Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, it belongs to Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. I just borrow the guys from time to time and return them a whole lot happier. I do own the plot and any other characters, especially the equines, that you will find in this fic. Please do not take them without permission. Written for pleasure not profit.
Pairing: 2x1x2, 3x4, 13x6, H+C
Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, sap, angst, vet themes, AU
Rating: NC 17
Betaed by Karina *snugs*
Summary: Set 2 years after Equus and Heero is doing so well in his own business that he's taken June on as a working pupil. The qualifying shows for the International teams are well underway and it looks like it will be a good year for Heero, his pupils and horses... until Mother Nature steps in.
AN: This fic, although a complete work of fiction is based partially on fact. I will add notes at the end of chapters where necessary to clarify events and provide links where needed.
Dedication: To Leslie and Karina. Leslie for giving me the original idea for Equinity and encouraging and supporting me through the writing of all the fics thus far in the arc. And Karina for not just taking over as my much needed beta, (poor woman needs a medal!), but for also poking and prodding Fred until he went on strike, refusing to work on anything at all until I let him start this. Needless to say, we managed to come to a compromise... Fred gets to write a chapter of this one week... the next week he has to write a chapter of 'Bound'... Did I ever tell you all I hate my muse? :-)
Fic 5 in the Equine Intervention Arc.
Commenced December 2013 – ShenLong
Thanks to all who are reading and hugs for the reviews!
"Rival Riders"
Chapter 48
"Hey, Heero," June greeted her boss when Heero walked into the stable block.
"Morning, June," Heero replied.
"Is Duo up at the surgery today?"
"Hai, he is." Heero glanced at his watch. "He should be starting consults in another ten minutes. May I ask why you want to know?"
"I was hoping to have a talk with him about Orion."
"Ah."
June leaned the rake against the stable partition and stepped out of the stable to speak with Heero properly. "I spoke to Geoff last night about Orion and Duo's diagnosis along with his suggested treatments and what the possible outcomes could be from those treatments."
"Have you made a decision?" Heero asked.
"Sort of," June replied.
Heero raised an eyebrow.
"After talking things through we thought it would be best to try the supplements and oats first, see how that goes. If that doesn't help then we will think about the steroids."
"I think that's a sensible approach."
June fell silent, a distant look appearing in her eyes.
"Is everything okay?" Heero asked, a little concerned with the silence.
"Uh, sorry, Heero. I was thinking."
"I gathered that much. Is everything okay?" he repeated.
"Yeah," June sighed.
"What's wrong?" Heero stepped closer and gave the woman's shoulder a squeeze. "I know there's something bothering you about all of this."
With another sigh, June lowered her eyes. "It just seems so unfair, you know? Orion was coming along so well, he's such a lovely horse, willing to please, does everything I ask of him and he's finally starting to come into his own and this has to happen. I know lots of horses have had this EI virus and it's affected so many more horses much worse than Orion, but it still doesn't seem fair. Why Orion? What did he ever do to deserve this?" June closed her mouth as her voice began to crack and a tear escaped the corner of her eye – a tear she quickly scrubbed away.
"No, it isn't fair, June; in fact, it's downright cruel. Life isn't always fair though and unfortunately that's something we have to learn to deal with. Orion didn't deserve this, none of the horses did, but it's happened and now we have to do the best we can. Have a little faith in Duo, June. He's a wonderful vet and I know he will try anything and everything he can think of to help Orion get over this and have the two of you back out there and competing again, just as good as ever."
"I didn't mean to imply that Duo wouldn't..."
"I know you weren't," Heero cut the woman off. "Let's give Orion a chance though, see what happens with the treatments Duo suggests and cross each bridge as we come to it."
"I fully intend to try anything and everything Duo suggests. I want Orion to have the best possible chance to beat this."
"I know this isn't what you want to hear right now, June, but if Orion doesn't respond to treatment and has to be retired as a show jumper at least you will still be able to ride him and I'm sure we will be able to find you another horse to continue your career on..."
"I'm not going to sell him if he can't compete anymore," June said a little strongly.
"I wasn't suggesting that you do," Heero was quick to respond. "In fact, I'd be most disappointed in you if you were to think of selling him."
"Sorry."
"No need for apologies, but as I was saying, if the worst happens then I'm sure we will be able to find you another horse to continue your career with and in the meantime I still have Sandfire and Hyperion that need to be educated and jumped; then there's Missy too; her education will need to be stepped up a bit over the next few months."
"You're right," June sighed. She wiped at her eyes, squared her shoulders and straightened her back. "Okay, self pity time is over, now let's get back to work."
"Atta girl," Heero chuckled.
# # #
Over the next few days June gave Orion extra oats in his feed along with the iron supplements that Duo had given her. She cut back a little on the black's work, keeping her riding to simple exercise and schooling on the flat. Given the gelding's current health status June had agreed with Duo and Heero that jumping the black wouldn't help his cause any and she really didn't want to put any further stress or strain on his still healing systems. Flat work would be enough to keep him reasonably fit and not overtax him.
After Orion had been on the supplements for a week, Duo did another blood test. June had been monitoring the gelding's recovery times after each workout and there was a slight improvement towards the end of the week; but the blood test would be the true indication if the supplements were working or not.
It was with nervous anticipation that June held her horse for Duo to take his sample.
Capping the needle, Duo swabbed the gelding's neck and stepped back. "I'll take this straight up to the surgery and do the test now," he told June. "I should have the results in roughly an hour."
"Do you want me to come up to the surgery to find out what they are?" June asked.
"Nah, I'll come back down to the stables," Duo replied with a smile. "Try not to worry though."
"Easier said than done," June muttered.
"I know. I'll be back soon." Syringe in hand, Duo left the stables to perform the blood tests, June watched him go and did her best not to bite her fingernails.
#
Just over an hour later Duo was stepping back into the stables, a couple of pieces of paper in his hand. Hearing the vet enter the stable block, June propped the rake against the stable partition and went to meet him.
Heero also stopped his saddling up of Wing when Duo appeared.
"You have the results, Duo?" June asked.
"Yes, I do," Duo replied, his tone and face not giving anything away.
"What do they say?"
"Well, it's good news and not so good news," Duo began.
"That doesn't sound too good," Heero said as he approached the pair.
"Oh, I don't know," June said, "At least it's not, good news and bad news."
It was obvious to both Heero and Duo that the woman was doing her best to keep optimistic about the whole thing.
"The results show a slight improvement in the hemoglobin count which is good news," Duo began. "That means there is an increase in the amount of oxygen traveling around his body which is what we're aiming for."
"And the not so good news?" June prompted.
"Ah, it hasn't increased as much as I would have anticipated or liked."
"I see."
"June, given the dosage of the supplements and the amount of extra oats, I would have expected a larger improvement in the hemoglobin count, at least double what it has gone up by. They are working, no doubt about that, but they aren't working as well as we would like."
"Can we up the dose?" Heero asked.
"We can, although I wouldn't suggest increasing his oats any further, that would be asking for trouble."
Both Heero and June nodded in agreement to that. Oats were a very good grain feed for the horse as they provided a lot of energy, but too many could see the horse becoming 'hot' which could lead to control and behavior issues, something June didn't need Orion developing.
"I'd leave the oats at the amount you're currently feeding and we will increase the dosage rate of the supplements. I'll give you more of the supplements this afternoon and I want you to double the dose as of tonight's feed. Keep him on the increased dose for another week and we'll do another blood test then. I'd also stick with the same work pattern, keep monitoring that too and fingers crossed there is a much more marked improvement." Duo looked to the woman who was slowly taking all the information in. "Do you have any questions?"
"What do we do if the levels are still the same after another week on the increased supplements?" June asked.
"If they still haven't improved I'd suggest we take another ultra sound of his lungs and try the steroids; but let's wait and see first, hmm?" Duo gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
"Thanks, Duo. I do appreciate all you're doing for him." June returned the smile with one of her own.
"All part of the service, ma'am," Duo returned with a bow.
June shook her head. "Anybody ever tell you you can be such a dork sometimes?" she said with a grin.
"Ah, I've been called many things in my time, but I think dork is a new one," Duo chuckled.
"If you two have quite finished," Heero interrupted with a raise of his eyebrow. "June, you have stables to finish and horses to work. Duo, you have surgery booked and I have Wing to work; now I suggest we all shift our butts and get to it."
"Think Heero's ever been called a drill Sergeant before?" June whispered.
"More like a slave driver," Duo whispered back with a wink.
"I heard that," Heero called out from Wing's side where he'd returned to finish saddling the gray up. "May I remind you I do have a whip in the tack room?"
"Ohhh, promises, promises," Duo snickered and waggled his eyebrows at June.
"Oh, yuk! Too much information, Duo," June exclaimed with a look of mock horror on her face and turned to beat a hasty retreat back into the stable she'd been raking before Duo arrived.
Still chuckling to himself, Duo left the stables to begin the surgery bookings that awaited him.
# # #
Another week had passed and Duo was once again in the stables taking a blood sample from Orion. June had increased the supplements Duo had given her and continued to work the black as before; just flat work, no jumping. She'd also continued to monitor and record Orion's recovery times to compare with the previous week.
Unfortunately, June hadn't noticed any further improvement in the gelding and could only hope that the blood tests Duo would repeat would show a positive outcome.
"I'll shoot back up to the surgery and do the tests now, June," Duo said as he pocketed the vial of blood. "I haven't got anything booked in for surgery this afternoon so as soon as I have the results I'll come back down.
"Thanks, Duo." June couldn't help the butterflies that seemed to swarm in her stomach.
"I know I've said it before and I'll say it again, try not to worry." Duo gave the woman a squeeze to her shoulder and with a smile he left to do the tests.
"Duo will be at least an hour with those tests," Heero said walking up to the woman. "Why don't you go saddle up Sandfire and give him some work over the grids? He needs to strengthen his hindquarters and the grids are the best thing for that. I'll come out and work Lunar over them too as she could do with learning to pick her feet up a bit more."
June nodded. "Okay. I'll meet you out in the jumping paddock?"
"Hai, I won't be long."
The pair fetched their respective horses and saddled up, June beating Heero out to the paddock by five minutes. They settled into a companionable silence, working their respective mounts on the flat to loosen them up and get a 'feel' for how their horse was traveling.
Sandfire felt quite full of himself, eager to stride out and snatching at his bit from time to time. Heero, on the other hand, had the opposite problem with Lunar. The mare was lazy and didn't want to listen to her rider. Heero had his work cut out for him trying to get the mare to soften her back, round up and engage her hindquarters.
After a solid half hour of work, both horses began to settle and Heero deemed them warmed up enough to start the grids. He'd set two grids up, one was a line of five jumps, all at three foot six with one stride between each fence. This was the grid he wanted June to work Sandfire over. Given the height and fact that there was only one stride between the jumps would mean Sandfire would have to use his hindquarters if he wished to clear all the jumps.
The second grid again consisted of five jumps, all set at four foot three, but Heero had set the striding different. There was one stride between the first and second jumps, two strides between the third and fourth and three strides between the fourth and fifth. Heero had noted that since she'd been back in work after recovering from the EI virus, Lunar had started to get quite lazy. He knew from experience that the mare was capable enough, she simply didn't want to work. The idea of the grid would mean Lunar would have to listen to Heero's aids and put some effort into her jumping otherwise she would be knocking down poles and giving herself a few hard whacks to her cannon bones.
Drawing rein, Heero kept Lunar to the side and coached June as she rode Sandfire down the grid. The chestnut pricked his ears and eyed up the line of fences before him. June kept a light contact with his mouth, sitting deep and riding him together. Keeping silent for the moment, Heero opted to watch the chestnut's first attempt at the grid. He had an idea of what would happen and he wasn't wrong.
Sandfire came into the grid pulling hard; June to her credit, kept her weight steady and did her best to check the forward momentum. The first jump was upon them, Sandfire clearing it easily and landing safely. Before he had a chance to think, the second jump was in front of him and he launched into the air again, barely scraping over the top pole. The last three jumps were taken with enthusiasm but no impulsion and all three jumps lost their top poles to Sandfire's front or back legs.
June brought the horse back to a trot and circled around to come up to where Heero was standing. "That was terrible," she said.
"It wasn't good," Heero chuckled. "We'll try him over it again once I've reset the poles. Try to sit a little deeper this time and hold him back a touch more. You need to get his hocks further under him otherwise he will knock them down again."
"I'll try," June replied.
After another five times over the grid, Sandfire was listening carefully to June and really using his hocks. Once Heero was satisfied with the way the chestnut was going for June, he called a halt to the grid for the pair and sent June off to try a couple of rounds over the jumping course. Whilst June was busy over the course, Heero set to work with Lunar over the second grid.
Lunar didn't feel like putting in much effort, she'd enjoyed her recovery time spent lazing around and doing nothing and didn't particularly want to come back into work. Facing up to the grid of jumps, she didn't really take a whole lot of notice, treating it as just another exercise. She cleared the first two jumps and put in the two strides for the third jump. Unfortunately for Lunar, she hadn't listened to Heero's aids and hadn't built up enough impulsion to clear the jump. Her forelegs hit the top pole and despite having jumping boots on, it was a good enough whack that she felt it through those boots.
The following two jumps were also knocked down, the combination of the knock to her forelegs and the short strides between fences meaning she didn't have enough time to rebuild her impulsion. Heero patted the mare anyway as praise for her attempting to finish the grid before he dismounted and reset the fallen poles. Sitting back down into his saddle again, he rode the mare in a circle.
"Right Lunar, let's try that again and this time I want you to listen to me properly and pick your feet up." Heero shortened his reins and put the mare into a canter, bringing her around and lining her up for the grid once more.
This time Lunar was taking no chances. The knocks she'd received to her forelegs from the last round had made her sit up and take notice. Whilst there hadn't been any damage done to her legs, the sting of the knocks was still with her and she had no desire to repeat that anytime soon. She made sure to listen to Heero's aids very carefully.
They took the grid again, Lunar picking her hooves well up into the air and clearing the entire grid. The heights Heero had set the jumps at was well within the mare's capabilities; likewise the distances between the fences were too. There was no reason other than plain laziness for the mare to hit anything and thus the purpose of the exercise itself.
Heero took the mare down the grid another three times before raising the heights by three inches on each jump. Another three successful times down the grid and Heero decided the mare had had enough and should have learned her lesson. He drew rein and began to walk the mare around to cool her off. June joined him with Sandfire, the gelding having completed two clear rounds over the jumping course.
"I'd be inclined to put him over that grid each day for the next couple of weeks, June. It will help to build up the muscle further in his haunches."
"What about taking him out on some more bush rides and working him through the thick sand?" June asked.
"That would help too," Heero replied. "It would do Sandfire good to have a bit of work through thick sand. Actually all the horses could benefit from it, they're all a little soft on their muscle tone since the virus and it would be a less stressful way to rebuild that muscle."
"I'm going to take Sandfire in," June announced. "I think I see Duo coming down from the surgery."
Heero looked up and spotted his husband walking between the paddocks. "I'll bring Lunar in too." The pair turned their respective mount and rode towards the gate.
By the time Duo walked back into the stable block, both horses were in the process of being unsaddled.
"Have you got the results, Duo?" June asked as soon as Duo entered.
"Yes, I do," Duo replied.
"And?"
Duo pulled the piece of paper from his pocket. "The tests show the same level of hemoglobin in his blood stream. There hasn't been any significant increase in the levels, but there hasn't been a decrease either."
"I see. So the extra supplements aren't doing anything?"
"I'm afraid not, June."
"Then there's not much else we can do for him." June's voice held a touch of resignation to it as she spoke.
"We can still try the steroids if you wish. They may make a difference, but as we discussed before, you won't be able to compete on him for about six months after he's finished the course," Duo said.
June tossed her thoughts around in her head before coming to a decision. "It's almost the end of the season anyway. How long will the course go for?"
"For it to be of any help to him he'd need about a six week course. I'll monitor his blood levels weekly and we should have an indication of whether or not the steroids are working by around the fourth week. If they are, then we finish the course off and wait for around six months for the steroids to completely clear his system. Again I would monitor him and take blood samples on a regular basis. Once his system shows clear of the steroids then I can give you a vet certificate to clear him for competition."
"And if they don't work?"
"Then it's up to you to make the decision of whether to continue to compete or retire him from competitive jumping."
The words sank in and June considered all possibilities carefully. "Okay, Duo. I'll try the steroids on him. I want to give him every chance to get back to normal and if he can compete again then that will be fantastic; if he can't... At least I will know I've tried everything I can and he can retire and live out his days as a pleasure horse."
"If it's any consolation, June, I think you're doing the right thing. The steroids won't harm him in any way and given their track record they could be just what he needs to get over this." Duo smiled at the woman. "I'll go up to the surgery and get the first dose for him now if you wish?"
"Yeah, best to start him off as soon as possible." June returned the smile. "Thanks, Duo."
"No problem. I just wish there was more I could do for him."
"You've already done more than any other vet probably would have and both Orion and I are grateful."
"Okay, I'll be back shortly."
As Duo left the stables, Heero walked over to June and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "I think you're doing the right thing too. If the steroids help then that's good and Orion can continue his jumping career. If they don't then you'll still have a horse to enjoy and I'm sure we can find you something else to bring along and jump."
"Thanks, Heero, I appreciate the support."
"You're a good rider, June with a lot of potential. I'd like to see you reach your full potential and succeed in your dreams. Now if that's on one of my horses, fine, but it would be even better on one of your own and if we have to replace Orion then I'll do everything I can to help you find the right horse."
June could only nod in reply, the lump that had started to grow in her throat was threatening to choke her. She felt extremely lucky and grateful to have found and made such wonderful friends.
tbc...