Liam hands over his phone. "You know that password" he reminds her. He had told him early on in their relationship, trusting her wholeheartedly. He didn't mind if she scrolled through his texts or photos as they were mainly full of her and the horses. "I think getting the vet here might be better" he agrees

caleb was still working with dune. hed taken note of his room in the boys cabin and where the cabin was. he saw an ambulance pull in and looked around. no one seemed to be hurt but the sirens spooked dune and the horse ran into the wooden rails almost hitting caleb. caleb grabbed his halter and patted the geldings head and neck. caleb was glad he was assigned to dune. he loved racing and also loved dapple greys. the sun soon started to set and caleb brushed dune down and pu him back in his stall.

Katie took the phone and quickly tped in the password. She called the rescue's on-site vet, Dr. Fiddes, and told her the situation. The doctor said she was on her way and arrived 7 minutes later. "We had a bad fall a couple hours ago. Liam thinks her ankle is badly hurt." Dr. Fiddes nods, taking mental note. "I think Liam is right about the ankle. It's swelling. Her past trauma was to the same ankle. Well, we can haul her back in the gooseneck, or we can try to get her up. Your call." She says. Katie looks at Liam and thinks. "I'll go grab the gooseneck with Liam real quick. You can stay here with the horses, doc." Dr. Fiddes sits next to Evie, petting her neck. "We'll be here." She responds. Katie took Liam's hand and they walked back to the barn. It took a little over 20 minutes to get back, but Katie was with Liam, so she didn't mind. When they got back to the barn, Katie grabbed her keys and phone out of her office, and walked to the truck that was still hitched up to the trailer. Good. Less time. "I'll drive." Katie says, taking the driver's seat. Liam holds the door like the gentleman he is. She climbs in and starts the truck once Liam is in the cab. She slowly drives down the road, holding his hand the whole way. When they got back to the open field, the first responders were packing up to leave. Can't wait for the bill... Katie bitterly thinks.

caleb was grabbing a bale to feed the horses and almost walked infront of the car and trailer. hedidnt think anyone was going out so late so it supprised him. he waved a 'im sorry' wave and went on with his chores. caleb haddnt talked to anyone much. he finished his chores and went up to the cabin. caleb often wore black compression shirts because they helped him with past physical trauma from multiple causes (causes will be mentioned later). he put on a pair of jeans and went to tack up whiskey, his horse, he haddnt had much time to ride whiskey latley do to the new workload so hed be having a lot more night rides on the stallion. caleb put on whiskeys teal set and black saddle/bridle. he free lunged whiskey around the round pen. caleb had volentered to get in the cows of a morning so he could ride whiskey then. plus whiskey loved rounding animals up. once whiskey was warmed up caleb mounted and went on a trail ride on the northen forest track.

Katie gets out of the truck, and goes over to Rebel first. "C'mon boy. Let's put you in first so that you don't trample Evie, okay?" She says, leading him away. You could see Rebel didn't want to leave Evie alone for a second, but he trusted Katie so he followed. After putting Rebel loose in the trailer, Katie walked over to Evie. "You have to get up, sweetheart. C'mon big girl." She persuaded the horse. Evie moved back and forth, half being pushed and pulled, half rocking. She finally pulled her forelegs up, and was almost sitting. She heaved up, and stood, putting very little weight onto her right hind. They slowly moved her up and into the trailer, heading home.

As they drive down the road back to the barns, Katie speaks up. "Hey, babe? I think we should only spend about half of what we saved up. The bills for this are going to be crazy, and I don't think we should overspend." She is worried about the inflation in antibiotics and pain meds right now. She pulls out her phone, and looks at the time. 10pm. We have 1 hour to be done and in bed, sleeping. Ugh. I hate rushing... Katie sighs and looks at the trees slowly moving past the truck. I wonder how old these trees are... She mused.Once they got back, they pulled Evie out and put her in a box stall. "Is it okay if we move rebel to the next stall over? I would like to have no stallion screeches keeping me up tonight."

Liam looked over out of the corner of his eye as his girlfriend mentioned cutting on spending. "Don't worry, I'll cover the rest of the cost. I know how much this rescue means to you and I am not afraid of spending more. I can also pay for Evie's vet bill, don't worry. " he reassures her as he turns the steering wheel to the right and pulls into the barn. "You can sleep in tonight, take a break. I can handle the rescue for the day" he tells her as he helps her out of the truck. He then unloads Rebel. "Sure, he won't be happy about it but I can compromise with him" he says leading Rebel to the next stall down before sneaking him a peppermint in compromise. He then closes and locks the latch to his stall door.

The next morning, Liam went and fed the horses, placing hay in each stall. He checked on Evie, noting that she was sleeping and slowly recovering from the fall. As he made his way to Riot's stall he saw it was completely open wide, the stallion no where in sight. His halter was also missing. Liam cursed under his breath. He was certain that the latch was closed, and Riot was a very behaved stallion and he couldn't have escaped far if he had left the stables as he was older and not as agile as he was when he was younger. Seeing that the halter was also missing told him that Riot had been stolen.

Katie woke up 3 hours later than usual, and felt guilty for it. She changed into a clean pair of jeans and a black t-shirt along with her belt she always wore. She sluggishly moved down toward the barn. She peeked into Evie's stall and saw she was still asleep. Get better, baby. Katie thinks. She walked along the stalls, saying good morning to all the horses. She went to Riot's stall, but it was open. Huh. Maybe Liam is giving him some exercise? "Liam? Liam!" She calls for her love. "Li-" She's cut short as she spots him in the aisle, panic stricken. Her own heart speeds up, now scared for why Riot was gone and Liam was here. "Babe, what's wrong? Where is Riot?" She asks. She walks over and takes both of his hands. "Good morning. Where is your horse?" She gives him a kiss, hoping he would calm a bit. When he explains that he didn't know, Katie pulled out her phone and looked at the surveillance camera footage. "This is shit quality. C'mon we need to look at this in my office." She tugged him along while she briskly walked to her office. Her computer was coming to life, when she heard a familiar whinny. "Evie! You're up!" She called, jumping up and dropping Liam's hand. She sprinted to her horse's stall, yanking the door open to find her horse standing on her own. "You're standing too! Good girl!" Liam had caught up now, and the two walked back to her office, hand in hand once more. They watched the footage over and over, but the quality was still bad. "Guess we're on our own." Katie commented. The only person I can think would want Riot is a volunteer. He has traveled the world with Liam, competing... Maybe someone foreign? Liam's kiss interrupted her thought process. She sighed and walked out to her project horse, Lucked. She had taken on the project when Jaden had to leave. She lunged her until the filly was getting distracted. Sighing, Katie walked her back to her stall and fed Lucked and Evie grain. She then went over to feed Rebel. He seemed distressed, so she moved him across the aisle from Evie to calm him. She blanketed the filly and Rebel. Evie already had hers on. She walked back to Liam telling him about how they were leaving in 20min so that they could get to the auction early in order to look at the horses there. "We have room for 12 horses right now. We can also afford special feed for all of the horses we get. I considered a pony, but thought against it." She said with a smile.

Liam began to panic seeing Riot's stall open and Riot missing. He bolted outside, hoping that the theif hadn't gotten far. He cursed again when he saw no trace of Riot. He began to frantically search the area for any clues of where he would have been taken. He then saw something on the ground in the middle of the road. It was Riot's halter, torn at one side. Riot's halter was leather so that it would snap if Riot were to panic. This meant that Riot hopefully had escaped the attempted kidnapping. Liam whistled, calling for Riot as he looked around. After spending an hour searching, Liam was about to give up. He blinked hard, refusing to let tears fall. It was at that moment when he heard a neigh from the forest. Racing into the forest, Liam fell to his knees in relief when he saw Riot there, though tied to a tree. He assumed that when when the thieves realized that he wouldn't cooporate, tied him and left him to die in the middle of the dark forest. Liam ran a hand down Riot's neck, breaking down into tears. "You're okay, you're okay buddy" though he was unsure if he was reassuring Riot or himself. Liam cut the rope with a poket knife and ran a hand down his nose. Riot let out a snort, turning to look into the brush. Liam squinted but then saw what was hidden. It was a small puppy. Leaning down slowly, he gently scooped him into his arms. "It's okay, shh, it's okay" he whispered trying to comfort the small bundle of fur. Holding the puppy in one arm, he led Riot back with a spare halter. Liam was unsure how Journey would react to he little puppy but he knew he couldn't just leave him there.