And the Reason is you [Alessandra]

[Tyler Haze]

don't change...people included. Tyler was one of those people who could change if given the chance to do so. He was the kind of person who people were afraid of, one of those guys who people were told to steer clear of if possible. He was different now though, his cold gray eyes had melted into the soft gray of storm clouds that had already blown past. His posture, though erect, was in no way foreboding or intimidating. His voice held more inflection when he spoke. He didn't scare strangers off with just a single look. He responded more willingly and without malice. Some things never change, but some people do.

He pulled up to the stable and stepped out of the car into the sunlight. The light nearly blinded him, but the heat was just right. He pushed the door closed and reached down to lock it, his hand lingering on the key in the lock for a moment as his sight landed on the scar that ran all the way around his wrist. He had a matching one on the other hand as well...the constant reminders of that day when he'd found out Alessandra was pregnant with his kid...and Sebastian's kid...that day when he'd almost been arrested...that day when he'd found a reason to change.

He quickly pulled the key from the lock and flipped it into his pocket, then continued on his way. He didn't want to think about Sebastian at the moment. The guy already hated him enough, and for some reason Tyler couldn't seem to get away from him. First with Alessandra when Sebastian had pretty much attacked him, and then when he met Vivian and she turned out to be Sebastian's sister. That hadn't gone over too well, but Tyler had wisely stepped back from the situation when Seb showed up and intervened. Ah well, he didn't need to linger on that thought.

He hated knowing that people hated him because of a stupid mistake he'd made a few years ago that had nothing to do with them. He hadn't hurt anyone...as far as he knew he was the only one who died as a result of the crime. That was a terrifying thought. He had died...his heart stopped, his lungs refused to rise and fall, his brain stopped sending messages. The only reason he was here was because they had shocked his heart back into working and everything else slowly began to function again over the next few days. It was strange to think that he had once been dead...he didn't remember it at all...which was almost unfortunate. Maybe if he had remembered, he wouldn't have tried to kill himself that one day not too long ago, shortly after Alessandra had told them that Seb and Tyler were both the fathers.

Speaking of which, he didn't think he had told Alessandra about that yet...and he wasn't sure he was going to. It wasn't exactly a very good conversation starter. "I was going to kill myself, because I couldn't bare the thought of having a kid, but I couldn't do it...so I left and ran into someone who I shot in high school, and he reopened the gash and I went unconscious and came to in the hospital with someone I had never seen before." Yeah...not so much the story you want to go around telling people. Anyway, he just needed to focus on the task at hand, which just happened to be not getting killed by his insane Mexican fighting killer horse.

He walked into the stable, and as he expected heard the pounding of a hoof on the ground. That horse was as impatient as the devil, and just as mean too. Even Tyler had to approach him with caution, or risk getting killed. He stepped up to the stall, lead in hand, and opened the stall door, making sure he was off to the side so he wouldn't get run over by the hurricane that was going to bolt out of the stall. He'd made that mistake a time or two, and always regretted it.

True to expectation, Z bolted out the door as if to make an escape, but stopped short when he felt his head being forced back towards Tyler. Having been a knife fighter on the streets, he had learned to be quicker than his opponent, and it came in handy here. Before Z was even half way out of the stall he had the lead clipped on the halter, took a half hitch around his hand, and braced himself for the jerk that would dislocate his shoulder if he wasn't ready for it. Z hit the end of the lead at high speed, and whipped his body around to face Tyler, who, miraculously, hadn't been budged more than a step from the impact.

Being semi aggressive with Z was the only way to get through to him, and though to someone who didn't know what the horse was like, would think Tyler's way of getting control of him was cruel, it was the only way to do it. He had to earn that horse's respect every single time he stepped up to him, and since he used to be a Mexican fighting horse...he had to be a bit more rough than animal rights activists would consider humane.

[Sam Lettington]

Alessandra walked up and stood in the barn doorway. She was herself again. There was no babies. No big belly. She was her slim figure of a model again. She was young and lively again. She felt so much more free. She was dressed in jeans and tennis shoes and a plan t shirt that fit snug. And then her eyes laid onto Tyler Haze, a smile spread over her face as she ran over to him. She jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist and her hands around his neck. For a moment he just turned and they held each others gaze. Then their lips met in a firey passion and they kissed.... Ok more like made out in the barn aisle. and it felt so real and perfect. But then Alessandra was woken up by her alarm clock. She sighed heavily and swung her hand over turning it off.

Time to start another day.... pregnant. She looked into the mirror... Nope nothing had changed she still had a big belly sticking out infront of her. She smiled oddly in the mirror and slipped some shorts on along with some tennis shoes. She slipped on her bra and a huge smile spread over her face. There was two very good things about being pregnant other then having children which in her case wasn't that grand. And those two things were You got bigger boobs because of the swelling from the milk. And you didn't have to deal with having your period. So she was very thankfull for those things. Then she slipped a plan t shirt on and walked past the office half expecting alex to be there. But she wasn't... of course not she was at the barn. She was always at the barn or her desk. That was Alex for you.

She walked into the kitchen to find a note on the counter. "Keke, I went to the barn.. obviously. And after i am going to run some arrands. Should be home around the usual tonight. Love you, Alex." Arrands? In Alex world that ment the bank, post office or the tack shop to pick up supplements. Alex was pathetic. Her whole life revolved around her work. Alessandra always wondered what ti would be like when she found the man she was ment to be with and she had to give up some of her load. Leave it to Alex to find a guy just as in love with her work as she was. They were definatly a perfect match... Plus they were really cute together. Anthony brought out the kid in her. The one she used to be before college. Being back with her again. Was nice, it was nice to have her support in all this.

She set the note back down and looked at the two sets of puppy dog eyes staring at her. "Sorry guys i'm leaving too. But i'll be back sooner then Alex i promise." She grabbed a granola bar then the keys and stepped outside. She locked the door behind her and waved to the neighbor as she got into the car. She set herself down and took a deep breath, it was sad how the walk from the door to the car was taking her breath away. In not in a cute romantic way taking her breath away. In a sad pathetic way. She started the car and drove down to the barn. It took about 20 minutes because of some crazy tourist people who wanted to stop and stare at an old dying tree. But she made it there. And to her surprise neither Anthony's truck or Alex's car where there. They must have left already.

She put the car in park and cut the engine. She took a breath and stepped out of the car. Being practically blinded as she did so. She slipped her sunglasses on and looked around. This place would be so much better once she gave birth. So she could actually ride instead of just watch.... Course who said she wasn't going to ride anyway. No one was here to stop her and as long as she had a brick to stand on she could get on Cascade. And he was a good horse and wouldn't do anything that would cause her to come to some unfortune. So so long as Alex or Anthony wasn't here... Course she'd also have to look out for Chey and Sebastian. And Tyler. But she was sure she could sneak around all of them easily. Well except for her big belly gave her away. But she would manage. There was no person other then Alex that could keep her off her horse.

She stepped into the barn and nearly jumped backwards when a big white horse came rushing from his stall. But he was stopped before he reached her. Fixing her focus she realised it was Z Tyler's crazy horseand the one stopping him was Tyler. She raised an eyebrow and smiled placing her hands on her hips. She let out a slight laugh as she watched Tyler take control of Z. They were so much alike Z and Tyler. If you watched Z struggled and fight you could look at Tyler and see that same struggle and fight. There were both looking for that person to trust and help them... to give them a second chance. Tyler was that person for Z. They were a good match. Both had a hardened exterior but a soft inside that was blocked well beyond reach by the hardened exterior. She watched them carefully before turning her attention back to Tyler.

She despirately wanted to make her dream become real life and run up to Tyler and wrap herself around him and kiss him. But She knew she couldn't there would be a huge space between then and she didn't want to kill him with all her weight. So instead she just stepped closer to him. "Hey." For some reason that was the only word she could get out. Nothing else followed. Not i missed you or i love you not even a smart remarck about how he handled Z came out. She had nothing. What should she have said? She was the mother of his soon to be daughter... along with someone else's son. But she was in love with Tyler he held her heart despite her willingness to give it away. Not that she didn't want him to have it. She was just scared of getting hurt again. But for some reason with Tyler she felt safe. Far away from any pain. And she liked that.

[Tyler Haze]

Tyler felt bone grinding against bone as his arm was nearly wrenched out of its socket by the horse that was catapulting forwards at an incredible speed. That one was going to hurt later....screw later, it hurt now. But Tyler was no stranger to pain, and he had the scars to show for it. He imagined that by the end of the day his shoulder would be slightly swollen and extremely tender to the touch, but he wasn't too worried about it. He would take an aching shoulder over being dead any day...okay, so maybe now that was how he thought, but a week or so ago he'd have taken being dead.

He heard a laugh as Z whipped around to face him when he reached the end of the lead, and turned towards the sound. It wasn't a laugh of "you just almost got what you deserved" it was more of just an amused laugh which could mean it was only one possible person in the whole entire world. Alessandra, the girl who, though he might never admit it, he was falling in love with. Oh dear God that thought terrified him. How could he be falling in love? She was like three years older than him, and he hadn't ever loved someone in that sense...hell, he'd never even had a girlfriend before. How was he supposed to know how to love someone?

The moment Z hit the end of that line and was jerked around, he stopped fighting and stood behind Tyler as if nothing at all had happened. Everything Tyler did, that horse mimicked. If Tyler disliked someone, Z would try to kill them. If Tyler got along with someone, Z would protect them. If Tyler could care less about someone and completely ignored them...Z just might attempt to eat them alive. The white horse had only two levels, hate or love, there was no indifference in his life. It was how he was trained. As a fighting horse he'd been taught to hate stallions, and love mares. With humans the gender didn't matter to him, the thing that determined how he felt about them was how Tyler felt about them. Since he obviously liked Alessandra, she was okay and he wouldn't bother her. That guy who had punched Tyler, Z was afraid of him because Tyler was. But Alessandra...yeah, Tyler really liked her, so Z would probably go nuts if someone came in and hurt her.

Tyler hadn't seen her at all yesterday, and that was probably a good thing. He had finally come to terms with this situation. It still scared him out of his mind that he was going to be a dad because he was afraid he couldn't do it. But he was okay with that. He could make it through this...he had to. He needed Alessandra just as much as she needed him, and together they were going to get through this. Yesterday he'd been a complete wreck, arguing with himself, pacing, and working himself up. Finally he'd gone out and started walking out of town. After about ten miles, he stopped by a white cross that marked where Jacob had met his death.

Out there with no one to see him, he'd let it all out, allowed himself to cry, made peace as best he could with himself, and found the strength to go on. Then he'd walked back in to town and just crashed on the couch at home. Walking 20 miles was more than enough to take it out of him, add on top of that all the emotion he'd just let out...he didn't wake up until about 8:00 this morning. He was usually a very light sleeper and rarely, if ever, got more than a few hours of sleep, but his mind and body were just so exhausted that he had no control over what he was doing at all.

A slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth when he looked at Alessandra. She was so beautiful, even if she was pregnant with twins. He stepped over towards her to close the gap between them. It was like he was drawn to her as a pin would be attracted to a magnet. He couldn't help it. He stood looking at her in silence for a moment, then slowly, his hand grew relaxed and he let the lead fall from it. His hands drifted up to her face, stopping at her jaw line. He slowly leaned in towards her and pressed his lips against hers. When he pulled back again, his smile had grown a bit, Hey. he said in almost a whisper for only her to hear as his hands fell back down to his sides.

Just the motion of bringing his arms up to put his hands on Alessandra's face was painful...he definatley pulled something, but that wasn't going to stop him. You can't fight the laws of nature when they take control, he knew that well enough, and it was a very natural law that was causing him to be drawn to her. When he found out that she was pregnant with both his kid and Sebastian's kid, everything he knew sort of dropped out of the sky and disappeared into the earth...now the only thing he knew was something he hadn't known before...and that was the fact that he couldn't live without her. As much as he hated to come face to face with that weakness, he had to, it was staring him down. But he was coming to terms with it.

[Sam Lettington]

Alessandra looked up at the big white horse. He may be a handful... ok that was an understatement he was like 20 handfuls. But to Alessandra he was just another broken soul. He was just another lost sheep that needed to be found again. She looked at him peacefully holding that soft gaze that went to his eyes. He seemed like he was trying to stare her down but at the same time he was ok with her presence. She had that look of..."I can see right through your little act. You can't fool me." It was true she saw right through both of them they tried so hard to fool the world into thinking that they were tough and could handle any and all pain that came across them. But she knew better. She knew it was all just make believe. Z was only as strong as his handler. And Tyler was only as strong as his mind would let him. And she was breaking that into pieces just like she intended to.

He let go of the lead and put his hand on her face. Her heart pounded slightly in her chest she hadn't expected that at all. And then he kissed her. Her heart melted and she kissed him back. You know when people ask if there was a spark and if you saw fireworks when you kissed and if you did it was a good thing. Well Alessandra didn't see fireworks when she kissed tyler..... It was more like nuclear bombs going off. She knew that was what it was supposed to be like. She knew that that was passion not everyone could have not everyone was blessed with that kind of love. She put her hand on th back of his head and leaned in. And then the separated letting the shock settle. He replied to her with the same word and she smiled and laughed slightly even though she was kind of out of breath at the moment. "You ok?" She ask with a wirey smile. Now she was referring to the horse yanking his arm off and it was obvious because when she said that she stretched her hand out and tapped his shoulder gently of course.

But there was hidden meaning behind the question. She was also wondering how he was taking the news. About the babies that is. She knew it was a lot to take in which is why she sort of avoided everyone yesterday. She needed time alone and she was sure they all did too. It was a hard concept to grasp that your twins had separate fathers. And she could only imagine how hard it was to grasp that and the fact that you were about to be a dad at age 19. So she gave him his space yesterday. But he seemed better today then he was when they were at the hospital. But she had to say she was happy to see him now and to have him hold her and kiss her it was like heaven to her. Something no one else could give her.

Together they were invincible but apart they crumbled. She needed him and he needed her. They were one anothers support system. And together, she was sure, they could climb the mountain of parenthood that loomed in front of them. She was sure they could do it. And as long as everyone did their part. These kids would lead a semi normal life. They would grow up with a mom and a dad. And everything was going to be ok. It was funny she felt safer knowing Tyler was there. She felt safe with him around and knew that he made her stronger. He completed her. Their two halves made a whole. She reached her hand up and stroked Z face gently.

A womand touch was different from a males and horses could smell the difference. The tetasterone was way differen to the estragine. One had a dominant air the other was calm and soothing but still held power. It just took it in a different way. It didn't take it by force it took it by command and by way of wit. And for a misguided horse that was a good thing they needed that calm reasurance. That sturdy hand. But there were always those cases that didn't need the strong male leadership. The ones that needed the rough hand to pull them. She knew with Loco that was not the case he needed a womans touch and Alex was just the one for that job. But it was very possible Z wasn't like that it was probably the way it was supposed to be. You could tell even though he put up a fight he really only trusted Tyler. He treated him differently. They were closer. And they were all pulle together by that force. Each one of them.

[Tyler Haze]

Everything about this whole relationship was so wrong, yet at the same time it was so right. It was wrong because of...well, everything. You weren't supposed to fall in love with the person you got pregnant and didn't even remember, you weren't supposed to fall in love with the person who knocked you up and then vanished off the face of the earth, but they had. You weren't supposed to love a woman two to three years older than you, you weren't supposed to love a man two or three years younger than you, but they both did. Convicts like Tyler weren't supposed to have emotions, and especially not feelings towards other people, but he did. It was all wrong.

Then again, it was right in every aspect as well. Tyler needed someone to slap him in the face with reality, and Alessandra had done just that. He needed someone to show him that not everyone was the same and that it was okay to trust, and Alessandra had done just that. He needed proof that he had a purpose in life and the baby girl that he would be the father figure for was exactly the proof he needed. Alessandra needed someone to help her through the terrifying prospect of being a mother, and Tyler was going to do that as best he could. She needed someone to be a father to those two children, and Tyler was willing to try. She needed someone to help her with juggling her job and two babies, and he was the one who was going to do that.

When their lips locked together, he felt like the world stopped spinning. That was the first time he had ever taken the initiative and kissed someone and really meant it. Yeah, he'd kissed more girls than he would want to count, most of them when he was drunk and getting laid...and he and Alessandra had kissed before...but up until now, he had never been the one to close the gap between them and actually instigate it. He wasn't bothered at all by the fact that she was pregnant and it caused a bit of distance between them, it made no difference to him. He was tall enough that it didn't really change anything anyway.

When they pulled away and she laughed, he couldn't help but smile. This was so different from the past few days. The first day was totally full of emotion, he got kicked really bad, she stitched him up, he admitted he didn't remember her name, she slapped him and stormed off in tears, Sebastian found her, they came to find him. She passed out, the cops almost arrested him, she kissed him, Sebastian punched him, Chey showed up, and they found out that she was having twins, one belonging to Tyler and one belonging to Sebastian. No, that had not been a good day at all...especially considering he'd gone out to attempt to kill himself and ended up in the hospital over night when Drake reopened the wound and he went unconscious...he hadn't told anyone about that yet. The next day was when he got out of the hospital and that went fairly normally. Then yesterday he'd gone out to where Jacob died and turned into a mess of emotions again.

Today was different though. They both seemed like a very happy couple. It almost seemed like they were recently married or something, considering she was pregnant. She reached out and tapped his throbbing shoulder, asking if he was okay. He knew well enough that she was asking about more than just his shoulder though, and he didn't blame her. After all, she was the one with the baby bump, not him. She deserved to know everything, and if she ended up asking, he would tell her the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He knew she would get really mad at him for some of the things he could tell her about himself, but that didn't matter...what mattered was that she knew and he didn't feel like he was keeping things from her.

I'm alright. He answered, It's not the first time he's done that. He still wanted to answer the hidden part of her question too, but he was still thinking over what to say. He never said anything without first thinking about it so as to avoid saying something he would regret. I will admit though, He said, keeping the same tone as before so that the other people in the stable wouldn't know that he was talking about something else now, I really struggled with it at first, but I've accepted it. I don't think I'm ready, but life doesn't wait for you to be ready, so I'll just take it as it comes.

Struggled was quite an understatement to how he felt that night after she told them. He'd almost killed himself for crying out loud, but he was over that now. He'd banished all thoughts of it from his mind, and he was going to go through with being a dad and standing beside Alessandra through it all. He wasn't going to take his life, he had too much to live for now, too many promises to keep, to many obligations to fulfill. As long as he could help it, he was going to be around for a good long time, he was going to get his life right, find a job somewhere, and help Alessandra raise those children.

Despite what people thought, Tyler was actually an incredibly intelligent person. Sure he had dropped out of high school, which sort of made people see him as one of those kids who couldn't make it in school, but really he knew quite a lot. Especially when it came to mechanics and structural engineering. That had actually been his intended major that he would seek after high school, but since he dropped out...well, there went that. But still, there had to be some sort of mechanics shop or contractor or somebody who would be willing to take on someone like him. He was strong and well equipped to get any job done, if they would just look past his criminal record and see the initiative and potential he held, they would find themselves with one heck of a dedicated worker on their hands.

What about you? He asked, not in an pbsessive worrying sort of way, but just in a way that he needed to know that she was alright for his sake. He reached out with his left hand and closed his fingers around hers as she stroked Z's face with her other hand. So far, she was the only person who he was okay with touching him besides Tyler. Anyone else who tried it, he would pin his ears back menacingly and possibly even lunge at them, but everyone else who had tried hadn't been people who Tyler particularly got along with. Alessandra was different than everyone else. Plus, horses are incredibly intelligent creatures and he somehow knew that she was pregnant. Sure, you could say it was because he could see it...but really animals don't associate like that. It was like a sixth sense within him that inspired a protective demeanor about him. Much like a wild stallion would protect the expecting mares more carefully than the others. New life was something all animals had instinct to protect when this new life would become a part of their "family" and Z was no different.