The man in black exited the local newspaper shop and strode along the street front without making eye contact with anyone. Wordlessly, he climbed the two steps outside the saloon and dropped down into the vacant chair. He waited. The mass beside him moved. Vin pushed his hat up off his face and lowered the chair he was slouching in onto all four of its legs.

"Well?" Vin asked carefully.

"Yeah."

"And?"

Chris nodded.

A huge smile spread across the young tracker’s face. "Congratulations, Cowboy. I’m real proud of you."

Chris glanced at his friend and scowled. Before he could comment, the rest of the Seven spilled out of the saloon behind them. The gambler was in full flight, regaling his companions with some recount of his amazing ability to part fools and their money.

".......thus it only stands to reason that....and what, pray tell, is amusing you so unashamedly this fine morning, Mr. Tanner?" Ezra inquired, pausing next to the usually reserved tracker.

Vin’s grin matured into a soft smile. "He asked her."

"And?" Buck asked eagerly.

Again Chris nodded.

"Well, that’s just fine!" Josiah boomed loudly.

"I never knew he had it in him," Vin chuckled.

"Shut up, Tanner."

"Come, Brother Chris. You must be pleased."

Chris Larabee smiled.

"What?" J.D asked, glancing at the others.

Buck patted Larabee on the shoulder. "Didn’t I tell you? Didn’t I?!!"

"He did tell you," Vin agreed grinning.

The Seven’s leader leaned back in his chair and tried to ignore the smiles on his men’s faces.

"Yep, I told ya she would say yes."

"Who said yes?" J.D. demanded.

"Oh, please," Ezra cried, rolling his eyes. "Your proposal..."

"Proposal!" J.D. exclaimed shocked.

Josiah slipped his huge arm across the young sheriff’s shoulders. "Ole Chris here, finally plucked up the courage to ask the lovely Mrs. Travis."

J.D.’s eyes widened.

"And the young lady answered in the affirmative, just as we all knew that she would."

"That’s right!" Buck bellowed, slapping Chris on the back again.

"So how did our fiery reporter react?" Ezra asked, leaning himself against the post on the veranda of the saloon.

Chris shrugged.

"Bet she weren’t surprised," Vin chuckled. "The way you’ve been actin’ lately. Mary’s a real smart woman."

"That she is," Nathan agreed.

"You’ve damn lucky, Chris. You’d have to travel a long way to find someone....hey, here comes Mary, now."

The men settled and tried to conceal the knowing smiles on their faces. All except J.D. who hadn’t been smiling in the first place. He was so shocked that his mouth was hanging open.

Mary approached the group with easy strides. She knew that they knew. She could see it in their faces. "Gentlemen." All of the men tipped their hats, both Chris and Vin standing briefly as she stepped up onto the porch to join them.

"Oh,.....Oh, Mrs. Travis," J.D. spluttered. "I....I mean...congratulations!! I’m sure you’ll be very happy." Mary smiled, her left eyebrow rasing slightly as she glanced at the other men for some form of explanation.

Buck stepped forward, grabbed J.D. roughly and dragged him back from the woman. "Excuse him Ma’am. J.D. went out riding this morning, but his brain is still out there somewhere."

"Huh?" J.D. grunted puzzled. "But I thought....."

The rest of the Seven eyed Vin curiously, as did Mary. Dismissing Vin’s seizure as something she wasn’t meant to understand, Mary, extended her hand. Chris smiled, reached up, removed his hat and handed it to her, at the same time using the heel of his boot to stamp down of Vin Tanner’s foot. There was yelp, but the laughter still came.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow?" Vin spluttered from behind Chris. Again Larabee’s foot lashed out.

Mary politely made out that she saw nothing and examined the bullet hole in the all important black head piece. "I should have it repaired by this afternoon. Is that soon enough?"

"That’s fine, Mary. Thanks."

"Not at all." With that, Mary turned, flicked her eyes briefly to Vin, who appeared to be regaining his composure and then turned and headed back toward her shop.

"You’re dead, Tanner," Chris grilled without turning.

"What did I do?......... I’m real proud of you, Cowboy," Vin grinned. "And here I was thinking that all you was asking Mary was if she would mind..." Larabee turned and assaulted Vin with an icy stare. All this did was sent Vin back into cackling laughter. "Bug eyed!" the young man exploded, popping his eyes at Chris before losing control once again.

J.D. Dunne’s jaw had dropped open when Chris had handed Mary his hat. Now his mouth was opening and closing again without explanation.

"What? What?!" Buck demanded, grabbing the youth and shaking him. "You alright there, boy?" One man acting curiously was quite enough.

"HIS HAT?!" J.D. finally managed to get out. The men all glanced at each other puzzled. "HIS HAT!! You mean you was talking about Mary fixing his hat?"

"That’s right," Nathan stated confused. "Chris finally plucked up the courage to ask Mary if she would mind repairing the bullet hole.....what did you think.....?" Five men burst out laughing simultaneously as they indeed realized what J.D had mistakenly assumed Chris had asked Mary. Vin’s laughter had been dying away, but now it reignighted with force as he joined everyone but J.D. who was smiling sheepishly........ and Larabee who was doing his level best to scowl.

"It ain’t so silly," J.D. defended himself. "I mean, Chris likes Mary a lot and when you was saying that he asked her.... and someone said something about a proposal, I just thought..."

"Don’t go there, son," Buck howled. "You’ll end up getting yourself shot."

It took several minutes for the group to quieten. Ezra wiped the tears from his eyes with a silk handkerchief. "I must declare, Mr. Dunne, that I never took you for a comedian."

"Now what’s that supposed to mean, Ezra?" Vin asked, his eyes flashing with mirth. "What’s so funny about Chris askin’...askin’...." the tracker was unable to main his composure and ruptured again. Josiah, Ezra, Buck and Nathan joined in.

"Keep it up and I’m gonna shoot someone," Chris grilled, but he couldn’t maintain the scowl.

"You ain’t scaring no one, Cowboy," Vin chuckled. "Not without yer hat!" Vin glanced at J.D., back and Chris and once again the usually quiet young man began rollicking without restraint. Not because the thought of Chris and Mary marrying was particularly funny.....actually it was something that Vin believed was in the cards...if Chris ever got his ass in gear....No, that was not what was amusing Vin Tanner. What was tickling Vin’s funny bone was the look that had crossed Larabee’s face the split second he had realized what J.D. had ‘thought’ was going on. A look that Chris had covered quickly, but not before Vin had seen it. And it was that ....that look of such undisguised panic and embarrassment that caused the tracker to explode with mirth. Chris Larabee was a man who was always in control of his emotions. But Vin had seen that control slip for a fleeting moment and there the young man and seen a look of such unconcealed alarm that ......hell, it was a look he would never forget. It was a look, that he would never let Larabee forget either!

"BUG EYED!!" Vin claimed, providing Chris with his own personal example of the gunfighter’s face at the time.

"Shut the hell up, Tanner," Chris growled, dragging the younger man out of his seat and tossing him into the water trough at the bottom of the stairs. The only reason that Vin Tanner was still breathing was because Chris knew that the other men believed that the tracker was referring to J.D.

Vin sat up spluttering, took one look at Chris and despite his very best efforts, he burst with laughter once again.

"Oh, come on Vin. It ain’t that funny," J.D. claimed grinning.

Vin glanced at J.D. and began shaking his head. Chris moved instantly. Before Vin could open his mouth to explain, Chris Larabee placed his hand on his best friend’s head and forced him underwater.

"If you fellas will just excuse us," Chris asked, holding Vin under. "Vin and I have a few things we need to discuss."

.........Many hours later, the citizens of Four Corners turned in for the night. Thanks to the Seven, their evenings were now quiet. But tonight, that wasn’t quite true. Tonight, there was an unusual sound filtering through the town. A sound coming from a certain beat up old wagon parked directly beneath Chris Larabee’s window. The sound? Intermittent laughter.