lb_heartland | Fic: Big Time Cowboys 12/16

Big Time Cowboys
Chapter Twelve
Word Count: 2,519
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Kendall/Jo, Logan/Camille, Ty/Amy, Lou/Scott, and possibly a bit of Jack/Lisa. As scary as that list might seem, this story is mostly about humorous antics and none of the pairings are a big focus of it, I promise. I just like to cover all the bases.
Disclaimer: I'm never going to grow up. That means... I'm not legally responsible for anything, right?
Summary: Four teenage boys. Two weeks. One ranch. Who will survive?
Spoilers: Nothing past Eye of the Wolf for Heartland, season 2 of Big Time Rush, with a very minor one from Big Time Moms. I couldn't resist.
Author's Note: I have spent too much time writing Katie/Kendall interaction lately, and I just... love it. More than I should. Anyway, I couldn't help but add some of that to this, and then I had one of those brilliant inspirations that kind of messed everything up (in a good way) and I'll be changing a bit of what was going to come in this, but it should be...good, I think. Kendall's got a plan, and that's usually a good thing. :)

Carnival

"Well, that was... diplomatic," Logan began after they walked off the stage. He glanced back at the woman who had invited them to judge nervously. Katie smiled a little at the sight. She should have known better than to ask, and she had no one but herself to blame if she didn't like the answer the guys had come up with. Really, Katie loved the guys, but she'd been worried about how they'd handle that one. She could hardly believe they'd let a pig place in the top three, though.

"It was inspired," Kendall told him, shaking his shoulders. "Genius, even."

"Quit sucking up to me, Kendall. I'm not getting on another horse."

They started arguing over nothing again, and it was about to turn into a shoving match. She sighed and decided that she'd better intervene before that happened.

"Guys, shut up," she yelled, not too loud because she didn't want a bunch of people coming in and wondering what was wrong, but also because she didn't want anyone finding her right now. The guys looked for the source of her voice, but no one realized where she was until Kendall stopped, getting a good look at her outfit. She held up a hand. "Not a word."

"I thought we were just grounded," he began, doing a long, slow study of her from the cowboy boots on her feet to the denim skirt, the plaid shirt, the vest, and the hat. "I had no idea that public humiliation was a part of the punishment."

"Please. This is a disguise that lets me blend in with the natives while I do my work," she scoffed.

Her brother folded his arms over his chest. "Okay, what did you do to Tim Fleming this time?And whatever it was, I'm pretty sure I'm sorry I missed it."

She sighed. It wasn't fair how well Kendall knew her. None of the other guys would have recognized her like this or seen past the story she'd intended to stick to. "He was doing this whole 'pity me, I fell off horse' act that Mom was actually falling for, and I may have said a few things, and then the next thing I know, I'm up for rodeo princess."

Her brother reached over and tweaked one of her braids. "I want the full story later. There's no way Mom got you to agree to this that easily."

"I really hate how well you know me sometimes, Kendall."

"I know. I'll take the next shift with Marlboro Man, okay?" he offered with a smile.

"Pinkie swear, and no reneging on me because you're trying to talk Mom into letting you go on some hay ride with Jo."

"I have hardly even seen Jo since she got here, thank you very much," he muttered, shaking his head. Katie supposed that was true, because she'd barely seen her brother since she got here, and Jo and Camille were with Katie and her mom most of the time. "Speaking of, now that I have finished with the judging part of our day, I am so out of here to find Jo."

"She and Camille were going for cotton candy," Katie told him, and he frowned at her. "What? I'm not going to charge for the information I'm obviously not Katie Knight today. This will all be forgotten by everyone. Everyone. I'm not going to act like myself so that no one realizes I'm here."

"Sounds like a good plan," he agreed. "You going to be Apple, then?"

"Don't make me kill you."

"You're going to anyway," he told her, and she looked up as a flash went off. James grinned from behind the camera. Carlos was laughing. Logan just had a smile. She took one look at her brother, who smiled and yanked her hat down over her eyes before he started running, urging his friends along with him.

"You are so dead!" she called after him, pulling the hat off her head. She heard someone chuckling behind her and whirled around to see the cowboy guru that Kendall had befriended standing there. She glared at him. "What?"

"I think it's time that you and I had a talk."

"How does it feel?" Amy began, and Ty shook his head. She knew why he'd won that dumb contest, same as he did. The boys weren't about to pick between Lou and Amy. Both of them were good and deserved to win, not him. They were just lucky, he supposed, because it was also a talent competition, and the four of them had claimed that Ty's pathetic skill at the guitar was better than Amy or Lou's singing, and since he'd helped both of them with their acts, he had more of a showing or some crap like that.

"I don't know. How do you and Lou feel, barely beating out the singing pig?" he teased, and Amy laughed.

"I don't know," Soraya began. "I think they managed to pull off a pretty difficult position. I mean, if they voted for you or Lou as first place, they'd look like they were showing Heartland favoritism because you're letting them stay there and teaching them to ride. The pig was the best act, other than you two—you three—and it made sense to give them third place. You two tied for second. It was as diplomatic as possible."

"So, if you were judging it, you'd make the same choice?" Ty asked, curious.

"Well, if I were judging, I'd have to deal with favoritism accusations, but for different reasons," Soraya admitted. "Amy's my friend and Lou and I have... at least a business relationship. I have to consider that, but I probably would have made a similar one. There are people who would argue that singing is mostly a raw talent and doesn't take skill or training to develop, at least not at the same level. I'd say it's not true, but ti's a fairly common misconception. Your guitar playing therefore has added perceived weight in the eyes of certain people because you had to work at that more. Throw in you helping both Amy and Lou, and you do seem more talented. It's all in the perception, though."

"You taking a course in advertising at school this semester?" Ty knew that she was going for a business degree, and it made some sense that advertising would be a part of it.

She shrugged. "Not exactly. It is something I picked up from my classes, though. Do you think Lou took tying for second okay?"

"She's over with Scott and seems to be doing pretty well," Amy answered, looking at the huge smile on her sister's face as she laughed with Marnie and her husband. Scott had Joe Jr. and Lou seemed to like seeing him as a family man—maybe even more than when Peter had been doing the same thing. For his part, Ty was glad. Scott had sounded so miserable when he spoke about Lou and letting a good thing slip through his fingers, but the crash had given him a second chance, not just at life, but also in love.

"Look out, coming through," the boys called, rushing past them.

Kendall stopped for a brief moment. "If you see my sister—or a ten year old in a cowgirl get up who claims she's not my sister—we were never here."

"Well, I might be," James said, tossing the camera over to Logan, who frowned and shoved it at Carlos before Kendall yanked it out of his hands. The other three started running again, but James stopped and smiled at Soraya. "You never answered my calls."

"Uh..."

Amy went over to her friend. "I know he's a bit younger than you, and he seems pretty shallow, but he'll definitely show you a good time."

"Amy!"

"It used to be all that mattered was that the guy was cute," Amy reminded her, and Ty had to pull her away before this got ugly.

"Here, why don't I get you another one of those?" James asked, pointing to Soraya's empty drink. Before she could object, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

"You sure you want to do that to her?" Ty asked, and Amy shrugged.

"She hasn't had any fun in a long time. Let her have a cute boy show her a good time. Honestly, I think she'd get along better with Logan. Not because of the fear of horses, but with her business sense and his analytical mind, they'd probably do pretty well together. Still, he's very taken, and I do like Camille. She's crazy fun. I don't know. Carlos is kind of goofy and sweet. Maybe we could get Mallory to do something with him—"

"Are you sure—Never mind," Ty interrupted before Amy got caught up in matchmaking. It wasn't like her, and he didn't really want to think about Big Time Rush, their girlfriends, or anything else right now. "I've got a better idea. Why don't you and I enjoy the rest of this rodeo just the two of us?"

"That sounds perfect," Amy agreed, wrapping her arm in his.

"For the last time, Gustavo, you don't have to come here," Kelly said, leaning against the wall, trying to resist the urge to smack her head into it repeatedly. She hated when he wasn't willing to listen. Things were under control here. In fact, they were great. Big Time Rush had just tapped into a whole new market without even knowing what they were doing. They had attracted plenty of attention here, and it had generated a lot of interest. Sales of the album were up, the hype on the movie was huge, and from the way that Lou Fleming was now cursing her phone, she had more business than she could handle as well. The guys were well on their way to having a hit on the Canadian charts. "Everything is fine."

"Fine? I know it's fine. It's better than fine. That is why I have to come there, in person," he told her, and she frowned. "This is a gold mine, Kelly. Do you realize the potential?"

"The boys have a wider audience, and they are very popular here," Kelly began, but he didn't let her finish, like usual. He just went on with whatever he felt was important, even if it was completely wrong or misguided.

"Not just that! I'm talking about the potential that these Heartland folks have," Gustavo told her, and her eyes widened in horror. Oh, she never should have agreed to send a live feed of the whole competition that the boys were judging for him. "Those two girls—the ones that you're staying with—they've got voices. Talent. Raw talent. And they're completely unknown."

"And they'll want to stay that way," Kelly protested. She shook her head. She had to do something, and fast. She couldn't let Gustavo come in here and try to convince Amy or Lou to record demos with him. She knew how that would go, and it would not be good. Him in the same territory as Jack Bartlett sounded like a really bad idea. She could picture it. The earthquake. The gunfire. She shuddered. "I think I can talk Mr. Bartlett into letting us use the song the boys discovered, and it will give them more exposure—again—and a new audience—again—but you should stay there. Let me handle this."

"You are the assistant. I am Gustavo Rocque," he began, and she lifted the phone to tune out him telling her how amazing he was because she didn't need to hear it.

"It doesn't matter how many gold records you have," Kelly told him. "If one more stranger sets foot on his land, Jack Bartlett will shoot them. We're already having trouble because your big come back director says he will only make his picture at Heartland and Jack Bartlett says that will happen over his dead body. Let us work on this mess first before you come in here and make it worse."

"I will not make it worse. I'm going to make someone famous. I am on my way," Gustavo said, hanging up. Kelly tried not to scream or throw anything, since she was in the middle of the rodeo and everyone would think she was crazy.

She was considering banging her head again when Kendall walked by, hand in hand with his girlfriend. Kelly grabbed him by the arm, and he shook his head. "No. No performances. No riding horses. No little sister trying to kill me. No talks with the old cowboy. Tonight is about me and Jo."

"Yeah, I hate to burst that happy bubble, but I need your help."

"What? Go get Carlos. I left him all the money I had for one of those rigged carnival games, but he was pretty bummed about being alone, and I couldn't find anyone else we knew to hang with him, so he could use the company. I was going to go back, really. I just wanted one uninterrupted hour with Jo before Mom enforces her ridiculous curfew on me—"

"Gustavo is coming here."

"Ah! What? Why didn't you stop him?" Kendall demanded, and Jo hung her head. Yeah, they weren't going to get any romantic alone time tonight. Kelly would feel bad for them later. Right now, they had to prevent a crisis.

"That is what I need your help with. I have to find away to stop him from coming here to recruit Amy or Lou into a record deal that neither of them will want, plus there's still the whole issue of the director and the land, and I don't know what to do, which is why we are going to find your friends and stop this."

"Okay, yes, we need to stop him," Kendall agreed. She could see the wheels turning in his head. He already had a plan. "Jo, we have to go find Amy."

"Amy? Why Amy?" Kelly asked. "What is your plan here?"

"To make Gustavo think he's getting a record deal," Kendall said, dragging Jo away by the hand. She shrugged helplessly. She didn't have any idea what he was up to, either. Great.

Kelly sighed. She was going to go find Carlos and hope that Kendall's plan would be as good as they usually were. It would help if she could find James and Logan as well. Maybe they would be a bit more cooperative, since she knew that none of them wanted Gustavo to come here. She'd wanted Kendall to help her talk to Jack, though, and he'd run off in the other direction.

This was going to be a long night.