As Lou was working on her blog post about "communication being the key to everything", she realized it was something they had never really embraced in her family. Often times Georgie blurting things out took Lou by surprise and made the mother of two realize that the Fleming way to handle feelings was to let them bottle up and age like a fine wine. She had always thought they were a family that could talk about everything and in a way they were, but the longer Lou wrote her blog entry, the more she realized talking wasn't necessarily communicating.

She admitted it: sometimes the only reason she waited for the other one to finish was so that she could talk instead - but in the process, Lou realized, she wasn't paying attention to what the other one was saying. Maybe that was how Peter was going at this too. At least somewhere along the way they had lost the track of each other. Who was she really even married to? Was Peter just a sum of arguments she had won or lost, or was he a person too?

"Hey boy, how are you doing?"

Lou's hearing sharpened when she realized Ty was in the barn. She leaned back in her chair and peeked in through the open doorway, noticing Ty standing next to Harley's stall. Immediately Lou froze in fear. The last time they had seen each other, Ty had been furious about Amy and Lou had been in tears. It had once again been a great example just how they had gone wrong about this whole communication thing: before arrival, Lou had already set up the whole conversation in her head (including Ty's replies) and when it had not gone according to a plan, she had crashed and gotten hurt.

If she was going to make this right, she should be able to be open to everything and every response and not assume something that might not even be there, lurking between the lines. Maybe this was a place to start?

And if things would go well, she could take this to the next level - with Peter.

"Hey…" Lou walked to the doorway and caught Ty's attention. The young man glanced at her and his shoulders tensed in anticipation. He gave Lou a nod as a way of greeting. "What's going on?"

"I've come to get Harley. I'm taking him to the rodeo grounds", Ty filled Lou in. "I'm gonna tell Jack too, of course, but maybe it's good for you to know as well - since now you'll have a free stall for renting."

"Well, the business hasn't really boomed while Amy's been away, but… good to know", Lou thanked him. "Why the sudden change…?" she was curious and already secretly assuming, but tried to allow Ty tell her the truth himself.

"I'm trying to move on. And I feel like having something back here at Heartland might set me back", Ty said, gathering Harley's things into a trunk. He was hoping it would underline to Lou just how over he was with Amy.

"Ty… Can I ask you something?"

Ty nodded.

"I'm trying to understand all of this. I don't mean to pry, but… Amy's my sister. And you're like a brother to me. I know this isn't really my business, but things are gonna change, so I need to understand what I'm dealing with here", Lou explained.

"Like you said, Amy's your sister, why don't you ask her? She's filled you in before, hasn't she?" Ty was still not willing to do Amy any favors.

"Well… not really. The first time I heard about this was when Caleb told me. Amy wasn't returning my calls until yesterday afternoon. Even then, she was so focused on looking forward, that I couldn't get her to stop for a minute so we could look back and make sense of it all."

"What…? It was Caleb who told you about us?" Ty frowned and Lou nodded. "Unbelievable…"

"You're not mad at him, are you?" Lou didn't want to cause any more trouble.

"No… I just can't believe Amy didn't tell you herself."

"Yeah… I just figured I needed to know what was going on when I picked you up from the bar, so I asked Caleb–"

"Wait, you picked us up?" Ty stopped her there.

"Yeah. You don't remember, do you?" Lou guessed.

"No… I was pretty out of it, I guess…" Ty said, shamefully.

"Yeah you were", Lou recalled. "Anyway… even if Amy is my sister and I'd love to hear it from her and not bother you with this any more than I already have, I just can't really get through to her at all. I feel like… something has shifted with me and her too. She was telling me things, but at the same time I felt like she wasn't really letting me in on anything. It was like everything was… hollow. Where as you and I… Well, you're not afraid to yell at me if the situation demands. Kind of like it's always been with us, exactly how family does it. And no matter what happens with you and Amy, you're still family."

"That's what Jack said too, before you left the trailer", Ty told her, now easing up a bit. Seemed like Lou was ready to listen, and was merely an impartial outsider looking in, so in return he wasn't so afraid of her pestering him with questions. "Okay… I'll tell you what happened in France", he decided, hoping he wasn't making a mistake and just giving Lou something to build a case against him. But he still needed to trust people, even if that trust had suffered because of Amy. "But you have to promise that you won't do anything about it."

"Cross my heart", Lou let her finger make the X pattern across her chest.

"Okay. Well, do you have time now?"

"Yeah. I could make us some coffee too, if you like?" Lou suggested.

"Sure. I haven't had coffee from the barn coffee maker in a long time. I kind of miss it", he smirked a little. Lou came and wrapped her arm around him.

"I actually gave that pot a good wash just the other day, so the coffee might actually taste like coffee for once…" Lou told him, making them both chuckle.

"So, start from the beginning", Lou asked when Ty was seated in the chair and she was positioning herself to the edge of the office table. Ty sighed and tried to think. He had promised himself that he wouldn't linger in those moments anymore, but maybe it was good to let them out one last time before he would fully let them go.

"Well… I arrived to France just like I was meant to. Everything seemed fine, Amy was happy to see me and we were catching up. The first days were difficult, because we were living in different time zones and head spaces overall, so we were trying to fit those together. I just figured it was all natural after being apart for a while. Amy had to work, so I studied when she was away. Then I started to realize she was away even when she was there with me - her head was just somewhere else", Ty told her and wrapped his hands around the coffee mug, thinking back of it all. It was so obvious now, but back then he didn't want to look too much into it. "Do you know when you see a string in your shirt and you just kind of decide to yank it away? It seems harmless, but it bothers you and eventually you can't just leave it alone."

"Hmm, yeah, I think so", Lou nodded, adjusting her cup on her lips.

"You just think it's not a big deal, it's just a small string after all", Ty was making the speech more vivid by using his hands. "But then you actually yank it and it starts unraveling. And as you're thinking you've made a mistake, you also realize you don't know how to stop. That was how it was with Amy. I couldn't leave it alone, but as soon as I started to change things, they started to unravel in a way I never expected."

"What do you mean?" Lou asked.

"Well, I suggested we'd take a few days off to deal with things and have some time together, because it was obvious we weren't really in tune with each other anymore. But then Amy started to "unravel". I couldn't get a hold on her anymore, literally, and couldn't follow where her mind was going. And eventually, I guess we reached this point where there was no return to how things had been; she had come undone completely", Ty swallowed dryly. "We were about to have a romantic vacation together when she told me to pull the car over. I followed her out and she started going on about how she didn't feel good around me anymore, like I was suffocating her, that we didn't fit."

Lou's eyes turned more empathetic the longer Ty talked.

"But I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, I mean, I don't think I did. I've been going through that trip over and over again in my head, and I don't feel like I did anything wrong. And even if I did, she could have just told me, not… end this like she did", Ty was getting frustrated again.

"So… what happened then?" Lou asked, feeling for Ty. It reminded her of Peter somehow: whenever things got too much for him, whenever Lou was "clingy", Peter decided to go back to Vancouver. It was like he couldn't deal with emotions that Lou had.

"Things got ugly pretty quickly. She said she wasn't sure if she could ever live with me, things were said and… I realized she wasn't even interested on going away with me in the first place", his gaze fell on the floor. "She made me feel like an idiot. Like I was worthless… And then when I got back to the car, she followed me and let me know that it was over, like it was her decision to make", Ty's laugh was anything but amused.

"And what did you say…?"

"What could I say? She told me that she was already moving on mentally, so I had no choice but to take back the ring. And I know what you're thinking: why didn't I fight? I tried, the trip was me fighting for us when I noticed we were starting to loose the touch. But she didn't even try. She just… gave up…" Ty's voice trailed off.

"Oh, Ty…" Lou put down the mug and came to give him a hug. "I'm so sorry…"

Ty adjusted his arm around Lou, feeling something positive for the first time since his arrival to France. He had almost forgotten how it felt to feel accepted as he was, embraced like this. "I'm so sorry…"

"It's not your fault…" Ty sniffled.

"I know, but… I just feel like you have to know what you're feeling is okay. I don't care if she's my sister and I'm supposed to protect her with my life, I won't accept just about anything from her. She hurt you, badly. What she did was unacceptable and you shouldn't be okay with it - just like you aren't. You earn an apology - and don't you dare to take anything less."

From the moment things had started to fall apart, Ty had hardened himself against anything that could break him down again. But here was Lou, telling him it was okay to be hurt, that he had a right to be hurt for what Amy had done.

"Thanks, Lou… That… that means a lot", he was almost choking up.

Lou loosened her arms and gave Ty a sympathetic smile.

"I know you said that you're trying to move on, and I get that. But even if you feel like leaving Heartland behind now, don't ever hesitate to come back. We are all here for you", Lou assured. She was worrying about Ty. He didn't have that many people and it wasn't fair for him to lose a bunch of them just because he was no longer with Amy. In times like this, he needed family and friends more than ever.

"Thanks for that. We might not see each other for a while, but I just… wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me. You've taught me how family works. It's something I will always have with me, no matter what happens now", Ty spoke and looked at Lou.

"Well, I wouldn't say we are a prime example", Lou sighed modestly, thinking about her blog post about communication.

"Yeah, but even if you are pretty crazy and dysfunctional…" Ty started.

"Hey!" Lou played offended, making both of them laugh.

"…you're still a family. You love without a doubt. And that's really beautiful. So thanks for teaching me that", Ty said sincerely. Growing up with his mom, dad or Wade had never taught Ty anything equally valuable.

"Well… when you put it that way… it's not a bad legacy to have, I guess…" Lou smiled and shrugged playfully.

And there they sat for a while, sipping their coffees and enjoying their time together, not knowing when they'd have a moment like this again.