Authors Note—

Okay, so… I've decided to do a sequel to TP!! I'm not going to write it until I'm done RS, WP and TUP, though. Here's just a little excerpt of two scenes that will be in it. It's just a rough copy and off course more detail and dialogue and all will be in the actual story but you'll get the idea.

Now, I just HAVE to give this story some dedications right now:

The SEXY DEVIL SMILIES!!

Tyler… my new best friend!!

Annette… for introducing me to the two above and for reading a summary for this story and a lot of others I have.

Shawna… for ALSO reading this summary and for inspiring me to write a sequel in her review. Those Ride A Horse (Save A Cowboy) lyrics really did the trick.

So, without further ado, here's the chapter!! Oh, and I'm working on RS, WP, BP and EB as we speak… or you read. Whatever.

Review!

Steph

Oh, silly me, I almost forgot: GO EAGLES!!! E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!!

THE RIDGE

-EXCERPT-

Ty slammed on the breaks of the Jeep. Mick reached out a hand to brace himself against the dashboard so he wouldn't fly forwards from the suddenly harsh movement.

The locked wheels sent up a shower of red dust and gravel and Ty leaped out of the opened door. Mick followed after a moment, swatting the dust away from his face as he followed Ty to the side of the road.

"Ty, man," Mick said as he stomped forwards, "what the hell was that for?"

Ty ignored Mick and continued forwards, peering out into the bright sunlight. He squinted, through the bright lighting and the dust, it was impossible to see what had captured Ty's attention. Mick sighed but followed Ty.

Ty was heading towards a group of large boulders and Mick could just see the form of a small, wooden structure and a fence behind the boulders.

Ty continued forwards purposefully.

He'd seen something that Mick hadn't.

Ty stopped in front of the wooden fence and looked around the small enclosure. There was a bit of hay in a corner, a wispy tree in the middle and a water trough that was mostly dried up. There was a small barn attached to the paddock and a rundown house nearby. There was nothing to indicate any sign of life nearby, the place had been abandoned several days ago, the garbage cans were overflowing with ripe garbage.

Ty leaped over the fence just as Mick came up behind him.

"What are you doing?" Mick called after Ty but, once again, Ty just ignored his friend. Mick leaned over the fence and watched.

Ty expertly made his way through the overgrown weeds and mounds of dirt to what had originally caught his eye. It was under the tree, he didn't know how he'd seen it but he had. It was a little colt, only a couple months old and curled up on the ground in the measly shade under the tree, its legs tucked underneath it and it's muzzle resting on the dirt.

Ty suddenly became unsure of himself but knelt down near the colts side.

He reached out a slow and tentative hand to brush the dusty blue roan coat of the colt. At first, his fingertips only grazed the colts weak coat but he slowly lowered his hand onto the little horses shoulder. The colts shoulder twitched in his ears flicked to the side. He lifted his small head up and his big, dark and innocent eyes opened and looked up at Ty.

"Ty, what are—" Mick stopped mid sentence as he looked down and saw the colt. "Oh."

Ty dug his phone out of his pocket and, through instinct, phone the number he wanted in the phonebook and pressed send.

-

"I'll get it!" Amy yelled out through the barns as the shrill ringing of the phone filtered out of the office. She jogged to the small office that was crammed with paper work, a desk and three chairs and dug under the paper for the phone.

"Hello," she answered breathlessly once she'd found the phone, "this is Heartland, Amy Fleming speaking."

"Amy!" The voice started speaking before she was even done giving her routine answer. The voice surprised her even more.

"Ty?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Oh, hey," she responded warmly, realizing that she hadn't talked to him in a few days. "What's up?" She smiled, expecting a nice, easy conversation.

"Listen," Ty began seriously and Amy frowned. "Do you have any stalls free?"

"Um…" Amy blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Stalls," Ty repeated. "Do you have any free?"

"I don't know—"

"Just answer," Ty said impatiently.

"Yes," Amy said slowly. "Ty, what's going on?"

"Look," he began, "I'm out in… well, that doesn't really matter, but I found this little abandoned farm and there's this little horse in one of the fields."

"You did?" Amy asked dubiously. Amy fingered a piece of paper hanging off the edge of the desk.

"Yes," Ty said. "What am I supposed to do? I can't just leave him here."

Amy smiled despite herself, maybe the Old Ty wasn't so far lost as everyone thought. Sometimes he acted like the same compassionate guy.

"Okay," Amy said, turning all business, "how is the colt? Is he conscious? Lying down? What's the condition of the field he's in?" She started rattling off the questions.

"He's awake," Ty began. "He's lying down but he's moved his head. The field has a little hay and some water but there's no shelter or much shade."

Amy's heart briefly warmed to hear Ty assessing the condition of the colt but then she turned back to business. "Alright," she said. "Do you have anyway to move him?"

"What?" Ty sounded surprised. "What am I supposed to do? I don't have anywhere to keep him."

"Don't you know anyone with a stable you can keep him at until you figure something out. And it doesn't sound like he's in too bad shape but you'll want to get a vet out to see him."

"Can't I just send him out to you?"

"Ty," Amy said slowly, "I'm three thousand miles away."

"Yeah, I know. But you said you had stalls, right? And I'll arrange transportation and get a vet to look at him first."

Amy was silent as she considered her possibilities.

"Come on, Amy," Ty began again. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. And he's so small and I know you guys can deal with this kind of stuff at Heartland."

"Well…" Amy trailed off.

"I'll beg," Ty grumbled into the phone. Amy could hear the unmistakable sound of Mick howling in laughter in the background.

Any smiled. "On one condition."

Ty was silent for a moment before he sighed. "Name your terms."

"You come to Heartland for the summer."

It was silent for a whole minute as Ty considered his options. He glanced down at the little horse lying on the ground, looking up at him with those big, dark eyes and groaned. "Deal."