Here's chapter four! I finished it right when I got home from school, but couldn't post it at all yesterday, because as you know the site was having problems logging people in. But I you all like it! This chapter is really funny, so enjoy it!
-Jenna

Disclaimer: I Don't own Harvest Moon or any of it's characters.

BlueCupCakes- Here's a nice long one just for you! :) Can't wait until the JaM update!

Jean Cooper- Yeah I would have been too! Hope you like the new chapter!

Prologue- Ha ha, yeah Gray seems to be turning out that way, now doesn't he? And don't worry, Trent has a good scene coming up soon! (hint hint) But until then we still got Gray! :D (and Kai eventually)


Claire's POV

We made it outside and Gray stopped running. We walked in silence for a while until I murmured, "Gray?"

"Hmmm?" he questioned.

"Thanks." I murmured. We continued on and I could tell Gray was deep in thought.

"This doesn't change anything." he said hurriedly. I didn't say anything back, because I really didn't no how to answer him. After a few moments I realized something.

"I believe things are going to change even if we want them to or not Gray." Gray didn't have the chance to answer back, because we were already in front of my house. Gray opened the door and wheeled me inside.

I stood up on one leg and hobbled over to my dresser. I grabbed some big baggy pajama pants that would fit over my cast and hobbled over to the bathroom door.

"You can go." I said with a shrug and closed the bathroom door.

He murmured something I couldn't here, I just figured it was a goodbye or something. I took off my overalls with a little trouble, happy that I had been wearing a big pair. I don't know how I would of gotten out of them if they were any tighter. I reached down for the shirt I was going to wear but discovered that I had forgotten to grab one. I shrugged and went to go grab one. I hobbled out in my pants and bra when I heard someone gasp. I froze and turned.

There on my couch was Gray, with his mouth almost to the floor. And, ew and was he drooling? I shrieked and held my overalls over my chest. Gray turned away as his face turned as red as his hair. He looked like a tomato with a silly blue hat. Normally I would have pointed that out and made fun of him, but not in what I was currently wearing. I grabbed a random shirt from the dresser and ran back into the bathroom.

Once inside I let out a long a stressed sigh. I felt my left leg starting to giveaway and slid slowly down the bathroom wall. From the floor I tried to remember the situation.

I had walked out and his jaw dropped. He looked like he was into me not disgusted. Or maybe I imaged it. Wait, why do I even care? Now Claire pick yourself off your little bottom and march out there like everything is fine! I did what my inner self had said and picked up the shirt I had grabbed. I moaned at the sight of it. I had picked out a tank top, something that would show my curves. I sighed and decided it was better than my bra. I put it on and slowly opened the bathroom door.

There was Gray on the couch, covering his eyes with his hand, still a little red. I cleared my throat and he slowly looked up. His eyes lit up a bit, but he looked away again. I cleared my throat again. "Are you, uh, going to be leaving anytime soon?"

"I promised Ann I would make sure you made it to your bed." Gray's voice came out quickly, all high pitched. I nodded and hobbled towards the bed, arms crossed over my chest. That wasn't a good idea because I lost my balance and tripped on the rug.

THUD

"Uhhhhh..." I moaned and rubbed my head. I felt an arm reach under my stomach and pull me up.

"You seem to be falling a lot today." Gray laughed.

"Ha, ha. Oh yes laugh at the cripple, how nice? Could you get any lower Gray?" I giggled and blew the hair out of my eyes. Gray slowly moved it out of the way and tucked it behind my ear. I blushed and turned to walk towards the bed. It was then that I noticed Gray's uninjured arm still around my waist.

"Um Gray..." I began. I looked up into his big blue eyes and felt myself get lost. Kiss him! My inner voice screamed. Ew no! Well he is kind of cute. Kind of? No. No no no no no no no! I quickly broke apart from Gray and hopped in bed. I pulled the covers up to my nose and squeaked, "Goodnight!"

"G-Goodnight." sputtered a rather red Gray. He turned off the lights on the way out and slowly closed the door.

(The Next Day) Claire's POV

I awoke groggily. I made breakfast and got dressed crankily. Just as I was about to go turn on the TV, someone knocked on my door. I opened it to find Mary and Ann, holding a pair of crutches. Ann handed them to me and I took them happily.

"Mary! Ann!" I said surprised, "What are you two doing here? You never come together with just the two of you!"

"Well Claire, I took consideration into what you said yesterday, and confronted Mary." Ann said cheerily.

"And I presume I was correct?" I said with a smirk.

"Yup." Ann said happily.

"And for your other question," interrupted Mary, "we've found a solution to your work issue."

"Oh yeah?" I questioned curiously, "How so?" I must admit I was very curious to see how Mary and Ann had decided to fix my problem.

"With them." laughed Ann as she pointed behind her. I peered around her and was shocked to find practically the whole village on my front lawn.

"What- How- Who- When-" I sputtered out in awe. "Awww thanks you guys!" I cried as I grabbed each Ann and Mary around the neck and gave them a tight squeeze. Then I stopped. I didn't want people to do the work for me! I didn't want people jumping on my every command! I drew up a serious face and said sternly, "This is very nice girls, but I can't accept this."

"What?" asked Ann, the smile disappearing from here face.

"Why?" asked Mary, obviously hurt.

"Because she's a stubborn old mule who thinks that she can do it all on her own." answered a gruff, husky voice.

I looked over and saw Gray with his hand on Mary's shoulder. I glared at him, still pissed from yesterday. "Oh yes, and you're just as innocent! I'm sure you're doing your everyday work just like normal, which is probably making that arm even worse." I glared at him and poked him hard in the chest. "No what do you have to say to that miner boy!"

"At least I'm not the idiot that decided to fly into some tables!" he scoffed.

"Oh yeah? Well-" I was instantly cut off by Ann.

"Stop it! Stop it both of you!" she snapped, "Every time you two argue it ends with someone getting hurt!"

"Yeah I mean look what happened to Claire's leg, and Gray's arm." replied Cliff as he walked over. Gray and I both glared at our friends. Gray set his other hand onto Mary's shoulder for moral support. She immediately jumped away.

"Oh no, don't you think I'm on your side!" she hissed, "One of these times one of you is going to end up dead!"

"Cough! Gray! Cough! Cough!" I smirked as he shot daggers at me with his eyes.

"Claire!" Ann cried. She smacked my shoulder.

"Ow!" I whined, "That hurt Ann!"

Gray chuckled and was hit on the shoulder as well by Cliff. "Ow! Damn it Cliff!"

"Now both of you promise us you're going to stop arguing!" Mary snapped angrily. I stared at her in astonishment, I'd never known Mary could be this harsh! "I'm waiting!" She tapped her foot with an irritated look on her face.

"I...I..." I started uneasily. I took a deep breath and sighed. "I promise." I blew the hair out of my face and puffed out my lip in a pout. Mary smiled at me happily.

"Gray?" Cliff questioned.

"I promise." he grunted and looked away.

"Now was that so hard?" Mary asked as she patted his shoulder. Gray turned back towards her and smiled.

"Hey guys!" Karen suddenly called from over by the pond, "Our we going to get to work, or are we just going to stand here and watch Gray and Claire until they crack and blow up at each other?"

Gray and I turned and glared at the brunette. She smirked and turned back to her conversation with Rick. I turned back to the group around me and saw every one of their eyes on me.

"Oh alright." I replied, defeated. "Come over here and I'll decide what you all should do."

(1 Hour later) Mary's POV

Things had been running smoothly all morning. Claire had given everyone jobs, which everyone was doing wonderfully. Rick was to attend to the chickens, (of course) Cliff the horses, Karen and Popuri the cows and sheep, while Ann and I pulled up the ripe vegetables. Claire pouted from over under the apple tree, while Gray leaned against the barn with his arms crossed. We all hadn't allowed them to do anything, much to their displeasure, for we didn't want them injured anymore.

I looked up at the two once more and chuckled to myself. I poked Ann in the shoulder. She looked over at me with a puzzled expression and I pointed over towards Gray and Claire. "Look!" I whispered. Ann glanced over at the two stubborn children and laughed. It was then that Claire noticed us laughing.

"What!?" she shouted with a glare, "We should be the ones laughing! We aren't the ones doing the work now are we? We're having a great time, right Gray?" She looked over at Gray with a 'you better agree' glare.

"Oh yes, we're getting along and everything!" he called with a fake smile.

"Then why aren't you sitting next to each other in conversation?" Karen yelled from across the field, hay in her arms.

"Yeah provvveeee itttttt!" Popuri cried in a singsong voice from behind Karen.

"Fine!" Gray grunted with a glare. He then put on a big grin, and called to Claire politely, "Claaaiiirreee! I'm quite hungry! Would you mind getting me an apple down from the tree your under? If you don't want to you don't have to though, I wouldn't want you to put any stress on your leg!"

I think I caught him wink at her, I'm not sure, but then she called back sweetly, "Sure thing my dear Gray! I'll 'hop' to it!"

Gray fake laughed at her corny joke and replied back, "Oh my darling Claire, you're oh so funny!"

Claire stood up and called back politely, "How many apples would you like Gray sweetie?"

"Here let me get them myself darling." He grinned at her as he walked over slowly. I rolled my eyes. This was getting a little too annoying, I don't know how much more I could take. Claire reached up and picked three apples. Gray grabbed five more and smirked. Then I saw it coming, a flying, bright red apple.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh"! I screamed and held my hands over my head.

THUD

I felt it hit my shoulder and cried out in pain. "Owwww!" I saw another apple come flying and crutched down. I squeezed my eyes shut and heard Ann get hit.

THUD

"OW!" she shrieked.

THUD

"Ouchie! Owowowow, it hurts!" Popuri moaned from across the field.

THUD

"OW! DAMN IT THAT HURT!" Karen screeched.

"Hey guys what's going on out he-" Cliff began.

THUD

"OUCH! My head! What the hell was that for!?"

I heard Claire laughing hysterically and opened my eyes. She was holding the tree with one hand, and her gut with the other. I heard the bang of a door slamming and turned to see Rick coming out of the chicken coop.

"Rick look ou-" Karen began, but it was too late.

THUD

"GAHH! Alright who chucked the apple!?" he cried angrily.

Everyone looked over and glared at the two apple throwers who had erupted into a fit of giggles. "You...should of...seen...your faces!" Claire sputtered through her laughter. Soon she was on the ground on her back, laughing like a crazy person.

"You...looked...like..." Gray tried to say through his laughing, "You...looked...like..." Gray clutched his stomach and joined Claire on the ground. "You looked like you just saw the mayor doing the macarena in his underwear!" A roar of laughter erupted from Claire and Gray, as they took in what Gray had just said.

Everyone froze at that thought and let it process through their minds. Soon everyone was giggling and laughing along with Gray and Claire. As the laughter died down, everyone walked towards the two. The two got up, still giggling a little.

"I bet we really would have looked like that if we really did see the mayor doing the macarena in his underwear." Rick said with a chuckle.

"It was still not funny though!" cried Ann, who was holding her bruised arm tenderly.

"Yeah." agreed Cliff who had a large bump forming on his forehead. Popuri nodded in agreement beside him. She had a black eye, and looked a little dazed. I giggled at her and rubbed my bruised shoulder. I looked over at Karen and Rick. Karen had a large bump on her knee, and Rick was clutching his stomach.

"I don't know," said Claire who was wiping tears from her eyes, "it was pretty funny!"

"I'd agree there." chuckled Gray as he tossed her one of the two remaining apples. Claire caught it and cleaned it off in her baggy overalls. She took a bite and grinned sheepishly.

"Hey you guys saw it coming!" she argued, "You're the ones who said to be nice to each other!"

"Yeah but-" Karen began. She stopped and thought for a moment. Then she chuckled and replied, "Yeah I guess you're right!"

We all glared at her and Ann hit her shoulder.

"Well I didn't do anything!" Rick said, a little annoyed.

Claire shrugged. "Sorry Rick, but you just so happened to be in our line of fire." She took another bite of her apple as Rick sighed angrily.

"Whatever." he mumbled.

(1 Hour Later) Claire's POV

The rest of the day went by smoothly. Everyone went back to their chores as Gray and I sat under the apple tree. We didn't say much, only speaking up a few times to comment about the apple fight. I was still angry at him for last night, but this had kind of helped. Kind of.

When everyone had finished, and most of the crops had been shipped or put away, we finally finished. Everyone agreed that they take shifts in twos and come back everyday to brush and feed my animals. We formed a schedule like so:

Claire's Weekly Animal Schedul

Monday-Wednesday (cows/sheep)
Mary & Ann

Thursday (cows/sheep)
Gray

Friday-Sunday (cows/sheep)
Karen & Popuri

Monday-Sunday (horses)
Cliff

Monday-Sunday (chickens)
Rick

I laughed when I noticed that Popuri had spelled schedule wrong. I took the chart and tacked it to the wall by the front door. Gray had insisted that he do at least some work, so we let him take care of the cows and sheep on Thursdays to even out the work. I smiled at the list once more and decided that this might actually work. As everyone said their goodbyes and hugged each other, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned and saw Mary standing in front of me.

"Wassup?" I asked happily.

"Come to the Inn Friday night, we're gonna have a sleep over with all the girls!" Mary whispered hurriedly.

I raised an eyebrow and looked down at Mary. "Who's idea?"

"Me and Ann's." she answered, "We figured you'd get bored after a while and thought this would be just what you'd need." I smiled at her and nodded my head.

"Sounds great Mary!" I then made my voice get all serious. "But I disagree. I wouldn't get bored, there's plenty of things for me to do!"


I absolutely loved writing this chapter. It was fun to write out how all of the characters reacted and communicated. I hoped you all liked it too! Tell me how it was, and review please! :)
-Jenna