Going to reply to few reviews here because I can't reply to them directly otherwise! The story is about Amy and Mitch, not Lou nor Ty. The whole idea behind "Filling Empty Spaces" is that Amy and Mitch lives connect because of their absent lovers and other struggles, so if Ty's involved, it's because Amy needs to deal with some things and if Lou's involved, it's because you need to see Mitch's side of things (that will matter later in the story). So again, this story is not about Amy and Ty or about Mitch and Lou, it's about Amy and Mitch.
I also don't know what you clicked into, but this a story about drama and angst (the genres I listed), so if you are expecting a happy story (especially for the next few chapters), it's not going to happen. You can always click away if that's not your cup of tea - and that's okay, angst is not for everyone. I know there are thousand other happy Ty and Amy stories out there for you to pick but this won't be one and there was never a plan for it to be (hence me listing it under drama and angst). I want to explore this particular scenario and while it might not be a happy one, I feel like it's worth exploring - just the way I like to do things. Also, there's a happy version happening in the show itself, so I want to have an option where things are dealt differently and the outcomes are different - that's what fan fiction is for!
As for me "skipping too much" between Amy's accident and Lou coming home; I've been told in the past that I take too much time to get to where things need to be, so I wanted to take in the feedback to move the story along. Apparently, it was not the right way either, so what I've found is that I can't please everyone (not that I didn't know it before, but you know). But essentially, I made that choice because I wanted you guys to feel the uncertainty of the situation from the POV of Mitch and Lou - they weren't sure what had happened in the loft between Ty and Amy and I wanted to show Ty and Amy's relationship from the outsider's POV so hopefully you'll be able to see it from another perspective and realize how it might look for others. I filled in some blanks with the chapter where Lou helps Amy, like Tim lecturing Ty and Ty being quiet because of it, because that would have basically been the content of those "missing chapters" and to me they are not that significant in the grand scheme of things, which is why I didn't bother to write them in the first place.
Anyway, I hope this clears some things up a bit! If you continue to read, I hope you enjoy. If not, no hard feelings.
Lou drove Amy to the town next morning. They both had a lot on their mind, so neither of them even noticed how quiet the ride had been before they arrived to the clinic, and Amy was ready to step out of the SUV.
"Can you manage?" Lou checked when Amy opened her seat belt and then the door. She didn't want to baby Amy as she was known to be stubborn, but wanted to ask if she wanted help.
"Yeah. I still have the other hand", Amy reminded when she pushed the door open. "I'll see you in a few."
Lou nodded and watched as Amy walked to the clinic.
Last night circled on Lou's mind as she kept repeating Mitch's words. The rejection, being here at the clinic and the recent high school reunion made Lou wonder how her life would be now if she had stayed together with Scott. They would have probably had their difficulties as well, but like she had said to the man at the reunion, he was one of the few people who knew her inside out.
Would she ever get that lucky again?
As Amy walked inside the clinic, she found Scott with Cassandra from the reception room. They were going through some papers, and Amy wasn't sure if she wanted to interrupt them, but Cassandra noticed her from the corner of her eye and looked shocked.
"Oh my god, Amy, what's happened to you?!" The young vet gestured her cast with her hands, looking surprised. Supposedly she had not heard - and maybe it was better that way.
"Oh... This. I fell down the stairs", Amy explained. She didn't want to make a big deal out of this, especially around Ty's friend and colleague. Even though her visit was personal, she wanted to keep this professional. "Sorry, if I'm interrupting."
"It's okay, we were about done here anyway", Scott said. "So if you could just check that one as soon as possible, that'd be great", he finished the conversation with Cassandra who nodded.
"Of course. And I'll go check the animals at the back now", Cassandra replied, taking a hint to leave Amy and Scott to talk alone. "I hope you feel better soon, Amy."
"Thanks", Amy said, smiling weakly, and followed Cassandra with her eyes until she was out of sight. She didn't want to have this conversation with Scott when Cassandra was around, just in case she wasn't aware of what was going on with Ty and Scott.
"So... what's up?" Scott asked, even though he had his suspicions.
"I wanted to talk to you about Ty and the letter that was sent from the law firm", Amy gave him the cues. Scott tensed up and avoided eye contact immediately. "I want to understand why would you do something like that to him."
"Me?!" Scott scoffed and looked now back at Amy, almost amused about her accusations. "I guess you could ask the same question from Ty about me."
Amy frowned. Was this more complicated than she thought?
"Look... I don't know if we should talk about this, Amy." Scott tried to remain calm even if it was hard.
"I get that, but I wouldn't put you into this position if I had any other choice", Amy said, trying to explain her point of view. She needed to hear both sides of the story to get anywhere with Ty. "I'm desperate, Scott. Ty's been keeping things from me, and at this point it's getting personal. I feel like there's more to this than I know. When I saw the letter from the law firm, I had no idea that something had been going on with you two for things to escalate into something like this. This isn't me being suspicious or possessive, my marriage with Ty is at stake here. So, please, help me understand."
Scott sighed. He didn't know if he should say anything without a lawyer present, but at the same time he could see the pain in Amy's eyes. She was being serious and from a personal point of view, Scott could relate to the unfairness of this situation.
"Okay", Scott finally agreed. "But only because we go way back and because I consider you a friend", he stressed. "I could get in trouble for this..."
"Thank you, Scott", Amy said even though she didn't even know what was about to come yet. "You don't know how much this means to me."
"Wait here." Scott went to get some files from the back and when he came back to Amy, he spread them before her on the table. "Here's the contract Ty signed when he became a partner", he pointed with his index finger, giving Amy time to go through it. "Maybe you've seen it before."
"I haven't", Amy said. She let her eyes run on the papers, taking in the text, but to her, it seemed pretty standard and nothing out of the ordinary stood out. "What am I supposed to look at?"
"Here's the part about his obligations to the clinic as a partner", Scott pointed out, tapping that part of the paper. As Amy was reading the terms, Scott took out more papers. "And here are his time logs. Basically, they are one third of his obligations to his agreement up to now."
"Okay, so... his trips to Mongolia must be the reason", Amy tried to understand why Ty had only done so few. She knew Ty had been gone a lot, but why was that suddenly a problem for Scott if he had allowed it?
"Yeah, they have. And so have his other trips", Scott confirmed bitterly, clenching his jaw as he tried to act civil.
Amy knew this looked bad, but she tried to understand how come Scott was so business like toward Ty if they had had an agreement. "But why didn't this ever come up before he left to Mongolia?"
"I was okay with the first trip, I even told him it would make him a better vet, but I thought that was going to be it. Before he left, we did some calculations and made sure it would leave him enough time to catch up with the obligations when he came back. He was okay with that - and so was I", Scott wanted to make clear. "I was worried when he got sick from the tick bite and took that leave, which again I allowed because, well, he had to get well first, but like I said, there was still a chance for him to catch up. Except... he wasn't interested in that anymore."
"What do you mean?" Amy asked.
"Well, not soon after his return to the clinic, Ty came to me before his trip to B.C., and wanted to ask time off", Scott explained.
"But... I thought that was part of... what you guys were doing here", Amy felt confused. "I thought you were sort of... branching out."
"Wish it was, but we could never afford something like that. We are a small clinic in Hudson - two years ago we almost had to merge with another clinic just to survive, if you remember", Scott said, making a nod to the time when Ty had left to work for Bob. "There's a whole different organization behind that mission."
"Okay, so you didn't agree with that", Amy checked, making Scott nod, as she was trying to fill the empty blanks of her knowledge. "How come you allowed it then?"
"Well, that's the thing - I didn't", Scott said, sighing. "And that's when things got nasty. I didn't want to believe he would put me in the spot, but then again, like I said, he has left me high and dry before when he quit here so he could go and work for Bob, so looking back, I shouldn't have put that past him... Maybe I thought he had learned to be more humble, especially because I took him back and gave him another chance when it turned out that Bob was working with those local poachers, but maybe I was just kidding myself."
"What spot...?" Amy asked.
"He basically blackmailed me, saying, if I wouldn't allow the trip, he would quit, because he already had a better offer lined up to run a Vets Without Borders branch office in Vancouver. That was who was running the whole operation with the wolves", Scott explained so Amy would understand all the players involved. "Ty told me he had made quite an impression with his first trip to Mongolia, and they really wanted to work with him even more. Apparently, his type is exactly what they are looking for."
"What...?" Amy was shocked, hearing the blood rush in her ears. "Vancouver...? No... He'd never-He's never said anything about that."
Scott felt sorry for Amy; based on her reaction, she was out of the loop from a lot of things but it was time for her to find out since a lot of things had happened within these past few months. "I'm sorry I have to be the one telling you this, I can't believe Ty hasn't told you... Basically, what's happened here has been that Ty hasn't been working with me since his trip to B.C."
"But that's not possible", Amy argued, shaking her head, even though she didn't know why Scott would lie about something like this. "He's gone to these conferences-"
"What conferences...?" Scott asked.
"The ones I thought were part of his obligations to the clinic..." Amy replied, but as soon as she said it out loud and saw Scott's disappointed reaction, she realized those conferences had nothing to do with being a partner at the Hudson vet clinic, but were probably about the whole Vets Without Borders plan. She began to shake with rage. "That explains why you or Cass couldn't do them... God, I'm such an idiot!" she sighed.
"No, you're not", Scott said, feeling sorry for Amy. Maybe it was better that he had shared all this with her after all, whether his lawyer agreed with him or not. "I know it might seem ruthless of me on a personal level, but I have a business to run here. Ty made me a promise and he hasn't followed up. I have a lot to lose and I can't put all this weight on Cassandra either. I need to think what's best for us here. As far as I'm concerned, Ty's on his own mission right now."
"I understand and after hearing all this, I don't blame you for doing what you did", Amy said now that she knew the truth. "I know how you've helped Ty in the past, so many times, and I don't know where he would be without you. I just don't understand how he could do this to you... after everything you've been through."
"I guess Hudson just isn't enough for him", Scott shared his conclusion. "I mean, I can understand that; he's a young vet with an ambition and a need to help animals - that's what makes a good vet - but I just don't think burning bridges should be the way to do it."
Even though Amy felt million times worse than when she had got here, at least she now knew the truth and so many things Ty had kept from her for months now. "Thank you for telling me this, I really appreciate it, Scott."
"I wish I could have given you better news... But this has been what's been happening here. I hope you find a way to make things work for you, I really do", Scott said sincerely.
"So do I..." Amy said, even though she didn't know what would follow.