After checking the horses, Ty shut off the interior barn light and headed for the farm house. As he came up the walk he could see the girl and his grandfather together in the kitchen. Already his jaw began to lock. Who the hell did she think she was? She didn't even want to be there and yet was completely taking over. He'd bet she had Jack wrapped around her big city finger being the bleeding heart that the old man was. Ty knew his grandfather was a tough son of a bitch, smart as a whip, and could see the truth in everyone, but even he had his weaknesses and Ty was almost certain Amy was becoming one of them. Why else would he be going to such great lengths to convince her to stay? It irritated the heck out of him. Being that he was already in a foul mood, Ty had half a mind to skip out on dinner and have a night out on the town. Actually, as he stood there scowling into the house, realized that sounded pretty good. He needed a change of scenery and time alone. The only problem was his truck keys were lying in the ceramic bowl that sat in the kitchen.

After a moment, Ty heaved a sigh and headed for the door, appalled when he realized it was locked! Were they kidding?!

"Hey!" He pounded on the door with an annoyed fist.

Amy jumped, causing the knife she held to slip and slice her hand. "Ah!" She gasped from the sting, dropping the blade onto the counter.

"Jesus priest," Jack mumbled, having been startled himself. He went to unlock the door. "You break that door it's coming out of your pay."

"That would mean you'd have to start paying me. And why the hell was it even locked?!" They never locked the door. Ever. He wasn't even certain they had keys for the locks on the house. They lived in the middle of nowhere and all around them were lifelong neighbors and friends. There was no need to lock the door. Maybe from the inmates that wandered the property, but they had no reason to go near the house and there really wasn't anything worth stealing anyway unless they wanted to hock some archaic appliances.

Amy stretched her wounded hand beneath the faucet. "Maybe you have no problem being alone with a bunch of criminals, but I do." A small ribbon of blood flowed along the basin.

Ty's gaze shifted in her direction. "You shouldn't. I'm betting they'd pay a pretty penny for even the smallest service," he said coolly, fully aware of his grandfather's warning.

Amy shot him a nasty glare. "Why don't you come here and I'll show you how I like to play," she snapped, reaching for the sharp knife she was using.

Ty smirked. "Oh, momma's got venom." He did not forget her reaction from this morning when she struck him pretty hard across the face for calling her a whore and did not underestimate her threat with the knife, despite Jack blatantly sliding between them. "I'll have to rain check. I've got plans." He turned his back on them and went to swipe his keys from the bowl before he was faced with yet another lecture.

"What plans?" Jack asked, momentarily distracted from once again reprimanding his grandson for being an asshole, for lack of a nicer term.

"Nothing to concern yourself with, Jack. I'll be sure not to break curfew." Ty's voice dripped with such sarcasm you'd think he was pubescent, but fact of the matter was before his probationary period was lifted after he was out of jail, he did have a court-ordered curfew. The local cops still ragged on him about it even though it was no longer in effect. Now it made for a good laugh, but at the time Ty spent more than a few nights being followed home.

He left without another word to either of them, but the way his eyes settled on each of them in turn as he made for the door spoke volumes.

Jack and Amy were both quiet a moment, listening to Ty leave, before Jack turned to Amy who was still holding onto the knife. "You can put that down now. Let me see your hand."

Amy let go of the knife, Jack taking it and moving it out of her reach. She watched him as she offered her injured hand. "I wasn't really going to use it," she defended herself, looking at the superficial wound. Cleaned up it didn't look as bad as it initially felt. "Maybe this morning I would have…" she added under her breath, but with Jack being right in front of her he still heard.

"Well, I can't disagree that this morning he probably deserved it, but," Jack let go of her hand. The cut wasn't deep and would close up better in the open air, so he didn't bother for the first aid kit. "I think you were right about Kit coming over," Jack admitted, remembering Amy's apprehension from earlier.

Amy's eyes widened. This was news to her. "So she did drop by." Being confined to the ranch house did have its disadvantages. She'd have liked to bear witness to that confrontation seeing as how each reacted at the mention of the other when alone. "I suppose that's the reason for this particular brand of attitude," she guessed, her eyes drifting toward the driveway where Ty had left. Amy could only imagine what kind of guy Ty could be if he would man up and rectify whatever mistakes he made with Kit, or vice versa. She really didn't know the background of it all but enough to understand his relationship with Kit was the root of a lot of personal demons.

"I'd reckon so, even though they barely spoke a word to each other all day." Jack took the bowl of cut vegetables and dumped it in a pot. He didn't mention the fact that Ty had come back to the ranch sometime after everyone else and seemed in an even worse mood than he was throughout the day. Talking to Amy about Kit at all was probably going to come back to bite him in the ass, but he only did it this time so she didn't take what he said to heart. It was just a defense mechanism. One that he shared with Amy, though Jack was sure both would deny it.

"So, do you know the whole story with them?" Amy asked, perhaps a little intrusively, as she slid into a chair at the table in front of Jack.

The older man scraped the vegetables from the bowl, glancing at Amy over the top of it. "Not sure it's my place to be spreading gossip that could get me into trouble." He and Ty were butting heads enough lately with Amy's arrival, throwing Kit into the mix only exacerbated the issue. They had their ups and downs over the years since Jack pretty much took over raising Ty himself, but they managed to find a common respect for one another and while they didn't always show outward affection toward each other, that familial bond and protectiveness was still there.

Amy sat back in the chair, withdrawing her inquiry. "Right. I guess I shouldn't turn into a hypocrite." She didn't want people prying into her personal life, so it was only fair she left Ty's well enough alone unless she was ready and willing to spill her own secrets. And she wasn't. Not in the slightest.

Jack chuckled to himself, turning around to the stove to continue cooking. "I don't doubt you're just as curious about him as he is about you. You are both too much alike to keep going at it like you are."

Amy scoffed, reaching to pull a slice of cucumber from the bowl. "You keep saying that and yet I still think you're full of it." She didn't see it. Ty couldn't even talk to her like a normal person without it ending in a degrading insult and Amy seeing red. It was pretty clear he thought she was the worst kind of teenage slut, getting pregnant and not even knowing who the father was. But she did know, she just preferred not to and thus didn't bother complicating it for others. She was having a baby out of wedlock and if people wanted to look down their nose at her than that was their business. It was the twenty-first century and lesser things have happened.

"Well, if you could stand to be around each other for more than a few minutes and try to have a conversation I'll bet you would see differently." If they kept this up much longer Jack knew he was going to resort to drastic measures. If it turned out Amy did decide to stay for the long haul, there was no way this tension was going to last. He hoped they could break the barrier before Lisa came back from Europe in a couple weeks, not wanting her to see what kind of turmoil her house fell into in her absence because she would not be as sensitive as Jack and would force the two young'ins into a room until they came out on respectable terms or killed each other – whichever came first.

Amy munched on more cucumber slices, her legs swinging as she eyed Jack. "Like what kind of bet?" Growing up with a father who liked to gamble and hanging around his weekly poker games at the apartment, Amy could never back away from a good bet. It was almost like it was in her blood.

"Hm?"

Amy sat up straighter. "You said you'd bet I'd see Ty differently if we could have a real conversation. What's your wager?"

Jack was thrown a little by Amy's sudden interest. He'd only meant it as a figure of speech, but if she wanted to strike a deal then he'd play her game. "Okay. You have a conversation with Ty, a real conversation that doesn't end in a fight or someone getting slapped, you agree to stay here at least through the summer without complaint."

"And if we can't?" Amy prompted.

"If you can't…" Jack thought a moment. "I'll call your father personally and see to it that he accepts you back home – if you still want to leave."

Amy took a minute to contemplate her options. She wasn't even sure Jack had the ability to persuade her father to rescind his decision – not after the conversation they had this morning that left her devastated and in tears. She still believed it was all an act, but that didn't mean a phone call from Jack would make him drop it and take her back. There were factors at play Jack didn't know about leaving Tim firm in his decision to send her away. On the other hand, maybe because Jack had a history with her father she knew nothing about, his influence was more profound than she knew. It was Jack that Tim entrusted his troubled daughter to after all.

Sliding from her chair, Amy stepped up in front of Jack and offered her hand, looked him squarely in the eye and said, "Deal." Then prayed harder than a holy high roller that she had the ability to keep her hormonal temper in check the next time she ran into the young Mr. Borden.

Author's Notes: This chapter didn't feel up to par but it's really just a bridge/filler chapter so bear with it, friends. Enjoy.