Amy's alarm went off at the usual 6am the following morning. She shot out of bed; jolted from her uneasy sleep by the loud noise and turned it off. She sat back down on her bed and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. Her dreams had been riddled with images of Ty lying on the sand, blood seeping through his shirt; every time, she had to run to him from a distance that must have been the same as she had been when she'd stopped Spork and every time she made it beside him, he had tears streaking both sides of his face, he took a gasping breath and whispered a broken "--love…you," before his eyes drooped and didn't reopen. Shaking her head slightly in a failed attempt to push the images from her mind, Amy pushed herself to her feet, grabbed the first shirt and pair of jeans her fingers touched and after throwing them on, walked unsteadily to the bathroom.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Amy had to admit; she'd seen movies with zombies that had more life in their eyes than her own. She splashed cool water on her face, patted her face dry on a fluffy towel and left.

Quietly descending the stairs, she saw her mother's old bedroom (now the spare bedroom) door open slowly.

"Do you always get up this early?" Soraya asked through a yawn, rubbing sleep from her eye with one balled fist while attempting to pull a sweater over her t-shirt with the other hand.

"Every morning," Amy answered in a low voice. "You can go back to sleep if you want, I usually get things started outside before Joni and Ty get here."

"No way," Soraya protested, looking anxiously into Amy's obviously still tired face. "I'm here to help"

The pair donned barn jackets and boots and headed into the yard.

The morning activities were strangely normal, Joni arriving as usual at seven by which time Amy had already mixed the feeds and Soraya had made a good dent in the mucking. Lou emerged from the house quite shortly after Joni and took up a shovel, Amy suspected, it was in an attempt to lighten the workload.

Soraya retreated to the house to shower while Amy took a concoction of rosemary, mint, sage and jojoba oil to Mercury's stall. Upon entering the stall she felt unnerved to find not only that the horse hadn't touched the food that Lou had brought him, but also that he was, again anxiously watching the barn door.

Keeping up a steady stream of random prattle, Amy massaged the oil into the area around Mercury's muzzle, down his neck and part of his shoulders. After she had reached his neck, his head drooped in relaxation, but she persevered until she'd completely covered the muscles of his shoulders. Resting her forehead against his withers for a moment, Amy breathed in the sharp mixture of oils. Feeling refreshed, she patted his side.

"Eat some breakfast and maybe Joni will longe you today," She said out loud patting his side again before letting herself out of his stall and going back to the house for a shower.

&

Amy kept a constant watch on the clock in all her classes that day. She knew she was being completely irrational, but she wanted to see Ty, very badly. She reasoned with herself as she sat silently at a table with Soraya, Matt and a handful of their other friends, that the logic behind this need was routed in the severity of Ty's condition last time and the fact that this time he had almost a dozen holes in him. She shuddered involuntarily at this thought causing Soraya to shoot her a worried glance.

When (finally) the final sounded, she bolted for her locker, running into someone as she turned a corner in the hall.

"Watch where you're going- - Oh, Amy!"

Amy groaned inwardly as she stammered an apology to her absolute least favourite person on the planet, Ashley Grant.

"Oh, Amy!" Ashley repeated, in an uncharacteristically kind voice. "I heard what happened to Ty, is he going to be alright?"

"How-" But Amy stopped herself realizing she didn't care how Ashley knew about Ty. Of course she sounded sympathetic, she had always been interested in Amy's boyfriend. "He's going to be fine."

"Oh thank god!" Ashley exclaimed, delicately placing her immaculately manicured fingertips dramatically on her chest. "I was so worried, if there's anything I can do, we could always send someone over to help out at Heartland."

Ashley's entourage of friends made sounds of awe at her gesture but Amy knew better than to accept anything from Green Bair, the high-end boarding stable owned by the Grants.

"We're really fine, I have to go…" Amy trailed off, brushing past Ashley and her group.

"That was rude," Amy heard one of Ashley's friends say not so quietly.

"It must be really hard for her," Ashley's falsely sugary voice wafted to Amy as the latter made a beeline for the parking lot. "After what happened to Ty last year, I'm surprised he's still there, I don't see how he thinks their relationship is worth it…"

Amy ignored this comment, almost laughing at the poor attempt to make her feel any concern over her and Ty's relationship. She immediately found her grandpa's station wagon in the parking lot, Lou had promised that morning to pick her up and take her to the hospital.

"I called the hospital before I came," Lou said as Amy settled in her seat, buckling herself in. "They said Ty has been asleep all morning so he might not be awake when we get there."

"That's alright," Amy said with a nod. "I still want to go."

Lou filled the ride with questions about Amy's day. She was obviously disappointed when Amy didn't have anything interesting to say, but (joyfully) refrained from chiding her.

Relief washed through Amy when she rounded the corner into Ty's room.

"Hey," He said brightly, a radiant smile lit up his face when he heard her exhale heavily at the doorway. She hadn't realized it, but Amy had been holding her breath as she walked down the hospital corridor.

"Hey," She breathed back, entering the room and after pressing a brief kiss to his cheek, sitting in the chair beside him, moving it close to the bed.

"How'd you get here?" Ty asked when no one followed her into the room. He put down a book, giving Amy his full attention.

"Lou drove me, she's getting herself some coffee," Amy explained. She was pretty sure that it would take Lou a half hour to get her coffee, judging by the meaningful look she had received when Lou said they had to leave in half an hour.

They were silent for a couple long minutes. Amy looked Ty up and down with several observant and calculating glances. She noted that his colour had returned to normal and that his eyes were brighter than they had been the day previous. He was sitting up and the book now resting on the bedside table told her that he was already restless. She was looking into his face when he spoke.

"What?" He asked in a questioning and almost playful voice.

"I don't know," Amy answered, looking down at her hands as she felt a pang of emotion rush though her. Stupid Ashley…

"What's the matter?" Ty asked, reaching for and taking her hand, giving it a small shake.

"Nothing,"

"Give me a little more credit than that," Ty said, a triumphant smile gracing his face as she looked up at him.

"Ugh…" Amy groaned, looking at Ty with hat must have been a pained expression for his own fell slightly. "Stupid Ashley," She muttered under her breath.

"What did she say now?" Ty asked, gently prying.

"Just stupid stuff about this and last year," Amy explained, looking down at her hand in his. "Stupid, really. But I already felt guilty and she just had to add to that with-"

"Hang on," Ty cut her off. "Amy why would you be feeling guilty about anything?"

Amy looked up and saw genuine confusion in Ty's eyes. "If I hadn't insisted on you taking that jump then-"

"That's hardly your fault," Ty interrupted again.

"You wouldn't have been shot at," Amy finished.

"Amy," Ty said softly. "Amy," he repeated her name so she looked up at him. "Do you really think I'm blaming you?"

Amy opened her mouth, "I-"

"Do you really think that that guy who thought a white horse was a deer still wouldn't have shot at me?" Ty asked again with a crooked grin.

"I-"

"Do you really think that-"

"That you need to stop cutting me off?" Amy asked with an innocent smile on her lips. "Yes, I do!"

"Just emphasizing my point," Ty grinned.

"I think that I want you out of the hospital and back with me at Heartland where you belong," Amy's added emphasis on the word 'me' brought a smile to Ty's lips and he pulled on her hand, drawing her into his arms.

"The best part about this," Ty mumbled into her hair, pressing a kiss onto the top of her head. "I get to stay with you for three weeks."

Amy pulled back slightly. "Where are your parents?"

"Dad was on a job out to Wyoming and he took Lee and mom with to visit family in Utah," Ty explained.

"When did they leave?"

"Yesterday, ironically," Ty answered. "They're gone for three weeks."

"You should have said something, you'd've been by yourself at home," Amy frowned pulling further back and looking up into his eyes.

"I'm a big boy, Amy. I can take care of myself."

"I know that," Amy shook her head. "I mean you could have stayed over without the dramatics."

"What?" Ty looked shocked, but Amy caught the glint in his eye. "And miss out on this fun?"

"Ready to go?" Lou asked from the doorway.

Amy looked over at Lou then down at her watch, unwilling to believe that it had been a half hour; it had in fact been over forty-five minutes.

"Coming," Amy said with a wistful glance at Ty.

"Go, I promise I'll be here tomorrow," Ty joked.

"God you're in a good mood today," Amy remarked.

Ty chose not to answer, but instead pulled her in for a kiss. This caught Amy off guard but she closed her eyes and reveled in the feel of him pulling slightly on her upper lip, she responded by doing similar to his lower. Feeling his lips pull up in a smile, Amy drew back and opened her eyes. Ty leaned toward her again and kissed her quickly on the lips. "Go," he whispered.

Amy left the room after a backward glance and followed Lou out to the car. Her mind was a million miles away from blaming herself for the accident and somehow, she thought, that was Ty's intent.