Fic: Inheritance of the Heart 1/18

[youngeratheart.livejournal.com]

Inheritance of the Heart
Chapter One
Word Count: 4,095
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Lou/Scott, but mostly, eventually... Ty/Amy.
Warnings: Character death (in chapter one only)
Disclaimer: I'm never going to grow up. That means... I'm not legally responsible for anything, right?
Summary: She went away thinking it would always be there, always be the same. She was wrong.
Author's Note: I am certain I'm not the only one who was unhappy with what happened in the special edition books. I remember being in the book store, excited to see another because I could not believe it ended at book twenty, only to have a bad feeling from the back of the book. I'm not ashamed to say I flipped to the back of the book and read the ending. It was what I feared, and I refused to buy it. This is coming from a person who owns the books in French and English and has read both versions multiple times. I kept my eye on the books kind of hoping that the reunion would take place, and it never did. Even in the French version of the series which continues beyond the special editions, Amy and Ty don't get back together, or so I understand from the synopsis of book thirty-two. I finally caved in and started my own fix for this problem. I haven't read any of the special editions other than the Holiday Memory one and the bit from the horrible one where they broke up, and I won't. Still, I can't manage to pretend that they didn't break up and the stories ended at twenty. I almost wish they had because that was fitting end, and they were together.

Since it didn't work out that way... I have this. I thought this over several times, and this is how it seemed best to right a few wrongs. One part of this I didn't want to do, but I don't know how else it could work. I think you'll know what I mean soon enough.

---

Taken For Granted

 

Another country, an entire ocean separating her from the life that she had once known and the family that she had been so close to, neither of those things were on her mind at the moment. She wasn't homesick or lonely. She was on top of the world. She was doing what she loved. She reached up behind her and stroked the horse's nose. He had come so far in the last few days, made an amazing amount of progress. She couldn't believe how well things had gone. She'd been able to diagnose the horse's physical problem and once she'd begun to help him with the physical part, she'd worked beyond it, going deeper, to the emotional side of it, which was the larger part of this beautiful gelding's issues. Today, though, today they'd made the biggest breakthrough of all.

"Amy, that was amazing. I never thought you'd be able to reach him, not after all he's been through," her new friend began, wrapping her up in a warm hug. Despite the differences in their ages, and the language barrier, they had become very close in the short time that Amy had been in the country. Ericka owned the most beautiful land and some of the finest horses Amy had ever had the pleasure to know, to touch... to ride.

This one, though, he was truly special, she thought, rubbing his nose again. She leaned her cheek against his, just savoring the unparalleled joy of this moment, the one just after a join up, the feeling was unlike any other in the world. To know that this horse, this once badly damaged but still loving and generous horse had given her the gift of his trust was almost unbelievable. She kissed him gently. "I know. He's come a very long way, haven't you, boy?"

"Amy! Telephone!" someone called from the house.

"Okay, coming," she called back, taking another look at the gelding. "I'm sorry, buddy. We'll have plenty of time for more later. I'm still here for at least another week. Maybe more. I've got the whole summer ahead of me."

She passed the reins over to Ericka, who took them with a grateful smile. "Go! I'll take care of him. Who knows? It could be another horse that needs your help."

"Yeah, it probably is," Amy agreed with a laugh, running to the house. She smiled to herself as she picked up the phone. "This is Amy."

"Amy, thank goodness," Lou's voice sounded... off. Amy knew she had her hands full, between what she did for Scott's practice and the kids. She was usually so happy, so thrilled, even in the middle of her chaos. "It's been a nightmare trying to get a hold of you."

"Yeah, there isn't much of anyone around to answer the phone. Everyone's always out in the field, and no one seems to remember their portable phones."

"It would have helped if you'd left the number where we could reach you in the first place," Lou said, clearly irritated. "I had to track down four of your friends, and I'm only now, today, hearing that you are in a completely different country! I'm sure it's convenient for you to run from one country to another without thinking about it, but there are times when people need to get in touch with you. This is unacceptable!"

"And I'm not a child, Lou!" Amy snapped. She didn't understand. Her sister had agreed that she take one last summer of freedom before settling in as Heartland's permanent vet. "What has gotten into you? Yes, I'm sorry I went to Vienna without speaking to you about it, but it was an emergency at the time. Then things got complicated, and it just slipped my mind."

Lou took a deep breath. "I don't even have time to go into how irresponsible you were. Amy, you need to come home—come back, I mean. You have to... It's Grandpa."

"I don't understand," Amy began, confused. "What... What's wrong?"

"Grandpa's... He's... He had a heart attack, Amy. He's gone."

Amy felt the blood rush to her head. She couldn't hardly hear. Her ears were ringing. She couldn't believe this. Not Grandpa. It had been so sudden when her mom died, and her grandfather being there was one of the only ways she'd gotten through it. He had been there for her, every step of the way. His support and care and understanding had made her life bearable. She had needed his help so many times over the years, and he just... couldn't be gone.

"I'm sorry, Amy. I know this is hard to accept. It wasn't easy for me, either."

"Wh—" she cleared her throat. "When? What happened?"

"It was four days ago. He collapsed in the back barn, and he was gone before anyone knew what happened," Lou explained. "It was quick. He didn't suffer."

"That's—that's good," Amy managed to say, her throat thick. She couldn't hardly breathe. "I'll get a plane back as soon as I can. Please—you didn't have the—"

"The memorial service is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. I expected you back long before then," Lou answered honestly. "I—We'll talk later. For now, just concentrate on getting back."

"I will."

---

Amy's trip back to the states was a blur. She didn't even remember packing or booking the flight. She couldn't remember saying goodbye to Ericka or any of the others. She didn't know what she'd done, and she hoped that her friend understood if she had been rude. Amy didn't think she would have been able to sleep on the plane, but she must have, at least for part of it. She couldn't remember it, not being bumped or the in-flight movie or anything. She was lost in a fog until she touched down at the airport. There, coming down onto the ramp, she saw Lou and Scott and the kids, and it started to become more real, painfully real.

Her grandfather was gone. Things had changed.

The kids were so big now. Holly looked just like Lou did when she was that age. Amy had seen the same expression in pictures, and here in person, too, standing there next to her parents, Holly was the image of her mother. She was practically up to Lou's waist now, and so fearless. She was beautiful, and so like Lou. She was upset, but she wasn't about to cry. She was stubborn like that. It came with being a Fleming. Her strength, though, that was Lou. Amy had never known anyone as strong as her sister. She had held them together when Marion died, and she was doing so much already, with Scott and two kids...

Amy had missed so much. The new baby was hardly a baby any more. Scott was holding him in his arms, though, and he did look tired. She could see that he'd been crying. Poor thing. It must be even harder for him to understand that Grandpa was never coming back.

"Oh, Amy," Lou said, and before Amy knew what had happened, she was in her sister's arms. She felt herself start to cry, really cry, for the first time since she'd heard the news. She'd been in shock since she spoke to Lou, even a little numb. Now it was all here, coming in on her at once. "I just can't believe he's gone..."

"Neither can I," Amy said, shaking her head. "I don't—Heartland won't be the same without him. Nothing will."

Lou took a deep breath, like there was something she thought she should say, but then she shook her head. She forced a slight smile. "We've only been in town for a few days ourselves, just since we heard about... Anyway, we'll head out to Heartland. I spoke to Ty, and he and Lee are expecting us."

"Lee?"

"Ty's younger brother works at Heartland now, didn't you know that?" Lou asked, frowning. Amy realized that she really had lost touch with everything back here. She hadn't talked to Ty in months. She always seemed to call when he was busy or out, and she spoke to her grandfather which was fine with her. She had always enjoyed their long talks, but now that she thought about it... She'd done most of the talking, hadn't she? She couldn't hardly remember what her grandpa had told her last time they talked. He'd asked her about her school work and the horses and her friends, and he hadn't said much.

She missed him. She missed him so badly, and she didn't know why she hadn't made more of an effort to spend time with him. It wasn't just her new discovery about their phone conversations. It was... She couldn't remember the last school break she actually spent at Heartland. She had taken all of this for granted. She'd just assumed that her grandfather would always be here, like he always had been. She should have learned by now. Her mother's accident had been this sudden. Marion had been there one day and gone the next. Why not Grandpa?

"Amy?" Scott asked gently, touching her arm. She blinked and looked at him. "We've reached the car. The kids are in, are you... coming, too?"

"Yeah, Scott, I'm sorry. My mind was elsewhere," Amy apologized, a new wave of guilt rushing over her. The next few days were going to be so hard. She felt like—like Grandpa would know what to do, instinctively, to make them all feel better, and this was going to be almost impossible without him.

Oh, Grandpa, Amy thought, what are we going to do now?

---

"Wow," Amy whispered, looking around the once familiar farm with disbelieving eyes. This couldn't really be Heartland, could it? They never had... all this. It was crazy, wasn't it? There was another schooling ring, another barn. How did they manage to build all this? How did they have time? Resources? How did they have... the staff for all this? How had Heartland become... this? Where was the small home she used to know? Where was the ramshackle look? Why did everything seem clean and neat and organized? Heartland was never like this. There was always more that needed to be done than could be done, and they shouldn't be able to cope with the workload now, of all times.

Surely they couldn't manage now that Grandpa was gone... could they?

She looked back as someone came out of the house. Dark hair, tall—could that be Ty? She didn't hardly recognize him, either. He waved to them and continued back to the barn without stopping. She blinked. That didn't seem like Ty. Maybe that wasn't Ty after all. Maybe it was Lee. This was so weird, like something out of a dream or a nightmare or something. It had to be a nightmare, right? Grandpa being dead, now that was a nightmare.

"Amy, come on into the house," Lou called, and Amy nodded, following her sister inside. At least the farmhouse was the same, if barely lived in. She could barely see any signs of life. It was too clean. Too tidy. It didn't feel like home. Maybe if Grandpa were here...

But Grandpa was never going to be here again. She was going to have to accept that. She didn't know how, but... somehow, they'd get through this, right? She wished that she knew how.

"Oh, hey," one of the more recent hires said, a red-haired woman with freckles and an easy smile. She wasn't really smiling now, but she was making a real effort. Amy knew she'd met her before, but she didn't remember her name. She wasn't even sure when she'd met her. On a break, it must have been, but she didn't know which one, what year or even what time of year. She had lost touch, and now there were strangers in her home. "I'm sorry. Jack was a great guy. He really was the best."

Amy nodded numbly. She just wanted everyone to go. She didn't want to see anyone. She didn't want to talk about how great Grandpa was, and how well could that woman really have known him? He wasn't her grandfather. He was Amy's. Amy's and Lou's, and that woman didn't know anything.

Lou looked at her. Amy wondered if she knew what she'd been thinking, and she felt a bit guilty. Lou said nothing of that, though. "I think my sister's got a bad case of jet lag on top of everything else. Is her room made up? I think she'd better lie down."

"Lou, I'm fine," Amy started to protest, hearing a voice in the back of her head asking her if she really had a room here anymore. She pushed the thought away. Of course she had a room. This was home. It would always be home... wouldn't it?

"You're really not, Amy," her sister disagreed. "I think you need some of those remedies you always use on the horses. You're still in shock."

Amy let Lou guide her up to her room. She sat down on the bed, feeling numb. She wasn't herself. She didn't know what to do. "Lou?"

"Just get some rest, Amy. All of this... We'll sort it out later."

"I guess," Amy whispered. She didn't think she would get any sleep tonight. Lou's words were all well and good, but words weren't enough, not now. I don't know how, though. I don't know how we're going to do any of this without Grandpa. It was bad enough without Mom...

She heard Lou close the door as she left, and she crossed the room, looking out the window. It was dark, and in the dark, she could imagine Heartland as it was. As she had left it, the way she had wanted it to stay forever. She remembered those last days before she left for college. Ty had promised her that Heartland would always be there for her, that they would always be there for her. But Lou had moved, and Grandpa was dead. Ty hadn't even spoken to her. Heartland had changed.

She turned away from the window again, going to the bed. She sat down, and then after a moment, she buried her head in the pillow. Thinking of her grandfather again, she started to cry. Grandpa, I miss you so much. It's not the same here without you. Nothing is.

---

The memorial service was just the way Grandpa would have wanted it. Amy knew that. It made it easier to cope with, not that any of it was really easy. She was almost lucky to have missed her mother's. She really didn't know how she would have done that. As it was, she moved through another fog, hearing and seeing things that never quite made sense, never reached her. She couldn't explain what she felt or why. She couldn't handle this, and she kept running from it even when there was no where to go, leaving her like a robot, a trained pony doing tricks on command.

Amy found herself alone in the field after the service, staring at an empty training ring, wondering where it had all gone. Everything she knew seemed to have disappeared. Heartland wasn't the same. Lou wasn't the same. Scott was different. Grandpa was gone. And Ty...

She'd barely spoken to him, and that was the hardest part. That did not seem like Ty. She knew that no matter how busy he was, he found time to talk to her. He had been there for her when her mother died, when her grandfather was sick, and by her side with so many horses that she had been helping. Now... She didn't know where he was. Out in the barn, maybe, but there was no way of knowing that.

"Amy?"

She turned around to face her sister. It seemed like Lou was the only one that made any effort to talk to her. The staff—Heartland had staff. That was just another change that she was having trouble with, and she did not know how to adjust to any of them—the staff didn't seem to know how to talk to her, or even who she was. Scott was busy with the horses or the kids, even though he was no longer Heartland's vet. She was still a stranger to their youngest, and Holly was always trying to help in some way. Like her mother, she wanted to be useful.

Amy felt very alone. She had never felt so alone before, and she felt out of place as well. She wished that her grandfather was here to make it... better. She just wanted him back here, period. "Yes, Lou?"

"Almost everyone's gone home."

"That's good."

"Tomorrow... Tomorrow they'll read Grandpa's will, and after that, Scott and I need to return home. Holly wants to stay, of course, but I told her we'd come back later on in the summer," Lou began.

Amy frowned at her. "But... What... Already? You're leaving already?"

"Amy, we've already been here for a week," Lou reminded her, trying to be patient. "Scott has his practice, I have work, and the kids have friends, and Holly does have a summer camp, even if she's conveniently forgotten it."

Amy nodded numbly. Everyone was leaving. She knew, deep down, it didn't mean that they'd already forgotten about about Grandpa. It just meant that they were doing what they had to do. They were moving on. It was the way life worked. Sometimes she really hated it. She didn't like it when things changed.

"Are you coming inside?"

"Maybe later," Amy answered after a moment. She didn't know what to do with herself inside the house any more than she knew what to do outside. She was a mess.

"Don't stay out here too late," Lou said, touching her arm. Lou really was a mom, Amy thought. She sighed. She missed her mom again. She should be here. All the things that Marion had missed out on, and she was not supposed to go before her father. That wasn't right.

It was what had happened, and they would all have to accept it. Sometimes Amy thought that she had, and sometimes she did, but then something like this happened, losing Grandpa, and she was back to the way she was ten years ago when she lost her mother.

"It's going to be okay, Amy," Lou said gently. She took a deep breath and looked out at the field. "Things are rough right now, but... It'll get better. And you can go back to your friend's place soon enough."

Amy frowned at her. "Why would I do that? You don't really think I'm in a hurry to get back, do you? I mean, I wasn't going to rush things, but now that I've graduated I did intend to come back to Heartland. That was always the plan. It hasn't changed."

Lou blinked. "Oh, well... Don't rush things just because Grandpa died. Really. Give yourself some time to think it over."

Amy didn't need time to think it over, but before she could protest or explain that to Lou, her sister had started back to the house. Shaking her head, Amy decided she needed a walk to clear her head. Maybe that would help, though she doubted it.

---

Amy kept expecting her grandfather to show up in the middle of breakfast the next morning. She didn't know why. Maybe it was because the whole atmosphere was awkward. Lou had cooked, and it was a really good meal, not that Amy was really hungry. She hadn't had much of an appetite since she heard the news. The kids were eating loudly, the baby fussing. No, she had to remember that their boy was not a baby, not anymore. All these things that had changed, and she didn't know what to do about that. She should have been around more.

She couldn't change that now. She couldn't change the past, and she couldn't bring her grandfather back, as much as she wanted to, or her mom. She sighed, reaching for her coffee only to discover that it was empty. She looked down at it and frowned. Before she could get up to get a refill, it was full again. She looked up at Ty, but he didn't say anything. He just moved back into the kitchen without a word. She sighed. She really missed talking to him the way she used to, missed their friendship.

She supposed that was her mistake, wasn't it? Like with Grandpa. She could have tried a lot harder to talk to Ty when she called. She could have invited him up, and even if he was busy, maybe he would have come. It was Ty, right? He was the most generous person she knew.

Instead, she'd ignored him. She'd let one call pass without talking to him, then another, and another after that until she hadn't even noticed how long had gone by without talking to him. She'd have to fix that now that she was here.

"I'm heading out to take care of Venture," Ty told Lou. "When Lee gets here, ask him to work with Benedict, okay?"

"Sure, Ty," Lou began, "Just... Remember that the lawyer's coming by in half-an-hour, please."

Ty shook his head. "Lou, you're family. I'm not. I don't need to be here for it."

"That's not true, Ty. You've been like family for years," Lou insisted, and Amy could feel some eyes on her. She wondered if they were thinking about the past. She and Ty used to date. Many people thought they'd end up married one day. They were so in sync, so perfect for each other.

That was a long time ago. It wasn't like that anymore.

"Lou—"

"I'm sure Grandpa left something to you," Lou insisted. "Please?"

He finally nodded, but Amy could see he didn't want to do it. He left the house, and Amy reached for her coffee. "I don't know why Grandpa went to a lawyer anyway. I thought—Well, why did he need a lawyer? We are all family. We're not going to pick over Heartland like vultures."

Lou cleared her throat. "Amy, there's something you should probably know—"

The door opened, and Ty led a man in a business suit inside. Amy couldn't believe this was the lawyer. Oh, he looked like one all right, but not the type of man that she would have thought Grandpa would trust with his legal affairs.

"I'm early. I apologize. I allowed extra time in case I got lost and for the condition of the roads," the lawyer began. "That... And I was hoping to be back at the office before dark."

"It's fine," Lou said. She looked pointedly at Ty, who had been headed for the door. He stopped, unhappy, but he stayed by the door as the lawyer took out the file from his briefcase. "We can start now if you want. Just ignore our mess. I believe everyone's here."

"I, Jack Bartlett, being of sound mind,'" the lawyer read aloud. As he continued reading the will, Amy found her mind wandering. Grandpa had done this only a short time ago, it seemed, and that was just crazy. Maybe he knew? Maybe he had been sick or having signs of heart trouble before the attack. Oh, why hadn't he just said something?

He'd made sure to leave something to each of the kids and to Scott and Lou. Amy was glad, but she still didn't see why her grandfather had felt the need for a lawyer and a will to do this.

"And, finally, with regards to all the land and property known as Heartland, three barns, one farmhouse, the training rings, and all the undeveloped land, I leave it all to Ty Baldwin to continue the work he has done here at Heartland for all the years to come."

Amy's eyes flew to Ty. He seemed just as shocked as she was. But—Why had Grandpa left Heartland to Ty and not to her?