Here is a new story. I know, I should go to writers hell. Seriously. See, I said I was going to focus on 'Love Comes Softly' but who, besides me, thinks that it moved way too fast? I mean, the plot wasn't horrible, but I moved it at a fast pace and the compromise scene was absolutely horrible. I cringed when I read it again. So, I plan on either deleting the story, or saving it but changing it later.

Note: Marion died the same way as in the books, but Amy was not there.

Note #2- Ty Baldwin- Was hired to work at Heartland three years previous. He was then a Junior so now he is 20 and graduated. He did not quit school to work, but he is fully devoted, has been for over a year. Amy and Ty have met, the last summer that Amy decided to spend in Virginia.

Best of Me

Chapter One-

"Tell me what you thought about when you were gone"

"Hello!" A chipper voice squeaked through my headphones, and I turned my head. An older lady, around 50 or so, was standing in the walkway, smiling down at me. I glanced down at my iPod, pressing the pause button, before looking up at her as I slipped my earphones out.

"Hello," her eyes brightened, as though my response had been just as exuberant as hers.

"I'm your seat mate!" Obviously this appealed to her greatly, so I smiled as though I actually understood her enthusiasm.

"Oh, really? That's great." I knew my voice was betraying my words. There was no fervor what so ever in my voice, but the woman apparently did not notice.

"Are you going to New York also?" I watched her struggling to push a large bag into the overhead compartment. I wondered, as she did so, why she didn't have an English accent. She must have been a tourist. Although, I suppose that I wasn't a tourist, and yet I myself had an American accent, with the occasional twinge now and again.

"Um, no. I'm actually going to Virginia. I'm boarding another plane in New York, though." She finally managed to push the bag into the limited space, and plopped her large girth into the seat next to mine. She was breathing hard, and she placed a hand over her heart as though suffering a great sin. Oh, the Dimmesdales of the world.

"Well then, I'm afraid to say you'll only see me until New York. My son lives there, you know? I'm going to visit him." I smiled politely at this woman. Apparently she assumed that I wanted to talk. I wasn't rude, so of course I was going to answer her, but really, not everyone enjoys conversation.

"Really? That's nice." She smiled at me, letting her hand drop from her chest. She then began to struggle with her seatbelt as she rambled on.

"Yes, he's recently gotten engaged to a charming young woman. I'm actually going to meet her, I've only spoken to her over the phone." I sighed, looking out the window at the airport. The runways were full with plans either coming in, or getting ready to depart.

"Really? Well, that's great. I hope they have a great life." Ugh, what a freaking cliche. A great life? Was there such a thing nowadays? People fell in love, people fell out of love. People cheated, people committed murder. People died.

Pain was a very adamant emotion. It haunted each and every person on the planet until their dying day, which only brought pain unto others.

It was a nasty chain of recycled freaking pain. And I was sick of it.

"Yes, well, enough about me. Why are you going to Virginia, sweetie?" I lifted my eyes from the runway and let them fall to my lap. My hands were intertwined, squeezing the color out of each other.

"My mom died." She gasped, I cringed.

See? Recycled pain.

"Oh, poor child! Are you alright?" I felt her feather of a hand fall across my leg and I stared at it. Funny how this touch was meant to portray sympathy towards my woe, but really, I just felt uncomfortable. I wasn't a touchy feely person, and a random hand on my thigh tended to weird me out.

"Yeah, I am. Really, it's fine." She continued to fret over me, her eyes uncomfortably sad.

"Why are you flying to Virginia?" Would the questions never end?

"My mom lived there, on a farm. I attend boarding school here, in England." Her eyes widened. No doubt the idea of mother and child living so far away from each other made her feeble old body shake with disagreement.

"Oh. Well, dear child, I'm so sorry. This must be a hard time for you." Her hand fell away from my leg, but her voice was low, soothing.

"Yeah. I guess." I knew I sounded as though my mothers death meant nothing to me, but truly, it did. I only saw my mother during the holidays and sometimes during the summer. But, recently, I'd taken to spending my summers with friends in England. Well, for the past two summers, that is. There were reasons for this, my mother just didn't know. What harm was there in lying about why I didn't want to visit? Anyway, we hadn't seen much of each other. I guess I was hiding from her, there was no denying that. I resented my mother for giving up on my father long ago, but there was nothing I could do about it. I'd actually come to realize that she had been right to leave, right to want to start over.

But me? I'd been to blind to notice this and flew across an ocean to escape her. I wanted nothing to do with her or the horses that I could link to my father. I was a naive ten year old, and I couldn't change that.

But now, now was the hard part. The last time I had spoken to my mother we were sending harsh words through the telephone. I had been pleading to spend this summer in England too. I was supposed to fly down the next week since summer had begun, but I had wanted to stay, for reasons, once again, that she just didn't know. She had argued that my last two summers had been spent in England, and that she wanted to see me.

I'd hung up on her in the heat of the moment, fury burning through my body like wildfire.

She died five hours later.

How fucked up was that?

"Flight 110 to Virginia, now boarding." I lifted my eyes to the loud speaker situated in the corner of the room before standing up, lifting my carry on onto my back. I walked towards the gate that led to my plane, placing myself in the long line that had begun to form. I was dying to dig my iPod out of my pocket to drown out the voices of those around me, but I was getting closer and closer to the desk, so I resisted.

Finally, I made it.

"Ticket, please." The twenty-something woman said to me, and I handed her my ticket. She smiled, handed it back to me, and the man behind her gestured towards the long hallway behind him.

"Have a nice flight, Miss." I grinned at him, walking into the hallway. I instantly slipped my hand into my jean shorts pocket, pulling out my iPod. I placed the earphones in my ears, letting music drift into my senses. I smiled at the flight attendants that flocked around the door to the plane before stepping past them, ignoring their moving mouths. I already knew what they were saying, and I damn well knew how to read a ticket.

I looked down at said ticket. My seat number was E27. I filed past the many men, women, and children standing in the walkway towards the doorway at the end. I passed through and began looking for my seat. Finally, I found it. Unfortunately, I didn't have the window seat this time. I opened the compartment above my head and shoved my book bag into it. I quickly snatched the water sitting in the side pouch before shutting the door. I let myself fall into the seat, crossing my legs comfortably, and closing my eyes.

"Hey," I sighed, slowly lifting my eyelids. Sitting across the aisle, but close enough to touch, was a guy about my age. He had dark blonde hair that was placed in a faux hawk. His face was smooth and angelic in a way that just screamed 'jock'. He was dressed in, no doubt, label jeans that had a well placed rip along them, and a light blue polo.

"Hi," I answered, turning my eyes away and listening to my music again.

"My names Miles, what's yours?" I rolled my eyes before pressing pause and pulling one earphone out.

"Is there a reason you're talking to me?" His icy blue eyes flashed surprise at my blunt question. Then he smiled.

"Just making conversation." I narrowed my eyes.

"Does it look like I want to talk?" He chuckled sardonically.

"Wow, you're a real charmer, huh?" I licked my lips, turning towards him slightly.

"Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I didn't get on this plane to make idle chit chat with an overly confident guy like you."

Oh, he wasn't expecting that, but he was ready.

"Yeah, well I didn't get on this plane expecting a depressed bitch to be sitting next to me." I'm not going to lie, my eyes widened slightly in surprise. I thought I knew what type he was, but obviously I was wrong. He had a backbone. He had guts. Too bad he chose to talk to me.

"Oh, wow. What a nice guy you are. Do you get girls to sleep with you by talking like that?" He smiled in amusement.

"Only ones like you." Okay, so I laughed. Seriously, the guy was funny. Normally I probably would have slapped him or ignored him, but with my troubles in the past few years came a sense of confidence. And with that confidence, came an odd sense of humor. The guy was funny, you have to admit.

"Oh, well you have me pegged. I want you so bad right now, I can barely contain it." He smiled and laughed at this, leaning back in his seat.

"So?" It took me a second to understand.

"Amy. It's nice to meet you." He licked his lips and smiled.

"Feisty, aren't you Amy?"

"Only with guys like you." I winked, laughing silently as I saw his surprise. I was flirting with the asshole who'd just called me a bitch. God, I was messed up. And flirting, in general, was not on my 'to do' list. Just thinking about a guy and me doing anything of the sort made my heart stop. No, I couldn't think about that. Couldn't think about every giving a guy another chance. It wasn't worth it.

"Good thing, too. I like feisty." His smile became so flirtatious that my heart began to beat like crazy. Why? I didn't know. But I didn't like it. My heart hadn't beat like that in ages.

"Well, sorry to crush your dreams, Miles. But we'll probably never see each other again." He burst out laughing at this.

"You do know that we're on a plane to the same place, right?" His eyes twinkled in amusement. Damn, I'd forgotten about that detail.

"Virginia is kind of big. How do you know we're going to the same place?" He shrugged, smiling a dazzling smile.

"I have a feeling." I frowned at him, confused.

"What feeling?" He turned his head away from me, slipping his own earphones in, closing his eyes.

"That we're going to see each other again."

And that was the end of Miles for the next few hours.

"Ow." I held my back as I stood up to stretch. A person can only stand so much time in one place before bodily pains start to arise.

"You okay?" I turned to look at Miles who was standing up. Since we were both in the same row, and the aisle was small, we were pressed tightly against each other. I stared at him for a second, felling guilty when I didn't want to break eye contact. Finally I moved myself back into my seat and let him move forward a bit before I stepped back into the aisle.

"Fine, my back just hurts a little." He nodded, smiling at me. I turned away, opening the compartment above my head and slipping my backpack out. I opened the front pocket and threw my iPod in, zippering it back up.

"So, do you live far from here?"

The next thing I said was by instinct, I swear. A reflex of sorts.

"I don't live here."

One blink. Two blink. Three blink. Four.

"Oh. Just visiting?" Miles seemed confused.

"No, sorry, I didn't mean that. I live here, but I went to boarding school in England. But, I'm moving back and going to school here."

"Why?"

Ugh, that damn question. Why did everyone ask it?

"My mom died."

Five blink. Six blink. Seven blink. Eight.

"Oh." That was all he said. I waited for more. "I'm sorry."

Ah, I knew it. He had to say it. Otherwise, it would be rude right? Funny thing about rude, I prefer it sometimes.

"Don't be. It isn't your fault."

Miles studied my face for a moment. I knew he was going to say something. Going to try and play shrink, hoping I'd spill my guts to him.

Surprisingly, he didn't. He only gestured with his hand that I walk in front of him. I blinked at him, truly bewildered, before stepping in front of him.

As we came out into the airport, Miles grasped my arm lightly.

"I already see my ride, so I have to go." I looked at him. "But remember, I have a feeling." He winked, squeezed my arm, and walked off.

Huh.

"Amy!" God damn that old man. God damn him. He was the only thing that had brought any sort of raw emotion to the surface in the past week. He held out his arms, his eyes bright and glistening in their beauty.

I have no excuse for my reaction towards him. Just the sight of him brought tears to my eyes, but I blinked them back and stared at him with numb eyes.

"Hey, Grandpa." His eyes became overwhelmingly sad and I had to turn my gaze from his face.

Jack Bartlett was a handsome old man. His eyes were a deep shade of brown that reminded me of root beer, transparent in their darkness. His thinning hair was the color of salt and pepper, and his face was riddled with folds and wrinkles from so many years of deeply felt emotions. Usually a very well built man, Jack had gained a few pounds over the years. He was by no means fat, but he wasn't as thin as he was a few years previous.

"Amy, honey, how are you?" His arms that had been held out openly had dropped to his sides in rejection.

"Fine." What was wrong with me? Why was I acting as though nothing meant a damn thing? I was in Virginia. I was going to live in Virginia. Go to school in Virginia. Work on my farm in Virginia. See him in Virginia.

Mourn my mothers death in Virginia.

I couldn't deny the fact that it was all overpowering me. I felt like I was drowning in everything, and yet I wouldn't let my own Grandfather show me affection. What sort of person was I?

We stood in silence as I fought my emotions into a secluded corner of my mind. Finally Grandpa cleared his throat and placed a light hand on my lower back, guiding me.

"We have to get your bags, sweetie. I'm assuming you don't have much?" I shook my head.

"No, I sent most of it." He nodded and let his hand fall from my back. I took a deep breath, letting my chest be relieved. I felt as though I was in a corset, not able to breath, but not able to be let out.

"How was your flight?" I bit my lip, dreading talking to him. I knew it wasn't long before she came into the conversation.

"Fine." I felt his eyes lingering on my face. I did not turn to meet his gaze.

"Are you hungry?" We had arrived at baggage claim and I watched as bags slowly passed below me on the conveyor belt.

"A little." I saw my bag and held my hand at the ready for when it came into reaching distance.

"Lou's at the house, she's cooking dinner. She made your favorite." My stomach growled at the thought of Chicken Dijon, my preferred dish.

"That's great, thanks." I reached forward and grabbed my large suitcase from off the conveyor belt. I set it on the ground and pulled the handle up so it would roll.

We were silent as we walked towards the car. The tension between us was great, and I couldn't stop licking my lips nervously. When we got to the pickup I hefted my bag into the truck bed and climbed into the old vehicle.

As we drove there was no music and no speaking. The house was at least 45 minutes away, and I settled into the door to wait.

"Are you sure you're okay?" My sigh left a large patch of fog on the window.

"I'm fine." I needed to change the subject. "How's the baby?"

Grandpa seemed reluctant to change the subject, but he answered none the less. "Doing great. Lou has a doctors appointment next week. She finds out what it is then." I smiled despite myself. I hadn't seen Lou since spring break and she hadn't known she was pregnant yet. She was now nearly four months along, and if the pictures were to be believed, she was getting large and radiant in her pregnancy.

We were quiet once again for about ten minutes.

"Amy, we need to talk. You haven't said anything about your mo..." I cut him off sharply.

"Stop." He looked over at my quickly in surprise. "Grandpa, I'm fine. I have my own way of dealing with things, and I'm fine."

"But honey, you can't be fine. Your mother just passed away, there's pain in that."

I swallowed a large lump in my throat and blinked back tears in my eyes.

"Well, I am fine." I heard him sigh a large sigh.

"Amy, please, don't do this." He was pleading with me. Pleading hard.

"I'm not doing anything."

"That's the problem."

Oh, could there be so much truth in only three words? Could there?

Heartland was beautiful. Simply beautiful. Even though I had willingly left it, I had never said that it didn't absolutely take my breath away every time I saw it.

It was set far back on a large patch of land in Jefferson, Virginia. The entrance was simple, just long wooden logs flanking the beginning of the driveway and one atop those that had a sign that read 'Heartland' in script. As we drove beneath it dust billowed up from the dirt driveway. At first there was nothing but large fields and trees but then we turned to the left and Heartland came into view. There were two large white barns to the right with two large paddocks and a working ring behind that. To the left was the large worn down, yet beautiful, farmhouse.

I rolled my window down as we neared the house and breathed in the scent of it all. There were horses roaming around the property and I smiled at the sight of them. Painful memories or not, horses were not subject to anything but adoration on my part.

"Happy to be home?" I turned towards Jack, my eyes that had been gleeful fell in guilt.

"I suppose." I was, in a way, happy to be back. I loved Heartland, that's why I always tried to stay away from it. I didn't want to love it. I wanted to hate it.

The truck came to a halt to the right of the house. I slowly opened my door, squinting through the blaring sun to look at my surroundings. My eyes instantly flew towards the paddocks, scanning along them. Searching.

"Honey, Lou is inside. I'm sure she'd love to see you." I turned towards my Grandpa and smiled slightly.

"Yeah, right." I hoisted my bag from the truck and walked towards the house. When I stepped through the door and into the kitchen I was instantly engulfed.

"Amy! Oh my God, I've been so worried! Are you okay? How are you? Are you hungry? Do you have to pee? Ugh, I have to pee and I haven't been on a plane all day. Go pee, now." I laughed at Lou as she pulled away from me.

"I don't have to pee Lou, I'm fine." She smiled down at me as tears welled in her eyes.

"Sorry, I was rambling. It's just...I'm so happy to see you." I smiled at her, patting her arm.

"I know, Lou. I'm happy to see you too." Lou's eyes were then filled with worry and as she opened her mouth to speak I shook my head slightly. She saw and bit her lip.

"Not now." She nodded before clearing her throat and waddling over to the stove.

"Well, I got a late start on dinner because I had to go to the store for a few things. So it should be done in about half an hour."

"That's okay. Where's Scott?" Lou's eyes brightened just at the mention of her husband of the past eight months.

"He got called in to a birthing, but he should be back in a little while. An hour, tops." I smiled at her before looking down at her stomach.

"And how is my niece or nephew?" Lou bit her lip in ecstasy as she placed a hand on her stomach.

"Amazing." I laughed and placed my own hand on her stomach as Grandpa came into the room. He smiled sadly at the sight of us before taking off his boots.

"When's dinner, Lou?" Lou lowered herself into a chair at the table.

"About thirty minutes." Grandpa nodded before looking at me.

"Why don't you go get settled, honey. Your stuff is all in your room." I looked upwards at the ceiling before looking back at him.

"I was actually thinking I might go say hi to the horses. Look around the barns, maybe." Grandpa frowned.

"Okay, sweetie." I made my way towards the door.

"Dinner in thirty, I'll call for you." I nodded at Lou before leaving the house.

The warm summer air blew across me lightly. My long, straight, light brown hair was in a ponytail and the wind blew it around my face. I was dressed in jean shorts, a plain grey t-shirt, and a black zip-up hoodie over that and black sandals. The light wind made it necessary for the hoodie, and I was glad for it, but I zipped it down lower on my body until it was only half-way zipped, so the air ventilated through it.

I decided to go say hello to the horses in the paddocks first. I slowly walked over towards them, my hands pushed into the pockets of my hoodie.

"Hi, sweetie." I lifted one hand from within my sweater and lay it across the long face of a beautiful chestnut. "How are you?" I crooned to her a few moments longer before lifting my other hand from my sweater and climbing over the wooden fence. I dropped myself into the paddock and one by one slowly approached each horse. I knew that they were all here for rehabilitation, so I was careful to let them chose to come to me. Finally I climbed back over the fence and headed towards the back barn.

The doors were open and I slowly walked down the aisle. There were about 18 stalls and about 10 horses in the barn. At the end was a beautiful mare that shied away at my touch.

"Come here, baby. What's wrong?" I murmured, holding my hand out. "You've been hurt, huh? What's your name, beautiful? What do I call you?" I unlatched the door and slowly began to open it, but just as I was about to slip through, a gentle hand grabbed my wrist, pulling it back.

"Don't, she's scared of human contact." the large figure said softly.

"Ty!" I gasped, my heart beating like crazy at the sight of him. He'd scared me.

"Amy," his voice was low, and he lowered his eyes beneath his old black baseball cap to meet mine.

"Uh, hey. How are you?" He smiled at me, pushing his hat up slightly.

"I'm okay. You?" I smiled back at him, my lips wavering as I did so.

"Fine." His eyes searched my face, knowing that I wasn't fine. He knew I had to be hurting from my mothers death. But he also knew I didn't want to talk about it.

"So, you're home. For good." I found myself not able to meet his gaze. Every time I did there was a pang in my chest.

"Yeah, I'm home. For good." Finally I looked up and met his eyes, and regretted it. For good meant to much. For good was not for good. It was for bad.

At that moment I heard Lou calling my name. I turned towards the house, then back to him.

"It was nice seeing you Ty." He smiled casually, leaning against the stall door.

"Yeah." That was all he said.

Ahhh, new story. I love new stories, really, I do. I just don't update as often as I should. But I should have some time coming up in a week or two. So expect chapters :

Oh, and about the title. This story's title is, in fact, a song. 'Best of Me' by The Starting Line. I happen to love that song, but that's not why I chose it. If you read the lyrics, then you can tell it sort of goes with the story, or it will. Actually, each chapter title is a lyric to the song. I'm not saying that the story will end when the lyrics do, I'll just have to figure that out if it happens. But, if you DO read the lyrics, know that this story is not exactly following that. Just a few parts stood out for me and kind of gave me this...idea smirk

Review please, or this story won't keep going. It all depends on you guys :