In the aftermath of The Great Hunt
Chapter Summary
So, there's been some curiosity on how Alex got hurt...
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Not exactly to plan... because Alex has to get her idiot self into danger at least
ONCE. Yes, thank you, Kara. May 28
32852 views
Rainbow Haven Acres
Published on June 2, 2017
"Okay, let me go over this one more time," Lucy said very slowly and deliberately, her
face a blank mask. Only Ava really knew the icy lawyer façade and it was so out of
place here. "You're brilliant plan is to just jump in there, and put a sock over their
heads?"
Her voice had slowly risen to a shout and Alex looked a little wilted. "Well, yeah.
That's what the pros do. You just have to stay away from their feet. I'm the quickest on
my feet so I'll sock and switch out with Maggie if I get tired. The rest of you get into
teams of probably three to push from behind and keep them from kicking. Every video
I could find shows them calming down once their head is covered and these used to be
farm animals, so it's not like it hasn't happened before."
With an aggrieved noise more animal than human, Lucy threw her arms up and
stormed off, ranting, "Socks! Should I throw my undies at them too?"
"Might get you a tip!" Sara yelled after her and laughed. Brainy deliberately turned the
camera away as Lucy flipped them all off. That had him looking at the trapped birds
again, the four of them fluttering agitatedly around the corral.
"There is some merit to Lucy's trepidation," he said hesitantly as Alex came to stand
next to him and she sighed heavily.
"Yeah, I know, but we have to get them under control somehow. And they've already
calmed a little bit. Like I said, these are farm birds gone wild. This isn't unknown to
them."
It was true, the ostrich were still wary and alarmed, beaks open and panting, but they
weren't racing about any longer.
"Shame about the camera."
Brainy made a wounded noise and he had to turn away and put his camera on the
nearby tripod, now displaying distinctive scratches and one slightly bent leg.
"I still cannot fathom the odds that the drone would lose power and crash into the
tripod!"
He was authentically upset at the mishap, the entire wild rampage of small utility
vehicles chase-herding the quartet of ostriches to the pen and almost none of it
recorded.
After talking it out more, they settled on taking a sheet of plywood, slicing it in half to
rig it as a pair of shields against dinosaur feet. Recklessly sure of herself, Alex tied
loops of rope into drilled holes as she explained what she was doing for the camera.
"You're certain of this?" Brainy had to ask a final time as she hefted her rough work.
"Yeah, it'll be great!"
And she was right on the first two hens they shooed into a side pen quickly rigged up
for safety sake. Neither bird got in a strike and Alex hooded one and Sara jumped in to
get the other. With a shove on a feathered butt, each bird was marched to the nearby
stock trailer and gently locked behind the separation panels mounted to the inside.
The third hen got in a hit on the plywood that knocked Sara into the rails, nearly
upsetting her footing and leaving a violent scratch in the wood. Alex took a
particularly vicious glee in grabbing the comically tiny head and rendering the hen
harmless in darkness.
Then she turned to the big male.
He was the one who hiss-roared like a lion, his neck ballooned up with the noise,
black and white feathers fluffed to make him look bigger and more dangerous.
"Be careful," Alex said quietly to Sara and Lucy who waited close by, antsy and alert.
There was a dangerous edge in Alex's voice and all levity about the hunt had faded in
the face of a four hundred pound rooster.
He was definitely cagier than his harem, dancing around until Alex finally had to
shove away from her shield bearers to keep them all safe. There were shouts of protest,
a feint and dodge and it happened so fast that the team would later have to check the
camera footage to see it. Alex moved to sidestep a kick and grabbed the big male's
head, even as that blindingly fast foot slammed into her right thigh with a meaty thud.
Somehow Alex held on even as she fell, stripping the tube of material from her
forearm, over her fist and around the huge eyes of her attacker.
"God dammit, get him away from me!"
In the heartbeat it took for plywood shields to drop and Ava and Kara to vault over the
railing, it was almost too late, the two-toed foot slamming down blindly to land far too
close to where Alex writhed on the ground. Lucy, being the smallest, dropped out of
the scrum and went to Alex while the others shoved the big male until Brainy could
slam the trailer gate behind him.
I must make some noise of distress at the lighting-fast kick that drops Alex like a sack of cement.
Lily squirms around until she can hug me and says sweetly, "it's okay Mama, she'll be okay, you'll
see."
I hug my sensitive girl in thanks and keep her close as more of the story plays out with plenty of
bleeping out.
"Mother fucker," Alex gritted through clenched teeth, gripping her upper thigh and
trying to breathe through the pain. She felt like she'd been hit by a car, the burning
agony firing up and down her body.
Kara nearly mowed Sara down to get to her sister, her face a riot of panic. Grateful for
her familiar solidity, Alex grabbed her and hung on for dear life. Even as blackness
danced around her vision from the pain of the kick, she managed to gasp, "it'll make a
great video."
Kara wasn't sure if she should laugh or smack her. The laughing sob was answer
enough.
Luckily for everyone, Lucy's military training kicked in and she started barking
orders. In just a few minutes, the gang had carefully scooped Alex up and maneuvered
her into the back of the truck. It was probably a mixed blessing that the camera
remained on its tripod uselessly recording the now-empty pen because at the rate Alex
was cussing, no footage would be useable anyway.
"Shit, you're bleeding," Ava finally noted with horror as she spotted the distinctive red
smear on her shirt.
"Not much," Alex hissed through gritted teeth. "Hey, at least the Carhartt did its job."
"Kara! Get in!" Lucy barked as she clambered into the driver's seat. "Sara, you're
small enough to squeeze in behind me and brace the idiot." The big truck roared to life
and started moving even as Lucy kept ranting. "We're dropping this trailer next to the
barn for the others to deal with those feathered menaces and heading for the hospital
down-mountain and I swear to fuck Danvers, if you make one fucking peep of
objection I will kill you myself."
The threat worked and Alex remained silent where Sara cradled her head and torso.
Staring at the empty corral, I feel like I need to say something, but all that comes out is a weak,
"I'm both disappointed and relieved to have not seen all of that."
"Bet she was cussing like a movie gangster the whole time," Sam adds in casually, earning small
giggles from the girls. I'm grateful to her for a moment to shake off the shock of the video. Winn
hadn't taken out much of the sights and sounds of the violent hit that had dropped Alex, and with no
follow-up, I feel a little shaken up.
Luckily, Ruby is as observant as ever and pauses the next video where a beautiful aerial shot of the
farm is splashed across the television.
"Ready Mama?" she asks sweetly and I reach out to pet her hair.
"Thank you, sweetie. Yes, let's see what happened."
'An unusual Memorial Day' cold-opens to Kara standing by the barn, her expression strained.
"So, umm, yeah. So, yesterday got exciting, huh?" The humor was a bit desperate, but I had to give
her credit for the try as she really does look moments from crying. "So, let me catch you up on
what you missed. Firstly, Alex is going to be okay, but she's out of commission for probably a
month." A wan smile quirked up Kara's mouth for a moment, lightening her a bit. "And is going to
be a grouchy butthead about it too. So, the ostrich's kick was a glancing blow, which the doctor
said probably saved her from a broken leg, so there's that. His claw just barely got through her
pants, thankfully, and the scratch left was a bloody mess, but didn't require stitches. From
everything I know, she's lucky she was wearing her Carhartts because that kick could have gone
right to the bone. So, if there's anyone watching from Carhartt, thank you so much. Your awesome
fabric saved my sister from getting really badly hurt."
Kara's pathetically grateful face and teary eyes could melt the hardest heart.
"She looks so sad," Lily says sympathetically and snuggles in more tightly. As though she heard
the words, Kara straightens up and noisily clears her throat.
"Anyway, once I knew Alex was going to be okay, I called our folks to let them know what
happened and Dad asked how we were going to do with being shorthanded one. And it's Alex! You
guys know how hard she works! And I didn't have an answer."
The petulant expression is priceless.
"Anyway, so he distracted me by catching me up on the family gossip and stuff we've been
missing with being so busy and other stuff. And it got me thinking. Me and Alex have a cousin we
only found about a few years ago, and she's really cool. She just retired from the Air Force late last
year, so I gave her a call."
There's real relief in Kara's abrupt smile.
"In a couple days, she and her family will be here to help out for a bit while Alex heals up. I hope
that everybody out there has some family they can rely on in an emergency, and that doesn't have
to be people you're related too, but just people who are family to you. Cherish them, y'know?"
Once again shaking herself out, Kara gestured towards the barn and the camera swung around.
"Meet our newest livestock at the farm."
The quartet of ostrich were in a larger pen of the steel bar panels set up in the old paddock. It left
just enough room for the alpaca to squeeze by to get to their grassy areas.
"Alex was very adamant that we can't be mad at the ostrich for her injury, and while part of me is
mad, she's right, we can't blame them. They're just animals, and not very bright ones at that. We
have them on healthy poultry feed and fresh water now and a vet will be here after the weekend to
look them over. While I'm not sure the four of them are really happy about being penned up again,
they're calm about it and that's good enough for now. Today we'll be working on getting a larger
enclosure for them and something to protect them from the elements if they need it. Yeah, they
survived wild for a year and a half on their own, but we're taking responsibility for them now and
will make things easier on them."
There's a bit more rambling, but her heart isn't in it and the interruption of Lucy shouting her name
is clearly welcome.
"Kara! If you want, her highness is awake and asking for you. Bring the camera, she asked for that
too."
"Huh," Brainy says from behind said camera as he trots after a running Kara.
The jouncing camera tracks Kara as she heads, not for the yurt, but Lucy's little green house. By
the time Brainy has walked past the bright blue front door and the lightly cluttered interior to the
bedroom, Kara is seated on the bed, smoothing back her sister's tousled hair. Alex is nested
comfortably in what I assume is Lucy's bed, an enormous king size that nearly fills the small room.
A great pile of pillows and blankets has the right leg elevated, a wide band of white gauze wound
around her thigh.
Even battered and sleepy, the woman is sexy as hell and the tiny shorts and tank top and nothing
else is not helping any.
"Hey," Alex says in a voice as dopey as her loose smile. "Just wanted to let everybody know 'm
okay. Well, I will be anyway."
Her eyes are half-mast and hazy and she looks warm and soft and comfy.
Down girl. There are better places to be thirsty.
"So, the damage was primarily a crush inj'ry with a moderate abrasion and-"
"Normal people speak, Doc," Kara teases her and gets a raspberry blown at her.
"Fine. Got my leg squished and the muscles aren't happy 'bout it. There's some bruising already,
but there's 'nuff swelling that there's a whole lotta damage deeper. Hurts like I got, well, kicked by
a dinosaur, but I'm drugged up pretty good, so s'all good."
A wiggle of toes makes her hiss, but it's good proof that she'll recover.
"Come on, buddy," Lucy encourages gently and she and Brainy leave. Out on the covered porch of
the green house, Lucy breathes deep and clings hard to her matter-of-fact attitude to cover the
rattled emotions in her eyes. "That scare was… unpleasant, but things will be okay in the long run.
In the meantime, there's things that need tending to!"
Nia and the Seattle duo pitch in alongside Lucy and Brainy to drive in stakes and set up the heavy
wire cattle panels, creating a large pen at the back of the barn.
I hate to admit that I barely pay attention.
"Well, that was quite the rollercoaster," I say in general to my family and get a variety of sounds of
agreement.
"You really like them, don't you?" Lily asks guilelessly and I grip her tight to me. "Even if you
never met them."
"I really do. Maybe it's a little strange, but they seem like such nice people, even if they're a
little…" I search for the right word, "naughty. But they have all the good parts about being a
family; loyalty, humor, love, acceptance. Who wouldn't like them?"
The girls both nod and I know they feel the words, each having friends at school who were family
to them now, as well as each other. Sam smiles against the side of my head and gives me a
squeeze.
I half-heartedly watch as Kara recruits Ava to help her run a powerful electrical line for an RV
hookup behind the village and get the receptacle set into a sturdy four by four post they hammer in
with great strength. They're both lovely, but I can't help but miss Alex. As evening dims the sky,
the team gets the animals fed and settled before gathering up all their miscellaneous grilling gear
and hauling it over to the green house. The roof extends well past the walls on three sides to
protect the doors and windows except for the sunny kitchen. There's plenty of space for them to get
dinner going and drag over the picnic table that normally sits beside the yurt. Then Sara and Brainy
bring out a beach lounge chair and get it set up to elevate a leg before Alex makes an appearance,
shaky on crutches and being hovered over by her worried sister.
"Ouch," I can't help but sympathize at the red and blue painting her swollen right thigh where she'd
been kicked. "That has to be painful."
With some assistance from her team, and the sound muffled to cover up what is probably some
cussing, Alex is settled in. Some citronella candles and the porch light has them comfortable and
they chat and laugh over burgers, grilled chicken and piles of roasted veggies.
"That looks yummy," Lily says wistfully and I couldn't agree with her more.
So Ava heads home, but Sara decides to stay put for a week to help out. "You're gonna need a
babysitter twenty four-seven," she teases Alex. "And you're going to annoy everyone, so we'll
rotate shifts."
Alex just sighs.
As the video ends, Sam stirs and sits up, making both myself and Lily whine a little in protest. "So,
how does a nice early lunch sound? That grilled food looks amazing, so I'm thinking that nice
bistro over by the golf course? Not too long of a walk and then we can head back here to finish up
the playlist." Her expression goes sly and I know where she's going with this. "And if it gets too
hot…"
"Ice cream?" Lily is alight with delight and nearly crawls up my body to tackle-hug her mom while
I lean out of the way.
It is a welcome family break before we finish up our watch and all too soon it will be time for the
girls to leave once more.
Let's Get This Garden Started! And we got our first Sponsor! May 31
24325 views
Rainbow Haven Acres
Published on June 5, 2017
Excited by her news, Kara impatiently waited for Brainy to set up his shot, gesturing
for her to step a bit to the right. A thumbs-up and she was off and rambling.
"Hi guys! So we skipped a day because not much happened yesterday that I can't
recap today. So, as the title says, we got our first sponsor! Yes!"
Giggling and making happy little kid noises, Kara danced in a circle and pumped her
arms. Brainy chuckled at his pal as she wound down and once more grinned at the
camera.
"Okay, so when the stuff gets here, we'll do a proper showoff, but until then, thank
you, Carhartt!"
Slapping her hands together, Kara beamed at the camera and her tone remained
cheerful.
"So Alex is doing pretty good and slept well the last couple nights. I'm betting the
painkillers helped with that, and she's still on them today which should be pretty docile
for now." Her expression went wry. "Once those are gone is when she'll be a butt. In
the meantime, chores!"
With Alex down, the gang split up her usual tasks, gave Sara a couple easy ones and
went about their day. Every half hour or so Kara would check in on her sister, who
remained drowsy and reasonably passive. Thankfully, the Discovery Channel droning
through documentaries kept her fuzzy attention when she wasn't napping.
Nia wisely decided on breakfast burritos, knowing that the whole lot of them weren't
interested in sitting around a table with plates. They wanted to pack into the entirely
too small a space in the green house and hang out with Alex. Their bedridden pal had
to suffice with a tasty smoothie with enough protein powder packed in it to quiet her
rumbling belly. She was just frisky enough to tease, "bleah, yogurt."
There was no seriousness to it as she drank the whole thing.
They lingered a bit to get a few chuckles out of Alex until she slipped off to sleep
again.
Then it was off to work on the terribly neglected garden. They'd waited so late to get
started it would be a wonder if they got anything viable, but they had to try! The big
Kubota easily dragged a borrowed plow through the packed, neglected soil, exposing
darker layers beneath. Bucket loads of rotten hay and old chicken bedding from the
other farm were disgusting, but everyone pitched in to get it spread into the raw
furrows and tuck seeds in.
They were nearly done when the sound of a large motor carried through the quiet
before they all jumped at the blast of a car horn. Only it wasn't a car, but a van-nosed
motor home and cargo trailer, dusty from their cross-country drive.
"Carol!" Kara squealed and took off to meet the big vehicle where it pulled to a halt in
front of the saloon. The driver stepped out and had a moment to rake her fingers
through the longish blonde crown that accented a crisp fade before setting herself to
accept the charge. Even with several inches on her, Kara was only able to rock the
other woman back a half step.
Carol had the same sort of blonde girl next door good looks as her tall cousin, but
there was a steeliness to her that set her apart. She was all smiles as she returned the
bear hug, thumping Kara's back.
"Good to see you, kid. How you holdin' up?"
Kara found a smile, but it had an edge of being forced and her eyes were glassy.
"I was really scared when Alex dropped and was yelling in pain and I couldn't go to
her 'cause I had to help move the bird or he'd have hurt her worse."
Another joint-crackling hug felt good and Kara wallowed for a moment.
"I feel you, kid. I'm glad we came."
"I'm glad you could come."
A vibration through the RV and a slammed door had the cousins in motion, Carol
leading the way. Around the front of the vehicle they met up with a beautiful, darkskinned
woman with a wry little smile and eyes like a hawk. In a half-embrace at her
side was a matching child, some eleven-ish years old and alight with wary curiosity.
Each of them carried a ginger tabby cat in colorful body harnesses attached to leashes.
"Hey, Mama Bear, Lieutenant Trouble, you remember Kara."
Meeting over video chats and meeting face to face were two completely different
things. But in Kara's smile, Monica saw an echo of her second mother and her wariness
turned into a beaming grin. "You're the artist!"
"Sometimes, yeah. Gosh, it's good to finally meet you both face to face!"
For a moment, Maria's expression stayed the same, then she lifted her hand from
Monica's shoulder so her kitty could walk onto the girl's shoulders to perch there
delicately. Then she unexpectedly pulled Kara into a big hug. "Oh, honey, you've been
through a lot. We've watched some of the videos. Take a deep breath."
And while Carol hugged like a warrior who would ride into battle with you, Maria
hugged like she was shielding you from all the bad in the world. Kara couldn't help but
sniffle back a few tears while she wallowed for a few long moments. Her thank you
was a little hoarse as she straightened up and shook herself out to introduce her team,
who had naturally wandered over.
The visitors waited politely until Kara was done before they exchanged a glance that
was a whole conversation and Carol spoke up confidently. "Carol Rambeau, a pleasure
to meet you guys. This is Maria, my better half, our daughter Monica and the furry copilots
are the sisters Chewie and Goose."
Team Lanvers was delighted, all of them smiling wide except for a very curious Lucy.
Gesturing to herself, Carol continued on.
"Used to be Danvers, but was thrilled to take my lady love's awesome name. Besides,
there's no love lost between me and my immediate bio-fam." The tone was cordial
enough, but there was an undercurrent there as clear as an old map marked, 'here there
be dragons'. She shook it off and motioned between herself and Kara. "Our branches of
the family tree had forked off back at the grandparent level over stupid, racist bullshit,
but I was doing a genealogy project a few years back with Monica and found the split.
Out of curiosity, I went looking and found their father, Jeremiah, and on a whim,
contacted him. Ironically, I was stationed in Washington state at the time and it gave
me an excuse to go meet Alex. After that, we set up an informal family reunion."
"Alex goes back to LA for every Marvel movie," Kara explained with a smile. "To
watch with Dad. It's a thing. So we added the meet and greet to that." With a big laugh,
she turned her attention to Carol. "She was so grumpy that she missed Guardians of
the Galaxy Two back in May!"
Her teammates chuckled and nodded at the memory of a grumbling Alex in cementcaked
boots as they all worked on the foundations for the green house and saloon with
its attendant barn.
"It's really nice that you three and, umm, your copilots, came to help us while Alex is
laid up," Nia offered a little timidly. The strangers seemed nice, but she'd been burned
before. Maria answered with a warm smile on her face.
"It was welcome, honestly. Carol and I both retired from the Air Force last year after a
full twenty years in uniform, and the inactivity has us a little twitchy."
Humorously, Monica nodded as emphatically as her blonde mother.
"With promises of fresh air, good food and access to the old tree farm for the ultralight
aircraft we dragged all the way here, it wasn't a hard sell."
With a laugh, Carol added on, "besides, a place with gentler seasons seemed like a
nice change from Louisiana. Your dry heat up here? A pleasure. Oh, and speaking of
our drive, you guys need to put up a sign. I had to drive nearly twelve miles to find a
place to turn that behemoth around."
"Oh shit, I never thought about that!" Kara yelped and winced at her cussing, glancing
nervously at Monica. Maria looked resigned and Carol just laughed.
"Relax, cuz. She's heard worse."
"And whose fault is that, hmm?" Maria said archly, but her eyes were soft.
Determined to make a better impression, Kara addressed Monica directly. "Hey,
y'know, we've got a ton, and I mean a ton, if not a lot of tons, of old barn wood from a
farm we paid to ransack. Do you want to help me make a couple of signs?"
Despite Kara's somewhat timid tone of voice, Monica brightened at the suggestion.
"Yeah, that sounds like fun."
Maria and Carol watched fondly as their daughter walked away with Kara, the pair of
cats trotting along behind.
LL Not-Your-Neck-Of-The-Woods 1 minute ago
I think my eldest has a crush on your cousin and her lovely wife! She just sighed
dreamily and said, "those two are so cool." She's not wrong, but I still miss Alex!