Fic: Quiet Sanctuary 13/14

[youngeratheart.livejournal.com]

Quiet Sanctuary
Chapter Thirteen (or Part Two, Chapter Six)
Word Count: 3,077
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Tim/Marion, Lou/Scott, and Ty/Amy.
Warnings: Non-graphic discussion of child abuse.
Disclaimer: I'm never going to grow up. That means... I'm not legally responsible for anything, right?
Summary: AU. Heartland is a refuge, not just for abused and neglected horses, but for all.
Author's Note: It's kind of interesting to me that when I started writing this story, it seemed very simple and easy to tell. I'd seen the whole thing in my mind before any of it went on paper. The two main scenes that started the fic were very clear and ended up pretty much as I'd pictured them. It was everything else that seemed to change on me while it was being written. It was a challenging experience, to say the least.

I couldn't resist the pun in this chapter's title. :)

 

---

Family Ties

 

 

"Marion Fleming?"

"You must be Mrs. Baldwin," Marion said, looking over the woman's fine clothes. She could see the same eyes as her son, so it wasn't just her husband who had passed on those green eyes. Both of them had given Ty such beautiful eyes and the dark hair. This woman and her husband were a striking couple, and their children were good-looking boys. Outwardly, the family seemed perfect, didn't they?

"I am," the other woman agreed. She reached out a hand to Marion, who took it. She didn't much want to, but she was being polite. She would be better than than the emotions rolling around inside her, telling her to hit the woman and knock that hat right off her head. "I wanted to thank you for taking Ty in, for caring for him."

Marion had to bite her tongue. That really was the last thing she should have said. Maybe if your husband and you were better parents, I wouldn't have needed to take care of him. It wasn't like she regretted taking Ty in or didn't want him here. She did. She loved that boy. He was a man now, but she was still struggling to come to terms with that, just as she was trying to accept that her daughters were grown women. It was easier when they were younger, easier to protect them. "I was honored. Ty is a great boy, a wonderful one."

Timidly, Mrs. Baldwin turned to Marion. "He doesn't call you... Mother, does he?"

"Your son is very polite. Such good manners and respect for authority. He took more than five years before he was willing to call me anything besides Mrs. Fleming. He has called me Marion since then," she answered, though she wasn't sure why she was reassuring the other woman. Surely Mrs. Baldwin didn't deserve it. Then again, was she really in any place to judge? She had given her own husband too much leniency over the years. Her crime was not that different. It was one that most women were guilty of, letting their husbands decide everything for them. It wasn't that they always had to have their own way, but there were times to speak up, times to challenge that authority, especially if it was being abused.

"I'm... glad," Mrs. Baldwin admitted slowly. She took a deep breath. Something was slightly... off about that woman, though Marion wasn't quite sure what it was. "Maybe there is some hope there."

"Hope?" Marion asked, concerned. She couldn't help it. She was starting to get a sense of the woman who was, in some ways, her rival. She didn't really like what she saw.

"If he does not call a woman such as you—a woman he has been close to, who raised him almost as long as I did—Mother, then he has not forgotten me. He still cares for me, still considers me his mother," Mrs. Baldwin explained with a hesitant smile. "It's more than I hoped for."

"Your son never forgot you," Marion agreed. He also will never forgive you. She felt a bit sorry for the other woman now."That's not the way it works."

Mrs. Baldwin sighed. "I didn't think that he would. I just... It's been so long since I've seen him. Brad warned me that he didn't want to see me, but I wanted to change his mind. I thought I could."

"Ty was hurt pretty badly. You have to understand that what happened to him left him scarred, damaged. It might not be something you can see, but it's there. He is not the same boy that you knew when he disappeared. That boy was hurt. The one who survived came out of it scared. He needed to protect himself. That's what he's doing now. Ty sees your actions as leading to his abduction, and he will not let you close enough to have it happen again."

"It won't. He won't give us a chance. And that's not fair. He seems to trust you. How did that happen?" There was despair in her voice, and Marion understood it now. She'd seen a good friend of hers succumb to it, prairie madness. It couldn't be the same because Mrs. Baldwin was clearly a city dweller, but she had similar symptoms, probably owing to her son's disappearance.

Marion looked back to the farm. Ty was standing with one of the horses, and with him, as she had figured, was Amy. "You see the girl standing there?"

"Yes," Mrs. Baldwin began, an edge to her voice. Marion rolled her eyes. So much for the rich son-in-law Tim was hoping for. It did sound like Ty's family was opposed to the match. "I see her."

"That is my daughter, Amy. We all reached out to Ty, but she's the one who reached out and had him reach back. It's easier for children, I think. She trusted my father; she trusted me. Ty saw that, and he knew that he could place some limited trust in us. We've never had his full trust, not even Amy. He would never tell us about his home or what happened to him."

"He wouldn't; I suppose," Mrs. Baldwin said. "My husband thought Ty had to have been dreaming. I was worried, every night I stayed up late watching my son sleep, going out of my mind with fear, and nothing happened. Months passed, I started to relax... Then he was gone."

Marion nodded. That made the sense with the way the other woman acted. Though she suspected that they would never be friends, she would try to help. She didn't want to see anyone else suffer as her friend had. "You have another son."

"Lee never replaced Ty if that's what you're trying to imply—"

"No, that's not what I said. Not what I meant at all. I told you that my daughter helped us reach Ty in the past. Your son, Lee, may just be your only chance to reach Ty again. It's worth a try, isn't it?"

Mrs. Baldwin looked at her helplessly. "Why are you helping me?"

Marion shook her head. "Oh, don't mistake me for a moment. I consider Ty like my son. I've been hating his family for a long time for letting that happen to him, and it will take a while to change my mind about that. But I care about Ty. He's what matters to me. At the very least, he deserves to know his brother. If he chooses to see you again, I won't stop him. It's about what he needs."

---

"What are you doing?"

"It doesn't really have a name, other than what Amy calls it," Ty answered slowly, realizing that he had started working the small circles on the side of Prince's neck. The horse had been injured in a fire, and it was hard to keep him calm, especially in the barn. He did better when he was outside, which was okay with the current weather, but it couldn't last. Even with Peyote patrolling the yard and Jack's additional nighttime checks, there was still a danger of coyotes wandering onto the property or something else happening to the horse when he was turned out. He did spook easily. "It seems to help him, keep him calm. And he likes it."

Ty's younger brother looked up at him, shaking his head. "He's a horse."

"Right, and a horse can't talk," Ty remembered hearing that before. Several times, even. Not always about horses, but about any of the animals that he had wanted to keep as pets or tried to help when they were injured. "That's nonsense."

"You sounded like Dad there for a second."

Ty made a face. "Do not compare me to that man, ever."

"What do you know about him?" Lee demanded. "You haven't been there for the past eight years. You don't know any of us."

"And you don't know me," Ty shot back. His head was starting to hurt. This had clearly been a bad idea. He had thought maybe it would be different with his brother. They didn't have the same reasons to fight. Other than his parents being angry that he'd woken his brother, Lee wasn't involved in what happened at all. He was too young. This should have been easier than it was, right? He wasn't sure what was going on, but it was clear that no reconciliation with any members of his family would take place. Not now. Probably not ever. It was a good thing he'd refused to see his mother. That would only have been worse.

"Ty?" Amy asked, coming up to them. "Hey, sorry. I know you're busy with Prince and... Hello, Lee. I'm Amy. I don't think we met. I was down at our house and not up here and... I came to work on Gypsy. And I'm rambling. Sorry."

Ty smiled, relieved to see her. "No, it's fine. You need help with Gypsy?"

"I wish Scott was here, actually. It's not that I need the training he's got. It's that you and Dad and Grandpa can't get on there and keep her from bucking because if any of you fall off, you'd... Well, Dad can't take the fall, and Grandpa's bones are old and brittle, and you... If you injured that shoulder again..."

"I know," Ty agreed, reaching up to touch it reflexively. It ached. "Even if Scott was here, I don't know that he'd be able to keep his seat."

"Gypsy doesn't rear when my mother rides her, or when I do. It's connected to a fear of men, and I'm sure of that," Amy said, shaking her head. "I'm not surprised, given her previous owner. Still, if she can't ever be ridden by a man, then it won't matter. No one will want her."

Ty nodded. "I've done my best to help with the ground work, but it's not going to mean much because I can't get on her. We tried that before, and it was like she knew about my weak shoulder. She was pulling right away, and shortly after that, she tried to rear. If your mother hadn't caught her and calmed her down so I could get off, I probably wouldn't have use of that arm."

"Does it matter what kind of... man it is?" Lee asked, and Ty looked over at his brother. Amy's mouth opened into a smile.

"Are you sure? You'd be willing to get on her? She bucks like crazy."

"I'll try it," Lee said with confidence. Ty looked at Amy, but she smiled, nudging him. Maybe it would work. "Is it okay if I'm not that good of a rider?"

"You just need to keep from falling off," she assured him. "I'll hold onto her head at first, and Ty will work on her side, and when we think she's ready, we'll back off and leave you alone with him."

Lee smiled happily, and he climbed up on Gypsy's back like he belonged there. Ty watched him carefully, his hand working those circles on her side, keeping her relaxed. She moved her head towards Amy. "That's it; that's good. I'm going to move away now. We should know pretty soon if she's going to spook."

"Okay," Lee agreed. Amy moved back to the fence. Gypsy looked towards her, but she stayed calm. Ty gave her a couple of minutes before he stepped away as well. He joined Amy at the fence, and they watched as Lee took Gypsy around the ring.

"How long do you think?" Ty asked Amy. "Five minutes? Ten?"

"Eight?" she offered with a grin, and he rolled his eyes. She climbed up onto the fence to get a better look. He joined her. They did this a lot, though it was usually when Marion was working with one of the horses.

Gypsy started to buck, and Lee held on. The mare's attempts to buck him off got increasingly more desperate. Ty looked at Amy. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

"No, look," she said, pointing to where Gypsy was starting to slow down. Lee had managed to stay on the entire time. "It worked. It really worked."

She jumped down again, opening up the ring to go over and congratulate Lee. He was smiling happily. Ty stood there at the fence for a moment, just smiling at the whole thing. Amy was special. What she had just done wasn't just about Gypsy, wasn't just about Lee, and it wasn't just for Ty, either. She'd helped them all, but it was so much more than that.

Amy came back to Ty's side. "Come on, Ty. This is great, isn't it? Act excited."

Ty picked her up, lifting her by the waist and spinning her around. She giggled as she went through the air. "That enough excitement for you?"

"Okay, I give, I'm dizzy," she said, leaning against him after he set her down again. It was nice to hold her like this. His brother looked at him, and for the first time since he'd arrived at Heartland, he didn't try to deny it.

---

"She's still standing there," Amy observed, moving close to Ty's side the next evening. She knew that he knew about the woman down by the gate. She had seen him look over in that direction before, and she also knew there was no way he would be unaware of the woman who'd come to see him. She'd called out to him, yelled and cried and begged for him to talk to her.

It had been hard to watch, and she knew that he wasn't cold-hearted when he ignored the pleas. It tore him up to do it, but he was trying to protect himself the only way he knew how. His mother and father had failed him, and he'd been badly hurt, almost killed. He was afraid to let them back into his life, afraid that it would all happen again. He'd made a lot of progress with his brother, but he wasn't ready to accept the rest of his family, not yet.

"I know."

Amy touched his arm gently, wishing she could make this better somehow. Yesterday, with Gypsy, Lee, and Ty all together, she'd known, but she couldn't help him with this, and it was so hard. "You're really not going to talk to your mother?"

"Amy—"

"Not every woman is my mother," she interrupted before he could go on further. She knew that he blamed his mother as much as he did his father, and Amy didn't necessarily disagree with that. "Not everyone will stand up and talk back to their husband. Even my mom doesn't do it as much as she probably should. Your mom might not have done anything wrong."

"She knew as well as he did. She was there that night, she saw what had happened to me, and she knew what I told them," Ty disagreed almost angrily. "I can't do it. And I noticed that they didn't bring my brother by today, so... I don't know what they think this is going to do. It's not going to solve anything. It just makes me more unwilling to deal with them."

Amy looked at him. "I'm not saying they're doing the right thing. I'm not saying that speaking to your father was the right thing to do, but you did think you needed to, and... I don't know what I'm saying anymore. I'm just trying to help. Maybe if you told her how you feel like you told him, maybe that would help. I know I can't fix things for you, and I know that it can't be... perfect. All of the hurt and pain isn't going to go away, but then I think of what we've done for our horses. We've healed them. And it's not just the physical pain. There's more to it than that. We can do so much for that, and we heal the whole, not just a part. Physically, you've healed from all the bruises and the broken arm and shoulder, but the trauma and the emotional damage, that hasn't healed."

Ty turned to her, and she thought he might actually yell at her. "If you think you're going to get anyone to massage circles in my side and neck, you probably should rethink that idea."

Amy laughed. "What, you think you can't be massaged like we do with the horses? You don't think it would help?"

"I don't know that it works... quite the same way," Ty told her, looking a bit uncomfortable. "I know your mother used massage therapy to help your father while he was still bedridden and as he was getting better, learning to walk again, but I doubt that people would accept it if it was under different circumstances. You know how people are with things that don't fit their... morality. A woman doing something like that for someone who isn't her husband or her son..."

"So you need a wife?" Amy teased. He looked at her, and that moment got long. Her face heated, getting really red, and she started to look away again, cursing herself for being so foolish. She wasn't expecting him to catch her and pull her close again. She almost squirmed out of his hold, knowing that she'd been an idiot to even start down this road.

Then he leaned down and kissed her. It was soft at first, and chaste, just like she thought a first kiss would be. She wasn't expecting any more, but the kiss didn't stop. They had gotten a taste of each other, and when that happened, it wasn't enough. They couldn't stop there; they needed more.

"Ty," she began breathlessly as they finally broke apart.

"Maybe if both of us feel the same way in three years, I will have a wife," he said, and she stared at him. Had he just said what she thought he did?