Ty took his good old time making the trek into town. One of the great things about living where he did was the vast expanse of long, open, road. It was easy to let the mind zone out and explore, especially that time of night when there was no traffic at all. During the day it was still sparse, but you'd most likely encounter a neighbor and occasional wandering (sometimes lost) tourist. Unlike every other time he made the journey, his radio wasn't blaring, but tuned to a low murmur. One hand on the wheel, the other resting on the open window while he stared out at the glow of the headlights guiding him. He managed to calm down after a couple miles of solitude, but replaying the events up to his hasty departure from Heartland, Ty began to shake his head. He didn't feel like the same person he'd been back there, like that was Hyde and this was Jekyll trying to separate the two halves and make sense of who he became.

He was never thrilled or even 100 percent okay with Amy coming to Heartland after realizing the baggage she was bringing with her, but he'd just accepted it and decided to roll with the tide. People came and went through their inmate program all of the time, it wasn't like he wasn't accustomed to getting to know strangers, but this was a whole new level he hadn't had to deal with since Jack started dating his now wife – Ty's step-grandmother – Lisa, and that was at a time when he was at his worst on his way to doing hard time. It took a long time for him to warm up to her. Even now, several years later, there were still times he was bitter toward her despite her bringing nothing but happiness to his grandfather's life and, more importantly, someone to be there to take care of him. If for nothing else, Ty appreciated her for that much.

But Amy; her he had no idea how to accept. Was she a permanent fixture that he would eventually have to force himself to warm to? Or simply someone passing through? She sounded pretty adamant about leaving, so Ty didn't see the point of trying to be friendly if he wasn't ever going to see her again in a few days. On the other hand, if their situation turned out to be more long term, he supposed it would make life a lot less stressful to suck it up and play nice. Who knew, maybe they'd even grow to like each other. However, the want for amicability was a two-way street and Ty had no interest in trying to make peace with someone who couldn't be bothered to do the same. Any time they faced each other it turned into a standoff with both vying for their right to have the last word.

Ty didn't know what it was exactly about Amy that rubbed him the wrong way. Maybe it was the fact that they both grew up in such a way that taught them the need to stick up for themselves and never back down. They were just two opposing forces – like the same end of a magnet. Or it was just the fact that she didn't seem capable of minding her own business. Granted, she had no idea the situation with him and Kit and Ty was now admitting to himself that he hadn't exactly been fair about that. It was his own stupid fault he even had a reason to react so severely over his girlfriend… ex-girlfriend… He didn't even know what they were anymore. Not what they used to be, that was for certain. But a lot of things weren't what they used to be since Ty got out of prison.

The one thing he could always count on, though, was the late night crowd at the local bar, K.O.'s. Amy wasn't wrong when she stereotyped small towns shutting down by nine o'clock. Hudson was just the same, but there was one place for night owls to flock until the 2 a.m. last call. Ty pulled into the lot behind the bar, finding a quick place to park on that week night. He was able to assess that night's patrons by giving their vehicles a quick scan and was surprised, but also happy to see his best friend's maroon pick up on the end.

"Caleb." Ty slapped the young cowboy on the back of the shoulder as he came up behind him at the bar, sliding into the next empty stool.

"Ty. Hey, man. How's it goin'?" Caleb smiled after sipping his beer.

Ty shrugged, flagging down the bartender and ordering one for himself. "You hear about the new girl at my place?" He'd be surprised if he hadn't. Damn near the whole province would by now.

"I caught wind of a rumor, yeah. What's the story with her?"

Ty leaned on the bar. "I don't know, man. She's still a mystery. We haven't exactly found good terms yet and I'm wondering if maybe she prefers it that way."

"What do you mean?"

"I just get the feeling she's hiding something – something serious. Any time you try to ask her anything she comes out with attitude or ignores it completely."

"Well, maybe it's the way you're asking," Caleb reasoned. "You aren't exactly the most tactful person, Ty."

Ty was quiet for a moment while he received his beer, knowing Caleb was right but not necessarily wanting to admit it. "I did kind of attack her earlier." Except this was his best friend and if he needed to be straight with anyone it was Caleb.

"See?"

"Okay, but all she's done since she arrived is bitch and moan about being here. We're trying to help her and she just…" Ty had to stop before he went on a tangent that ended in him yelling about how much of an ungrateful snot Amy was.

"Wait, she didn't come on her own?" That was something Caleb wasn't aware of. It seemed the most people knew was just that Heartland had a new female resident, emphasis on the female.

Ty shook his head. "Apparently, her dad needed to dump her some place and Jack can't resist a charity case."

"Do you know why?"

"Why what?"

"Why her dad needed to dump her on you?"

"That's what I don't know. I'm guessing it has something to do with her being pregnant but-"

Caleb cut him off. "She's pregnant?"

"Yeah."

"And they sent her to Heartland?"

Ty understood Caleb's confusion. "That's what I said! It doesn't make any sense. She's not a delinquent kid unless we're putting having a child out of wedlock under that category now. I tried asking who the father was and all she can say is he's out of the picture and it's none of my business."

"Well, there you go."

"What?"

"The big mystery." Caleb replied as if it was obvious.

"I know. That's kind of what I attacked her about." Thinking back Ty had to cringe at his own unfair judgment. "I accused her of being a working girl."

Caleb's beer stopped midway to his mouth. "You called her a hooker?" Even he couldn't believe Ty could do such a thing.

"A call girl, actually." As if that was any better.

"Dude." Caleb almost pitied him for going right for the knees with that one. "No wonder she hates you."

"To be fair, I'm pretty sure she didn't like me even before that." She made it clear from the moment he picked her up that she wanted nothing to do with the town or anyone associated with it.

"Yeah, but, at least then it could have gone either way. Now… well, if she's here for the long haul you'd better pray she's not the vindictive sort or you'd better be sleeping with one eye open." Caleb raised his brow.

"I'm already sleeping in the loft," Ty mumbled bitterly.

"She take your room or something?"

"Jack," Ty answered simply, looking at Caleb who needed to further explanation.

"Jack kicked you out of your own house? That doesn't seem fair. What for?"

"For not bending over backwards to make this girl happy, it feels like. But it's not just me stirring the pot. This whole thing has turned into a mess and it's only been two days since she's been here. Everything was fine until she got here, now Kit is all up on me again too…"

"Oh yeah, I heard all about that." Caleb turned his beer slowly between his fingers, Ty stopping to look at him questioningly. "She called me to rant a little… about you. And… Amy," he elaborated.

"What do you mean me and Amy?" Oh, great, just when he was trying to rationalize the whole situation.

"She thinks Amy is the reason you've been blowing her off. I can see now she may have gotten her signals a little crossed." Caleb spoke as nonchalantly as possible, not wanting to get Ty any more worked up than he already was.

Ty sat in a slow simmering silence for a moment. "What did she say, exactly?"

Caleb took a second to recall the slightly uncomfortable conversation he had with his friend, not much unlike the one he was now having with Ty. "She just thought you purposely didn't tell her about Amy because you didn't want to deal with the consequences… basically." He shifted uncomfortably on the stool.

"You mean she thought I was too chicken shit to come out and tell her I'd moved on with another girl," Ty translated in irritated disbelief. He didn't even know Amy. Even if he did, he had enough drama in his life without needing to add hers on top of it. What he wanted was simple and at the moment not even a relationship with Kit could be simple. Maybe he was better off just being on his own for a while.

Caleb lifted a shoulder. "Honestly, Ty? You can't blame her for that. Even before Amy got here you've been distant."

"I don't blame her. It's Amy who spoke to her when she called the ranch this morning. She was with Jack in town earlier when they ran into Kit. I didn't even have a chance to explain the situation before it blew out of proportion." Ty bristled and Caleb eyed his friend cautiously.

"You really don't like this girl, do you?"

"She doesn't make it hard," Ty replied.

"Can I say something without you biting my head off?" Caleb asked, pushing his beer back to rest his arm on the counter. Ty looked him, inviting him to speak up. "I think you're making Amy into your scapegoat."

Ty made a face. "Scapegoat for what?"

"Your problems with Kit."

"So you're trying to tell me that I'm trying to blame Amy for stirring up trouble with Kit that could have been avoided had she just minded her own business?"

"I'm saying that you and Kit have been having problems for a long time now, long before Amy even came into the picture. You've just both been avoiding them. Now that Amy arrived, things have opened up again and because you don't want to deal with them you're trying to use Amy as an excuse. I don't necessarily think the two are related all that much, just coincidental. Whether Amy was there or not, Kit still would have made attempts to contact you again." Caleb tried to reason. Though he didn't know Amy, he could still feel a little bad that Ty was ragging so hard on her over things she had no control over. It just so happened she didn't arrive at the greatest time in Ty's love life and was paying for it.

"Maybe you're right, but if Jack hadn't been in town with Amy this morning they never would have run into Kit and the shit show that followed at the branding never would have happened."

"You were just blindsided, man. You weren't prepared to deal with a talk on the fly like that." Caleb sympathized.

"That's the point! I wasn't ready to be confronted like that. I wasn't ready to talk it out because I had no idea what I needed to say, or what she wanted to hear. I stuck my foot so far down my throat I'm still choking on it." Ty reached out to take a long swallow of his beer as if to dislodge said foot.

"And back to my point of you making Amy your scapegoat."

Ty gave Caleb a hard, displeased, look over his glass. He felt like this was the same argument he'd been having with Jack yet, somehow, Caleb seemed more capable of getting Ty to understand where he was at fault. Or to take a step back and look at it from a more reasonable perspective, rather than immediately jump to his own defense. "Well, if she gets her way she won't be here much longer so, good riddance if that's the case."

"Still, I don't think Amy leaving will magically fix things with Kit." Their situation really wasn't about her anyway, but it was just a single plausible theory Kit latched onto to explain Ty's behavior since he couldn't seem to tell her himself what was up.

"No, but it'll sure make me feel better to have one less person to keep an eye on."

"Two," Caleb corrected.

"What?"

"If she's pregnant then, technically, that's two people."

Ty rolled his eyes. "Don't even go there, man."

"I'm just saying… you have to consider the baby in all of this too."

"Why? You can't even tell it's there, except this morning when she upchucked at the smell of coffee." Ty still grimaced at the memory.

"Come on, man. You never been awed by the miracle of life before?"

"Not really. Especially not when it's been causing so much upheaval."

"Aw, you can't blame an innocent child for this. It's just a byproduct of what I can only guess weren't the greatest life choices. It's going to have to grow up living in the shadow of all of this. I bet that's something Amy's dad, and Jack for that matter, thought about when making the deal they did. Amy too, in letting herself be pawned off like you said. She agreed to come despite not wanting to, right? If you ask me, there's a lot more to it."

"Oh, I know there is. It's just a matter of how much of it we get the privilege of knowing. I'm surprised we were even told as much as we were since we still know next to nothing. I'm waiting for this crack head to come busting down our door looking for the money she owes him or something." Ty really believed whoever the father of Amy's child was wasn't a very stand up guy.

"If that's the case, then she probably is better off with you and Jack than anywhere else. That man is a damn good shot."

"It's just the fact that if he is someone like that, then she just put us all in danger and we don't even know it. At least if we knew the truth, we could take the extra precautions. But I think her dignity is what's withholding it." They willingly brought criminals to their home every day, but at least they were aware of their crimes and knew who was coming over.

"Yeah. I can agree with you there. I guess if she's leaving, though, you won't have to worry about it for much longer."

"We'll see what happens. I think she's more talk than anything, but," Ty shrugged, exhausting himself of the Amy topic. "How are things at the rodeo grounds for you?" Since taking his leave from Heartland, Caleb went into business for himself, buying and selling rough stock for rodeos.

"Not bad, business is starting to pick up now that the weather broke. I came across a few nice bucking horses in Grande Prairie I'm gonna take a look at next week."

"Alright, man, good for you. Good to hear things are working out for you." Ty was genuinely happy that Caleb was able to pick up again after he left Heartland in pretty rough shape. "How's the leg?"

Shifting on the stool Caleb stretched out his recently healed broken leg, flexing it gingerly. "Eh, not too bad anymore. Feel like a crippled old man when the weather gets bad, though. Thing's like a damn barometer now."

Ty chuckled. "You and Jack have that in common."

"Amy aside, how are you gettin' on over there? Have you found anyone yet?" Caleb asked more seriously. He knew that his leaving left them a man short, but he offered a list of names to Jack for his replacement.

"Naw. To be honest, I think my grandfather is still holding on to the hope of you deciding to come back." Caleb was notorious for slacking off when he knew he could get away with it and caused Jack more headache than he was worth, but in the end he was always there when needed and worked well with the inmates until the incident with Hank put him over the edge.

Caleb shook his head. "He knows where we stand. I'm doing fine where I'm at right now. Get him to hire someone before he gives himself another heart attack trying to do it all himself."

Ty didn't blame Caleb in the least for resigning after Jack permitted Hank back on the ranch, which seemed like a real slap in the face to Caleb. There didn't appear to be any bitter feelings between the two, but Caleb openly admitted that as long as Hank was still a part of the program, he wasn't.

"I'll try, but no promises." They all knew Jack wasn't going to hire some guy off the street. He needed to be tested and proven capable of dealing with the risk involved with this particular program. What happened between Caleb and Hank wasn't a common occurrence, but as the incident proved, it could happen. He didn't want a babysitter or someone too apprehensive to hold their own and finish things before they started. They needed tact, compassion, and balls of steel for the shit some of the guys tried to pull before they crossed that line of mutual respect. It was absolutely something earned, not automatically given. Not even Jack had that privilege when the program restarted with a whole new round of felons. It was starting from square one almost every time. Most of the guys who signed up for the program heard about it through those that had already done it, but their attitudes needed time to adjust to a whole new way of life.

"Maybe you can get that Amy girl to help out." Even as he said it, Caleb couldn't keep a straight face.

"Fat chance of that. Even if she wasn't pregnant. Jack's got her earning her keep around the house at least. Maybe I'll have some clean underwear now," Ty chuckled. He and Jack were pretty good about keeping up the house when Lisa wasn't home because they knew darn well that if they let it go she would come back and whip both their asses, but it was a lot of extra work neither one of them really felt like doing after they spent sun up to sun down keeping the ranch running. There were many a time when they'd sit down after dinner to relax and end up passing out in the living room from a long day.

"Well, like I warned you before, if she's got access to your clothes, you'd better be checking for itching powder in your boxers," Caleb warned, lifting his glass and tipping it in Ty's direction.

"Seriously?" Ty shook his head, amazed at some of the stuff that had a tendency of coming out of Caleb's mouth.

"I'm just saying. Either make amends or be looking over your shoulder."

"Yeah, and you would know all about that, wouldn't you?" Ty poked fun at him.

"Damn right. You remember that Katrina girl, don't you?"

"Oh, yeah, man! That was the chick that came at you with the crossbow, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was. Nearly lost a foot that night. You don't mess with crazy, my friend. Remember that." Caleb caught the bartender's attention and waved two fingers for him to bring them another round.

Ty laughed, shaking his head and finishing off his beer. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."