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The beer was exactly what Eliza needed. She had really cut back significantly on drinking since Rhett came into her life, not because she had a problem but because she actually had something to occupy her time otherwise. Between his Xanax addiction and her being blown up, it seemed the two of them needed a bit of a restart. That, and after being drugged so heavily, the last thing Eliza wanted to take were pain killers. She still felt groggy, like her muscles were working a hundred times over to do normal tasks, but it would wear off eventually. It was — god, it wasn’t even a whole two days ago. Despite everything, she was doing pretty okay but the alcohol definitely hit right where she needed it.

Right between the family anxiety and the pulsating pains in her body.

Eliza took a healthy sip and glanced up at Rhett, processing his question for a moment. “I like it,” she settled on finally, letting a soft smile find her lips, “family stuff will always be weird with me but I like getting to see all of this — the places and the people you grew up with. You usually tell me things one at a time, quick and then that’s it. It’s nice to be in it for a moment and just get to see where you came from.”

“I miss New York,” Eliza added, “but I really do enjoy it here. I just like getting to know you, that’s all. It’s my favorite pastime and it definitely never boring.”

There were a lot of things that were different about Wisconsin living and New York living — the quiet for one — but that didn't mean one place was necessarily better than the other, it was just a learning experience. There were so many things Eliza never experienced as a kid and Wisconsin sort of represented all of that — but it was nice to learn. It was stressful, but it made her feel more human. Slowly, bit by bit, Eliza was learning how to care for old wounds and power through them.

“You know what I think?” she smirked, teasing just a bit, “I think you enjoy being here. You were so upset when we took off, but I really think you like being home for a little while.”
 
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There was something incredibly warming about beer, even though it had been served ice cold. Perhaps it was the alcohol, and he was sure that, in part, it was, but it was more than that. It was the familiar way the glass formed condensation and dripped over his fingers, the malty taste towards the end of each sip, and the fact that he loved the taste, even though it was just a crappy, over-produced, run-of-the-mill beer. Usually, Eliza bought more interesting beverages for the apartment, but there was something so familiar about the pale, two buck lager that he genuinely enjoyed. It seemed Eliza was enjoying it the same, too.

He glanced up to her briefly, giving a shrug. “It is me, unfortunately,” he agreed when she mentioned that being in Wisconsin was like getting to know him. He supposed it was, as these were all the parts he kept incredibly well hidden. Even after they had started dating, it had taken a couple of cracks by Eliza to get through to him and even then he didn’t often share all that openly. He’d mention a thing or two, here and there, and she was right in that he was always quick to dismiss the topic.

Unfortunately, it was hard to dismiss a topic when they were settled right in the heart of it.

Her commentary caused him to smile a little, their conversation disjointed by the arrival of their meals. After thanking the waitress and assuring her that they didn’t immediately need anything else, Rhett picked up half his sandwich and turned back to Eliza. “I do and I don’t,” he answered, “I’m still ashamed, it’s hard not to be in New York sometimes, but it still represents a lot of good in me. Could you imagine had I been born into wealthy family? Had I been able to go to a private school? I would have been insufferable. I’m smart, really, really smart, but I’m only humble because I came from… well, here. Had I not had to suffer through being here, I’m confident I would have turned out to be a very different person.”

And with that, he bit down on his sandwich and concluded his train of thought with a shrug of his shoulders. The sandwich wasn’t really anything to write home about honestly—the bread was toasted, the lettuce was barely crispy, and the meat wasn’t anything coming from a thousand-dollar cow, but it was good… perfectly paired with the equally cheap beer and Rhett ate it all down in only a few minutes. Wiping his fingers clean on the napkin, he pushed his plate towards the edge of the table and sat back to digest.
 
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Eliza listened intently to him, humming in agreement to his words as she took a few healthy sips of beer. It was something she thought about quite a bit — how different they could have been had they not endure what they did — and that was not to say that everything in their lives was painful and rough. Everything — the good, bad and the ugly — built them to this point where they could sit across the table from one another, sip a beer or two and eat comfortably with someone who just got it. Maybe Eliza had never been a genius, and Rhett had never endured the type of abuse Eliza went through, but they had both been lost souls just floating around New York City.

And in some incredible act of the universe, they found one another. One visit, a snowy morning and a file brought them to this moment.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about that the last few days,” Eliza admitted as their food came and she took a bite of her sandwich, “About what if’s and why’s. Not sure there’s an answer in any of this, but I think — I think in some way we might be exactly who we are meant to be in this moment. I don’t have any real data to back up that conclusion.” She chuckled, knowing that her gut feelings were not something measured by the math in his head, but it was an interesting conclusion anyway.

For a long time, Eliza had felt like a victim and only very recently had she started to view herself as a survivor, as a fighter, as someone who made it through instead of someone who lost their innocence so long ago. Everyone had their vices, their pains and their fears — problems were problems, big or small. What was important wasn’t the pain, it was what you did with the pain and how you grew from it.

“It would be nice to think that we went through everything we endured just to make it to this moment. It’s just maddening to think there are so many moments in my life where I could have made a choice that kept me from meeting you. I would not have shown up to that first day at the academy if Robinson hadn’t dragged me there. And then we would have never met. I’m not sure I would have stayed in New York if it wasn’t for the academy.”

“I had all these dreams about moving somewhere warm, play my guitar in little coffeeshops at night and live in a shitty little studio,” Eliza took another bite, “but one choice changed all that.”
 
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“Maybe,” he said with a shrug, picking up his sandwich after having dropped his napkin in his life. Rhett had never been the type to believe in fate or destiny as he was much too logical for such objects, but he had to agree that it felt right being with Eliza. Maybe it was just random chance, maybe not, maybe Rhett didn’t really care at all because he was happy and that was more than enough. For once, he didn’t feel the need to answer the question ‘why,’ only that he was.

“Many master physicists are trying to prove the existence of infinite universes around our own. Our universe is likely only one of many—infinite, even. They surround us, penetrate us, and many are familiar realities to our own and there are infinite numbers of Elizas and Rhetts living in those universes… in each and everyone one. Our lives are made by a series of intersect points—a multiverse, if you will. I could try and explain the math and physics behind it to you, if you want, but in a way—yes, this is exactly where we’re meant to be because in those other infinite other of universes, they’re already doing what they need to do. We our living our reality, which is likely to be very similar to many of them, but unique in its own way.”

“We have to be who we are in this moment because all the other options are already taken,” he concluded with a shrug and bit down on his sandwich. Once he finished his bite, he looked up to her once more, “And there are likely to be many universes where we never met at all.”

There was something oddly tragic about that to him, but it was also warming to thinking that there were an infinite number of Rhett and Elizas who had fallen into love. In the grand scheme of the multiverse, assuming the theory was true, this pair of Rhett and Eliza meant little… but Rhett was glad for what he had. He liked his universe.

Falling quiet, he continued to work on his sandwich. He very nearly ate the entire thing, except for the last few bites that seemed just too much for his already stuffed stomach. “Okay, this was a good choice,” he said with a laugh, reaching over and putting back the last few sips of his beer. “There are some good places to eat in New York, but there isn’t anything quite like this. It’s nice to have greasy, small town food again.”
 
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“It’s nice to have it for the first time,” Eliza laughed, taking another swig of her beer and picking at the side of fries with the sandwich. He was right, it was nothing like New York food, because nothing in New York ever felt as slow and quiet as this small town did. “But you’re right, I am very glad for our little universe, especially if there are others.” She would never understand the math and physics, so she did not even try, but it was a nice thought to know that they were doing exactly what they needed to be doing. It gave her some strange sense of purpose.

“So,” Eliza crossed her arms and leaned against the table, a smile present on her lips. It seemed impossible lately for her not to be entirely thrilled with any alone time she got with Rhett. Those little moments of solitude together were all she needed against the oncoming storm of family. She did not dislike the Wolfharts, quite the opposite actually, but it was just difficult being there sometimes. She was not used to all this and it was emotionally draining at times. They would have to go back for dinner, but Eliza felt like she was better prepared for it. Now that she knew how his family sort of worked over breakfast, Eliza could adapt. It was her greatest skill, her ability to adapt to most any situation.

It’s what made her a good detective.

“What’s on the agenda for the rest of the day?” she asked, “Dinner with your family and what else? Rodeos? Barn-raisings? Romantic horseback rides in the snow? Impress me, country boy.” A bright laugh escaped her lips as she took the final swig of her beer and reached over with her good hand to affectionately take his across the table. “I’m mostly kidding,” she smirked, “But we might as well do something other than hide in your room. If there’s hell waiting for us in New York, I don’t want to spend all our time here worrying.”

She could have died. Sylvia was out for blood. Robinson could not protect her anymore. Eliza had no idea the hell that was raising on the streets of New York, but she knew she could not run from it. She was woven into this narrative too deeply to just disappear forever as appealing as that sounded. There were too many people in New York suffering and dying at the hand of Sylvia, and Eliza would not let it continue. With Rhett, they would have to go back and face the world they left behind.

But they were only human, they deserved this. They deserved to have time to themselves where the world wasn’t burning down around them.
 
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“Agenda?” He asked with a raised brow, “Who said I had an agenda? Eliza, I definitely have an eidetic memory and going back through our previous conversations today, I can confidently say I never said anything about having an agenda,” he answered with a side of a sly smirk. He ended up taking one last bite of a fry, even though he was entirely full, before notably pushing his plate closer to the edge of the booth table, so he wouldn’t be tempted to keep nibbling more and more. It was hard not to though, even for Rhett. Thankfully, he quenched himself with a sip of water and settled back into his haggard, off-maroon booth seat, folding his arms across his center politely.

His brows just slid further up his face as she went on with her list of feigned expectations: horseback rides, rodeos, barn raisings… Rhett was, by and large, pretty far North of what most would consider a ‘country boy.’ His family was keen on getting him out of the house for a while. Over the past few months and years of him being in New York, they’d call and write and express their concerns over his obvious ‘loneliness’ and ‘standoffishness.’ Naturally, the first thing they did when he came home with a girlfriend was look at him doubtfully and claim it to be a front, so, Rhett wasn’t particularly keen on going back home for as long as possible. They had already agreed to eating dinner with them, but they had just finished lunch, meaning there was still a few hours separating them from dining hell.

“I don’t know,” he finally concluded. “I haven’t been here in years and in case you haven’t noticed, I wasn’t exactly the most popular boy in town. It’s not like there is anyone here just dying to see me or anything,” he shrugged and sipped his water again. “I mean, we can definitely try and find something to do if you want, but…” again, he shrugged for the second time, “All I really did when I lived here was hide in my room all the time.” Even in New York he had been shy and quiet, but nothing compared to how he had been living in Wisconsin; he had always preferred the company of his motorcycles and horses to that of people around him.

Plus, it was winter… there wasn’t usually much going on. The people of Wisconsin were sort of like chipmunks that way: they spent winter filling their cheeks with nuts and burrowing in holes.

“So, if you have suggestions, I’m all ears. What do you want to do?” Rhett knew he wasn’t exactly being a great host, but he didn’t know what to tell her. Small town Wisconsin was nothing like New York—where there was always something happening. More often than not, there was nothing happening… especially in winter when there weren’t any local high school football games ongoing.

“We could…” he tried to think, “We could take the horses out. I mean, what you see is all of downtown, so there aren’t any wild parties or clubs or anything going on,” he smiled sheepishly at her from across the booth, only turning to thank the waitress as she dropped off their check. Picking up the bill, Rhett slid out so he could pull on his coat. “I just don’t think you’re ready for the slow life of a ‘country boy.’ Despite what country songs make it sound like, life here is actually pretty boring.”
 
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“I definitely don’t think I could manage to live the slow country life,” Eliza admitted with a smile, shifting so that they could make their way from the diner and back out into the cold nip of winter. It wasn’t so harsh with the soft, undisturbed blanket of snow that covered the streets and banks. “But I can at least slow down for a few days. After the last couple weeks, I think that is what we need. So I don’t really care if we spend the rest of the time here hiding in your room, so long as I’m with you.”

But,” she added, almost hesitantly, “I would possibly be willing to overcome my fear of horses if you wanted to go out for a ride or something. But you’ll have to teach me and you can’t let me die. I managed to survive Robinson and Sylvia twice, getting taken out by a horse would be so anti-climactic after that.”

This entire trip was one big bundle of nerves and discomfort, but she was slowly trying to unwind and open herself back up. It was a difficult task, certainly, and she still snapped back into herself sometimes when his mother pressed the right buttons or she felt out of control, but she wanted to be different for Rhett. She knew she would never be able to really change, but she could learn to be more open, she could learn to appreciate that she could experience family through him even if she never had one of her own. She was damn lucky, too. Damn lucky to have Rhett, to have won his affection in a city where women were abundant, and she was so, so, so damn lucky that he believed her scars told stories and didn’t shirk away from them.

“Maybe we can take the horses out and then go hide in your room a bit before dinner to, you know, recharge and regroup before the second wave occurs,” she laughed.
 
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“I don’t know what kind of life I belong it,” Rhett admitted with a shrug. Like her, he couldn’t see himself living any longer in the slow, country life aside from the occasional visit, but he wasn’t entirely sure New York was his calling, either. The city had done him some good though. It had broken him out of his hesitant shell and coaxed him into being more sociable. While it had tried to rob him of his morals, he clung to them strongly and had forged himself a life in the city. A good life, too, complete with a cat, an apartment that wasn’t about to crumble apart at any given moment, a cat, a miraculous surviving business (albeit barely), and a lovely girlfriend.

It was a good life, though there certainly were the negative parts, too: the case, the crimes, the people that Rhett could think of no better word to describe than evil (and he had the brain the size of a planet with plenty of vocabulary). He truthfully didn’t know where they’d end up at the other side of their mess, or even if they’d end up anywhere at all that wasn’t involving dirt and daisies. “You wanna go for a ride?” He stirred from his thoughts and glanced up in surprise. She seemed to barely be surviving the cold as it was, and a ride would leave them outside for at least a few hours. “What about your shoulder? Are you sure?”

He wasn’t worried about the horses, really. He knew one of the older mares that were usually reserved for toting the kids around would be suited well to beginner city-slicker Eliza, but he worried about her shoulder in the cold.

“I mean, yea, of course, I’d be up for that,” he quickly rectified, cursing himself for sounding so apprehensive right off the bat when he knew Eliza was doing her best to come out of her shell a little and he certainly didn’t want to come off as the object trying to discourage that. Paying their tab and picking himself up, he reached for his coat and hastily slipped it on. He knew sooner rather than later they’d have to address the storm that was brewing just outside their door. He knew sooner rather than later they’d have to return to New York and face the demons that were waiting for them there, but for the time being he was enjoying just blissfully ignoring it, even if that meant facing family dinners.
 
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“I can survive a few hours in the cold,” Eliza laughed, appreciating his worry, but the last thing she wanted him to do was deny himself the opportunity to relax during their healing. After all, that was what the trip was for, right? Eliza had almost died, drugged and beaten, coming after a traumatic stint for Rhett in jail, Eliza being blown up or Rhett being nearly kidnapped – they earned this. They earned a few moments of not worrying so much about every little thing. Sure, it was an uncomfortable situation for Eliza to be around family and learn how to come out of her shell, but she could do it a million times over for Rhett’s happiness. “I’ve survived worse in my life,” she added with another bright laugh. She wondered when those deep wounds had become something she could joke about, but she knew it had to do with the remarkable man next to her.

“Really, though, we don’t have to stay out too long,” she held his hand and followed him out into the cold of the Wisconsin winter, “but if I’m going to be in the country, I should probably see if there’s any country deep down in these bones. I highly doubt it, but it can’t hurt to try something new once in a while.”

“Worked out for me really well when I let you into my life,” she shrugged, “the least I can do is try.”

They could even take a nap afterwards if they wanted, as there would be sometime between their ride and dinner, but now that Eliza was up and out, she enjoyed the way the cold cut through the muddled mind she was having trouble processing. The drugs were still coming out of her system and would probably take a few days to fully be out of her system, but she liked the way the cold gave her clarity. She could deal with an aching shoulder for a few hours longer, definitely.

“You know,” she admitted as they got into the truck, “When I was a kid, I broke my wrist at Linda’s house, jumping off one of the bunk beds and I was so terrified of how she would react, I went nearly two weeks before it was so black and blue that Linda took me to the hospital. Lo and behold, she screamed at me the whole way to the hospital and when the doctor told her he was impressed I had managed to live with it so long despite the pain, she screamed at him so loud that four other nurses came in.”
 
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The cold breathed into him and chilled him down to his core. The air swirled around his chest and caused all of his blood vessels to contract and his fingers to go numb. He had forgotten just how much colder it felt in Wisconsin than in New York, when the jet streams had time to gather over the long stretches of rolling fields before blasting into him. At least in the city, they could seek shelter from the wind between buildings. Out in the open country, there wasn’t so much as a tree to keep them safe from the wind that was biting, and biting away. Along his eyelashes, it felt as though the moisture began to crystallize and he had to blink on several occasions to clear away the stiffness.

“Well, alright then,” he agreed, happily sliding into the truck and starting the engine. It took a moment to warm, but once it did, the welcoming feeling of hot air blowing across his knuckles on the steering wheel welcomed him. “We can go out for a quick ride, sure. We’ll just take it nice and slow though so we don’t work up the horses too much.” He wondered then if Eliza had ever been on a horse, though he doubted it. It was her story though that coaxed a smile across his lips. It sounded so natural coming from her and it didn’t surprise him a single bit. It was just Eliza, through and through.

“I wasn’t a very cautious child,” he replied, “When I was younger, I just did things because I could. I had a vast array of interests. I loved games like Go and Chess, but I was also much more adventurous back in those days. There wasn’t a horse in the world I wouldn’t have climbed up on and no matter how fast I ever went on one of my bikes, I’d always try and go faster than the last time I rode.” Things for Rhett had certainly changed a lot since his accident. As an adult, he was much more cautious and conserving of his well-being. The hobbies like Go and Chess remained, but he had long since forgotten his motorcycle, which still sat in the storage facility back in New York.

“I never broke anything though up until my accident. I always came home with bumps and bruises though, but by me, my mom didn’t really care anymore,” he chuckled softly and pulled out of the parking lot and back towards the Wolfhart family farm. A short drive later and he was parking the truck in the garage.

“Alright, let’s go tack up some horses. Come on.”
 
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“That’s how Lisa is with the other kids now. I think after dealing with me, she’s got the whole bumps and bruises thing completely covered,” Eliza laughed, “I certainly saw the inside of the emergency room more than most kids did.” Completely independent of the unfortunate circumstances she found herself living in time and time again, Eliza was just a klutz. She ran too fast, jumped too high, never stopped fast enough, and it reflected in all the bones she had broken as a kid, all of the bruises she had endured and the doctors she had seen over the years. On a positive note, it gave her a pain tolerance that was near through the roof, and that was what she was betting on right then to get through horseback riding. Her shoulder throbbed, sure, but she could endure that for a moment of genuine open enjoyment.

She had done nothing but clam up and retreated inside of herself since arriving on the farm and it was about time she gave herself a bit of a break. That and she was starting to be able to read Rhett a bit like a book, and she knew that all the worry was getting a bit much. They both deserved this time to heal and regroup. They were in this together. “Tack up, huh? Look, I’m already learning,” she smiled as they slipped out of the truck and made their way back to the barn where the horses were waiting, pleased at the site of Rhett. Eliza had never ridden before but it was her slightly irrational fear that panged in her gut. Animals that were bigger than she was – sometimes it managed to frighten her just a little bit.

“I don’t know a single thing about horses,” Eliza admitted, “Not that you couldn’t guess that immediately, but there’s a very, very obvious reason I am not a mounted police officer.”

It was a small baby step out of her shell, but Eliza’s word was good. If she said she was willing to go for a ride, she would do it despite the fear, even if it took her a minute to muster the strength and mount the horse. “So, uh—“ she scratched her head with a smile still present on her lips, but a genuine confusion in her eyes, “what do I do first?”
 
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Killing the engine of the truck, Rhett led the way towards the small stable. He ended up zipping his jacket up all the way to the collar and sighing with a small shiver, his breath expelled in a puff of brilliant white steam. “It’s okay,” he replied as they stepped into the stables that was only slightly warmer, on account that it was out of the wind. The horses seemed content with the weather though, as they bobbed their fuzzy heads over the half walls of the stalls and nickered contentedly. “You don’t need to know much to go for an easy, slow ride.”

Before he even reached for any of the halters, Rhett made his way down the barn aisle and slipped into a tack stall, pulling out a small trunk filled with a variety of brushes and grooming supplies. “First, we’re going to get out our horses and brush them down. You must make sure all the mud is cleared off because if there is dried mud underneath the saddle, it can rub and cause sores,” he explained, dropping the trunk down and throwing open the lid. He hastily pointed out all of the different kinds of brushes, telling her what each one was used for before reaching for the halters on the side of one of the stalls.

“Okay. I think I’m going to give you Camille, she’s a good, older horse. Really sweet—“ he said with a half-smile, glancing over in Eliza’s direction, “And she’s not too big.”

Camille was on the smaller size, at least in height, but was wide like a tank. She looked genuinely bored when Rhett stepped into her stall and looped the halter over her ears as she munched on her last bite of hay. Her coat was a deep red colour flecked with white throughout, and her mane hung in a wild tangle of fluff. “She’ll take good care of you, now come in here and get your horse. Don’t worry, she doesn’t do anything fast, I promise. She used to though. When she was younger, my sister’s used to do cattle roping competitions with her. She was an impressive little mare. Now she genuinely prefers eating over moving.”

Rhett stood next to Camille, the horse’s leadrope in one hand that was extended out towards Eliza so she could lead her horse out of the stall by herself. “Lead her up to the crossties right up there,” he explained, “We can tie her up there and you can work on brushing her while I get my horse out.”
 
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“Eating over moving, huh? Sounds like my kind of horse.”

Eliza listened and nodded as she took the lead rope and glanced where Rhett was pointing. With the brush in her bad hand and the rope in her good, Eliza led Camille out into the cold and tied off her rope. “Okay,” Eliza said more or less to herself as she switched hands and took the brush in her good one, dragging it down her coat, eliciting a more pleasant expression from Camille. “You’re pretty simple, huh? That’s okay, me too, though no one brushes my hair for me.”

You’re talking to a horse, Eliza.

A soft chuckle rippled through her chest as she shook her head. Camille seemed easy enough and Eliza was certainly warming up to the idea. She knew nothing about caring or mounting or riding horses, but Rhett seemed an expert so she did as he told her and worked on brushing any mud from her coat. She found herself humming, singing a bit of a tune that her father used to play every afternoon when she was a child. The last time she had sung or played guitar was Christmas, but she just felt more at peace than she had in a long time. Even with the cold and the nipping wind, she just enjoyed the ease of dragging a brush through her coat. At the tune, Camille nudged her nose back and Eliza laughed.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Rhett coming with his own horse, “What’s next, oh wise sensei?” She smiled, turning back to Camille to finish up with her coat.
 
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“Uh-huh,” he looked over to her before sliding into a stall, disappearing into a thin veil of darkness, “I know you pretty well, Eliza,” his voice continued, though he really couldn’t be made out through the shadows in the stall, “And you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself if you didn’t move around a lot. I practically had to bind you down when you were injured,” he reminded her over the sounds of a buckle being closed. A moment later, he pushed open the stall door and he and a handsome, tall Chestnut stepped into the aisle. The horse was tall and narrow, with a refined head.

Rhett moved through the motions with ease, listening to Eliza talk and hum as he worked on brushing out the coat of his own horse. “To be fair,” he interjected, “I would brush your hair if you asked, but it never seemed like something I should just… come up and do.” Plus, Eliza didn’t often leave her hair down, preferring the up look for work and relaxation. For a while, they both just worked on their horses and he was happy for that. He liked the familiar smell and the way the dirt got under his nails. It was such a refreshing change of pace from his life in New York. He would have vehemently denied it had he been asked, but there was something so easy about him as he worked, like his brain had slowed down to that of a normal person’s and he was allowed to just… be.

He looked a little surprised to hear Eliza speak again, having very nearly forgotten she was there at all. “Oh, right, well,” god, he hated fumbling for his words, “Since they’re mostly brushed down, we can go get their tack and I can show you how to put it all together. It’s pretty simple, really,” he said, dumping his brush into the bucket and dusting off his hands.

“We can get you on and go for a short ride. I think there are few extra helmets around, too. We’ll find something for you. Come on, back to the tackroom,” he said, leaving the brush bin where it was, “The horses will be fine where they’re at.”
 
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“You did do a strangely fantastic job of braiding my hair for me,” Eliza laughed, knowing that his braiding came from being among so many women, but she still remembered it fondly. That was back long before she was willing to admit any kind of weakness and it was astounding to realize that this was where they were now. Eliza had agreed to come to Wisconsin, without a fight, for both of their sakes because New York was not a battle they could win yet. They needed time to regroup, recharge and rethink this whole situation. She was sure that when she returned to New York, everything would be terrible and she probably wouldn’t even have a job anymore, but they would figure it out when they could. So much had changed in Eliza and it took little moments like this for her to see it.

Her hair was still up in the ponytail she arrived in, but she wondered if after a shower it would kill her to just relax a bit and let it down. Eliza was a beautiful girl, there was no denying that, but she often was so uncertain in her femininity that she did everything she could to appear tough. What was the point of trying so hard here? There were no guys at the station here – no reason to worry. As much as she feared the questions from Rhett’s family, at the end of the day she could be anyone she wanted to be and she didn’t have to worry about living any certain way.

“And careful about your choice of words,” Eliza winked at him as she followed him back to the tackroom, “talk about binding me down again and your parents are going to wonder why we missed dinner.”

It was the kind of flirty, blunt response that was so incredibly Eliza. It was nice to feel that again, the humor and teasing that she loved so much. They had been caught up in the darkness for so long she wondered for a while if she still had it in her, but it never died. She just loved this time where it was just her and Rhett, no one else in the world to bother them, and she realized that this wouldn’t be the worst life. Certainly not in Wisconsin, but just a hop, skip and a jump outside the busiest parts of the city. Maybe someday they could – they. When the hell had Eliza started thinking about futures?

Since when did it make her heart flutter instead of beat arduously in her chest?
 
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“Eliza,” Rhett clicked at her woefully, “You must have realized by now that braiding hair and wordplay are perhaps my two favorite pastimes that I am charmingly good at,” he replied with a quip, making it known he had made no mistake when referring to ‘binding her down.’ Though something told him that if anyone was going to get tied down in their sexual escapades, it would probably be him. Eliza seemed like the type and he was not exactly the kind to fight it, either. Thankfully, they had arrived at the tackroom before Rhett gave serious considerations to the implications of performing less than PG-13 safe deed instead of taking a ride (on the horses).

“Right, tack….” The tackroom was neatly organized with pegs and racks, all of which were labelled with names. Horse names to be exact and coming to Camille’s post, he slid the saddle off and handed it back to Eliza. With the saddle in her arms, he threw a saddle blanket overtop and then the bridle. “Go take that, I’ll be right there to help you,” he said as he reached to pile his own gear into his hands. It only came to him as an afterthought that Eliza had a wounded shoulder and he immediately snapped his head towards her with a look of concern. “Your shoulder doing okay?” he asked, knowing she wouldn’t want him to baby him.

She was too tough for that. Sometimes, he wondered if she was too tough for him, at all. There was no denying the fact that Rhett was not some in-your-face testosterone-fueled meathead jock. There was certainly merit to the fact that his high school bullies used to call him ‘a little girl.’ Feminine might have been a stretch, but he was effeminate in some ways, like his lack of desire to pick fights or his disinterest in sporting events.

“You can just dump it on the ground near Camille. I’ll show you what bits go where,” he finally concluded, his own tack gathered up in his arms as he made his way back out into the aisle and threw his own stuff down, his fingers beginning to feel a little stiff from the cold the longer they were out. Once they got up and riding, they’d warm up a bit, but in the meantime he just felt cold and sniffy.
 
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Eliza let out a bright laugh as she followed him into the tack room. He was something else, that Rhett Wolfhart. Their dynamic was always interesting. A breath of fresh air, really. They challenged one another and while Eliza was as tough as they came, there was something about Rhett that allowed her to let her guard down just a bit – be a bit more feminine, love a little more openly, and admit when she was hurting. That toughness had come from being let down so many times, from losing her innocence over and over again to a world that would have loved nothing more than for her not to exist. But with Rhett, sometimes she genuinely felt like the brightest star in the sky of his little universe and she wasn’t sure exactly what to do with that – but she was trying.

Because somewhere among the wreckage of her heart, Rhett had set up shop.

He grabbed Camille’s gear and handed it over to her, piling in her arms one on top of the other. It wasn’t exactly light and Eliza felt the uncomfortable pull in her shoulder which caused her to wince just a bit. It wasn’t a sharp, shooting pain like she reinjured it, but it still needed quite a bit of time before it was back to normal. At his look, he offered him a reassuring smile and shifted the weight to her good arm. “Gotta start using it sometime, right?” Eliza said with a smirk, but quickly admitted her own weakness with a bit of a laugh to cover it up, “but yeah, I’ll drop it near Camille.”

She followed him out and settled it down on the ground before stretching out her arms to the best of her ability. Her shoulder was cold and stiff, achy, but she knew that using it would warm up the muscles and make the pain a little less throbbing. There was so much stuff at her feet and she didn’t have a single damn clue what went where or how to do anything, but she was enjoying herself. New things weren’t really her style, considering how well she knew New York, but it didn’t really feel like a new thing. It felt like she was learning Rhett and about the parts of him she had never gotten to see until now.

Her hand came up to rub at her shoulder a bit, right in the joint, and it alleviated some of the pain and pressure. It was good to use it, though, especially when she had a pretty good gauge for pain and whether or not she was doing more harm than good. The minute it started to turn to sharp, shooting pains, she would stop – but for now there was nothing she’d rather be doing than learning how to tack stuff.

“Alright, what first?”
 
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With his own tack dropped off, Rhett came up behind her and placed a kiss on her shoulder as she rocked it back and forth in a clear sign of discomfort. Through the thickness of her jacket, he wasn’t sure she’d be able to feel the gesture at all, but he felt inclined to give it all the same. “Okay,” he stepped around her, giving Camille a small pat on the neck before going over to the pile of tack. He spent a few minutes pointing things out and explaining what they were used for before finally going to help her tack up Camille, Rhett explaining everything every step of the way. He helped her adjust the saddle pad and then place the saddle down over top. He helped her rope her horse’s breast collar around her shoulders and chest and attack them to the saddle.

Before slipping the bridle on, Rhett went over to his own horse and started the tacking up process. Once they were both ready to be bridled, Rhett helped Eliza with Camille’s bridle and handed the reins out to her. “Just hold those. She won’t go anywhere, I’m just going to get Taffy bridled and then we can get you up and we’ll head out towards some of the trails.” It was a bit trickier helping a new rider get started while simultaneously taking care of his own horse, but he worked diligently and patiently.

Looping Taffy’s reins into the crook of one of his arms, he managed to step up to Eliza again and swing Camille’s reins over her head. “Okay, you ready?” he asked, glancing back at the saddle, which was a big western type—perfect for a first time rider as it was generous and secure. “So, what I’m going to have you do is place a hand on the front and back of the saddle then give me your left leg. I’m going to push you up and you’re going to swing your right leg over the saddle, alright? Think you can manage that?” The nice thing about Camille was that she was not a very big horse at all and would be easy to swing up onto.

“Once you’re on, just hang out for a moment and I’ll get on. Then I’ll take the lead, alright? We’ll just walk… alright, leg please. Ready? On three… one, twoooo….”

“Three.”
 
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Rhett walked her expertly through all the steps. She did her best to follow, eyes trailing his hands where ever he moved. She didn’t have a lick of sense when it came to horses, but Rhett made it simple for her and together they readied the horse with more ease than she anticipated. Once her horse was bridled, he came up alongside her and she laughed, “What a gentleman,” she smiled as she gave him her leg and put her hand at the front and back of the saddle. She mentally counted down with him and on three, she felt him left her with ease, though Eliza pushed off and certainly managed to hold a great deal of her own weight even with her shoulder aching. She swung her leg around and managed to settle into the saddle. It was a strange sensation being on the back of a horse, but she wasn’t as unnerved as she thought she would be.

“Well look at that,” Eliza laughed, “I’m on a horse. Four-year-old me would be ecstatic right now.”

As a child, Eliza had just loved animals. The last summer before her parents were killed was spent at the zoo nearly every day, fearlessly petting whatever animal they would allow. Funny enough, Eliza never felt fear as a kid – just excitement and adventure. It wasn’t until she got older and the world around her got more and more difficult to live in did she try to make it appear like nothing scared her – but it did. Mortality is a hard thing for a young kid to understand and Eliza was thrown into it so early. It was no wonder that her job ended up being investigating and solving murders as a detective because her life was so unmistakably marked with death.

Big animals made her a bit uneasy now, a bit more caution in her heart, but being on Camille seemed to make a lot of those anxieties sort of melt away. More than anything, she knew that Rhett wouldn’t steer her wrong and that was the most important thing. She was capable of damn near anything when he was there and she wasn’t quite sure why that was – but she was slowly figuring it out.

She watched as he effortlessly mounted his own horse and could not help but smile. There was so much to him that she was learning about and she was glad for it. All these pieces were apart of him and she wanted to know him inside and out. She had never felt that way about anyone before. Not a single person.

“So, how do I make her…you know, go?”
 
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“Oh? Four year old you would be ecstatic, huh?” he chuckled softly, shaking his head at her as he gathered up his reins, “From what you’ve always said about horses and big animals intimidating you, that kind of comes as a surprise to me.” She had always discussed her fear of animals that were bigger than her, though he supposed many of those fears blossomed in adulthood. Like her, he had been a fearless child—though in more of a cautious sense. He didn’t fear anything, but he went about it in a logical and rational manner. His fears of things developed later on in life, mostly after the realization of what mortality was clicked in his brain.

The fear of death didn’t often grip children because they were unable to understand the concepts of it. Rhett’s brain, exceptional as it was, understood death at a much younger age than his peers. Fear of death and injury truly settled into him only after his accident, which left him in a coma for several months. Everyone who knew Rhett before the accident would have said the Rhett that came out of the accident was someone entirely different than the Rhett before the accident—like someone had woken up just wearing his skin. Brushes with death did that to a person though, they changed them… for the better or for the worse. If anyone understood that, it was Eliza, and it was perhaps why he had found it so easy to trust her.

She understood him at a level he wasn’t even entirely sure he understood himself, but he supposed that parallel of self-awareness came from all she had endured.

“Yea, so, don’t kick her, but just gently close your legs around her side. My mom used to say it was like giving your horse a hug with your legs,” he smiled, nudging his own horse forward and passing by her as they headed for the open double doors at the end of the aisle. His horse seemed hesitant about the snow for a split second before he plunged in, snorting as he picked up he kicked up the powder with every movement. “So, gently nudge her with her heel to go, gently pull back on the reins to slow down or stop. She responds to voice commands too, so if she ever starts going too fast, just tell her ‘easy’ and she’ll slow down.”

The air was just as brisk as it had been when they were out walking, but there was something oddly refreshing about it when he was on top of a horse. He had never been anything more than a casual hobbyist rider—he wasn’t talented or extremely well trained, but he enjoyed the easy trails and casual jaunts. His sisters had always been more invested in horses than he ever had been, but he remembered just how much he missed it now that he had gotten back up into the saddle.

“You coming?”
 
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