Nights came early at Heartland, but mornings even more so. Before the sky even began to lighten as the sun rose over the Rockies, Jack was stirring in his room off the living room. He dressed in his usual jeans and plaid shirt then headed to the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee. It wasn't long after the first drip that Ty was too rising and getting ready for the day. Amy listened to it all in the dark of her room. She had been unable to sleep. Tossing and turning all night long as the silence rang in her ears and left her uneasy. She was a girl from a big city that never slept. Never was it so still in the night. It was just another painful reminder of how far she was from home and how long it would be until she could go back – if she ever could. Amy tried not to think that way, determined to hold onto some small ounce of hope that her father would have a change of heart or an opportunity would come along she could take back to her beloved homeland. But until then she was stuck and if she didn't want to suffer every moment of every day she was there then she needed to make some changes. They wouldn't happen overnight and she was sure there would be times she'd fight it and have to bite her tongue, but it was just something she was going to have to endure.

Heaving a sigh, Amy glanced at the clock and cringed at the early hour. But she wasn't sleeping anyway despite how tired she still was so there was no point in lying there staring into space. She pushed the blanket aside and climbed out of bed to venture out and partake in whatever morning routine these cowboys had.

Upon entering the kitchen, the strong odor of coffee hit her like a punch in the gut. She froze and sucked in a breath as her stomach rejected the smell and turned over. Both Jack and Ty looked up surprised to see their guest standing there, but even more so to see her so pale. Jack opened his mouth to say good morning when Amy turned and darted for the bathroom. Falling to her knees, she retched into the toilet bowl. Her stomach painfully convulsed as she threw up everything she'd eaten the night before until there was nothing left but dry heaves.

Both men cringed at the sound of Amy getting sick as they stood looking through the doorway she'd disappeared from. Ty, who had a piece of jellied toast on the way to his mouth, glanced down at it and then set it aside, his appetite lost. "What was that about?"

"Just one of the wonderful woes of pregnancy," Jack told him, remembering how sick Lyndy had been for almost two-thirds of hers. He turned around to flick off the coffee maker then poured his mug into a thermos. "See if she's alright. I'll get started on feeding."

Ty's face fell. "Me? But I don't know anything about this kind of stuff." Jack was the one who'd been through it all before – twice. At least he knew what was going on and how to help while Ty's only experience with pregnancy was through cows and horses.

Stepping into his boots, Jack shrugged. "Well, now's your chance to learn." Grabbing his thermos he stepped out into the cool morning leaving Ty to gape after him.

Closing her watery eyes, Amy dropped her forehead on her arm that hugged the seat while the other reached for the flusher. That certainly wasn't the positive start she'd been hoping for. It got even worse when she heard Ty's footsteps approaching the open door. She shifted to lean up when he appeared, trying to hold onto what little was left of her dignity. Sniffing, she cleared her throat that was sore and tasted of bile, directing her eyes into the clean toilet water rather than at Ty who was just as awkwardly trying not to look at her. "Uh, are you okay? Do you need anything?"

Amy shook her head. "No. I'm fine." She kept her answer simple, then waited for Ty to leave as his shifting weight told her he wanted to. But he lingered in the doorway, torn between wanting to adhere to that dismissal and call Amy out on her obvious lie. Her eyes slid sideways to look at him. "You don't have to check on me. I'm a big girl," she told him in clearer terms for him to understand. She hated gawkers and even worse that she was something to gawk at.

Ty didn't tell her that it wasn't his choice to check on her, but instead just stepped back. "Okay, well, there's coffee out there if-" He winced at Amy's reaction to the word, looking at if she was trying to keep from throwing up again. "-sorry."

"You can go now," she told him in a harsher tone while trying to maintain control of her gag reflex. The stench of freshly brewed coffee was still wafting about the house and occasionally Amy got an unsettling whiff of it that kept her from attempting to get up off the floor and carry on with her morning. Ty walked away abruptly after that, actually feeling a little bad for her and whatever other unpleasant obstacles came from being pregnant. He knew of things like morning sickness and fatigue and increased appetite – things he learned from his high school health classes, but other than that he was as unknowledgeable as Amy was about ranch life.

As soon as Ty left, Amy's body fell sideways against the bathtub. She pulled her legs to her chest and tucked her arms between them as she dropped her cheek on her knee while she waited for the nausea to subside or the coffee smell to dissipate – whichever came first. She ended up falling asleep in that position, jolting herself awake out of a dream. Her small nap left her body heavy and even more exhausted than when she woke up and her neck was sore from the odd angle it had been in. Gingerly, she lifted her head and rubbed the back of her neck, giving it a satisfying crack before she finished stretching out her limbs and pulling herself to her feet.

It was lighter in the house now as morning truly arrived and the sun bathed the farm in a golden glow. The house was quiet as Amy shuffled back to the kitchen and foraged for something to eat that would be easy on her stomach. There wasn't much to choose from so dry toast and a banana was what it was. She was able to eat her breakfast in peace and when she stood up, glanced out the window into the ranch yard. The transport van had yet to arrive so if she wanted to explore without getting caught in the bustle now was her chance. As much as she would like to continue holing up in her bedroom, it was close quarters and too beautiful of a day to spend it moping inside. Even she would admit that. Either way, Jack never did say when they were supposed to meet the doctor in town so she would need to be dressed and ready at some point anyway.

The phone rang as she was on her way to toss the banana peel into the trash, a shrill sound in the quiet of the house that made her jump to look at it. It rang again, Amy debating on whether she should answer it as she peeked outside to see if anyone was on their way to get it. A place like this seemed like the sort to have the ringer connected to chimes outside of the house and barn. But as it rang a third time, didn't seem likely. Or maybe no one was around to hear it. It really wasn't her business who was calling or if it was missed. They could call back later. But it was the smallest sliver of hope that her father was on the other end of that line that had Amy reaching for it. "Hello?"
"I'm sorry… I must have the wrong number." Came a young female voice just before a click as she hung up.
Amy pulled the phone away from her ear and shrugged as she hung up too. Well, that hadn't been the call she was looking for but at least it was easy enough to screen.

About to walk back to her room to change, Amy was stopped when the phone began to ring again. Sighing, she went back to pick it up. "Hello?"
"Oh no, did I dial the wrong number again? Drat"
"Who is it you're looking for?" Amy asked, starting to understand the caller's confusion since it probably wasn't ever a woman to answer.
"Ty Borden."
"No, you have the right number. He's not available right now, though. Do you want me to give him a message?"
"Oh, is this Lisa? I'm so sorry. Ty said you were away and I just assumed-"
"No, this is Amy."
There was a pause. "Amy?"
Amy hesitated, biting her lip and unsure how to explain who she was. She didn't know who all knew about her and didn't want to be the one to break such surprising, and confusing, news to people if it could be the start of issues. She knew how that kind of miscommunication worked. "I'm…um… a friend of Jack's. I'm staying at the ranch for a while." She didn't think that sounded too strange but the pause on the other end started to make her wonder until she received a response.
"Okay, well, can you just tell Ty that Kit called? I'll try him again later."
"Sure." What kind of name was 'Kit?'
"Thanks."

Finally hanging up, Amy raised her brow at the receiver as she put it back on the base. So, it seemed Ty had friends after all, girl friends even. Who knew.

"There you are," Jack called from the back of a brown and white horse Amy would eventually know as Paint, as she ventured out into the stable yard after changing into a pair of shorts and tank top, flip-flops slapping at her heels. Lobo tagged along behind her, thoroughly intrigued by their guest, but Amy figured it was because she was probably the only person to show him any true affection. "I was just about to come in and check on you. Feeling better?" He pulled the horse up alongside of Amy who took a careful step away for fear of being stepped on.

"Yeah. I had some toast and that seemed to help," Amy nodded, squinting up at the old cowboy.
"Good. Good. Glad to see you out of that room, too. Would have seemed like such a waste of a day to be inside today." Slowly, Jack stood and eased his leg over the side of his mount to step down, groaning quietly as he did so. It was obvious his age and years of hard work were beginning to catch up to him. "Come on, I'll give you the tour." He tied Paint to the hitching rail outside the barn before going inside, the overpowering smell of manure hitting Amy almost as hard as the coffee. It was a stench she never before experienced and would be happy never to have to again.

"Don't worry about the smell," Jack said when he saw how her hand flew to her nose. "After a while you won't even notice it."
"Mm, I doubt that," Amy grumbled from behind her hand. One of the things she noticed since getting pregnant was how amplified and precise her sense of smell became. The subtlest of scents became so potent they were sometimes intolerable.

She followed behind Jack into the modest little barn. For being such a large ranch she was surprised to see there were only four stalls. "Where do the rest of the horses go?" She asked, keeping her distance from a curious little chestnut that came to check them out.

Jack went right up to rub the star on the animal's face, not at all phased when she lipped at his shirt. "Depends. Some are out in a herd that have the run of the ranch, others we keep in the corrals you see around the back. We use the stalls for new arrivals and any that need to recover from injury. Like this gal here."

"What happened to her?" Amy was always a sympathetic animal lover. All of those commercials for humane societies asking to donate broke her heart. Seeing animals in pain was just intolerable and even if she had no expertise in veterinary medicine, she always felt a need to help.

"Got a little banged up when we introduced her into one of the larger herds. Bottom of the pecking order, y'know? She tried to get away from one of the other horses and got tangled in some barbed wire." Urging the horse back, Jack opened the stall door. "See?"

Amy kept her distance, but ducked around to see the deep healing gashes in the mare's legs. "Poor girl. That must have been scary, huh?"

"You can touch her. She won't bite." He smiled, amused by Amy's intentional distance, even more so by the sudden look of uncertainty that crossed her face as she looked from the horse to Jack and back again.

It was usually every little girl's dream growing up to have a pony. It seemed that even if they grew out of it, it was always a phase at some point in their lives. It had been for Amy, too, long ago when she used to see the mounted police patrolling the city streets and marching in parades. Now she was living on a ranch full of the animal but felt not even a sliver of excitement. She'd long since grown out of her pony-loving childhood.

"Uh, maybe later. I'm still not sure about the whole… horse thing. Yet. One step at a time. Like you said."
"No scared, are ya?" Jack teased, making Amy frown, affronted.
"No."

The cowboy didn't look convinced but knew better than to pressure her, so he just moved right along. "Alright." Stepping away from the horse, he led Amy through the tack area to an adjacent room. "This is the office. If you need to use the computer for something it's the only place on the ranch you can get internet. Dial-up. There's wireless in places in town but out here there's no such thing as high-speed."

"I don't doubt it."Amy chuckled as she looked around the very cluttered space. Papers and books on everything from equine nutrition to training and massage therapy stacked the desk and bookshelves. Photos, flyers, and newspaper clippings hung on just about every inch of the wall along with a very outdated calendar. Odd plants hung in the window and pots lined a work space in the corner along with various vials and jars of what looked like spices and herbs. Amy gave them a strange look, wondering if they were into some kind of sorcery as well.

Jack saw her eyes linger on the herbs and went to pick up a bottle of lavender oil. "My daughter was really into treating horses with herbal therapies. She always said that horses experience the same emotions as humans. What works for us can work for them too."

It was an intriguing philosophy and probably true, but Amy still couldn't help to look skeptically at what looked like a spice rack. "Was she some kind of hippy? Flower power." Amy smiled, amused by her own joke, but when she looked at Jack to see if he got it and laughed too, the smile was wiped instantly off of her face. Tension suddenly filled the room as his face hardened into an unamused expression. "I'm sorry. It was just a joke," Amy immediately apologized, not knowing why except she felt she needed to when Jack didn't seem to appreciate her humor.

"It wasn't a joke to her. Nothing about this place is a joke, Miss Fleming. It's a serious business. Lily dedicated her life to saving these animals any way she could. It was the only thing that kept her together when her world was falling apart. You best learn to respect that." Jack wasn't messing around and Amy actually felt herself become ashamed as he stood there and reprimanded her for making fun of their methods there at Heartland. She really hadn't meant it maliciously. It was just something she never heard of before.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." Amy apologized again, lapsing them both into an uncomfortable silence. "Where is she?" It seemed odd that Jack mentioned having a daughter when Ty said aside from his step-grandmother, Lisa, there weren't any women around the ranch. But as soon as she asked Amy knew it was a question she'd regret receiving the answer.

"Dead," Jack replied simply.

Amy swallowed, shifting her weight uncomfortably. She should have stayed inside. "Oh. I'm sorry." There she was apologizing a third time in a span of two minutes. That had to be some kind of record.

Jack merely shrugged. "You didn't know. Been a while now anyway." Taking off his hat, he brushed his grey hair back then replaced it. "Come on, not much time before the guys get here." He headed back out through the barn to the yard to finish the tour.

Amy hesitated a moment before tagging along, once again feeling like a small child put in their place. It seemed she wasn't the only one with a bit of a tragic past.