Authors Note
Okay so I'm glad you liked the last chapter and thanks for the reviews! I don't know how much I like this chapter but I hope its okay. Review!
If you're wondering why I chose Arizona for where Ty moves I chose it because even though I live in Philly I have a house in Scottsdale, in a development called 'The Preserve' if any of you live in AZ you might know where it is, and I REALLY want to move there. And my mom and step-dads wedding was in AZ at a restaurant called SASSI, it's at the bottom of Pinnacle Peak, so that's why Lou is having her wedding in AZ.
Important: I have to add something to the summary: Ty is not going to have total memory loss. He remembers a lot of his life from before the accident it's just the things having to do with horses and Heartland and Amy are foggy and seem more like a dream to him, not reality. The title has been changed to 'Photograph'. You will soon find out why!
REVISED summary: AU of some sorts, basically the same as the original books up until Ty's accident with some changes. Brad Baldwin, a lawyer, is away on a business trip when he receives the news that his son was involved in an accident at Heartland. Without alerting anyone at Heartland Brad transfers Ty to the Mayo Clinic Hospital (a/n: it's a real hospital, I've been there,) in Arizona as soon as he returns from his trip. Brad moves his family out to Scottsdale, Arizona because a big firm offered him a job there. When Ty wakes up from his coma he has slight amnesia but is able to recall most everything from his previous life but there is one part that is still unclear to him, it seems more like a dream. Ty gives up the life he can hardly remember having and settles into his new home and school (he never dropped out and he's 15, Amy is 14) and his new role on the football team. Two years later when Ty is 17 and Amy is 16 Amy goes to Arizona for his sister, Lou's, wedding to Scott Trewin, Heartland's vet. A week or so before the wedding Lou, Scott, Matt, Soroya and Amy go for a hike at Pinnacle Peak where they run into a group of teenagers. One catches Amy's attention, there is something about him that reminds her so much off Ty, her once best friend who disappeared from the hospital two years ago, but he doesn't act anything like the old Ty used to and doesn't seem to remember her.
Disclaimer: everything recognizable belongs to Lauren Brooke.
Photograph
Chapter 2
Two years later, Scottsdale, Arizona
"Great game last night Ty!" a tall, brunette called out to the teenager who was striding confidently across the school yard of Scottsdale Academy.
Ty turned and started walking backwards as he faced the girl and her group of admiring friends. He waved and grinned widely, his green eyes held their ever present mischievous glint. "Thanks!"
As Ty walked towards his friends he received many greetings from his fellow students of Scottsdale Academy. Ty was a junior, the quarterback on the football team and worshipped like a god among the rest of the school. If his amazing football skills didn't win you over than his insanely good looks surely would. Ty's dark brown hair was cut in the 'skater' style and was constantly falling over his eyes so he'd have to push it back but you could not miss the strikingly green eyes underneath the hair. He was tall, 6' 3", tanned, lean and muscular. His face was perfectly chiseled, like a work of art.
Ty continued walking backwards and in mid sentence he felt hands on his back. "Yo man! You're gonna walk into a cactus!" Ty's best friend, Mick Laurence, exclaimed. Mike was a wide receiver on the Scottsdale Coyotes. He was well built and tall, 6'1" only two inches shorter than Ty, with tan skin from the year round sun, dirty blonde hair and navy blue eyes.
Ty turned around and noticed that he was, in fact, rather close to a big saguaro cactus. Ty grinned his trademark smile, half amused and half mischievous or more amused. His green eyes lit up like emeralds under a light at a jeweler. "What's up?" he asked casually, exactly like he hadn't almost walked into a pointy, spike laden cactus.
Mick shook his head, "Man you're so weird."
Ty grinned and casually put his hands in the pockets of his uniform khaki pants. The Scottsdale Academy's uniform consisted of a pair of khakis, a white button down, a blue suit jacket and a red and blue diagonally stripped tie. Ty's tie was slightly loose at the top and his jacket wasn't buttoned and the top three buttons of his shirt were undone, his signature laid back, I don't give a shit what anyone thinks about me but I 'm wickedly hot and I know it, look. He shook his head to the side to get the hair out of his eyes. "Whatever." They both turned and started walking towards the schools front entrance. "So what's new?" he asked again.
"Oh you know our hang out at the Peak?" Ty and his friends could frequently be found at Pinnacle Peak, they'd been hanging out there since Ty had moved to Scottsdale about two years ago. It was considered 'their' territory and to be able to hang out there you had to be 'in' with Ty, the group's official leader though no one really knew how he became this because he was the most reason to join the group but it was natural and they just went with it.
"What about it?" Ty asked curiously as they ambled between the groups of students. Waving and saying 'hey' to almost everyone.
"Well I was hangin' around SASSI yesterday ditching my parent's dinner party," Ty nodded in understanding. SASSI was a very fancy and expensive Italian (?) restaurant that both boys frequently went to with their parents. Mick's parents were famous art dealers' and dined with some of their bigger clients last night. "Well I was hangin' around the fountain last night and you know Missy right?" Missy was the wedding coordinator at SASSI. "Well she was walking around with this young couple. They came up to me and we started talking. Lou Flamen and Scott Treebin or something. But whatever. Anyways supposedly they're havin their wedding at SASSI in 6 months, April."
"Cool," Ty said distractedly. He looked up at the clear blue sky, "Should be good weather," he remarked.
Mick laughed, "Okay so boring news aside, are we still goin' to the Peak later? You never know, we could run into the future Mr. and Mrs. Treebun."
"I thought you said Treebin?"
"Treebun Treebin, same difference. So we still goin' later?"
"Course," Ty said with another one of his grins that sent a pack of girls they were passing swooning.
Photograph
Later that day, Pinnacle Peak
At 3:30 that afternoon and array of expensive and spotless cars pulled into the parking lot at the base of Pinnacle Peak. Leading the group of five cars was a black Ferrari with its top down. They pulled into a row of spaces. Ty jumped out of the black Ferrari not even bothering to open its door. He stretched his long, khaki shorts clad legs out in front of him. He was also wearing a navy blue t-shirt with a button down white shirt with dark blue strips over it that was left open.
Soon he was joined by a pack of equally good looking guys, most of who were also on the football team. There was Nick the center, Alex the kicker, Dan the running back and Rob the other wide receiver. This was Ty's closest group of friends.
As they walked up towards the mountains entrance they passed by a number of tourists who were wearing shorts and t-shirts with water bottles strapped to their sides who were taking advantage of the heavenly warm weather before returning to long-johns and parkas. They, specifically Ty, attracted the attention of every single, some not though, female within sight.
"Where we goin'?" Nick asked.
The question was directed to Ty and even though no one acknowledged it, it was a given. Ty was the leader of their group and had the final say in everything. Ty looked up at the sun. "How 'bout… spot R," they had a spot on the mountain for every letter of the alphabet.
"Sweet," Dan said as they walked over the little bridge that let to the bottom of the mountain where there were maps, bathrooms, water fountains, benches and a ton of tourists.
"Hey look!" Mick suddenly called out and pointed to the overhang where a bunch of hikers were sitting. "It's Scott and Lou!" the couple looked up surprised at hearing their names called out. Once they saw it was Mick they waved and walked over.
"Hey, Mick right?" Scott asked. They were both clean and not sweaty so Ty was able to determine that they hadn't yet started their hike.
"Yep, these are my friends Nick, Dan, Alex, Rob and…"
"Ty?" Lou asked suddenly peering intently at Ty.
Ty slowly turned around at the sound of his name, "Yah?" he said quirking an eyebrow. He looked Lou up and down before he determined that he did not know her though something about her seemed a little familiar, actually the same could be said for her fiancé to. "Do I know you?" he asked lazily.
"I-I'm sorry you just reminded me of someone I used to know," Lou stuttered.
Ty pushed his air out of his eyes to reveal his unique green eyes. The eyes looking at Lou instantly reminded her of someone… "We should get going," Ty said. "The park ranger comes around in," he pulled up his sleeve and looked at the silver Rolex that was strapped to his left wrist, "Half and hour." Not all of the group's spots were located on the trail itself so they had to get out to their spot before the ranger came around. Not that it really mattered since the rangers all knew that they went off the trails and had given up long ago on trying to tell them differently but there was something about the Treebun's or Treebin's or whatever Mick had called them that was making Ty uneasy and he just wanted to go.
After a quizzical look at Ty Mick quickly agreed, "You're right." He turned back to Scott and Lou, "Have a good hike!"
"Thank you! Have a good day!" Scott called as the 5 friends turned to follow Ty off down the trail. Ty didn't even attempt to conceal the fact that they were not going on the trails. He walked right off into the brush walking around cactuses, rocks and holes like he did it everyday.
"What did you say your name was again?" Lou shouted after them boldly.
Ty never answered though he just kept walking though he did turn to stare at the couple. Mick rushed behind him to keep him from falling over a Teddy Bear cactus. Ty grinned at Mick like this was something he was always doing, which he was. Without Mick Ty would probably have been a human pin cushion ages ago.
Than they disappeared behind a large boulder leaving Scott and Lou standing at the trail head.
"Did that remind you of…?" Lou trailed off staring at the place where the teenagers had last stood.
"Yeah it did," Scott agreed quietly. "But it couldn't have been him," he tried to reason.
"Do you think it was him?" Lou asked hopefully.
"Honestly Lou?" Scott sighed. "I doubt it. He's probably just another local kid or something. Besides we don't even know his last name or even his first name at that."
"I suppose so but…"
Scott cut his fiancée off, "Lou we'll probably never see the kid again. Just forget about it, it wasn't him." Scott paused before adding, "Just don't mention any of this to Amy."
Photograph
4 hours later
Ty was lazily leaning against a boulder on the edge of one of the trails few rest places laughing silently as he watched his friends try to scramble up the rocky hill without out falling on a cactus or getting bitten by a snake or a scorpion.
They were still only about half way up the hill so Ty turned around at looked at the other people who were sitting in the rest area sweating profusely and guzzling water. They all stared at Ty in amazement; he had just climbed up the side of the mountain and wasn't even sweating! Ty hated tourists so he quickly turned back around.
He walked over to the edge of the rest area and looked down at his friends, "Hurry up! Or we'll go to spot Z tomorrow!" he threatened. Spot Z was the hardest to get to and required the most climbing. The odd group scrambled a little faster.
Ty sat down on the low wall and looked up at the view. You could see his house from up here. It was one of the million dollar homes at the base of the mountain. The circular driveway was paved with cobble stones but it was smooth and in the middle was an island that had a monstrous saguaro and some prickly pear cacti around it. You could clearly make out the seven car garage and the sprawling patio in the back with the fans spinning and the misters sending out a fine mist. The lawn was impeccably cared for and there for it was as green as the nearby golf course. The pool was huge and the clear, blue water glistened invitingly in the afternoon sun. On the bottom of the pool there was a tile mural of running horses. It wasn't a photograph but a painting in gold's, dark reds, blues, purples and browns. Ty had always been strangely drawn to the mural but he never knew why. His father, Brad, had tried to get ride of it but Ty hadn't let him. The first time he saw his new house coming home from the hospital the mural had made the strange house feel more like home.
In fact, Mick's house was right next door to Ty's and just as extravagant. Ty and Mick became friends right after he moved here…
Flashback
Two years ago
Ty walked out of his new front door and walked into the new driveway of his new house. He looked around at his new surroundings, everything felt strange to him. He had been told that he had been involved in a car accident at his old home in Virginia and had broken his neck and his leg and had been in a coma for several months.
Ty remembered his old life, he remembered his school, his friends and his old hang outs but something was missing. There was another part, a part with a beautiful, smiling and laughing girl and horses, a farm and people that had been like a second family to him. Ty asked his dad about it but he just told him that after he had awoken from the coma he had had amnesia and was probably just mixing things up.
Ty had been confused, it had felt so real. He finally dismissed the foggy memories as a dream.
Just than Ty heard the bouncing of wheels coming down the paved road in front of his house and saw a kid about his age with shaggy blonde hair on a skateboard. The kid jumped up into the air and the skateboard flipped under him. When he landed he looked up and caught Ty watching him.
"Hey!" he called out. "Do you live there?" he asked pointing to the house behind Ty.
"Yeah," Ty answered. "We… I mean 'I' just got here," Ty corrected himself because his family had actually been living here for months, he had only been here, at the house, for a few days.
"Oh wait, are you Tyler?" he asked questioningly.
"Yeah," Ty said surprised. "How did you know?"
"My parents had your family over for dinner when you moved here. They told us about you, you were in the hospital, right?"
"Uh huh," Ty answered. "Car accident," he added even though it didn't feel right to say that.
"Yeah I know. I'm Mick, Mick Laurence," he said walking over to Ty and extending his hand. They shook hands firmly.
Ty grinned, "Hey and you can call me Ty."
"Cool. So Ty what school are you going to go to?"
"Um Scottsdale Academy I think," Ty tried to think back to what his parents had told him in the hospital.
"Awesome! I go there to. 9th grade?"
"Yep," Ty grinned again.
Mick smiled friendly and said suddenly, "I was about to go to the mall to meet up with some friends. Do you want to come? I could introduce you to the guys."
"Okay, thanks," Ty said, thankful that his strange new life was starting to look up.
"Great, I'm just going to go drop my board off at home," Mick pointed to the house next to Ty's. "And than I'll back over here okay?"
"Okay," Ty answered.
Mick waved before jogging over to his house and Ty went back into his house to tell his parents he was going out.
This was the start of new friendships and a new life…
End of flashback
"Man you've got to pick some new spots!" Ty was jerked from his thoughts as Mick climbed over the wall breathing heavily earning some odd looks from the hikers but as usual Ty ignored everyone that he wasn't interested in at the moment.
"You're the wide receiver, I shouldn't be that hard for you," Ty commented with a smirk lifting the corners of his lips.
"Ty, man, you're crazy I don't know how you can climb that fast." Mick looked over the edge and than turned back to Ty, "But since the guys aren't up yet I have to ask you something, why did you make up that lame ass excuse about Ranger Joe?" Ranger Joe was what they called all of the park rangers, there wasn't any particular reason,someone just said it one day and it ended up sticking. "You know they don't care if we go off the trails."
"I know," Ty sighed wondering if he should say why he had done it or not. He finally decided to go ahead and tell Mick, "There was something about those two people… what were their names again? Oh yeah, Lou and Scott that made me uncomfortable."
"What?" Mick asked interestedly.
"I dunno, it felt like I knew them from somewhere but I'm positive I've never seen them before!"
"Well what about in VA? You know, where you used to live?" Mike suggested.
"I don't remember them though. I dunno just forget about it, I'll never see them again so it doesn't mater."
"You spoke too fast," Mick told Ty and he pointed across the rest area where Scott and Lou were just entering. "You should ask them if they live in VA."
"No! Mick I swear if you…" but it was too late, Mick was already waving the couple over,
"Hey Scott! Lou! Over here!"
Scott and Lou walked over to them and sat on the rock wall across from Mick and Ty.
"Hey," Scott said. "Where'd you guys go?"
"Oh you know," Mick answered. "We have our spots."
"What did you say your name was again?" Lou asked suddenly facing Ty.
Ty reluctantly looked up into Lou's bright blue eyes. It was just too familiar for him…
Noticing Ty's lack of words Mick started to speak for his friend, "Oh his name is…"
"Brian. My name's Brian," Ty said quickly, not knowing what had made him lie about his name to a pair of complete strangers.
"Oh," Lou said and looked down.
"I'm sorry," Scott said, "It's just that you remind us very much of someone we know… used to know," Scott corrected himself.
Mick continued talking to Lou and Scott but Ty got up and walked over to the edge of the rest area and was thankful to see that the rest of his group were just about at the top. Alex was the first to jump over the ledge. "Dammit Ty you've got to stop doing this to us!" He exclaimed loudly and Scott and Lou over questioningly. Ty glared at Alex. "What?" Alex looked around confused.
The rest of the guys were just reaching the top now. Once they were all standing in front of Ty gave them a glare that clearly said 'Don't say anything.' They looked at each other confused.
"Hey Scott?" Mike asked. "Where do you guys live?"
"Virginia," Scott answered, "Why?"
Mike glanced sharply at Ty before saying, "Oh, no reason."
Thankfully Ty's silver RAZR buzzed inside his shorts pocket and he quickly fished it out and looked at the caller ID. It read, 'mom' on the little screen. Ty quickly flipped it open and said, "Hey what's up?"
"Hello Ty," Lisa, him mom, said into the phone. "Your father just called to say that he's home early from his business trip and is on his way home."
"Okay. So I should come home now I guess?"
"Yes. Where are you?" she asked.
"The Peak," Ty answered simply.
"Of course," she said like she should have guessed it. "Just get home soon okay? You know your dad likes you to be here when he gets home."
"Okay, I'll be home in 20 minutes," Ty said before he flipped the phone shut and dropped it back into his pocket. "Change of plans," he said to his friends. "Dad's home early from his business trip and I have to get home." He looked around at his still huffing and puffing friends and grinned his trademark grin, "You guys can stay for a while but I've got to go. It was nice meeting you," he said politely to Scott and Lou before he ambled lazily out of the rest area and back down the path. Ty knew the place like the back of his hand and they saw him veer off the path in front of a group of hikers who looked at him like he was insane. After he disappeared from sight it only took him about 10 minutes to get to the bottom and from their view point they could see him vault over the Ferrari's door and motor out of the lot.
"He lives in that house right there," Mick said pointing down to Ty's house. And sure enough not 5 minutes later they saw the Ferrari pull into the circular driveway. This time Ty opened the door and walked around to the back of the house to where his mother and younger brother, Lee, were waiting for him on the patio.
Ty knew he was being watched and turned to face the mountain. He looked up to the spot where he could just make out a group of tiny figures and waved. 5 minutes later Brad Baldwin threw the sliding glass door open and Brad strode through. He flung his arms open wide and said, "I'm home!"
a/n: sorry it sucks towards the end but I hope you like it anyway! And just as a note: TY IS NOT A STONER OR A DRUGGIE! So don't tell me I made him sound like one! LOL! I personally think Ty is insanely hot as I have portrayed him and he will remain that way forever and ever until I find I guy like him which will be never! Next chapter is at Heartland. Review!
Oh and I have a chapter for every one of my stories written but my laptop won't connect with the internet even though the wireless connection is supposedly 'very good'. Go figure. So as a result I cannot email myself anything to post on another computer and Mr. Laptop seems to hate floppy disks so I'm trying it with a CD now but I can only do one for now. I'll try to have chapters for my other two stories up by Friday!