Well, here's Chapter 25. I thought, when I wrote this originally, that 25 would be the end of the tale. It's not. And while this might seem like Wyatt got over the situation, he totally hasn't. Don't say I didn't warn you later in the story. That was nearly a spoiler!

By the time Thanksgiving break rolled around, Jake Ely was furious. He knew his wife was lying. She hadn't slowed down, not one little bit. It irked him that he only got bits of the story from his mother, her Grandmother, and even some of his brothers and the cowboys at River Bend. She swore up and down that she was back to normal, that the start of her senior year had been an aberration. She promised that she'd try to do normal things, bother his brothers, sneak out to see the Phantom, and the like. He'd called Jen, even, stooping that far, but that girl had slammed down the phone after saying she knew nothing and didn't care to. He even begged Sam to put away her math books, especially since her first semester had become her last. She could count her days of high school on one hand, and he felt she should slow down, even just a bit.

Even Quinn had called him. He was in the middle of a biology lab, when his phone buzzed. He nearly sent it to voicemail, but something compelled him to step out and answer it. For ten minutes, he listened to his brother complain that Sam was no fun anymore, and that he couldn't even make her blush anymore and did Jake think she had some new boyfriend. Quinn harped that of course she would get one the second Jake wasn't around to beat the shit out of him, but Quinn would step in if he wanted. Jake played it cool and told him to stop bothering him about Sam's love life, of which he was certain, he said, was Quinn's addled brain making things up. Inside, his mind was screaming "Hello, has no one noticed us as a couple? At all?" When he got back into the lab his partner looked at him quizzically, and he replied that it was his brother. That was all he said in that lab session.

He was still angry when he entered his mother's kitchen. She looked up from clipping coupons. "Hey, Jake. Put your wash over there. How are your classes?"

He had poured himself some juice. He swallowed, and answered, "Fine. My soils class is kicking my ass, though."

His mother spoke "Have you told your wife you're home yet?"

He choked slightly on the fruit juice, but his voice was emotionless. "Dunno what you're talking about."

"Don't lie. As I told Sam, I've known since you went to Vegas. We'll talk about this later. Go to River Bend. And bring her home after. We're going to talk it out tonight. Now go."

He knew that tone. "I'm gone."

He found her in the barn, working on scrubbing out an empty stall. Probably extra work she had no reason to do. He walked about behind her and spoke above her ear "My brothers think you have a boyfriend."

She smiled, "Can't say as I have one of those."

"I'm glad."

He was also glad that no one in the barn, being that everyone else was out working. He had missed Sam, and, juding by her response to his attentions, she'd missed him too.

In the silence that followed, she confessed how Max had come to understand the facts of their marriage. He felt as though he had been kicked, when he had heard of her pain. That he wasn't there to comfort her, that he was the cause of it, was hard to deal with. He expressed, in the cooling air, his worry for her, his deep homesickness, and some of the little things that made him think of her in the last weeks.

Dinner was awkward. Jake and Sam, had, under the unflinching gaze of Wyatt, recounted their entire story. Jake was surprised to find how long Wyatt had known, given that he'd expected there to be a meeting between his knees and Wyatt's baseball bat, not to mention more sensitive parts of his body. He was shocked that Wyatt hadn't said one word to him at all beforehand. Not even a phone call came from the windblown cowboy. Wyatt hadn't done any of that. Instead, after diner, he'd pulled Jake aside once Sam had excused herself to help with Cody. They'd had the traditional "take care of my little girl you jackass, or I will kill you very slowly" conversation. Wyatt had even mentioned Louise. Jake thought maybe the rift would begin to heal, though he knew they all had a long way to go. He was glad to leave when Sam suggested it. Jake had seen cake cooling on the counter, and a small part of him was anticipating a piece, though he would never admit it.

When the horses neared the house, Jake swore. Sam raised an eyebrow. "Quinn's here. He's the one who thinks you have a boyfriend, remember?" She recalled that Quinn thought she was "distracted" and "unflappable" in the preceeding months. Jake was getting pissed off, everyone knew something. They only knew what they thought they knew, but it seemed that not one soul in their world knew the entire truth, except maybe Wyatt, though his impressions were colored by his bias. In a sense, he just wanted to tell his family, just get it over with, but he wasn't like Sam. He couldn't toss things out there like she could and hope for the best.

"Play it cool, that's all." Sam insisted "We've hidden it for a long time, what makes you think this will be any different? Besides, we only have to hide it until we tell them tonight. It should be..fun."

His response, a small "Hm" conveyed his misgivings.

That conversation with Quinn was actually a second one shot, or at least part of one, that was incorporated into the story.