I know you were all expecting the sequel to "A New Day", but I recently just thought of this idea, and I wanted to give it a shot. Glad to be up and running again:)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Phantom Stallion.

Chapter 1

Samantha Forster kissed her mustang Ace on the nose, promising to give him a long, well earned run when she got back home.

Sam was visiting her Aunt Sue in San Francisco for Sam's birthday. It was tomorrow and Sam had promised her aunt that when she turned eighteen she would come visit her for a week. Her aunt, of course, had forgotten the promise made by Sam when she was thirteen, right about to board the plane back to Nevada.

She was going to surprise her aunt by going to see her tomorrow.

"Samantha, go finish packing your bags!" Gram yelled from the front porch. Sam sighed, kissing Ace on the nose one more time and giving him a pat. "Yes ma'am,"

Sam made her way out of the corral and onto the porch, stopping shortly to look at the mountains and to give their ranch dog, Blaze, a pat on the belly.

Sam brought her lightly packed bag of clothes, toiletries, and a couple books down the stairs, setting it by the door.

"Anything I can do, Dad?" Sam asked Dad, who was sitting at the table looking over a contract for a new horse that he and Jake might buy.

Sam's Dad and Jake, her 20 year old neighbor and best friend, bought skittish or unruly horses to train and sell. Jake was a wizard with horses, and even though he teased her most of the time, she respected him a lot. She had also learned a lot from him over the years of their friendship.

Right then, her Gram and Brynna walked in from the living room, each holding one of Cody's four-year-old hands.

"Actually, Sam, there's something wrong in the barn, could you go check on it for me?" Brynna said with a knowing smile on her face.

Sam was instantly curious, but the feeling was quickly washed away.

What if something was wrong with one of the horses?

Sam raced out of the house, not even noticing the blue truck parked in her yard.

She ran into the barn and gasped at what she saw.

Right there, in the middle of her barn stood Jake Ely, proudly leaning against the front of a blue, used looking, pickup truck.

Sam was pretty sure her mouth dropped.

"Brat, you gonna stand there all day catchin' fly's or are you gonna come check out your new car?" Jake grinned at her, his tomcat smile slowly spreading over his face.

Sam closed her mouth as she felt her cheeks flush, istantly feeling shy. She wondered why she felt this when she looked at him. She looked back to her car, slowly walking over to admire it.

Sam turned to Jake, a full-blown smile crossing her face. Jake read it in her eyes, but before he could react, she was running toward him.

Sam ran towards Jake and jumped into his arms, smiling and laughing, not only surprising Jake, but herself also.

And to her even greater surprise, Jake didn't pull away from her, but snaked his arms around her thin waist and swung her around gently.

They both stopped, staring into the other's eyes. Sam was glowing and Jake couldn't help the soft smile he sent her, making her blush again. Without thinking, Jake bent his head to her and softly brushed her lips against his. Sam was so surprised, she didn't react for a moment, feeling Jake's hesitant lips on hers, and she responded. They broke apart, and Jake broke away from her gaze, his cheeks tinted a bit pink against his tan skin.

"I'm sorry," Jake said softly.

"Don't be," Sam said just as softly.

Jake's eye's swung to meet hers, and they both smiled at each other, neither noticing the adults that had been there since the beginning.

I've just made some revisions to this chapter, but again, I'm sorry for the tremendously long wait and I'll try to have chapter 2 up soon.