Tough Times

Life went on as usual in the stables. As said, Selena left for Japan three days later. Althought Seth wanted to go with her, he had no choise but staying behind. His past prevented him from leaving the country for at least another year. Selena had made clear before she left that he would not be given some special treatment because he slept with the boss. He was more then welcome to stay, but he had to start at the bottom, just like anybody else. So for the next few weeks at least, he would do nothing else then clean dirty boxes and clean muddy tack. In the three months Selena was in Japan, the telephonecompagnies did golden business. The difference in time did not stop the two lovebirds of making long distance calls, for far longer then was healthy. Those first thre months could not be over soon enough, for the both of them. When she returned to Texas, it was business as usuall. Horses came and went, training everyday, competitions when needed. The only difference was that there was one person more to help with al the work. It was clear to everyone that Seth was there to stay, no matter wath would happen. He had just become a part of the familie, even is there had been some tension between him and Kai in the first couple of days. The last did not like the fact that someone just months older had come into the group and at the same time had taken over his job of looking out for the boss. He just thought he would lose his job or something, but the moment is was clear that Seth had no intention of working him away, they started to get along, under the watchfull eye of the Queen of Gossip Julie, who mailed Selena everything she did not hear over the phone.

Sighting, Seth tossed away his keys when he came home. He had just dropped Selena of at the airport for another three months in Japan. Time shure flew when you had a good time and the three months she had been in Texas were just to short, in his oppinion. If everything went well, he would go with er on the next trip. It was just torture to be so far away from her or at least, that was how he thought about it. He wanted to go upstairs to get some sleep, but that plan was cancelled by the ringing of the phone. Hoping the thing would not wake everyone up, he answered himself. "EGS, Seth speaking." "Seth, thank god. Has Lena left yet?" To his suprise it was Riku on the other side of the line. "She took off half an hour ago. If you want to speak to her, just wait untill she land." Did he need to call for that? He heard cursing, something that was not really a thing he expected from Riku, not after wat he had heard about him. "Get Kai, now." Whatever it was, it must be something big. "Can't you just talk to me, Kai's sleeping, it's past midnight here, in case you forgot." Seemed like some people forgot that they lived on the other side of the world. "Get me Kai. NOW! This is big, you morron." "Alright, but be carefull about who you call morron, idiot." Growling he went upstairs, to kick the head stablehand out of his bed.
It was only the next morning at breakfast he learned what was going on, but not thanks to Kai, but thanks to the tv. Seemed like a major earthquake had hit Japan and thks looked bad, really bad. "Brandon is not coming over, untill things are looking beter." Kai walked into the kitchen with a stack of papers in his hands, paying more attention to those things then to the others that where eating. "Is there any more news about how things are over there?" Julie looked up for a second. "Nope. Untill they call, we only know what they tell on tv. If that is so reliable is a whole other question." She nodded softly. Everybody knew that things could get very bad and acording to the news, it had been a major earthquake. The first images had told more then enough and despite the fact that the stable was to close to the place that was hit the worst, it was no guarantee that everything was alright. They were not rebuilding one of the stables just for fun.
It took more then a week for the next real call to come in. It was Kai who adressed the others at dinner. "I want everyone up earlier then usual tomorrow. We have, beside the normal work, a lot of extra work to do. Selena called earlier, with news." He sat dowon with a sight. "That bad?" His little brother was not really Mister Discreet. "Yeah, that bad. The indoor arena will be adjusted to serve as temporary housing for the horses from Japan. They fly over in two days, so we have little time to get everything ready." There was a silence between the five of them. They all knew Selena would not think of putting so much horses in one place, unless it's really necessary. Nobody said another word while they finished their meal. They all retreated early to get enough sleep for the extra work they had to do the next day. All but Seth. He walked outside while putting up a sigaret. It was a warm evening and some of the horses would sleep outside. Silently he walked towards the meadows. He was worried, but he said nothing, to nobody. Easy, he took a seat on top of the wooden fence, to be greeted soon by the stallion that walked towards him. For a moment, he patted the animal on his neck, before sending him away to get some rest for the night. He didn't notice that someone walked towards him.
"You're worried about her." He did not have to look beside him to know it was Kai. "What's it to you if I would be?" Like he needed him now. "You're not the only one who's worried, and certainly not the first one to sleep with her." "Is that supposed to cheer me up or something? If so, you really suck at it, you know." It was more like he tried to piss him off. "I had a girl, very much like Lena about five years ago. I lost her due to my own stupidity. I never got the chance to say goodbye to her." He leaned against the fence. Seth did not say a thing, partly because he was still somewhat angry about his earlier remark. "I still regret the fact that I lost her and I would do anything to get her back, untill I heard she died, only two weeks later. Without me knowing, she had already made a lot of bad mistakes." "If you think I will lead Selena in the wrong direction, you worry about nothing. I done my time, she knows about my past and she doesn't giva e shit about it." He really didn't get the point of what he was trying to say. "With Selena, I thought I could set right the things I had done wrong in the past, despite the fact she could not choose between Riku and me." There was a short silence. "When you came, I was just angry. Partly because I thought I never had a fair chance, what was not true actually." For a moment, he looked to Seth. "Selena only deserves the best. Don't loose her. She's a girl worth fighting for and that's something I don't often say. You only know what you miss, when it's already to late." Calmly he stood up. "Get some sleep, the coming days will be harder then you think know, even if the team from Japan also comes this way." Without another word, he went to bed, leaving Seth alone. It was not a real apology, but it was better then nothing. They understood eachother, even if they collided sometimes. Not much later, Seth too, went to bed. There would be tough times ahead and maybe even more work then they could handle.