Hi all!

Thank you so much for the reviews and best wishes with my dog, it means a lot! I met her last week, she was an absolute angel so this weekend, she'll be staying with me too see if shes a fit! I am SO excited!

Her name is Java, she's a 2 year old light blond Groodle (golden retriever cross poodle) and an absolute sweetheart. Ive got an almost 2 year old baby brother and he was leafing her around the house, it was so cute. I am so looking forward to her arrival, I really hope she'll make a great service dog.

I'm thinking of starting an Instagram page for her, following her training as I go through the training she requires to be a servive dog. What do you guys think about that?

Anyway, I just had to share that little bit of news. I hope you guys enjoy the update, we finally get Jack and Lisa's first kiss! :)

In response to a review that was left (can't remember the name of who left it) about where this story is set, the first story Running From A Nightmare was set imbetween seasons 1 and 2, moving along with the events of season two with Ty's return. This story (new beginnings) is set in season 2, following along with some of the events and storylines of the season with my own twist on it. Hope this explains everything.

Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 18.1

By the time they reached the campsite and penned the cattle in the makeshift yard the rain had stopped and the sun was out again. Jessie sighed in relief as the last steer ran into the yard and Jack closed the gate behind it, patting Warrior's shoulder. 'Good work boy.'

She dismounted the stallion as people began to disperse to look after their mounts and make them comfortable before setting up the rest of the camp. The travel trailer parked off to the side of the cattle yard she guessed to be Tim's since he'd been the one who came out and set everything up for the cattle to be penned overnight. Warrior stretched as she undid his cinch, heaving a huge sigh of relief and she laughed. 'You ain't the only one mate who's happy that's over. Trust me.' Her bottom hurt and her legs hurt but she couldn't be happier. There was nothing that she enjoyed more than riding in the high country.

'How's he doing?'

'He's fine.' She replied to Jack's question, taking the saddle and saddle pad off his back. 'Where can I put my tack?'

'I'll take it.' He offered and she handed it to him. 'I spoke to Tim the other day about Warrior and he set a small pen up for him away from the other horses since we don't know how he'll be.'

'Thanks. He should be okay but you know you can't take any chances with a stallion.' She smiled as she patted him then changed his bridle over with his halter. 'Would you mind putting Paint with him to keep him company though?'

'Already done.'

'Brilliant. Thanks Jack.'

'Alright, I'll go take care of this, then can I get you to help us put the tents up once you've finished tending to Warrior?'

'Sure. No problem.' She placed her bridle on top of the saddle so Jack could place it with the rest of the tack. 'I won't be long.'

He chuckled. When the girl said she wasn't going to be long and it involved her horse he knew that she'd be awhile. 'I'll hold you to it.'

Jessie turned back to Warrior after he left, grabbing a brush the saddlebag she'd kept behind and started to groom him down. His back was covered in dry sweat from the saddle cloth and she brushed it out of his coat then turned her attention to the rest of his body. His legs were a bit muddy from the day's work and she grabbed her curry comb to get that off then grabbed her hoof-pick from her pocket and cleaned his hooves out. 'There you go boy. All better now.' She patted his shoulder after she'd finished cleaning his last hoof, his off foreleg. 'You get to rest and relax while I still have to work.'

Warrior knickered softly, nudging her with his nose as she led him around the campsite to the pen that Paint was in. Paint had already been looked after, grazing contentedly on some grass in the corner as they walked up. He knickered softly, raising his head as the girl let the stallion loose in the pen and they greeted each other by blowing in each other's nostrils before dropping their heads to graze. She smiled, tying his lead to the gate so it wouldn't go missing or them get their hooves tangled in it like they could if she left it lying around instead. 'Have fun boys.'

Heading back to the camp she searched for Jack and Lisa, making her way through the crowds to them. 'Right. What can I do?'

'Told you she'd turn up after the work was done.' Jack winked at Lisa as he finished setting up the tent for the girls.

'Very very funny Jack.' She replied to his teasing. 'I always take good care of my horse after a hard day's work, you know that.'

'Yes we do.' Lisa chuckled, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder. 'Come on, you can help me get the bedding from the truck.'

'I wondered how all this stuff got here.' The girl remarked as she followed Lisa over. 'Guess now the mystery is solved.'

'Jack had a couple people bring the stuff up while we were with the cattle.' She handed the girl her bedroll then sighed as she picked hers up off the ground, noticing it lying next to the truck. 'I wonder who left that there.'

'It's got more dust to brush off now.' The girl replied cheekily, her pillow and bedroll under her arm.

'Very funny Jess.' She brushed the dirt and grass off it then tucked it under her arm and grabbed her bags. 'Come on rascal, we'll leave these in the tent then go see if our help is needed anywhere else.'

'Okie doki.' Jessie followed her back to the tent, throwing her stuff on one side to leave room for Lisa's on the other. 'I really wish Cindy would have been able to come. She would have loved this.'

'I'm sure there'll be other cattle drives she can come on.' She assured her, placing her stuff a bit more neatly down inside their tent. 'Alright, that's that done.'

'Well, what do we do now?'

'I guess we'll find Jack and see what else needs to be done.' Lisa replied, glancing around as the girl closed up their tent. 'I think everyone has it pretty well under control.'

'I probably should go find Mallory. I need to apologise for how I spoke to her.' She sighed. 'I'll see you around.'

'Okay honey.'

They parted ways, Lisa heading off to find Jack and Jessie looking around for Mallory. She found her over with the horses, looking after the horse she'd ridden. 'Mallory, can I speak with you for a moment? Please?'

'About?' She turned around, her brush still in her hand from grooming the gelding.

'How I acted this morning.' The girl paused, trying to think of what to say. 'I'm sorry for snapping and going off at you like I did. It was wrong of me and I shouldn't have done it.'

Mallory sighed. 'I guess I'm partially to blame too. I haven't exactly been the nicest to you lately either.'

'I kind of noticed.'

There was an awkward moment of silence between them till Mallory finally found her voice again. 'I'm sorry for the way I've been snubbing you and being snarky. I shouldn't have been mean earlier. You didn't deserve it.'

'It's because you're upset that Jack hasn't been spending time with you, isn't it?'

'How'd you know?'

'I just had a feeling.' She shrugged. 'I know my coming here has changed a lot at Heartland and I'm sorry for taking so much of Jack's time. I never wanted to cause problems.'

'It's alright Jessie, it's not your fault.' Mallory assured her, placing her hand on her arm. 'I know that you've been going through a lot, I should have been more understanding that you needed Jack's attention at this time with what you've been going through and I promise to not be so mean in the future.'

'Me too.' Jessie smiled. 'Friends?'

'Friends.' Mallory agreed.

'Talking about friends.' She glanced around as a certain young cowboy went over to tend to his pony. 'What's the go with you and Jake?'

'There is no go with me and Jake. He just keeps on coming around annoying me.'

'Really?'

'Really.' She folded her arms in front of her. 'He's driving me insane!'

'I think it's kind of cute.'

'Jessica Hawkins, take that back!'

'Nope.' Jessie grinned, jumping out of reach as Mallory tried to punch her shoulder playfully. 'Not taking it back. You know there's going to be dancing later.'

'Dancing?' She gulped.

'Yep. You know, Jake might ask you-'

'Ty!'

She laughed as Mallory took off, making a beeline for Ty who was still busy getting a tent up. She shook her head, a huge grin on her face. There was nothing she liked more than teasing someone, it was way better then straight out revenge. Feeling slightly lost now that she didn't have anything to do she looked around for someone she knew. Amy was tending to the palomino and she decided that she'd offer to give her a hand with the horses. 'Need any help?'

Amy looked up from cleaning the palomino's hooves, flicking her braided ponytail out of her face. 'Sure. Betty needs to be groomed. There's a brush over there if you want to do that.'

'Okay.' She picked the brush up, heading over to the grey tethered next to the palomino. 'I saw Ty having some trouble with her, doesn't she like going in water or something?'

'Betty's blind.' She replied, letting go of the gelding's hoof and stood up again. 'I only just figured that out. I should have known but I didn't notice when I was looking after her before.'

'You've had a lot on your mind lately. Not your fault that you didn't pick up she had a problem.' Jessie began stroking the mare's neck down with the dandy brush. 'Didn't Lou get her vet checked before she brought her?'

'She did have a vet check when we got her from the rescue, apparently whoever did the check didn't bother checking her eyes or they'd have noticed.'

'It makes sense now why she didn't want to be loaded without Slick then. Blind horses normally attach themselves to a herd mate they trust, I saw that with the wildies at Pike River. There was an old red roan mare who was blind, she attached herself to one of the young foals who lost its dam in a wolf attack. I watched the foal grow up with her, the mare took care of it and in return the foal was her eyes.'

'Horses know more about taking care of each other then people do sometimes.' Amy swapped to the gelding's other side, picking up his foreleg to clean it out.

'What do you think Lou will do about Betty? I mean a blind horse for a trail riding horse?'

'Betty is a very quiet, calm horse. I think as long as she stays with Slick she'll be fine. Being blind won't make much of a difference for her usefulness, we can still use her even though she's blind. I mean, she handled today pretty well.'

She nodded, moving across to groom the mare's barrel. 'At least she can be ridden, unlike Banjo.'

'Yeah, I've been looking for a good home for him where he'll just be a companion horse.'

'He's a really sweet gelding, it's a shame that he can't be ridden.'

'I know. He's got the perfect temperament for a trail riding horse but with his tendons-' She put his foreleg down and moved to his hind. 'I've got a couple of people that are interested in him though. They'll give him a good home.'

'That's good.' Jessie went around to the other side of the mare to brush her down. 'I'm almost finished with Betty, anything else I can do?'

'No, I don't think so. Go enjoy yourself Jessie, I'll take over from here.'

'Alright.' She finished brushing the mare down then headed back to the camp, looking around. She felt out of place again, standing back watching everyone laugh and talk with people they knew but she didn't know any of these people. They were all strangers. She sighed, looking around for Jack and Lisa but didn't see them. Grabbing a chair she sat down out of the way of everyone to just sit and watch as they turned some music on in the background….

'You want to turn in early?' Lisa asked as they walked underneath the shelter from checking on the cattle.

'What are you getting at Lisa?' He scoffed. 'You think I can't stay up past 9 o'clock?'

'No.' She sighed in slight exasperation. 'I didn't say that.'

'Well, maybe not. But you have been treating me like a relic of the Old West ever since you brought me that ridiculous saddle.'

'Jack.' They stopped, Lisa looking up at him as she placed her hand on his arm. 'That's what I do. I fuss. I worry. I buy inappropriate gifts. That's just what I do with someone I love.'

'Um, someone you-' He looked at her, slightly surprised that she had come out so brazen as to say that outloud, in public. What did that matter though as he looked into her blue eyes. 'Like a husky dog' he'd once said to Mallory.

'Well you're never gonna say it, but that's not going to stop me. I'm gonna tell you how I-'

He didn't let her finish the sentence as his hand went to her neck gently, leaning down to press his lips against hers. He'd wanted to kiss her for so long but there never seemed to be a right time. The first time they'd gone to kiss after he'd taken her to the fishing cabin, the whole 'Posse' as Lisa had put it had been watching and they'd said 'Another time' Obviously that time had come. Lisa placed her hand on his chest as she kissed him back. Their eyes met as they pulled apart and he could see the sparkle in her eyes. No words were needed in the magic of their quiet moment.

Jessie couldn't help grinning ear to ear watching Jack and Lisa kiss, the two of them completely unaware that she'd seen and heard their whole conversation. About jolly time too, you two. She thought as she sat back smugly, a warm fuzzy feeling washing over her. Jack and Lisa mightn't have been her blood parents, they weren't even married but there was no denying the love they had for each other and the love they had for her. It made her feel like everything was going to be alright. It was a feeling she hadn't experienced before, watching them kiss. She'd never seen what two people in love really looked like, she'd never seen that with her parents yet watching Jack and Lisa she knew that was how it was meant to be. A guy was supposed to love and cherish his girl, not beat her and force her into submission. In that moment she knew just how lucky she was to have found a home with such good people.

Lisa smiled up at him, looking him in the eyes. You are the luckiest woman on earth Lisa Stillman. She told herself, seeing the love and admiration he had for her. Gently he took her hand, placing his hat back on as he led her to where some of the other couples had started to dance. She smiled as she spun round into his arms, looking up at him as they began to dance to the music.