Chapter 2: answers
At heartland, badger began to make himself at home in the loft by putting his drawing on the wall, carefully picking the right ones to put up. That's when he came across the one that drew of Mallory due his escape from the group home. When he saw it, he began to remember what she had said to him about the fact he could have chosen anyone to draw but instead he chose her, that's when he knew she understood that he only drew things that he found beautiful. It seemed to him that whenever he saw that picture of her and remember that day, he now all he could think about is that he had lost to Jake yet again, all because he tried to let h move on from him despite what his heart was saying.
Badger decided to drown out his thoughts by putting on his earphones and turn his music on iPod up really loud, due to this he never heard Ty entering the room or heard him shouting his name till Ty hit him on the shoulder.
" Ouch... That really hurt" Badger said sarcastically while rubbing his shoulder, Ty rolled his eyes.
" yeah well maybe if you answered the first 50 times I shouted on you, Jack sent me to see of you were settling in ok. So are you?" Ty said trying to get a straight yes or no answer so he could follow Amy out to the field for their trail ride.
" yeah just fine! It's not like I haven't lived here before" Badger said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice just as Ty nodded in his direction as a sign that he would tell Jack while he walked out of the door.
" wait Ty! ... Is Mallory happy with Jake, I mean ... since they're you know together and all" he said as he tried to properly phrase what he wanted to know, which was what he should.
Ty turned around noticing the fact that the young boy seemed uncomfortable with the question he was asking and was clearly at a crossroad with he should do about Mallory and Jake, Ty could see that he still had feelings for her. Due to his past experiences with Amy
"Mallory and Jake aren't officially a couple yet but they have been hanging out a lot more since she back to Heartland from Nashville. Although you should know that since you've been gone, Jake was there when you weren't and I know from what Mallory told she wanted you to be there but you were still ignoring her" Ty said trying to be comforting but instead came across kind of dry, he never liked the fact that Badger had hurt Mallory as much as he did even if he never meant. He had come to see Mallory as the annoying little sister he never had
" I didn't know what to say to her! She always picked him over me!" he almost yelled as he was becoming more and more angry with himself over his mistakes.
Ty saw that he was hurting just as Mallory had although he didn't have anymore he could talk like she did, so he decided to text Amy and tell he would be later then he intended.
" ok here's what you do, you show Mallory that you've changed by helping her with the chores, being friendly with horses which means you have to fully embrace the whole cowboy thing. You fight for her with gestures that you know will mean something to her that Jake won't, like tomorrow try asking her out for a trail rode after dinner, you can borrow my horse. But you do not actually get into a fight over her ok?" Ty explained as he tried to help Badger out using his old techniques
Badger doubted that this work on Mallory since Jake could do the same but he was willing to do anything to Mallory that he had changed or at least was trying to. Anything to stop her from getting any closer to Jake.
In the while back at Jake's truck, him and Mallory were heading back to Heartland after seeing their movie. They were discussing the movie but both were slightly distracted by the sudden arrival of Badger. The only difference was that Jake was thinking about this meant in terms of this meant for him and Mallory since he thought they were so close to becoming everything that he had wanted them to be since they were 12. However Mallory couldn't stop thinking about her almost kiss with Badger and everything he had said, she wanted so much to forget the last year and go back to what they almost had but she couldn't ignore Jake again.
Finally one of them broke the silence that had slowly filled the truck.
" so I see that Badgers back, how come?" Jake asked trying to get the answers he was looking for without letting her know
" well he's still on probation and it makes sense for him to work part time at heartland while he goes to university in Calgary, I guess" Mallory said trying to hide her discomfort over the sudden change of subject
They were silent as they pulled up to the drive way in front of heartland, deciding that the only way to get the answers he wanted was directly asking her. Jake moved so that he could see her face better
"Mallory I'm sorry but I got to say this ok? I know that you had feeling for Badger and you must be feeling confused with him now back. But I really like you and have done since I first saw at the fall finale with Amy and everybody, I've waited until you were ready to be with me which I kinda thought would be soon. However now with Badger I'm not so sure what's going to happen" he rambled on while she looked confused which changed to a smile when she realised that Jake had said he liked her, something she knew Badger would never say to her.
Instead of replying Mallory moved closer to him till she felt his lips on hers as his hand began to move from face to her hair. Finally they broke the kiss and lend on each others foreheads.
" I want to be with you Jake but first there's something I have to deal with ( as she glanced towards the loft doors, he noticed her glance and nodded) before that can happen. I'll call you as I have dealt with it" she whispered as she began to get out of the truck with the biggest smile ever on her face.
Jake nodded and wished her good night and sweet dreams as he began to pull out and head towards the main gate. Knowing that he had finally gotten what he wanted even if it meant he had to wait a little longer for her to deal with the whole Badger issue.
Later that night, Mallory found that she couldn't sleep so she decided to get up and get a glass of water from the kitchen. While she was at the sink, she saw that the loft doors were open as lights poured out them showing the figure of a young boy. She decided to grab her hoodie and put her boots on as she hurried towards the barn.
She quietly went up the stairs, conceived that Jack might her hear from the decided that she would join him by sitting on the ledge of the open doors, as he turned around shocked to see her standing next to him.
" shouldn't you be asleep or at least in the main the house, I mean Jack did tell me that he would be able to hear everything that happened in the house since he was such a light sleeper" he said as he joked as she sat down facing him
"I was like a ninja, so not even Jack could hear me plus I can talk myself put of any trouble I might be in" she said as her smile grew bigger but she tried to remember what she has to say to him
Badger noticed she was a little cold and decided to get a blanket to cover both of them, she looked at him and mumbled her thanks
" It's really pretty at this time of night, sort of peaceful don't you think?" she said while looking out on the midnight sky
" yes it's really beautifully,... So I hear you moved to Nashville?" he said rather shyly although they both knew that he wasn't talking about the sky
"yeah my dad had a music thing over there so I went with him but after while I still hated it so I got Ty and Jake to help break me out of that country music nightmare" she said as she began to giggle as remember all the planning and plotting
" I bet a Jack wasn't happy about them helping you running away" he said as he tried to picture how red his face would have been
" he wasn't neither was my parents but they realised that if I was willing to runaway as I did then I must really miss Heartland so Jack let me live in Lou's room since she moved out" she explained as she played with sleeve of her jumper
After a couple of minutes of silence Badger turn to look at her, knowing that it was time ask her something that was playing in his mind
" why did you come here, it's kinda unlike you to do something like this" he wondered but slightly fearing her answer
" I wanted to tell you that I'm going to give it a go with Jake, I mean it's kinda the least i own him after this year. But first I wanted to tell you that if you had said that one something you wanted to say I would have replied to it without missing a heartbeat. Although you would know that of you had read my letters, I should go before Jack finds me missing" she said as she began to get up
As she began to walk away, she went to the trunk that was at the bottom of the bed and gently placed all of her letters that she wrote him there. He looked at them knowing that the answer to solving this problem was in there. Knowing that he had to solve it before he lost her again as he watched her walk away from him yet again.
