One more day [Lara Lynn Marie Tannor]

[Charlie Parker]

Charlie had finally taken the advice everyone had practically been begging him to take, and had taken a day off. He had been working 14+ hour shifts every day to make up for an officer that had been shot and wasn't going to be back to work for about two months. Then when he would finally get home he would have the kids to deal with, and Melody. Of course Brody being there had helped him more than he probably knew, but it was still a lot to handle, and he was quite regularly exhausted. According to the ever blunt and honest Sebastian, he looked like shit. In all honesty, he felt like it most days too.

So he finally took one day off, he'd earned it well enough, considering that 14 hours a day 7 days a week was far more than the 40 hours per week overtime that government officials were given. He was fairly exhausted, and half tempted to just stay home and sleep the whole day, but Chuck had other plans for daddy's day home. When the six year old came flying into Charlie's room and leaped onto the bed around 10 am, Charlie was fairly reluctant to wake up, but Chuck was persistent... a character trait that Charlie knew he got from Sebastian... and Charlie finally gave up and woke up. There was no use in trying to sleep with Chuck jumping up and down on the bed.

This was one of those moments when he had to remind himself to "think like Anthony...just grin and bear it." He didn't want Chuck to know that he was totally stressed out and all that, so he had to put on a smile every time he was around the kid, even on his worst days... or days like this when he really would have liked to keep sleeping. So he finally rolled over and sat up, looking over at the excited six year old. Hey bud... He said, sounding quite groggy despite his best efforts not to. shouldn't you be in bed? He was really hoping Chuck would agree that he should be... but the little boy shook his head enthusiastically and retorted, Nope... it's 10 o' clock... Brody says its more healthier to go to bed early and get up before 10.

[/s]

Charlie raised an eyebrow at Chuck's response... he'd been getting a lot of "Brody says..." answers lately, and he was starting to wonder what his brother was teaching his kids in his absence. Oh he does, does he? he asked Chuck who was still grinning broadly. Yup... he also says I don't need no ejucation and I should go join the NFL now.[/s] Oh good lord... it seemed Brody could tell Chuck to go jump off a cliff and the kid would do it without thinking. Ahuh... where is Brody anyway? He asked after a moment, though he was fairly sure he knew the answer. Still sleepin[/s] Was the answer, just as Charlie had known it would be. Alright. He said with a sigh, getting up out of bed, lets go make you breakfast.

By the time breakfast had been made and eaten, the baby was taken care of and sleeping again, and Chuck and Charlie were both dressed and ready to go... Brody was still in bed, and Charlie had a good feeling that he'd been out late last night with some girl doing the sorts of things that were never ever even hinted to when the kids were around... unless you wanted Charlie to pull out his gun and shoot you. He was kind of sensitive on that subject being brought up when Chuck was around. The six year old was smarter than some may have presumed to believe. He understood a lot more than they thought he did. Anyway, Charlie left Brody a note on the table telling him that he was taking Chuck out to the stable, that Melody had eaten and been changed, and there was food in the oven for him, then headed out, the over enthusiastic Chuck in tow.

It wasn't very often anymore that Chuck and Charlie spend time together, considering Charlie usually worked from ten in the morning until midnight, and Chuck had school at eight, which left almost no time for them to be together. Sometimes though, Chuck would pretend to go to sleep when Brody put him in his room, only to stay awake and wait for the sound of Charlie's car pulling into the driveway, then would book it down the stairs followed closely by the German shepherd, Jigsaw, as Charlie walked in the door. He never lasted long after that, and usually crashed within about five minutes of Charlie getting home. It was nice though, to be greeted like that... made the long day seem just a little less stressful.

When they got to the stable, Charlie haltered Brig, and just put a hackamore on Indy, not concerned at all about either horse acting up. He put Chuck up on the little paint mare bareback like he'd done so many times. Indy was a godsend when it came to kids. You could put a kid who'd never ridden before up on her, and thanks to her impeccably smooth stride and gentle nature, you could believe that the kid wouldn't fall off unless they did something really really stupid. Charlie had tried to get Chuck riding lessons, both to force Sebastian to face the child he'd created and so Chuck could learn to ride better... but Sebastian always somehow or another failed to show up to the scheduled lesson. Sure Charlie was profoundly disappointed with Sebastian for that, but Chuck was just as happy as ever and never seemed to care that Sebastian never showed up.

Anyway, as it were, Charlie started Brig out of the stable, Indy following along behind on her own free will with Chuck already aboard, and once they were out in the open air, he gave Chuck the reins, letting him feel like he was in complete control, even though Indy was just following Charlie and Brig. Brigadier dwarfed Charlie, Indy, and Chuck with his massive bulk. The police horse was four now, and he had definitely filled out. He was over 17 hands, Charlie hadn't ever bothered to figure out exactly how tall, and he was a very broad chested horse. His legs were about as solid as a telephone pole. He was a very calm horse... though Charlie would be the first to admit he certainly wasn't the most intelligent animal in the whole world. He got along with any horse that came his way, and never seemed capable of telling the difference between when another horse was being mean to him or just playing with him.

Because of that, Brig was often put out in the pastures with the horses that were mean to other horses. Like Sebastian's mare... she was a spoiled brat, and she was always picking on the other horses... but big dumb Brig never humored her by running when she came after her because he thought it was just a game. Of course, this came in handy for Charlie, considering a police horse couldn't very well be a mean horse, and the lack of intelligence made him more apt to just do whatever Charlie told him to. When he was pushing through a crowd, he'd just keep right on going, knocking people out of his way if need be, but never stepping on anyone's feet. He was a good horse... young and still learning, but he was definitely a good horse despite his unintelligent demeanor.

When Charlie, Brig, Indy, and Chuck reached the pastures, Charlie opened the gate and turned Brig loose, and let Chuck and Indy wander in. Out in the pastures Charlie was quite confident that there was no way Chuck could get hurt. If he fell off, it was a relatively soft landing, and there weren't any other horses, besides Brig, around that could interfere with them, and Brig was too interested in grazing to pay any mind to Chuck or Indy. Charlie had grown up with horses, and it seemed only right that Chuck should too. The six year old seemed to enjoy it just as much as he enjoyed his football, so Charlie figured it was a good way to occupy the kid's time without having to be too involved. He was quite worn out, and chasing after Chuck all day wasn't something he was up for right now. As Brig trotted off, stretching his long legs, and Indy ambled ever slowly out into the pasture turning which ever way Chuck asked her to, Charlie leaned back against the fence wearily. He had a good life... but sometimes even the best life could wear on someone, and it had definitely done so to Charlie. He enjoyed it though. His kids might drive him crazy, but they were the only thing keeping him sane.[/center][/size]

[~[Lara Lynn Marie Tannor]~]

Lara was just getting into the stable parking lot when she heard her gelding calling out for her. She knew what he wanted. She did this every day with him. That was feed him, groom him, take him out to pasture and sit on his back. He was the only one of her horses that allowed it. Her pregnant mare, Gentle Storm hated being sat on while eating. Xtreme Rated just was too rough to sit on and let do as he wanted. She was dressed in a black top and white pants. On her head sat a black hat. It fit her nicely. Her boots had no spurs on them as she wouldn’t need them with Hero.

In the barn she threw away her empty paper cup of coffee from the coffee shop. She went to Xtreme Rated first. She cross tied him outside his stall and started to brush him. He loved the brushing. Once he was done she brought out Gentle Storm to get groomed. But, only used the soft brush on her as she didn’t want her to feel pain while carrying the foal or foals. Then she put her away to bring out Mystic Demon Star. He loved to take the brush away from her. But, today he relaxed into being groomed for once. Once finished grooming her three horses. She was going to take Mystic Demon Star out to pasture just to sit on his back and let him have some fun. The chestnut thoroughbred gelding always loved having her sit on his back. She gave grain and hay to Xtra and Stormy. She didn’t want them going hungry.

She put a halter and lead on Hero and started outside with him. She was very calm around him as he usually spooked if someone yelled to her and she yelled back. He would only rear up though. She held reins she took from his bridle to clip on him to be able to stay on while he wandered around and ate the lovely grass. She wasn’t nervous with him. But, sitting on Stormy could almost cause an early birth with her foal or foals. She didn’t want that to happen. Xtra wasn’t easily trusted without a saddle and a bit. So, Hero was her best choice. “Ready for a good relaxing time in the pasture boy?” she asked. Hero tossed his head and nickered softly before nudging her.

She knew that always meant yes. But, seeing a guy watching a boy on a horse in a pasture she got quite interested in talking to him. She stayed walking with Hero until there. She stopped walking. Hero stood quietly beside looking into the pasture. “Hello, mind if turn my gelding out in this pasture” she said. She wasn’t sure if it would be allowed. She wanted to ask just to be on the safe side.