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Description
So I've had the plot for an FLS story written down for ages and I've finally started to implement it PROPERLY. With real writing. I hope you're gonna enjoy this ;-;

Next: Chapter Two

Chapter One
The sun woke Lee before his alarm, bright rays of gold sneaking in through the crack in the curtains. The large house was quiet other than some muffled voices down the hall in the kitchen and he bathed in the peace for a minute. Once the day started on the Estate, it was hard to find some quiet time alone. Most of the staff lived on site now, in the large, modern house at the edge of the grounds or in the new, totally independent bunk house to the side of the main house. With nearly all of the Firelight staff and most of the Somesmera crew on site, along with temporary workers, people staying from abroad, trainers, riders there to learn, and others who needed the facilities, there wasn't much space. And it was hard to get breakfast before all the toast ran out.

With a small grunt, Lee rolled over to reach for his phone and check the time. It was five, about the time everyone started rushing for the line for the shower. Lee would grab one after breakfast, when he could take his time in the wet room and not hurt himself. That meant he could get food before the stampede. He grabbed his t-shirt from the floor and pushed himself up to sit on the edge of the bed. He still slept alone, neither he or Aisha ready to be quite so vulnerable. It was hard to let someone else into his life so intimately, even though he had known her for so long now. After Zoe, after Amber, even after his accident, there was too much in his mind.

Most of all, he supposed, he didn't want Aisha to see him struggle so much each morning to get into his chair, to get dressed and showered, to even go to the toilet and brush his teeth. It had been months now since his accident but it was all still so difficult. Still, he wanted to make an effort. He wanted to make things work between them. Aisha was someone special and Lee hoped they could both get over their hang ups and trust each other enough to be spend the night together... asleep.

He pulled his wheelchair closer to the bed and then hauled himself over into it. Progress with walking was so slow. Lee almost thought he would never walk again, but he could manage a few steps. For now there was still hope. He could even stand for a few minutes, before he would lose balance or the pain in his legs and back was too much. He hoped that one day he would be somewhat back to normal, able to do his work without relying on his wheelchair.

The Junithers had offered little help. They had taken some of the pain away, but they were incapable of fixing such damage. They couldn't replace something that had been lost, they couldn't bring back all the feeling in his legs and the muscle mass he had lost. They could do a lot, but none were that powerful. It was also very hard to let another horse into his mind after Fru. It was as if his brain tried to shut down as soon as it felt the delicate tendrils of the Junither connection.

There was a small squabble in the hallway as Mark and Chase passed, the two young men at loggerheads about the bathroom use as usual, and that was Lee's cue to get to the breakfast table first. He opened the bedroom door and let a couple of people pass before wheeling out into the hall. His room was the closest to the kitchen and the front hall, providing him easy access to everything on the ground floor. It was only a short trip before he was rolling into the kitchen to see Aithne and Izzy sat with their coffees at the table.

“Morning,” Izzy chirped brightly. Lee offered her a small smile and moved around to one of the chairs, quite easily hopping from his wheelchair onto the other seat. He was getting used to that sort of thing now, but it still wasn't his ideal amount of progress.

“What's the plan for today?” Lee asked as Izzy slid some toast across the table towards him. He grabbed a knife and the almost industrial sized tub of butter and started to lather his toast as Aithne spoke, still looking down at the magazine on the table in front of her.

“Two AWB imports are being collected, and a Fae so we have to catch her somehow. Somesmera has some deliveries we said we'd help out with. There's a new load of straw coming into the top field today so someone has to go up with the quad and sort that out, and the shavings delivery is coming in through the main gates so I gotta make sure they don't dump that near the fountain again.” She gave a small shrug and flicked the page. “Oh and there's a show at Sheepgate tomorrow, think about ten are going.”

Lee nodded and munched on his toast. “Dressage?” he asked after he swallowed. Aithne hummed gently.

“And show jumping. Good for greenies. Aisha said she was taking Choccy.”

A local show would be good for the young mare. Lee would try to hitch a ride to the show and spectate, even if meant an early start and a lot of braiding in the morning. Local shows meant it was hectic in the morning and then dead for most of the day. People loaded onto the show trucks and left the unlucky few behind to keep the yard running. The horses that weren't showing tended to love show days because they got a day off, chilling out in the paddocks with their buddies.

“Could you take a look at Eric's left hind for me when you get a chance?” Aithne was looking at him now, sipping at her coffee before she spoke again. “He wasn't keen on it yesterday, could be some lameness. I thought I felt heat.” Lee nodded and then jumped a little as he felt two hands land on his shoulders.

“Look at you, hopping the toast line,” Aisha said. Lee grinned and tilted his head back to look at her. Her hair was damp and scraped back into a rough pony tail, blue eyes alert as always.

“Morning,” he greeted, returning the light kiss that she planted on his mouth, upside down.

Aithne reached for some toast as it popped up from the toaster and then slid it over to Aisha, along with her exercise sheet for the day. “Oh wow, I got Prissy,” Aisha muttered as she looked at the sheet, earning a nudge to the hip from Lee's elbow.

“She's fine,” he muttered, polishing off one slice of toast and picking up the next. “I trained her myself.”

“She might be your baby, but she's a lunatic,” Aisha said with a laugh, sinking down onto the chair next to Lee and starting to butter up her toast.

“She's an Arabian,” Lee argued lamely. Aisha rolled her eyes and glanced over her shoulder as the first wave of post-shower staff wandered into the kitchen. Chase, Ryan, Connie and Amber, along with Michelle and Jenni from the Somesmera staff, all settled around the table as Adam kissed Aithne on the cheek quickly and then started to overwork the toaster.

Many slices of toast, bowls of cereal, cups of coffee, and showers later and everyone was heading out onto the estate to start work. It wasn't long before hooves were clanging against concrete as the horses came in from the paddocks. Feed buckets rattled and tack jingled, and the yard came alive in no time. Lee made his way to Eric's stall, next to Somesmera's Goliath, with Chase in tow to check out the stallion's leg as the morning feeds were distributed, Connie making her way down the aisle with a wheelbarrow full of buckets.

The grey Spanish Mustang was waiting at his stall door, pretty head held high and ears perked in alertness. Lee reached up to scratch at Eric's chin as Chase took the head collar from the hook and started to unbolt the door. “Just trot him up first,” Lee said as he moved out of the way of the door. Chase nodded and reached up to put the head collar on, flicking the head piece behind Eric's ears and buckling it into place.

“When I'm done here, I have to make a trip into Boston for some things Aithne wants,” Chase said, leading Eric from the stall. The large mustang seemed stiff in his hind and Lee watched him carefully as he listened to Chase. “Wondered if you wanted to come along, change of scenery.”

“Sure, why not,” Lee muttered. He hadn't been off the yard in a while. He had to catch lifts with other people if he wanted to go anywhere and their availability normally never met with his own. “Okay walk him up and down first.”

Chase did as Lee said, walking Eric up the aisle and then back, then doing the same in trot. “It's his left hind,” Lee mused as he wheeled closer to the horse to inspect the leg. He ran his hands over the soft fur and felt the muscle underneath. “I can feel some warmth, and it's a little tight, he's probably pulled something out in the field.”

He moved to his vet bag that was on the floor beside the stall and pulled out the cooling pad he had come prepared with along with some bandages. “Put this on under the bandages and wrap his other leg for balance too, it should be fine.” Chase tied Eric up and took the bandages and the pad. Lee watched him kneel beside the stallion and start to work on his legs.

“How's the walking going?” Chase asked as he started to wrap the left leg.

“Slow,” Lee answered. Of all the staff on the Estate, Chase was probably the one who understood the most about the trauma and recovery Lee was going through. Their accidents were almost identical except Chase had been walking not a week after his fall, getting away without a spine injury. Kids were just more bouncy, Lee guessed.

“You'll get there,” Chase said, winding the bandage around Eric's leg neatly. Lee wasn't so sure. It felt like he wasn't going anywhere, like he was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The doctors had told him that if he worked at it then maybe, just maybe, he could rebuild his muscle, rebuild the lost connection in his nerves. It sounded like a long shot, like something someone said when they didn't want someone to lose all hope. It was like the horizon, always so far away however much you walked towards it.

They finished up with Eric and put him back in his stall, leaving a note on his door for strict stable rest until he was reassessed in 24 hours, and then headed to Chase's car. Boston wasn't exactly Lee's idea of a great day out, in fact it probably wasn't anyone's, but it was away from the yard and a chance to clear his head. Chase pushed the chair around for him, giving Lee's arms a break for a change, as they visited the places Aithne had asked them to go to.

It was just some stuff for around the house, some new buckets for the yard, new rubber gloves, and various other small items, but it took them a couple of hours to visit everywhere and finish up. They were going back to the car when they passed a jewellery store, necklaces and bracelets and rings sparkling in the sunlight. “Hold on,” Lee said as he spotted something in the window, wheeling back to take a better look at it. The colour had caught his eye, a bright blue stone cut into a heart, set into a while gold pendant.

“Boy, you really are going soft,” Chase murmured, leaning on the handles of Lee's chair.

“Maybe. She doesn't really have much jewellery.” Aisha had a few earrings and an old necklace that she never really wore, but that was about the extent of her collection. She was just starting to collect things, to define herself. For some reason, Lee felt this was an item that would suit her. “Come on, I won't be a minute,” Lee said before he manoeuvred himself into the store, Chase just behind him.

Description
So I've had the plot for an FLS story written down for ages and I've finally started to implement it PROPERLY. With real writing. I hope you're gonna enjoy this ;-;

Next: Chapter Two

Chapter One
The sun woke Lee before his alarm, bright rays of gold sneaking in through the crack in the curtains. The large house was quiet other than some muffled voices down the hall in the kitchen and he bathed in the peace for a minute. Once the day started on the Estate, it was hard to find some quiet time alone. Most of the staff lived on site now, in the large, modern house at the edge of the grounds or in the new, totally independent bunk house to the side of the main house. With nearly all of the Firelight staff and most of the Somesmera crew on site, along with temporary workers, people staying from abroad, trainers, riders there to learn, and others who needed the facilities, there wasn't much space. And it was hard to get breakfast before all the toast ran out.

With a small grunt, Lee rolled over to reach for his phone and check the time. It was five, about the time everyone started rushing for the line for the shower. Lee would grab one after breakfast, when he could take his time in the wet room and not hurt himself. That meant he could get food before the stampede. He grabbed his t-shirt from the floor and pushed himself up to sit on the edge of the bed. He still slept alone, neither he or Aisha ready to be quite so vulnerable. It was hard to let someone else into his life so intimately, even though he had known her for so long now. After Zoe, after Amber, even after his accident, there was too much in his mind.

Most of all, he supposed, he didn't want Aisha to see him struggle so much each morning to get into his chair, to get dressed and showered, to even go to the toilet and brush his teeth. It had been months now since his accident but it was all still so difficult. Still, he wanted to make an effort. He wanted to make things work between them. Aisha was someone special and Lee hoped they could both get over their hang ups and trust each other enough to be spend the night together... asleep.

He pulled his wheelchair closer to the bed and then hauled himself over into it. Progress with walking was so slow. Lee almost thought he would never walk again, but he could manage a few steps. For now there was still hope. He could even stand for a few minutes, before he would lose balance or the pain in his legs and back was too much. He hoped that one day he would be somewhat back to normal, able to do his work without relying on his wheelchair.

The Junithers had offered little help. They had taken some of the pain away, but they were incapable of fixing such damage. They couldn't replace something that had been lost, they couldn't bring back all the feeling in his legs and the muscle mass he had lost. They could do a lot, but none were that powerful. It was also very hard to let another horse into his mind after Fru. It was as if his brain tried to shut down as soon as it felt the delicate tendrils of the Junither connection.

There was a small squabble in the hallway as Mark and Chase passed, the two young men at loggerheads about the bathroom use as usual, and that was Lee's cue to get to the breakfast table first. He opened the bedroom door and let a couple of people pass before wheeling out into the hall. His room was the closest to the kitchen and the front hall, providing him easy access to everything on the ground floor. It was only a short trip before he was rolling into the kitchen to see Aithne and Izzy sat with their coffees at the table.

“Morning,” Izzy chirped brightly. Lee offered her a small smile and moved around to one of the chairs, quite easily hopping from his wheelchair onto the other seat. He was getting used to that sort of thing now, but it still wasn't his ideal amount of progress.

“What's the plan for today?” Lee asked as Izzy slid some toast across the table towards him. He grabbed a knife and the almost industrial sized tub of butter and started to lather his toast as Aithne spoke, still looking down at the magazine on the table in front of her.

“Two AWB imports are being collected, and a Fae so we have to catch her somehow. Somesmera has some deliveries we said we'd help out with. There's a new load of straw coming into the top field today so someone has to go up with the quad and sort that out, and the shavings delivery is coming in through the main gates so I gotta make sure they don't dump that near the fountain again.” She gave a small shrug and flicked the page. “Oh and there's a show at Sheepgate tomorrow, think about ten are going.”

Lee nodded and munched on his toast. “Dressage?” he asked after he swallowed. Aithne hummed gently.

“And show jumping. Good for greenies. Aisha said she was taking Choccy.”

A local show would be good for the young mare. Lee would try to hitch a ride to the show and spectate, even if meant an early start and a lot of braiding in the morning. Local shows meant it was hectic in the morning and then dead for most of the day. People loaded onto the show trucks and left the unlucky few behind to keep the yard running. The horses that weren't showing tended to love show days because they got a day off, chilling out in the paddocks with their buddies.

“Could you take a look at Eric's left hind for me when you get a chance?” Aithne was looking at him now, sipping at her coffee before she spoke again. “He wasn't keen on it yesterday, could be some lameness. I thought I felt heat.” Lee nodded and then jumped a little as he felt two hands land on his shoulders.

“Look at you, hopping the toast line,” Aisha said. Lee grinned and tilted his head back to look at her. Her hair was damp and scraped back into a rough pony tail, blue eyes alert as always.

“Morning,” he greeted, returning the light kiss that she planted on his mouth, upside down.

Aithne reached for some toast as it popped up from the toaster and then slid it over to Aisha, along with her exercise sheet for the day. “Oh wow, I got Prissy,” Aisha muttered as she looked at the sheet, earning a nudge to the hip from Lee's elbow.

“She's fine,” he muttered, polishing off one slice of toast and picking up the next. “I trained her myself.”

“She might be your baby, but she's a lunatic,” Aisha said with a laugh, sinking down onto the chair next to Lee and starting to butter up her toast.

“She's an Arabian,” Lee argued lamely. Aisha rolled her eyes and glanced over her shoulder as the first wave of post-shower staff wandered into the kitchen. Chase, Ryan, Connie and Amber, along with Michelle and Jenni from the Somesmera staff, all settled around the table as Adam kissed Aithne on the cheek quickly and then started to overwork the toaster.

Many slices of toast, bowls of cereal, cups of coffee, and showers later and everyone was heading out onto the estate to start work. It wasn't long before hooves were clanging against concrete as the horses came in from the paddocks. Feed buckets rattled and tack jingled, and the yard came alive in no time. Lee made his way to Eric's stall, next to Somesmera's Goliath, with Chase in tow to check out the stallion's leg as the morning feeds were distributed, Connie making her way down the aisle with a wheelbarrow full of buckets.

The grey Spanish Mustang was waiting at his stall door, pretty head held high and ears perked in alertness. Lee reached up to scratch at Eric's chin as Chase took the head collar from the hook and started to unbolt the door. “Just trot him up first,” Lee said as he moved out of the way of the door. Chase nodded and reached up to put the head collar on, flicking the head piece behind Eric's ears and buckling it into place.

“When I'm done here, I have to make a trip into Boston for some things Aithne wants,” Chase said, leading Eric from the stall. The large mustang seemed stiff in his hind and Lee watched him carefully as he listened to Chase. “Wondered if you wanted to come along, change of scenery.”

“Sure, why not,” Lee muttered. He hadn't been off the yard in a while. He had to catch lifts with other people if he wanted to go anywhere and their availability normally never met with his own. “Okay walk him up and down first.”

Chase did as Lee said, walking Eric up the aisle and then back, then doing the same in trot. “It's his left hind,” Lee mused as he wheeled closer to the horse to inspect the leg. He ran his hands over the soft fur and felt the muscle underneath. “I can feel some warmth, and it's a little tight, he's probably pulled something out in the field.”

He moved to his vet bag that was on the floor beside the stall and pulled out the cooling pad he had come prepared with along with some bandages. “Put this on under the bandages and wrap his other leg for balance too, it should be fine.” Chase tied Eric up and took the bandages and the pad. Lee watched him kneel beside the stallion and start to work on his legs.

“How's the walking going?” Chase asked as he started to wrap the left leg.

“Slow,” Lee answered. Of all the staff on the Estate, Chase was probably the one who understood the most about the trauma and recovery Lee was going through. Their accidents were almost identical except Chase had been walking not a week after his fall, getting away without a spine injury. Kids were just more bouncy, Lee guessed.

“You'll get there,” Chase said, winding the bandage around Eric's leg neatly. Lee wasn't so sure. It felt like he wasn't going anywhere, like he was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The doctors had told him that if he worked at it then maybe, just maybe, he could rebuild his muscle, rebuild the lost connection in his nerves. It sounded like a long shot, like something someone said when they didn't want someone to lose all hope. It was like the horizon, always so far away however much you walked towards it.

They finished up with Eric and put him back in his stall, leaving a note on his door for strict stable rest until he was reassessed in 24 hours, and then headed to Chase's car. Boston wasn't exactly Lee's idea of a great day out, in fact it probably wasn't anyone's, but it was away from the yard and a chance to clear his head. Chase pushed the chair around for him, giving Lee's arms a break for a change, as they visited the places Aithne had asked them to go to.

It was just some stuff for around the house, some new buckets for the yard, new rubber gloves, and various other small items, but it took them a couple of hours to visit everywhere and finish up. They were going back to the car when they passed a jewellery store, necklaces and bracelets and rings sparkling in the sunlight. “Hold on,” Lee said as he spotted something in the window, wheeling back to take a better look at it. The colour had caught his eye, a bright blue stone cut into a heart, set into a while gold pendant.

“Boy, you really are going soft,” Chase murmured, leaning on the handles of Lee's chair.

“Maybe. She doesn't really have much jewellery.” Aisha had a few earrings and an old necklace that she never really wore, but that was about the extent of her collection. She was just starting to collect things, to define herself. For some reason, Lee felt this was an item that would suit her. “Come on, I won't be a minute,” Lee said before he manoeuvred himself into the store, Chase just behind him.