Scowling half-heartedly, Danny trudged down the barn alleyway.

The Kauffmans had sicced Katie on him.

Unfair.

"It's good to change things up. Isn't it Elizabeth?" Edi had said with a smile upon seeing Danny appear in the barn, being tugged along by Katie and Jon.

Freaking eyes.

Pressing up against his side, Arly nudged at again at Danny's hand. Danny gave a nudge back. Again. The dog went back to being glued at his side, tail wagging.

Finally, annoyed and tired of pushing the affectionate dog away from the danger that was him, Danny scratched at Arly's head and then nudged the farm dog away again.

Thankfully, Arly took the brief attention as a win and trotted over to sniff at the milk tester.

Should have done that from the start, Danny complained in the confines of his mind.

Grinning, the milk tester reached down to give Arly a ruffle. Then the man stood back upright to scribble a called out set of numbers from Dale. The overlarge clipboard stand wobbled the slightest on its four thin wiry metal legs as Harv wrote. But despite age and wear, held firm and remained trusty.

Faint curiosity hit again, and Danny gave the huge spreadsheet paper another glance as he passed by, unsuccessfully attempting to figure out the meaning behind the numbers.

Handing off an overlarge tube from the called out cow to Harv, Jon sprinted past Danny, over to Dale. The kid eagerly awaiting for the next one. Danny glanced back to the milk tester, taking in the fluid movements that he'd done all night.

Lifting the overlarge tube up, Harv peered at the milk sample, poured a small amount into a plastic tube, then snapped it shut and placed it in the rack under the writing area. The remainder got tossed into a large bucket under his old work stand. He paused before jotting down a couple more numbers. Eyes meeting, Harv shot a smile over at Danny.

Quickly glancing down and avoiding attention, Danny picked up the towel buckets and carted them away.

With the milk tester here, the entire family had ventured out. Extra hands helping with the extra equipment, making it run smoother. Edi and Dale both chatting and catching up with the man.

Some of that included the mess and speculation of what was last night.

At least they were nearly done. Danny could head back in soon. Away from the topic of conversation and hopefully head off any face from Edi once inside. Away from Arly who kept darting back over to him for attention. Away from the whole family running like a well oiled machine and...

Maybe he should run away. Because he didn't want to see any more of them hurt. Except that idea was worthless and did nothing. After all, he'd run away last night. Didn't do any good or stop what happened.

Unbidden, his eyes drifted back to Elizabeth. To her back. No one except him aware of her being hurt. And she kept turning down his offers to do her stuff all night. He stopped after the first few insistant offers when her response shifted.

"Really. I'm fine. I'm a tough farm girl Danny. I got it."

Pause. Then. The shift. Her head tilting in consideration at him, studying him under a furrowed gaze.

"You're acting like you're the one to blame for me getting hurt. Trust me, you're not and I don't blame you."

After that, he held himself back, simply keeping a close eye on her.

At the end of milking, Jon and Katie quickly offered and moved before being told no, darting about Harv to help the man carry his things. Danny got regulated to assist Elizabeth and Matt with getting milk for the calves ready. Then out to feed them.

As normal, the cats swarmed. Elizabeth plucked up the more daring ones climbing up and into the 5 gallon pails. Before they could go right back to it, Matt rolled his eyes and gave a quick spritz from the hose at them.

Over half of the cats made a mad scrambled sprint away.

"Hey."

"What?"

"It's getting colder outside."

"They'll be fine. It's not that cold yet."

As Elizabeth and Matt did something that wasn't quite a squabble or an argument, Danny watched as McGee's light gray floof slinked along the wall and behind a pail. Popping up to lean head first into the pail. The issue of shooing off the cats still held. It only had scoops of milk replacer inside. Meaning the pail began tipping.

Half hoping McGee was in a better mood due to promise of milk and not caring at all if his hands got torn to shreds, Danny quickly grabbed and snagged the tiny cat by the scruff of its neck.

McGee freaked.

Hissing and spitting and snarling, the ball of angry twisted out of grasp and sprinted away, tearing up a wooden post that framed the barn door.

One foot into the barn, and suddenly eye to eye with full Hissy McGee, Harv screeched out a loud litany of profanity, hand on his chest as he stumbled, nearly fell, backwards.

Catching himself on the other side of the thick wooden frame, the tall sturdy man attempted to get his composure back. McGee got over the interruption and darted up the rest of the way into the space above the door. The overgrown kitten's eyes bore down upon the milk tester. As if McGee was blaming Harv and how dare the man for startling him in the midst of his get away. Harv stared wide eyed back up at McGee. Clearly the more startled one of the pair.

Silence fell. The ire of McGee and the echo of Harv's swearing remained lingering in the air. The not quite arguement of Elizabeth and Matt long gone. Danny stared at man and cat. Neither one looking away from the other. One mad, the other attempting to get over the scare.

Arly darted over with a bark, breaking the frozen moment, head swiveling between them all to figure out the cause of excitement.

Still breathing heavy, his hand on his chest, Harv's eyes shifted away from the puffed up furball. Meeting each of their eyes. Danny, Elizabeth, and Matt. Jon and Katie. Who stared back at the man, mouths gaping open from just inside the milk room, hands holding a pair of cleaned overlarge tubes.

And then Harv broke the silence in their corner of the barn with a bark of a laugh, a smile cracking across his face.

"That scared the everloving shit outta me. Holy fucking shit."

With that, everyone broke.

"What happened?" Dale asked, coming around from the alleyway.

They all laughed even harder, tears falling and clutching stomachs.

Caught up in the moment, it took Danny several long minutes later, halfway out to the calf building, to realize how light he felt. The invisible pressure gone along with the numbness. Uplifted. Gone. He'd laughed, let himself feel happy.

His smile quickly disappeared.

But inside, that small nugget of lightness remained.