boogieshoes | This is what happens when you read too much Pern fanfic...

Spent the last couple days reading Pern-fic, and decided there just wasn't enough Pern-fic in the world. Then the opening line to this came to me at lunch....

"There's a dragon in your office," Vin said, and sipped his coffee.

Chris grunted acknowledgment. He unlocked the door, tossed his duster onto the couch as was his habit, then immediately picked it back up off the couch to hang on the hither-to unused coat-tree. He dropped his briefcase unceremoniously on his desk, and decided he needed coffee. Coffee was definitely the first order of the day.

He trudged back out of the office to hear Vin repeating his observation to Josiah and Ezra. "Really, Mr. Tanner," Ezra said, "That's a God-awful attempt at a joke this early in the morning. A Monday morning, might I add."

"Not joking, Ez," Chris said as he passed by on his way to the breakroom. "Josiah, tell me what you think." He poured a cup of 'Tanner Standard', gulped, grimaced – and wondered if Tanner could make it any stronger.

"It's definitely a dragon," Josiah reported from the break-room doorway. He looked faintly amused.

"Anything else?"

"Like what? It's a dragon. It looks more like the European version of a dragon than the Chinese one, but I can't tell you any more than that."

Chris humphed.

"Those claws are going to ruin your couch," Ezra sniffed. "And it was such nice kid-leather, too."

"I'm not exactly worried about the couch," Chris muttered. He poured more coffee, and eyed the maker. How did that go again? Did you put more grounds in to make it stronger, or more filters? He really needed to remember.

"I just want to know what a dragon's doing here in Denver," Vin said.

A flash of pain crossed Ezra's face. "You want to know what it's doing in Denver?"

Vin shrugged. "Ain't like there's much here for him."

"Certainly not. There'd surely be more suitable entertainment options in New York, or Paris."

"More suitable entertainment options for who?" boomed out Buck's cheerful voice.

"The dragon in Chris's office."

"There's a dragon in Chris's office?" JD piped up.

"Don't be silly, JD. How could a dragon fit in that reject from the cubicle farm?"

"It's just a bitty thing, Buck."

"Why a dragon? Why not a dinosaur? A Precompysignathid – those things were actually my favorites in Jurrasic Park, you know. Much cooler than the raptors – spitting contact venom!"

Chris drained his third cup of coffee in one swallow and grabbed the can of Folger's.

"Here," Josiah said, handing him the filters. "Don't use more grounds – that'll just waste it. Add more filters. Takes longer for the water to drain that way. Learned it at the shelter," he added when Chris raised an eyebrow.

Josiah added a fourth filter to the ones already in the receptacle. Chris nodded appreciatively, just in time for Buck to burst into the breakroom.

"Chris," he said breathlessly, his face kind of pale, "there's a dragon on your couch!"

"So I noticed. Coffee?"

"Chris- !"

Ezra was still staring in consternation at his teammates. "Let me get this straight Mr. Dunne," he said, interrupting JD's chatter, "you want to know why we don't have a dinosaur ravaging our fair city's streets, while Mr. Tanner would like to know why it is not visiting gay Paree? Do neither of you gentlemen question it's existence at all?!"

Vin stretched out his jean-clad legs and gave Ezra Patented Look #27, which clearly (and scornfully) said 'Are you that stupid?'

"Well, sure," JD said, as if Ezra was being blind to the obvious. "If a dragon can turn up in Denver, what other possibilities exist? Kind of neat when you start thinking of all the things that could actually happen – hey, I wonder where it came from?"

Ezra sputtered. He really should have known better, Chris thought. He stared at the dark, rich brew dribbling down from the coffee-maker's grounds reservoir into the pot. Beautiful, beautiful coffee. Buck and Josiah were on either side of him, watching the caffeine altar with rapt attention.

"Hope you made it strong enough," Buck muttered.

"Four filters," said Josiah.

"Might do, might do…" Buck trailed off as Nathan finally appeared, hauling a bunch of heavily-full plastic bags with him.

"Sorry," Nathan said. "Had to run out and get supplies – wonder where who came from?"

"The dragon in Chris's office," Vin said.

"It's just a bitty thing," JD said.

Buck made a sudden grab for the coffee pot, but Chris skillfully blocked him. They hadn't been teammates for nearly twenty years without learning each others' habits, after all. "That's mine, Buck," he growled. "Get your own."

He was forced to repeat the maneuver on the off-side when Nathan said, "Of course it's small, JD, it's just a baby. You can tell by how outsized them claws are to the rest of him."

Chris didn't bother warning Josiah off the coffee. He figured he owed him half the pot, anyway.

"It is kinda cute, isn't it?" JD said. Buck closed his eyes and moaned.

"Nature makes babies that way on purpose, kid," Vin commented. "What's that you got for him, Nate?"

"Wasn't sure he'd eat, but most babies start on some kind of formula," Nate replied.

Chris bypassed his cup and drank straight from the pot, ignoring the burnt coffee smell as the fluid dripped and sizzled on the burner plate.

"Formula?" Ezra sputtered.

"My turn, brother," Josiah said, and (rather firmly) wrenched the pot from Chris to finish it off.

"You're going to give it formula?" Ezra repeated faintly.

He. Chris nearly brained himself on the counter, doubling over at the intense wave of hunger he felt.

"Chris?" "What's wrong?" "Brother?" "Hey, did you hear that?"

"Dragon," Chris gasped, struggling to stand upright.

"We know that!" JD said, frustrated. "That's what we've been talking about for the last hour!"

Chris shook his head desperately. "Dragon!"

Ezra frowned. "He can't have just now realized it's in his office."

Vin's lax body held a subtle tension. "I think he means it's awake," he said, as the dragon waddled ungracefully out of the inner office.

I am NOT an 'it'. The mental voice was clear to all of them this time. I am a 'he'. And I am HUNGRY.

"Babies usually are," Nathan said cheerfully. "I hope this formula is ok – it'll take a few minutes to mix up, though."

Chris finally managed to drag himself upright against pulsing emptiness in his stomach. "Wha-" He cleared his throat and tried again. "What are you doing here?"

Impressing. The dragon said.

"Obviously," Ezra murmured. He shrank back when the dragon shot him a look of reproval.

I am Impressing. I am Impressing you, Christopher Larabee. I am Troth.

"-or Consequences?" Nathan snickered a bit. The dragon looked confused. "Never mind, formula coming right up."

I am Troth, the dragon said again. And I am hungry. That… 'formula' does not smell very good.

That last was rather apologetic. Troth swung his wedge-shaped head around to face his rider, broadcasting even more confusion to the seven ATF members around him. What's an 'IV'?

Finis

-bs, giggling like an idiot