Amy waved to her client as he drove off and disappeared into the dust cloud that his truck and trailer had kicked up on the dusty lane. She then started walking toward the ranch house, still wondering what was waiting for her inside. She could only hope that her distracted mind was not as apparent to her client, as she now realized that her mind had been in the house the whole time, wondering what had happened.
After Jack and Georgie had arrived, it seemed as if they had started a parade of people coming to Heartland. Lisa, Lou, Peter and Katie had joined them not long after that, and she was beginning to look around to see if maybe Ty and Tim had shown up as well. Having the whole family there all at once was rare these days, now that she and Ty were living elsewhere and Peter and Lou were separated.
As Amy walked across the yard towards the house, she tried to distract her anxiety with some of the thoughts of Merlin she had had since being reintroduced to the horse earlier. It had been six years since Merlin had last set his hooves on this property, and a lot of things had happened since - both for her and the horse.
Back in the day, Amy and Ty had been like foster parents to the orphaned foal. It had not been easy and had given them a little taste of what parenting could one day be like. Now that they were married and building a life of their own, Amy couldn't help but think back fondly of the experience they had once gone through (despite it not being that funny back then); in a way it had been a start of an era that had set both Amy and Ty to think about parenthood. Now that they were settling down, having kids would eventually feel like a natural next step for the newlywed couple.
Stepping inside the house, Amy could hear Lisa and Jack talking to Katie in the kitchen. She took off her cowboy hat, hanging it on the hook, and her boots, placing them in the line with all the others. She walked inside to meet her niece and grandparents as they were preparing what seemed like cucumber sandwiches.
Katie was on her knees on top of a chair, next to Lisa, cutting small slices of cucumber with a determinate look on her face and making the slices a little bit too thick as she tried to get better at coordinating her movements.
"Hey..." Amy said softly as she came across the kitchen to greet the little girl.
Katie turned around as she heard the familiar voice and responded to her joyfully, setting the knife and cucumber aside so that she could hug Amy. "Auntie Amy!"
Jack and Lisa watched as the girls embraced each other, both evidently happy to see one another. It was moments like this that made their hearts a little bit lighter as they realized things were getting back to normal.
"So, what's happening here?" Amy then asked as Katie pulled away, returning her feet to the chair she had been on before she had jumped into Amy's arms and hugged her aunt.
"We are making sandwiches", Katie explained, her lisp clearly audible.
"Katie's cutting the cucumber while I'm in charge of the buttering", Lisa chimed in, giving Amy a meaningful look that made her realize that the reason why Katie wasn't the one doing the buttering was because most of the butter would have probably ended up in her mouth instead of the toast.
"Amy, do you want some coffee?" Jack asked, opening the cupboard door and taking out another cup, already guessing what her answer would be as he did so. He had a pot full of fresh coffee ready to be drank as he was still waiting Lou and Peter to get back from Lou's bedroom. "I know I was supposed to make lunch but... I got busy", he muttered, not wanting to get into the whole Georgie mess before Lou and Peter let them know what they wanted to do.
"Yeah, coffee sounds good", Amy replied, feeling the exhaustion weighing on her body and mind. She had hardly slept last night as her thoughts had been with Lou and Katie at the hospital, but seeing Katie back in her usual surroundings as lively as ever made her feel easier and she was able relax a little and to release some of that tension.
"Did I see right; did we just get a new client horse?" Jack chattered as Amy sat down at the table and took an apple from the bowl. He had only seen the client briefly before coming inside the house because his mind had been on Georgie at the time. But he wanted to show Amy that he had noticed her when they came home, because he realized that he had not even said hi when they got back. "Sorry if I seemed a little out of sorts. My mind was elsewhere at the moment."
"It's okay, Grandpa, I know how that can be sometimes. As for your question, yes- or well, he's not really new. - Do you remember six years ago when we took in that orphaned foal, Merlin?" Amy asked, taking a bite out of her apple. "That's the same horse."
"You don't say." Jack smiled a little. "Must be nice to see where the horses you have worked with end up", he said, bringing Amy her cup of coffee.
"Yeah- except in a way I'm not happy to see him because him being here means he's having some sort of problem", Amy pointed out, thanking her grandfather with a nod as she received her coffee.
"Well yeah, I suppose that's true", Jack admitted. "What's seems to be his problem?" he asked, but before Amy could reply, they heard Lou scream from the hallway as she was returning to the kitchen from her bedroom.
Heads turned toward the sound of Lou's voice, Amy, Jack, Lisa and Katie waited to know what was going on. They saw the older Fleming sister waving her hands at the side of her face as if she was trying to push out words through her lips.
If a person could look like a boiling kettle, then Lou would have been a perfect example of that right now.
"DROP THAT KNIFE, KATIE!" she demanded.
She made it sound like the girl was jumping around and waving the knife in the air carelessly, putting them all in danger. But she was only holding a cucumber and a small kitchen knife in her hand, looking anything but threatening.
Lisa glanced at Katie, gently removing the knife from the child's hand as the girl hadn't respond to her Mother's wishes. Katie, like the others, was still wondering what the fuss was about. She had helped her mother cut cucumbers many times before so no one knew what the big deal was as she was always careful with all the sharp objects.
"Gimme that!" Lou insisted as she reached the kitchen.
Lisa handed her the knife and as soon as Lou had gotten a possession of it, she continued to confuse all of them by going through the drawers, pulling out all sort of kitchen utensils as if she was collecting them for something.
Lisa exchanged looks with Jack, Amy and Peter, who was few steps behind his wife, also watching the scene, as if making sure she was not the only one who had been caught by surprise by what was going on.
Based on the puzzled faces, everyone was equally confused by Lou's strange behavior.
"Lou...? Is everything okay?" Jack asked carefully, hoping he wasn't pushing any Lou's buttons right now.
"We can't have anything sharp in here! I would have told you that but I had to talk with Peter and take care of Katie, like I have to take care of everything! But maybe this could have been avoided if we would have been good at talking in the first place! Maybe Georgie would not be in trouble right now and maybe Katie wouldn't have ended up in a hospital and I wouldn't have to collect every sharp object I can find from this house because she's on blood-thinners and one small cut could be fatal to her!" Lou rattled off her thoughts as fast as they came to her mind, not even - so it seemed - pausing to take a breath. It made it all one big run on sentence.
Amy and Jack looked at each other, wondering if something in Lou's head had snapped, but as what she had said began to sink in, they realized that Katie was not supposed to be around anything sharp because she had taken a medication that made it dangerous for her if she were to have an accident.
"Okay, Lou... Just breathe", Peter requested softly, fearing Lou was close to an emotional breakdown. He came closer to her, his arms in front of him, reaching out as a sign of friendly approach. "Why don't you go outside, get some fresh air and we'll take it from here, okay?" he suggested, then gently putting his hand on Lou's arm, trying to get back that connection they had back in the bedroom. "I'll talk to Georgie."
"I just can't do this anymore, I'm so tired..." Lou began to cry as she covered her face with her hands. She thought she was supposed to be some kind of super mom, but she just couldn't see how to do it right now. She felt like a super failure and it was all coming down on her as she began to break down.
Not being able to just stand by and watch as her sister slip into a mental mess, Amy got up from her chair and came and stood next to Peter, giving him a determined look. She knew that she had promised Ty to focus on her own life, but she couldn't just let Lou fall to pieces in front of her.
"Lou, let's step outside. Fresh air might do you some good", Amy continued where Peter had left off.
Lou nodded, coming out of hiding and letting Amy lead her to the mudroom.
"I'm sorry, Lou... I didn't know..." Lisa said as she started feeling guilty for handing Katie a knife in the first place. It felt so stupid now to put Katie in danger all for the sake of saving some butter.
Amy walked Lou outside, without Lou saying anything to Lisa. The older woman watched as the sisters disappeared outside, feeling like she had also failed in the simple task she had been asked to do; helping with Katie.
Jack noticed his wife's expression and immediately came to stand closer to her to give her comfort.
"I didn't know..." Lisa explained to Jack, as if he would have been angry at her for making that mistake. But there was nothing but compassion on the old man's face.
"I know... None of us knew", Jack said, gently calming his wife by putting his hands on her shoulders and giving them a tender squeeze.
Peter's eyes followed Lou as she was walking back and forth on the porch and saying something to Amy. It was hard to tell what they were talking about, but then again he could not help but be concerned for his wife right now.
"What's happening, Daddy?" Katie asked, being the most confused one of the bunch. Her eyes were bright but her gaze was scared as she was so unsure about what was happening around her.
"Mommy's just a little bit tired right now", Peter explained as he came to take Katie into his arms. He hugged her, hoping this wasn't adding any more stress for her as the doctors had said that all kind of stress had to be avoided so that the possibility of the seizures would be minimized to almost non-existent.
"She should go to sleep", Katie replied as she tried to solve the problem for her mother, making Peter smile absentmindedly. The innocence of the girl never failed to lift his spirits.
"You're so right about that, Katie-Kat", Peter agreed, kissing the top of the girl's head. He then looked at Jack and Lisa over the girl's shoulder. "I'm sorry about this. It's been a long day."
Jack nodded. "We get that. - I don't mean to pry, but what about the thing I talked to you guys about...?" he hinted subtly, feeling bad for keeping Lisa out of the loop for as long as he had, but Katie was around and Georgie was upstairs, possibly eavesdropping so he continued to speak in code. He figured maybe some of that tension from Georgie's problems was adding to Lou's stress, as it would with anyone in her shoes.
"We talked about it, and..." Peter said, glancing outside. Lou still looked upset even if he couldn't see her face. But Amy's concerned expression told him all he needed to know. "Looks like Lou might need some time, so maybe it's best that I go and talk to Georgie", Peter said as decided Lou did not need any more on her plate at the moment. He was tired too, but the thought of taking care of his family and proving his worth was something that kept him going. "So would you mind looking after Katie just a little while longer? I know we've already asked so much from you, and I'm really sorry about that-"
"Say no more, Peter", Jack assured. He realized they wouldn't have been asking if things had been different as the last day had proven that neither Lou nor Peter wanted to take their family for granted. "We'd be happy to. After all, that's what family is for."
Peter nodded, wondering still if he even was part of the family, but decided not to get too hung up on that right now. The only person he cared about seeing him as family was Lou, and so he would do what he had to do to make sure the progress they had made in their relationship continued to move along.
"But are you sure...?" Lisa had to ask when Peter helped Katie back on her chair. "I mean, what I did..." she trailed off, wondering if Lou was going to be able to forgive her for putting Katie in harm's way.
"You didn't know, Lisa. We should have told you guys as soon as we stepped inside, but... we wanted everyone to be here for it. Nothing happened, everything's fine", Peter reminded her. "And now you do know, so you know how to be more careful. I trust you." He knew how hearing those words could make all the difference after a failure of any kind.
Lisa felt relieved. She never wanted to hurt anyone on purpose, and even making an honest mistake anyone could have made made her feel bad. "Thank you..."
"Don't worry about it", he said to Lisa.
He then kissed the top of Katie's head again before heading toward the stairs. "I'll be right back."
There had been times when Lou had phoned him about a problem she was having with the girls, and in a way Peter had been jealous of her for being there for the girls in their time of need. Right now it would be his time "to shine" as he was getting a big pile of reality at once.
He just hoped he would not screw it up.