A/N. Yes, I am starting another story. I am literal garbage, but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone. I hope you enjoy, this is somewhat of a small town AU with AZ as a rancher and Carina as a general practitioner.

The sun was beating down on her body relentlessly. Sweat dripping down her face and making its' way in her eyes. She wiped it away with the dirty rag she always had on her while she was working. The crate of supplies was put down with an irritated huff. She loved working on her family's ranch, she really did, but the sun and the physically taxing labour was not something she particularly enjoyed.

The last of the supplies was made quick work of, after she had completed her task she stood in the slight breeze and closed her eyes, a peaceful look taking over. This was what she enjoyed most. The feeling of home and belonging she had always felt on her family's ranch. It had been in the family for generations already. Her great-great something grandfather had started way back in the day and all the generations had decided to work there. She hadn't been obligated to take over from her father, seeing as her older brother had already made his intentions to take over clear. But there wasn't anywhere else she could see herself. This was where she belonged. She called these five thousand acres home. So, her brother had agreed to take over together. They were fifty-fifty partners and all decisions were to be made together or not at all. After that deal had been made, they both had built houses on the property. Arizona had called a contractor to help her build her farmhouse with wraparound porch, Tim decided to build his little hunter lodge all by himself. Their parents still lived in the colonial era house that had been on the property for nearly a century, her father had kept it in great shape for as long as she could remember.

"Arizona! It's time for dinner, come and wash up!" Her mother called from the house, snapping the blonde out of her musings. She quickly made her way up to the house, being hungry from all the work she had been doing all day. When she came into her parental home, she saw her brother going over the finances. He had studied Finances at the local college, already knowing he would need it if he wanted to run the ranch. The blonde trusted him explicably with it, since he had taken over the finances their turnover had nearly doubled. Demand was growing and they had decided they needed a ranch hand pretty soon, it was becoming too much for just the two of them.

She shed her red flannel shirt and walked into the kitchen, kissing her mother on the cheek when she passed her at the stove. The artisanal lavender soap made her think of her youth when she smelled it. Her mother had been buying it since Arizona had been five and dragged the older woman to the soap stand at the famers market.

Her mother made a disapproving noise when the blonde was deep in thought instead of washing her hands to get ready for dinner. Arizona ginned and quickly washed her hands and splashed some cold water in her face to cool down. She dried off and put her cowboy hat on the hat rack, knowing her mother would not allow her at the table with it on.

"You know the rules, Tim." She said in a sing-song voice. "No one is allowed hats at the table, not even dad has the privilege." She snatched the worn hat from her brother's head, and putting it right next to hers on the stand. Tim hummed and pulled a hand through his messy hair before grinning up at her. "I know, Zona. Ma would rip me to shreds before I even had a chance to take a bite of her lovely casserole." He said with his southern drawl. The entire family had it, many girls Arizona had been with found it incredibly charming. His compliment didn't go unnoticed by their mother, who came into the dining room with a soft grin on her face, loving the fact that she was still able to feed her two children almost every night. "For that," She said. "You get a second helping of desert."

Arizona began to protest.

"And you, dear, get a second helping if you get your father from the shed in time for dinner. Which is in five minutes."

The blonde stood with a slight grin and raced towards the front door, not at all behaving like the twenty-seven-year-old woman she actually was.

Her dad was in the shed, working on some old motorbike he had bought a few weeks ago. Her mother had protested vehemently, but her father had reasoned that he needed something to do now that he was retired. It was either that, or he would bug her constantly in the kitchen. The decision had been swiftly made.

"Come on, Da. It's time for dinner."

She was grateful for her family.

-\/-

Every morning, she would wake up around six in the morning. She made her morning smoothie which consisted of an absurdly high number of different fruits, and after that she went on her morning run. They normally lasted thirty minutes, unless she wasn't feeling it. In that case she cut her losses after twenty minutes and spent longer in the shower.

When she was done with her morning routine, she grabbed a flannel and her cowboy hat and made her way to Tim's little lodge to go through the to-do list of that day. They would drink some coffee and then they would go to work. Their mother would come by to bring them their lunches and chat for a little bit. After that, it was working until five pm.

Only today, it didn't go that way exactly. At around four o'clock, she noticed that a young man was on their property, walking towards her with his hat in his hand. She quickly texted Tim to meet her at the barn ASAP and put her stuff away.

"Ehm… Hello." The boy said nervously, Arizona noticed he couldn't be older than sixteen, he still had some baby fat on his face, but his form had filled out already. He looked strong she remarked in her head.

"Howdy." She replied drily, watching him gulp nervously before taking a calming breath.

"My name is Andrew. Andrew DeLuca. I saw an advertisement in town that said you needed a help around the ranch. I was here to inform about the job." Arizona's eyebrows rose. This wasn't a glamorous job, and she was definitely surprised such a young boy would choose manual labour.

"You could have called, you know? We put the number in the advertisement. Anyway, I'm Tim and this Arizona, we're the owners." Came the voice from her right. She looked over and saw her brother come over with a kind look on his face.

"My father always taught me that you had to do such things in person, it means you're serious about committing to the job." The blonde chose not to mention the use of past tense. It wasn't any of her business.

"That's a good lesson." She said instead. "Yes we could use a hand around here. Mostly for maintenance, repairing fences, lugging around hale bays, sometimes help us feed the animals." The boy, Andrew, nodded vigorously. "But I have to ask, why do you want this job?"

Andrew looked nervous again. "Well… My sister is working way too much just to support us, and I want to help her, make the burden a little lighter."

Tim smiled brightly, this kid sounded like his kind of guy.

"Welcome then. Come on in so we can write up a contract." He said while motioning to their parents' house. They boy followed with a grateful smile.

A/N. Hope you enjoyed, leave a review with your thoughts and feelings and I'll see you next time!