Comfort - BtVS/M7-ATF - FRT
Title: Comfort
Author: Beriaearwen
Crossover: Buffy The Vampire Slayer / The Magnificent Seven - ATF
Characters: Buffy Summers, Vin Tanner
Rating: Suitable for people over 13
Word count: 2235
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy, etc. The characters of The Magnificent Seven belong to MGM, Trilogy, etc. The M7-ATF AU was created by Mog. All are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes/Warnings: Unrelated to any other fic. Standard hurt/comfort type thing. This story has not been proofread or edited.
Summary: Buffy is injured and lost in the woods during a snowstorm
Comfort
By Beriaearwen
A shudder wracked her body as she tried to force away the pain and darkness.
She wanted so badly to stop, to give in to her need to rest, but the howling wind and biting snow forced her on-ward. She may be a So-Cal girl, but even she knew having no shelter in a blizzard wouldn’t end well, especially when injured.
Besides, she hadn’t just escaped her captors to die now. If she could make it to shelter, her healing would hopefully kick in and do its job.
If it didn’t, Dawn would most likely kill her.
She struggled forward, seeing a dark spot in the hill and hoped it was a cave - an empty cave.
With pain-filled steps she got closer even as the world around her began to fade away.
A cry escaped her as she tripped over a root hidden in the snow. Unable to catch herself, she hit the ground as the world went black.
<><><><><><><>
Warm, was the first thought that ran through her head.
Inhaling deeply, a wave of pain washed over her causing her to cry out as her eyes flew open and her body tried to curl around itself.
“Whoa there,” a soothing voice said from beside her as large, warm hands gently settled on her. “Take small breaths. You hurt your stomach so anything more’s going to be a painful. Moving might not be too good an idea either.”
That brought a harsh laugh from her as she let the hands and voice guide her back down.
Taking shallow breaths, she felt the pain begin to subside and chanced opening her eyes again, wondering when they’d closed.
With a quick glance around, she found herself in a cave. There was a combination flashlight/lamp sitting on a stone to one side offering illumination. Glancing down, she saw she was wrapped in one of those shiny space blankets.
Eventually her eyes came to rest on the man who obviously not only came prepared, but helped her as well.
Once their eyes met, he offered a dazzling smile. “Name’s Vin Tanner. Do you know yours?”
Buffy nodded. “Buffy Summers.” Trying to speak, she noticed how dry her mouth was. She must have frowned or something because the next thing she knew, Vin was gently lifting her head as he held a bottle of water to her lips.
“Best try small sips at first.”
Too tired to do anything else, Buffy obeyed and allowed the first small sip to be absorbed by her mouth, the second and subsequent sips went a long way to easing the dryness she felt.
Sooner than she would have liked, the water disappeared and she found herself once more settled in a prone position.
“How bad is it?” she asked, her eyes flickering toward her stomach.
Vin’s face became more serious. “It’s not good. I’d feel better if Nate could take a look at you, but given how you’re healing, I’m hoping that you won’t need even that.”
Buffy felt her eyes widen as they locked onto the man who helped her. She could feel the panic building that he’d noticed her healing and wasn’t quite sure what to do about the edge of anger in his voice.
“S’ok,” he soothed, holding both hands up in a calming gesture. “I’m not angry with you and I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to.”
“Why?” Buffy asked, still wary of this man. She saw a distant, pained look come into his eye.
“When I was a kid, I spent some time on the streets. Not everyone out there was like me.”
Buffy chuffed a laugh and then winced as it hurt her stomach. “True. Did you ever ask?”
“Didn’t want to know. Figured it was safer. But I also heard a few things when I was in the army about some of the black projects. Do you need help?”
Blinking, it took her a moment to realize he was talking about needing help getting away from somewhere or someone. She felt herself soften toward the man, amazed that she met someone so compassionate in the middle of a blizzard in the woods. “No.” Before she could say any more, a chill ran over her and she began shivering which only exacerbated her bruised and sore muscles, not to mention the cuts. Closing her eyes and trying to stop, she felt only relief as Vin’s arms wrapped around her, stilling the shivers and, a few moments later, lending her some additional warmth. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem.”
“What’s the situation?”
“Snow turned into a real storm, but the cave is dry. I used some branches to block the entrance and keep the snow and wind to a minimum. I’ve got some water, trail mix and protein bars.”
Buffy sighed. “So not that great, but not too bad. Do you have a cell phone?”
“Yep, but no signal until we can get out of here.”
Feeling her eyes get heavy again she blinked slowly.
“Hey, don’t sleep on me yet,” Vin commanded. “I need to check how you’re healing and you should probably have more than just the sips you did.”
Buffy struggled to wake. “Prop me against the wall. It’ll help keep me awake.”
When she was settled, she ignored the pain in her body, closed her eyes and began a simple breathing meditation, trying to keep away the mix of feelings having Vin check her wounds inspired. Her concentration broke, however, when she felt him wipe at her stomach with a cold, damp cloth.
“Sorry. Just need to get the dried blood off to check the wound.”
“Yep,” was the only reply Buffy was willing to try at the moment as she tried to catch her breath. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the grin on Vin’s face.
Glancing up at her, he chuckled softly, causing a different sort of shiver to run down Buffy’s back, one of much warmer variety.
“Sorry,” he apologized with a shrug. “The good news is your cuts have sealed themselves and stopped bleeding. Near as I’ve been able to tell you don’t have any internal bleeding, so you should be OK, except for a scar.”
“Not the first,” Buffy sighed.
“Hmm,” was the only reply she received.
“So what do you do when you're not rescuing injured women in the woods?” Buffy asked, trying to keep awake.
“I work for the ATF stationed out of Denver.”
“Really?” Buffy could feel her eyebrows rising. “I would have guessed something more outdoorsy.”
Grabbing his backpack, Vin settled next to her. “There's more outside work than you might think,” he said, opening a bag and offering Buffy the trail mix.
“Thanks. I suppose there might be. I don't really know anything about what the alphabet soups do.”
Vin shrugged. “Our team's a little different than most. Most of what we deal with are the big fish and the cases can get... complicated.”
“I can understand that,” Buffy said, thinking of some of her own 'cases' that had gotten complicated. “What do you do outside of work, Mr. Government Agent?” Buffy teased, trying to keep her mind off the discomfort of her healing wounds.
“I work with the youth in my neighborhood. My place is in the inner city in a not-so-nice area. Spend time with my friends outside. Ride my horse, hike, that sort of stuff. What about you?”
Thinking about what to tell him, Buffy smiled. “I like shop.” Her smile broadened as he laughed. “My work is pretty consuming, there's not a lot of time to develop outside interests. Though I did finally manage to graduate college and get a masters degree.”
“Now that's impressive. What exactly do you do?”
Buffy's nose wrinkled as she tried to figure out how to explain it.
“Classified?”
“Yes... no... not really.” Looking over and meeting his eyes, she explained, “It goes back to that information you didn't seek out while living on the street.” A sigh escaped as she thought about what to say. “Without going into details, there are a lot of girls who have similar gifts to mine. We, my friends and I, inherited the remnants of an organization that was supposed to take care of us, but didn't. Over the past few years, we've worked hard to build something that will serve the needs of everyone, not just those in power. I actually spend a fair amount of time traveling taking care of … important business issues, but most of my time is spent helping the students at the schools we've set up and mentoring others.”
“That's pretty impressive.”
Buffy couldn't respond as the cold she'd been feeling reached the point where she started shivering. Remembering how much warmer it was when he loaned his body heat, she broke down and asked through her chattering teeth, “Do you think you could hold me again. I'm really cold.”
Flushing slightly, Vin pulled a long-sleeved thermal shirt and a pair of sweat pants from the bottom of his bag. “Let's get these on you first and then we'll figure out the rest. So, Miss World Traveler,” he teased. “Tell me some of the places you've seen.”
<><><><><><><>
Buffy reluctantly returned to consciousness, feeling warm, safe and relaxed. Her body had the tightness she always felt after healing severe wounds and she slowly remembered what happened the past few days, and last night. A smile crept across her face as she realized that her living pillow was the man who rescued her. They'd spent hours the evening and night before talking, getting to know each other. Aside from having to spend the night in a cave during a snowstorm while healing from a beating, it had been the best first date she'd ever had. She froze for a moment at that thought before letting out her breath and relaxing.
“Morning,” a raspy voice said somewhere above her head.
“Morning,” she replied, shifting slightly.
“Reckon it's time to go out and check for a signal, get moving while we still have time.”
“Yeah,” Buffy agreed, hearing the sadness and longing in her voice.
“Hey,” Vin said, placing a finger under her chin and lifting her face to look into his. “As much as I enjoy being with you here, a shower, a hot meal and some indoor heating wouldn't go amiss for either of us.”
“True,” Buffy agreed. “But I think this is the best first date I've ever had.”
Vin threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, Buffy. This wasn't a first date, just a chance meeting.” A shy look appeared on his face the next moment. “But if you'd like to try a first date, I'm sure I could find something we'd both enjoy.”
With a soft smile, Buffy admitted, “I'd like that.” Deliberately, and carefully, moving away from Vin, she slowly stretched and tried to stand. That was when she figured out her stomach muscles weren't quite healed all the way yet.
“Whoa there,” Vin said, scrambling to his feet and slipping an arm around her waist. “No reason to go whole hog straight from the get-go.”
“Yep,” Buffy gasped, trying control her breathing. Eventually the pain began to subside. “Let's see about taking a few steps. I really do need to move some.”
Silently, Vin and Buffy moved the few steps they could inside of the cave. Though she wouldn't be able to face another clan like the one she escaped from any time soon, she felt well enough to hike a couple hours to civilization.
Watching as Vin gathered the things he'd taken out, Buffy prepared herself for the trip down.
She actually wasn't worried about the clan who had taken and beaten her. She knew the others would be able to track her that far and make sure that none of them got away. Buffy did admit she felt bad about how the others would worry. Then a thought struck her and she couldn't help chuckling. Seeing Vin's questioning look she informed, “Just thinking that by caveman standards we might be married now, after all you did carry me off to your cave.”
Vin smirked and rolled his eyes. “Who's to say you didn't drag me off to your cave?” he teased back.
Buffy's eyes widened as her mind flew back to the caveman incident in college. She could feel her whole face flush.
“Now if that's not an indication of a story waiting to be told, I'm not sure what is.”
“Oh, crap,” Buffy murmured, dropping her head as she chuckled softly. All these years later it was still embarrassing as all get out, but she knew she couldn't not tell Vin now. “Let's head out and I'll tell you while we're headed toward civilization or at least a place we can call it.”
Settling his back on his back, Vin stepped forward, and slipped his arm around Buffy, offering whatever help she needed without her asking. They paused while he removed the doorway of pine-boughs that had helped keep the cold out and their body heat warmed air in. “So, cavemen?”
“Well... Actually, do you believe in curses? 'Cause that would make this much easier to believe...”
End
Author: Beriaearwen
Crossover: Buffy The Vampire Slayer / The Magnificent Seven - ATF
Characters: Buffy Summers, Vin Tanner
Rating: Suitable for people over 13
Word count: 2235
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy, etc. The characters of The Magnificent Seven belong to MGM, Trilogy, etc. The M7-ATF AU was created by Mog. All are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes/Warnings: Unrelated to any other fic. Standard hurt/comfort type thing. This story has not been proofread or edited.
Summary: Buffy is injured and lost in the woods during a snowstorm
Comfort
By Beriaearwen
A shudder wracked her body as she tried to force away the pain and darkness.
She wanted so badly to stop, to give in to her need to rest, but the howling wind and biting snow forced her on-ward. She may be a So-Cal girl, but even she knew having no shelter in a blizzard wouldn’t end well, especially when injured.
Besides, she hadn’t just escaped her captors to die now. If she could make it to shelter, her healing would hopefully kick in and do its job.
If it didn’t, Dawn would most likely kill her.
She struggled forward, seeing a dark spot in the hill and hoped it was a cave - an empty cave.
With pain-filled steps she got closer even as the world around her began to fade away.
A cry escaped her as she tripped over a root hidden in the snow. Unable to catch herself, she hit the ground as the world went black.
<><><><><><><>
Warm, was the first thought that ran through her head.
Inhaling deeply, a wave of pain washed over her causing her to cry out as her eyes flew open and her body tried to curl around itself.
“Whoa there,” a soothing voice said from beside her as large, warm hands gently settled on her. “Take small breaths. You hurt your stomach so anything more’s going to be a painful. Moving might not be too good an idea either.”
That brought a harsh laugh from her as she let the hands and voice guide her back down.
Taking shallow breaths, she felt the pain begin to subside and chanced opening her eyes again, wondering when they’d closed.
With a quick glance around, she found herself in a cave. There was a combination flashlight/lamp sitting on a stone to one side offering illumination. Glancing down, she saw she was wrapped in one of those shiny space blankets.
Eventually her eyes came to rest on the man who obviously not only came prepared, but helped her as well.
Once their eyes met, he offered a dazzling smile. “Name’s Vin Tanner. Do you know yours?”
Buffy nodded. “Buffy Summers.” Trying to speak, she noticed how dry her mouth was. She must have frowned or something because the next thing she knew, Vin was gently lifting her head as he held a bottle of water to her lips.
“Best try small sips at first.”
Too tired to do anything else, Buffy obeyed and allowed the first small sip to be absorbed by her mouth, the second and subsequent sips went a long way to easing the dryness she felt.
Sooner than she would have liked, the water disappeared and she found herself once more settled in a prone position.
“How bad is it?” she asked, her eyes flickering toward her stomach.
Vin’s face became more serious. “It’s not good. I’d feel better if Nate could take a look at you, but given how you’re healing, I’m hoping that you won’t need even that.”
Buffy felt her eyes widen as they locked onto the man who helped her. She could feel the panic building that he’d noticed her healing and wasn’t quite sure what to do about the edge of anger in his voice.
“S’ok,” he soothed, holding both hands up in a calming gesture. “I’m not angry with you and I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to.”
“Why?” Buffy asked, still wary of this man. She saw a distant, pained look come into his eye.
“When I was a kid, I spent some time on the streets. Not everyone out there was like me.”
Buffy chuffed a laugh and then winced as it hurt her stomach. “True. Did you ever ask?”
“Didn’t want to know. Figured it was safer. But I also heard a few things when I was in the army about some of the black projects. Do you need help?”
Blinking, it took her a moment to realize he was talking about needing help getting away from somewhere or someone. She felt herself soften toward the man, amazed that she met someone so compassionate in the middle of a blizzard in the woods. “No.” Before she could say any more, a chill ran over her and she began shivering which only exacerbated her bruised and sore muscles, not to mention the cuts. Closing her eyes and trying to stop, she felt only relief as Vin’s arms wrapped around her, stilling the shivers and, a few moments later, lending her some additional warmth. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem.”
“What’s the situation?”
“Snow turned into a real storm, but the cave is dry. I used some branches to block the entrance and keep the snow and wind to a minimum. I’ve got some water, trail mix and protein bars.”
Buffy sighed. “So not that great, but not too bad. Do you have a cell phone?”
“Yep, but no signal until we can get out of here.”
Feeling her eyes get heavy again she blinked slowly.
“Hey, don’t sleep on me yet,” Vin commanded. “I need to check how you’re healing and you should probably have more than just the sips you did.”
Buffy struggled to wake. “Prop me against the wall. It’ll help keep me awake.”
When she was settled, she ignored the pain in her body, closed her eyes and began a simple breathing meditation, trying to keep away the mix of feelings having Vin check her wounds inspired. Her concentration broke, however, when she felt him wipe at her stomach with a cold, damp cloth.
“Sorry. Just need to get the dried blood off to check the wound.”
“Yep,” was the only reply Buffy was willing to try at the moment as she tried to catch her breath. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the grin on Vin’s face.
Glancing up at her, he chuckled softly, causing a different sort of shiver to run down Buffy’s back, one of much warmer variety.
“Sorry,” he apologized with a shrug. “The good news is your cuts have sealed themselves and stopped bleeding. Near as I’ve been able to tell you don’t have any internal bleeding, so you should be OK, except for a scar.”
“Not the first,” Buffy sighed.
“Hmm,” was the only reply she received.
“So what do you do when you're not rescuing injured women in the woods?” Buffy asked, trying to keep awake.
“I work for the ATF stationed out of Denver.”
“Really?” Buffy could feel her eyebrows rising. “I would have guessed something more outdoorsy.”
Grabbing his backpack, Vin settled next to her. “There's more outside work than you might think,” he said, opening a bag and offering Buffy the trail mix.
“Thanks. I suppose there might be. I don't really know anything about what the alphabet soups do.”
Vin shrugged. “Our team's a little different than most. Most of what we deal with are the big fish and the cases can get... complicated.”
“I can understand that,” Buffy said, thinking of some of her own 'cases' that had gotten complicated. “What do you do outside of work, Mr. Government Agent?” Buffy teased, trying to keep her mind off the discomfort of her healing wounds.
“I work with the youth in my neighborhood. My place is in the inner city in a not-so-nice area. Spend time with my friends outside. Ride my horse, hike, that sort of stuff. What about you?”
Thinking about what to tell him, Buffy smiled. “I like shop.” Her smile broadened as he laughed. “My work is pretty consuming, there's not a lot of time to develop outside interests. Though I did finally manage to graduate college and get a masters degree.”
“Now that's impressive. What exactly do you do?”
Buffy's nose wrinkled as she tried to figure out how to explain it.
“Classified?”
“Yes... no... not really.” Looking over and meeting his eyes, she explained, “It goes back to that information you didn't seek out while living on the street.” A sigh escaped as she thought about what to say. “Without going into details, there are a lot of girls who have similar gifts to mine. We, my friends and I, inherited the remnants of an organization that was supposed to take care of us, but didn't. Over the past few years, we've worked hard to build something that will serve the needs of everyone, not just those in power. I actually spend a fair amount of time traveling taking care of … important business issues, but most of my time is spent helping the students at the schools we've set up and mentoring others.”
“That's pretty impressive.”
Buffy couldn't respond as the cold she'd been feeling reached the point where she started shivering. Remembering how much warmer it was when he loaned his body heat, she broke down and asked through her chattering teeth, “Do you think you could hold me again. I'm really cold.”
Flushing slightly, Vin pulled a long-sleeved thermal shirt and a pair of sweat pants from the bottom of his bag. “Let's get these on you first and then we'll figure out the rest. So, Miss World Traveler,” he teased. “Tell me some of the places you've seen.”
<><><><><><><>
Buffy reluctantly returned to consciousness, feeling warm, safe and relaxed. Her body had the tightness she always felt after healing severe wounds and she slowly remembered what happened the past few days, and last night. A smile crept across her face as she realized that her living pillow was the man who rescued her. They'd spent hours the evening and night before talking, getting to know each other. Aside from having to spend the night in a cave during a snowstorm while healing from a beating, it had been the best first date she'd ever had. She froze for a moment at that thought before letting out her breath and relaxing.
“Morning,” a raspy voice said somewhere above her head.
“Morning,” she replied, shifting slightly.
“Reckon it's time to go out and check for a signal, get moving while we still have time.”
“Yeah,” Buffy agreed, hearing the sadness and longing in her voice.
“Hey,” Vin said, placing a finger under her chin and lifting her face to look into his. “As much as I enjoy being with you here, a shower, a hot meal and some indoor heating wouldn't go amiss for either of us.”
“True,” Buffy agreed. “But I think this is the best first date I've ever had.”
Vin threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, Buffy. This wasn't a first date, just a chance meeting.” A shy look appeared on his face the next moment. “But if you'd like to try a first date, I'm sure I could find something we'd both enjoy.”
With a soft smile, Buffy admitted, “I'd like that.” Deliberately, and carefully, moving away from Vin, she slowly stretched and tried to stand. That was when she figured out her stomach muscles weren't quite healed all the way yet.
“Whoa there,” Vin said, scrambling to his feet and slipping an arm around her waist. “No reason to go whole hog straight from the get-go.”
“Yep,” Buffy gasped, trying control her breathing. Eventually the pain began to subside. “Let's see about taking a few steps. I really do need to move some.”
Silently, Vin and Buffy moved the few steps they could inside of the cave. Though she wouldn't be able to face another clan like the one she escaped from any time soon, she felt well enough to hike a couple hours to civilization.
Watching as Vin gathered the things he'd taken out, Buffy prepared herself for the trip down.
She actually wasn't worried about the clan who had taken and beaten her. She knew the others would be able to track her that far and make sure that none of them got away. Buffy did admit she felt bad about how the others would worry. Then a thought struck her and she couldn't help chuckling. Seeing Vin's questioning look she informed, “Just thinking that by caveman standards we might be married now, after all you did carry me off to your cave.”
Vin smirked and rolled his eyes. “Who's to say you didn't drag me off to your cave?” he teased back.
Buffy's eyes widened as her mind flew back to the caveman incident in college. She could feel her whole face flush.
“Now if that's not an indication of a story waiting to be told, I'm not sure what is.”
“Oh, crap,” Buffy murmured, dropping her head as she chuckled softly. All these years later it was still embarrassing as all get out, but she knew she couldn't not tell Vin now. “Let's head out and I'll tell you while we're headed toward civilization or at least a place we can call it.”
Settling his back on his back, Vin stepped forward, and slipped his arm around Buffy, offering whatever help she needed without her asking. They paused while he removed the doorway of pine-boughs that had helped keep the cold out and their body heat warmed air in. “So, cavemen?”
“Well... Actually, do you believe in curses? 'Cause that would make this much easier to believe...”
End