After everyone had been told about Katie's medical condition and had been given instructions on how and when to give Katie her medicine, Lou and Peter had taken time to tell the rest of the family that did not know - which was mostly Lisa - what was going on with Georgie.

When Lou turned to Peter and asked what had happened upstairs he was careful not to reveal anything that Georgie had told him in confidence because he wanted his daughter to feel like she could tell him things without the rest of the world knowing. Jack, Lisa and Amy got the general idea about Georgie's misbehavior and had seen the outcome of Peter's talk with her and were happy to allow the parents to take it from there.

What they did stress was in order to appear as united as possible was that they needed everyone to show their support as there were things that they would need to do, starting with Georgie being grounded until further notice. They also informed everyone about her not having her cell phone right now and the reason why they would cut the Wifi for a while as well.

After that Peter looked at Jack and thanked him for already taking care of most of what they were going to do for them.

"I did not mean to interfere", said Jack sheepishly.

Lou shook her head.

"No, you were right in what you did, Grandpa", she said, "and we both stand behind everything you told her you would do. You took responsibility to make her know that there would be consequences for her behavior, and as we have always done, you took the actions that you deemed appropriate as you had no idea when we would be home."

Jack seemed relieved. "Thank you... I know sometimes I can be a bit bull-headed and react without thinking of what you or Peter might think."

When the situation was understood and agreed upon by everyone, they all went their separated ways, continuing their life like it was just a day in the life of a family living on a ranch, though in the back of all of their minds they knew that their lives would be turned upside down for a while.

Amy picked up her hat and walked out onto the covered porch as she got ready to go back to work. She stared across the yard and drive, wondering what was waiting for her in the barn. She knew Georgie was upset and she was probably still very upset if the way she had stormed out of the house was any indication. But Amy also knew that Georgie wasn't one to go on a rampage around the horses; she knew better than that by now.

Besides, she knew that Georgie loved the horses as much as she did and found them to be a source of comfort when nothing else worked.

When she walked through the barn doors, Amy was alert but also acted as if she was simply there to do her daily chores - which in fact she was. But she was also aware that part of her job today would also be keeping an eye on Georgie.

Georgie was inside Phoenix's stall, brushing the white horse in silence. She did not give any indication that she knew Amy had come into the barn, so she gave Georgie the space she was probably longing for right now. Amy went to the blackboard, taking a piece of chalk so she could add something to the daily list of chores.

"We got a new horse. His name is Merlin", Amy started talking casually as she wrote on the board, not wanting to draw any more attention to Georgie's situation than she had to for now. Talking about it was probably the last thing she wanted to do right then. "He's actually been here before, but he was just a little colt back then."

There was no reply from Georgie, but Amy kept on talking anyway because she was trying to ease the tension in the barn from both her and Georgie. She knew the horses would feel better in a relaxed environment, and so would she, so she continued to write and talk.

"He was an orphan, so Ty and I were sort of his parents back then. We got up in the middle of the night to feed him and tried to teach him some manners while he was here. He didn't always obey but he knew how to use his cuteness to his advantage", Amy said, a warm tone in her voice. "Back then it wasn't very funny, but he's come such a long way now. Seems to be doing okay for himself."

"Then why is he here?" Georgie finally spoke.

Amy was almost startled because she had not expected to hear Georgie's voice, but she had figured talking about horses might be neutral ground for them and something Georgie might actually listen to even though she didn't appear to be interested in anything at the moment.

Besides, if Georgie was going to help her with the horses, maybe more now than usual as she she would not be attending school for a while, Amy figured she should know what was going on with the client horses. There had been few times Amy had not told her what was going on and Georgie had accidentally ended up scaring them without meaning to, or she had done something that undid what she was trying to accomplish with the horse.

If Lou was willing to communicate more openly and let people in, then maybe they could all follow her lead as they had never been very good at it as a family.

"Well, that's actually kind of what I'm writing here", Amy explained, putting the chalk down after she was done. She wiped the traces of white away from her fingers on her jeans and checked that what she had written was correct and communicated what she wanted it to. "He's having problem with eating. - Well, actually not really with eating, but he attacks people when they get near his food, kind of as if he feels like his food is going to be taken away."

Amy couldn't help but see in a way a parallel between Merlin and Georgie, even though it was something she usually saw between the horses and their owners. Slowly she started plotting a way of getting Georgie to a place where she would help her with Merlin and maybe reach a better understanding of herself through the process as well.

"Food is the source of strength for the horse. Maybe someone in his past has used taking his food away as a punishment. If that were the case it's no wonder he feels protective of it. When someone comes between him and his food..." Amy spoke her thoughts out loud. As she did she could tell Georgie was slowing down with the brushing and listening more intently even though she didn't say anything.

"He feels threatened..." Georgie stated emphatically.

Amy smiled as she could tell Georgie was starting to get interested. She knew that even if her niece was acting all tough, she would soon be surrounded by the calming effect of the horses and horse talk. Horses were pretty cool like that.

"Yeah. I'll have Ty check him first, just to rule out any medical problems, but if he seems to be okay, then it's a behavior problem or a trust issue as you stated", said Amy as she continued to try and draw Georgie into the conversation. "The tricky thing is that I don't know his complete history, so it's hard to know where to begin. It doesn't seem like it's a dominance thing, he seems so gentle otherwise", Amy said, thinking out loud again. She watched the horse who eyed them both as they were having the conversation. "He might have had trouble getting enough to eat in the past, maybe someone's even starved him", Amy continued, walking over to Merlin as she wanted to get to know him a little better. The horse seemed a little tense, probably because he was in a new environment, but he didn't seem hostile right now.

"Or maybe you know what the problem is already, you just don't want to admit it", Georgie said, stepping out of the stall to put the brushes away. There was a change in her mood again as she seemed a little bitter now.

Amy looked at her, frowning a little bit. "Oh...?" she asked, wondering what Georgie was talking about, but she was not ready for what came out of her mouth next.

"What if you and Ty messed him up with your bad parenting", Georgie lashed out. Amy was so shocked by Georgie's suggestion, she didn't know how to response.

Was this Georgie's idea of making fun of her as she had told her about them raising the colt? As she watched her and the tone of her voice, Amy realized this was not Georgie trying to kid with her; she was dead serious, and it had a profound effect on Amy.

"Isn't that how these sort of problems usually start anyway? Bad parenting." Georgie snapped as she put the brushes down and turned to face Amy.

Had Amy not been as shocked on a personal level, she might have been able to look at Georgie's behavior objectively and not have been so stunned by her words. But as she couldn't help but think what if she and Ty had actually screwed up, she didn't say anything, she couldn't think of anything to say, so Georgie walked out.

After she regained her composure, Amy decided Georgie was being nasty on purpose and trying to remove her own pain by putting it on someone else.

But on second thought, Amy couldn't say for sure that Georgie was completely wrong.

What if it had been her and Ty with their fighting about how to teach Merlin some manners that had made him develop trust issues? Or the way Ty had rewarded him for bad behavior when they had tried to make him eat? Or maybe she herself had been too hard on him by trying to set the boundaries and rules?

They had been so young with no idea what to do. Sure they had read books and followed their instinct, but horses were complex animals. Who was to say Merlin had not formed any traumas because he had been an orphan and he had only gotten to know feeding through bottle and arguing teenagers.

Maybe Georgie, as a former orphan, could relate to that feeling.

Instead of worrying about Merlin, Amy was beginning to worry about her niece even more. What if she wasn't just speaking about Merlin but herself too? What if something had happened in the past with her foster families, something she had never shared with anyone that had made her act out because she had not felt safe?

Amy stepped out and looked around the yard, watching as Georgie walked toward the grass by the pond. She wanted to follow her and talk with her as she felt her heart reaching out wanting to help. But then she saw Ty coming home from his morning shift in his all too familiar blue GMC, so she decided to let it go - for now.

Right now she just needed Ty to tell her that she was being crazy by even thinking that they could be the root of Merlin's problem.