The next day, Amy was cleaning out the Quonset hut when he saw her father, Tim, walking out from the ranch house where he had gone earlier to talk to Jack. They had only waved at each other across the yard as Amy had walked from the barn to the hut to get started while Tim had went inside the house. It had seemed like her dad had had something important to discuss and it couldn't have waited.

Coming back now, Tim didn't seem as excited as he had been when he had gone in. It looked like after talking to Jack, he was partly annoyed but also to some extent disappointed. It wasn't necessarily a surprise the two men would bicker about something and it would affect their moods, but this time Amy had no idea what was going on. Thankfully Tim was making his way to Amy, so she could have a chance to talk to him.

"Hey, what's all this?" Tim asked when he came to see what Amy was doing.

"Oh, Cassandra just cleared one of my client horses. The one from Iceland I've been keeping separated from the herd", she explained, pointing toward the paddock where Bruni was now spending her time.

The mare was slowly getting to know her surroundings and the herd before Amy would allow the horses to interact more. Just now, giving a chance for Bruni to listen and see the others not too far away was enough to deal with as they didn't know each other yet, and Amy wanted to avoid any type of predisposing to problems or stress. Merging horses into one wasn't always seamless, but it could be done with patience and time. Now that Bruni was going to stick around for a little while longer, Amy had that luxury on her side.

When Bruni had finally been let out, Amy had seen a completely different horse than before and that was also important to take into consideration since she would have to observe the mare even more, to really know the layers of the animal now that she was in a much more natural environment.

"Oh, yeah. Looks like she's doing well. Great job", Tim complimented Amy, even though he had - of course - had faith in her all this time. "Do you need help with all this?"

Amy was pleasantly surprised by the offer. "Sure, why not. I wouldn't mind."

"Let me give you a hand then", Tim said, taking his working gloves from the back pocket of his jeans where he kept them in case there was a need to fix something. As a rancher and a cowboy, there usually was. "Is Jade around?"

"Yeah, she is. She's with Lyndy in the loft. Why?" Amy asked as they started taking down the temporary stall Amy and Mitch had built for the horse weeks earlier.

"Ah, just got some news to share for her", Tim explained. "And for you too actually."

"What is it?"

"Well... I just sold Big River", Tim confessed.

Amy stopped what she was doing.

"What...? What... does that mean? I mean... are you leaving somewhere, too?" she asked a series of questions since this was all coming out of nowhere. It seemed like these days, everyone was leaving and she was one of the few sticking around.

"I'm not leaving Hudson, if that's what you're asking", Tim corrected, "but I'm moving. I just figured it was time for a change. I mean, Casey and I have been talking about moving in for a while now, and it just made sense to sell Big River because... well, we're too busy to have a place like that to ourselves with me having the rodeo school, the business with Jack and Mitch and now more responsibility with Maggie's as well with Lou in New York. And when Casey's not travelling, she is teaching kids to barrel race. The point is; we are busy. We basically only need a bed, a bathroom and a kitchen to use every once in a while, not a whole ranch. But Casey also wants to have a house, not just a trailer. So it made sense to have a smaller place."

"Okay..." Amy said, letting her father know she was somewhat understanding of the reasoning, even though it would take a while for her to get used to. "So, where are you moving then?"

"Closer to the town centre", Tim said, looking at Amy with some concern. He could tell Amy was having some trouble with this, which was to be expected since she was just like Jack when it came to change; she didn't like it. "What's wrong?"

"I... I just... I'm happy for you and I'm glad things are going well with Casey and you're making it work, I just..." she began, trying to make sense of her reaction. "I don't know, I guess I've just come to like the fact that you've lived close-by, that's all."

"I'll still be close by, Amy", Tim reminded, "that's not gonna change. And besides, I bought Big River back in the day so I'd have a better chance to be closer to you girls, maybe even become part of your lives again, but I'm not chasing that goal anymore since we actually have a real father-daughter relationship with you - and Lou - no matter where I am or where you are. Big River was my chance to make things right for us and now I've done it, so... it was time to make things right for me and Casey."

Amy nodded, understanding it better now. "I get it. It's good. I'm happy for you." She even smiled a little bit as she realized just how far her dad had come and how he really had cleaned up his act and made a better life for himself.

"Just wish your grandfather would have been as understanding..." Tim muttered, getting back to work with Amy. "All I got was complains about him not knowing who he will be neighbours with from now on and how this would all affect our business and blah blah blah. Not sure what's with him these days - he's crankier than ever!"

"Good to know it's not just for me then..." Amy scoffed, remembering last night's awkward dinner.

Tim raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? What's happened?"

"Well, Cassandra and I are partnering up, so I'm really getting back to work for real this time, which means I was sort of hoping I could talk about the expansion of the barn with Grandpa again-"

"Let me guess", Tim said, stopping Amy. "He wasn't happy?" There was a sarcastic look on his face as he said it. It wasn't hard to figure Jack Bartlett out.

Amy nodded. "You know it. - I don't know, I just feel like I take two steps forward and one step back all the time, with everything. It's like I'm never really getting started on anything. It's exhausting."

"Well, here's an idea", Tim offered, "maybe it's time to think about other options; why do your working quarters have to be here at Heartland? I mean, let's face it, as long as Jack's around, he's not going to allow you to make changes to that barn. Remember how much work it took from us to convince him to allow us to alter the loft to make it habitable?"

Amy hummed. "Oh, I remember. I still can't believe he actually approved of it..."

"Yeah, so... find a place from somewhere else", Tim adviced. "There you don't have to play by his rules."

Amy thought about it for a while and in a way she wanted to say no right away, because Heartland had always been the place where she had worked and it had its legacy, but at the same time Amy knew her father to be right; if she wanted to make things better for her business, she couldn't continue at Heartland as it limited her options; she needed bigger place and better working surroundings.

"I mean, I'm hearing what you're saying, but... I also know I just don't have the money. I was kind of hoping adding few stalls would be a more modest start for a change; buying a place is a whole other thing", Amy said. "It's a shame you just sold Big River", she added with a sad smile, even though she didn't know if that would have been any better, seeing the barn there hadn't been that much bigger than Heartland's anyway.

"Doesn't necessarily have to be a shame I sold it", Tim pointed out after a while, "since, you know, I made some money out of it. I could help you out. Not only financially, but to actually look for a place", he added, knowing he had much more experience with that sort of thing and some connections with fellow ranchers who might know good spots. "But of course you'd be making the final decision seeing it'd be your place."

Amy looked at her father, touched by his generosity. "I couldn't ask you to do that..."

"I know it's not like you to ask, but your sister did when she wanted to have the Dude Ranch. And I offered to help when she wanted to buy Maggie's, among other things. Why wouldn't I do the same for you? I love you both just the same", Tim reminded. "Amy, I believe you can do great things and I know you didn't necessarily plan to have this business of yours when you were fifteen, but it's your calling now, it's your life. This place has become too small for your needs and dreams. You deserve to have the chance, just like anybody else, and as your father, I ought to support you, just like I've supported your sister. It's the least I can do. - Besides, it's what Marion would have wanted for you, too."

Feeling speechless, Amy just looked at her dad with teary eyes. It felt so good to have someone in her corner, believing her and her vision and not holding her back. She put down the things from her hands and came to hug Tim. "Thanks, dad... You don't know how much this means to me."

"See? Maybe the universe knew it was time for a change for you too", Tim said, kissing Amy's hair. "We're killing two birds with one stone."

"I could really use some change..." Amy admitted.

"Okay, so I'll start looking", Tim decided then and moved back so he could look at Amy. "What did you have in mind? Meaning, what requirements?"

They then continued working, all while Amy listed things she had noticed the current space was lacking, starting from the number of the stalls to areas where she could better examine the horses and treat them. Even though she listed many things she hoped the place would have, she also wanted to keep her expectations realistic and explained to Tim that as long as the place had enough space, she could make rest of it work, even if it was a bit of a fixer-upper.

While listening to Amy talk, Tim could tell just how much passion Amy had for it all and how she literally transformed from someone hopeless into an enthusiastic horse expert in the span of seconds and it was something Tim was very happy to see.

And not only happy, but proud, too.

Watching Amy grow from a fifteen-year-old girl who had her mother's gift with horses but not much experience, following her instinct, not really paying attention to the business side of it all to now being a real professional, not only because of her knowledge of horses, but also with more understanding of what it meant to make this for a living. Even though Amy had slowly started to understand her worth, she was still very humble and that was something Tim was sure would separate her from a lot of other experts and what was going to be her trademark compared to some other people around this area.

"Sounds like you know what you want", Tim finally said when Amy was done talking.

"Well, I've had years to dream about this stuff", she admitted with a coy smile. "I just never really saw that happening outside Heartland, though."

"Things might not always turn out the way you might have planned, but doesn't mean they would still turn out any worse either", Tim knew from his own experience. "You'll make your place "your new Heartland". And then you couldn't imagine having it any other way."

Amy smiled at the thought. "I hope so."