Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or its characters. This story was only written for entertainment purposes.

Save Me From Myself

Chapter Fourteen

It was an odd sight, to those so used to watching the bubbly brunette farmer sprinting from one side of town to the next, for Abigail to be sitting and pouting. It was only the second day to her forced rest, personally prescribed by doctor Alex himself, and she already beginning to break. Martha had made her verbally swear to take a few days off from intense farm work, but even as she promised she had already made plans in her mind for future work. That was until that purple haired traitor, of all people, threw her for a loop and agreed to look after her for Martha.

A secret blessing and curse in her mind.

So here she was, feeling more useless that she'd ever felt in her entire life, watching the purple haired farmer tend to his livestock, while she sat with his black companion on her lap. No only was she feeling useless, but there was an immense lump of dread, anticipation, excitement, and horror at the pit of her stomach. All the good emotions were only because she was spending time with the newfound object of her affection. Unfortunately, all those bad emotions were also because she was spending time with said object.

She blushed in embarrassment as her mind replayed the cocky smirk on his face when she had unintentionally asked him if she was still dreaming. How humiliating. He probably thought she was weird for giving him the idea that she had been dreaming about him, which wasn't entirely false, but she never wanted him to figure that out. She momentarily stared down at pooch and watched it yawn again. Her eyes slowly rose from the lazy black mass of fur and she watched the male farmer.

He hadn't said much to her. But then again, he had never said much to her before, so why would it make any difference? In her mind, however, things were different. She now knew that she loved the hardworking purple haired farmer and it was taking everything in her to act as if she wasn't. And it was getting harder and harder to ignore the little voice in the back of her head that continued to scream at her to confess. It continued to chastise her for having feelings towards her former rival like it was some sort of abomination. All the while, claiming that shouting her 'sin' into the heavens would alleviate her heavy heart. Stupid voice, it would only bring her more turmoil.

She shook her head discreetly, hoping to lighten the banshee voice tormenting her. Unfortunately, it only seemed to encourage the annoying voice as it began to throw her vivid imagination into confusion.

Those darn scenarios were running a muck once again. What if she was to tell Jamie, how would he react? In one scenario, her most feared and the one she was dreading to live out, he could crush her heart in the same manner she'd crush a rock with her hammer. In another, he could possible only see her as a friend, which wouldn't be so bad, but it would still sting to be denied. She sighed, quietly so that Jamie wouldn't restart his questioning about her health, and patted the dogs head as it yawned for a third time.

Was love supposed to be this complicated? She paused her petting. What if Martha had miss read the signs? What if she wasn't really in love with Jamie, it was just a momentary attraction. She shook her head. No, that was a silly thought. She had a wedding dream, and it was so vivid, with Jamie as her groom. And he looked... he looked happy in the dream. Another sigh escaped the brunettes lips. She never had this much trouble when she thought she was in love with Blue.

She winced internally and wondered if she had ever truly loved Blue. Maybe that was a momentary attraction and Jamie... Jamie might just be the real thing.

"Hey Abigail." The brunette farmer jumped at the cool voice behind her and twisted her body around to see her caller. Kurt strolled leisurely into Jamie's property and gave her a smile. Mimicking the friendly smile, she waved at him and watched as he leaned against the purple reeling. "Heard around town you gave Martha a scare. Are you feeling better?"

The brunette farmer smiled at the carpenter and nodded her head. She opened her mouth to verbally answer, but –

"She's fine." Jamie answered for her with a scowl aimed directly at the intruder.

Kurt narrowed his eyes at the purple haired farmer, but slowly his eyes softened as they returned to the female farmers face. "Good." There was a brief moment of silence, and it slowly ate away at her nerves, but suddenly, Kurt spoke his thought. "I'm going to the sheep festival. I was wondering if you'd be there as well?"

Again, her mouth opened, however –

"She will be," Jamie growled back. The black canine in her lap mimicked its masters growl and it barked at the surprised carpenter. He suddenly pointed at himself, "With me."

Jamie watched, filled with annoyance that the carpenter had the audacity to step into his land without explicit permission and was trying to ask his responsibility out right in front of him. He shook with rage and he stormed next to the silent brunette farmer. Kurt glared at him for a moment and Jamie matched the dark glare without question. This boy had another thing coming if he thought Jamie was going to let her out of his sight for a second. Especially not if the sorry excuse for a carpenter was going to be fluttering around her pestering about going to another festival with him.

Over his dead, cold, and lifeless body. Jamie growled under his breath as the brunette carpenter continued to stare at her with a look that boiled his blood. With a quick glance at the brunette female to his side, he noted how she stared at him, not playing the least bit attention to the carpenter as he made one last ditch effort to persuade her into going with him. Her eyes were filled with what seemed like a mixture of awe and shock, her look alone made his scowl lessen.

She quickly recovered, however, and turned to Kurt. Her head nodded and she spoke softly. "I am going with Jamie."

His growing rage plummeted at sound of her confirmation and at the sight of a shy smile gracing her lips. Jamie hesitated with his verbal lashing, or gloating, and just looked at her for a moment. A new fire began to rage inside him, he felt his heart respond with an erratic beat, and his chest swelled with unexpected pride. He felt his face heat up, but as quick as the feeling came, it went. Forcing himself to stop the stupid grin from breaking out on his face, he gave Kurt a smug smirk and cold stare.

"If you are done harassing her and trespassing on my property, I suggest you leave. Now." His arrogant smile only grew at the brief flash of defeat on his rivals face. It was known to all, Jamie never lost.

Abigail watched as they glared each other down. She squirmed in her seat and swallowed the lump forming in her throat. She was going to another festival with the purple haired farmer. She felt giddy, almost over the moon, and a little smile threatened to spread over her face. He had... well not actually asked her, but he was obviously planning on it since – Wait, what if he was only saying it to keep his promise to Martha? The thought quickly ended the joyful euphoria she experienced mere seconds ago.

She heard Kurt mutter a quiet good-bye and she mimicked the low words of departure, watching as he carpenter disappeared from sight. Cautiously looking over at the farmer by her side, she looked for clues that she hoped would help her decipher whether he truly wanted to go with her or if he was just doing it out of the good of his heart. There were none, however, as she watched a frown form on his face.

A bark from her lap caused her eyes to drop from his handsome features to those of a furry black snout directly in her face. She turned her head away and closed her eyes at the feeling of a wet tongue scrapping across her cheek. Wincing at the trail of doggy saliva, she felt the animal being taken from her lap and carefully cracked her eyes opened. She was met with the sight of Jamie scolding his black companion and giving her an apologetic smile.

That smile caused her to freeze. She momentarily forgot about the wet trail of spit on her cheek, including the fact that she was grossed out beyond belief, and just watched as Jamie stood at her side once again. The smile vanished from his face and an ever familiar frown formed.

"What?"

She blinked and pulled away from him, quickly shaking her head, both to answer his question and to shake herself off whatever stupidity ensnared her. "A-Are we really going together?"

She felt her heart drop as the frown on his face deepened. His head, however, nodded in affirmation. "If... you want to?"

"Yes!" She found herself shrieking and jumped out of her seat. She coughed and blushed in embarrassment. "I mean... Yes. I'd love to go with you, Jamie." He smiled and did something that shook her to her core. He... laughed. A true laugh escaped his lips and his entire body shook from the sudden outburst. It was so hypnotizing and she grinned at him, laughing along with the purple haired farmer.

It seemed like today wasn't a complete waste of time after all.

A/N: Sorry about the disappearing act and I won't bore you with excuses and rant or whatever else I could do. I am going to try my very best to keep a weekly/bi-weekly update on this story. Thank you for the reviews by the way, glad some people are still sticking around. :)

Playlist: "Bulletproof (Nacey Remix ft. Matt Hemerlein)" by Major Lazer & La Roux; "Kids" by Chiddy Bang.