"Ty? Are you all right?"

Ty blinked, shivering as he returned his attention to himself, rather than the spot where Amy had vanished. He could still hear her anguished shout of 'Mom!'. He'd thought, only moments before, that he'd gotten used to Amy's pain; had become familiar with it. But he knew now that he was wrong. Amy was just starting to leave her denial. This was only going to get worse.

"Fine," he said to Lou. He looked at Marion, staring at her face. Her death veil was the darkest he'd ever seen on a still-living person. "Hi, I'm Ty."

She stared at him, almost uncomprehendingly. He couldn't help but notice that her eyes were the same colour as Amy's. And then Marion turned away from him and into Lou, announcing, "I'm going back to my room."

"Mom," Lou protested.

"Marion," Jack said, making Ty jump. He hadn't realized the old man was so close behind him. "Please eat with us."

Marion shook her head, her hair looking greasy. She was grief personified, and it was breaking Ty's heart.

"You came out here for a reason," Lou said, blocking Marion's path back to her room. "It's been so long since you've spent time with anyone."

"I didn't mean to come out," Marion whispered. "It just … It felt … I thought she was here."

Ty's sympathy gave way to confusion and disbelief. There was no way Marion could have sensed that her daughter was in the house. It wasn't possible. It was very hard for humans to interact with the spirit world – people with genetic abilities, like Ty, being the exception. People thought they encountered spirits all the time, but that didn't mean the encounters were genuine. No, he reasoned, it must have just been coincidence that Marion thought she sensed Amy the same night he brought her into the house.

"Lou, sit down and eat," Jack ordered. He stepped beyond Ty and went to Marion's side, gently taking her arm. "Come on, honey. Let's talk about this."

Marion steeled herself against Jack, not allowing herself to be moved. "Dad, I swear, she was just here. I could feel her … I could feel her!"

Ty watched Marion break down against Jack's shoulder, Lou hovering attentively on the other side of her. He knew it was intrusive to ogle their despair so openly, but he'd never seen this before. He'd never been so close to a deceased person's family. For the first time, he felt the impulse to tell someone alive about his abilities. He was a moment away from walking over to Marion and taking her hands, just to assure her that he could see Amy and that she was okay. His foot shuffled and scuffed against the floor, but then he caught himself. He'd just look like a lying jerk, trying to take advantage of her.

He was still watching the trio when Marion froze. Slowly, she lifted her head from her father and walked into the kitchen. Jack and Lou followed and, after a beat of hesitation, so did Ty. He was more a part of this than they knew. Marion was standing by the sink, staring out the window at Heartland's yard.

"Amy's here."

"Mom, I know you think that, but Amy's gone," Lou said.

Jack gave her a sharp look.

"If we keep treating her like she's not deluded, then she'll never stop acting like it," Lou hissed at her grandfather. "We can't keep letting her believe that Amy's going to find a way to come back. I know what dead means and so should she!" Her lower jaw trembling, and her eyes filled with tears she'd never let anyone see, Lou stormed from the kitchen. Ty heard a door slam somewhere down the hall.

"Dad." Marion was looking over her shoulder.

"Yes?" Jack asked.

"I want to go out to the barn. If she's here, she's probably in the barn."

"Marion, it's time for supper. We'll eat and then we'll go out to the barn, okay?"

It was hard to listen to him try to reason with his daughter as if she were a petulant child instead of a grown woman. Ty wondered if he should slip back outside after all, but since Jack was all but ignoring him, he decided to stay rooted where he was – out of the way. He didn't want to bring anyone's attention to him right now.

"But," Marion protested, "I've never felt her so strongly before. It's like she was in this room. What if I lose that feeling? What if she's out there waiting for me?"

Jack was shaking his head.

"He'll take me!" Marion screeched, her change in pitch making Ty's heart jump. She was pointing straight at him. "He'll take me out to the barn."

Ty gaped at Jack. Jack's moustache twitched, and then he sighed. "Okay, we'll all go out to the barn for a minute, and then we'll come in and eat."

Marion nodded her agreement.

"Me too?" Ty whispered to Jack.

"You too," Jack replied. "She's very grief-stricken –"

Ty held up his hand. "You don't need to explain her behaviour. I don't understand what she's going through, but I understand how much it can change a person. It's okay."

Jack never said 'thank you' but Ty could see it in his eyes. For the first time, he wasn't seeing Jack as a cranky old man, but as a father whose daughter was not who she should be; as a grandfather who had lost his granddaughter. He was seeing Jack as a man who had lived and who had suffered. He felt the humanity in Jack, rather than the tough front he'd been trying to put up for the sake of his family, and Ty felt sorry that he hadn't seen it right away.

"Let's go," Jack said, and he nodded for the door.

They paused to put on their boots and coats, Marion impatiently tugging at the door handle, worried that Amy would be gone. Ty didn't know if she'd even be there. Often it took her a few hours to materialize again after vanishing. Finally, they were out on the porch and then crossing the yard. From the way Marion was sucking in her breath and staring at things, he wondered when the last time she'd been outside was. In all the time that he had lived in the loft, he'd never heard her come out to the barn to see her horse. Pegasus nickered when they walked into the barn and he saw Marion.

"Hi boy," Marion called. She walked over to him, keeping her back to Spartan. "Do you know when she's here? Do you?"

Ty was sure Pegasus did. Animals were amazingly perceptive. Even without the death-bond that Amy had with Spartan, the black horse would have been able to know there was a spirit around. Ty glanced away from Marion to Spartan, who was still in his stall. He was staring at Marion, ears pricked forward in curiousity. Ty wondered how many times Spartan had seen Marion, the other person whom he was bonded with in death, but then he looked away from Marion, as if she had disappointed him in some way. Spartan kicked at the door, but not in the angry way Ty was accustomed too. He was doing it in an attention-seeking way; a way that a normal horse might.

Ty took a step toward Spartan. He was convinced Amy wasn't around right now – he couldn't sense her, and he doubted she would be able to stay away if she heard the voices of her family – which meant Spartan couldn't be beckoning to his ghostly owner and he was less than interested in Marion. The only other person that he would want to see would be Ty. He swallowed, and wondered if it was because of the join-up that he'd accidentally been present for. Could that have caused such a big breakthrough in Spartan? Could he actually want to have someone other than Amy around him?

He shuffled forward little by little, convinced that Spartan was going to snake his grand head toward Ty and bite him – perhaps suck him into his stall and destroy him, like the demon horse everyone thought he was. But Spartan only looked toward Ty, no malice in his eyes. Ty looked at the scars on the horse's coat, underneath the black starry veil, and he had his second epiphany of the night, on the heels of his new understanding of Jack. Spartan was scared – just as Amy had pointed out. He went through something traumatic, only to be brought to a place where people hated him. He wanted someone to care for him. This, Ty could connect with more than anything else. He understood the deep need to be loved.

He pressed his hand against Spartan's neck, and just like earlier, the horse didn't flinch away from his hand. He didn't lean into it, not like the way Ty had seen him cuddle up to Amy, but he welcomed Ty.

"Maybe we can be friends," Ty whispered to him.

Spartan's ears flickered.

"Get away from him!" Marion's voice, cracking like a whip across the barn, startled Spartan. Out of reflex, the horse clamped his teeth around Ty's upper forearm. He pulled away just as quickly, retreating to the back side of his stall and kicking angrily at the wall of the barn.

Ty clenched his teeth together and yanked up his coat sleeve. There were the barest dents left in his skin from the bite, but there was no blood. At worse, he would bruise. Through the thick coat, Spartan had caught little more than skin. Ty looked at Marion.

"What was that?" he demanded.

"You can't touch him," Marion insisted. "He doesn't deserve it!"

"Marion, we talked about this," Jack said, struggling to keep his voice even. "If you're not willing to put him down, then he does need to be taken care of. I put Ty in charge of that."

Marion's lower jaw trembled as she met Ty's eyes. "He killed my daughter."

"No, he didn't." Ty stiffened at the high voice behind him – the one no one else reacted to. "Mom, you can't blame Spartan for this."

He didn't move as Amy walked into view, straight into the face of her mother. Ty watched Marion more carefully. If she truly did sense Amy, now would be the time she would show that the most. But for someone who had come out to the barn desperately sure that Amy was waiting for her, Marion had no reaction now that Amy had manifested in front of her.

"Mom?" Amy reached out her hand to touch Marion's face, but she just passed through it. The blonde teenager turned to look at Ty. "I thought since I could touch Spartan, you know? It's because I touched him when I still thought I was alive …"

She walked toward the horse's stall while she was talking. She walked through the side of the stall. "Come here. I need a hug."

Ty glanced over at Marion again. She was glaring at the horse, but her eyes widened at the change of behaviour in him. He quieted as the unseen girl touched his neck, murmuring to him in a voice that only the horse and the boy could hear.

"He's insane," Marion said. Her expression drooped. "I can't look at him anymore. I was wrong. She's not here."

Marion let Jack put an arm around her shoulders.

"Give us a few minutes," Jack said to Ty, "Then come in for dinner."

"Sure," Ty agreed. He didn't want to be a part of their private family time, anyhow. He had already intruded far too much tonight as it was. He waited until they were at least halfway across the yard before leaning over Spartan's stall door. "Are you okay?"

Amy looked at him. "That was so much harder than I expected. I didn't think that Mom would be like that."

"Grief changes people."

"Not like that," Amy insisted. "Not so drastically. Saying a horse doesn't deserve help? That was what Mom lived for. She would take the most broken and the most abused horses and she would make them love again. She would never give up on an animal."

"Spartan's not just any animal, to any of them."

"He's not my killer either."

"I know." He hesitated. "I'm going back in to get dinner. Do you want to come with?"

Amy shook her head. "I can't, not right now. I'll just stay out here."

"I won't be long."

She smiled at him. "You know you don't need to worry about me, right?"

"I know," he repeated, and smiled back at her.

Sorry about last week, guys. I promise we're back on schedule!

I don't own anything recognizable.

~TLL~