing, something he had but hardly used. Explaining how he got it he realised must sound odd to someone not part of the world he grew up in.

"So..." Ezra continued, "you accept they can be trusted to clean the apartment and do our washing safely?"

"I guess, just don't think I can afford it, an' I ain't got much in the way of fancy clothing," Buck confessed.

"Buck, beloved, we are a partnership - yes?" Ezra asked.

"Yes, of course."

"Then what is mine, is yours," he reached out and placed his hand on the back of Buck's neck, pulling him down so that their foreheads touched. "And that includes any extra income I may have from investments and trust funds. What use are they if not to make life a little easier? Besides," he smiled, "...we are using a lot more bed linen aren't we?" With that he pulled Buck down further and kissed him lightly, then more and more passionately, until they were forced to part for want of air.

"You planning on needed fresh linen in the next hour or so by any chance?" Buck asked hopefully.

"Could be, so you okay with this?" he asked.

"I guess. Living with you is a learning curve, you know?"

"For both of us, beloved." Ezra's lips returned to his lover kissing gently, then he moved kissing along Buck's jaw line. He moved up to kiss and nibble at Buck's ear.

"Mmmm," Buck moaned. "Ez?"

Ezra broke off for a moment. "Yes beloved?"

"Bedroom?"

"Bedroom," Ezra confirmed.

The huge bed was perfectly made as ever. The crisp white Egyptian cotton sheet covered the deep pocket sprung mattress, with its two-inch deep quilted pad, covered by a washable quilted cotton cover. Huge, white, Oxford pillowcases, on each one of the mountain of goosedown filled pillows. The thick, down-filled European style quilt was covered in a white striped percale cover.

Ezra led Buck to the edge of the bed, and standing in front of his tall lover he began to undo the buttons on Buck's soft, faded, pale blue shirt, kissing each bit of newly exposed skin as he revealed it. Ezra had initiated this and Buck was letting him lead, doing nothing but stand and enjoy the sensations. He suddenly gasped as one of his nipples was captured and nuzzled, nibbled and sucked, rising instantly to become so hard it was almost painful. He gasped, his hands came up and he began to run his long fingers through Ezra's silky chestnut hair. Finally, the shirt dropped to the thick carpet. Neither man was wearing shoes, it was a habit now to abandon them in the hallway and just enjoy the underfloor heating and thick, soft, natural fibre carpets. Ezra hadn't even noticed that as they stood there Buck had managed to get his socks off.

Ezra moved his oral ministrations to the other nipple, which was already hard and aching for attention, but then he moved quickly to kneel before Buck's groin. Making short work of the belt and zip, and opening the figure hugging jeans, he pushed them down. Slowly, he pushed his hands into the top of the navy boxers, letting them move around under the soft, well washed cotton to rest on the twin globes of Buck's firm, muscular buttocks. His well manicured fingers met in the middle and ran down the crack. Instinctively Buck moved his legs apart a little to facilitate Ezra's ministrations. With a little sigh, Ezra moved his hands back to Buck's hips and firmly but gently pushed the boxers down to his lover's ankles, where Buck stepped out of them. The half hard cock rose before him and Ezra smiled. The sight of Buck's long, pleasantly thick, ultra smooth member always made him smile, always, no matter how aroused he was - and right then that was very - the sight made his groin give an involuntary spasm of pure pleasure. He bent forward and without touching Buck with anything but his lips he bestowed just the lightest of kisses on the head. Then, in one swift graceful movement, he stood and looked up in to those deep midnight blue eyes.

"Hold that thought," he all but whispered.

"And how do you know what I was thinking?" Buck breathed.

"Because I love you, because I can read you. My beloved, the light of my life, my protector, my strength, my everything."

Ezra stepped back just enough to give himself room to undress. Buck gulped as he watched and his cock gave a little jerk as he became fully hard. Finally when Ezra was himself naked, his own cock rose impressively hard from its nest of luxuriant chestnut curls. He took Buck's hand and led him to the bed. Ezra used his free hand to pull back the plump quilt and moving on his knees he crossed the bed to the far side leading Buck behind him. Eventually they were kneeling in the centre of the bed facing one another, gazing into each other's eyes.

"Love you," Buck breathed.

"Love you too," Ezra responded.

His hand came to his own neck and he lovingly fondled the gold St Christopher hanging there. The token of Buck's love, entrusted to him by his mother to bestow on whoever he most wanted to keep safe in all the world. Now engraved with their initials and a love knot. Buck watched him, instinctively his left hand moved over to touch his own right wrist and the white gold bracelet around it, engraved with Ezra's declaration of love, albeit in Latin.

Moving as one, both men moved their right hands to lovingly cup and stroke the other's cheek, and again, as one, they pulled each other closer to join their lips. Until now Buck had let Ezra lead, but now he began to assert himself. He was by nature a leader and instigator in the bedroom, and while Ezra wasn't exactly a submissive, he preferred to be the passive partner, he liked to be taken care of, to be led and loved. Buck's skilled tongue now probed the soft inside of Ezra's mouth, exploring and exciting the senses. Hands mutually explored the other's body, bodies they knew as well as their own and yet delighted in exploring time and time again.

Finally, still exploring and sensualising each other, they sank down to the pillows to lie side by side facing each other. The kissing stopped, as again by mutual, but unspoken consent, eyes were to be feasted. With fingertips still exploring, they gazed at each other.

Buck looked deep into emerald jewels, which seemed to glow with an inner light, a light of love but also of vulnerability. He felt he could almost see all the hurt Ezra had lived through, all the times he had been used by callous lovers who took their pleasure from him and gave him nothing. He saw all the slights and jibes and put-downs he suffered from Maude. All the rejection and distrust he had overcome when he was in Atlanta. And he vowed yet again that never would Ezra suffer like that, he was going to protect Ezra from now on. Protect him, comfort him, love him, now and forever.

Ezra looked dreamily into seemingly bottomless midnight pools of love. Eyes that were so full of love and strength and courage, he couldn't help but feel safe under their protective gaze. Yet he knew better than anyone just how easily that strength could be undermined. That Buck's self worth was a fragile thing, that his belief in himself as a person who was valued and of use could be very easily dented or even pulled out from under him. The demons of his childhood were only buried not vanquished, but Ezra vowed to keep them six feet under forever.

Their unspoken communication worked again as simultaneously, lips were rejoined and for the first time, hands moved to touch their aching erections. Holding, stroking, rubbing each other's shaft as they kissed and stroked with their free hand. As they moved ever closer and ever more urgently, the heads of their cocks bumped and ground against each other, heat rising, sweat glistening on their bodies as the intensity of the mutual stimulation rose. Finally and almost simultaneously the dams broke, warm sticky cum flowed, coating their stomachs and chests. As the climaxes broke over them the kissing had become so intense both men knew their lips would be bruised and swollen the next day, but they were beyond any measure of control. Melting into each other's arms, heedless of their slick, sticky bodies.

Buck enveloped Ezra in his long limbs, holding him close and safe, he needed to be needed, to protect, to care for someone, and Ezra needed to be protected, cared for and loved. This symbiosis of need was what made their relationship so strong. But it was a strength that was backed by love, a total all encompassing love.

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Casey had known all about Ezra and Buck almost as soon as JD did, and was as positive about it as JD. She had always liked Buck, it was after all Buck who kept the man she loved alive and sane, how could she not love him and want him to be happy? Casey was about to start her first job as a grade three teacher; this was to be her last weekend - as she saw it - as a child, a carefree student. On Tuesday she would start work for the first time (to Casey part time jobs and summer jobs didn't count) and she was going to celebrate by spending her first ever weekend as 'one of the guys'. She walked into Team Seven's office, proudly wearing her visitor's badge.

"Hey guys!" she called as she stood in the doorway.

"Hi Hun!" JD greeted from his desk.

Casey checked her watch and the clock on the wall. They agreed it was 5:01.

"Are we going or what?" she asked.

To anyone just glancing casually at the five men in the office, it would appear they were diligently working past five on a holiday weekend. Closer inspection would have revealed four men playing poker via their computers and one staring off into space, lost in thought. The shared computer poker was a secret the six of them had, Chris didn't know about it. JD had configured a secret network that only linked their six computers and to which no one else on the network had access to. It was infuriating that even with the computer dealing Ezra still won most hands. When Ezra wasn't there Josiah tended to come out on top most of the time - though only just - or he had until Buck had moved in with Ezra, now he was winning more than he lost. The computer played with thousands of cyber dollars, they counted each thousand as one dollar. Between them Ezra and Buck were well ahead. But today Buck didn't want to play, he just wanted Ezra.

Josiah shook his head. "Well, well, Nathan you sneaky devil you," he commented.

Nathan had just taken the pot, which stood at thirty-five thousand cyber dollars or thirty-five real dollars, on a bluff. The four men closed down their computers and rose almost as one, stretching as they did.

"Buck?" JD asked, seeing his best friend and former roommate unmoving. He got no response, Buck's unfocused eyes were still staring out past the window at a blue Colorado sky, his computer screen saver - a cartoon bucking bronco - silently ditching its rider once again. "Oh Buuuuuck," JD called softly coming up behind the big man. Finally he bent down so that his mouth was only inches from Wilmington's ear. "BUCK!" he suddenly yelled.

"What!" Buck suddenly sat up turning around as he did. "Christ Almighty kid! Don't do that, you could give a man a heart attack like that!" He studied JD's amused and distinctly less than remorseful face. "What do you want?"

"You coming with us or not?" JD asked.

"Coming with you where? It's only..." He looked at the clock.

"Gone five?" JD offered.

"But..." Buck sounded slightly lost all of a sudden.

"Brother..." Josiah came to his side and placed a huge hand on his shoulder. "...you have been daydreaming for the last two hours."

"Oh, no I haven't," Buck instantly denied, looking at the others, "have I?"

They all nodded.

"Jeez I'm sorry guys, why didn't you say something?"

"'Cause we was too busy playing poker, is why. He'll be back tonight, don't worry." Vin crossed the room still smiling. "Now, you coming to the saloon with us or are you planning on camping at the airport for the next six hours?"

Buck blushed as he ducked his head; Vin was closer to the truth than he knew. He had indeed been fighting the urge to go straight to the airport and just sit and wait for Ezra's flight to land; it was due at eleven fifteen that evening.

"Buck?" Casey's soft voice sounded behind him.

"Sweet Pea where'd you spring from?" he asked smiling sweetly at the diminutive young woman. Whatever relationship he had with Ezra, Buck just couldn't help turning on the Wilmington charm in the presence of a lady.

If anyone but Buck, including JD, had called her 'sweet pea' Casey would most likely have decked them, even with an eighteen-inch height difference. But Buck had privileges with Casey no one else had. He was going to be - if her plans all worked out - the closest thing to an in-law she was going to have; and besides if it weren't for his gentle and discreet tutelage of both of them, she and JD would probably still be unable to speak more than three words to each other with out getting tongue tied.

"I'm going with you guys tomorrow? Remember?"

"So you are, reckon you're up to riding that ornery mule of Chris'?"

"I can ride any horse you ever met," she boasted.

"Even Peso?" JD asked.

"Well... okay, maybe not Peso, not if what JD says is true..." She looked sideways at Vin, who was looking mightily offended - on Peso's behalf. "...he says Peso's just plum evil."

"Now that jist ain't true!" Vin protested, rounding on JD, "you take that back!" JD was now backing up rapidly, holding his hands up in a show of peace, as the enraged Texan bore down on him. "He's jist an individual is all, he's got personality, not like that puppy Buck rides."

"What did you just call my horse?" Buck demanded.

Vin forgot JD and turned on Buck. "Well he is, don't reckon he minds who rides him so long as he gets a bucket of mash and a tickle behind the ear."

"And that's a bad thing? As opposed to attempting to bite or kick everyone and everything that comes anyplace near him?" Buck retorted.

"Well hell, least they ain't spoiled and stuck up, like that prima donna of Ezra's," JD pointed out.

Vin and Buck turned back to look at him, suddenly both broke out into a smile. "Well that is true," Buck admitted. "But if you tell him I said so, I'll deny it to my last breath!"

They headed for the bar together; Buck no longer focused on his absent love, at least for a short while.

Josiah and Nathan followed on behind the others, Sanchez silently thanking Vin for effectively distracting Buck.

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Part 2

Ezra was hot, tired and very, very pissed off. His feet hurt, he was sure he had blisters on both feet, on his heels and toes, on the balls of his feet, basically everywhere, his wrist was now very swollen and painful, some of the cuts on his hands stung as the sweat dripped into them. He trudged on up the hill to who knew what hellhole, back of beyond, one horse town? Not one vehicle passed him; it seemed the only people to use the road were thieves and unlucky ATF agents. He had been going for about three hours; the sun was setting, shining directly into his eyes as he crested the hill. Squinting directly into the sun, he made out a building. As he got closer it proved to be a filling station, old, dilapidated, but apparently open. Once he got closer he could see that beyond the filling station were a few other buildings down one side of the road. A store, a bar, what looked like it could be a sheriff's office, and four other buildings. He knew he should go to the sheriff, but he just couldn't be bothered to walk any further.

The pumps were old but not ancient, the store was small but he could definitely see people inside. He placed his hand on the handle of the door and pushed. The door did not move. He tried pulling, but it still didn't move. Ezra peered at the two men inside who were ignoring him; frustrated, he rapped sharply on the glass. The men continued to talk, so he banged on the glass rattling the whole door. One of the men walked lazily over to the small window at the side of the door. Ezra followed him.

"We're closed fer ever'thin' 'sept gas," he informed Ezra lazily.

"I need assistance, I was just robbed." Ezra pointed down the road. ""About seven or eight miles that way, I need to use your phone."

"Pay phone's jist up the street a ways." The man waved his hand ineffectually in the direction of the other buildings.

"As I told you sir, I have no money, I was robbed," Ezra explained again.

"Well ya should go tell the sheriff, an' you c'n make a collect call, can't ya?" With that, the man closed the tiny window and was gone.

"God give me strength," Ezra said out loud. *Buck I need you,* he said to himself.

Right then he really needed to have a strong pair of arms close around him and say those magic words "I'll take care of you baby. I love you." Forcing himself to concentrate on his current predicament, and not on the vision of Buck on his big white horse charging over the hill to rescue him, Ezra headed for the phone. He contacted the operator and asked to place a collect call to Denver, asking for the office number. The operator told him there was only a machine answering and she couldn't place a collect call to a machine. It was just gone five in Denver, so he guessed they had all gone to the saloon. Unfortunately he couldn't remember the number, after all he had an address book so he didn't have to remember numbers. The operator wouldn't put him through to information without money. He asked her to try Buck's number. After Buck had moved in officially, they had installed a second line, so they could have different numbers, and separate message machines, it was just easier that way. Again, all that answered was the machine. Ezra never carried change in his trouser pockets because he said it spoiled the line of his clothes and rui