Author's Note:

Thanks for all the GREAT reviews! Well I won't be able to update for a week or so because I'm going to my Grandma's house in Detroit and she does not have a computer… how does she survive? My laptops like my staple in life… oh well. Enjoy and review!

Disclaimer: Based loosely on characters created and owned by Lauren Brooke.

!#$&

Chapter 7

Amy's POV

Same day, Tuesday (I'm pretty sure)

I waved goodbye to Ty as he turned the truck around and drove off down the long drive. Once the back of the gleaming white trailer had disappeared from view I turned and walked back to the barn, the one Chief was in I mean.

When I walked into the barn I immediately saw Chief's bug, elegant, bay head sticking over his stall door. He had his ears pricked forward and was staring in the direction on the barns doors.

When he saw me he whinnied and bobbed his head up and down.

"Hey buddy," I said softly as I approached. I rubbed his forehead gently.

Chief craned his head over my shoulder and continued looking at the big, double doors, the doors his much loved owned had just disappeared through.

I sighed, "I know, I know, you miss Ty. You've never been without him before and you're in a new stable where you don't know anyone."

Chief dropped his head back to my level and peered at me through his big, brown eyes.

"You want to go home," Chief snorted, "Well the sooner I find out what's wrong with you than the sooner you can go back home."

Chief snorted again; if he had been human I'm betting it would have been in indignation.

"Hmm you don't think there's anything wrong with you?" I know I know, I'm having a conversation with a horse, truth is they listen better than most people do.

Chief shook his head and snorted again, and see? He understands me to!

"Well than why did you buck Ty off? He could have been really hurt."

Chief shook his head.

"Even if you didn't mean to do it," I quickly added, "Maybe you hurt your back? Or ate something that upset your stomach?" I mussed to myself, "Well I'm going to go work with some of the other horses and leave to settle in. We'll see what's what tomorrow."

When I was about halfway between Chief's stall and the barn doors I heard him whinny behind me. I turned around and saw him watching me, when he noticed I was watching him he bobbed his head up and down causing his silky mane to bounce against him neck and the forelock to continuously hit him on the forehead. I laughed before continuing out of the barn.

I secretly wondered if there was actually something wrong with him. But I promised Ty I'd help him and that's what I intended to do. I'll just have to see if any of my faint suspicions were correct when I rode him tomorrow. After all, I am Chief's last hope and I won't let anything happen to Chief, he means too much to Ty.

!#$&

Next day, Green Acres Prep

I had just arrived at school and was, as per the usual, making my way over to 'The Big Tree' where my friends were already standing and gesturing for me to hurry up.

As I walked across the lawn I saw Ty surrounded by a big group of people, when he saw me he smiled and waved. I waved back but continued walking over to my friends, not too anxious to be in the middle of all those people. No thank you, I'll pass on that one. I saw him say something to the group of people and pushed his way out of the circle. Now he was walking towards me so I stopped and waited for him to reach my side.

"Hey," he said as he came and stood next to me, "What's up? How's Chief?" he added quickly.

"Ha-ha, of course your worried about the horse," I rolled my eyes at him, "Chief is fine, great actually. He's all settled in."

Ty looked relived, "Good, that's good."

"Yes it is, so I was planning on riding him later," I said casually.

"Really?"

"Well if it's okay with you," I said quickly.

"He's at your farm, you're caring for him you don't have to ask me if you can ride him," Ty grinned.

"Oh right, yeah," I looked up at him and than said, "Well it is Commander in Chief, you're probably like the only one who's ever ridden him and he's this great horse, it's just a little weird to be able to ride him whenever I want."

Ty laughed and than said, "So you're definitely going to ride him later than?"

"Well I'm going to lunge him first just to see if he's stiff or if it could be a problem with his back or with any of his joints but if he's okay than I'm going to ride him. Just put him through his paces today probably," I informed him.

"Well I'll come by later to watch you ride him."

"Okay great, but don't you have football practice? You know for the game next week?"

Ty picked up the arm that was wrapped in the ACE bandage, "Coach let me off for a few days."

"But aren't you the kicker?" I asked confused, "You don't even use you hands…"

"Just one of the many perks of being a Baldwin," Ty said.

"Oh of course," I laughed and rolled my eyes again.

"So you're coming, aren't you?" Ty asked me suddenly.

"Am I coming where?" I asked confused again.

"To our next game."

"Oh right, when is it?" I asked.

"Sunday," Ty answered.

"Sunday? Yeah I think I'm free, what time is it?"

"It's the afternoon, at 1 I think."

"Oh okay," I said, "Yeah I'll come, the last game was fun."

"So you like football?" Ty asked me interestedly.

"Yes actually, it was exciting."

"Yeah it is," Ty agreed, "So I'll pick you up at noon on Sunday?"

"I can drive myself or come with one of my friends, you're driving me everywhere else already, I can…"

"I want to drive you, it will be fun, and you can tell me what you thought about the game. I didn't get to see you after the last one so this will make up for it."

"That's cause you were with Ashley," I mumbled.

Apparently Ty heard me though, "Yes well I'm not now am I? Now I'm with you."

I have to say those 4 simple words made me grin, "Hmm I guess you are aren't you?" I joked with him, "Lucky you."

Ty smiled and shook his head, "So you'll let me take you?"

"Yeah if you're sure it's not a problem."

"Positive, great this will be fun." Ty paused and than said, "Hey we're spending all weekend together."

"Oh yeah we are!" I said, "Friday is dinner with your parents…"

"Saturday I'm taking you on my sailboat and Sunday is the football game," Ty finished for me, "Friday night dinner will probably be the worst part," he said thoughtfully.

"Why? Your parents can't be that bad," I reasoned.

"Well," Ty said slowly, stretching out the word, "I hope they'll be okay but we'll see I guess," Ty caught a look of my face and said, "Don't worry about it, they'll love you," he assured me.

"I hope so," I said thoughtfully.

"They will," Ty said firmly.

"I should get going," I said with a look over at 'The Big Tree' where my friends were watching us.

I made to turn around but Ty grabbed my arm and pulled me back around with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Wha…" I began to say but was cut off when Ty's lips met mine. That successfully shut me up.

When Ty broke the kiss off he grinned down at me, "Did you really think you could leave, just like that?"

"What was I thinking?" I said good humouredly.

"I have no idea," Ty laughed, "So I'll see you later? At Heartland right?"

"Yeah at Heartland. Later," I told him as he turned around and started to walk off. I could not resist the urge to call out behind him, "Let me know if it ever happens again!"

Ty whipped back around and grinned widely as he immediately understood the meaning of my words, "Don't worry," he called back, "I'll make sure it never happens again!"

And with that I walked over to my friends with a silly grin on my face.

!#$&

Later that day, Heartland

"I just have to go change," I told Ty as he got out of his truck, "And than we can go get Chief ready, you can go see him while I get changed," I suggested.

"Okay great," Ty smiled, clearly relived at the thought of getting to see his horse.

"You remember what stable it is right?" I asked hopefully because the truth is that I still get them mixed up sometimes, there are so many different ones and we've only lived her for about a month. But someday I will get them all down. Hopefully that day comes sooner, rather than later.

"I think," Ty answered slowly, than he looked at me and smiled, "But I'm sure there's someone I can ask?"

"Oh yeah defiantly."

"Maybe I can ask that stable hand of yours, you said you had one named Ty didn't you?"

I groaned as I remembered the first time he had come to Heartland, "I wasn't paying attention! Sorry! Jeeze I…"

Ty cut me off when he placed a finger across my lips, "You're cute when you're mad," he said simply.

"I'm not mad," I said indignantly.

Ty laughed, I liked his laugh, I could listen to it all day and still not be tired of it.

"So I'll meet you in the barn in 5 minutes?"

"Yeah sure," Ty agreed and started walking down to the barns.

I went inside and quickly put on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and got my boots, half chaps and GPA training helmet from downstairs before I went outside to join Ty in the barn.

I didn't see him when I walked into the barn so I walked up to Chief's stall. He was standing in the stall petting Chief affectionately and talking softly to him. Chief looked pretty darn content to.

"Chief missed you," I commented as I leaned against the stall door.

Ty turned his head to look at me, "Was he okay last night though?" he asked with a little concern.

"Yeah," I replied, "He was great. He kept looking in the direction of the doors for a little while after you left but once the evening feeds came along he was fine."

Ty sighed, "Well what can I say? He likes his food," he said as he let himself out of the stall, "Here; I'll help you get his tack and stuff."

"Great," I said as Ty followed me into the tack room. Soon we had everything we needed, Chief's saddle, bridle, girth, saddle pads and lunge line. "We don't need to groom him right now," I said as Ty started to pickup one of the grooming buckets, "Someone would have done that already."

"Okay," Ty said as he put the bucket back down and stood up.

Once we were back at the stall I put the saddle and saddle pads on the saddle rack and Ty hung the girth and bridle from the hook on the wall. I went into the stall and led Chief out where Ty quickly clipped the cross ties onto his halter.

I put on his bridle while Ty started on his saddle. When I was done with his bridle I bent down and pulled his girth under his stomach and fastened it on the other side. Once I made sure the stirrups were securely pulled up I looked over Chief's tall back as best as I could and commented, "He didn't even move when we put on the saddle," to Ty.

"I know," Ty said looking deep in thought.

"Well," I continued, "I guess we'll have to see how it goes when he's moving. Maybe it only hurts him when he stretches out his back muscles?"

"Maybe," Ty agreed, "Let's go."

I clipped the lunge line onto his bridle and we headed out of the stable towards a medium sized ring that was not currently being occupied. It didn't have any jumps in the center so it was clear and we could use the whole ring for lunging without worrying about getting the line twisted on a jump stand or anything.

I walked into the center of the ring with Chief while Ty leaned against the fence and watched us.

"Go," I told Chief clearly and he immediately walked out to the rail. After two laps I called out, "And turn!" Chief immediately turned and started in the opposite direction. After two more laps I called out the command, "Trot!" Chief broke into an even paced trot. He looked a little excited though, as he hadn't any exercise for the past few days, so I waited until he calmed down and collected himself. He arched his neck and used his powerful haunches to push himself forward with a springy step. I could see the muscles rippling beneath his satiny bay coat. "Turn!" I ordered again and Chief quickly and agilely spun on his hunches without breaking his pace and started trotting the other way. I frowned; clearly there was no problem with his back. But nevertheless I continued the lunging session and after a few circuits I gave the order to, "Canter!" Chief picked up a smooth and collected canter and seemed to almost float across the ground. "And trot!" I called after a minute. Chief settled back into an energetic trot almost immediately. "And walk!" Chief slowed his pace to walk. "Halt!" I called out and Chief stopped stilly and squarely on the ground, keeping his neck arched beautifully all the while. "Trot!" I called out and Chief effortlessly picked up his trot from the halt. "And turn!" Again Chief spun agilely around on his hunches and set off in the opposite direction. "Halt!" I cried and yet again Chief stopped perfectly, "Canter," I called out and Chief picked up a perfect canter from a halt. "And trot," after Chief had returned to his trot, "And walk," I told him and finally I gave the last command of, "And halt."

I walked over to Chief and coiled the excess lunge line back up into my hand. I led Chief over to where Ty was standing at the fence.

"So?" Ty asked once I reached him looking at me expectantly.

I sighed, "What do you think?"

"I think he looked perfect, exactly like he always does," Ty said with a slight frown.

"Well I can't say what he always goes like since I've only seen you ride him like twice but all I could tell from watching him now is that he is perfectly trained, has beautiful paces and fluid movements and seems happy to follow orders and that there is seemingly no part of him that was causing him any sort of pain whatsoever. Other than that…" I trailed off.

"So there's nothing wrong with his back than?" Ty asked.

"Well," I said unsurely, "It's possible that it would only hurt when pressure is applied to the area in question, for example when you sit on his back."

"Well get on him than, let's see," Ty urged.

"Okay," I quickly agreed and unclipped the lunge line from Chief's bridle and handed it to Ty. I made sure the stirrups were a good length for me; I had to shorten them a lot because Ty was at least five inches taller than me, and than I slowly and carefully mounted onto his back. I carefully settled my weight down into the saddle and waited for a minute to see what Chief was going to do. He didn't even move, all he did was flick an ear back as I got on and after a minute of just standing there he snorted impatiently, clearly more than ready to get moving again.

Chief began to walk forwards with just the slightest touch from my legs and a shift in my seat, I was right, he was trained really, really, really well. After I was sure Chief was comfortable and not hurting at the walk I got him to move willingly into a trot. First I posted but after a lap or two around the ring I tried a sitting trot, I had felt sure that if there was a problem with Chief's back than the sitting trot would have been what made him react to it… I got nothing as I settled into the smooth gate effortlessly, he just kept up that same even and flowing pace and had one ear pricked back, listening for my command. In a corner at the top of the ring I applied the tiniest bit of pressure with my outside leg and Chief picked up a canter. Wow, his gates are amazing; I could so learn to live with this.

Once I decided the brief workout was over I slowed Chief back to a walk and walked him back over to where Ty was watching. He looked questioningly up into my face and I said, "Well one thing's for sure, there is definitely nothing wrong with his back."

"So what do we do now?" Ty asked me.

"Now we wait, continue to give him workouts everyday and see if something happens."

"And if nothing happens?"

"Let's hope for everyone's sake that I find out what is wrong with his and soon. And if nothing happens after a few weeks than… that I don't know."

A/n: I know it's really short and not my best chapter, sorry I was just trying to get it done. Well anyway, the next chapter is going to be called "The Weekend" so that will be fun. Hope you enjoyed it, Review! Oh and if you want to guess what's wrong with Chief feel free to guess! There will be more insight to that in a few chapters!