Okay, so this isn't the world's greatest chapter, but I'm trying to get back into the feel of this story. I miss writing it, so I'm gonna try my hardest! :) I hope you all enjoy it!


I think I must have taken the world's deepest breath at that moment. I wish I could just close my eyes and wake up to the way things used to be; back before I was a jockey, hired Kerry, let alone.. Dated Kerry, and back when I was this "fresh out of jail" ranch hand. Everything had changed so fast, faster than I was prepared for. I hope people are right when they say time heals the past. Whatever, I need to get my mind out of this pity party and start looking towards the future; but it's kind of hard right now when I see nothing but flashbacks. "Wildfire," I called to him, "you ready to head back bud." It took me a few seconds before I could actually get up from the boulder, but eventually I made my way back to Wildfire and mounted up.

Heading back home, I thought I'd take a little detour: down a dirt road, with a white picket fence and beautiful horses prancing and grazing. Then, a sign became visible, one that was way to fancy to be Raintree's: "Davis Farms." Walking past that gate has never been so hard in my entire life. I hoped off Wildfire and took a hold of the reins and guided him through the gates up to the stables. Politely getting one of the ranch hand's attention, I asked him if he could hold Wildfire for a few moments while I headed to the house. I could feel my heart pounding harder and harder with each step I took closer to that front door. Before I could even set foot on the front steps, I saw Junior step out of the house and head towards his car. I don't think he saw me, but even if he did, I couldn't really blame him for keeping his path. I didn't bother to follow him, I just spun on my heels and headed back to Wildfire. Little did I know, that Junior saw me once he sat down in his car. The sound of his car kept coming closer and closer until I realized that he was behind me. "What are you doing here?" Junior has asked me. That question, that single question sent my mind shooting in a million different directions. I still wasn't even sure what I'd say to him. My heart knew, but my mind didn't. "Kris, if you are here to say something, just say it." My eyes shot straight for his, then wandered around aimlessly until I could gather my thoughts. "I'm sorry. For.. Everything. I screwed up," I raised my hand, showing that I meant myself, and no one else, "I'll freely admit that. I hurt you, and that's one of the single most things that I regret and I don't know what I'd be able to do if I did that again." I paused for a moment, then recollected my thoughts. His eyes stayed fixed on me, ready for me to continue. "I care so much about you, Junior. And it honestly scares the hell out of me." Before I could go on, he interrupted me. "Believe me Kris, you aren't the only one who is thinking these things. Like I said before, if you don't want to hurt me, then stop. I know what I want, and now it's your turn to decide what you want." With that, he turned around and headed back to his car.

There he went, walking away, again; but this time, I wasn't going to stand around and do nothing about it. He sat down in his car and looked at his keys just before he turned on the engine. "You." I managed to slip that one word out before he started his car. His eye gaze switched from his keys, to my eyes and I repeated, "you." My feet slowly made their way to his car door, my hand reached down to the car door and opened it. He got the idea that I still wanted to talk. He let out a deep sigh and stepped out of the car. "My mind has been made up since the night of the Breeders. Hell, long before that night. I don't know why it's taken me so long to flat out say it, but Junior... These feelings, they won't go away. No matter how hard I push them out, they keep flooding back and I'm tired of fighting it." I looked down at his hands, and took them in mine, then shifted my gaze back up to him, "I love you." I whispered that, so quietly, I'm not even sure if he heard me. Once again, I repeated myself, "You. I want you. I want us." Right then, I saw that half smile sneak upon his face, the one that let's me know that for once, I did something right. I tried to fight the smile creeping on my face, but I couldn't hold it back. His head leaned closer to mine but I put my finger to his lips as if I was to "shush" him, "I know you were headed somewhere, so I'm going to let you go. Knowing us, if we let anything happen, you'd be late to where ever you're going." I opened his car door once more for him as he smile and nodded his head.

I rode back to Raintree peacefully. I had finally accomplished what needed to be done. I felt like I had this goofy smile plastered all over my face, but I just couldn't help it. As soon as I got to Raintree I walked Wildfire to his stall, took off all the equipment and put it away. Walking to the fridge, I pulled out a carrot for him, broke it in half and fed it to him. "Things are finally where they need to be, finally."

I heard my name being shouted from a short distance, "Kris!" Pablo called. I looked to his direction and called back. "We got a new horse in last night, you willin' to go run him?" I smiled, "what's his name?" "Southern Sunset. C'mon, I'll show you him." Once we walked out the stables, I was faced towards the Ritter house and saw Junior and Matt emerge through the doors and head to Junior's car. I tried my best to act like I didn't see them, and to fight every urge to not run up to them. I directed my attention back to Pablo as we came closer to this brown, beautifully toned horse. "Wow, he's gorgeous." I said as I climbed over the fence at the practice track. Pablo walked over to the horse, ready to help me mount up on the horse. "Take him around easy. I just want to see his performance. He's familiar with the racing atmosphere, he knows what to do." I nodded, "keep it easy, got it." Pablo loaded us up into the starting gate, and then let us run. He was one of the smoothest horses I've ridden. His speed was phenomenal, and his ride felt like we were practically flying. I don't know who would ever even think about giving this horse up. In the blink of an eye, the ride was over. "He is an amazing horse. How'd you manage to score him?" I asked Pablo before he could even ask about the ride. He shrugged his shoulders, "just passed paths at the right time."

As Todd was walking down the stairs from his bedroom, he caught his mother rummaging through the closet, "what are you doing?" He innocently asked her. "Well, with Kris back-- I figured there would be some things that she'd like back from when she left for Europe. She left a few things in her trailer." He looked confused, "like what?" Jean looked at her son and smiled, "just some boxes. I didn't bother to look through them." She paused for a moment, "want to help me carry them to her trailer?" He shrugged his shoulders, "sure!"

"It's been a while, man." Matt said as he talked to his best friend, Junior as they went out to eat at their favorite restaurant, Rays. "Since what?" Junior asked as he looked down at the menu trying to decide what to eat, even though he probably had the whole thing memorized anyway because of how often they used to visit there during the summer. "Since we've done nothing, hung out, been the typical idiot we used to be." Junior let out a laugh, "Yeah, ever since the whole "taking over Davis while my dad goes off the jail" thing kicked into gear, it's been kind of hectic." Matt understood, "yeah, how's that going anyway?" Junior let out a big sigh, "Um, things could be worse." Before he could continue, the waitress came and took their orders. "How are things at Raintree?" Junior asked after a while of small talk. "Now that Kris is back things are great, you know? It's all back how it used to be. Things are kicking back into gear." The mention of Kris' name caused a little smile to show up on Junior's face, although it went unnoticed by Matt. "Yeah, I can only imagine."

I walked into my trailer and noticed three boxes on my trailer's table, along with a note written by Jean. "Kris, here are a few things that you left here when you went to Europe. I left them in their box, just how you left them yourself. - Jean" I couldn't even begin to remember what I had packed away in these. I took the boxes over to my bed and placed two of them on the bed across from me and kept one in my hands as I sat down on my bed. I quickly opened one and found a bunch of knick-knacks. I found the ribbon that was put on Baby Wildfire the night that Junior gave him to me and a picture of me on Wildfire when we won the Breeders. Before I could look through any more, I heard my trailer door open. "Knock knock," Junior spoke as he walked up the stairs through the door. I smiled, "Hey." He glanced at the boxes beside me and in my hands, "still unpacking?" I nodded, "yeah, well sort of. It's just stuff that I totally forgot about when I left for Paris." He found his way towards me and sat down on the bed beside me. I shifted my gaze back into the box and my eyes widened, "oh my god," I said all with a slight laugh. I reached my hand into the box and pulled out what appeared to be a thin white strip piece of paper. Junior looked confused and asked, "what?" I looked back up at him and smiled, "do you remember this?" I don't really know how he could forget since it kind of sparked the whole relationship in the first place. He laughed also and nodded, "the night of Matt's party. How could I forget?" I looked pack to the piece of paper in my hands, "the photo booth... Talk about a pathetic attempt to just 'talk'." "Yeah, no kidding. We were never pros when it came to that." I smiled just thinking back on the memory. That's where it all changed between me and him, and quite frankly, I wouldn't change one thing about it. It all added up and lead me here, at this moment. Everything changed, for the better. I put the box down on the ground from my lap and looked back at Junior. His hand found mine, and shortly after, his lips did the same. My free hand snaked behind his neck as his free hand slipped behind my back. You'd think that each kiss' meaning would begin to fade after we've done it so much, but instead it just grew stronger and stronger every time. Hello perfection, it's been a while since we last met. Feel free to stay a while.


Thank you for waisting your time and reading! I hope you all enjoyed it, and please remember to review! I'd love to hear your guy's thoughts on it. I'll update more soon! I promise! 3