Disclaimer- I do not own Heartland or anything associated with it. All of my characters are works of fiction and any relation or recognization to them is coincidental. Kace and Kota are mine.

I pull on cold Levi's from the day before

Tall cuffs and coffee

underslungs slug low

Two braids in front and my heart on the line

Ian must have sang of one true love

Sometime

Adrian Buckaroogirl- Run Boys Run

The sun was covered by the swirling of grey clouds which seemed to block all warm rays of light from escaping. The wind caressed the grass and clovers while swaying the tops of tall trees. That afternoon the need for a jacket was a necessity. Not that it took much convincing for the redhead to pull out her favorite denim jacket and wild rag.

The soft thudding of four hooves and the rattling of the wind in the leaves was enough for Kace to smile a small grin. She was content and more than happy just checking strays and the fence until a black and white paint fell into her line of sight.

The nineteen-year-old knew that it didn't belong on the land she was riding. She had just been hired on but she had been there long enough to know the outfit's horses, and the little tobiano gelding was definitely not one of them. It must've been one of the neighboring ranches. And with his soft brown eyes and cute face, it was obvious someone was probably missing him.

"Let's be good Samaritans today. What do you say, bud?" She asked her own black and white gelding who had perked up at the sight of another horse.

Kota swung his head towards her and Kace reached her boot out so he could sniff her like he liked to do while she began unbuckling her rope strap. She unwrapped her rope from the leather binding and passed it off to her left hand with her mecate reins. The young women made sure the tail end was on the left side of her horse's neck before flipping the rope and sliding the honda to make a loop.

With the jingle of her spurs and the squeezing of her calves, she urged her horse into a slow trot. The day had been pretty boring and she wasn't in too big of a hurry to end her entertainment. Her plan was just to rope the paint and then pony him back to the corrals where she would call the cow boss and notify him of the found horse.

The soft whooshing of Kace swinging her rope was suddenly hard to hear as the sound of breathing horses, pounding hooves, and shouting filled the air. The horse sat at the base of a small knoll and as his head popped up from his green grass, a young boy on a sorrel horse halted at the top long enough to shout "There he is! Kramer!"

Two more people became visible as the young man came loping down the hill towards the paint, 'Kramer' apparently, the culprit took one look at the boy with the loop built in his hand before he decided what he was going to do. With a snort, he turned and came flying towards Kace's direction.

"I got him," the young boy said determinedly as he began to swing his rope.

He was a greenie from the looks of his tightly clenched fist on his coils and the pulling of his reins and the horse's mouth. He had quite a bit of potential, though. Kace knew how difficult it was to learn to rope and a small smile grew on her lips and she watched the boy concentrate. He was learning and she was impressed by what he could do. He already was a lot further ahead than she was at what she assumed was his age.

When he threw his loop he forgot to loosen his left hand on the coils to feed his line and it ended up coming short but that was really his only problem and as soon as he figured that out he'd be catching anything and everything. He groaned in frustration as he pulled his horse to a stop and his two companions burst from his side with speed as the barreled towards the runaway.

"I got him!" Shouted a man on a white horse as he chased after the paint while rapidly swinging his rope.

Kace knew that the man would probably catch the gelding but she didn't want to go chasing after him and get Kota all hot when she could just pop out her loop right then and be done with it. The gelding was coming towards her and she knew it was either take the chance with the man or trust her own hand. Besides, it was now her responsibility seeing as it was on the land she was working.

Her choice was made as the paint came off the fence line. Instinctively she threw her arm out and watched as the loop fed itself until it wrapped around the horse's strong neck. Kace didn't have time to notice the onlookers as she hurriedly squeezed her legs and applied pressure with the rowels of her spurs and made sure to give Kota enough head to burst into action and get in front of the horse's head to stop him. If she had immediately pulled her slack and brought it to her horn she would have probably jerked the horse violently to the ground. Instead, she slowed the horse to a stop through her horse's body position and began coiling her slack and moving towards the ornery paint.

When everything had calmed and Kace had her rope and the paint situated she turned around to the strangers and began leading the horse their way. She chewed her lip nervously as Kota took her closer and closer to human interaction, something she wasn't very keen on. Through green eyes, she glanced up past the brim or her black hat and smiled awkwardly as she took in who she was about to deal with.

There was the young boy who looked a little put out and next to him sat a blonde girl with flushed red cheeks and pouty pink lips. She also sat on a sorrel. Then there was the man on the white horse who she had stolen the shot from. His rope sat on his rubber wrapped horn idly and his broad shoulders leaned forward as he rested his arms on his horn.

"He yours?" She asked gesturing her head to the suddenly obedient little pony that walked calmly beside her.

"Yeah. Kramer. He keeps jumping fences and escaping." Drawled the blonde girl while nodding her head.

"Well I can see why you might not want that to happen," she smiled awkwardly, "He's a cutie."

"He's my new cow pony but most the time I'm out searching for him." The young boy piped in.

"Well if I see him again, I'll be sure to try and get him back to you. I'm Kace." she turned her horse's butt so she was parallel to the trio. She held out her hand in greeting after she had passed everything to her right.

"I'm Jake." he shook her hand.

"I'm Caleb," said the blue-eyed man with a smirk as he coiled his rope back up.

"Mallory." the blonde said.

"It's nice to meet you all," the redhead grinned, "Jake do you have a number so I can call you if I run into this dude again. I'm new around here and don't really no up from down yet."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." he dug out his phone from his jacket pocket and Kace followed suit.

They exchanged numbers quickly before thanking each other.

"I can pony him back with you guys or just give him to you. I don't really mind either way. The cows here are a lot more boring than the ones where I've worked before so I don't really have a whole lot to do today." Kace offered, looking for some entertainment. Part of her hoped they would say no. The socially awkward part that didn't want any awkward silences.

"You should tag along!" Mallory said. "Caleb's just going to be mopey about Ashley not giving him back his trailer. Trust me, you'll be a welcome distraction."

Kace watched as Caleb's face whipped around to the young girl with a glare and the redhead knew that she was just told information that wasn't welcome to a stranger like herself. She pressed on her horn lifting up from the seat before settling back down and readjusting herself, something she always did when she felt uncomfortable.

"Yeah you should come," Jake agreed.

"Is that all right with you, Caleb," Kace asked busying herself so she wouldn't have to see his reaction. She gently began shimmying her legs and lightly pulling back on her reins. Kota backed out of the way with his head collected and Kramer turned and walked with them.

"Yeah!" He said excitedly. Kace's head popped up in surprise at his sudden enthusiasm.

"I mean, you look like you know what you're doing. I don't see why you shouldn't," he shrugged his shoulders and smirked.

"Alright," Mallory drawled as she rolled her eyes at Caleb's behavior. "Let's go."

The three of them turned and began walking the way they had come. Kace waited a moment before following suit and Kramer trailed behind. After a few minutes, Mallory and Jake pulled quite a ways ahead and began conversing. Kace tried not to let the awkwardness get to her and instead began drumming the fingers of her spare hand on her armitas.

It seemed as if Caleb and Kayce decided at the same time that their silence was too much because when the young women had had enough he turned his horse and began walking next to her.

"They're cute," she said referring to the two kids quite a distance away from them. Caleb looked up to see Jake laughing over something before Mallory leaned over and slugged him in the arm. Kace and Caleb smiled at their innocent flirting.

"Yeah, I think the feelings aren't mutual, though."

Kace's green eyes looked over at him in question.

"On whose part?"

"Jake's had a crush on Mallory since I got here about a year ago and most of the time she's avoiding him."

"Well, I'll bet she regrets that one day. Kid's going to be a pretty damn good roper if he keeps working at it."

"Yeah, one day he'll be a pretty big threat when he gets out on that circuit."

"You rodeo?" she wasn't that surprised. She had assumed from the rubber wrapped around his horn which was common for rodeo cowboys, unlike her own mule hide wrapped horn, which was common for ranchers.

"I got my pro rodeo card a little while ago and I actually just got back from the circuit," he smirked proudly.

"Let me guess." she smiled towards him, "Team and calf roping."

"Hey, don't forget bronc riding," he sat deeper in the saddle.

"Oh," she said in surprise. He seemed too kind for a bronc rider. Not that she had known him for more than five minutes, she reprimanded herself. She knew that not all bronc riders were rude, it just seemed like all the ones she knew were.

"What about you?" she looked at him in confusion. "Do you rodeo?"

Kace smirked and shook her head. "No, sir. That's not my thing." All the snooty rodeo girl's faces came to mind and she remembered why she wasn't fond of girls her age.

"Oh," it was his turn to sound disappointed.

She scrambled for recovery because for some reason it suddenly mattered what a stranger was feeling towards her and hurriedly said, "Oh, that's not completely true. I rode a bronc one time on a dare. That was awesome." she smiled remembering the adrenaline rush it gave her.

"I love riding broncs," Caleb rolled his head towards her with a smirk. "Don't get me wrong, I like roping a lot, but they don't get me going like bucking horses do."

"I love roping but I don't get too upset anymore if a horse comes unglued under me. I just take it as it comes, I guess. This guy used to buck me off all of the time, though." she said referring to her blue-eyed companion underneath her.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. We both learned a lot together but in the spring he always likes to buck. One day I was riding with a group of guys my uncle was letting me work with and he just started bucking. Before then he had managed to buck me off every time he tried, and I remember losing my stirrup and thinking I was going to fall off again. Then I looked down his neck and said to myself that I wasn't about to get bucked off again."

"Did you?"

"Nope. That's when I decided bucking horses were pretty cool. It's just the getting bucked off part I'm not overly fond of. That's why I try to ride them through it."

Caleb threw his head back and laughed. It was a contagious sort of thing and Kace hadn't heard someone so joyful in quite some time and before she knew it her lips were spread wide with a grin. It surprised her, not in a bad way of course but it had been months since she had felt such sudden contagious joy... and it was refreshing.

After a few gates and some more traveling the green hills opened up to a field full of round bales of hay and then a large lake and on the other side was a house, shop, and barn along with some corrals surrounding it.

"Is this it?" Kayce asked Caleb.

"Yep, here's Heartland."

"Well, I guess this is where I leave you guys." She leaned over and began petting the black face of her temporary companion. "Bye Kramer. Don't you go running off again okay?"

Jake got off his sorrel and grabbed a halter from his saddlebag before walking over to his horse. Kace waited until the young boy was situated before she leaned over and slid her rope from Kramer and began coiling it and wrapping it back up.

"Thank you for your help, Ma'am," Jake tipped his hat then proceeded to walk to the sorrel Mallory was holding patiently.

"No problem. If you ever need help, you have my number," Kace smiled, enjoying the manners from the young boy and his charming smile. He would be a gentleman, that much was certain.

"It was nice meeting you all," she said.

"Yeah, you too!" Caleb sat up in his saddle and looked at her.

Kace waved goodbye and pushed her black flat top hat down on her head before turning and easing Kota into a nice lope and away from her newly acquired friends. Acquaintances. Whatever they were she left them behind her with the sound of beating hooves.

Kace tried to put the thoughts of that day in the back of her mind and instead focus on the primal feeling of thudding hooves and whipping of the wind consume her but a pair of blue eyes wouldn't leave her.

Kace was heading into town for the first time since she arrived. Her plan was to try out a diner called Maggie's which was actually the only diner in Hudson. But she had read somewhere that they sold tack and that they served amazing coffee. She had a craving for diner coffee. She had her own coffee maker in her little trailer but sometimes she liked to sit down at a Diner and have a nice cup. It also gave her a chance to see the closest town from where she was working.

She was coming down the gravel road when she caught sight of an old Chevy parked on the side of the road with tons of fumes rising from it. It was yellow and off to the side stood an older man with a bushy mustache and a cowboy hat. Kace slowed and rolled the window down while coming to a stop next to the man who had a scowl on his face.

"I know I'm new around here but I don't think you're supposed to send smoke signals from your truck." She joked as she took in the man's deeply unimpressed gaze.

"Is that so?" He asked sarcastically in a tone that absolutely reminded her of her father.

"Actually I'm not sure. I don't know much about smoke signals, period." The man let out a huff of laughter in response.

"I'm Kace," she leaned out her window to offer a handshake.

"Jack Bartlett," his hand was warm even though the temperature outside was anything but. "Now you wouldn't have happened to help a little girl named Mallory find her friend's horse today would you?" He tilted his head with squinted eyes.

Kace ducked her head and gave a chuckle. "Kramer. He jumped the fence. I found him on Frand's land and I helped bring him home."

"You're working for Frand's?" the old man questioned in surprise.

"Yes, Sir."

"You must be a pretty good hand if you're working on Jeff Frand's ranch. He's a no-nonsense type of a man." He seemed impressed.

Kace's cheeks heated with color as she ducked her head and awkwardly readjusted her hat.

"No, Sir, my uncle's just a real good friend of his. It wasn't by my own skills that I was hired."

Jack made a humming noise and he backed up a step to look at his truck.

"You know, I have a chain somewhere in here. I can pull your truck and give you a ride if you want."

"I would appreciate that." He grumbled looking at his truck. "But I think I should probably just leave it for now and get back home to let my family know what's going on. I've been out here for a while."

"Where to?"

"Heartland. It's that way." he pointed in the direction where she had just come from.

She leaned over and opened the passenger side door, welcoming the old man into her truck Jack hopped in, looking very frustrated and tired by the looks of his lined face. With a heavy sigh, he took off his hat and placed it on the dashboard where several to-go coffee cups were.

"Sorry. It's kind of a mess." She said as she turned around and began heading down the road where she had just come from, leaving Jack's smoking truck on the side of the road next to the hay fields surrounding them.

Kace casually flipped on the radio where a CD had been playing and turned it on low to make any silence that might have happened not so awkward.

"You listen to Ian Tyson?" Jack asked with surprise and enthusiasm.

"He's one of my favorites!" she didn't have to know him that well to realize she had just gained some approval.

"Just where are you from?" He asked curiously.

"Idaho," Kayce said with a small smile. "I'm from The Great Basin, which is why I listen to Ian." She gestured toward the radio.

"Idaho. That's not exactly close."

"No Sir, it's not. Especially since I'm from the bottom half of it."

"So what's brought you to Hudson, of all places?"

Kayce hesitated as she tried to find the easiest way to explain ignoring the growingly familiar pang that grabbed her gut fast. "I, uh, needed a change in scenery, I guess. My uncle told me about this place and I jumped."

Jack made a humming noise before quieting down. Thinking, more than likely. Or maybe he had run out of questions.

The redhead was surprised to hear the older man begin to quietly sing along but she made no comments as she sang too. The more she was around him the more he reminded her of her father, and she was disappointed when the green-roofed house came into view.

"Over there." Jack gestured to right in front of the fence that separated the green grass from the gravel while shoving his hat back onto his head.

She did as he said before coming to a stop and turning off her truck. The girl watched as the front door opened and several people began walking towards them. There were three women and one man. An older women with bright blue eyes and the other one with dark brown hair. A young man with shaggy brown hair stood at the side of the last girl. Kace noticed she looked familiar with her blue eyes and blonde hair. Maybe she had one of those faces.

"Here we go," he said under his breath while looking at the on comers.

Kace and Jack exited the vehicle. The girl felt awkward and didn't bother saying anything or looking up as Jack was surrounded by 'I told you so's' and 'Get rid of it's'.

"Will you all just back off," Jack grumbled with raised hands and the shaking of his head. They did as he asked and Kace was aware of the curious eyes on her.

"Now if you all would give me a minute I would like to thank this young woman." He turned away from them to a very uncomfortable Kace. "This is Kace. The girl that helped with Jake's horse earlier."

"Hi. Nice to meet you all," she said with a small wave as she shuffled in her moccasins uncomfortably.

The black haired woman offered her hand out in greeting which Kace shook.

"Hi, I'm Lou. This is my sister Amy, her boyfriend, Ty-" she pointed to the blonde haired girl and her shaggy-haired companion, "-and this is Lisa, Grandpa's girlfriend." She gestured to the woman with ice blue eyes.

Kace smiled for a moment taking them all in before the recognition clicked in her brain as she stopped on Amy. "You're the Miracle Girl!" she shouted in surprise. "I saw your video on Youtube. That was some pretty impressive stuff."

"Thank you," Amy smiled awkwardly. "But I'm really not..."

"Can you believe this thing broke down again?" Jack asked in exasperation. "Thank you for your help, Kace. I would have had to walk if you hadn't of helped."

Kace stuck her hand out to him and he took it with a smile.

"No problem, Jack. It was nice to meet you."

Everyone said their goodbyes as she hopped in her truck and waved back. It came alive by the turn of a key and then she was on her way. She was surprised at the welcoming atmosphere that Heartland had. She had even been invited for dinner which she kindly rejected. By the time she was back on the road, though, the sun had gone down to where only pink and orange rays lit up the Canadian horizon and stars began to unveil themselves along with the darkness of the night sky.

It was too late to go into Hudson. Besides her social interaction had reached its limit for the day and it was only with a little bit of disappointment that she turned right onto the gravel road that led her to her camp trailer.

By the time she made it to her trailer, the sun and its rays had pulled back from the horizon with tendrils of retreating fuschia hues. Kota nickered as she exited her truck and made her way to check his water and food. Without even thinking about it Kace slid in through the panels and walked towards her white-faced companion. His blue eyes searched her for treats only to be disappointed as he found nothing. His pink sunburnt mouth nuzzled her hand before turning back to the hay in the feeder which she had filled earlier that evening.

"Today was a good day, huh, bud?" She rested her head onto the muscular tovero and sighed as she rubbed circles soothingly onto his neck.

She spent a little more than an hour with her greatest friend before heading to her trailer and making herself a sandwich. The sound of her chewing filled the little kitchen area as she sat at the pullout table and ate. Kace pulled her journal out and jotted down the day's events and then she said her prayers. The redhead did her hygiene duties and pulled her wet hair into a french braid that came to her lower back. Pajamas were forgotten as she climbed under her covers in nothing more than her tank top and boxer styled underwear. When her head hit her pillow she dreamed of painted horses running and for once, she was content enough that the sound of crunching metal was replaced by hoof beats.

If you have made it this far, thank you! :) I decided to start writing a Caleb/OC story because I noticed that there was not a whole lot of them, and you know the expression, what you want to read, write. Well, something like that, anyway.

I really hope you enjoyed the first chapter and sorry if my writing was confusing in any way, or if the character were too OOC. Let me know and I'll try to fix it.I am by no means an expert horsewoman and if I write something that contradicts your beliefs, I am sorry :) I definitely have a lot to learn and am by no way saying that what I write is the correct way of doing something. But I will try and incorporate some of the things I know into this story(not saying that what I know is right). I want to try and make this as realistic as possible and my characters as Un-mary-sue as I can.

I really have enjoyed writing this so far and hopefully, you will enjoy reading it as well :) If you have any tips or pointers I'm always willing to learn.