'Easy girl…' Maddie spoke gently to Dakota as she showed the mare the saddle blanket, the mare eyeing it cautiously as she took a step back. 'You're okay girl… Nothing to be frightened of. See?'

It had been a few days since Liam had returned and with him being around to help out in the house, Maddie had been able to spend more time working with both her horses. Bel had progressed being ridden with both a saddle and bridle and while she still hadn't backed Dakota yet, that would be the next step in today's session.

Things had finally quietened down around the place and for the first time in over a month, Maddie felt like she could actually take a breath. While she had a feeling things weren't exactly great between her Dad and Uncle Liam, at least they were both trying to make amends and it was good having him home. His job though, well, from what she had heard he might have to look for something else to do in the not too distant future as his career as being the ADA was very much up in the air.

Abeline too was almost back to her normal self after being bitten by that rattlesnake which was a huge relief. Slowly it felt like she was moving on from what had happened, having a good talk with both Abeline and August too since he had been there had definitely helped. With things settling down she could finally focus on what really mattered. Training her horses.

Dakota settled down, eyeing the blanket closely and then Maddie slowly extended it out to her. 'Here, take a sniff. It won't hurt you.' Curiosity got the better of her as it usually did and so after a moment she reached out her muzzle to sniff it. Maddie let her take her time looking it over, the mustang taking a little nibble on it with her velvet lips and once she had finished, she took it away again.

Maddie repeated the action over and over until finally the mare didn't react to the saddle pad at all and when she had gotten to that stage, she decided that would be enough with that for the afternoon. Placing it back onto the fence she led the mustang over to the mounting block and began repeating the lessons she had already taught her during the week.

When she felt that the mare was ready she gently swung up onto her back, Dakota's head lifting as she felt a rider's weight for the first time. 'Good girl Dakota.' Maddie praised, running a hand firmly down her shoulder, the mare standing still. 'Good girl.'

Dakota stood quietly as she lingered a little longer on her back and then with another pat, she slid off again. 'There's my good girl.' She rubbed the mare's forehead, a smile on her face. 'Good girl. Well done.'

After letting her have a break for a moment she remounted again, practicing it a few times from the near side and then from the off side. Dakota stood quietly, completely unfazed by what she was doing and when she had decided they had done enough for the lesson, she finished by sliding back off the mare's rump. As she had expected from reading her whorl, Dakota was proving to be a lot quieter and easier to train then Bel at this stage.

Maddie turned the mare loose once she had finished and gave her food and water then headed for Bel's pasture. At her whistle Bel came from across the paddock to meet her, the teen giving her a treat as she haltered her.

'How's it going kiddo?'

'Good.' Maddie smiled as Liam walked over to the fence. 'Just finished with Dakota for the day and now I am going to start on Bel.' She gave the mare a pat then looked back at him. 'What are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?'

Liam shrugged, resting his arms on the top rail of the fence. 'I haven't got anything planned. Why? You have something in mind?'

'A game of hide and seek?'

He raised an eyebrow. 'Come again?'

Maddie chuckled. 'I've been training Bel to find people, like the search and rescue horses they've been trying out in Maine. August has been helping me but I'd love to see how she will go with finding someone new. Would you want to help me?'

'What would you want me to do?'

'Find a place to hide in one of the paddocks and let us come find you. I've got a set of radios that August and I use to keep in touch. I won't know where you are, I'll be relying on Bel to locate you.'

'I guess I can help you out.' He decided after thinking it over for a moment. 'Do you want me to go easy or make it hard?'

'Somewhere in between. I want to see how she'll go with a longer search. Just give me a moment, I'll go grab the radios.' Unclipping the lead from her halter she let her go again and headed into the shelter's tack room to grab the handhelds and Bel's gear. 'Here-' She tossed her saddle onto the fence and grabbed a radio from her pocket. 'Let me know when you're ready and we'll see how we go. Here's a couple cookies for Bel too, her reward once she finds you.'

Liam nodded as he pocketed the cookies and clipped the radio onto his belt. 'I will warn you though that I used to be the Walker hide and seek champion.'

'Mmmhmm. And I have a horse with a good nose and empty belly. Should we set a time limit on the search to declare a winner?'

'How does an hour sound?'

'Sounds fine to me.' Maddie agreed. 'And I reckon Bel and I will find you before that hour is up.'

'We'll see, we'll see.'

With a salute Liam headed off to go hide and Maddie set about tacking up her mare. Once she'd been thoroughly brushed down and her hooves cleaned out she placed the saddle pad on her back and then her saddle. So far she was still using Emily's old saddle as her one she had gotten for Christmas was too good to be used for training.

Bel stood quietly as she did the cinches up and made sure the saddle was snug, Maddie very happy with how she was behaving. Her bridle went on after the saddle and a little muzzle mask went into her pocket. 'How are you going Uncle Liam?' She questioned over the radio once she had finished tacking her horse. 'Bel and I are ready.'

'I'm not quite ready yet,' He looked around, trying to find the perfect hiding place. 'give me another ten minutes.'

'Alright, I'm timing. Over and out.'

The radio replaced back onto her belt, she swung up into the saddle and asked the mare to walk on, warming her up before they went looking for Liam. After doing some circles and a few changes of gait her uncle radioed to say that he was in place and ready to be found. He had hidden in one of the Western pastures, a hundred acre paddock which would be quite a test for the mare.

After acknowledging receiving the message they headed over to the search area at a trot and when Maddie had closed the gate behind them, she dismounted once more. 'Alright big girl, search time.' She said as she attached a mesh mask over Bel's muzzle, the mare snorting softly as she attached it to her bridle by the Velcro. The mare lifted her head as she went to mount, her mustang already searching for a scent. Once she was back in the saddle she took the radio from her belt again. 'Alright Uncle Liam, we're ready. Start the timer now.'

'Starting timer now. Good luck little one.'

Placing the radio back she lifted the reins, urging the mare forward. 'Bel, search.'

Bel started off at a walk and they started to search, Maddie letting the mare set her own pace and direction, just guiding her from time to time to keep her going across the paddock. After seeing what the proper search and rescue crews did she had changed Bel's training to their way and herself learning how to search a grid area properly. If she was going to teach her to do something she wanted to teach her the right way and who knew, maybe it would come in handy one day.

Time slipped by as they continued zig-zagging across the paddock, Maddie starting to feel quite sick from the headache that had been sneaking up on her all day. The light was really starting to bother her eyes and she pulled a pair of sunglasses from her saddlebag and put them on, hoping that would help. It did a little but her head was still throbbing. Must have been thinking too hard during math class. She thought to herself as she dropped the reins across the front of the saddle and rubbed both her temples. Damn algebra…

On their fifth sweep of the paddock, Bel stopped suddenly and snorted, her tell that she had gotten a whiff of something. 'Search.' Maddie dropped contact on the reins and gave her the command for her to follow the scent, Bel starting forward across the pasture at a trot. The bouncing of riding through a trot sure didn't help her headache at all and her stomach felt like it was twisted in knots. Unable to ride the trot any longer she brought her back to a walk, the mare fighting to go faster for a moment but then settled down to follow the trail at a walk once more.

Maddie looked around as Bel kept going, wondering where on earth they were headed. There were a few groves of trees in this particular paddock and she had full expected Liam to be hiding in one of those but the mare was headed in the opposite direction. There was nothing but knee high grass and shrubs the way she was going…

With her head up high, Bel snorted and began to trot once more, Maddie again having to slow her. She was hot on a scent trail alright but this headache… She took a deep breath as another wave of nausea and warmth flooded over her, hoping that Bel would find Liam soon.

The mare began to slow as they came to a thick of shrubs, stopping to sniff for a moment before turning to her right slightly. A few more yards and Maddie spotted Liam sitting just ahead of them. 'H-how did we go?' She questioned as he stood to meet them. 'What-what time did we do?'

'Thirty-five minutes and fifteen seconds to be exact.' He replied, checking the timer and then looked back at Maddie. The teen was dismounting but as she landed on the ground, she stumbled and had to hold herself up with the saddle. 'Maddie, you okay?'

Her hand covering her mouth she handed him the reins, making no reply to him before going behind a shrub to throw up. Her lunch and everything else she had drunk came up and she took a few deep breaths once she had finished. Her stomach felt slightly better but her head…

'You okay now?' Liam questioned with concern as Maddie returned, taking hold of the reins again before fumbling with Bel's mask to get it off.

'Not really…' Her head was really hurting and she was feeling lightheaded too. Her uncle, seeing her struggling to get the mask off, gave her a hand then rewarded Bel with the cookies he had carried for her. 'I-I've got a really really bad headache. I don't think I'm going to be able to ride back on my own.'

'I'll ride with you.' He took a good look at her. Maddie really didn't look that great and he doubted too that she'd manage riding back on her own. 'You should have called this off if you are feeling this bad.'

'It only started a little while ago… I just wanted to make sure Bel got to complete her search.'

Liam sighed, shaking his head. 'Well, the only place you are going now is to bed. Up you get, I'll ride behind you.'

'I don't know how Bel will go being ridden double.'

'I guess we're about to find out.'

With Liam's help Maddie mounted once more and picked up the reins as Liam mounted up behind her. Bel shifted a little uneasily with the added weight but settled down much to her relief and she was thankful for Liam's supporting arm around her waist. 'Home Bel.' She instructed and the mare started forward at a walk. Yes, lying down in bed in a darkened room sounded very good to her right now…

Cordell quietly opened the door of Maddie's room to check in on the teenager later that afternoon and by all appearances, the girl still appeared to be sleeping with Bubbles curled up on her big pillow beside her head. As he went to close the door again and leave, he heard a small voice call him.

'Dad?'

'Yeah…' He replied softly and walked into the darkened room, closing the door behind him. Maddie had rolled over to speak to him and he sat down beside her on the mattress. 'How are you feeling?'

'A little better.' Maddie replied tiredly. 'How was work?'

'Work… work was work.' He tucked a lock of her hair back behind her ear. 'How was your day?'

'Apart from this headache it was okay. Did extra schoolwork this morning to get caught up, think it was Algebra that gave me the headache-' He chuckled softly at that. 'And after that I worked with Dakota and mounted her for the first time, then Liam helped me do some training with Bel.'

'Sounds like you had quite a busy day then my girl.'

'Mmmhmm.' She murmured, her eyes closed again.

'Mom wants to know if you'd like some dinner.'

'Maybe later. I'm gonna try and get some more sleep.'

'Alright sweetheart.' He gently pressed a kiss to her forehead as he rose. 'Hope you feel better soon.'

When morning came around, Maddie did feel a bit better than the day before. After having another couple of painkillers and sleeping through the night her headache was finally gone to her relief. Most of the time she could put up with the pain but yesterday had been one of her worst. She was very grateful it had finally gone away.

As she dressed and prepared herself for the day, an idea came to mind. With a little smile she put her boots on then headed out of the house and made her way over to the farmhouse. It was still early, she was always the first one to be out of bed and being careful not to make any noise, she snuck in.

After looking through the fridge and cupboard she decided there was makings for pancakes and set about making some for her Dad and siblings. As the first pancakes began to cook on the stove she sent Abeline a text to let her know she was doing breakfast for them so that she didn't need to worry about it then returned to her cooking.

A decent stack of pancakes were keeping warm in the oven when Cordell emerged from the room, Maddie smiling as he realized what she was doing. 'Morning Dad.'

'Morning Maddie girl.' He replied, slipping an arm around her. 'What are you doing?'

'Making breakfast for y'all. Thought I'd surprise you.' She said as she looked up at him. 'Hope you're hungry, I got plenty more to cook.'

'At least let me help you-'

'No, no, no, no.' Maddie protested, taking the egg flipper he had just picked up. 'You go sit down at the bench and wait. I'm gonna cook breakfast myself.'

An amused smile on his face he obliged and sat down, the girl preparing a piping hot stack of pancakes just the way she knew he liked them. 'You feeling okay this morning?'

'Mmmhmm. Headache is gone now.' She poured more maple syrup on top then added some chopped banana before putting the plate down in front of him. 'Had a pretty good sleep too.'

'That's good. Nightmares leaving you alone again?'

Maddie nodded. 'Finally. I think probably 'cause things are getting back to normal around here…' She returned to the stove and flipped a couple pancakes sizzling away in the pan. 'I um… I wanted to ask you something actually.'

'Alright.' He began cutting up his breakfast to eat. 'What-what do you want to ask?'

'Well…' She turned back to him. 'You know my sixteenth birthday is coming up in a few months.'

'Is it really?' Cordell teased her. With Maddie having been mentioning her upcoming birthday a few times the past week there was no way he didn't know it would be soon…

'Daaaddddd.'

He laughed. 'Alright, alright. What do you want to ask me?'

'I've been thinking about moving over here, if that's okay?' She questioned hesitantly. 'Would-would that be okay? I mean, just tell me if you don't like the idea.'

He'd been about to take a bite of his breakfast but at what she had said, his fork stopped halfway to his mouth. 'You-you want to move in?'

'If it's okay with you and Stella and Augie of course.' Maddie replied, dropping her eyes away from his. 'I thought maybe that could be my present; fixing up the attic into a room for me.'

Cordell had been a bit taken by surprise at her openly asking to move into the farmhouse but another part of him was pleased too. 'Of-of course honey.'

'I mean, it's only logical seeing as you've adopted me now…' She continued, going back over to the stove. 'And I mean, I feel comfortable with you now. I trust you. It's not like how it first was when I first came here. Are-are you sure you'd be happy for me to move in though?'

He nodded, swallowing the mouthful of food he's eaten before replying. 'I-I'm glad you feel comfortable enough now to want to come live with me and Stella and Augie but I-I can do you one better than the attic.' She glanced over at him with a questioning expression on her face. 'How about your own room? Daddy-Daddy and I've been talking about adding on an extension to the farmhouse to include a room for you anyway. How does that sound?'

'That's a lot of work and money though-'

'Hey, you're only sixteen once.'

Maddie chuckled, flipping some more cooked pancakes onto a warm plate. 'As long as it's okay-'

'It is, it is honey.' He assured her as he cut up more of his breakfast. 'Maddie, these are some of the best pancakes I've ever had. What did you do differently?'

She grinned mischievously. 'That's a Stanton family secret. You know I can't tell you all my secrets.'

Friday night was the Walker family's weekly game night, the farmhouse filled with laughter as Cordell and the three kids played a variety of different board games. Bonham and Abeline had headed out for the evening to go have an evening together and with Liam saying he had things to do, the four of them had gone to get pizza for dinner they had come back to play board games.

'So…' Cordell started as he waited for August to take his turn at the new game Maddie had brought for them to play, Herd Your Horses. 'Um… Dad and I have been talking about adding another room to the house.'

Stella frowned. 'Why?'

'So-so Maddie can have a room here.'

'Unless you want me bunking in your room with you.' Maddie teased with a smile. 'But would me moving in with Dad and you two be okay? If it's not I can just stay with Gramps and Mawline-'

'No, no. It'd be great to have you here with us.' August interrupted as he rolled the dice. 'Wouldn't it Stell?'

She nodded. 'Yeah, it'd be nice.'

'So you-you both are okay with the idea?' Cordell questioned just to confirm.

'Of course Dad.' Stella replied, August nodding his agreement as he moved his marker forward three spaces. 'And hey, I won't be the only girl here with you guys anymore.'

'When would you guys start working on it?' August asked as he passed the dice along to his dad. 'Will we have to help out?'

'We'll have to wait for spring before we start-' He tossed the dice and moved his marker five spots. 'so that will leave ample time for that collar bone of yours to heal up.'

'Aka-' Maddie turned to her brother. 'He means that you're gonna have to help.'

'We'll all be helping.' Cordell continued, giving the dice to Stella. 'It-it might be something fun for us all to do.'

'Dad, building and fun don't exactly go together in the same sentence.' Stella pointed out.

'Remember how things went last time you decided to build something?' August added. 'I mean, the Side Step turned out okay in the end but…'

'Oh, he 'nailed it' alright.' Maddie teased with a grin as August's sentence trailed off. 'Dad, you might be great at a lot of things but I don't think being a builder is one of those. Grandpa's gonna be in charge, right?'

'Right.'

'Phew. For a moment I was beginning to think my room might turn out like the house that Jack built.'

Cordell pretended to be mortally offended. 'Ouch Maddie girl.'

'Only teasing Dad.' She replied as she rolled the dice that Stella had handed to her, her marker landing on Cordell's space. 'Oh, lookie here. My stallion gets to steal one of your mares-'

'Hey, what?'

'When another player lands on the space you are occupying, they get to take one of the horses from your 'herd' and since I just landed on your space-' She smiled, looking over the collection of cards he had in front of him. 'I'm gonna take the paint mare.'

He sighed heavily, handing the card to her. 'Why is it that no matter what game we play, I somehow always lose?'

'Guess you've just got bad luck.' Maddie said as she added the card to her collection, handing the dice back to August. 'Alright little bro, your turn. And you'd better not land on my space.'

'Oh-' He winked at her as he rolled the dice in his hand. 'we'll see.'

They played on, Stella eventually being declared the winner for the round and with that game finished it was August's turn to choose what to play. He decided they'd play Clue but when Cordell suggested they add a few things to the game, they had to take a moment to decide on how they were going to adjust it and write down the new rules.'

'Look Dad-' August sighed as they still waited for him to take his turn. 'I'm gonna pull the timer.'

Cordell didn't reply, just rubbing his chin as he kept looking at the game board in front of him.

'Any day now.' Maddie added with a sigh, her arms folded on the table and she rested her chin on top of them, looking up at him. 'Preferably before we are all old and gray or skeletons.'

'Okay, there's no time limit on due process.' He replied. 'I mean, you claim it was Mr. Green in the conservatory with the revolver but the time and place suggest a crime of passion. He doesn't fit the bill.'

Stella looked at him and sighed. 'You're seriously making me regret agreeing to amend the game for a more layered experience.'

Cordell was about to reply when a phone began to vibrate on the table, August picking it up to hand over to Stella. 'Hey, DJ's calling you.'

She frowned as she took the phone. 'That's random.'

'It's still your turn Dad.' He pointed out as Stella left the table to take the call.

Cordell's phone went off too and he quickly pulled it from his pocket. 'One sec bud.' There were a ton of missed calls from both Trey and the Austin General Hospital and with him only having one bar of service it accounted for why it hadn't rung. 'Just need to take this…'

Maddie watched his facial expression as he spoke to Trey and judging from it, something had happened. 'What's wrong?' She asked when he hung up, their father quickly getting up from his seat.

'Captain James, he-he's been shot.'