Author Note
Sorry for the long wait. My laptop totally just died –it wont's even turn on! - And I've been sick. So sorry that this chapter is short and not that great but it was the best I could do.
I think I said this at the end of the last chapter but I'll say it again anyway, I was not planning for there to be a tornado in this story so consequently anything that happens in this chapter was not originally planned on. Some of you readers may not like the outcome of this chapter but hope you like it anyway. But the good news in all of this is that I'm not really that close to being finished with this story yet. Review! –Steph
Disclaimer: Based loosely on characters created and owned by Lauren Brooke.
Commander In Chief
Chapter 13
"What?" I asked slowly.
Ty looked at me with a look of pure panic across his face. "It's a tornado! We have to get into the basement, now," he stressed his point.
Ty grabbed my arm and pulled me along behind him as Alex ran off down the hall to the door that led to our basement. The noise of the wind from outside was bordering on unbearable when Ty slammed the door behind us and came pounding down the stairs. We were in the main room of basement which had recently been painted and was now fully furnished.
Alex walked stiffly over to a door on the side of the room that led to a separate smaller room that had been dubbed 'the Tornado Room' by mom and dad. Once we were inside 'The Tornado Room' everyone sat with their backs on the wall.
Ty pulled me down next to him and I pressed myself as close to him as I could. I looked over to where Alex and his friends were. They were huddled together in a little group. Alex looked terrified and was hugging his knees to his chest. I gave Ty's knee a light squeeze before I crept over to Alex.
I sat next to him and said, "Are you okay?"
I don't know if he heard me or not over the noise from outside but he seemed to get the meaning of what I was trying to say and nodded his head in response. His eyes, however, gave him away. In England we don't have tornadoes so we've never experienced this before. I looked sympathetically at my little brother, I shared in his fear. I gave him a hug of reassurance and was remotely surprised when I felt him return the hug. But as annoying as he is, early today is a perfect example of that in fact, I guess he's still my brother and that well… as much as everyone hates to admit that they love their brother or sister I do love Alex. Weird episodes aside he's actually pretty cool, in a weird little kid kind of way.
I crawled back over to Ty and he put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him. I lent my head on his broad shoulder; feeling reassured that all would be well in the end. Ty just made me feel that way, made me feel safe, protected and treasured.
Since talking was virtually impossible with the noise from the storm raging right outside the wall we were leaning on we just listened in silence. The storm raged on, the noise growing every second. It was a roaring noise that sounded like a train… a train that was getting closer… and closer… and closer. Soon the noise was unbearable and the sound of the wind whipping around the house sounded like it was going to tear the house apart. I put my arms around Ty's strong shoulders and buried my head in his chest. I concentrated on the rhythmic rhythm of his chest rising and falling with every breath that he took and the thump of his heart beating against his chest. His arms encircled my slender waist and he secured my body to his, like he was never going to let go.
When the 'train' sounded as though it could get no closer the roaring suddenly diminished. All that was left was the sound of rain pouring onto the roof and slapping against the windows. I took my head out of Ty's chest and looked around nervously. Suddenly there was a tremendous crash in the distance and I screamed in shock. I all but jumped on top of Ty but he didn't seem to mind, he just pulled me closer to him.
As I tried to steady my racing heart a horrible thought struck me: what had happened to my house? To Heartland? What about the horses? Sunny and Chief and all the others. What about… what about mom and dad and Lou and all of the workers here at Heartland? I shook all worries I had from my head. Everyone was fine. They just had to be.
We waited about five minutes. Ty said, "Maybe we should go up." His deep voice rumbled through his chest, vibrating against my cheek comfortingly. He untangled my arms from around him and stood up slowly. He reached down a hand and pulled me shakily to my feet.
Suddenly there was a crashing noise above us and I jumped, into Ty… again. There was the sound of feet pounding down the basement stairs and than the door flew open, sending light into our dark little room. It was dad and Lou.
"Is everyone okay?" Dad asked, sounding worried and stressed out.
"Ye-yeah," I answered in a shaky voice. Dad and Lou came over and wrapped Alex and I in a big hug. Once they let us go we went back upstairs and into the kitchen. All of Alex's friends used their cell phones and called their parents, letting them know that they were okay.
Than I noticed the one person that wasn't with dad or Lou and who I had thought would have been here. "Dad, where's mom?"
Dad turned to face me. "I don't know sweetie. She's probably down at the barn assessing the damage with the others."
"Damage?" I asked fearfully. "What happened?"
"A tree went through the roof of one of the barns," dad said. So that was the crashing noise that we heard.
"Which barn?" I asked slowly.
"The one with all the show horses," Lou answered and I felt my heart sink. But not before it thudded against my chest in horror. Chief was in that barn. Lou's words seemed to catch Ty's attention to and he turned to face us. Lou seemed to notice the expression on both of our faces and quickly added, "No no no. The tree fell through at the end of the barn. I'm not sure if any of the horses were injured, that's what's being checked now, but I know that Chief's stall is closer to the front of the barn."
I glanced over at Ty and saw that he looked relived, so did I. He opened his mouth and looked like he was about to say something but he stopped and reached into his pocket, fishing out his cell phone. He glanced at the caller ID screen on the front of his silver RAZR. "Sorry, I should take this," he said to us before he flipped it opened and held it to his ear. "Hey mom are…" I guess his mom cut him off. "Yeah mom I'm fine. What about you guys?" he paused, seemingly listening to whatever his mom was saying to him. "Heartland, with Amy," he added. "Mom stop, this isn't the time," he said as he rubbed a hand tiredly across his eyes. I shifted uncomfortably, I can just imagine what she was saying to him. "I'm fine mom, positive. What happened where you are? The farm? The horses?" After a moment of listening to his mom he said, "Well that's good," clearly sounding relived. "I'll be home soon… an hour or two maybe." Here he paused again. "Okay mom, see you soon." Than he snapped the phone shut and dropped it back into his jeans pocket.
"Is everything okay?" I asked him.
He turned his head towards me and flashed on of those smiles of his. "Well everyone's okay and there's no major damage. So yeah, everything's okay at home."
"Good…" I trailed off as dad started talking to Alex and his friends.
"Feel free to stay here as long as you want," dad offered the group of teenagers. "I'm going to head back down to the stables but you guys are free to do whatever you want around here." He paused and his face became serious before he continued. "Just be careful. If the storm picks up again get right back into the basement. You hear me?" Alex and his four friends all nodded their heads. Dad turned back towards Lou, Ty and I. "Are you guys going to come?"
"Yeah," Lou nodded her head in response. "I'll head home once the storm dies down some more."
"I'll help with the horses," I offered and dad nodded gratefully.
"I can help too Mr. Fleming," Ty offered graciously. "I shouldn't try driving back home for a little while yet."
"Okay that would be great. Thank you Ty," Ty just nodded his head in a silent response. "You can check out Chief, I think there was some trouble in getting him out of his stall."
Ty smiled wryly at that. "He's never been overly fond of tornadoes."
"Well I could certainly live without them," dad said tersely. There was something worrying him but I couldn't tell what it was and before I could ask him about he turned and walked back towards the front door. With a final farewell to Alex Lou followed dad and than Ty and I followed.
Once we were outside I realized that it was sill raining pretty good out. I was about to go back into the house for raincoats and flashlights but than I noticed the commotion down at the barn. Dad started running down the driveway to the barn, Lou close behind him. Raincoats forgotten I quickly followed, Ty right behind me.
As we got closer to the barn I saw the full extent of the damage. Seems like good old father somewhat down played what happened. The tree was this monstrous tree that had been right on the edge of the barn. It was completely ripped out of the ground, the roots hanging in the air. The tree hadn't yet completely crashed though the barns roof yet but it was close. The frightened whinnies pierced through the still air around the barn. Stable hands were leading horse after horse out of the damaged barn and after buckling New Zealand blankets on all of them they were let out into one of the paddocks.
Chief was not among any of the horses coming out of the barn. Suddenly there were shouts inside the barn, "Whoa boy!" "It's okay!" "WHOA!"
I looked around, dad and Lou had disappeared to somewhere. I heard Ty groan before he dashed of to the entrance to the damaged barn. I followed close behind him. When we entered the barn I saw that most of the horses had already been removed from the premises and at the end of the barn there were branches sticking through the roof and it only looked like a matter of time before the whole thing gave away. There was a group of grooms gathered around one stall, Chief's.
The rule of no running in the barn was thrown carelessly aside as I sprinted down the aisle next to Ty. We pushed through the group that had congregated in front of Chief's stall. Ty grabbed the leather lead rope that was hanging off of Chief's door. He leaned against the door and his eyes swept critically over Chief.
Chief's head was in the air and he was prancing around nervously. The whites of his eyes glowed surprisingly bright in the dark barn. There were patches of sweat breaking out across his bay coat.
Ty slid back the lock opened the stall door and slowly entered the stall. Chief snorted and backed into the corner of his stall as he eyed Ty warily. Ty stopped and just stood there for a moment. Chief seemed to calm down once he realized that it was just Ty, his best friend, and lowered his head a bit.
Ty smiled softly and took a step closer to the quivering horse. He reached out to touch Chief's neck when suddenly there was a loud, ominous creak from the roof at the far end of the barn. Chief, in surprise and fear, reared up high into the air, his hooves striking the air. My breath caught in my throat and I found myself incapable of words as those lethal hooves came deadly close to Ty's head. Ty managed to duck out of the way just in time. When Chief's hooves hit the ground Ty bounded over to him and clipped the lead rope to his halter. Chief looked surprised at first but when Ty started talking to him soothingly he calmed down. He stood there, in the middle of his stall with his leg splayed apart, nostrils flaring and quivering for a few minutes.
"Can I have Chief's blanket?" Ty asked softly.
I grabbed the heavy, dark green blanket off of the blanket rack on the side of the stall and opened the latch. I slowly walked into the stall and Chief's head flew into the air when he caught sight of me walking towards him with the blanket in my arms. Ty stroked his neck and Chief remained calm as I gently placed the blanket across his back and reached under his stomach to clip the buckles into place. "There," I said as I stood up after buckling the straps around Chief's powerful hind legs.
Chief walked stiffly but somewhat calmly besides Ty as he led him out of the stall.
"Are all the other horses out?" I asked Andrew, one of the grooms, as I closed the stall door behind Chief.
"Yes, they're all out and in the field," Andrew nodded on response to my question.
"Good," I said briefly before following Ty out of the barn. I opened the gate to the pasture for him and he led Chief through. Ty unclipped his lead rope and patted Chief's neck before he retreated back to my side, closing and latching the gate back into place behind him. We watched silently as Chief trotted off to join the group of horses that was standing in a cluster in the middle of the field, their backs to the wind.
"Is he okay?" Lou asked as she came and stood next to us.
"A little wound up but he's fine," Ty responded, his green eyes never leaving Chief.
"Is there anymore damage?" I asked Lou.
"Some down branches and that kind of thing but nothing really big," she responded.
"That's good," I said in relief. "So all the other horses are okay?" I asked my thoughts turning to Sundance.
"All the other horses are safe," Lou said with a light smile. She looked at me knowingly. "Why don't you go check on Sundance?" she suggested.
"I was just about to do," I laughed. Than I became serious again, "Lou where's mom? I haven't seen her at all."
Lou shrugged. "Dad said she was somewhere around the barns."
"Okay, well I'm going to go check on Sundance and look for mom than," I said.
Ty finally turned away from the pasture and faced me. "I'm going to head home soon, see what's up there," he told me. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow," I said as Ty leaned down and kissed me quickly. "Be careful," I whispered in his ear once our lips parted.
"I'll be fine," Ty answered me with a small smile. I looked at the dark sky that was still sending down sheets of rain, everyone was soaked through. "I'll call you when I get home," Ty offered.
"Okay," I said still feeling doubtful.
As Ty headed over to his car I turned and walked towards the barn that held my family's horses. I was realized to see that this barn was not damaged, just as Lou has assured me. I opened the door slowly and entered the barn. The light was already turned on and I saw dad talking to the head groom, Juan, in front of the tack room door. They seemed deep in conversation and didn't notice me so I walked quietly over to Chief's stall. I leaned against the door and gave a low whistle to attract Sunny's attention. He was pacing his stall nervously and froze when he heard me. He turned and whickered when he saw me, walking slowly over to the door. I rubbed his head and smiled in gratitude. I hadn't seen him a week!
That just sent me back into thinking about mom, she had told me not to go anywhere near the barns or the horses for a few more days. Than I remembered her phone call from before when the line had gone dead, she was probably calling to warn me about the tornado. Where was she? I hadn't seen her since she left me in the house a few hours ago. If, as dad insisted, she was around the yard somewhere than why hadn't she come up to the house to make sure we were okay?
Dad's and Juan's voices drifted over to where I was standing, rubbing Sunny's forehead soothingly.
"Have you seen Marion?" dad asked in a low voice.
"No I haven't," Juan answered regretfully.
Dad sighed. "She should be back by now, the feed store's only ten minutes away." My heart thudded, mom wasn't even here?
"Maybe she got held up by the storm?" Juan suggested. "Did you try calling her?"
"Yes, her cell phone's dead."
I patted Sunny goodbye and walked up behind dad. "Dad?"
He whipped around in surprise. "Oh Amy, I didn't see you there. Is everything okay?"
"Dad where's mom?" I asked him.
Dad sighed and ran a hand through his thinning brown hair. "I don't know Amy. She left a few hours ago to pick something up from the feed store."
"She's not back yet?" I asked fearfully.
"No," dad answered simply. "She should be back soon; the storm's probably held her up."
"Okay…" I trailed off.
Suddenly dads cell phone started ringing, "That's probably your mom right now," he said and you could hear how much he hoped this was true in his voice. He took the phone out of his pocket and flipped it opened. "Hey Alex, is everything okay?" he frowned at whatever Alex told him and snapped the phone shut a moment later. He turned to me, his eyes full of fear and dread. "That was your brother." I nodded slowly, I'd already gathered that much. "He said that there are two policemen up at the house who wants to talk to us."
My heart lurched and I pushed down whatever conclusions jumped into my head and nodded passively.
"Are you coming?" dad asked. I just nodded and followed him back out into the cool night air and the rain.
Commander In Chief
Ty's POV
The next morning
Breakfast at the Baldwin's
"Ty breakfast!" my mom's voice sounded through the intercom on my bedside table.
I had just gotten out of the shower and groaned as I heard her voice. I quickly dried off my hair and threw on some clothes. A pair of dark washed Seven jeans and a navy Lacoste polo. I walked down the long hallway and down the stairs. When I entered the 'family dinning area' as my parents referred to it as I saw that mom and dad were already sitting there sipping coffee and reading the newspaper.
I sat down in the chair in front of where my customary bagel and cream cheese sat. I glanced at the Plasma TV perched on a separate little stand at the end of the table. The news reporter was reporting on the damage from the storm last night. The camera swept over pictures of whole houses ripped from the ground and tree's blocking the roads and highways.
That reminded me, I should call Amy later. I had called her several times last night, like I had said I would once I got home, but none of her phones had been answered. I hoped she was okay and nothing else happened once I had left.
I took a bite of my bagel and glanced over at my parents. "So what do you have planned for today Ty?" mom asked.
I shrugged. "I was going to go see Chief; the storm freaked him out pretty good last night."
Dad looked up at me and nodded. He took a sip of his coffee. "So how did Heartland fare from the tornado?" he asked sounding genuinely concerned.
"A tree fell through the roof of one of the barns, the one Chief was in." Dad's eyes widened. "But no one, horses or people, were hurt."
"That's good."
"So," I said deciding to change the subject from the topic of last night's tornado. "when can Chief come home?"
"Whenever you want," dad said lightly.
Mom set her paper down and glanced up at me. "Did you find out what was wrong with him?
"No but…" I tried to say.
She cut me off with a shake of her head. "Than no, he can't come back here."
"But mom Chief…"
"No 'buts' Ty, I already told you that for that horse to be allowed back onto this property you needed to find out what was wrong with him," mom said sternly.
"Mom he only acted under the influence of Rabidus Equus! He's fine," I stressed.
"Do you have any proof that that is why he acted the way he did?" mom asked.
"No but…"
"The answer is no Ty," mom said tiredly.
"Liz," dad decided to take a stab at convincing mom. I wish him luck. "I've seen Chief, he's fine. When Ty rode him he went perfectly, he's acting just like he always does. Let him come home."
Mom seemed to contemplate what dad had just said. "I'll tell you what Ty," she said as she gazed at me. "I'll take a trip over to 'Heartland'," I cringed as she said Heartland; she made it sound like some kind of disease or something. "And I'll see how Chief is before I make the final decision."
I almost leaped out of my chair and hugged her right then and there. "Thanks mom," I said warmly in stead. Than I remembered something I'd been meaning to ask my dad. "Dad…" I trailed off. He was staring at the TV.
"Ty look at this," he said and he turned the volume up so that I could hear it.
The reported was talking about the storm last night. "Last night a tornado ravished the area causing massive destruction. As if this morning the death count is 8 people with more injured. Emergency rooms were packed last night." The camera switched to a view of ambulances zooming into the ER entrance, their lights flashing bright against the dark sky. Than the camera switched frames again, now showing an image of a road. There was a tree down and on looking closer I saw that it was crushing a car. "Last night a down tree crushed this 2005 Ford truck killing its driver." I studied what was visible of the truck and my eyes caught something that was written on its side. "43-year-old Marion Fleming was killed in the crash."
The room was silent, the news anchors continued on with their report but I didn't hear it. I set down the last piece of bagel that I had been about to eat and ran my hands through my hair.
After a moment dad said, "Isn't that Amy's…" he trailed off.
"Mom?" I finished for him. He nodded sadly. "Yeah it was."
I was surprised to hear my mom murmur, "The poor girl…"
A moment later Lee walked into the dinning area, he caught sight of our faces and said, "Who died?"
a/n: So what do you think? Sorry I'm not in the mood for editing so I just skimmed it, sorry if there are any mistakes. Review! I'm going to go start the next chapter of TP right now!