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your bitch of an aunt have a say would be better than this? Look, he stood up for himself; he

wouldn't let this Nick kid get away with it. Sure, he chose the wrong way to deal with it, but it just

shows that he's not going to let anyone push him around. That what James did, filling his head with

hate, didn't take. Shows that we're doing a decent job."

Jake closed his eyes and rested his head on Tor's chest. "I know," he whispered. He did, really, even if he was finding the wrong words to talk about it. In his heart, he knew that having Jacob

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with them was the right thing to do. "Are you still pissed at me for letting Nick come here?"

Tor's hand smoothed over his shoulder. "Nah. It'll be fine. I think we should keep them apart to-

morrow, though, kind of feel things out. I don't like inviting trouble to visit, but I've cooled down a bit. He's a kid. Kids do stupid things. Fuck knows I did."

Jake nodded, his back relaxing marginally. "His father seems okay. Said he laid down the law and

that if there was any trouble or attitude to call him and he'd come out. I think Nick knows that it'll

be worse for him if that happens."

Tor pressed a kiss to Jake's forehead. "Relax," he said softly. "Nothing you can do about anything right now. Let go, cowboy. You've really got to stop taking everything on yourself."

Jake sighed and closed his eyes, nuzzling in a little more. "I'll try," he said, almost meaning it. It was hard, though, keeping things out. It went against his nature.

"Don't want you slipping into an early grave," Tor whispered. "I like you right here."

Jake smiled. "Like it here."

"Then prove it and go to sleep. We'll get through this. You don't have to take on the world by yourself."

"I know." Jake made himself relax a little more, made himself push everything but the awareness of Tor's skin away. It still took him a long time to sleep, but he got there eventually, surrounded by the one thing that was more important than anything else.

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The next morning Jacob was sitting at the kitchen table, bleary-eyed, but with books open, when

there was a knock at the door. Jake set down his coffee cup and nodded sharply as he pushed him-

self away from the counter. "I'll get it," he said, leaving the kitchen. He thought he heard Jacob say something under his breath, but it was easy to ignore.

He opened the door and looked at Nick, who stood there holding his books and looking vaguely

terrified. He was about the same size as Jacob, though his hair was darker and longer and he had a

beauty of a black eye.

"Morning," Jake said, holding the door open. "Come on in. Don't mind the dog," he added as Barkley pushed his way in along with Nick, probably looking for breakfast.

"Okay," Nick said quietly, following him in and letting Barkley sniff at his fingers.

"Jacob's already working on his homework," Jake said, leading him into the kitchen. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Yes, sir," Nick said, hovering by the door.

Jake picked up his coffee cup again and pointed the dog to his cushion in the corner. "All right, this is how it's going to work. It's almost six-thirty and I have work to do. Tor's already in the barn,

along with the rest of them. You two have until nine to do your schoolwork--Jacob, you can make

your own breakfast today. I'll be around, in and out until it's time to get you two sorted with

chores."

Jacob nodded, toying with a pen. Nick nodded, too, moving his bag to the other hand, but said

nothing.

"I expect you to be civil to each other. At nine we'll go out and get you started. Have a seat, Nick, I’m sure you've got stuff to do."

Nick took a breath and stayed where he was. "I'd like to apologize first, sir," he said. "Jacob, I had no call to say what I did. I'm sorry." He said it fast, in one breath, and it sounded rehearsed, but it was an apology.

Jacob looked at him, shifting in his chair uncomfortably. "I'm sorry I hit you," he mumbled. It sounded just as rehearsed, but Jake nodded anyway. It was a start.

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"Good," Jake said, draining his mug. "Get going, boys. I'll be in the living room for a bit, doing invoices." He waited until Nick moved to the table and pulled out a chair before leaving them.

"Your eye looks like it hurts," he heard Jacob say quietly. Jake listened, but didn't hear any sort of pride in his tone, just neutral observation.

Nick made a noise and his bag thumped on the floor. "Nah, not anymore. My mom flipped out,

made me put all kinds of stuff on it." There was a pause and then he added, "It was a damn good punch. You move fast."

Jake waited, not sure if he should go back or not, but Jacob snorted, the sound half laugh. "Yeah, I guess. Hurt my hand."

Jake kept walking, missing the rest of the conversation. If they got loud, he'd worry. An hour later

he finished with the invoices and went to the kitchen, smelling bacon. Jacob was at the stove, mak-

ing up three plates.

"Told him he needed more than cereal," Jacob said, nodding toward Nick, who was bent over a

notebook. "Is Uncle Tor coming in to eat? We'll need another plate."

Jake went to the window and looked toward the barn. "Not sure. Want me to go find out?"

Jacob waved toward the carton of eggs on the counter. "I'll just make 'em all."

"All right. Thanks," Jake said, checking the coffee pot and deciding to skip putting another pot on.

He watched Jacob crack eggs into the pan and smiled to himself, proud of how much Jacob was

doing around the house, how far he'd come since his mother's death. Cooking, working on the

ranch, doing laundry for whatever reason… he was coming along just fine, barring the current

problem.

The eggs were just landing on the plates when Tor came stomping in the backdoor. "Is that food for me?" he called, tossing his hat on a peg.

"Some of it," Jake said, taking two plates to the table.

"Good enough." Tor came in and nodded to Nick as he crossed the room to wash his hands. "Coffee?"

"One cup left, but it's old," Jake apologized. "My fault, sorry."

"Instant'll do," Tor said, turning on the kettle. He shook water off his hands and came to the table, sitting across from Jake.

Nick and Jacob cleared their books away by making piles on the floor and Jacob brought the other

plates over, then the carton of juice.

"Thanks, kid," Tor said, picking up his fork. "Morning, Nick."

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Nick picked up his own fork. "Good morning, sir."

Jake grinned as Tor almost choked.

"Tor. God, please. You call me 'sir' and I won't know who you're talking to."

Nick nodded, his face pinking. "Okay."

"Now, Taggart--you can call
him
'sir'."

"Shut it," Jake said evenly. "Eat up, we got work to do and they got math."

"Yes, sir," Tor said, earning himself a grin from Nick, a laugh from Jacob and a glare from Jake.

"Invoices done up?"

"Yeah," Jake nodded. "What's the plan for the day?" he asked, scooping up eggs.

"Got Elias and Tommy out on the fence--breaks to the east. Stalls need raking, and need some

shifting done in the loft. Fred, Kip and Kirk are out with the herd, might need help later or tomor-

row. The rest of 'em are getting ready to fix fences and dig postholes for the new corral."

"'Kay," Jake said, reaching for the juice. "I'll start in on the barn chores, Nick can help out. When Jacob's done with his homework maybe y'all can help with the postholes? The sooner they're done,

the sooner we can get that up."

Jacob looked unenthusiastic, but Tor nodded, chewing more bacon as he got up to make his coffee.

"Right. When?"

"Told them nine, that's more than two hours with the books."

"Should do," Tor said, pouring water. "Lunch?"

"I'll stick a roast in. Be hungry for a hot meal by then." Jake finished his breakfast and picked up Tor's empty plate. Jacob was shoveling it in almost as fast, but Nick was a fair bit slower and Jake

grinned. He'd put money on him eating his lunch just like the rest of them, starved after a few hours

of work.

"Ready?" Tor said, putting a lid on his travel mug.

"Yep." Jake looked at the boys at the table and hoped he looked firm rather than pissy or scary.

"Finish up, come on out when you're done with your homework. And don't be giving the dog any

bacon, hear?"

Jacob nodded and Barkley looked displeased.

"You're getting fat," Jake told him and Barkley managed to look faintly embarrassed before getting up to follow Jake and Tor out of the house.

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"He is, a little," Tor said, watching Barkley bound off to the bunkhouse. "I think he's getting food from that lot."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Jake said. "Oh, hell. I meant to find extra gloves for Nick."

"There's some in the barn," Tor said, looking around as they walked. "New ones, even. How'd it go in there?"

Jake glanced back at the house. "Well, they apologized to each other. Didn't hear any yelling, so I count that as a plus."

Tor laughed, nodding. "I'll take it. You gonna keep an eye out?"

Jake gave him a flat look. He wasn't about to actually invite a lecture, and he knew full well Tor

would have one ready.

"All right," Tor sighed, smirking at him. "Just don't fucking hover."

"I don't hover." Jake ignored Tor's snort of laughter and hurried up to the barn. Maybe he could actually get something accomplished before it was time for the boys to join in.

He got the horses in the stable turned out and went back to the house where all was silent save for

the scratching of pens. He had no idea if Jacob and Nick were being precisely that studious when

he wasn't around, but decided not to worry about it. He went in twice more, giving Tor a stiff finger

when he caught him smirking again, and finally tossed gloves on top of the books.

"Okay, let's go," he said with a grin. "There's stalls needing done and holes waiting to be made."

Jacob groaned and picked up his gloves. "How come I have to dig holes and he gets to clean

stalls?" he asked, dragging out his boots.

"Because you actually like cleaning stalls," Jake said with another grin. "Don't worry, everyone will get their turn. Could be worse, you know."

Jacob gave him a sour look.

"It could be raining," Jake said cheerfully.

Nick shuddered and looked down at his feet. "These okay?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah, boots are fine. I hope you don't have a strong attachment to them, though.

They're gonna get messy."

Nick sighed and held onto his gloves. "All right. Ready."

Jake looked at them both, pathetic and already wilting. "Cute," he said, raising an eyebrow. "But you haven't actually done anything yet. You look like that around four tomorrow afternoon, and I'll

buy it."

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Jacob rolled his eyes and they both straightened up a bit. "Postholes."

"Postholes. Your uncle's waiting."

Jacob nodded and headed out, only dragging his feet a little. "Have fun, Nick," he said over his shoulder. "Hope you're good with a rake."

Nick looked warily at Jake. "Um, how many stalls are there?"

Jake grinned and held the door open for him. "Enough to keep you busy for a while."

"I was afraid of that," he sighed, trudging out.

To Jake's approval, Candanoza hadn't been exaggerating when he said Nick could clean a stall.

Jake showed Nick where everything was and where to put the dirty straw, and left him to it for an

hour or so, the radio turned up. Up in the loft, he starting shifting bales around, listening to Nick

sing along to every song that came on. At least the kid wasn't full of attitude; he had a decent voice, too.

Stalls done, Jake and Nick went back to the house and got things going for lunch, then headed back

up the loft. Jake spent the morning finding little picky jobs for Nick to do, things that weren't all

that important and thus got left and put off. They sorted tack, cleaned tools, and made sure the

horses’ water buckets were all cleaned out. They swept up, split up a bale of hay into flakes out in

the old paddock, and finally rounded up Tor and Jacob for lunch.

The afternoon passed mostly the same, with neither Jake nor Nick making a great deal of effort to

talk to each other; Jake wasn't sure what to say and Nick seemed to be concentrating on doing all

his tasks just right, which Jake frankly appreciated. He hadn't known what to expect of Nick, but

this wasn't it, not really.

He thought about that, after Fred had left in the evening with Nick almost asleep in the passenger

seat. Jake had kind of assumed that Nick would be more aggressive, more ornery. At a bare mini-

mum he'd expected him to show some obvious discomfort around Jake and Tor when they were

together, but he hadn't even given them a speculative glance. And he'd been all right with Jacob,

too, if not exactly friendly.

He thought about it more, all through supper and dishes, until Tor finally nudged him and rolled his

eyes.

"Can smell you thinking," he said. "Spill."

Jake merely shrugged. "Went better than I'd hoped, is all. I'm a bit confused."

Tor nodded and made a face. "So maybe tomorrow will be hell on wheels."

"Oh, thank you so much," Jake said, smacking him on the arm. "Now you've jinxed us."

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Tor looked at him incredulously. "Jinxed? Are you twelve?"

"You tell me," Jake said with a grin, squaring his shoulders.

Tor looked him up and down and leered. "Nope. Not twelve."

"Hello, minor in the room," Jacob said as he came in.