BOOO, RANGER DESERVES BETTER, JOE IS SCUM, HSSSSSS, BOOOOOOO! GET OUT OF MY BOAT, JOE MORELLI!

Warnings: None

AU/OOC/OCs

Enjoy! This is not a babe, Stephanie has made her own bed, she can lay in it!

Chapter 3

A woman and her cows

"Now...breathe in, while in the position….and now, breathe out," A woman's calm voice said, making the only person listening exhale, slowly, "Now, how do you feel?"

"Like...I can't hold this position-argh!" there was a large thump and a groan of pain, "Morning yoga is not for me…"

The person on the floor, rolled on their back and let out a breathless, "Namaste," before turning off their phone and covering their face, "Nama-fucking-ste."

They lay on the floor for a bit before sitting up and grabbing a towel to wipe off their face. Bright amber eyes opened to take in their surroundings; a private gym room, where most of the machines were covered in clothes or catching dust. They narrowed in displeasure but then, on their wrist, a high tech and expensive looking watch was going off with an alarm that said, 'Morning Music!'

"Foiled by the alarm, maybe next month, Helga," The person said, walking out the gym and down the long hallway, "I hate downward dog!"

They walked briskly into a bedroom that was large in size, done in a tasteful peach/pink color and right into the closet, to take off their yoga clothes and slip into something they really like wearing. Since it was summer and warm outside; a pair of overall shorts, a sky blue shirt that ended above their belly and a pair of black knee high socks.

Once they were done dressing up for the day, they were racing down the stairs and running into the kitchen, where they found a tall, muscled man at the stove, flipping pancakes, while a child, dressed in her own pink overall shorts and a tank top, colored in some books, kicking her toe socked feet as she waited for her breakfast.

"Good morning, Fleur," the person said, walking over to the child and ruffling her curls, "You're with me today, again?"

"Yes, Auntie Heidi," Fleur said, looking up from her drawings, "Papa and Maman said that they have to do inventory today at the Silly Shake."

"What a goofy name, Fleur, who let you name that place," Auntie Heidi said, just as pancake, sitting on a napkin was thrust underneath her noise, along with a sausage link wrapped in said pancake, "thanks Diesel, you're such a good brother in law to me."

"Well, I know if Fleur isn't here," Diesel said, his green eyes sparkling, "You don't eat breakfast."

"You're just trying to butter me up for a discount on beef," Heidi said, snatching the meal from Diesel, "you cad, you."

"Is it working, cause 25 bucks per pound is pricey," Diesel said as Heidi walked away, "I'll clean up and send Fleur out to the field with you, your sister is clawing up the Shake's wall with inventory right now."

"Okay, have a good day doing boring things," Heidi said, walking out the back kitchen door, "Fleur, we're massaging the cows today!"

"Sweet!" Heidi smiled at the reaction and then walked away from the large, brick house and down the small concrete path that led to Heidi's favorite place; the barn.

The barn was huge, larger than an average one for what she had in acreage. It almost looked like the barn house, but longer. There was a reason why the cattle barn was built as well as it was. Heidi had it temperature controlled, ventilation, the works. She spared no expense for her cattle.

Heidi opened the sliding doors and entered the cool barn, with a smile on her face, "Good morning everyone, how did you sleep?" She received a chorus of 'Moos,' in return.

The inside of the barn looked bigger than it looked on the outside, almost three times the size and looked like someone had placed a pasture in it, with sunlight, trees and even a large stream. Lounging in the strange pasture like barn were several cows, about 100 of them. They were all sleek and black and huge, the dwarfed Heidi's 5'1 frame but were gentle giants that loved giving affections and getting it in return.

Upon seeing Heidi's face, the cows got up and trotted over to her to get affection from the woman, which she gave willingly. Heidi kissed one of the cow's snout and said, "Koto, how are you, my big baby," she ran a hand over another cow and cooed, "Mizumi, how are you sweetie?"

Heidi greeted each cow, with love and then walked over to the side of the barn to make sure the cow's feed was prepared properly. It was a little warm outside, Heidi thought as she walked over to a pair of metal doors that led into a walk in refrigerator, she knew they wouldn't eat much. Heidi came out of the walk in, rolling a keg of Japanese beer in front of her. She popped the top and began to place beer in each feeding trough.

"Morning, Ms. H!" A cattle hand appeared beside Heidi, with a keg in his arms, "Had a good weekend?"

"Stop calling me Ms. H, that makes me sound old!" Heidi scolded the man, with a smile on her face, "And yes, I did, Fleur and I gave Sakura a make over, she loved it."

At the mention of her name, the big cow trotted over to Heidi and licked her, butting her in the side gently, with a soft, 'Mooo.'

"My pretty Sakura," Heidi cooed as she petted the cow and mixed the animal's special feed with beer, "Hey there, Fleur is here to today, again, wanna get a massage from your favorite flower?"

The cow made a noise of approval and then Heidi finished fixing their feed, with the help of several cattle hands. Though it was expensive, each cow had their own personal cattle hand, that took excellent care of them. These cows lived in paradise and Heidi made sure that paradise was better, with each passing day.

With the cattle hands busy, helping the cows and encouraging them to eat, Heidi walked over to a closet and took out a violin case. She opened the case to reveal a well loved violin, with a new bow. She took out the violin and tuned it, then she took out the bow and covered the strings of the bow with resin before walking over to the eating cows. Heidi sat down on a waiting stool, placed the violin on her left shoulder and began to slowly run the bow on the strings of the violin, playing a tune for the cows.

Though the farmer Heidi apprenticed under told her that music wasn't needed, these days, nor the massages, Heidi did it anyways. She enjoyed the extra tender care she showered upon the cows. It made the meat of her cows have better marbling , made the meat tender and melt in your mouth.

Though that meat came with an extremely high price tag. Heidi's cows were not just any cows, they were Wagyu cows. Each cow had its own certificate and their blood line could be traced to several hundreds of years back. Heidi took pride in her cows, and the fact she was the only Wagyu farm in the States that was labeled as an authentic Japanese Wagyu farm.

As they finished eating, Heidi stopped playing and put away her violin to begin talking to the cattle hands about their charges. She needed to know everything, from if there were changes in their mood, to changes to their bowel movements or the manure itself. She kept thorough notes on each cow, who was ready to be bred, their nutrition, their temperature and their weight. This process took hours and once they were done, the cattle hands would go back to spend the day with their charges.

"Auntie H!" Fleur was running up to where the woman sat, in the barn, a smile on her face, "Is it time to massage Sakura?"

"Why, it sure is," Heidi said, closing her ledger and standing up to catch her flying niece, "And after that, let's go to the Silly Shake and do a delivery."

"Okay!" Fleur said as Heidi carried her to the ever waiting Sakura, "Did you think about what I said, earlier? About me playing with Julie and her Papi?"

"Yes, I did, but your Maman and Papa have the last word," Heidi said, setting Fleur down and sitting down in the grass herself, "It would be nice to meet the owner of the house that refused my offer."

As they massaged the happy cow, Heidi's mind went to the man who owned the house. She had wanted the house and land for expansion but her broker told her that the owner was determined to hold onto the area. Oh well, she bought out the rest of the forest, for her Jersey cows to graze happily. She wondered if the man was older and grizzled. Most likely greedy as well or jealous of her cows. She was going to find out soon, Diesel and his partner would be happy that Fleur would have a playmate around her age that weren't cows.

"Get up Sakura, I'm trapped," Heidi groaned as Sakura rolled her head in Heidi's lap, "I have to go make deliveries!"

Sakura let out a sad 'Moo' but got up from Heidi's lap. Fleur stood up and grabbed her aunt's hand and pulled her up, with surprising strength. She definitely got that from her father and not from her mother, Heidi thought as the duo walked out the barn and over to another building.

Inside the second brick building was where the slaughtered cows were processed into cuts of beef and hung up to age. It was always cold in here, so much so that Heidi and Fleur put on heavy lab coats to keep warm.

"Hello Fredrick," Heidi said, walking up to a tall man who was directing a few people around in the loading area of the building, "Local deliveries ready to go?"

"They sure are, Heidi," Fredrick said as he pointed to a smaller loading area, "You have 10 home orders and some business orders as well, including 200 pounds at the Silly Shack, still making them pay full price?"

"I'll double it, if they continue on," Heidi teased to Fleur, who giggled and nodded her head, "Come on Fleur, let's go do deliveries!"

Local deliveries were done in a large, black van that had a wrapping on, consisting of cows, grazing in a pasture. It had been a satisfying buy, seeing that she contributing to the community. She had been trying to, she didn't have the Silly Shack like her sister and her husband and for a while, no one had been sourcing from her stock from within the town. That all changed when someone called her ranch to see if they could get a few cuts, and then someone else called, and so on and so on, until the need of having a local delivery vehicle came up and Heidi bought the best one on the market.

"Up you go," Heidi said, buckling Fleur into her car seat, in the front of the idling van, before climbing in herself, "Now, we have a busy morning ahead of us!"

"Are we having lunch at the Silly Shack?" Fleur asked, as Heidi drove down the street, to their first customer.

"You always want Silly Shack for lunch," Heidi pinched Fleur in the side, making her giggle, "Is it because you want to see Maman and Papa?"

"Yes, I have to make sure they're working, they always like to slack off, sometimes, Papa does it the most!" Fleur said, folding her little arms, a frown on her face, "We're suppose to have a big birthday bash for me, how are we gonna afford it?!"

Heidi laughed out loud as she pulled up to the first house, "Oh my goodness, Fleur, never change!"

The deliveries were a mixture of beef and milk products, including cream, butter, milk and ice cream starter. Most of the local buyers got a mixture of both beef and milk, heavy on the milk side. Getting half a Wagyu cow, or even a quarter of one had the same cost of a down payment of a house!

The customers were lovely and they adored Heidi and Fleur. Everytime they did deliveries, they always left with freshly baked cookies, pies or cakes, or beautifully crafted things. Heidi waved to the last customer and looked over to Fleur, who was busy on her tablet, eating a chocolate chip cookie as well. A cookie wasn't enough for the kid, time to go to the silly Silly Shake.

As it was Monday, the small main town of Stanford was sparse, with people at work, or school for the children, they didn't get out for another week. Fleur was an exception, she didn't go to the school in town, she went to a private school that was out for the year. It was the same one that Heidi, her sister and Diesel had gone to, all those years ago.

As they parked in front of the Silly Shake, Diesel stood waiting for them both at the front door, his blond hair in a bun and his sleeves rolled up. He walked over to the van and opened the side door saying, "Hello, Ladies! Last delivery?"

"You're always the last delivery," Heidi said, undoing Fleur's buckles and letting her fly free, "Plus, you're the best person around who knows how to handle Wagyu beef."

Diesel sighed, picking up the cold delivery boxes, with ease and closed the door, "It's not rocket science, but I'll take the compliment."

The inside of the Silly Shake was dimly lit, with boxes on every surface. The group found Fleur's mother, in the middle of the boxes, typing something in a laptop, in a chair. When she heard the door to the place close and be locked, she looked up, with identical amber eyes and smiled, "Fleur, Mon bébé, viens me faire un câlin!"

Fleur launched herself to her mother and hugged her tightly, while Heidi moved a box and sat down. Her sister, Brittany was Heidi's identical twin, down to the very same mole on their left cheek. However, while Brittany's hair was a mass of curls, Heidi's hair was sleek, falling down her back in waves.

While Heidi went into cattle farming, Brittany not only ran the Silly Shake with her husband Diesel but did work in IT from time to time. They were content with life, the trio watching over Fleur and spoiling her quite rotten.

Heidi easily slipped back into her mother tongue of French and said, "Sis, your daughter has a question for you."

Brittany blinked her eyes and looked down at Fleur, who nodded her head, "Well, tell me what it is, Mon Bebe?"

"I met a new friend! Her name is Julie and she lives in the house right beside Auntie Heidi!" Fleur said, bouncing in her pink mud boots, "She's 11 and she lives with her Papi! Can she come over to Auntie Heidi's house? Please, please?"

Brittany looked at Heidi who waved her hand, "I suppose so, if your aunt goes over and checks them out, tonight."

"That's going to require some buttering up," Diesel said, as he went back to dealing with inventory, "I bet a couple of steaks would do the trick, Heidi."

"You want me to give away hundreds of dollars of product?" Heidi shook her head, "I don't see you offering them free shakes!"

"We don't know who they are, Fleur knows and they live next to you," Brittany said before she got up, "Fine, you bring the steaks and I'll provide dessert. Ice cream and cake, that way, by tomorrow, Fleur will have a new playmate."

"And I have to mediate it," Heidi said, rolling her eyes, "Fine, I'll do it, but I work alone, Fleur, you'll stay here with your parents, while I go play nice, with my new neighbor."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Heidi decided that instead of taking her car or the delivery van, she would just take the golf cart down the road and onto the long winding driveway. She had only replaced her mudboots for sandals, before taking a few choice cuts of meats, the tub of strawberry ice cream and the chocolate cake to make friends with the new neighbors.

She pulled her golf cart by a large, black SUV and looked at the house. It was a pretty house, she always loved the garden here too. Maybe if Fleur became friends with the girl that lived here, Heidi could have a go on the tire swing that was tied to the tree.

"You're doing this for Fleur, remember that, you're doing it for your lovely niece," Heidi said as she carried the cooling bag onto the front steps of the porch, "She does need a friend, she really could."

Heidi was about to lift her hand up to ring the door bell, but the front door of the house opened and a person stood in the door way, looming over Heidi. Heidi blinked once and twice and then let out a slow, "Woah…." nearly dropping the cooling bag.

TBC….

I am still the captain now...I can't believe Joe and Stephanie is CANON. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Please leave a review, they're like crack!