Rocky had come to the stables hoping to find some solitude before his
next mission. He knew it'd be the last chance he quite possibly had
for awhile. Then of course he'd once again end up being cornered by
Emma, the lovely older woman who owned the stables where he kept his
beloved horses, Aja and Enkil. The kind, old, Irish woman was always
trying to hook him up with some of the younger ladies that rode
horses there, but he found himself turning down every attempt that
she made. He knew that her heart was in the right place, yet Rocky
didn't think he deserved love. Everyone who'd ever mattered to him
had died.

Today of all days, Rocky just needed some peace and quiet. He'd worn
his most comfortable riding clothes: a pair of very worn out blue
jeans with holes beginning to form underneath the back pockets, a
white wife beater, and a black button down shirt. He was hoping to
just take Aja and then Enkil out of the trails for a nice long ride.
All hope of that ended when he spotted Emma had come upon him in
Aja's stall.

"Aye lad, I see you've come to be with your beauties again today."
the kind, old lady said as she stopped in front of the stall. She had
a soft smile on her face as she watched the young man busily brushing
Aja's mane.

"Yes, Emma. I've missed them terribly and knew that I'd be leaving
again very soon. I didn't want to go and not see Aja and Enkil
again." Rocky replied. He finished brushing Aja and went to grab her
blanket and saddle. "And please don't try and set me up with anymore
of the women around here. I appreciate it greatly, Emma, but I'll
find my own way as I usually do." he told her. Emma had always held a
soft spot in Rocky's heart, she'd been more like a grandmother to him
in the past few years. And he was glad to have her in his life. She'd
never know how much he'd come to care for her over the years.

Lydia pulled up to the small little stable; she had found it a while
ago when she first moved to LA. It was about a half an hour outside
of LA in the more rural areas. She didn't have her own horse…yet.
Lyd grew up on a horse ranch in Colorado and actually sat on a horse
before she could walk. So riding to her was a piece a cake and she
absolutely loved it.

But now that she was more settled she had wanted to get back into
riding and her parents were willing to give her one of their young
horses anyone she wanted. The only catch was she had to go and visit
them. Which was harder said than done. But a part of her really
wanted to visit her parents and now with Devon back maybe she could
drag him along with her.

She stepped out of her car once she parked with her ridding gear on.
Lyd went to her trunk and pulled out her mountain horse riding boot
and pulled her shoes off before zipping her boots on. She walked
into the barn hoping to find Emma. The older woman was a sweetheart
and the past few months she had gotten pretty close to her. She had
a good arrangement with Emma, riding wise. Emma had a young
Oldenburg stallion that was a little stronger than Emma could handle
but Lydia offered to ride him whenever she got a chance to come out.
One she would be able to ride a horse whenever she wanted and two the
stallion would get worked down so Emma would be able to either ride
him or sell him for some good money.

Emma smiled as she spotted Lydia walking into the stables. She turned
back to Rocky. "Come now, child. You know I have good taste, and I
happen to have found the perfect young lady for you." she told Rocky
after having seen Lydia coming into the stables.

Rocky had noticed the young woman walking in, but paid her no
attention. "I'm sorry, Emma. But not right now. I'm just not ready
for something like that." he stated. He finished getting Aja ready
and was now ready to go out on the trails.

Lydia walked over and grabbed the leather halter off Diablo's stall
and started walking down the aisle heading towards the back door to
head out to the stallions pasture. She spotted Emma and slowed up
smiling. "Hey Emma. Thought I'd come ride Diablo today."

"'Ello sweetheart." Emma smiled brightly. "Haven't seen you in a
while. He's missed you. Sometimes I think he loves you more than
me."

Lydia laughed. "Ya I've been really busy." She looked into the
stall seeing a man she hadn't seen before standing there with a horse.

"Well it's good to see you, sweetheart. Perhaps you can talk Rocky
here into showing you some of the more advanced trails." Emma stated
bluntly, motioning to the man behind her.

Rocky could've literally groaned. Emma had a knack for trying to set
certain riders up, something she was really good at in fact. But
Rocky always managed to avoid such happenings. Apparently, Emma
wasn't going to let him go this time.

Lydia just smiled and looked at the man behind her, but he didn't
look to happy about what Emma suggested. "Na that's ok." She
grinned. "I'll probably just work on some ground work with D." Lyd
smirked and shifted the halter more onto her shoulder.

Rocky was practically ready to thank her in person for turning down
Emma's offer. Though it wouldn't surprise him if she tried to changed
the other womans mind.

"Are you sure? This young man knows every trail out here." Emma
stated. "He's been here for quite a few years. Even found a beautiful
spot about two miles out with a gorgeous view of the city." Emma
replied, doing her best to change Lydia's mind.

"Emma, I don't think she wants to go and see the view by the lake."
Rocky told the older woman. "Let her enjoy her ride."

Lydia laughed. "I'm sure he just wants to do his thing as well."
She smiled at Rocky feeling that he wasn't feeling the idea. "Plus I
haven't ridden Diablo in like a week, so I'm not sure how well he'd
be." She smiled and let down her hair fixing it back up into a
ponytail.

Rocky nodded as he watched Emma's smile disappear. He knew that she
was upset
that they were both turning her down, but he'd told her numerous
times that he didn't want to be set up. He turned his attention to
Lydia. "You let me know if you want to try those trails out later.
Diablo should be able to handle any of them. He's like my Enkil,
tough and doesn't let anybody say he can't do something.

"Oh I know… I've been riding him for a while." Lydia explained to
him. It wasn't that she thought he couldn't be able to handle the
trail, quite the opposite. His training was coming along extremely
well and she didn't want to go ruin it by bumming around on the trail
right off the bat she wanted to work him first. "Maybe I'll ride out
and meet up with you later." She offered hoping to make Emma happy
as well.

Rocky nodded his head. It sounded like a fair idea, and should
satisfy Emma if she atleast thought there was a chance the two would
meet up later. Rocky mounted Aja and nodded his head to Lydia. "I'll
be back later, Emma to take Enkil out."

Lydia nodded back and watched him leave before looking back at
Emma. "You enjoy this way too much don't you?" She asked with a
smirk. "You know I have plenty of guys to choose from in LA."

"Of course I enjoy making sure that two very deserving people end up
happy. And what a coincedence because Rocky's also from LA. I think
he's just too.... I wouldn't say wounded, but somewhere near there to
actually go after a woman. If you know what I mean." Emma stated
matter of factly as she too watched Rocky ease Aja out of the
stables. "He's a sweetheart though, won't show it to anyone...." Emma
said more to herself than to Lydia.

"I noticed." Lydia smiled and looked at Emma once again. "So are
you going to watch some of his training today or are you doing other
things?" She asked, knowing Emma liked to watch her ride him
occasionally to see how his progress was doing. Lyd loved Diablo; he
would be the type of horse she'd buy for herself. One of those
stubborn yet sweet horses who got attached to one rider. Emma had
almost gotten rid of him several times before Lydia arrived and
offered to ride him. At first Emma said no because he had thrown
three previous riders and she didn't want her to get hurt, but Lyd
preceded and finally won her over.

"I might for a bit on one condition.... You take Diablo up to the
lake. I'm sure he'd like it." Emma replied with a smile. She did
indeed love to watch Lydia take him out and work with him, but she
was also trying to look out for Rocky. He was one of the finest
riders at her stables, if not one of the most stubborn. She knew he
needed a good woman to tame him, and thought that Lydia was perfect
for him. Not that either of the two "youngsters" would admit to it.

Rocky in the meantime had taken his time riding up to the lake. He
enjoyed the view and found the peace and solitude of the spot to be
the perfect place. He'd only shown the spot to Emma once, but was
pretty sure she could find it again if she wanted to. No one else
though had been up here as far as he knew.

"Fine…" She smirked and shook her head. "I'll take him up there."
Lydia started walking away heading towards the back door with Emma in
toe. "I've never seen him here before, but you said he's been here
for years."

"Good... you're a good kid." Emma replied with a smirk of her own.
Emma began to follow Lydia outside to watch as she trained Diablo.
She had been considering selling Diablo again, but this time it was
more of atleast being able to keep him in her stables and with
someone she trusted. "Yes, Rocky has been here for the past five or
six years. He is or atleast he was a member of the LAPD. I think he's
left the force though, not too sure. He's not really one to talk much
about himself. .... And I really don't know all that much about the
lad, though I'm sure that you can get him to open up a bit."

Lydia caught the large dark bay stallion. He wasn't quite black but
he was close enough than anyone would have guessed he was, but he had
mahogany brown color to some of his body not making him a true black
color. She smiled at Emma as they walked back into the barn so Lydia
could tack him up for their training session. "He didn't look very
social." She chuckled as she put Diablo in his secluded stall in the
barn before grabbing a few brushes.

Emma chuckled before making her response. "I'm sure that you can more
than handle him, Lydia." She thought over it a bit. "He's probably
more rough around the edges, but I have faith in you, sweetheart.
That lad needs someone good in his life."

"Well thanks I think…" Lydia laughed reaching her arm up to brush off
Diablos' back that was just about level with the top of her head; he
was huge well over 17hands height. "You probably have other stuff to
do besides stand around here with me." She smirked and walked out of
the stall closing the door before locking it, setting all her brushes
back down in the brush box next to the stall.

Emma laughed along with the younger woman as she watched her with
Diablo. She knew that Lydia and Diablo were doing wonderfully and had
no problem leaving Lydia with the horse. "I'm sure that I can find
some paperwork to take care of in my office." Emma replied taking the
hint. "Have a good ride, Lydia."

"Oh you know I will." Lydia laughed and headed for the tack room
grabbing the dressage saddle from its rack and headed back to the
stall to tack Diablo up. Within a few minutes she had his saddle and
bridle on, and then grabbed her whip that was leaning against the
stall and started leading him out of the barn.

She was always thankful for being athletic so she could get on him
without using a mounting block or bucket. Lydia looked at the
outdoor ring then looked at the path heading up to the trails and
sighed slowly stirring him towards the path. She could still work on
things as she rode up to the lake, so it wouldn't be a complete
waist. Diablo was like the dressage type horse that any serious
dressage rider would want. He had gaits to die for, and his over all
body structure was perfect with a slight upwards lift to his front
end. Lydia loved riding him and he learned extremely fast, which was
a great quality for stallions.

Rocky had climbed off of Aja and tied her reins to a strong tree
branch. He sat on top of a nearby rock formation and looked out over
the city as Aja nibbled on the grass around her. He loved the view
from up here, no one could touch him. He contemplated over his newest
mission. In a little over a day he'd be stuck in a tuxedo at the
Turkish embassy. He hated wearing the tux, but it was all apart of
the job that he lived to do. Rocky was a complete adrenaline junky,
and marks like this always got his juices pumping.

Lydia slowly worked Diablo as they walk, trot, and cantered through
the trails working on bending, roundness, and softness. She really
wasn't even paying attention to where she was going before she
noticed she had just passed the lake on her left and came to a quick
stop. Lyd noticed Rocky sitting on a rock formation near the lakes
edge. She slowly turned Diablo around and headed back to the lake
and over to him noticing his mare Aja tied to a tree and made sure to
stay clear of her so Diablo didn't decided he'd rather go over there
than where she wanted him to go.

Rocky had heard Lydia and Diablo come upon the lake, but didn't make
a move. He waited a moment to see if she was going to leave, but when
she didn't he finally decided to say something. "I see Emma managed
to talk you in to coming up here."

"I promised her I would. You know her." Lydia laughed and patted
Diablos thick neck as she stopped behind Rocky. "I'm Lydia by the
way, since Emma really didn't tell you my name." She said not
getting off her horse, not planning to stay that long.

Rocky turned, sensing Diablo directly behind him. He looked up and
almost smiled at Lydia. "Rocky. Though I'm sure Emma's already told
you that and much more." he replied, a somewhat soft smile appearing
on his face. "I've tried to tell her she needs to stop trying to use
her match making skills on me, that they don't work.... but you know
Emma."

"Oh yes many many times within the last twenty minutes." Lydia
smiled down at him. "I thought I'd just stop and say hi, and at
least I said I saw you. So it keeps Emma happy."

"And as long as Emma's happy, hopefully we'll all be happy and she'll
stop playing Cupid." Rocky replied. He stood up and jumped off of the
rock formation. He walked over to Aja and untethered her from the
tree. "I'll ride down with you, that should make her very happy."

Lydia chuckled, "as long as Diablo behaves himself around your
mare." The last thing she needed was for him to get studly on her
knowing there was a girl around. That was one thing she didn't want
to deal with.

Rocky nodded his head as he climbed astride his mare. "Yes, we
wouldn't want Emma to get thrilled about these two mating on us all
of a sudden. I'll stay behind you just in case." he suggested as he
rode up beside her.

"That would be great." Lydia smiled at him sincerely at him before
heading back down the trail staying ahead of Rocky and his
horse. "So Emma says you live in LA." She glanced back at him
before making Diablo work a little bit so he stayed focused. He
wasn't even five yet and his attention span was not that great
especially with a mare behind him.

Rocky made sure to keep Aja behind Diablo. The last thing he needed
was for his mare to end up pregnant, not that it'd be a bad thing. It
was just that he wasn't ready for all of that. "Yes, I do." he
replied, not giving a full answer. He kept to himself at all
possible, and the less information he gave to anybody including Emma
the better. It was just that the older woman had her ways of getting
info out of him without him realizing it. He slowed his pace a bit
more, trying to help Lydia keep Diablo's focus to where it should be.

"I live in LA too." Lydia said over her shoulder trying to make some
small talk before flexing Diablos' next back and forth a few times to
keep him on track.

Rocky nodded his head, then made a verbal response as he realized she
couldn't see his motion. "It's a great city. That and I'm always
closer to work. I love the country, especially out here, but I
wouldn't want to have to make a drive like this on a daily basis."

"I completely understand." Lydia answered picking up a trot heading
down the trail slowly. Diablo become lathered in sweat from his
trail ride workout.

Rocky kept up his trot behind Lydia, keeping a close eye on her form.
He could tell that she was an expert rider. "Where'd you learn to
ride like that?" he asked out of sudden curiosity.

"Well my parents own a horse farm in Colorado and they taught me a
lot. But also the horse trainer that they hired taught me a lot, and
then I started taking lessons with a local Dressage instructor."
Lydia smirked back at him. "I was pretty much born on a horse."

"Well I'll be damned...." Rocky muttered under his breath. They had
more in common than he wanted to admit. Of course he wouldn't admit
it to Lydia either. "Then looks like Diablo is in more than capable
hands." he said aloud.

"That's why Emma lets me ride him. He bucked off the last three
trainers." She said as she spotted the farm off in the
distance. "Plus he's a piece of cake compared to some of the horses
I've ridden."

"I'm not surprised. I saw all three of them get bucked too. They
offered me money to ride Enkil. Had to tell them that my insurance
wasn't going to cover their broken bodies. He's just about as
stubborn as Diablo, if not more so." He saw the farm not too far off
from where they currently were. "Enkil would give you a run for your
money.... unless you knew his secret."

"I don't know…. I've had some pretty nasty horses." Lydia
laughed. "I had this one mare when I was a teenager who used to only
backup, she would not go forward no matter what she did she'd backup
or rear straight. She was evil really, she even flipped over on me
once."

"Ehhh... had a mustang on our ranch that just loved to stomp on
anyone he threw. Broke my collar bone in two places along with three
ranch hands various bones."

"I was thrown into the wooden wall of our indoor once and I broke my
arm and a few ribs, plus a concussion on top of that." Lydia
explained with a smile. She had been through a lot of nasty spills
and beating when she was younger. Both her and her brother were
always having competing seeing who could ride the toughest horses.

"Why don't we call ourselves even in the horseback injury department?
I believe we could probably both go on for days about our various
broken bones, torn ligaments, bumps, scrapes, and bruises when it
comes to these gorgeous creatures." Rocky suggested as he gave Aja a
loving pat.

"You're very true." Lydia grinned and looked back at him before
slowly Diablo to a walk so he could cool out a bit before they
stopped ridding. "So when did you first start riding?"

Rocky slowed Aja up beside Diablo, making sure to keep her out of the
stallions site. "I've been riding since before I can remember. You?"

"I think my mom put me on her horse the minute I got home from the
hospital." She smirked. "And I remember they gave me my first pony
before I was five."

Rocky smirked as he looked off into the distance. He spotted Emma
standing outside of the barn, with a satisfied smile on her
face. "Well looks like we've atleast made her happy."

Lydia looked over and spotted Emma. "Yes I can see that." She shook
her head before bring Diablo to a halt near the barns back door.
Lydia swung off running her stirrups on her English dressage saddle
and loosened up the girth under Diablos belly.

Rocky followed suit, beginning to take care of Aja.

Lydia smiled at Rocky. "Well it was nice talking with you." She
said to him before leading Diablo into the barn ahead of Aja. She
took him to his stall to finish untacking him completely so she could
hose him off.

"You as well." Rocky replied as he lead Aja into her stall. He began
to untack her, taking his time, before reaching for the hose to wash
her off.

Lyd put her tack away before putting Diablos leather halter on
putting a chain over his nose then lead him outside to the hose. She
kept her distance away from Rocky and Aja letting Diablo eat grass as
they waited patiently for their turn. Finally Rocky finished and she
flashed him a smile as she headed over to the hose turning it on
softly letting the water run over the stallion's neck, shoulder,
back, and hind.

Rocky smirked as Lydia took the hose from his hand, his hand
accidently brushing hers as they exchanged the hose. He made his way
back inside, putting Aja back into her stall before beginning to fill
her feed trough. He pulled a piece of peppermint out of his pocket
and fed it to her

Lydia just glanced at him as their hands brushed briefly then went to
work hosing Diablo off. She finally finished and scraped the excess
water off with one of the plastic scrapers nearby then lead him back
inside. Lyd took off his halter and fed him a few pieces of sugar
before taking care of the last of her stuff. She grabbed a carrot
and broke it into several pieces before feeding it to Diablo who
stuck his large head over the half door to see what she had for
treats.

Rocky chuckled as he watched Diablo's expression while he was
beginning to get Enkil tacked up. "You're going to have him so
spoiled that Emma's not going to know what to do with him."

"Spoiled can be a good thing." She smiled over at him and run her
hand up the front of Diablo's face. "He's just a big puppy dog
really. He only acts mean because he wants attention."

"Well it's either that or I think it's just that he loves the
ladies." Rocky replied. He made sure that everything was just right
with Enkil's saddle, before reaching into his pocket for another
piece of peppermint. He held his hand out, allowing his stallion to
nibble it out of his hand.

"He's very selective with the people he likes and trust." Lydia
explained rubbing her hand up and down the stallions face as she fed
him the last piece of carrot.

Rocky ran his hand down Enkil's face. "This little fella's the same
way. He won't let anyone near him unless he can clearly see me. Don't
even mention anyone else riding him."

"Those ones are always fun." Lydia smiled and turned to watch him
with his horse. She noticed Diablo stick his nose out towards her
looking for more treats and pinned his ears when he found
nothing. "Don't give me that look mister…" She warned and his ears
perked forwards slowly.

Rocky smirked as he watched Diablo. He shook his head as he looked
over at Lydia. "I told you that you were spoiling him. Now he's gonna
expect a treat all the time."

Lydia shook her head and rubbed Diablo's nose. "He'll get over it."
She smiled. "Won't you big guy?" Lyd grinned and leaned down
kissing his soft nose.

"Care to join us in the ring?" Rocky offered, deciding to just take
Enkil for a few laps around the ring instead of full blast out in the
fields.

"Sure." Lyd smiled. She really didn't have anything else to do and
she slowly walked outside to the large outdoor ring following behind
Rocky.

Rocky climbed astride Enkil and lead him into the ring. He began to
slowly move through the paces, giving Enkil his regular workout
without taking him into the fields.

Lydia just leaned against wooden fence and watched. He was pretty
good for a western rider. She knew how to ride both western and
english, but definitely preferred the english style of riding much
more. "You know my parents have a bunch of Andalusians." She said
seeing him slow down a bit. "One of my first horses was an
Andalusian."

"Really.... They're absolutely stunning and I love the breed
thoroughly. I have a few more back on my ranch, though Enkil is by
far my favorite at the moment." he replied, as he brought Enkil to a
stop directly in front of Lydia.

"My parents have a stud and a few mares and foals back at their
farm. They like breed everything there. I think the last I knew
they were almost up to 50 horses there and that wasn't counting the
boarders that are there." Lydia explained looking at Enkil, he was
definitely more of the baroque style of Andalusian, with a heavier
set body and neck.

Rocky couldn't believe what he was about to offer. "Would you like to
ride him? I mean, he won't let you ride him by yourself
unfortunately, but perhaps he'll let you ride if I'm still in the
stirrups."

"Na its ok… I understand the whole, one-rider horse type." She
smiled at him. "But thank you for the offer."

Rocky shrugged his shoulders. "You're quite welcome, Lydia." He lead
Enkil over to the gate, knowing that he'd gotten in his work out and
was now ready for his bath.

"Maybe some other time." She smiled and started heading back to the
barn with him. Lydia needed to put Diablo out before heading back to
LA. Dante was probably having a field day with Rowan, that or he was
going crazy.

Rocky began to untack Enkil in the barn before taking him back
outside to hose him off. He made sure to get all of the sweat and any
muck washed off of his body, before scraping off the excess
water. "Good boy..." he said, rubbing his hand down the stallions
face before leading him back inside to his stall.

Lydia walked over to Diablo's stall and clipped the leadrope to his
halter to take him back out to his pasture. She unlatched the stall
door and lead him out of the barn glancing at Rocky as she walked
by. Lyd let Diablo back out into his pasture and shook her head
seeing him immediately roll after she took his halter off. After
watching him for a minute as he took off after rolling bucking across
the field she headed back inside the barn and looked over at Rocky.

"Well I guess I'll see you later." She smiled brightly at him before
going to hang up the halter on Diablo's stall door.

Rocky smirked as he watched Lydia walk by him. "Of course. I look
forward to it." he replied as he finished taking care of both Aja and
Enkil.

Lydia just smiled at him and walked towards the front barn door to
head out to her car. Rocky seemed nice enough, a little closed off
but nice. She climbed into her car and left the farm heading back to
LA.

~~~

Agent Lydia Chadwick "Shadow"
Combat Specialist
Timberwolves, A.P.O.

Agent Rocky Newman "Iceman"
Interregator
Timberwolves, A.P.O.