Synopsis: A complete parody …but who’s to say it couldn’t have happened.
Rating: T
Word Count: 2,225

 

Careless Love – a really bad story.
A.K.A Ben’s extra sons.

 

“Ya think we’ll find our Pa round here?” the longhaired, blue eye Texan tracker asked.

The blonde-haired man, habitually dressed in black, reined his mount to a stop. “Well, we’ve come this far. We haven’t got anything to lose now.”

“Apart from a decent night’s sleep in the comfort of a feather bed,” drawled the Southerner.

The oldest of the group glared at the complaining man and shook his head. His green eyes scanned the surrounding area and he blew out a low whistle. “Sure is a lot of land that the man has accumulated.”

“I perchance conjecture if the gentleman that maintains this land will be eager to apportionment its wealth and prestige with his sons.” The dark-haired man continued.

“What’d he say?” Asked the tracker. His brother’s skill with the English language had once more left him confused.

“Vin,” the blonde replied, “what Ezra said was he wonders if our father will be willing to share this land with us all.”

“Well, why the hell didn’t he say that in the first place, Chris?” groused Vin. “Ya think he’ll be surprised to see us all turn up on his doorstep?”

“If the shock doesn’t kill him first,” Buck Wilmington smiled. “But that’s where brother Nate’s skills will come in handy.” The moustached man commented on the doctoring abilities of Nathan.

The journey to Virginia City had been one filled with both excitement and apprehension. Excited about seeing their father – Ben Cartwright and apprehension of his reaction. Each of the seven men who had set out from the small town of Four Corners to find their father held their own reasons for wanting to meet him.

It had been by chance that the seven brothers had discovered that they were related by more than just a deep friendship but united with blood. From the first gunfight to save the Seminole village from renegade soldiers, each man had become part of a well-balanced group.

Judge Orin Travis had hired each of them on as regulators for the growing town and in his research into their backgrounds had discovered that they were indeed related. Each shared the same father. Travis triple checked all his leads before telling the seven his news. He watched as the seven very dumbfounded expressions asked him to confirm what he’d just said. And so the trek across several hundred miles began.

“We gonna sit here jawin’ ‘bout the land ‘n the man or we gonna ride?” Vin pulled his horse’s head up and nudged him in his side.

“Sure has got a lot of trees,” commented the youngest of the seven and moved his horse up beside Vin’s. “That lake sure is pretty.”

“C’mon, JD, we’ll leave the old folk t’dawdle,” Vin grinned and caught the glare that Chris gave him. “Reckon they’re getting’ a bit soft, cain’t hack the pace no more.”

Chris Larabee shook his head as he watched the youngest of the brothers ride out of sight. “Ezra, y’wanna go with them. Make sure that they don’t get their fool heads blown off.”

“Good idea,” Josiah added and pointed out the sign warning of what fate awaited trespassers.

As soon as Josiah had pointed out the sign the ominous sound of rifle fire was heard. Without waiting for Chris to give his usual command of ‘lets ride’ the five men rode in search of Vin and JD.

The first bullet slammed into the tree to the side of JD. His horse startled by the unexpected noise reared and sent its young rider toppling backwards. JD hit his head against the tree and thought he heard Vin curse before darkness claimed him.

“Shit!” Vin cussed and returned fire. Outnumbered three to one he shot at the target that seemed to be giving all the orders. He cursed again when he felt the searing white heat that accompanied the impact of the bullet enter his left thigh. He had no recollection of falling from his saddle and when he opened his eyes again, he looked into those of Adam Cartwright’s. “Ya gotta be related. Ya dress the same as Chris,” he slurred as he took in Adam’s black attire.

“Chris?” Adam asked and shrugged his shoulders. “Who’s Chris?” he added while he supported the lean man’s frame.

“He is,” Vin grinned before his eyes rolled back in his head.

“I don’t know who you are mister, but you better put my brother down.” Chris growled in a feral tone. His statement was backed by the clatter of five rifles.

“I’m Adam Cartwright and you’re on private property. This land belongs to…”

“… Our father.” Chris finished for him.

“Adam?” Hoss and Little Joe asked in unison.

At a loss for words Adam repeated Chris’ statement. “Our father?” He looked at the injured man still supported in his hands and back to the menacing figure of what he’d figured out must have been Chris. “You mean ‘ours’ as in you and …” He paused waiting for Chris to supply the injured man’s name.

“Vin,” came a weak reply before a bout of coughing overtook him.

Chris knelt down beside Vin. “Hey, take it easy. We’ll get ya some help. Nathan.”

Within moments Nathan was at Vin’s side checking on the wound. “Hold still, brother, that bullet’s still in there.” He focused back on Chris and sighed. “I can’t take it out here.”

Adam released his hold on Vin letting Chris support the young man’s weight. When he heard the black man call Vin ‘brother’ he opened his mouth to speak but no words were forthcoming.

“Hey, brother, when you’ve got a moment JD’s gonna need some help.”

Adam looked at the man who’d just spoken and pinched the bridge of his nose. The moustached man also referred to Nathan as ‘brother’. He silently hoped that the reasoning was that they were all part of a religious order but quickly quashed that idea when he saw the firepower that they were brandishing. The only one that looked like he could have something to do with religion was the big man who wore a cross around his neck.

“Are they all brothers?” Joe whispered to Hoss.

“Dadburnit, Little Joe I’m still tryin’ ta figure out how our Pa is there Pa,” he answered and gestured to Chris and Vin.

“If I may be so forward and by no means do I want to appear rude but your father is also ours.” Ezra drawled.

“Ours who?” Hoss asked and scrunched up his face.

“Ours as in the seven of us.”

“Even… even him?”

Ezra followed the extended hand. Nathan, the dark-skinned healer. “It was a night time conception.”

“Hoss,” Little Joe stammered, “how come Pa never told us?”

“Please forgive me, my manners seem to be remiss. Let me introduce myself and my brothers.” Ezra said and cleared his throat. “I’m Ezra Standish, over there is Josiah Sanchez, next to him is Buck Wilmington. The unconscious one on the ground next to Buck is JD Dunne. The one writhing on the ground is Vin Tanner, the man dressed in black not unlike your brother is Chris Larabee and last but by no means least is Nathan Jackson.”

“How come you all have different last names, Ezra?”

“Far be it for me to say but have you ever heard the expression same horse different jockey’?”

“Ezra, you mean all of you is related to us?”

“Of course that’s what he means, Hoss.” Joe grinned and looked in amazement at his extra brothers. “Hey we didn’t introduce ourselves either.”

With the formalities passed, Adam helped Chris with Vin and suggested that they all make their way back to the house.

‘Pa you have a lot of explaining to do.’ Adam thought as he watched the group mount up.

Nearer to the house the apprehension amongst the men grew again.

Chris looked over Vin’s shoulder at the house and pulled his younger brother closer to his chest. “We’re here,” he whispered to Vin.

“Huh?” Vin’s reply was muffled with the effort of trying to fight the pain in his leg. “Who shot me? I cain’t believe one a m’own brothers would shoot me.”

“Why not? I’ve been threatenin’ to do it fer a while.” Chris steadied Vin and lowered him into Josiah’s waiting arms. “Y’know that bounty of five hundred dollars could come in handy at times.”

Little Joe hurriedly dismounted Cochise and ran into the house. “Pa! Hey Pa!”

“Joseph! Do not run. Slow down and tell me what’s wrong.”

“Pa, Adam… he shot Vin and Chris is mad. JD fell off his horse and Buck’s angry with Hoss. Josiah’s trying to calm Buck down before Nathan has to do some more healing and Ezra’s taking bets on everything.” Joe stopped long enough to see his father’s face visibly pale.

The names from Ben’s more than stellar past came back to haunt him. All those business trips away from the ranch without the boys. His trips to Georgia, Boston, Texas and every other place in between.

“Seven of them?” Ben gulped and paled further.

“Should there be any more?” Adam demanded to know. “I see by the look on your face that what Chris said is true.” Reaching for the brandy Adam poured himself an ample helping.

The door to the main room opened with Josiah carrying Vin and Buck supporting JD by his side. Chris took in the contents of the room and directed his brothers up the stairs.

Ben sank further into his red leather chair and watched the parade of dust covered men, his sons, walk past.

“Hi Pa.” Josiah.

“Adam shot me.” Vin.

“Hoss made me fall off my horse”. JD.

“He didn’t make you, now don’t you go throwin’ up no more. Hi Pa.” Buck.

“Father. I’m willing to bet this place is worth a pretty penny.” Ezra.

“I’m gonna need some clean bandages and laudanum. Hi Pa.” Nathan.

“Be right up Nathan. Tell Vin I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Green eyes watched as his six brothers slowly made their way upstairs. “We need to talk.” Chris finally said.

Adam, Hoss and Little Joe sat opposite their father and gestured for Chris to sit in the chair next to Ben. Four pairs of expectant eyes watched and waited for Ben to come clean about the previously unmentioned sons.

“I’ve been around,” Ben started to say.

“That’s obvious,” responded Adam and Chris in unison.

“That’s not what I meant to say.” Ben put his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. “There were a lot of lonely nights and a lot of lovely women.”

“But Pa, Vin is the same age as me and JD is younger. Did you?” Joe asked.

“Before I met your mother I stopped over in Texas and then when Adam’s grandfather died, I traveled back east for the funeral and was taken with his young lady. At his age I didn’t think he had it in him. We had to delay the funeral by three days just so the undertaker could get the smile off his face.” Ben breathed heavily and bit his top lip. “After the wake, Heidi was lonely and, well… so shoot me I was horny.”

“So what do we do now?” Adam asked.

“We’re not staying,” Chris quickly answered. “We have our own home in Four Corners.”

“Four Corners?” Joe eagerly implored. “You and our brothers are the ‘Magnificent Seven’?”

“I’ve been called that.” Buck smiled proudly and thrust his pelvis forward. “Before ya ask, JD’s sleepin’ and Nathan’s got all the help he needs. Josiah and some little Chinese fella is helpin’ him with Vin.” Buck looked at Ben and grinned. “There’s a wagon load of little Chinese kids at your door. Thirteen of ‘em”.

“Oh brother,” Adam sighed and buried his head in his hands.

“Yes?” Four voices answered at once.

“Well who’s the oldest?” Joe asked trying to work out who fell where in the family.

“Kid, I dunno, them oriental kids all look the same ta me. Hard to say what ages they are.”

“Not them, Buck. Us. Who is the oldest?”

“Josiah, Adam, Chris, Buck, Hoss, Nathan, Ezra, Vin, Joe and JD.” Ben supplied. “You are more than welcome to stay here. You are as much a part of this family as anyone else.”

Chris shrugged his shoulders and excused himself. “We’ll talk later. I want to check on Vin and JD. Coming Buck?”

Hoss and Joe followed their newly found brothers up towards the rooms and left Adam to speak with Ben.

“Pa, I know we’ve had this talk before about ‘Careless Love’…”

“The story of my life,” lamented Ben.

“Yes, well it’s normally been with Little Joe who we have this talk with, but Pa, couldn’t ya just keep it in your pants?” Adam waited for his father to respond and settled back into his favorite blue chair. A short while later he was brought back to awareness when he heard a clatter outside and the horses getting restless. “What on earth was that?”

“Not earth,” Ben winced when he recognized the distinctive whine of turbo engines shutting down.

“Hey Pa!” A dark-haired man dressed in a tan uniform called out.

“By the Lords of Kobol.” Ben cursed.

 

The End