Sarah Jo led her mare away from the excited crowd that had gathered near the finish line. She sat down on a rock and started to shake, having a delayed reaction to the stress her body had just gone through. Her arm seemed to be mostly healed now, but it still ached a little. As she stroked her mare’s soft nose and told her what a good girl she was, a single tear ran down her face. It wasn’t as if she cared all that much about not winning the race, but the cruel way in which she lost her chance is what bothered her the most. She just didn’t understand why Kronos had done that to her.

A soft sound of a throat being cleared made her turn her head. Jason was standing just off to her side. Sarah Jo wiped her face and smiled at him, only to smear the blood, dirt and tears even more on it. Looking down at her blood-soaked shirt, she suddenly realized what a horrible looking mess she must look like to him.

Encouraged by her smile, Jason moved quickly to her side and snuggled up to her on the rock she was sitting on. Alannah snorted at him and danced around but calmed down some when Sarah Jo spoke softly to her. She still obviously did not like having the were so close to her. Jason grumbled to himself that he didn’t understand why horse were so skittishish around him. After all, he had never eaten horse!

"You would have won," he said confidently to her as his chin rested on her shoulder. She just shrugged. They would never know that for sure now. She then giggled as he leaned even closer and licked away a blood smear on her cheek. Then it dawned on her the reason he had come over to her.

"This is your scarf, isn’t it?" she asked as she lifted it off her lap.

"Sure is," he replied with a wolfish grin, his eyes dancing in merriment. "And I have no intention at stopping with just a kiss!" That caused Sarah Jo to laugh again.

"Do you mind if I put my horse up first?" she asked. "And a shower would be nice right about now. I’m a mess."

"I can always lick you clean," Jason offered playfully, causing her to laugh again as he nuzzled her neck. The smell of her blood on her was causing him to get even more excited. After a moment, Sarah Jo peeled herself out of his arms and stood up. Gathering up the reins, she mounted her horse again, wincing slightly as the ache in her arm reminded her of what had happened. She then reached down with her other arm and offered him a ride. Grinning broadly he easily leaped up behind her, pressing his body firmly up against her back.

Alannah sidestepped and shuffled nervously as Jason settled himself behind Sarah Jo, hanging on to her tightly as the mare danced around. But after a moment, Sarah Jo had her firmly under control. It might have been a little more difficult if she hadn’t been tired from running the race. Once she had settled, Sarah Jo gave her a loose rein and pointed her back in the direction of the stables. She waved at Duende who had managed to catch his beast finally and was letting him cool his legs off in the ocean tide. They passed Connor and John Clayton who were talking with Katherine and Indiana. Katherine’s scarf was wrapped around Indiana’s neck and he was beaming happily. Apparently Methos has given it to him since Sal had already taken one. Kronos, thank God, was nowhere to be seen.

As the sturdy little mare moved slowly along the beach, taking her time on the trip back, Jason took full advantage of his position by continuing his nuzzling of Sarah Jo’s neck and shoulders. His hands had managed to pull her shirt out from her riding pants and were now roaming all over under it. The sound of horse hooves approaching made him look up though as several riders passed them. One of them was Duncan, who gave the two of them a thumb up when Jason waved his scarf at him.

Once they were back at the stables, Jason never left Sarah Jo’s side as she groomed the mare and put her back in her stall. Several other riders had offered their compliments on how well she had ridden but for the most part, the two of them were left alone. Once the mare was taken care of, Sarah Jo cybered up a clean shirt and went over to the water faucet so she could clean up a bit. Jason helped her pull off her old shirt that was now stiff with her dried blood and stood protectively behind her, trying to shield her body from any onlookers as she wiped herself clean and then put on the new garment. She then tossed the ruined shirt into the garbage with a look of disgust on her face.

Farmer Grey gave her a nod of approval as the two of them passed by the stall where he was carefully examining a horse’s legs. He was hoping to get a chance to talk to the girl, but since she was not alone, he decided to wait until another time.

Sarah Jo led Jason up into the hay loft and to a little secluded nock back behind the bales of hay. She sat down heavily on one of the bales, sighing as she did so. Jason immediately snuggled up to her, sensing her unhappiness.

The little nurse reached back and undid the rest of her braid. Half of it had come out when Kronos had pulled her off her horse by grabbing hold of it. As she brushed her hair out, Jason leaned forward and buried his face into its thick waves.

"You smell nice," he said as he leaned up against her. Now that he had her alone, he was anxious to go further than just nuzzling her, but she seemed distracted and deep in thought. If it would help matters, he would have been more than happy to seek that Kronos fellow out and tear his throat out. The very thought of that made him salivate. If it had been before instead of just after the full moon, he would have been hard pressed not to rush out and gladly done exactly what he had been thinking. He had heard that the neck wounds tended to scar badly on immortals on the outside and he thought it would make an interesting experiment to see if it would do the same here in SIMs City.

Suddenly Sarah Jo chuckled. "Ah’ve got it!" she said with a wicked grin.

"Got what?" Jason asked, immediately sensing the change in her mood.

"Ah don’t get mad, sweetie, ah get even!" she said with her eyes twinkling in amusement. She then leaned over to him and whispered her plan to him. By the end he was roaring with laughter and offering his help in her little conspiracy. He had to admit what she had planned was almost as appealing as ripping the immortal’s throat out.

As they collapsed into each others arms in giggles and snorts of laughter, the tension of the day drained from Sarah Jo. Then looking up at him, her eyes luminous in the darkness of the hay loft, her hand reached up and touched his mouth.

"Ah’m ready to claim my kiss from you now," she said in a low voice as his hands once again found their way up her shirt.

"I told you Sarah Jo," Jason replied as he pulled the shirt over her head. "I have no intentions of stopping with just a kiss." And he didn’t.