The Fall Finale is 2 weeks away and Georgie has been training like crazy. Everyday after school she would do her homework then work with Amy for at least 3 hours. Amy was so excited Georgie was jumping at a Grand Prix level so a High Junior level would be easy. The issue that Amy was currently trying to work with is that if more then 1 person has a clean run, how can Georgie get extra points. She looked at the entry list and only Olivia was throwing in a Grand Prix level jump. So Amy had Georgie add 2. Plus the fact that Georgie's form had dramaticly improved she was sure to place. Ty had been working a lot more lately and doing more school work. His finals for the first semester were this Friday and he was determined to get the highest marks possible. Plus he wanted time off so he could go to the Fall Finale and not have to work, so he had to pull over time so Scott could have time off. Since he was barely home Amy had to pull double duty with a very cranky Maddie. She had been acting off all day. By the time Amy went into the main house for supper Maddie was in a very bad mood. She found her crying on the living room floor.

"What's wrong Maddie-bug?" Amy reached down and picked her up. She realized how warm she was. "Aww Maddie please don't get sick on me."

So far Maddie had never been sick. The pediatrican told them that she had a good immune system. But Amy couldn't deny that her daughter was warmer then normal and not acting like herself. She carried her to the dinner table and put her in her highchair. Lou noticed the expression on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"I think Maddie is coming down with something. Feel her head."

Lou streched her hand out and placed it on her niece's forehead and sighed. "She's really warm. Maybe if we can get her to eat and drink something it might go down."

Amy cut up some chicken and greenbeans and placed them on Maddie's tray as well as a sippy cup of juice. Maddie wouldn't eat but she did take a few sips of juice. By the end of dinner everyone noted how bad Maddie was beginning to look. She was very pale and coughing a lot. Amy decided to drive her to the clinic and get her looked at that night. Lou volunteered to go with her. Before heading to the clinic they had to stop by Scott's clinic so Amy could get Maddie's insurance card from Ty. Lou stayed in the car with Maddie while Amy went inside.

"Ty?!"

"In the back!"

Amy went to the back of the clinic and found Ty and Scott looking at a palamino stallion. Ty turned when he heard her approach.

"Hey. What are you doing here?"

"I need Maddie's insurance card so I can take her to the clinic."

Ty set aside his clipboard and gave her his full atention. "Is she ok? What happened?"

"She's running a fever and coughing a lot. She refused to eat dinner too. I just want to get her looked at since she has never been sick before."

Ty nodded and pulled out his wallet. He handed the card to Amy and walked her outside. When he approached her truck he waved to Lou and opened the car door. Maddie was in her carseat coughing and her nose was running. He leaned in to talk to her.

"Aww Maddie. Do you not feel well?"

Maddie reached for him whimpering so he kissed her forehead. He sighed and turned to Amy.

"You better get going she's burning up."

Amy nodded and kissed him quickly. He held her door as she got in her truck.

"Call me as soon as you hear anything."

"I will."

He shut her door and watched her drive away. When Amy and Lou arrived at the clinic they were taken back right away. When the nurse took Maddie's temperature it was 104.7. Amy started to panic a little. The doctor came into the room about 3 minutes after the nurse left.

"Hello Mrs. Borden, i'm Dr. Harris." He walked to the table where Maddie was laying. "How long has she had the fever?"

"About 3 hours."

"Have you given her any medication?"

"No."

He nodded and listened to her chest. "How long has she had the cough?"

Lou looked at the clock before answering. "She started coughing about 4-5 hours ago. I though she was coughing because of the dust or hay."

Dr. Harris turned to the nurse. "Can you order me a chest x-ray?"

The nurse nodded and walked out of the room. The doctor looked at Amy.

"I want a chest x-ray because I hear liquid in her lungs and with her high fever I need to rule out Pneumonia. So i'll have the nurse do it in the room here so you can stay with her. I want to start an IV to try and bring the fever down."

"Ok. Thank you."

Dr. Harris left the room and the nurse came back in with the IV kit. She looked at Amy. "Can you hold her?"

Amy nodded. Maddie kept looking up at her. The nurse was pretty quick with the IV. So quick that Maddie didn't even cry. When the IV was in the nurse turned back to Amy.

"The x-ray won't be ready for about an hour so if you want to call her father he could make it in time."

"Thank you."

Amy whipped out her phone and dialed Ty's number. He answered on the first ring.

"Hey how is she?"

Amy's voice shook. "Can you come here?"

Ty's voice became panicked. "Is she ok? What did the doctor say?"

"He wants her to have a chest x-ray."

"Why?"

"He heard liquid in her lungs so he wants to rule out Pneumonia. He gave her an IV to bring down her fever. Ty her fever was 104.7."

Amy was crying by the end of the sentence. Lou came up and rubbed her back soothingly. Amy could hear Ty starting his jeep.

"I'm on my way."

After 30 minutes Maddie started to get some color back in her face. She would crack a grin for Amy. Ty came in and went straight to Maddie and Amy.

"Hey how's she doing?"

Amy wrapped an arm around him and buried her head into his neck. Lou had to answer for her.

"Her temperature is 104.2 now so the IV is working."

Ty nodded and wrapped his arm around Amy pulling her in close. He placed his free hand on Maddie's head. When the nurse came back in she was pulling a big machine.

"Ok all i'm going to do is hold this over her and take at least 2 different shots. I need you two to hald her completly still. Ty nodded and slowly pulled away from Amy. Lou walked to the other side of the bed to stand opposite of Ty.

"Amy why don't you talk to her? Keep her calm."

Amy nodded and got behind Maddie. She started stroking her downy soft hair. When Ty and Lou started to restrain her Maddie started crying. She tried to look up at Amy and when she couldn't she screamed. Amy knew it had to hurt her to scream like that but Maddie didn't seem to care. By the time the nurse was finally done Ty and Amy were both crying. The nurse told Amy that she could pick Maddie up and hold her on the chair. Amy immediatly scooped Maddie up and sat down with her. Maddie's cries quieted and she layed her head on Amy's shoulder. Ty sat down next to them and rubbed Maddie's back. The baby turned her head so she could see her daddy.

She reached her hand towards him , "Dada."

A tear fell from Ty's eye as he grabbed her little hand and kissed it. They all sat there for another hour until Dr. Harris walked in.

"Ok we can rule out Pneumonia because her chest x-ray is clear. So I would say she has bronchitis which at her age is still pretty serious. I will perscribe you 2 diffrent antibiotics. One will help get the infection out of her body and the other will help with her fever. Other then that the only thing we can do is wait it out. If her fever goes back up again take her to the emergency room."

Ty shook his hand. "Thank you."

As soon as they got home Amy gave Maddie some of her antibiotic and then put her in their bed. She climbed in next to her and pulled her close. Ty sighed when he saw them and he climbed in to his side.

"Amy babies get sick. It's normal."

Amy sniffled. "I didn't know how long she had the cough for. I'm didn't come inside until right before dinner so I didn't know. I'm her mom I should have known."

Ty leaned over Maddie and kissed Amy's head. "I didn't even know she was sick until you came to the vet clinic. We work Amy we can't watch her evry minute of every day."

Amy knew he had a point. She kissed her daughters head and then leaned over her to kiss Ty. They all quickly fell asleep.

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Thankfully Maddie recovered pretty quickly and the following Thursday Amy was helping Lou pack up to go to the Fall Finale in Calgary. Mallory was going to compete with Georgie so not only were they taking Phoenix but also Spartan, Harley and Mallory's new horse Patches. So they had to load their new 5 horse trailer with all of the 4 horses tack and enough food for them for 3 whole days. The horse trailer had a kitchenet and sleeping quarters for the kids everyone else was sleeping in tents. Jack was going to drive Amy's truck with Amy, Ty, Maddie, and Mallory to pull the horse trailer. Then Peter was driving Lou, Georgie, Katie, Lisa and Tim with all the camping equitment. The hour drive wasn't as bad as Amy had thought it would be. Maddie was pretty quiet the whole way. When they got there the boys set up camp while the girls made dinner for bedtime Amy, Georgie, Ty, Katie, and Maddie ended up in the trailer with everyone else were in tents. When they woke up the morning ofthe first round Georgie was a little nervous. She was standing by the enterance to the ring with Phoenix all tacked up next to her, Amy saw the nereves coming out.

"Georgie this is just the first round. All you have to do is place top 3 and you move on. That is when it matters. So relax and just ride."

Georgie nodded. When it was her turn she had a nice clean ride with no time faults. She ended up ranking second to Olivia. They both had 2 jumps at the Grand Prix level but Olivia completed the course faster. The next round however both girls had to compete at the Grand Prix level completly. Luckily they had until tommorow to prepare. When Amy and Georgie walked into the practice ring later that afternoon they caught the end of Olivia's practice. She kept knocking down the poles and Amy realized she had never practiced on that level until that day. Amy had started having Georgie practice at this level after the Briar Ridge show, so she was very comfortable with the height of the jumps. Amy felt bad when Olivia's dad yelled at her for knocking down the poles. She was glad that Georgie was too busy talking to Phoenix to notice Olivia. Amy knew that if Olivia was this bad in practice then there was no way she would be ready for tommorow. After Georgie went around the course 3 times Amy was pleased and they left. Before leaving though Amy saw Olivia watching georgie with jealousy written all over her face. After Georgie and the little girls went to bed Amy told the others what she saw.

"When Georgie and I went to practice on the course I saw Olivia."

Lou rolled her eyes and passed Amy a cup of hot cocoa. "Let me guess she was amazing."

"No that was the weird thing. She knocked down almost every pole. I don't think she had ever practiced at the Grand Prix level before today."

Everyone looked shocked and Peter voiced his thoughts. "Do you think she will forfeit?"

"I don't know. She should but if she doesn't she will be lucky to make top ten."

Lou looked at Amy concerned. "Don't tell Georgie. She will go easy if she thinks Olivia is no competition."

Amy nodded and as she and Ty were lying in the bed later she thought of what Olivia would do the next day. When they woke up and got ready Amy caught sight of a very nervous Olivia. She kept glancing towards Georgie and Phoenix. By the time they were standing outside the ring Olivia looked like she would puke and Georgie didn't look much better. The boy who was riding a horse called Glory Reach had almost a perfect ride except for his 1 second time penalty. The other 3 riders in the age division either knocked down a pole of had a huge time penalty. It was finally Georgie's turn. Before she went in Amy spoke to her.

"Georgie whatever happens out there today just know that i am so proud of you."

Georgie relaxed a little, "You don't think I will win?"

"I don't know but what is it you tell Phoenix? Lets give them something to remeber."

Georgie grinned and leaned down to Phoenix. "Ok Buddy. This is our last jump of the season. Let's show these snobby little brats what you and I are made of."

Just those words and Phoenix was ready to go. As the entered the ring Amy grew even more nervous. The last jump was higher then any of the ones Georgie had ever done before. Georgie took the first 5 jumps perfectly. When it came to the last jump she and Phoenix both looked determined and Phoenix leapt into the air. He cleared it with at least a foot between him and the pole. Amy started jumping up and down. Not only did Georgie jump perfectly but she also finished within the time limit. Olivia was staring at Georgie with her mouth wide opened. As soon as Georgie was out of the ring Amy pulled her off of Phoenix and hugged her tightly. Then she kissed Phoenix on his head. Soon the entire family was there hugging Georgie. Then they turned to watch Olivia. She barely made it over the first 2 jumps and when she got to the third she went flying off and Budget Buster's legs buckled throwing him on top of her. Ty and Tim were already over the fence running towards them before anyone else could move. Scott, Tim, Jack, Ty, and a stable hand pulled Buster off of Olivia so the parametic could look at her. Ty and Scott assesed Buster and scott got him loaded into a trailer. Ty walked back over to them.

"Olivia defenitly has a head fracture and a few broken ribs and Buster has a broken leg. Scott is going to give him some x-rays at the clinic."

Amy nodded and picked Maddie up out of her stroller and held her close. Maddie reached her hand out and grabbed Georgie's hair.

"Oww! Maddie, Maddie please get off my hair!"

Ty stiffled a laugh and started pulling his daughter's hand out of Georgie's hair. "No no Maddie we don't grab hair."

Maddie looked at him and pointed. "Dada bad."

Amy laughed while Ty grabbed her hand. "No Dada isn't bad, Maddie was being bad."

Maddie looked at him confused. "Addie bad?"

"Yes Maddie was bad."

Maddie turned to look Amy. "Momma bad?"

Georgie laughed. "Ok she's not getting it."

When it was time to start the award ceremony they did announce that Olivia had been disqualified for falling off her horse and Amy knew that even if Buster and Olivia recovered they would not be allowed to compete for a year. When they announced seventh, sixth, fifth, and fourth places still mallory and Georgie hadn't been called. Whisch could mean that they didn't place top ten or they place very high. Then the announcer third place.

"In third place...Mallory Wells on Patches representing Heartland Ranch."

Everyone cheered as Mallory grabbed her ribbon.

"In second place...Thomas Douhit on Glory Reach representing Huntingville Stables

The boy grabbed his ribbon and Amy held her breath.

And our Grand Champion is...Georgina Crawley Morris on Phoenix Rising representing Heartland Ranch."

Georgie had the biggest smile and tears running down her face. She hopped off of Phoenix and walked him over to the announcer. She stopped to kiss him on his head. Georgie flagged Amy over and she stood behind her holding Phoenix. Georgie grabbed her ribbon and helped them put a drape on Phoenix. After they posed for a few pictures the whole famile hugged and kissed Georgie and Phoenix. They were loading Phoenix up when Georgie turned to Amy.

"You knew Olivia wasn't ready for that level?"

Amy sighed and nodded.

"Did you know that her horse was going to get hurt?"

"I knew it was a possibilty but I thought she would just give up half way through or totally blow it."

Georgie nodded. "Do you think that she and Buster will be ok?"

Amy looked her in the eye. "I hope so."

With that said they loaded up and headed home.

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