Save a Horse, Ride a Winchester
Save a Horse, Ride a Winchester
Chapter 4
Chapter Wordcount: 2063
Dean groaned, caught somewhere in the hazy world between sleep and consciousness and went to lift his hand to rub at his eyes.
The move was aborted though when he realized Adri had fallen asleep on top of it, curled against his chest from where they had slumped into the corner of the couch.
“Shit,” he whispered, squinting to see the clock in the darkness.
He groaned and rubbed his eyes with his free hand, finally resting his head against the couch back and watching Adri sleep. He reached up to gently slip a stray stand of hair back behind her ear.
Now that he was awake he could feel the pins and needles dancing under the skin of the arm she was laying on and he tried to slowly pull it out from under her without waking her.
She sighed and cracked her eyes open, glancing up at him.
“Hey,” he rumbled, “Sorry, was trying not to wake you up.”
“S’okay,” she mumbled, “Shit, sorry,” she grinned, shifting her weight so he could pull his arm free.
“It’s alright,” he smirked shaking his arm out before lying it across the back of the couch, making no move to remove her from where she was curled up against him.
“Guess we were more tired than we thought,” he finally mumbled.
She chuckled, “Well you yeah, you’re not used to riding, it’ll wear you out.”
“I dunno how you do that, my legs are still hurting,” he groaned, cracking his eyes open to look at her.
She just smirked and arched her brow, “Told ya, riding does wonders for the legs,” she laughed quietly, still curled up in the crook of his shoulder.
He chuckled and let his arm fall down to tug her closer.
She sighed, lolling her head into the crook of his neck, fingers curling in the fabric of his shirt when he sighed and placed a light kiss against her temple.
“Can I ask you something?” he said quietly.
“Sure, but I reserve the right not to answer.”
He grinned, “Sure…how’d you end up here with your uncle and cousin?”
Adri sighed against him and he pulled her tighter against his chest.
“Couple years after Nik’s mom died my parent’s got killed in a car crash. I had always come out here during the summers anyways, and Uncle Rick’s my godfather, so I came here permanently.”
“Sorry babe,” he whispered, kissing her temple again.
“It was a long time ago,” she said quietly, pushing herself up to look at him, eyes falling closed when he leaned forward to kiss her softly.
He pulled back just long enough for her to open her eyes and stare at him before he leaned back in, threading his fingers through her hair and pulling her tighter against him.
She broke the kiss and sighed, rubbing her cheek against his.
He chuckled, “You like the stubble?”
“Maybe,” she grinned, kissing him again, smiling against his lips.
All of a sudden there was a high pitched squeal coming from the kitchen.
“What the hell is that?”
“Shit, that’s the foaling alarm. Go shut it off and I’ll go get Uncle Rick up,” she said getting up.
She bent over the back of the couch and kissed him upside down before she went pounding up the stairs and Dean rolled off the couch to go kill the alarm.
“Sammy!” The bedroom door slammed against the wall so hard it almost rebounded back into his older brother’s face. “Sam! Hey, you! Both of you!”
Nicole poked her head out from under the blanket and pillow next to Sam, her eyes darting from Dean, to Sam, to the clock and back to Dean. “What’re you doing?” she mumbled into Sam’s arm, closing her eyes against the light from the hallway. “It’s four in the morning!”
“Put some clothes on and get downstairs,” Adrianna cut in, suddenly standing next to Dean in the doorway, but only for an instant before she disappeared.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked hoarsely, forcing his eyes to open to more than just slits, but to the point where he could at least see his brother.
“Can’t explain, just need you two up and outta bed,” Dean said quickly. “Now!” The door slammed shut again behind him.
Sam glanced down at the worried look on Nicole’s face.
“Something’s off,” she said quietly, reaching across his torso to find her shirt from several hours previous. “I think it’s Rose.”
“Niki,” he started, but she was already scrambling around the room, trying to find anything to throw on before she sat back down to pull on her boots.
“You don’t have to come,” she interjected. “Catch a few more hours of sleep.” The way she said it almost sounded angry, but he couldn’t tell she was being serious until she stopped for only a moment to kiss him. “I’m giving you an extra hour, but only because I’m feeling generous.” Soon after that, she was out of the bedroom and pounding down the stairs.
Adrianna was already headed out the door to the barn and Dean was in the kitchen with Mr. Atkins, shrugging on his jacket to follow her.
“What’s going on?”
“We think Rose is in labor,” Mr. Atkins mumbled, rubbing a hand across his eyes as he started a pot of coffee.
“Crap,” Niki hissed, “She was pacing a lot today, I should have realized.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mr. Atkins said, waving her off, “You know Rose, she made us think she was about to foal for a straight week last time.”
Niki laughed and pulled on her own jacket. “I’ll let you know if she starts contractions.”
Mr. Atkins nodded, pouring himself his first cup of coffee.
It was gonna be a long night.
It was almost an hour later, an hour spent watching Rose lay down just to get up and pace and turn around a lay down again.
Sam came out, wrapped in a jacket with coffee mugs for everyone.
“Anything?”
“We think so,” Niki said from where she was leaning over the stall door, saying thanks as he handed her a cup, “She just laid down and stretched out, hasn’t gotten back up yet, might be show time.”
“Good timing,” Dean grinned, sipping from the mug Sam handed him, standing by the second stall door, next to where Adri was leaning against the door where she was standing inside the stall.
“I’m good,” Adri smiled when Sam offered her a cup, he shrugged and placed it on one of the shelves along the wall. He turned back just in time to see Dean letting her take a sip from his mug though, without any complaint, which is saying something because Dean could be vicious when it came to his coffee.
Sam quirked an eyebrow and grinned before turning to watch Rose again.
Just then she let out a low drawn out groan, legs straight out and rigid.
“Sounds like she’s in pain,” Sam grimaced.
“You wanna push a foal through your…”
“Adri!” Niki laughed, shooting her a look.
“What?!” she grinned, stepping over to lay her hand on Rose’s swollen stomach. “Oh yeah, we’re getting there.”
Niki flipped out her phone, sending a quick text message to her dad that Rose was foaling and that they’d let him know if they needed him.
“So…you guys have done this before?” Dean asked.
“We live on a farm, what do you think?” Adri grinned.
Just then Rose let out another pained groan and there was a gush of liquid.
“Oh my god, that’s gross!” Dean grimaced.
“Nik, you wanna get the antiseptic and stuff ready?”
“Sure,” she said, stepping away and into the tack room.
“Is she okay?” Sam asked, concerned, leaning over the stall door.
“She’s fine, her water just broke, shouldn’t be too long now.”
A few more contractions later and the front feet and the nose started to slip through.
“Holy crap,” Sam whispered.
Rose groaned again, stretching her legs out as the shoulders slipped free and Rose sighed and relaxed back into the straw.
Adri ripped the sac away from the foals face, making sure it was breathing okay.
“Dude, that’s gross!” Dean exclaimed, screwing his face up.
Adri looked up at him and laughed, flicking the liquid on her fingers at him, making him jump back from the stall door.
“So not cool!”
Sam laughed and shook his head, “You went through this too, Dean.”
“Ugh, so don’t need that visual!”
Sam laughed again.
“Everything’s ready to go,” Nicole offered as she came up to stand beside Sam again, “How’s she doing?”
“Halfway there,” Adri replied from where she was crouched down beside Rose, gently rubbing the foal’s chest and shoulders.
They waited patiently a few more minutes before Rose finally pushed and the rest of the wet, tiny foal slipped out and started bobbing its head in confusion.
Sam was so enthralled with the little filly as it blinked in confusion he missed the fact that Dean had went from disgust to watching just as attentively.
“Can you hand me those towels?” Adri asked.
“Sure,” Dean said, quickly grabbing the couple that had been sitting outside waiting and handing them to her through the door.
Niki stepped in to help rub down the filly and tie off the umbilical cord, dipping it in antiseptic before they stepped back to let Rose rest. She still had to expel the afterbirth and a few minutes after she did she rolled back up and turned to start looking after her new baby.
Adri came back out from washing her hands and arms and leaned over the door to watch as Rose cleaned her little foal as it tried to stand, its long legs wobbly and knees folding before it could get its feet under it.
“God, it’s so incredible,” Sam whispered, curled up with Niki from where they were leaning over the second stall door.
“It is pretty cool,” Dean said, grinning as he came up behind Adri and wrapped his arms around her to stop her shivering, resting his chin on her shoulder and grinning at her when she looked over at him.
Everything was so quiet and soft, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon and the sky was a soft washed pink-silver. Birds were chirping off in the distance and Sin, Cheese, India, and the proud papa Slevin were snuffling in the adjacent stalls, like they knew the miracle that had just happened. Even Dayzee was panting quietly at their feet.
Mr. Atkins came out just a few minutes before the little filly finally managed to get its feet under itself and stood on wobbly legs.
“Wow, look at that,” Dean whispered, grinning as the little girl teetered and stumbled.
Rose rocked herself back onto her feet as well and started nudging her until she finally began to nurse.
“Wow,” Sam whispered, kissing Niki on the cheek.
“Come on guys,” Mr. Atkins grinned, “They’ll be alright, why don’t you go get some more sleep, the chores can wait.”
“Thanks dad,” Niki smiled, rising on her tip toes to kiss her dad on the cheek before linking her fingers in Sam’s and heading back to the house.
“C’mon,” Adri said quietly, stepping away from the stall door and slipping her hand into Dean’s jacket pocket, pulling him along towards the house.
He arched his eyebrow at her and she just grinned and kept walking.
Mr. Atkins just smiled and sipped his coffee when he only heard two bedroom doors close.
Sam toed of his boots before kicking back on Niki’s unmade bed with a tired sigh. “So who gets to name her?” he asked, watching how she managed to walk right out of her already untied boots and cuddle up to him under the blanket with a shiver.
“It’s kind of a group deal. Might even be a vote now that you guys are here,” Niki chuckled. “Why?”
“Because I have the overwhelming urge to call her Oreo.”
“We’ve already got a Cheese, I don’t see why not,” she grinned. “Oreo,” she repeated. “I like it.”
“Me too.”
“I’m too tired to get up and run it by anyone now so,” she paused to let out a yawn, “I’m gonna go back to sleep.”
Sam mumbled an incoherent response just before he dozed off.
***
proud mamma Rose
and little baby Oreo
Previous: Chapter Three | Next: Chapter Five
Chapter 4
Chapter Wordcount: 2063
Dean groaned, caught somewhere in the hazy world between sleep and consciousness and went to lift his hand to rub at his eyes.
The move was aborted though when he realized Adri had fallen asleep on top of it, curled against his chest from where they had slumped into the corner of the couch.
“Shit,” he whispered, squinting to see the clock in the darkness.
He groaned and rubbed his eyes with his free hand, finally resting his head against the couch back and watching Adri sleep. He reached up to gently slip a stray stand of hair back behind her ear.
Now that he was awake he could feel the pins and needles dancing under the skin of the arm she was laying on and he tried to slowly pull it out from under her without waking her.
She sighed and cracked her eyes open, glancing up at him.
“Hey,” he rumbled, “Sorry, was trying not to wake you up.”
“S’okay,” she mumbled, “Shit, sorry,” she grinned, shifting her weight so he could pull his arm free.
“It’s alright,” he smirked shaking his arm out before lying it across the back of the couch, making no move to remove her from where she was curled up against him.
“Guess we were more tired than we thought,” he finally mumbled.
She chuckled, “Well you yeah, you’re not used to riding, it’ll wear you out.”
“I dunno how you do that, my legs are still hurting,” he groaned, cracking his eyes open to look at her.
She just smirked and arched her brow, “Told ya, riding does wonders for the legs,” she laughed quietly, still curled up in the crook of his shoulder.
He chuckled and let his arm fall down to tug her closer.
She sighed, lolling her head into the crook of his neck, fingers curling in the fabric of his shirt when he sighed and placed a light kiss against her temple.
“Can I ask you something?” he said quietly.
“Sure, but I reserve the right not to answer.”
He grinned, “Sure…how’d you end up here with your uncle and cousin?”
Adri sighed against him and he pulled her tighter against his chest.
“Couple years after Nik’s mom died my parent’s got killed in a car crash. I had always come out here during the summers anyways, and Uncle Rick’s my godfather, so I came here permanently.”
“Sorry babe,” he whispered, kissing her temple again.
“It was a long time ago,” she said quietly, pushing herself up to look at him, eyes falling closed when he leaned forward to kiss her softly.
He pulled back just long enough for her to open her eyes and stare at him before he leaned back in, threading his fingers through her hair and pulling her tighter against him.
She broke the kiss and sighed, rubbing her cheek against his.
He chuckled, “You like the stubble?”
“Maybe,” she grinned, kissing him again, smiling against his lips.
All of a sudden there was a high pitched squeal coming from the kitchen.
“What the hell is that?”
“Shit, that’s the foaling alarm. Go shut it off and I’ll go get Uncle Rick up,” she said getting up.
She bent over the back of the couch and kissed him upside down before she went pounding up the stairs and Dean rolled off the couch to go kill the alarm.
“Sammy!” The bedroom door slammed against the wall so hard it almost rebounded back into his older brother’s face. “Sam! Hey, you! Both of you!”
Nicole poked her head out from under the blanket and pillow next to Sam, her eyes darting from Dean, to Sam, to the clock and back to Dean. “What’re you doing?” she mumbled into Sam’s arm, closing her eyes against the light from the hallway. “It’s four in the morning!”
“Put some clothes on and get downstairs,” Adrianna cut in, suddenly standing next to Dean in the doorway, but only for an instant before she disappeared.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked hoarsely, forcing his eyes to open to more than just slits, but to the point where he could at least see his brother.
“Can’t explain, just need you two up and outta bed,” Dean said quickly. “Now!” The door slammed shut again behind him.
Sam glanced down at the worried look on Nicole’s face.
“Something’s off,” she said quietly, reaching across his torso to find her shirt from several hours previous. “I think it’s Rose.”
“Niki,” he started, but she was already scrambling around the room, trying to find anything to throw on before she sat back down to pull on her boots.
“You don’t have to come,” she interjected. “Catch a few more hours of sleep.” The way she said it almost sounded angry, but he couldn’t tell she was being serious until she stopped for only a moment to kiss him. “I’m giving you an extra hour, but only because I’m feeling generous.” Soon after that, she was out of the bedroom and pounding down the stairs.
Adrianna was already headed out the door to the barn and Dean was in the kitchen with Mr. Atkins, shrugging on his jacket to follow her.
“What’s going on?”
“We think Rose is in labor,” Mr. Atkins mumbled, rubbing a hand across his eyes as he started a pot of coffee.
“Crap,” Niki hissed, “She was pacing a lot today, I should have realized.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mr. Atkins said, waving her off, “You know Rose, she made us think she was about to foal for a straight week last time.”
Niki laughed and pulled on her own jacket. “I’ll let you know if she starts contractions.”
Mr. Atkins nodded, pouring himself his first cup of coffee.
It was gonna be a long night.
It was almost an hour later, an hour spent watching Rose lay down just to get up and pace and turn around a lay down again.
Sam came out, wrapped in a jacket with coffee mugs for everyone.
“Anything?”
“We think so,” Niki said from where she was leaning over the stall door, saying thanks as he handed her a cup, “She just laid down and stretched out, hasn’t gotten back up yet, might be show time.”
“Good timing,” Dean grinned, sipping from the mug Sam handed him, standing by the second stall door, next to where Adri was leaning against the door where she was standing inside the stall.
“I’m good,” Adri smiled when Sam offered her a cup, he shrugged and placed it on one of the shelves along the wall. He turned back just in time to see Dean letting her take a sip from his mug though, without any complaint, which is saying something because Dean could be vicious when it came to his coffee.
Sam quirked an eyebrow and grinned before turning to watch Rose again.
Just then she let out a low drawn out groan, legs straight out and rigid.
“Sounds like she’s in pain,” Sam grimaced.
“You wanna push a foal through your…”
“Adri!” Niki laughed, shooting her a look.
“What?!” she grinned, stepping over to lay her hand on Rose’s swollen stomach. “Oh yeah, we’re getting there.”
Niki flipped out her phone, sending a quick text message to her dad that Rose was foaling and that they’d let him know if they needed him.
“So…you guys have done this before?” Dean asked.
“We live on a farm, what do you think?” Adri grinned.
Just then Rose let out another pained groan and there was a gush of liquid.
“Oh my god, that’s gross!” Dean grimaced.
“Nik, you wanna get the antiseptic and stuff ready?”
“Sure,” she said, stepping away and into the tack room.
“Is she okay?” Sam asked, concerned, leaning over the stall door.
“She’s fine, her water just broke, shouldn’t be too long now.”
A few more contractions later and the front feet and the nose started to slip through.
“Holy crap,” Sam whispered.
Rose groaned again, stretching her legs out as the shoulders slipped free and Rose sighed and relaxed back into the straw.
Adri ripped the sac away from the foals face, making sure it was breathing okay.
“Dude, that’s gross!” Dean exclaimed, screwing his face up.
Adri looked up at him and laughed, flicking the liquid on her fingers at him, making him jump back from the stall door.
“So not cool!”
Sam laughed and shook his head, “You went through this too, Dean.”
“Ugh, so don’t need that visual!”
Sam laughed again.
“Everything’s ready to go,” Nicole offered as she came up to stand beside Sam again, “How’s she doing?”
“Halfway there,” Adri replied from where she was crouched down beside Rose, gently rubbing the foal’s chest and shoulders.
They waited patiently a few more minutes before Rose finally pushed and the rest of the wet, tiny foal slipped out and started bobbing its head in confusion.
Sam was so enthralled with the little filly as it blinked in confusion he missed the fact that Dean had went from disgust to watching just as attentively.
“Can you hand me those towels?” Adri asked.
“Sure,” Dean said, quickly grabbing the couple that had been sitting outside waiting and handing them to her through the door.
Niki stepped in to help rub down the filly and tie off the umbilical cord, dipping it in antiseptic before they stepped back to let Rose rest. She still had to expel the afterbirth and a few minutes after she did she rolled back up and turned to start looking after her new baby.
Adri came back out from washing her hands and arms and leaned over the door to watch as Rose cleaned her little foal as it tried to stand, its long legs wobbly and knees folding before it could get its feet under it.
“God, it’s so incredible,” Sam whispered, curled up with Niki from where they were leaning over the second stall door.
“It is pretty cool,” Dean said, grinning as he came up behind Adri and wrapped his arms around her to stop her shivering, resting his chin on her shoulder and grinning at her when she looked over at him.
Everything was so quiet and soft, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon and the sky was a soft washed pink-silver. Birds were chirping off in the distance and Sin, Cheese, India, and the proud papa Slevin were snuffling in the adjacent stalls, like they knew the miracle that had just happened. Even Dayzee was panting quietly at their feet.
Mr. Atkins came out just a few minutes before the little filly finally managed to get its feet under itself and stood on wobbly legs.
“Wow, look at that,” Dean whispered, grinning as the little girl teetered and stumbled.
Rose rocked herself back onto her feet as well and started nudging her until she finally began to nurse.
“Wow,” Sam whispered, kissing Niki on the cheek.
“Come on guys,” Mr. Atkins grinned, “They’ll be alright, why don’t you go get some more sleep, the chores can wait.”
“Thanks dad,” Niki smiled, rising on her tip toes to kiss her dad on the cheek before linking her fingers in Sam’s and heading back to the house.
“C’mon,” Adri said quietly, stepping away from the stall door and slipping her hand into Dean’s jacket pocket, pulling him along towards the house.
He arched his eyebrow at her and she just grinned and kept walking.
Mr. Atkins just smiled and sipped his coffee when he only heard two bedroom doors close.
Sam toed of his boots before kicking back on Niki’s unmade bed with a tired sigh. “So who gets to name her?” he asked, watching how she managed to walk right out of her already untied boots and cuddle up to him under the blanket with a shiver.
“It’s kind of a group deal. Might even be a vote now that you guys are here,” Niki chuckled. “Why?”
“Because I have the overwhelming urge to call her Oreo.”
“We’ve already got a Cheese, I don’t see why not,” she grinned. “Oreo,” she repeated. “I like it.”
“Me too.”
“I’m too tired to get up and run it by anyone now so,” she paused to let out a yawn, “I’m gonna go back to sleep.”
Sam mumbled an incoherent response just before he dozed off.
***
proud mamma Rose
and little baby Oreo
Previous: Chapter Three | Next: Chapter Five