Author's Note
I just found out I was accepted into the private school I want to go to next year so I'm really excited! So I am celebrating by writing another chapter! And as an added bonus I can get internet connection my computer again! AND they added videos for some of my FAVORITE songs on iTunes, which of course I have already bought! This is just like the best day EVER! Now maybe Ty will come alive… the only bad thing is that I REALLY want to update 'The Peak' but I have to update this and my other story, Dirty Little Secret, first. Pouts life sucks…
Congrats to HorseLover20693 for being the first person to guess the whole plot! I won't tell you what it is incase there are some people who would rather not know but if you do want to know you can read the review she submitted for the last chapter or email me and I'll tell you. A lot of you had the basic idea for what happened BUT HorseLover20693 got everything that I was looking for. So for being the first person to figure out the plot I have dedicated this story to HorseLover20693! Review!
Disclaimer: Based loosely off of characters created and owned by Lauren Brooke.
Commander In Chief
Chapter 11
Ty's POV
Show, Saturday
The poles seemed to fall in slow motion as I watch Amy being thrown from Chief's back. For a moment I just stood there, clutching the fence, motionless, until the sickening crash of her body falling through the poles seemed to awaken me.
I quickly hopped the fence and ran across the sand as fast as I could with my feet sinking into the deep sand. I narrowly dodged Sundance, who was galloping and bucking around the room… exactly like Chief was…
Sure a small portion of my brain made the connection between Sunny and Chief but I quickly banished all thoughts other than making sure Amy was okay.
When I reached her I dropped to my knees at her side. She was really pale and her eyes were closed. There was a cut on her right temple that was sending a thin trail of glistening red blood cascading down the side of her face. There was a red and yellow stripped pole lying across her stomach and I quickly picked it up and tossed it aside.
"Amy," I mumbled. I shook her shoulders gently hoping that she'd wake up but my efforts were in vain as she didn't move.
A horrible, petrifying thought flitted across my mind for one torturous second. I look down and was relived to see her chest slowly rising and falling with every breath. Granted her breaths were shallow and not deep but she was breathing nonetheless and no matter what a breath was a breath.
"Oh god, please wake up," I pleaded with her still form in despair. I looked around anxiously and saw that a group of the show grounds veterinarians had managed to conceal a wild Sundance who was prancing between them nervously. One of the vets fumbled in his bag and produced a needle. He quickly administered it to Sundance in his neck and after a few minutes he settled down slightly but was still flashing the whites of his eyes. I could see the on spot emergency vehicle zooming down the paved road towards us, its sirens wailing full blast. The commotion caused more people to flock to the arena.
I looked back down at Amy, her eyes were still shut and she was as pale as ever. The only color in her face was the red blood running in rivulets down the right side of her face.
I gently touched the cheek that wasn't covered in blood, it was surprisingly cold. Well not cold but cooler that it usually was. I gave another feeble attempt at waking her up. "Please Amy I…"
I was cut off because just than the paramedics ran over carrying a stretcher between them. I stood up slowly and moved out of their way and watched as they lifted the still figure of my girlfriend of only a couple of weeks onto the stretcher.
She didn't move at all as they lifted her gently and placed her onto the stretcher. Once the straps were secured across her body they lifted the stretcher and jogged back to the ambulance that was waiting at the entrance to the arena. Without thinking I followed them. The paramedics loaded the stretcher and one strapped and oxygen mask over her nose and mouth.
"Is she okay?" I asked quickly as they were about to close the door.
One of the paramedics stopped and turned to face me. "Most likely just a blow to the head, but we can't tell the full extent of her injuries until we get to the hospital. She'll be at Meadowville Park Hospital."
I nodded numbly. The door was closed in my face and the ambulance speed out of the fairgrounds, its sirens wailing and flashing red and yellow lights. I just stared after it for a moment.
When I was finally able to move again I took two steps towards the parking lot to get my car, I had come separate from Amy, but that I stopped and sprinted as fast as I could back towards the ring. I knew Amy would want to know about Sundance. I skidded to a halt at the arenas entrance gate. The vets were still trying to calm down Sunny. He was mostly calm by this point but he still threw his head up occasionally. It was like there was something making him act like this; there was something in his big brown eyes that assured me that he would never do something like that to Amy.
One of the vets approached me. "You must be Ty," he said. I was surprised that he knew who I was, well maybe I shouldn't have been so shocked seeing that practically everyone in the United States knew who I was, and looked at him questioningly. He laughed lightly but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm Scott Trewin, Lou's husband."
Immediately I understood. I shook my head and held out my hand, "Oh right, nice to meet you."
"Same to you," he said as he firmly shook my hand in his. "I'm also the chief veterinarian on duty today. Did you come with Amy?"
I shook my head again but this time it was for a totally different reason. "No, I drove separately, I just met her here."
"Oh well in that case we'll keep Sundance in the show grounds stables until someone is able to pick him up or I'll bring him over to Heartland later."
"Okay. Wait, could you do a blood test on him?" I asked quickly remembering Amy's suspicions that it had been something Chief ate that made him so wired; Sundance was acting the same so it was worth a try.
"Of course," Scott said professionally. "That would be the smart thing to do anyway. Is any particular reason you thought of it?" he looked interested and tilted his head slightly to the right.
"Oh," I said. I just wanted to go to the hospital and find out what had happened to Amy. "It's just a thought." I thought for a minute before deciding to open up a little more. "Last show the same thing happened with my horse, Commander In Chief."
"Right, right. I remember," Scott nodded.
"I was just wondering if maybe they were connected. Sundance and Chief's behavior I mean. Amy's been working with Chief and hasn't found anything that would have made him act the way he had, maybe there's something in a fertilizer that was used on the grass?"
"We'll take a blood test of him and get back to you as soon as possible. By the way, did they say what hospital they were taking her to? I'd like to let her family know what's happened."
"Oh right, uh the man said she was going to the Meadowville Park Hospital," I answered quickly.
"Alright. I'm assuming that's where you're headed now?"
"Yes," I said simply.
"Lou and her parents should be there shortly. I'll stop by later with the test results."
"Okay. Thank you," I said as I started to walk away.
"I hope she's okay," Scott called after me.
"So do I." I mumbled to myself, "So do I…"
As I walked parallel to the jumping arena to get to the parking lot I heard the announcer call out. "Entry number 222 has been disqualified. That is, Amy Fleming on Sundance have been disqualified due to an accident at fence number 4." He paused and than added, "This is the second week running that our previous week's winner has been knocked out of placing due to an unfortunate accident."
There were murmurs from the crowd as I passed the bleachers. I blocked it out and focused a head where I could see the rows of glistening white trailers parked side by side. Somewhere in there was Amy's trailer and my truck would be parked next to it.
"And the winner of today's high junior jumper competition is Daniel Lawson riding Burning Amber with no faults and a time of 1 minute 18 seconds!" there were applause as Daniel rode into the ring.
I turned around to see him riding into the ring on that big stocky horse. Burning Amber was more of carriage horse; she looked out of place besides the dainty Hanoverians, Thoroughbreds, Trakehners and Warm-bloods. Despite being around the purist and best bred of horses since I was born I do not think that a horse's pedigree and bloodlines are all that determine its fate or career path but they do play a key role. But there are things that are acceptable and not acceptable, even in the horse world and I do not see how this draft horse with feathers around its huge hooves could have beat out the nimble, springy, agile horses next to it. Burning Amber should be clumsy and awkward on her hooves and yet she managed the jumps with grace and ease that were uncharacteristically out of place on the heavey, cumbersome animal, it didn't make sense.
For the first time Daniel Lawson was actually smiling, it was a smile of pure triumph and glory. His eyes landed on me at my place at the top of the arena where I was still inching backwards. For a second I could have sworn that his bright eyes turned cold but than as quickly as it had come it was gone, replaced with a grin bigger than before. He flicked his crop against his mare's strawberry roan shoulder and she turned around leaving a straight and motionless back clad in a navy hunt jacket that had many patches sewn on it and looked worse for the wear facing me.
I jogged across the paved parking lot until I found my Escalade EXT. I jumped in and started the ignition. As I pulled out of the show grounds I looked in my rearview mirror and saw the coldness in Daniel's eyes reflected back towards me.
Commander In Chief
Meadowville Park Hospital
I rushed in threw the Emergency Room's sliding glass doors and walk, barely, to the receptionists desk.
A nurse looked up at me. "I'm here to see Amy Fleming," I said quickly. "How is she? Can I visit her?"
The nurse taped something into her computer and than looked back up at me. "She's in surgery right now to stop internal bleeding." She peered at me questioningly, "Are you family?"
"No, I'm her boyfriend," I answered back.
"I'm sorry but I can only confirm the specific details with her family. They have been contacted and should be here soon, feel free to wait," she gestured around at the hard plastic chairs that filled the room. There were only a few people sitting in them.
"Okay thanks," I said. I sat down in one of the chairs keeping my back stiff and straight. I lent my elbows on my knees and dropped my head into my hands. I let my thoughts fill my head,
I'm so stupid! I saw what was happening with Sundance, he was acting the exact same way as Chief had been… if not more so. I could have convinced her to get off Sundance… no I should have! I can't believe I just let her ride into the ring, knowing full well what was happening! If anything happens to her I'll never forgive myself…
"Ty?" I heard an anxious voice call out. I lifted my head wearily from my hands and looked in the direction of the voice. It was Marion, Amy's mom. She hurried over to where I was sitting followed by Tim, Lou, Alex and Jack. I stood up as they neared me. I was surprised when Amy's mom wrapped me in a warm hug but quickly hugged her back. When she let me go I saw that her face was tear stained and etched with worry.
"Do you know what's happening?" her dad asked. I could tell he was trying to be strong but his eyes were red and filled with worry and dread.
I sighed and rubbed a hand across my eyes. "Only that she'd in surgery to fix internal bleeding but they won't tell me anything else because I'm not family." I sat heavily back down in the chair.
"I'll go and check," Jack, Amy's grandfather, said quickly before heading of the receptionist's desk.
"What happened?" Marion asked quietly. "Scott only told us that there was a jumping accident and she hit the ground hard and that Sundance was pretty freaked out."
"Sunny was fine when we first got to the show grounds. After we signed Amy in and got her number we took Sunny to get a drink of water. That's when he started acting up. Amy insisted that he was just being himself, that sometimes he had these moods but it just reminded me so much of what happened to Chief. As she rode the course he just kept getting worse and worse. He took the fourth jump at too fast a pace and unevenly and crashed through it. Amy fell and crashed through the jump. Scott's doing a blood test," I added meekly.
Jack came just than and announced, "She was just removed from surgery where they stopped all internal bleeding. She's not in critical condition anymore and they're moving her to a private room. I was told a doctor would see us shortly."
We waited in silence for about 5 minutes. Everyone was too nervous to talk at all. Eventually a doctor came. He stopped in front of us and introduced himself, "Hi I'm Doctor Parsons, you're Amy Fleming's family, correct?"
"Yes," Tim answered. "I'm Tim, Amy's father, and this is my wife Marion, Amy's brother Alex and her grandfather Jack," Tim introduced everyone and they in turn all shook hands with Doctor Parsons.
"And you are…?" he asked finally, facing me.
"Ty Baldwin," I answered hoping that for once someone would pass over my name or at least he would have the decency to not say anything about it.
"You're not family," it was stated as a statement, not a question.
"Ty's Amy's boyfriend," Marion quickly saved me. "He's with us; he can hear what you have to say about my daughter's condition as well."
"Very well," the doctor nodded. "If you will follow me," he led us out of the waiting room and to an elevator that we took to the third floor. We walked down a white hallway before stopping outside of a door, room 314. "This is Amy's room," the doctor stated gesturing towards the door. "Now regarding her condition, I understand that she was involved with a riding accident at a show?"
"Yes sir," I confirmed.
He nodded his head and continued, "When she hit the ground she suffered intense trauma to the head. She has been operated on successfully and all internal bleeding has been stopped. She broke 3 ribs, needed 6 stitches to close up a cut on her right temple and has suffered a serious concussion. Her condition, however, has been stabilized and she should awake from the anesthesia in about 10 minutes or so. She will need to stay at the hospital tonight so we are able to monitor her head but should be able to return home tomorrow afternoon if all is well." He paused and checked his clipboard before adding quickly, "You may now see her if you like."
I waited until Amy's family had entered the room before following myself. Amy was lying on the white hospital bed hooked to various machines. There was a nurse tucking the white blankets around her still frame who smiled sympathetically at us before quietly exiting the room.
Marion moved next to Amy's bed and smoothed her hair back comfortingly. As much as I wanted to sit next to her, to smooth her hair like her mother was doing and to hold her hand I stayed in the back of the others figuring that I'd give her family some time with her first.
After about 20 minutes of mindless conversation Amy's eyes fluttered open. "Ow," she winced as she shifted on the bed. "What happened?" she asked groggily.
After everyone had given her a gentle hug I walked over to stand by her head, hearing me approach she tilted her head up a little and smiled softly at me but winced in pain. I smiled back feeling a tug at my heart. I could have prevented this pain…
"How are you feeling?" Marion asked Amy as she continued stroking her hair.
"Like crap. I'm sore and hurt all over and my head feels kind of funny." She paused and than asked again, "What happened?"
"You had an accident on Sundance at the show. Don't you remember sweetie?" her mom asked worriedly. She probably was scared Amy would have amnesia.
"Yeah…" Amy said slowly and than her eyes grew wide with horror. "Oh my god how's Sundance?"
"He was a bit wild for a bit," I started, "But Scott gave him a tranquilizer and he calmed down. I asked Scott to do a blood test on him."
"Good…" Amy said but she looked close to tears.
"What's wrong hon?" her dad asked her caringly.
"It's just that I didn't think this would happen! I just figured that Sunny was being his usual bratty self and that he would calm down when we got into the ring," a few tears trailed down cheeks that had regained some of their color.
"Amy it's not your fault," Marion soothed her, gently whipping away her tears. "You couldn't have known what was going to happen and you'd never purposefully put Sundance's health and safety on the line."
"But he was acting just like Chief had, Ty tried to tell me but I wouldn't listen. Now he might be hurt because I made the stupid choice to take him into the ring."
"Sundance is fine," a voice said from the door and everyone looked over to see Scott standing there. "How are you feeling though?"
"Not the best but I'll survive," Amy replied.
"Did you get the tests back yet?" I asked him.
"I did…"
"What did they say? How's Sunny? Is he okay?" Amy asked quickly sounding very worried for her horse.
Scott's face looked drained and he looked older than he really was. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Sundance did not injure himself in anyway except for a few scratches on his legs from where the poles hit."
"And the bad news…?" I asked slowly.
"Sundance's blood tests came back showing that he tested positive for a drug called Rabidus Equus…"
A/n: is that a real drug? I have no idea, as far as I know I just made it up. It means 'crazy horse' is Latin if you're wondering. It's short but it says what I want it to and gets across my point. Review!