Buzzz...Sam jolted from her sleep as the alarm next to her bed went off very loudly. Sam's arm reached out from under the bed covers to hit the snooze button, and the moment the obnoxious buzzing stopped, Sam remembered where she was. She sat straight up, her hair flying everywhere, and she jumped out of bed, now excited about the early morning.
Pulling on her jeans at the same time, Sam walked, or rather hopped, over to her window and looked out. She smiled at the sight before her. There was a beautiful sunrise that sent shadows and sunlight across the ranch yard, and in the round pen Sam saw Jake riding bareback on a pretty brown and white paint. Looking at them, Sam could just imagine Jake galloping across the play with his hair free and long like it used to be, riding his pretty paint indian pony.
Pulling herself out of the little day dream, Sam resurfaced to real life and decided to hurry up and head out side and ask Jake about the new horse, and more importantly, ask her Dad if she could go for a ride on Ace. As Sam walked across the ranch yard, she thought about inviting Jake to go on the ride with her. For one thing, she would enjoy riding with Jake, and maybe getting him to talk, but she also had an ulterior motive; she knew that her Dad would be much more likely to allow her to go on a ride if he knew Jake was going with her. So it would be a win-win situation.
By the time Sam reached Jake, he was already out of the round pen and walking towards her. "Hey Brat." Jake said, sounding a little out of breath," I'm surprised to see ya out here this early, although some of us have been sweating our heads off since dawn." "Oh yeah," Sam replied with a tease, "I can tell by your smell." Jake chuckled, then said with a teasing glint in his eye that made Sam back away from him, "Well that's why I've decided you need a hug." For a moment Sam just stared at him in puzzlment, but then she took one look at his sweaty t shirt and realization sunk in. "No you doooon't!" Sam squeled, jumping away from Jake just as he took a lunge for her. Sam laughed and ran in circles as Jake chased after her.
"Your making me dizzy brat!" Jake said, laughing. Sam just rolled her eyes and kept running. After a few minutes Sam was out of breath and was about ready to surrender, when she spun around and ran right in to someone. She gasped and looked up to see her Dad. "Mind telling me what's going on here?" Wyatt asked sternly, but Sam could see the amusement in his eyes. "I was just coming to ask you if me and Jake could go for a ride?" Sam said, making it a question. Wyatt looked like he was thinking for a second, then he replied, " Yeah, You kids go ahead and have some fun, just be back in a couple hours." "Okay!" Sam exclaimed, hugging her Dad. Then she ran straight towards the barn, Jake following slowly behind after him and Wyatt shared one of those man to man looks, that seemed to be saying, "I don't know what I'm gonna do with that girl..."
15 minutes later Sam had Ace tacked up and she was standing outside the barn, waiting to mount up. "It's nice to be the ones waiting for him, for once, isn't it?" Sam whispered to Ace, as they both watched Jake tack Witch. Ace nodded his head as if in agreement. Sam smiled and called to Jake, " Jake! We're waiting! We gotta get going!" Jake just gave her an annoyed look before giving Witch's girth a firm tug.
A few minutes later, Sam and Jake were both riding out of the ranch yard.
"So, what are you doing with that paint mare?" Sam asked Jake, as Witch and Ace's hooves plodded rhythmetically across the River Bend bridge. "One of my Dad's old friends brought her over here. He had her since she was born, but then when she was a 3 year old, he sold her to some guy who wanted to turn her in to a barrel racer. I guess my Dad's friend, uh Henry, wasn't sure about the idea at first, but then he sold her anyways. So apparently, the guy that bought her tried trainging her real agressively, and it didn't work out quite like he planned," Jake said, and Sam could tell he had taken a real interest in this horse, "So uh Henry bought her back from him and brought her over here to see what I could do with her. I've been using a lot of the same ways we used on Blackie."
Sam nodded, then she asked her favorite question, "What's her name?" "You always ask me that, brat." Jake said, rolling his eyes. "Well, it's a very important question." Sam said defensively. "Alright," Jake said with a sigh, " Her name is Rising Sun." "That's pretty." Sam replied, "But why didn't they just call her Sunrise?" "Because," Jake replied, rolling his eyes again, " Rising Sun is more..." "Unique?" Sam interupted, "And more indian-ish?" "Yeah, I guess." Jake said with a chuckle, then added," Indian-ish?" "Okay, okay! I suck at vocabulary!" Sam proclaimed somewhat sarcastically. Jake just looked at her and shook his head with a chuckle.
The two of them rode in blissful silence for a few minutes, then Jake asked, "So how's San Francisco?" Sam looked down at her saddle horn. She had dreaded this ever since she'd come home, or actually ever since before she'd even left. She had wanted to just keep pretending forever. Pretending that things were just like they'd used to be, before she'd left for the city. But she'd known that it wouldn't last forever, soon enough someone would ask her something, and bring her back to reality. Sam only wished that someone didn't have to be Jake.
"uhh..San Francisco's pretty cool. Aunt Sue's nice, and we go shopping a lot and watch movies." Sam replied, still looking down at the saddle horn, hoping that if Jake didn't see her face, he would believe she wasn't upset. But Sam could sense Jake looking straight at her. "Your really not happy there are you brat?" Jake asked, and something in his voice told Sam that he understood. She looked up and met Jake's eyes, "It's just not where I belong, Jake."
"I know." Jake said. Sam looked at him for a moment. "Did you really miss me Jake?" Sam asked softly. Now it was Jake's turn to look down at his saddle horn. " Yeah brat, I did." Jake said so quietly Sam almost didn't hear him. Sam smiled, appreciating how Jake was being more open with her. "Well, I missed you too." Sam said, then she added sadly, "I miss everything here. I just wish I never had to leave again." Then Jake looked up with a half smile and said, "Well, I think your Dad kind of regrets sending you away." "Really?" Sam gasped. "Well, I think he knows that you'll never be happy in the city, he just doesn't want anything to happen to you." Jake responded.
Suddenly Sam felt spark of hope inside. "Do you think that if I could prove to my Dad that I'm responsible, then he might think about letting me stay?" Sam questioned Jake hopefully. "I don't know brat," Jake replied, "But I hope so." "Well, would you help me?" Sam asked. "Sure brat. But what you gotta know is that, know one can hel you to truly be responsible." Jake replied. Sam thought for a minute. "You know, I think I've learned my lesson."Sam said to Jake, "I'll always love animals, and the Phantom, and I'll always want to help them. And maybe I'll be crazy sometimes. But from this moment on I'm going to put poeple first, including myself."
"Nice speech brat." Jake replied with a chuckle, "If you follow through, Wyatt might just let you stay."
"Exactly." Sam replied, "So are you in?" Jake looked at her puzzled for a moment, "In on what?" "Team: Sam Belongs At River Bend. SBRB!" Sam said dramatically. "Whatever." Jake said. Then Sam reached towards Jake, and gestured for him to shake her hand, then she paused, "There's only one thing you need to know, before you shake on this," Sam said, and Jake raised his eyebrows, looking a little scared of what she might say next, "Jen is going to be part of this team too." Jake looked a little exasperated for a moent then he said, "I don't know what I'm getting myself into, but okay." Then Sam reached out and gave a good old fashioned cowboy hand shake, and said, "Alrighty, pardner."
And so Team Sam Belongs At River Bend was initiated, and for the first time in weeks, Sam felt hopeful that she might just get her life back.