Chapter Text
Whitaker was grateful tomorrow was his day off it had been a long shift. He had been working on 3 different car accidents and couldn't wait to get back to the farm for his day off. Even though her husband didn't make it he was glad to meet Amy it was nice to work on a farm again there was something therapeutic about working with horses. It was a taste of the best part of home. Whitaker continued making coffee thinking about his to do list for tomorrow when Dr. Robby came into the break room. "Hey Whitaker do you have a second?" He asked.
"Yeah," Whitaker answered wail grabbing a second cup and filling it with coffee. He brought both cups to the table and sat down.
"Santo's tells me you are still in touch with the farmers widow and her kid."
"I am I've been helping out on her farm on days off and after my shift. It's nice to be working outside again."
"Right and I'm glad you have a big heart and are helping but you do want to make sure you establish boundaries but..."
"Wait wait" Whitaker interrupted "Does Santo's think I'm going there because I want to date Amy?
"That is the impression I got. Is she wrong?"
"Not even close. Amy owns a ranch right by Key Stone State Park. They offer trail rides to tourists. She lets me board my horse there for free if I work with her trail horses to make sure they know the path and are properly conditioned to be ridden by strangers. I also take groups out on my day off and do some of the longer trail tours so she can spend more time with her kid.
"Wait your horse?"
"Yes, a gelding named Shadow" Whitaker pulled up a photo on his phone and turned it for Robby to see. Showing him standing next to a large black horse with a little white on the tip of his ears. "I brought Shadow here when I moved from Nebraska. The last place I boarded him was almost $2000 a month because I needed someone to feed him when I couldn't get there. Amy is willing to help with the feeds and exercise for him as pay for me working with her horses. She even let me set up a section in her field so I can work on show jumping and barrel racing again. Shadow and I used to do competitions back home."
Robby after hearing everything laughed a little bit to himself, "So you are helping her out to spend more time with your own horse and provide him a better home? Not for anything crazy going through Santo's head."
"Yes" Whitaker chuckles too, "I do some other work on her farm as payment to keep my horse there not because I want to date Amy or anything like that. I honestly thought Santos had figured out Amy isn't exactly my type. Do me a favor though don't tell Trin any of this I want to see her face when she realizes what's actually going on."
"I won't say a thing." Robby stood up and left Whitaker to his thoughts. He chuckled a bit before texting Trinity.
Huckleberry
Did you tell Dr. Robby that I'm always at the farm in hopes of dating Amy?
Trin
I mentioned you go there a lot for friends with farm benefits
Y?
Huckleberry
Well one of you definitely doesn't understand the situation
So you are coming with me tomorrow
Trin
Huckleberry, that's my day off. I have plans
Huckleberry
Yes with reality tv. Sorry Trin you have to come see the farm benefits for yourself.
Whitaker then sent a quick text to Amy letting her know Trin would be joining him tomorrow before putting his phone away and getting back to work. The rest of the shift passed in a blur as the ED picked up. Whitaker ended up moving from case to case for the last few hours and before he knew it was heading home with Trin.
"So what do I need for tomorrow? Want me to dress nice to meet your girlfriend?"
"Nice clothes to a farm yeah no. You will be meeting someone special to me but jeans and comfortable clothing will be perfect. Just make sure you have close-toed shoes."
"So what made you decide to bring me to the farm?"
"The conversation with Dr. Robby made me realize I should let you into this side of my life. Plus I think the results will be amusing."
"You think me meeting your girlfriend will be amusing?"
"How did you reach the conclusion she was my girlfriend?"
"Huckleberry you are always with her helping out on that farm."
"I can't wait for tomorrow."
The next morning Whitaker was getting ready and the more he put on his farm clothes the more like himself he felt. It was therapeutic like he got to go back to a simpler version of himself. He out on a comfortable pair of jeans, a gray tee shirt and an old red flannel before grabbing the hat and boots he bought with his first paycheck and going to meet Santos. He moved into the kitchen to finish making their coffee and breakfast. He was just putting the eggs and bacon on plates when she joined him. Santos was wearing jeans, an old band shirt, a jean jacket and some combat boots and she quickly helped herself to a cup of coffee. After taking a large drink she turned to him, "Jesus Christ Huckleberry I can't believe you had me get up this early on my day off." She said before taking a few bites of the eggs.
"Hey this may be social for you but I do still have a few things to do and feeding the animals is a morning chore."
"Do you feed them every morning you have off? I didn't think you left this early?"
"No but Amy asked if I could today. I do also need to give them an evening feed so we'll be back after sunset."
"Fuck Huckleberry up early and out late so I'm going to spend my whole day off with your girlfriend on a farm."
Whitaker just rolled his eyes at that and finished his breakfast to get ready to leave. "Mind if I drive today? It's about 30 minutes to the farm?" He asked filling two travel mugs with more coffee and grabbing a pair of sunglasses.
"Fine by me, let's just go."
Both of them spent the ride drinking coffee and listening to the radio Whitaker feeling more relaxed the closer they got. Before too long he was pulling the car into the trail ride entrance showing a large parking lot and stables opening out to a field. "Here we are. We are staying on the professional side of the farm since Amy and baby Jane are out of town this week. This morning's to-do list is, feed and groom the horses then clean the stables and I want to do some work with Shadow on jumps, then tonight you get to join the group coming for the sunset tour." Whitaker explained as he parked the car in the trail guide spot.
"Wait, if your girlfriend isn't even here, who are you so excited for me to meet?"
"I still don't quite get why you think she's my girlfriend. You are here to meet the most important member of my family and the only one from Broken Bow I still talk to."
"Is this it, the Huckleberry backstory?"
"Something like that. Come on Trin he's inside."
"He? Who is it?" Santos quickly followed Whitaker outside and into the stables. It was beautiful there were horses on each side of an aisle and Whitaker had stopped in the front room filling buckets with feed. "I suppose I should tell the backstory it'll make more sense," Whitaker started as he continued to prepare the feed and start to bring buckets out to each horse, "Back home I lived on a farm where we worked with rodeo horses. We both raised fools for sail and we trained and completed ourselves. I personally did barrels and jumping competitions and worked on training new horses and riders. I won a few competitions back home. Each of my siblings had a horse they worked with. Being in the stables or riding was where I was at peace, so one day I was in the stables back home getting ready to go for a ride and think and was talking to him when my mother overheard." Whitaker’s tone was flat as he moved though his tasks on autopilot. Santos could hear his emotions start to push through his voice. Whitaker took a shaky few breaths before continuing, "I don't really remember what I said but I would often try and talk to him to help figure myself out. It started small enough what I wanted to be when I grow up, friend's, and then grew into, my first boyfriend, and who I wanted to be."
Whitaker finished passing out the food and stopped to look at the horse in the last stall. Santos followed down to stand with him. It was a beautiful animal all black with just a bit of white in the tip of his ears. "I took him out for our standard ride along the trails, a few good jumps and some streams about an hour or two through some forests. And when I got back there were some strangers with my mom,they'd pulled the car up right next to the stables with a True Directions bumper sticker. They tried to corner me as I was getting back," Whitaker took a deep breath and stepped into the stall beginning to brush the horse like he needed to be closer or be doing something to continue.
Trinity could see tears forming in his eyes and got a terrible feeling when he said the name of the company, "Wait," she started hesitantly, "did your mom send you to conversion therapy because you had a boyfriend?" She was getting angry at the thought.
"No," Whitaker chuckled a bit, "she was ok with me wanting to date a boy just not with me wanting to be one." He had tears rolling down his cheeks and the horse wrapped his head around him like was trying to give a hug.
"Oh Huckleberry" Santos started to cry as well.
Whitaker took a few breaths and continued, "This wonderful fucking horse kicked the guy who tried to pull me off the saddle and ran. I don't know what set him off, if he could feel my panic, or what but he bolted and jumped the fence at the end of the fields. We followed forest trails and back roads into Iowa, I only took what I had on me for an afternoon noon trail ride so not much. I found a ranch there that would pay me to work as a stable hand and let me keep him there. I saved enough to get a broken truck that I fixed up and a small horse trailer. I would sleep with him out in the stables before I fixed up the truck, the family all thought I lived in an apartment in town. And then I brought him out here since I'd gotten into school here. I found a good place to board him here and got a job near my campus. I'd gotten a full ride so school wasn't an issue and room and board were covered so everything I made went to his boarding costs. I was also able to visit him often through school. Everything was fine until rotations started. I couldn't live in the dorms anymore. At first it was ok I lived in the truck for a bit but it broke down halfway through the second to last rotation. I couldn't fix it and cover boarding so I slept in shelters for a bit before finding the 8th floor. After I moved in with you I was looking to move him somewhere and found this place. I didn't know it was Amy's when I first reached out about the boarding. I asked her if there was space still open and what the costs would be, and she said she wasn't sure as she recently became a single mom and didn't know if she could handle boarding a horse and the trail rides business on her own. That's when I offered that if she was willing to let me use her trailer to pick him up I would happily help out with the trail rides and horse care in exchange for a discount on the regular boarding costs. It wasn't until I went to meet her over coffee we realized who the other was. She said it must have been fate and decided to let me keep this guy here for free and I help with upkeep and the occasional tour so she can spend time with her kid."
Whitaker finished brushing his horse and turned to look at Trinity who had to close her mouth out of shock, "So I told Dr. Robby you were up here and implied you were dating a patient's widow when you are up here to take care of the horse that saved you and doing work around the farm so he has a home."
"Yes you told on me for spending time with my horse," he started to laugh a bit, "but I promised you'd get to meet someone important to me and this is Shadow."
"He's beautiful." She said, truly looking at the horse and joining Whitaker in the stall. He moved over to her and placed a piece of apple in her hand.
"Here hold this out in a flat hand for him." Trinity did what he told her and Shadow gently took the apple out of her hand and she gently pet the side of his neck. Both friends fell into a comfortable silence in the morning work.
Santos sat with Shadow wail Whitaker worked a bit with each of the other horses. He worked like he was in a comfortable autopilot doing tasks that he knew from years of caring for these animals and the longer Santos sat with Shadow sipping her coffee the more she understood why he loved this place.
Once Whitaker finished feeding and grooming the horses he turned on some music over the speakers and turned to Santos and Shadow, "Have you ever been on a horse Trin?" He asked as he began to grab Shadow's riding gear and get him ready to practice.
"Not once Farm Boy."
"What not Huckleberry anymore?"
"I think farm boy is more fitting right now."
"Well I know one thing, I won't be able to change your mind. Alright it's a bit of a walk over to where I've set up a practice area for Shadow but he can take both of us for a minute." Whitaker continued to get Shadow ready and was quickly placing his saddle and bridal on. "Alright let's get you in the saddle just hold onto the horn in front and I'll hop up behind the saddle and bring us over to the field."
"I'm sorry you want me to do what?"
"Don't worry, it's easy. I'll prop my knee to give you a boost then you can put your foot in the stirrups and grab onto the saddle horn to swing your other leg over. Grab onto my shoulder if you need." He moved to stand next to Shadow and held out his hand to Santos.
"Fine but if I fall off I'm blaming you." She said and allowed him to boost her onto the horse, Santos did grab Whitaker's shoulder but was able to make it up safely. Once she was settled Whitaker grabbed the back of the saddle and swung his leg up to sit just behind it like it was second nature. Before he reached around and grabbed the rains giving a small kick of his heals to signal Shadow to start moving.
"See you didn't fall off. Besides, you'll be on your own horse for the trail ride."
"You are having too much fun with this Huckleberry."
"To be fair you, after living with me for months, not only thought I was dating Amy but told Dr. Robby about the relationship before you thought to ask why I'm always here."
"Fuck, yeah you're right, want me to say anything to get him off your back?"
"Nah I told him about Shadow, well that he's my horse. We both had a bit of a laugh at the fact that Amy isn't really my type."
"Fuck so I also didn't realize you were gay. Why does this make so much more sense."
"I knew this trip would be fun.”
It was a short ride to the field that had been set up as a practice location for jumps. Whitaker led Shadow over to the fence and hopped off before holding out his hand to Santo’s, “Alright you definitely want to get off here feel free to sit on or outside the fence.” She nodded and let him help her down before moving to sit on the fence.
Whitaker started doing a few laps of the field slowly picking up speed to warm up a giddy smile plastered on his face. It didn’t take much to know that this is exactly where he was meant to be, where he was the most comfortable with himself. Trinity had to hold in her gasp as he turned to the first jump flying over the hurdle in front of him and turned to the next one. After watching for a few seconds Santos quickly took out her phone and started recording. She took a short video and sent it to the rest of the pit.
Trin
(Video attached)
Check out Huckleberry genuine cowboy!
Javarty
Wow go Whitaker who knew
Mel
Do you compete at all?
Huckleberry
Really Trin did you have to send the video to everyone while I was still on the horse?
Trin
Yes, I couldn't let you stop me
Huckleberry
I used to compete back in Broken Bow but I haven't since I came here. Shadow likes doing the events and the exercise is good for him so we practice sometimes.
Dana
Wow talk about hidden talents from the bloodhound.
Trin
I'm so finding you somewhere to complete!
Javarty
I'll help. Any other hidden rodeo talents?
Huckleberry
I'm not getting out of this am I?
Fine Shadow and I do both show jumps and barrel racing. I have also done bull riding
Trin
… Crash we are signing him up for all of those
Princess
I'll get the beating board set up. How long can Whitaker stay on a bill?
After seeing why his phone kept going off during the run Whitaker moved over to Santos. “I can't believe you sent that to everyone. You used the group chat with the attendings.”
“Hey at least you looked badass. Seriously Huckleberry I didn't know you had any of this in you.”
“Well it will at least be better to be known for this than the rat incident.”
“See there you go looking on the bright side. So barrel racing and bull ridding?”
“Barrel racing was something I completed in for years. I love it. I also won a few competitions. Bull riding was something one of my brothers did and said I could never do it and said it was too hard. I signed up for the next one. I didn't do well but I beat his time. Ended up doing more because I was good at it.”
“You know next time we go to the bar after work you are going to have to ride the mechanical bull there right?”
“I will if you will.”
The two continued to chat as Whitaker got ready for the evening trail ride getting all the horses ready and set next too their mounting blocks before putting Shadow next to them. By the time he was done the first guests started arriving. It took about ten minutes for everyone to get there and Whitaker quickly started getting everyone paired to a horse and ready to go. Santos couldn’t believe as he sat there going over the safety rules and explaining to everyone how to ride the horses. After going over everything Whitaker mounted his own horse and they set off through the park.
It was a perfect night for the ride and they got to see the sun set behind the waterfall. The forest was always amazing but Whitaker believed that this was the best way to see it as he pointed out different things for everyone to see Santos even had to admit that it was a great time. Before either of them were ready the trip was over and they started the drive home once Whitaker finished getting the horses set up for the night.