All you need is love {open}

[Tyler Haze]

A light breeze caused the long grasses of Pinewood to dance and sway in a beautifully coordinated dance as the orange light of the sun just before sunset illuminated each blade in a stunning highlight. The delicate summer flowers released their sweet scent which gave the wind an almost mystic air about it. The white fences that stretched across the pastures were perfect and unbroken. Everything about this place, this time was perfect. But then came the blemish. Perfection can only last for so long. There came Tyler Haze, the infamous criminal who had been in and out of jail more times than he cared to remember. Confusion, guilt, sorrow, pain, heartache...each was written across his face as he walked silently through the tall swaying grass. Unlike most times when he made appearances, there was no blood flowing out from him. He was still in complete shock from the news Alessandra had just told him three days ago.

In those three days he had seemed almost in a trance of sorts, the comments thrown his way had passed over him as if none of them had even been said, he hadn't set foot in a club or bar, he hadn't gone out during the night to commit some sort of crime. He was completely lost. He didn't know how to take the news, and he didn't have anyone to tell him what to do. He knew he had no right to be mad about it...considering it was just as much his fault as Alessandra and Sebastian's fault. But anger had always been how he reacted to these things...he had no idea what else he could do.

Although he was legally an adult, Tyler really still was just a kid at 19 years old, and all he really needed was someone to comfort him, to give him direction, to help him get out of the rut his life was stuck in, to really, honestly, and unconditionally...love him. He didn't have a father figure in his life like all young boys needed, his older brother was dead and no longer there to talk some sense into him, his mother was God knows where...who else did he have? No one. Tyler had lost everyone who was supposed to be there for him, and in the process he had lost himself in the tangled world of lies and deceit.

He stood motionless looking blankly out over the landscape. Beside him, looking worriedly at him, was a white horse whose body, like Tyler's, was riddled with scars. No one, except Tyler had ever gotten close to this animal, and in recent years, this animal was the only one who had ever gotten close to Tyler. Both of them had been abused by the world, and both of them were slowly learning to trust one another. Tyler was the only human who had never hurt the horse, and of all the living beings Tyler knew, the horse was the only one who had never emotionally hurt him.

Without thinking, Tyler's hand drifted up to the wild and unruly mane just behind the horse's ears, and he brushed his fingers through it. The horse turned his head and nudged Tyler's shoulder with his muzzle. This was such a different scene than the one that usually played out between them. Normally it ended up being Tyler fighting with the horse to maintain control and losing. But here now, it seemed Tyler was broken to the point that he had broken into the natural caring spirit in every horse in this wild and unbroken horse and stirred it into being. The horse may not have understood anything Tyler was going through, but he knew that something was very wrong and something...something against his usual disposition...took over control of him, and the horse felt the need to stand by this man and defend him from any who would dare to assault him, physically and emotionally.

Two spirits had been broken beyond repair, but when they were brought together they began to fuse into one whole. The only thing that was missing, that neither one of them could present, was love. Tyler could love the horse, yes...but what is love that isn't returned? The horse was loyal, but animals don't share in the same love that humans need. What Tyler really needed was someone to love him despite all his failings.

[emma]

Emma had never a place so beautiful in her whole life. She looked up to the sky, which was a brilliant blue, and sighed with happiness. She was sitting on Poka bareback and bridleless.
"In the arms of an angel, will you find some comfort here." She sang sweetly.
She breathed in the smell of the grass, the horses, the world. She pushed her western hat down over her eyes, as cover from the sun. Emma knew that the hat must look terribly out of place in West Virginia, but she was true to her Montana roots.
"Let's go, Poka. Time to run!"
She tapped her heels lightly against his sides and he sprung into a smooth, rocking canter. Emma wrapped her hands in his silver mane, laughing.
In the distance, she could see a person and white horse.
"Wanna go make some new friends, Poka?" She asked the hose with a grin. Poka's ears flicked back, listening to his rider.
"Whoa." Emma murmured when they reached the young man and his horse.
Emma slid off of Poka's side.
"Hi," She said with a smile, "I thought I'd come over to meet you. I'm Emma, and this is Poka."
Emma had no need for halters or lead ropes, Poka followed her everywhere. Now her horse was standing behind her, his head resting on her shoulder.

[Tyler Haze]

Even before the sound of hooves reached Tyler's ears, the horse beside him, Corazone Manchado...meaning Tainted Heart in Spanish, heard the approach of another horse, and his ears pinned back angrily. A snort of irritation exited him suddenly, startling Tyler out of his thoughts. That was when he heard it too. He turned slowly towards the sound, not bothering to worry about whether or not she could see that he was in pain. He was done with hiding it all, he was done with pretending. Acting like it wasn't true didn't change the fact that it was, and it had only made things worse for him as of late.

He also didn't bother to tighten his grip on the horse's lead. He was tired of trying to control the horse and failing. It was the story of his life...failure. Everywhere he turned to get away from it he was hit head on by another wave of it. If Z wanted to try to kill someone, he wasn't going to stop him. Surprisingly though, instead of lunging directly at the girl and her horse, Z simply backed up to where his shoulder was aligned directly with Tyler's, and lifted his scared head high. His nostrils flared, his eyes widened, and his ears remained pinned back. He wasn't going to let anything happen to his human. If so much as one thing seemed amiss in the way this stranger and her horse acted, you can bet one, or both of them, would end up in the hospital.

Tyler glanced up at the girl as she introduced herself, but his gaze quickly fell back down to the ground. Needless to say he wasn't exactly feeling very social at the moment. His mind was stuck on one thought, and one thought alone...how was he supposed to be a dad? How was he supposed to be the father figure for one baby let alone two...and one of them wasn't even his. How would he explain that to his daughter, that her twin brother didn't have the same dad even though they had the same mom and were born on the same day? How was he supposed to set an example for them when his life was so screwed up and he couldn't get back on track?

He didn't even notice that he didn't answer the girl, he was too preoccupied in his thoughts. He wasn't intending to be rude or anything, his mind was just other places. Before all of this had happened, he had been one of those fearless guys who people were afraid to approach for fear they would get shot...he was one of those guys who could stare anyone down and make them feel intimidated. But now...now he couldn't even meet the gaze of a complete stranger without feeling like they could see right through him if they wanted to. So he chose just to not make eye contact with them, he felt more protected that way, like they couldn't see that he wasn't alright, that he really was broken inside.

[emma]

Emma felt uncomfortable in the silence. A gust of wind blew her hair away from her face.
"People are silent for their own reasons. I'm guessing you have a reason. You can talk when you want- I'll be here."
Emma swung herself onto Poka's back and cantered in circles around the young man and the horse. The horse watched uneasily, but the man didn't look up. Finally, Emma stopped Poka in front of him. She was feeling impatient.
"Listen- I'll tell you ten things about me and you do the same."
No answer.
Emma nudged Poka into a slow walk.
"Truth number one- I find silence uncomfortable." A smile spread across her face as she said it.
"Truth number two- I was born in Montana, hence the slight accent. Truth number three- My sister died when she was ten. Truth number four- I love my horse more than any person on earth. Truth number five- my songs are still on the radio. Truth number six- when I'm scared, I sing. Truth number seven- I trained Poka myself. Truth number eight- I secretly want a British accent. Truth number nine- I'm a horse whisperer. Truth number ten- I tell dumb blond jokes, even though I'm blonde."
Emma leapt from Poka's back showily.
"Why was the blonde fired from the M&M factory?"
No reply.
"Because she kept throwing out the W's. Your turn to talk."

[Tyler Haze]

When the girl...Emma...jumped back up on her horse and cantered around him, he realized how rude he must've seemed. He was the worst with first impressions...he was pretty sure he hadn't made a single one since being here. I mean really, the first person he met happened to see him let his horse loose on a couple of cops who were supposed to be making sure he stayed out of trouble, the second person he'd met was pregnant with his kid and he didn't even remember her name, the third person he met punched him, the fourth person he met walked in just in time to see the third person, who just happened to be her fiance, punch him, the fifth person he met almost got raped because he got into a fight with some guy he knew from before and he ended up stabbing the other guy, getting shot, and passing out from blood loss, the sixth person he met found him unconscious in an alleyway because he'd run into someone who he'd shot a few years before, and now this...wasn't he just on a roll?

Still, he wasn't feeling very social. As she rattled off ten things about her, he knew he couldn't just not say anything. Everything she said though, was simple...easy to admit. Any truth about him was something that he wasn't proud of. He could tell she was trying to get him to lighten up, but he simply couldn't. It wasn't easy dealing with everything he was going through, and no joke was going to get him to forget all of it and laugh. His hand drifted up once more to Z's neck, almost as more of a support for himself thing than for the horse. The animal was just as abused as Tyler was, and he hoped he could find some strength in the animal.

When she finished, he looked up, all traces of emotion vanished from his expression. His cold gray eyes met hers without faltering. He'd never been ashamed of telling people the truth. He may have been a lot of things, but a liar wasn't one of them. For a moment, he let silence linger between them again while his answer was formulating in his mind. He never spoke before planning out exactly what he was going to say. One, I dropped out of school when my brother was killed on my account, two, I'm a convicted felon, three, I have served a year and nine months in prison for armed robbery and aggravated assault, four, the only reason I'm here is because it was either this or more jail time, five, I've been shot four times and stabbed twice, six I have tried to kill myself more than once, seven, I've gotten wasted and laid more times than I can remember, eight, I'm 19 and about to have a baby with a woman who I have only met once before, nine, I hate personal inquiries, and ten, I hope you're satisfied because you're not getting anything else out of me.

The last one didn't mean he wasn't going to talk to her anymore, but that he wasn't going to tell her anything else about himself. He didn't want people to see the more caring side of him, he wanted them to see him as the criminal he had come to believe he was. He wanted to make sure that he didn't let anyone get too close to him because he knew if he did, they would just end up getting hurt...same as everyone else he had ever gotten close to. Although if you really thought about it, just the way he didn't want anyone to get close to him was evidence enough of his caring side. He was almost like two people in one. The tattoo on his left shoulder, the number 1326 was one side of him. Inmate 1326, a hardened criminal with no heart and no hope. The other side of him was Tyler Haze, the kid everyone had known who cared more about the well being of those around him than his own. He was very attuned with the suffering of others, and he always felt he had to help or else felt guilty for their pain, even if he had nothing to do with it.

[emma]

Emma listened carefully to what he had to say.
"Everyone makes mistakes, usually it's not their fault." She smiled at him.
"People are strange. They can have strange personalites, they can be cruel, they can have cold hearts. But not horses. Horses are black and white. If you're a good person, they see you as a good person- nothing more, nothing less."
Emma walked to the white horse and pulled gently on his reins. The young man looked angry wtih her, but didn't say anything. Emma walked the horse twenty feet away, and then dropped the reins. She took a few steps back to see what would happen.
The horse turned around, looking at the young man. Then, he broke into a canter, returning to his position next to his owner.
Emma laughed brightly.
"Just like I thought. You're a good person."

[Tyler Haze]

Tyler shook his head as she spoke, it was his fault, every last bit of it. It had been his choice to go out and get drunk that night and when his car broke down his brother was the only one who he could call who wouldn't get all mad at him, needless to say, he'd been killed in a car accident on the way out to get him. It was his choice to drop out, it was his choice to shoot his best friend, it was his choice to try to rob that bank, it was his choice to get into that fight with the other guys and almost kill two of them, it was his choice to do everything that had ruined his life...it was all his fault, and he knew it.

Z wasn't too pleased at all when the girl stepped up and grabbed the reins, and started to lead him forwards. He didn't trust strangers at all, and he had very good reason not to. His ears pinned back, and he resisted the pull, but for some reason, he didn't lash out at her like he normally would have. That horse could do some serious damage when he wanted to, and Tyler still had stitches in his flesh at the end of his ribs, and a light wrap on his right hand to prove it. She was lucky the horse didn't kill her. If he did something like that to Tyler, the person he trusted, there was no telling what he might do to a stranger if he put his mind to it.

Although Tyler didn't know it, it was his own current mind set that kept the horse from attacking this girl. He was totally out of sorts, and Z fed off of everything Tyler felt, so he was out of sorts as well. When the girl let go of the reins though, Z snorted angrily and took off, giving a slight buck should she try to follow him. He took his place beside Tyler again, his ears still pinned back, and his eyes wide. He reared up slightly, letting his front legs slice through the air in front of him, then maneuvered his body in front of Tyler as if protecting him from whatever this stranger was planning on doing to him. He stationed himself there and pawed at the ground fiercely, sending clumps of dirt and grass flying into the air. If she tried to come close to him again, he would kill her...unless Tyler stopped him. He took it as a direct threat to himself and his human that she tried to take him away, and in the simple mind of a horse that he had, he thought that he had managed to escape her and get back to Tyler where he belonged. It was almost a herd instinct that kept him glued to Tyler in this way.

Tyler still disagreed though, when she said he was a good person. He really wasn't...or so he thought. Deep down inside somewhere was that good person he used to be, but for now...he was still Inmate 1326. It may be black and white with horses, He said his expression and voice still completely without emotion, but every now and then, you get a bad horse, who happens to choose a bad person to attach themselves to. This guy, he's one of the bad ones, and I'm one of the bad people. If she didn't believe him, he had plenty of evidence for his case. In the news paper three weeks ago in the police report, there was one mentioned of a certain white horse attacking two policemen and severely damaging the passenger side door of the squad car they'd been driving, and over the past three years there were heaps of evidence of Tyler being one of the people who you'd be wise to stay away from. It had been said that way so many times that Tyler himself had come to believe it...although he had met one person who was beginning to convince him differently...too bad she just happened to be the same girl who was pregnant with his kid.

[emma]

"No such thing as a bad horse." Emma whispered, "Only a bad past."
There was a moment of silence, only the wind whispering between them.
"Would you believe that Poka was one of the 'bad' horses? Almost was destroyed, he nearly killed his owner."
Emma walked around to Poka's back side, and gently pulled his tail. The horse backed up. She walked back around to his head and raised a single hand in the air. Poka came forward, touching his nose to Emma's shoulder.
"It's a lot like cause and effect." She continued. "A horse has no cause whatsoever to have bad in it's heart. But if you give it a reason to have hate, then it will have hate. That doesn't, however make it a bad horse."
Emma smiled, lifting the Western hat off of her head and placing it on Poka's ears.
"And people, why, they're the same way. There's a reason you did the things you did, correct?" She laughed brightly, "I'm guessing that you and Z both have reasons to distrust people."
Emma thought back to Jamie. She wished that this young man could have met her younger sister. She would make him see it clearly. She was always so positive. Emma swallowed hard, continuing.
"But time heals all wounds." She said, walking to Z. The horse didn't flinch as she traced his scars with her finger.
"The ones on the outside, and then the ones on the inside."

[Tyler Haze]

Tyler still wasn't convinced. This girl didn't even know his name...unless of course she'd seen everything about him in the news two months ago...all she knew about him was the "ten truths" he'd told her which barely scraped the surface of who he was. She didn't know anything about what he'd been through, she didn't know anything about what Z had been through...how could she know? She seemed to have a pretty damn good life, she probably didn't understand the kind of suffering he was going through. But why did Tyler always expect people to know and understand what he went through if he hid all of it from them with that blank emotionless expression, cold gray eyes that refused to let anyone in on his thoughts, and the refusal of help from anyone? Honestly, it was his own fault people didn't understand, but then again...most people didn't want to understand.

Her bright laugh bit into him like a knife blade as she said they had their reasons. Yeah they had their reasons, and pretty darn good ones too, but it really wasn't something he found humorous. Maybe for you, he said icily as she talked about time healing wounds and stepped up to Z, she was insane...that horse wasn't going to last ten seconds without exploding on her, but for others it keeps them open and festering. As her finger ran over the scar's on the horse's pelt, Tyler was counting down in his mind. He could see Z growing tense, every muscle in his body bulging and growing taut, preparing himself.

Just as Tyler's mind hit zero, it happened. Corazon Manchado lost it. A piercing shriek rang through pinewood as the equine's front hooves left the earth and he pawed angrily at the air around him. If that girl happened to be in range, she was going to get hurt. Tyler knew better than to stand too close to the horse when he was doing something like this, and sure as hell wasn't going to try to stop him. Last time that'd happened, he'd gotten that rash on his ribs which was still hurting pretty bad considering he never went to the hospital for it. Anyway, he knew it was best to just let Z get it out of his system on his own time.

Before Emma could touch him again, he lurched back and away, spun on a dime and raced to the other end of the pasture. Once at the far fence, he stopped his galloping and slowed to a high strung and irritated trot back and forth along the fence snorting and pawing at the ground every so often. Not only did he dislike strangers, but he also disliked other horses...more like hated them, and Poka was too close for comfort. Back in Mexico, Z had been a fighting horse, mean as hell, and a tough competitor if there ever was one. They drove him to madness with the fights and beating him to make him more angry, and it was possible he would never get over that. It had taken months, nearly a year actually...before even Tyler could handle him, there was no way someone he just met for the first time would get away with touch him for too long.

[emma]

When Z reared up, a fear swept through Emma. She had never been afraid of a horse before. She pictured the hospital where Jamie died.
It's not my time. Emma thought, teeth gritted. As the horse reared up a second time, Emma lifted up her hat. Z shied away.
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night. Take these broken wings and learn to fly." Emma's voice rang clear across the fields. Z looked up, tense but alert. Emma lowered the hat before dropping it onto the ground.
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night. Take these sunken eyes and learn to see." Emma raised her right arm into the air, stretching out her fingers. Z broke into a canter, moving slightly farther away. It was the action that Emma had expected from the horse.
She crouched down on the grass, eyes fixed on the horse. She pulled a carrot from her pocket, setting it onto the ground in front of her.
Emma could see Poka out of the corner of her eye. The horse was grazing calmly, though looking suspiciously at Z.
In a flash, Emma saw Z look Poka. And then the horse was galloping toward the sweet grey gelding. Emma jumped to her feet, running to Poka. She stood in front of her horse, watching Z get closer with every hoofbeat.
Emma held one hand in front of her. She had made a promise that nothing would ever hurt Poka, ever again. And she wasn't about to let that happen. Z pulled to a stop, his nose bumping into Emma's hand.
Emma opened her eyes, which had been squeezed shut. The horse was standing calmly, though blowing hard through his nostrils from the galloping. Emma began to walk around the horse.
"I know that they hurt you, beautiful boy." She whispered. Z's eyes were fixed on Emma as she circled him.
"But that won't happen again."
She laid a hand on his sweaty flank.
"See, if you were a bad horse, you would've hurt me. But instead, you're trusting me, aren't you."
Emma stroked the horse's nose.
"You don't have to fight any more."
Emma hesitantly wrapped her arms around the horse's neck. She rubbed her hands along his neck in a soothing way. Z let out a sigh, one that sounded like relief.
Emma began to cry. She didn't know why. She was happy for the horse, maybe that was it.
"Come on, sweet thing. Mr. Mystery is just over there."
Emma was pleased when the horse followed her to Tyler.
"Told you he wasn't a bad horse. He's just got a broken heart. Same goes for you. You don't have to fight anymore." She said in a hushed whisper. Emma was still crying. She patted Z's shoulder before returning to Poka. Before she left, she looked into Tyler's eyes, hoping that he would understand, even a little bit, that he wasn't a bad person.
Emma swung herself aboard Poka's back with little effort. The horse walked calmly in the direction of the stables.
"In the arms of an angel. Fly away from here. In this dark cold hotel room. May you find some comfort here."
Emma sang loud enough to be heard across the pastures. She looked up at the sky, where a single cloud drifted.
"Thank you, Jamie." She whispered to the sky.