Learning Home
Disclaimer: If you recognize it then I don't own it.
A/N: For Whumptober 2023 #10 "Can't you see that you're lost without me?" Stranded
Heath was alone. He had been alone most of his life, an illegitimate child raised by three women on the outskirts of a dying mining town didn't encourage much company into his life. He had been seen as something dirty, an unwanted bastard, by his local community. He couldn't have spent much time with his peers even if they were allowed to be around him when he was youngin; he had started work as a young kid and had been hard at work ever since, trying to keep his mother from working herself to death. She still died too young, leaving him alone in the world with no real family left, until he decided to go see what great empire his father had built while he and his mother starved. He was bitter and lonely when he rode onto the Barkley Ranch, a place by blood that should have been a part of his own birthright. Looking back, he didn't know what he really hoped to accomplish by confronting his father's widow and his half siblings. Maybe deep down he just wanted a place to belong and a family that loved him. It had been a rocky start but somehow he was beginning to really believe he had found that in his life. In the last few months, he had hardly ever been alone. It was a strange sensation to now be on his own once more.
He had been checking a fence line when his horse spoked. He loved his new family, but sometimes he felt he was being smothered by all of them. His usually easygoing temperament was fraying slightly under the constant onslaught of so many strong loud personalities. He had never had siblings growing up and the dynamics were overwhelming at times. Fighting each other one moment and an unbreakable force against outsiders the next. Sometimes he felt like an outsider among them. It was getting to be too much so he quickly volunteered to ride fences at breakfast that morning. It was a nice easy solitary job that would help him get his head sorted out in time for supper.
His long walk back to the house, since his horse had run off, gave him even more time to think.
He was limping badly, cursing his luck at being stranded so far from his destination without a horse. He had blisters in new places he had never had them before. His head ached from where it connected with the ground. He was weaving across the trail as his vision swam before his eyes in a dizzy array of shapes and colors. His body felt like one giant bruise and he just wanted to go to bed, so he doggedly put one foot in front of the other to get him there.
He was so focused on staying upright and not losing his breakfast on his new boots that he didn't notice the arrival of somebody else on the trail.
"What are you doing boy, lolly gaggling while work needs doing? Don't you know this is a working ranch?" A concerned voice broke him of his concentration. He stopped and swayed dangerously on his feet.
"Nice day for a walk, ain't it?" Heath greeted the approaching rider with a lopsided grin. Squinting he watched as Nick dismounted and quickly made his way over to him.
"What happened to you?" Nick asked, grabbing onto Heath's arm to keep the staggering man upright. The blond brother was covered in scrapes and bruises. Blood caked the back of the blond head and blue eyes struggled to stay focused on the older man. It painted an obvious but concerning picture.
"Horse threw me," Heath answered, confirming his brother's theory.
"How'd that happen?"
"Snake."
"Where did it happen?" Nick asked in exasperation, sometimes it was like pulling teeth to get his younger brother to tell him anything.
Heath told him where he had lost his mount, Nick's eyes widened in surprise. He took a closer look at the shape his brother was in, it wasn't any better at a second glance in fact Heath seemed worse the longer he looked. "You've been walking that long in the shape you're in?"
"Yep."
"You shouldn't be walking at all in your condition."
"I'm fine."
"Oh, sure you are," Nick answered sarcastically. "Picture of perfect health."
Heath got the stubborn set in his jaw that all Barkleys inherited, "Yep."
"You should have waited. We knew where you working and your horse came straight to the barn. You had to know we'd come hunting before nightfall. You can't even see straight let alone walk in a straight line. You're no use to me at the bottom of a ditch," Nick ranted. Anything could have happened to Heath in his condition. He didn't even notice when Nick rode up. What if it had instead been somebody with bad intentions? Heath wouldn't have stood a chance. Every new and worse scenario of what could have happened to this new little brother he was blessed with, ran through Nick's mind. Why didn't his stubborn little brother just wait for him to come?
"My horse alright?"
"Yeah," Nick answered after a moment of hesitation caught off guard at the sudden change in conversation. Heath was always catching him off guard. He would say things that either made Nick throw his head back and laugh loudly or his heart would pang in concern for what his brother lived through without them at his side. His little brother had lived through so much at his young age and that was just the little he had told his new family about. More pain lurked behind his expressive eyes and on the scars of his heart that he hadn't yet felt ready to tell them about, yet. Nick hoped with time and love Heath would settle himself more into their family and open up to them about his life before he came to them. They could all see Heath's struggles to adjust becoming part of the family sometimes. Times when he got so quiet he would fade into the background. The wide-eyed looks of awe and fear were still far too frequent. It's why he agreed so readily to let him ride fences this morning, hoping the short time away would do his younger brother some good. Already Nick couldn't remember life without him. His new little brother had fit so snuggly into a hole he didn't even know he had in his heart. Heath had been the one to ride into their lives demanding something and none of them intended to let him ride back out of it; the Barkleys intended to keep their new family member no matter what.
Nick mounted his horse and reached down a hand, "Let go home, little brother."
The younger man started at the outstretched hand for several beats, like he was stuck in a trance. "Oh," Heath said softly like the notion never entered his head that his family cared enough about him to care when he didn't come home. That he had a family that would come for him no matter what.
Heath had truly found a family. He was still learning how to belong to it but he felt like he was getting there as he gripped his new big brother's hand. Nick helped him mount behind the older man and then turned the horse towards home.