"I have a question for you." Jane whispered. I had sat up, tracing patterns down perfect abs, running my hands over finely- crafted musculature of the shoulder, the upperarm, her forearm. She caught my hand, tilting my chin to lock gazes with her. "Seriously, Maura."
"Of course. What is it?" now that I was less focused on her wonderful body and more on the words that she was trying to say, I couldn't help my own curiosity. Jane's questions were always... Interesting. I regretted the fact that I couldn't tangle my hands into her hair, curl into her right this moment. She still held my left hand captive.
"You know how the first time we met, you had those horses?" Of course I did. How would I ever forget something like that? I tilted my head to the side, long blonde hair sliding over my shoulder. "Right, you remember everything, Google." I smirked at the comment, but waited. She obviously had more to say. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, do you still have horses?" The awkward excitement in her voice made me nearly burst out laughing. Like I would have ever gotten rid of my horses. I nodded, my smile reaching all the way to my eyes, I'm sure.
"Of course, Jane! I keep them right outside of Boston, and when cases are especially annoying, that's where I go." I saw her make the connection in her head, before releasing my arm and stretching back across the pillows. I leaned over her, bracing one hand on each side of her head, hair pooling around her face. "Would you like to go see them?" her eyes lit as if they were on fire.
"You would bring me?" I smirked, placing a quick kiss to her lips as an answer. Then I pulled away, rising out of the bed we had shared for the past few months, walking towards the bathroom. I heard her moan, before following suit. We had places to go today.
My car crunched over the gravel driveway as cast iron gates opened slowly before us. The gates themselves were black, and they swung inward. I inched through, before pulling into an empty spot beside a Ford f450. I stepped out, Jane following.
"Nice truck, who's is it?" I grinned, shaking my head. She would notice the truck first; it was a sign of spending too much time around detective Frost.
"The sisters that run the place own it. Lena and Amy." Jane simply nodded, looking around at the place. It was really quite beautiful. In front of us was a full barn that looked to have about sixteen stalls. It was painted white, but the paint was a little worn around the sides. To the left and behind the barn were pastures. On our right was a separate, four stall barn, with two paddocks attached to it. I led Jane towards that one, excited. I hadn't been back here in some time. I hadn't even realized how badly I missed my boys until right now, either. I opened the lower half door, latching it in the open position as we entered. There was a flute hanging on the wall between the two larger box stalls to the left, and photos on the back wall above my tack. The two other stalls on the right were latched closed, but they were empty.
"You have the three of yours here?" Jane asked, as if she was awestruck.
"Four." I corrected. "And yes, this barn is pretty much mine. Lena trains my stallion for me, and her younger sister works with my gelding. The two old boys stay outside most of the time, since they'r retired." I reached for the flute, making a noise that was more like a bird call than an instrument. I paused, listening to the pounding of hooves. The palomino and white head was the first to the door, and he all but shoved his greying face into my chest. Jane grinned.
"I remember this one! You were on him the second time we met." I couldn't help but laugh, as my other retired gelding shoved his buckskin head over the door as well. Jane rested a hand beneath his thin, black forelock. "I don't remember this one, Maur."
"Oh, of course not." I stated. "I got him, Cinder, when I was in my early twenties, as a rescue. He pulled a tendon in one leg, and can't use it as well anymore. In college though, we were still champions in four- foot equitation." At her blank look I grinned. "Riding over jumps."
"Oh." She patted them, before Cinder got bored, slipping back out the door with a slight limp, Rocky putting his nose to the floor in order to scavenge some stray bit of hay. "What happened to your big black monster horse, Maur?" I smiled sadly, standing at the door of the other stall, when I pointed to one of the photos.
"Back in college, he went through some of the fencing. We didn't know it right away, but he broke a part of his vertebrae, ruining the signal transfer from his forelegs to his brain. For almost a year, he was perfectly fine." Jane was looking closely at the photo of the stallion, stretched out in a showmanship class with a championship ribbon pinned to his halter, lengthy tails and everything. On the bottom was a gold plate with the phrase 'Sir Tanvir' scrawled across in script. "Before the winter though, he dropped a lot of weight, and wouldn't put his head down to eat. I got on him once, and he nearly fell over. Finally, it got to the point where he could barely walk. I put him down then." She looked at the other photo, this one of a blood bay mare, going over a fence marked at five foot.
"What about this one?" I smiled fondly at the memory. Her plate stated 'They Call Me Crazy' with the statement 'Because No One Thought I Could' beneath the name.
"Oh, that was Lady. her show name was 'They Call Me Crazy.' She was only thirteen hands, three inches. Her conformation was bad too; one of her back legs was crooked, and the other foreleg swelled all the time. But she could jump." I smiled. "She took grand champion at the five- foot classic when I was twenty. She was almost twelve at the time. No one thought she would make it over a single fence." I looked far off for a moment, remembering the blood- bay superstar. "She passed away in her forties; the leg problems finally caught up to her. I knew she wasn't herself when she started cuddling up to me all the time. Normally she was a bitch to work with." Jane laughed at that, gaze softening to the chestnut who had approached. He pinned his ears at her, baring his teeth.
"Hello to you too." She stated. One of his ears flicked forward, followed by the other. He then shoved his face into her chest. "Who's this love?"
"That's Spike. Normally, he doesn't let anyone really touch him. He must like you." She grinned.
"What's there not to love, Maura?" I raised an eyebrow. "Rhetorical question, I'm sorry." There was the sound of shoes on gravel, and I stepped to the door.
"Lena!" I called out, catching the girl's attention. She paused in her discussion with a similar- looking woman, turning towards me before grins lit up both their features. Jane rested a hand against my back, joining me at the door.
"Hey Maura! I didn't know you were coming up today, or I would have left him for you." The girl stated, reins folded in her hand. The bridle had no nose- piece, and the reins were long. "He was fantastic around the barrels today, as well as for in- hand patterns." I opened my hand, letting him lower his head before I ran my fingers over his forelock.
"Thank you, I can take him." I told her, and the girl nodded. I tossed the reins over his neck, tapping beneath his chin before retreating into the stables again. The girls waved to Jane, before continuing with their previous discussion. My horse followed.
"He looks just like Lady, Maur." I smiled.
"I would hope so. He's her son, not that he acts at all like her. He's named They Call Me Winter Storm." I tugged the bridle off, placing a carrot between my teeth, which he sniffed, a moment before biting it. Jane's jaw nearly hit the concrete aisle. "What?" I asked, self- conscious.
"You trust him enough to feed him like that?" I nodded. "That is so cool." I laughed, putting him back into one of the stalls on the right. She leaned against the side of the stall as I brushed him, before picking another brush from the blu etote and joining me. I met her eyes over the back of him, and our gazes locked. "Maur, you know what I just thought about?"
"What?" I whispered. She looked around, holding her arms open.
"All this, for us it isn't just a barn. For us, its the beginning of forever."
I couldn't help but think about how very, very true that statement was.
AN- Thank you to all that read this. This chapter especially goes out to RavenSkyAngel. You asked for it, and here is the answer! I hope you enjoyed it, because I sure did. Its not very often that I get to finish a story written by someone else, and it was rather... interesting. So I thank you for giving me the chance to continue on Myra's work.
I would also like to point out that in the first chapter and this one, the horses are all based off of real horses that we have met.
Rocky- a horse that Myra has ridden at our trainer's barn, and really is just a best friend horse for western pleasure.
Tanvir- Though originally just fictional, he then became the carrier of the story of my arab stallion, Ben. Yes, Bennie really did break his neck because he went through fencing. He was great though, right up until the end.
Winter- Based off a standardbred rescue named Brawler, a horse that I personally helped the owner keep, by leaving her a package with half his adoption fee, signed by him. She wanted to kill me.
Spike- A real horse named Spike, that does bare his teeth to you, and I look at him like 'really?' and he cuts the crap. He really reminds me of Jane too- badass on the outside, softie on the inside.
Cinder- Myra's first real love of a horse, Ashe. He pulled a tendon when he was a colt, and I really did jump him four- six when he was like, fifteen. I swear. In a dressage saddle and a bit- less bridle. No freaking joke. Sadly, we lost him in a barn fire this past year.
Lady- My own little girl, Goldie. She was a pain in the ass to everyone but me (seriously), and I could legitimately walk up to the fence of our ten- acre pasture and call "hey, Lady!" and she would run. A little 13.3 hand quarter horse from a Lena line, jumping four- foot (and rising) at seven years old after being a champion reiner with a crooked back leg. They really did call me crazy for awhile there. Like Ashe, my little girl was lost during the only snowstorm Jersey saw in 2012.
I want to thank you again for reading, and hope you review on my sister's story. Since I've digressed quite a bit, I think I'll return to my own FF account now, so catch me there! Thanks for reading, and thank Myra for letting me write!
~SnapTobiume10