Jacob saw his own life flash before his eyes as he saw Chevy lying on the ground, blood oozing from the new wound in her shoulder. She let out a moan of pain and Jacob felt as if he could feel her pain. A scream escaped his mouth and he ran to her, kneeling down next to her and looking at the wound. The wound was now gushing blood, and somehow he knew he needed to slow down the blood flow. He pulled his shirt over his head and balled it up, pressing it gently against the wound. She let out a grunt of pain, but did nothing to stop him. Blood was already seeping through his shirt.

"Brook! Call my dad!" He yelled at her. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Davids number. He could feintly hear her.

"Yes! She was shot!" She said. Jacob stroked Chevy's neck, trying to ease her tense muscles. He looked up as he saw little Wildfire come running out of the stall and up to his mother. He sniffed her head and let out a small niegh of distress.

"Jacob, is there anything I can do to help?" Collin asked hesitantly. Jacob flashed him a glare.

"Get the heck away from here! I don't want to see you ever again!" He yelled. "You did this! you did this to my horse!" His voice was hoarse now and tears blurred his vision. Chevy tried to lift up her head, but she was too weak. Collin let out a deep sigh and got into the car, slamming the car door shut and driving off with Hayley. Within another five minutes, David, Alex, and James pulled into the drive and ran over to him. Jacob was sobbing at this point. Alex took his arm and pulled him to his feet and she led him a little bit away from Chevy, that way David would have room to examine her.

"James, Jacob, I need you to help me." He said. Jacob nodded willingly. He would do anything to help her at this point. "First I need you to put Wildfire in the spare stall, He'll only get in the way. They nodded and James ran to get the foal halter and lead rope. They were already working with the colt, and they had since he was born, so he was already used to people and allowed them to halter him and lead him away from his mother and into the stall that didn't have a gaping hole in the gate. They ran back to David and Chevy and He told them to go get some clean bed sheets, a five gallon bucket of water, his horse first aid kit he kept in the barn, some bailing twine, some dish rags and some vet wrap. They ran off to fetch what he asked for, and he called the vet while he had Brook hold Jacobs shirt tightly up against the wound. Jacob grabbed another shirt from his room while he grabbed the bed sheets out of the laundry baskets, luckily their mother had just finished a fresh load of sheets for them that morning.

Once they had everything David wanted, he had Jacob dunk the rags in the bucket of water and wring it out over Chevy's body repeatedly to keep her cool. He then had Brook hand him supplies he needed to keep the wound clean and to stop the blood flow until the vet got there. He sprayed a antibiotic on the wound and had James apply pressure to the wound with the sheets while David wound it tightly with vet wrap and bailing twine. They could already see blood seeping through the sheets, but it would have to do for ten minutes while they waited for the vet.

When the vet arrived, she told Jacob to continue keeping Chevy cool with the rag, and had Brook and James help him. As Jacob wetted his horse, he noticed the Alex was missing. He gave his step dad a questioning look.

"She can't watch. upsets her stomach." He said. Jacob was now confused, seeing how Alex seemed perfectly fine during Wildfires birth. Seeing that Jacob was confused, David sighed.

"She's pregnant." he said finally. Under other circumstances, he would have been happy, he was going to have another little brother or sister, but he was too worried about Chevy, so he nodded once and continued to bathe her in the cold water. Jacob now realized also why his mother couldn't stand to watch, The vet gave Chevy a huge shot to put her to sleep so she could perform the surgery. Jacob looked away until she was finally finished and she bandaged it up.

"She will be fine. Change the bandage every other hour. Make sure the colt is seperated from her, Her body won't be able to support him. She'll be up and runnin' in about a month." She said.

"Thank you." David said. He paid her more money then Jacob could count, and she left, saying she would be back in three days for a check up.

***

Jacob slept in the barn that night. When Chevy had woken she was in a lot of pain, So David gave her a shot that would numb the pain. She laid in the soft shavings, favoring her wounded shoulder. She was exhausted. Jacob curled up next to her, staring at her beautiful face.

"You are the reason I get to stay here forever, Chevy." He said softly. Her ears pricked up at the sound of his voice. She nudged his cheek with her soft nose, and he let out a small chuckle, kissing it before she pulled back.

"Knock knock." He heard Brook say. She had stayed with their family that night and finally decided to sleep over as well because she wanted to keep watch on Chevy. It was one in the morning. He lookes over at her and smiled. He was half covered in shavings and lying down next to a wild mustang. She opened up Chevy's newly patched gate and slipped in, closing is softly behind her. Brook had borrowed some of Ginny's PJs, but they were slightly big on her. She came over to him and sat down in the shavings, picking up a handful and tearing them.

"How is she?" She asked looking up at Chevy, who had her eyes closed and her head was drooping.

"Better." Jacob said yawning. He smiled up at her and Brook laid down next to him, reaching up and brushing some shavings out of his wild hair.

"This was one crazy day." She said curling up next to him, placing her hands on his chest.

"Yeah, Ginnys wedding, dad comes, shoots my horse, and I find out my mom is pregnant with her ninth child." He said sighing. She gave him a small smile, closing her eyes. He kissed her lips softly and she slipped her arms around his neck, running her hands up his neck and throuh his hair. The kiss became more passionate and Jacob was soon on top of her, running his fingers over her skin under her shirt. He kissed her jaw, her neck, and back to her lips. He was about to loose control when Chevy let out a small nicker. They both pulled away from each other, looking up at Chevy, who seemed to be laughing at them. Jacob let out a small sigh, smiling and pressed his forehead to Brooks. She kissed his lips briefly. He returned to his spot next to Chevy, pulling Brook to his chest, and the three of them fell asleep.

***

The picture on the side is of Hugh Jackman, Collin Gareth in the book. He's Ginny, Peter, and the twins father.

~Avis