Hearts In Balance
Chapter Summary
I, and this story, are indeed still alive!
Chapter Notes
So, ages ago Panyan requested Ginger and the Crazy White Chicken, the Escapee
Chicken Wives. Glad I could slip in the reference!
mandylynnw- I think Lucy would ask "so did you get everything you wanted out of
this?" But with the Lucy leer.
(Your wish is my command, M!)
the aviary, kittens, the great chicken hunt and the first snow of the year! October
18- October 24.
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Rainbow Haven Acres
Published on October 25, 2017
It gave Lucy a sense of power to soak up the faint surprise on Lena and Sam's faces
when she walked in, and not Alex. Good, because Lucy relished keeping potential
opponents off balance. It made picking them apart so much easier.
"Okay, you two are stuck with me because, while I adore Alex, she is a useless gay."
The lawyer tone contrasted the teasing of Lucy's absent bestie and focused the New
Yorkers. Not rising to the bait, both just regarded Lucy with various levels of
impassive tinged with amusement.
"Just ramble on, ask and answer questions, whatever comes to mind. Winn will clean it
up and edit it into coherency."
Sam settled into the couch more comfortably, slinging a casual arm over the back of it,
warm against Lena's shoulders. For her part, Lena seemed a cat, aloof and not missing
a thing.
"Will do," she agreed easily and Lucy grinned. While Lena might be all soft
femininity, she was steely and dangerous in her own right. Lucy could respect that.
"Excellent! Here we go then. For Winn, I'll do a little intro. Hey folks, we're doing
something a bit different today. I'm here with our nice patrons Lena and Sam. They're
visiting and you'll see them here and there in the video, but discretely so as not to
make a big deal. Not everyone wants to have their lives on display."
Lucy's chuckle took any sting out of the words.
"Or alternatively, some people are lucky enough to be able to go back to having a
private life?"
It earned the amusement she was after, Lena and Sam quirking smiles.
"So did you get everything you wanted out of this?"
There was no mistaking the leer in Lucy's droll tone and Sam scoffed, getting a light
elbowing in the gut by her partner.
"The visit has been wonderful," Lena said in a tone that tolerated no more
shenanigans. "Everyone has been great and the farm is everything we could have
hoped for."
It took effort for Lucy and Sam not to chuckle dirtily.
In that vein, Lucy couldn't resist trying to lighten the mood a bit, sprawling back into
the couch and teasing wryly, "alright, LL, cough up the dirt. Why us?"
Lena fired back with a quick and dry, "it seemed a good place for some of that trust
fund money," even as Sam added in her own dry snark.
"The views," became a laugh when Lena gave her a shove and whipped out the prim
sassery.
"Yes, Samantha, this is a lovely environment in your mountains here."
"Oh, yeah, that too. That's also a nice view, yes."
Lucy joined in on the merriment, enjoying the company of the couple. Not great with
kids and having picked up a bit of the distracted Alex's slack, she hadn't spent much
time with them over the last week. She didn't begrudge the bit of extra work because
Alex usually worked as hard as any four people. Still, Lucy wasn't completely certain
why she'd risk a broken heart for these admittedly hot strangers.
Maybe she could find out.
"Having you four here has been a good reminder that not so long ago, we weren't
exactly natives to rural life. It gets under the skin and lodged in the heart, even the
stink of barn and muddy shoes and calluses like shoe leather."
"I don't know that I could ever get used to it," Lena responded, her mouth a little moue
of distaste.
"Oh, I don't know," Lucy deadpanned and gestured at her companions. "You seem
pretty comfy in Alex's old clothes."
Watching them both flush lightly made Lucy chortle in evil, delicious amusement.
Sam's POV
It's both fascinating and a bit disconcerting to see our first five days here broken down to a series of
snippets playing out behind the interview. I remember the actions caught by Brainy and his
cameras, watch me and the family meet the farm crew, see how they handled the RV while we
were off in the barn getting geared up from Alex and Lucy's old warm gear. There's a moment
where the panning of the camera catches Lena and Kara hunkered down over a pad of paper,
looking for all the world like a couple of little kids. Off to the left, I see myself and the girls follow
Alex to what I know was our first tour and meeting the animals. I get to watch the team unload the
huge wooden slabs and our initial working them before the delightful nighttime cookout.
Hilariously, somehow Brainy caught Alex pulling that 'kitten therapy' prank on me and my smile is
warm at the memory. Watching the farm team being physical never gets old, the tattered
hoophouse stripped to its steel skeleton before the firewood delivery.
Ah, good times!
While we'd been off shopping in Salem, the gang sans Alex rounded up the various critters to their
winter housing and got up the posts that would become the aviary. It's so cute to see the girls and
Lena in their new-old clothes, enthusiastically throwing themselves into helping piece together the
aviary until I dragged my Luthors off to see the kittens. It's a relief that my stupid fall from the tree
and all the accompanying chaos is completely edited out, though I secretly wallow in the sweet kiss
Lena presses to my temple near the livid bruise on my forehead.
Dinner that night shows myself and my lovers conspicuously absent from the crowd. Oops?
The snow now long gone has my girls rumpusing wildly with a laughing Kara, who then leads
them into the woods. With shaky footage worthy of the Blair Witch Project, Brainy follows to
catch the great apple roundup. Something in Lena's breath echoes my own alarm of Lily wandering
far too close to the edge of the filthy pond and we're both grateful to past Kara for discretely
herding her away from the potential danger.
Notably, there is no footage of the too-enthusiastic-for-morning Kara bursting into Alex's little
house and the ensuing embarrassment. Bet there's parts of it in Winn's files though.
The video continues with the apple juice -and I need to go get myself more of that- and nearly all
of us out in the snow chasing down loose chickens. We look like idiots, but watching the footage
of Lena laughing so hard she nearly falls off the fence she's perched on makes it all worth it. There
are a few last shots of more aviary building and the girls helping Alex rig up winter housing for the
stray cats that remain unseen around the farm.
The video fades to the sounds of Alex singing along with our girls to the familiar strains of 'It's a
Small World After All'. The ending sandwich board of info that pops up after video shows for a
few seconds and is replaced with Winn's hopeful grin.
After a moment, Lena makes me jump a little as she claps in delight.
"Winn! You did a marvelous job! Thank you so much for keeping our presence discrete, we really
appreciate it."
"Impressive," I deadpan, knowing that Lena is going to slap my thigh. "You managed to edit out
the thirsting."
Sure enough, Lena makes an aghast noise and gives me a little whack above the knee that makes
me chuckle.
"Yeah, thanks guys," Winn play-sulks dramatically, "for making it sooooo easy to piece together
something coherent from your leering chaos! I might remind you that there are automatic cameras
in the low barn to keep an eye on the ostrich. Thank god there are no speakers!"
The delicate shudder turns the scoff of humor tickling my throat into a full-out belly laugh, and I'm
not even faintly cowed by Lena slapping my leg again.
"As you can imagine, there's plenty of footage you two and big sister need to decide what to do
with, because I'm not the blackmailing sort."
His sibling-esque disgust is every bit as real as Kara's would be and sets me to laughing once again.
Alex's POV
Rather than break our backs cleaning the south side of the chicken's hoop coop, we had all jumped
on Nia's suggestion of letting the piglets do the work. They know well enough to stay away from
electric wire now and that will keep them away from the weathered plastic walls. So I'm setting up
said wire at the perimeter of the enclosed space.
"So, by letting the pigs root through this mess, it will get the dirty litter mixed into the soil
underneath and we can use this spot for a garden next year," I automatically explain while
stomping the tips of fiberglass rods into the ground. Specialized plastic doohickeys hold the wire
away from the poles to keep the charge from grounding out. "We've even got electricity run to the
shed-coop in the center so we don't have to rely only on a solar charger, which is not the most
reliable way in the snow."
I'm talking on autopilot, simply narrating what I'm doing without a lot of fanfare. My brain is still
on the dark hours before dawn, waking tangled in my lovers as though we'd done it a thousand
times before. Lena's phone squawking had roused us, rumbling and reluctant, Lena huddled into
my front while Sam was latched onto my back like a leech.
"Thank you for protecting me from Hurricane Sam," Lena had murmured, kissing the underside of
my chin while Sam snorted a rude noise and nuzzled even closer. The half-asleep memories of
being jostled by the restless sleeper faded in her affections.
With surprising efficiency, we three maneuvered around one another to get dressed, make coffee
rather than brave the clubhouse, and give the pets some affection. Even BP seems to be giving in
to being smitten, sitting on Lena's shoes and getting loved on by the two no-longer-strangers in her
life.
Even if I hadn't taken them to bed and become more than friends or acquaintances, I would have
liked them strictly on the opinion of my rescue dog. Then it was off to the start of our day, longing
looks traded in the sharp chill of late October.
I'm in too deep.
The thought is on melancholy repeat deep in the recesses of my consciousness.
I'm in too deep.
As though conjured up by my whirling thoughts and feelings, I hear Sam's voice call out from
nearby.
"There she is! Our hero of the day!"
From somewhere on the other side of the plastic, I hear Kara squeak, "me?"
By the additional noises, I'm pretty sure Kara just got ambushed into a double hug, Lena speaking
with endearing sincerity.
"Thank you so much for taking the girls out to collect apples and keeping them safe."
I swear, I can actually hear my sister blush. No matter my mixed feelings, the smile that stretches
my face is completely authentic. It's still there moments later when the plastic and wood door
rattles open to reveal my lovers. I'm alone in here and there's no hesitation in their crunching
through the dirty litter to hug me.
Obviously, I toss the pitchfork aside and squeeze them close, trying to return Lena's kiss to the
corner of my mouth, but distracted by the delicious liplock Sam has caught me up in.
Oh, poor me.
"Thank you for the nice sleep," Sam murmurs into the kiss and I relish her smile. "You make a
great heat sink."
"Well, it's getting to be winter, so I appreciate your furnace," I tease back. "And I can modulate
your energy so poor Lena doesn't get cooked."
Said Lena makes a rude noise, but is smiling where she has nestled into the warm space our bodies
make.
The contrasts between them are fascinating, Sam so joyful but with aching shadows in her eyes,
and Lena both aloof and loving.
How I wish I had time to really get to know them…
A racket of sound gives us some warning and we get in a last squeeze before separating and
waiting for the incoming chaos. It's all three girls with the rest of the Danvers in tow, Lily
squealing my name and coming at me like a rocket. I note the mix of suspicion and disappointment
on Ruby's face before I have to catch the rocket and spin her up into a hug.
"Good morning, Alex! Can we go find eggs?"
"Absolutely! And we can find out if we had any escapees."
"Yay!"
It's a relief to be wearing a couple extra layers, because Lily launches off me with as much rough
enthusiasm as she ambushed me. But she catches a hand on her way, dragging me after her. She's
strong for her size!
Egg production has slowed with the coming of cold weather and shorter days, but with the whole
lot of us working at it, we find a baker's dozen that will become breakfast. But first…
"Yep, I suspected that the Crazy White Chicken would find a way out," I sigh and take off my
battered warm cap for a moment to rake back my hair. It's annoyingly itchy at this length, but is
neatening up the soft butch look a good idea going into winter? Then again, I'd rather wrap up my
damn head then let the mop grow out. I'll talk to Maria later; god knows she and Carol have gone
above and beyond in keeping the girls occupied!
And so the day begins. Sure enough, CWC's partner in crime, the reddish-brown hen the girls
immediately decide is Ginger from 'Chicken Run', has also escaped. I try to keep my attention on
finding the crack they squeezed through, but the hilarious chaos of half the farm trying to corral the
wily chickens is too much to ignore. Sam in particular is having a blast, a flurry of lanky arms and
legs kicking up scattered patches of snow as she tries to herd the squawking chickens to the others.
It's no use, even with seven sets of hands after them, the hens keep slipping away.
As dawn grows stronger, Lena regally walks into the craziness and they all part like the Red Sea.
With a little scoop of chicken scratch, she somehow gets the escape artists to come to her, calmly
picking Ginger up to hand her to Kara and impossibly, doing the same to CWC. Then she strides
over to the hoop coop to set the hens down and shoo them through my half-completed repair.
"Sorcery," I compliment her and CWC tries to peck my hand. "Though apparently it only works on
the tiny dinosaurs."
"Oh, I don't know," Lena teases and the sexy thrum of her voice has me warmed up instantly. "I
cast a spell on you easily enough."
Lucy and Carol try and outdo one another in volume for laughing their asses off.
Lena's POV
We've been distracting Alex from her usual chores, and while part of me feels a bit badly about
it… mostly I relish it.
As Biscotti is being particularly clingy today, Alex sweetly asks me to corral her little pal while
there are dangerous errands afoot. Biscotti doesn't like the harness and leash, but when Maria
brings over Goose and Chewie to play, at least she's distracted. I'm bundled up on a few straw
bales that will go into the hoop house and make an excellent home base for the trio of cats.
Oh, how my life has changed!
It feels like hours that the gang has been at the back of the pastures that playtime and naps have
been had and the cats miss their people. So I take a chance and take my furry entourage out to see
them.
"They're wily little fuckers," Lucy greets me and laughs at the macramé the cats have made of their
leashes, both of my hands and even one leg. It was an interesting walk, to say the least. "Did you
finally find a critter who you can't charm?"
"Hey, I got them out here, didn't I?"
There's a more intimate note in Lucy's amusement that warms me. It feels like friendship.
I've arrived to witness the latest try in corralling the pigs. They might be small, but they're fast and
clearly strong. At least the worst a chicken can do is peck or scratch! All I can think of is Alex's
dire warnings about how dangerous they can be.
Frustrated and amused, the farm crew holds a quick conference, the camera swinging from them to
the riled-up pigs. Finally, they rig up a board with hooks to trap the animals in their shelters. It's a
pair of large plastic cubes wrapped in a steel skeleton that has had a rough door hacked into one
side.
"What are those containers, anyway?"
Nia happens to be at my side and grins before answering. "They're called IBS containers. I honestly
don't know what the acronym stands for. Liquids are shipped in them, you can see the openings on
the top there. These are food safe containers, so it's safe for the pigs, they're strong enough to stand
up to serious abuse and are easy to clean."
It takes three tries with all but one pig in the container and the latecomer letting the others get out,
before everyone is exhausted, filthy and cranky, but at last, Carol slams the makeshift door in place
while Lucy and Alex swoop in to use straps to secure it. The trio leans against the plastic and steel,
Lucy muttering something that has the other two laughing.
They take a quick breather for rehydration and thermoses of warm, thick soup because no one
wants those disgusting hands anywhere near food. Completely unselfconscious of the sharing, they
pass around the snack and all drink from them equally. Even Sam and Lily get in on it, both willing
to let another hold the bottle rather than touch the grimy exterior.
They've flourished so much here, the easygoing nature of this group and their lifestyle offering a
haven for my wild girls. Ruby loves it more than she wants to let on, a relaxation to her I've never
seen before. She's an intense girl, so much like me, an intellectual more in tune with observation
than throwing herself into experiences like her mother and sister do. She snuggles up to my side to
hold Goose up out of the snow, while my arms are full of Chewie and Biscotti is heavy and warm
around my neck.
The best part about the containers is that they are meant to be moved by forklift. So with that
attachment in place of the usual bucket, the big orange tractor trundles in under Kara's steady hand,
the twin forks scraping into place under the squealing pigs. In a flurry of activity, the container is
strapped tightly into place and lifted to be carried away to the barn.
Ruby and I share a wry look before following in the wake of the chaos.
The double doors to the hoop coop are just wide enough for the big tractor to push its load through
and set it on the crinkly hay. Then the gang descends to push the thing into place with sheer effort.
I can't complain about the show as they all quickly strip to t-shirts in the still air under the
greenhouse plastic. Watching Sam's lanky body straining beside Alex's muscular mass gives a girl
ideas and I hope my drooling isn't too obvious.
Ruby's snort tells me I've failed and my flushed glare only makes her smirk.
The cats know what the quiet snap of the electric wires mean and smartly steer clear, sticking to
the piles of plant-raising materials piled off to one side.
"Let's drag in Lena's strawbale mountain," Kara orders and the gang rallies to both carry the bales
and pile them onto the forklift tines to be moved. Which causes a hilarious collapse, one bale
splitting and leading to a straw throwing battle. But eventually, the bales are piled around the IBS
container and Lucy climbs atop it to release the straps and the makeshift door. For all that the eight
young pigs fought being caught, they are clearly in no hurry to leave once the door is removed.
"Leave 'em," Lucy says brusquely. "They'll wander when they want to. Once they've ranged out to
the hidey holes we made them with all the hay bale stacks, we'll snag the container to give it a
good scrub. I don't know about anyone else, but I need a shower and cleaner clothes before I get
back to work."
I don't begrudge Sam for discretely following Alex to the little green house. The girls are willing to
help me out when I volunteer to prepare lunch and that will keep us occupied for some time.
Listening to the girls chatter and joke amidst themselves like an echo of their adults gives me a
realization. Having them at boarding school has kept me from seeing what they are like around
friends and peers. While they do have some pals in the neighborhood, that becomes more and more
rare over time.
They're sad. I can see it in how they stick to Monica, the trio of them determined to fill every
moment they have together. Particularly my baby with her big, generous heart and zest for life. Lily
has never held back, throwing herself into every experience be it a temper tantrum or making a best
friend.
I don't make them ask to spend the night with their pal and gently suggest it, so long as Maria and
Carol are okay with it. That they decide to hole up in the RV disappoints me is a sensation I shove
away. No matter my fascination with Alex, my girls come first.
To keep the girls distracted from the upcoming return to their normal lives, they're kept busy. Ruby
is happy enough working on the old piano and various adults rotate around to keep her company.
We even jump in to help… though it doesn't go to plan.
We stand side by side, faces scrunched up in concentration, working with laser-focus diligence,
determined not to let this task beat us. We will make Sam and Alex proud of us…! …While we
sand.
Patience is not one of Lily's strong points and she goes at a piece of old wood too aggressively with
the small power sander. Alex's jumping in to stop her makes Lily jump and then get upset as she's
clearly damaged the wood. I'm startled from my own over-focusing, realizing that I've done the
same.
Alex, meanwhile, squats and draws Lily into a big hug as she bursts into wailing tears. I wish I
could do the same.
"Shhh, shhh, sweet girl, it's fine. Totally fixable."
With that effortless strength, she stands with Lily held close and those sweet eyes hold mine.
"You can't be good at everything right out of the gate. You have concentration and steady hands,
now you just need a little time and more wood."
There's no resisting hugging them both, soaking up the feel of that heavy arm around me.
"I won't have a place to practice," Lily blubbers and clings to Alex like a leech. "I don't wanna go!"
Oh, my sweet baby, neither does your mama.