Fic: Delinquent 9/10?
Sep. 18th, 2007 05:51 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
princessacadra.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
mag7fansTitle: Delinquent - chapter nine
Category: ATF Teen AU -newish 'verse-
Characters: Vin, Buck/Chris, JD, Casey
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Slash, the grammar and phrasing is bad on purpose as it is Vin's POV (and he's not good at English); I have no control over Vin or his likes and dislikes.
Summary: This is a spin on the familiar ATF Universe, with Vin, JD, and Ezra as teens. The other seven are all adults. Teen Vin is... well, a juvenile delinquent. I'm still not sure if this will be a ten chapter fic or not, but at the moment I'm sensing not unless I make it a rather long chapter. We'll see.
Previous Chapters:
"Chapter One", "Chapter Two", "Chapter Three", "Chapter Four", "Chapter Five", "Chapter Six", "Chapter Seven", "Chapter Eight"
Chapter Nine
“Vin, don’t forget the court hearing is tomorrow.”
That was not something Vin was likely to forget. Two months – not that it seemed that long with the way the time had just flown by – had already passed. Two whole months where Vin had not spent the entire time looking over his shoulder or wondering when the axe was going to fall.
He wanted to whine, to say he didn’t want to go back to court, he’d had enough of that and he was okay so why wouldn’t they leave him alone? He didn’t, though. If there was one thing Vin had learned it was that it didn’t really matter what he wanted because in the end everyone would just do whatever the hell they wanted.
“Yeah, I know.”
Only recently had Vin been allowed to let Ally and Ghost eat out of his hands, both horses allowing their faces and necks to be petted. Chester – they had been calling him “horse” out loud, for lack of a better name – had only just begun to leave the shelter of his lean-to, but the slightest movement could send him back inside. Both Ally and Ghost would allow Chris or Buck to put a halter on them and lead them, though Ghost still bulked on occasion. They never lost their patience with them, never yelled or got frustrated with their slow progress.
“How do you think you did on that math test?”
Vin shrugged. “Okay I guess.” He’d known a lot more of the answers than he usually did, so Vin figured he hadn’t flunked it completely. “Is Buck picking me up for the hearing?” Buck always picked him up for his counseling appointments, or at least all of his appointments so far.
“We’ll both be there to get you for the hearing.” Chris’s hand rested on Vin’s shoulder briefly before disappearing again.
That was something, at least, having Chris there too which was something that Vin hadn’t expected or hoped for. Vin didn’t sleep well that night – he never did before a court hearing and school was a hazy blur that barely registered in his mind. Then Chris and Buck were there to pick him up for his hearing. Mr. Hammond was waiting for Vin when they arrived and Angie appeared shortly after that, stopping to talk for a little while until they both disappeared into the Juvenile Court office.
“You all right, Vin?”
He nodded to Chris’s question.
“You’re being awfully quiet,” Buck added.
Vin smiled faintly at them. “The ceilings are high so everything echoes real loud. It’s better not to say too much.” He chose not to tell them why.
Angie re-appeared and gestured for them all to enter the juvenile court room and Vin slouched into the seat beside the social worker while Chris and Buck settled onto the wooden bench directly behind them. It wasn’t the first time that Vin had had foster parents at a hearing with him, but it was the first time that they hadn’t sat a row or two back. He wasn’t sure what that meant or if it meant anything at all.
The judge entered and they all stood obediently before the judge told them all to have a seat. Vin was able to ignore his turning stomach as he focused on sitting up reasonably straight – having been corrected several times in the past for bad posture – and remembering to breathe.
The usual rambling spiel began the hearing and then the judge’s eyes fell heavily onto Vin. “For the last two months I’ve heard nothing about you Vincent and you know what? That’s a good thing because usually I only hear things when they have gone bad. How do you feel the last few months have gone for you?”
“Good sir.”
“Have you had any problems with Mr. Larabee or Mr. Wilmington since you’ve been with them?”
“No sir.”
“Do you feel that you would be able to succeed if you were to remain with them?”
“Yes sir.”
“Why is that?”
Vin swallowed hard, the sudden thought that it was easier when he was in trouble and the answers were simple and straightforward. “I don’t know, sir. I just… I – they care what happens to me.” He was able to breathe again when the judge turned to Angie and started asking her what her impressions were and how Vin was doing. Angie said that Vin’s schoolwork had improved, that there had been no fights at school – Vin was suddenly glad that he hadn’t punched Eli Joe after all – and that Vin’s attitude had improved.
Then the judge’s attention turned to Chris and Buck. “Mr. Larabee, Mr. Wilmington, what are your thoughts about all of this?”
It was Chris that spoke up. “I’ve enjoyed having Vin with us. It’s been – it’s been good to see him start to open up, to smile more, to laugh. Whether he realizes it or not he’s a good boy and I want to make sure he has the chance to prove it and to show us all what he’s capable of.”
“Vin’s got a good sense of humor that we are only now beginning to see,” Buck added when Chris’s voice started to falter. “I expect we’ll have troubles somewhere along the line, but I’m sure we’ll be able to get through them. We’ve seen moments of stubbornness already and none of the blowups we’d been expecting, but there’s nothing that we can’t get through. Vin will always have a place with us no matter what.”
Judge Walters’s steady gaze was back on Vin and Vin felt his chest constrict and breathing was nearly impossible. “You’ve heard everything that’s been said today, Vincent. Now I have a very important question for you. Do you remember what you said to me at the last hearing?”
“No sir.”
For a moment that powerful gaze was broken as the judge’s eyes glanced down at the papers in front of him. “When I asked what it would take for you to stop running away you said that you supposed it would take somewhere you didn’t want to run from. Have you found that place, Vincent? Would you like to remain on a more permanent basis with Mr. Larabee and Mr. Wilmington?”
“Yes sir.”
“Would you like Mr. Larabee and Mr. Wilmington to adopt you?”
His heart thudded in his chest and for several moments he couldn’t take a breath. The room was spinning and Vin felt light headed as he replied, “Yes sir.”
“Vincent Tanner, as you have managed to keep yourself out of trouble for the past two months this court will not add on to your community service hours.” There was a pause. “We would all like to see this end well, Vincent, and I’m sure you will find that everyone in this courtroom would like nothing more than to see you succeed. Denver County custody of Vincent Tanner is hereby terminated and temporary custody is now granted to Chris Larabee and Bucklin Wilmington. As Vincent has already been staying with you for two months we will waive the usual six months waiting period and schedule a final adoption hearing in four month’s time. Denver County Children Services will continue with home visits to check on the family’s progress. Court is adjourned.”
Sometime during Judge Walters’s monologue Chris’s arm had circled around Vin’s chair until he was half-hugging Vin. In a distant part of his mind Vin realized he was clutching at Chris’s arm so hard that it would likely bruise. It wasn’t until Buck’s smooth voice broke in, “Chris, Junior, come on guys ya gotta breathe,” that Vin released his hold on Chris and the breath he’d been holding in, Chris’s arm dropping from around him.
They waited for the court papers and even then Vin wasn’t quite sure he believed what it said even after he’d read it several times. He slowly counted back the years. Vin had been six when his mother died. He had stayed with his father until he was a little over eight. Then he’d been in foster care for a few months before being placed with his grandfather – that had only lasted a few months, at most, and then he’d been in foster care again. Over five years Vin had been passed around from family to family and now, now he was no longer just another foster kid.
“What do you want to do, Junior? We have the whole rest of the day free.”
Vin could only think of one thing he wanted. “I wanna go home.” He didn’t feel as bad when tears misted his eyes because Chris and Buck were in the same state Vin was. They understood somehow. It was the first time Vin had called it home and the first time that Vin had truly had a home in nearly eight years.
Chris’s arm came up around Vin’s shoulder and Vin leaned into him slightly just because he could. That evening after their run, dinner, and homework Vin wandered back to his room and pulled out two books, one more worn than the other. He placed them purposefully on the coffee table in front of Chris, not exactly giving them to him, but making the offering.
“What’s that?” Chris asked, glancing down at them and then up at Vin.
He ducked his head down and burrowed back into the couch, pulling his feet up onto the cushion in front of him. “My Life Books.” His voice was so soft that Chris had to lean in to hear him. When Chris nodded to them Vin nodded back. Then Chris reached over and picked up the first one; Vin had placed the oldest one on top.
The first picture was of his mother, one of the better ones he had, with her date of birth and date of death listed as well as her height, weight, hair color, and color of her eyes – he forgot sometimes. That was all taken from her old driver’s license that Vin had hidden away with some of her other belongings. Vin remembered being dragged away from her body by his father, he remembered clutching her purse as he cried. He also remembered hiding away what his father had tried to throw away – everything else in the purse that hadn’t had any value.
“What was here?” Chris asked, pointing at a spot in the book where something had obviously been ripped out. Angry black slashes in permanent marker covered the words that had been so painstakingly written there.
“My dad.” That picture had been torn from the pages in one of Vin’s rages. It had been torn into small bits and burned with a lighter he’d stolen from the foster parent’s he’d been staying with at the time. He’d wished time and again that his dad had died instead of his mother. Vin only had one picture left of his father and even though he’d thought about destroying it, too, he’d somehow never been able to.
The picture of his grandfather remained intact, but Vin liked to think that was because he only had the one. If Vin was honest with himself it was probably still there because he hadn’t been with him long enough to hate him as much as he hated his father. There were pictures from the first foster homes Vin had been in, including the various pictures of other foster children he’d lived with. Then there were pictures of the more recent foster homes as well as some pictures that Angie had taken of Chris and Buck and given to Vin.
Every now and again Chris would ask about a certain picture or a certain person, but for the most part they were silent. Vin had written the dates that he was at the homes and the dates that he left. He’d left scribbled notes in the margins of the pages, little drawings, and other reminders that brought up more memories than Vin cared to admit. When the last page was turned Chris held the books in his hands before offering them back to Vin. “Thank you.”
Vin nodded back, acknowledging, before taking the books back and burying them once more in the bottom of his duffle bag in the back of his closet.
-to be continued-
Category: ATF Teen AU -newish 'verse-
Characters: Vin, Buck/Chris, JD, Casey
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Slash, the grammar and phrasing is bad on purpose as it is Vin's POV (and he's not good at English); I have no control over Vin or his likes and dislikes.
Summary: This is a spin on the familiar ATF Universe, with Vin, JD, and Ezra as teens. The other seven are all adults. Teen Vin is... well, a juvenile delinquent. I'm still not sure if this will be a ten chapter fic or not, but at the moment I'm sensing not unless I make it a rather long chapter. We'll see.
Previous Chapters:
"Chapter One", "Chapter Two", "Chapter Three", "Chapter Four", "Chapter Five", "Chapter Six", "Chapter Seven", "Chapter Eight"
Chapter Nine
“Vin, don’t forget the court hearing is tomorrow.”
That was not something Vin was likely to forget. Two months – not that it seemed that long with the way the time had just flown by – had already passed. Two whole months where Vin had not spent the entire time looking over his shoulder or wondering when the axe was going to fall.
He wanted to whine, to say he didn’t want to go back to court, he’d had enough of that and he was okay so why wouldn’t they leave him alone? He didn’t, though. If there was one thing Vin had learned it was that it didn’t really matter what he wanted because in the end everyone would just do whatever the hell they wanted.
“Yeah, I know.”
Only recently had Vin been allowed to let Ally and Ghost eat out of his hands, both horses allowing their faces and necks to be petted. Chester – they had been calling him “horse” out loud, for lack of a better name – had only just begun to leave the shelter of his lean-to, but the slightest movement could send him back inside. Both Ally and Ghost would allow Chris or Buck to put a halter on them and lead them, though Ghost still bulked on occasion. They never lost their patience with them, never yelled or got frustrated with their slow progress.
“How do you think you did on that math test?”
Vin shrugged. “Okay I guess.” He’d known a lot more of the answers than he usually did, so Vin figured he hadn’t flunked it completely. “Is Buck picking me up for the hearing?” Buck always picked him up for his counseling appointments, or at least all of his appointments so far.
“We’ll both be there to get you for the hearing.” Chris’s hand rested on Vin’s shoulder briefly before disappearing again.
That was something, at least, having Chris there too which was something that Vin hadn’t expected or hoped for. Vin didn’t sleep well that night – he never did before a court hearing and school was a hazy blur that barely registered in his mind. Then Chris and Buck were there to pick him up for his hearing. Mr. Hammond was waiting for Vin when they arrived and Angie appeared shortly after that, stopping to talk for a little while until they both disappeared into the Juvenile Court office.
“You all right, Vin?”
He nodded to Chris’s question.
“You’re being awfully quiet,” Buck added.
Vin smiled faintly at them. “The ceilings are high so everything echoes real loud. It’s better not to say too much.” He chose not to tell them why.
Angie re-appeared and gestured for them all to enter the juvenile court room and Vin slouched into the seat beside the social worker while Chris and Buck settled onto the wooden bench directly behind them. It wasn’t the first time that Vin had had foster parents at a hearing with him, but it was the first time that they hadn’t sat a row or two back. He wasn’t sure what that meant or if it meant anything at all.
The judge entered and they all stood obediently before the judge told them all to have a seat. Vin was able to ignore his turning stomach as he focused on sitting up reasonably straight – having been corrected several times in the past for bad posture – and remembering to breathe.
The usual rambling spiel began the hearing and then the judge’s eyes fell heavily onto Vin. “For the last two months I’ve heard nothing about you Vincent and you know what? That’s a good thing because usually I only hear things when they have gone bad. How do you feel the last few months have gone for you?”
“Good sir.”
“Have you had any problems with Mr. Larabee or Mr. Wilmington since you’ve been with them?”
“No sir.”
“Do you feel that you would be able to succeed if you were to remain with them?”
“Yes sir.”
“Why is that?”
Vin swallowed hard, the sudden thought that it was easier when he was in trouble and the answers were simple and straightforward. “I don’t know, sir. I just… I – they care what happens to me.” He was able to breathe again when the judge turned to Angie and started asking her what her impressions were and how Vin was doing. Angie said that Vin’s schoolwork had improved, that there had been no fights at school – Vin was suddenly glad that he hadn’t punched Eli Joe after all – and that Vin’s attitude had improved.
Then the judge’s attention turned to Chris and Buck. “Mr. Larabee, Mr. Wilmington, what are your thoughts about all of this?”
It was Chris that spoke up. “I’ve enjoyed having Vin with us. It’s been – it’s been good to see him start to open up, to smile more, to laugh. Whether he realizes it or not he’s a good boy and I want to make sure he has the chance to prove it and to show us all what he’s capable of.”
“Vin’s got a good sense of humor that we are only now beginning to see,” Buck added when Chris’s voice started to falter. “I expect we’ll have troubles somewhere along the line, but I’m sure we’ll be able to get through them. We’ve seen moments of stubbornness already and none of the blowups we’d been expecting, but there’s nothing that we can’t get through. Vin will always have a place with us no matter what.”
Judge Walters’s steady gaze was back on Vin and Vin felt his chest constrict and breathing was nearly impossible. “You’ve heard everything that’s been said today, Vincent. Now I have a very important question for you. Do you remember what you said to me at the last hearing?”
“No sir.”
For a moment that powerful gaze was broken as the judge’s eyes glanced down at the papers in front of him. “When I asked what it would take for you to stop running away you said that you supposed it would take somewhere you didn’t want to run from. Have you found that place, Vincent? Would you like to remain on a more permanent basis with Mr. Larabee and Mr. Wilmington?”
“Yes sir.”
“Would you like Mr. Larabee and Mr. Wilmington to adopt you?”
His heart thudded in his chest and for several moments he couldn’t take a breath. The room was spinning and Vin felt light headed as he replied, “Yes sir.”
“Vincent Tanner, as you have managed to keep yourself out of trouble for the past two months this court will not add on to your community service hours.” There was a pause. “We would all like to see this end well, Vincent, and I’m sure you will find that everyone in this courtroom would like nothing more than to see you succeed. Denver County custody of Vincent Tanner is hereby terminated and temporary custody is now granted to Chris Larabee and Bucklin Wilmington. As Vincent has already been staying with you for two months we will waive the usual six months waiting period and schedule a final adoption hearing in four month’s time. Denver County Children Services will continue with home visits to check on the family’s progress. Court is adjourned.”
Sometime during Judge Walters’s monologue Chris’s arm had circled around Vin’s chair until he was half-hugging Vin. In a distant part of his mind Vin realized he was clutching at Chris’s arm so hard that it would likely bruise. It wasn’t until Buck’s smooth voice broke in, “Chris, Junior, come on guys ya gotta breathe,” that Vin released his hold on Chris and the breath he’d been holding in, Chris’s arm dropping from around him.
They waited for the court papers and even then Vin wasn’t quite sure he believed what it said even after he’d read it several times. He slowly counted back the years. Vin had been six when his mother died. He had stayed with his father until he was a little over eight. Then he’d been in foster care for a few months before being placed with his grandfather – that had only lasted a few months, at most, and then he’d been in foster care again. Over five years Vin had been passed around from family to family and now, now he was no longer just another foster kid.
“What do you want to do, Junior? We have the whole rest of the day free.”
Vin could only think of one thing he wanted. “I wanna go home.” He didn’t feel as bad when tears misted his eyes because Chris and Buck were in the same state Vin was. They understood somehow. It was the first time Vin had called it home and the first time that Vin had truly had a home in nearly eight years.
Chris’s arm came up around Vin’s shoulder and Vin leaned into him slightly just because he could. That evening after their run, dinner, and homework Vin wandered back to his room and pulled out two books, one more worn than the other. He placed them purposefully on the coffee table in front of Chris, not exactly giving them to him, but making the offering.
“What’s that?” Chris asked, glancing down at them and then up at Vin.
He ducked his head down and burrowed back into the couch, pulling his feet up onto the cushion in front of him. “My Life Books.” His voice was so soft that Chris had to lean in to hear him. When Chris nodded to them Vin nodded back. Then Chris reached over and picked up the first one; Vin had placed the oldest one on top.
The first picture was of his mother, one of the better ones he had, with her date of birth and date of death listed as well as her height, weight, hair color, and color of her eyes – he forgot sometimes. That was all taken from her old driver’s license that Vin had hidden away with some of her other belongings. Vin remembered being dragged away from her body by his father, he remembered clutching her purse as he cried. He also remembered hiding away what his father had tried to throw away – everything else in the purse that hadn’t had any value.
“What was here?” Chris asked, pointing at a spot in the book where something had obviously been ripped out. Angry black slashes in permanent marker covered the words that had been so painstakingly written there.
“My dad.” That picture had been torn from the pages in one of Vin’s rages. It had been torn into small bits and burned with a lighter he’d stolen from the foster parent’s he’d been staying with at the time. He’d wished time and again that his dad had died instead of his mother. Vin only had one picture left of his father and even though he’d thought about destroying it, too, he’d somehow never been able to.
The picture of his grandfather remained intact, but Vin liked to think that was because he only had the one. If Vin was honest with himself it was probably still there because he hadn’t been with him long enough to hate him as much as he hated his father. There were pictures from the first foster homes Vin had been in, including the various pictures of other foster children he’d lived with. Then there were pictures of the more recent foster homes as well as some pictures that Angie had taken of Chris and Buck and given to Vin.
Every now and again Chris would ask about a certain picture or a certain person, but for the most part they were silent. Vin had written the dates that he was at the homes and the dates that he left. He’d left scribbled notes in the margins of the pages, little drawings, and other reminders that brought up more memories than Vin cared to admit. When the last page was turned Chris held the books in his hands before offering them back to Vin. “Thank you.”
Vin nodded back, acknowledging, before taking the books back and burying them once more in the bottom of his duffle bag in the back of his closet.
-to be continued-
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}