Cross Thoroughbred Racing Facility

[Story]

Adam sighed sharply when Sadie announced her reasonings. "So you figured I wouldn't be racing and that I could watch her." Adam gazed at Sadie with an expression that wasn't one of calm, but wasn't one of anger or excitement or anything. He merely held his daughter until he was too uncomfortable to do much more. He set Charlie down again, sinking down gingerly into a chair. "Jess, when'll you do the exam?" He asked in a subdued voice, changing the subject. He'd neither agreed or denied to watch Charlie. His eyes remained on his daughter, though he was speaking to the medic now.

[Horse]

Sadie frowned before rocking back on her heels gingerly. She had forgotten to mention that her nanny had bailed on her, and at least at Cross, there was always someone willing to watch Charlie. She watched him for a moment longer, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She thought he would be estatic at this. She studied him for a moment before sighing, before looking towards Fay for some sort of help.

She turned back before blurting out. "Well, the nanny bailed and it's awful traveling alone with her. I thought here would be my best bet, especially since Fay offered to watch her part of the time." Sadie gave the other female jockey a sort of apologizing gaze before stealing the other half of the watermelon from Jessie to busy herself.

[Story]

Fay nodded in agreement. "I don't have as many races as he does, so yeah, I'm willing to take care of her for a while." She murmured, gazing fondly at Charlie. "Listen, anytime you need a sitter, let me know. I adore her. She's like the niece that I don't have yet." Fay grinned and then shot Adam a look. She wasn't thrilled with how he was acting lately. She was tempted to be childish and throw something at him, but didn't want either of the kids to do the same thing.

[Goldie]

"I can do it now if you want. It shouldn't take long." Jessie said as Sadie took over working on the watermelon. She rinsed the sticky juice off her hands and dried them before moving to stand beside Zoey. She absentmindedly ran her hand through the child's ginger hair while she looked at Adam, waiting for him to answer.

[Horse]

Sadie glanced up at Fay and nodded, a thankful smile lit up her face before she focused on the fruit again. There was no way she was going to be able to talk to her exhusband later, it would end disastrously. And plus, there was no way on earth he would ever listen to her anyway. Sadie let out a small sigh, chewing on her lip. What was she doing here anyway? It was so awkward for her to be standing in her former home, with the people she cared most about in this world. It didn't feel right, she didn't belong here anymore, and it broke her heart to know that.

[Story]

Adam shot Sadie a look, frowning. "It's not like I'm going to bite or anything, you know. You can stop looking so jumpy." He said flatly before returning his gaze to Jessie. "Do you want me to sit on the couch or-?" He wasn't sure what Jessie was going to do during the exam but it didn't appear that he was going to have to take his pants or shirt off, otherwise he'd ask for the privacy of a bathroom or bedroom. The pants thing was understandable, of course, given that there were children present (he didn't care if Sadie saw his boxers, given that she'd been much more of him, and Fay had also had a few peekies in the past), but the shirt was more about his own insecurities. He didn't think it was a pretty sight. Despite the fact that he was just skin and bones, covered in scars from surgery, but that was about it.

Fay let out a quiet, sharp sigh and moved to sit beside Sadie. "Don't listen to him. Look, we all miss the heck out of you and you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you want. You know that Aiden will be happy to see you again. He likes Charlie, you know." She said softly and then patted the other female jockey on the shoulder.

[Goldie]

Jessie scrunched her eyebrows. "The infirmary. I have your file there. I'm going to need some information out of it when it's done." She said then looked at fay, happy she had voiced what they both were thinking. "Seriously Sadie, the only one upset about you being here seems to be you. You're freaking out for no reason. People are either glad your here or don't know you well enough to care. It's great your back." Jessie said with a grin, leaning her hip against the counter. "You kinda belong here."

[Horse]

Sadie glanced over her shoulder, expression guarded. Charlie moved from here she had been sitting on Adam's foot to wander over to her mother, tugging on her shirt and reaching towards the top of the counter, wanting a piece of watermelon. Sadie pushed the toddler's hand away before handing her a cut piece. She deflated a little before just shrugging, "I know." Was all she said before smiling, features changing. She was putting up one of her facades, which were rather good. Probably the only person in the room that could call her sudden mood change a bluff was Adam. After all, he knew her the best. Sadie glanced towards Fay, eyebrows raised. "Since when does Aiden like little kids?"

[Story]

Fay glanced toward Adam while she spoke to Sadie, agreeing with Jessie. "And the only one that seems indifferent to your presence is a total idiot." She shot Adam a fierce glare as he was pushing himself carefully up from the chair. She followed his movements with her eyes before sighing and shaking her head. She couldn't seem to get over how stupid her friend was. He used to be so happy and now he was just....not Adam. Fay was happy to answer Sadie's question. "He's always liked 'em, just so long as they aren't sick or bleeding. He's just not good around kids, so he enjoys kids from a distance and Lord, I just made him sound like a pedo." She snickered.

Adam passed the group and headed for the infirmary without another word, shoulders sagging. He wished that he'd stayed upstairs for a little while longer. He ached and he wished he'd taken something stronger than Tylenol when waking up. He still crossed the yard to the infirmary, a familiar path to him from the years he'd stayed at this facility. He knew it way too well.

[Horse]

Sadie nodded a little bit at Fay's first comment, but that was her only response. She continued to cut away at the seemingly endless watermelon. Though, Sadie laughed when Fay spoke again, her eyes lightning up a little bit. "Just a little. That sounded super creepy." Charlie was trying to crawl up onto Fay's lap, eyes big. "Pedo?" The two year old asked, making a fishy face at her Aunt Fay.

[Goldie]

Jessie shook her head as Adam walked away. "Why did you two even split up? You guys were perfect together." She said as she looked at Sadie. "I'm almost positive he still loves you. For God's sake Sadie, he can't even sleep without the sound of someone next to him. You're the only one to blame for that side affect." She shook her head and headed for the door. "And he personally told me he hasn't slept with any of the girls he brought home. Just let them sleep next to him so he could fall asleep. I know it isn't this simple, but you two should really calm down when you're around each other. Can't you see only negative things have happened since you split? Isn't divorce suppose to make your life easier, to split from the thing that was causing all the trouble..." She shrugged and left after Adam.

[Story]

Adam was leaning against the infirmary door, waiting for Jessie to let him inside. As always, it was locked so that only the medic had access to everything in the building. He rubbed at his forehead. "Can I have something stronger than that Tylenol?" He asked quietly. "It's done nothing but really touch my headache a bit. Should have eaten that soup while I had the chance." He sighed quietly. He'd grab something soon, he figured. For now, he just wanted more pain meds. He'd run out of the prescribed stuff he had.

Fay raised an eyebrow when Jessie went off on Sadie, surprised. Jeez. She winced when Charlie repeated her comment, glancing apologetically over toward Sadie, though she hoped maybe she hadn't heard anything. "Charlie, sweetie, we never did go see PV." It wasn't looking like the women would be taking the girls out for a picnic at this point, which was a pity. Adam just had to have his stupid exam right then and there? He'd dealt with pain for the past several years of his life and he needed an exam now?

[Horse]

Sadie turned when Jessie started chewing into her, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. Her expression was one of shock and cofusion, eyes glazed over as she tried to process all of what the medic had said. She didn't notice Charlie saying anything, or get Fay's glance. She turned back to the counter, gingerly setting the knife down and a breath escaped quietly. Charlie suddenly looked very interested. "Peewee!!" She squealed, thrashing a little and bouncing up with excitement.

Sadie suddenly turned on her heel. "I... I gotta go." She muttered before he practically fled the bunkhouse, finding it way to suffocating. She'd left her daughter and car keys, and headed straight for the other side of the stable yard, towards the pastures and forest beyond. She wound her way towards Nessie's grave. She'd always gone there when she had been living here when she was either upset or needs to think.

*edit: last sentance

[Goldie]

[rawr I'm here. *muttering about people snapchatting me to summon me from my slumber*]

Jessie took the key that hung around her neck and unlocked the door. "Yeah, I'll try to fill out a prescription for you." She said, raking a hand through the end of her ponytail. "So what's been going on with the pain lately? Has it moved anywhere else or...?" She asked as she searched through her filing cabinet. When she got to Adam's file she pulled it out and slapped it on the desk. It was huge; Papers were sticking out and there were enough paperclips throughout it that a magnet would be able to pick it up off of the table. Jessie's neat, small, pretty script was written below a doctor's scribbles to try and translate whatever words were on the front of the hefty manilla folder.

[Story]

Adam followed Jessie inside, sinking down in his usual spot on the little exam table. He watched each move Jessie made, reaching a hand out to rest it on his own knee. "It's not really moved, no. It's still there in my knees a lot, and down in my heels. Hurts like a bitch to walk in the mornings. I stretch to try to loosen it up but it doesn't do much." He was still a young jockey to be experiencing arthritis, but he'd all but lived in the saddle since he was fifteen. It wasn't a complete surprise that he'd be developing arthritis, after all. "Are everyone's files that big or am I just that special?"

Fay was confused when Sadie just took off, leaving her daughter with her. "Alright, c'mon, Zoey, let's take Charlie to go see the ponies." She said softly. She boosted Charlie back up onto her hip, and offered her free hand for Zoey to take, eyes glowing with adoration. It was pretty obvious that Fay would probably make a great mother one day. She obviously loved kids and had experience with them from being an older sibling. She just wouldn't settle down long enough with a man, or consider putting her career on hold. Not when she'd worked so hard to get to where she was. Granted, she wasn't riding horses like Adam was, but she had trainers that liked her.