All characters, except those not mentioned in the movie are the property of the Walt Disney Company and are used without permission. Even though I do believe that they deserve much better than what they get recently these days.
Chapter 1: Birth of a Calf
It was a partly cloudy, spring afternoon on the twenty eighth day of May. On a cattle ranch in the state of Colorado, it was the place for all cattle to be around others, enjoying the day. The ranch was surrounded by red rock canyons, a bit of pine trees that grew in the hills, and fresh green grass for the cattle to eat. Birds swooped in the skies while mother birds fed the young chicks in the nests. A herd of deer from miles away walked in the wilderness with their fawns. Several cattle were gathered around the barn area when they heard about the nine year old golden rod colored cow that had gone into labor, ready to give birth to her first calf. She had been pregnant for the past few months, carrying a life within her. Now a young calf was on the way. Four ranchers stood around her, helping to deliver the calf safely. Although the bovine was scared over this, she still desired to see whether her new calf would be a boy or a girl.
"Come on girl, you can do it," one of the ranchers encouraged.
She pushed with all her might, allowing herself to breath heavily in between seconds. She even listened to the other cows give her words of encouragement when the calf was almost out. Finally, she let out one final push. For a while, she took her time to breathe properly before hearing one of the ranchers speak up after inspecting her calf.
"It's a girl."
A smile of relief crossed her face when she heard this. She lifted her head to have a look at her newborn calf and couldn't believe her eyes. Her calf was a golden rod colored female. Its muzzle was bright pink and a gold spot lay on her back. Her eyes were beautiful. This was to be her third calf for this year and her first daughter. Her first two calves had been strong healthy boys. She had loved them dearly, but turned sad when they were sold to a rancher by the time they turned a year old. That's the way it had been for the male calves, although some had stayed behind for breeding and working out in the fields. Now she was secretly hoping for her newborn daughter to stay with her for as long as possible…maybe forever.
Having the strength to stand up, the mother went to her calf to groom and lick it lovingly from ear to tail and hoof to head. Her new daughter looked up somewhat blindly at her, confused since she was only a few minutes old.
"Sweet child, I'm your mother," the bovine whispered sweetly after her newborn managed to open her eyes. "Welcome to this world."
Her new calf blinked, taking in her first sight of the stall around her and the faces of the other cows who stared down at her cuteness. Then she turned up at her mother, still not knowing what to make of all this, especially with the four humans in the stall.
"Well look at her, she looks just like her mother," one of the men finally spoke up.
"She sure does Greg," agreed the other dirty blond haired man by the name of Stewart.
"Think we're gonna keep her on this farm?" Greg asked.
"Why not, we always keep heifers on this here farm," the other brown haired man answered. His name was Jeff. "We'll see how she does for a couple o' months first. Since she's just been born, we leave her be for now. Better go now n' check on the other cattle."
The humans left the stall so that the mother would bond with her calf. By this point, she continued to lick her calf dry. She even smiled while watching the young one concentrated on untangling her legs as she struggled to stand up. She seemed somehow unsteady as most newborns turn out to be at first. But the mother was not worried about that, knowing she would learn in time to walk better. The newborn moved rather awkward and clumsy.
"Aww ain't she beautiful," a Randall bovine named Sweet Pea cooed. "I have a feelin' she's gonna grow more strong and radiant someday."
"Congrats on your new calf Bella dear!" exclaimed Nellie, a Danish Red cow.
"Thank you all so much for your support," Bella said.
The newborn then felt her mother's warm touch on her nose and looked into her eyes, seeing love. She wobbled as she walked, staring at everything and everyone. She looked to find other cows, just like her.
"Howdy there little one," said Nellie, watching the calf come close to her in an awkward manner. The more she sniffed, her nose began to tickle and then she let out a tiny sneeze, causing her to fall backward beside Bella, her mother.
"Oops, careful dear," said Bella. The spindly newborn then found her way to her mother's udder to suckle.
"I think it's time we leave these two alone for now," said Sweet Pea.
At these words of hers, the rest of the cattle left to walk back outside in the green pasture. Only Nellie stayed behind to have a longer look at the newborn.
"So Bella, have you thought of a name for her yet?"
"I have Nellie," answered Bella. "I've decided to name her…Grace. It's what I've always wanted to name my first daughter."
"Grace, what a lovely name," Nellie said softly. "I think it suits her just fine. Looks like I better be on my way now and leave you two alone. I hope that I have my first daughter someday."
"So long Nellie!" Bella called out. She nuzzled the sweet hungry calf, still suckling. "Beautiful Grace, I love you."
Soon after her meal, Grace slept peacefully and soundly at her mother's side. She was safe and loved, even though the newborn calf had no idea that this moment might possibly not last forever. Still, Bella was proud of her first daughter and vowed never to let any harm come to her. But if any unexpected changes were to occur, Bella would stand by Grace at all times. Or so she thought.
AN: Finally, an upload to one of my stories from my upcomings list. To Kino Lala and other readers who enjoy some of my stories, I apologize if this took long to upload, but Christmas can be a busy time at this year. Plus I thought it would be best if I upload this today since it is the day before Christmas. I know I mentioned something about Grace being at a stockyard at the time of her birth in the other story Life Before Paradise. But at the time I wrote that story, I didn't even know much about a stockyard or what really goes on there until I did some research months afterward. I thought a stockyard might seem a bit too harsh for the place during Grace's birth, so it's a business ranch that still sells cattle. I would explain more, but I don't wanna spoil the rest of the chapters. The next chapter will be uploaded when I finish up two or three more. We'll see, and Merry Christmas. All characters, except my own fanfiction characters belong to the Walt Disney Company.