Coming Home to You

My blood is boiling by the time Johnny finishes telling me about the conditions of the ranch. I can't believe that my own father didn't let me in on the problems. I could've helped out, given them some money. But no. I'm going to have to talk to Matt about it. Something tells me he knows a bit more to the story than he's let on to Johnny. But what shocks me even more is that the humane society is actually coming. I guess it's fair because the health of one animal can effect all of the others. Still, that means I have to give Matt the heads up on the investigation so word can spread and the illegal supplies can be hidden. I frown, knowing that Matt isn't going to like it, but I need his cooperation if I don't want this operation to go to ruin.

Lunch soon comes, and when Johnny and I get back to the house, all sweaty and dirt covered, all I want to do is take an ice cold shower like I usually do and shovel food into my face after. But Matt is sitting down at the table already, and I figure we can take lunch outside, somewhere private.

"Hey, can I talk to Matt alone for a bit Johnny?" I ask, earning a hateful glance from Matt.

Johnny nods, looking between the two of us nervously. "Sure."

When he leaves, I sit down next to Matt.

"What do you want now?" He grumbles.

"I need to talk to you. It's important. Can we go outside for this?"

Matt shoves the last corner of his sandwich into his mouth, balling up the napkin as he wipes his fingers off. "I know what you want to talk about. There's nothing to say."

"No, it's more important than that," I urge. "What I'm here for."

Matt raises an eyebrow. "Fine. We'll ride out to the field. Be quick about it though."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

I completely forget about lunch as I race to saddle up Epona. Matt comes soon after, getting Harper ready.

"Don't act too eager," Matt grumbles, getting up and straddling onto Harper's saddle. I follow suit, and soon we're off to the fields. I chuckle when Epona keeps Harper in check, pulling ahead when Harper manages to pass her, even though the two are only walking. Epona was always a little speed demon, and she never let anyone or any of the other horses forget it. Harper isn't too happy about it, and the two are silently battling it out as we reach nearer to our destination. Matt seems to notice this too.

"How about we race there?" He smirks.

"You're on," I smile mischievously.

Matt digs his heels into Harper, urging her into a gallop. I never really believed in that, and Epona snorts furiously, chasing after Harper as soon as she darts off anyway.

"Go Epona, go!" I yell laughing.

I can see the huge tree coming into sight now, the only one that ever really had the guts to grow out here. I know it's the finish line. Epona pushes herself, and I lean in, trying to make it as easy on her as possible. Catching up to Harper is a breeze, and Harper is struggling to keep up when we are about to pass her.

"Fuck you, Brian!" Matt yells, but he's smiling widely, enjoying the adrenaline rush.

Epona pulls ahead at the last second, and I slow her to a stop at the gnarled, old tree. I hop off, allowing her to graze.

"Fucking shit," Matt breathes, feet hitting the ground. "That damn horse of yours. She's not even at her best and she can still beat every other horse."

I smirk. "She would've kicked Harper's ass on her best day."

"No doubt," Matt agrees.

We both sit down against the tree, sighing, watching our horses graze.

"She's eating," Matt admires Epona. She is, and it's not just a meager grazing, she's ripping the grass out of the ground and chomping on it like she's never eaten in her entire life. "Maybe that's it," he muses to himself.

"What?" I ask. I'd do anything to see her healthy again.

Matt frowns, catching my gaze. "Maybe it'd help if we fed her together."

I smile softly at the thought. "Yeah, we'll try it."

Silence wraps around us for a while, and we both know that we should've returned from lunch a while ago.

"Look," I finally say. "I'm not going to call you out on anything, but what happened with the ranch?"

Matt's frown deepens as he looks at the two horses, now meandering slowly away from us.

"I just want to know."

"I thought you had to tell me something about why you're here."

"I do, but I want to know why the ranch is in such a shitty position. You could've called, I could've sent the money to help. Why didn't you?"

Matt looks down at the ground. "Your father did. He wanted you to come back and help for a bit. I talked him out of it."

In a split second, I'm furious. "What the fuck?! Are you fucking kidding me, Matt? What the- why the hell would you do that?!" I know I said that I wasn't going to hold anything against him, but this is different. "My father? You seriously did that to him?"

"Look, I know it was stupid, it was a really shitty move on my part, but at the time I didn't want to see or hear from you again so I told him not to do it. I didn't know he wasn't going to be around for much longer, I swear. If I had, I would've let him. He wanted to see you again before."

I run my hands through my hair, grinding my teeth down on my lower lip.

"Brian, stop. You're gonna make it bleed."

"What?" I ask, shocked. This is the first time he's shown any kind of compassion towards me in the whole month I've been here.

"I- you're gonna hurt your lip," he mumbles.

I sigh, not being able to blame him for long. "Look, what I'm about to tell you is classified, you can not tell anyone about what I'm going to tell you, not even Jimmy and Johnny. Okay?"

"Yeah."

I take a deep breath. "My partner and I have been tracking a drug trafficking and illegal munitions smuggling operation for a while. There was a huge breakthrough in the case back in Cali and... it led me here."

"What?" Matt gasps. "How?"

"Look, you can't say anything, you'll fuck up the whole mission if you do. The smugglers and traffickers are using the ranch as a halfway house for the delivering and distribution."

Matt runs his hands over his shaved head, shaking. "I can't fucking believe it. Fuck. I'm so stupid, I should've never hired those fucking-"

I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to soothe him. "Matt, it's fine, you didn't know. I understand. They're good, they're fucking good. Now, I'm only telling you this because I need you to spread the word that the humane society is coming. Knowing the dealers, they will be smart enough to move and hide all of the illegal stuff so the humane society won't bust the ranch. If the ranch is caught, they are caught, and they don't want that."

"Shit, if I knew..." Matt trails off angrily, getting up.

"I know, I know. Don't beat yourself up over this." I pat him on the back, giving him a brotherly hug that he returns not even half-heartedly. At least it's something. "Just do as I say and everything will be fine. I don't want you getting caught up in all of this."

"How are they doing it?" Matt asks seriously.

I frown. "I'm pretty sure they're getting them through the supply deliveries to the ranch. They wouldn't let me near the feed truck when I offered to help."

Matt nods, and we call the horses back, returning to the ranch. I can tell Matt is refraining from acting hostile to the other workers now as we get back to work.

"Everything go well?" Johnny asks, eying Matt carefully, noting the new hostility.

I nod. "Yeah, as good as it will ever get."

Zack calls me right after I've finished dinner, and I'm sorely tempted to ignore him because all I want to do is take a shower and get to bed.

"What?" I snap.

"What, did I do something wrong, honey?" he sweet talks.

I chuckle. He never fails to make me laugh. "Oh, very. You've been very naughty lately."

"Oooh, Mr. Haner. I think I need to be punished. Why don't you get your ass back here and do something about it?"

I laugh hard. "You're a fucking cheese, Zack."

"I know. Anyways, I feel like I'm gonna puke now so I'll just get right to it. I've managed to track down the trafficking to the feed delivery service you told me about. A few workers in there manage to sneak it by. Plus they tip the driver heftily. The boss wants us to raid it and stop the deliveries."

"What, no!" I hiss. "That could screw everything up on this end. They could catch on and link the problem back to me."

"I know, I informed her about that. I don't know if she listened though. I don't have as much authority as you, Brian. Maybe you should call her."

"I can't," I shake my head. "My cell is vulnerable here. I can't risk them looking through and tracking the calls back to the FBI. I call your cell phone for a reason."

"And what's your cover story for having my number the only one in your log?" Zack smirks.

I sigh. "You're so full of yourself, you little shit."

"I'm waiting," his smirk grows.

"Well, I'm very homesick and I need to hear my boyfriend's voice at least five times a day."

"That's what I like to hear," Zack laughs. "Alright, I gotta go. I'll tell the boss your take on the situation, hopefully she'll listen more to you than to me."

"See you."

"Bye."

I end the call just as Matt opens the door to my room, a frown etched deep into his facial features. I groan, just wanting people to leave me alone so I can shower and sleep. "What?"

"Sorry if I interrupted anything, I was going to see if you wanted to try feeding Epona with me."

My mood instantly brightens. Any time spent cooperating with Matt is good. "Yeah, sure. Something wrong?"

Matt shakes his head. "How is he?" He asks.

"How's who?"

"Your boyfriend, you idiot."

My stomach instantly drops, and Matt shakes his head. "You know what, Brian? Never mind, I'll just go myself."

"No, wait!" I grab his arm. "You've got it wrong."

I walk with him outside into the darkness. "I heard the whole conversation, sadly. I think I know what I'm talking about."

"That was my partner."

"Yeah, partner."

"No, partner for work. Zack. There's nothing going on between us, I swear. It's just how we joke around with each other. We need to lighten up somehow when we do jobs like this every day."

Matt frowns, looking at me carefully. "Does he know about your past here?"

"No, of course not. That's personal. And we don't have access to each other's files unless we suspect something wrong. Even then, we'd have to be granted permission, and Zack is way too lazy for that. He doesn't care." I leave out the part that he could if he wanted to, because he's a technical genius that can hack into anything.

Matt just nods, grabbing a bucket of oats and heads to Epona's stall. Her ears perk up sleepily when we arrive, but she seems happy to see us nonetheless. She snorts, wondering what Matt has in his hand.

"Take some," he orders to me.

I stick my hand in the bucket, grabbing a good fistful of oats. Epona eyes them hungrily as I stretch them out to her. "Please don't bite my hand off," I beg. She doesn't, she just eats voraciously, covering my palm with saliva. Matt extends his hand right after me, and we take turns feeding her for the next half hour until she refuses us both.

Matt nods. "I was right."

"Yeah."

"So, that means we'll just have to both be here when one of us places the bucket in her stall," he finalizes, voice instantly going to business. I sigh, shaking my head.

"And if she doesn't eat still?"

"We'll have to feed her like this until she trusts us again."

"Matt, I don't think that we're the problem," I sigh softly, stepping closer to Matt. "I think 'us' is the problem."

Matt frowns, throwing the bucket down onto the ground unhappily. Epona backs away back into her stall carefully. "You screwed that over a while ago."

"No, please. Just stop showing hostility towards me and she'll sense that things are back to the way they were. That's her problem, Matt. I know it. She's confused and hurt that we're not acting the same way towards each other anymore."

"I think that's just you talking. Not Epona," Matt pushes past me, heading out of the barn.