Big Sky & Bright Lights
by: Crystal Manning
Summary - From the day Moose was born he had his entire life planned out: when the time was right he'd inherit the Falcone family farm and settle down with a nice country girl. It's what his father would want and his father has the final say. But then Bailey returns home on Spring Break with a once-in-a-lifetime proposition and it changes everything. When Moose trades in his idle big sky home for a visit to the fast pace of New York City, he finds that the bright lights—and his burgeoning feelings for a city girl—may derail his once solid plans. Moose/OC. Post On Deck.
Chapter 1
Priorities
Moose Falcone whistled as his dust-covered boots scuffed against the dirt road. The sun, steadily rising in the stark blue sky, shone brightly though it didn't rival the smile embedded on his face. He couldn't help but smile anytime he was in the mere presence of Anna May Miller. She was a lovely gal, quick as a whip with a heart as big as Texas. Anytime she turned her sweet smile his way or giggled at one of his jokes his heart soared. Something he didn't expect to experience again after Bailey Pickett chose Cody Martin over him a few years back.
He kicked at a rock and watched it bounce along the dirt road. Once upon a time he believed Bailey was the one he'd end up courting up to their wedding day. Hell, their parents thought so as well; Clyde Pickett had burst into tears and welcomed him as his future son-in-law on the spot the moment he'd asked the Pickett patriarch for permission to court his daughter. His own father danced a jig in celebration, as if Moose had won the lottery.
He believed that at the time. Bailey was everything he could ask for in a girl: sweet, charming, strong, and she knew her way around bulls like no other. As a cherry on top, she was pretty without it going to her head like a few of the other girls around Kettlecorn. Wanting a housewife for a partner was the ideal for some but Moose preferred a partner who would work by his side in the field. Bailey was that ideal partner for him; he wanted the same marriage that his parents have. Thirty years in and they're still as in love as they were when they first met at the annual Strawberry Festival. His father was the head of the household and his mother followed the decisions he made for the good of the family. It worked for them, why wouldn't it work for him and Bailey too?
The answer to that question came in the form of her blindsiding him one day by breaking things off after they had Sunday dinner together at the Picketts. He still remembered the taste of Grammy Pickett's blackberry pie and corn chowder from that day; he hasn't eaten either since then. The next thing he knew she was on a one-way trip to Seven Seas High.
But it all worked out. They were back to being friends and were where they were supposed to be in their lives. Bailey was attending school at Yale and he couldn't be happier or prouder of her. She was where she needed to be and he was where he needed to be; at home to care for the family farm. All of it was to be his one day.
Moose glanced over his shoulder when he heard tires bumping over rocks. At the sight of a truck rumbling along with a cloud of dust trailing behind it, he moved off to the side of the road. He lifted his arm and extended two of his fingers in a brief wave as he called out, "Howdy howdy!" in greeting. The driver and passenger of the truck returned his greeting and the children in the back of the pickup giggled and waved at him before urging their dad to go "Faster, faster!"
"Where ya headed, Moose? Need a ride?" The passenger yelled.
"Thank ya, kindly, Mr. Fletcher, but I have ta pass. 'M almost home and I would'n' wanna trouble ya," Moose replied.
The man nodded and urged for the driver to continue. Moose instinctively held his breath as the car sped up and the ensuing dirt cloud enveloped him. A moment later he let it out and breathed carefully as he continued walking. Taking the ride may have gotten him back home faster but he preferred to walk everywhere; he couldn't experience his surroundings in a truck the same way he could by foot. He wouldn't be able to feel the wind caress his face, hear the crunching dirt beneath his boots, or smell the myriad of nature scents from a truck.
If he could live outside he would. There was nothing quite like feeling the earth trembling beneath his body as a truck rolled on by, no sight better than looking up at the night sky and seeing a smattering of stars like glitter had been scattered on inky black paper, and no sound better than the rhythmic chirp of crickets to lull him to sleep. This was his paradise, he couldn't even imagine leaving.
By the time he made it back to his family farm his smile was rejuvenated as he heard the banging and the clanking of dishes and the laughter of his siblings. His family wasn't nearly as big as Bailey's—the Pickett family supported ten girls!—but it was still full and, being the oldest, he had a lot of people to look after while is Papa was in a neighboring town to help train and care for a horse that was causing trouble.
"Hey y'all," Moose called out as he strode right into the home amidst the chaos and gleeful shouts of "Moosie's back!". He walked over to his mother, soap up to her arms in the sink, and kissed her cheek. "I'll take over the dishes, Mama. You go and relax."
"Thank ya, darlin', but I have it handled." Mama smiled and brushed the hair that fell out of her tight bun off her forehead with her forearm. "Go and check on Hawk, please. Make sure he gets more syrup on his pancakes than on his face."
Moose laughed. "Alright, Mama." He approached the round table where his four siblings sat chatting and clanking their forks against plates. "Hey kiddos, are you giving Mama a hard time?"
"Noooo!" The youngest two replied at once.
"I'm sure." Moose reached over to the boy nearest him—three-year-old Hawk—and wiped the sticky syrup off his round cheeks with a damp washcloth. He giggled beneath the washcloth and smiled up at his brother with his bright brown eyes. "Hey—Lark, sit down! Remember what happen last time? We wouldn't want ya ta get hurt," he addressed two-year-old Lark, who was bouncing on her chair. "I think ya had too many pancakes."
"Aww," Lark groaned, her curly pigtails stilling as she did what she was told. Kind of. She traded bouncing for kneeling but that was better than nothing, he supposed. Getting her to sit still was like getting a raging bull to calm down. It's not an easy feat.
"Were you with Anna May again?" Thirteen-year-old Robin flashed her silver covered smile. It was the biggest luxury their family had ever spent, but she needed braces. They'd driven three hours out just to get them put on to fix her snaggletooth. It put them back a few months on paying their bills. The lights had even turned out a few times but it was worth it, Mama and Papa said, to have Robin smiling again.
"Yes, I was." Moose didn't miss the sing-song tone attached to her voice. The mention of Anna May's name had him smiling all over again. He was smitten as a kitten, as his mama would say. "Mason says hi, by the way," he added with a little smirk. Robin's face bloomed red and she lowered her head, using her dark hair to shield her face. That's what I thought. Mason Miller practically ambushed him at the door when he walked Anna May home from the market. It was no secret that Robin and Mason were sweet on each other. If only they weren't too shy to say something about it. "Anna May says we should go out fer some ice cream together one day. With her and Mason. Are ya game for it?"
"I…I guess," Robin replied. All he could see past her hair now was the tip of her nose as she looked down even further. "That sounds…nice."
A huff with enough strength to rival the twisters around Kettlecorn grabbed Moose's attention. He bit his lip and steered himself for Perry's boy-hating craze. His seventeen-year-old sister still nursed a broken heart from her now ex-boyfriend leaving to pursue his rodeo dreams in Montana. Perry refused to leave her room for at least a week after the breakup; she had expected him to officially court her when he asked to meet up at the next town's diner, he used it as an opportunity to break the news. She didn't take it well.
"Yer wastin' yer time, Robs," Perry said while stabbing at her stack of pancakes. She then picked up her knife and savagely cut into her breakfast. "Boys do nothin' but cause trouble."
"Moosie doesn't!" Lark announced. "We love Moosie!"
"Moose is an exception," Perry grumbled. "You'll understand when yer older, Larkie. Boys aint nothin' but trouble. They're dastardly." She chewed her pancakes and then pointed her fork at Robin. "Yer better off learnin' that now. Save ya the trouble."
Robin didn't reply. She slumped in her seat and Moose watched as all the previous color in her face drained and her mouth turned down into a pout. He sighed. It took so long for Robin's beautiful smile to return, now it was going to take even longer to get it back. "Thanks a lot, Perry."
"Whatever." Perry pushed away from the table. Her rickety chair scraped against the wooden floor. The table shook beneath the force of her push. Moose grabbed onto the table to keep it steady. Milk sloshed in their glasses and slipped over the sides until they soaked into the ring-covered table. No harm done. He made a mental note to speak to his Mama about their next family purchase being a new dinner table.
"Perry," Mama stopped her from storming out of the room, "look after Hawk and Lark would ya please? I need to run and get some more milk from the market."
"Why can't Robin do it? Or Moose?"
"'Cause I need to chop wood," Moose replied as he stood. He picked up a piece of bacon and bit into it. "Mama, I'm sorry, I could've brought some back when I was there earlier."
"I wasn't aware we were low. It's alright, son. I need to head there anyway." Mama wiped her hands on a dishtowel and went around the table kissing them all on the cheek. "Robin, please stay around just in case Perry needs help. I'll be back as soon as possible. Moose, don't forget it's your turn to feed the chickens and gather the eggs."
"Did it earlier this mornin', Mama," Moose replied. "If y'all need me I'll be outside." He switched his walking boots with his work boots and headed right out to the barn. Stacked nearby was a dwindling pile of cut up logs. A storm had passed by a few weeks back and knocked down some trees. The cleanup took some time but it was worth it to get more firewood. The winters in Kansas could be harsh.
Moose grabbed his axe and dragged some wood over to the stump used as a base. He set a piece of wood down, adjusted his grip on his axe, did a few practice swings, and then swung it through the air. It sliced through the wood like butter, the two halves dropping to either side of the stump. He put another piece of wood on the stump and chopped right through it.
He easily fell into a rhythm of chopping and replacing the wood. When the piles on either side got too high he moved them over to the stack by the barn and brought more over to start again. The sun was high in the sky by then. Its warm rays brought sweat to his skin; it dripped down his face and landed on the ground where it was gobbled up by the greedy, dry dirt.
The sound of crunching dirt beneath tires filtered in through his steady chopping of wood but he didn't turn to look who it was. Either his mother was leaving or Miss Cassidy had come over to pick up a peach cobbler that Mama had made for her in return for watching the little kids recently.
He placed another piece of wood on the stump and geared up to chop it. He held the axe behind him, bent his knees, tightened his grip, and swung.
"Moose!"
Whump! His axe landed with a hard thud in the side of the stump, embedding itself into the thick wood. He let go of the axe handle and whirled around, ready to scold the person for distracting him only to stop and let out a little laugh of disbelief. "Cornflowerl!" He pulled Bailey towards him and lifted her off her feet with the force of her hug.
"Moose! Stop! Put me down!" she said amidst her laughter, her hair whipping around her face.
He put her down straightaway and smiled down at her. "Sorry, Bailey! Gosh, I'm just so happy to see ya!" he gushed.
"I'm happy to see you too, Moose," Bailey replied, brushing her hair out of her face.
Moose crossed his arms and adopted a concerned expression. "Well, what're you doin' all the way out here? Aren't ya treadin' new ground at fancy-schmancy Yale?"
"Yeah! Yale is amazing. I still pinch myself sometimes, I can't believe I actually attend such an esteemed institution!" Bailey sucked in a breath and let out a happy sigh. Moose's lips twitched upwards in the corner. Their relationship may be over but she was still his closest friend and he was glad to see that working towards her dream made her so happy. "But I'm on vacation so I thought I would come back here and see how everything is going. Grammy said that one of the pigs gave birth."
"Yeah, she had eight sweet little piglets," Moose informed. "They're a mischievous bunch, gotta keep an eye on 'em. But, shoot, they're growin' fast! Soon they can be entered in races at the fair."
"Oh, great!" Bailey clasped her hands together. "Now I can finally get a chance to beat Mollie Sue at her own game."
Moose laughed. "Still upset about getting' the red ribbon, huh?"
"I had that race locked down!" Bailey insisted. As she crossed her arms and shook her head, a dark expression crossed her face. "Mollie Sue just got lucky when her pig stopped in front of the finish line and blocked mine. But I'll show her, gosh dang it! The Pickett family will take home the blue ribbon this year!"
"Whatever you say, Haybail."
Bailey smiled. "How're things over here, Moose? Your siblings giving you trouble? How's Perry?"
"I reckon she's gonna be angrier than a rattlesnake in a burlap sack for a while."
"Aww. Has she heard anything from Travis?"
"McCoy? Hasn't said a word. Good thing too; he tries to come back here and I'll give 'im a firm talkin to for breakin' my little Perry's heart."
"Aww, look at you being all parental!" Bailey playfully pushed him on the shoulder. "You're going to make a great father one day."
He shrugged. "Yeah, that's the plan."
"So, you and Anna May are moving along nicely?"
Moose nodded. "In fact, we've been talking and I think I'm going to ask her father to court her soon." Bailey's eyes lit up at the announcement and he gave a modest shrug. "I think it's the right time. We've discussed our future and what our expectations are for being together. We've both agreed that we see marriage down the line. I have feelings for her; I know this is the right step." His first attempt at a courtship may not have worked out but this one would. This—the farm and a wife—was the right direction for him. He could feel it in his bones.
"Oh, I'm so happy for you, Moose!" Bailey threw her arms around his neck and gave him a big hug. He hugged her tight, taking time to inhale her sweet scent. It was a little different than he was used to but it was still Bailey. His Bailey. And she'd always be his Bailey, no matter how far apart life took them.
"Thank you kindly. Does my little cornflower have a fella out there at Yale?" He didn't miss the roll of her eyes. Their relationship may be over but his nicknames for her weren't going to stop anytime soon.
Bailey shook her head. "No, no fella for me. I've been doing homework and studying, I have no time for a fella."
"So, then I won't have to share you while you're on your vacation?" Moose asked with a hopeful smile. "Fantastic! I can finish up here and then we can go into the next town and get milkshakes or some pop like we used to. Sound fun?"
"It sounds like a hoot and a half!" Bailey pumped her fist for emphasis and then bit her lip. "But…I won't be here long, actually. Just for a few days."
"A few days? Well, where ya goin'?"
"Me and a few of the others are going to New York to visit Zack and Cody at NYU." Bailey twisted her fingers together and smiled her most charming smile at him. It used to make butterflies take flight in his stomach but now they remained dormant. And made him suspicious.
"And?" he prompted, eyebrows raising.
"And…I was thinking maybe you could come with me," Bailey replied.
Moose stared at her and then his lip curled a moment later. Heading out to New York sounded incredibly unappealing to him. Why in the world would she think that he would want to go? New York had too much light pollution, too much noise, too many people, too much waste, and everything was overpriced.
"Bailey, you're a few cards short of a full deck." Moose shook his head and Bailey pouted. "Why would I want ta to go New York? I have everythin' I need right here."
"Moose, you've never been out of Kettlecorn except when you came to visit me on the S. S. Tipton," Bailey pointed out.
Moose wrenched the axe out of the stump and picked up another piece of wood. He set it atop of the stump and readjusted his grip. "Right, but that's because yer friend London told me you was homesick." He blew out a breath, heaved the axe, and chopped the wood clean in half in one swing. "I don't need to leave. I'm fine here."
"There's nothing else you want to see in the world?" Bailey pressed. He felt her eyes on him as he swung his axe and split another piece of wood in half. "The Hollywood sign? The Statute of Liberty? The golden arches of a McDonald's?"
Moose laughed and brought his axe back to rest on his shoulder. He wiped his forehead with the back of his arm and felt the sweat smear against his slick skin. He frowned and then rubbed it against the side of his plaid shirt. "I don't think that last one counts, Haybail."
"Still."
She walked around him and planted herself in his way, her hands placed firmly on her hips. Moose regarded her, mimicking her hand placement with his freehand. "I can't just leave the farm, Bailey. I dunno know when Papa's comin' back and I have a lot to do around here. Braveheart needs me especially. I think he's goin' blind."
"Perry's trainin' to become a trainer isn't she? She can look after him," Bailey insisted. "It's only two weeks."
"Two weeks is a lot of time, Bailey."
"So's over twenty years of your life." At his raised eyebrow, she continued. "Moosie, one of the things I admire most about you is your contribution to your family. Ever since we were little tykes, any money you'd make from our lemonade stands or flavored popcorn you would give straight to your mom and dad. You give so much to them. I think, this one time, you can do something for yourself." He scoffed. "Two weeks, Moose. It's just two weeks. Afterwards you can come back and it'll be like nothing ever happened."
"What about a plane ticket?" He bit his lip to keep from smiling. He'd finally found his out. His aversion to flying aside, there was no way that the Pickett family or the Falcone family, for that matter, would be able to cover a one-way flight out to New York. Not unless they wanted to eat light for the next few weeks. A fate that he knew Bailey wouldn't want to bestow upon anyone in their little corner of Kettlecorn.
"That's all taken care of." Dagummit! In a second the smile was wiped off Moose's face. "London owed me a favor. And besides, I think she was pretty taken with you. Or, well, she was taken with Goose." She made finger quotes around the name and giggled. He didn't crack a smile. "Just think about it, okay? The flight's not for two days anyhow."
"Fine. I'll think about it," Moose promised.
But he knew he didn't have to think hard. There was no way he was getting on a plane and going to New York. It didn't fit into his life plan and he wasn't going to compromise on that.
A/N - Hello to all! This is me returning to the Suite Life fandom after...four years? According to my profile the last time I updated a Suite Life story was in 2013. So here's me taking another shot at it! I've been rewatching the Suite Life series and I fell in love with it again. Moose was a character I wish we knew more about and I always wondered how he'd react if he saw more of the world than Kettlecorn and the decks of the S. S. Tipton. I think he would be a little out of his element and, thus, this story came to be! This story does contain OCs, just as a warning if you're not into that sort of thing. Even so I hope you give this story a chance! Please read and review! I'm excited to be back.
~Manning
P.S. If you'd like you can follow me on my new twitter (C_ManningFFN) where I'll post news and updates about this story and others that I'm working on.