Hi guys!

Sorry that I haven't uploaded in a couple of weeks, things came up so I was unable to get it up but I'm here now so I hope you all enjoy this update. I haven't forgotten this story or everyone who has been following it, life just got in the way. Again. I intend to upload every four days but we will see what happens...

Storyline in this chapter is along the lines of Ghost Horse from season 2. No copyright intended, all rights ect belong to CBC ect. This is purely for fanfiction entertainment.

Chapter 24

Amy was out riding Spartan a few days later before school, enjoying the fresh morning air. Jessie had been still asleep when she'd left, and she smiled as she patted Spartan as he cantered beneath her. She liked Jessie, and Jessie was starting to come out of her shell, even if she did only want to speak about Warrior to her. The girl had had quite a tough run in life. It reminded her of someone else. Ty.

Nudging Spartan faster, she guided him up a rise then slowed him to a stop as a herd of wild mustangs raced through the valley she was overlooking. They took her breath away as they galloped, their long manes waving in the breeze. They were spectacular, truly gorgeous beyond words. She nudged Spartan into a canter as the herd disappeared into the trees, following them so she could take a closer look.

The herd stopped running as they came into a clearing and began to graze, Amy pulling the black gelding to a stop as she watched them. The herd was a large one, a big black stallion that kind of looked like Warrior standing guard as the mares grazed.

A neigh from her right made her turn in its direction and an appaloosa mustang galloped into view towards the herd. The black stallion neighed and reared as the other horse galloped closer, running in between him and his herd.

Amy watched as the appaloosa challenged the black band leader, stopping to rear in the valley and neigh as the black galloped up to him. A fight was about to unfold. A fight to see who was going to be the leader of the herd. The appaloosa was challenging him, daring him to fight and the black wasn't about to let this upstart get away with taunting him as he charged towards him.

The black met the appaloosa, rearing and pawing the air as he slid to a stop. The appaloosa reared back, striking out at him with his forelegs as the two stallions met, screaming and bellowing at each other as the fight began. Around and around they went, rearing and striking each other as they fought for supremacy. They were equally matched, both stallions in their prime but it was the black who had the most experience and soon the appaloosa was dripping blood from the bites he had been given. Still, they fought on, locked in a ritual that the wild stallions had partook of since the dawn of time.

The appaloosa kicked the black in the ribs, a resounding 'thud' echoing around the valley as the black regained his bearings and charged at the appaloosa. The appaloosa went down, the black rearing high above him to trample him underhoof, but at the last second the appaloosa got to his feet and fled. The black was right on the appaloosas tail, chasing him away from the herd as the appaloosa ran for his life.

A shot rang out, and Amy turned to see where it had come from as all the mustangs began to flee. The black stopped chasing the appaloosa as he turned back for his mares who were already on the run from the noise. Four men on horseback came out of the trees, shooting at the mustangs as they fled. The mustangs galloped on ahead of them, disappearing from sight over another rise as the men followed behind…

Jessie yawned as she woke, having heard Amy returning from her morning ride and she sat up on the stretcher as Amy walked back into the house. 'Amy, how was your ride?' She asked to make conversation, but Amy walked right past her and she raised her eyebrows then grabbed her clothes out from under the bed and headed into Mallory's room to get changed. Placing her pjs aside, she could hear Amy and Jack talking through the closed door.

'I couldn't believe it,' Amy walked out of her room where she'd grabbed her school bag, Jack walking in front of her as he tried to finish his morning coffee. 'they were trying to shoot some of those horses.'

'It's not right, but there's nothing anyone can do about it.' He replied. 'They'll be sending their cattle up there pretty soon to graze, there's got to be something left for them. Maybe they were just trying to move them on.'

'No way.'

'Amy, you know what cattle ranchers can be like.' Jessie walked out of the room, joining in on the conversation. 'I know its mean, but if the mustangs eat all the grass, then there's nothing left for the cattle. If there's nothing left for the cattle, they starve and the ranchers can't make money.'

'Yeh, I know.' She glanced up at the clock as they walked into the kitchen. 'Look at the time, I'm going to miss my bus.' She looked at Lou, who was drinking orange juice after her morning run. 'Unless someone wants to drive me.'

'Ugh.' Lou complained. 'I can't wait until you get your driver's license.'

'I can.' Jack interrupted, then glanced over at Jessie, noticing she was up. 'Morning.'

Jessie smiled. 'Morning.'

'Well, maybe someone could get me a car for my birthday.' Amy playfully nudged him with her elbow, then headed out the door. 'See you later, bye Jess.'

'Bye.'

'Likelihood of that happening is pretty low.' He called after her, the door slamming shut as she ran out the gate to catch the bus before it left without her. 'What are we doing for her birthday?' He asked Lou.

'I've got it all planned out.' She winked at him. 'It's a surprise.'

'I hate surprises.'

'Anything that I could help with?' Jessie asked as she sat down at the table to eat her breakfast beside Jack. 'The doctor said I'm allowed to be up and around now.'

'Not that you worried about staying put before.'

She rolled her eyes as she chuckled. 'What can I say? I hate not doing something.'

'You still need to take it easy.' Lou cautioned as she handed Jessie the plate of scrambled eggs and bacon that had been put aside for her. 'You've still got those stitches to watch, you don't want to hurt yourself again.'

'Tell me about them, they're driving me crazy.' She complained and Jack smiled teasingly at her. 'It's not funny! They're driving me insane with their itching. At least she said they can come out in a couple of days.'

'Well, if you do want to help-'

'I do.'

'Maybe you could help me make the food later.' Lou continued. 'You do know how to cook, right?'

'Sure.' She pushed the empty plate aside. 'I can cook pretty decent, Lillian taught me a thing or two.' Jessie glanced at Jack. 'So, what are your plans for today? Is Lisa coming over?'

'Ah, no.' Jack got up and placed his empty coffee cup in the sink. 'She rang this morning, and apparently she's got to go to Vancouver for a few days. Urgent business stuff that she has to take care of or something.'

'And by a few days how long is that exactly?'

'She'll be back by the weekend. She told me to tell you to keep yourself out of trouble, and that she'll call when she's got the chance.'

'So, I guess you're stuck with me then.'

'I guess so.' He patted her on the shoulder as he walked past. 'Since the doctor has given you permission to be up and around, want to come do the chores with me?'

'Sure. Thanks for breakfast Lou.'

'Your welcome.'

'What's Lisa doing in Vancouver anyway?' Jessie asked Jack as they walked out to the barn. 'She travels a lot, doesn't she?'

'Yep, she does.' He opened the door to the barn, a chorus of whinnies greeting them as they walked in. 'I think she's looking at a couple of racehorses while she's there, you know she breeds them.'

'Yeh.' She walked over to the stall Warrior was in and rubbed his head as he bumped against her chest. 'Hey boy, you have a good sleep? There's a good boy.'

'You sound like Amy, talking to the horses like that.' Caleb commented as he led Shorty into the barn to untack him. 'Another horse crazy girl.'

'Horses can be better company then people sometimes.' She grabbed his halter as the stallion tried to bite Caleb as he walked past. 'When you don't have anyone else to talk too, horses make the best listeners there is, and they don't talk back to you.'

'Ain't that the truth.' Jack grabbed Paint's tack off the rack then looked over at Caleb. 'Would you finish mucking out the stalls? Jessie and I are going out for a ride.'

'We are?' She raised her eyebrows. That was the first she had heard of that, and while she was excited to spend some time with Warrior that small voice in her head reminded her to proceed with caution.

'You any good a moving cattle?'

'Sure, we had a few cows that I helped take care of.'

'Well, what are you waiting for? Tack up and you can show me what that horse of yours can really do.'

'You bet.' Jessie grinned widely as she grabbed her saddle and bridle off the stand and threw them over the stall door. Her hesitation pushed to the back of her mind as she reminded herself that she had to move forward and work through her problems. She turned to him, a slight hint of teasing in her tone. 'Do you think your horse can keep up?'

'Paint might be old, but he's still got a lot of miles to go yet.' He saw her struggling to put the saddle onto the horse and walked over to give her a hand. 'Need some help?'

'As much as I hate to admit it, that would be great.' She placed the saddle on the floor and grabbed the bridle as Jack walked into the stall. Warrior snorted warningly, pawing the ground with his front hoof as he watched the man and she quickly grabbed his halter. 'Warrior.'

'I see he still doesn't like me much.' He commented as he placed the saddle pad on the stallions back, stepping back as the black cow-kicked out at him. 'Take it easy fella, I'm not going to hurt you.'

'Warrior takes a lot of time to trust people.' Rubbing his forehead, she made him stand still as Jack picked up the saddle and put it on him. She looked into his eyes as he tried to watch Jack, snorting cautiously. It was the same caution that she expressed whenever he was around, the caution of not knowing if he was going to turn mean or something. She trusted Lisa, but she had been burnt too many times by thinking she could trust men in her life. Men like the people her mother had used to hang around, even Robert to some extent. While she had loved and admired him, after his wife's death he had changed from the person she used to know. He'd been short-tempered, angry. She'd learnt when was a good time to stay away. Even if he hadn't hit her, words could be more powerful then a punch. She bit her lip as she patted the stallion. 'He and I have a lot in common. We've both been burnt by the fire, and I think it's changed us forever. We have to learn to trust, but we don't want to for fear of being hurt again. Isn't that right boy?'

Warrior nudged her gently with his muzzle, and she smiled thoughtfully as she looked at him and ran her fingers through his fur. 'I'm a lot like Warrior. It took ages for me to earn his trust, but once I did he's never let me down. I know what people like Clint think of me, that I'm potentially dangerous and shouldn't be trusted because of my past and what I've been through. I wish he'd give me more credit for having more sense then he does, I know what he thinks of me.' The stallion lipped her arm gently as Jack put the saddle on him. 'That's what people think of Warrior, that he's dangerous and unpredictable. But once I got to know him, I knew as long as I never broke his trust, he would never harm me. Even through all he's been through, he still has an endless capacity to love those that love him. You just have to be there through the hard times to make it to the good times. You just have to give a chance, sometimes no one else will.'

'I have a feeling your not just talking about Warrior there.' Jack stepped back to let Jessie in to do up his cinch. 'Your talking about yourself.'

'I am Jack.' She fought back tears as she made sure the cinch was tight. 'All I want is to be treated right, be treated like an actual human being. Everyone here does that, I've never really experienced what I have these past couple of weeks. I just hope that this place I'm going to is half as good as here. I like it here.'

Jack nodded as he placed his hand on her shoulder, turning the girl to face him. 'We like you too Jessie, and if this foster home doesn't work out, I've told Clint you can always come back here till he finds another place. You won't have to worry about being in a group home in between places. If the circumstances were different-'

'I know Jack.' She interrupted. 'Lisa already explained it to me.'

'Well, you know your always welcome to come visit.' He walked out of the stall and grabbed Paint who had been finished tacking up by Caleb. 'Let's get this show on the road. We've got some cattle to go work.'