And We're All Falling

Retirees and Reasons

"Have you seen your geneticist? Delilah Ware?"

"Miss Ware went that way. She looked upset."

Yeah. I know.

        Wash had been going that way for ten minutes. It seemed after every barn there was another pasture and after every pasture was another track and after every track was another barn. The seemingly endless cycle of money that CEOs had was making sense to him now. Everything on the farm's property looked like it was more expensive than his entire block (it actually was...10 million on the newest barn). 

"Have you seen Delilah Ware?" he asked, stumbling upon a groom that was leading a horse toward a barn.

"Miss Ware? She was running into the retirees barn over there. Check Charlie's stall, that's where we usually find her," the groom replied, tugging on the chain lightly as the horse nibbled at his hand.

"Thank you!" Wash called over his shoulder, jogging into the barn in question.

        Upon entry, he slowed to a walk. Horses left and right stuck their heads out in curiosity as he walked through the row. Nameplates that most likely once gleamed now were tarnished, in need of a cleaning. 

Gypsy...Apollo...Giant...Milo.....Tiz....Charles, that's not Charlie? Nope, okay....Merideth...Charlie!

        Merideth nuzzled Wash's shoulder as he crept closer to the stall the groom had told him that he would find Della. He knew she probably would've been okay; Lylla would've found her sooner or later. But there was something eating at his mind, telling him to go fix what he broke. Or, at least, try.

        Wash peered into Charlie's stall. A large, gray horse was nosing something in the corner. It made Wash do a double take. It wasn't a something, it was a someone. He hardly recognized Della in the straw, hair messy and body curled up in a ball. Charlie (at least that's what Wash assumed the horse was called) seemed to rest his head on her knees and try and lick her face.

Salt...horses like salt...he's licking her tears away...

        He hesitated on moving. Half of him screamed to do the right thing and help her while the other half argued to not do anything for fear of breaking her more. He really was not in the mood to get hit and she seemed like a girl who wouldn't be afraid to try.

She's just like Carolina.

In one wave of confidence, Wash slid the stall door open softly.

Her head popped up instantly.

"What are you doing here?!" she snapped, voice wobbling from crying. "Haven't you done enough to me? I'm sobbing in a horse stall, Wash. What more do you want?"

"Easy," he soothed, placing a hand on the horse as he made his way toward the corner. "I'm not going to do anything to you."

"Don't come near me," she pleaded, edging deeper into the corner. "I-I-I can handle this. Just give me five minutes and I'll be back to normal."

"You can cry, Della. I'm not going to judge you," he said softly, stopping a foot away from her.

"Except you already did."

He immediately felt a flow of guilt.

"You assume I'm just some heartless, lying business girl who's just here to play a few guys," she snapped. 

"You brought that on yourself," he corrected, almost immediately wishing he hadn't said anything.

        She didn't reply. Charlie padded back over to her and rested his chin on her knees again. Wash watched as a few fresh tears fell from her eyes. He'd never noticed how pretty they were until that moment...

SHE IS DATING NORTH, WASH! PULL THAT THOUGHT OUT OF YOUR HEAD AND BURN IT. THEN RUN IT OVER. THEN THROW IT OFF A CLIFF. THEN DROWN IT. BECAUSE NORTH HAS HER, YOU DON'T.

"No, that's not right," he sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm not good with the whole words thing."

"Hadn't noticed," she laughed sadistically, picking up a piece of straw between her fingers.

"Can I make it up to you?" he asked, watching her break it into twenty pieces.

"Dinner. Tonight. Tell North what you're doing because if I do it then he's going to wonder why I'm crying and I do not have time for that conversation," she replied, looking up at the beams of the ceiling.

"Two questions. The first, why are you in this horse's stall?" he asked, letting the gray lick his hand.

"Charlie's my best bud. He's nice and they let me ride him around whenever I want. He's the closest thing I have to a best friend right now," she replied, scratching the gray's cheek.

"Two. What conversation with North?" 

"You aren't why I was crying."

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(Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Red VS Blue, they are owned by the lovely people at RoosterTeeth :))