Yes Ma'am

The Hayloft Incident

Thea walked into the barn, and sat on a hay bale and watched as her parents talked.

Eventually the five year old got bored and decided to climb up to the hayloft despite the countless times her mom and dad told her not to because it was dangerous.

When she got to the top of the ladder and looked down over the barn, she suddenly got an idea.

She wanted to fly like a bird or a butterfly.

So she lets out a breath and flies.

——————

Jasper

I had been working around the ranch for a good part of the day when Alice walks into the barn and greets me with a hug.

"Hey, where have you been all day?" I ask.

"Over at Rose and Emmett's." She replies. "Your sister is stress baking again."

I laugh a little. "At least Henry and Emmett will be in for a treat later."

Alice laughs in agreement and I press a kiss to her temple. "Was Thea with you?"

"She was right behind me." My wife looks around for a moment. "She must've gotten distracted by the wildflowers."

She looks up at me and smiles and I smile back then bend down to kiss her.

Then it's almost as if my life is flashing before my eyes when I hear squealing and I look up and I can't breathe as I watch my daughter falling toward the ground.

A loud string of curse words fall from my lips and I rush forward and catch her right before she hits the ground.

"Let's do that again!" She laughs.

"Let's not do that again!" I say shakily. "Thea Grace, what were you thinking?!"

"I wanted to fly, Daddy."

"Not from there! How many times have we told you to stay away from the hayloft?"

"A lot." She looks away.

"And why?"

"Because it's dangerous and I could get hurt."

I hold her tight against me and look over at Alice, who's standing completely frozen in shock and terror. "Come here, love." I tell her and she comes over and I hold both of my girls against me. I take a deep breath and whisper and "thank you" towards the heavens.

We check Thea for any injuries a while later then send her off back to my twin sister Rose's place.

——————

Alice

I pace the length of the tack room as Jasper watches me from the pile of blankets and pillows on the floor.

"Alice, love, you need to stop."

"I can't, Jazz! I just stood there frozen and watched!"

"Alice," he says again and gently tugs on my arm, pulling me down into his lap. "what could you have done?"

I bury my face in his chest. "I could've done something instead of just standing there doing nothing."

"Sometimes doing nothing is all we can do." He murmurs into my hair.

I sigh shakily. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

He smiles against my head and I sigh again and look up at him with a small smile of my own. "I have never heard you curse so loudly in all the years we've been together."

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" He asks.

"No, just an observation. Another one is that it looked almost like you had super speed or something."

Jasper laughs and rolls his eyes. "I love you, darlin'."

"I love you too, Jazz."

He presses another kiss to my head. "I think I need to childproof the barn."

"Didn't we already try that?"

"I know we did the house after Thea was born, but not the barn."

"How would we do that?"

"I have no idea." He laughs. "I'll figure it out though."

"You better." I say teasingly, with an underlying threatening tone.

"Yes ma'am." He grins crookedly and I can't help but kiss him.

"Love you."

"Love you too."