Thank you, everyone. I mean it. 35 countries. That's really, really encouraging. Then the reviews on top of that. It's been an awesome ride, and I think I'll be wrapping up this particualr fanfic soon (as in two or three chapters from now), but I'll be sure to write at least one sequel with Reid and Haley in it.

Again, I also approached this chapter a smidge differently.

I don't own anything but Haley (OC) and the word-mass.

Reid's car snaked up the gravel driveway just as the horses were being unloaded from the various trailers they had come in, and Haley about blew his ear off.

"THERE THEY ARE! THERE THEY ARE!" she shrieked, making Reid's already-bad driving worse by unbuckling her seat belt and attack-hugging him from the other side of the console, face shining with unbridled elation.

Reid, however, didn't mind. He came right up next to the trailers and three poor, overloaded UPS drivers and let Haley exit the vehicle while it was still in motion at the speed of 2 MPH.

He eventually got his long, lanky body out of the car and saw Haley looking eagerly into each of the trailers, spending special time next to the horse she was familiar with. Reid took a moment to fish around in the backseat to find the halter rope, and approached her with hands behind his back.

"What'cha got there?" Haley asked, slipping into an almost-playful demeanor, something that Reid hadn't known she was capable of. She began to dodge from side to side, trying to see what Reid held behind his back. Reid had to turn and turn simply to keep her from seeing the lead rope.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands so you can find out." Reid grinned at her, eyes shining a little and proud to have provided for her. He'd done a better job than anyone else so far in her life. It was an addicting feel of power, of superiority. He'd entered a competition that he didn't know was a competition, and he'd won. No one had made this young girl smile how she smiled now; no one had done half as much as he'd done for her, and he was only getting started.

Haley closed her eyes and offered her hands palms-up quite eagerly. When Reid put the lead rope in her hands, she opened her eyes.

"You do the honors." He motioned to the trailer with the young black Danish warmblood stallion inside.

This was all the prompting she needed. In all of about thirty seconds, the trailer ramp was down and a large black horse was quietly grazing off the rich pasture provided by Reid's front lawn as Haley held his lead rope, smiling a massive smile.

"Let's get him in the warm barn", Reid suggested.

"Good idea." Reluctantly, the massive creature lifted its head from the fine forage and followed Haley with a simple call of "Follow, Vice! Follow!"

"Vice?" Reid asked as Haley returned, skipping with lead rope in hand. He was more than a little perplexed.

"The Danish mare is white, and his old name was Vice. It was meant as an insult, but since his future breeding-partner is white, I think Vice and Virtue would be a good way to group the two. Plus sometimes, the name 'Vice' fits him quite well!" Haley said quickly as she walked off toward the all-white horse's trailer.

"Virrrtuue!" She let the name roll off her tongue as she unloaded this horse as well, repeating the name. Then, holding the lead rope with a lot of slack, she ordered "Follow, Virtue, follow!" before walking off, horse in tow, getting the hang of this whole "follow" deal.

The men that had done the deliveries unloaded the other horses, with the exception of the overwhelmed UPS men, who were busy carrying boxes into the barn. The jumper pair boasted a cherry-bay stallion and a chocolate-brown mare, and the Trakehner was a stunning dapple gray with black points on his legs and face. A gorgeous, full, long black mane, forelock, and tail added a good accent to the look, and it was topped off with two crystal-blue eyes. This horse had a unique presence, and everyone, even the UPS drivers, seemed to know it.

Haley approached the men, taking the lead ropes of the two Hanoverians next, leading them to their stalls.

"Last, but definitely not least", she mumbled, approaching the amazing-looking horse. He turned his head into her, clearly friendly, as she led him to his new residence, loose halter rope swaying in a soft Virginia breeze.

The trailers and their drivers cleared out of the gravel driveway long before the UPS drivers were done unpacking, but none of that mattered to Reid or Haley. Haley was content in the barn, putting shavings in the stalls and unpacking the equipment, and Reid was content to see her content. He eventually left to fix a meal for her, considering that she'd probably ride till midnight and would need all the strength she could get in order to do so. It was simple-only macaroni and cheese, but it would be something that she could warm up later, too, if necessary.

He brought a bowl out to her in the pristine barn and had a bowl for himself as well. They ate together in silence, both simply basking in what had happened. Haley kept looking at all the horses and Reid kept looking at Haley looking at the horses. He was proud of himself, not an emotion he'd otherwise experienced unless he'd gotten another Ph.D. This was new to him. He felt like he'd achieved more than he'd ever achieved before. He'd provided for another human being, one that was broken, and gave her a chance when the system wouldn't. He took a moment to feel the rush of pride, looking up at the horses from where they sat in the middle of the brick-floored barn aisle. Certainly this was better than a lot of the things he'd done.

"You've got to ride", Haley said to him as she finished her food.

"Me?" Reid had been done for a few minutes. "Your horses!" he said, a little nervously.

"Can't act like that. They know if you're scared", Haley said. "Come on! You've got to have a test ride! Pleeeease?" Haley's face begged along with her voice as she let her head fall onto Reid's arm, leaning on him just a little. "Pleeeeease?" She smiled a little, making her sapphire eyes beg convincingly.

"Sure." Reid couldn't believe what he'd just said. He'd just agreed to hop up on an animal that was his height at its shoulder, and not even because of a logical argument.

What's gotten into me? he wondered.

"Yay", Haley said softly, nesting her arms around his torso in an awkward sideways hug.

"But you have to have all the horses taken care of and have all the tack unpacked before I hop on." He hoped that the condition would give him adequate time to find a workaround to his prior agreement as he sneezed from a breath full of barn dust.

"Alright. I'd better get to work then." Haley's face was still set in a look of otherworldly happiness as she looked up at the massive creatures.

"Bowl", Reid prompted as Haley rose. She automatically handed the bowl to him as she began to throw herself into the work of unpacking the boxes.