Title: Old Enough To Know Better
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Nettie, JD/Casey, Vin
Rating: PG/K+
Summary: Nettie and Casey talk and contemplate while the boys ride out again.
Word Count: 1,444
Written For: Fan FlashWorks Challenge 453: Amnesty: Challenges #445. Streak, #446. Full, and #448. Influences and 100Ships 72. Desert
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.








Nettie fondly touched her wrinkled cheek. Her old skin was still warm from Vin's soft kiss on her cheek right before he and JD had rode out. She fretted over both those boys, but especially the older one, as though they were her own kinfolk. She'd never had a child of her own, but her life had been far from lonely. Her days had always been filled full to busting with chores to do around the farm and more. She'd taken care of her parents until she'd had to put them into the cold, hard ground, just as she had her siblings, the youngest of whom still seemed to be here every day.

Casey was busy rolling out the dough as Nettie had asked her, but she seemed to be striking with the rolling pin especially hard. "Somethin' on your mind, kiddo?" Nettie asked softly. For once, the girl didn't seem to let her ire get up as Nettie spoke to her soft and kind. She was a child to the old woman. The spitting image of her mother, Nettie's youngest sister, who, like Casey, had always been far more a tomboy than a lady, Casey was the closest thing Nettie herself would ever have to a child.

"I don't know why they always gotta be ridin' out," Casey muttered, pressing the pin so hard into the dough it was beginning to break. Nettie let the child work out her frustrations with the pin. There was hardly anything she could possibly do to a pie crust, after all, that Nettie couldn't fix, and she was still tickkled that the child had finally asked to learn some baking. JD was going to have a fine wife one day, if the boy ever pulled his head out of his bowler hat long enough to actually ask the girl. Knowing those two, Nettie thought, with a fond smirk and a sparkle in her aged eyes, Casey'd probably end up asking him.

"You know why. They're the only good men we got around these parts, least that can still fight."

"But it isn't their place to have to solve every problem!"

"No, but who else is gonna do it? People need justice, Casey. Why, if we'd had those boys back when your momma was shot -- "

"But we didn't, did we?"

"No. But how many people have they saved so far? How many more would've died if they hadn't been here? Those boys are miracle workers, Casey, all seven of 'em."

"I know. I know we're lucky to have 'em." Casey blew at her bangs and almost slipped forward on the table, suddenly stopping rolling the pin as she gazed out the window. The sun was setting now, leading both women to wonder how many more sunsets they'd have before they knew, for fact, the Seven were safe and sound. All the women in town would be praying for them, as well as the men who prayed, but Nettie knew more than most that some prayers were left unanswered. The good Lord just needed certain people at certain times, and when your number was up, there was nothing anybody could do about it. No amounting of guns or prayers could keep a soul down here on Earth when the Heavenly Father had need of them above.

"I just..." Nettie looked down in surprise as her niece's hands shook ever so slightly. Casey grabbed the rolling pin and went to work even harder on the poor dough. This was going to be the softest pie ever baked -- if it didn't fall apart completely!

"Casey, dear, I think the crust is good enough," Nettie remarked, placing a hand tenderly over her niece's.

"I know, Aunt Nettie... I just... I know I shouldn't, but sometimes I wish he wouldn't keep riding off into the sunset with those guys! They're great lawmen for the town and all, but... Well, ya know, I've been thinkin'..."

"Dangerous territory usually," Nettie remarked, taking over the pie making as Casey wandered off to the window. She'd seen that look in her girl's eyes and knew she wasn't far from tearing up. Like herself, Casey hated for anyone to catch her crying. Her niece suddenly looked very small and older than her actual years as she wrapped her arms around herself and stood in the shadows cast by the fading sunlight. Even with her fading eyesight, Nettie was still able to see the unshed moisture in Casey's eyes as she stared out over at the range at the dots in the far distance that they both knew to be the horses carrying the two guys they each loved so much quickly away.

Of course, their love for the two was completely different, but they still loved them nonetheless and would both be crushed if anything were to happen to prevent their returns. But that wasn't going to happen, Nettie firmly told herself, giving the pie crust one last roll for good measure. The Lord was going to let the guys come back to them, and to the town. They were all needed far too badly not to allow their safe return. They might be a little bullet-riddled, or a little worse for the wear, but they would return, perhaps even stronger and wiser.

"I mean, the whole town knows Mister Larabee has a drinking problem." Nettie blinked as she realized Casey had been talking this entire time. "So does the Preacher, and he's a Preacher for God's sake! Then there's Buck. He's with a different woman every night and actually proud o' it! They say even Ezra streaked sometime last week."

Nettie carefully hid her smile. She'd heard the same rumors of course -- it was a given, with a town this size --, but she definitely would not have minded having borne witness to that last spectacle especially! "Okay," she said, lifting her lithe shoulders pointedly in a shrug, "so they all have some bad influences, but what about all the good they do? You can't possibly tell me, young lady," she continued, pointing the rolling pin at her niece, "that you wish for one minute JD had any other friends."

"I mean, sure I do -- I'd love for him to have some regular friends. Maybe some folks we could go fishin' with. But you're right," she said, pushing herself off of the window frame when the horses at last rode completely out of eyesight, "I wouldn't trade him, or the Magnificent Seven, for anything in the world." Her smile was shy and small, still bittersweet as she worried over them, but Nettie could also see the pride in it.

"'Course you can't, girl. Now come on, this pie's not gonna bake itself, and I thought you told me you wanted to be able to bake a mean apple pie like I can by the time JD gets back?"

"I do," Casey agreed, joining her aunt at the table, "but I was thinking maybe peaches. He was tellin' me the other day how much Milagro likes peaches -- "

"But you think he was talkin' about himself?"

Casey nodded. "He doesn't like to come straight out an' tell me things," she admitted.

"No guy does, girl. Now get to choppin'." As Nettie busied herself with gathering the spices they'd need, she made a mental note to whisk Vin away on a fishing trip when they came back from their latest sojourn into the desert wilds. It would be good to get her boots wet again, and they'd be close enough to keep watch over the younguns' courtship while giving them space as well. Casey was right to worry about the boys, but Nettie knew her main concerns lay not with the other guys' influence but rather with the dangers that surrounded them every day.

She was old and wise enough to understand too, however, that there was a reason why the young Sheriff had been led to the other six. Kids left out alone on the range to rear themselves didn't often make it, and when they did, they were always far worse off than any one of the men who were currently influencing JD. No, the good Lord had led the perfect seven together, and that boy was going to grow to be one heck of a man with whom to be reckoned, just like the other six. And, just like the others, he would one day make a fine husband -- only for him, Nettie knew exactly which girl he would make so happy. She began to whistle, thinking merrily to herself that perhaps it wouldn't be so long before she was baking a wedding cake in this very room.



The End