It's the next morning and Jason is still in bed with Shane. The two never really parted because the eighteen-year-old felt so vulnerable he wouldn't let the older boy let go. However, Jason was momentarily released to go relieve himself in the bathroom. Shane was back in his arms no more than two minutes later.

The alarm goes off and Jason wakes first. The musician's hears the clock seconds later. When Jason tries to move, Shane holds him down, snuggling into the older boy's embrace.

"Shane, come on," Jason whispers, managing to free one arm from his emotionally and physically exhausted companion.

"Mmm, no," Shane argues, shaking his head and tangling his dark brown hair even more severely.

The alarm continues to beep and the nineteen-year-old groans, becoming increasingly annoyed and frustrated. "Shane, if you don't get your-"

"But I'm still tired," the younger male admits, opening his eyes and gazing up at Jason.

Something in those brown orbs convinces Jason to let the actor stay there just a few minutes longer. "Fine." Jason's heart soars up into his throat when Shane's right arm comes around his waist and rests there gently. He hiccups involuntarily and Shane looks at him once more. "What?" Jason asks, offended and trying to make it seem to Shane that he isn't at all interested by the smaller bedfellow.

A smile spreads across the songwriter's lush, pink lips and he murmurs quietly, "Nothing, Jase. Nothing."

Those three words trigger something in Jason and he abruptly pulls out of Shane's semi-hold. He rolls onto his back, slips out of bed and turns the alarm clock off. "Get up," Jason orders, grabbing the quilt off his roommate's body and tossing it onto his own bed, "Get up, breakfast's gettin' cold."

"What if I don't wanna get up?" Shane wants to know.

"Get your... butt out of bed," Jason demands, straining to hold back what he truly wanted to say.

The eighteen-year-old sees Jason heading for the door and thinks this is his chance to really push Jason's buttons. He pops up from the mattress, jumps to his feet and rushes ahead of his friend, ass rubbing against Jason's thigh as Shane struggles to pass Jason in the now-open doorway. "I win!" Shane announces triumphantly, stopping once he's in the hallway. He turns around, grinning innocently at Jason whose temper is escalating.

"No you don't!" Jason retorts, running towards Shane now.

The singer laughs, spins around and heads for the staircase but he doesn't get there in time. Jason grabs Shane by the shoulders, causing both of them to lose their balance. Together they tumble down the stairs and when they land on the first floor of the Kennedy home, Jason is on top of Shane. The older boy's nose is touching the tip of Shane's, and their breaths are mingling. They're both sort of aching, but nothing seriously hurts.

"What on Earth are you boys doin' in here?" Aunt Cindy asks when she enters the scene.

"Oh, uh, nothin', Aunt Cindy," Jason replies quickly, rolling off of his friend and standing to his feet. Mrs. Kennedy looks are them strangely and then makes her way back into her kitchen.

"Yeah, nothing," Shane agrees, nodding. He wants to change that, though. He wants to pull Jason's hair and suck face with him, but that isn't deemed appropriate in this house.

With a sigh, Jason holds a hand out to Shane and pulls him up. "I won," Jason pouts, his accent sounding so sweet as the singer pushes ahead of him.

"No you didn't," Shane retorts without a glance back at his friend.

"Did too," Jason whispers childishly and with a smile as they enter the dining area. When he takes his seat beside Shane, he can't help but stick his tongue out at the younger boy. Shane can't help but want to lick it.


The boys enter the main barn and the first thing Jason does is check on his mare. The minute he lays eyes on the paint he knows something is drastically wrong. The sight horrifies him; Bella is lying on the floor amongst her stall shavings, covered in sweat and trying her hardest to bite at her swollen belly. She gives up on that immediately, though, and begins to roll around vividly. Jason looks at her feed bucket, which is full, as is her hay rack on the opposite wall but she's completely out of water.

Shane notices Jason standing at the door, eyes wide and hands trembling visibly. "Jason?" the singer asks curiously, approaching his friend and looking at Bella. He stares at the nineteen-year-old for several more minutes as Jason refuses to take his eyes from the mare.

"G-Go get m-my uncle," Jason finally stutters nervously, grabbing Bella's pink halter and matching lead rope from its hook beside the paint's water bucket. He enters the stall and that's the last thing Shane sees because he's rushing into the house.

"Carlisle!" the eighteen-year-old calls, poking his head around the kitchen entryway only to see Cindy doing the dishes.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Mrs. Kennedy wants to know. She's stopped what she's doing and the previously running water has been turned off. "The boys went into town about twenty minutes ago and won't be back until sometime tomorrow."

"I don't know, Jason just told me to come get his uncle," Shane explains, ignoring the other remark. "He looked pretty freaked."

Cindy nods, tosses her dish towel onto the counter and rushes to the barn where an almost-hysterical Jason is furiously walking Bella up and down the breezeway between the stalls. "Jason, what happened?" Mrs. Kennedy asks desperately.

Refusing to stop the movement of his mare, the nineteen-year-old whimpers, "I think she's got colic..."

"Are you sure?" comes Cindy's next question as she's advancing towards her nephew.

"She's real sweaty," Jason states dumbly, not stopping as his aunt approaches his mare. "She was bitin' at her sides then she started rollin' around on the floor like some kinda crazy wild thing."

"Well, that doesn't mean-"

"She didn't eat her grain or her hay last night, neither," Jason says. He's not focused on speaking properly right now, or even semi-properly so he doesn't correct himself. "Bella always eats everything, Aunt Cindy. You know that..." The boy's voice is quivering and Shane is becoming more sympathetic for him by the minute.

Cindy, who's just trying to keep a positive attitude, knows Jason is right and that by the amount of sweat on Bella's body, this looks like a pretty serious case of colic. "Let's not jump ahead of ourselves, alright? We'll just keep a close eye on her and I'll make a call to the vet. Shane, Darlin', can you get her some more water?"

The eighteen-year-old simply nods and fulfills Cindy's request.


It's late now, around eleven o'clock at night, and Shane's absolutely exhausted, both mentally and physically. He spent all day doing double the chores while Jason spent the day looming over Bella and keeping an insanely close eye on her, but the singer doesn't really mind because he feels a growing connection to the older boy.

Slowly, the songwriter saunters into the barn, absolutely spent after hauling the last bales of hay out to the stallion pasture. He sets his wheelbarrow, his hauling device, up against the wall in its proper place before joining Cindy and her nephew.

"Hey, guys," he says softly, voice gentle as not to scare anyone. His heart almost breaks in two when he sees his friend standing beside Bella. Jason's arms are around her neck, his face is tear-stained and resting on her flank. "How is she?"

"Not too good," Cindy responds, arms propped up on the stall door and her chin is resting on them. "We've been walking her up and down the aisle for twenty minutes, then we let her rest for thirty and start walkin' her again. "We're both drained."

"That goes for me as well," Shane says, taking a place beside Mrs. Kennedy and watching as Jason closes his eyes, seemingly spent.

"I'm sorry," the nineteen-year-old almost whispers. "I should've been helpin' you..."

"Oh, Jason, no," Shane reassures him. "It's totally fine."

"Honey, I think it's time to go to bed," Cindy breaks in, opening the stall door once Shane's moved out of the way.

"I gotta keep walkin' her," Jason insists.

"Baby Doll, it's late," Mrs. Kennedy replies, taking the lead rope from her nephew's hand and tying the mare to the side wall bars that separates Bella from the adjacent horse in the next space. "You can get up first thing and-"

"Aunt Cindy, I can't just leave her here!" Jason snaps, wiping his eyes furiously. "What if she somehow gets the rope untied 'n' lies down 'n' dies?"

Before anyone can get a word in edgewise, Shane speaks up. "I'll stay with her, Jason. I can watch Bella."

"Shane, no," Cindy reassures him. "Honey, you couldn't possibly do that. We all need some rest and the boys should be back tomorrow anyway. She'll be fine over night."

"You will?" Jason asks hopefully, walking out of the hall and towards his roommate. Shane nods with a smile and as Cindy tries to discourage him, the nineteen-year-old is instructing the actor on what to do.

"Alright, no problem," the eighteen-year-old agrees seconds later. "I can set the alarm on my phone between walks and sleep then."

"You don't have to do all that, Honey," Cindy tells her practically adopted son yet again. "Bella is perfectly fine."

"Go get some sleep," Shane says softly, looking up at Jason before being pulled against the older male's strong chest.

Jason's arms are tight around his friend's thin torso. "Thank you so much," be breathes into Shane's soft, dark hair.

"I'll take good care of her," Shane reassures him, returning the embrace. He pulls back slightly, eyes connecting with the older boy's as Cindy exits the barn.

Something inside of Jason clicks. It just clicks and as if on cue butterflies begin to flutter in his lower stomach. He wants to fight back these demons but he can't and, ever so slowly, he presses his lips to Shane's cheek. "N-Night," he stutters shortly, dropping his arms and catching one more glimpse at the singer.

"Goodnight," the eighteen-year-old replies softly, smiling faintly at his obviously exhausted companion. He reaches up, finger brushing a stray tear from under Jason's left eye. "Get some rest, okay?"

"O-Okay," he stutters once more, nodding before retreating into the large ranch house.